All Glory to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga

GUIDANCE￼￼Line LineLine Line

Lectures

of

His Divine Grace

Om Vishnupad Sri Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj

Issue #01 (2014)

Pranam-mantra

Autobiography

Srila Gauri Das Pandit

Disappearance of Srila Haridas Thakur

A Speck of Dust of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math

Chant Constantly

The Four Regulative Principles

Sri Guru: Mercy at Your Doorstep

Lord Nrisimhadev and "Krishna in my heart"

Yamaduts and Ego: How to Survive?

Do Not Follow Your Mind: Surrender to Your Guru

Householders: Appearance Is Deceptive

The Devotee and the Barber

Vaishnavs: Not What They Seem

Mahaprabhu's Teachings to Srila Raghunath Das Goswami

Be Fixed in Your Service

Overeating and Prasadam

Varnashrama and Practising Life

Loving Search for the Lost Servant

A Lesson on Surrender: Body, Mind, and Words

Bhukti, Mukti, Bhakti

Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj

Strong Foundation

Disentangled

Ego: a Play of Kali

The Power of Surrender

Make Krishna Your Friend

A Sadhu's Character

Sincere Surrender

Impaled by Illusion

Guru's Protection

Mahaprabhu's Pastimes

Morning Practice

Gurudev's Vyasa Puja Is Coming

Intolerable

One More Year Passed

Do Not Fear Service

Service without Attachment

Vigraha Is Not a Doll

Take Care of Your Seed

Preaching Mahaprabhu's Conception

Sri Krishna Janmastami: Celebrate and Realise

Sri Radhastami: Worship with Extreme Care

When the Family Is Against

Control the Root

Perfect Character

The Disciple's Mood and the Guru's Power

Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu

Initiation into Chanting of the Holy Name

Come to your home

The Meaning of Sahajiya

Pratistha, Singing Songs and Doing Kirtan

Chastity and Service Attachment

When One Feels Hopeless

Firm and Fearless

Do Not Waste Your Time

Practise and Believe

Floating On the Surface

Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu

Games of Maya Devi

Sri Lalita Devi: Prema-Guru

Stuck

Saltamami

The Bond with the Guru

The Key to Guru's Heart

Devotion Conquers—Ego Repels

Sri Krishna Janmastami: Surrender and Practise Daily

Sri Krishna Janmastami: Path Back to Home

How to See the Guru: Mercy

How to See the Guru: Chastity

Good Association

Practical Questions

See the Guru with Your Heart

Your Well-Wishers

Make a Temple in Your Heart

Practice Makes Happy

Other Preachers: No Free Mixing

Proceed Smoothly

Success, Attachment, Fearlessness

Fulfilment of Life

Laziness

Pure Line: Disciples, Quarrels, and Prasadam

The Guard and the Guardian

Service: Proof of Love

Love for Guru: Service and Commitment

Gurudev: His Example and Teachings

New Year Message

Pranam-mantra

pujya-sri-guru-varga-vandita-mahabhavanvitayah sada

paurvaparya-parampara-prachalita-prajya-pramurtakrteh

bhakter nirmala-nirjharasya nibhrtam samraksakam sadaram

vande sri-gurudevam anata-sira acharya-varyam nijam

I bow my head in eternal obeisance to my Gurudev, the best of acharyas, Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj. He is the ever vigilant, stalwart guardian of the current of pure devotion whose highest form flows from our most worshippable Sri Rupanuga Guru-varga in their exclusive dedication to Mahabhav, Srimati Radharani.

prerakam prachya-paschatya-sisyanam bhakti-vartmani

bhakti-nirmalam-acharya-svaminam pranamamy aham

I offer my respectful obeisances to Swami Bhakti Nirmal Acharya, who is energetically inspiring all of Eastern and Western disciples on the path of pure devotion.

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Autobiography

...We had a large joint family of about 150 people, and we chanted the Holy Name, but only on special days—the family did not follow the Gaudiya Vaishnav tradition. My father was a political man, he did not like religion, and even though my mother was from a religious family, she too was not very religious (she was religious but without the proper conception).

I remember when I was about 10 years old, I would wake up every day very early in the morning, put on a dhoti, and go to our small family temple to read Srimad Bhagavad-gita. My father did not like it, and he chastised my mother for this; but I still went there, secretly.

Then, after a few years, I went to study in a college and then in a university. When I finished university and passed the post-graduate exams, I started teaching mathematics in a college.

I stayed a few days in the paternal house, where my uncle was staying, and then my uncle got me a job in Kolkata. He was an income tax commissioner in Kolkata, a very prominent person, and he knew a college principle. This is how I got the job of a part-time teacher. I started giving lectures on mathematics and physics there.

Then my maternal uncle said to me that his father, that is my grandfather, had always wanted me to become a lawyer, or a judge, and he encouraged me to start studying law. So, I studied at night and taught at daytime, all at the same college. I studied like this for three years and received the LLB degree (Bachelor of Law), after which I took up practice under a senior advocate in Alipore Court, and sometimes in Kolkata High Court. And I continued lecturing at the college.

At that time I was about 27 years old. My mother would always chastise me and press me to get married. All my brothers and cousins had got married, but internally, I had already decided that I would not get married. I had seen how much family people suffer, and I did not want to do that. I thought, "I can take care of myself, I can cook my own food, then why would I want to earn money with so much labour and spend it on some lady? What for?"

One day I came from the court and saw that my mother had not cooked for me. She said to me, "You are not getting married—who is going to cook for you?" She chastised me that day again, and I ran away from the house.

I rented a house near Nabadwip, in Shrirampur, Burdwan District. It is a five-minute walk from the Nabadwip train station. I made a big centre in that house, Challenger Coaching Centre, and tutored there privately. I taught boys (from 15 years old until post graduate, graduate) mathematics, physics, chemistry, English grammar, Bengali grammar, geography, history. I made a sign board where I wrote I could teach all subjects, and when students saw the sign board they were impressed, "Oh, one teacher can teach all the subjects. I want to go!"

Sometimes some college boys and girls would come and ask me about my degree. I told them I was M.Sc in mathematics, and then they would test me in English, but I would explain English grammar to them easily. So, in this way, I began to teach there. Within 15 days after opening that centre, I was already teaching 250 students. I would start early in the morning, 5 a.m. and continue until late at night, 12 a.m. And I earned a lot of money that time (about 200,000 rupees)—50 rupees per student. Because I had a law certificate, I also practised law at Krishna Nagar Court from time to time.

Then once I could not sleep the whole night. When a little bit sleep was coming, somebody called me, "Govinda Maharaj is alone! Take care of him." And I am thinking and searching, "Who is Govinda Maharaj? Who is this?" I did not know... It was like akash dhvani, like a sound coming from the sky. And all night that sound kept coming to me.

Next day was Sunday. It was a holiday and I did not teach that day (some students came to me, but I sent them away). I never brushed my teeth outside, but that day I took my tooth brush and left as I was, wearing a punjabi. I walked from Shrirampur to the Gauranga Setu bridge and all the time I kept thinking, "Who is that Govinda Maharaj? Who is that? What was that sound I heard?" From the bridge I saw the domes of the temple and I wondered, "What temple is this? I want to go see it." And I came to the temple.

The main gate was not always open like now because that time all roads were mud roads, no bricks or anything, and when a car or a tractor passed by, there was a lot of mud. So, I sat beside that iron steel-sheet gate where the book shop is now (that time there was no book shop). I was sitting and thinking.

An hour later, a brahmachari came out. He saw me and asked, "Who are you?" I told him I lived nearby and was from a town near Kolkata. He asked me what job I did, and I told him I was a private teacher and a lawyer. Then he left.

Next, I saw an old brahmachari—the manager of the temple at that time. There was somebody fishing in the Govinda Kunda and that old brahmachari was hiding to catch the fisherman. He caught that boy and chastised him so much. The boy begged him to return his hook—he apologised and promised to never do it again...

Then, at 3 o'clock the first brahmachari came back. Later I learnt he had come from Hapaniya Dham. At that time I had never even heard of Hapaniya. He was surprised to see me again,

"You are still sitting here! Have you taken prasadam?"

"What is prasadam?"

"Food! It is our food."

"Oh, nobody told me I could get some food..." I did not even know what prasadam was. And I was very hungry—I came early in the morning, but it was already three o'clock, and I had not eaten anything.

He took me with him. At that time the prasadam place was where the storage room is now, and there was a plate with prasadam kept for him. He gave me a plate and put half of his prasadam for me. I said to him, "Prabhu, it is too less for you!" But he insisted, and I ate. After that he showed me around and told me about the temple. There weren't so many buildings at that time. He showed me the main temple, Srila Sridhar Maharaj's samadhi mandir and some other buildings.

After that he said to me, "You are a good, educated boy. Why don't you stay at the temple? You are not going to get married, then why will you return to your house and tutor people? What do you earn the money for? You can stay at the temple." And he asked the manager of the temple if I could stay. The manager at first did not agree, "He is a lawyer, what is going to do here?" But the brahmachari said, "Oh, he will do some service..." And the manager agreed, "Take him to Damodar Maharaj." Damodar Maharaj was in charge of the guest house and he gave me a room (it was room number 11; now it is number 13) and a mattress. (I stayed three or four years without a bed sheet or a pillow. I only had that coconut mattress on the floor, nothing else, and I did not ask for anything.) And I was also given one dhoti. This is how I moved in the temple.

After I joined, in three-four days, one devotee chastised me,

"What have you come here for?"

"I do not know."

"Then why are you here if you do not know?!"

"I want to do some service, want to stay in the temple. That brahmachari said I could stay here. He said I could do what they were doing."

"Who is the Guru here?"

"I do not know."

"Then why are you here—you do not even know the Guru's name here!"

"OK, Prabhu, I do not know. Tell me the name of the Guru."

He told Gurudev's name. And I remembered that message from the sky. He was calling me. Somebody was sending me to him, "That is your spiritual master." So, whatever I was told to do I did, and I was waiting for that man to come.

Then Gurudev came back from his first world tour (it was 1992). He came soon, after a few days. Everyone went to pay dandavat to him, I also went behind to pay my dandavat. Somebody told him, "This is a new boy," and then he saw me. He gave a class and I sat there, always behind. I just listened and did not ask any questions.

He asked me, "What service are you doing?" I told him that the Math manager sent me to crops field. Gurudev said, "Good. Do you go there alone now?"

"Yes, I go alone."

"Do you know all our land?"

"Yes. I know all land." After the manager went with me on the first day, he did not go again—he understood that he did not have to supervise me.

"Very nice, do you know the name of the villages where our lands are?"

"Yes."

"Tell me the village names."

"Nrisinghajuli and Bonorpukur." He was very happy.

"Do you know the name of the servitor who lives there?" I told him the name, and he was also very happy.

He told the manager of the temple, "Take care of this boy." And after a few days he gave me initiation and the name Vinod Ranjan Das. That day I got one more dhoti. Until that day I had been wearing same dhoti for one month. When I went to rest in the afternoon, I washed it and it would dry, and I would wear my trousers in the meantime.

For two months I could not sleep well, I always dreamt of mathematics, physics, writing on the blackboard, solving the problems. And I was thinking about my room—my big bed, my almirah, big mattress, my fan, my attache case, my suitcase, the money, all these things—and one day I just threw the key into Govinda Kunda.

Then next were my clothes. When I saw my trousers, my punjabi, I again remembered my previous house, so when I got that one more dhoti after the initiation I decided to burn my old clothes. I could not ask for a candle or matches because they would think I was smoking. So, I waited when there was no electricity and somebody brought me a candle. And I burnt my clothes with that candle.

This is how, little by little, I removed the illusory environment. And every day I listened to Hari-katha. Morning class, evening class, afternoon class—I would be sitting there. I listened to Chaitanya-bhagavat and Chaitanya-charitamrita classes happily, but when Damodar Maharaj or some old devotee would read Bhagavatam in the afternoon, I could not understand—it was hard for me.

...Sometimes Maya would also come. Once a man came to me and said, "Why did you come to the temple at this age? You can still get married, you can earn money!" I thought, "He is not a temple man, he is against the temple. He is staying at the temple, but spreading bad ideas." I was always observing everything—who is doing, and who is doing what...

And I remember when Gurudev just came he asked me, "Do you want to stay at the temple?"

"Yes."

"Whom will you worship—Gaura or Krishna? Do you like Gaura's or Krishna's Lila more?"

I did not know what to answer. I knew both of them, Gaura and Krishna, so I said, "Both."

"Yes, right answer."

…One day in 1999, it was in Rama Didi's house—Gurudev asked me, "Vinod, will you get married?"

I was surprised, "What for? I did not come to the temple to get married. I was afraid to get married, so I came to the temple."

"Oh, you will not get married, then you can take sannyas!"

"I will give my answer tomorrow, after 24 hours."

And after 24 hours I came, paid my dandavat and went away immediately. I was waiting. Then 48 hours passed, 72 hours passed, and finally Gurudev said, "You are stretching time but you are not giving the answer!"

Rama Didi, Srila Sridhar Maharaj's sister, also said to Gurudev, "Now you have to make somebody who will be the acharya after you." Then Gurudev said at once, "You can take sannyas."

I told Gurudev at that time, "Gurudev, you can say I am like your goat. You can cut my head or tail, no problem. So, what you tell me to do, I agree. I am unqualified, but if you think I am qualified for sannyas, you can give it."

And then after sannyas you know that I went preaching.

Before sannyas I also went to many places for preaching, collection. I took so much responsibility for that. It is service to Gurudev—if somebody is not doing it, I have to do it. That is my mood. Before me they also preached, but they would go only for some rice collection, but I thought why go house to house and collect only 1-2 kg of rice? If I go preaching to other places, then more rice will also come.

When I came to the Math, only 250 people joined the parikrama at that time. So I also thought, "If I go preaching, people must come. It is a good conception—Mahaprabhu's conception, Gurudev's conception. We have a pond, and Sridhar Maharaj gave so many books, it is like fish food—then fish must come."

...I remember in 1993, my first construction service was the goshala. Previously, it was a small place and the cows were always crammed. Our field was there, but there was no boundary wall. Gurudev told me, "Do this job, it is necessary for the cows." But at the same time, Gurudev also said to Damodar Maharaj, "Do not give money to him. I want to see how he arranges it." So, I had to borrow some money from others to make the boundary wall...

Actually whatever I have done, it is Gurudev's hand, I am only an instrument…

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Srila Gauri Das Pandit

20 September 2009

Nitai and Gaura installed Themselves in the house of Gauri Das Pandit. One day Nityananda and Mahaprabhu went preaching, and They came to Gauri Das Pandit's house. Gauri Das Pandit said,

"Prabhu, You came willingly to my house, I did not invite You. It was Your wish to come, and it is my wish that You cannot go. Without my permission, You cannot go."

"How is it possible? We have to go preaching everywhere. We have to distribute the Holy Name everywhere, house to house."

"That is Your matter, but my wish is like this."

"Look behind!"

When Gauri Das Pandit turned round, he saw same Gaura Nitai inside his house, and They were talking. Gauri Das Pandit could not recognise, "Are You the original, or are They the original?"

Mahaprabhu asked him,

"OK, who will stay, those who are outside or inside?"

"Well, those who are inside my house are better."

From that time, Nitai and Gaura stayed there.

Gauri Das Pandit had a disciple named Chaitanya Das. Once Chaitanya Das and Gauri Das Pandit were going to celebrate Gaura Purnima. Gauri Das Pandit went preaching and collecting, and Chaitanya Das stayed to worship the Deities. Three days had passed, and Gauri Das Pandit did not return. Chaitanya Das became very anxious, "Why is Gurudev not coming? The festival is near..." And Chaitanya Das invited all the local devotees. The next day Gauri Das Pandit returned, and Chaitanya Das said,

"Gurudev, you came late, so I have invited all the devotees..."

"It is not good! Without my permission you invited everybody? It is not the mood of a disciple! Get out of my temple."

Chaitanya Das went away and stayed at the bank of the Ganges. On the Gaura Purnima day some devotees brought the bhoga and other things for the festival. Gauri Das Pandit asked them, "Who invited you? He who invited you, is not here. Maybe he is at the bank of the Ganges." And all the devotees took the bhoga, went to Chaitanya Das, and started the festival there. It was Gaura Purnima, but Gauri Das Pandit stayed alone.

At noon time he saw that the Deities were not there. Gauri Das Pandit got angry, "My Gaura Nitai?? Have They gone there?!" He went to the bank of the Ganges and saw thousands of thousands of devotees and Gaura Nitai dancing! He went with a stick, "I will beat Them!" Gaura Nitai became afraid and entered the heart of Chaitanya Das. From that day his name became Hridaya Chaitanya (he in whose heart Chaitanya is).

You see? When devotees are there, Krishna is there.

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Disappearance of Srila Haridas Thakur

24 September 2009

One day Mahaprabhu asked Haridas Thakur, "Prabhu what disease do you have? What has happened to you today?" Every day Haridas Thakur would chant 3 lakhs, 300 000 Names, and so he replied, "Prabhu, my only disease is that I could not finish my chanting of the Holy Name... That is my disease. Asustha nay mora sarira, asustha hoya mora mana: my body is not sick, only my mind is sick."

Without having finished his chanting, he did not eat, did not take prasadam. Do you know that?

There was like a rule that every day prasadam would come from the Jagannath temple, and when Mahaprabhu finished His prasadam, He would send the remnants to Haridas Thakur. Govinda (Mahaprabhu's servant) would take that prasadam to Haridas Thakur.

Every day Haridas Thakur would chant loudly (for all jiva souls—for those who cannot talk, cannot hear, trees, birds, etc.), but one day when Govinda came to Haridas Thakur, he was lying down on his bed. He was chanting, but the sound was not coming. Govinda asked, "Prabhu, please take this prasadam." Haridas Thakur replied, "Aji langhan: today I have to break the rule. Every day after I finish chanting, you bring prasadam, and I take it, but today my chanting is not finished, then how am I to take prasadam? But Mahaprabhu sent His prasadam, so how shall I reject it? What can I do? I have to honour this prasadam, and so I have to break the rule today."

Then he took a bit from the prasadam and said, "Govinda, now go."

Govinda told everything to Mahaprabhu. Next day Mahaprabhu came to Haridas Thakur and asked him,

"Haridas, what has happened to you?"

"Prabhu, sarir asustha nay, asustha mora mana. My health is not a problem, only my mind is a problem, my mind is sick—I could not finish my chanting on the beads..."

"You are a siddha mahapurush, you are already a liberated soul. You are Namacharya Haridas Thakur, a great Vaishnav—it is not necessary for you to chant so many rounds, you can do a little less."

"Prabhu, in all my life I have not asked You for anything, and now I want to ask You for something..."

Mahaprabhu agreed, and Haridas Thakur said,

"Prabhu, You have given me Your mercy and I could see Your Pastimes from Your birth day up until now. I have seen everything, all Your Pastimes, but I think You are going to finish Your Lila soon... Prabhu, I do not want to see that kind of Lila. I want to go before You—I want to leave my body before You."

"Yes, no problem, but..." Then immediately Haridas Thakur fell down at His lotus feet—he did not want to hear anything further from Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, do not give me maya. I know You love me so much, and that is why I do not want to hear You further. Please give me some mercy—I want to go before You."

"You will go, no problem, but I always do every My Lila with you, and if you go, how can My Lila finish?"

"Prabhu, I am only an ant. If just one ant dies, what is the loss for You? Many devotees come to You... Please, Prabhu, fulfil my desire. I want You come to me, I want to see Your face, and place Your feet on my heart."

"When a pure, permanent devotee asks Krishna for something, Krishna always fulfils his desire..."

So, next day Mahaprabhu came and asked, "What has happened?" Haridas Thakur replied, "Ye ichchha tomara: as You wish, Prabhu." Haridas Thakur was lying down, and Mahaprabhu told everybody to circumambulate his body. Mahaprabhu sat down by the side of Haridas Thakur's bed, and Haridas Thakur pulled His leg and put it on his chest. He was looking at Mahaprabhu and kept saying, "Sri Krishna Chaitanya." And that jiva soul left... This is how Haridas Thakur left his body.

Mahaprabhu Himself took Haridas Thakur's body to the samudra, the sea. All devotees bathed him and Mahaprabhu said, "Today this samudra is a maha tirtha, has become even holier." Everybody drank some water from the sea, put tilak, and took Haridas Thakur's body to the shore. Mahaprabhu Himself dug the ground, seated Haridas Thakur, and put the sand and some salt.

And also Mahaprabhu Himself went begging to the Jagannath temple's market. Everybody gave so much, and the devotees made a Vaishnav festival, where Mahaprabhu Himself distributed prasadam. This is how He made the festival for Haridas Thakur.

One day Mahaprabhu asked Haridas Thakur, "How will the souls in this Kali-yuga be rescued?" Haridas Thakur replied, "Namabhase mukti paibe." It means that through Namabhas [imperfect chanting, or chanting the shadow of the Holy Name] everyone will be rescued. For example, all Muslim people say, "Haram!" It means "bad, not to do," but it can also mean, "Ha Ram: O Ram, O Ram!" So, if they say "haram," they will also be rescued from this world.

Mahaprabhu also said,

prabhu kahe—kahilan ei maha-mantra

iha japa' giya sabe kariya nirbandha

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-khanda, 23.77

"Always chant the Holy Name—there is no obstruction, no binding, you can chant this Holy Name at any time."

ki sayane, ki bhojane, kiba jagarane

aharnisa chinta krsna, balaha vadane

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-khanda, 28.28

"Even when you sleep, when you eat, sit (or sit in a car), that time also you can chant. You can chant at any time!"

iha haite sarva-siddhi haibe sabara

sarva-ksana bala'ithe vidhi nahi ara

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-khanda, 23.78

"Everybody will be rescued from this environment through the Holy Name."

And also,

yadi ama'-prati sneha thake sabakara

tabe krsna-vyatirikta na gaibe ara

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-khanda, 28.27

"If you have some love and affection to Me, if you love Me, please only chant Hare Krishna, nothing else. If you do not love Me, then do not chant."

Mahaprabhu told these kinds of things very strongly...

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A Speck of Dust of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math

25 September 2009

Sincerity is always necessary in our practising life. Sincerity is most necessary in our life. Gurudev also said that many devotees may have sincerity, but only 10% or 5% of the devotees have chastity. Gurudev said it.

When Srila Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu stayed at Radha Kunda, some devotee, a Vraja basi, used to every day bring him some buttermilk in a dona, a bowl made from leaves. But one time that devotee could not bring a bowl from the usual place, and instead he brought it from some other place. Das Goswami Prabhu threw it away. He said, "I only accept a bowl from Radha Kunda or Kusum Sarovar." That is the kind of chastity they have. They are Radharani's followers, not followers of anybody else...

You are devotees of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and Gurudev says that you are all on the ship of Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and everybody has to come under one umbrella.

Here is Purujit Prabhu, he always follows Gurudev's instruction, and I am telling you the last word: you have to follow his instruction. Sometimes something may happen, but you have to always follow his instruction because he always follows Gurudev's instructions.

Sometimes we have some problem, or some ego... We hear, "Come under one umbrella," but we bring our own raincoat.

Another time Gurudev said to me, "If you become a speck of dust, dhuli-kana, of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, then I will make one place for you." He told me that.

He also told me this story about A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, Srila Prabhupad. When he went to America, he went once to the jail to see one of his disciples. When he saw him, that devotee cried and said, "I earned some money, and I had given all that money to you to make a temple in Vrindavan, Krishna Balaram temple. But what happened? Why am I in this kind of position? Why am I in jail?" But Prabhupad said, "This is your previous karma. But you have given a donation for the temple, so don't worry, there is a place reserved for you in Goloka Vrindavan."

That is called service result, service mood...

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Chant Constantly

June 2010

Question: I live far from the temple and do not have the association of devotees. Is it good if, while I am at home and away from the temple, I chant and practise on my own?

Of course! Grhe va vanete thake: you can stay anywhere, in a forest or a house, it is necessary to chant, only to chant constantly. When you stop chanting, illusory environment can come. Chant constantly!

Sometimes you will not get taste, but you should think, "Why am I not getting taste?" You must think, "Something bad has come into my mind, that is why I am not getting taste through chanting." So, you should chant constantly. Those who only talk, talk, talk, their energy goes into talking, and they cannot chant.

Yesterday also I was coming by car, and someone there was always talking, talking, talking, and I could not tolerate it. Then I started chanting, and the talking stopped. Actually, I do not like so much talk, you know that...

Question: We are chanting the songs, but generally we do not understand their meaning. Does it bring the same result, same benefit to us?

Of course. When Mahaprabhu went to South India, there was one brahmin who was reading Srimad Bhagavad-gita with tears in his eyes, but his reading was wrong, he did not know how to pronounce the Sanskrit. Mahaprabhu asked that brahmin, "Brahmin, why are you crying? You are reading Srimad Bhagavad-gita, but your reading is wrong, then what are you reading? Why are tears coming to your eyes?" The brahmin replied, "My Gurudev told me, 'You read Srimad Bhagavad-gita,' so I am reading. I do not know what is the meaning or anything, but when I am reading I can see Lord Krishna, Arjun, their chariot running like this. I can see that, but when I stop, I cannot see it, that is why I am reading—I want to see that..."

You must use most of your time for chanting. Sometimes you work or sometimes cook, but you do not cook with your mouth, you cook with your hands; you work on a computer, but you work with your hands. When you are not working with your mouth, you are wasting your time. Use your time for chanting. Through chanting, everything comes: through chanting you will get the real service.

And do not do so much puja every day. Do not spend three hours a day doing puja and other things like that, it is not our line. But whatever you do, you must use most of your time for chanting.

I saw many devotees of Srila Gurudev, Srila Swami Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Maharaj, all Gaudiya Math: they follow so many rules and regulations, they spend three to eight hours a day doing some puja, but they do not chant at all. For this reason such devotees do not last so long. They continue for a few years, and then they stop. But those who chant more, their devotional activities get more and more energy, and they last longer.

Sometimes you are not able to chant on the beads, but then you chant without the beads, no problem. What is your work, you do that, what is your service, you do that, and all other time you only chant Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Do like this for one year, and then you tell me after one year what result you have got. OK?

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The Four Regulative Principles

June 2010

Question: To take initiation, we must follow the four regulative principles, but some people can be afraid to take initiation because they know they may fall down, break, or not follow the regulative principles. What advice could you give us?

You should not force anybody but should give them advice, tell them, "You should follow the instruction. It is not good." Dyuta, pana, striya, suna [gambling, intoxication, illicit sex, animal-eating] are the four types of bad things where Kali always stays. Kali means kalau, always fighting.

Kali is a very bad age, Kaler dosanidhi (Kali has many faults), but we are fortunate that we have got this life: Mahaprabhu, the Lord Himself, came in this age, and we have got a bona fide Guru under the guidance of Mahaprabhu. At the same time, you must follow these rules; otherwise, it is not a question of not chanting or not taking initiation, the question is that if you do not stop these four—dyuta, pana, striya, suna—it is bad for you, and you can be attacked by Kali Maharaj. You can tell it in this way, and they should slowly, slowly avoid it. Kali Maharaj always stays in these four places, so you should preach that we should avoid these places.

If you do not avoid that, it is like somebody has a gastric disease, acidity, and they take antacid (the medicine), but also take so much chilli, sour food, etc., then how will they get relief? They have to think both ways—either you drink milk or you drink whiskey. Which one? You cannot drink both. You must drink milk and avoid these things. Srila Prabhupad told, "Kupatha varjan korte habe ar supatha grahan korte habe [you should reject unhealthy things, and take wholesome, healthy things]." It means take prasadam and avoid these things; otherwise if you chant the Holy Name and take these kinds of things, it will not give any cure in your life.

I saw also many people in India, Bengal, who had taken initiation from Gurudev. Gurudev asked them directly, "Will you obey the four rules and regulations?" They promised to follow, but in India people can actually follow only three regulative principles, and the only one they cannot follow is giving up mach, fish. They can leave meat, but they cannot leave fish. So, some take the Holy Name, but after one-two years they leave everything, they cannot chant or practise any more. I saw this even in Param Guru Maharaj's disciples—some do not follow the rules and regulations, and a few days, six months, or one year after taking initiation they put the beads away in some high place and the beads dry up, or get eaten by insects...

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Sri Guru: Mercy at Your Doorstep

June 2010

Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, mentioned in his book Sri Guru and His Grace a very nice expression. I am giving you that example now, and if you read the book, you can easily find it there. Param Guru Maharaj told:

There is a lotus blooming very nicely in a pond, and there is so much heat coming from the sun, but the lotus blooms even more in that heat: the heat cannot cause any damage to the lotus. But once you take that lotus out of the pond—out of the shelter of the soil and the water—and keep it somewhere outside, it will immediately, within two minutes, change its colour, wither, and dry up.

So, when the lotus is under the shelter of the soil and the water, the powerful sun cannot destroy that lotus, but when it is not under the shelter of water and soil, it immediately dries up. So, Guru Maharaj compared the sun to Lord Krishna, the soil and the water to Gurudev, and the lotus to ourselves: when we are under the shelter of Gurudev, Krishna cannot destroy us, cannot break us; but when we are not under the shelter of Gurudev, then any time we can be destroyed. Like this.

That is why we must take shelter of the Guru:

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

Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur wrote this. Saksad-dharitvena, Gurudev is Lord Himself, and at the same time saksad-dharitvena means Gurudev is a close associate of Radharani or Nityananda Prabhu. But what has he come for? Krishna sent him to rescue us, to take us home, but we do not want to go. Krishna is pulling us one way, and we are grasping onto our house pillar. Krishna and Gurudev are saying, "Come with me! I have come to take you home." But we reply, "No, I must go take some food... I will go later."

And at the same time, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also said, "Even if Lord Brahma comes to take me, I will not go. I will tell him that I have so much service to my Guru."

Mahaprabhu went house to house, door to door, and told Nityananda Prabhu also, "Go door to door," but Prabhupad, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "Not door to door—go heart to heart!"

jiv jago, jiv jago, gaurachanda bole

kota nidra jao maya-pisachira kole

"How long are you going to sleep? Wake up. You have lost your address and I have come to take you back!" Mahaprabhu went door to door, and some opened the door, some did not; Prabhupad went heart to heart, and somebody's heart was open, somebody's heart was closed. Those who are fortunate souls, open their door. It is called sukriti [good fortune]. There is jnata sukriti and ajnata sukriti: known and unknown sukriti.

Maybe before we were some flower tree, and a flower from our tree was offered to the Lord, then through that kind of sukriti we have got this human body so that we can serve the Lord. Do you understand? Sometimes people go to India as tourists and if they get some association from the devotees, they can immediately come to our Gurudev's lotus feet. You can see that this is ajnata sukriti, unknown sukriti. People get good association, and through that good association their hearts will become clean. Bhakti Devi said, "I do not go to a dirty place. I always go to a clean place." Then how to make our hearts clean? Through good association, sadhu-sanga.

'sadhu-sanga', 'sadhu-sanga'—sarva-sastre kaya

lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

"Even a moment's association can give you supreme benefit." (SB, 1.18.13) People serve and serve for millions and millions of lives, but they do not get good association. But once you get some sukriti, you can immediately get that kind of mercy. Through sukriti—sadhu-sanga, sravanam, kirtanam—you will get relief. And Gurudev always says, "It is not necessary to wait for the next life."

durlabha manava-janama sat-sange

taraha e bhava-sindhu re

"Having attained this rare human birth, cross over the ocean of material existence by associating with sadhus."

'Bhajahu Re Mana' by Srila Govinda Das Kaviraj

It is so rare to get this human body, but at last you have got it! Why wait for the next life?

Krishna Himself says that those who have a good brain and good intelligence (su-medha) can receive the Holy Name. But you have to be a good receiver, otherwise if the telephone line works but your telephone is dead, you will not receive the signal. That is why you must be a good receiver, then easily you can go reach your goal, your destination.

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Lord Nrisimhadev and "Krishna in my heart"

June 2010

Question: Why do we not worship Lord Nrisimhadev? Can some devotees, for example grihasthas (householders), worship Nrisimhadev?

They can, but Lord Nrisimhadev is not the Supreme Person. He is an Avatar. There are ten Avatars (Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Nrisimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki), and one of the Avatars is Nrisimhadev, but Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayan. Our conception is that we do not follow even Narayan of Vaikuntha. We pay obeisance to Narayan, but our destination is more than that—we are going to Krishna of Goloka Vrindavan. There, Krishna always plays, chants, dances, Krishna is a baby, and we worship Him in santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, or madhurya rasa. So, our worship is more than that. If somebody likes Nrisimhadev, they can worship Nrisimhadev, no problem.

Also, I remember I asked Gurudev this same question, and his answer was, "Who are afraid, they worship Nrisimhadev." I remember that answer of Gurudev... For those who are fully surrendered to Gurudev it is not necessary to go to Nrisimhadev.

Question: What is better: to develop some attraction for the Deity, devotees, this external environment in general, or to think that I have Krishna in my heart and that is enough?

No. Those who say, "Krishna is in my heart, it is not necessary to do anything," they want to cheat you. Somebody may say, "Oh, it is not necessary to wear neck beads, it is not necessary to put tilak, not necessary to do anything—Krishna is in my heart!" Actually, they are not practising, they are cheating.

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Yamaduts and Ego: How to Survive?

16 June 2010

Question: When we leave our body, Yamaduts come to take us. How can we avoid being taken by them?

If you are a surrendered soul, if you do service and follow Krishna consciousness, Yamaduts will never come to you. Only Vishnuduts will come to you.

If you practise well, follow Gurudev's instruction—that is good...

Where are your neck beads? You must always wear the neck beads. If you wear Tulasi neck beads, Yamaduts cannot touch you.

In India also some are afraid to wear Tulasi beads, and they do not wear it. I tell them forcefully,

"Who is telling you not to wear Tulasi beads?"

"Oh, my friends are teasing me, they are telling some bad things to me..."

"Who is feeding you?! Tulasi or your friend? Tell me."

They are silent.

"Tulasi feeds you, the Lord feeds you!"

In India some also make Tulasi very long, and they wear it hidingly. They button up their shirt's collar so that nobody can see their Tulasi beads. It is very offensive. They are wearing Tulasi in a wrong way. They do not know Tulasi feeds us—why are we afraid to wear Tulasi beads? She protects us in our devotional activities…

Question: How can a grihastha be totally surrendered? How is it possible?

It is possible. Everything is possible because you will do everything for the Lord. You are doing some job, you are doing it for the Lord; your wife is cooking, that cooking is for the Lord. And everything is like this—for the Lord. That is called surrender. You have to surrender, then there will be no problem. A grihastha may think, "A sannyasi is so much surrendered," but that is not so. A sannyasi may have another desire inside, then how can he be surrendered? A grihastha can do what even a sannyasi cannot do.

Question: You were explaining yesterday that sometimes when we do a lot of service, our ego can increase, our ego can become an obstacle, and we start retarding in our service. How can we avoid it?

It is necessary to avoid it through practising. Actually, when somebody, through some mercy of Gurudev and devotional activities, does a lot of service, he may think, "Oh, I am not doing anything." And somebody does a little and thinks, "Oh, I have done so many things! I am doing this, I am doing that..." This depends on their qualities. When you get good association, you can understand, "I am doing wrong."

I told yesterday about Daruk. Daruk is Krishna's devotee. He was fanning Krishna with a chamar [yak tail fan] and suddenly thought, "Oh, I am getting some sambhoga-vada, pleasure!" He at once stopped fanning. He could not move, thinking, "I am doing such a great service!" He was enjoying himself more than doing service.

When we do some service and increase our own enjoyment, it is not good. Through that enjoyment ego can come. This is what I told yesterday.

And as for avoiding it, it actually comes automatically. If somebody does not avoid it, it becomes a big problem for them—they eventually fall down.

If there is a very heavy load in a boat, the boat will sink. "Oh, I am doing so much, I am doing this, I am doing that. I have done this"—so much ego comes, and you become very, very heavy, and in the end you sink with the boat. That is a big problem.

You have to know what is bad and avoid it. That is called bhakti-pratikul: avoiding what is not in favour of devotion. You can do it easily—just keep trying to avoid and you will be able to do it.

