Real Beauty

Sri Nabadwip Dham, India

10 March 2016

[His Divine Grace's phone rings.]

—[A visitor at the veranda:] Nice ringtone.

It is sound... People are attracted to dyuti (splendour), rupa (form), rasa (taste), gandha (scent), sabda (sound), sparsa (tactile experience), but you will get everything—great beauty, great enjoyment, and so on—in Goloka Vrindavan. Rupa Goswami writes about this in his Vidagda-Madhava. These are very high level things.

In the material life, when a husband and a wife live together and have their conjugal life, they do some enjoyment for five-ten minutes, but you will get that kind of enjoyment eternally in Goloka Vrindavan.

In this material world we always run after beauty, smell, sound, and so on (just as you have said now, "Very good sound"), but if you see Krishna's beauty, you will forget everything. Even Lord Siva ran away leaving Parvati when Krishna showed His beauty.

Lord Siva is a big sadhu, he has big jata (dreadlocks), a big-big beard, a snake, but when Krishna became a beautiful woman and was playing with a ball in His hands, juggling it, "Ping-pong, ping-pong", Lord Siva became attracted by Her. The girl started running, and Lord Siva ran after Her. Parvati tried to stop him, "I am your wife! I am your actual wife! Why you are running after that girl?" But Lord Siva only brushed her off. He ran after the girl and, when he finally embraced Her, the girl became Lord Krishna—this is Hari-Hara. We tell this story at the Hari-Hara Ksetra when we do Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama.

So, even Lord Siva cannot control himself…

* * *

Birth and Death (1): Family Bond

Sri Nabadwip Dham, India

14 March 2016

Question: I have spoken today to my brother and sister and they told me that my grandmother, who was very sick before, is dying now and my father has one-sided paralysis... They told me that they wanted me to come back soon.

What can you do and what can I say? Actually, it depends largely upon you. It depends upon the person—everybody is not the same.

Our relative is "Krishna mata, Krishna pita, Krishna dhana-prana: Krishna is my mother, Krishna is my father, Krishna is my life and soul." Our relative is only Krishna.

When my mother died, I got the news after one month only because I did not keep any contact with my relatives. It was up to me. My brahmachari life was my primary stage and during that life, for about fifteen years, I did not give anyone any information about where I lived; only after I took sannyas they found out where I was. But everybody is not like me—I have a strongest faith for my Guru, I have a strongest faith for my Lord.

I do not know and do not want to say that, but if, for example, your relative dies today, what can you do from here? Nothing. You will come there in one-two days, but they will already have burned the body, so what will you see there? Nothing. If you have a strongest faith, then you know "I have a service to the Lord, I have a service to my Guru. If he protects them, no one can destroy them." You can go there, but you cannot protect them if they have to die. When the call comes from there, when the message comes that you have to leave this house, what can you do? Death is not in our hands—it is in His hands. It is said so in the scriptures.

For example, in the past twenty-eight years I have not seen my father even once. Today, my nephew came from the Iskcon—he is a Ph.D., a doctor, but I did not see when he was born, I do not even know when my brother got married... So, these matters are up to you, it is not my business.

Once, a sannyasi came here for Gaura Purnima, but when he heard his sister was sick, he ran away, left the parikrama. What can I do? But Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told: even if you hear your house is burning, and you want to go there to bring water to put out the fire, Prabhupad told, "Do not go, it is not necessary. Stay here." This is his lecture, not mine. You can read it in one of the books (Centenary Anthology)—Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told this about his Gurudev. This is an example also.

Every birth we get a father and a mother—every time we change our body we always get a father and a mother, what can you do?

Mahaprabhu once asked (Cc, 2.8.247), "What is the saddest in our life? Is it when your father dies? Or when your mother, your husband, your wife, or some other relative dies? Is this the saddest? Duhkha-madhye kona duhkha haya gurutara?" Ramananda Ray answered, "Krsna-bhakta-viraha vina duhkha nahi dekhi para: when devotees disappear, this is the saddest for us."

You cannot keep them, even the medical science cannot keep them—when the time comes, you have to leave everything...

Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "Even when Brahma comes to call me, I will not go there because I have some service to my Guru." A strongest faith, a strongest conception is necessary. Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari." (Cc, 2.22.64) It depends upon one's faith—everybody's devotion is not the same because everybody's faith is not the same…

* * *

Birth and Death (2): As He Wishes

Sri Nabadwip Dham, India

14 March 2016

"Marabi rakhabi, yo ichchha tohara: You can kill me, You can keep me, You can protect me, that is Your matter, it is up to You." (Saranagati, 1.11)

You heard that a few months ago there was an earthquake in Katmandu, Nepal, and so many thousands of people died. They were very tired of rescuing people—they took out so many bodies from the collapsed buildings, many hospitals were full, even here in India the hospitals in Siliguri, in Bihar were full. Hundreds of people were delivered there and finally the government said, "We are very tired. Seven days have passed and people are dead, we must take care of those who are in hospital now." They did not look for more bodies in the ruins, but when twenty-one days later they again started removing the buildings' ruins, they found a one- or two-year-old baby inside—alive!

In Bangladesh also, an eleven-storey building collapsed and after twenty-four days they found a nineteen-year-old girl (she worked at that factory). It is an eleven-storey building, you can imagine how high it is, but that girl was alive.

I can say even more. I remember one year A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj's granddaughter was staying in Mayapur and building a house there. That year Mayapur was flooded. There are so many small temples, and when the flood came suddenly, they stayed without food—they had money to buy food, but they cannot eat money, they have to buy something. I knew they did not have any food, so I took some rice, dal, potato and distributed to each temple. One day, at the Bhaktivinod Institute near Yogapith three people were going in a boat and suddenly a strong current came and everyone died—the boatman, the lady, and her husband all died; but their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter somehow caught some straw floating on the river. Later in the evening, people heard a child's crying and they wondered where the crying was coming from. Somebody went to look and found that child. Everybody died, but she was alive. Can you believe it?

Krishna exists, and sometimes also Krishna fulfils your desire—if you have the strongest devotion, He always fulfils your desire...

For example, there was a Russian girl who left her body in Puri. Two days before that she came to me and said, "Maharaj, I do not want to go back to Russia. I live with my parents and they eat beef (cow's meat), but I am fully vegetarian, how shall I stay with them? I do not want to go, but my visa is finishing, I only got a short visa..." I told her she could come later, but she said, "I want to stay here—I am going to Russia soon, but it is better if die here." I told her, "No. Why should you die? It is not necessary. Come back to Russia, get a new visa and you can stay for a long time here. You must tolerate. You can cook yourself." I told her Srila Swami Maharaj's example. When he came to America for the first time he lived in one house—there, he cooked something at noon time and kept it in one side of the refrigerator, but the owner of the house also kept eggs and meat in that same refrigerator. Swami Maharaj tolerated it.

So, when that Russian girl came to Puri, she went into the ocean up until her chest and prayed, "I want to die, I do not want to go back and stay there." Suddenly a wave came and took her away—then another wave came and the body came to the shore. When my Puri manager heard it, he took her to the hospital, but she died on the way...

Also, how did Narayan Maharaj from Mauritius die? One minute before he left his body he talked to me personally... That day he was showing his preaching in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, to Puri Maharaj. He was a good man. He told me before that he had some problem with health and could not leave as planned, and asked me if he could stay in Puri until the parikrama. I told him that Puri climate was very good and he could stay there without any problem. They gave him a room in the building where the sannyasis live, and from the corridor of that building he fell down. Puri Maharaj told later that he heard some noise like something had fallen down and when he saw Narayan Maharaj lying on the ground, they immediately took him to the local Puri hospital. I told the manager that the Puri district hospital was not a special quality hospital and told him to take him to Bhuvaneshwar.

I told the manager to give the phone to Narayan Maharaj, I wanted to speak to him, and while I spoke to Maharaj, the manager went outside to rent a car to go to Bhuvaneshwar (the local ambulance refused to take them there). Narayan Maharaj said, "My bag is there, and there is some money in it..." I told him, "Do not talk about money now. First you must get treatment. I want your treatment, not your money." But he did not get that time—Krishna did not give him even two minutes. I spoke to him for about one minute, and the treatment was going on at that time, saline, injections, etc., but then suddenly his consciousness was gone. He left that money and told me it could be used for his treatment or to make Vaishnav seva after his death... I told him, "Why are you talking like this? You will be OK, do not worry," but who will listen to me? He [the Lord] is the proprietor.

suddha-bhakata-charana-renu

bhajana-anukula

bhakata-seva parama-siddhi

prema-latikara mula

"The dust of pure devotees' feet is favourable to devotion. Serving the devotees is the supreme fulfilment and the root of the creeper of divine love.”

* * *

Birth and Death (3): Games of Maya

Sri Nabadwip Dham, India

14 March 2016

When Gurudev joined the temple he was seventeen years old, and he came from a very poor family. Gurudev's mother came here and tried to remove him from the temple, but by the mercy of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj he became our Guru.

It is games of Maya: Maya is always testing you how much you love me, whether you love me or you love your parents. It is Maya's test.

How was it possible that you got this body? It is not only because of your parents. You have got this body from me, and if I wish you can also get a snake's body or a pig's body next life. So, now I am testing you how much love and affection you have for me. Krishna always tests us...

Srimad Bhagavatam says,

gurur na sa syat svajano na sa syat

pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat

daivam na tat syan na patis cha sa syan

na mochayed yah samupeta-mrtyam

"One who cannot save other souls from the world of impending death—that is, one who cannot teach the path of devotion—he cannot be a teacher, although he may be called 'guru'; he cannot be a relative—he is not worthy of the designation; he cannot be a father—he is not qualified to beget a son; she cannot be a mother—she should not bear a child; he cannot be a god—the demigods who cannot deliver others from material bondage are not entitled to accept worship from human society; and he cannot be a husband—his hand is not fit to accept in marriage."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 5.5.18)

If I lose my parents, it is not a problem—if I lose my father I will get another father, if I lose my mother I will get another mother next birth, but if I lose my Guru, if I lose Krishna, I will not get them again. You must decide what is important for you, it is up to you, but my feeling is like this.

* * *

Birth and Death (4): No Fear

Sri Nabadwip Dham, India

14 March 2016

"Krsna-krpa yanre, tare ke rakhite pare: Who can stop the one who has got mercy of Krishna?" (Cc, 2.16.241)

Srila Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu was a son of a very rich landlord. He and his father were the owners of this whole area from Kolkata to Nabadwip. Mahaprabhu took sannyas and come to Santipur, Advaita Prabhu's house, and from that day Srila Das Goswami Prabhu became attached to Mahaprabhu. He had tried to come to Him many times, but his father always took him back home because he worried, "Who will take care of all this property that I have?" Mahaprabhu also told him, "It is all right. Go back to your home, do not be crazy. It is not necessary to show false renunciation." His father found him a wife, as beautiful as a goddess, and married him to her (at that time they could not choose themselves, the parents always chose the wife).

antare nistha kara, bahye loka-vyavahara

achirat krsna tomaya karibe uddhara

"Be fixed internally, and behave like everyone else externally. Krishna will rescue you soon."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.239)

[Mahaprabhu told Das Goswami Prabhu:] "You should show everybody you do not care and stay as a householder, but in your heart you will always think about Me, and Krishna will give you His mercy. Krsna-krpa yanre, tare ke rakhite pare: Who can stop the one who has got mercy of Krishna?" (Cc, 2.16.241)

Anyhow, he finally got the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu and went to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu gave him service, told him to do Vaishnav seva, serve the Vaishnavs. You know what happened after that.

He wrote, "Nija-nikata-nivasam dehi govardhana tvam: please, keep me near Govardhan..." He had so much chastity for Srimati Radharani—he could not accept anything that came from a competitor of Srimati Radharani (Chandravali). Once, a Vraja-basi brought him a leaf pot with buttermilk and he did not accept it because it came from Chandravali's kunda. He thought, "I am a worshipper of Radharani. I worship Krishna, but under the guidance of Srimati Radharani; and Chandravali worships only Lord Krishna without the guidance of Srimati Radharani."

You can see my example also. When I joined the temple, everybody in my village criticised me, "Oh, that boy has become crazy. He got a good education, a good job, but he left his job, he does not take care of his parents—he went to a temple and became a sannyasi! What is this?! What for did we give him education?" My aunt, uncle, cousins and others always criticised me, but fortunately my mother died without any austerity, without any problem. She died happily, but their mother died without any food, without any treatment or medicine. I did not personally serve my mother, but Krishna served her. It is Krishna's duty—Gurudev told me, "If you serve Vaishnavs, Krishna will come and serve you," and I believe it 200%.

Sometimes there are three brothers, sometimes two brothers, or sometimes four brothers, but when their father asks, "Give me some food," they tell him, "Go to another brother!" When he comes to another son, his other son says the same, "Go to another brother!" When they become old, they are kicked around like a football—the ball is kicked to one house, and from that house it is kicked to another house. So much suffering...

"Krsna-krpa yanre, tare ke rakhite pare: Who can stop the one who has got mercy of Krishna?" (Cc, 2.16.241)

Question: In this world there is so much misery, how to lose the fear of material existence?

Through service.

If you want relief from janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi (birth, death, disease, and old age problems), you must practise Krishna consciousness properly. The answer is simple, and this is also the main thing.

You must follow the rules and regulations properly. You should accept what is favourable to devotion and reject what is unfavourable to devotion. You cannot accept what is favourable and also accept what is unfavourable. Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that you cannot drink milk and take tamak (hookah) at the same time.

It is necessary to do service with heart and soul.

Question: What does 'properly' mean?

If you have the proper eyes, you will be able to see it. You cannot see it with these material eyes—you must see it with the eyes that you have in your heart, these are the eyes that are necessary.

* * *

Partake in Service Joy

Sri Jagannath Mishra Ananda-mahotsav

Evening, 24 March 2016

Today by the mercy of Gurupad, we have one more time finished the parikrama, Gaura Purnima maha-mahotsav, and Jagannath Mishra's anada maha-mahotsav. The festivals went properly, successful, and without any problem with the help of all the devotees and also by the mercy of Gurudev, Guru Maharaj. Actually we do not do anything—everything belongs to the Lord and Gurudev and they do everything. This is how by the blessing of our Gurupadpadma we have completed these festivals.

Also, Gurudev's disappearance festival is very soon, on the dvadasi day, 18 April (Monday), and we are inviting everybody to take part in it. Many Vaishnavs will come here on this day. Festivals do not happen every day, so please try to come...

Everybody should help this festival. A festival means we come to serve. If somebody helps and does service, they get even more pleasure. Those who cook prasad, distribute prasad, and those who just sit and take prasad, but do not cook or distribute it—this is not the same, it is two different things. Some come for the festival and only do the parikrama and take prasadam, but when somebody does parikrama, listens to Hari-katha and also does some service, they get a great benefit, a great pleasure and happiness.

When somebody hears Hari-katha and gets pleasure in doing service of the Lord, there is no one as fortunate as them. Service brings pleasure, joy.

* * *

Be on Guard

Sri Jagannath Mishra Ananda-mahotsav

Evening, 24 March 2016

If you go to school, college, or university, and do not study properly—if you always sit behind and when the professor gives a lecture you do not listen, do not follow it —you will not get a proper result. The same is here too. This is a transcendental university: if you take initiation, take the mantra and do not follow your Guru properly (you do not chant, do not do gayatri, do not follow Gurudev's words, do not serve Gurudev), then this initiation has no meaning, has no value—it is actually bhakti-virodhi, averse to devotion.

jnana-yoga-karma-chaya mulya tara kichhu naya

bhaktira virodhi yadi haya

"Karma, jnana, yoga have no value if it is against devotion." You cannot get the Lord through karma, jnana, or yoga—you can get the Lord only by serving Him. If you do not feel affection and attraction to the service of the Lord, to the kirtan of the Lord, you will not get the Lord.

"Aharnisa chinta Krsna, balaha vadane: day and night think about Krishna, chant Krishna's Name." (Cb, 2.28.28) You must do kirtan (serve and think about the Lord) day and night, but do you do that? From the time you wake up in the morning you must try to do kirtan the whole day—twenty-four hours a day. We say, "Aharnisa chinta Krsna," but when we do kirtan for ten hours we become tired, we cannot manage, but Mahaprabhu chanted twenty-four hours a day...

We must try to serve the Lord. We have got an opportunity to practise and serve the lotus feet of Gurudev, but if somebody leaves their service, it is their loss, this is not a problem for the Guru. If I die, service will not stop—it will continue. Because of our ego we say, "Service will not run without me." If we think about this and understand this, it will be good for us.

"Ahankare matta haina, Nitai-pada pasariya, asatyere satya kori mani: maddened with pride, forgetting Nitai's feet, I accept untruth as truth." Everything happens by the mercy of Gurudev, everything is running by the mercy of Gurudev, but if we leave service to his lotus feet, the loss is ours, not his. Ego is very bad.

Maya is always around you, and if you leave your service, maya can attack you any time. She is always searching for your weak point, always searching for a hole to enter—she will always try to capture you and remove you from the service. That is her job, but the Guru and Vaishnavs are very powerful—if you listen to them and follow their instruction, they will always protect you from the illusory environment; but those who make offence lose their service...

* * *

Service Attachment: "I cannot stop his service!"

Sri Jagannath Mishra Ananda-mahotsav

Evening, 24 March 2016

You have seen how the festival went, was there any problem or want?

Many times Gurudev said in front of you all, "Vinod goes to collect, but compared to what I collected, I can never collect like him! He collects three times more rice, three times more potato from the villages." After Gurudev's disappearance, I could not go to some villages, but they still give and give even more.

Do we stay in the Math for money, for kanak, kamini, pratistha? No!

Before also, when I was making this Centenary building I spent so much money on it. When Gurudev was in America, he told me, "Complete this building." So, by his order I completed it. He was coming back in August for Srila Sridhar Maharaj's tirobhav festival (disappearance day) and I was trying to do everything very quickly. The painting had not been finished, but I wanted to show Gurudev that it had been finished, so I painted the side of the building facing the road (I tried and tried to get the other sides painted, but I could not). I thought he would come in the car and, seeing the wall painted, he would think, "Oh, the painting is finished," and he will be happy. At that time, there was so much money due in the market, and Gurudev was very upset (although I knew mentally he was happy), and to test me he said, "You are the treasurer, but I am going to withdraw you from this post!" Gurudev also said, "I will remove him from the post of the treasurer, but I cannot stop his service! His service will continue even without any money."

Then you must understand what the service mood is. Everybody—whether you are a householder, a brahmachari, a vanaprastha, or a sannyasi—must have attachment to their service.

If you have other things in your heart, if some material desire is coming to your heart, you must remove it at the root from the very beginning. This is the main thing. If you have bhukti, mukti, siddhi kami (desire for enjoyment, liberation, powers), if you want kanak, kamini, pratistha (companions, money, and position), you must finish these desires from the very beginning. Remember it.

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Me for anything except devotion, I can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, everything—but I will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18)

If in lieu of service you want liberation, enjoyment, and so on, if you want all this, you will get it, but you will forget devotion, you will forget the Lord.

* * *

Real Kirtan, Real Joy

Sri Jagannath Mishra Ananda-mahotsav

Evening, 24 March 2016

bhukti-mukti adi-vancha yadi mane haya

sadhana karile prema utpanna na haya

"If you have material desires, if you want liberation, enjoyment, some mystic powers, and so on, then even if you practise all life, or life after life, prem, divine love, will not come."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.175)

You are practising, chanting the Holy Name, doing kirtan, but do not get any pleasure. Why are you not getting pleasure? What is the reason? You must understand it. When you do kirtan, you must feel so much joy and pleasure, but why do you not feel it? Because you have other desires in your heart, this is the reason.

koti janma yadi kare sravana kirtana

tabu na paya vrajera nandera nandana

"If you practise hearing and chanting for millions of lives, you may still not get the Son of Nanda who dwells in Vraja."

hena krnsa-nama yadi laya bahu-bara

tabu yadi prema nahe, nahe asrudhara

tabe jani, aparadha tahate prachura

krsna-nama-bija tahe na kare ankura

"If you chant this Name of Krishna so many times but still there is no love, there are no tears streaming from your eyes, then as I understand there are too many offences and the seed of Krishna's Name does not sprout."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.29-30)

You do sravan, kirtan for millions of lives, but if you feel no effect, it means you have too many offences. You must first give up the offences, then you can do kirtan.

aparadha sunye haye laha krsna-nama

achirat tumi pabe krsna-prema-dhana

"You can get the wealth, the treasure of divine love to Krishna if you chant the Holy Name without offences." You must follow and practise your spiritual life properly and every day.

Life is not for ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam cha (eating, sleeping, fearing, mating). Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur also writes:

nidralasya hata sukarye virata

akarye udyogi ami

"I am subdued by laziness and sleep, averse to performing good deeds, and eager to perform sinful deeds."

Sleep, laziness, always avoiding good works, always doing bad works—if you always do this, then maya will get a chance to enter you. Also prajalpa... There are so many things. All advice is written in the calendar—what to do and what not to do, when to follow Ekadasi, all rules and regulations. You can get there everything.

You must have chastity. You are doing some service, but you must have sincerity. "Oh I am doing puja, worshipping the Deities!"—"How many days?"—"Only five days." "I have done puja in Chaitanya Saraswat Math!"—"How many days?"—"For five days." "I have cooked in Chaitanya Saraswat Math!"—"How many days?"—"For three days." You must do what you do sincerely, putting your heart into it. "Oh, I was the manager of a temple branch."—"How many days?"—"For seven days." This is not sincerity. The main thing is that whatever service you do, you must do it with sincerity and with chastity.

Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur also writes,

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara

apane manabi sada chhadi' ahankara

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana

pratihimsa tyaji' anye karabi palana

“Give up your false ego, and always consider yourself lower than grass, poor, needy, and mean. Practise tolerance like a tree. Stop ill-treating others and nurture them.”

In Nabadwip everybody says, "We are devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu," but what is said in the sastra?

“gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale

gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6)

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'

gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

“You show the world you serve Gora simply by wearing tilak but secretly you misbehave. Gora will catch you, you thief!”

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.7)

* * *

Make the Best of Your Life

Sri Jagannath Mishra Ananda-mahotsav

Evening, 24 March 2016

Mahaprabhu taught us to be humble, tolerant and give honour to others,

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna

amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

“One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna.”

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.239)

You must always engage in kirtan (kirtaniyah sada harih)—if you do not do kirtan of Krishna, you will not get any result.

How many days will we live in this world? We can die any time! What did we promise to the Lord? We have got eyes, we have got ears, but what is my duty? Service and duty are not the same.

You plant a coconut tree, but the coconut tree cannot eat coconut itself, so you think, "I have planted the coconut tree, and my wife, my children, my relatives will enjoy it," but you are not the owner of its life. Krishna is the only proprietor and He is the enjoyer—we cannot enjoy anything. We have to offer everything to the Lord, then we can take His prasadam. These are the main things.

You are now going back to your homes, and you will be doing Kali puja, Durga puja, Laksmi puja, Ganesh puja, Kartik puja—there are thousands of demigods, but can you please them all? If you worship Kali, Durga will be not satisfied, if you worship Siva, Parvati will be not satisfied, if you worship Ganesh, Kartik will be not satisfied—how many demigods can you satisfy? It is said in Srimad Bhagavad Gita (9.23) that you worship Durga, you worship Kali, but actually you worship Lord Krishna, but it is called avidhi, wrong way.

'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)

You cannot satisfy everyone, but we can serve and fulfil the desire of the Guru and Vaishnavs. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told:

"You can give benefit to the souls by serving them (by engaging them in service of the Lord)."

"Satisfying the whims of your mind is not bhajan. Following the Guru, the Vaishnavs and serving the Guru, the Vaishnavs and satisfying them is what is called bhajan."

Do not follow your mind. You must always have a great faith, the strongest faith. Always remember this.

Try to understand what you have got this human body for. Ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam cha (eating, sleeping, fearing, mating)? You think this life is for eating and sleeping, but a pig is actually happier than you are—if you bring it a plate of stool, it will be so happy, "Oh, it is so dear to me"; a dog sleeping in the street is more comfortable than you are in an A/C room, and if you call it into your A/C room, it will not even want to go there. Then you think why you got this life. You have passed 8 400 000 births and have finally got a human birth...

I do not know if I can give you any benefit or not, but Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur went to Kasim Bazaar and said, "I have not come here to waste your rice." Suppose you come to a doctor, and the doctor tells you that you have diabetes. He tells you, "Take this medicine and do not eat sweets." Some will say, "Doctor, I have money. I can pay you as much as you want, but I cannot give up sweets..." If the doctor loves you, he will say, "I do not want this kind of patient. If you eat sweets, then your money is wasted." In this world, you can get many gurus—karmi guru, jnani guru, yogi guru, kaulik guru, laulik guru, and so on. Just as there are doctors who will come to you every day and say that you can eat anything you want, there are also gurus in the this world who give pravrtti-marga upadesh (advise you on the path of sense enjoyment). They will tell you, "You can do anything you want—you can smoke, take drugs, etc.—just take initiation and give me some money." There are such gurus in this world, but it is rare to get a real spiritual master for the spiritual life.

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base

nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

“My days are passed in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me.”

(‘Durlabha manava janma labhiya' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

jivana anitya janaha sara

tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara

namasraya kari' yatane tumi

thakaha apana kaje

"Understand the essence: life is temporary and filled with all sorts of adversity. Carefully taking shelter of the Name, engage in your work."

(‘Udila aruna' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

When will we leave? One day we all have to leave, but we must consider what we have done, what we have got.

bhajibo boliya ese samsara-bhitare

bhuliya rohile tumi avidyara bhare

"You came into this world saying, 'O Lord, I will serve You', but, having forgotten this promise, you have remained in ignorance."

('Jiva Jago Jiva Jago' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We promised, "My Lord, I will serve you! You have given me eyes so that I can see You, you have given me legs so that I could do dham parikrama." Even if I die while doing that, it is not a problem—one day we all must die.

We become attached to our house and family and say, "It is my house, it is my child, it is my family," but are they mine, tell me? I may have made it, but can I keep it? This family is temporary (anitya-samsar), not eternal (nitya-samsar), and one day we must leave it. That is why you must understand these main things and worship the Lord, enter the family of Krishna: "Kariya Krsnera samsara chhadi' anachar, make your family Krishna's family and avoid what is unfavourable"—then you will get relief and benefit.

You can make your house Krishna's house,

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi

grhete goloka bhaya

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

(‘Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Worship Krishna and your house will become Vrindavan, then you will not have to come again in this mortal world. As you saw, so you reap: today you wear some clothes, but you cannot wear them tomorrow, you always have to change the dress. You are not this body, you are a soul, but you always keep changing the body—sometimes you are born as a human, sometimes as a dog, sometimes as a goat, and so on.

You must understand all these things and try to serve Hari, Guru, Vaishnavs.

…I am inviting you all to come to the Math for the next festival on April 18, or at any other time. If anyone wants to stay here permanently, we have many branches in India—Vrindavan, Govardhan, Puri, Ekachakra, Ganga Sagar, Bakura, Kalna (lady's ashram), Siliguri, Bamunpara, Hapaniya, Nabadwip and others. Now we are also building temples in Tarakeshwar and Nrisingha Palli. If you want to stay at the Math, you have my invitation.

"I will stay in the Math and do service. I do not come to the Math to waste my Gurudev's rice," "I come to give to the Guru, not to take," "I do not bring money or some wealth with me, but I come to give my body, life, and heart (deha-prana-mana) for the service of my Guru"—this should be the mood. If you have this mood, then your initiation has value—if your initiation has some value, this mood must come. Seva-pravritti must always come. Our mood will be, "I will give something to my Guru, I will not take anything from my Guru." Always remember, always think about this.

Gurudev always gives us, always bestows his mercy upon us, but we must be a proper receiver. Gurudev always gives us with an open heart but we cannot take it. We must become a proper receiver to be able to accept it.

So,

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.”

* * *

Dignity of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (1)

Sri Nabadwip Dham

26 March 2016

Vaishnava-sangete mana anandita anuksana: when we get the association of great devotees, we always feel a great pleasure.

Today all of you went to Bamunpara, the birthplace of Gurudev, and I am happy that you went there because you cannot always come for Gurudev's appearance day, but at Gaura Purnima time you can visit some holy places like Bamunpara, Hapaniya, Ekachakra, it is a good experience for the devotees.

When many outside people come to the holy places, the holy places become contaminated, but when great devotees come there, they purify those places. That is why devotees go to the holy places, and the holy places also always want devotees to keep their foot dust on their heads.

(1) AT THE ROOTS

...Gurudev left Bamunpara when he was seventeen years old. He came to Nadanghat—it is on the way to Bamunpara—and worked there as an assistant of a doctor. Then, a preaching party from Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math came to that village and when Gurudev heard their lecture, he became impressed and joined this mission: he took shelter and came under the guidance of Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, who is the dearmost devotee of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad.

At Srila Prabhupad's disappearance time, he indicated who could preach the real, deep conception after him—it was Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. When Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was going to leave his body, he wanted to hear a viraha (separation) song, "Sri Rupa manjari pada...", and he wanted to hear it from Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. After he listened to his singing, he left his body... In this way we can also understand what Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur wanted.

After Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's disappearance, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad was in Kolkata, living a householder life, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj stayed in his house with Gurudev. Srila Sridhar Maharaj gave so much inspiration to his life and he removed, took him out of his householder life.

When A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj left his house, he wanted to take sannyas from Srila Sridhar Maharaj, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj told him, "You are already my godbrother and my friend, how shall I accept you as my sannyas disciple and how will you treat me as your Guru? It is impossible. I have given sannyas initiation to Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Maharaj, and you can take sannyas from him." Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj did that—he took sannyas from Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Maharaj. After that he started preaching all over the world.

He made the tunnel for all the foreign devotees, he put the seeds in that soil. Later, many devotees asked him, "Srila Prabhupad, now you are becoming old... We have learnt so many things from you, but who shall we go to after you leave?" Srila Swami Maharaj said, "In Bengal, there is Kolerganj, aparadha-bhanjan-pat, and there lives my siksa-guru. His name is Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. You can go to him, and you can learn the bhakti-siddhanta (the main things, the real conception) from him. If you go to him, I will be happy."

After A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad disappeared, so many foreign devotees came to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and many of them took shelter and came under the guidance of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Many of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's disciples also came to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, and my Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, was here at that time and he got the best opportunity to serve all godbrothers of his Guru Maharaj, to serve all these great Vaishnavs.

So, as all the godbrothers came to learn the great siddhanta from Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and all the foreign devotees also came here, in this way Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math spread all over the world.

During his life, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj handed all his duty over to our Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and made him his successor. After Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj left, Srila Gurudev gave so much nourishment to the foreign devotees through his love and affection, through preaching Mahaprabhu's conception of humility, tolerance and giving honour to others. He went to the foreign countries 24-25 times, preaching door to door, giving everyone the message of his Guru Maharaj, of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

In this way he spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, and this is how we, very fallen souls, by the mercy of Gurudev also got an opportunity to take shelter of such a bona fide Guru as he is. That is our happiness, that is our joy, that is our great luck and great fortune.

Before Gurudev left his body, he made many acharyas all over the world, and now they are preaching Gurudev conception, Gurudev's love and affection, love and beauty. Many people are attracted by their preaching and I am happy with that.

This is how our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math is now running properly.

* * *

Dignity of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (2)

Sri Nabadwip Dham

26 March 2016

(2) POWERFUL AND BONA FIDE

What is the main conception, what is the main teaching of Chaitanya Saraswat Math?

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith and veneration."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

Sadhu-sanga. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told,

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."

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote so many things about Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Every day we sing these songs,

sujanarvuda-radhita-pada-yugam

yuga-dharma-dhurandhara-patra-varam

varadabhaya-dayaka-pujya-padam

pranamami sada prabhupada-padam

"My master, Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, established the religion of the age, Krishna-sankirtan, and is the chief minister of the universal assembly of leading Vaisnavas. His lotus feet are worshipped by millions of virtuous souls and fulfil the desires of those who dispel souls' fears. Eternally I offer my obeisance to my master's worshippable feet."

krpaya hari-kirtana-murti-dharam

dharani-bhara-haraka-gaura-janam

janakadhika-vatsala-snigdha-padam

pranamami sada prabhupada-padam

"He is the embodiment of Hari-kirtan. He mercifully relieves Mother Earth of the burden upon her. He is an associate of Sri Gaura, and more kind and affectionate than a father. Eternally I offer my obeisance to my master's feet."

This is how Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj preached for his Guru, for his Prabhupad, and he preached very much. He also wrote,

jayare jayare jaya gaura-sarasvati

bhakativinoda nvaya karuna murati

"All glory to the voice of Gaura, the embodiment of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur's mercy, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur!"

prakasile gaura-seva bhuvana mangala

bhakati-siddhanta suddha prajnana ujjvala

"He manifested Sri Gauranga's service for the upliftment of the world. His teaching of devotion is pure, brilliant, and enlightening."

He wrote Sri Bhakti Vinod Viraha Dasakam and also this pranam-mantra about Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur,

guru-dam grantha-dam gaura-dhama-dam nama-dam muda

bhakti-dam bhuri-dam vande bhakti-vinodakam sada

"I perpetually offer my obeisance unto Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur. Guru-dam: he is the bestower of Sri Guru (Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur). Grantha-dam: he is the author of numerous commentaries, treatises, articles, novels and songbooks. Gaura-dhama-dam: he is the revealer of the abode of Sriman Mahaprabhu. Nama-dam: he is the giver of the Name. Bhakti-dam: he is the granter of pure devotion. Bhuri-dam: he is the bestower of an abundance of divine fortune."

(Sri Laghu-chandrika-bhasya, 1.8)

He wrote so many things and Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was happy with him. Srila Prabhupad himself said (after reading Sri Bhakti Vinod Viraha Dasakam), "What Srila Sridhar Maharaj wrote is impossible to write. Bhakti Vinod Thakur himself exists in his heart, that is why Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj can write these kinds of things."

Being so happy with him, Srila Prabhupad crossed many senior devotees like Kunja Babu, Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Maharaj, Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Maharaj and others, and gave sannyas to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

So, we can understand that this is a real place, and we have come to such a beautiful place and have taken shelter of such a beautiful, such a great, bona fide Guru. We cannot do anything ourselves, we have no power to do anything, but our Guru is so powerful that he can take us from the illusory environment. This is our prayer and hope.

