Come and Get!

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
19 June 2001

Question: What is the quickest, or shortest, way to Krishna?

ওঁ অজ্ঞানতিমিরান্ধস্য জ্ঞানাঞ্জনশলাকয়া ।
চক্ষুরুন্মিলিতং যেন তস্মৈ শ্রীগুরবে নমঃ ॥

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, applying the kajal of divine knowledge on my eyes.'

His question is how we can get Krishna?... Actually, in Kali-yuga, the age of Kali, Krishna came as Sriman Mahaprabhu who is non-different from Radha-Krishna, and Krishna also came as the Holy Name: "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare..." He went door to door, every village to village, preaching and saying to everybody, "Please chant this Holy Name!" He said, "You have lost your address, you do not know what your address is! You think that this is your house, this is your home, but it is not!" And He urged everybody, "Please chant this Name!" Gaudiya Vaishnavs, our Gurudev have not come to beg for money, food or anything else from you, they only come and say, "Please come with us! Chant Hare Krishna!"

In Srimad Bhagavatam Uddhav asked Krishna, "Prabhu, when You are not here, where should I stay?" and Krishna answered, "Uddhav, there will come many devotees like you, and you will see Me in their heart." We sing also in one of the kirtans (Ohe Vaishnava Thakura), "Krsna se tomar! Krishna is yours!" So, where will we get Krishna? In the lotus feet, or actually in the heart, of the Vaishnavs. Who is a preacher? Those who follow Krishna consciousness, who follow rules and regulations. You must go to them—they can give you Krishna. Krishna sent our Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, to preach to us, Krishna Himself sent him to take us, fallen souls, to our home. So, if we go to him and surrender to him, then we will see Krishna.

One day, I went to preach in Bengal, and one man asked me, "Have you seen Krishna? Can you show me Krishna?" Suddenly I saw a milkman going past with pots full of milk. I asked the milkman, "Have you seen butter?" There is butter in the milk, but we do not see it—we have no eyes to see it. Our eyes are full of dirt and dust and we cannot see who is the follower of Krishna, who is a devotee, so with these mundane eyes we cannot see Krishna. In the same way, we cannot chant the Holy Name of Krishna with this tongue because this tongue is mundane and the Name is transcendental—the transcendental Name cannot come to a mundane thing; but if we practise Krishna consciousness, then the Holy Name will come to this tongue—through service.

Actually, our Guru is our only Divine Master, he is the only Rupanuga-dhara, the holder of Sri Rupa Goswami's line, of this Krishna consciousness. Every shopkeeper says his shop is the best and his sweets are very nice, but actually it is not so. You can understand it if you follow Gurudev, if you can see with your own divya-chaksu (transcendental eyes) who follows Krishna consciousness and follow him, surrender to him. You must get some mercy of Vaishnavs for that.

ঈশ্বরের কৃপা-লেশ হয় ত' যাহারে ।
সেই ত' ঈশ্বর-তত্ত্ব জানিবারে পারে ॥

isvarera krpa-lesa haya ta' yahare
sei ta' isvara-tattva janibare pare

"Only those who receive even a trace of the Lord's mercy, can understand the Lord."

(Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 6.83)

Those who get the mercy of Krishna, who get the mercy of Vaishnavs, can learn and can hear this type of Hari-katha, Krishna-katha.

So, we can see all the great Vaishnavs are here, and you are getting some good association from them, through that good association your mind will be clean. We do not actually know where our house is, but we are fortunate to have got this human body—if you surrender to the lotus feet of Gurudev, you will immediately get Krishna. Through the chanting of the Holy Name, Gurudev can show Krishna to you.

To get something, it is necessary to do something. Kripa (mercy) means kore-pabe: if you want to get something, you must do something. What will you do? If you chant Hare Krishna, if you surrender to the lotus feet to Gurudev, your Divine Master, then you will get everything. It is not necessary to read many books, it is not necessary to do anything outstanding. You can live with your family, live in your house and chant Hare Krishna (the Holy Name of Krishna), come to see Gurudev—through that you will get good association and you will get Krishna.

I do not actually have any qualification, all is the mercy of the Vaishnavs. One day, you probably read about it in Chaitanya-charitamrita, Sanatan Goswami wanted to hear from Mahaprabhu the explanation of the "Atmaramas cha munayo" sloka. He asked Mahaprabhu, "Please, explain that sloka that You have explained to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya." Mahaprabhu answered, "I have no qualification. I have forgotten what I told him, I am mad and do not know anything, but by some mercy of the great Vaishnavs, if they can say something through Me, then I can say something."

You are all very fortunate, and I see that you all have a good heart. Please come to India and see what the conception of Mahaprabhu is. I am inviting you all to our temple, come, join us. We have not come here for fooding and lodging. We did not come to ask you for any food, we have only come to say, "Krsna bolo, sange chalo!! Say, 'Krishna!' Please come with us! We have come to take you with us!!"

Devotees: HARI BOL! JAY!

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