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Do Not Follow Your Mind: Surrender to Your Guru

16 June 2010

Actually, how can we understand that we are doing bhajan, that we are proceeding, we are practising and developing our Krishna consciousness life? We do not realise this.

We cannot avoid rain, or some bad weather, but as soon as we can avoid it, we should immediately join the Krishna consciousness program. If you are getting pleasure [from your practice], then you should think that something is happening, that you are practising Krishna consciousness, that is some bhajan is happening. And what is good for us, what is bad for us, what will happen to us—that we do not know. Gurudev knows everything, the Lord knows. We cannot decide anything for ourselves: Krishna will decide everything for me, Gurudev will decide everything for me, but we ourselves cannot decide what should happen and what should not happen.

Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu tried to come to Mahaprabhu many times, so many obstacles came to him through practising Krishna consciousness, but Mahaprabhu sent him back, "Go back to your house." Who would have thought? Mahaprabhu said to him again and again, "Batul hao na, pagal hao na. Do not become crazy, do not become crazy. You go back to your home and serve your family, and internally, in your heart, you can remember Me. That is sufficient for you." And what happened to him later? Finally, he got shelter of Mahaprabhu's lotus feet, you all know that.

Another way you can see Srila Sanatan Goswami also. Sanatan Goswami thought, "I will commit suicide. I will throw my body under the chariot of Jagannathdev during the Ratha-yatra." But Mahaprabhu chastised him so much: "What are you doing? You think this body is your body??" Diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpan: when a devotee takes shelter, takes initiation, at that time he gives his body and his everything to Gurudev. So, Mahaprabhu said to him, "You have taken My shelter, you have given everything, even your body, to Me, then why do you want to spoil and destroy My things, My property?!" After that Mahaprabhu reassured Sanatan Goswami, "I will use this body for so much service. You think it is your body, but it is not. It is My property, and I will use this property in many ways. I have so many things to do through this property."

So you think about it. Even Sanatan Goswami is showing that he wanted to follow his mind, but what did the Lord Himself say? He changed everything. Later, Mahaprabhu sent him to Vrindavan to preach His conception. He instructed him, "Serve the Vaishnavs, print books, and when from Gaura Mandal some old Vaishnavs come to Vrindavan, take care of them." That kind of service Mahaprabhu gave to Sanatan Goswami...

We cannot follow our mind. We do not know what will be good for us, so what instructions Gurudev gives, what Gurudev's desire is, and what will happen—depend on him, give up everything to him. Do you understand?

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Householders: Appearance Is Deceptive

17 June 2010

Question: It is said that we should give up our material activities and increase our devotional service, but how to harmonise it if a person has to work hard to maintain their family?

They can do everything within their family life as devotional activities, because actually it is not their family, it is Krishna's family. If they think it is their family, it is a problem; but if they think that it is Krishna's family, then whatever they do will be for Krishna.

If you have children, taking care of these children is also service to the Lord. You can teach them how to practise devotional activities, and that child will be a devotee, will serve the Lord and the Guru. Everything is for Krishna, and you can turn your house into a temple.

In this world people know only exploitation and renunciation, but Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Mahaprabhu explained that Krishna is the biggest enjoyer in this world—no one can enjoy more than Krishna. All gopis also said, "We do not want renunciation, we do not want to go to the jungle and chant. We want You to stay and enjoy with us." This is very important for our spiritual life—we do not want a life of renunciation, we do not like that, but we want to live a happy life with the Lord, to live a happy life through Krishna consciousness.

Question: Externally, Pundarik Vidyanidhi used to behave as an ordinary person, and sometimes we may become confused—how can it be possible that such great personalities can behave like an ordinary soul?

Mahaprabhu would always call Pundarik Vidyanidhi 'baba', father. In Dvapar-yuga, he is Radharani's father, King Vrisabhanu, and in Kali-yuga he becomes Pundarik Vidyanidhi. Mahaprabhu knew this and gave much honour to him although Pundarik Vidyanidhi was a householder.

Pundarik Vidyanidhi was a rich man, looking like a landlord, and he would always chew some pan (a mixture of tobacco, pulses, nuts, etc.) and spit it out at a wall. Everyone was appalled, "What is this dirty man doing?" People did not like him, and even Gadadhar Pandit was surprised to see Pundarik Vidyanidhi's behaviour, but when he asked Mahaprabhu to give him initiation, Mahaprabhu said, "Your Guru is coming, wait for him," and later He told Gadadhar Pandit to take initiation from Pundarik Vidyanidhi.

Also, how can you understand that Bhakti Vinod Thakur is a great personality? He was actually saptam Goswami, the seventh Goswami, but he would mix with aul, baul, kartta-bhaja, with all these bad people of apa-sampradaya. He knew why he mixed with that kind of misconception. When he was in Krishna Nagar, he saw that Mahaprabhu's conception had been lost and there was much misconception going on instead, and because he wanted to purify, conquer the people with this kind of mentality, he had to mix with them.

Gurudev also sometimes mixed with such people. There was a very big man who donated the money to build a house for the goshala in Nabadwip, but he smoked a pipe. Once he asked Gurudev, "Do you know what my pipe is saying?" Gurudev joked, "Yes, it is saying, 'Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.'" Gurudev also mixed with such kind of people, but anyhow, later, that man became a great devotee.

So, how can you understand such personalities? Sometimes their behaviour seems bad, but they are actually great. You cannot understand who they are by their appearance.

Das Goswami Prabhu also—when he first went to meet Mahaprabhu, at first Mahaprabhu told him to go back to his house, and he did that: he got married and led a household life. The grihastha people say, "Oh, but he left his wife and again went to Mahaprabhu"—they think bad, but it was necessary to rescue us, the jiva souls, to rescue all universe.

Until you have reached a particular stage, level of realisation, you cannot understand who is a devotee and who is not just by their external behaviour. You must reach that stage, then you can understand it.

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The Devotee and the Barber

18 June 2010

Sripad Bhakti Madhav Puri Maharaj, a disciple of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad and a sannyas disciple of Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, wrote one very good article. I saw it in English...

Once a devotee went to a barber shop to shave his hair and face. It was a barber shop like in India. There were many people waiting in the queue because there was only one barber, so somebody was reading a newspaper, somebody was doing something else, and when that barber saw the devotee's tilak, kanthi mala, he became jealous. The barber said, "There is no Lord, no Krishna, no Bhagavan in this world!" The devotee replied, "You will see..."

Another day the devotee went to a train station and saw a big crazy person: with long-long hair and long-long beard, who had not shaved for ten years. He brought that man to the barber shop and said,

"Look! There is no barber in this world!"

"There is! I am a barber. I shaved you the other day. Then why are you saying there is no barber here?"

"If you are a barber, then why does this man have long hair and long beard—why?"

"That man did not come to me, how could I shave him?"

"Then how do you know there is no Bhagavan? You never went to Bhagavan. You never go to Krishna's devotee, you never go to Krishna's temple. Go and you can understand whether Krishna exists or not. You can understand it easily if you get association of Krishna's devotee, otherwise you cannot. This man did not come to you, then you cannot shave him; if you cannot go to Krishna's temple, you cannot understand whether there is Krishna or not."

It is a good example, is it not?

Actually, Krishna consciousness comes through practising, through Krishna-anusilana. If you do not practise, if you think, "Oh, it is not necessary go to the temple..." You know some devotees do not come to the temple, do not get good association—their Krishna consciousness will disappear.

Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Maharaj, gave our sangha a good name: Krishna-anusilana-sangha. Anusilana means practising: our sangha is practising Krishna consciousness. Our main temple's and society's name is Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and we are all under one sangha, and that sangha's name is Krishna-anusilana-sangha.

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Vaishnavs: Not What They Seem

24 June 2010

Sanatan Goswami asked, "Koi se hita haya? What is good for us?" There are many things told, many ways—sravanam, kirtanam, etc.

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango ‘tha bhajana-kriya

tato 'nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha ruchis tatah

athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudanchati

sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah

"In the beginning there must be faith. Then one becomes interested in associating with pure devotees. Thereafter one is initiated by the spiritual master and executes the regulative principles under his orders. Thus one is freed from all unwanted habits and becomes firmly fixed in devotional service. Thereafter, one develops taste and attachment. This is the way of sadhana-bhakti, the execution of devotional service according to the regulative principles. Gradually emotions intensify, and finally there is an awakening of love. This is the gradual development of love of Godhead for the devotee interested in Krishna consciousness."

Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.4.15–16

It is written very nicely. Adau sraddha, first is sraddha, and then sukriti comes from sraddha.

And Nityananda Prabhu said only one thing, and very strongly:

"How to prosper in our life?"

"Bhagavata pada Vaisnavera sthane, ekanta asraya kara Chaitanya-charane! Yao! Go—go! Read Bhagavatam under the guidance of bona fide Vaishnavs and take shelter at Mahaprabhu's lotus feet! That is your benefit." Nityananda Prabhu is saying like this.

Question: Could you please explain to us the qualification of a Vaishnava?

One time Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur went to give a lecture in some place near Delhi. The people thought a guru was coming and he would have long hair, a big beard, like that, and when Prabhupad came, they saw a simple man. The audience was unhappy, and Prabhupad started his lecture with, "I cannot see anybody here who can recognise a Vaishnav, who has the eyes to see a Vaishnav!"

Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami explained it, and Mahaprabhu's conception is the same. There is a Vaishnav (ordinary Vaishnav), a Vaishnavatara (better Vaishnav), and a Vaishnavatama (best Vaishnav), three different qualities of a Vaishnav. It is same as uttam Vaishnav, madhyam Vaishnav, and kanistha Vaishnav.

Gurudev and all our Acharyas are uttam-adhikari, but they have to come down to the stage of madhyam-adhikari because an uttam-adhikari Vaishnav always sees the Lord everywhere, he does not even see a disciple, so he cannot make a disciple. For an uttam-adhikari to take a disciple, he has to come down to the middle stage. Do you understand?

Mahaprabhu also said: those who chant the Holy Name, Krishna Nam, once are also Vaishnavs. And those who always chant Krishna Nam are madhyam-adhikari. And uttam-adhikari is:

yanhara darsane mukhe aise krsna-nama

tanhare janiha tumi 'vaisnava-pradhana'

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.74

“When somebody sees you and Krishna comes to their mouth, then you are an uttam-adhikari.”

And Gurudev also told one time about the three kinds of disciples:

Gurudev tells a disciple, "Do this job," but he does not do it. That is adham, the lowest. Gurudev tells a disciple, "Do this," and he does it. And the third kind is when Gurudev does not have to tell—the disciple does it himself. These are the three different qualities.

Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur explained also, "Samsara bhitare, na bahire." You cannot recognise a Vaishnav through your eyes. You have to acquire the eyes, the qualification, then you can recognise through your eyes who is a Vaishnav and who is not a Vaishnav. You must see the Vaishnav not with your eyes—you must see the Vaishnav through your ears!

Samsara bhitare, na bahire [lit. material life is within, not without] means that somebody may be wearing saffron colour, may be in a sannyasi dress, but they can be a hypocrite if they do not practise, do not follow the sannyas rules and regulations. In another way, it means you cannot recognise who has a wife and who has no wife just by the clothes. These are strong words…

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Mahaprabhu's Teachings to Srila Raghunath Das Goswami

Speaking on Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, Chapter 6.

6 September 2010

Mahaprabhu teaches us so many things.

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe

bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe

amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be

vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

"Do not talk like people in general or hear what they say. You should not eat very palatable food, nor should you dress very nicely. Do not expect honour, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the holy name of Lord Krishna, and within your mind serve Radha and Krishna."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237

We are always gossiping, always talking so much: talking, talking, talking. We lose our energy. Talking so much with your tongue, with your mouth, you waste your energy on other purpose, then how will you get the energy to chant the Holy Name? If you waste your energy on talking some nonsense, gramya-katha [lit. village talks, gossiping], gramya-varta [lit. village news, mundane news], how will you get the energy to chant the Holy Name, how will you get the energy to serve to the Lord, sadhu, your Guru? Do you understand it? It is an easy matter.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita tells about Mahaprabhu's conception. There are so many things there.

ara dina raghunatha svarupa-charane

apanara krtya lagi' kaila nivedane

ki lagi' chhadaila ghara, na jani uddesa

ki mora kartavya, mora karuna upadesa

The next day, Raghunath Das inquired at the lotus feet of Swarup Damodar about his duty. "I do not know why I have given up household life," he said. "What is my duty? Kindly instruct me."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.228-229

"You have brought me here, but what is my duty? I was in a family life, and now I have brought my everything here, so what is my duty? Please tell me." Then Mahaprabhu said,

bhala kaila, vairagira dharma acharila

vairagi karibe sada nama-sankirtana

magiya khana kare jivana raksana

vairagi hana yeba kare parapeksa

karya-siddhi nahe, krsna karena upeksa

"Raghunath Das has done well," He said. "He has acted suitably for a person in the renounced order. A person in the renounced order should always chant the holy name of the Lord. He should beg some alms to eat, and he should sustain his life in this way. "A vairagi (a person in the renounced order) should not depend on others. If he does so, he will be unsuccessful, and he will be neglected by Krishna.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.222-224

Did you hear that? If some renounced person is waiting for others to give something to him, Krishna will always reject him. Vairagi hana yeba kare parapeksa: he is waiting for others, "Oh, he will give me this, and I will take that." Karya-siddhi nahe, Krsna karena upeksa: Krishna will reject him. Mahaprabhu told this.

vairagi hana kare jihvara lalasa

paramartha yaya, ara haya rasera vasa

"If a renunciant is eager for his tongue to taste different foods, his spiritual life will be lost, and he will be subservient to the tastes of his tongue."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.225

Did you understand? One who always follows his tongue (vairagi jihvara lalas kore), his spiritual matter always goes down (paramartha yaya). He becomes a servant of kama (lust), a servant of anger, a servant of greed. He forgets the Lord, forgets his Guru, and becomes a servant of his ego.

vairagira krtya—sada nama-sankirtana

saka-patra-phala-mule udara-bharana

jihvara lalase yei iti-uti dhaya

sisnodara-parayana sei krsna nahi paya

"The duty of a person in the renounced order is to always chant the Hare Krishna mantra. He should satisfy his belly with whatever vegetables, leaves, fruits and roots are available. One who is subservient to the tongue and who thus goes here and there, devoted to the genitals and the belly, cannot attain Krishna."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.226-227

'Sisnodara-parayana': you know the meaning of this. If you follow your tongue, your cannot control your sex life. This is the meaning of 'sisnodara-parayana'.

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe

bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe

amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be

vraje radha-krsna-seva manase karibe

"Do not talk like people in general or hear what they say. You should not eat very palatable food, nor should you dress very nicely. Do not expect honour, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the holy name of Lord Krishna, and within your mind serve Radha and Krishna in Vrindavan."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237

Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami wrote this...

visayira dravya lana kari nimantrana

prasanna na haya ihaya jani prabhura mana

"I invite Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by accepting goods from materialistic people. I know that the Lord's mind is not satisfied by this."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.274

Do you understand? You cannot use even your family's money. If your father or your mother gives you some money, and you use that for your own purpose, it is also not good.

Sometimes Das Goswami Prabhu's father sent him 400 rupees, chari-sata mudra (400 coins). Das Goswami did not actually take that money—he invited all the Vaishnavs, and even Mahaprabhu, for a big feast—but Mahaprabhu did not like that, "Oh, he invites everyone, and his pratistha (name and fame) is coming. All the Vaishnavs are going there, taking some pranami, he is giving them some prasadam, and through that his pratistha is coming." Name and fame were coming, and Mahaprabhu did not like that. Das Goswami understood it, and he rejected that money. He told his father not to send money any more. He became a beggar.

visayira anna haya 'rajasa' nimantrana

data, bhokta—dunhara malina haya mana

“When one accepts an invitation from a person contaminated by the material mode of passion, the person who offers the food and the person who accepts it are both mentally contaminated.”

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.279

The mind of those who are taking prasadam (bhokta) will be disturbed, and the mind of those who are giving prasadam (data) will be disturbed—both are getting disturbance through that. Very nicely written.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

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Be Fixed in Your Service

6 September 2010

bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara

bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjjanangikara

You must accept what is in favour of devotion; you must reject what is not in favour of devotion. That is called sincerity. Do you understand? Nistha [be fixed]: what I will do, I will do that every day. Everybody does not have that service mood, seva pravritti [desire for, or engagement in service]. "I am only doing today, next day I am not doing"—this is not devotion, this is emotion. Do you understand now what is emotion and what is devotion?

Once, a lady came with her grandson to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Param Guru Maharaj was giving Hari-katha, and hearing his Hari-katha that grandson began to cry. The lady said, "Oh, Maharaj, do you see? When you speak Hari-katha, my grandson cries!" Param Guru Maharaj said, "It is not devotion, it is emotion."

If you give one drop of water for the service of the Lord, that is sufficient.

So, sincerity, nistha, is necessary.

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.

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34

Seva pravritti [attachment, hankering for service]...

I have told many times, for seven years, from 1992 to 1999 when I took sannyas, I did not sleep one night outside Nabadwip. I did not sleep outside even one night! I went to many places, Bamunpara, and other places, but I never slept there. I sleep here. Sometimes I would come at night, at midnight.

When Gurudev was here and I was here, every day I would see him at 2:30-3 o'clock. I was there [at his veranda] every day without fail.

Once I was in the bathroom, and Gurudev called me. My mobile phone was there. Gurudev said, "Come immediately." I ran as I was: in a gamcha, napkin. I came running to Gurudev. Gurudev asked,

"Why are you wearing gamcha?!"

"I was in the toilet!"

"Ai, toilet!!! Shower, take shower first!"

"You told me to come immediately, so I have come."

"You have to shower, and then come!"

"Ok, I will go shower, and then come."

"No, no, stand there. I will only take 5 minutes, then you can go."

So, I stood there, and he said something to me.

Even when I would come from any place, from any foreign country, I would first go to see Gurudev, then I would go to the room. Even when I would come from the crops field, there would be so much mud on my legs, but I would first go to see Gurudev, then I would go to my room, clean my feet, everything, then go for prasadam, then back to my room, go to the toilet, then take bath. First I would see Gurudev. Even if I saw he was taking rest, I paid dandavat and came back. If he was lying down, or his body was sick, then I would pay dandavat and come out. That is our duty. This way we are doing. When I came from Australia, Singapore, I did not go first to freshen up, I went first to Gurudev. Whatever pranami I got, I gave everything to him, then I went back to the room…

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Overeating and Prasadam

7 September 2010

Question: Now and also the other night we were talking about controlling your tongue, and sometimes when people are preaching about this, they say, "You will control your tongue by taking prasadam." And then also sometimes they say, "Atyahara, it is necessary to avoid eating too much." So, sometimes as soon as people hear about taking prasadam they think they can eat as much as they like...

If you think about it... When I joined the temple, that time I could easily eat 23-25 chapatis. First day I ate 25 chapatis. But now I cannot eat more than 1 or 2 chapatis, maybe one and half only. So, it is easily controlled by the prasadam. At night time I take chapati, and to eat even 1 chapati is very hard. How is it possible? It is possible through prasadam.

prasada-seva karite haya,

sakala prapancha jaya

By honouring the Lord's prasadam I conquer over all worldly illusions.

'Suddha-bhakata' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

That is the thing. It is written simply by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur.

If you take prasadam, everything will be controlled. I saw that. When I first joined, I sometimes took the little money that somebody gave me, went to buy something, and ate it here, because I felt so much disturbed, too much, and also I did not taste very good prasadam. At that time I thought, "Oh, I want to eat this, this, this." And I ate something, some samosa or something like this, but now I cannot tolerate outside things. I cannot eat without temple prasadam.

Another way is prasad seva. You offer something, and when that prasadam comes, you have to pay obeisance to the prasadam, and then take that.

prasada-seva karite haya,

sakala prapancha jaya

By honouring the Lord's prasadam I conquer over all worldly illusions.

'Suddha-bhakata' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

It is easy.

And atyahara, prajalpa, etc. Why is it written? Atyahara means too much eating, but when you take prasadam, there is no question of that. Atyahara, prajalpa, etc. is written for the outside people. When you take prasadam, all your greed and all kinds of bad things will be reduced. It will be reduced for sure. Prasad will be bhakti.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya used to never take prasadam—did you know that? Once Mahaprabhu came to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house with some prasadam. Mahaprabhu went to the mangal arati, did everything, then He got some prasadam and came to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, who was still sleeping in bed. Mahaprabhu said,

"O Sarvabhauma, O Bhattacharya! Where is Panditji? Where are you? I came to you with some prasadam!"

"O Prabhu, I am sleeping now... I have not brushed my teeth yet..."

"Not necessary! To take prasadam it is not necessary to brush your teeth!"

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya sat on his bed, Mahaprabhu gave him prasadam, and he ate it... To take prasadam it is not necessary to brush your teeth. Nothing is necessary, you take prasadam and eat it. Mahaprabhu said, "Today he got some devotion through prasadam! Prasade bhakti haya."

Otherwise Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya did not like prasadam. He took something in his house, but he did not take prasadam from the Jagannath temple, but from that day he started to. He was Jagannath's main servitor; he arranged everything, but he did not take prasadam from the Jagannath temple, but when Mahaprabhu gave it to him, he took it and said, "Yes! Very nice, very nice! I have never tasted anything like that!" That day Mahaprabhu said (it is written in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita), "Oh, aji haite Sarvabhaumer prasade bhakti haya! Today he has got some attachment to prasadam."

If you think prasad is rice and dahl, that is not proper honour to prasadam. You must give proper honour to prasadam. When prasad comes, you must take some prasadam in your hand and touch it to your forehead, like this—offer it to your Guru. Even when you are not making an offering, if you take it in your hand and remember your Guru, that will be prasadam. You see when Gurudev would take prasadam, he would always first touch his forehead like this (which means he gave honour to his Guru). He always did that, I saw it. Later when he was sick, some disbalance came...

Do you understand what I am saying?

As for prajalpa, I told it: if you use your energy for talking nonsense, then you will lose the energy to chant the Holy Name. It is not necessary talk so much, mithya bhasi (telling lies). Always talk little; talking is not necessary. Without talking about Krishna consciousness, that is gramya-katha. It is written in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Amrita Bhasya that when a husband and a wife talk in their dampatya jivan (married life), they talk about the family life, family matters, talk with their family, discuss how to continue their life. This is called gramya-katha. Mahaprabhu said to Das Goswami, "Gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe. Do not talk like people in general or hear what they say." Why are we not getting energy? Because we waste our energy on other things, that is why we cannot get a chance, we cannot get energy to chant the Holy Name.

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Varnashrama and Practising Life

September 7, 2010

Here in India Hindu people say they follow the Veda. When you ask any Hindu, they say, "Oh, we are under this kind of Veda," but they do not follow the rules and regulations of the Vedas. No Veda gives the direction, "You kill a jiva soul." Vedas do not tell this, but people say, "We follow the Veda." Veda means Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda, there are these four Vedas.

There are also four ashrams [orders of life]. It is said in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita,

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje

svakarma karileo se raurave padi maje

"The followers of the varnashrama institution accept the regulative principles of the four social orders (brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya and sudra) and four spiritual orders (brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa). However, if one carries out the regulative principles of these orders but does not render transcendental service to Krishna, he falls into a hellish condition of material life.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.26

Mahaprabhu said, "Somebody may strictly follow brahmacharya from the age of 1 to 25, then grihastha ashram from 25 to 50, vanaprastha from 50 to 75, and sannyas from 75 to 100, but if they do not follow Krishna consciousness, they still have no hope: they have to go to hell." 'Raurave' means hell. They are sinners (papi), and they will go to hell. He tells this very nicely.

Even when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Katwa to take sannyas, Keshav Bharati told Him many times, "How will You take sannyas?"

When Keshav Bharati came to Jagannath Mishra's house, he saw Nimai as a sannyasi, and Nimai also thought, "I will take sannyas for preaching because people do not listen to Me. What have I come here for? I cannot rescue all of them because they are not following Me. I am a grihastha, householder. If I tell them something, they tell the opposite, 'Oh, You take Your wife's food, You sleep on a good cushioned bed, and then You give some good advice—who will listen to You?'" He thought, "To rescue the whole universe, I must take sannyas."

Then Mahaprabhu asked Keshav Bharati something, and Keshav Bharati said, "What are You thinking about? Do You want to take sannyas? Do not do that. Do not even think about it because Your wife is here, and Your mother is also here. If, however, I get the permission from Your mother and wife, then You can take sannyas." He left. When Mahaprabhu came to Keshav Bharati later, they spent the whole night speaking Krishna-katha. Keshav Bharati spoke like this:

"You are only 24 years old, how will You take sannyas? You have not even finished Your brahmacharya life! Even when You become 50, You still cannot control Your senses (rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa—the senses of sight, taste, smell, hearing, touch), then how will You take sannyas? Even when You are 50, You cannot take sannyas.

"Then You feel, 'OK, I am 60.' When You are 60, You still suffer from the six faults of kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (lust, anger, greed, attachment, illusion, envy). When You are 60, You do not know how to use kama, where to use anger, greed, attachment, etc. You have an ego, but what is this ego for?"

Everybody has some ego, but what is that ego for? Your ego must be, "I am the servant of the Lord. I am the servant of my Guru." There is kama, krodha, lobha, mada, moha, matsarya, but Krishna said, "I am not giving any place for matsaryata (envy, jealousy). I am giving five places where you can use the other five, but I cannot tolerate matsaryata, the jealous mood." Matsarya is very bad.

krsna-seva kamarpane, krodha bhakta-dvesi-jane,

lobha sadhu-sange hari-katha

moha ista-labha bine, mada krsna guna-gane,

niyukta kariba yatha tatha

"I will engage lust by offering it in Krishna's service. Anger I will direct towards those who are envious of the devotees. I will be greedy to hear the topics of Hari in the association of devotees. I will feel illusioned without achieving my worshipable Lord. I will be maddened while singing the glories of Krishna. In this way I will engage these enemies in their proper places."

Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, 22

This is Srila Narottam Das Thakur's explanation of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's sloka.

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 Krishna in the association of devotees without worshipping any demigods.

Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, 13

In this way he wrote. You should read these things, it is very nice. You can read this one sloka and understand full Krishna consciousness. Also,

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam

anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

"The highest devotion is that which is cultivated for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord Krishna, with no desire except to serve Him, and divested of all external attempts such as worldly action, knowledge in search of the impersonal Absolute, or the meditational attempt to become one with God."

Sri Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.1.11

Narottam Das Thakur wrote that sloka giving the full meaning of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's sloka, and there you can understand all Krishna consciousness: what your practising life is, and what the abhidheya-tattva is. You can understand it all easily.

So, 60 years. Then Mahaprabhu jumped to 90, "OK, Prabhu, I am 90 now."

"When You are 90, You cannot practise nava-vidha bhakti."

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango tato bhajana-kriya

tato 'nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha ruchis tatah

athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudanchati

sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah

"In the beginning there must be faith. Then one becomes interested in associating with pure devotees. Thereafter one is initiated by the spiritual master and executes the regulative principles under his orders. Thus one is freed from all unwanted habits and becomes firmly fixed in devotional service. Thereafter, one develops taste and attachment. This is the way of sadhana-bhakti, the execution of devotional service according to the regulative principles. Gradually emotions intensify, and finally there is an awakening of love. This is the gradual development of love of Godhead for the devotee interested in Krishna consciousness."

Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.4.15–16

Nistha (faith) and asakti (attachment) are necessary. Gurudev told many times about it: everybody does some service, but they have no attachment to their service, they do not take the responsibility. Not even 10% or 5% of the devotees have attachment to their service. It is necessary to do service with attachment.

So, 90. "When You reach 90, You cannot practise nava-vidha bhakti."

If you practise, you chant, and you do everything, then all bad things, all illusory environment—bhukti-mukti-siddhi-adi vancha—will be removed from your heart through sravanam, kirtanam. Only through this. Those who do not do it, they go to hell. Maya attacks them. Sravanam, kirtanam are the main things. There are 64 bhaktanga (limbs, practices of devotion), and to practise these 64 is very difficult, but there are 5 main practices:

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

If you get some little association through these five practices, you will be rescued from this material environment. You know the meaning of sadhu-sanga, sravan, kirtan, Bhagavat-sravan, it is not necessary to explain it, and Mathura-vasa means living in the holy places where Krishna-katha is going on. That is called Mathura, that is called Vrindavan. Wherever there is Krishna-katha going on, Krishna always appears there. We cannot see it with this kind of eyes because these eyes are always polluted with Maya, we have illusory dust in our eyes.

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 are blind through the illusory dust, so how will you see that transcendental abode? You need another kind of eyes.

bhukti-mukti adi-vancha yadi mane haya

sadhana karile prema utpanna na haya

"If one is infected with the desire for material enjoyment or material liberation, he cannot rise to the platform of pure loving service unto the Lord, even though he may superficially render devotional service according to the routine regulative principles.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.175

If you practise, do service, everything, but have another desire in your heart, any time you can fall down. You will not be able to get entrance. "I will be the Guru, I will be the manager, I will take this post, I will be the secretary, I will be this, I will be that, I want that"—if you have this kind of mood, if your mind is polluted with this kind of desire, and you are showing that you are doing so much service, then you cannot succeed. Everything is inside desire, so do not attach yourself with that, always keep away.

Sraddhaya sri murti sevana: Somebody does some puja, but they do not do it with affection and faith. No sraddha. They think, "Oh, I have to stay there. I've got one good room, I will get prasadam. If I do not do any service, Maharaj will kick me out, then I have to do something." This is not sraddha. Do you understand? They are doing puja, but without sraddha, without full faith. "Oh, if I do not do some service, Maharaj will be angry, maybe they will take away the room, take away the room key and will not give me prasadam," they say like this. Just to do some service is not faith, sraddha. You must do service with sincerity.

Do you have any other questions?

Question: Is it natural to feel like an offender, to feel like I am not able to do these things, I am so fallen?

If somebody thinks, "Oh, I am doing so much," that is bad for him. But "Oh, I cannot do anything"—if this kind of emotion is coming, then it is something. Prabhupad, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, also told it. One disciple said to him,

"Prabhupad, I cannot do bhajan."

"You are telling the truth?"

"Yes, Prabhupad, I am telling the truth. I cannot do bhajan, I cannot practise properly."

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Yes, Prabhupad."

"Then something is happening."

This is a good symptom. If somebody says, "Oh, I am doing bhajan, I am practising so much, I am doing this and that," it is not a good symptom; but if somebody says, "Oh, I cannot do anything, my bhajan is not coming," that is a good symptom.

Question: You have told so many times about 'bhukti, mukti, siddhi adi-vancha', but I feel everything I am doing is for 'bhukti, mukti adi-vancha'...

No, actually it is not for everybody. We are not for 'bhukti mukti siddhi adi-vancha'. "Tad-viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya: our viddhi is seva-viddhi, seva pravritti, service temper. We have come for service. We got a human body, and this body must be used only for the service to the Lord, service to the Guru. You must think like this, not to say other things.

Sometimes there is a lack of mercy or if we have some bad association, then we may do something wrong. Mahaprabhu said that sometimes one unknowingly does something wrong. But Krishna, Lord Himself, said, "I will rescue this kind of sinner. Sometimes he does not know, he uses some bad language, or sometimes his angry mood comes, but if he is My devotee, if he does this for service, then whatever sinful work he does in his practising life I am removing from him all the reaction for that." Sometimes you can do something wrong, but the Lord will rescue you, so again you engage in the service of the Lord.

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Loving Search for the Lost Servant

10 October 2010

You took initiation in 1996, and Krishna has brought you here again... It is loving search for the lost servant: "Kabe ama' madhava asibe, kabe ama' karibe sevan? When will Madhava come to Me, when will he come to serve Me?" Krishna is waiting for our service.

Krishna's prapautra, great-grandson named Vajranabha, installed and served the Deity of Gopal in Vrindavan Dham. When the Muslim people were breaking all the temples, the pujari wrapped the Deity and hid Him in the jungle, and the Deity stayed there, waiting for Madhavendra Puri to come. He had not waited for just a year or two—He had waited for Madhavendra Puri for maybe 100-300 years, or more than that.

Then Madhavendra Puri came to Vrindavan. He was once sitting on the bank of Govinda Kunda under a banyan tree, thinking, "When will Krishna come? I want to see the Lord..." He was alone, sitting and chanting on his beads, when suddenly a beautiful looking boy came by with some milk for him,

"O sadhu! Please take this milk." Madhavendra Puri was very surprised,

"How do You know I have not eaten or drunk anything—how do You know I am fasting?

"Oh, some ladies came to take water in the morning and in the evening, and they said a sadhu had come and he was only chanting, chanting, and had nothing to eat. So I have brought some milk for you."

"But where are You staying?"

"I am a cowherd boy and I look after the cows in this area." Then the boy said quickly, "All right, I will come later. Drink the milk, and I will come for the empty pot later," and left.

Madhavendra Puri drank that milk and thought, "I have never tasted such milk before! It is nectar! I've drunk milk many times, but I have never tried such milk before!" He was sitting and waiting for that boy to come, but He did not come back, and Madhavendra Puri decided to take rest. The boy came to him in a dream and said, "You were asking Me who I was, where I was from, where my house was, and where I was staying. My Name is Gopal, and Krishna's great-grandson, Vajranabha, established My Deity, but now I am suffering so much—there is so much rain, the sun is scorching Me... Please, take Me out of this place."

Madhavendra Puri was so surprised. He thought, "Krishna came to me, gave me milk, but I could not recognise Him!" He was very sad...

When the morning came, he told everybody, "Villagers! Your village Deity is hiding here." Everybody began clearing the jungle and searching, searching, but nobody could find the Deity, only Madhavendra Puri knew where the exact place was. Finally, he took out this Deity. It was Gopal—it was that Gopal who said, "I have been waiting for you to come and take Me away, rescue Me from this situation!"

Param Guru Maharaj wrote a book called Loving Search for the Lost Servant: Krishna is waiting for us, waiting to take our service, but we cannot understand it because we are covered by illusory environment.

Bhramite bhramite yadi sadhu-vaidya paya*: we come and go, come and go, but if suddenly we get good association, through that good association the illusory environment will be removed. Otherwise we cannot see anything.

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya

mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14

"The illusory environment is very powerful, but those who are surrendered to Me, can overcome it." We pray to Maya Devi, "Please remove the net of the illusory environment." When the illusory environment is removed, we will be able to see the nirmal dham, chinmaya dham! We will be able to see the transcendental vibration, the transcendental abode, otherwise we cannot—we are blind!

We are blinded by the illusory dust and cannot see anything, but through good association we can see everything. That is why it is necessary to keep good association. Sravanam [listening], kirtanam [practising] is necessary. And you are very fortunate—you have come here, to this Nabadwip Dham, which is aparadh bhanjan pat...

*

kama-krodhera dasa hana tara lathi khaya

bhramite bhramite yadi sadhu-vaidya paya

tanra upadesa-mantre pisachi palaya

krsna-bhakti paya, tabe krsna-nikata yaya

"The conditioned soul becomes a servant of its masters, Lust and Anger, and always gets beaten by these two. But as the soul keeps wandering throughout the universe, it may by chance get connection with the doctor: a devotee, whose instructions and mantras can chase this witch (Maya) away. Those who come in touch with devotion to Krishna, come closer to Krishna."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.14-15

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A Lesson on Surrender: Body, Mind, and Words

10 October 2010

...Yesterday I spoke about surrender. To surrender is a problem: you know that devotion comes from devotion.

Even Srila Sanatan Goswami's mind was a little disturbed. He came to Puri and wanted to commit suicide. Even Sanatan Goswami wanted to commit suicide! Do you know about that? You have to learn something from them.

Sanatan Goswami wanted to commit suicide, but Mahaprabhu said to him, "Have you gone mad? What has happened?

diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana

sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama

At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Krishna accepts them as His very own.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.192

"You have come to Me and already surrendered to Me, so you have given everything to Me. How can you even think now that you want to spoil your body?

Sometimes we follow our mind, we think we will do this, we will do that—our mind is always telling us something.