This is how our conception and preaching are going on. These are pure things. You can hear our songs and see our singing style—our preaching style is a little different from the Gaudiya Maths. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj knew what Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur wanted. If you read his and Gurudev's books (Prapanna-jivanamritam, Golden Volcano of Divine Love, Sri Guru and His Grace, Search for Sri Krishna Reality the Beautiful, Revealed Truth, and others), you can see what kind of conception they wanted to give all over the world. We are very happy with that.

They are very merciful—just like Mahaprabhu they are going door to door, they do not think about themselves. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj lived a simple life, he does not like a very gorgeous life, and Gurudev's life was also like that.

There was a time when Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj went to live in Vrindavan. There he got an akash-dhvani (a message from the sky) from Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, "What have you come to Vrindavan for? Nirjan-bhajan is not my style. You are living in Pavan-sarovar, in Nanda-gram, but this is not going door to door. Go to Nabadwip, preach Krishna consciousness!" When he heard that, he came back.

Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj, Bhakti Kamal Madhusudan Maharaj, Bhakti Dayita Madhav Maharaj, Bhakti Aloka Paramahamsa Maharaj, and other intimate disciples of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur all took sannyas from Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, then we can understand that Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was not a simple person, was not a simple sadhu. He is so highly qualified...

When Bhakti Vichar Jajavar Maharaj, Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaj, Bhakti Kamal Madhusudan Maharaj went to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's birthplace in Hapaniya, they all admitted it was not a simple place. Also, Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj always went to see where Srila Sridhar Maharaj was born, in which playground Srila Sridhar Maharaj played football, in which pond Srila Sridhar Maharaj used to bathe, which school he went to, and so on. Srila Sridhar Maharaj asked him, "You are my godbrother, you love me and you go to my birthplace, it is not a problem, but why do you go to so many places like this? Why do you want to know which playground I played football in, which pond I bathed in?" Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj replied, "Maharaj, looking at the slokas that you write, I am thinking it is not written by an ordinary person. I think Srila Rupa Goswami himself wrote these slokas!" So, you can understand from this how much honour and respect all of the godbrothers gave to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

You can also see A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj. When he went to preach in the foreign countries, before starting his preaching tour, he came here to ask Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj for mercy, and when he came back from his foreign tour, he would come Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and tell him everything about the preaching abroad. Also, do you know who first declared that Srila Swami Maharaj was a saktya-vesa-avatar? Who is saktya-vesa-avatar? It is Nityananda Prabhu. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was first to declare, "Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad is not an ordinary person—he is a saktya-vesa-avatar of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu."

When Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj came here in Nabadwip, at first he did not want to make so many disciples, he was that kind of person, but many godbrothers pressed him so much asking him to give initiations. Then one time he went to Ekachakra where he prayed to Nityananda Prabhu for mercy, but Nityananda Prabhu told him, "You are coming to ask Me for mercy, but you already have so much mercy from Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. First distribute that mercy, then I will think about it." This is how he gradually started making disciples.

This is aparadh-bhanjan-pat, Koladwip, and we are very fortunate that we can stay and live in this kind of place and that we have come to such a powerful and bona fide teacher...

* * *

Dignity of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (3)

Sri Nabadwip Dham

26 March 2016

(3) OUR PRACTISING LIFE PRINCIPLES

Patience, tolerance is necessary—this is the main thing. Gurudev would always write, "Sahasa vidadhita na kriyam: suddenly not to do anything"—wait and see, everything will become peaceful. Krishna always tests us, but we cannot tolerate so much, we do not have so much patience. That is why we think we took initiation so many years ago but we are not getting anything.

bhukti-mukti adi-vancha yadi mane haya

sadhana karile prema utpanna na haya

"If you have material desires, if you want liberation, enjoyment, some mystic powers, and so on, then even if you practise all life, or life after life, prema, divine love, will not come."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.175)

We have so many material desires coming to our heart, that is why we practise but do not get pleasure. Suppose you are going to work and your son wants to go with you. He cries so much that he wants to go with you, but what do you do? You give him a chocolate, you give him a toy, and your son forgets about going with you.

Think about it, what do you want? Krishna has already given us so much—Krishna gave you children, Krishna gave you a husband, Krishna gave you a father, Krishna gave you a mother—but still we are asking for more and more.

There are six types of bad elements: atyahara, prayasa, prajalpa, niyamagraha, laulya, janasanga (too much eating, doing nonsense, too much gossiping, superficial attachment to rules and regulations, greed, associating with non-devotees). We do not accept what is in favour of devotion properly—sometimes we accept what is favourable but sometimes we also accept what is unfavourable to devotion. This is bad and this is a big problem. We accept what is favourable to devotion, but we must also reject what is unfavourable. Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told that it is like you drink milk and sometimes you also take tobacco, smoke—it does not work that way, the two are opposite of each other. Drinking milk means you will get some health, some improvement, but by smocking you will reduce your health. You must accept what is favourable to devotion and at the same time also reject what is unfavourable. This is the main thing.

Sometimes some material things come to your heart, but you must remove them from your heart. You can see the example of Madhavendra Puri—he wanted to taste some ksir, but then he thought, "My tongue is very greedy (jihvara lalasa), I will not stay here!"

jihvara lalase yei iti-uti dhaya

sisnodara-parayana se krsna nahi paya

"Those who go here and there trying to satisfy their tongue, follow their genitals and belly and cannot attain Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.227)

Sometimes we have to tolerate some things. Ramachandra Puri made an offence to Madhavendra Puri and even to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—many times he made some comments against Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but Mahaprabhu gave him respect. There was also Brahmananda Bharati who used to wear a tiger's skin. He was from Keshav Bharati's group (Mahaprabhu also took sannyas from Keshav Bharati), and once devotees told Mahaprabhu, "Brahmananda Bharati has come! Brahmananda Bharati has come!" Brahmananda Bharati was sitting right in front of Mahaprabhu, but Mahaprabhu said, "Where? There is no Brahmananda Bharati here!" The devotees pointed at him, "O Prabhu, he is Brahmananda Bharati," but Mahaprabhu replied, "No, it cannot be Brahmananda Bharati—he cannot be wearing a tiger's skin!" Then Brahmananda Bharati got shy and changed his clothes.

So, we can see that actually some chastity is necessary.

* * *

Dignity of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (4)

Sri Nabadwip Dham

26 March 2016

(4) ENTERING SERVICE PLANET

We do not follow Mirabai, we want to serve under the guidance of Vraja gopis, under the guidance of Radharani, under the guidance of Vaishnavs. Our service mood is like this. Also, Das Goswami Prabhu once did not accept a pot that was coming from Chandravali's place.

Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "Baba badha Radha." He said it because his brother Lalita Prasad thought, "Bimala Prasad [previous name of Srila Prabhupad] is a son of Bhakti Vinod Thakur, and I am also a son of Bhakti Vinod Thakur, so we are the same. Our father helped to make Chaitanya Math in Yogapith, so I also have some share of that Chaitanya Math." And Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "You see Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur as a father, but I see him not only as a father, he is not than a father, he is more than even a Guru—he is Kamala Manjari, Radharani's associate."

This is what our preaching style is based upon, and this is what it should be like. "Tosamod kori' guru haite pare na: one who flatters you, cannot be a guru." If you read Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's lectures, then you can see what his mood was like. We should understand our temple's dignity, this is the main thing.

SURRENDER

We must always engage ourselves in service and try to enter the service planet.

suddha-bhakata-charana-renu

bhajana-anukula

bhakata-seva parama-siddhi

prema-latikara mula

"The dust of pure devotees' feet is favourable to devotion. Serving the devotees is the supreme fulfilment and the root of the creeper of divine love."

Saranagati is the main thing. If you sing and explain this song from Saranagati (19), you can understand what it is,

sarvasva tomara, charane sampiya,

parechhi tomara ghare

nijera posana, kabhu na bhaviba,

rahiba bhavera bhare

“I have offered everything at Your feet and taken shelter in Your home. I will never think about my own maintenance; I will always remain within the shelter of loving attachment for You.”

"Tie me near to you, tie me to your door."

bandhiya nikate amare palibe

rahiba tomara dvara

pratipa-janere asite na diba

rakhiba gadera pare

"Tie me up nearby and maintain me. I will remain at Your doorstep. I will not allow anyone who is against You to enter, I will keep them outside."

"I will not allow anyone who is against you to come to your door."

taba nija-jana prasada seviya

uchchhistha rakhibe yaha

amara bhojana parama-anande

pratidina habe taha

"Whatever remnants your devotees leave behind after honouring Your prasad, I will eat that every day in great ecstasy."

Mahaprabhu did not allow anyone to touch His feet, but He did allow one devotee (Kalidas) to do it because that devotee always took remnants of the devotees. After prasadam, you throw the plate outside—that devotee would take that prasadam.

Gurudev said that if you serve devotees, Krishna will come to serve you. You can see Kadam-khandi—it is in Vrindavan, near Nanda-gram, and you can see there many slokas written Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Srimati Radharani came to that place to cook for Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami—Radharani Herself came to cook sweet rice for them! Sanatan Goswami cried after that, "You are giving so much austerity to Her! Do not give any more austerity to Her."

WITHOUT OFFENCE AND EGO

We have joined this mission, we have accepted a Guru and taken initiation, but now we must serve our Guru. The main thing is how to make your Guru happy.

You must also always avoid Vaishnav aparadh because when you make offence to a Vaishnav, you making an offence to the Lord. You see how mercy Vaishnavs are. Once, Durvasa Muni came to Ambarish Maharaj's house. The day before Ambarish Maharaj did nirjal ekadasi and in the morning when Durvasa Muni came, Ambarish Maharaj took some charanamrita for paran (to break the fast). Durvasa Muni became very angry, but Krishna could not tolerate that and sent Sudarshan after Durvasa Muni. Durvasa Muni ran everywhere out of fear, but Ambarish Maharaj said to Krishna, "O Lord, please protect him, please protect him, please protect him!" Such is Vaishnav's mercy—"Please protect him." So, you can understand how merciful they are.

We always want mercy, mercy, mercy, but our heart is always full of ego—how shall we keep the mercy of the Guru and Vaishnavs? We always ask, "Gurudev, give me mercy. Gurudev, give me mercy," but if I am full of ego how will I keep that mercy? Here is one example.

There was a sadhu who lived in a thatched house. One day when he was cooking something, a man came to his house, sat on a chair and said, "Hey, sadhu! Give me some knowledge!" The sadhu thought, "What has this man come to me for? He has no surrender. He must have come to test me." Thinking like this, the sadhu brought two glasses of water (one glass had plain water, and the other one some sugar water) and poured the sugar water into the other glass. All water fell down and the man's leather shoes, pants, everything got wet. The man became angry and shouted, "Hey sadhu! You have no brain! What are you doing?! I am all wet! I know something, but you are a big fool!" The sadhu replied, "I am doing this to show you that you have come to me to ask for some knowledge—you want to take some knowledge, some lesson from me—but you know more than me. Your brain is full of knowledge, and if I put something in you, it will all overflow and fall down."

So, if you come to somebody to get anything, you must come in a surrendered mood, this is the main thing.

FAITH vs KNOWLEDGE

"Only those who got the mercy of Chaitanya can understand the pastimes of Chaitanya." Who knows Gurudev? Who can understand Gurudev? Who can understand Guru Maharaj? Only those who have got mercy from Guru Maharaj, who have got mercy from Gurudev can understand Guru Maharaj, can understand Gurudev.

Somebody once told Gurudev, "Maharaj I have a Ph.D. degree in Bengali and I know Chaitanya-charitamrita very well. Can I compose Chaitanya-charitamrita?" Gurudev replied, "You may be a Ph.D., a double Ph.D., or a triple Ph.D., you can know so much, but without Chaitanya's mercy you cannot compose Chaitanya-charitamrita."

jnana-yoga-karma-chaya mulya tara kichhu naya

bhaktira virodhi yadi haya

"Karma, jnana (fruitive activities, knowledge) are nothing, have no value if it is against devotion." If something is against devotion, it has no value. Full surrender is necessary.

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana

'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara

bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

"Humility, self-submission, embracing the Lord's guardianship, maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me', engaging only in activities that are favourable to devotion, rejecting everything unfavourable to devotion."

You must have these six types of saranagati—saranagati, faith is the main thing. If you lose your faith, you lose everything. Gurudev told so many times you may be staying with your Guru, but when the Guru says, "This is a rope," you say, "No, it is a snake." You must believe what your Guru tells you without any hesitation or thinking.

MAKE YOUR HOUSE A TEMPLE

sri-krsna-chaitanya-daya karaha vichara

vichara karile chitte pabe chamatkara

"If you consider the mercy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, you will be wonder-struck to realise it."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.15)

What Chaitanya-chandra gave to us, what Guru Maharaj, Gurudev gave to us, is incomparable, inconceivable, and we must have faith in that, we must believe that. You must practise in a proper way and make your house a temple, then you can run, you can continue your practising life. Gurudev said no matter where you stay you can maintain your spiritual life. These are the main things.

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith and veneration."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

sakala-sadhana-srestha ei pancha anga

krsna-prema janmaya ei panchera alpa sanga

"These five limbs of devotional service are the best of all. Even a slight performance of these five awakens love for Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.125)

Chant the Holy Name without offence. If you make offence to the Lord, his associates, Vaishnavs, can remove your offence, but who will remove your offence if you make offence to the Vaishnavs? No one can remove your offence then.

mali hana kare sei bija aropana

sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

“As a gardener, they must plant that seed and water it with practising: hearing and chanting.”

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.152)

GUIDED BY LOVE

There will be some unwanted branches on your tree. What are they? Bhukti mukti, enjoyment and liberation. You must cut those unwanted branches, then your tree will grow high.

"Krishna-arthe akhila-chesta: you must do everything for Krishna." [Cc, 2.22.126, one of the 64 bhaktyangas.] "Krishna-pritye bhoga-tyaga: you must accept and renounce things being guided by love to Krishna." [Cc, 2.22.116, one of the 64 bhaktyangas.] If something is necessary for the service to the Lord and some offence comes through that, it can be acceptable. For example, we cook for a big festival and so many insects die while we cook. What can you do? But if you cannot do any offence for your own indriya-tarpan, for your own enjoyment, it is not acceptable.

Continue and practise properly in this way and you will be perfect.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Festival: Vision and Focus

16 April 2013

Gurudev's disappearance festival is very soon, and we must arrange some festival, some service to the Vaishnavs. There will be Vaishnavs from Mayapur, many householder devotees will come from different towns of India, also Gurudev's disciples will come. Gurudev's disappearance festival means Vaishnav seva. Vaishnav is the main focus for us.

Appearance and disappearance look different, one is avirbhav and the other one is tirobhav, but following Vaishnavs' vision we think that on these two tithis (days) Gurudev always takes puja from us and on these days we can worship Gurudev properly. We worship and do everything properly every day, but if we make Gurudev happy—if we make a festival of the Lord's personal associate, if we offer him worship on this day—the Lord also becomes happy. As we know, the worship of the Lord's devotees, of a Vaishnav, is greater than the worship of the Lord, it is actually the highest. We believe that and this is why first we always do Guru puja—we always first give "jaya" to Guru and Vaishnavs, when we recite gayatri mantras, we always recite Guru-mantra first, and Krishna-mantra later.

It is said in the scriptures that if someone serves Gauranga without serving the Guru, such sinner goes to hell. We say, "Guru-mukha-padma-vakya chitete kariya aikya: make the teachings from Sri Guru's lotus mouth one with your heart," but we do not listen to Gurudev, we do not follow what he says. That is our bad fortune—this is Guru aparadh, seva aparadh, Vaishnav aparadh. What does it lead to? You have heard about Ramachandra Puri—he also became a very big offender of Mahaprabhu, he was rejected by Madhavendra Puri. Gurudev also rejected some of his brahmacharis and some of his sannyasis, and Guru Maharaj also said, "If somebody does not follow Govinda Maharaj, I drag them out"...

We must understand what we have come here for. Have we come here only for food and a room?

* * *

Weaknesses

Sri Nabadwip Dham

16 April 2013

If in this life you think, "This is my house, I will not leave this house," then next birth you will become a lizard: you can see that they always stay in the house.

What did Chaitanya-charitamrita tell?

'ei sthane achhe dhana'—yadi daksine khudibe

'bhimarula-baruli' uthibe, dhana na paibe

"There is some treasure in this place, but if you dig in the southern direction, the wasps and drones will rise, and you will not get the treasure.

'paschime' khudibe, taha 'yaksa' eka haya

se vighna karibe,—dhane hata na padaya

"If you dig in the western direction, there is a ghost who will create such a disturbance that your hands will not even touch the treasure.

'uttare' khudile achhe krsna 'ajagare'

dhana nahi pabe, khudite gilibe sabare

"If you dig in the northern direction, there is a big black snake that will swallow you if you try to dig there.

purva-dike tate mati alpa khudite

dhanera jhari padibeka tomara hatete

"If, however, you dig a little in the eastern direction, the pot of treasure will immediately be into your hands.”

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.132-135)

That is bhukti-, mukti-, siddhi-kami. Gurudev also explained it in another way. I remember I once asked him something and he gave this example.

Before there was no paper money, people used silver coins, even here in India they used silver coins before. Once, a rich man put his riches into a jar and buried it near his house. When his grandson took over the house, he came across that pot with riches, but when he was trying to take it out, he saw there was a cobra. Gurudev asked me, "Do you know who that cobra is?" It is that grandfather. In his life, he had so much attachment with his money, he would guard it so much that much that in his next birth he became a cobra and continued guarding it as a snake.

Attachment is a very dangerous thing. Then you can realise what kind of attachment you must have,

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara

sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

"May I have the same affection and attraction to your feet that I now have for material things."

(Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

You have love for your family—your son, daughter, husband, wife, etc.—but if feel that kind of love for the lotus feet of the Lord, then you can understand that you are getting some benefit, that devotion is coming. The kind of attachment you have for your family life should come for your Guru, the Vaishnavs, and Bhagavan.

——-

27 March 2016

[Srila Acharya Maharaj notices that Srila Ashram Maharaj is looking intently at the ceiling fan:]

Maharaj, do you want to stop the fan?

Srila Ashram Maharaj: No, no, I was watching the lizard [an unusually fat one, sitting on the fan]...

Oh, a lizard—it happened so that it is also a devotee... My grandfather from my purva ashram (previous life) became a snake, and somebody in Ekachakra, a pujari, also became a lizard...

That devotee lived in Ekachakra, he did puja and cooked at the temple. When he was very sick, the doctor told him that he had to eat meat and fish for his health, and before his death he started taking meat, fish, and eggs in his house. Then, one day I saw him in a dream, he said to me, "Oh, Maharaj, I am still in Ekachakra!" I began to search, "Who is that?" and I understood he had become a lizard...

Now he likes eating insects—before his death he liked eating meat, fish, and after death he is also eating that. His whole life he did not take meat, but before his death he started taking it because he left his service—I told him not to leave, to stay in the temple, but he did not listen to me. He went back to his house, got very sick, and at the hospital the doctor told him that he had the disease because he was vegetarian... He became tired and started taking meat, fish.

* * *

Looking For Advice?

29 July 2013

Who is your enemy? No one is your enemy—your enemy is your mind.

aichhana amara mana phire yena andha jana

supatha vipatha nahi jane

"My mind wanders like a blind man who cannot tell the right way from the wrong way."

(‘Thakura Vaishnava-gana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

The mind does not know what is the right way and what is the wrong way. We cannot control our mind, but the Guru, Vaishnavs, Bhagavan can, so the intelligent men will always take good association and will always leave bad association—they will serve the Lord in good association (sadhu-sanga) and follow the sadhu's advice. This is the process.

In this world, in this age of Kali, you will get so many gurus—karmi guru, jnani guru, yogi guru, and so on—but Srimad Bhagavatam told,

gurur na sa syat svajano na sa syat

pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat

daivam na tat syan na patis cha sa syan

na mochayed yah samupeta-mrtyam

"It is not your guru, it is not your family, it is not your father, it is not your mother, it is not your god, it is not your husband if that person cannot save you from the world of birth and death."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 5.5.18)

It is not your friend if the person cannot help you in Krishna consciousness; it is not your husband if that man does not help you in Krishna consciousness, if that man cannot give you devotion to Krishna and Krishna consciousness; and even it is not your Guru if the person cannot protect you from death (death means coming and going, mrityu-rupa samsar). These are the main things.

A santapa-harankari guru, a guru who takes away the three-fold miseries (adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik: miseries caused by one's body, by the nature, and other souls) is very rear in this age of Kali, but a vitta harankari guru (a guru who will take away your money, steal your property, and so on) is always there. I will give one example that was given by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur.

In this world, suppose you come to a doctor, and the doctor tells you, "You have blood sugar. You must take this medicine and follow my instruction—you cannot take potato and you cannot take sweets." You, the patient, say, "Oh, doctor, I have so much money, I can take the medicine, but I cannot follow your advice. I cannot stop eating sweets and potato..." If the doctor loves you, then he will say, "I do not want that kind of patient."

The Guru is also like this. A real Guru will not give you flattery, he will not tell you, "You can take anything you want and then you can slowly, slowly remove it." No, the Guru will say, "You must first avoid this bad association, avoid bad habits and follow my instruction, otherwise I do not want you." If, however, the Guru loves your money more, he will think, "If I give initiation to this person, I will get some donation, pranami." There are so many of this kind of gurus available in this world, but one who is actually a Guru will not give you any advice of pravrtti-marga (path of mundane enjoyment)—he will tell it to you directly, as it is, and will not flatter you.

So, we can easily understand what is necessary for our spiritual life…

* * *

Cut No Slack

29 July 2013

The problem is the ego. Ego takes us away, and so many problems come from the ego. What to speak of us, we are tiny jiva souls, even Srimati Radharani has ego.

Srimati Radharani was thinking that She was senior, She was srestha (the dearmost), that She could control all gopis because Krishna had left all gopis and went to serve Her, so She was all-in-all. This kind of mood came to Her, and once She said to Krishna, "Can You take Me to the forest?" Krishna took Her to the forest and They walked and walked, but after a while Srimati Radharani said, "I cannot walk any further, can You take Me on Your shoulder?" Krishna immediately agreed, "Yes, climb up, I will carry You." As She was about to climb up, Krishna suddenly disappeared, and Radharani began to cry...

So, ego can take everything away—it can remove your service, it can take Krishna away. Everything can go away because of ego.

We think we have been initiated for many years but still have not reached our destination, we are not getting the proper benefit, that is why we do not feel so much enthusiasm for service, we do not do our service properly, we neglect it and begin to slacken. This is very bad for us. It is necessary to have enthusiasms (utsaha) and faith (visvas). Faith is the most important—it is necessary for the spiritual life to have the strongest faith.

We have so many bad habits, like atyahara (eating too much), prayascha (hoarding), prajalpa (gossiping), niyamagraha (superficial following of the rules), laulancha (greed), janasanga (bad association). Bad association, eating too much, not taking prasadam, it is all bad. You can read Srimad Bhagavad Gita, third chapter, sloka number thirteen ("Those who prepare food for their own pleasure partake only of sin") and you will understand it easily.

In Srimad Bhagavatam also, you can see what Uddhav Maharaj said. He asked what for we have got this head on our shoulders. The head is very heavy, but if you bow your head at the lotus feet of Krishna, Guru, Vaishnavs, Bhagavan, it will always be light. What have we got hands for? To clean the temple. What have we got the mouth for? To chant the Holy Name, but we are using it for prajalpa—always talking, always gossiping, gossiping. Gurudev also said that if you walk a lot, your legs will pain, so if you talk so much, your mouth will pain and you will lose the energy to chant the Holy Name.

It is necessary to understand these things.

* * *

Step Forward

29 July 2013

We must see what is necessary for our spiritual life: Krishna is always waiting for our service, always engaged in the loving search for the lost servant. You have heard how Lord Jagannath appeared through the hand of Indradyumna, Visvavsu, and Vidyapati. (Visvavasu used to offer sweet potato to Nilmadhav in a forest, and Jagannath appeared through him—He came from Visvavasu to Vidyapati, from Vidyapati to Kind Indradyumna. In this way Lord Jagannath appeared to give mercy to all universe.)

In this age of Kali, Krishna Himself came in the form of the Name.

anarpita-charim chirat karunayavatirnah kalau

samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhaktisriyam

harih purata-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandipitah

sada hrdaya-kandare sphuratu vah sachi-nandanah

“May the Supreme Lord, who is known as the son of Sri Sachi Devi, be transcendentally situated in the innermost core of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has descended in the age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most elevated mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love.”

(Vidagdha-Madhava, 1.2, by Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu)

He came wondering, "Why does Radharani cry for Me? Why does Radharani think about Me?" To taste that Krishna appears as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Krishna also appeared as the Guru,

sadhu paoya kasta bada jivera janiya

sadhu-bhakta-rupe krsna aila nadiya

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.8)

Jagadananda Pandit says that it is rare in this age of Kali to get a great, proper sadhu, a proper Vaishnav or Acharya, that is why Krishna Himself comes in this age of Kali in the form of a sadhu, Acharya, or Guru, and teaches us. Jagadananda Pandit also says,

“gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale

gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6)

We always think, "I am a follower of Mahaprabhu, I am a devotee of Mahaprabhu," but we do not follow Mahaprabhu's siksastaka (advice). We say we are disciples of Mahaprabhu, we are disciples of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, we are disciples of Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, but we do not follow their instruction. The main thing that we must understand is that we must not only say it. As Jagadananda Pandit says in this verse, "I say I am a devotee of Mahaprabhu, but I must follow Mahaprabhu's instruction—you will get the result when you follow His instruction, follow His advice.”

* * *

Eating Out

29 July 2013

Do you have any questions?

Question: When will you come in London?

I am always with you. If you have eyes, you can see me; it is a material question. [His Divine Grace chuckles.]

Devotee: I am so happy to see you, Maharaj! We hear beautiful classes here all the time, but your words are so powerful, they are giving us so much life!

This is what is necessary. As I was saying, it is necessary to practise what is in favour of devotion, necessary to have enthusiasm and not to slack in your service. These are the main things for your service and proper practising.

Also you must avoid eating what you have not offered, what is not prasadam. Always avoid the outside food. I heard it from Gurudev.

One time, soon after I joined the temple, I asked Gurudev why we must avoid the outside food—like, if you go to some restaurant, there is some vegetarian food, why must we avoid it? And I heard the answer from Gurudev. We avoid the outside food (the food that has not been offered to the Lord) because the person who cooks that food has some material desire and that desire will slowly, slowly come to you, and it will eventually remove devotional activities from your life. You must understand that it is harmful for your practising life. It is very bad.

* * *

Perfect Resolve

29 July 2013

Question: Could you say a little more about the importance of good association and avoiding bad association?

Yes, it is said in Srimad Bhagavatam that those who are intelligent will take good association (sadhu-sanga) and avoid bad association (duh-sanga). Actually bad association is the main problem. It is called jana-sangancha. Do not associate with anyone except devotees of Krishna.

Sometimes those who preach Krishna consciousness go to non-devotees, but it is for service, not for their own interest.

One time, Srila Bhakti Hriday Bon Maharaj went begging and collecting in Kolkata. He was walking, walking, and suddenly came to a pros-quarter street where there lived a few thousands of prostitutes. He became very shy, "What place have I come to?!" As he went through that place, some prostitute girls gave him a coin—some gave one rupee, some two rupees, some five rupees. Taking that money, he came to Prabhupad, crying. Prabhupad asked him,

"Why are you crying?"

"Prabhupad, today I have gone to a wrong place. I did not know that street was only a pros-quarter street, I did not know," said Bon Maharaj.

"Am I doing wrong?" asked him Prabhupad. "I take so many brahmacharis and sannyasis from householders—I bring so many boys from their houses, taking them away from their mothers and fathers, and make them brahmacharis. When they become brahmacharis and begin to preach Krishna consciousness, I send them back to the householders to bring more householders to Krishna consciousness. Am I doing wrong? You did not do wrong because you did not go there for your own interest. You went there and some prostitute girls gave you one-two rupees from the money they earn, for the service of the Lord—you did not make any mistake."

We must understand this example, understand what Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told.

It is necessary to have a proper desire for service. If your desire is proper, then one day mercy will come through that, but you must have chastity for your Guru, you must think, "How shall I make my Gurudev happy?" You heard the story that Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told. I have told it before.

There was once a small nine-year-old boy called Satyakam who lived with his mother Jabala. Jabala worked outside in everybody's houses—she cleaned the plates, cooked house to house, etc. and earned some money in this way. She went through very much austerity, did very hard work for her only son. She gave him the name Satyakam ('satya' means truth) because her son never told a lie, he always spoke the truth.

One day Satyakam said to his mother,

"Mother, you work so much, you get so much austerity—I think I can go now to the ashram and study there under guidance of my Guru."

"Yes, you can go and stay there." (A real mother allows her son to go to Krishna consciousness.)

"Then I will go to my Gurudev's ashram tomorrow!" Satyakam was very happy. "My Guru's name is Gautam Goswami, and I will take shelter and stay there. But mother, when I first come to my Guru, he does not know me and he will ask me about my name, he will ask me where my house is, what my mother's name is, what my father's name is. He will ask me everything..."

"Yes. You know that your name is Satyakam, and your mother's name (my name) is Jabala, your house is in this village..."

"But you have never told me my father's name. What is my father's name?" asked Satyakam.

"Son, I work in so many houses and mix with many people. I also make many people happy, give them enjoyment, and actually I enjoyed with so many men, I do not know who your real father is. Tell the same to your Guru."

The next day Satyakam came to his Guru's place. When he paid obeisance to his Guru, the Guru said,

"Oh, what a nice boy. What is your name?"

"My name is Satyakam."

"What is your father's name?"

"My mother said she had mixed with so many people, even she does not know who my real father is."

The Guru became very happy hearing the truth and seeing that the boy was not shy or ashamed, so he immediately said, "Usually I wait before giving anyone initiation. I first observe them for many days, then give them initiation, but in your case I will not wait. Bring some wood, bricks and sand, I will make a fire sacrifice today and give you initiation and the brahmin thread. You are actually already a brahmin, so I must give you the brahmin thread now."

When Satyakam got initiation, he was very happy. He came to his Guru, paid him obeisance and asked, "Prabhu, you have given me shelter, you have given me initiation, but what is my service? How can I make you happy? What kind of service can I do to make you happy?" His Gurudev was very surprised, "Satyakam, many brahmacharis, many sannyasis live in my ashram, but they want their own happiness, they do not think about my happiness. You are a small boy, but you want to make me happy, you want my happiness! I am surprised. I am going to give you some service, it is a very hard service. I have four hundred cows, but no one takes care of them—everybody fights for their milk, curd, yoghurt, and paneer, but no one fights for service, no one thinks about the cows, and the cows become sick. Tell me, can you do this cows' service?"

"Yes, Gurudev! I can do the cows' service," answered Satyakam.

"Alright, then I have these four hundred cows, go, you can take this service."

"Yes, Gurudev," said Satyakam, "but I want to take one permission from you... I want to take the cows for grazing, but I will not come back until I can increase the number of the cows to one thousand. Please let me come back when there is one thousand cows."

So, Satyakam took the cows for grazing and he did not come back—he was waiting when there is one thousand cows. He waited, waited, waited, and after many years the number of the cows reached one thousand, then he said, "Now I must go back to my Gurudev's ashram." His Guru also had been waiting for him all these years.

Satyakam started walking back, and one night, when he was taking rest under a tree, a demigod came to him and asked, "Satyakam, where are you? Are you sleeping?" Seeing the four-armed demigod, Satyakam was surprised, "Who are you?" The demigod replied, "I am Sun," and gave him very much divya-jnan (divine knowledge). Another day, Satyakam again walked all day and in the evening Moon came to him, then the next night Fire came, and so on—every night he learned transcendental knowledge from all kinds of demigods.

Finally, he came back to the ashram. His Gurudev looked at him and saw a very exalted Vaishnav in front of him. He said,

"Satyakam, how did you learn all this?"

"I have learned from Moon, Sun, Air, and others," explained Satyakam.

"I have been waiting for you..."

"I have also been waiting to come back, but I promised you that I would come back when I have made one thousand cows. Now I am here, can you please give me some spiritual advice?"

Satyakam's Gurudev gave his garland to Satyakam and seated him on his chair, "This is my teachings to you. Take this chair." Satyakam became the Acharya of the ashram.

You can see that a prostitute's son became an Acharya.

So, if we practise properly, if we have chastity, if we have sincerity, have svikar [স্বীকার, resolve, or ability to accept something firmly], then we can easily understand what Krishna consciousness is and what is necessary.

Whatever you do—cooking, sleeping, enjoying, etc.—no one will take it away from you. Today you cook some good prasadam (paneer, puspanna, sweet rice, etc.), you are very happy, but if you bring a pig and give that prasadam to it, it will tell you, "It is very bad, bring me a bucket of stool." When we were a tiger or an elephant, we were in a forest and we were also very happy—happier than we are now. When we were a street dog, we slept so much. How many hours do you sleep? Seven-eight? Dogs and snakes sleep twenty-one, fifteen hours a day and they are very happy to sleep on the street. Do you understand? This kind of enjoyment will never go away from you, but what will go away? The main, the most important thing—Krishna consciousness. You will never get this opportunity again. That is why it is necessary to understand what this life is for, what Krishna consciousness is, and that is why good association is so necessary.

* * *

Relief and Relish

29 July 2013

"Sraddha, sadhu-sanga, sravan, kirtan, Bhagavat sravan, Mathura vasa, sraddhaya sri murtir sevana—you must connect everything you do with the Lord, then you will get a real benefit for your spiritual life.

Our life is very short, but until death we must preach Krishna consciousness, we must follow Krishna consciousness. Material desires always keep coming, but we must remove them. In Saranagati, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur says, "I think about my wife, I think about my sons, and by the time all sons and daughters get married, my life is finished! When will I practise Krishna consciousness?" If you read Saranagati, you can easily understand that our time is always going, our life is always passing, but you will not get this kind of opportunity again.

Srila Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur also wrote an example. Imagine you are driving a car and suddenly you have to go to the toilet to pass stool, but you have no time and there is no proper place to do that. You start feeling so much pain, you have to go to the toilet, but you wait, wait, wait... You wait for three-four hours, and when you finally get a good toilet and pass stool, you relax and feel so much relief. So, Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur says that when you renounce material desires, material attachment you will feel a relief—what kind of relief? The same kind of relief that you feel after you go to the toilet.

Do you understand?

You can join any time, but actually association is necessary. Sometimes you can come for the Ratha-yatra festival—during the seven days we go to many holy places. Also, you can sometimes join our fifteen-day Vrindavan-Govardhan-Haridwar-Rishikesh program...

You go to Vrindavan sometimes, but you go alone—this is not visiting a holy place, not association. When you go alone, Srila Sridhar Maharaj said it is eye exercise, but when you go to a holy place with the devotees, you get some real association, sadhu-sanga, then you will get a real benefit.

In Srimad Bhagavatam, Uddhav Maharaj say, "I have no quality to worship the lotus feet of Sri Vraja gopis—even I have no quality to worship the lotus feet of those who always chant, who speak Krishna-katha, who always think about Krishna. The only hope I have is that when they walk down the street, I can, I have some quality to worship their foot dust."

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Eternal Values

3 November 2010, Sri Nabadwip Dham

'krsna-nitya-dasa'—jiva taha bhuli' gela

ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

"When the jiva soul makes the mistake of forgetting that it is an eternal servant of Krishna, Maya captures the soul by its neck."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.24)

We cannot run our own self—everything is happening under the control of the Lord.

Where does the Lord stay? It is said that the Lord stays in the kitchen of Sachi Mata (Sachi Mata randhanasalaya), where Nityananda Prabhu dances (Nityananda nartane), in the house of Srivas Pandit (Srivas angane), and in the house of Raghav Pandit (Radhava bhavane). The Lord appears wherever there is service to the Lord, wherever there is Bhagavad-katha going on.

This is the line, the current you are in; this is our Guru-parampara. If you can stay within this line, it is good. Love for service is such a high conception.

One way or another we must engage ourselves in the service of our Guru—we must engage ourselves and engage others also. Whatever service you can do, any service, but you must engage yourself in service.

Ahara, nidra, bhaya, maithunam cha—life should not be wasted on eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating. Even if you live as a householder, you can still wake up early in the morning, do arati, and so on.

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi

grhete goloka bhaya

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

('Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

What a beautiful kirtan this is.

udila aruna purava-bhage

dvija-mani gora amani jage

bhakata-samuha la-iya sathe

gela nagara-vraje

“The sun arises in the east, and the jewel of the brahmans, Sri Gorachand, awakes. Taking His devotees with Him, He goes out about the town.”

If you explain this one kirtan, you can easily spend one-two hours like that.

'tathai tathai' bajala khola

ghana ghana tahe jhanjera rola

preme dhala dhala sonara anga

charane nupura baje

“The mrdangas resound 'tathai tathai' to the beat of the cymbals as Gaurasundar's golden form sways with ecstatic love and His footbells jingle.”

mukunda madhava yadava hari

balena bala re vadana bhari'

michhe nida-vase gela re rati

divasa sarira saje

“He calls out, "Chant aloud Mukunda, Madhava, Yadava, Hari! Uselessly you pass the night asleep and the day decorating your body.”

How many days will you be alive in this world? Even then, half of the day is night and you sleep. If you are alive for thirty more years, then you will sleep for fifteen years, and the other fifteen you have other things to do—you take prasadam, go to the bathroom, take shower, and so on—and the time is gone. How many days do we have to do Hari-bhajan, how many days do we have for the service to the Lord? You must count it.

jivana anitya janaha sara

tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara

namasraya kari' yatane tumi

thakaha apana kaje

"Understand the essence: life is temporary and filled with all sorts of adversity. Carefully taking shelter of the Name, engage in your work."

How nice Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur writes and explains it. "Life is temporary and there is so much danger..."

krsna-nama-sudha kariya pana

judao bhakati-vinoda-prana

nama vina kichhu nahika ara

chaudda-bhuvana-majhe

“Drink the nectar of Krishna's Name and soothe Bhakti Vinod's soul. There is nothing to be had but the Name in all the fourteen worlds.”

The only benefit for the soul is Harinam sankirtan, there is no other way, no other solution, and this is what Mahaprabhu has taught: Krishna Nama sankirtana.

jivera kalyana-sadhana-kama

jagate asi' e madhura nama

avidya-timira-tapana-rupe

hrd-gagane viraje

“Desiring to bless all souls, the Lord's sweet Name comes to this world and arises like the Sun within the sky of the heart to dispel the darkness of ignorance.”

The Holy Name of Krishna is so sweet! But if you think about it,

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base

nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

“My days are passed in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me.”

('Durlabha manava janma labhiya' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We do not think that any time we can leave this body...

* * *

Nimai's Playground: Body, Mind, and Soul

3 November 2010, Sri Nabadwip Dham

sri-krsna-chaitanya-daya karaha vichara

vichara karile chitte pabe chamatkara

"If you consider the mercy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, you will be wonder-struck to realise it."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.15)

How beautiful the mercy of Chaitanya-chandra is. If you consider His mercy, what did He not do for the benefit of the souls? From the time immemorial souls have been averse to Krishna, but the Lord comes to bring these souls to the right path. You must surrender to the lotus feet of the Lord...

How beautifully it is written here in this song ("Nadiya-nagare..."),

nadiya-nagare nitai neche neche gaya re

“In the towns and villages of Nadia, Lord Nityananda ecstatically dances and sings:”

jagannatha-suta mahaprabhu visvambhara

mayapura-sasi navadvipa-sudhakara [1]

"Lord Chaitanya is the beloved son of Jagannath Misra; He is Mahaprabhu, Supreme Lord; He is Vishvambhar, the great master, protector, and maintainer of the whole world. Mayapura-sasi, He is the shinning moon of Mayapur, dissipating the dark ignorance of the world; He is Nabadwipa-sudhakar, the source of all nectar for all of Nabadwip.

sachi-suta gaurahari nimai-sundara

radha-bhava-kanti-achchhadita natabara [2]

“He is Sachi-suta, the beloved son of Sachi Mata; Gaura Hari, Lord Hari with a golden complexion. As He was born under a nim tree He was called Nimai-sundar (beautiful Nimai), a name also meant to protect Him from the god of death who had taken all His brothers and sisters before Him; He is covered by the heart and halo of Srimati Radharani; and Natabara, the best of all dancers.

Once, Krishna was sitting and meditating in Imlitala, Vrindavan, and He wondered, "Why does Radharani cry about Me? Why does She chant My Name?" To taste His own self, He came taking the heart and halo of Radharani.

namananda chapala balaka matr-bhakta

brahmanda-badana tarki kautukanurakta [3]

Namananda—Mahaprabhu becomes ecstatic upon hearing the Holy Name of Hari. As a boy He was swift and agile, devoted to His mother, a great logician, and fond of joking. Millions of worlds are contained in His mouth.

He was very naughty and very devoted to His mother.

vidyarthi-udupa chaura-dvayera mohana

tairthika-sarvasva gramya-balika-kridana [4]

“He bewildered two thieves who tried to steal His jewels when He was a small child, and He teased and joked with the village girls of Nadia. He is the moon among scholars and all-in-all for the philosophers.”

When two thieves came to steal Mahaprabhu's ornaments, He gave them His mercy—the thieves forgot they had come to steal. Seeing the bracelets and ankle bells that Mahaprabhu was wearing, the thieves told Mahaprabhu (a very little boy at that time), "Come sit on our shoulder!" Nimai climbed on one of the thieves' shoulder and they wanted to carry Him away. They walked and walked, but in the end lost their way and returned to the same place, Nimai's house.

"Gramya-balika-kridana" means sometimes young ten-fifteen year old girls came to the Ganges to do puja and Mahaprabhu would come there and play with them.

(People still do Ganga puja. They pray to Ganga, offer her some fruit, bananas, rice, and so on. Usually they offer some atap-chal, rice that is used for puja—it is not for boiling, but used to make sweet rice.)

Nimai was a little boy at that time, about seven-eight years old, and the girls were all older. They did Ganga puja, making a proper offering, following the rules, but Nimai would come there and break their puja. He would say to them, "Hey! What are you doing? You must worship Me! If you worship Me, everything will be successful, all your desires will be fulfilled. I know what you want from Ganga Devi! You worship Ganga because you want a good husband! You must worship Me instead!" The girls would get angry and surprised, "What is He doing?!" Some would chastise Him, "Nimai, what are You doing with me? You are our younger brother, it is not good."

Sometimes the girls would run away seeing Nimai, but He would chase them and ask, "Give Me some prasadam! Give Me some fruit!" Some girls gave Him something, but some did not, and Mahaprabhu would threaten them with a curse, "If you do not give Me, you will get an old husband who will have seven wives!"

When the girls were bathing in the Ganges, Mahaprabhu would come and throw sand and soil at them. Then the girls scolded Him, "Nimai, what are You doing?! You are our younger brother. A younger brother cannot joke with his sister like this, it is not good. We will tell mother Sachi about You!"

laksmi-prati bora-data addhata balaka

sri-sachira pati-putra-soka-nibaraka [5]

“He is the giver of blessings to His wife Laksmi Priya. He was a mischievous child and is the Lord, son and preventer of all kinds of grief of Sachi Mata.”

Mahaprabhu had a wife called Laksmi Priya. When He went to Bangladesh, she was bitten by a snake and left her body—it was a snake of separation... When this happened she came to Mahaprabhu in Bangladesh, and Mahaprabhu understood what had happened...

* * *

Madhukori Bhiksa

Sri Nabadwip Dham

16 April 2013

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said not to go begging or collecting from those who live in Nabadwip (Nabadwip basi) and in general not to take anything from Dham basis. If you do it, this offence goes to your Guru. "Dhama-basi jane, pranati kariya, magiba krpara lesa? When will I bow down before a Dham basi and beg from them a drop of mercy?" We must not take anything from the Dham basis.

I remember once I was going to go begging to a bazaar, and Gurudev told me to go to Samudra-ghat or Krishnanagar, he told me not to do it in Nabadwip.

In Vrindavan, Govardhan there are so many fallen babajis. Once I asked Gurudev a question, "Gurudev, who are these monkeys?" And Gurudev said, "They are fallen babajis, they became monkeys because they took money from the Dham basis."

If somebody feels like begging, they can do, but not from Dham basis. There is Samudra-ghat and other places for begging.

Begging is called madhukori bhiksa. What does madhukori mean? It means collecting madhu, honey, or nectar. It means a bee goes flower to flower, takes the honey drop by drop from each flower and keeps it together in some place. In the same way sadhus go house to house and take a handful of alms from each place. This is called madhukori.

Some sannyasis go begging and, when you give them a little, they become angry, "Why are you giving me so little? I won't take it!" This is not madhukori. Some go begging and say, "I am a sannyasi, you must give me a lot!" Is this what is called madhukori? If you do madhukori, you must take a handful at each place.

What a conception! These are not my words, it is said so in the scriptures, it is siddhanta.

Some say, "I am a sannyasi, and you must pay obeisance to a sannyasi! You must give a lot to a sannyasi," and what do the scriptures say? "I am not a sannyasi, I am not a grihastha, I am not a brahmachari, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a vaisya, I am not a sudra—I am a servant of your servant's servant's servant." Do you see? The scriptures say, "Dasanudas, I am your servant, I am a servant of the Lord," but they say, "I am a sannyasi."

To do madhukori means like bees that go flower to flower and collect nectar drop by drop, the sadhus go begging for the service to the Lord—not for their own pleasure, they want to serve the Lord, serve their Guru, Vaishnavs, Bhagavan, so they collect a handful at a time and give what they collect for the service to their Guru. This is called madhukori bhiksa...

* * *

Devotional Take on Naughty Neighbours

29 July 2013

You like to eat certain things and you are cooking now in the office, that is alright, but no one should cook in the brahmachari building, it is a very bad habit. Brahmacharis should not cook. You can tell the kitchen men to make some separate prasadam, but if you cook yourself and eat in the room, some reaction will come—if everybody has their own kitchen, everybody has their own raincoat, it is a big problem.

I remember these words of Gurudev. Gurudev said, "In my lifetime you already are dividing into groups, it is not good. Everybody must come under one umbrella. I do not want many groups, I want everyone to come under one umbrella. It is good if everyone proceeds together, do not make separate groups. Somebody does not like the local leader, somebody does not like many other things, but it is not good for the mission—the mission cannot prosper in this way. Come under one umbrella." But some devotee replied, "Gurudev, how will they come under one umbrella if everyone has their own raincoat?"

[Addressing one of the devotees:] That room is good for you, it has been cleaned today, and you can stay there. There is a veranda, you cook there, it has an attached bathroom, and it is also beside Gurudev's samadhi mandir, you can take care of it... I do not want to stop your service, that is why I am giving you some facility. That room has a very high profile. At the time when there was no building there, Advaita Prabhu lived there. Gurudev said he was a high Vaishnav—he was very good, always strict, could never tolerate anything bad. It is also very cool...

—And it has very "nice" neighbours...

Oh, the neighbours... The neighbours are not a problem. Why you will go to their room? You can stay in your room, you do not have to go to their room.

Actually I do not understand, what is a room for? A room is only for bathroom, toilet, and sleeping. This is what I use it for. Now there are many people here, and I cannot read at the veranda because if I sit here, somebody will also sit here, they will not go to rest, that is why I go to my room; but it is difficult for me to read inside.

The neighbours are not problem. If the neighbours are not good, you can pray to Krishna, to the Lord. Also, if you have power to preach, then through your association the neighbours will become good. If you stay in that room, also the disturbance can reduce a little, you can sometimes chastise them, sometimes softly, sometimes harshly. You can say something like, "Gurudev's samadhi is here, Guru Maharaj's samadhi is here, it is not a place to joke!"

Otherwise pray. Everybody pray to Gurudev, everybody pray to Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govindasundar, "Please remover them!" It is said in Chaitanya-charitamrita that when all the devotees prayed, "Please, Jagannath, remove Ramachanda Puri from here!" Jagannath listened to the devotees' prayer. I pray for this every day, but I alone is not sufficient. Everybody should pray too, "Please, Guru Maharaj! Please, Gurudev! Please, Gandharva Govinda sundar! Please remove them!" Pray every morning. [Devotees giggle.] No, I am not joking. I am giving you the right advice. Pray, "Gurudev! How much you are tolerating! Gurudev! Please remove them!"

* * *

Poison-Free Service

19 December 2010

When Srila Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu's father heard that his son was begging and eating rotten Jagannath prasad, he was very sad, "Oh, what is my son's condition? My son is living like this!" Das Goswami Prabhu and his father were very rich—they got twelve lakhs (1 200 000) income. Do you know how much value it was at that time? Das Goswami Prabhu was also his only son, so when his father heard he was taking rotten rice with some salt, it was very sad for him. He started sending him 400 rupees every month.

What purpose did Das Goswami use that money for? For Vaishnav seva. He thought, "I do not want to take this money for myself, my father must get some benefit. If I do some Vaishnav seva two-three times a month, then my father will get some sukriti." He started giving Vaishnav seva, and soon all Puri knew that Das Goswami Prabhu was giving Vaishnav seva and spending much money. So much pratistha came to him, and Mahaprabhu did not like it.

When Das Goswami Prabhu understood that Mahaprabhu did not like it, he returned the money and told his father not to send any more. Das Goswami Prabhu stopped the Vaishnav seva. One day after that Mahaprabhu asked some devotees, "What has happened? How come Raghunath has not invited us this month?" and somebody explained, "Prabhu, he has stopped giving Vaishnav seva..." Mahaprabhu was happy, "Oh, he did good! He has freed himself from the material attachment, he has become free from the poison of material world (visaya-vish)."

Do you see? This is what He said, and this is what is called practising.

Question: If it was Vaishnav seva, why was it poison?

It is Mahaprabhu's matter, and it is a very high conception.

Das Goswami Prabhu wanted to start his own suddha Vaishnav sampradaya—when he took that money and did Vaishnav seva, he was given some pratistha, name and fame, and in future some problem could come because of that. Mahaprabhu did not want that.

You do Vaishnav seva and become proud, "Oh, I am spending money", "I am doing this", "I am doing that", "I am spending a lot of money on Gurudev's samadhi", "I am spending a lot of money on Nityananda's temple"—this kind of mentality can come, but our mood should be, "We are not doing anything", "We cannot do anything."

When you go to Vrindavan, you can see that Krishna arranges His own things Himself. You have seen the temple of Madan Mohan (some part of it is broken now, but originally it was very big)—how is it possible at that time to make such a temple? It is not possible, only Krishna can do it.

This is what should come to your mind. We think we are collecting money, we are distributing books, we are preaching—when the ego that we are doing something comes, it becomes very difficult. Gurudev told me that if you have ego, this burden will make you very heavy, and when you get on a boat, the boat will sink. Pratistha is a burden.

kanaka-kamini, pratistha-baghini,

chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava

"Those who have given up money, women, and fame, are the true Vaishnavs."

(Vaishnav Ke? 11)

Pratistha is sukarer vista (stool of a pig), it is a baghini, a tigress—it can eat everything at once. That is why we must always remember that we are not doing anything—Gurudev is making his temple, Gurudev is doing everything for himself, we are not doing anything.

It is easy to say these things, but difficult to practise—but it is difficult when you do not try to practise, when you do not have mercy.

* * *

Sanatan Goswami’s Madan Mohan

19 December 2010

Many years ago Vrindavan was all forest, a jungle, so Sanatan Goswami would every day go begging to Mathura.

Once, he went to a house where there lived a husband and a wife. They had been married for maybe twelve-fourteen years but did not have any children. They prayed at so many places, to so many demigods, tried so many things, so many astrologers, but still they did not get any children. When Sanatan Goswami came to their house, he said,

"You are such a nice family, you are such nice, good devotees, but why is it that your house is blank, why are there no children?"

"Prabhu, we have gone everywhere, but still no children come to us..."

"Why do you go everywhere? You live right here in Mathura! Krishna is in Mathura, He was born in Mathura—it is an extremely high place. Why do you not pray to Krishna?"

"Prabhu, we do not know anything... But we only know you—we think you are a great sadhu, please give us some mercy that we can get a baby."

"OK, Krishna is merciful. You can pray to Krishna, and Krishna will give you a child soon."

< "His name will be Madan” >

Soon after that, at last a baby came to the wife's womb and within a year the baby was born. From time to time Sanatan Goswami went there to see how the baby was growing, how things were. He also gave the name to the child. When the wife was pregnant, the couple asked him, "If it is a son, what will be his name?" and Sanatan Goswami replied, "Your son's name will be Madan." It happened to be a son.

The mother was always very affectionate to Madan—after twelve-fourteen years of marriage at last a baby came, she loved him very much. Sanatan Goswami was very affectionate to him too, and the boy also was very affectionate to Sanatan Goswami. Sometimes he would come and climb on Sanatan Goswami's shoulder, sometimes he would pull his sikha, sometimes pulled his beard, and so on.

< "Why do you not go with him?” >

One time, Sanatan Goswami went begging and came to that house very tired. He walked from Vrindavan to Mathura, do you know how many kilometres it is? Every day he walked from Vrindavan to Mathura and back, from Mathura to Vrindavan; he did not stay there for the night. So, that day when he came to the family, the boy began to disturb him so much. It was Kartik month, and Sanatan Goswami had a big beard. Madan started pulling his beard, but his mother saw this and said,

"Madan, why are you disturbing this babaji sadhu so much? He has come on foot from so far, he is very tired and wants to rest, and you are disturbing him so much..."

"No, no, no," said Sanatan Goswami, "He is not disturbing me, I like him."

"OK, then you can take him," and turning to her son she said, "Madan, you can go. Every time he comes, you start disturbing him, why do you not go and stay with him then? You can go."

Then she became busy with cooking something, and Sanatan Goswami woke up and quickly ran away. Suddenly, half way to Vrindavan, when he was crossing the Yamuna, he heard the sound of nupur (ankle bells). He was surprised, "What is this sound?" Then he saw that Madan was following him!

"Hey, Madan! You have come?!"

"Yes, I have! Mother said, 'Go with the sadhu.' You heard her say that, and she said to you also, 'Take him,' that is why I have come to you."

"No, no, no! Your mother will be crying! She will go mad!"

"No. Mother said, 'Stay with him,' and I will stay with you."

"A-re, go!"

"No, I will not go, I will stay with you!"

< Saksad Vrajendra-nandan >

In the meantime the mother began to wonder, "Where has my son gone?" She searched and search for him everywhere, and somebody told her, "Yes, I saw he was following a sadhu." The mother ran towards Vrindavan and on the way saw Sanatan Goswami. Seeing her running to them, Sanatan Goswami said to Madan,

"Hey, you see? Your mother is coming!"

"Madan, Madan!" his mother cried.

"No," said Madan, "You told me to go with the sadhu and stay with him! I will stay with him, I will not stay with you!"

"No, no, no, I was joking! I was joking with you!"

"No, no joking, I will stay with him!"

Then the mother tried to catch him, but she could not—Madan Mohan ran so fast that she could not catch him. She ran behind him, sweating so much, and suddenly she managed to catch him, but as soon as she caught him, he became a Deity, a vigraha! ("Vigraha na Tumi, saksad Vrajendra-nandan! You are not a Deity, You are Vrajendra-nandan Himself!")

The mother tried to lift Him—He was just a small boy—but the stone Deity was too heavy. When Sanatan Goswami, an old man, picked Him up and took Him on his shoulder, at that time the Deity was not heavy—when with His devotee, Krishna becomes light.

So, Sanatan Goswami took Him in his arms and put him under a tree. He thought, "Now what?" Sanatan Goswami had a big problem—a Deity has come, what is going to do?

< Vigraha, nigraha, galagraha >

You know Gurudev's expression, "Vigraha, nigraha, galagraha." Gurudev said that the vigraha first becomes a nigraha, then a galagraha. It means that when you buy a vigraha ('deity'), it becomes a nigraha ('confinement, burden') because you cannot worship it properly, you make many offences; then you can neither throw the Deity away nor give it to anybody, and it becomes a big problem, galagraha ('a throttling').

That is why Gurudev always told the devotees not to make so many Deities, and not to keep a Deity in your house because you have to go out, you have to go to the market, you have to come to India—you leave your house, but who will give food to the Deity? Gurudev always told not to make so many vigrahas, it is very difficult.

< Madan Mohan's bhog >

So, Sanatan Goswami thought, "What am I going to do now? Every day I do madhukori, I receive some chapati and eat it, but now I cannot—for the Deity I have to make something myself. I cannot give the Deity others' food... It is a big problem!" So, he went begging. He went house to house, but could not get anything. In Vrindavan, you usually come and say, "Jaya Radhe!" and people give some prepared chapati, some aloo dum (subji), but no one will give you flour or some other ingredients.

He tried so much, and after so many places he finally got some flour in the afternoon. He came back and realised that he had no utensils for cooking. What did he do? He took some water, mixed it with the flour, and flattened it with his hands. Then he took some tree leaves, burnt them and put the chapatis into the fire. After a while he took them out—some chapatis came out not cooked, some chapatis were fully burnt—and gave them to the Lord, to Madan, "Madan! Every day You have been taking so much chhana (paneer), curd, but today You will have to take burnt rotis." Madan replied, "No problem, you can give Me burnt rotis, I will eat them." But when He tasted them, He cried, "Oh, no salt! Hey, give Me some salt!"

"Where am I to get You salt? Go! Go to Your mother! Get out of here!"

"No, no, no, please do not kick Me out! I will stay with you," Madan Mohan felt guilty and started to eat, "I will eat without salt, no problem."

He ate everything Sanatan Goswami had given him. Then He asked, "Where will I sleep?"

"Hey, I told you I sleep under a tree. Go to Your mother, You have a good house there, a nice bed and everything else. Go there! Go!"

"No, I will stay with you!

"OK..."

"Can I make My house Myself?" asked Madan after a while.

"That you can do... It is up to You, what You make or not make is Your business."

< Krishna arranges His accommodation >

That same night, a merchant's barge (Beng. bajra) got stuck in the Yamuna's soil and could not move. It was a big barge that sold different things. At that time, there were not so many shops in Vrindavan, and usually a merchant would bring all vegetables and groceries in his boat and would sell them from the boat. People would come and buy what they needed. So, a barge means like a big shop in a boat. So, that day a big barge got stuck in the Yamuna.

The next day many people came and tried to push it, but it did not move. Later at night, Madan Mohan came to the ship. Krishna had to arrange something—He came to the merchant in a dream and said, "Your barge can move. There is one sadhu called Sanatan Goswami who lives up at Dvadasaditya-tila under a tree, go to that sadhu and if he comes and touches the boat, it will move immediately."

The next day the merchant came to Sanatan Goswami and asked him, "Prabhu, my big barge has stuck in the Yamuna and does not move. We tried so much, but without any success. Could you please come there?" Sanatan Goswami was surprised, "What will I go there for? What is my duty there? I am an old man, I have no strength! You have tried so many things, you brought many men, they pulled and nothing happened, how do you think I can move it?" The merchant did not give up, "No, Prabhu, please come..." Sanatan Goswami came there and as soon as he touched the barge, it moved. The merchant came to Sanatan Goswami and asked him humbly,

"Prabhu, can I make you a house?"

"No, I am very happy living under the tree, I do not want any house," answered Sanatan Goswami.

"If not for you, can I make a house for your Madan Mohan then? He lives under a tree..."

"As you wish you can do, that is up to you," said Sanatan Goswami.

So, the merchant made a temple for Madan Mohan. Do you understand now who made the temple?

< Truth and untruth >

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

Krishna is the cause of all causes. He gives everything, He does everything, but, "Ahankare matta haina, Nitai-pada pasariya, asatyere satya kori mani. Maddened with ego, forgetting Nitai's feet, I accept untruth as truth." It is only our false ego, actually we cannot do anything.

So, we must understand, we must think how to practise a spiritual life, how to fulfil Gurudev's desire. So many problems will come—even in Sanatan Goswami's time, even Raghunath Das Goswami's time, even in Rupa Goswami's time so many things happened, the king even put Sanatan Goswami in jail! It is correct or not? Then? What is the problem? Even if you go to jail, you can go and preach there.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Devotees' Love

30 April 2013

Question: Why did Mahaprabhu preach that prema (love) is the goal of life?

In this age of Kali, people's lifetime is very short, it is not like in Satya-yuga or Treta-yuga. In Satya-yuga, the lifetime is 100,000 years, in Treta-yuga the lifetime is 10,000 years, in Dvapar-yuga the lifetime is 1,000 years, and Kali-yuga's lifetime is 120 years. That is why Mahaprabhu taught that you can conquer others with love and affection, not by making others your enemy.

In this age of Kali, if you give people some love and affection, you can easily convert them. In this age, people live in family life, they love each other, but this is false love and affection because in this world when somebody loves somebody, it is for their own selfish interest. Mahaprabhu's interest, Mahaprabhu's love and affection is not like that.

Actually, the love and affection that pure devotees give is not false—through their love and affection you can easily conquer others' hearts. We are fallen souls, and those who are fallen souls do not know anything, so through love and affection Mahaprabhu conquered the whole world.

This is the process that Krishna Himself teaches, and this is what we teach too.

* * *

Brain Treatment

30 April 2013

Question: What is the best religious practice in this modern age?

It is the modern age and actually now people are always attached with the material world, material things, but they do not think that one day this body can finish, that this body is temporary.

Actually this body is not only for eating, sleeping, and enjoying. We enjoyed in our previous lives when we were in another body, but it is like a mad man who is walking in the street and searching for some dirty paper. If you give the man some dirty paper, it cannot give any benefit to him. What will be beneficial for him? He is crazy, he has some disturbance in his brain, so it is necessary to treat his brain. Similarly, in this world the materialists always suffer, and in this age of Kali it is necessary to treat the brain. Brain treatment means you need good association.

Only enjoying, eating and sleeping is not what our life is for. We do not tell you that you must stop eating, sleeping and working, but if you work, if you eat, or if you sleep, use everything for the service to Krishna, for the service to the Lord. If you cook, cook for Krishna; if you work, work for Him. Become His servant; do not forget Him.

We cannot maintain ourselves on our own. The Supreme Personality of Godhead always controls us, we are not the controllers. We have an ego—ego means we think, "I am very educated," "I am beautiful", "I have so much wealth", "I am a rich man", and so on—and this ego eats everything, it disturbs everything. If you have a little faith, you can understand that we cannot do anything, behind us there is a Controller. Who is it? That is Search for Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful. The controller is the Lord Himself, and we should want to do something for Him, but how shall we do anything for Him? You need a good advisor.

Our mind is always naughty, and we follow our mind. If a bad person controls your mind, you will go in the bad way; if a good person, a good advisor controls your mind in a good way, then you will be good and your intelligence will go in the good way, not the wrong way. So, you must understand that you need to find a good advisor who knows about Krishna and who knows where our real house is.

It is not true that we are born and after death everything finishes. Only our body finishes. Even the scientists also say that life does not finish when the body finishes. When the soul (jiva, jivatma) runs out of the body, we stop taking, we stop all activities, but who does it? We must think about this, it is a very high thinking. There is a soul, jivatma, inside us, we must think how we can give some benefit to it.

We eat for our bodies—if I do not eat anything today, 2 kg weight will be lost; but what is the food of the jiva soul, jivatma? The soul's nature is that it always wants to serve the Lord, but it cannot because the soul is now covered by the illusory environment. If, however, we hear some good advice, then gradually the illusory environment will go away, and I—"I" means jivatma, the soul—will get a chance to surrender to the Lord, I will get a chance to serve the Lord.

This is how we can get benefit if we hear some good advice.

* * *

Sanatan-Dharma: Universal Religion

30 April 2013

Question: What is the sanatana-dharma in this age?

Sanatan-dharma, or jaiva-dharma, is one's own religion, and everybody has and follows sanatan-dharma, that is why great devotees use everybody and everything for the service to the Lord, even trees, flower plants, and so on.

Everything in this world is born and exists for the service to the Lord, and the sanatan-dharma (your religion) is to use everything for the service to the Lord. We are not Christian, we are not Buddhists, we do not preach some kind of Hindu religion, we preach sanatan-dharma, your own religion.

Actually you have forgotten what your own religion is. Your religion is to serve, you are a servant of the Lord, but you have forgotten it. The Lord is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He is the one who controls you, so you must remember and serve Him, that is your religion (sanatan-dharma).

It is not only my religion, or your religion, there is not such differentiation—everybody's religion should be one, and that is what sanatan-dharma, or jaiva-dharma, is. Even a tree's religion is also to serve the Lord, but a tree cannot serve the Lord on its own.

Suppose there is a coconut tree. If some devotee can take a coconut from that tree and give it to the Lord, that coconut tree will be doing service because it gives a coconut to the Lord. A flower tree lives for several months to a year, it also cannot serve on its own, but it can serve through a great devotee or a practitioner—if somebody uses that flower plant for the service to the Lord, the plant will get some sukriti.

So, everybody's religion should be one, and that one religion is called sanatan-dharma, or jaiva-dharma. This religion is to serve the Lord, to always remember the Lord, who is the controller and the main Person (Isvara Krishna). There are so many demigods in this world, they are all like incarnations of the Lord, but they all come from the Lord, they get their powers from the Lord, and they are only His servants, so even all the demigods' religion is to serve the Lord.

* * *

Cheating Yourself Out of Happiness

30 April 2013

Question: There are many dharmas, many mayavad conceptions, karma-misra-bhakti, jnana-misra-bhakti, and so on. Why is it suddha-bhakti that will give a real fulfilment to the soul?

Because suddha-bhakti is the highest conception and because the scriptures, Srimad Bhagavatam (1.1.2, paraphrased below in Bengali), said,

prthivite yaha kichu dharma name chale

bhagavata kahe taha paripurna chhale

It means there are so many religions in this world, but Srimad Bhagavatam (the main scripture) says it is all cheating. Why is it cheating?

First is karma-misra-bhakti, and it is described also in Srimad Bhagavad-gita. Krishna taught Arjun karma-misra-bhakti because he did not want to fight and had a little ego. Krishna advised him, "You can do something for Me and, if you want something, you can ask Me for it in return." So, you do something for Krishna and you also ask something from Krishna. This is karma-misra-bhakti (devotion mixed with material desires).

Then, Srimad Bhagavad-gita started to slowly, slowly move higher. Next, Krishna said, "You only work, do not hope for any particular result." Then, "Yyat karosi yad asnasi, yaj juhosi dadasi yat: if you want to do something—you want to worship, you want to meditate, or practise yoga—you can do it, but do it for Me. I will give you the result, it is not necessary to ask for anything—only I can give you the result, so why is it necessary to ask Me for anything? If you think about Me, if you work for Me, if you do everything for Me, then you will get the result automatically."

Finally, Krishna said, "Give up all religions, give up what is written in the Vedas and many other scriptures, give up even what I have told you before. Leave everything and think only about Me. Sarva dharman parityajya. Avoid all religions and think about Me." You think you are committing some sin, "Oh, I am not doing this," "I am not doing this," "I am not doing this," but Krishna says, "I will see to it." If Krishna does everything, Krishna is in charge of everything, then He can also remove everything, it is necessary to believe it and have full faith in this. That is jnana-sunya-bhakti.

We do not know anything. We only hear what Krishna said and we believe it, no knowledge is necessary. Jnana-sunya-bhakti is devotion without knowledge. We have chosen this devotion because we believe that Krishna will give everything. Krishna does everything, and we must believe what Krishna says with full faith. That is why we follow jnana-sunya-bhakti, or suddha-bhakti: pure devotion without knowledge; and we are happy with that. If anyone practises it, they will get pleasure (ananda).

We all always search for ananda, happiness, but the happiness we get is for a few minutes, or a few days, only. If you want a permanent happiness, then you need jnana-sunya-bhakti. Ultimately, it will depend upon your faith—if you have 20% faith, if you have 100% faith, or 90% faith, that is the kind of happiness you will get.

Question: What is the main theme of Srimad Bhagavad-gita?

The main theme is given in the last sloka, but first Krishna told how to practise. Krishna Himself said, "You think you do everything, but no, it is your false ego. I do everything. You are not the controller, you have no power to do anything, you have no energy for anything—I do everything. You think you earn some money, you buy some food, and you do not offer anything to Me, but actually you are stealing My things."