Sometimes Gurudev also would say: "You have already packed your luggage and, ready to leave, you come to me, 'Oh, Gurudev, I want to go to this place. Can you give me permission?' But you have already decided everything and packed your things! If I say no, then you will be angry, maybe you will not follow me, or maybe you will leave without my permission. Then it is better if I say, 'OK, you can go there.'"

Another time, Gurudev did not want to let a devotee go to some place, but that devotee again came with all his luggage and asked, "Gurudev, can you give me permission? I want to go to this place..." And Gurudev saw that he had already packed everything, then he thought, "How is it possible?" and said, "OK, you can go, but come back quickly."

Actually, Sanatan Goswami said to Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, my body is useless. This skin disease came, and so many things have happened to my body. This body cannot be used for the service to the Lord, the Vaishnavs, then what is this body for? It is useless! That's why I want to commit suicide."

"Do you have no shame? Aren't you ashamed?! You have already given this body to Me, then how can you want to spoil My property? This is My property! This is not your property."

What are you thinking about? "We will go this way, we will go this way, we will do this." Do not ask anything, "Gurudev, I want to do this, I want to do that"—what Gurudev tells you to do, you have to follow that. That is what is necessary.

So, Mahaprabhu said,

"This body is not your body—it is My property. It is My property, and I will use it; and you are going to spoil My property—what is this?!"

It is like you give some money to me, "Gurudev, I am giving you some pranami," and I tell you, "OK, keep it. When I need it, I will take it later from you." You keep it, but it is not your property.

Mahaprabhu continued, "I will use this property for some other purpose. I have some purpose—some Vaishnav seva, preaching, writing scriptures, etc.—I will use it for all this. You cannot spoil this body."

Mahaprabhu even told Haridas Thakur, "Be careful and look after that boy—he cannot take care of himself, he can do something wrong..." In this way, Krishna, the Lord, is using our body, ourselves, even when we are doing so many wrong things.

We can do something sinful without knowing it, but Krishna said, "The fault will be removed through service." Sometimes we are doing some service and we do something wrong, make some mistake, but Krishna said, "He is My devotee, so if he does something wrong, I will remove his fault, it is not necessary to make prayaschitta, atonement."

This is what Mahaprabhu said. It is loving search for the lost servant: we are searching for the Lord, and Krishna is also searching for us, to take us to our own place…

✽ ✽ ✽

Bhukti, Mukti, Bhakti

Reading from Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, ch. 8 and 10

6 November 2010

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

rajan patir gurur alam bhavatam yadunam

daivam priyah kula-patih kva cha kinkaro vah

astv evam anga bhagavan bhajatam mukundo

muktim dadati karhichit sma na bhakti-yogam

"If you are asking for some kind of mukti [liberation] or bhukti [material enjoyment], Krishna will never give you devotion to Himself—He will always hide it from you." So nicely it is written.

hena prema sri chaitanya dila yatha tatha

jagai madhai paryanta—anyera ka katha

If somebody is simple-hearted and does not know anything about bhukti, mukti, and they have some faith, sraddha, they can get devotion easily.

Question: What does mukti mean?

Mukti means a liberated soul. Srila Rupa Goswami gave the following example in his Vidagdha Madhava. Some straw floats in the Ganges or in a big ocean, some water evaporates from it at night, and that drop of water thinks, "Oh, I am very small, but this ocean is so great! I also want to be big like this ocean." It immediately grows heavier and falls down into the water, where it is not able to find itself any more. Mukti is like this—we get merged and cannot find ourselves any more; we will not get any taste. That is mukti. Devotees put their foot on top of Mukti Devi and climb higher up in their devotional activities—they never ask anything from mukti.

svatantra isvara prema-nigudha-bhandara

bilaila yare tare, na kaila vichara

Even though Bhagavan Himself, the Lord Himself, never exposes Krishna-prema, but still He distributes it everywhere.

'nityananda' balite haya krsna-premodaya

aulaya sakala anga, asru-ganga vaya

When you chant Nitai Gaur Haribol, Nitai Gaur Haribol, no offence comes, but when you take Krishna Nam with offences, no vikar [transformation], no result comes through that. That is why good association is necessary to be able to remove the offences.

'eka' krsna-name kare sarva-papa nasa

premera karana bhakti karena prakasa

The offences will be removed by chanting the Holy Name only once.

premera udaye haya premera vikara

sveda-kampa-pulakadi gadgadasrudhara

anayase bhava-ksaya, krsnera sevana

eka krsna-namera phale pai eta dhana

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

But we chant this Krishna Nam again and again, and no result comes. Because of our offences the seed of the Holy Name does not sprout.

chaitanya-nityanande nahi e-saba vichara

nama laite prema dena, vahe asrudhara

svatantra isvara prabhu atyanta udara

tanre na bhajile kabhu na haya nistara

ore mudha loka, suna chaitanya-mangala

chaitanya-mahima yate janibe sakala

krsna-lila bhagavate kahe veda-vyasa

chaitanya-lilara vyasa—vrndavana-dasa

chaitanya-nitaira yate janiye mahima

yate jani krsna-bhakti-siddhantera sima

bhagavate yata bhakti-siddhantera sara

likhiyachhena inha jani' kariya uddhara

'chaitanya-mangala' sune yadi pasandi, yavana

seha maha-vaisnava haya tataksana

vrndavana-dasa-pade koti namaskara

aichhe grantha kari' tenho tarila samsara

narayani—chaitanyera ucchista-bhajana

tanra garbhe janmila sri-dasa-vrndavana

tanra ki adbhuta chaitanya-charita-varnana

yahara sravane suddha kaila tri-bhuvana

ataeva bhaja, loka, chaitanya-nityananda

khandibe samsara-duhkha, pabe premananda

vrndavana-dasa kaila 'chaitanya-mangala'

tahate chaitanya-lila varnila sakala

yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana

sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah

harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna

manorathenasati dhavato bahih

When somebody does not practise devotional activities, their mind always goes to the bad things, and it becomes impossible for them to get the good qualities. That quality will not come.

Question: What can we do about this?

Practise bhaktanga. Practise what is favourable to devotion, and reject what is unfavourable to devotion. There are 64 bhaktangas, they are written here in Chaitanya-charitamrita. It is necessary to practise it properly, then it will be very nice.

Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami says, "I am not writing this book. Madan Mohan is writing it."

ei grantha lekhaya more 'madana-mohana'

amara likhana yena sukera pathana

sei likhi, madana-gopala ye likhaya

kasthera puttali yena kuhake nacaya

kuladhidevata mora—madana-mohana

yanra sevaka—raghunatha, rupa, sanatana

"My worshippable istadevata is Madan Mohan, and I am always praying to His servitors, Raghunath, Rupa, and Sanatan. I am not going directly to Madan Mohan, but I am praying to Him through His servitors." Also, Krishna Das Goswami worships the lotus feet of Vrindavan Das:

vrndavana-dasera pada-padma kari' dhyana

tanra ajna lana likhi yahate kalyana

That is a Vaishnav's quality. Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami says, "I am praying to Vrindavan Das Thakur, and I always remember his lotus feet."

chaitanya-lilate 'vyasa'—vrndavana-dasa

tanra krpa vina anye na haya prakasa

"Without his mercy we cannot write anything, we cannot do anything."

murkha, nicha, ksudra muni visaya-lalasa

vaisnavajna-bale kari eteka sahasa

"I am a great sinner, foolish, and small. I am always attracted to material things, but I am going to write a book! I am only doing it remembering my Guru and the Vaishnavs, and following their order. I am not doing it myself. I am doing so many big things, but it is only possible by the mercy of the Vaishnavs."

And Raghunath Das Goswami also...

mahaprabhura priya bhrtya—raghunatha-dasa

sarva tyaji' kaila prabhura pada-tale vasa

prabhu samarpila tanre svarupera hate

prabhura gupta-seva kaila svarupera sathe

sodasa vatsara kaila antaranga-sevana

svarupera antardhane aila vrndavana

He had served Mahaprabhu for 16 years, did antaranga seva [personal service], and when Swarup Damodar left, he came to Vrindavan,

vrndavane dui bhaira charana dekhiya

govardhane tyajiba deha bhrgupata kariya

He said, "I want to commit suicide, I want to jump from Govardhan."

ei ta' nischaya kari' aila vrndavane

asi' rupa-sanatanera vandila charane

tabe dui bhai tanre marite na dila

nija trtiya bhai kari' nikate rakhila

Rupa and Sanatan were brothers, and they took Raghunath Das Goswami as their third brother.

mahaprabhura lila yata bahira-antara

dui bhai tanra mukhe sune nirantara

He heard all Pastimes of Mahaprabhu from Rupa, Sanatan.

anna-jala tyaga kaila anya-kathana

pala dui-tina matha karena bhaksana

He rejected rice, water, everything, and he only took some matha, buttermilk.

sahasra dandavat kare, laya laksa nama

dui sahasra vaisnavere nitya paranama

He paid obeisance a hundred times, he chanted a hundred thousand Names, and every day he paid his obeisance to two thousand Vaishnavs!

ratri-dine radha-krsnera manasa sevana

prahareka mahaprabhura charitra-kathana

And the whole day and night he did service to Radha-Krishna.

tina sandhya radha-kunde apatita snana

vraja-vasi vaisnave kare alingana mana

We are afraid to bathe in Radha Kunda once, but he bathed there three times a day, and he always embraced the Vraja basis [residents of Sri Vrindavan Dham].

sardha sapta-prahara kare bhaktira sadhane

chari danda nidra, seha nahe kona-dine

He spent only one and a half hours on sleeping, taking prasadam, etc., and he served twenty-two and a half hours a day...

tanhara sadhana-riti sunite chamatkara

sei rupa-raghunatha prabhu ye amara

inha-sabara yaichhe haila prabhura milana

age vistariya taha kariba varnana

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Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj

17 November 2010

Today is Utthana Ekadashi and Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj's disappearance day.

Babaji Maharaj came from Vrindavan. He got inspiration from Radha Krishna, "Why are you staying here in Radha Kunda? You must come to Nabadwip. My Lila is not in Vrindavan, now My Lila is going on in Nabadwip, so you must come here." Even though he was old at that time, he came. Everybody saw him as pagal, crazy—he did not see anything, did not wear good cloth, nothing. Some boys threw stones at him, and he would say, "Gopal, what are You doing?! I will complain to Your Mom, Yasoda, and Your Dad, Nanda Maharaj." He would say like this, but people threw stones and spat at him... it was too much.

One time he went from Champahati to Godrumdwip, Svananda Sukhada Kunja, Bhakti Vinod Thakur's place. He was blind and could not walk, and it was amavasya, a dark moon day. It was pitch dark outside. (There was no electricity in Nabadwip at that time. You can see at Bhakti Vinod Thakur's place, his things are still kept there—his kerosine lamp, and kerosine powered fan, etc.) So, Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj came there and called out to Bhakti Vinod Thakur. Bhakti Vinod Thakur came out and was surprised, "Maharaj, you came here on such a dark night! How did you come here?!"

"Oh, somebody helped me."

"Who is there? Nobody is there, you are alone!"

"Oh, am I? No, somebody took my hand and brought me here. He was here just now..."

"Who is that? Nobody is here..."

In this way...

Babaji Maharaj took some dead body's cloth at a burning ghat, washed it, made knots and chanted on that. He would get some rice, but he did not cook. He would soak it in some water and three-four days later, when it would get softer, he would eat it. Nothing else—that was his food...

Once he was sitting inside a big palm tree's hollow on the bank of the Ganges, chanting, and when some naughty people walked past, they heard that he was talking with somebody. It was a lady's voice. People thought that some lady came to him at night, and they decided to watch the place in the day time to see who the lady was when she would come. They had kept guard there for two days but did not see anybody, although they could still hear Babaji Maharaj talking with a lady. In the end, they broke in but they saw there was nobody there. As they went away they could again hear the lady's voice, but they did not know who was talking and what they were talking about. Then you understand: Srimati Radhika came there, Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj was Her svaparsad, close associate.

When Gaura Kishor Das Babaji expired—today is the day when it happened—there was a big story on that day. All smarta babajis, goswamis of Nabadwip wanted to take the body of Babaji Maharaj, and they started fighting. When Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur heard what had happened, he came there with Kunja Babu, his disciple. He saw that many people were fighting over the body and the police was already there, but they could not decide who should take the body. Everybody claimed it was their Guru. Prabhupad said,

"They are saying they are disciples of Babaji Maharaj, but actually none of them is his disciple! When he was alive, at that time no one cared, and now everybody is saying, 'He is my guru.' They are all liars! They are dressed as sadhus but none of them are sadhus. I am a naistik brahmachari [sincere, life-long strict brahmachari], no one can tell a lie in front of me. There are many babajis, but they are all doing stri-sanga, take ladies' association. Let those who have not associated with a girl for the past six months raise their hands."

Some of them left.

"Let those who have not associated with a lady for the past three months raise their hands."

Some left.

"One month."

Some left.

"Who has not done stri-sanga for the last three days?" (There are eight types of stri-sanga, it can be also thinking of a woman, etc.)

Then all of them went away. A policeman who was there asked Prabhupad, "How would you know it if they had told they had not done any stri-sanga?"

"I have said that I am a naistik brahmachari—none can tell a lie in front of me."

And Prabhupad took the body of Babaji Maharaj and made his samadhi...

Bhakti Vinod Thakur sent Prabhupad (Bimala Prasad at that time) to take initiation from Babaji Maharaj.

Bimala Prasad did not know so much at that time. He knew his father was a big personality, a district magistrate. When he came to see Babaji Maharaj, Babaji Maharaj said to him, "Get out! I want you to get out!" Prabhupad was surprised, "A boy comes for initiation and Gurudev says, 'Get out!' What is this?" He came back to his father and said that Babaji Maharaj told him to get out.

"Go there again."

This time Babaji Maharaj said to him, "You have come again, but your father is a very big personality, a great Vaishnav. Why do you not take initiation from your father?"

"My father has sent me to you."

"No, go to your father."

He went back to Bhakti Vinod Thakur, "Father, I have come back."

"Why? Have you not taken initiation?"

"No, he told me to take initiation from my father."

"No, no, go again tomorrow."

And he again went to Babaji Maharaj the next day. Babaji Maharaj asked, "Why have you come?"

Next day again, "Why have you come? I have to ask Gora Hari." (Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj always said, "Gora Hari.") Then another day he said, "Yes, I asked, but I did not get an answer."

And next day Prabhupad came again, very humbly. Babaji Maharaj was testing his devotee: how tolerant is he, how much surrender does he have? He was testing him in this way, and then finally he gave initiation to Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur.

Today is the disappearance day of this Babaji Maharaj.

ye anilo prema-dhana koruna prachura

heno prabhu kotha gela acharya thakura

Where has Advaita Acharya, the Lord who mercifully brought the wealth of divine love to this world, gone?

Viraha-giti by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

It is a very good day. Mahaprabhu asked Ramananda Ray,

'duhkha-madhye kona duhkha haya gurutara?'

'krsna-bhakta-viraha vina duhkha nahi dekhi para'

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.247

"What is our saddest day? What is a sorrowful day?"—"It is bhakta-viraha, separation from a devotee."

Your mother dies, your father dies... but who is a brahmachari's mother? A brahmachari's father and mother is Lord Krishna. "Krishna mata, Krishna pita"—we are saying this, but at the same time we hear such things as, "Oh, that brahmachari's father died, mother died." What news is that? Does a brahmachari have a father, a mother? A brahmachari's only father and mother is Krishna. "Krishna mata, Krishna pita, Krishna dhana prana"—Krishna is your parent. Krishna is your father, Krishna is your mother. Your "mother/father" is all false. These are not my words, it is told so in the scriptures.

Gurudev would often tell me, "Always be careful."

In front of Gurudev's veranda there is Sridhar Maharaj's well and pump, and one time Gurudev saw me walking there and almost slipping. Gurudev said, "Be careful! You are a brahmachari, and the brahmachari life is very slippery! Any time you can fall down." Gurudev would always give examples. Another example was iron and magnet—if you are always together with a girl, always talking, talking, talking, it is like iron and magnet (attraction is inevitable). Also, if there is a fire and some dry straw, the fire will be attracted to the straw—the fire is here and the straw is there, they are far from each other, but before you know it you will see the fire has already gone there. Do you understand? Be careful.

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya,

sadhur-gurur krpa vina na dekhi upaya,

"It is not possible to conquer maya by illusory environment (by engaging in maya), but it is only possible to get relief by the mercy of Guru, Vaishnav."

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

✽ ✽ ✽

Strong Foundation

22 November 2010

Through practising, we must make our foundation very strong. I saw what happens if the devotional foundation is not strong. Many disciples of even Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Param Guru Maharaj, who had no faith in Gurudev, have gone another way. They did not practise the proper way, and after they had served for a few months, or a few years, they went another way.

Chaitanya-charitamrita and the scriptures tell us clearly what happens if the foundation is not strong, and almost every day I am telling the story about the sadhu. A sadhu will always rescue us, the fallen jiva-souls—we always go to the illusory environment, but the sadhu will take care of us:

durdaive sevaka yadi yaya anya sthane

sei thakura dhanya tare chule dhari' ane

If by chance a servant falls down and goes somewhere else, glorious is that master who captures him and brings him back by the hair.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.47

'Durdaive sevak' means an unfortunate servitor. An unfortunate servitor always goes another way, but Gurudev, Vaishnavs will take him and engage him in service. That is our only hope. But we must accept their help—if we go another way, it becomes very difficult. That is why if we follow our mind, it becomes a big problem. Actually, we do not know what is good for us. We think we will get benefit in this way, and we go that way, but then some problem comes.

Sanatan Goswami told Mahaprabhu, "Ami kichhu nahi jani. I do not know anything." Also, once Prakasananda Saraswati invited everybody, including Mahaprabhu, to join his assembly. Mahaprabhu came and sat down in a dirty place, whereas all the sannyasi were sitting in a higher place. Prakasananda Saraswati saw Him and said,

"You look like a good sannyasi, but why are You sitting in this dirty place? Please join us."

"I am a sampradaic sannyasi, but I have no qualification to sit with you." And Mahaprabhu showed some of His aisvarya, opulence.

"You look like Narayan, but You are sitting here. Come with us, let us sit together."

Mahaprabhu came there and all the sannyasis gave Him respect and a seat. Prakasananda Saraswati asked Him,

"You took sannyas from Keshav Bharati, so You belong to our sampradaya. A sannyasi's religion is to practise meditation, dhyan, and to read Veda, Vedanta, but why are You, like a baul, madman, chanting and dancing?"

"Because My Guru told Me, 'You cannot read Veda, Vedanta. You are ignorant and foolish, so You have no qualification to read it. Better if You just chant.' So, I am chanting on the order of My Guru."

What order Gurudev gives, we must follow that.

✽ ✽ ✽

Disentangled

6 December 2010

alpa-bhagye seva nahi haya

koti janma thakle bhagya

visaye chhade haya vairagya

“Service does not come by just a little fortune. Only after ten million births of good fortune, can you leave this material world behind.”

Vrindavan Das Thakur writes this in his Chaitanya Mangal (later renamed as Chaitanya-bhagavata). Only after you have got 10 million lives of fortune, can you come to the line of Krishna consciousness—it is not easy.

It is not easy, but we have got this chance, and we must use the opportunity to serve, because even though we have got the chance, illusory environment is always ready to remove us from this line. Illusory environment is very strong, so if we do not practise properly, if we do not serve properly, any time we can lose our mind and leave this line. Be careful of that.

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya,

sadhur-gurur krpa vina na dekhi upaya,

“It is not possible to conquer maya by illusory environment (by engaging in maya); it is only possible to get relief by the mercy of Guru, Vaishnav.”

Be careful, always be careful.

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

It is a very nice song, and another song is also Bhuliya tomare, samsare asiya (Saranagati, 2). If you can recite and think about the meaning of this song, you will see how nice it is.

bhuliya tomare, samsare asiya

peye nana-vidha vyatha

tomara charane, asiyachhi ami,

baliba duhkhera katha

"I have forgotten You, Prabhu! Now I have come to Your lotus feet, I surrender to You and will tell You what my sadness is."

janani-jathare, chhilama yakhana,

visama bhandana-pase

"When I was in the mother's womb, I got very much austerity."

eka-bara prabhu! dekha diya more

vanchile e dina dase

"One time You showed me Your form—I saw You in my mother's womb, but now I do not see You."

takhana bhavinu, janama paiya,

kariba bhajana tava,

"At that time I thought and promised You that I would worship You, I would chant Your Name."

janama ha-ila, padi' maya-jale,

na ha-ila jnana-lava

"Then I was born, and maya, illusory environment, attacked me. I have become surrounded by the net of illusory environment and I cannot come out. Maya has bound me in her net."

adarera chhele, svajanera kole,

hasiya katanu kala,

"When I was a small boy, I sat on the lap of my relatives and everybody—my uncle, father, mother, and others—gave me so much affection."

janaka-janani- snehete bhuliya,

samsara lagila bhala

"They gave me much affection, and I felt so nice that I could not come out."

When your wife or your husband give you much affection, you cannot come to this line, but when they kick you, then you can come. Is it correct or not? If they kick you, give you austerity, then you suffer so much and you think, "Oh, it is not good, I have to come out." And when they give you much love and affection, you cannot come to this line in that life…

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Ego: a Play of Kali

8 December 2010

We sing in the morning,

bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara

bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

Saranagati, 1, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

We must accept what is in favour of devotion and reject what is not in favour of devotion.

'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

It depends upon faith, strongest faith, and practice. Scriptures give us so much advice, and we must follow it: sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam (hearing, chanting, remembering, offering obeisance, rendering service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission). Atma-nivedanam: we must be surrendered souls:

sad-anga saranagati ha-ibe yahara

tahara prarthana sune sri-nanda-kumara

"Sri Krishna a hears the prayers of one who surrenders in this six-fold way."

There are six types of saranagati:

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."

This is necessary, otherwise we cannot proceed in our spiritual life—we cannot develop, cannot improve our spiritual life; and also great fortune is necessary.

Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, made this centre, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and Gurudev's also protecting this temple and Rupanuga-sampradaya, but it is very difficult to find a pure devotee now. It is very difficult, and it is also very sad. Gurudev said once, "If you want pure devotion, you have to associate with a pure devotee." And sometimes he asked, "Who will you associate with?" You can learn something from a great devotee, but if you mix with those who do not know the proper conception, you will be polluted by them. That is a very difficult matter.

Once Yudhisthir was asked, "Where does the Lord, Bhagavan, stay? What does Bhagavan eat?" And Yudhisthir replied, "Bhagavan eats people's ego, ahankar." That is the problem, that is our greatest difficulty. Atma-samman [feeling of self-importance] and abhiman [the world of "me" and "mine"] means ego, and it is very bad.

Even a young boy can have atma-samman. I heard yesterday that a 13- or 14-year-old girl hung herself. Why did she do that? It is abhiman. Her bosom friend lost her mobile phone at school, and it was found in that girl's bag. Her friend charged her, "You are my bosom friend and you have stolen my mobile phone?!" The girl was surprised, she did not know who had put the phone into her bag, and she could not tolerate that her bosom friend had called her a thief. She left school and at midnight she committed suicide, hung herself from a tree...

A 14-year-old girl is creating abhiman. Do you see? You can understand that it is so easy to create it—not only 25-30-year-old men can have ego, even a 14-year-old can have it.

It is Kali-yuga and atma-samman, so we cannot tolerate. Somebody says something to me, somebody calls me something, and I cannot tolerate that—it is a play of Kali. Kalau dosa nidhi, Kali kalaha yug [Kali is the age of quarrel and it is like an ocean of faults]. It is spreading very quickly. I know about these kinds of things better than you... That is very difficult. Ahankare matta haina, Nitai-pada pasariya, asatyere satya kori mani: "Maddened with pride, forgetting Nitai's feet, I accept untruth as truth." But Krishna will arrange everything. It depends upon Krishna, and He will harmonise everything. I just wait and see. Gurudev would always say, "Wait and see."

Question: We hear about abhiman all the time, but still we cannot overcome it. Sometimes people get some qualification, but instead of abhiman going down, it goes up... How to proceed and get rid of it?

Only by the mercy from Vaishnavs, mercy from Gurudev. No other way. Ego is very bad.

Even through service some ego comes. Somebody may be a temple manager, and they do not want to clean toilets, "I am the temple president, why should I clean the bathroom?"

But I saw Siddhanti Maharaj. When Gurudev went to a foreign country, Siddhanti Maharaj always sat by Gurudev's side. He always helped Gurudev, but he had no ego: he would come to Nabadwip and clean the toilets. I saw it. And I saw Ashram Maharaj also: he is the head of a temple, but still he goes to goshala and serves there. You must learn something from them.

When I was a brahmachari, it was 1994 or 1995, I went to Hapaniya to supervise the land cultivation, and there was a man ploughing a field. I rushed to him, "You do not know how to do it, I will do it." Another brahmachari became angry with me and said to me, "You are a brahmachari, you came here to supervise the temple, and now you are ploughing. What will the people say?" I told him, "What? It is my work! What is he going to say if I cultivate the land? What of that? What is the difference, a brahmachari or a sannyasi?"

And I also saw Gurudev. When I joined I saw Gurudev was managing everything. He did everything—looked after the goshala, ordered bricks, ordered cement. He did everything himself.

Once a man asked Gurudev for sannyas. Gurudev told him it was not necessary to wear a sannyasi dress. It is not necessary to show, 'Oh, I am a sannyasi,' and think it is an opportunity to use somebody to serve me. In Srila Prabhupad's time also: many sannyasis served Kunja Babu. Many babajis and sannyasis served Bhakti Vinod Thakur—they would pay full obeisance from afar, "Oh, such a big man is coming!" And many sannyasis also paid their obeisance to Pundarik Vidyanidhi. Even Mahaprabhu paid obeisance to Pundarik Vidyanidhi!…

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The Power of Surrender

14 December 2010

Bhaktera adhin Bhagavan: the Supreme Lord is controlled by His devotees.

bhaktera hrdaye sada govinda-visrama

govinda kahena—mama vaisnava parana

Govinda always resides in the hearts of His devotees. Govinda says, "Vaishnavs are My life and soul."

Krishna Himself said, "Devotees have Me tied within their hearts."

When Mahaprabhu wanted to go to Vrindavan, He asked devotees for permission. Even when He was going to take sannyas, He asked Sachi Mata and Vishnupriya for permission. He told them before He wanted to take sannyas, although Sachi Mata had already understood that Nimai would not stay there, and she blamed Advaita Acharya for that, "You are taking away my son! One son has already left, and that was also because of you; and now Nimai is also going to leave. It is your fault! Your name was Advaita, but now for me you are Dvaita. You do not care who will look after me and Visnupriya. You have preached to Nimai, and now He wants to leave this house, but how am I going to stay here?"

When Gurudev joined the mission in 1947, his mother also asked Sridhar Maharaj, "Who will take care of me?"

If Krishna protects you, no one can destroy you. Krishna says, "If you think for Me, I will think for you." You think that your children and other people will look after you, but no, it is not so.

We were just singing this song today:

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana

'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

Humility, self-submission, embracing the Lord's guardianship, maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me.'

Saranagati, 1, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

Full faith is necessary.

Even Draupadi could not understand it. She asked Krishna, "Why did You not protect me when they were beating me?"

Duhsasan came to her house and said, "The kingdom now belongs to us, and so do you. You have to go with us." Kunti, her mother-in-law, was also there, and she tried to stop him, "She is just a housewife, why does she have to go?" But they forcefully took her by hair and threw her on the floor at the raj-sabha (royal assembly). Duryodan was sitting in the place of the king, and the Pandavas were sitting with their heads down because they had been defeated in the pasha khela (a dice game)—their uncle Sakuni made the arrangement for them to lose the game.

When Duhsasan came to take Draupadi, she thought of her husbands, "I am alone, and they are beating and taking me away! Where are you, Yudhisthir, where are you, Bhim and Arjun?" When Duhsasan brought her into the hall, she saw all of them sitting there and cried, "Yudhisthir! Bhim! Arjun! Why are you not protecting me? I am your wife, and they are abusing me!" But they had no power. Everyone knew how chaste Draupadi was to her husbands, so Duhsasan came to take her sari off.

Krishna asked Draupadi later, "Did you remember Me? No, you remembered your husbands. Even when they were taking your clothes off, you thought you could protect yourself. They were pulling your clothes, and you were holding it, trying to cover your body and save yourself. Then you were clasping to your sari with one hand, and calling out with the other. That is not full surrender. When they had taken almost all your sari off, then with both hands up, heart and soul, you called out to Me, 'Please protect me!' Did I protect you at that time or not?" Draupadi admitted it.

diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana

sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama

At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Krishna accepts him to be as good as Himself.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.192

When you take initiation, you do not only receive a mantra, you also receive divya-jnana (divine knowledge). If a devotee surrenders to Krishna, Krishna thinks, "This devotee is My soul." Surrender is necessary for this. Without surrender, you cannot do anything.

It is also said about Nityananda Prabhu:

uttama, adhama, kichhu na kare vichara

ye age padaye, tare karaye nistara

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 5.208-209

Nityananda Prabhu does not distinguish who is bad, who is worse, who is good—whoever surrenders, falls down at His lotus feet, He gives them mercy. Krishna rescues them in this way…

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Make Krishna Your Friend

14 December 2010

It is written in the song glorifying Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, “Uthare uthare bhai ara ta samaya nai: wake up, you have no time in your hand." Any time we can leave; any time we can die. What will give us a solution?

If you want to cross a river, you have to pay the fee, but if you do not deposit anything, if you have no coin, how will you cross it? Devotional service—that is your coin. It is necessary to deposit something to your bank.

Every day Chitragupta [a bookkeeper appointed by Yamaraj] is keeping your records. You are keeping your account, but that is not the actual account. Chitragupta keeps your records. Then, one day when you are called, you can get permission to cross the river if you have got the visa. If you do not have the visa, you have to come again and take the visa from the visa officer. You must apply for the visa, otherwise how will you get it? It is necessary to have desire to get it.

Krishna Himself said, "If you have desire, one day mercy will come." If you make one step to Krishna, Krishna will make ten steps to you. He is always ready to come to you, He always wants to serve you. Gurudev also said, "If you serve devotees, Krishna will come to serve to you." That is sure.

We have got a devotional seed from our bona fide Guru, and we must protect it now. Niji nijer bandhu, niji nijer satru ["you are your own friend, you are your own enemy"]: in this world no one is your enemy, no one is your friend. Only Krishna is your friend—if you make Him your friend. That is necessary.

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A Sadhu's Character

18 December 2010

A sadhu should 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

Once a sadhu was sitting on the bank of the Ganges, and he saw that a scorpion was going towards the Ganges, where it was sure to die. He caught the scorpion and kept it away in a safe place. As he was doing it, the scorpion stung him. Soon it again started moving towards the Ganges, so the sadhu picked it up and kept it in a safe place again. It repeated many times, maybe 10 or 12 times, and every time the sadhu did it the scorpion stung him.

A man, seeing this, thought, "What is going on there? Is this sadhu crazy? What is he doing?!" He came to the sadhu and asked him, "O sadhu! What are you doing? Have you lost your mind? You save this insect from death, it stings you, but still, again and again, you keep saving it. What is this?!" The sadhu replied to the man, "My character is to protect those who are going in a wrong way. Why should I change my character if this scorpion cannot change its character?"

It is necessary to have such quality: somebody may do something wrong, but still we must correct them.

I also heard another story. There was a sadhu who would go every day to bathe in the Ganges after the mangal arati (morning worship). Once, when the sadhu finished his bathing, some naughty boy of that area threw cow dung at him. The sadhu had to bathe again. When he finished bathing for the second time, the boy threw some mud at him, and the sadhu had to bathe again. Time after time, the boy kept disturbing the sadhu: he threw some dogs' stool, monkeys' stool, or even some men's stool at him, and every time the sadhu went to bathe again. The boy could see that the sadhu did not say anything, he only silently went to bathe again, so finally the boy cried to him, "But why?! Why are you not becoming angry? Why are you not saying anything to me?! I have disturbed you so many times, but you only go and bathe again!"

"You did not disturb me. Actually, you did me good."

"What?!"

"Every day I take bath only once, but today I had to bathe ten times. Today, in one day, I have got ten times more sukriti. This is my benefit."

Can you see? This is an example of tolerance.

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Sincere Surrender

18 December 2010

Gurudev told one time that somebody may have one foot already in the door of Vaikuntha, inside, and the other foot outside, but still that person may not enter Vaikuntha—they may still go to the illusory environment...

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 viddhi, are necessary...

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

You promised that you would serve the Lord, but you have forgotten it. That is called illusory environment. How is it possible to come out? Only by surrender to the Lord. Then it is easy. Surrender means not pretending to surrender—we surrender fully (diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana), but after that when Gurudev tells us, "You can do this", we say, "Oh, Gurudev, I am tired..." What is the surrendered mood? It means you surrender fully, you give a full obeisance, sastanga pranam. A full obeisance means the disciple tells their Gurudev, "I am giving you a sword—you can cut my head, you can cut my legs, you can cut my body, that is your matter because I cannot see anything. I am surrendering my everything to you." But then, when you get up, you immediately forget everything... Is what I am saying correct or not?

Mahaprabhu said to Sanatan Goswami, "Are you not shy? You want to use My property, want to spoil My property! This is My property, it is not your property. You surrendered to Me, it means you have given this body to Me. And I told you to keep it safe, not to spoil it." When a devotee surrenders, they cannot spoil anything—they cannot use their mind, intelligence, ego, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, ears for any other purpose. They have to use everything for the service to the Lord, their Guru. Do you understand? It is very hard—it is easy to say, but it is necessary to practise it. You cannot do without practising it.

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Impaled by Illusion

18 December 2010

I told this story once before. There was a guru who was walking with his disciple to some place. That time there were no cars, so they had to walk. They had been walking for a long time, and the disciple said, "Gurudev, I cannot walk any further, I am very hungry!" Gurudev is merciful, and he immediately gave him one rupee coin and said, "OK, bring some chana, chickpea dahl."

The disciple took Gurudev's coin and happily went to the market. Gurudev told him to bring some chana, but instead he began looking around, "Oh, such a big market, such big shops..." He started asking the price of everything—fruit, apples, oranges, paneer, sweets, etc. He bargained about everything.

Gurudev says, "Bring some chana," so you must go to the chana place immediately, but he began bargaining, and that is our mood—our mind is always disturbing, always going everywhere...

So, he asked the price of so many things, and the shopkeeper said, "Everything is the same price: one rupee. One rupee per one kilo." The disciple was impressed, "What a nice area! Everything is the same price here!" Everything is the same: you worship Durga, Kali, Ganesh, or Kartik, you go to Rama Krishna mission, to Bharat Sevashram, or to Sat Sangha... He thought, "It is a very nice area. I do not want to leave this place. Here is my own interest, my own enjoyment."

He bought one kilo chhana, paneer, and came back to his Gurudev.

"Give me what you have bought—give me the chana."

"Oh, no, Gurudev, it is a very nice area, and the market is very nice. Everything is the same price..."

"What?! Everything is the same?! We cannot stay here any longer. We have to leave at once!" Then he saw that the disciple had brought paneer instead of chana, and he became angry that the disciple had not listened to him, "You eat it, I will not take it." The disciple ate everything—a whole kilo of paneer.

"Have you finished your food? Let's go. We have to go to our destination, Vaikuntha, Goloka Vrindavan."

"Gurudev, I will not go... It is a very nice area, there are so many good things here." The disciple became attached. "I have never seen such kind of enjoyment... I will not go from here."

"Tsk, bad karma... Please, go with me." Gurudev asked him many times to come with him, but the disciple refused:

"No, Gurudev, you go, I am tired now. I have just eaten 1 kg of paneer, I have to sleep now..."

"OK, stay here. I am going."

(Sanatan Goswami also left his disciple, Isan. How is it possible? It is the same thing—the disciple's bad karma...)

When he was leaving, he said to his disciple, "You do not want to go with me now, what can I do? Illusory environment can attack you... But Krishna is merciful, so when you are in danger, you will remember me." He gave this boon to him and left for his own place.