Finally, in the last sloka, Krishna says,

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja

aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

"Give up all kinds of religion and surrender to Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins, do not despair."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

"You can do what you did before, but offer everything to Me. If you want to eat, first offer the food to Me; if you work, work for Me; if you want to do something, do it for Me. I will remove all kinds of sins from you."

This is the main teachings of Srimad Bhagavad-gita.

* * *

Mahaprabhu's Humility, Tolerance, and Honour to Others

30 April 2013

Question: Which dealings or pastimes of Mahaprabhu are particularly instructive for the general people?

Mahaprabhu's Pastimes... In His youth, He rescued two drunkards, two bad people whose names were Jagai and Madhai. Mahaprabhu came as a Guru, so He sent His associates, Sriman Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakur, to preach Krishna consciousness and rescue these two offenders because actually He wanted to show, "My devotee is more powerful than Me." Krishna, as well as Mahaprabhu, always told, "If somebody says, 'I am Krishna's devotee', they are not a devotee. Those who are devotees of My devotees are the real devotees." There are so many pastimes, so many teachings that Mahaprabhu, the Lord Himself, showed...

When somebody criticised Him, for example Ramachandra Puri, Mahaprabhu did not show any prati-himsa (revenge: "He is doing bad to Me, I will do bad to him too"), He showed that He gave honour to everybody. This is the lesson He taught us.

There are so many Pastimes in His youth, and later also—He showed that He left everything and accepted the sannyas dharma, the renounced life, in Puri. In this way, in this age of Kali, He rescued the whole universe through the chanting of the Holy Name.

His life and pastimes are very important. He is Krishna Himself who comes as a teacher to rescue all of us, and this is the main thing. For our benefit, Krishna taught Arjuna many things in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, but then the Lord Himself comes as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and shows Himself how to practise that. This is the main attraction for us. If you say something, but do not practise it yourself, others will not learn from you, but Mahaprabhu practised everything Himself.

There are so many Pastimes from His very birth... One time, Keshav Kashmiri, Digvijayi Pandit, came with so much name and fame, he had some ego he was a big scholar, but Mahaprabhu broke his ego.

Another time, Chand Kazi broke Mahaprabhu's mridanga (clay drum), but Mahaprabhu showed tolerance and patience—He went to his house and rescued him. Chand Kazi was a Muslim, but still the Lord rescued him and removed his offence.

Also, there was Chapal Gopal who made an offence to Srivas Pandit. When Chapal Gopal came to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu gave him some good advice, "Go to Srivas Pandit, then all kinds of offences will be removed from you." This is what Mahaprabhu taught us.

When Nimai Pandit (childhood name of Mahaprabhu) was three and a half years old, one brahman came to His house, and when he was offering some bhog to a salagram-sila, Narayan Deity, Nimai came and ate the offering. The brahman did not recognise that the boy was the Lord Himself, but later Mahaprabhu showed him His form, showed him that He was the Lord Himself.

When Mahaprabhu went to Puri and saw Jagannath, He felt so much excitement, but Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya (who was in charge of the Jagannath temple) did not believe He was the Lord. Later, Mahaprabhu gave him His mercy and as soon as Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya got Mahaprabhu's mercy, he was rescued and in the end became a great devotee of Mahaprabhu.

Also, Mahaprabhu showed us what a great devotee Ramananda Ray was. Ramananda Ray did not come from the highest caste, in fact he belonged to a lowest caste, but Mahaprabhu wanted to show that His devotee was higher than Him. When Pradyumna Misra wanted to hear some Hari-katha (hear something about Krishna) from Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu sent him to Ramananda Ray. At first, seeing his activities, Pradyumna Misra did not believe that Ramananda Ray was a great devotee and he came back, but Mahaprabhu sent him there again. When Pradyumna Misra finally heard some Krishna-katha from Ramananda Ray, he understood it. Mahaprabhu showed in this way that Ramananda Ray knew Krishna-katha better than He Himself.

He showed so many things to the devotees, but He never told anyone, "I am the Lord." Even when Ramananda Ray, or Sanatan Goswami, said, "I heard something in the scriptures, and I think that the Kali-yuga avatar, the incarnation of the Lord in Kali-yuga, has already come and is in front of us..." Mahaprabhu closed His ears and checked their mouths. He said, "Do not see such things! Do not think I am the Lord! No one can say this." Mahaprabhu is the Lord Himself, but He never told that; still, through His activities, through His pastimes, and through the sastra (scriptures) and through the judgement of the devotees, we can see that He is the Lord Himself who comes in this age of Kali...

* * *

Sri Hari-Vasare

31 December 2010, morning

Question: Could we hear some meaning of the song Sri Hari Vasarer Tithi from you?

The meaning is simple.

sri hari-vasare hari-kirtana-vidhana

nrtya arambhila prabhu jagatera prana [1]

Hari-vasar activities are like this. Every day when the sankirtan started, Mahaprabhu started to dance. He always said, "I always stay in Srivas-angan. When there is chanting and dancing going on in it, I come there and also dance with you."

punyavanta srivasa-angane subharambha

uthila kirtana-dhvani gopala govinda [2]

They would start at Srivas Pandit's angan early in the morning and first sing the "Gopala Govinda" song.

mrdanga mandira baje sankha karatala

sankirtana sange saba ha-ila misala [3]

There were mridangas, sankhas, karatals, you know all these. Everybody chanted, danced, and all you could hear was the sounds of kartals and mridangas.

brahmande uthila dhvani puriya akasa

chaudikera amangala yaya saba nasa [4]

chatur-dike sri hari-mangala sankirtana

madhye nache jagannatha misrera nandana [5]

sabara angete sobhe sri chandana-mala

anande nachaye sabe ha-iye vibhola [6]

When Mahaprabhu came, everybody would give Him some chandan, a mala (sandalwood paste, a garland).

nijanande nache mahaprabhu visvambhara

charanera tali suni ati manohara [7]

Everybody danced with their legs.

bhavavese mala nahi rahaye galaya

chhindiya padaye giya bhakatera gaya [8]

When the devotees began to dance, chant and roll on the ground, all the garlands would fall down.

yanra namanande siva vasana na jane

yanra rase nache siva se nache apane [9]

Lord Siva also dances and chants there.

yanra name valmiki ha-ila tapodhana

yanra name ajamila paila mochana [10]

Valmiki, Ajamil, they all got rescued by this chanting of the Holy Name.

yanra name sravane samsara-bandha ghuche

hena prabhu avatari kali-yuge nache [11]

All bondage of the material world will be removed if you hear this Name, and the Lord appeared in this world and He Himself comes, dances and chants this Holy Name.

yanra nama la-i suka narada bedaya

sahasra-vadana-prabhu yara guna gaya [12]

Narad Goswami and Sukadev always chant His Name. Krishna Himself appeared in this world and chants this Name—He chants His own Name (!) and dances.

sarva-maha-prayaschita ye prabhura nama

Prayaschita means atonement—when you commit some sin, after that you do something opposite to make up for the sin; but if you chant this Holy Name, it is not necessary to do anything.

se prabhu nachaye dekhe yata bhagyavan [13]

Only the fortunate souls can see all this.

That is the meaning. Vrindavan Das Thakur wrote this song…

* * *

Our Grand Heritage

Caracas, Venezuela

18 September 2009

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim

yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya

chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

“I offer my obeisance unto Sri Gurudev, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the salve of divine knowledge.”

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam

chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam sri-rupa-panthanugam

govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram

vande visva-gurun cha divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam

“I offer my obeisance unto he who perfectly fulfils his Gurudev's most cherished desires; who is fully adorned with the blessings of his Gurudev’s associates; who is expert in all aspects of Vedic knowledge, both conceivable and inconceivable; who is the pre-eminent follower of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's line; who is known as 'Govinda'—Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj; whose beautiful, effulgent, exalted form is infused with pure devotion; who is the Guru of the entire universe; and who is the giver of the seed of divine love for the Supreme Lord.”

Do you know who wrote this pranam mantra sloka of our Guru? It was written by Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj—he wrote this sloka about his disciple:

Gurvvabhista-supurakam: Param Guru Maharaj says that Gurudev fulfilled all desires of his Gurudev. Guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam: he got all mercy from his Guru. Chintyachintya-samasta-veda: he is expect of all Vedas, even those that are unthinkable, beyond the reach of knowledge. He is a follower of the line of Sri Rupanuga-sampradaya. This is what Srila Sridhar Maharaj wrote about his disciple, that is our Gurudev, and he also gave him this name—Bhakti Sundara Govinda (govindabhidham ujjvalam...).

Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave our Param Guru Maharaj the name Bhakti Raksak Sridhar, "one who can protect this line." You know there was Sridhar Swami who wrote Srimad Bhagavatam tika (commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam) that became known as "Sridhar Swami's tika." Some devotee did not want to respect his explanation of Srimad Bhagavatam and wrote some slokas with another explanation, but Mahaprabhu told about them, "One who does not obey their husband, is like a vesya, prostitute." This is what Mahaprabhu said. It is written in Chaitanya-charitamrita.

This is the kind of name Srila Prabhupad gave to Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, he indicated that he could give an explanation like that Bhagavatam tika of Sridhar Swami and who could also protect that kind of Sridhar Swami's tika.

Also, when Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur saw Srila Sridhar Maharaj's Bhakti Vinod Viraha Dasakam and read the sloka "Sri-gauranumatam svarupa-viditam...," he said, "It is a happy style." There are many expressions of Srila Prabhupad about Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj...

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also wrote Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur's pranam mantra.

guru-dam grantha-dam gaura-dhama-dam nama-dam muda

bhakti-dam bhuri-dam vande bhakti-vinodakam sada

"I perpetually offer my obeisance unto Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur. Guru-dam: he is the bestower of Sri Guru (Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur). Grantha-dam: he is the author of numerous commentaries, treatises, articles, novels and songbooks. Gaura-dhama-dam: he is the revealer of the abode of Sriman Mahaprabhu. Nama-dam: he is the giver of the Name. Bhakti-dam: he is the granter of pure devotion. Bhuri-dam: he is the bestower of an abundance of divine fortune."

(Sri Laghu-chandrika-bhasya, 1.8)

Guru-dam means he gave us a Guru. Who did Bhakti Vinod Thakur give? He gave us our Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Grantha-dam: he gave us so many books, so many scriptures—we sing so many songs, but 90% of these songs are written by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur. Bhuri-dam, bhakti-dam: he gave devotion. Nama-dam: he gave the Holy Name. Gaura-dam: he gave Gaura.

yadi gaura na ha'ta tabe ki ha-ita

kemane dharitam de

radhara mahima, prema-rasa-sima

jagate janata ke?

"If Gaura had not come, then what would have happened? How would we have maintained our lives? Who would have revealed to the world Radha's glory and the extremes of Her ecstatic divine love?"

(Srila Vasudev Ghosh Thakur)

Even in Srimad Bhagavatam it is not written anywhere about Srimati Radharani, but who gave Her to us? Gaura. In the same way, before hardly anyone knew about Gaura in Nabadwip Dham, but Bhakti Vinod Thakur gave that Gaura to us.

Dhama-dam: "dham" means Nabadwip Dham. Bhakti Vinod Thakur gave us the Dham. Everybody said that Nabadwip Dham, Mahaprabhu's birthplace, was under the Ganges, but he discovered where Nabadwip Dham was.

Nama-dam: how is it that he gave the Name? Before, everybody knew the Holy Name, knew it was Gauranga Mahaprabhu's conception, but they thought that Hare Krishna maha-mantra was just like any other name—everybody chanted something and they thought the result was the same. People would wear tulasi beads, eat fish, meat, etc. and also chant the Name. Bhakti Vinod Thakur said that those who want to chant the Holy Name had to avoid the ten offences—with a broom, he swept away every misconception. That is why he is the giver of the pure Name.

In every of our temple we sing this song.

jayare jayare jaya gaura-saraswati

bhakativinoda nvaya karuna murati

"All Glory, all Glory to Sri Gaura-Saraswati, Of the Line of Bhakti Vinod—Pure incarnate Mercy."

prakasile gaura-seva bhuvana mangala

bhakatisiddhanta suddha prajnana ujjvala

"You revealed Sri Gaura's Service—the world's greatest fortune, Brilliant as the Perfect Teaching, Perfect Truth—Devotion."

You can see it in the song book. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote these lines about Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, it is very nice.

Our Gurupadpadma always says Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Once, all Gaudiya Math, along with even Iskcon, gathered together and declared that it was wrong, it was a misconception. When I heard that, I told about it to Gurudev, and Gurudev gave me a long explanation about this song "Jayare jayare jaya Gaura-Saraswati." After that, he sent me to their assembly and told me to explain to them what he had said. I went there, and in front of all Gaudiya Math acharyas, all Iskcon GBCs, I explained that song. They understood the meaning and all the sannyasis who were present there finally said, "If Srila Sridhar Maharaj says so, then we will respect and obey it."

Also, Srila Sridhar Maharaj said about A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj that he was a saktya-vesa avatar of Nityananda Prabhu. Who knew about it before? Who knew before Srila Sridhar Maharaj said it that Srila Swami Maharaj was like that? Nobody knew it.

Actually, before, Gaudiya Math neglected Swami Maharaj. Now they think Iskcon is a big temple and they respect them, but when A.C. Bhaktivendanta Swami Maharaj was first going to inaugurate the temple of Iskcon, Mayapur Chandrodaya mandir, he invited everybody, all his godbrothers, but everybody said, "Oh, Swami Maharaj is bringing some mlechas, some American foreign devotees..." and they disregarded it. When Srila Sridhar Maharaj received the invitation, he took Gurudev and one more devotee and went there. He was the only one who came, but as soon as he came there, the inauguration started. Many did not go to Iskcon at first, they did not recognise it, but now all Gaudiya Math goes there and all Gaudiya Math sannyasis go to preach in the Western countries. We must respect Srila Swami Maharaj because he was the one who made the channel—through that channel we can now enter the West. Gurudev also said this about Srila Swami Maharaj, and he said that Srila Swami Maharaj gave so much respect to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj also gave so much respect to Swami Maharaj.

This is how it all happened...

* * *

Vaishnava Frame of Mind

Caracas, Venezuela

18 September 2009

How much vaishnavata (vaishnavism) the great Gurus have...

You all know that Srila Swami Maharaj asked Srila Sridhar Maharaj to give him sannyas, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "You are my godbrother and always my intimate friend, how will you take sannyas from me?" He was shy, but at that time he had already given sannyas to Srila Keshav Maharaj, so Srila Swami Maharaj took sannyas from Keshav Maharaj.

Once, one devotee, a disciple of Srila Keshav Maharaj, came to Srila Sridhar Maharaj and asked him, "Maharaj, I heard that my Gurudev, Keshav Maharaj, is senior than you, that is you are junior to him. Why did my Gurudev then take sannyas from you?" Sridhar Maharaj replied, "I will ask you one question—first give me the answer, then I will tell you. Mahaprabhu is Bhagavan (the Lord Himself), but do you know why Mahaprabhu took sannyas from Keshav Bharati?" This was the answer that Srila Sridhar Maharaj gave. He was saying, "I have happily given sannyas to Keshav Maharaj not to purify him, but to purify myself."

This is Vaishnavism. This is dainyata—humility and giving honour to others. The conception is very nice; I heard it from my Guru Maharaj. We must serve Nitai and Gaura. Nityananda means Guru-tattva—without service to the Guru we cannot enter there, cannot get service to the Lord.

There was once one devotee in Nabadwip called Haribol Gosai. He was not a disciple of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, but he was a very big writer and everybody in Nabadwip market knew his books. Everybody also knew that he never paid dandavat to anyone, not even Lord Krishna or Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu. The only person he did pay dandavat to was our Param Guru Maharaj Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Every year he would come to him to pay dandavat; he would say, "There is no Bhagavan in this world, my only Bhagavan is Srila Sridhar Maharaj."

One year, when he was ninety years old, he published a new book and came to the Math by rickshaw to give that book to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. When Gurudev saw him, he said, "Oh, you are so old, why have you come yourself? You could have sent a message to me and I could have brought the books from your house and given them to Srila Sridhar Maharaj... Why have you taken such a great trouble, coming here, suffering?" The old man replied, "I have only one Guru in this world, and I have come to pay dandavat to him. Please do not tell me not to come. You can come and bring the books yourself, but I have to come every year to pay dandavat to my Guru. Please do not forbid me to come."

Gurudev was shocked that this kind of man came to pay dandavat to our Guru Maharaj and that he would say, "Do not forbid me to come, do not tell me not to come. I do not know how many days I will be alive, but as long as I am alive I will come to pay dandavat to my Guru."

* * *

Our Predicament and Prospect

Caracas, Venezuela

18 September 2009

Today is a very auspicious day. Sometimes it is cloudy or it is rainy and we say, "Today is a bad day," but the scriptures say that a cloudy day is not a bad day—what day is a bad day? The day when we cannot worship Lord Chaitanyadev, Lord Nityananda Prabhu, the day when we cannot chant Hare Krishna, cannot hear Hari-katha—this day is the worst day in our life.

So, today is our good day. We are chanting and dancing in front of Nityananda Prabhu, Lord Chaitanyadev, so it is a very fortunate day, we are very lucky today.

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

"Having travelled throughout the universe and got the mercy of Guru, Krishna, a fortunate soul receives a seed of the devotional creeper."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151)

We always come and go, but Gurudev says that we are very fortunate because we have got this human body—only in this body we can worship the Lord, we cannot do it in any another body. Gurudev said even more—he said, "Who is foolish? Those who wait for another life. They are foolish because we do not know if we can get a human body next time."

There is also a kirtan that says,

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?"

It is very sorrowful, very bad that, although it is very rare and not easy to get it, we have got a human body, but we forget our Lord. Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami writes in Chaitanya-charitamrita (2.20.117),

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha

ataeva maya tare deya samsara-duhkha

"Having forgotten Krishna, the soul wanders throughout the universe. Being thus covered by illusion, the soul goes through much material suffering."

Because we forget our Lord, forget our actual Father, we suffer so much—tri-tap-jvala, three kinds of suffering are burning within us (adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik: miseries caused by one's body, by the nature, and other souls). We promised our Father, "I will serve You!", "I will see You!" and so on, but we forget it. When did we promise it? You know that when a child is in its mother's womb, it suffers so much, every mother knows it. In the womb, the child lives with its head down, legs up, surrounded by impure water, and so on. You know it. At that time, the child suffers to much. Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote in one of his songs, "Janani-jathare, chhilama yakhana, visama bhandana-pase." It means that when we were in the womb, we were tied and suffering so much, and at that time we cried to the Lord, "Prabhu! Please! I want to see You!" Only the fortunate souls can see the Lord in their mother's womb. The Lord comes Himself to see the soul, and when the Lord comes, He asks,

"Why have you called Me?"

"I have been suffering so much, please free me! I do not want to stay in this womb, I want to come out," prays the soul.

"All right. You want to come out, you will come out, no problem; but when you come out you will forget Me, so I am giving you eyes so that you can see My form everywhere (like, Gaura Nitai, for example); I am giving you hands, with these hands you will serve Me; I am giving you legs so that you can do parikrama of holy places." You may not always be able to come to the holy dham like Sri Nabadwip, Vrindavan, Mathura, because you may be busy, have no money, or because of a lack of fortune, but the Lord says, "If you cannot come to the holy place, I am giving you an instruction. You can plant Tulasi in your house and with your legs you can do parikrama around her every day four times. And I am giving you a mouth—this mouth is not for eating, I am giving you this mouth so that you can chant the Holy Name with it."

We promise all this, but when the baby is born, it cries and Maya attacks it...

There is a sloka in Srimad Bhagavad-gita (7.14) where Lord Krishna Himself says, "Daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya: I Myself have created the illusion, Maya. She is very powerful, you cannot defeat her." And then next He says, "Mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te: If somebody fully surrenders to Me, I remove all maya, all illusion, from them."

There is also a kirtan where it is said,

e ghora-samsare padiya manava

na paya duhkhera sesa

sadhu-sanga kari' hari bhaje yadi

tabe anta haya klesa

"Those who have fallen into this terrible world never cease to suffer, but if they associate with sadhus and serve Hari, their suffering comes to an end."

('E ghora-samsare' from Jaiva-dharma by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

"E ghora-samsare padiya manava, na paya duhkhera sesa: Those who have fallen into this terrible world never cease to suffer." When we suffer so much in this life, where will that suffering go? How to remove that suffering? "Sadhu-sanga kari' hari bhaje yadi, tabe anta haya klesa: if they associate with sadhus and serve Hari, their suffering comes to an end." If we get good association, we can chant the Holy Name, then all suffering will be removed.

Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu also said,

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam

anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

"The highest devotion is that which satisfies Lord Krsna, free from the coverings of any pursuits such as action, knowledge."

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhuh, 1.1.11)

In other words,

anya abhilasa chhadi, jnana karma parihari

kaya-mane kariba bhajana

sadhu-sange krsna-seva, na pujiba devi-deva

ei bhakti parama karana

"The topmost process of devotional service is to worship the Lord with body and mind, giving up desires for fruitive activities and mental speculation. One should serve Lord Krsna in the association of devotees without worshipping any demigods."

(Sri Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, 13, Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We must leave everything and think about Krishna—Krishna says, "If you think about Me, I will think about you." Knowledge, duty (jnana, karma)—finish it all, it is not necessary to do anything. Some say, "Oh, Lord Krishna told not to do any karma, so I do not have to cook, I do not have to do any service or work." No, this is not right to think like this.

Jnana-karma-parihari (give up karma and jnana): what does it mean to stop karma? There is karma and there is also service, what is the difference? We must know it. You can do everything, but you should do it for the Deities, for the Lord.

For example, somebody cooks and thinks, "Oh, my husband will eat it, my daughter and son will eat it," and somebody cooks for the Deity, and their husband eats that too. Imagine two man go marketing. One man goes marketing thinking, "Oh, today my relative is coming, so I am doing some shopping"; and the other man goes to the market thinking, "Oh, Gaura Nitai, or Radha Krishna, Radha Madhav, are in my house, so I am marketing for Them." Both are marketing, but the meaning is not equal—one is karma, and one is service. It is not the same.

Gurudev also gave one example. When a cat catches a rat, it carries it in its mouth and the rat suffers so much, it is crying, but when that same cat picks its kitten, it also carries it in its mouth, but the kitten is very happy. Both times the cat bites and it looks the same, but actually it is not the same. That is the difference between karma and service. Do you understand what I am telling?

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If you do karma, then you will again have to come (get another birth), but if you do service, it is not necessary to come again—you will go to your own house. We think about "search for Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful," we are searching for the Lord, but Krishna Himself is engaged in the "loving search for the lost servant." Have you read these two books? The Lord also thinks about us and cries for us, "When will My son come home?" We all have come from the same place, and we must go "back to God, back to home."

Since so many days ago we have lost our house. This here is not our house, this is a temporary, rented house—when the proprietor of this 'house' comes and says, we will have to leave. So, we must think where our real house is. We have come from the same place and have the same Father, and we must all come to the same place. How will we get there? A great devotee can show us the way to our house. That is why Krishna Himself sends His own associate as our Guru.

First you must be a disciple, then you can be a guru—without being a disciple you cannot be a guru. When you obey and always follow the instruction of your Guru, then you are a disciple. Somebody can only take some mantra and think, "Oh, I am a disciple," but if they do not follow their Gurudev's instruction, they are not a disciple of their Guru...

* * *

Niskapata Service

Caracas, Venezuela

18 September 2009

You should be a sincere seeker—chastity and sincerity are necessary. I will tell you what kind of sincerity you should have, then you can understand it easily.

One day, Mahaprabhu danced and chanted so much that He became very tired. He lived at that time in Gambhira, Puri, and His room was very small and had only one door. Mahaprabhu had a servitor whose name was Govinda, and every day when Mahaprabhu was going to bed, Govinda massages His feet. That was his service.

That day, when Mahaprabhu came to His room, He was so tired that He lay down across the entrance, and because the room was very small, Govinda could not come in to massage his feet. He said,

"Prabhu, please move. I want to serve You, I want to massage You... Please move."

"Oh, I am too tired today, I cannot move! What can you do?..."

"But I want to serve you..."

"That is as you wish. Whether you do it or not, it is up to you, I do not know anything."

Govinda thought, "I do this service every day, shall I not do it today? No, it is not good! ...If I cross Him, some offence will come, but it is not a problem." He put his uttariya (a piece of clothes) on Mahaprabhu's body and came in crossing Him.

He gave Mahaprabhu a good massage, and sat inside. At midnight, Mahaprabhu woke up and, seeing Govinda was still there, asked him,

"O Govinda, why did you not go to take prasadam??"

"Prabhu, how shall I go crossing You?"

"How did you come in?"

"It was for service. I can cross You for service to You, but I cannot cross You for my stomach, for my own self..."

So, for the service to the Lord you can do anything. You also know what happened another time.

Once, Narad Goswami visited Krishna in Dvaraka. Suddenly, Krishna got so much headache, He was suffering so much, and He asked Narad Goswami, "Give me some foot dust of the devotees! Put it on My head!" Rukmini, Satyabhama and others were there, but they could not do anything. They thought, "If we give our foot dust, we will be great sinners, a big offence will come..."

Narad Goswami also could not give it, Siva could not give it, Brahma could not give it, so in the end Krishna sent Narad Goswami to Vrindavan.

When all the gopis heard about it, they became very excited. They were ready to give it, so mixing their feet dust with some water and mud, they sent it to Krishna with Narad Goswami. They thought, "Our legs can be burnt, they can rot, it is not a problem as long as Krishna is ok. If Krishna dies, what is the use then of having legs?"

This is what is called seva, service—niskapata seva (without deceit, or hypocrisy). It is causeless. You do not need to ask Him for anything, only serve Him.

* * *

Surrendered Souls' Sustenance

Caracas, Venezuela

18 September 2009

Krishna always tells us, "If somebody worships Me, but keeps on asking Me for something (Ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha), I do not stay with them; but if somebody only serves Me without asking Me for anything, I always stay with them."

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam

anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

"The highest devotion is that which satisfies Lord Krsna, free from the coverings of any pursuits such as action, knowledge."

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhuh, 1.1.11)

ananyas chintayanto mam, ye janah paryupasate

tesam nityabhiyuktanam, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

"I bear the responsibility of acquiring and protecting the necessities of My fully dependent devotees who are always absorbed in thought of Me, and who worship Me in every way."

This is written in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, chapter 9, sloka number 22. The meaning of this sloka is the following. The Lord says, "When a devotee does not think about himself, but only thinks about Me, it is not necessary for them to go anywhere, I Myself will carry (supply) food for them!"

Once there was a devotee couple, only a husband and a wife, they did not have any other family. They lived together and worshipped Radha-Madhav Deities. What was the daily duty of the husband devotee? He would wake up early in the morning, bathe, read Srimad Bhagavad-gita and go begging to collect the bhog for the Deities. He did not have to go to many houses—he would go to one-two houses and what he collected was sufficient for one day. The next day he would go collecting again. This is how they ran their lives.

Every day he read Srimad Bhagavad-gita, and once when he read that "Vahamy aham" sloka where the Lord says, "Those who are surrendered to Me (to the Lord), I personally supply their food," he could not believe it, he thought, "What? We are also surrendered to the Lord, but we have to do everything ourselves. Krishna says He will get food for them, but Krishna is not doing—I am doing it..." He had some ego like that, and he tore the page of Gita where that sloka was.

Sometimes you may hear a husband say, "I go to work, I do the job," and the wife says, "You work, you earn money, but I cook! If I do not cook, you will not be able to eat." Everybody's ego is like this...

When that brahman tore Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Lord Narayan, Krishna, was sitting at that time with Srimati Laksmi Devi in Vaikuntha. Suddenly Krishna told Laksmi Devi, "Oh, one of My devotees is suffering so much, please give Me permission to go to his loka (planet)." (Krishna says in Gita, "Gita is My heart," "Gita is a part of My body," that is why when the brahman tore Gita, it hurt Krishna's body.) So, taking permission from Laksmi Devi, Krishna Himself came to earth as a ten-year-old boy.

Krishna came to the house of that brahman, and He brought so much food on His shoulders—rice, dal, vegetables, etc. That devotee brahman had gone begging, and the wife was alone at home, but she could not recognise that Krishna Himself came. When she came out, the boy said, "O brahmani! Ma! Please come, please come, it is very heavy. I cannot carry so many things!" The brahman's wife was surprised, "Why are You, a little boy, carrying all this?" The boy replied, "The brahman told Me to carry it, I told him I could not do it, but he gave Me a slap..." He turned and showed her a mark on his back (the brahman tore Gita and that Gita cut made a mark on His body). The brahman's wife was even more surprised, she thought, "What has happened today? He is a brahman and also a devotee, he is not angry, but why would he beat such a small boy?"

In the meantime, the brahman was doing collection, but this time he went house to house, and at some house the father died, at another house the mother died, some houses were locked, and at other houses the people said they were busy—he could not get anything that day. His wife thought, "It is already past noon... Every day he comes in one hour, but today it is already past noon and he is not here... Why is not coming?" When the time came, she cooked the bhog, made the offering—did everything herself.

It was already evening when the brahman come back home, crying. The wife asked him,

"Why are you crying?"

"Today I could not collect anything—there is no rice, no dal... Our Radha-Madhav will have to fast today!" he said.

"No, no, you sent a boy in the morning with so much food, and you also beat Him... The boy brought so much bhog, you will not have to go begging for the next seven days."

"What are you saying? I did not send anybody, I did not beat anybody! What has happened?

"Come, come, I will show you." She took her husband and showed him the bhog and the cooked prasadam. The brahman was surprised.

Then, he went to the Deity room and prayed to the Deity, "Radha-Madhav, I do not know what happened today..." then suddenly he saw Srimad Bhagavad-gita lying open at his vyasasan. Every day when he finished reading it, he kept the book in his almirah, so he asked his wife, "Were you reading Bhagavad-gita today? Why is it here?" Then he saw that sloka. Krishna Himself came and wrote, "You do not do anything. I do everything."

So, we think we do everything, but without Him we cannot do anything. Even the sun, the moon, the air—no one can do anything without His permission, without His sanction. Many worship demigods—Durga, Kali, Ganesh, and so on. Do you know how many demigods there are in this world? There are thirty-three crores (million), demigods in this world. So, today you do Laksmi puja, tomorrow you will do Ganesh puja, the day after that you will do Kartik puja, and so on, but still you cannot make everyone happy. If you put water under the tree, it is not necessary to put water on the branches and leaves or anywhere else.

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

Brahma-samhita says, "Krishna is the cause of all causes. He is everything." Even when somebody asks Mother Durga or Lord Brahma for something, they must first ask Krishna for permission, "Can I give him these things?" When Hiranyakasipu came to Brahma and asked, "O Brahma, I do not want to die, can you give me this boon that I will not die?" Brahma told him, "I cannot do that. This is not my zone. My lifetime is so much longer than yours, but even I have to die one day." You know also that Indra had so much ego—he is the king of heaven, but he once even got a pig body, and another time he and all the demigods (Kali, Durga, Laksmi, Ganesh and others) had to ran away from heaven when they were chastised a lot...

Then you can understand the value of service to the Lord... People do some good karma and want to go to heaven, but they will again have to come back. If, on the other hand, we serve the Lord, we can go to our own house.

* * *

"Bhajahu Re Mana"

Caracas, Venezuela

19 September 2009

This song was written by Govinda Das. There were two brothers who used to always fight—one brother, Govinda, worshipped Mother Kali, and the other brother worshipped Lord Krishna.

Once, Govinda planted so many flowers in his garden. His brother did not have a big garden, so when one day he wanted to give some flowers to Lord Krishna, he came to his brother's garden, but Govinda chastised him, "Do not come to my garden! These are Mother Kali's flowers, not Krishna's!"

The next day Govinda picked some flowers and went to give them to Mother Kali, but when he came in, Mother Kali withdrew her hands and said, "I cannot take these flowers. They have already been offered to my Master, Krishna!" Govinda's brother only asked for some flowers, but Mother Kali said, "This all garden belongs to my Lord, my Master, so first flowers will go to Him."

After that day Govinda wrote this song, "Bhajahu re mana sri-nanda-nandana."

bhajahu re mana sri-nanda-nandana

abhaya-charanaravinda re

durlabha manava janama sat-sange

taraha e bhava-sindhu re [1]

“O mind, serve the son of Nanda's lotus feet, which make one fearless. Having attained this rare human birth, cross over the ocean of material existence by associating with sadhus.”

sita atapa vata varisana

e dina yamini jagi re

viphale sevinu krpana durajana

chapala sukha-lava lagi' re [2]

“Day and night I remain awake, suffering from the heat and the cold, the wind and the rain. For a moment of flickering happiness I have uselessly served wicked and miserly men.”

e dhana, yauvana, putra, parijana

ithe ki achhe paratiti re

kamala-dala-jala jivana talamala

(ei achhe ei nai jivana talamala)

bhajahu hari-pada niti re [3]

“What is there in having wealth, youth, sons, and family? Life is tottering like water on a lotus petal (it is here, and then it is gone). O mind, serve the Lord's feet.”

sravana, kirtana, smarana, vandana

pada-sevana, dasya re

pujana, sakhi-jana, atma-nivedana

govinda-dasa-abhilasare [4]

“Govinda Das desires to engage in the nine practices of devotion: hearing about, glorifying, remembering, praying to, attending to, serving, worshipping, befriending, and surrendering to the Lord.”

* * *

Kali-Yuga's Treasure

Caracas, Venezuela

19 September 2009

Today we have again met together, it is such a good association. "Bhakta-sangete mana anandita anuksana": when we get some association of the devotees, always happiness comes to our minds, and also when we get good association, all misconceptions, all bad elements are removed from our hearts. Another way how all bad things are removed is through chanting and dancing. That is why Bhagavatam says that Kali-yuga is the time of gostha bhajan, gosthanandi bhajan (congregational practice).