The disciple remained under the banyan tree. Later, he thought, "What am I going to eat?" He put the tilak, and whenever he saw anybody was coming down the road he shouted loudly, "Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!" The people had never seen anybody chanting, and they thought, "Oh, such a good devotee, such a big sadhu," and they would give him a coin. In this way, he got some money. He went to the market and again brought some chhana, paneer. Gradually, he grew a big fat belly.

Soon some problem came to that area. Every day somebody went house to house stealing, and all villagers went to the local leader, like the mayor, or the king, and complained that there was so much stealing going on in the area, and there was no police, no security... In the end, one night a big rich and powerful man's house was burgled. That rich man went to the mayor. The mayor asked him,

"Did you see the thief?"

"Yes! I was sleeping, but then I thought I heard some noise, and I saw him."

"What does he look like?"

"Very fat."

"Very fat?"

"Yes, he is very fat."

The mayor sent some policeman to search the area for a fat man. Finally, the policeman saw a stranger, a new person in the area, sitting under the banyan tree—and he was fat. "This is the fat man!" The policeman ordered his men to take that disciple to the mayor's house. Then the trial happened and he was unanimously found guilty. The disciple thought, "Oh, Gurudev told me not to stay in this area... All are equal... I am not a thief, and they are saying I am a thief. They are making a thief out of me..."

Then the sentence was announced. In those days there was no microphone, no megaphone, so they would come out and give a public announcement of the sentence. The sentence was death. In those days they killed people by means of 'shul', impalement. Shul is a kind of a wooden pole that would, from bottom to head, pierce all body of the man placed on it. So, they announced that the thief had been caught and would be executed.

The disciple of the sadhu was crying in the jail, "Oh, why did I not listen to my Gurudev? But Gurudev told me when I am in danger I will remember him..." He began to pray and call out to his Gurudev. All night he had been praying and begging for help—he knew the next day he would be dead. In the end, his Gurudev appeared in front of him and said, "I had told you before that in this area all were equal, and I had told you that you could not stay here, but you did not go with me. Now listen to what I am going to tell you, and you have to follow this instruction. When people will be taking you to the shul, I will also go with you. I will tell everybody that I want to die instead of you."

"No, no, Gurudev, you have not made any problem, I have made all the problem. It was me who did wrong, so I will die!"

"Hey! Guru-mukha-padma-vakya, chittete kariya aikya! [Make the teachings from Sri Guru's lotus mouth one with your heart!] Now is your time. Listen to what I am telling you now, then you will be OK."

"I will, I will."

The next day the disciple was escorted to the shul. Everybody assembled there—the mayor, his wife, and thousands and thousands of people. They saw there was some old bearded man also walking with the thief. The old man, Gurudev, cried out, "Hey! I want to go there instead!" The mayor asked, "Who is this man? Why does he want to go to the shul?"

"You do not know me. I am Janak Raja's astrologer."

"An astrologer? What have you come here for?"

"You made this platform and the shul at a very good time—it is amrita yoga [effective accomplishment] and mahendra yoga [success]. One who goes to this shul will go to Vaikuntha!"

The mayor thought, "I made this shul, and why should they go to Vaikuntha? My father is so sick and suffering so much. I'd rather send my father there. I did not make this shul and spend all the money to send them to Vaikuntha!" Finally, he said, "My father will go to Vaikuntha! Hey, get out of there!"

At this moment, Gurudev told his disciple, "Now is the time to run!" And the mayor put his father in that "Vaikuntha". Do you understand?

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Guru's Protection

18 December 2010

se chhala se-kale krsna sphurabe tomare

krsna-krpa yanre, tare ke rakhite pare

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.241

Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu asked Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, how can I come out of this kind of illusory environment? I have eleven security men..." Mahaprabhu said to him, "That is not your concern. It is not your concern how Krishna will rescue you—if you surrender, He can save you any time; but it is necessary to surrender first."

Do you understand now the protection of Gurudev?

durdaive sevaka yadi yaya anya sthane

sei thakura dhanya tare chule dhari' ane

If a servant somehow falls down and goes to some other place, glorious is the master who grabs him and brings him back by his hair.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.47

Gurudev takes his disciple by the sikha and throws him at the lotus feet of their Divine Master, or Deity.

This is how you must practise...

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

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Mahaprabhu's Pastimes

20 December 2010

Mahaprabhu did so many Pastimes...

One day Nimai was eating soil. When His mother saw it, she slapped Him and took the soil out. Nimai said, "But why? Everything comes from soil—even the food you cook and give Me comes from soil."

Another time when Nimai's mother was cooking—she would use clay pots, and when a clay pot broke, she threw it away—Nimai found a broken clay pot and messed His face with the soot from the pot. His mother became angry, "What are You doing?" She slapped Him, and a neighbour saw it. The neighbour came to her and asked, "What are you doing? Do you not know who this boy is? How can you beat Him?!" Sachi Devi replied, "You do not have to tell me who this boy is. He is my son, and I have the right to chastise or beat Him."

He shows so many Pastimes... He rescued Kazi, Keshav Kashmiri, Digvijayi Pandit, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, King Prataparudra, Chapal Gopal, and so on, but now even in Puri some do not believe in His Pastimes...

Once Mahaprabhu jumped into the sea in Puri and floated all the way to Konark. The sea is so big, we cannot go even five-ten feet into it, but Mahaprabhu got lost in that sea. He was found in Konark, 60 km away from Puri—a fisherman found Him in his net. How is this possible?

He also chastised Jagadananda Prabhu, Gadadhar Pandit... Mahaprabhu told Gadadhar Pandit to take ksetra-sannyas, stay in Puri, and do the service of Tota Gopinath, and Gadadhar Pandit said, "A million of services to Gopinath are equal to seeing Your lotus feet once." Gadadhar Pandit is expert—he is the incarnation of Radharani. Once Gadadhar Pandit wanted to go with Mahaprabhu to Nabadwip, and Mahaprabhu objected, "Seva dosa lage: if you do not follow Me, My words, it will be seva aparadh." Gadadhar Pandit replied, "I will not go there with You. I will go there to see Ai (Sachi Mata)." Mahaprabhu knew He could not compete with Gadadhar Pandit, so He did not say anything. When a boat came to take Mahaprabhu away, Gadadhar Pandit fainted—he had so much affection, so much love and attachment to Mahaprabhu.

Mahaprabhu also performed a Pastime with Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya did not believe that Mahaprabhu was an incarnation of the Lord. He said to his relative, Gopinath Acharya, "You think He is the Lord, but I do not think so. What makes you say He is the Lord?" Gopinath Acharya replied, "I have got some mercy from the Lord, that is why I am sure He is the Lord, but you have no mercy, that is why you cannot understand that He is the Lord."

The house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya and his Deity are still there in Puri, near Gambhira, Kashi Mishra's house. Ganga Mata Goswamini served that Deity before.

There were also Ramachandra Puri and Ishwar Puri. They were both disciples of Madhavendra Puri, but what is the position of Ishwar Puri and what is position of Ramachandra Puri? Ramachandra Puri could not change his character, he made a Vaishnav aparadh, and had to leave. Gurudev told once that if you do a Vaishnav aparadh, then aparadh will go to your Guru, then it will go to the Lord...

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Morning Practice

20 December 2010

The meaning of the songs that we sing every morning is very nice. If you just sing them and read their meaning line by line, you can easily give a one-hour lecture.

First we sing Guru vandana, then two arati songs for Gurudev; then Guru vandana, Bhajare bhajare mana, Vaishnav vandana, Pancha Tattva vandana, Thakura Vaisnava gana, a song about Nityananda Prabhu, and a song about Mahaprabhu.

Emona durmati is a song glorifying Mahaprabhu. Gurudev would always sing it. Bhakti Vinod Thakur's songs teach about Mahaprabhu:

toma hena kata dina-hina jane

karilena bhava-para

tomare tarite navadvipe avatara

mahaprabhu name nadiya mataya

sange bhai avadhuta

"He has brought many humble souls just like you to the shore of the ocean of material existence. Sri Krishna Chaitanya has appeared in Nabadwip to deliver you. ...Bearing the name 'Mahaprabhu' and driving all Nadia mad with divine love in the company of His brother Nityananda."

Bhakti Vinod Thakur at that time sang "Nadiya mataya" [driving all Nadia mad with divine love], but you can sing now "jagate mataya": the whole universe [driving the whole universe mad with divine love].

After Mahaprabhu's song you can sing any song. For example, we sing the song Vibhavari sesa about the Lord. Gurudev says this morning song is very nice.

How many hours are necessary? Wake up early in the morning, practise, and then go to your work. Every office opens at 10 o'clock, so if somebody does a job, leads a householder life, they can also practise. It is not so hard. Come early in the morning to the mangal arati, sing, then take a bath, and go to work. Is it possible or not? But everything is impossible for those who do not do anything.

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."

Kali-yuga has come and everything is going to bad. It lasts four lakhs, 400 000 years, and only about 5 500 years have passed, but it is becoming very difficult. Krishna Himself will have to appear, otherwise so many bad things are coming, waiting for us in the future. At the same time, everything is possible if people only chant the Holy Name and engage in kirtan, Krishna sankirtan movement: it can rescue the whole universe. Nothing else can.

In Mahaprabhu's time also there was much opposition, many problems were coming, and Gurudev said that Mahaprabhu rejected Nabadwip and accepted Puri because He could not tolerate it. One of His class friends was a debating man. He always came to Mahaprabhu and debated with Him, and he arranged some gunda to beat Mahaprabhu. There were so many problems, and Mahaprabhu rejected and left everything and everyone immediately—Vishnupriya, Sachi Mata, and others.

Mahaprabhu even went to Bangladesh for preaching, but some are telling the opposite things about Mahaprabhu. He went to Bangladesh only one time, and you can go and see everyone there knows Gauranga Mahaprabhu. They do not know the pure conception, but they know Mahaprabhu, and they are all devotees of Mahaprabhu. There is not so much misconception, nonsense, but they are a little sahajiya. Sahajiya means they do not get good guidance, an expert Guru. Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur went there only a few times, he did not spend there much time, that is why they did not get good guidance. Kirtan, chanting Hare Krishna maha-mantra are all over Bangladesh, but they do not follow the rules and regulations properly. Still, they are devotees; they have a devotional mind...

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Gurudev's Vyasa Puja Is Coming

21 December 2010

You all know that Gurudev's appearance day is coming soon. Gurudev came to this world on this day to rescue the whole universe.

As you know, he appeared in Bamunpara, but actually, Vaishnav's avirbhav, Guru's avirbhav (appearance) are non-different from the Lord's appearance day, that is why we celebrate this festival every year all over the world.

Gurudev would always stay here in Nabadwip for his appearance day, last year also (2009) he was here, and he is still here, but in samadhi. He sees everything—who offers a flower on his appearance day, who does not, etc.

adyapiha sei lila kare gora raya

kono kono bhagyavane dekhibare paya

Gora Ray continues performing His Pastimes, and those who are fortunate can see it.

Gurudev's lila is also going on, but only the fortunate souls can see it, that is why we must engage everybody in service on his appearance day. Whatever capacity we have—in kaya, mana, vakya, (body, mind, and speech)—we must serve his appearance day, his birth day.

There are so many services here—cleaning, decoration, picking mango leaves, etc. The new samadhi mandir is there, and we can hang some decoration. The construction is still going on, and I cannot say how many more days it will continue, but we are trying heart and soul to install Gurudev's murti very soon. It depends on his wish—it will happen when he wants it to happen.

Gurudev is very merciful. We have no quality or qualification, but still he keeps us, tolerates us so much. Everybody has some fault, nobody is pure, but Gurudev is very merciful—he tolerates us and engages us in service to his lotus feet. We must think of it in this way.

All over the world on this day, devotees are celebrating Gurudev's Vyasa Puja, appearance day, but somebody thinks, "Oh, Gurudev is not here, what we will go there for?" But I think they do not have a relation with Gurudev then. A relationship must come when you realise that Gurudev never disappears, never appears. Guru always stays with us, always gives instruction to us. If we remember his instruction, his words, read his books, then we will always get his association through that, and you can easily understand it.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj also left, and he is also in samadhi, but Gurudev would always say, "Srila Guru Maharaj always protects me, he always gives me energy, gives me enthusiasm, and shelter. He gives everything." We must also think like this. Gurudev has left, but he has left many things here—he has left his devotees, his Deities, his temples; he has left the scriptures, his words. We will find him there.

We must worship and serve him properly, then we will get everything. Gurudev can see everything—if somebody thinks Gurudev cannot see any more, this is a misconception, a wrong conception.

Very soon we are going to celebrate his festival, and we are only praying to him for his mercy, "Give me some power, some energy, some devotional activities, some devotion so that I can serve your lotus feet until death." That is our only hope and prayer to the Guru. Nothing else.

guru-mukha-padma-vakya, chittete kariya aikya,

ara na koriha mane asa

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

Wherever you stay, you must distribute Gurudev's mercy, but first you must accept his mercy—we must empty our heart to make space to accept and keep his mercy. We only ask, "Mercy, mercy, mercy," but we have no place where to keep his mercy. It is necessary to make ourselves qualified through practising, otherwise we will not be able to accept and keep his mercy.

You have a glass full of water, and if you pour more water, the water will spill. First you have to empty the glass. You have some desires in your heart, and you have to remove them first. It is not easy to remove these bad elements from your heart—bhukti, mukti, siddhi, kami, kanak, kamini, pratistha, kama, krodha, lobha, mada, moha, matsarya [desire for enjoyment, liberation, power, money, women, fame, lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy], ego—but it is possible through sravanam, kirtanam, and also mercy from the Guru, the Vaishnavs, through service to the Vaishnavs. Once you get some space in your glass, you will be able to get some mercy and you can fill your glass with that.

There is so much service we can do. Somebody always says, "Gurudev, Gurudev, Gurudev," but when Gurudev wants a glass of water, you cannot give it to him. You keep saying, "Oh, my father is very nice, my father is very affectionate to me." Day and night you keep praising your father, but you do not give food to your father, and you kick him out of your temple or house, "You are now an old man, you cannot do anything. Get out of here." Such is our position.

We always say, "Gurudev, Gurudev," but we are not following what Gurudev wants. You always say, "Gaura Hari, Gaura Hari, Radhe Radhe, Nitai Nitai," but you do not do what Radharani wants, what Gaura Hari wants, what Nitai wants. Then what is the use?

That is why we are praying to everybody—serve Gurudev's mission, serve his devotees. Do service, it will bring benefit to you.

Whatever your capacity is, serve with your kaya, mana, vakya (body, mind, and words). Everybody has different qualifications. Maybe somebody cannot do something nicely, but they have another qualification. Somebody may not be a good singer, somebody cannot sing Hare Krishna maha-mantra so well, but Krishna does not want your tune, Krishna knows what you are singing, what you want to say, Gurudev knows it. You must understand it. Somebody may not be doing something well, but they have some other qualification.

In Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's time, a well-educated man, Sundarananda Vidya Vinod Prabhu came to Gaudiya Math, the main Math, from Bangladesh. At that time, it was rare to see an educated person, so if somebody passed the BA (Bachelor of Arts), people would come to see them from far away villages. So, when Sundarananda Vidya Vinod Prabhu came to the Gaudiya Math, everybody complained, "He is not doing any service." Prabhupad saw that boy and asked Kunja Babu, "You are not engaging this boy in any service. What can he do?"

"Oh, Prabhu, that boy has no quality or qualification. He cannot do anything."

"You are the one who has no quality or qualification, that is why you cannot engage him in service."

Do you understand? Sometimes we say, "Oh, he cannot do anything, he has no quality or qualification," but we must see our own fault first. Before you blame anybody, you must first see your fault.

Vaishnav is adosa-darasi [forgiving], he does not see others' fault, but he sees his own fault. That is the quality of a Vaishnav. If somebody does not like you, you must see: maybe you have some fault, that is why they do not like you. In this way, you can correct yourself.

visaye je priti ebe achhaye amara

sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

People feel affection to their children, wife, husband, relatives, and if you think that kind of relation is coming to you towards your Guru, towards your Guru's mission, then you can think that some devotion is coming to your heart...

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Intolerable

26 December 2010

Maryada-langhana Prabhu sahite na pare: Mahaprabhu cannot tolerate disrespect of senior, bona fide Vaishnavs.

Once Jagadananda Pandit advised Sanatan Goswami to go to Vrindavan, but when Mahaprabhu heard it, He said to him, "Sanatan is My Guru. You were born only yesterday, and now you are teaching Sanatan Goswami?! It is not right."

Mahaprabhu chastised Jagadananda Pandit very much, and Sanatan Goswami became shy to see how much affection Mahaprabhu was giving to Jagadananda Pandit, "Prabhu, You are giving sweet to him, but You are not giving sweet to me." Now, in this age of Kali, it is not like at that time time. If you chastise some brahmachari, he will at once say, "I do not need such a Guru. There are so many other Gurus, I must leave this Guru and go to another one." But Sanatan Goswami was crying that he was not chastised.

You heard also about Srikantha, the nephew of Sivananda Sen.

When Nityananda Prabhu and all the devotees were going to Puri from Nabadwip, there was a dog who followed them. When they had to cross a river, the boat man did not want to allow the dog into the boat (he considered it inauspicious to take a dog in a boat). Sivananda Sen negotiated with the boatman, "I will pay you 10 times the fare," and they immediately allowed to take the dog—suddenly the 'inauspiciousness' was gone. That dog reached Mahaprabhu in Gambhira long before the devotees. Do you understand? How will you recognise a Vaishnav? Just imagine it—devotees had not reached yet, but the dog was already with Mahaprabhu. Sivananda Sen was searching, "Where has the dog gone? Where has the dog gone?" He fasted that day, "I will not eat today, and everybody has to fast this night." He was anxious about the dog, but when the devotees finally came to Mahaprabhu, they saw that very dog eating a coconut that Mahaprabhu had given to it.

Also, on the way at that time there was some tax to be paid. Nityananda Prabhu was walking at the front with the devotees, and Sivananda Sen was behind, managing all the devotees. The tax collector asked Nityananda Prabhu, who was at the head of the procession, for the tax, but Nityananda Prabhu replied, "The leader is behind, he will pay." So many people went through saying the same, "Our leader is behind." There was a big line, and Sivananda Sen was managing everyone, helping them pass the place.

In the meantime, Nityananda Prabhu became very hungry. He was sitting under a tree, and waiting, waiting, one hour passed, two hours passed, but Sivananda still was not coming. "Where is Siva? Where has he gone? These householder people are misers! How is it possible to deal with them?" In this way, Nityananda Prabhu began swearing. Angry that Sivananda was so late, Nityananda Prabhu gave a curse that his two sons would die. What is the meaning of that curse? When Sivananda Sen's wife heard this, she began to cry.

In the meantime, Sivananda Sen finished bargaining with the tax collector and ran to Nityananda Prabhu. Understanding that Nityananda Prabhu was angry, he paid full obeisance to Him saying, "Prabhu, everything is my fault," and Nityananda Prabhu kicked him. Hearing about the curse, he said, "If you get mercy from Nityananda Prabhu and your child will die, that is good! That is a great mercy." Sivananda began dancing! Sivananda Sen was dancing, "I have got mercy today!"

While Sivananda Sen was dancing for joy, his nephew, Srikantha, became angry, "My uncle is an honourable person, a great personality. He brought so many devotees, and so many devotees give honour to him, but Nityananda Prabhu is giving so much dishonour to him. What kind of sadhu is He?!" Srikantha went to Mahaprabhu to complain. Mahaprabhu had already understood what had happened there and asked Srikantha, "Do you wish to say something?" But Srikantha could not say anything. When he saw Mahaprabhu, he could not complain—he forgot everything.

He thought that people would see Nityananda Prabhu giving so much disrespect to a big sadhu, then they would criticise Him, but those who have some pure devotion, who have a deep devotional mood, can easily understand why Nityananda Prabhu had kicked Sivananda Sen. It is a very important matter. If you understand it, then you can understand how merciful Nityananda Prabhu is.

Mahaprabhu Himself gave a certificate to Nityananda Prabhu, "If Nityananda Prabhu brings a drunkard Muslim lady along—if He pulls and catches her, He has no fault. Moreover, seeing this, even Lord Brahma will come and give dandavat to Him."

It is said in the scriptures that if somebody does some sinful work unknowingly, Krishna does not ask for his prayaschitta, atonement—prayaschitta is not necessary. Bhagavan, Lord Himself always rescues His servitors. Through chanting, through service, everything can be removed, but practice is necessary. Practice, strongest faith, and full surrender (sadanga saranagati, six-fold surrender) are necessary:

sad-anga saranagati ha-ibe yahara

tahara prarthana sune sri-nanda-kumara

"Sri Krishna a hears the prayers of those who surrender in this six-fold way."

It is explained very nicely.

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One More Year Passed

31 December 2010

2010 is going to finish today at midnight. Only four hours are left, and one more year will be gone...

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

Life is very uncertain, temporary—we do not know when this life will be gone.

bhajahu re mana sri-nanda-nandana

abhaya-charanaravinda re

sita atapa vata varisana

e dina yamini jagi re

"O mind, serve the son of Nanda's lotus feet, which make one fearless. Day and night I remain awake, suffering from the heat and the cold, the wind and the rain."

Above and below: 'Bhajahu re mana' by Srila Govinda Das Kaviraj

jivana talamala ei achhe ei nai

bhajahu hari-pada niti re

Life is shaky—it is here now, and then it is gone. Serve the Lord's feet!

hari hari! viphale janama gonainu

manusya-janama paiya radha-krsna na bhajiya

janiya suniya visa khainu [1]

O Lord! My life has passed uselessly. I attained a human birth, but I did not serve Radha and Krishna. Knowingly I drank poison.

'Hari Hari viphale' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur

Everybody knows that, but still they do not worship—it is the same as taking poison.

golokera prema-dhana hari-nama-sankirtana

rati na janmila kena taya

samsara-visanale diva-nisi hiya jvale

judaite na kainu upaya [2]

'Hari Hari viphale' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur

This is glorification of the Holy Name. "Hari-nama-sankirtan comes from Goloka Vrindavan, and it is its very wealth, but I do not have any taste, any attachment to that... I always suffer so much in my family life, and I cannot find any relief, or solution."

ব্vrajendra-nandana yei sachi-suta haila sei

balarama ha-ila nitai

dina-hina yata chhila hari-name uddharila

tara saksi jagai madhai [3]

He who is known as Vrajendra Nandan, Vraja Kumar, who is Lord Krishna Himself, came as Gauranga Mahaprabhu, Sachi Suta, the son of Sachi Mata; and Balaram appeared as Nityananda Prabhu. How did they rescue the souls through the Holy Name? Jagai and Madhai are the witness to that.

ha ha prabhu nanda-suta vrsabhanu-suta-yuta

karuna karaha ei-bara

narottama-dasa kaya na theliha ranga paya

toma vine ke achhe amara? [4]

Narottam Das Thakur is praying to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, asking the Lord, "Please, give me some mercy, please allow me to take some shelter at Your lotus feet. Do not reject me. Please accept me." Narottam Das Thakur cries and sings, "Prabhu, You are my only hope, without You there is nothing, no one. My hope is only You—I can depend only upon You."

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 Krishna in the association of devotees without worshipping any demigods.

Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, 13

If you do something for the Lord but do not get good association, proper guidance, then it will not be proper service, this is why it is said "sadhu-sange Krsna-seva" (serve Krishna in association of devotees).

Some also worship so many demigods, but we must follow our Guru-parampara line and follow the way they serve, the instruction they give:

mahajanera yei patha, ta'te ha'ba anurata

Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, 14

And:

mahajano yena gatah sa panthah

Mahabharat

sadhana-smarana-lila ihate na kara hela

Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, 14

Do not neglect, or avoid your sadhan, practising, and smaran, remembering.

asat-sanga sada tyaga chhada anya gita-raga

karmi jnani parihari dure

kevala bhakata-sanga prema-katha-rasa-ranga

lila-katha braja-rasa-pure

Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, 15

Avoid dishonest association, take association of devotees. Association means consulting, talking about Krishna consciousness, about your service, spiritual life—not about material things.

Avoid yogis, nyasis, karmis, jnanis (pursuers of mystic powers, renunciation, material benefit, or knowledge)—reject all this, and only worship Girivaradhari, worship your Guru, the Lord. This is what is necessary.

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Do Not Fear Service

23 January 2011

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

"Krishna Himself appears wherever His sankirtan is going on."

Mahaprabhu said, "I stay at the kitchen of Mother Sachi, where Nityananda Prabhu dances, at the house of Srivas Pandit, and at the house of Raghav Pandit." Wherever there is service of the Lord going on, wherever the Lord's glory and Name are chanted, the Lord always stays and plays there. The Lord's Name, Form, Qualities, Pastimes, associates and features (Nama, guna, rupa, lila, parikar, vaisisthya) are all nondifferent from the Lord Himself.

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

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

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151

Only the fortunate souls can get that kind of devotional seed, and it does not take just a little fortune:

alpa-bhagye seva nahi haya

koti janma thakle bhagya

visaye chhade haya vairagya

Service does not come by just a little fortune. Only after ten million births of good fortune, can you leave this material world behind.

A great fortune is necessary.

Once I said to Gurudev that a brahmachari wanted to leave, and Gurudev replied with a saying in Bengali that, in gist, means "it is not so easy to stay here." My duty is to engage everybody in service to Gurudev, but some do not come to me, and it has been like this since the early days. Some are afraid, "Oh, if I go to Maharaj, he will give me service"—they think it is bad, or they think, "What if I cannot do it? I am afraid." If you think you are doing it, then the burden will come to you, but if you understand that you cannot do anything and the Guru does everything, then what is the problem?

Gurudev does everything, and we must depend on him, "I have no qualification or quality, Prabhu, but you can easily take my service, you can easily accept me..."

When I was a young boy I would sing a song, and at that time, I did not understand what I was singing, but that song's meaning is that the mind always takes us away, but if I engage my mind in the Lord's service, then I will get the result.

Gurudev told it to me many times, and I have also told many times to you that if you serve Vaishnavs, if you serve your Guru, Krishna Himself will come to serve you.

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Service without Attachment

23 January 2011

I remember when I once went to Govardhan, a monkey stole a brahmachari's shoes and he came to me to complain, "Maharaj, my shoes were gone today." I replied to him, "It is good! When you stay in Govardhan and Vrindavan, you must walk on your head, but you are using shoes and the monkey could not tolerate it."

When Sanatan Goswami rejected the last thing he had—he gave his bhota kambal, blanket, to a Gaudiya Vaishnav—and, when asked, told about this to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu said, "At last all your material attachment has come to an end. You have given up, discarded your last material possession."

When I just joined the temple, I was staying in the Indian guest house here. During the day I would do much service and my mind was busy, but at night time when I went to bed, I could not sleep at first. Every day I would dream about writing on the blackboard, teaching at school—every night it would be on my mind. I could not tolerate it, but what could I do? When I came, I only brought one set of punjabi, and because every day, whenever I saw it, I would remember my house, I burnt it. Then was my room key. I had my own room, and I would remember the things in my room, the almira, the bed, and so many other favourite things, but it was too much disturbance, so one day I threw that key into Govinda Kunda. I wanted to forget all that, and slowly, slowly Krishna, Gurudev removed it all.

Whatever birth you take, you will always get a father and a mother, but it is not in every life that you can get a bona fide, honest Guru; but it is possible in this life, this is why I was chastising this man recently. He had service to Nityananda Prabhu, but he went to arrange his nephew's wedding ceremony...

tomara sevaya, duhkha haya yata,

seo ta' parama sukha

All the distress I encounter in Your service is also my greatest happiness.

Saranagati 16.4

Even Brahma may come and show us so much opulence, but we have no time to go there. One way or another, you must use yourself for the service to your Guru, for the service to your Lord, otherwise, as I told that man, you are committing suicide—leaving your service, disobeying your Gurudev's order is the same as committing suicide. We sing every day:

lochan bale hena nitai yeba na bhajila

janiya suniya sei atma-ghati haila

Lochan Das says, "Anyone who did not serve Nitai knowingly committed suicide."

Song ‘Nitai gunamani amara’

Lochan Das says it—it is not my words.

Bhajan means bhaj datu, bhaj means seva. Srila Prabhupad also gave an explanation of the meaning of bhajan.Jiver seva korte korte atma kalyan labha haya. 'Jiver seva' does not mean giving some medicine to people. Jiver seva means you must engage the jiva soul (any kind of jiva souls) in some service to the Lord.

Sometimes it may come to your mind that what you are doing is bhajan, service, but it may be all karma.

When I joined the temple, from 1992 to 1999 I never asked Gurudev, "I want to go to Vrindavan," "I want to go to Puri," or "I want to go to Ekachakra." Never. Gurudev would send me in my brahmachari life for begging and rice collection, and only in 1999 for the first time he sent me to Puri for some service. I had never been in Puri, and when I was at the Howrah station I did not even have a ticket, I just gave some money to somebody at the station. I had to do a big service there in Puri, and I prayed to Jagannath and Gurudev, "Gurudev, you have sent me here for your matter. You will settle the problem." Everybody has some plan, but Krishna said, "I have My own plan, and you must go with My plan." So, He does everything, and you must engage yourself in His service.

If you follow your Gurudev, serve the Vaishnavs, then you can easily call it service.

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Vigraha Is Not a Doll

7 March 2011

Saksad Vrajendra Nandan: vigraha (Deity) is not a doll. This is why it is told: sraddhaya sri murtir sevan [worship the Deity with faith]. It is going on everywhere, but you must have sraddha, full faith, when you give an offering to the Deity.

You know Arjun Mishra's story (when Lord Himself came to him as a boy) and there is also another story. There was a husband and a wife, and they had a son. Every day they did puja, offered the bhog, did everything. Their Gurudev had told them, "Offer bhog and always take prasadam," but they did not have so much strong faith that Krishna was actually accepting it—you give something to Krishna, but you see that the same plate comes back from the altar room, so how can one say that Krishna takes it?

One day this husband and wife told their son, Raghunandan Thakur, to offer the bhog, and they went away somewhere. Raghunandan made the offering, but he saw the Deity was not taking it. He took a gong stick and charged the Deity, "Hey! My mother gives You food every day and You take it, and when I am giving You, You are not taking! Today a little boy comes to offer and You are neglecting him! Why are You not taking from me?!" He talked to the Deity like this, and the Deity began to take the food.

His parents came back from the market and saw that all food was gone. His mother asked,

"Where is the prasad?"

"Prasad? Today you cooked less, and Krishna, the Deity, has taken it all."

"What? Thakur [Deity] never takes it when I offer it. You must have given it to some of your friends, otherwise where could it all be gone?"

"No, I did not do anything wrong." He began crying, and His mother was perplexed.

In the evening, she finished cooking and sent her son to again go and make the offering. Raghunandan again went there and spoke to the Deity, "Now eat! At noon time You ate, and now You are not eating... Eat, otherwise my mother will beat me! She will not believe me. Take it!"

His mother heard his voice and looked through a hole in the door. She saw he was talking to the Deity and the Deity was taking the bhog. She became senseless.

This is happening.

And Sachi Mata also was cooking and crying, "If only Nimai was here today, He would take it... He likes this and this..." She was thinking about it and crying.

Narad Goswami asked the Lord, "Where do You stay, Prabhu?" The Lord replied, "I stay at Srivas Pandit's house, at Sachi Mata's kitchen, where Nitai is dancing, and at Raghav Pandit's house (his sister Damayanti cooks for Me every day)—I stay in these four places."

"Nimai likes this so much, but He is not here, who will eat it? Who will take it?" Sachi Mata always thinks like this, and tears come to her eyes. She cooks and cries.

Mahaprabhu sent Damodar Pandit to Sachi Mata, another time He sent Nityananda Prabhu, and another time Jagadananda Pandit with some cloth. Mahaprabhu asked Jagadananda Pandit once to go and tell His mother that on a certain day Sachi Mata cooked certain dishes, and He came and ate it all. Jagadananda told that to Sachi Mata. On that day, Sankranti day (Sankranti means the end of the Paus month, winter season, December-January, we also make some special pitha, cakes), Sachi Mata cooked patishapta, saruchakli, and many other things for Nimai.

Sometimes with tears she offered the bhog and saw the plate was empty. Nimai had come and eaten everything, but she thought maybe she had forgotten to offer. She went and looked into the pots, but the pots were full (you can see there was an illusion). Sometimes she also suspected her daughter-in-law, Vishnupriya, "Maybe she has eaten it!"

Krishna takes everything that a devotee gives Him. Sometimes Krishna even takes banana skin—Vidura's wife once gave banana skin to Krishna and He took it. Do you see? The Lord takes it. But those who are not devotees cannot give anything to the Lord—they give something, but in lieu of that they ask for something, they have some desire within, some asking mood. That is not niskam bhajan, niskam seva—it is sakam. When you give something, do not keep any desires, do not ask for anything. We must have unconditional surrender, unconditional mood. Everything is causeless mercy, ahaituki krpa.

Also, Nimai went to Sridhar Pandit's house and asked for some water, but Sridhar Pandit did not have a proper glass—there was a hole in it; but Nimai took water from it. Another time, Mahaprabhu took thor mocha [banana stem, banana flower] from him. It was His favourite, and He would play with Sridhar Pandit—He would take that thor, but Sridhar Pandit would not want to give it. Nimai would pull it from Sridhar Pandit's hands, and because thor is slippery, sometimes Sridhar Pandit would lose it and fall down.

In Mahaprabhu's time, Mahaprabhu's Deity installation happened in three places—Vishnupriya's Deity, Gauri Das Pandit's Deity in Kalna, and Dvija Vaninath's Deity. After that, Vrindavan Das Thakur installed the Deity—he always served Nitai, Nityananda, and Mahaprabhu's form came later, after Mahaprabhu had left. In Kalna, Gauri Das Pandit's Deities are self-manifest, and also in many other places, the Deity manifested Himself.

The Lord wants our service. He comes to rescue the whole universe, and He comes in a Deity form—sometimes Himself, sometimes through His devotees. Today is the day when Radha Raman Sundar came to the Kaikhali temple through Gurudev. Some Deities came through Guru Maharaj; some Deities were installed by Gurudev. Also Mahaprabhu's Deity is now in various countries. I am thinking that some places are a few thousands of miles away, but Mahaprabhu went there, and now they are worshipping the Deity there. How merciful the Deity is, how merciful Mahaprabhu is, and how merciful Nityananda Prabhu is —They rescue the jiva-souls all over the world…

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Take Care of Your Seed

7 March 2011

Yesterday there was a wedding festival in a rich family in Bihar. They celebrated so much, but when they fired guns into the sky, some bullet fell down and killed a brother of the groom. It is the Age of Kali: one way or another, they have to die. Death is inevitable, you know that.

There is an example also. There is a pond all covered by kochuripana (water hyacinth). If you throw a stone into that pond, you will see some water, but then a wave comes and the water again gets covered. I saw when somebody's friend died, they came to Gurudev saying, "What is this life for? It is pointless. Nothing. It is only a few moments of enjoyment, but we did not know before that we must practise Krishna consciousness..." They come emotionally, but ten days later they go back to the material world.

Once a man invited us, "You must come to my house tomorrow! I will feed you and your party in the morning, noon, and evening—I will give you prasadam three times a day. Do not go to any other house." I said to him, "Everybody wants us to come to a different house each day so that we can make everybody happy, but you are saying that we must take prasadam at your house three times a day." Anyhow, they forcefully told us to come and I agreed—he was a big man in that village. When we came, he showed me his new house—his room, bathroom, etc. He said, "We will inaugurate the house and do Vaishnav seva. My father did not give any money, I have done all this with my own earnings," and he told his story and boasted that he had done so much—always "I, I, I." Next day in the morning, he went to cut a small tree at the main gate, and there was a small snake near that tree. He was about to cut the tree but the snake bit him. He did not get even three minutes to reach the hospital (the hospital was nearby, just three minutes away from his house). His life was taken.

I have seen with my own eyes how people die... Visaya-visama-visa satata khainu: we always take the dangerous poison of material enjoyment.