Now is not Satya-yuga, not Treta-yuga, not Dvapar-yuga—it is Kali-yuga. In Satya-yuga, people always meditated (practised dhyan),

narayana-para veda narayana-paraksaram

narayana-para muktar-narayana para-gatih

Their lifetime was 100,000 years. In Treta-yuga, they always did sacrifice—fire sacrifice, asvamedha yajna, they would bring so many horses, and so on; at that time their lifetime was only 10,000 years. In Dvapar-yuga, people did only puja, archan, worshipping, and their lifetime was 1,000 years.

Now, in Kali-yuga, people's lifetime is only 120 years. In Dvapar-yuga Krishna Himself thought, "How will people be rescued from this environment in Kali-yuga?" Once, He was sitting in Imlitala (it is in Vrindavan Dham on the bank of the Yamuna, our temple is nearby) under an imli (tamarind) tree, and suddenly He saw His reflection in the waters of the Yamuna and became surprised, "How beautiful I am! That must be why Radharani has become crazy and cries all the time... I want to get that kind of taste too. I want to know why She cries for Me, why She chants My Name, why She feels so much excitement—I must come in the form of Radharani!"

This is how, thinking in this way, Krishna Himself came in this world in this Kali-yuga as Gauranga Mahaprabhu, a combined form of Krishna and Radharani (He also took Radharani's colour—the colour of Gauranga is the same as Radharani's). He did not come alone—He came with all His associates (parsada). It is said in one of the songs of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur, "Sva-parsada sviya dhama-saha avatari"—it means He came with all His associates. Before Mahaprabhu appeared, Srimad Bhagavatam also made a prediction about His appearance in this sloka (11.5.32):

krsnavarnam tvisakrsnam sangopangastra parsadam

yajnaih sankirtana prayair yajanti hi sumedhasah

In Dvapar-yuga Krishna had a lot of arms (weapons), and what are His weapons in Kali-yuga? "Sanga-upanga": He comes with His associates and performs sankirtana. You have seen our sankirtana today—what are our weapons? We have no revolvers, no pistols—our weapons are kartal (hand cymbals) and kol, mridanga (drums).

Why does Mahaprabhu come in this Kali-yuga? There are only two causes. One is mukhya (direct) and one is gauna (indirect): one is very important, and the other is not so important... He also said, "I have come here, so I must give them something." What does He give? Harinama sankirtan. He comes in the form of His Name—Krishna's Name, beauty, pastimes, His associates, His books (grantha), His Hari-katha are nondifferent from Him...

* * *

Dirty Plates and Dusty Hearts

Caracas, Venezuela

19 September 2009

eka bara hariname yata papa hare

patakira sadhya nai tata papa kare

It says, "If you chant the Holy Name one time only, all sins will be removed," but we chant so many times, why do our sins not go away?

koti janma yadi kare sravana kirtana

tabu na paya vrajera nandera nandana

It means, "You can chant for crores and crores, millions and millions, of lives, but still you will not get Krishna." Why?

tabe jani, aparadha tahate prachura

krsna-nama-bija tahe na kare ankura

"As I understand, there are too many offences and the seed of Krishna's Name does not sprout."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.30)

because there are so many offences inside us. You are asking Krishna, "Please come to me, come to my heart!" but all your heart is full of dust, how will He come there? At the same time, that offence can also be removed by chanting. That is why you must always chant and try to remove the offences. This is the main point.

Gurudev would often joke about this. One time, maybe seven-eight years ago (2001-2002), we were at the airport in Moscow, Russia, and one Iskcon sannyasi came up to one of our devotees (actually that devotee was Srila Ashram Maharaj) and asked,

"What is your name?"

"Ashram Maharaj."

"What temple are you from"

"Chaitanya Saraswat Math."

"Oh, I heard that your Gurudev tells all devotees to chant only four rounds, but Iskcon tells everyone must chant minimum sixteen rounds. Why do you say only four?"

Srila Ashram Maharaj is a very peaceful and always quiet person, he did not reply anything, but he gave report about this to Gurudev. Gurudev did not give his answer to that sannyasi, but he told us his answer and sent Srutasrava Prabhu to him. Srutasrava Prabhu came up to him and said, "We do not want to make more offences—if you chant sixteen rounds, more offence will come. That is why we chant four rounds so that there are less offences." [His Divine Grace laughs]

Gurudev would always give very nice answers and always with so much affection.

Sometimes Gurudev would say, "I am only a piece of iron, my Guru Maharaj has made me a weapon." Sometimes he would also say that we are like different kitchen utensils and sometimes like Deities' plates—plates get dirty, but you clean them and use again to serve the Deity. Gurudev would say, "I am a dirty plate, but my Guru Maharaj always cleans me and uses for the service of the Lord.”

* * *

Attachment to Chanting

Caracas, Venezuela

19 September 2009

Those who have taken initiation must always chant. You can chant Hare Krishna the whole day, no problem, and if you can chant without offences, the result will come quickly.

In Gambhira, where Mahaprabhu stayed, there were Deities of Radha Kanta, and the name of the Deities' pujari was Gopal. They lived at the same house. One day, Mahaprabhu was going to the bathroom and Gopal saw that Mahaprabhu was going there with His tongue between His teeth. He asked Him, "Prabhu, what has happened? Are you unwell, is there any problem?" Mahaprabhu answered, "My tongue is very naughty. I am going to the bathroom, but even there My tongue is chanting." Gopal said, "What is the problem? You can chant the Holy Name everywhere, even in the bathroom. Why are You stopping Your tongue?" Mahaprabhu agreed, "Yes, I was wrong." You can chant the Holy Name anywhere—even in the bathroom, even while sleeping, while writing, while walking. Then Mahaprabhu said, "Gopal! Today you have become My Guru!" and from that day his name became Gopal Guru.

So, you can chant the Holy Name anywhere. The main thing is that chanting does not come easily—Nama aksara bahiraya bate tabu Name kabhu naya (Pv, 7.1). The letters of the Name come, but not the pure Name. Mostly what is coming is Nama aparadh, then it is Namabhas, and then comes of the pure Name.

When Mahaprabhu went to Kasi to rescue the big, big sannyasis who lived there (they were not in Mahaprabhu's line), one time a disciple of one of the sannyasis, a Sanodiya brahman, came to Mahaprabhu and asked Him, "Prabhu, all these sannyasis are expert at the Vedas, Vendanta, why do they not chant the Holy Name?" Mahaprabhu said, "Krishna Nam does not come to their tongues easily because they are offenders of Krishna Nam."

Guru Maharaj also told the same. Krishna Nam will come to your tongue automatically, on its own. As I told you before, the Holy Name is nondifferent from Krishna, it is not prakrita, mundane—it is aprakrita, transcendental; so it can easily come to your tongue and dance there.

You know Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj always chanted the Holy Name, and he would often come to our Math. One time, I remember Gurudev told us that somebody said about him, "That sadhu always comes, he does not do any service, only always chants—he always comes to eat here." When Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj heard this, he went to his room and locked the door. He stayed there and only chanted, without taking any prasadam, without eating anything. After five days somebody broke his door and they saw that he was almost dying, but even at that time he chanted, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna..." That is what is called a sadhu...

* * *

Godbrothers' Bond

Caracas, Venezuela

19 September 2009

Srila Gurudev told us about Sripad Madhusudan Maharaj (Srila Guru Maharaj's godbrother) that when he would come to our temple, he would pay sastanga dandavat at the gate and go upstairs to see Srila Guru Maharaj, saying all the time, "Nyasisvaram Sridharam! Nyasisvaram Sridharam!"... He was his godbrother.

Also Gurudev told that when Param Guru Maharaj gave sannyas to Srila Goswami Maharaj (even though Srila Goswami Maharaj was senior to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, he took sannyas from him), Srila Goswami Maharaj would every year invite his sannyas Guru to Mayapur or Kolkata on his birthday. Who was his sannyas Guru? Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Every year, whatever presentation Srila Goswami Maharaj would get from his disciples, he would give everything to Srila Sridhar Maharaj with the words, "All I get today is not for me, it is all for Srila Sridhar Maharaj only." Srila Sridhar Maharaj went there every year, but one year he could not come, and that year Srila Goswami Maharaj said, "My sannyas Guru comes every year I get one more year of life, but this year he could not come, so I will not be alive this year, I will die." And it happened—he died that year.

Today I was singing this song from the kirtan book written by Srila Sridhar Maharaj—"Prema-dhama-devam eva naumi Gaura-sundaram,"

krsna-krsna-krsna-krsna-krsna-nama-kirtanam

rama-rama-gana-ramya-divya chhanda-nartanam

yatra-tatra-krsna-nama-dana-loka-nistaram

prema-dhama-devam eva naumi gaura-sundaram

“Later, the Supreme Lord travelled to the holy places of pilgrimage in South India with the clever intention of delivering the fallen souls. Appearing as a beautiful young renunciate, He distributed the sweet Names of the Lord, singing: "Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna he," as He strolled down the different pathways, entered temples, and visited homesteads during the sacred pilgrimage. Infused with an inconceivable type of divine inspiration, the Lord freely chanted "Rama Rama" and joyfully danced with the most charming gestures. Irrespective of time or personal qualification, the assembled bystanders were delivered by the Lord, who inspired them to chant Krishna's Holy Names. I offer my obeisances to that beautiful Golden Lord, Gauranga Sundar, the divine form of Krishna prema.”

(Prema-dhama-deva Stotram, 22)

Sripad Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj—a disciple of Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Srila Sridhar Maharaj's godbrother; before, his photograph was in the Bengali kirtan book—would go on foot from Nabadwip to Hapaniya (25 km) and sing all Prema-Dhama Stotram on the way. When he came to Hapaniya, he would search for such places as the school where Srila Sridhar Maharaj used to study, the pond where he used to bathe, the playground where he used to play football, and so on.

One day, Srila Sridhar Maharaj asked him, "Babaji Maharaj, you are my godbrother, you go to Hapaniya, I do not mind, but why do you go to the school where I studied? Why are you looking for the playground where I played football, the pond where I bathed? Why do you go to such places?" Babaji Maharaj answered, "Because I know who you are. When I see your writing, your Prema-Dhama Stotram, your 'Sujanarvuda-radhita-pada-yugam...' and other slokas, I think that Rupa Goswami himself wrote it, so I go there thinking it is like the birthplace of Rupa Goswami. If I am making an offence, I do not mind, I will still go there."

Once, this Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj was chanting some kirtan in the nat mandir at our temple, but he was singing with some other, sahajiya, tune. Hearing it, Srila Sridhar Maharaj chastised him very much, but he did not listen, and next time Srila Sridhar Maharaj told him to get out of the temple. Our Gurudev asked, "Maharaj, but why? He is an old man—he did something wrong, but why did you tell him to get out?" Srila Sridhar Maharaj answered, "Do not worry, he will come back." Seven days later, Babaji Maharaj came back. Seeing him, Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "Oh, Babaji Maharaj! I told you to get out, why have you come back?" Babaji Maharaj said, "You told me to get out, but you did not tell me not to come back."

Such was Srila Guru Maharaj's relationship with his friends and godbrothers…

* * *

Giving Respect: What to Do and What Not to Do

Caracas, Venezuela

19 September 2009

One time, when Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj was in America, he wrote a letter to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. (I have that letter with me, Gurudev it to me, and it is a very good letter, I saw it.) He had something like an infection in his back and was suffering very much when he wrote it. In the letter, he addressed Srila Sridhar Maharaj as his siksa guru, "Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj." He wrote humbly, "I am living in this America, suffering so much, and you live in Gupta Govardhan—please give me some mercy, please rescue me from here. I am suffering so much, maybe I am making some offence, please rescue me." Param Guru Maharaj encouraged him a lot, gave him energy, "You are a saktyavesa avatar of Nityananda Prabhu. You are living in America now, but even if you live in hell, it is not a problem because you are an associate (parsada) of Nityananda Prabhu—wherever you are, that is Vrindavan."

Gurudev, our Gurupadpadma, also stayed with his Guru Maharaj, Param Guru Maharaj, at Sita Kanta Banerjee Lane, Kolkata, in Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj's house—it was not Srila Swami Maharaj's birthplace, it was a rented house. Gurudev said that during that time Srila Swami Maharaj taught him Srimad Bhagavad-gita, and when there was some house programme, Srila Swami Maharaj would take him there along. Srila Swami Maharaj told him, "I am a white-clad householder, and you are a saffron-clad brahmachari, so you can sit on the vyasasan and read Srimad Bhagavatam, and I can explain it." This is the relationship they had. Moreover, Srila Swami Maharaj said about Gurudev to the effect, "I admit that Gaurendu is my son."

One time, when Srila Sridhar Maharaj heard Srila Swami Maharaj was coming from the West, he cleaned and prepared his bed so that he could sleep on it. When Srila Swami Maharaj came, Srila Sridhar Maharaj told him, "Come, your bed is ready." When Srila Swami Maharaj heard that it was Srila Sridhar Maharaj's bed, he stepped back and said to Gurudev, "Gaurendu, do you think I will sleep here? Have you become crazy? No, no, I cannot sleep here. Where is your room? I can go there!"

This is the kind of respect Srila Swami Maharaj give to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. I heard it from Gurudev. This is an example for us how we must respect senior Vaishnavs. You can also find some lessons and teachings in Chaitanya-charitamrita, you can see what Mahaprabhu's conception is. When some devotees dishonoured others, Mahaprabhu chastised them. When Jagadananda Prabhu once showed some disrespect to Sanatan Goswami in some small matter, Mahaprabhu chastised him very hard for that. This is how it happened:

When Sanatan Goswami came to Puri from Vrindavan, his body was very bad and he wanted to commit suicide, thinking, "My body is getting rotten, I cannot serve Lord Krishna, Vaishnavs with this body, then I better die," but he was afraid to tell Mahaprabhu about it. He told about his intention to Haridas Thakur, and one day when he came to Haridas Thakur's house, Mahaprabhu was also there and He found out that Sanatan Goswami was going to commit suicide. Mahaprabhu said to him, "What are you thinking to do? It is not your property, it is My property!" "Diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana, sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama sama." (Cc, 3.4.192) It means, "When you surrendered to Me, when you took initiation from Me, you gave everything to Me, so how can you spoil and destroy others' property? Moreover," said Mahaprabhu, "deho-tyag tamo-dharma: if you leave your body, it is not dharma (religious), it is tamasik. Do you think that if you leave your body you will get Krishna? If as long as you are alive in this world you serve Krishna, then you can get Krishna." Sanatan Goswami Prabhu then said, "Prabhu, this body is getting rotten, what can I do with this body?..." When Sanatan Goswami said it, Mahaprabhu forcefully embraced him, and he became very sad, "Oh, I have made such a big offence! I always want to keep far from Mahaprabhu because my body is rotten, but He forcefully came to me!"

In the meantime, Jagadananda Prabhu saw this and thought, "Oh, this kind of person has come, and Mahaprabhu is always treating him with so much attachment..." Jagadananda Prabhu could not tolerate Sanatan Goswami so much because Jagadananda Prabhu was Satyabhama before. There are two moods, vamya and daksinya; Rukmini (in daksinya-bhava) always thinks, "Oh, Krishna will run away..." and Satyabhama (in vamya-bhava) thinks, "Krishna is my property! Why will He run away?" and Krishna is always afraid of Satyabhama. Jagadananda is that kind of person, and Mahaprabhu is also always afraid of him.

Jagadananda Prabhu has so much affection for Mahaprabhu. He was Krishna's associate, and he knew who Mahaprabhu was, why Mahaprabhu had taken sannyas, he knew everything. Before, when Krishna lived in Dvaraka, all queens, including Satyabhama and Rukmini, served Him in many different ways, and now Krishna Himself came in this world as a sannyasi and lived a very renounced life, sleeping on the floor, using banana leaves as His bed, and so on. Jagadananda Prabhu could not tolerate it, he always thought, "How much He is suffering!" One time, he dried some banana leaves and stuffed them into some cotton cloth he had and made a pillow and a mattress for Mahaprabhu. This is how Jagadananda Prabhu served Mahaprabhu.

Another time, Jagadananda Prabhu brought some scented oil from West Bengal. A sannyasi never uses oil for message, so Govinda, Mahaprabhu's servitor, always massaged the Lord without any water or oil. Jagadananda Prabhu brought that oil and told Govinda, "Govinda, please keep this oil for Mahaprabhu." When Mahaprabhu felt the smell, He asked, Govinda, what is this?" Govinda said, "Oh, it is some oil, Jagadananda Prabhu brought it." Mahaprabhu replied, "Oh, OK, looks like Jagadananda wants to have a family life with Me!" Jagadananda Prabhu heard it and became angry. He threw that jar of oil on the ground and ran to his house—he closed the door and did not come out for three days. When Mahaprabhu heard that Jagadananda had not eaten, bathed or come out of his house, He came to him and said, "I have not taken any prasadam, I have also been fasting for three days, and I will eat only if you cook for Me." Jagadananda Prabhu became shy and immediately came out and they took prasadam together—his anger was gone...

So, this is that Jagadananda Prabhu whom Mahaprabhu chastised. What did He chaste him for?

One day, Jagadananda Prabhu told Sanatan Goswami, "Mahaprabhu told you to stay in Vrindavan, so why are you here? Go to Vrindavan." Sanatan Goswami came and said to Mahaprabhu, "I have some time and I want to go Vrindavan, even Jagadananda also says I should go..." Mahaprabhu became unhappy, "What?! I can tell you this, but how can Jagadananda tell you what to do? He is such a small boy! Sanatan, you are My Guru, and Jagadananda dares teach you?!" Mahaprabhu could not tolerate this kind of dishonour.

* * *

Lord Nrisinghadev's Pastime

3 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham

Today is a very auspicious day, today is Lord Nrisinghadev's appearance day—the Lord appeared in this world on this day to protect His devotee.

< How it all began >

In Vaikuntha, there were two gatekeepers, Jaya and Vijaya. Once, four stark naked children came to the gates and wanted to have the audience of the Lord. At that time, Narayan was inside His room with Laksmi Devi, and the gatekeepers did not want anyone to disturb Their rest, so they did not allow these four children in (they did not know that they were actually Lord Brahma's sons). The four kumaras became angry and said, "We shall curse you two! What will be the curse? You will have to take birth in the mortal world! You cannot stay here in Vaikuntha!"

Jaya and Vijaya became senseless, "What are we going to do now?!" Hearing the noise outside the gate, Narayan came out and asked, "What has happened?" The four kumaras explained, "O Lord, these gatekeepers did not let us in, they said we would disturb Your rest. We have given them a curse." The Lord said, "So be it. You have given them a curse, so it must happen." (Do you see? Everything happens by the will of the Lord.)

Then Narayan said to Jaya and Vijaya, "I will give you a choice. If you are born as My devotees, you will have to take seven births before coming back; if you are born as My enemies, you will come back after three births. Which do you choose?" Jaya and Vijaya replied, "We want to come back to You quickly, so we choose to become Your enemies." In this way, the two gatekeepers were born as Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa in Satya-yuga, as Ravana and Kumbhakarna in Treta-yuga, and as Dantavakra and Sisupal in Dvapar-yuga.

So, Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa were two brothers and they caused so many atrocities. From the time immemorial people have worshipped demigods, but even these demigods had to run away from heaven for fear of the demons' atrocities. The Lord could not tolerate it—He became so angry that one day He took the form of a boar and killed Hiranyaksa.

< Hiranyakasipu gets the boon >

When Hiranyaksa was killed, Haranyakasipu became even angrier. What did he do next? He went to a forest and started doing severe penances to get a boon from Brahma. He had performed austerities for many thousands of years—he did not eat all this time, and all his flesh had gone, only bones remained. Finally, Brahma became satisfied with his austerity, so he came to the demon and asked him what he wanted. Hiranyakasipu said, "I want to be immortal so that nobody can kill me." Brahma said, "This is not in my hands, it is beyond my control. My lifetime is so long, but even I one day have to leave this body, so I cannot grant you the boon you are asking me for." Hiranyakasipu did not give up,

"All right, then I want something else. Give me the boon that I will not die during the day and I will not die during the night."

"OK, so be it."

"I will not die by anyone created by you."

"OK."

"I will not die by any weapon."

"OK."

"I will not die in the sky, and I will not die on the ground."

"OK."

"I will not die outside, and I will not die inside."

"OK. If this is the boon you want, I am giving you that."

< Prahlad Maharaj's first lessons >

Hiranyakasipu had a wife called Kayadhu. While Hiranyakasipu was meditating in the forest, Kayadhu stayed at home. After the Lord killed Hiranyaksa, the demigods returned to heaven and wanted to revenge. They went to Hiranyakasipu's house and destroyed it, taking his wife away with them. As they were going away, they met Narad Goswami.

"Where are you going? Why are you taking this lady away? She was alone at home while her husband is doing penance in the jungle, where are you taking her??" asked them Narad Goswami

"There is a child in her womb, Hiranyakasipu's son. When he takes birth, he will also become a demon, and we will never get any peace," answered the demigods.

"You do not know it, but this boy in her womb will become a great devotee and he will protect us all. Give her to me."

They handed Kayadhu over to Narada, and he took her to his ashram. There, she started worshipping the Lord and did all kinds of services. Also, every day Narad would read Srimad Bhagavatam, and she would come and listen, Prahlad also listened to it from his mother's womb. Eventually, Narad became very pleased with her and said, "Kayadhu, I am very pleased with your service. What boon would you like to get, tell me?" She said, "My husband Hiranyakasipu has gone to the forest and is meditating to get a boon from Brahma... My husband is a demon, so please give me such a boon that I may not deliver the child until he returns." Narad granted her that boon.

< Hiranyakasipu returns and gets to know Prahlad >

After Hiranyakasipu got the boon from Brahma, he returned to his house and found it in a complete mess. He became angry, "Where has my wife gone?!" Somebody told him, "She is at Narad's ashram, she gave birth to your son there and gave him the name Prahlad." Hiranyakasipu went there and brought his wife and son back.

By and by, Prahlad grew up, and it was time for him to get education. The demons' Guru was Sukracharya. Sukracharya had two sons, Sanda and Amarka, and Hiranyakasipu sent Prahlad to study sama (the process of pacifying), dana (the process of giving money in charity), bheda (the principle of dividing), danda (the principle of punishment) and other subjects from them. Prahlad went to the lessons, but whatever they taught him, it would not enter his ears.

One day Hiranyakasipu asked Sanda, "What has my son learnt? Bring him here." When Prahlad came, Hiranyakasipu took him on his lap and asked, "Son, what is the best you have learnt at school so far? Of all lessons you have got, what lesson is the best?" Prahlad replied, "Dear father, let me tell it to you," and then he said,

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

As soon as Hiranyakasipu heard it, he threw him off his lap, "What?! There is an enemy in my house! My own son has become my enemy!" He sent for Sanda and roared, "What have you taught my son?!" Sanda explained, "Prabhu, please believe me, we have never taught him this. We do not know where he heard this." Hiranyakasipu believed him and ordered, "Keep a good eye on him!"

Prahlad went back to his school, but what did he do? Whatever his school master told him, he would tell the opposite.

Some time later, his father again called for him and asked him, "What have you learnt at school? What did the school master teach you?" Prahlad replied,

sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam,

dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam

"Hearing, chanting, remembering, offering obeisance, rendering service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission..."

"What is this?!" roared Hiranyakasipu getting angry again, "What is he saying?! He a disgrace to the family!" Hiranyakasipu decided to kill his son.

< The end of Hiranyakasipu >

He tried to kill him in so many ways, so many times—he would throw him into fire, he tried to drown him, tried to crush him with an elephant, tried to throw him from a mountain, tried to give him snake venom—but he could not kill him. He called Kayadha and took off with her, "How did you get this boon?! He does not die from fire, he does not drown! I have tried to kill him in so many ways! Tell me, who gave him this boon!" Prahlad then said to his father,

"O dear worshippable Father, I got this power from the same place as you got yours. You got your power from Brahma, Brahma got it from Krishna, but you got it from Brahma and became mad with ego, you have forgotten where you got your power from."

"Hari, Hari... Where is your Hari?"

"Krishna is everywhere, Hari is everywhere. Tell me where is He not?"

"Where is your Hari?"

"He is everywhere."

"Is He? Is He in this pillar too?"

"Yes, He is in this pillar too."

"Hari is here?!!" Getting happy, He crushed the pillar and suddenly there was a terrible cry.

Hearing that cry, the demigods began to shiver. They ran to Laksmi Devi and asked her to come and pacify the Lord, but Laskmi Devi said she could not do it.

Nrisinghadev appeared from the pillar and there was a terrible fierce fight between Hiranyakasipu and the Lord, both were mad with anger. They fought long, and finally the Lord decided not to wait any longer—He grabbed Hiranyakasipu and put him on His lap. Hiranyakasipu got the boon that he would not die in the sky or on the ground, but Nrisinghadev kept him on His lap; Hiranyakasipu got the boon that he would not die by any weapon, but Nrisinghadev killed him with His claws—He opened up his stomach and put Hiranyakasipu's intestines on His neck...

< Prahlad's boon and prayer >

After that, Nrisinghadev took Prahlad Maharaj on His lap and happily said to him,

"Dear child, ask Me for some boon."

"Prabhu, what boon shall I ask for? You have come here and already given me Your mercy, I do not want anything."

"No, no, you must take something from Me."

"But You have killed my father, You have already given Your mercy."

"This is not a boon. Those who sing My glories (do My kirtan), who chant My name, who get My darshan, automatically get My mercy, but your father got to touch My body, so he has already gone to My abode. Please take some boon from Me."

"Prabhu, if You want to give me something, then give me such a boon that all desires will leave me. Give me this boon."

< The main lesson >

This is the main lesson of this Pastime.

People come to the Lord and ask for so many things for their own sense gratification. They always want so many things, but we must not be like this, we must give up this asking mood. People come to Nrisinghadev and ask, "Please bless my child," "Please help my daughter get married well," "Give me health," "Give me wealth," and so on. But pure devotees ask, "Please give me devotion. Please make me attached to Your lotus feet so that I can serve You. You are the destroyer of obstacles on the path of devotion, please protect me from the influence of Maya. I do not want anything for my own self."

* * *

Developing Detachment

Caracas, Venezuela

19 September 2009

Question: I read some books by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad and I understand that I must become detached from this body, but how can I get that detachment from the body?

Through service.

There are these four kinds of people who come to Lord Krishna and worship Him: arto, jijnasur, artharthi, jnani (the afflicted, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of happiness, and the self-realised; Bg, 7.16)—somebody is poor and is asking for money; somebody is a scholar and wants to get knowledge; somebody already has so much wisdom, and so on. In our heart we have our chaitya-guru, and if we serve to Lord Krishna, Lord Gaura, Lord Nitai, that detachment will come automatically.

There is karma-misra-bhakti, jnana-misra-bhakti, jnana-sunya-bhakti, and suddha-bhakti, and each is described in 'Ramananda Ray sambad' in Chaitanya-charitamrita. This is Mahaprabhu's conception. Also, in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, when Arjuna said, "I do not want to fight," because he had some attachment to his family, Krishna Himself said to him, "I have already done everything. You think you are going to kill them, but I have already killed them. You are not doing anything."

Karma-misra-bhakti means you serve the Lord but in leu of that you ask the Lord for something; then you do everything, but you do it for the Lord (for example, you are cooking, but you are cooking for the Lord), and in this way, slowly, slowly devotion progresses. There is also kanistha adhikari, madhyam adhikari, uttam adhikari. It is a gradual process. You must serve with full faith and surrender—if you can serve with full surrender, then attachment will be removed automatically. If you think about service more and more, if you think and remember, "This is not my body, this child is not my child, this house is not my house," then eventually that attachment will go.

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara

sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

"May I have the same affection and attraction to your feet that I now have for material things."

(Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

How can you understand that devotion is coming? You are attached to your husband, your daughter, son, family, but if you feel that this kind of attachment comes to Lord Krishna, then you can think that devotion is coming.

* * *

Human Body, Siva, Vaishnavs, Guru: Learning to Appreciate

Caracas, Venezuela

18 & 19 September 2009

Question: Is it possible to develop love for Krishna in this very life?

Yes, it is, actually it is only possible in this, in a human body.

krsnera yateka khela, sarvvottama nara-lila,

nara-vapu tahara svarupa

gopa-vesa, venu-kara, nava-kisora, natavara,

nara-lila haya anurupa

krsnera madhura-rupa, suna, sanatana

ye rupera eka kana, dubaya saba tribhuvana,

sarvva-prani kare akarsana

"The highest form of Godhead is Krsna, who plays in His eternal divine pastimes like a human being. An everyouthful cowherd boy of Vrndavana, the best of dancers, He enjoys His pastimes, always playing His flute. His beauty is so charming and sweet that the whole universe is flooded by even the tiniest atom of it, and all beings are attracted irresistibly to Him."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 21.101-102)

Krishna also likes this human body—as Narayan, He has an eight-armed form (asta-bhuja), but He Himself comes in a human body.

If you tell a dog, "Chant Hare Krishna," it will not do it; if give a garland to a cow, the cow will eat it...

Question: Can we ask Lord Siva to remove obstacles from our devotional service?

Lord Siva has different activities, some devotees worship Siva and take ganja, drugs, but we serve that Siva who is a devotee (vaishnavanam yatha sambhu, Sada Siva, he even entered the rasa-lila, as you know). Lord Siva can digest everything, but we must not imitate him, we can serve Lord Siva who is a Vaishnav.

Question: What reaction does one receive if they make an offence to a devotee engaged in devotional service?

That is called Vaishnav aparadh.

hari-sthane aparadhe tare hari-nama

toma-sthane aparadhe nahika edana

"If one offends the Lord, the Lord's Name delivers him, but if one offends you, O Vaishnav, one has no salvation."

But if you come to that Vaishnav and say, "Please forgive my offence, please excuse me," then that offence will be removed. There are four kinds of offences—seva aparadh, Nama aparadha, dhama aparadh, Vaishnav aparadh...

Question: The scriptures say that we must be detached from this body and material things, but we find that when the Guru leaves his body and goes back to the spiritual world we may develop attachment to the Guru's body. Why do we suffer when the Guru departs from the world?

Guru never departs. If you think the Guru departs, you have no relation with your Guru. He always eternal, he is always here.

* * *

Lord's Reciprocation

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim

yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya

chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

“I offer my obeisance unto Sri Gurudev, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the salve of divine knowledge.”

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam

chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam sri-rupa-panthanugam

govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram

vande visva-gurun cha divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam

“I offer my obeisance unto he who perfectly fulfils his Gurudev's most cherished desires; who is fully adorned with the blessings of his Gurudev’s associates; who is expert in all aspects of Vedic knowledge, both conceivable and inconceivable; who is the pre-eminent follower of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's line; who is known as 'Govinda'—Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj; whose beautiful, effulgent, exalted form is infused with pure devotion; who is the Guru of the entire universe; and who is the giver of the seed of divine love for the Supreme Lord.”

We are again very fortunate this morning because we have got a chance today to get some good association, to chant the Holy Name with the devotees,

sadhu-sange krsna-nama—ei matra chai

samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

“I desire only to chant the Name of Krishna in the association of the sadhus. There is no other way to conquer samsara.”

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.13)

Our fortune is to take Krishna Name in the association of the sadhus. That is our life. Other than sadhu-sanga and Krishna Nam there is nothing in this life. Krishna also said, "I always stay wherever there is the chanting of My Holy Name, wherever there is good association (sadhu-sanga)."

bhakter jinish prabhu lutiputi khay

abhakter jinish prabhu ulti nahi khay

"Prabhu (Krishna, Bhagavan, the Lord) always accept devotees' things, always accepts anything in devotees' association." You know that Krishna did not accept Duryodhan's raj bhog (gorgeous offering), but when He went to Vidura's house, He took some banana skin from Vidura's wife. Vidura's wife sent some food for Krishna, but she felt so much ecstasy that she forgot to give banana, instead she gave banana skin to Krishna—and Krishna happily took it. But He never takes anything from nondevotees because nondevotees give something to Krishna with some other desires: they give Krishna something and ask Him for something in lieu of that.

"Bhaktera hrdaye sada govinda-visrama": Krishna always stays in the heart of devotees, and He Himself always says, "I always stay in their hearts, and they also always stay in My heart." That is why we must serve the devotees...

* * *

Reaching Out

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009

Srimad Bhagavad-gita says,

yada yada hi dharmasya, glanir bhavati bharata

abhyutthanam adharmasya, tadatmanam srjamy aham

"O Bharata, whenever there is a decline of religion and an uprising of irreligion, I personally make My advent."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.7)

"When religion goes down and irreligion, many nonsense things, come, at that time Krishna always appears in this world," that is why, as I was saying yesterday, Krishna Himself came as Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

As you know, Mahaprabhu was born in Phalgun month. That day was a full chandra-grahana (moon eclipse), and everybody was blowing conchshells, girls were making ulu-dhvani (auspicious cries)... But when Mahaprabhu appeared, He started crying so much. Why was He crying? Because nobody was chanting the Holy Name. Some ladies affectionately took Him in their hands and tried to calm Him down, but He did not stop crying; then some fortunate lady took Him in her hands and chanted, "Hari bol! Hare Krishna!" and the crying stopped. Everybody started chanting "Hare Krishna!" "Hari bol!"

This is how, from His very birth, Mahaprabhu started spreading the Holy Name in this world.

One time, when Nimai (Mahaprabhu's childhood name) was three and a half years old, a sannyasi came begging to their house. Jagannath Mishra and Sachi Mata (Nimai's father and mother) asked him, "You have come almost at noon... We have a Deity of Narayan at our house, please cook and offer some bhog to our Deity, and you can take prasadam here." The sannyasi accepted the invitation and started cooking.

When he finished cooking, he went to offer the bhog to the Deity, but suddenly he saw that Nimai, a small three-and-a-half-year-old boy, had come there and was about to eat that bhog. The sannyasi scolded him, "Go away! Why have You come here?! Get out!" and Nimai ran away. Hearing the noise, Jagannath Mishra came to the sannyasi.

"What has happened?" he asked the sannyasi.

"Your naughty son has come. I was offering the bhog, but He touched it."

"I do not know what offence I have committed for this to happen, but please cook again."

The sannyasi agreed and started cooking again. When he finished cooking, it was already afternoon time, he again went to offer the bhog to the Deities, and Jagannath Mishra stood at the gate with a stick. Suddenly, he did not know how he had got there, but he saw Nimai was already there, eating the offering! The sannyasi began to shout, "What?! You have come again!"