I told earlier today about the loving search for the lost servant: Krishna, the Lord, always wants our service. Krishna Himself says, "I do not take food from everybody—I take service from devotees, not from anybody else." Such fortunate souls are rare to find:

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

mali hana kare sei bija aropana

sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

Having travelled throughout the universe and got the mercy of Guru, Krishna, a fortunate soul receives a seed of the devotional creeper. As a gardener, they must plant that seed and water it with practising: hearing and chanting.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151

Sravan-kirtan-jal: you have a flower garden, and if you transplant a new plant but do not give it water—you plant the devotional seed but do not give it proper nourishment—one day it will dry. And also there are bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami sakali asanta—many insects will come and you have to use a spray; many branches will grow and you have to cut them, otherwise the tree will not grow big. It is compared like this in Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila, Chapter 19): if you read this chapter, many things will come.

Somebody says, "Oh, I took initiation 20 years ago, 50 years ago. I took initiation from A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, Srila Prabhupad, 50 years ago"—but they do not practise, so they do not get the result. If you plant a marigold flower and then do not go there for ten days, do not give water, nourishment—how do you expect it to grow on its own?

Practice is necessary. I have told many times: why do we make a festival? It is like charging the battery. For example, today we had to push Gurudev's car because it did not start—the accumulator, the battery, charge was low. So, Gurudev has given you a battery, but if you do not charge it, the battery will be damaged. It is necessary to charge the battery—and charging means sravan, kirtan, Bhagavat-sravana, Mathura-vas, Sri-Murtir sraddhaya sevan [hearing, chanting, hear Srimad Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith], etc. There are sixty-four bhaktangas.

Practice makes perfect, so practice is necessary, otherwise the plant will dry: sukhi' yaya pata. There is also offence to the Vaishnavs (hati mata, a mad elephant), seva aparadh, Nama aparadh. Many kinds of aparadh, offence, will come, so you must be careful.

A devotee sometimes makes some offence, but that offence will be removed through their service. An offence to the Holy Name can be removed through chanting, but if you do not chant, how will it be removed?…

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Preaching Mahaprabhu's Conception

17 August, 2011

...I will not listen to bad things. My Guru is my Guru. Do you know what Vrindavan Das Thakur said? He said, "My Guru is Nityananda Prabhu. Even if He goes to a prostitutes' quarter, He will still be my Guru." I am telling it today strongly.

Do you have any questions?

Question: I wanted to ask you for advice about preaching. I am not a good preacher...

Yes, I know that, but you are asking this kind of question, then I think you will be a good preacher.

Good preaching is not so many things—preaching movement is a simple matter. How did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu preach? He had three types of preaching—a high conception that He discussed with Ramananda Ray, a middle conception that He gave to Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami, and a simple conception that He gave to Raghunath Das Goswami.

The conception that Mahaprabhu discussed with Ram Ray is very, very high and difficult for us, practitioners, because it deals with antaranga prem, intimate love of Radharani. If we try to practise it, we will become sahajiya.

Once somebody asked Gurudev on the Janmastami day, "Gurudev, can you explain Krishna-lila?"

"Do you want to hear Krishna-lila?"

"Yes, Gurudev."

"If you hear it, you will become pregnant."

Gurudev said it very strongly. So, we are not to discuss this. Ramananda Ray explained all stages—karma-misra-bhakti, jnana-misra-bhakti, jnana-sunya-bhakti, suddha-bhakti, and prema-bhakti. It is all in Chaitanya-charitamrita, and it is called Ramananda sambad (the news, the message of Ramananda Ray).

The middle conception was given to Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami—Mahaprabhu told Sanatan Goswami clearly how one should practise.

Sanatan Goswami asked Mahaprabhu five questions, "Who am I (ke ami)? Why am I suffering (kene amaya jare tapa-traya)? How can I prosper in my spiritual life (kise hita, mangal haya)? What is the eternal goal, and how can I attain this main goal (sadhya, sadhan vastu ki)?" Mahaprabhu taught this to Sanatan Goswami and explained how we must practise.

Practising means

sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam

archanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam

Hearing, practising (chanting), remembering the Lord, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, serving the Deity, offering obeisances, considering oneself a servant, thinking of the Lord as of a friend, and full surrender.

Srimad Bhagavatam, 7.5.23

Before sravanam (hearing Hari-katha), there is sukriti. Sukriti means when somebody is used for the service to the Lord, they get a commission from that. You can say to somebody, "Please, say, 'Hare Krishna.'" If they say, "Hare Krishna," they will get some commission through it—you will give some benefit to them. That is a preaching movement. Another example is this. If you take some fruit, put a Tulasi leaf on it, and offer it to the lotus feet of the Deity, you will give benefit to the fruit tree; or you can take some flowers, make a garland, and give it to the Deity. Fruit cannot serve the Lord on its own, but if you offer it, then it is possible. In this way, you can use everybody for the service to the Lord.

Everybody in this world exists for service, and you must use everybody for the service to the Lord, in this way you will give them benefit, sukriti. This is what preaching means.

Then, through sukriti one gets faith.

'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 do not know who your father is, but your mother knows it, and if your mother says, "This is your father," you must believe it. Gurudev says, "Serve the Lord, serve the Guru," and you must believe that. To believe it, faith is necessary.

There are different kinds of faith. There is kamala-sraddha: 'sraddha' means faith, 'kamala' means lotus. Lotus is very gentle, fragile, and our faith is also like that. If somebody says something bad about my Guru, I believe that and become crazy—I leave everything and start dancing to that tune. This is not real faith!

There is also taranga-sraddha: 'taranga' means a wave. Some festival comes as a wave, and everyone comes, but when the wind is gone, the wave of faith is gone too. How many people come for Gaura Purnima? 10 000 people dance and chant at the festival, but how many of them come to serve Gurudev? Not 1 000 people, maybe 5 people—not even 1%! That is called taranga sraddha.

And sudridha-sraddha (firm faith)—it means if somebody says something bad, I do no believe it. I believe my Guru, my Lord. It is necessary to have such strong faith. Haridas Thakur is an example of it. When the guards were beating him, they said to him, "We will not beat you if you stop saying, 'Hare Krishna,'" but in reply Haridas Thakur chanted, "Hare Krishna!" even louder, and they again started beating him. That is called the strongest faith.

Then, through sraddha you will get good association, sadhu-sanga; and through sadhu-sanga you will do sravan, kirtan (hear and practise). A sadhu only speaks Krishna-katha—he will give you advice, his association. A sadhu will not say anything bad about anybody, he sees the fault within himself. Through such sravan and kirtan, bad elements within you will be removed. You may ask me how to remove bad things, bad desire—it is possible to remove it through sravan, kirtan, and nothing else. Kirtan means chanting the Holy Name properly, doing Gayatri three times a day, and so on.

Then smaran, remembering, vandan, offering obeisance, then feeling, "I am a servant of Krishna," feeling, "Krishna is my friend." There are five types of relationships—santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, madhurya (neutral relationship, relationship as a servitor, friend, parent, and paramour). It is a very high conception.

Mind is always very bad—for example, when you see a good-looking boy in the street, even later, when he is no longer in front of you, you can still see him in your mind. Through sadhu-sanga (good association) your senses and the mind will be controlled.

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Sri Krishna Janmastami: Celebrate and Realise

22 August, 2011

I am very happy today because today is Sri Sri Krishna Janmastami Maha-mahotsav, and everyone all over the world is celebrating it. Our devotees are arranging nice festivals in Mexico, Russia, Brazil, America, Malaysia, Singapore, London, Italy, the Philippines, Australia, Venezuela, and other countries. In India also, there are nice festivals arranged in Nabadwip, Dum Dum Park, Kaikhali, Ekachakra, Bamunpara, Vrindavan, Govardhan, Siliguri, etc. All over the world, our centres are making festivals, and it is an important day for us. In some countries, like here in India, they are already doing the arati, and in some countries they are only starting the morning of Janmastami.

Today is a very auspicious day. We are celebrating Yasomati Nandan's appearance day in a very gorgeous way, we are making a grand offering to the Lord. But how will we offer it? We have no quality or qualification, so how will we offer anything? If I surrender to my Gurudev, he will purify me. Good association of Gurudev, Vaishnavs and all the devotees will purify me. For this reason, we must speak Krishna-katha today, and we must surrender fully, not to be in the jealous mood, not to be in the ego mood. If I am showing externally that I am a sadhu, Vaishnav, but inside there is another thing, that is not good, that is kapatata (hypocrisy) and phalgu-vairagya (false renunciation). That is not good for us.

On this day we must think and realise what Gurudev wants, what his mood is, what his service mood is. With love and affection, we must realise it and understand, otherwise we cannot progress in our spiritual life.

We have got some sukriti, some good fortune, and through that good fortune we have got a great bona fide Guru, but Gurudev said, "If somebody already has one leg in Goloka, Vaikuntha, and the other leg is still outside, they can still come out of that place." You must be careful about our line and conception because it is very easy to fall down—to lose your service and go to hell. You have been practising for so many years, and even doing some Vaishnav aparadh, Guru aparadh, seva aparadh, Nama aparadh... but Vaishnav aparadh and Guru aparadh are very heavy. It is very bad and creates a crucial situation in our spiritual life. We must always watch out for that.

Gurudev said to me once, "If you want to get great things, you must avoid small matters. Big things are waiting for you, then why are you running after small things?" And I whole-heartedly believe that. I have full faith in what Gurudev told me.

So, today, whatever comes, everything is good, and I must offer it to my Guru and Vaishnavs. I want to serve all the godbrothers of Guru Maharaj, of Gurudev. Who wants to serve Gurudev, I want to serve them. That is my feeling, that is my realisation, that is my religion.

You must understand what we are making the Janmastami festival for. To show ourselves and our big ego? No. We are making this festival to give much nourishment to the devotees through Hari-katha, through Krishna-katha, by giving good things to them. Also we make this festival because it gives an opportunity for communication. Such festivals do not happen every day, and we lose our faith, we lose our devotional activities because there is a communication gap. We must realise and understand this.

What do we need? What should we do? Why have we come into this world? Why have we surrendered to Gurudev? To get something from him? What? To get benefit? To get money? Name? Fame? To become a guru? No! Not to become a Guru, but to become a great servant! That should be our mood. We should be a great servant—not a great manager, a great temple president, or a great guru. We want to serve our Guru, but how can we serve him? How can we fulfil his desire? We must realise what he wants, what he tells.

‘asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'

visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

Devoid of selfish attachment, and endowed with the ability to see things in relation to the Lord, all sense objects are then directly perceived as being Lord Madhav Himself.

'Vaishnav ke?' by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur

Some think, "This temple is my property," but it is not so. It is Gurudev's property. Gurudev wants all devotees to stay together. Somebody can make many mistakes, but we should not throw them out but correct them. If you pull threads out of a blanket, there will be no blanket left soon.

Everybody has some fault, we are not fully pure—everybody has some quality, and everybody has some fault, and we must take the good quality and avoid the bad quality. Why should you see anybody's fault? See their good side. If we see bad things, our eyes will become blind—if I always look for bad things, I will always see bad things. If there is much dust on a mirror, you cannot see anything; you must clean that dust first.

Anyhow, today is a very special day. You are making an offering to the Lord, but the Lord is Krishna Himself, Saksad Vrajendra Nandan! He is not a doll, He is not just a Deity, He is Saksad Vrajendra Nandan! Rupa Goswami served Govinda, Sanatan Goswami served Madan Mohan, Madhu Pandit served Gopinath, and they talked with the Deity, played with the Deity.

You can play football with Lord Krishna if you can serve properly. Proper service comes through your Guru. You must have full faith in your Guru, then you can get that kind of realisation. Your Guru is Radharani, and Srimati Radhika always captures Krishna, so if I serve Radharani, I will get Krishna immediately; there is no doubt about it. Do you understand? If you invite Lord Krishna, He will not come; but if you invite Mother Yasoda, Mother Yasoda will bring Lord Krishna to your house.

ye-dina grhe, bhajana dekhi,

grhete goloka bhaya

charana-sidhu, dekhiya ganga,

sukha na sima paya

On days when I see devotional service taking place in my home, I feel that Goloka has manifested there. Seeing the Ganges, the nectar from the Lord's feet, my happiness has no limit.

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

You cook every day for the Lord, and Krishna takes it from your hand. What is the problem? You heard that Sanatan Goswami would give burnt roti to Madan Mohan, but Madan Mohan would take that. There are many Pastimes of the Lord, you cannot even image how many. You can see some in Mahabharata, Chaitanya-charitamrita, Krishna-prema-tarangini, Srimad Bhagavatam—there are many Pastimes there, but we do not have the qualification to read about all the Pastimes…

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Sri Radhastami: Worship with Extreme Care

Vrindavan, 5 September 2011

Today is a very auspicious day in our spiritual life, a very important day. Today is Radhastami: Srimati Radharani's appearance day. Srila Gurudev and Srila Guru Maharaj always worship this day in the best proper way.

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela

krsna-bhajana tava akarane gela

"If you do not worship Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna is useless."

'Radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

How can we worship Srimati Radharani? We do not know the process how to worship Her. We sing, "Sri-guru-charana-padma, kevala-bhakati-sadma, bando muni savadhana mate: we must worship the lotus feet of Sri Gurudev very carefully." If we are not careful, an offence can come, so we must be very careful when we worship Radharani's lotus feet—it is very difficult.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj is afraid to read the chapter in Chaitanya-charitamrita about Radha-Krishna's Pastimes: antaranga-lila, prema-lila, Ramananda Ray's prema-katha. He said we must have qualification to read that chapter, and it is very difficult. We can do what Gurudev told us to do, and Gurudev told us that we can worship Lalita Devi, who controls Srimati Radhika, and also we can worship Nityananda Prabhu.

Gurudev is asraya vigraha, and Lalita Devi is Radharani's asraya vigraha. If we do not worship asraya vigraha, we cannot worship vijaya vigraha.

When somebody would say, "Jaya Radhe!" Gurudev would always become angry. When Radharani's Name always comes to somebody's mouth, it is not serious because it is not so easy to take Her Name. If we always say, "Jaya Radhe!" we become sahajiya. We must be very careful.

radhara dasira krsna sarva-vede bole

Who does Krishna belong to? "Krishna is 'Radhara dasira': He is the property of the servants of Radharani. All Vedas state this."

radha-padankita dhama, vrndavana yara nama,

yatane ye nahi aradhila

"Those who have not worshipped the abode named Vrindavan, that is decorated by the lotus-like Radha..."

'Radhika charana padma' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

But how to worship Radharani—how? Yatane ye nahi aradhila, Radha-padankita. Gurudev said, "You must walk in Radharani's place on your head, not on your legs." It is that kind of place, but how can we see it?

andhibhuta chaksu jara visaya dhulite

"Our eyes are blind." If I take poison, how can I taste anything after that? Janiya suniya visa khainu ["I knew that it was poison, I had heard that it was poison, but still I drank it"]. If I take poison, and I know it is poison, I will have to die. We are in Vrindavan Dham, but we do not sing, do not practise, do not do kirtan; we are staying here but living like in an ordinary house—sleeping, eating, doing all these same things...

radha-padankita dhama, vrndavana yara nama,

yatane ye nahi aradhila

But this is Goloka Vrindavan. How shall I worship this place? Srila Gurudev made this our temple here to sing kirtan, to practise, and we must do that, and worship it through that. If you follow your mind, how will you serve?

Gurudev always tells us, "Do not follow your mind. You must follow what I am saying." Something may be going on in your mind—dismiss it. If your mind and heart are full of other things, how will you follow Gurudev? You must become a proper, good receiver. Everything is in your heart, but you must make the fuse.

We take initiation from Gurudev, but what is the meaning of sisya, being a disciple? Diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana: "at the time of their initiation, the devotee offers himself to the Guru." We are not in charge anymore.

Gurudev said to me, "If you serve the Vaishnavs, Radharani's servants, Lalita Devi's servants, Krishna will come to serve you." Even Radharani Herself came to cook sweet rice for Sanatan Goswami.

Sanatan Goswami wanted some sweet rice, and Rupa Goswami thought, "How shall I get sugar, rice, milk, and the other ingredients?" Suddenly, a girl came, and offered him the ingredients, "Please take this."

"Who are You?"

"I am from this village."

"But I do not know how to cook sweet rice..."

"My mother knows how to make it, and she has taught Me something. I can try to make it."

She actually cooked it—brought the pot, made the fire—did everything!

When Sanatan Goswami tasted it, he was astonished, "What a nectar! How much nectar this is!" He searched for that girl, "I want to see that girl, that girl's father," but he could not find Her. Sanatan Goswami began crying, "Rupa Goswami, you do not know... We are here to serve Her, but She Herself came to serve us!"

Then you must understand what this place is...

Gurudev got this place, here is Radha Rasa Bihari, here is Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami's place, here is Radha Damodar also.

Once, a godbrother of Srila Gurudev, a disciple of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj came to Gurudev and offered to make a puspa-samadhi of Srila Guru Maharaj in Rupa Goswami's place. Gurudev answered, "We do not want that. Here everything is mixed—all sahajiya people and anybody can give some money, and their father or mother can also be buried here. I do not want to give my Guru's puspa-samadhi there." Fortunately, he got this place, on the same land with Srila Rupa Goswami's place.

Also Srila Swami Maharaj spent here 10 years, and after translating Bhagavatam he went to the foreign land. At his old age he went to a foreign country! What sort of impression did he get? Also, before going abroad, he first went to Nabadwip: he took shelter of Srila Sridhar Maharaj and asked him for permission to go there...

That is that place. You must worship this place. If anybody sits in this place, plays kartals and chants, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna," they will go to Goloka Vrindavan—such kind of place this is!

But we are not chanting, we are not practising properly—we are thinking about our own self, we are thinking about eye exercise, ear exercise, mind exercise. We are doing all kinds of exercise, and andhibhuta chaksu jara visaya dhulite: our eyes become blind with so much illusory dust. How then shall we see this kind of environment?

Once a sannyasi came to me and said, "Oh, Maharaj, Vrindavan is nothing. Monkeys are always disturbing and passing stool there..." I told him, "Your eyes are like that, that's why your eyes saw monkeys disturbing and passing stool, but some can see the nitya-dham, Radharani's Pastimes here..."

Radharani's birthplace is nearby, in Ramakeli, and the house of Her parents—King Vrisabhanu and Kirtida Mayi—is in Varsana. When King Vrisabhanu and Kirtida Mayi lived in Ramakeli, King Vrisabhanu went every day to the Yamuna to bathe. One day when he went to the bank of the Yamuna, he saw a big lotus with a baby inside it. Raja Vrisabhanu brought that baby home, and the feeling came to Kirtida Mayi that the baby had been born like this.

So many demigods came then disguised to their house, so many people came to see Her, but no one could recognise who She was.

Kirtida Mayi and Raja Vrisabhanu also invited Nanda Maharaj and Yasoda. At that time everyone was wondering how the girl had appeared and why, although so beautiful, She did not open Her eyes. While everyone was talking like this in a crowd, Krishna crawled away to Radharani's room, and when He saw Her face, She opened Her eyes. First She saw Her Lord. She had asked Him before, "Promise Me that when I am born I will not see anyone's face until I have seen Your face."

There is so much lila in Vrindavan Dham, Govardhan, Uddhav Kunda, Radha Kunda…

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When the Family Is Against

6 September 2011

...A devotee is asking what to do. The father of a devotee does not allow them to come and is always against Krishna consciousness.

There is a very nice example, then you can understand it. Raghunath Das Goswami always wanted to go to serve Mahaprabhu, always wanted to go to Krishna consciousness, but his father would always stop him—he would bring him back and lock the door. Some devotees have only one-two 'security men'—their father and mother; but Raghunath Das Goswami's father was a very rich person and he engaged eleven security men for his only son.

Raghunath Das Goswami again and again went to Mahaprabhu, but Mahaprabhu told him, "Go back!"

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

"It is not necessary to show your external devotion so much," He said.

There was also one devotee who grew a beard because he has a problem with his father. You can show your father you are not involved in devotional activities, and inside you can continue. It is not necessary to show anything externally, you can do it internally.

This is why a strong relation is necessary—Das Goswami is an example of that—then no one can stop you.

Mahaprabhu told him in the end, "Go back to your home. Do not show markata vairagya, monkey renunciation."

You have desire for the Lord internally—it is not necessary to show anything to your father. If you show your chanting beads to your father and he becomes crazy, then do not show your father the chanting beads. Be sincere and follow the rules and regulations within (antare nistha), but show your parents that you are not a devotee, or not a devotee any more, then your father will be very happy. He will again send you to Delhi to study, and from Delhi you can from time to time come to Vrindavan to see the Deity. Finished. That is the answer; that is the policy. Krsna ye bhaje sei bada chatur: "those who worship Krishna are very clever."

I have told many times how I came here. My father was searching everywhere, going from place to place. A year later he thought, "My son had some attachment to Bhagavad-gita, maybe he went to a temple." He had searched all Mayapur and then came here. One day—I was making the roof of a building here—I saw from the roof my mother was coming. I immediately came downstairs and told the security, "There is a lady coming. She will probably ask about this person (I told him my previous name). Tell that lady he is not here." Do you see how cruel I had to be? At that time I was a new boy, one year old boy, and I did not have so much foundation in Krishna consciousness, spiritual consciousness. They could have easily converted me and taken me away to the illusory environment. That is why I had to be cruel and do that. This is how it happened.

Somebody may think, "Oh, that boy is very bad. He told his mother he was not here." But it is no problem for me. Somebody can say this or that, it is not a spiritual matter why I shall accept this. What I had to accept, I did that.

Once I asked Gurudev (it was after I took sannyas, in 2002 or 2001), "Gurudev, I have to go to my previous place, the father's house. There is some land in my name, I must sell it, and the money will come to the temple." Gurudev asked, "How much money will you get?" I said I could get a certain amount of money, and Gurudev said,

"OK, I will give that money to you. You do not have to go there."

"I do not want any money, but if for the temple somebody can take the land, why not?"

"It is not necessary to go. I will lose you because of some money. Money is not necessary, I will give you the money."

You see?

So, it is not necessary to show anything. You can pretend and say, "O mother, I will never go there again, I will not leave you. I will make family life, and I will serve you. I will do everything." And you can say, "How will I serve you if I do not study? Please, allow to me to go to Delhi to study." And from there you can go to Vrindavan sometimes. In this way. It is devotional activities. You are telling a lie, but a lie for what? For service. Then there is no problem. If for the service to the Lord you do something wrong, it is not a problem. Who do you do it for? For the Lord. For Gurudev. Then it is allowed to do that. It is not my words, it is said in the sastra, scriptures. And the scriptures also show it—many devotees do something wrong for the service to the Lord. They can do anything for the service to the Lord, to Krishna. That is the main siddhanta.

Raghunath Das Goswami also asked, "How can I come? If I become involved in family life, how will I come? How can I cut the bondage of the illusory environment?" Mahaprabhu said to him, "That is not your business. That is My business.

se chhala se-kale krsna sphurabe tomare

krsna-krpa yanre, tare ke rakhite pare

"Krishna will reveal to you how you can come. Who can stop the one who has got mercy of Krishna?"

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.241

"Krishna will give you some intelligence and you will understand how you can come, how you can again join Krishna consciousness, how you can come to Me. That is not your business. Leave this to Me. No one can tie or lock one if they have got mercy from the Lord, from Gurudev, from Mahaprabhu. They will come. Sure. But they must have desire to come: it will depend upon that person's desire—no one can stop those who have a strong desire, strongest faith. The scriptures say this easily.

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Control the Root

Year 2012

The mind is always naughty, but you must follow Gurudev's instruction.

You are a young boy and sometimes you do something a little wrong, but it is forgivable, because those who are surrendered souls have no offence. Practice makes perfect—it is not necessary to be a big scholar or a big scientist. Which university did Srimati Radharani go to? Did She go to Cambridge or Oxford? Radharani studied in Krishna university. She never went to Cambridge or Oxford, but we worship Her. Nityananda Prabhu left His house when He was 12 years old; what school did He go to after that?

Mercy comes from above, but your pot must be empty—you must remove the ego that you are a great scholar or you are very beautiful, and so on, from your pot—then immediately mercy will come.

Do you understand what my advice is? This is my advice, my prescription. If you follow this prescription, you will be successful in your spiritual life, as well as material life (although a devotee has no material life—a devotee has only spiritual life).

Money must be used for service, not for enjoyment. You can go to Kolkata, Bombay, or Delhi, and spend 2 lakhs rupees for one night in a hotel, but you can also go to Paharganj and spend 100-200 rupees for one night. Simple living, high thinking—what is necessary for your life, that is sufficient for you.

Do not think or hope that you will get married and your son will look after you. He may not do that, then you will be hopeless. In another way, you may be upset that your brother is not looking after your parents, "He is my brother, so he must also look after them." Instead, you must think, "No, no, why should he look after them? I will do it." Always think in a good and proper way, do not think wrong.

If you follow me, you will be a great devotee, the only problem is that you must control your root. Do not follow your tongue, and always take prasad. You can take prasad even five times a day, no problem, but do not take anything except Krishna prasad. Do not eat outside food—soft drinks, snacks, fast food, and so on. If you do not control your tongue, the rest will not be under control too:

jihvara lalase yei iti-uti dhaya

sisnodara-parayana sei krsna nahi paya

"One who is subservient to the tongue and who thus goes here and there, devoted to the genitals and the belly, cannot attain Krishna."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.227

Mahaprabhu told this to a young boy, and who was that young boy? Raghunath Das Goswami.

If you control your tongue—do not talk so much, do not gossip so much, do not eat so much—it will be good for you; and practise from the beginning of the day. There is a Bengali proverb uthanta mulo pattane chena yaya: "morning shows the day." So, if you control all these things, it will be good for you. How is it possible to control?

prasada-seva korite hoya,

sakala prapancha jaya

By honouring the Lord's prasadam I conquer over all worldly illusions.

'Suddha-bhakata' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

If you do not control your tongue, your mind will be disturbed. Prasad seva: always take prasad, do not take what your tongue and your mind want. It is possible if you try to do it.

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Perfect Character

Year 2012

We are singing songs, and it is written there so beautifully:

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana

pratihimsa tyaji' anye karabi palana

Sri Siksastakam Giti, 3.3

You must be tolerant like a tree, and if somebody criticises you, do not give opposition to them, but rather in lieu of that you must take care of them. Only those who can be like this, can be qualified, can have the right to sing the songs, to chant the Holy Name.

That is Mahaprabhu's conception. We sing it, but it is not only singing—we must practise it. Without practising we cannot become perfect. Gurudev told one time: if somebody—even a sannyasi—is not practising properly, they will fall down.

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje

svakarma karileo raurave padi maje

Whatever varna (a priest, fighter, manager, or worker) or ashram (a celibate, householder, withdrawn from the household life, or monk) you may belong to, if you do not worship Krishna but engage in your prescribed duties, you will have to fall into a terrible hell.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.26

So, we must practise properly.

durlabha manava-janma labhiya samsare

krsna na bhajinu—duhkha kahiba kahare?

'samsara' 'samsara' ka're michhe gela kala

labha na ha-ila kichhu, ghatila janjala

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? Time has passed in the affairs of material household life, and I have got nothing—only became burdened...

Kalyan-kalpataru, 3.2.4

Why are we not getting taste? "Aparadha-phale mama chitta bhela vajra-sama, tuya name na labhe vikara: as a result of my aparadhas, my heart has become as hard as a thunderbolt, and the feeling to chant Your Name does not arise in me." If I have a fever and my mother cooks some good tasty food for me, I will not get any taste because my mouth is bitter. So, the taste for the Holy Name will not come if I have some material desire in my heart:

bhukti-mukti adi-vancha yadi mane haya

sadhana karileo prema utpanna na haya

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.175

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, love, divine love, will not come. Nothing will come.

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18

If you ask for Krishna—"I want Krishna"—then Krishna will come; if you ask Krishna for something material, you will get that, but Krishna will not come to you. He will hide. If you ask to satisfy your material desire, devotion will run away from you.

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe

para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

"Live without causing anxiety to others; do good unto others without considering your own happiness."

Sri Siksastakam Giti, 3.4

Para-upakare means giving benefit to others—not giving medicine, clothes, food, etc., but if you give real benefit to somebody, they will forget about their material desires. Prahlad Maharaj asked for that boon. Nrisimhadev asked him, "What boon do you want to get?" Prahlad Maharaj replied, "Please, remove this asking mood forever from my heart—I want such a boon from You."

nahi magi deha-sukha, vidya dhana, jana

nahi magi svarga, ara moksa nahi magi

na kari prarthana kona vibhutira lagi'

"I do not pray to You for physical pleasure, for learning, wealth, or followers. I do not pray for heaven or salvation. I do not pray for any of this opulence."

Nija-sukha pasaribe: do not disturb others for your own benefit, for your own purpose.

Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote in Amara jivana sada pape rata:

Nija sukha lagi' pape nahi dari, I am not afraid of anything for my own happiness. Daya-hina: I am kind-less, that is cruel, and selfish. Para-sukhe duhkhi: if somebody is happy or successful, for example if somebody becomes a temple president, or manager, others are unhappy: "How many days has he been in the temple? I have been here for so many years, I am a disciple of a big guru, and I did not become the manager of the temple, but he did!" It is envy, jealousy. Para-duhkha sukha-kara: if somebody is sad, I am very happy. Asesa kamana hrdi majhe mora: I have so many material desires. Krodhi, dambha-parayana: I think I have done so much service, and I become angry. "I have served Gurudev for so many years, why cannot I be the president of the temple?" It is material desires—"I can take initiation from you, but in exchange I want this."

Nidralasya hata sukarye virata akarye udyogi ami: I always want to sleep, I am always lazy, and I do not do good things. Pratistha lagiya sathya-acharana: I always do bad things for my own name and fame, my own establishment, pratistha [sic]. E hena durjana sajjana-varjita [the virtuous shun such a sinful person like me].

Who is my sajjan—my dearmost people? Somebody can say, "Oh, that Maharaj is very bad because whenever I come to him, he tells me to do some service. I will not go to him." But:

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-mrtyum

"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

Srila Prabhupad once saw sahajiya kirtan going on at some place, and the landlord of the place invited him to give lectures. After four days Prabhupad decided to go back to Mayapur. The landlord was surprised,

"But my program has not finished yet. Why are you leaving?"

"I did not came here to waste your rice."

"I have been sending so much prasadam to you for four days..."

Prabhupad's disciple said, "He did not take it."

"I could not give any benefit to you, so why must I spoil, waste your rice?"

That is perfect. Do you understand?...

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The Disciple's Mood and the Guru's Power

Year 2012

There was a young boy of about 7 years old named Satyakam, who lived with his mother Jabala. Once he said to his mother,

"Mother, I want to be a brahmachari. I want to go to a big bona fide Guru and stay there at his griha, house... But when I come to the Guru-griha, the Guru will ask me, 'What is your father's name? What is your gotra, caste?' What should I say to him?"

"My dear son, I work as a maid servant in many places, and somehow I got you, I do not know who your father is... Tell the truth to your Guru."

"OK, I will tell my Guru the truth."

So, Satyakam went to Acharya Gautam, "O Gurudev, O Acharyadev, please keep me. I will serve you—I will take initiation from you and will stay as a brahmachari."

"You can stay, no problem, but what is your caste, what is your father's name?"

"O Acharyadev, I do not know my father's name. My mother told me she was working in many houses, and somehow she got me, and she does not know what my gotra, caste, is, and I also do not know."

Gurudev became very pleased that he had told the truth, "You told the truth, so I will not wait—I will give you initiation right now." He gave him the initiation, the brahman initiation.

Then Satyakam asked, "Gurudev, what is my service?"

Acharya Gautam had 400 cows, so he sent him to the field to take care of the cows. That was his only service: he had to go alone to the open field and graze 400 cows.

Satyakam said, "I must do some service—without service I will not stay here," so when he got the service of 400 cows, he was very happy and promised to his Gurudev, "I will come back when the number of the cows increases to 1000."

In the end, when the cows' number reached 1000, Satyakam started his way back to his Guru. On his way back, the demigod Vayu, the Air, came in form of a cow (you know that all demigods stay within a cow) and said, "I am Vayu, the Air. I am going to give you some advice, brahma-upadesh, brahma-jnan." He gave him ekpada upadesh and said that Agni, the Fire would come and give him dupada upadesh. Next day he walked with the cows the whole day and in the evening the Fire came in the form of another cow and gave him dupada upadesh. After that, Suryadev, the Sun, came and gave him tripada upadesh.

In this way, Satyakam came back to his Gurudev's house, and when Gautam Goswami saw his disciple he saw that he had become very exalted—the number of the cows had increased and he spoke about the advice from the Sun, the Air, the Fire. Gautam Goswami asked him, "Where did you get this advice? You look so exalted, you have got so much divya jnan..." Satyakam explained, "Prabhu, maybe you sent somebody and they gave some advice to me, but I need Guru upadesh." Gautam Goswami gave him some advice and made him the acharya! Satyakam became a great Guru, and many munis, rishis came to see him. A prostitute's son, but he became a great Guru! Srila Prabhupad told this kind of story.

yei bhaje sei bada, abhakta—hina, chhara

krsna-bhajane nahi jati-kuladi-vichara

"Only a nondevotee can be considered as worthless and abominable: anyone who takes to devotional service is great—there is no consideration of class, caste or any other status for those who have taken up service to Krishna."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4:67

Satyakam spoke the truth, he was a sincere seeker, he had chastity, satitva, and strongest faith. These are necessary. And first comes asakti [detachment from the material environment], because if you are attached to the material things, Hari-katha will not enter your ears.

‘asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'

visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

"If you can engage in service without material attachment (keeping disinterested nature), and seeing everything related to the Lord, you can get eternal service to Krishna."

'Vaishnav ke?' verse 12

When the Guru of the demigods, Brihaspati, cursed Indra, Indra had to get a pig's body. Brahma came to save him. Seeing Indra's attachment, he killed all his sons, but then all his attachment went to his wife, and Indra, in the form of the pig, became very angry. Brahma thought, "How can I do him good? How can I bring him benefit?" He tried again and again to give him some advice, but Indra became only angrier. Then Brahma thought, "I will have to kill his wife." Only after he had killed all Indra's asakti, attachment, did Indra begin to listen. When Hari-katha entered his ears and he got the nectar, he again got his body and went back to Indraloka, svarga [heaven]. Brahma even had to kill for that!

Do you understand? Guru wants to do good for his disciple. A real Guru is like this:

durdaive sevaka yadi yaya anya sthane

sei thakura dhanya tare cule dhari' ane

“If by chance a servant falls down and goes somewhere else, glorious is that master who captures him and brings him back by the hair.”

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.47

Narottam Das Thakur was the only disciple of Lokanath Das Goswami. Lokanath Das Goswami said, "I will not make any disciples," and Narottam Das Thakur said, "Anyhow I must take Lokanath Das Goswami as my Guru." Lokanath Das Goswami used to pass stool in some place, and every day Narottam Das Thakur came to clean that place. Lokanath Das Goswami noticed it and wanted to know who was doing this service, and although he had said he would not make any disciples, he finally said, "There is no other way—I have to give initiation to him!" Then he initiated Narottam Das Thakur. And we all know about Narottam Das Thakur—Lokanath Das Goswami used him for preaching.

We can understand in this way that the Guru does everything. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj did not go to the Western countries, but he sent his dear disciple, Srila Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, to preach Mahaprabhu's words all over the world, and the whole world knows him very well. We do not know much about Lokanath Das Goswami, but we know about his only disciple Narottam Das Thakur.

So, I have told these two stories today—about Satyakam, Jabala, and how Brahma demolished Indra's attachment. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad gave very nice advice through these stories.

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Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu

Year 2012

When Srila Jiva Goswami was about 10-11 years old, he went to search for his Guru, Sri Nityananda Prabhu, and when he came to the house of Sachi Mata, he saw Nityananda Prabhu. As soon as he saw Him, tears streamed from his eyes and he fell on the ground, taking Nityananda Prabhu's feet on his head, and Nityananda Prabhu, tall and strong, picked Jiva Goswami in his hands and started dancing with him!

Nityananda Prabhu knew that he was a relative of Rupa and Sanatan (Jiva Goswami was the son of their brother Anupam, and therefore their nephew), that is why He was so happy to see that boy.

Jiva Goswami's father had passed away and Jiva Goswami knew he had no burden left, so he wanted to go to Vrindavan and always asked Nityananda Prabhu for permission to go there. (Although he was so young, he did not go on his own, he kept on asking for permission to go there.) Finally, Nityananda Prabhu gave him permission to go, "Yes, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has already given His permission—all your family is already in Vrindavan. Mahaprabhu personally gave this special place to all your family. Your place is in Vrindavan, go there at once."

He started his journey. With both hands raised, he would sometimes chant 'Sri Krishna Chaitanya' and sometimes 'Rupa Sanatan'. He was a little boy, but he walked without stop, chanting in this way and thinking of Vrindavan, "When will I see Radha-Govinda? When will my heart and my eyes find their fulfilment? When will I see the Pastimes of Radha-Krishna?"

He did not take anything with him—no food, no money. He did not think about the future, about what he would eat; he kept walking, thinking about the Lord, about Krishna, and some food automatically came to him. He thought of the Lord and never shared his sadness or feelings with anybody.

First he reached Mathura—he saw Madhu-puri, the birth place of the Lord. After that, he went to bathe in the Yamuna, and from there he could see Vrindavan. Seeing Vrindavan, tears came to his eyes.

He was so happy when he entered Vrindavan. He immediately went to see Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami: he prayed to them and paid dandavat to their feet.

When he asked Sanatan Goswami for his order, Sanatan Goswami told him to serve Rupa Goswami, and he told Rupa Goswami, "Take this boy." This is how Jiva Goswami started his service to Rupa Goswami.

I have no power to say what kind of devotion to his Guru Jiva Goswami had. He always thought of the service to his Guru—his mind and body were always engaged in service. Jiva Goswami's service cannot be compared to anyone's service. Whatever order he would get, he would place it on his head and do it all the time—his mind never went to any other place. He only did what he was told to do, and whatever he did, he would be so happy, it was always fruitful, successful.

Gradually, he became a very big scholar. He was only about 10 years old, but he wrote first Harinam-amrita-vyakaran and later so many other grantha, scriptures! He did not go to Oxford, he did not go to Cambridge. How is it possible? Only by mercy—he got direct mercy from Nityananda Prabhu, then from Sanatan Goswami and Rupa Goswami; and only through service—through continuous service.

He would sweep the Radha Damodar temple (our Vrindavan temple stands right next to it), then wash it with the water that he would bring from the Yamuna; then he would massage Rupa Goswami's body with oil, bathe him; then he would cook, offer the bhog, do the puja, write the books, and so on. Sanatan Goswami would cry seeing Jiva Goswami's renunciation, but at the same time both he and Rupa Goswami were very happy with his service and character, and Krishna-prem always came to his body.

When Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami left, Jiva Goswami always cried, rolling on the ground... He always thought of Rupa and Sanatan, and he was very sad alone.

Once Rupa Goswami came to him in a dream and said to him, "Do not be sad, do not cry. Do your service, preach, and do not worry, I will send somebody to help you." Next day Acharya Srinivas came, and the day after Narottam Das Thakur came. Jiva Goswami was very happy to get their association to preach Krishna consciousness. He talked to Acharya Srinivas and Narottam Das Thakur about Krishna-lila, they read together, and he taught them everything—how to serve Radha-Govinda, how to preach...

(The above is an interpretation of Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhura Sochaka by Narahari Thakur)

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Initiation into Chanting of the Holy Name

26 February 2012

The sastra told about the religion for different ages—Satya, Dvapar, Treta, Kali. In Satya-yuga, people's religion was meditation, dhyan; the lifetime was 100,000 years, so they did meditation for 60 or 70,000 years. In Treta-yuga, the lifetime was 10,000 years and the religion was yajna, fire-sacrifice. Asvamedha yajna—they would put the horse in the fire; naramedha yajna—they would sacrifice men; rajasuya yajna—they would make big, big ceremonies. That was Treta-yuga's religion. Dvapar-yuga's religion was archan, puja, and the lifetime was 1,000 years.

In Kali-yuga, the lifetime came down to 100-200 years. Krishna Himself thought, "The lifetime in this Kali-yuga is short, so how will they be rescued? They will be rescued from this kind of environment and reach My place by chanting the Holy Name." We are His children—"loving search for the lost service," He is searching for us, "How will our child come back from the illusory environment to our own place?" Only through the chanting of the Holy Name can these kinds of things be attained. Krishna Himself appeared in the form of the Name (Krishna's Name, Beauty, Pastimes, Associates are nondifferent from Krishna) and came as Gauranga Mahaprabhu to distribute this Holy Name, so only He and His associates can distribute it.

Gurudev gives Krishna's Name to the heart, and then it comes to the mouth, tongue. Krishna will dance there Himself (dance means chanting). If you ask me, "Maharaj, can you dance?" I will need some level place. If there are holes, and bumps—some place is high, some place is low—I cannot dance there. If you want to dance, you have to level the place. Tongue is necessary—chanting, chanting, and taking prasadam, then the tongue will be level and Krishna Nam will dance on your tongue. Gurudev keeps, puts the Name inside your heart, but the Name will come to your tongue.

There are some rules and regulations for levelling the tongue—not to say bad things, not to talk so much about nonsense things without Krishna consciousness, only chanting the Holy Name, only preaching. Jive daya (be kind to the souls), name ruchi (relishing the Name), and Vaishnav-seva (serve Vaishnavs). What your Gurudev or a Vaishnav told you, you have to follow that.

There are also four obstacles to the Holy Name, 32 kinds of seva-aparadh, 10 kinds of Nama-aparadh, and 4 types of bad habits where Kali stays in this age and that you must always avoid because they are very bad for spiritual life. First is dyutam, gambling, playing cards, games, etc.; pan—intoxicants, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, etc.; striya—illegal sex; and suna—jiva himsa, do not kill anything (do not eat fish, meat, and so on).

Food that is just vegetarian is also not for Krishna consciousness. You must take prasad. Monkeys also eat vegetarian food, cows also eat grass, calves drink milk, etc. They are vegetarian, but do they get Krishna consciousness? No. Markata-vairagya—monkeys show so much renunciation, they go about naked, eat only fruit, leaves, but inside they have another material desire. In this world also there are many sadhus, many gurus—they dress as sadhu, show they are sadhu, but inside there is material desire. That is called markata-vairagya. Marka means monkey. If you go to Ganga Sagar Mela, there are many naga sannyasis, walking naked, with no attachment to anything, but they always have some material desire inside—they forcefully ask everyone for money. Everybody pays dandavat to them, but what for? Monkeys also show they are renounced, but inside... If you go with some banana, sweets, fruit to offer to the Deity, they forcefully take it—for their own enjoyment. So, this kind of vegetarian food is not necessary: you have to offer what you eat. If you like singara, samosa, buy and give it to the Deity. After it is offered, take prasad.

And on Ekadashi tithi, Ekadashi day, do not eat rice. Scriptures say that if you take rice on Ekadashi day, it is equal to cow's meat. You can make alu dum, boiled potato, fruits, milk, paneer, some subji, etc. If you are hungry, you can eat 5 kg of boiled potato, it is not a problem. There is no such excuse as "I cannot do that, I cannot follow the rules, so I will not do it," or, "I cannot chant, so I will not chant." No.

This Holy Name has come through the Guru-parampara. It comes from Krishna to Brahma, from Brahma to Narad, from Narad to Vyasadev, from Vyasadev to Madhva Acharya. In this way it comes to Madhavendra Puri, from Madhavendra Puri to Ishwar Puri, and from Ishwar Puri to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu Himself took initiation from Ishwar Puri. He is the Lord, but He shows that the Lord has to take initiation. He came in the form of a human, so He is showing example to others.

In Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Krishna Himself told Arjun that he had to fight—Krishna is the Guru, Arjun is a disciple, and Krishna is teaching His disciple. First Arjun said, "No, no, no, no," but finally he said, "I believe you!" Faith, strongest faith, is necessary. Gurudev also said that chastity, satitva, is necessary, and chastity is very rare. It means you must follow your Guru. Gurudev gave an example: you are walking and see a snake, "Gurudev, there is a snake, a snake!" "No, no, it is not a snake, it is a rope," and you must believe that—that is called chastity. You must believe what Gurudev says. This is how you should maintain your life.

Also [addressing a male initiate; does not apply to ladies], you should cut your hair short. Long hair is not necessary for your health. What is it necessary for? Nothing. If you cannot have a full shave, cannot shave bold, then keep your hair short. Krishna will accept you—it is not necessary to keep hair to show it to others. I am telling it to you intimately.

So, the Holy Name then comes to Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj, then to Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and then our Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, who is the Founder-Acharya of this Math. In his lifetime he told to Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, "If anyone wants to take initiation, you will give it to them." He got this Holy Name from his Guru, and I got this Holy Name from him. In his lifetime Gurudev said to me, "If somebody wants to take initiation, really wants to chant the Holy Name, you can initiate them." So, in his lifetime also I gave initiation, in 2008-2010—when he was not well he told me to do so.

...So, first chant the Pancha-tattva's name. This big bead on top is called Sumeru. Start your mala from here:

sri krishna chaitanya prabhu nityananda

sri advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura bhakta-vrinda

Chant the Pancha-tattva's name, ask them for mercy, pay obeisance to them—they have brought the Holy Name to this abode. Without their mercy we cannot chant.

Then start chanting from the big bead of the mala,

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

In this way, chant bead by bead, from the big beads to the small beads, then turn and chant from the small beads to the big beads (without crossing the sumeru bead). In this way. Chant 16 rounds or more every day. Chant without offence, and Krishna will reveal in your heart, you will be successful in your spiritual life. If you do not get time, you must chant at least four rounds every day. If you talk much, gossip, etc. and think you can chant only four rounds, that is not good. You are now in the illusory environment, and if you do not take the medicine, thinking, "Oh, I will take it later," you will not come out. This is your medicine [pointing at the mala of the newly initiated devotee].

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Come to your home

9 March 2012

It is my strong feeling that it is the mercy of Gurudev, the desire and the well-wishes of the devotees all over the world and all over India that this year's Gaura Purnima will be peaceful, and Gurudev has fulfilled the devotees' desire. Without you joining how can a festival be successful? You have joined, so the festival has become glorious.

Mahaprabhu told the devotees who were going back after Ratha Yatra,

pratyabda asibe sabe gundicha dekhibare

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 1.48

"Come every year to see the Gundicha."

So I hope that every year you will come to see Guru Maharaj's samadhi, Gurudev's samadhi, visit the holy places, take the association of the devotees. I pray to you all that you come every year. You may think, "How will the money come?" But if you have a strong desire, Mahaprabhu will send you the money to come here.

We are one family—the family of Gurudev. In my previous family, all my relatives lived together with their sons, daughters, everyone, in one house. I heard they still live like this, even though my brother is 60, my cousin is 55, but still they are together; for the last 300 years they have been gathering to celebrate Durga Puja every year, and to this day all the family comes to celebrate it.

We are like this too. We must protect our mission. Somebody may be doing something wrong, but Gurudev would always say to me, "When one door closes, another door opens." So, that is not a problem, we must continue. We must not see bad things. If somebody is doing something bad, we will take good from them and reject their bad side. Gurudev gave one advice to me, "If you always think of someone's bad quality, that bad quality will come to you."

So, I am very happy with you all. I am telling you again: help Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math everywhere, preach properly, maintain your spiritual life properly as Gurudev advised, and I will be even happier with you.

You are thinking, "This boat is going fast, this boat looks good," but chastity is necessary. You have a good husband, but you are thinking, "Another man is better than my husband," and you immediately go there. It is not a good idea. Do you understand? It is not a good idea. Remember that. You have to be chaste, have to be clear. Take Gurudev's boat, and one day that boat will take you to Vrindavan. You must believe that.

We must pray to our Guru, our Guru-varga, pray to our Gurudev, "So many people are going to Goloka Vrindavan, there is so much place there. If you can keep me there as a blade of grass, that would be good.”

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The Meaning of Sahajiya

23 December 2012

Today I went to the Santiniketan University, and last night we went to a house that belongs to the brother of the Indian president and had a programme there. They organised a fair for intellectual people. Before we did not make a programme there, but this time there is a little progress and yesterday and today there was a large assembly there. About 200 devotees came for prasadam. The house is small, it accommodates not more than 40 devotees, but there was a loudspeaker outside, so when I gave the lecture today it could be heard miles around.

Actually, it is hard to preach in that area because they are all educated people and they are brought up as brahma-jnani [interested in impersonal aspect of the Lord], following suska-jnan [dry knowledge], mayavadi—they believe that Krishna has no form. Many years ago I preached there and brought two families to Gurudev's lotus feet, and they always ask me to come here for preaching. The people there are all mayavadis, nastik. Bhakti Vinod Thakur said that those who believe in existence of God but do not believe that God has a form, are equal to nastik (atheist)—they actually do not believe in God. That is the kind of people who gather there.

Many foreigners come to the Santiniketan University to learn Bengali and Sanskrit. They do not believe in reincarnation—they do not believe that a jiva soul always changes the body and that after death we are born again.

So, I went to preach there. I gave some lecture there and initiated one person today. They were very happy to hear the lecture. One old man asked me today what the meaning of sahajiya is.

We sing this song, you know it:

yasomati-nandana vraja-vara-nagara

gokula-ranjana kana

Sri Krishna, who is known as Kan, is Yasoda's darling son, Vraja's paramour, Gokula's delight...

vipina-purandara navina nagara-vara

vamsi-vadana suvasa

He is the king of Vraja's forests and the best of young paramours. He beautifully plays the flute.

Who is called navina nagar? Nagar means one who has more than one wife; navin means always new. So, navina nagara means one who always takes a new girl. Bhakti Vinod Thakur writes this about Krishna. Krishna can do that, it is not a problem, but if we are going to do that—if we imitate what Krishna does—then we become sahajiyas. Sahajiya people always want to imitate, to practise Krishna's Pastimes (what Krishna did), Mahaprabhu's Pastimes (what Mahaprabhu did). That was my answer, and they were very happy to hear it.

I have told before also this story of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Srila Prabhupad. Many boys would eat sweets and fruit without paying for it—they wanted to do what Krishna was doing. They said, "Why not? Krishna did that before, so why cannot we do it?" And Swami Maharaj replied, "OK. Krishna also lifted the Govardhan Hill with His one little finger, but you cannot do that. If you can do it, then you can steal sweets." Srila Swami Maharaj gave this example.

Question: We find in Srimad Bhagavatam and the Vaishnav songs there are many preparations that pure devotees cook for Krishna. If we cook those preparations, is it considered sahajiya or not?

Cooking for Krishna is not sahajiya. We cook for service, for Krishna, but we cannot do what Krishna did for our own enjoyment. We cook to please Krishna, to make Krishna happy. Do you understand? It is not like you are doing some nonsense and think you are making Krishna happy.

At the same time, if you cook for your own happiness, for your own enjoyment, that is sahajiya. If you use Krishna's name, use Gurudev's name saying, "Oh, I am cooking for Guru, Krishna," but actually you cook and eat it yourself without offering it to Guru, Krishna, it is sahajiya.

Question: Now how can I cook without thinking about myself? It is very difficult...

It is not difficult. Everything is for Krishna, so cooking is for Krishna too. There is nothing difficult in that. When you cook and offer it to Krishna, you can immediately die after that, then you cannot take the food. You should think, "I want to cook something for Krishna, but I do not know whether I will be alive or not—I can die at any moment..."

Question: What is the difference between mayavadis and sahajiyas?

Mayavadis are very dangerous—they are much more dangerous than sahajiyas. Sahajiyas believe that Krishna exists, He plays, He has a form, and they want to be like Krishna, but mayavadis do not believe Krishna has a form (nirakar), they are atheistic. That is the difference.

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Pratistha, Singing Songs and Doing Kirtan

23 December 2012

Question: What is the difference between pratistha and sahajiya?

Pratistha is different. "I want to be a guru. I want to be a big boss. I want to be a temple manager. I want to be a controller. Everybody must listen to me. I will kick them from the temple, I will manage everyone." That is called pratistha. But there is also another kind of pratistha: vaishnavi pratistha tate koro nistha (you must firmly establish yourself as a servant of the Lord).

If Gurudev gives some declaration and some pratistha comes, you should not become proud. Pratistha is always for Guru. For example, when a garland comes to you, you should think, "Jay Gurudev." If I get 10 rupees pranami, why do I get it? Because Gurudev gave me sannyas, Gurudev made me a Guru, that is why I am getting some donation, pranami. Somebody pays dandavat to me—because I took initiation from Gurudev, I am a disciple, a devotee of Gurudev, then they are giving obeisance to me. If you think that everything is for Guru, pratistha will not attack you so much—pratistha will not be able to disturb you.

If, however, you think, "I am a great Vaishnav. Everybody must pay obeisance to me," this is not right. You should think, "I became a disciple, that is why everybody pays obeisance to me. I am following my Gurudev, that is why everybody follows me. It is for my Guru. Whatever I am getting, I am getting it for my Guru." If you think in this way, then pratistha cannot disturb you.

Somebody may think, "Oh, I am the pujari. Without me, the temple cannot run," this kind of thinking is also pratistha—they do not know that Radha-Krishna, Nityananda Prabhu, Mahaprabhu do Their own service Themselves.

"Sukhe duhkhe sarvadai sama: whether happiness or unhappiness, it is all the same." A devotee should be like this. Any kind of position can come to me, be it a manager or anything else; somebody can also criticise me, say bad things about me behind my back, but we must think, "They can say many things about me—no problem, I am actually worse than that."

If you think like this in your mind, then you will always get happier and happier, you will always get energy for service and you will be happy to do the service. Everything will be peaceful every day—all problems will go away.

Where there is thesis, sometimes antithesis will come. When you do something big, if some opposition comes, that is not a problem. We must carry on, go forward.

Question: What should be the attitude when playing the mridanga?

What is the question? Playing mridanga means always thinking about your Guru. Always think of Krishna, think of the song. When you play the mridanga, you must sing the song at that time. "Kirtana prabhave smarana haibe": when you are doing kirtan you can practise remembering. When you are singing a song about Nityananda, remembrance of Nityananda will come. That is necessary.

Question: When we are singing, should we remember the meaning of the song or just sing without thinking of the meaning?

Actually, if you understand the meaning of the song, you will get more pleasure, it will be then kirtan. And we do not really sing songs—we do kirtan. Singing a song and doing kirtan is not the same thing. Most of the people sing songs and do not know their meaning, but if you know the meaning of the song, you will actually get pleasure.

Kirtan means practising—practising Krishna consciousness. When you practise Krishna consciousness, you will get pleasure. If you just sing a song, you will not get pleasure. If you know the meaning of the song, you will always get energy to do kirtan; if you just sing a song, you will not get that energy.

When somebody does not understand the meaning of the song, they start playing, making naughty, disturbing when others are singing—I have seen this many times... But those who are doing the actual kirtan get pleasure and always do kirtan. When one does Krishna kirtan, chants the Holy Name of Krishna, Krishna's Name, Beauty, Pastimes are all there. Nityananda's kirtan is Nityananda's Pastimes, Krishna's kirtan is Krishna's Pastimes, Mahaprabhu's kirtan is Mahaprabhu's Pastimes. Remembering is also one kind of practice.

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Chastity and Service Attachment

24 February, 2013

A chair has four legs. If a chair has only one leg, it will fall down. So, your Guru is like one leg of the chair, the other legs will depend upon you. You have taken initiation, but you are not chanting properly, not practising properly, then you should understand that you cannot prosper, cannot increase your spiritual life. You may take the devotional seed, bhakti-lata bij, into your heart, but if you put the seed and do not water it, then it will not grow. Sravan-kirtan jal: water means chanting, practising.

Some kind of disease may come also. Disease means, for example, there are many trees growing in a place, but if you see a tree cannot grow nicely because of many bushes, branches and other kutinati, you have to cut these unwanted bad elements, and the tree will grow. These bad elements are kama (lust), krodha (anger), moha (illusion), rup, ras, gandha, sabda, sparsa (enjoyment through form, taste, smell, sound, and touch). You must be careful.

Yes, you think you can chant, and you chant, but why then do you become tired?

If you walk one kilometre, you become tired. Even myself also, when I walk I become tired, but if I chant and walk for 3-5 hours, I am not tired. I am telling it as an example. If I walk to Bakarachandra, oh, I am so tired, but when I chant kirtan and walk 3 hours, I am not tired because such is the power of the Holy Name. Actually, you can do anything for the service of the Lord.

There is a story of Dhanurdas: his wife went to a bad man for service to the Lord. And Gurudev told me, "You can go to a prostitute's house for service, begging some money from them. They sell and use their body for that bad selfish enjoyment to earn their living, but if you take some money from them and give it to Krishna, that money becomes good."

Even Gurudev told me also once about the Kaikhali temple. I said to Gurudev,

"Some brick elevation has been done around the pond."

"What will I do with the pond? Will you cultivate fish?"

"Gurudev, what will I do with the fish?"

"Sell that fish, and you can use that money for the service of Radha Ramana Sundar."

Somebody will eat that fish, but that fish is giving its life and some money is coming, so the fish is using its body for the service of the Lord. We give benefit to that fish.

In this way, Gurudev would teach me so much. He would give many examples and teach: what is called chastity, what is called sincerity. He would tell me about that all the time. Gurudev also said to me, "Everybody is doing some service, but only few devotees have attachment to their service—but that kind of attachment should come."

I am sad today to see these people. Some Bengali people come, their train is leaving, and they say to me, "We are leaving now..." They come, give some pranami, and leave quickly, but, "When will Gurudev come to my home? When will I come to Gurudev again? When will I go to the Lord? When will I see Nityananda Prabhu?"—that kind of mentality, that kind of desire is not coming to their hearts. That is my only sadness...

Once, I remember Gurudev called me from Nabadwip. At that time I had so much work there, but he told me to come immediately, "Come today, I want to talk to you." He told me to come in the morning at 3 o'clock, and I caught the first train at 4:15 and came to him. He told me something, "Oh, I called you for this purpose..." But he did not tell me to go, so I was sitting, took some breakfast, and 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 o'clock—I was still sitting and sitting, then he took prasadam, and in the meantime I was getting very annoyed, "I have so much work in Nabadwip, but what can I do? Gurudev is not saying anything." Finally, Gurudev smiled and said, "You are very busy in Nabadwip at this time, but now I have bound you, tied you here. You feel so bad, so anxious and annoyed because there is so much work. No! That is not work—that is karma! I am telling you, 'Sit here and do nothing'—that is service!"

Another time, I remember, Gurudev said to me, "Acharya Maharaj, how is your blood sugar?" I said the number for that day, and Gurudev said, "OK, do not eat sweet things, do not eat potato." After a while, some lady come in, paid dandavat and handed him a packet (Bengali ladies always come in, pay dandavat, give some sweets, money, a garland). Gurudev opened the packet and offered a sweet to me. I was about to take it when Gurudev cried,

"Hey! Just now I told you not to eat sugar, sweet!"

"You gave me your prasad. I did not try to do it, you gave it to me!"

"I am testing you!"

What is preferable? I am doing some service, this is service, and that is service too. Gurudev tells to do both things, and both are service, but you must do the service that is more preferable.

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When One Feels Hopeless

30 April 2013

There is no retirement in a devotee's life. We must do service until death. What is there to be hopeless about? Gurudev himself said, "If those who take initiation from me can until their death practise Krishna consciousness properly, they will get real home: they will stay with me, where I am." When one leaves their body, Krishna very soon takes them for service to another place, and even in this life, in this human body also—you have got a good, bona fide Guru; but after Gurudev expired, Kali and maya have become much more powerful and stronger. I see that. Gurudev told me, "You must finish the service I was not able to finish," and I am trying to: so many obstacles are coming, but I am trying to do that and trying to attend to the devotees because sometimes they feel hopeless.

They think maya, illusory environment, is very strong, even though they do so much service. Krishna is supreme, all universe is for Him, but we do some service here and we think we have done so many things, but actually one jiva soul's service is nothing—what can we do for Him? Because of our ego we think we have done so many things and we are doing so many things—that is why we become tired and hopeless. But why should we be hopeless?

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that in this world many people would not follow pure Krishna consciousness, but do not become hopeless. If you try until death and if you practise properly the main process for a practitioner's life—what Mahaprabhu taught to Sanatan Goswami (abhidheya-tattva); what Prahlad Maharaj, who was only five years old at that time, advised his father (kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam—hearing, chanting, remembering, offering obeisance, rendering service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission); if you follow

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-

sango tato bhajana-kriya

tato 'nartha-nivrttih

First comes faith, then take good association, practise, and your offences will go away.

Sri Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 4.8

and also jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnava seva, if you chant the Holy Name without offence and serve Vaishnavs—then even if you are a householder you have nothing to worry about.

There is some cause why maya attacks you—when you are weak, a disease can attack you. You must think that when maya attacks you it is not maya's fault, it is your own fault. Why does maya attack you? Because you are not following properly: you are not practising properly what is favourable to devotion, and you are not rejecting properly what is unfavourable to devotion.

We do not try to follow, worrying, "Oh, what will happen?" and we forget immediately—it goes into one ear and comes out of the other. We do not listen properly.

So, if you practise properly what Mahaprabhu told Raghunath Das Goswami, what Mahaprabhu told Sanatan Goswami, what Mahaprabhu told Rupa Goswami; if you read every day, if you sing every day, remember every day, then I think, I believe that maya will not attack you. Maya will run away from you. If you read Chaitanya-charitamrita, the chapter about abhidheya-tattva, about Raghunath Das Goswami's teachings, and Sanatan Goswami's teachings, if you practise singing songs in the morning and in the evening, I think maya will not come and you will not be hopeless—you will actually get pleasure, pleasure, and more pleasure.

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Firm and Fearless

24 June 2013

We are here today by the mercy of Gurudev, by the mercy of the devotees, and we are praying to all devotees that they practise Krishna consciousness properly. Sometimes devotees face so much problem... When we go along the current it is not necessary to do much hard labour; but when the current is going against us, then we have to labour hard. We must practise hard for our spiritual life.

We are fallen souls, we have no quality or qualification to serve the devotees, to serve the Vaishnavs, Gurudev, the Lord, but by the mercy of Gurudev and through our practising life we can become qualified for pure Krishna consciousness.

Krishna is taking us home, and He will clean us. We are dirty after so many lives, so many years of being engaged in our own enjoyment, using the Lord. In this world also, I have seen people using their Guru, using the Lord for their own purpose. It is not right, we are jiva souls, servants of the Lord, and must serve Krishna. Because of our ego, illusory environment, we think we do everything, and we do not think that Krishna does everything.

There is a reason why we do so many things. We always make so many festivals—just a few days ago we made the Deity installation festival in Siliguri, then we went to Ekachakra, and before that to Panihati for Raghunath Das Goswami's festival... Every time we make a festival we call devotees because we always want to present Gurudev's conception. We want to present something to the devotees—in this world people, the jiva souls, are suffering, and it is our duty to give them some relief, jive daya. This is the main thing that is necessary.

So many disturbances will come, but why will we be afraid? In our life, the only thing that is certain is death. One way or another, we will die, but when Krishna protects us, Gurudev protects us, there is nothing to be afraid of. When Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was giving the last sannyas in his lifetime to Sripad Jajavar Maharaj, who was 26 years old at that time and was very afraid, he said, "Why are you afraid? You are going to surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You are doing something for Him, so why are you afraid?"

Our duty is to serve the Lord, serve the Guru properly, and the Lord's duty is to serve, protect His devotees. The Lord Himself said, "I will protect you." Strongest faith is necessary—if there is a lack of faith, problems will come. Faith is always necessary: without faith we cannot make it.

So, we must do our service under the proper guidance, that is why we take shelter of a bona fide Guru: if we can follow properly his advice and what he tells us to do, then we can easily be successful in our spiritual life. When you surrender, you will understand it...

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Do Not Waste Your Time

24 June 2013

After 84 lakhs (8 400 000) of births you have got this human body, but if you do not practise under the proper guidance, you will have to again go to some other body. Yet, when you come to Gurudev and practise under his guidance, you should think that having finished your 84 lakhs of lives you do not have to return there.

You should understand that no one can take away your enjoyment, your food. You are making so much opulent prasad for a festival, but if you bring a pig, it will not take it—if you give the pig a bucket of stool, it will be very happy. You sleep on a good cushioned bed under the A/C, but how much sleep do you get? You always wake up, you are always anxious, but a dog sleeps very nicely, without a worry, on the street.

When you were an elephant in a jungle, you were also happy. If you take an elephant into an A/C room, it will not be happy. As an elephant or a tiger we were very happy to stay in a forest. So, we have got that kind of happiness before, and we will get it in future too, that is not a question; but it is not the meaning of our life. All jiva souls control everybody else—one jiva soul controls another, the other one controls yet another, and it is going on like this, but how shall I come out? That is necessary to know for our spiritual life.

We have come here but time is very short—life is very short, we can die any moment. That is why you must understand what you have got this human body for. You could sleep and eat before, and in future also you will be able to, but now in this human body you have full consciousness. You have pure consciousness, but it is covered by illusory environment. If you read Srimad Bhagavad-gita you can easily understand it. Arjun refused to fight, but the Lord said, "Mam eva ye prapadyante: only if you surrender to Me, can you overcome this kind of situation, this kind of illusory environment." That is why it is necessary to live a practising life.

If you just offer some incense once a day in the evening, that is not practising. At the same time, I am not telling you that you must leave everything, I am not telling you to go to a forest. Jagadananda Pandit also said, "You think you will leave everything and go to a forest, but your stomach will also go with you—you cannot leave your stomach behind, you will have to take it with you." If you go to a jungle, or a forest, you will still have to pick up the fruit, pick up some leaves from the trees, and do your cooking. You do not have to go to a jungle, do not have to leave your family life, but you must not have so much attachment to the material life. That is what is necessary—asakti rahita, remove attachment to the material life. If you can practise it, it will be good for you.

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Practise and Believe

24 June 2013

It is necessary to think about this. You must be asakti: have no material attachment. If you remove material desires from your heart, you will get great happiness through that. For this reason I am telling the devotees how to practise the abhideya tattva, the main things.

Sadhu-sanga, sravan, kirtan. Sravan and kirtan are necessary—every morning, every evening, all the time. You can do kirtan during the working time, while eating, sleeping. Always think about Krishna, about the Lord and connect whatever you do with Krishna, with practising Krishna consciousness, then it will become abhideya tattva, practising life.

Whatever you cook, do not cook for yourself. If you cook for Krishna, it will be service and it will be connected with the Lord, then it will be a full practising life. If you follow this, you will be happy all your life and it will be not necessary to go back to your previous karma. Try to understand it.

I always want to engage devotees in service, and always think that they should engage themselves properly. Pariksit Maharaj said, "I have eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and so on, but what shall I do with it? If I use these five senses, pancham indriya (chaksu, karna, nasika, jihva, tvak—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin), fully for Krishna consciousness; if I use man, buddhi, ahankar (mind, intelligence, ego) for Bhagavatam, for the Lord, then even though I have only seven days left, it will be good for me."

Uddhav Maharaj also asked Krishna in Srimad Bhagavatam, you can read it there, "What is this heavy head on my shoulders for?" You must make it light. If you pay obeisance to the Lord, to Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan, your head will become light. You can use everything—your hands, legs, head, nose, mouth—for the service to the Lord. That will be good for you, and it will be proper practising.

I have told it many times: who is your enemy? The mind is your enemy.

aichhana amara mana phire yena andha jana

supatha vipatha nahi jane

'Thakura Vaishnava-gana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur

"The mind is always blind, it does not know which way to go." If you get some intelligence, some good guidance, then you can control the mind and that guidance will take you in the good direction—towards Krishna consciousness.

You think that you will finish this life after death, you postpone, "I will do it later," but you have got time now—a moment after a moment, an hour after an hour, a day after a day, a month after a month, and a whole year passes. We are finishing our time, and the time goes very quickly, so we must realise what is necessary for our spiritual life. Practising is necessary.

Bhakti-anukul (accepting what is favourable to devotion), enthusiasm, not losing faith and keeping dridha-visvas (strongest faith), are necessary for our practising life. It is necessary to reject what is not in favour of devotion. Atyahar, eating too much, prajalpa, talking so many nonsense things, taking bad association—these are obstacles in our spiritual life. We want to keep so much for our own self and always think, "I want this, I want this, I want this." Be satisfied with what you have got: "It is OK. Everything happens by the will of Krishna." If you think in this way, you will get full relief from that. Do you understand? It is necessary to follow this.

It is the main preaching of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, of Gaudiya Math: simple living, high thinking. Back to God, back to home. We are not Indian, we are not Russian, we are not Pakistani, we are not Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, or Muslim. We are jiva souls, we came from the same place and must go back to our own home.

We go from place to place with our bad karma. If we are a goat, we have a house; if we are a dog we have a house; if we are a human, we have a house—everybody has everything, but where are our own things, our own life, our own home? We must go to the Lord, who controls everything, but we do not see that.

For example, if you are in Kolkata, you cannot see America from there, and you think, "No, there is no such country as the USA," but through Internet, through television you can understand that there is America, and if you go to America, you can see there is a country there. So, we think Krishna does not exist, we cannot see Krishna—where is Krishna? If you practise, if you come to this line, you can see and realise Krishna exists.

Krishna said in Srimad Bhagavatam, "I am alone before pralaya, then I create Brahma and tell him to create the whole world." In this way, this world is running on the order of Lord Krishna, day by day, year by year.

So, suppose you are here and think, "I am here in Kolkata, there are not any other countries," but if you go to another country, you can see that it exists. So, you think there is no other world, but if you go to Siva-loka, Brahma-loka, Tal, Atal, Talatal, and so on, you can see that it all exists. If we practise, we will be able to believe, but our problem is that if we do not see something we do not believe in it.

If you have proper faith, if you practise properly, you can easily understand that many worlds exist in this universe, and you can read in Srimad Bhagavad-gita that our religion is jaiva-dharma (religion of the soul). Krishna creates everything in this world for His own benefit, but we are using it for our own purpose. That is the problem: we use His property, His things for our own purpose, and that is why we scream and suffer. We must serve Krishna, must realise that all property is His property and use it for His benefit. It is very important.

We offer food to Krishna and it is necessary to believe that Krishna takes it and also gives the food for His service—to His devotees and servitors. He always protects His devotees. To believe this is called faith.

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya

krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

Sraddha means confident, firm faith that by serving Krishna you automatically perform all other activities.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62

If you serve Krishna, you can easily understand it yourself...

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

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Floating On the Surface

30 June 2013

A holy place is not for enjoyment; a holy place is for service.

Ramananda Ray and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu were talking Krishna-katha, and I am thinking also: who can understand Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, who can understand Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur? If you take the leaves of a sugar cane, what kind of taste will you get? But if you take the stem, as you condense it more and more you can taste juice, sugar, khanda (candy)—everything will come slowly, slowly.

We just come and stay in Srila Sridhar Maharaj's temple, Gurudev's temple and do not know any conception, but what did Srila Sridhar Maharaj make the temple for? You should know the conception. We float on the surface, following the desires that enter our mind—we do not go deep; but we must understand what Srila Sridhar Maharaj made this temple for. It is necessary. It is the main things.

We do not want to be workers, we have not come here to be carpenters—Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that. We can do what is necessary for maintenance, but not more than that. When I started the charitable dispensary here, I spent so much time there. I went there every afternoon and was managing the doctors, the patients, and so on, but Gurudev said to me, "You did not come here to be a hospital manager." And I stopped—the next day I gave charge to somebody else. Gurudev said, "It is not your job, you can give it somebody else." Money will come, everything will come, everything will be. You can see in one of his poems Srila Gurudev writes, "If Indra comes to give me heaven, to give me his post, I will not accept that; I will not agree if even Brahma offers me to take his place. No, I will not accept that."

You must understand our conception. We do not want to be very big or gorgeous, we do not want be imitators, we want to have the real thing. That is why you must understand our conception. You must read Srila Sridhar Maharaj's books, Gurudev's books, then you will get some idea. I have told it many times: read when you get time. Read the books, try to understand the conception.

If you think you know everything, you will never know anything. If you think you know everything, that is a big problem: that is ego, and the ego eats everything, takes everything away—ultimately, it takes you to hell. Ego is the only problem. Somebody is so proud they have been a disciple for so many years, but they cannot understand anything. That is why we must be careful: "pride comes before a fall."