Jagannath Mishra became very angry, and, sensing the trouble, Nimai ran away. His father followed Him with a stick in his hands, but even though He was a small boy Jagannath Mishra could not catch Him. Nimai ran to the neighbour's house and closed the door. Jagannath Mishra shouted to the neighbour, "Please open the door! I am going to give this boy a hiding!" and Nimai was shaking. Do you see? The whole world is afraid of Him, but He who is Krishna Himself, is afraid of His father. This is called vatsalya-rasa.

The sannyasi did not understand what was going on, and Jagannath Mishra and Sachi Mata were very sad—they cried thinking a sannyasi had come to their house, but he could not get any prasadam, could not offer the bhog to the Deity. Hearing the noise and seeing everybody in the house was sad, Jagannath Mishra's elder son, Vishvarup, came and asked what had happened. The sannyasi asked Jagannath Mishra who he was, and when Jagannath Mishra said it was his elder son, the sannyasi explained, "Your younger brother is very naughty. I have given the offering to the Deity two times today, but every time He came and ate it!" Vishvarup understood what had happened and said to the sannyasi, "Please, do not be sad. My younger brother is always afraid of me. Please cook now, and I will stand on guard and make sure He cannot come in."

The sannyasi again cooked the offering and before he went to give it to the Deity, he went to see where Nimai was, thinking, "What if He comes again?" Seeing that Nimai was sleeping next to His mother in one of the rooms, he closed the door to the room quietly not to wake Him up and went to offer the bhog.

The sannyasi closed his eyes and started reciting the mantras. He prayed to the Lord, "Prabhu, I am such a big offender today, I could not give You the bhog timely today, please forgive me..." but when he opened his eyes, he saw Nimai had already finished the bhog! The sannyasi was surprised, "You have come again?!"

Then Nimai spoke to Him, "Why are you shouting at Me? You always call Me, 'Please take this food,' but when I come you chastise Me. What is this? Perhaps you do not recognise Me..." and He showed the sannyasi His forms of Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, and Dvapar-yuga, holding a sankha, chakra, gada, padma (a conch, a wheel, a club, and a lotus). Then Nimai said, "You are very fortunate because now I will show you My form in Kali-yuga. This is the form I have chosen, but do not tell anybody about it."

It is written in some books that this sannyasi was Madhavendra Puri...

When Nityananda Prabhu was twelve years old he ran away with Madhavendra Puri from His house. Mahaprabhu left His house when He was twenty-four years old, and Gurudev said that after Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He went from Katwa to Santipur through Bamunpara. At that time there were many cowherd boys in Bamunpara, and when Mahaprabhu asked them the way to Vrindavan, one of the cowherd boys showed Him a wrong direction (they told Mahaprabhu, "Vrindavan is this way, not that way") because Nityananda Prabhu had told them to do so before that. This is how Mahaprabhu came to Shantipur, Advaita Acharya's house. He spent there ten days, and His mother cooked for Him. Sachi Mata asked Advaita Prabhu or some other devotee, "Can you get a permission from Him? He is a sannyasi now, I do not know if He will take food from me or not... but He is going so far and I will not be able to cook for Him any more..." Hearing this, Gauranga Mahaprabhu said, "No matter where I stay, when My mother cooks for Me, I will take that food from her."

This is the main news....

* * *

Nityananda Prabhu's Marriage

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009

Everybody says that for the devotees Nityananda Prabhu never marries (has no vivaha, wedding), but He has two saktis, Jahnava and Vasudha. They were actually daughters of Surya Das, Gauri Das Pandit's brother.

One day Mahaprabhu told Gauri Das Pandit, "Guari Das Pandit, Nityanada is now coming to the right age, He needs some servitor. I saw your brother has a daughter, Jahnava, can he give her to Him?" Gauri Das Pandit agreed and asked his brother about it, "Brother, can you give your daughter Jahnava to Nityananda Prabhu?" Surya Das was surprised, "What?! But He is an avadhut! He goes to this house one day, and another house the next day. He has no house, no food in the house—how will He maintain a family?" So, Gauri Das Pandit had to go back to Mahaprabhu and tell him that his brother had not agreed.

Mahaprabhu left and went to Nityananda Prabhu. They were walking somewhere and sat down under a tamarind tree, when suddenly They saw Jahnava was there in the forest. At that time, as it can still be sometimes now, Indian unmarried girls are shy and never come to the front, so when Jahnava saw Nityananda Prabhu from the forest and their eyes met, she fell down and foam started coming out of her mouth...

In the meantime, Jahnava's parents began to search for her, and some village people found her. Where did they find her? They found her senseless in some bushes. They picked her up and carried her home. Somebody thought that maybe a snake had bitten her, they called for a doctor, but the doctor did not find any poison in her body. Jahnava was dying, and everybody thought, "Maybe that sadhu Nityananda Prabhu wanted to take her, but because we did not give her to Him this has happened..." They began searching for the two sadhus and found Them still sitting under the tree. Gauri Das Pandit called them,

"Jahnava is dying, please come, please come."

"What will I go there for? She is going to die, what can I do?" asked Nityananda Prabhu.

Gauri Das Pandit insisted and finally They agreed to come. When they came to the house where Jahnava was kept, her parents told Nityananda Prabhu,

"Please take this girl now."

"What will I do with this dead body?" Nityananda Prabhu was surprised.

"Please take her, please take her," They started begging Him and insisting.

"All right, I can take her," finally said Nityananda Prabhu, "but I want some dowry."

"We are poor brahmans, we do not even have food, what to speak of gold. Where will we get dowry?"

"I do not want any money, gold, or any other wealth from you. I want your other daughter, Vasudha, as the dowry. Jahnava is going to die, but if I get Vasudha, she will make up for her."

They agreed and brought two garlands. As soon as Nityananda Prabhu put His hand on Jahnava's head, she opened her eyes, and the two girls put two garlands on Nityananda Prabhu's neck and left with Him. This is how their marriage happened. It is a very nice story.

* * *

What Are You Hiding in Your Heart?

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009

[A devotee enters the hall at the very end of the class.] Why are you so late?

Devotee: The kids were very tired...

visaya chhadiya kabe suddha habe mana,

kabe hama heraba sri-vridnavan

"When will my mind, giving my the material world, become clean? When will I see Sri Vrindavan?"

"Visaya-visama-visa satata khainu: we always take the deadly poison of material enjoyment."

Seeing him now I remembered one story, I can tell it to you all now.

There are phalgu-vairagis and yukta-vairagis. We always practise yukta-vairagya (proper renunciation), we have everything—father, mother, husband, wife, etc. Living in a family is not a problem, but the family must be Krishna's family. A phalgu-vairagi shows he is a renunciate, shows he is a sannyasi, but inside, in his heart, he has another desire...

Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told that somebody may wear white clothes, have a family life, but they can be a sannyasi because they have no attachment to their wife and family; whereas somebody may wear the saffron colour clothes but have another desire inside. When somebody asked Srila Prabhupad, "Is the family life an internal or external thing?" he said it was internal: samsara bhitare, na bahire.

So, the story is this (it is a funny story, you will laugh). One time there was one phalgu-vairagi who thought, "There are so many people here, I cannot read Bhagavad-gita with all these people around, there is too much noise! I must go to a quiet place up in the mountains." (He shows he has no desires, but inside he has some other desire.)

So, he went up some mountain and started Bhagavad-gita there. One day, he read one-two slokas and fell asleep. While he was asleep, a rat came by and ate his Gita—when he woke up half of the book had been finished. He thought, "This rat is disturbing me so much, I need to get a cat..." He found a cat, but the cat soon got hungry and started meowing all the time. He thought, "The cat is hungry, what shall I do? It needs milk, so I have to get a cow now." He brought home a cow, but the cow also needed food and care. He spent all his time on looking after the cow and did not have so much time to read Gita. Soon he thought, "I do not have time to do all this. I need to find a woman for the cow service." He found a woman and brought her home. Soon they got married and ended up having five babies. So, in the end, when he was reading Bhagavad-gita, the first child would come to him and cry, "Papa, I am hungry!" then another baby would come, "Papa, I need a pen!", and so on...

One day, his Gurudev thought, "This disciple is very young, let me go and see him." He came to the place where his disciple was staying and was surprised, "Where is your Gita?" The disciple said, "Gurudev, everything is gone now!"

This is story told by Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. The name of the story is "Gitar samsar," or "The Family of Gita."

* * *

Mahaprabhu’s Danda and 3.5 Devotees

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009

One time I went with many devotees to Kalna, Gauri Das Pandit's house. Now we are making a temple there, a Ladies' Ashram. Gurudev told me to make a ladies' ashram in Bamunpara, but it is a village and it is not very safe for the Western ladies, that is why I started that temple in Kalna.

When we were in Kalna at that time, some local devotees called us, "Come, come, come!" They said it was Nityananda Prabhu's wedding place, but I told them, "Nityananda is Svayam Bhagavan, He is the Lord Himself—do not mix your wedding with Nityananda Prabhu's wedding." They think Nityananda Prabhu is a human, but Nityananda Prabhu is Saksad Balaram, He is actually Mul-Sankarsan. He is the Controller and the ashraya-vigraha (embodiment of shelter). Without the mercy of ashraya—without the mercy of Gurudev, without the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu—you cannot get Krishna. It is necessary to take some shelter, and He is the shelter vigraha, that is why we must serve Nityananda Prabhu.

You know what happened at Gauri Das Pandit's house, and I saw yesterday that Nitai and Gaura here in Caracas have that kind of mood too...

Do you have any questions?

Question: Why did Nityananda Prabhu break Mahaprabhu's danda?

Nityananda and Mahaprabhu were going to Puri, and it was at that time that Nityananda Prabhu broke Mahaprabhu's danda. It happened at Atharnala. It is a good question why Nityananda Prabhu broke it. Chaitanya-charitamrita itself says (2.5.157), "Inho kene danda bhange, tenho kene bhangaya: why Nityananda Prabhu broke the danda, and why did Mahaprabhu allow Him to break the danda?" It is actually the will of the Lord, but Mahaprabhu showed His anger towards Nityananda Prabhu, "You have broken My danda! It is not good!"

Gurudev told me there were two causes.

All Deities' paraphernalia—like conch, like Mahaprabhu's bed, Mahaprabhu's peacock fan (pakha), chamar (yak-tail whisk), even the temple itself—all is Nityananda Prabhu, all is ashraya vigraha, that is why we do not pay dandavat inside the temple [the Deities' room], we do not blow the conch inside the temple [the Deities' room]. Similarly, the danda is also Nityananda Prabhu, and Nityananda Prabhu thought, "Why should Mahaprabhu carry Me? I should carry Him!" This is one of the causes, and the other cause is this. Mahaprabhu is Bhagavan, Krishna Himself, and it is not necessary for Krishna to take sannyas, it is not necessary for Him to practise—why should Krishna practise for Himself? It is like we do ekadasi, but Lord Nityananda Prabhu, Lord Mahaprabhu do not do ekadasi—we offer Them the bhog and They eat it happily. In the same way, why should Mahaprabhu take sannyas? What is the necessity to take sannyas and carry danda? We have a human body, so we will take danda, but it is not necessary for Bhagavan to do it. Nityananda Prabhu thought in this way, but Mahaprabhu said to Him, "O Nityananda, You know what I have come in this world for, You know what for I have come as a devotee—to teach devotion!"

Do you understand?

They ask so many hard questions like this in Russia. They read so much. Do you know what question they once asked me in Russia in 2002? I was giving the class in the morning and somehow it was mentioned that Mahaprabhu had three and a half (close) devotees—Svarup Damodar, Ray Ramananda, Sikhi Mahiti, and Sikhi Mahiti's sister, Srimati Madhavi Devi. I was on the stage with all the other sannyasis when suddenly the ladies got up from their chairs and one of them asked, "We ladies do so much service, why is a lady considered only a half?!" The answer is not written in the scripture, but I gave her an answer and later asked Gurudev if that answer was correct, and Gurudev said it was the right answer.

What answer did I give?

The ladies do all services—they clean, cook, and so on, but there is one 'but'. Madhavi Devi cooked for Mahaprabhu, but she is a lady, so she could not go in front of Mahaprabhu and feed Him. She cooked everything, but Svarup Damodar and Ray Ramananda would take the food to Mahaprabhu and feed Him, so she did only half of the service. She also washed all clothes, but she could not go and give them to Mahaprabhu—she did everything when Mahaprabhu was not in the house. That is why it is said she is a half. Gurudev said, "You gave the right answer.”

* * *

Heaven Is Not Home

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009

Question: Can someone who is in heaven, svarga, commit some bad karma, bad activities and fall down to some hellish planet?

Anyone who is in heaven has to come down. Heaven is temporary.

Here [at the devotees' house] it is like heaven, but if somebody goes to some bad house, that is hell. Also, you have now come here to this house, but you will have to go back to your home.

Everybody has to go—even all thirty-three million of demigods—Kali, Durga, Laksmi, Ganesh... They are staying there now, but it is temporary and one day they have to come back from heaven.

You can say that Laksmi Devi is the wealth minister, Saraswati Devi is the education minister, Durga, Kali are the power minister—just as here in Caracas there is a prime-minister, an education minister, but any time they can go to some other place.

So, everybody has to go and change their position. It is said in the scriptures also that somebody who has a human body can become Kali, Durga, Laksmi Devi or some other demigod.

* * *

Satisfaction

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009

Question: How do you feel here in Venezuela? Do you like the receptivity of the devotees here?

I am very happy to see all the devotees. If I was not happy, I would not have danced yesterday the way I did. When I was dancing yesterday, Lord Nityananda Prabhu and Mahaprabhu danced too—those who have some eyes, could see that. I am very happy with the devotees here. You know also that I always like Venezuelan devotees to dance with me in Nabadwip.

Actually I want to take some devotees from here to Bangladesh. There, one thousand devotees are waiting to take initiation, they want to stay in the temple. We have many temples but not so many brahmacharis, so it will be good if we go to Bangladesh and bring some brahmacharis from there. That is why I want to take some devotees from here with me. Some ladies, girls can also come—they can dance and chant very nicely.

You know, Gurudev made one disciple, a seventeen-year-old girl—she is a good singer, but she does lila-kirtan. When she starts singing and dancing, ten thousand people will easily come together, and we can go there and give some lecture. Actually, what I tell is a very hard conception for all India and Bangladesh because it is very difficult for everybody to obey the rules and regulations; not all new devotees can understand such conception, but those who have no disease, that is those who are always surrendered to the Lord, can understand it. People like to hear lila-kirtan, but if she gathers people, I can come there and give them the last medicine [His Divine Grace laughs.]

We can sometimes preach in this way, then more devotees will come. I saw yesterday when we were doing street sankirtan, some people gathered around: we can give them some leaflet, some invitation. Through this kind of preaching we can bring new people and increase our devotees. I saw also that sometimes new people who were not devotees also came and joined our sankirtan—that is called sukriti. Srila Prabhupad himself said that you can make one hospital and thousands of people will be cured, but if you make one person a devotee, it has thousands and thousands times more value. You chant Hare Krishna and if you tell others, "Please chant Hare Krishna," you will get some commission.

This kind of preaching is necessary for us, and this is what we do everywhere. How do so many devotees come for the parikrama? We invite them—they do not know anything about Mahaprabhu, but we just invite them, "Come and see." They listen to Hari-katha and get some sukriti and through that they become devotees. First is sukriti, then sraddha, faith. There are four types of faith: kamala-sraddha, taranga-sraddha, dridha-sraddha, sudridha-sraddha.

Kamala-sraddha means somebody sees you and says, "Why are you wearing tilak and sikha?" and next they open up like a blooming lotus, but once they are taken out of the water, their faith dries.

'Taranga' means 'a wave'. Taranga-sraddha means when the wind comes, all sea or river water is agitated, but when the wind finishes, the water is calm again. In the same way, when a festival comes, everybody dances and chants, but when the festival is over, they go to their houses and forget everything.

Dridha-sraddha means the determination, "Anything, any obstacle can come in my life, but I will not forget Krishna, I will not forget to chant."

Finally, sudridha-sraddha. There is only one person who has this kind of faith—he is Haridas Thakur. When people beat him and told him, "Do not say Hare Krishna!" he said, "Hare Krishna!" They beat him at twenty-two marketplaces to show others that if anyone wanted to chant the Holy Name, they would get this kind of punishment, but those who were beating Haridas Thakur were crying because no matter how much they tried to kill Haridas Thakur he did not die. Finally, when they thought he was dead, they threw him into the Ganges, but his body floated away and he came to Shantipur, Phulia district. Haridas Thakur was like this—they would beat him, they would put him into jail, they would tell him not to say Hare Krishna, but he had that kind of sudridha-sraddha, a strongest determined faith.

* * *

"My Devotee Is Always with Me"

Caracas, Venezuela

24 June 2010

I am giving a full obeisance to my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's lotus feet.

Actually those who serve Gurudev and the Lord full-heartedly, always stay with the Lord and Gurudev.

You know, one time Sriman Mahaprabhu went to East Bengal to preach Krishna consciousness and distribute the Holy Name. He went there alone, and His mother and wife Laksmi Priya Devi stayed in Mayapur, Nabadwip. While He was there, Laksmi Priya expired. She cannot tolerate the separation, so she left her body and went to Mahaprabhu. Seeing her in East Bengal, Mahaprabhu was surprised, "Laksmi Priya?! You have come here, leaving My mother alone there?" She said, "Prabhu, I cannot tolerate so much separation from You..."

Here in Nabadwip, everybody saw that Laksmi Priya had bitten by a snake and died. Actually that snake is called "viraha-rupa sarpa," that snake (sarpa) came from separation (viraha).

Mahaprabhu immediately left East Bengal and came to His mother. His mother, Sachi Devi, was very sad. She thought in the vatsalya-rasa, "What answer will I give to Nimai? He left His wife here, but she has died—what will I tell Him?" She was so sad—she sat there with her head buried in her knees (tri-matha, "three heads"—a head and two knees). Mahaprabhu already knew everything because Laksmi Priya had come to Him, so He was not sad. He came to His mother and said, "Mother, you are so sad because Laksmi Priya has left, aren't you?" Sachi Mata was surprised, "How does He know?" "I know everything," said Mahaprabhu, "Do not be sad. Everybody's life is uncertain, we all can go at any time. Her time has come, that is why she has left..."

You have heard also how even Srivas Pandit's only son left. Mahaprabhu and all the devotees would every day go to Srivas Pandit's house and chant kirtan there. One day, when Mahaprabhu went there, He felt that there was not so much joy in the kirtan so He asked Srivas Pandit, "Srivas Pandit, what has happened today at your house? Why am I not getting pleasure from the kirtan today?" Srivas Pandit explained, "Prabhu, I did not tell You, but my only son has died today, his body is in the house..."

Internally Mahaprabhu was very happy, but externally He showed some anger towards Srivas Pandit, "Why have you not told Me before?!" Srivas Pandit said, "Prabhu, Your kirtan would be disturbed, that is why I did not tell You..."

Mahaprabhu went to the room where the body of his son was kept and spoke to the boy, "Why have you left us? Why have you left Srivas Pandit?" The boy answered, "My time has come... I had some connection with Srivas Pandit, but now that connection has finished. You are calling me, so I am going to You..."

So, those who always serve closely, heart and soul, who are dear to the Lord, they always stay with their Lord.

Sometimes Mahaprabhu also punished devotees, but you know that when Gurudev chastises you, that is also his mercy. You can see that when Mahaprabhu chastised Jagadananda Prabhu, Sanatan Goswami cried thinking, "Mahaprabhu does not chastise me, He does not give mercy to me. He always gives His mercy to Jagadananda!"

You know also what kind of punishment Mahaprabhu once gave to Chhota Haridas. Mahaprabhu knew that a good punishment for him would be suicide, but that was actually His mercy, it was not a punishment. Chhota Haridas committed suicide in Triveni (a place where three rivers, Ganges, Yamuna, Saraswati, come together). What wrong did he do? "Vairagi kare prakrti sambhasan" (Cc, 3.2.117) Mahaprabhu chastised him, "You are a renounced person, a vairagi, but you have so much attachment with a girl." That girl was an old woman, Madhavi Devi, and she was a great devotee of Mahaprabhu—it is said that Mahaprabhu had three and a half close servitors, she was the half devotee. To teach us, Mahaprabhu said, "It is not good, you are associating with a woman, but it is better you committed suicide rather than doing that."

Chhota Haridas died, and when later, after his body had been burnt and all funeral ceremonies had been finished, Mahaprabhu went with some devotees to Prayag and suddenly said to Mukunda or Sivananda Sen,

"Can you call Chhota Haridas? I want to hear a kirtan from him." One of the devotees answered,

"Prabhu, You want to hear him sing a kirtan, but we told you many times that Chhota Haridas had done a small offence, we asked You to please forgive his offence, but You did not listen to us at that time... He is dead now."

"What are you saying?! My devotee can never die!"

"Prabhu, yes, he died. We have finished the Vaishnav service, the sraddha ceremony, everything..."

"You do not believe Me, but you will see just now..." Mahaprabhu answered and called out to Chhota Haridas, "O Haridas! Can you please sing a song?"

Suddenly they heard Chhota Haridas singing, and Mahaprabhu asked them, "Can you hear the song?" The devotees became afraid thinking maybe it was a ghost, but Mahaprabhu said, "Krishna's devotee, Lord's devotee never becomes a ghost. They are always with Me."

Mahaprabhu Himself showed that.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Vaishnavs' Dealings: All Mercy

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009

Question: What is the proper behaviour of a senior devotee that we should follow?

How must a senior devotee behave? You know that, a senior devotee must be humble, tolerant and give honour to others. Sometimes senior devotees also can chastise, but that is your asirbad—it is their mercy, blessing to you. Gurudev would say to everybody, "Among my disciples, I can chastise only one person. If I chastise anyone else, they will run away." Sometimes also a senior devotee or Gurudev chastises somebody for preaching, for our benefit. I can give an example.

It happened in Nityananda Prabhu's time. Every year Nityananda Prabhu and all the devotees went to Puri from Nabadwip. At that time there were no cars, no trains or buses, so the only way to get there was by walking. They would start from Nabadwip two months before Ratha-yatra and walk all the way to Puri.

One time, Nityananda Prabhu and all His associates (among them was Sivananda Sen also), took prasadam in Nabadwip and started their journey. When they reached a place called Denur (it is near Gurudev's birthplace), they came to a mango garden and sat there to take some rest. The landlord of that village was Ramachandra, he was a very nice landlord, he always worshipped Nityananda Prabhu. The day before Nityananda Prabhu came, he dreamt that his Guru would come the next day, and in the morning he indeed saw that there were so many devotees of many colours—saffron, blue, yellow, etc.—sitting in his mango garden. As he approached the garden, he saw that among them there was Nityananda Prabhu Himself! He at once came to Him, prostrated in full obeisance, surrendering to Him fully, and asked, "Prabhu, please come to my house!" But Nityananda Prabhu said, "There are so many devotees with Me, I think your house will be too small for all, it will be better if you bring dal, rice and we can make kitchuri here." They cooked kitchuri and happily took prasadam there, it was like a picnic.

Nityananda Prabhu had a servitor. What was his name? Tell me. His name was Vrindavan Das Thakur! He was a thirteen-year-old boy at that time, a short boy, he is also the author of Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat. His mother's name is Narayani Devi, who at the age of three and a half years old got mercy of Mahaprabhu—when Mahaprabhu was taking prasadam, she took His remnants.

So, after Nityananda Prabhu took prasadam in that mango garden, He asked His servitor, "Vrindavan, please give Me the thing." Vrindavan Das Thakur immediately took it out of his pocket and gave it to the Lord. Actually after prasadam, Nityananda Prabhu would every day take some haritaki, it is a fruit that is taken as a mouth-freshener and digestive. Vrindavan Das Thakur immediately understood what Nityananda Prabhu was asking for and gave that to him. Nityananda Prabhu was surprised, "Where did you get it so quickly?" Vridnavan Das Thakur explained, "You took prasadam in Nabadwip yesterday, and some devotee gave it to me. I kept it for You thinking, 'Where will you get it on the way?'" but Nityananda Prabhu showed some anger, "You are a brahmachari, why are you keeping things for the next day? You are like a householder. Better you stay here then, you can make a householder life here."

Why was He angry? For preaching. He wanted to do some preaching through Vrindavan Das Thakur, that is why He kept him there—He gave him some blessing.

It happened in Denur, about a kilometre from Bamunpara, Gurudev's birthplace. It is a very famous place. There Vrindavan Das Thakur also wrote Chaitanya-bhagavat, and his original handwriting is still kept there.

* * *

Not So Fast!

2 October 2013

A million people like to say, "Oh, it is a material world, I want to leave all this material world at once," but Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur says that it is very difficult to leave the material world because you have had a relation with it since millions of millions of years ago—how will you leave it all at once? It is Krishna-sambandha vijnan ("science in relation to Krishna")—you can take help of science, but it must have a relation with Krishna, then you can proceed on. If you try to leave everything at once, you will not be able to do it, and Prabhupad told one story in this regard, I have told it to you before.

There was once a sadhu in Haridwar who saw something floating in the Ganges, and, thinking it was a blanket, he jumped into the Ganges to take it, but actually it was not a blanket—it was a bear! The bear also felt something in the water and caught it. Then, another sadhu shouted to the sadhu in the water, "Hey! Come with blanket! Come out!" The sadhu shouted back, "The blanket does not let me go! It is holding me!" That bear caught the sadhu...

Do you understand? We want to leave the material world, but the material world is always inside you, it is there to your bone. It is not easy to leave material things, material ego, you must understand the situation you are in.

Srila Prabhupad always writes,

hari sevaya yaha anukula

visaya baliya tyage haya bhula

"It is wrong to reject something favourable to the service of the Lord, saying, 'It is visaya, material.'"

'asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'

visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

“When you become free from material attachment and establish relationship with the Lord, you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself.”

(Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur)

"Hari sevaya yaha anukul": you must accept what is favourable to devotion and reject what is unfavourable. "Asakti rahita": you must have no attachment with the material things and understand that all material things are for the service to Krishna—you must have no attachment and must understand that all visaya is for the Lord, for Madhava, Krishna. It is necessary to establish such relation.

* * *

At Srivas Pandit's House

2 October 2013

andhibhuta chaksu yara visaya dhulite

ki rupe se para-tattva paibe dekhite

"Our eyes have become blind by the dust of visaya, the material world—how can we see the transcendental world, the transcendental, supra-mundane things?"

aprakrta vastu nahe prakrta-gochara

veda-puranete ei kahe nirantara

"Spiritual substance is never within the jurisdiction of the material conception. This is always the verdict of the Vedas and Puranas."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 9.195)

"We cannot see the supra-mundane things with our mundane eyes, it is repeatedly said so in the Vedas and other scriptures." You cannot see the spiritual things, the chinmoy dham (transcendental abode) with your material eyes.

Once there was a kirtan at Srivas Angan, Srivas Pandit's house, and at that time Srivas Pandit's son died, but Srivas Pandit did not tell about it to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu felt that there was no enthusiasm in the kirtan, so He asked,

"What has happened today, Srivas?"

"Yes, something has happened, Prabhu. My son has died."

"Why did you not tell Me about it before?!"

"Prabhu, I did not want to disturb Your kirtan, that is why I did not tell You."

Then Mahaprabhu and Srivas Pandit went to the dead body of his son, and the dead boy spoke.

Srivas Pandit continued the kirtan, he did not stop it, did not tell the news to Mahaprabhu. What a great devotee he was, and Mahaprabhu also said, "I am always present at Srivas Pandit's house."

Another time Mahaprabhu said to Srivas Pandit,

"Srivas, you are a householder, and I am telling you that from tomorrow you do not have to go for collection, begging."

Srivas Pandit was surprised, "How is it possible, Prabhu? Every day so many devotees come to my house to take prasadam, if I do not go begging, then how will I arrange it?"

"No, you will not go from tomorrow."

"Okay, I will not go, then—ek tale, du tale, tin tale!" he clapped his hands three times.

"What does that mean, Srivas?"

"It means I will fast for one day, I will fast on the next day, and then on the third day I will fast, devotees will also fast, but after that it will be impossible and I will have to jump into the Ganges."

"Srivas, you do not have to go begging—Laksmi Devi herself may have to come and go begging, but you do not have to beg, everything will come automatically."

The Lord always looks after His devotees. "Marabi rakhabi, yo ichchha tohara (মারবি রাখবি—যো ইচ্ছা তোহার): whether you keep me or kill me, it is up to You." The Lord always keeps and protects His devotees.

* * *

Revolt!—and Surrender

2 October 2013

Some sravan-kirtan, some service is necessary: if you can do both, sravan-kirtan and service, then nothing will be able to remove you from your spiritual life. You must try very hard towards this end. The life of a brahmachari is an austere life, but if you can tolerate it, it will be very good for you.

Preaching is necessary. Jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnava seva: be kind to other souls, relish chanting the Holy Name, and serve the Vaishnavs...

Gurudev always keeps a place for us. He has gone to Goloka Vrindavan, entered his gupta-lila (internal, hidden pastime), but he always watches us, always watches whether we are doing right or wrong. Always.

“gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale

gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

Just saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!" does not do. Only when you follow Gora's practices and Gora's conception will you get the proper result.

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6)

We say we are devotees of Gurudev, disciples of Gurudev, but we do not follow Gurudev's instructions properly—our devotion is lip-deep. Is it correct or not? What does it mean to be a disciple of Gurudev?

guru-mukha-padma-vakya chitete kariya aikya

ara na kariha mane asa

"Make the teachings from Sri Guru's lotus mouth one with your heart, and do not desire anything else within your heart."

We must follow the instruction that comes from Gurudev's lotus mouth. That is called seva, service.

bado duhkha paiyachhi svatantra jivane

duhkha dure gelo o pada-varane

"I experienced only great distress in my independent life. All my distress has gone away by embracing Your feet."

(Saranagati, 21.5)

Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur writes: I have become very unhappy, I have become very sad when I was independent. I got so much austerity! I got so much austerity when I was independent—when I followed the whims of my mind! I was very unhappy, but now all sadness, all unhappiness is gone. Why? Because I have surrendered to my Guru! As soon as I surrendered to Him, all kinds of sadness, all kinds of unhappiness went away, and now only happiness is coming, only ananda is coming.

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya

upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

"You will be able to attain knowledge by satisfying the divine master with submission, relevant inquiry, and sincere service. The enlightened souls who are learned in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will impart divine knowledge to you."

(Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

Surrender, honest enquiry, and service temper (seva-pravritti).

It is necessary to give up this independent life. Do not follow your mind. The mind is always asking for so many things. The mind is very strong, and it works on behalf of the jiva soul, controlling everything—"I want THIS! I do not want THAT!" Do you understand what I am saying? It is very difficult to remove these things, but we must think, "I have to follow the order that comes from above. I have got an order, an instruction from above, and this is what I will follow."

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Harinam sankirtan ki jay!

kabe habe bala se dina amara

aparadha ghuchi suddha name ruchi

krpa-bale ha'be hrdaye sanchara

"Please tell me, when will that day be mine? When will my offences be removed? When will the taste for the pure Name arise in my heart by the power of mercy?"

('Kabe habe bolo, se dina amar?' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

* * *

Collecting Jivas, Collecting Bhog

Sri Nabadwip Dham,

Talking to South African devotees

29 March 2016

Try to serve there—it is necessary to have the strongest practising and the strongest faith, these two are the main things. Try to find people through preaching, find people who would stay permanently at the temple, do proper service. Do you understand?

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith and veneration."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

There is no Sri Vigraha (Deities) at your temple, but you should first find a good, permanent purjari, and you can worship the vigraha of Gaura Nitai... You can see the kind of preaching we do here. In every house where I give initiation, even the first initiation only, they all have an altar, have our Guru paramprara, and they practice properly. Generally I do not tell anyone to arrange the Deities because when they come for the festival here, who will give food to the Deities? If, however, somebody has many people in the family, all are initiated, then they can worship Deities.

You must hijack people for preaching—those who are suffering a lot with their family, who are not looked after by their son or daughter, they can come and stay at the temple.

Is it very expensive to maintain the temple in your country?

Devotee: We manage with the donations coming from the devotees.

Also, when you invite Sripad Tyagi Maharaj, organise a good, proper programme—arrange for an advertisement in the newspaper, distribute leaflets...

I am teaching you some process how to bring new people. I have been preaching in the Indian villages since Gurudev's times, and you can see how many people come for Gaura Purnima now—in Gurudev's times there were only about two hundred people here at the Gaura Purnima time. Gurudev himself went to preaching in some villages only one-two times, in 1990, after 1990 he never went to the villages: I did.

You are intellectual people—Western, foreign people know only Christ and the Pope, but in India there are so many demigods, and it is a big problem for preaching. There are so many millions of millions of demigods, and so many mayavadi conceptions, so many sahajiya conceptions. When I went preaching, I wanted to give them the real conception of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, wanted to bring them to Gurudev—I know I do not have so much qualification, but my Guru has so many qualities, so much qualification, so I would bring them by their hair and throw them at the lotus feet of Gurudev. That was my duty, and this is how I did it. Eventually, so many people got connected to Gurudev...

Basically, you make one programme a week, don't you? On Sunday, right? How many devotees come to the programme?

Devotee: There are ten main devotees, and more come at festival time, maybe twenty.

It is very little... Do people not like prasad? Here in every small branch they make festivals (we do not go there because for Guru Maharaj's festival or Gurudev's festival I am always here, how will I go there?), and many come for prasadam. Invite people for prasadam, and you can also give some lecture, give a talk.

Invite people for prasadam on Gurudev's festivals, Guru Maharaj's festivals. You can make a festival for Krishna (on Janmastami), but if you make a festival for Krishna's servant, Krishna will be happier. Do you understand what I mean? I do not send invitations for the Janmastami festival because as it is so many non-initiated people come here, it is more like a local festival here. Our main festivals are Guru Maharaj's festivals, Gurudev's festivals [their appearance and disappearance days]. You can tell people something about Gurudev's conception, you can glorify Gurudev's pastimes, glorify Guru Maharaj's pastimes, and Krishna will be happy. It will work. Every small branch that we have makes these festivals, and two-three hundred people come there on these days—even the non-devotees come to take prasadam.