You must sacrifice for others—that is our life. Devotional life means sacrifice; and sacrifice does not mean you must be renounced. Renunciation is not necessary—only surrender.

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Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu

3 August 2013 and 9 August 2003

Today is the disappearance day of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu and Srila Gauri Das Pandit...

Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami were engaged to assist Mahaprabhu's Pastimes. Rupa Goswami's former name was Dabir Khas, and Sanatan Goswami's—Sarkar Mallik. Their nephew, Anupam, was also with them. When Mahaprabhu first came to their area, the emperor, Hussain Shah, stopped Mahaprabhu's kirtan (he could not understand who Mahaprabhu was at first, but later he understood). At that time Rupa and Sanatan went to meet with Him. That meeting place was about 1 km away, and when they saw Mahaprabhu, they fell at His feet with a blade of grass between their teeth (dante trna kori'). 'With a blade of grass between their teeth' means a position like that of a cow. At that time, Mahaprabhu said to them, "When I go to Vrindavan, you can come there."

Later when Mahaprabhu was going to Vrindavan, He stayed with Kashi, at Chandrasekhara's house, and at Tapan Mishra's house. He stayed in one house and took prasadam in the other house.

Rupa Goswami was the finance minister of the king, and he made some accounts with some mistakes so that the king would discharge him from his job. In this way he came to join Mahaprabhu.

During his life in Vrindavan, he stayed in Radha Damodar temple. It is near our temple in Vrindavan, next door to it. His samadhi is also there. This is where he did his service to Radha Govinda. There are three main Deities in the Gaudiya line: Govinda, Gopinath, and Madan Mohan. Rupa Goswami did the service of Radha Govinda there, Sanatan Goswami did the service of Madan Mohan, and Madhu Pandit—of Gopinath. Also, at that time, all places of Krishna's and Radha-Krishna's Pastimes had been lost, and Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami rediscovered all of them.

Rupa Goswami Prabhu wrote many scriptures, many slokas. For example,

anyabhilasita sunyam, jnana-karmady anavrtam

anukulyena krsnausilanam bhaktir uttama

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

It is a very beautiful sloka. He also composed Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu and many other scriptures. Also Chaitanya-charitamrita describes Mahaprabhu's teachings to Rupa Goswami Prabhu, Rupa sikha.

One day Rupa Goswami Prabhu was writing one sloka, and Mahaprabhu wanted to see what he was writing. Rupa Goswami got shy and hid that paper somewhere, but Mahaprabhu found it. When Mahaprabhu read that sloka, He was surprised and told Svarup Damodar and Ray Ramananda, "How is it that this boy, Rupa, knows everything?" Svarup Damodar and Ray Ramananda said, "Prabhu, it is only possible by Your mercy, otherwise not! You have already given him so much mercy." At that time Mahaprabhu agreed, He actually admitted it, "Yes, I have given so much mercy to him, but it is not sufficient. You all together give some mercy to him."

This is what we know about Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu. Mahaprabhu Himself made him the acharya, the Rupanuga Acharya. And today is his disappearance day.

He is actually a parsad, an associate of Mahaprabhu. Before that, in Dvapara-yuga, he was an associate of Krishna, and Krishna Himself sent him to teach us, the fallen souls. On his disappearance day we can ask him for some mercy so that we can continue our service to the Lord...

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Games of Maya Devi

6 September 2013

People cannot change their character. "Black will take no other hue." Such is the nature, but we must always remember this sloka of Rupa Goswami:

anyabhilasita-sunyam, jnana-karmady anavrtam

anukulyena krsnausilanam bhaktir uttama

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

Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu

anya-abhilasa chhadi jnana karma parihari

kaya-mane kariba bhajana

Serve the Lord with body and mind, giving up all other desires and the pursuit of material benefit and knowledge.

Srila Narottam Das Thakur

I can convert you within five minutes. What I am telling you are your things, property of your heart, and it is what you want—but you must listen to me properly with your mind.

Maya always searches for a chance to attack you, and if she gets an opportunity, you can be easily converted by the illusory environment, this is why:

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya,

sadhur-gurur krpa vina na dekhi upaya,

It is not possible to conquer maya by illusory environment (by engaging in maya); it is only possible to get relief by the mercy of Guru, Vaishnav.

There is no other way to conquer the illusory environment except for the mercy from sadhu, Guru, Vaishnav. That is our only hope. If we can surrender, serve them, and hear and follow their advice, it will be good for us, otherwise, jnan, karma will always come to us.

Mahaprabhu preached jnana-sunya-bhakti, devotion free from desires for material benefit or knowledge. Such bhakti is our life, not sakam-bhakti when you use the Lord for yourself. Srila Sridhar Maharaj used the expression, "Salagram diye badam bhanga." It means a pujari is offering some nuts to a Salagram-sila, and while offering it he becomes hungry and wants to eat the nuts, but as he has no teeth he shells the nuts with the Salagram Sila, Giriraj. That is called sakam bhakti—you are doing some service to the Lord, but you have another desire. Anyabhilasa sunya: when we do service, other desires must be zero.

You heard this story from Ramayana. Ramachandra told Sita to follow His order, but she did not. He made a circle around the house with His bow and said to Sita, "Do not go out of this circle, there is maya outside." Lord Himself said not to go outside because maya could attack, but she had some other desire. What kind of desire? When a beggar came to the circle, she thought, "It is not good to ignore a beggar." From within the circle she wanted to give something to the beggar, but the beggar said, "No, no, I cannot take like this. You will have to come out, otherwise I will go back..." And she did that—she followed her mind and crossed the line. This is how she was kidnapped.

There is some line that you must not cross, although you will be tempted many times to cross it—you have heard that even big sadhakas (practitioners), big mahapurushas (great personalities) follow behind maya.

Somebody does service, and somebody is an obstacle to service. This always happens—it is games of Maya Devi...

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Sri Lalita Devi: Prema-Guru

12 September 2013

Without mercy of Lalita Devi, we cannot think about Krishna.

Sri Lalita Devi is born in Uchagram, near Varsana, and every day she meets with Srimati Radhika. Lalita always controls Radharani: she manages Her meeting with Krishna, Her separation from Him—everything. Lalita Devi controls everything, that is why she is a Guru: Prema-Guru.

Lalita always trains and gives instruction to Srimati Radhika—how She should walk, how She should talk, and so on—and Radhika always follows her. Lalita teaches Her in the mood of vatsalya rasa.

radha-mukunda-pada-sambhava-gharma-bindu-

nirmanchanopakarani-krta-deha-laksam

uttunga-sauhrda-visesa-vasat pragalbham

devim gunaih su-lalitam lalitam namami

"When Lalita Devi finds a drop of perspiration at the feet of Sri Sri Radha-Govinda, she furiously engages herself to remove it. 'How has it come there? We are circumambulating Them to see that not the least pain can enter this domain to trouble Them, but how, without our notice, has this perspiration appeared? Perspiration, perspiration!' So she is furiously chastising herself, and wants to immediately take birth one lakh (100,000) times—with that force she comes to remove that drop of perspiration from the lotus feet of either of the Divine Couple."

Sri Lalitastakam, 1, by Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu

Srila Rupa Goswami wrote Sri Lalitastakam; it is a very nice poem. There Rupa Goswami explained the glory of Lalita Devi, and he himself is Rupa Manjari, a friend of Lalita.

So, today is the appearance day of Lalita Devi. If we do not remember Lalita, how is it possible to get Krishna?

Lalita also arranges viraha, separation. Radhika has no wish to keep so much distance from Krishna, but by the mercy of Lalita, Radharani does that, and Krishna does that too. When separation comes, it intensifies and increases what Radhika and Krishna feel. Lalita Devi arranges that, so she is the Guru of Prema.

Srila Guru Maharaj said that of all places his favourite place was Uchagram. Also it is Srila Gurudev's favourite place. Every year, when we go to Vrindavan, we go there.

Without Gurudev's mercy we cannot think about this all.

radha-pada vina kabhu krsna nahi mile

radhara dasira krsna sarva-vede bole

"Without lotus feet of Radha, you can never meet Krishna. All Vedas say that Krishna is the property of Radha's maidservants."

Gitavali, song 'Radhika Charana Pradma’

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Stuck

11 October 2013

Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told two stories:

Before, people used to travel by boat a lot. Some people set off in their boat in the evening and rowed the whole night, but in the morning they saw that the boat was still in the same place—they had forgotten to raise the anchor.

Similarly, when people do Harinam and make so many offences, only Namabhas can come, and through that Namabhas liberation can come, but not the actual result:

bahu janma kare yadi sravana, kirtana

tabu ta' na paya krsna-pade prema-dhana

One can engage in sravan and kirtan for so many lifetimes, but still not get the wealth of love to Krishna's feet.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.16

The anchor must be raised, otherwise the boat will not move—the anchor means rup, ras, gandha, sabda, sparsa (enjoyment through form, taste, smell, sound, and touch), kanak, kamini, pratistha (desire for money, companions, respect).

And the other story is this:

Once, a strong and healthy woodcutter came to a wood dealer and asked him for a job. They agreed on some monthly payment, and the dealer gave him a big axe.

On the first day the man cut eighteen trees; the next day he cut fifteen trees; the next day he cut twelve trees, and so on. Every day he cut fewer trees. He was perplexed, "What is going on? I am spending the same amount of energy, doing the same hard labour, and it takes me the same time, but every day I cut fewer and fewer trees..." An intelligent man came to him and asked, "Prabhu, how many days have you not sharpened this axe?" The woodcutter replied, "I have no time. I only cut the trees, I have no time to sharpen the axe."

The axe means ourselves—we must clean ourselves through sravan, kirtan, Hari-katha, otherwise no matter how much we labour, the result will not come.

If you chant without following the guidance of your Guru, that chanting will be useless. You cannot become Haridas Thakur just by external chanting on your mala and doing nothing.

We must think about these things. We must try to understand what the Lord wants, what our Guru wants, then we will get benefit. Through sadhu-sanga sukriti will come, then service will follow—sukriti (pious activities) and punya (good activities) are not the same...

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Saltamami

25 October 2013

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18

"If you are doing some service and want remuneration for that (some money, wealth, a car, a house, etc.), you will get it, but you will not get bhakti."

We do not know how many days we will be alive in this world, but we have at last got a human body and we must use this body for the service to the Lord. If you cannot use this body for the service to the Lord, it is useless then. I have told it a million times. If you use this body for the service to the Lord, you will always be ananda vigraha (embodiment of happiness).

If you keep digging in the drain, you will always get a bad smell—the stool will come. How many days are you going to drink urine and eat stool? (These are Gurudev's words. I did not bring these words from the heaven. I am only taking the remnants of what Gurudev has chewed and giving it to you.)

Once there was a saffron-clad devotee who did so much energetic service. From the beginning, my service has always been giving orders, whipping, "Do this, do that," but that brahmachari did service with his own hands, so I thought he was better than me, but now his position has gone down. Why? Because of maya, illusory environment—he wanted to eat stool and drink urine...

I am using very heavy language today. It is an example for everybody, not only that person.

When Mahaprabhu was teaching Chhota Haridas, it was not only for Chhota Haridas. Jagadananda Pandit said, "If you want to have love and affection for Mahaprabhu, you must remember Chhota Haridas." It is easy to say, but hard to do.

It comes from sukriti. Ajnata sukriti, then jnata sukriti. If sukriti increases more and more, everyone can become very big. And you should not lose it—through your service you must get more sukriti every day. You must earn money every day, and money means sukriti. You must keep some capital. If you lose your capital every day, you will eventually have a zero balance, and the next day it will be -1, then -2—then it will be lost for your life. You have got some sukriti, that is all right, but every day you must earn more through your service.

Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "I am giving you now some advice, but you cannot understand it. When I am no more not in this world, then you will remember it." You can see that his words are very strong...

* 'Saltamami' is a word used by Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj: "Saltamami means to calculate the debit and the credit for the whole year. It is necessary to keep our life's saltamami—to keep account of what I am doing from morning to evening, and it is necessary to realise, 'How much good and how much bad is there in the day that has passed?' If we can do saltamami, then we will be more perfect."

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The Bond with the Guru

July/August 2014

Those who are surrendered souls always follow their guru: they are not going to think what is right, what is wrong, what is correct or not correct; what their Guru told them to do, they do that—nothing else.

You did not follow that, you always follow your mind. I have told you many times, "Prabhu, this is not right..." and now a problem has come. Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said, "I am responsible for my position. I cannot blame others." But if you do not follow that, if you always follow your mind:

dusta mana! tumi kisera vaisnava?

"My dear mind, what kind of Vaishnav are you?"

aichhana amara mana phire yena andha jana

supatha vipatha nahi jane

"The mind is blind and naughty. It does not know what is good, and it always takes me in the bad way." You have some intelligence, and you have a direct instruction from your Guru, that is sufficient for your spiritual life.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur wrote that we always do parikrama around this material universe. Those who have material attachment, who think, "This is mine, this is yours," always wander throughout the fourteen worlds. How is it then possible to reach our destination? He also gave the answer. It is possible through good association. Atma, the soul, is covered by Maya with the illusory environment, but through good association the soul can become open, can become clean, nirmal.

‘asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'

visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

'Vaishnav ke?' by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur

"If you can engage in service without material attachment (keeping disinterested nature), and seeing everything related to the Lord, you can get eternal service to Krishna.”

If you always hear Hari-katha, then automatically all kinds of sin will leave your heart. If you hear what sadhus tell you, what is expressed and exposed to you, and you start to serve, with love and affection, with priti, with heart and soul, then first faith will come, then attachment, then love, and finally devotion will come. In this way everything will come.

If you are engaged in something that is not related with service, the Lord, Guru, Vaishnavs, it is karma-kanda or jnana-kanda. You will then keep coming and going, coming and going, eating so many bad things. That means you are born, you have got this body for nothing—you will again come and go. Those who think that this material world is nectar, amrita, they will keep on taking birth and death. If you are thirsty for some material attachment, for some material things, you will never get relief from karma.

When you chant the Holy Name, some offence comes, but if you want to get relief from the offence while still doing that offence (even if you chant all the time), you will not become free from it. Making offences to the Holy Name is not chanting the Holy Name; these are different things. When you give up the offences, your relationship with your Guru will become very strong and then no offence can come to you. If you have some anartha, material desire, and give priority to that, you will not be able to get relief from the offences: you cannot remove an anartha by an anartha.

And as I have just said, when there is no relation with the Lord, the Guru, your activities become karma-kanda, jnana-kanda.

Question: What is karma-kanda?

Karma-kanda means what the outside people do: what has no relation with the Lord, eating outside, not taking prasadam, working outside for your own enjoyment. And also what some other mayavadi groups do, that is jnana-kanda. Some may have some relation with the demigod, but not the Lord, that is also jnana-kanda. They think it is nectar... I have told many times this: if you give a bucket of stool to a pig, it will be so happy, "Oh, I am taking nectar!"; but if you give some paneer, some good things to a pig, it will not be happy. So, you take this "nectar" and do parikrama, rounding the material worlds, taking birth and death, birth and death, and eating so many bad things... And the life is wasted.

If you have a very strong relationship with the Guru, offences and undesirable things will gradually go away. If you have some material desire and do not want to remove it, and instead you want more and more, you will never get relief from that desire. This is what Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad told. It is very nicely expressed.

If you do not open your door properly, how is it possible to come in? Please open your heart, give some space in your heart for the Lord to come!

Chanting the Holy Name (Harinam) and chanting the Holy Name with offences (Nama aparadh) are not same thing. If you make some offence and chant the Holy Name, you will not get relief from that offence; but when you chant the Holy Name without offence you can get relief from the offence. There are two ways: you chant the Holy Name and make offences, and you chant the Holy Name and there is no offence. It is not the same. If you chant the Holy Name and have a strong bond with your Guru—then the offences will automatically go away.

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The Key to Guru's Heart

July/August 2014

We always pray to Gurudev,

sakale sammana karite sakati,

deha natha! yatha yatha

tabe ta' gaiba hari-nama sukhe,

aparadha habe hata

"O master! Give me the ability to befittingly honour everyone. Then I will sing the Lord's Name happily, and all my offences will be eradicated."

If I can acquire these kinds of qualities—humility, tolerance, and giving honour to others—then if I chant the Holy Name, offences will be removed from my heart. Otherwise not.

Many things are necessary... We are singing this Siksastaka song:

sri-krsna-kirtane yadi manasa tohara

parama jatane tanhi labha adhikara

If you want to sing Sri Krishna kirtan, you must be very careful, very affectionate, and do it with much love, then you will get the adhikar, the right, to sing Sri Krishna kirtan.

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara

apane manabi sada chhadi' ahankara

You must think that you are a piece of small grass, even less than that. You must think you are worse, lower than a blade of grass, and you must leave your ego and give honour to others.

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana

pratihimsa tyaji' anye karabi palana

Vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana: When we are cutting a tree's brunch, the tree is not saying anything, the tree always forgives our offence, and that same tree gives us shelter from the sun. We must have that kind of mentality, that kind of quality.

Pratihimsa tyaji' anye karabi palana: 'Pratihimsa' means if somebody is beating you, you should not beat them, but should give love and affection. A scientist named Newton said that every action has equal and opposite reaction, but we do not want to give opposite reaction. It is not our duty to give it. Somebody may be jealous of you, no problem—you can give them some mercy, you can give them love and affection, but you must avoid giving opposite reaction. Somebody may give you boxing, but you should not give them boxing in return—not to do that, it is not good for the devotee's life.

Sometimes I tell this story...

A sadhu is sitting on the bank of the Ganges, chanting the Holy Name on his beads, and he sees a scorpion moving towards the Ganges. The sadhu sees that the scorpion is going to die if it falls into the water, so he puts his chanting beads aside and, continuing chanting with his mouth, he takes that scorpion and keeps it in a safe place, but that scorpion bites him—it does not understand that the sadhu is doing good for him.

When the sadhu is about to take his beads again that scorpion again goes towards the Ganges. The sadhu again keeps it in a safe place, and the scorpion again bites him, but he does not mind, "It does not know any better."

A man was passing that place and saw this. He asked the sadhu, "What is the benefit of saving it? What problem is it for you if it dies?"

...Gurudev told one thing. Sometimes in Gurudev's times also devotees fought with each other. I too have been beaten by other brahmacharis many times. Once Gurudev tested me: he asked me, "He is beating you, why are you not beating him back?" I replied to Gurudev with a poem that says that if a dog bites a man, the man cannot bite the dog, and Gurudev said, "It is also an offence. You think he is a dog, you treat him as a dog, but it is not a sadhu's character." A sadhu's character is tolerance; a sadhu's character is to excuse, to forgive the person. If a sadhu cannot forgive an offence, he is not a sadhu, not a Vaishnav.

So, the Vaishnav who was sitting on the bank of the Ganges replied to that man, "If that scorpion cannot change its character, why I should change my character?" A sadhu's nature is to save the jiva souls. "If he does not change his character, why should I change my character?"—that is the main thing.

You must understand what is necessary for a sadhu's character.

You must understand Srila Sridhar Maharaj's lectures. If somebody loses their service, if somebody loses their faith, it is not others' fault. "We cannot blame others. I am responsible for my own position." Param Guru Maharaj says this. If you lose your faith, if you lose your strength, your service, the problem is in you, not in the Guru. We must understand it.

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe

para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

Do not make others angry for your own interest, own self, own happiness. Sometimes we are not happy with our service, we are not getting pleasure from our service, but we cannot harass and disrespect others because of that.

The other day, they did not give some dahl to the deer because there was much other food, but somebody became so unhappy and, unable to control themselves, began shouting because of a small matter. They could have come to me and told me—I would have told to make the dahl, and the matter would have been finished. But that person is doing an action against that other person and the other person is giving them reaction, so a problem comes, and the service is lost. Why should service be lost?

I came here many years ago, and I am alone. I have never seen my relatives in 25 years since I came here. Most of them have already died, and now there is a new generation, but I do not even know them—I did not see their birth, I did not see their wedding ceremony... And I have also been beaten here many times, but I tolerated. That is why I have got the result. Gurudev told that even a brother and a sister, coming from the same home, also fight. Even they fight, but we come from different parents; our parents are not same, our culture, education—everything is different.

Gurudev told that when we cook, there are so many utensils—a big subji pot, a big rice pot, a big water pot, etc.—and when you cook, they make some sound. We are also instruments here—we are Gurudev's instruments. Sometimes a clash happens and some sound comes, but should we lose or give up our service because of this? Of course not!

We must understand this. If we think that we lose our service and it is somebody's fault—that is an offence, seva-aparadh. If we do so many things and the Guru is not happy, that is not service, that is karma—some reaction will come and we will lose our service.

Jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe: I should not make others angry. Para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe: for others' benefit you must leave, you must give up your own happiness.

krsna-adhisthan sarva-jive jani' sada

karabi sammana sabe adare sarvada

You must think that Krishna exists within every jiva soul, and you must give respect to everybody, to every jiva soul just as when driving a car you try to avoid running over some street animals.

dainya, daya anye mana, pratistha-varjana

chari gune guni hai karaha kirtana

krsna-adhisthan sarva-jive jani' sada

karabi sammana sabe adare sarvada

You must be humble, give kindness and honour to others. Avoid pratistha—name and fame.

bhakativinoda kandi bole prabhu-paya

heno adhikara kabe dibe he amaya

Bhakti Vinod Thakur is saying, "Prabhu, when will you give me the adhikar, the right, to chant the Holy Name? When these qualities come to me, I will be able to chant the Holy Name!"

Jay Gurudev.

Tomorrow is also a special day for Lord Siva. So many Siva devotees will be present and give water and milk for Lord Siva. I sent some devotees to preach to them. Lord Siva also chants the Holy Name. If we worship Lord Siva properly, he can give Krishna bhakti.

All Vraja Gopis also worship the demigoddess Katyayani, Durga Devi, but what do they worship her for? They pray, "In our next life, we want to have Krishna as our husband." For that they worship Katyayani, and Krishna always fulfils their desire.

In Gaura-lila we can also see that. There was one girl, Kubja. She could not walk straight, her face did not look good, but that Kubja wanted Krishna to come to her house and stay with her for one night. Krishna told her that it was not possible in Dvapara-yuga, but He fulfilled her desire in Kali-yuga: Kashi Misra is an incarnation of Kubja. When Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in His Pastimes of vipralambha—dvadasabda-bahni-garbha-vipralambha-silanam [for the last twelve years of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's manifest pastimes He was deeply absorbed in union and separation], He did that Lila in the house of Kashi Misra in Puri. So, whatever devotees think of, Krishna is always ready to fulfil their desire.

Devotees never think so much about themselves. Karma yogis, karmis always ask for themselves, for their own desire and interest, but devotees always think about Krishna's interest. Devotees do not think for their own enjoyment, this is called niskama bhakta. What did Prahlad Maharaj ask for? He said, "Prabhu, give me this kind of boon—please remove any asking desire from my heart."

nija sukha lagi' pape nahi dari,

daya-hina svartha-para

Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote this very good song. Nija sukha lagi': for our own happiness we are not afraid to do sinful work. Daya-hina svartha-para: we are unkind, selfish, and svartha-para [our own interest is above all for us].

What is there to be afraid of? Those who have surrendered themselves to the lotus feet of their Guru, they are not afraid of death. We are soldiers of Gurudev, and soldiers are not afraid of death. Soldiers always think about their country, and Gurudev's soldiers think about their Guru. Is it correct or not? Why be afraid? Tell me. Why should I leave my service?

Marabi rakhabi, yo ichchha tomara: you can kill me, you can save me, that is your matter. I am paying my full obeisance to you. My eyes, hands, legs, heart—everything is down, on the ground, I cannot see anything. "Gurudev, I am giving you a sword, and you can separate my head from my body." What is there to be afraid of? Krishna's devotees are never afraid of anything.

Soldiers are not afraid, they go forward into the open fire! We are ready to die for our Guru. Some think, "No, I am afraid, I am not going to that country..." but it is not a surrendered soul; it is not a surrendered soul's character. Do you understand? I am telling this strongly: this is not a surrendered soul's character.

Those who love Gurudev, tolerate everything—any discomfort, any kind of opposition that can come through the service. When some problem comes, they still do their service—then Gurudev will love them too. If somebody thinks, "Oh, some problem has come, I will run away," this is not a surrendered soul's character.

Once Gurudev caught my hand and asked me, "So much problem will come for you for a few years—tell me, will you run away or will you stay? Promise me." I said, "I promise you, I will never run away."

Jaya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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Devotion Conquers—Ego Repels

August 2014

In Dvapar-yuga Balaram is elder, Krishna is younger. In Kali-yuga, Nityananda is elder, Gauranga Mahaprabhu is younger, and in Treta-yuga Rama is older and Laksman is younger. In Treta-yuga Rama wanted to serve Laksman—Lord Himself wanted to serve, but He is older, and Laksman is younger, so He could not properly serve because the younger will not take service from the elder. But in Dvapar-yuga Balaram becomes elder, and Krishna happily serves Balaram, and Balaram also happily serves Krishna.

Balaram is Haladhara. Haladhara means plough-bearer. When cows are ploughing, you can always see that hala. Balaram always holds (dhara) hala, always protects Krishna.

One time—you remember that, I have told many times—Balaram slapped Krishna. Krishna made some mistake, and Balaram slapped Him. Krishna began to cry and complained to Mother Yasoda, "Mother, Brother has slapped Me!" Mother Yasoda showed anger; she called Balaram, "Balaram, why did You beat Him?" You know what Balaram did after that? Balaram grabbed Krishna and, shaking Him, asked, "What do You think? Who loves You more—Mother Yasoda or Me? Who in this world loves You more?" Mother Yasoda saw this and was surprised. Balaram said, "Why did You go to complain to Mother? Tell me, who is giving You more love and affection—Me or Your mother? Me or Your mother? Tell Me!" Krishna embraced Balaram and said, "Please forgive My offence. I complained to mother, it was My mistake. You love Me so much..."

Balaram always protects Krishna, and They are always together, but one time Balaram did not go with Him. Mother Yasoda told him not to go that today, so Balaram did not go. That day Kaliya-daman Lila happened, and Krishna had so much problem.

Although Balaram did not go with Krishna that day, He did come later and protected everybody because everybody wanted to jump into that Kaliya-daha. They saw that Krishna was floating on the surface like a dead body, and the snake was holding Him tight. Krishna pretended to be dead and was waiting. All the Vraja gopis, all the Vraja sakhis, even Mother Yasoda, Nanda Maharaj—everybody came and wanted to jump there, but Balaram checked them, "Wait, wait, you cannot jump, cannot go there!" He prayed to Krishna, "Do not do this. You have to come out quickly," and also chastised Him, "Why are You still floating? Come! Come! Everybody wants to jump and commit suicide. The water is poisonous, everybody is going to die. Come out!"

Krishna wanted to show His Lila, His Pastimes to everybody, so He waited for more people to come, that is why it took Him time. Mother Yasoda also chastised Balaram, "Today You did not come that is why all this problem happened!" Then again Balaram chastised Krishna, "Come! Come quickly!" All the Vraja gopis, all the sakhis came there—and Krishna expanded Himself quickly. Kaliya-nag, the snake, is limited, and Krishna is unlimited, so Krishna expanded Himself more and more and then jumped and placed His feet on the head of Kaliya-nag!

Kaliya-nag was about to die when all his wives came to Krishna.

...We sing in the kirtan,

jaya dvija-patni, jaya naga-kanya-gana

bhaktite jahara paila govinda-charana

All glories to the wives of the proud Vedic brahmanas. All glories to the wives of the Kaliya serpent. Through pure devotion they all obtained the lotus feet of Lord Govinda.

'Jaya Radhe Jaya Krishna' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

His wives came and prayed to Krishna, "Prabhu, You did right. Our husband has so much ego—no one can disturb him, no one can defeat him... And You demolished, finished his ego. We are very happy about that, but we are also begging You for one thing: we do not want to become widows. Please, do not kill him. The punishment You have given him is sufficient. We accept it, and we are also happy with that, but please do not kill him." They prayed to Krishna and got so much devotion, and through their devotion they got Krishna's mercy.

Krishna replied, "All right, he will not die completely. I will fulfil your desire, and you will not become widows." He then said to Kaliya, "All right, I will not kill you, but I have one condition: you cannot stay here because you are disturbing so many devotees, birds, cows—it is very difficult for everybody to stay here, so you have to go to Ramanak-dvip."

Kaliya-nag asked Krishna, "But how shall I go there? I am afraid of Garuda. If I go there, he will eat me!"

"It is not a problem because I have left My footprints on your head. Garuda is My devotee, so when you show him My footprints on your head, he will not touch you. That is My condition; you have to go."

Finally, Kaliya-nag accepted that proposal, left Vrindavan for Ramanak-dvip. That Lila happened there, at Kaliya-daha.

And also the pastimes of Saubhari Muni happened at Kaliya-daha. Saubhari Muni was meditating in the waters of Kaliya-daha when he saw some kama-lila of fish. His mind became disturbed. He was old, but having seen that marriage pastimes of the fish, his meditation broke and he came out of the water and wanted to get married.

In those days, kings would give announcement that their daughters were fit for marriage and all the royal princes would then come to the king. That is called svayamvara. Whoever the girl would garland at the ceremony, would get married to her. That used to be the custom.

So, when Saubhari Muni came out of the water, that time King Mandhata was holding a svayamvara. He had 50 daughters, and many princes had come. Through his meditation, Saubhari Muni became a young handsome man and also came there. In the end, all 50 daughters of the king chose him—they gave 50 garlands to Saubhari Muni. So, he had 50 wives. Do you see how much maya attacked him? We must always remember that.

Saubhari Muni saw that pastime of fish and lost everything. He became a householder, and not just a householder—he suffered so much trouble with his family life and his 50 wives. It is not easy to control 50 wives...

From this story, you can understand that we must be careful.

Kaliya-daman Lila—what is the Lila there? Kaliya-daman means Krishna has beaten some snake, but He did not just beat him—He demolished his ego... We all have so much ego, and we must demolish it.

Gurudev said: if the sun is shining from one side and there is a wall, the sun rays will not fall on the other side of the wall. Ego is also like that—through our ego we cannot see things properly.

andhibhuta chaksu jara visaya dhulite

ki rupe se para-tattva paibe dekhite

We become blind through our ego and cannot see things properly. If we think we know everything, we have understood everything—that is the difficulty.

dainya, daya, anye mana, pratistha-varjana

chari-gune guni hai karaha kirtana

Humility, mercy, consideration of others, and giving up position are the four qualities needed to perform kirtan.

Dainyata, be humble. Daya, be kind to others. Anye mana, give honour to others. And pratistha-varjana, we do not want name and fame. Somebody does not pay obeisance to me—what is the problem? It is not a problem for us!

Four things are necessary: dainya, daya, anye mana, pratistha-varjana. We can always do the first three things, but Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur said that pratistha is like stool of a pig. You can tolerate the stool of a human, but the stool of a pig has a very bad smell. Pratistha is very dangerous. Pratistha sukarer vistha. 'Sukar' means pig, 'vistha' means stool. You can also see in our life: if somebody is getting acharya abhiman, they must fall down. It is necessary to understand this.

Sudama Vipra was a poor brahmin, but he was a friend of Krishna, and that was his quality—he loved Krishna so much. One day Krishna called Sudama Vipra to Dvaraka. Sudama Vipra was so afraid and said to his wife, "Krishna is calling me, but will He recognise me? I am Sudama, He is Krishna... At that time He was playing with the cows and I was also with Him, but will He recognise me now?" He was afraid, but when he came, Krishna embraced him and forcibly seated him on His chair, "Sit here. Today this is your chair, and I am sitting lower. You are My guest, and I am the host. You came to My house, and it is My duty to serve you." And Krishna massaged Sudama Vipra's feet!

Krishna shows this, Mahaprabhu also shows us similar Pastimes: through service we can conquer Gurudev's heart. Only through service.

Several days ago a man came to me. He is a disciple of Gurudev but does not follow his conception. In Gurudev's time, he disturbed Gurudev, and now he came to me saying, "The opposition group is doing so much wrong, and now I understand they were using me in a bad way against you..." I only listened and listened, and he kept saying, "I can do this, I can do this." I quoted Gurudev, "Nijer dhak nije petachho." It means "You are beating your own drum"—you are telling yourself what is your good quality. Gurudev also said that when somebody is taking so much, then something is wrong there—"empty vessel sounds much" [empty vessel makes most noise]. If a jar is full of water, there is no sound; when it is empty, some sound will come. So, those who are empty say, "I am a very big person. I can do something. I am doing this, I have done this, I am doing so much!" Those who are doing something, they do it in the background and do not go to the front to tell who is doing it.

You can see after how many years I am coming to the front. I never came to the front—I had always been doing everything from behind, and Gurudev knew who was doing it. Gurudev always praised me at all festival—Gaura Purnima, his birthday, Param Guru Maharaj's festival appearance, etc. He praised me, but I was doing everything behind him, in the background. I did not tell anything in front of him.

Gurudev said, "Empty vessel makes most noise." Gurudev is always merciful—we have so many bad qualities, but Gurudev always tolerates us. That is the main thing. I wrote also in Gurudev's time: we are doing so many wrong things, but still Gurudev is tolerating. We must understand these things.

Gurudev also told me one thing, and you must remember that. When I said, "He is a bad person," Gurudev replied, "Everyone can run with a good person. One who can run with a bad person is the best person!" It is the main thing.

We must understand it. How merciful Balaram and Nityananda Prabhu are—They are even more than the Lord!

Gurudev said about me, "I told that boy, 'Get out from me! Go away!' But he is coming again. I am chastising him because I want to know how much love and affection he has for me. If I chastise him and he goes away, then I will know he cannot last." If I run away, who will maintain the temple? Who will make this program? Who will hold Gurudev's mission? That is why Gurudev examined me from time to time, he thought, "If I chastise him now and he goes away, I will know that he does not love me, he only loves my property; but if I tell him to get out and he loves me, then he will stay here."

So, Gurudev chastised me: sometimes he would tell me to get out, sometimes to go away. It happened many times. He would become angry, and I would go away for 5-10 minutes, half an hour, maybe one hour, but every time I came back. He could chastise me in the afternoon, but after the arati I would come again. I would pay obeisances, and sit, listen to his lecture. Then he understood, "That boy is not going to leave me." And I never bargained with him. I came to serve my Guru, and I must do what my duty is—I must do that, and, according to my capacity, I must try to do more and more, and this is how I will learn. If Gurudev chastises me, it is OK, he can chastise, then I will learn, I will love him. I have seen many servitors, and I am thinking that this kind of mentality must be there.

Devotion, perfect devotion, is necessary. Emotion and devotion are very different. Gurudev said, "You can shed so many tears for yourself, but can you spend one drop of water from your eyes for me? For yourself, you can drop water—crying, crying, you can make a whole glass of water with your eyes, but can you spend one drop of water for me?" These are Gurudev's words, and I am keeping them in my heart.

And yet, nija sukha lagi', pape nahi dari: for our own enjoyment we are not afraid to commit a sin...

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

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Sri Krishna Janmastami: Surrender and Practise Daily

Speaking to Mauritian devotees

Morning, 18 August 2014

Today is the appearance day of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, and here in Nabadwip we are making a big festival: hundreds of people have come.

yada yada hi dharmasya, glanir bhavati bharata

abhyutthanam adharmasya, tadatmanam srjamy aham

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.7

When religion was getting demolished and bad things were coming, that time Krishna Himself appeared.

krsnera yateka khela, sarvottama nara-lila,

nara-vapu tahara svarupa

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 21.101

Krishna has so many Pastimes, but He chose the nara lila, the human body. He likes this kind of Pastimes very much, and these Pastimes are so great.

We are now in Kali-yuga, and Radha-Krishna's combined form appeared in Kali-yuga as Gauranga Mahaprabhu, and He is distributing the Holy Name—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. We are like rusty iron—we have spent so many years, so many births rusting. We have forgotten the Lord for so many births, and Krishna Himself comes in the form of the Guru and teaches us the main things: who Krishna is, who Mahaprabhu is, why we must worship Krishna, why we must worship Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Guru always explains that, and does it very smoothly.