You can also arrange collection for such festivals—if cooking for the festival is hard, then you can even serve kitchuri, that is also a festival.

Do you have receipt books in the temple? You can give some devotee a receipt book and tell them, "OK, your duty will be to collect for this festival." This is how I maintain the collection. For example, this Gaura Purnima I gave a hundred grihastha devotees a receipt book each. Some devotees brought 2000 rupees, some devotee gave 500 rupees, 5000 rupees, 8000 rupees, etc. They collect rice, potato, as well as money. Even some old ladies go for collection—when I see there is a strong lady in a village, I give her the receipt book and say, "It is not necessary for you to give anything yourself, but collect from outside. That is your service." For example, the next festival we are making is Gurudev's disappearance festival—you can give ten devotees a receipt book each and ask them to collect from outside. Organise it. Somebody can be the treasurer and keep the account. You make a committee, but if the committee does not work, what is the use of such a committee?

At some temples we also have "musti bhiksa" (lit. "handful collection"). What is this? For example, I have a temple in some village, like in Bakura, where there are not so many devotees. What did I do? I gave them some money to buy a clay pot (each pot is five-ten rupees, so I gave them 1000 rupees), and I gave those pots to 200 houses. Every day they must put some rice in it—they are not devotees, they eat fish, meat, etc. but when they cook rice, in the morning and in the evening, they must put a handful ('musti') of rice in the pot. Then, on the last day of each month, those who live in the temple take a bag and go by bicycle to collect that rice. Following this process, they have so much rice in Bakura, they cannot even finish it all in one month.

Do you understand? The devotees in the temple asked me about the process, and this is the process I taught them. I learnt it from Gurudev.

* * *

Clear Aim In Life

Sri Nabadwip Dham,

29 March 2016

Somebody says, "They do not give 'jay' to my Guru, so I will not accept their association!" You can do what you like, but why is it necessary to tell me about this? I am actually like this too—if there is no glorification of my Guru going on at some place, I will not go there; but it is not necessary to tell others about it or declare it publicly. Sometimes people make problem—somebody is producing good milk, but another person wants to put there some drops of urine...

Tad-viddhi pranipatena: full surrender. Pariprasnena, honest enquiry: "Who am I (ke ami)? Why am I suffering (kene jare tapa-traya)? How can I get relief from this suffering and austerity? (kise hita)? What is the eternal goal (sadhya vastu ki)? What should I do to attain that goal?" And sevaya: it is necessary to do service.

Every devotee must have a target. Srila Saraswati Thakur's target was: as many years I am alive, that many branches I shall make. He was alive in this world for sixty-four years, and he made sixty-four temple branches in his lifetime.

Guru Maharaj's children did not understand everything, and my children too do not understand everything, but Gurudev tried so hard for us. He said that if you want to get great things, you must leave small matter. It is those who serve the Lord that get the Lord. Leave all these small things—ahara, nidra, bhaya, maithunam cha (eating, sleeping, fearing, mating); "gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe / bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe (do not talk like people in general or hear what they say. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes." Cc, 3.6.236)

If you are eating something and not sharing with anybody, that is not good. If you feel happiness, you must make others happy, must distribute this message—if you serve the Lord and get happiness, if you chant the Holy Name and feel happiness, then you must encourage others to chant, encourage others to serve.

You must have a clear aim in your life. When you get on a boat, that boat must have a captain. If the boat has no captain, the boat cannot run. We must go to a boat that has a captain. If you take a bus, a train, or a plane, there must be a driver. If you get on a plane but then realise there is no pilot, how will the plane fly without a pilot? You must get the right boat—you must become a passenger of a boat that has a captain; if a boat has no captain, we will not go there. In the same way, if we have no aim in life, it will not take us anywhere. We must think, "I have come to Krishna consciousness and I will practise it properly. I will distribute the proper things to the proper devotees." That is the main thing.

When Bokara devotees invited me once, I told them, "I will bring fifty malas, and you will make fifty devotees ready to take initiation. I will not go there and take any malas back. When you are ready, I will come."

It is necessary to serve your Guru. You take initiation and you must serve your Guru—you must do what your Guru tells you to do, and do it successfully.

* * *

Using / Serving

Talking online to the devotees in London

21 May 2016

We should learn from Srila Gurudev:

One time, in Gurudev's time, a Western devotee went to Nrisingha Palli and came back wearing a tabiz (a kavacha) with the Nrisighnadev mantra inside it. Gurudev noticed it and asked him, "What is this?" The devotee answered, "It is the Nrisinghadev kavach." Then Gurudev asked him, "Are you serving Nrisinghadev, or are you using Nrisinghadev?"

You cannot use Nrisinghadev for your own purpose, for your own benefit—you must serve Nrisinghadev. That is our main target, main focus. We must follow Gurudev's words and Gurudev's teachings.

You have heard about the main teachings of Prahlad Maharaj. Nrisinghadev, the Lord Himself who came in a combined form of a lion and a man, said to Prahlad Maharaj, "Ask Me for some boon," but Prahlad Maharaj replied, "What boon shall I ask? You have already come in this form to protect me and the devotees. It is sufficient for me. What more can I ask for?" Still, Nrisinghadev pushed and pushed Prahlad Maharaj to ask for a boon, and finally Prahlad Maharaj asked Him for a boon. What boon did he ask for? He said, "Prabhu, please you must remove from my heart all desire to ask You for anything—please remove from my heart this asking mood."

It is necessary to have such mood. Our mood must always be the 'giving' mood and never the 'taking' mood—our mood must always be to give something, not to take. We must give something to our Guru and the devotees, we should not take so much from our Guru or take anything from the devotees—we must give more than we take. This is the kind of mood that is necessary to have. This is the main point, the main lesson that we must understand.

You can see what Prahlad Maharaj told (what he learned from Narad Goswami and taught others) in the seventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Read it very carefully and you will understand it easily.

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Preaching Guidance: Blood, Cockroaches, and the Core

Talking online to the devotees in London

21 May 2016

Question: What is the best way to preach to those who are not Krishna conscious, who do not know anything about Krishna consciousness?

There are so many things. Do not go so deep—you can tell them some simple things, simple matters.

In India, for example, many people do not follow Ekadasi. It was like this in Siliguri too. I gave them an example from Sri Hari-bhakti-vilas. It is said there that if you eat rice on the Ekadasi day, it is the same as killing and eating a brahman (brahman-hata) or a cow (go-hata)—you know that the Hindu people never eat cow's meat. If you eat rice on Ekadasi, it means you are killing your own mother, your parents, your Guru. This is written in Hari-bhakti-vilas. People follow the sastra, scriptures, they believe the scriptures, so when I told them what is written in the scriptures, they believed it and started doing Ekadasi. I do like this.

I have gone village to village, and so many people do not know about Krishna consciousness, do not follow the rules, but I keep on trying—trying and trying.

If you sit in one place and do not go out, do not try, then you will be tired; but you must try and try, then you will be successful. Give your blood to bring people to Krishna consciousness, try, then people will come. By only doing puja and sitting in one place people will not come. Nityananda Prabhu gave His blood.

The temple is not only for doing puja, or just sitting there—it is not for lazy people to stay there like cockroaches. Gurudev said that when you make a temple, there must always be sankirtan, must always be a class, and when many people come [for a large programme], they must be given prasadam. Go outside, bring new people to the temple, bring new people here, and they can hear some Krishna-katha.

When Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj saw that many brahmacharis did not come to his class but at the prasadam time there were so many people, he went to the prasadam hall with his Chaitanya-charitamrita and said, "Do not mind me. Take prasadam. I will read Chaitanya-charitamrita, and you listen."

Do you understand? Many people will not want to listen to Bhagavat-katha, Hari-katha, but you must not come back, you will not retreat—you will go ahead forcefully! They may beat you, but it is not a problem—give some blood for them. You think people do not like it, but this is because they are attacked by Maya. You are a soldier, and you must not retreat—you must go forward and fight against Maya. Why will you go back? Do you think you cannot defeat her? Krishna is one party, and Maya is the other, and you are a soldier of Krishna's party, so fight against Maya, go forward! Go forward! Why will you retreat? No, you will not go back until you defeat them!

Devotee: Here it is a little bit different from there... Here people are not so open to Hari-katha. If you come to them wearing a dhoti and chadar, they do not want to talk to you because you look very different. We must find a new way how to get to the people's heart... Also, I am not so qualified to talk about the high ideals of our line because I do not have the full understanding. When I try to say something, I am afraid that I can say something wrong...

So many followers came to Srila Gurudev, so many followers came to Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad—what did they tell those people? They did not tell them a very high conception or so many things, but how did so many followers come to them? Think about it and you can easily understand it. Srila A.C. Bhaktivendanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad went to the West alone—he just sat there under a tree, chanting the Holy Name with only a pair of kartals, and slowly, slowly people came, then he began to preach properly.

Another thing is that if you practise properly, then your word will bring the result. If you chant properly yourself, then when you tell somebody to chant, they will chant. If, on the other hand, you do not practise properly yourself, you do not follow Krishna consciousness properly yourself, then what you say will not be active, will not work. If you practise properly, what you say to others will work.

You must think, "I am not doing anything, my Guru is doing everything, and I am only his messenger. My Guru is preaching, and what is coming to my mouth, what my tongue is saying, is coming from my Guru's mouth." If you think like this, then your preaching will work, but if you think, "I am preaching, I am doing it," (even if I also think that I am doing it), that is not right. "My Gurudev says something, I always remember my Guru, and what he tells me, what is necessary to come my tongue, that will come my tongue"—then it will work.

Devotee: If you share your inspiration with us, we can do everything!

I am always with you all, and Krishna's blessings are always with you, Gurudev's blessings are always with you. If you have a great, strong desire to preach, then strong mercy will come to you. It is necessary to have a strong desire—if you have a strong desire, then strong mercy will come. That is sure.

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A "Happy Style" Life

Talking online to the devotees in London

21 May 2016

Yesterday we went to Nrisingha Palli, paid our obeisance there. We cooked sweet rice from 25 kg of milk, but yesterday we had to fast and could not take grains, so we distributed that sweet rice to the devotees today at the paran time...

Everything happens by the wish of the Lord. Actually, if you come for devotional activities, you should not make yourself an enjoyer, should not make your life a "happy style" life, a comfortable life. Do not be a deha-rami [lit. 'being into bodily pleasures']—eating good, fancy food, sleeping in a fancy way, and so on. Do not live like this. When you are in a service mood, you will get some austerity, but you must be patient. If you want to reach your goal, you must wait—in spiritual life it is necessary to have patience.

You can see that in heaven, where they have everything—dharma, kama, artha, moksa (religion, fulfilled desires, wealth, liberation)—the demigods live in a very comfortable way, but sometimes they forget Krishna, forget the Lord, the Supreme Personality, and sometimes by the will of the Lord Vishnu, Krishna turns His own men into demons, like it was in the case of Jay and Vijay.

Jay and Vijay were the Lord's own security guards, but Lord Vishnu, Lord Narayan wanted to fight with them, so by the curse of the four brahman sons of Brahma (Sanak, Sanatan, Sanandan, Sanat-kumar) Jay and Vijay became demons Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa. How does this happen? It is all the will of Narayan, the will of Vishnu.

These two demons, Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa, created so much disturbance in the heaven that the demigods had to run away, and they cried and cried until Krishna gave them some peace and taught the demons, as well as the demigods, a lesson. At that time, by the will of the Supreme Personality, there came an avatar (incarnation of the Lord). His Name was Varaha-avatar, "varaha" means a pig. This Varaha-avatar killed Hiranyaksa.

After his brother's death, Hiranyakasipu became even angrier and went to the jungle to do tapasya (practise austerity) to get a boon from Lord Brahma. He had got very much austerity and suffering during this time and finally Lord Brahma came to him and asked,

"What boon do you want?"

"I do not want to die, make me immortal."

"This is not my hand. I am also created by Krishna, so even though my lifetime may be so long, I too have to die. I cannot give this to you. You can ask me for something else besides this."

"All right, make so that I will not die during the day or at night."

"Yes."

"I will not die by any weapon created by you."

"Yes."

"Make so that I cannot die in the sky or on the ground."

"Yes, it is OK, no problem."

Hiranyakasipu got this kind of boon from Lord Brahma.

In the meantime, when Hiranyakasipu left for the jungle, his wife Kayadhu stayed at home with a baby in her womb. The demigods thought that since it was Hiranyakasipu's baby, it would also become a demon, so they wanted to kill Kayadhu along with the child. However Narad Goswami could understand that the boy who was in Kayadhu's womb would help and protect the demigods in future, so he persuaded the demigods not to kill her, and instead, he took her under his shelter.

At Narad Goswami's ashram, Kayadhu did a lot of serve—she cleaned the plates, made garlands, and so on. Narad Goswami was very happy with her service and wanted to give her some boon. Kayadhu said, "I want to ask you for one thing. My husband is in the forest now and he may be a demon, please make so that my baby does not come out of my womb until my husband returns." Narad Goswami agreed.

When Hiranyakasipu came back having got the boon, he was even stronger and angrier than before. He wanted to fight with the Lord, with the demigods and everyone else. He saw his wife was not there, and, when somebody told him that she was still alive and lived in Narad Goswami's ashram, he went there and brought her back. By that time she had already given birth to the baby and named him Prahlad Maharaj.

Hiranyakasipu sent the baby to Gurukula to study under the teachers Sanda and Amarka, sons of Sukracharya. By and by, Prahlad grew up, and one day Hiranyakasipu wanted to know what his son had learnt. He had told the teachers to teach his son economics, politics, and so on—all kinds of other bad qualities, jada-vidya (mundane knowledge), or rather avidya (ignorance); but Prahlad Maharaj did not learn it (he had already learned everything from Narad Goswami from his mother's womb). So, when his father asked him, "What you good things have you learned?" Prahlad Maharaj answered,

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

Hiranyakasipu was surprised, "Who has taught this to this boy?!" He called his teachers and warned them, "Perhaps one of my enemies comes secretly to the school and gives these teachings to my son! Be careful!" But how was it possible to prevent it? Not only he did not learn the material sciences, Prahlad Maharaj taught devotion to the other boys at school.

When Hiranyakasipu called his son next time and asked him what good things he had learned at school, Prahlad Maharaj answered,

sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam,

dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam

"Hearing, chanting, remembering, offering obeisance, rendering service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission..."

He said, "This is nava-vidha bhakti, this is the main thing." His father got angry, "Born in my family, but he is my enemy! I have to kill him." He ordered his men to kill Prahlad. They tried in so many ways—they put him into fire, they threw him from a hill, they tied a huge stone to him and threw him into the sea—but everything failed. Finally, Hiranyakasipu said, "If no one can kill him, OK, I will give him a good lesson—I will kill him myself and properly!"

One day, he called Prahlad Maharaj and said,

"No one can kill you, what kind of strength have you got?!"

"I got it from the same place where you have got yours. You got a boon from Brahma, but where did Brahma get it from? He got it from Hari, but you forgot it. You have become so proud that you think you are the enjoyer and you do not have any faith in Hari, you do not believe that your powers come from Hari. That is why you are suffering like this and thinking you are the boss. You have got a boon, but you do not know who you have gotten it from. You do not know anything..."

"You are a small boy and you dear teach me?! Where is your Hari?"

"Hari is everywhere."

"What?! Everywhere?! Is your Hari here?"

"Yes, He is here."

"Where? Is He perhaps in this pillar?"

"Yes, Hari is there."

Mad with anger, thinking, "My enemy is here!" Hiranyakasipu crushed the pillar, and a terrible sound came out—everything around, svarga, martya, patal, heaven, earth, and hell, all began to shake, and the demigods shook for fear too. Then, there appeared a lion-man! The Lord came out of the pillar in this form, and, eager to fight, He rushed at Hiranyakasipu.

They started fighting, but the Lord was playing and did not defeat Hiranyakasipu at once. The demigods watched the fight, thinking that maybe the Lord would be defeated by the demon. When Hiranyakasipu gave a strong blow to Nrisinghadev, the Lord started acting. He caught the demon and put him on His lap; breaking Hiranyakasipu's chest with His nails, He took out his intestines and put them on His neck as a garland.

The Lord was furious. When a cow gives birth to a calf, if she does not see her baby, she becomes very angry—in the same way, the Lord became very angry because He could not at first see Prahlad.

Demigods told Laksmi Devi to come and pacify the Lord, but Laksmi Devi refused, "I cannot go there. I have never seen the Lord in such an angry mood, and I am very afraid myself." Seeing no other way, they then came to Prahlad Maharaj and asked him to go to the Lord. Prahlad Maharaj came and Nrisinghadev become peaceful. He put Prahlad Maharaj on His lap and asked him affectionately, "Tell Me, what boon would you like to get?" At first he refused to ask for anything, but the Lord insisted, and Prahlad said, "Please, rescue my father." Nrisinghadev said, "Those who chant My Name, who see Me, automatically go to my loka, abode, but your father has touched Me—he may have done it in an angry mood, but it does not matter. I have already given him liberation, so it is not a boon, ask Me for something else." Then, Prahlad Maharaj said, "Prabhu, please remove this 'desire' mood from my heart."

This is the main lesson.

Jay Bhakta-raj Prahlad Maharaj, Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay!

Are there any questions from you?

Question: When will this desire mood be removed from me?

When? [His Divine Grace chuckles.] Practise and practise, practise and practise, always practise, then your 'asking' desire will be removed from you. Practise at all times, fulfil your practice and wait, you must wait and be patient—then your desires will be removed...

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Eternal Pastimes of Eternal Devotees

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009, evening

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim

yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya

chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

“I offer my obeisance unto Sri Gurudev, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the salve of divine knowledge.”

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam

chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam sri-rupa-panthanugam

govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram

vande visva-gurun cha divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam

“I offer my obeisance unto he who perfectly fulfils his Gurudev's most cherished desires; who is fully adorned with the blessings of his Gurudev’s associates; who is expert in all aspects of Vedic knowledge, both conceivable and inconceivable; who is the pre-eminent follower of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's line; who is known as 'Govinda'—Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj; whose beautiful, effulgent, exalted form is infused with pure devotion; who is the Guru of the entire universe; and who is the giver of the seed of divine love for the Supreme Lord.”

I am giving my full obeisance to my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, to all Guru-varga, godbrothers and godsisters, as well as all the devotees and everyone else.

Today we are very happy to be here, although there is some sad news. When Mahaprabhu asked Ramananda Ray (Cc, 2.8.247), "Duhkha-madhye kona duhkha haya gurutara? Which is the most sorrowful day? Which sorrow is the greatest?" Ramananda Ray said, "Krsna-bhakta-viraha vina duhkha nahi dekhi para: I cannot see any other sorrow except that of separation from a devotee of Krishna." "Bhakta-viraha" means the day when a devotee passes away, is our most sorrowful, most unhappy day...

Today we heard that we have lost one devotee from this country, but you know what Mahaprabhu said (it is written in Chaitanya-charitamrita also) when Chhota Haridas committed suicide in Triveni:

Chhota Haridas did some little wrong, and all devotees always told Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, Haridas did some little wrong, please forgive him," but Mahaprabhu could not do that, He became angry. That is why Chhota Haridas jumped into the Ganges and died. The devotees were all sad.

When the devotees finished the burning and all the ceremonies and came to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu asked them suddenly, "Where is Chhota Haridas? Please call him, I want to hear a song from him." They said, "Prabhu, he died..." but Mahaprabhu did not believe it. He said, "It cannot happen. My devotee cannot die." When they tried to explain, "No, Prabhu, he died... We have just finished everything—the burning, the sraddha, and all the ceremonies, and we have come to You," Mahaprabhu said, "You do not believe Me? OK. Haridas! Please sing a song!" And Chhota Haridas started singing. Everybody was surprised to hear it.

Devotees cannot leave Lord Krishna, Bhagavan, they always stay with Him. Sometimes our eyes see that they change their body, but actually,

adyapiha sei lila kare gora raya

kona kona bhagyavane jiva dekhibare paya

"Gora Ray continues performing His Pastimes, and those who are fortunate can see it."

Bhagavan's lila, devotees' lila is always going on...

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Surrender: Your Choice, Your Faith

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009, evening

Those who came in this world and who can chant in this body, can follow Mahaprabhu's instruction, are very fortunate. We have got this human body, but if this body is not used for the service to the Lord, for the service to Gaura-Nitai, then what is the use of this body? This body is useless then. It is necessary to surrender fully—without surrender your cannot get anything. It is called atma-nivedana. If we surrender to the Lord, we must get proper devotion.

There is one story in Mahabharata. Once, Draupadi asked Lord Krishna, "O Krishna, when Duryodhan and Duhsasan were beating me, why could You not protect me at that time?" But Krishna asked her, "How was I to protect you? Did you remember Me at that time?" ...You know what happened that day:

Yudhisthir, Bhim, Arjun, Nakul, and Sahadev were defeated in a dice game and lost their kingdom. The kingdom belonged now to Duhsasan and Duryodhan, so they came to Kunti Devi and said, "Now we have all kingdom, and Draupadi is ours too. We want to take her with us." Draupadi did not want to go, but they beat her and took her forcefully with them. Draupadi cried, "O, my husbands and all my relatives are not here!" She forgot Krishna at that time, she only remembered her husbands and relatives...

Duhsasan and Duryodhan came back to the raja-sabha, royal assembly, and threw Draupadi in front of everyone. All her husbands were sitting in a lower place as servants, and Duhsasan, Duryodhan sat on the place of the king. Draupadi began to cry in front of everybody, calling out to her husbands, "Yudhisthir, Arjun, please help me! They are beating me, saying all these bad things! Please help me!" Finally, she called out to Bhimsen, "Bhim, please help me! You are the strongest, why are you not protecting me?" Duhsasan said to her, "Why are you saying it to them? Today they are all servants and I am the king. They have no power, so speak to me." Hearing this, Bhim became ashamed and very angry. He said, "If one day I get the kingdom back from him, I will show him! I will kill him and drink his blood!" Duhsasan got insulted, "I am now the king! How dare you say this in front of everybody?" and ordered his men, "Take off Draupadi's clothes!"

Reminding Draupadi of it later, Krishna asked her, "Did you remember Me at that time? You kept holding your clothes, you wanted to protect yourself, you did not call Me at that time. Next, you held your clothes with one hand and called to Me with the other, but even then you still wanted to protect yourself. Only when you saw you could not do anything, when almost all clothes had been taken off, then you called to Me, 'Please help me!' Did I help you at that time or not?"

So, full surrender is necessary. You think you can protect yourself, but "marabi rakhabi yo ichchha tohara": He can kill you, He can protect you, He can rescue you, He can do anything—He is the Supreme Personality, He is the cause of all causes! The Lord can do anything, He can save you, He can also kill you, but you cannot protect yourself, so surrender to Him—surrender completely. That is called sraddha, full faith. If somebody is 25% surrendered, they will get 25%; if somebody is 50% surrendered, they will get 50%. Gurudev would also say that there are 1% devotees, 20% devotees, 90% devotees, and so on... It all depends on the surrender and faith.

* * *

Devotion to Devotees

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009, evening

Devotees have no caste, no colour, nor any other distinctions—Krishna always helps anyone who serves His devotees cent per cent.

In Mahaprabhu's time, there was one sweeper called Jhadu Thakur, and there was Kalidas, a very high devotee. What do we know about Kalidas? When all Gaudiya Vaishnavs took prasadam and threw their plates away, Kalidas would hidingly take those plates and take the remnants of their prasadam. This was his nature. So, one day that Kalidas decided to visit Jhadu Thakur's house, thinking, "Jhadu Thakur is a great Vaishnav, I want to take his prasadam." He came to his house with one mango. Jhadu Thakur thought, "Such a big Vaishnav has come! How am I to give him prasadam?" and he arranged for prasadam at some brahman's house, but Kalidas did not go there. He came back to Jhadu Thakur's house and hid behind it. When Jhadu Thakur ate the mango that Kalidas had brought him and threw the skin and the stone away, Kalidas took those remnants and ate them. This is how he got some sukriti through which he got an extra mercy from Mahaprabhu.

Mahaprabhu never allowed anyone to even touch His feet, but Kalidas got His mercy—He actually drank the water that devotees wash Mahaprabhu's feet with. Mahaprabhu said, "Do not stop him. This devotee always searches for all devotees' remnants. Leave him, he is an exception."

That is the kind of devotion of the heart that is necessary for the service to the Lord, service to the Vaishnavs. Krishna Himself always says that we must serve the devotees. Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also gave an example of what bhajan, or service, is. Srila Prabhupad said, "Jiver seva korte korte, atma kalyan labh haya." It means you must serve the jiva souls and through that you will get some mercy from them and from Lord Krishna. The question is how to serve the jiva souls. Jiver seva korte means you must tell about Krishna consciousness to those who do not know about the Lord, who do not know about Krishna consciousness, and also you can use everybody for the service to the Lord and preach Krishna consciousness in this way. Just as today I can see leaves and so many other things are used for the decoration for Gaura Nitai, you can use everything for the Deities, for Lord Nityananda, Lord Gaura, Lord Krishna.

Nijer mana khela khusimata bhajan bole na—satisfying the whims of your mind is not bhajan." Do not follow your mind; you must follow what the scriptures say, what Gurudev says. Serve the Lord, serve the devotees under the guidance of Gurudev (a bona fide Guru) and under the guidance of great Vaishnavs. That is what is called bhajan.

* * *

Vital Force of Devotion

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009, evening

We are very fortunate that we together have this kind of good experience, good sabha, conference, here. A sannyasi of Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said once that sometimes devotees become tired and at that time it is necessary to charge them—just as you were using a camera just now: when the battery goes down, it is necessary to charge it. In the same way, it is necessary for the devotees to have Krishna kirtan, Hari kirtan, sadhu-sanga from time to time. It is necessary for the devotees; that is why Gurudev always tells us about the importance of good association. In Narada Pancharatra there is a very good example that Gurudev always gives to us.

There were once two brothers who lived with their parents. When their parents died, the brothers decided to live separately and they moved each to his own house not very far from each others. In the family, there were also two birds, two parrots, and when the brothers separated, they each took one bird to his house.

One day, a sannyasi went to collect for Gaura Nitai, and he came to the house of one of the brothers. As soon as he came there, the bird (it could speak) shouted at him, "Do not come here! Get out! Get out! Get out!" The sannyasi was surprised, "Who is taking? Oh, that bird is telling me to get out?!" He went to another house. At the other house, he saw that there was the same bird there too, but that bird said, "Anyone home? Please, a sannyasi has come, give him an asan, a seat!"

Puzzled, the sannyasi decided to go to Narad Goswami. He asked him, "What has happened? The two birds look the same, but why is their character different?" Narad Muni explained, "These two birds actually came from the same place, they used to live together, but when they began to live in different places, their character also became different. One of the brother's character was like that, and the bird also got the same character; and the character of the other bird's master was good, he was a devotee, so the bird got a devotee's character."

This is called association: if your association is good, then your character will also be good. The more you rub sandalwood the more smell comes, and in the same way when you get the association of a good sadhu, when you ask them questions, associate and serve them, you get a great benefit from them.

* * *

Understanding Maya

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009, evening

Question: Where does speculation arise from? Does it come from Maya or our past life?

Maya.

Question: There is also a practical question among the devotees. Sometimes two devotees perform devotional service, but all of a sudden there arises some difference or a little problem. How can I explain my point of view in such situations without getting into more trouble?

You should always remember what Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur did. In his time, there were two devotees who would fight with each other: one of them came to Prabhupad and complained about the other devotee, "Oh, that devotee is very bad," and so on; then the other devotee came to Prabhupad and said the same—complained about every fault of the first devotee. Prabhupad called both devotees together and said to the first devotee, "Glorify him for ten minutes," after that he told the second devotee, "Now you speak about his good qualities for ten minutes." He managed it in this way.

We have all come for the service to the Lord, for the service to our Guru, but sometimes some misunderstanding can happen. We must tolerate it. Another time when two devotees were fighting, Prabhupad gave one example.

There was once a blind Guru who stayed in his temple with two devotees, but these two devotees always fought with each other. One of them said, "I serve more!" the other one said, "No, I serve more! I am cooking and I am doing all the service!" Among other services, the two devotee also had to massage their Gurudev's legs. Gurudev divided the service between them, he said, "You will massage the left leg, and you will massage the right leg." One day, one of the devotees got sick and could not come, so the other devotee massaged only the right leg. Gurudev asked him,

"Why are you not massaging the left leg?"

"It is not my leg, it is his leg!" answered the devotee.

"What? His leg? Is it not my leg? Then I will break it!"

This is very painful...

Do you have any other questions?

Question: Sometimes we see many problems in the process of Krishna consciousness—for example, some devotees do not behave properly, there are many conflicts among the devotees, or we do not get time to do the service; and suddenly we begin to see ugly things. What can we do to see the process of Krishna consciousness as something beautiful?

Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that we must harmonise with all kinds of environment. For example, I remember once I was chanting and dancing with the devotees on the street in Moscow, Russia, when suddenly a drunk lady came up to me and grabbed me—and she was very strong, I had to push hard to get out and run away. Anyhow, after that I did not think, "Oh, I will not go to Russia again!"—this is not my conception; I still go to Moscow. So, such situations will come, and we must always tolerate everything.

Prabhupad also said, "When an elephant is walking down the street, some dog begin to bark, but this is nothing for the elephant." You do your job, do your duty, and whatever environment comes you must tolerate it—it is illusory environment.

Maya is very powerful—she is nine times more powerful than one jiva soul; and she always tries to remove jiva souls from their service to the Lord. She said to the Lord straight, "I will disturb You when Your class is going on, when Your seva is going on. I will always come and disturb Your service and whenever there is anything spiritual going on." So, disturbance must come—her duty is like that, Maya is not just some woman or some girl. Maya's duty is to always take over and remove from Krishna consciousness. We must be careful.

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya

sadhu-guru krpa vina na dekhi upaya

"It is not possible to conquer maya by engaging in maya. I see no other way to get relief except for the mercy of sadhus."

('Ki rupe paibe seva', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We cannot defeat her without the mercy of the Lord, mercy of Gurudev and Vaishnavs. She is always around us, and as soon as she gets an opportunity she will attack you. Sometimes you feel you are not getting on with your service, or your mind is fickle, going to bad things—be careful, it means Maya is attacking you.

Sanatan Goswami used to work for the Emperor Husain Shah. When he wanted to leave his service, the king told him, "I will pay you ten times more, work for me. You are the chief minister, why do you want to go here and there?" Sanatan Goswami did not listen to him, and the king put him into jail. In jail, Sanatan Goswami gave some bribe to the superintendent, and finally went to meet Mahaprabhu.

On the way, he first met his relative. He said, "Please, stay with us for two days!" Sanatan Goswami thought, "No, it is Maya. If I stay with him for two days, I can forget everything and he can take me away from Krishna consciousness." He continued his way.

Then, some dacoits caught him. The dacoits has an astrologer who had told them that two men were coming down the road with some wealth. Sanatan Goswami had nothing with him, but his servant Ishan, who went with him, secretly kept eight gold coins. The dacoits gave them so much nourishment and treated them so nicely that Sanatan Goswami suspected something was wrong, "They do not know me, why are they treating me so nicely?" He asked his servant, "Do you have anything with you?" Ishan admitted, "Yes, I have something..." but he did not tell he had eight coins, he said he had seven gold coins. Sanatan Goswami told him quickly, "OK, please give them to me! Please give them to me!" Ishan gave seven coins to Sanatan Goswami, and Sanatan Goswami gave the coins to the dacoits. The dacoits were surprised, "We were going to kill you for this gold, and you are giving it to us yourself! No, you better keep it, we do not want it." But Sanatan Goswami insisted, "No, no! I want to go to Mahaprabhu—if I keep this money, then some other dacoits like you will attack me. Please take this!"

Sanatan Goswami gave the money away and continued his way to Mahaprabhu with Ishan. Soon he asked Ishan, "Ishan, do you have anything else with you?" Ishan could not lie, "Please forgive me, I have one more coin left..." Sanatan Goswami then said to him, "You cannot go with me. Go back home with this gold." He could not follow his Guru and had to go back from the doorstep just for this one reason.

So, if you have some material desire in your heart, you may actually reach the doorstep but the door will be closed and you will have to go back...

Question: Why is Maya there?

Krishna Himself said,

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)

"I created this Maya, and Maya's duty is like this." Krishna creates everybody and everybody has some duty—you have one duty, and she has another duty; everybody's duty is different. So, Krishna created Maya and she is doing her duty, but at the same time Krishna says, "If somebody surrenders to Me, I remove Maya from them..."

* * *

Foundation of Devotional Life

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009, evening

Question: To get protection of Lord Krishna we must be fully surrendered. One of the ten offences says that we should not have any attachments, but we have a lot of attachments, so how can we get the protection of Lord Krishna?

Attachment will slowly go away. The question is how to remove the attachment, is it not? As I said before, attachment will go away through practice—only practice, if you can do sadhu-sanga, sravan, kirtan properly and every day, then attachment will gradually go away.

There are sixty-four kinds of bhaktyanga (rules and regulations). We cannot follow all sixty-four, but among them there are five practices that are the best and most important for us:

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

First and foremost is sadhu-sanga. How can we always get sadhu-sanga? You can say it is impossible—Gurudev is not here, great Vaishnavs are also somewhere else, so how will I get sadhu-sanga? If we follow our Guru's instructions, that will be Guru-sanga; we can also read his books, his scriptures.

Another of the five main practices is Mathura-vas. It means you must always stay in Mathura and Vrindavan. But you are in Venezuela now, how will you always be there? You must always remember Mathura and Vrindavan, that is called Mathura-vas.

And there is also "sraddhaya sri-murtira sevan", serving the Deity with faith. You have Deities here and you must serve Them with faith. You can say that only the pujari actually does the Deities' service, and what will all others do? There are many ways in which you can serve Lord Gaura Nitai—you can bring a flower for the programme, bring some fruit for the Deities, and so on. This is called sraddhaya sri-murtir sevan.

Also, Bhagavat-sravan: you should always read Srimad Bhagavatam. This is our main line.

I can give you one good example of the service to the Deity:

In Vrindavan, Sanatan Goswami served Madan Mohan, and Rupa Goswami served Govindaji. After Rupa Goswami, Govindaji became the family Deity of the Jaipur kings, who then continued to serve Him.

There was a period when some bad Muslim people, you can say terrorists, were breaking all temples and the king had to run away from Vrindavan to Jaipur taking the family Deity with him. That king had only one daughter, and from an early age of eight-nine years old she used to serve these Deities of Radha-Govindaji.

When the king arranged his daughter's marriage, he gave her so many ornaments and so much gold, but when the girl was going to her husband's house she cried so much, "Father, you have given me so many things, but you have not given to me what is mine. Radha-Govinda is my service, how will I stay in that house without Them?" The king hesitated, "It is our family Deities... How will I give her the family Deities?" Then, he and his wife thought what to do (the daughter was always crying) and decided to make a copy of the Deities and send Them to their daughter's house. The Deity looked just like the original Deity, even had the same ornaments, etc.

The girl again started her service, but one day the Deity told her, "Your father did not give you the original Deity. I am not the original Deity." The girl understood what had happened and sent a letter to her father (in those days, there were no phones or anything like that). She wrote, "O father, what did you do to me? You have cheated me..." The king was surprised, "How did she understand it?" and went to his daughter's house with the original Deities.

He placed the Deity in front of his daughter, next to the copy, and said, "Which is your Deity, tell me?" The girl said, "Tie my eyes: whoever is my Deity, They will come to me." The girl's eyes were tied, but as soon as she touched the original Deity, the Deity caught her hand and said, "For so many days I have not got service from you! I have been very unhappy. I cannot leave you!"

Do you see? This is what comes through service. Vigraha is like this. Somebody thinks the Deity is made of stone, made of wood, and so on, but it is nonsense. Vigraha, the Deity, is Saksad Vrajendra-nandan—He is the Lord Himself!

* * *

Service and Sincere Practice

Talking online to the devotees in Caracas

19 June 2016

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.

I am very happy to see you all. Yesterday was the festival of Raghunath Das Goswami in Panihati. By the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, Raghunath Das Goswami got some great mercy, and you can understand that he actually got that mercy through Vaishnav seva.

Nityananda Prabhu told Raghunath Das Goswami, "You are a thief!" Why did He call Raghunath Das Goswami a thief? Because before Raghunath Das Goswami could not understand that without the mercy from Nityananda Prabhu you cannot get the mercy of Mahaprabhu—so many times he secretly went to Mahaprabhu, but Mahaprabhu always refused him. Every time Mahaprabhu told him, "Go back to your home, do not be crazy. Markata-vairagya na kara loka dekhana (do not show your false renunciation to impress people). Stay in your house."

antare nistha kara, bahye loka-vyavahara

achirat krsna tomaya karibe uddhara

"Be fixed internally, and behave like everyone else externally. Krishna will rescue you soon."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.239)

Mahaprabhu advised Raghunath Das Goswami so many things.

When Nityananda Prabhu came to Panihati, He gave him His mercy—He ordered Him to give a Vaishnav seva, to make a chida-dadhi mahotsav—a flat rice and yoghurt festival. After that, when the festival finished, Raghunath Das Goswami paid obeisance to Nityananda Prabhu, and Nityananda Prabhu put His leg on Raghunath Goswami's head and said, "Now you can go to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu will accept you." And it happened.

Without the mercy of Guru you cannot get anything...

I know you are all suffering very much because of the difficult condition in Venezuela, but what I am happy about is that by the mercy of Gurudev you are continuing your service and everybody is helping each other, everybody is helping the mission, that is why the mission is running smoothly. I was told that there are big problems outside, but inside the temple there are no problems, and I said, "Yes, Gaura Nitai is there. When Lord is there, nothing will happen."

Even if you live in this world for a thousand years, it will give no result if you cannot serve Parama Karuna Gaura Nitai; but if you live in this world for only five days and you serve Gaura Nitai, that is sufficient, that is more than good.

Are there any questions from you?

Question: In this situation we need to develop some attachment to the service, to find some shelter...

Yes, of course. Shelter is necessary, otherwise how will you get service without any shelter?

Question: In our present situation we may not have so much faith because we do not have direct association. What can we do to develop a stronger faith?

You should understand that from your Guru. Who will you listen to? If you cannot get direct association from your Guru, direct guidance from your Guru, then you can take shelter of a Vaishnav who has 100% faith in the Guru, who has 100% chastity for the Guru.

Question: We do not have so much perspective about who is a Vaishnav. Where can we find the ability to recognise a Vaishnav?

If you practise properly, if you think in the proper way, then the Lord will Himself arrange that for you.

Question: How can we reducing our anxiety?

Through practice, through chanting the Holy Name. If you depend upon Krishna, depend upon the Lord, if you have full faith in the Lord, and have faith, "If Krishna protects, no one can destroy me," then all anxiety will go away.

Question: How to be simple-hearted?

Actually, it is necessary to be simple-hearted. If you practise the nava-vidha bhakti properly, follow the rules and regulations (sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana, mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana—associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura, and worship the Deity with faith), then you will automatically become simple-hearted.

Question: How can all life be just service?

That depends upon the person. If you avoid the Vaishnav aparadh, if you avoid the seva aparadh, you avoid the Dham aparadh, avoid the Nam aparadh, then you can continue your service during your whole life...

* * *

Smart, Savvy, and Sannyasi

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009, evening

Question: It is said somewhere that there are three things that we may take from the devotees (for example, taking their prasadam), but I cannot remember what they are...

Yes, it is Vaishnava-charana-jal (water that washed the feet of a devotee), Vaishnava-prasad (remnants of food, cloth, etc. of a devotee), and Vaishnava-charana-renu (feet dust of a devotee).

Actually we do not think that we are Vaishnavs, so we do not let others even touch our feet. Somebody may be disappointed, "Oh, Maharaj does not allow to touch his feet..." but we do not think we are Vaishnavs.

Mahaprabhu also did not allow anyone to touch His feet—He would get angry if someone touched His feet. You have heard that in Puri, when somebody threw some water and the water would come down on the floor of the temple, some devotees would pick it up—for example, there was a devotee from Bengal who did that, and Mahaprabhu became angry and said to somebody, "Do you see?! Do you see what your Gaudiya is doing?! Tell him to go away!"

But—Krsna ye bhaje sei bada chatur—those who serve the Lord are very clever. Somebody asks, "O Maharaj, please give me some prasadam," but this is not the way to do it. There is another way—if you clean the prasadam plate of a Vaishnav, then you can their remnants.

Question: Srila Guru Maharaj says that the environment is perfect, but at the same it is said that this world is miserable. How can these two truths be harmonised?

It is a good question. One way it can be explained is using the answer that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa once gave. He said that what I see with my eyes is not the same as what you see with your eyes. For example, somebody may see a dog and say, "Here is a dog," but somebody sees it is something else.

Sometimes Guru Maharaj says that this world is a farce, but Mahaprabhu's conception is that one day that whole world will come to Krishna consciousness and join Harinam sankirtan. We also believe in that, that is why we try so hard to bring people all over the world to Krishna consciousness.

Actually what are you asking in your question? How to harmonise? Through Harinam sankirtan. Everybody chants something—even when a terrorist is going to blow up a building, they also pray, chant something at that time. Why do we chant? We do not know anything, but we chant because Gurudev told us to chant and said that we all came from one place and must go back to God, back to home. Sometimes this world seems horrible, and it seems contradictory, but everything can be harmonised through Harinam sankirtan. Other than that, the question is not clear to me.

Question: (Repeats) Srila Guru Maharaj says that everything that is taking place in the environment is good, whether it seems good or bad to us, but at the same time the scriptures say that this world is a miserable and a horrible place to be in. It seems contradictory, and my question is how to harmonise these two instructions.

What you are saying it true, but it is our fortune that we have come in this Kali-yuga. What we must do is follow Kali-yuga's dharma, the instruction prescribed for Kali-yuga. In Chaitanya-charitamrita it is also said that in this world this human body is very rare—there are so many birds, beasts, trees in this world, their number is more than the number of humans. Among ten million humans, there is only one karmi, fruitive worker, among ten million karmis there is only one wise person; among ten million of such wise people there is only one liberated soul, and among ten million such liberated souls there is only one Krishna-bhakta who can be rescued from this world.

dharmachari-madhye haya bahuta 'karmanistha'

koti-karmanistha-madhye eka 'jnani' srestha

koti-jnani-madhye haya eka-jana 'mukta'

koti-mukta-madhye 'durlabha' eka krsna-bhakta

"Among those who follow the dharma there are many of those who practise karma. Among millions of such sincere karmis, there is only one truly wise person. Among millions of such wise people, there is only one liberated soul. Among millions of such liberated souls, there is hardly one devotee of Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.147-148)

Question: Does one have to be a sannyasi to take disciples?

It depends upon the society, in different societies there are different rules. Although the scriptures say that there is no sannyas in Kali-yuga, Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur himself took sannyas, but it is a Vaishnav sannyas. Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami did not wear saffron colour also...

I have told it before—even a grihastha person (a householder) can be a sannyasi. One can wear white clothes, have a wife, go to work, and do everything else, but they can be a sannyasi—somebody may have a wife but they have no attachment to their wife; somebody may go to work, but they work not for their family, but for their mission.

* * *

Wholesome and Wholehearted

Caracas, Venezuela

20 September 2009, evening

Question: Could you please explain how important the rules and regulations are in our devotional practice?

It is a very good question.

As I have told before, first it is necessary to have sukriti, but you all have already got it, otherwise how would you come here without any sukriti? Then, there comes faith from the sukriti—there are four types of faith, and it is necessary to have a strong faith. Through that faith, you will get good association, and through the good association, sadhu-sanga, you will get some sravanam, kirtanam (you will hear and chant, or practise). Sravanam and kirtanam remove all bad things from your your heart.

You take initiation and think that everything is finished, but it is not so. Actually some seed is put into your heart, and just like when you plant some seed in the soil, you must protect it and look after it—you must water it regularly and check every day how it is growing.

Question: What is the true conception of renunciation?

It is also a good question, but Srimad Bhagavatam says, "Bhog tyag, tyag tyag" ("renounce enjoyment, renounce renunciation"). It means that you must do everything for service for the Lord—it is not necessary to renounce anything, not necessary to practise phalgu vairagya (false renunciation). You can continue your job, you can take care of your baby, you can take care of your husband or your family, it is not a problem, but you must do it only for the Lord. You do not have to leave your house and your job—you do your job, but that job must be for the Lord. You must always help your family—your husband, child, and so on—to serve Lord Krishna, Lord Gaura Nitai.

Question: I have one more question. How can a woman be successful in Krishna consciousness?

It is said in Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat that in this age of Kali, women and those who belong to a lower cast will get Krishna first, they will actually advance quicker—by the service to the Lord. But do not become proud! [His Divine Grace laughs.]

Question: If a person lives far away from the temple and the devotees and does not have proper facility to, for example, to cook or offer proper bhog to Krishna, what service can they do then?

What do they eat then? Do they fast the whole day? Whatever you have, you must give it to the Lord. If you only drink water, then you can give water to the Lord, He will happily accept it. "Bhakter jinish Prabhu lutiputi khay": Krishna does not want some big prasadam from you—whatever you can give to Him, even if it is some banana skin, He also accepts it. It is necessary to give your heart.

Question: There exists such a term as "Krishna mythology," does it have any value?

Who knows Krishna? Even Brahma cannot recognise Him! Only those who have got some mercy from the Lord can recognise Him.

One day, Narad Goswami came to Brahma and said to him, "Brahma, do you know that your Master has already come to Gokula?" Brahma thought, "It is my country, my world, but my Master has come and I do not know about it?" At first he could not believe it, but then he thought, "Narad Goswami is saying it, so I must believe it. I must go there and see for myself."

Brahma came to Gokula and saw Krishna playing with some cowboys. He hid somewhere and observed everything from afar—He wanted to see what his Master was doing. He had watched for a few minutes, when suddenly he saw one of Krishna's friends (perhaps, Subal or Sridam) take an apple, eat half of it, and then give it to Lord Krishna saying, "O Krishna! Take it!" Brahma was surprised, "My lord is taking from others' mouth?! It is impossible! When I offer food to the Lord I always make sure nobody touches it, but He is taking from others' mouth?! Maybe that boy pretends he is Krishna, I will teach him a lesson!"

What happened then? Nanda Maharaj had 900,000 cows whom Krishna would look after, and Brahma created some illusion and put all the cows into a cave. When Krishna saw the cows were missing, He went to look for them. He searched and search but He could not find them. When He came back, He saw that all the boys were not there too (Brahma put them all into another cave). Then Krishna thought that it could be Kamsa's job, that he had done something that day—He sat in meditation and saw, "Oh, it is Brahma's job! He wants to test Me—OK, no problem."

Then, Krishna created all the cows and all the boys from His own body and continued living like this for one year. When Brahma came back in a year and saw that everything was continuing as before, he admitted, "I cannot do anything." He then came Krishna and prayed to the Lord, "Please forgive me, please forgive my offences."

So, even Brahma himself cannot understand Lord Krishna, how will you then understand Him? Only those who are surrendered to the Lord, who have got some mercy can understand Him.

* * *

The 'Crazy', the Wicked, the Restless

Moscow, Russia

6 August 2002

There was once a sahajiya Guru. He could not teach others anything good, he did not know anything—he knew nothing about Srimad Bhagavatam or Chaitanya-charitamrita. And he used to always cheat his disciples.

Every day he would go house to house to collect money to maintain his family (he had a wife and many children, among whom there was only one good son), but once he thought, "Every day I go house to house, but in this area there is this rich king... If I make him my disciple, then I will not have to go house to house any more, I will get money from him and it will be enough to maintain the whole family..." Eventually, he made that king his disciple, and now he all the time went to the king's house to take some money from him. This is how he maintained his family.

One day, the king told his Guru, "I have so much money, I have everything, but I am not getting any peace... I took initiation from you five years ago, and for five years you have been taking money from me, but you are not giving me any peace..." Gurudev had to make up a story, "All right, give me some money and I will make a big fire sacrifice."

The king gave him some money and the Guru made a fire sacrifice. Six months later, the king again said to him, "O Gurudev, I am still not getting any peace..." Gurudev said, "All right, maybe something went wrong during the sacrifice. We must make another one. Give me some money and arrange for some ghee, yoghurt, butter, rice, etc." They made another big fire sacrifice.

Two months passed. The king said to his Gurudev, "I am still not getting any peace! If you cannot give me peace, I will cut your head! I am giving you seven days—if you cannot give me peace, I will have to kill you." Gurudev became afraid and went back to his house.

He was sitting at home, thinking, "What will become of me in seven days?" Seeing him deep in thought, his wife asked, "What are you thinking about?" He explained what had happened and said in the end, "Why did I have to make that rich man my disciple? Now I have to die in seven days..."

Now, that Gurudev had one good son. The son actually did not stay at the house—he went to the forest to study Srimad Bhagavatam from one good Guru, and when the food was ready, he would return home. He spent most of the time outside.

It was the meal time, so the son came home.

"You will not get any food," said his mother to him. "You father is going to die in seven days, and you are not doing any job—how will you maintain the family?"

"What has happened?" asked the boy.

"Your father cannot give peace to the king..."

"OK, I will give peace to the king!"

"You are a crazy boy! How will you give peace to the king? You cannot go there!"

"No, I must go there. I must give peace to the king," said the son and immediately went to the king's house.

When the king saw his Guru's son, he received him with some honour, and then asked him,

"Why have you come?"

"I have come for you. I want to give you some peace."

"Five-six years have passed and your father has not been able to do that, and you say you can?"

"Yes, I can."

"What do you need? What items are necessary? Is another fire sacrifice necessary?"

"No, nothing is necessary. I only need two pieces of rope, each 8-10 feet long, and also I need my father."

The king sent his servant to bring his Guru. Now there were three men—the son, the father (the king's Guru), and the king. The son said to the king and his father, "All right, now everything is ready, let us go to the shore of the sea." The king and the Guru were suspicious, "That boy is crazy... what if he ties us with the rope and throws us into the sea?..." Anyhow, they went with the boy.

When they came to the shore, the son first tied his father with one piece of the rope and then tied the king with the other piece of the rope. After that he asked his father,

"O father, open the king's rope!"

"O crazy! You have tied me—how will I open his rope?!"

Then the son turned to the king and said,

"O King, can you see now? He is your Guru, but he is bound in illusion. Kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (illusion), etc.—he is bound by all this, how will he give you peace? How can he untie you if he is tied himself?

"Every day I study Bhagavatam from one Guru," continued the boy, "he is the best Guru. Come with me." He then said to his father, "Father, you told me once, 'If you are not a disciple, how can you be a Guru?' First you must go to a good Guru, study Bhagavatam, then you can make disciples."

The boy's father and the king both went with him to his Guru, and they both got peace...

There are many bogus Gurus like this in India, but fortunately we do not have to go here and there, we do not have to search—we have already got a good Guru, so we have no problem...

* * *

A Name and the Holy Name

Moscow, Russia

6 August 2002

There is one kind of offence of the Holy Name and a story related to it.

Some people think that the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and other Names are the same, like in Nabadwip there are some who chant Radhe Shyama Japa Hari, but it is a mistake. Radhe Shyama Japa Hari and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra is not the same, it is an offence to think like this. That is why it is called maha-mantra—nothing equals to the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

Once, in Nabadwip or Vrindavan, a man and his wife took initiation from some Guru, and the Guru gave the name Hare Krishna Das to the man. In India there is a kind of a tradition that the wife never takes her husband's name. So, because his name was now Hare Krishna, every time she was going to chant, she could not do it.

Later, when their Gurudev came to their house, the wife asked him, "How can I chant the mantra you gave me? It is my husband's name!" Then the Guru said, "OK, no problem, then you can chant Phare Besto, Phare Besto."

He thinks that Phare Besto and Hare Krishna sound similar, so it is the same, but they do not know that there is so much difference between the husband's name and the Holy Name. Hare Krishna maha-mantra does not equal to any name—it is not the same as that husband's name, as my name, or anyone else's. The Holy Name is non-different from Krishna.

Gaura Hari bol!

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Divine Backing

Saint Petersburg, Russia

1 August 2002

First I am giving a sastanga-dandavat to our Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, all the Guru-varga, all the godbrothers and godsisters, Vaishnavs and devotees.

Actually we are fortunate today, I am very fortunate, because we have again got your association and can meet with you all. One day, two months ago or so, Guru Maharaj asked me, "Do you have time to come to Russia with me?" Actually I had no time, but when he asked me if I could come to Russia, I could not ignore it.

You know we are very fortunate—we do not know Mahaprabhu, we do not know Krishna, but we know our Gurudev. If we serve him, if we can please him, then we will get a real benefit from Lord Krishna.

We cannot believe it—Guru Maharaj's (Srila Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's) health was not good, he had a mild stroke last year, but he is so kind, again he travels all over the world, comes to London and Russia. We cannot believe what kind of energy he has. He is distributing so many things to the devotees on behalf of Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu said,

prithivite achhe yata nagaradi grama

sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

"My Name will spread to every village and town on this earth."

And we can see now how quickly Krishna consciousness is spreading all over the world, and he is the one doing it—without thinking about his health, he is selflessly preaching all over the world.

I heard that Srila Param Guru Maharaj (Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj) was thinking of Govinda Kunda manifest in Nabadwip, Gupta Govardhan, and now the banks have all been repaired and there is now a temple inside it and a guesthouse on the bank. Without Guru Maharaj's mercy we cannot make this temple, we cannot build this house on the bank of Govinda Kunda, nor can we repair the banks. It is his mercy actually, his desire. Our only service is to try to fulfil his desire—we must try to fulfil his desire. Guru Maharaj always says, "What is bhajan? Bhajan means not following your mind, but following what I tell you." We must try to do that.

One day Guru Maharaj told me a story that happened to him when he was maybe seventeen or eighteen years old. His Gurudev, Srila Sridhar Maharaj, told him, "Follow me, do not follow your mind," and he told him later also, "Every morning you must take the rice that is left over from the previous day." One day Guru Maharaj was going to take that rice, but he saw there was an insect on the rice. His immediate reaction was, "An insect! I will not eat it!" but then he thought suddenly, "Oh, but Gurudev told me, 'Follow me, do not follow your mind,'" and at once ate that rice.

Actually we cannot believe how he fulfilled his Gurudev's desire. I remember it was only last year that we came here in Saint Petersburg and went to the bank of the Baltic Sea with the devotees. Seeing that bank, he thought of Nabadwip, "I wish I could make the bank of Govinda Kunda like this..." I was surprised—he is here, thousands of thousands kilometres away, maybe eating an ice-cream, but he is thinking about Nabadwip. I thought at that time, "Wherever he is, he always thinks about his Nabadwip"—just as Swami Maharaj, I heard, always thought of Vrindavan, even when he was in the West. He thought, "I want to leave my body in Vrindavan," and Krishna fulfilled his desire—he did leave his body in Vrindavan.

Guru Maharaj always thinks about his Gurudev's temple, his Gurudev's bhajan kutir, always thinks about Nabadwip, "How can Nabadwip prosper? How can I improve Nabadwip?"—and Krishna fulfilled his desire, Param Guru Maharaj also always helps him.

I heard one day when he was in America he fell down, but he woke up immediately and his health was all right—because his Gurudev is always behind him. No one can stop, attack, or defeat those who have Gurudev's backing. It is necessary to have this kind of strong faith. It all depends upon faith. No one can destroy those who have a strong faith in their Gurudev.

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Where is Hari?

Saint Petersburg, Russia

1 August 2002

We ask many questions, we want to know everything, but actually it is not necessary. You know that Radharani is the main servitor of Krishna, but how much knowledge does She have? Nothing, She has no relation with knowledge, but She always serves Krishna. So, knowledge is not necessary. We must serve our Gurudev, we must serve our Lord, then we will get benefit. Guru Maharaj says, what is the second initiation for? Through the second initiation you can go up to Vaikuntha, but through Harinam sankirtan, through service, you can go to Goloka. It says in one of our books that you may have everything, but if you have no faith in your Gurudev, then you have nothing.

There is one example from Search for Sri Krishna. Imagine there is a lotus blooming in a pond. The lotus tolerates the sun, the rain—everything; but once you take the lotus out of the pond, it will immediately dry without the shelter of the water. In the same way, without Gurudev's shelter you cannot get anything. Actually, if you have the shelter of Gurudev, you have everything. You may have everything—you can have money, you can have knowledge, etc.—but if you have no mercy of Gurudev, then you have nothing.

What more can I say? We must serve our Gurudev. I have seen your service mood, and we feel very fortunate to get your association.

Actually, where will we get Krishna? "Hari kothay? Hari-kathay." It means, "Where is Hari? Hari is in Hari-katha (discussions about Hari)." You will get Hari in the lecture about Hari, this is how you can get benefit.

I heard a story that once Prabhupad went to some province of India where the language spoken was Hindu or Gujarati, but Prabhupad started his lecture in Bengali. One of the devotees said to him, "Prabhupad, this is Gujarat, here you can speak English, Gujarati, or Hindi, you cannot speak Bengali." Prabhupad replied, "We are not speaking English, we are not speaking Hindi or Gujarati. We are speaking Hari-katha. Hari-katha is not any language. If you simply hear it, you will get a super benefit: you will get Krishna."

So, where will you get Krishna? You will get Krishna, Hari, in the Hari-katha. How will you get Hari? Through the service to Hari. This is the truth, this is a fact.

It is necessary to have sadhu-sanga. First it is necessary to have sukriti, but we have already got some good sukriti, that is why we have come here. How can we association of a real, pure Vaishnavs? Where is sadhu-sanga? Sadhu-sanga is not eating together with the sadhu or sleeping together with the sadhu. We are now far from Nabadwip, but if we think about Nabadwip, if we think about Vrindavan or Govardhan, then we can be here in Saint Petersburg but actually we are not in Saint Petersburg—if we think about Govardhan, then we are actually in Govardhan. In the same way, we may be in Nabadwip, but if we think about some material things, material knowledge, then we are not in Nabadwip. We can be serving the Deities, we can be staying with the sadhu, but if we think about some material things, this is not sadhu-sanga. Sadhu-sanga means service to the sadhu. Eating from the same plate as the sadhu or Vaishnavs is not sadhu-sanga; serving the sadhu, serving the Vaishnavs, and listening to the sadhu is what is called sadhu-sanga.

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Rely On Gurudev

Russia

6 August 2002

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam

chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam sri-rupa-panthanugam

govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram

vande visva-gurun cha divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam

“I offer my obeisance unto he who perfectly fulfils his Gurudev's most cherished desires; who is fully adorned with the blessings of his Gurudev’s associates; who is expert in all aspects of Vedic knowledge, both conceivable and inconceivable; who is the pre-eminent follower of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's line; who is known as 'Govinda'—Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj; whose beautiful, effulgent, exalted form is infused with pure devotion; who is the Guru of the entire universe; and who is the giver of the seed of divine love for the Supreme Lord.”

This is the pranam-mantra of our Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj; you all know this mantra. I heard that it had actually been written by Srila Sridhar Maharaj—it is a very excellent and very surprising sloka because our Gurudev's Guru himself wrote it.

"Gurvvabhista-supurakam" means, "Gurudever abhista: he fulfilled all desires of his Gurudev, and his Gurudev gave all his mercy to him." It reminds me how Sriman Mahaprabhu Himself actually did not show He was the Lord, He never said, "I have given mercy to you," or, "I have given mercy to everyone," but He did say this to one person only—to Srila Rupa Goswami. He admitted, "Yes, I have given him My mercy."

One day Rupa Goswami wrote the "Tunde tandavaniratim..." sloka, and when Mahaprabhu read it He asked Svarup Damodar, "How did he write this kind of verse? How does he know Me? I am surprised at the sloka he has written!" Svarup Damodar and Ray Ramananda replied, "Prabhu, You must have taught this to him, that is how he knows it, otherwise how will he know it? You have taught him, that is how he learned it." Mahaprabhu agreed, "Yes, I did that... but it is not sufficient! You all must give your mercy to him!" Just like this, our Guru Maharaj got the mercy of all his Guru-varga—all sannyasi disciples of Srila Prabhupad (Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur) always came to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, and our Gurudev got an opportunity to serve them...

saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair

uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih

kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya

vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all the scriptures to be the Lord Himself, and considered to be so by the sadhus, yet is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7)

Who is the Guru? Gurudev is actually saksad-dharitvena, a full successor of Krishna, nondifferent from Krishna; but at the same time "kintu prabhor yah"—he is fully subservient to Krishna, he is the dearmost of Krishna (like Radharani is). That is why we can say that our Gurudev is like Radharani.

Actually Krishna Himself shows that Radharani is His dearmost, I can remember one story...

You know, one day Krishna Himself came to Nandalaya [house of Nanda Maharaj] as a doctor and said to Mother Yasoda, "Your Krishna is very sick, He needs treatment. To make the medicine, you must get some water that is brought in a pot with many holes, and the person who will bring it must be honest."

Mother Yasoda began to search Gokula, Vraja, for an honest person. At first she could not find anyone, but then she thought of Jatila and Kutila. Jatila was the mother-in-law of Radharani, and Kutila was Her sister-in-law; they both liked to always look for everybody's fault, so Mother Yasoda thought, "Jatila and Kutila must be honest, they can bring that water."

First she went to Jatila, "My Krishna is very sick, please go, bring some water in this holed pot." Jatila said, "How is it possible?! It is impossible to bring water in a pot with so many holes!" Mother Yasoda begged her so much that in the end she could not avoid her request and had to agree. She went to bring the water, but she could not do that. Then, Mother Yasoda came to Kutila. Kutila said, "My mother has already failed to do that, I cannot do it either," but Mother Yasoda requested her also, and in the end she went to bring the water, but she too could not do that.

Mother Yasoda was desperate, "Who is honest in Vraja? If nobody brings the water, what will I do?" Then, the doctor hinted at Radharani, "Maybe this girl can bring the water?" Mother Yasoda came to Radharani and asked Her, "Please, come, bring some water." Radharani took the holed pot and went to the river. She was afraid and prayed, "O Krishna, You can protect Me, You can do that. Without You I cannot bring this water..." When Radharani put the pot with many holes into the water, Krishna appeared in the water and put His hand under the pot. So, Radharani brought the water to Mother Yasoda, and when the doctor mixed some medicine and gave it with that water to Krishna, Krishna got well.

So, Krishna Himself shows that Radharani is most dear to Him. She is actually the highest, dearmost devotee of this line...

I am very happy everybody has come here and everybody is doing some service here, helping Jagannath Prabhu. It is necessary to help him, and I am very happy to see that everybody is doing that. We all actually belong to the same family—we are members of the same family, we are passengers of one boat, and our Gurudev is the captain of that boat. If we can stay in this boat (if we can have enough patience), then we will get to the boat's destination. Many obstacles, much bondage will come to us in our Krishna consciousness practising life, but we should not become hopeless. If we remember Krishna, if we remember our Gurudev and if we serve our Gurudev, then they must protect us.

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Odds and Ends (6)

Compiled on 30 June 2016

Several excerpts that were not included in the main posts:

Accept or reject? | June 2010

Question: If everything comes from Krishna, whether it is bad or good, how can we then understand that when something happens, it is actually benefit coming from Krishna for everybody.

How will you understand it? Many thing happen, but you must believe what the scriptures say, what Gurudev says.

Somebody may be stealing and thinking, "Oh, Krishna is engaging me in stealing!" The Lord created everything—cows have their food, pigs have their food, dogs have their food, mosquitos have their food, but we are not eating that because we know what is necessary. So, we must take what is necessary for our spiritual life and reject what is not necessary (or harmful) for the spiritual life.

You can understand everything through practising—if you make your foundation well, then you can easily understand what is what. It is necessary to have a very good foundation.

Sincere service until death | 16 April 2013

What Gurudev has given me, is sufficient for me—even if I die tomorrow, it is ok, no problem, I will stay with Gurudev. The result you get depends on the service that you do. Somebody makes garlands, somebody takes care of the garden, and they will get a corresponding place with the Lord, Gurudev. It is necessary to have sincerity (nistha, determination, being stable) and do your service until your death—do not run away from your service in the middle, that is seva aparadh and it will lead to your fall: service will go away.

Gurudev left his body at 4 o'clock in the morning, and he made his will at 12 o'clock at night—he was thinking about the temple. If you have sincerity, you will last until you leave your body. Another example is Narayan Maharaj from Mauritius. Ten minutes before he left his body, he called me, he was thinking about his service and preaching—he told me, "Maharaj, I left some money there, please use that money for service..."

The result of chanting | 16 April 2013

I am thinking of "Gaite gaite Nama ki dasa haila..." At first Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur says, "Trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara" ["Give up your false ego, and always consider yourself lower than grass, poor, needy, and mean."], but after a few minutes some bhav comes to him and he says, "Gaite gaite Name ki dasa haila?" ["What has become of me after I repeatedly chanted the Holy Name?"]

Why is it not coming to us? We chant the Holy Name of Krishna, chant and chant, but it is not coming... "Sri-Krsna-viraha ara sahite na pari" ["I am not able to tolerate the separation from Krishna any longer"]. From "Pita-varana kali-pavana Gora" ["Golden Gora, the saviour of the Age of Kali, sings..."] he jumped to "Gaite gaite Nam..."

Seasonal fruit | 2 October 2013

It is written in Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhuh that you must give the Deities the fruit that is in season. For example, now the mango season has finished, where will you get mango? Now it is the pine apple season, so you must give pine apple to the Deities. You give only banana and cucumber, but sometimes it is necessary to buy new things. You are like this too—if you eat the same thing every day, your mouth will want some change. The Deities' mouth also should get some change. Is it correct or not? It may give you a little austerity—it takes time to peel the pine apple, for example, but you cannot think, "Oh, it takes time, it is an austerity, I will not do it." Do you understand?

Observing Ekadasi | 16 June 2001

Today is Ekadasi, and as in Nabadwip we must fast until 12 o'clock, noon. Does everybody know it? Also, on Ekadasi, in the afternoon, we sing "Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu bhajana-anukula" song. We must sing it on every Ekadasi—if you can sing it every day, it is good, but in our temple we sing this song on Ekadasi. It is a good song, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote it. Also, fasting on Ekadasi is good for health, and it is also good for the spiritual life. On Ekadasi day all sins live in grains, so if you take any grain on Ekadasi it means you will be taking sin. There are five types of grains*...

* [Rice, wheat, barley, pulses, mustard/sesame oil]

What is devotion | May 2016

Question: What is the meaning of devotion?

Proper devotion to your Guru is the proper service to your Guru. If you can anyhow make your Guru happy through your service, that will be devotion.

ISKCON Ratha-Yatra | 18 August 2013

Question: Tomorrow there will be an observance of Lord Jagannath's Ratha-yatra nearby in San Francisco. It has done every year for about 40 years by Ikscon, Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj started it and the whole city observes it. Some of our devotees are going there...

Yes, they can go, but not to go there to enjoy: they should take some books and distribute them there. Not to go there only to enjoy. They should see to their own benefit. They can preach there, distribute books, brochures, leaflets, then it will be good.

Three prayers on the way to Ekachakra | 26 March 2016

When you go to Ekachakra, you should sing,

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe

samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become insignificant?"

('Prarthana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

"When will Nityananda Prabhu give me some mercy? When will material desires be removed from my heart?"

kabe nityananda more kari' daya

chhadaibe mora visayera maya

"When will Nityananda be compassionate to me and relieve me from the mundane illusion?"

('Kabe habe bolo, se dina amar?' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

"When will Nityananda Prabhu give His mercy to me? I have too much attachment to material things..."

kabe habe bala se dina amara

aparadha ghuchi suddha name ruchi

krpa-bale ha'be hrdaye sanchara

"Please tell me, when will that day be mine? When will my offences be removed? When will the taste for the pure Name arise in my heart by the power of mercy?"

('Kabe habe bolo, se dina amar?' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

What is mercy? | 26 March 2016

We do not know what mercy is. Sivananda Sen said to Nityananda Prabhu, "Prabhu, it is my offence, I have come late, I have made You wait." He was paying obeisance as he was saying this, and Nityananda Prabhu kicked him. Sivananda Sen was so sorry and humble, saying it was all his fault, but Nityananda Prabhu was like this.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

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