So, we are celebrating, we are fasting on this auspicious day. Every year we celebrate this festival very gorgeously, and we spend this day with the devotees, chanting the Holy Name. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told in his time that on this day we should read only Chaitanya-charitamrita. He did not tell to read Krishna's Pastimes, but he told to read about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Pastimes. Why did he tell us that? Because that Krishna who appeared in Dvapara-yuga came as Mahaprabhu—the combined form of Radha-Krishna; and we can understand that it is more authentic, it is more pure:

yadi gaura na ha'ta tabe ki ha-ita

kemane dharitam de

radhara mahima, prema-rasa-sima

jagate janata ke?

Vasu Ghosh sings this song: "If Gaura had not come, who would have told us about Radha-Krishna's Pastimes? Who would have been able to understand Radha-Krishna's Pastimes if Gauranga Mahaprabhu had not appeared?" For this reason we always prefer Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

And also a few days ago we made a festival at Baladev Purnima, Baladev's appearance day. Baladev is non-different from Gurudev, He is non-different from Guru-tattva.

We must understand Krishna's Pastimes.

ye yatha mam prapadyante, tams tathaiva bhajamy aham

mama vartmanuvartante, manusyah partha sarvasah

Howsoever people surrender to Me, I accordingly reward them. Being the ultimate goal of all paths, I am the objective to be attained by all. O Partha, all men follow My various paths.

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.11

We do not know what and how to offer anything to Krishna, and there are also two kinds of devotees: sakama bhakta (devotees with material desires) and niskama bhakta (devotees devoid of material desires). Krishna Himself says:

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 8.18

"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."

Krishna Himself says, "Ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha (CC, 2.22.38): somebody worships Me, but they want some material happiness. I will not give it to them; instead I will give them My lotus feet, and they will forget all material desires." In this way. We must be niskama bhakta, no other way: we must have no material desire, and we must not ask Krishna for anything.

Krishna says, "If you think for Me, I will think for you; if you think for yourself, I will not think for you."

Bhakti Vinod Thakur writes in his song:

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.

Saranagati, 19

"I will never think for myself; I will always think for You. Prabhu, if you can tie me to your bed, door, or gate—if you can keep me and treat me as a dog, I will be happy."

We must worship in this way—it is very important to understand this.

Just fasting and celebrating Krishna Janmastami one day and the next day not practising properly—not like that.

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' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

We must practise every day, we must worship every day, we must prepare food for Krishna every day. Our practising life is not for one day, not for two days, not for one month—whatever practice we do, we have to do it everyday. That is the main thing…

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Sri Krishna Janmastami: Path Back to Home

Speaking to Mauritian devotees

Evening, 18 August 2014

Today is a very auspicious day, and you are present today on this occasion. Krishna's appearance day is today at midnight.

Krishna came to this world to rescue sadhus and demolish demons. In Kali-yuga also, the Lord appeared to rescue all the demons but in another way—with love and affection. In Kali-yuga, Radha-Krishna came to this world in the form of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and He distributed the religion for the Age of Kali. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's conception is

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

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

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 7.21

Going door to door, He distributed the seed, the Holy Name, to all jiva souls as the religion for this Age of Kali.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also told in his lecture that he wanted to engage everybody for the service to the Lord. Why do our Gurupadpadma and our Guru Maharaj make centres and preach all over the world, in every corner? They want to use everybody for the service to the Lord.

Krishna Himself said, "You are worshipping many demigods, Mother Kali, Mother Durga, or Siva, and that puja automatically comes to Me, but your worship is not done properly, not with the proper rules and regulations." Krishna also said: who says, "I am a devotee of Krishna," he is not a devotee of Krishna; but who is a devotee of Krishna's devotees' devotees, he is a devotee of Krishna.

Another thing is that if you invite Krishna, Krishna will not come, but if you invite Mother Yasoda or Nanda Maharaj, they will bring Krishna to you. So, you can understand easily that if you want to worship Krishna directly, Krishna will not come, but if you worship His devotee—Mother Yasoda, Devaki, Baladev-tattva, Guru-tattva—then easily you can get mercy of Krishna.

So, try to understand Krishna's Pastimes.

One of the Pastimes of Krishna is when Mother Yasoda wanted to tie Him with a rope. That rope was always two fingers too short. She joined more rope, but it was again two fingers too short. She joined more rope, but again two fingers too short. Why was it two fingers too short? One finger is bhakter chesta, desire of the devotee, and the other finger is mercy of Krishna. When both are there, then you will get full mercy of Krishna. You will not get Krishna directly without serving His devotees, but if you serve the devotees of Krishna, then you can easily get mercy from Krishna.

We sing today this song Deva bhavantam vande,

manmanasa-madhukara marpaya nijapada-pankaja-makarande

deva bhavantam vande

“Oh Lord, I offer my respectful obeisances to You. May you place the bumblebee of my mind in the honey of Your lotus feet.”

...Just now we finished singing the songs, for many hours this evening I have been singing, so many devotees came, and you also joined the festival, but we do not worship Krishna for one day only.

ye-dina grhe, bhajana dekhi,

grhete goloka bhaya

You can make your house Goloka Vrindavan if you worship every day, if you serve Krishna, do everything, but our life is very short, you know that. Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told, "Depending on what desire you have, you will get that kind of birth. If you have some material desire, you will get that kind of birth."

Then think about Krishna and think how much affection the gopis of Vraja, sakhis of Vraja have for Krishna. Their heart is full of Krishna, they have given their mind, their whole body, everything to Krishna, to the Lord. How is it possible? Even Laksmi Devi, even Siva, even Brahma could not do that. Gopis do not think about themselves, they think, "We can die if necessary." Vraja gopis are like a suicide squad, "We are like soldiers of the country; we are the suicide squad of Krishna." You must remember this.

Also, when Krishna had a headache, He needed some feet dust of His devotees. Narad Muni could not get it—even Krishna's wives, Rukmini, Satyabhama could not give it because they thought, "If we give our feet dust to Krishna, it will be a sin." But Vraja gopis do not think about themselves, Vraja gopis think, "It is for You, Krishna. If Krishna is sick, what is the use of us having legs—for whom? If we cannot use them for the service to the Lord, what are we keeping our legs for?"

We must offer everything—indriya, chaksu, karna, nasika, jihva, tvak, senses, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin—to our Lord; we must use everything for the service to the Lord. Uddhav Maharaj said, "What is our head on these shoulders for? It is only a burden. If you cannot bow down to the lotus feet of Krishna, bow down to the devotees of Krishna, then what is the use of this head? What are your hands for? What are your eyes for if you cannot see with these eyes the murti, vigraha of Krishna?"

You heard also the story of yajna patnis: the brahmins who were doing the fire sacrifice could not recognise Krishna, but their wives could serve Krishna. They wanted to stay with Krishna, to serve the gopis, but Krishna said to them, "Go to your home and worship My deity. It is nondifferent from Me. You can worship My deities, My vigraha, and in this way you will get Me. It is not necessary to stay with Me personally."

Krishna told many things, and we must understand what He says.

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 into this world in the Age of Kali, who would be able to glorify Srimati Radharani? Gauranga Mahaprabhu is a combined form of Radha-Krishna, so if He had not come, who else would have been able to glorify Srimati Radharani?" From this we can easily understand how important Srimati Radhika is.

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela

krsna-bhajana tava akarane gela

"If you do not worship Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna is nothing. The result is zero."

You should always serve the devotees. Jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaisnava seva. Mahaprabhu told this to Sanatan Goswami. Be kind, be merciful to the jiva souls. Jive daya means you can give some benefit, you can give some Krishna consciousness to them.

We have passed so many years, so many births, and we are full of dust, we are full of rust, that is why Krishna cannot attract us, and this is why we must practise properly:

sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam

archanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam

Hearing, practising (chanting), remembering the Lord, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, serving the Deity, offering obeisances, considering oneself a servant, thinking of the Lord as of a friend, and full surrender.

Srimad Bhagavatam, 7.5.23

If you practise like this, properly, then slowly, slowly you can get nourishment and you will get the result—you will get benefit through hearing Krishna-katha. If you think that your mind and your heart do not want to hear Krishna-katha, then you must think that your karma bandhan has not finished yet: you are still bound by your karma. When you think that you have some attraction to hear Krishna-katha, that your ears want to hear Hari-katha, Krishna-katha, then you must think that something is coming, something is changing through hearing, through chanting.

sravanam kirtanam smaranam vandanam,

'sadhu-sanga', 'sadhu-sanga'—sarva sastre kaya

lava-matra sadhu sange sarva siddhi haya

sadhu sange krsna nama—ei matra chai

samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

Hearing about the Lord, chanting His glories, remembering Him and praying to Him... "Good association", "good association," all the scriptures keep telling. Only by good association can you get all perfection. And, "I want only to chant the Name of Krishna in the association of the sadhus—there is no other way to conquer samsara."

Srimad Bhagavatam, 7.5.23; Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.54; Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.13

You can get benefit only through good association.

You have heard also this story about Ramanuja Acharya. Ramanuja Acharya had a disciple, Dhanur Das, whose wife was also a devotee. Dhanur Das and his wife went begging and collecting, and whatever they got every day, they cooked that for the Lord, and also when some devotees would come, they would distribute that prasadam to them. When they went collecting, they did not go together: Dhanur Das went to one village, and his wife went to another village.

There was one naughty bad man, who always disturbed Dhanur Das's wife. He always said to her, "Come stay at my house. Not necessary to go begging—I will give you so many things, I will do this, do that. I will give you money, I will give you so much rice, dahl, vegetables. I will give you everything!"

She would just reply, "OK, OK, one day I will come to you."

One day Dhanur Das's wife said to her husband, "Go begging alone today, I have some work here in the house, I need to wash some clothes, etc. I will do some service today here." So, Dhanur Das went alone, and after a while somebody knocked at her door. She was alone, and she was very afraid. She thought, "Shall I open the door or not? Maybe it is that bad man... I am alone, and he knows where my house is..." She was afraid, but when she finally opened the door, she saw her Gurudev was waiting there. She was surprised!

She gave Ramanuja Acharya an asan, some seat, or a chair, "Gurudev, please sit here, I am going to bring some prasadam for you." There was nothing in her house, so she went to the house of that man who had been disturbing her:

"I have come to your house. You always call me, so I have come today. First give me what you can give."

"Please, wait, sit down."

"No, no, my Guru is waiting there. I told him to wait while I was bringing prasadam. I have no time to wait."

Then he gave her so many bags—rice, dahl, etc.

"How shall I carry all this alone? Come with me, you can help me."

He came with her. He sat in front of her Guru, heard some Hari-katha, Krishna-katha... She said to him, "Today I am inviting you to stay here with my Guru and hear some Hari-katha, Krishna-katha. I am cooking for everybody." She cooked, offered the bhog, and after that naughty man took prasadam, his mind became sane—he became a good man!

Do you see? Your mind can change in good association. It is always necessary to keep good association:

sadhu sanga sadhu sanga sarva sastra kaya

lava-matra sadhu sange sarva siddhi haya

“If even for one moment you can get good association, you will get a real benefit from it.”

...Everything is possible to do for Guru seva. For the service to her Guru Dhanur Das's wife took the risk. "Marabi rakhabi yo ichchha tohara: Gurudev, you can kill me, or you can protect me—only you can do that." Those who depend upon Krishna, who are surrendered souls, they have no fear: only Krishna can kill.

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

"He is the cause of all causes."

She depended upon her Guru, she was a surrendered soul, so she was not afraid: she went to that man's house for the service to her Guru. If you do something wrong for your Guru's service, no problem; but when we are doing wrong we are doing offence for our own enjoyment.

Once also Mahaprabhu was sleeping, lying down, and Govinda, His servant, had to cross Him. He did not hesitate: "I am going inside for the service to my Mahaprabhu; but I will not come out because I do not want to cross Mahaprabhu's body for my own rest, to take prasadam, no. I can cross Him only for His service—I can do anything for the service to my Guru."

You must understand in that story of Ramanuja Acharya's disciple, Dhanur Das, how what she did, she did for her Guru, for the service to her Guru.

Question: Maharaj, we have a hundred people here, what message can you give them?

I can only tell them the message that Mahaprabhu has given in this Age of Kali, and you can make the judgement. Mahaprabhu went door to door, urging, "This is not your house, this is not your address, I have come to take you home!"

Lord Himself comes in the form of Guru and tells us, "This is not your address. Come to your house. Come back to God, back to home! This is not your real home. Where you came from, that is your real house. You must go there."

You always think about heaven and hell, but it is temporary. Even Indra, the king of heaven, got a pig's body. By the curse of his Guru he got a pig's body, and after 12 years Brahma rescued him from that hellish situation. Even he had to get a pig's body.

When we were pigs, we took so much stool; when we were elephants, we took so many banana trees—but our hunger was not satisfied. Still we are taking some rice, dahl, chapati, but our hunger will not finish, there will always be some material desire, but if you surrender to Krishna, to His devotee, and if you worship Krishna, if you chant the Holy Name of Krishna, you will get real benefit, you can go to your real home.

You think, "I was born in Mauritius." I think, "I was born in India." Somebody else is from Nepal, America, London, but we all come from the same house.

Loving search for the lost servant: you are searching for Krishna, and Krishna is also searching for his sons. We are like His sons who He has lost, so He is also searching for us. By worshiping Him, by chanting His Holy Name, we can meet with Him and together we can go to our real home. Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Back to God, back to home.

Heaven and hell are temporary. You do some auspicious work, you go to heaven, but it is temporary—when that result is finished, you have to come back. You do some bad work, you go to hell—when that work's result is finished, then you have to come back again. Do you understand? It is temporary. Bhagavatam told it, Srimad Bhagavad-gita also told it.

Where is our real home? It is Goloka Vrindavan. That's where we came from. Although we are jiva souls, we keep changing our bodies according to our material desire, our karma. Do you understand? This body is temporary. What is the real benefit? Chant the Holy Name and then you will get the real benefit, and you will go back to Lord Krishna, to your real home, and that is what is called "Go Back to Godhead."

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Jay Janmastami vrata ki jay!

Nitai Gaur premanande Hari Hari bol.

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How to See the Guru: Mercy

Sri Vyasa Puja Day, 25 September 2014

Today I have got an opportunity to serve the devotees, brahmacharis, sannyasis—devotees have come here today to give some mercy to me. Actually, every year when they come on this day I get some energy because I get one more year of my lifetime, and I get inspiration to serve the devotees more and more.

What shall I say to you? Actually, I do not know what I am going to say to you because it is Gurudev who is speaking to you through me.

When Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was telling sadhya-sadhana-tattva to Sanatan Goswami, He said to him the same, "You are hearing Krishna-katha, but it is Krishna Himself who is speaking to you through Me."

We must understand that. Who knows Guru-tattva? It is not a simple matter. Guru is very powerful—I am a fallen soul, I do not have any power, any quality, or qualification, but my Guru has much power. He is very powerful, and that is why I can tell you something, I can spend time with you, I can serve you—it is coming from my Guru.

When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was debating with Sri Gopinath Acharya, he said,

"Mahaprabhu is not an avatar [incarnation of the Lord]."

"Yes, He is an avatar—He is Lord Himself."

"I cannot believe that. It is said in the sastra that in the Age of Kali there is no avatar, and that is why His Name is Triyug. So, there is no avatar in Kali-yuga."

"You know the sastra, but have you read, have you studied Srimad Bhagavatam? Have you read Sri Mahabharata? In both of them it is written that there is an avatar in Kali-yuga."

"Go now and take prasad. We will discuss it later." They continued their debate:

"You are saying that I do not know the sastra, scriptures, because I said there was no avatar in Kali-yuga; and you say there is an avatar in Kali-yuga, then you think you know all sastra!"

"You have intelligence, you have brain, but with that intelligence and brain you cannot understand Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If you have mercy, if you have heart, and if you think through your heart, if you surrender, then you can understand who Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is. Because you have no mercy you cannot understand it; but I have some mercy, that is why I understand He is the Lord Himself. This is your answer."

Guru is always powerful, and his power comes from Krishna, but we do not know it—simple-hearted, we are always cheated by the bogus gurus of the guru business. We do not search, we do not see where that guru comes from, where the main root, the Guru-parampara, is, but you have to find it out, and it must be clear. When you want to make an ornament and you are going to buy some gold, you must find out where that gold is coming from, whether the gold is pure or imitation. You cannot see where the Ganges water is judging by the pot—if you have a golden pot, there may not be Ganges water inside, but there can be Ganges water inside a clay pot. It is necessary to understand these things.

Who is able to see the Guru? Those who have mercy from the Guru can see the Guru. Do you understand?

Suppose there is a pure, sati [chaste] lady. She may talk to everybody, but she does not give her love, herself to other men. She only gives that to her husband. It is the same with Srimad Bhagavatam: who does Srimad Bhagavatam give itself to? Many people translate it, many people give lecture about Bhagavatam, but whom is Bhagavatam going to give pure things to? To a pure devotee.

You heard, or you can read it in Sri Guru and His Grace, that when Sridhar Swami wrote his tika, commentary, Sankar-sampradaya did not want to follow it, and there was some debate. In the end, they said, "We will follow Sridhar Swami's tika if Sivji Maharaj tells so." They put Sridhar Swami's commentary in a Siva temple. When the book came out, it was written there, "Aham vetti, Suka vetti, Vyasa vetti na vetti va." Bhagavan Mahadev said, "I know; Vyasadev's son and disciple, Sukadev, knows; but he who wrote, who composed Srimad Bhagavatam—Sri Vyasadev—he may or may not know."

In this way, Krishna's infinite power comes through the Guru: "Acharyam mam vijaniyan, see the Guru as nondifferent from Myself." How should a disciple see their Guru? The Guru is not only a maha-bhagavata, a great devotee; a disciple will see their Guru as nondifferent from Krishna.

Sometimes also in the absence of Gurudev some problem may come—some godbrothers may say, "Oh, your Gurudev is my junior. I am his godbrother." It is not good to say this to the Guru's disciples. The Guru's godbrother can slap the Guru, that is not a problem, but he should not criticise or underestimate the Guru in front of the Guru's disciples, otherwise both of them will fall down. Akalyan haya: it brings inauspiciousness. There may be some distance between the present Acharya and his godbrothers, sometimes some contradiction may come; but we have to understand that if the Acharya does something wrong, his godbrother can even slap him, but in front of the Acharya's disciples his godbrothers must give respect, must glorify him. It is necessary, otherwise problems will come to the mission. If you try to understand this, you can understand it easily.

When the Pandavas were trying to avoid the war, Krishna brought a peace proposal (santi prastav) to the Kaurav party, but Duryodhan said, "If we can tie Krishna with a rope and arrest Him, then Pandavs will all become very sad and die of heart failure. Then the war will not be necessary." It was their foolishness. So, when Krishna came there, Duryodhan ordered to tie Krishna. When Duhsasan was going to tie Him, Satyaki came forth and wanted to slay Duhsasan with his big sword, but at that time Krishna showed His Vishvarup, His full form. King Dhritarastha was blind, but he could hear the noise and that something was happening. He was told that Krishna was showing His Vishvarup, and the king prayed, "I am blind—how can I see Him?... Prabhu, please give me some mercy. Remove my blindness, I want to see You." Krishna said," It is not necessary to remove your blindness. You can see Me." Even a blind man can see the form of Krishna! Then we can understand how it is possible to see Krishna: the power to see Krishna comes from Krishna. In the same way, the power to see the Guru comes from the Guru himself.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told one story: a man was born in a dark place, and somebody asked him,

"Do you want to see the sun?"

"Yes, I do." When he was going to see the sun, he took a kerosene lamp. The other man said to him,

"If you want to see the sun, it is not necessary to take anything."

"You are a fool—if you want to see anything, it is necessary to take a lamp." He does not know; he has been living in a dark place all his life.

"If you want to see the sun, no light is necessary; by the radiance of the sun you can see the sun."

So, if you want to see your Guru, your Guru's form, you can see him by his mercy, and you must understand that chastity is necessary—chastity is above all.

Once there was Vishnupriya, Sachi Mata and many other devotees in the house, and Nityananda Prabhu came there stark naked. Mahaprabhu immediately put a cloth on Nityananda Prabhu, and seeing that something bad could enter some devotees' minds, or a bad comment could come, and they could be offenders to Nityananda Prabhu's lotus feet, Mahaprabhu asked Nityananda Prabhu for His kaupin, a piece of cloth. At first Nityananda Prabhu did not want to give it, but then He agreed. Mahaprabhu tore it into small-small pieces and distributed the pieces to all the devotees, saying, "You can make a kavach, maduli, and wear it on your neck—if you wear it, all your senses will be controlled." In this way Mahaprabhu saved the devotees.

Nityananda Prabhu is the Adi Guru. Mahaprabhu Himself said to Nityananda Prabhu, "If You go to Bengal, You can preach there," but Nityananda Prabhu did not preach Krishna-katha. What did He preach? He preached, "Bhaja Gauranga, laha Gauranga, kaha Gauranger Nama re! I will be sold to you if you chant Gauranga's Name!"

So, we must understand what the main things are. Gurudev is powerful—his mantra is powerful, everything is powerful, but that kind of attachment to the Guru has to come. Everybody does some service, but those who do service with heart and soul, they can get mercy from their Guru.

Jaya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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How to See the Guru: Chastity

Sri Vyasa Puja Day, 25 September 2014

Chastity is the main thing.

Dronacharya was the astra guru, the teacher of weapons, of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Once he decided to test his disciples. He put up a stuffed bird and asked his disciples to take aim. He tested everyone—Yudhisthir Maharaj and others were there—but one after another, they failed.

"Can you see the bird?"

"Yes, I can see the bird."

"What else can you see?"

"I can see its head, legs."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, I can also see you."

And everybody failed. Then Arjun's turn came. Dronacharya asked him,

"What can you see?"

"I only see the eye of the bird."

"Can you see anything else?"

"No, nothing else."

"Yes, you are perfect, you can be successful!"

You must take perfect aim, give all power to one destination, one target—that kind of attachment is necessary:

Narad Muni asked Vraja gopis, "You are giving your feet dust to Krishna, do you know what result you will get?" All Vraja gopis replied, "Yes, we know. We will be in hell life after life, but we have no problem if Krishna is happy." You can even leave your Guru if he is not giving you proper instruction or is engaging you for a wrong purpose. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told this. For the sake of his ideal, Bharat Maharaj left his mother, Prahlad Maharaj left his father, Bali Maharaj rejected his Gurudev's order, Khatvanga Maharaj left all demigods, and yajna-patnis (wives of the brahmans) left their husbands for Krishna. That kind of attachment is necessary to have for your Guru, for Krishna.

Srila Rupa Goswami said,

yuvatinam yatha yuni yunam cha yuvatau yatha

mano 'bhiramate tad van mano 'bhiramatam tvayi

Sri Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.2.151

"I want that kind of attachment to Krishna that a boy and a girl can have for each other."

We can see Ramanuja Acharya also. He heard there was a Guru in Alwar (South India). He came to that Guru and asked, "You know one mantra that can give liberation. I want to get this mantra." The Guru replied, "I can give you this mantra, but you cannot give it to anybody." Ramanuja Acharya agreed and took the mantra from him. Many people said to him after that, "You have got that mantra, and if you give it to us, we can also get liberation." Ramanuja Acharya gave that mantra to all the people who were present there. His Guru said to him, "You did not respect, did not follow your Guru's order, do you know what is going to happen now?" Ramanuja Acharya replied, "Yes, I can go to hell; but your mantra is very powerful and can give liberation to the devotees. Even if I go to hell, I have no problem, because it will give benefit to others."

It is necessary to understand who the Guru is and what a disciple should be like.

In this Age of Kali so many people can give so many mantras, but where does that mantra come from? Some bogus guru, somebody from the guru business pretends to be a guru and can give you a mantra, but what is the Guru-parampara (disciplic succession) of that guru? There is a difference between mantras. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj gave one example. Homeopathic globules with medicine and without medicine look the same, but those with medicine will work and can remove the disease, but those without medicine will not work. So, it is necessary to understand where the mantra and the guru come from.

...I have told many things today. I started in the morning at 7 a.m. and now it is 6 p.m., and I have not finished yet. Eleven hours' class. I only came to my room for fifteen minutes to take prasadam...

Question: What can we do to have that kind of energy?

This energy will come from Gurudev. I told you.

You must remember what Sanatan Goswami was told. Power comes down. Das Goswami Prabhu told, "I do not want Krishna without Srimati Radharani. I only want Krishna with Srimati Radharani." This is why also Mirabai is not in our parampara: she became crazy about Krishna, but did not have attachment to the devotees of Krishna, to service. That energy will come from the Adi Guru [the Original Guru], and the Adi Guru is Nityananda Prabhu. And how will Nityananda Prabhu's mercy come? Through dham seva, through Gauranga-bhakter seva [serving the holy place, and serving the devotees of Gauranga]. You have to become crazy about Nityananda Prabhu, then you will get that kind of energy.

Question: How can we become crazy?

"Chaitanyer batul ke rakhite pare?" It was said about Raghunath Das Goswami. "No one can stop the one who becomes crazy about Chaitanya." So, no one can stop those who become crazy about Nityananda Prabhu. When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya debated with Gopinath Acharya, he asked, "How is it possible?" Gopinath Acharya explained that it was possible by the mercy. The mercy, the energy comes directly from the Guru. It is called power transmission; when the power comes, more and more devotion will come to you, and you will feel humbler and humbler.

trnadhika hina kabe nije mani

sahisnuta-guna hrdayete ani'

"When will I feel that I am lower than a blade of grass, when will I bring the quality of tolerance into my heart?"

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

When more devotion comes, you will become humbler and more tolerant, and also more dedication will come. Sincerity and dedication are very important; first is sincerity, then dedication. Full dedication means that if you want to leave your service, service will not want to leave you—that kind of 'curse' will come.

...Many devotees came here today from Mayapur and all Bengal. I have got a chance to serve everybody, and I am getting one more year to live, getting energy to serve my Guru for one more year. It is Gurudev's mercy, but actually everything can change, that is why we must make every step very carefully. We all the time make so many offences, so many things, but we must always try to avoid Vaishnav aparadh. It is necessary for our spiritual life.

Do you have any other questions?

Question: We are very happy to hear Krishna-katha from you...

When somebody has attachment to Krishna-katha, then we must think that their material attachment is being removed. Attachment to Krishna-katha, desire to hear Krishna-katha is good.

You should also understand that you are studying in a transcendental university. When you study in a mundane university, school, or college, if you are a good student, you will make new friends every year and leave the friends who fail in their studies. In the same way, you must make friends with higher, senior devotees. You must be careful who you associate with.

Every day Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu got some buttermilk in a leaf pot from Radha Kunda, but when one day the Vraja-basi brought a pot from another place, from Surya Kunda, Das Goswami Prabhu threw away that pot with milk because he did not want to mix, did not want to get association of competitors of Srimati Radharani.

Once a devotee asked Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj a question. That devotee took the first initiation from Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and the second initiation from his disciple, and he asked Srila Sridhar Maharaj what his relation with Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and his second initiation Guru should be: what should be the relationship with the Acharya and with his successor? Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said that when Krishna came to an assembly, different devotees saw Krishna in different ways. Similarly, disciples will see their Guru in one way, and the godbrothers of the Guru will see the Guru in another way.

Also, in Dvapar-yuga, Balaram played with Krishna as a cowherd boy, but when Balaram becomes Nityananda Prabhu and gives Mahaprabhu's conception to others, He is higher—Nityananda is much more powerful. You heard also about the dream of Sachi Mata. She saw Krishna and Balaram sitting on her altar, and Nityananda Prabhu was chastising Balaram and Krishna, "Come down from the altar! This place is not Yours—it is Gauranga's place! It is not Dvapar-yuga any more, it is Kali-yuga, so You must come down." We must understand the meaning of that dream...

Acharya should also watch out so that a distance does not come between his godbrothers and himself because of his disciples. This is what Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told. If any godbrothers get some disrespect from the disciples of the Acharya, that is also not good for the Acharya, you must understand that.

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Good Association

Speaking to the Colombian devotees,

2 October 2014

Question: In the song "Amara Jivana", it says "para-sukhe duhkhi", we feel happy when we see others suffering. How can we remove that feeling?

Good feelings and this feeling will come through good association. Para-sukhe sukhi, para-duhkhe duhkhi—when somebody is sad, you will also feel sad. That feeling will come to your heart through good association. Ultimately, it is also the mercy from a great Vaishnav. In this way it will come.

Question: How can we recognise what is good association?

It is easy to recognise. Through good association your service mood, your service desire will increase more and more. You can examine yourself and realise, "Is your service increasing or decreasing? Are you increasing your Krishna consciousness, your practising life?"

When you study in a class, pass the exam, and go to a higher class, you will get new friends, and you will lose the previous friends who fail the exam. You will make friends with those who are going to a higher class. You may lose your friend if they fail in Krishna consciousness in that class, but you must always increase your spiritual life, and you will get new friends in your spiritual life.

So, you can easily understand if it is good association or bad association: is your material desire coming more and more, or are your spiritual success, spiritual matters, service mood coming more and more?

You cannot recognise vaishnavata [qualities of a Vaishnava] by the clothes. Sometimes you can see somebody wearing saffron clothes and you may think, "Oh, he is a great Vaishnav!" No.

Many years ago, when I just joined Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, one saffron-clad brahmachari told me, "Why did you come here? You are young, why are you not looking after your parents? You can get a job and work outside, you can have a family life!" He gave me such advice in the temple, and I thought, "He is a bad association." After that, when I saw him, I always kept some distance from him. I never showed my face to him, and at prasadam time I did not sit close to him. So, you can understand who gives you good advice, who gives you Krishna consciousness, and who speaks gramya-katha. Keep a little distance from those who talk like that.

Question: How can we get attachment to service?

Service attachment comes through service. If you serve and serve the whole day, and do more and more service, then service attachment will come. Also the mercy of the Guru is necessary. When through service we do more and more service, service attachment will come automatically.

Jiva Goswami Prabhu served twenty-two and a half hours a day. He spent one hour and thirty minutes only on taking bath, resting, taking prasadam. Only 1,5 hours. The rest of the time, 22,5 hours, he used for the service to his Guru.

If you have that desire to serve the Vaishnavs, to serve the Guru, then automatically you can be successful in your spiritual life and Krishna will fulfil your desire, but faith is necessary.

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana

'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

"Humility, self-submission, embracing the Lord's guardianship, maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me'."

Saranagati, 1, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

If you always have this kind of saranagati, then one day Krishna will fulfil your desire.

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Practical Questions

Speaking to the Colombian devotees,

2 October 2014

Actually, we will always be careful. We want something, but we must understand what the Guru wants. If Gurudev does not want something, we should not do that.

I always give this example: who wants to be big, who wants to be bigger, it is not devotion, it is not vaishnavata (quality of a devotee). Sometimes it gives pain, but what can I do?... Now I am always praying, as Bhakti Vinod Thakur said,

trnadhika hina kabe nije mani

sahisnuta-guna hrdayete ani'

"When will I feel lower than a blade of grass, bring the quality of tolerance into my heart?"

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

Krishna and Mahaprabhu tolerate so much, and I have to tolerate too.

Do you have any questions?

Question: How should we deal with the relationship with non-devotees?

Give them respect, even to a non-devotee. Actually, why do you see they are a non-devotee? Sarve jiva sama darshan [seeing all souls equal]. You can see there is a jiva-soul, and we must rescue, we must give nourishment to them. They are also born for the service to the Lord, but they lost their consciousness because of maya, and we should fight against maya. We should not fight against the person—they are a jiva-soul, attacked by the illusory environment, maya, so we must fight against maya, and we must give proper nourishment, tell them to come to the temple, to take prasadam. Do you understand?

kabe jive daya haibe udaya,

nija-sukha bhuli' sudina-hrdaya

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

"When will I get that kind of mercy to be able to give benefit to the jiva-soul and forget my own happiness, atmendriya-tattva?"

We should not see somebody as a non-devotee. Nityananda Prabhu was beaten by them, but He rescued them. We will also act in this way. We will give respect to others, give honour to others. That is necessary.

Question: We are told that we should always remember Krishna. What is the best way to do it?

Through service to Krishna's devotees, through chanting His Name, and glorification of His Name. Krishna's Name, Beauty, Pastimes are nondifferent from Krishna, so you should always remember Krishna's Name, Pastimes, His Form, and you should always serve Krishna's devotees, then you can easily remember Krishna. It is bhakter laksan, a symptom of a devotee. 'Mad gata prana, mach-chitta'—a devotee always, with all his life, his heart, his everything, thinks for Krishna (Bg, 10.9).

sarvasva tomara, charane sampiya,

parechhi tomara ghare

Saranagati, 19, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

If you always recite this song from Saranagati, your ego will not come, you will not think you are a Vaishnav. Take remnants of the Vaishnavs, prasad, and always think you are a fallen soul, then you will never get proud, "Oh, I am taking the remnants!" Humility, dainyata, will come.

Question: We know the instruction of the Guru, but still we cannot act properly. Why is it like this?

Because of the disease. We are sick, and we have to take treatment, medicine.

bhukti-mukti adi-vancha yadi mane haya

sadhana karileo 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. Nothing will come."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.175

Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami wrote in Chaitanya-charitamrita that we are practising Krishna consciousness, but we do not get real love and affection, real prem because we have a disease—material desires, attachments, desire for liberation, etc.

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

Externally, we do some service, some work, but internally we have some material desire, some other things, and one day it will grow and we will see that we can be ousted from this line. We can fall down from this line because of the material desires inside us. We keep these desires inside, we do not show them at first, but it is supta [dormant], like a dormant fire inside ash. It will slowly, slowly grow, and will eventually come out. That is why you can see many sannyasis, many yogis fall down. Saubhari Muni was a big yogi, but even he lost his consciousness, lost his everything—he got his 50 wives, 5000 sons, etc. His story is like this.

Question: How can we develop strong faith if we are not with the devotees, but in the material environment?

You can see the example of mustard oil and water—if you want to mix it, it will not mix properly. If we go to the material environment, we will not take that. We go to material people to bring them Krishna consciousness, but we will not take their association. Do you understand? We will do sadhu-sanga—we will get the good association from a sadhu, a senior Vaishnav. We go to preach in the material world, but like Bhakti Hriday Bon Maharaj who went to collect some money to the prostitutes' quarter—he went there not for his own enjoyment or for their association, he went there to collect for Srila Prabhupad.

We can mix with the materialistic people—our sannyasi and brahmachari go to householder people and so many materialistic people—but we will not do sanga with them, we will not associate with them. We will teach them Mahaprabhu's conception, Gurudev's conception, and they will learn. We will bring something to them, not take association from them. For example, when we go to the market, we ask the shopkeeper the price, give them the money, say just one-two words and go; we do not associate with them.

Question: How can we offer the work we are doing to remember Krishna? How can this work be connected with Krishna?

To have connection with Krishna, you must come through a channel, always serve the devotees through that channel—if you come often to the temple, hear the class, you will automatically get this connection. You already have sukriti and have got association of the devotees, so gradually you can get connection with Krishna. Everybody understands that we get connection with the Lord through the Guru, through his devotees, through Krishna's devotees: Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan.

Krishna Himself said, "If somebody has left their property, their wife, their children, their relatives, their everything for Me, how can I leave them? I am always with them." Vraja gopis left everything—their shame, honour, respect—for Krishna, so Krishna is always with them.

When Durvasa Muni made an offence to a Vaishnav, Ambarish Maharaj, Krishna could not tolerate it and He showed Durvasa Muni His Sudarsan chakra. Krishna cannot tolerate maryada-langhan [showing disrespect, breaking the rules of proper conduct]. If you dishonour Vaishnavs, Krishna cannot tolerate it. You know the story of Ambarish Maharaj, how Krishna always protected him. Vaisnaver hridaye Govinda visram: Govinda always rests in the heart of a Vaishnav...

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See the Guru with Your Heart

Speaking to the Colombian devotees,

2 October 2014

There are many devotees today, very nice. I am very happy to see you. Krishna is arranging and gathering you all, and I am very happy you are getting energy to preach Krishna consciousness to the fallen souls, it is very important. You are giving so much life to the devotees.

Actually, the Lord gave you some property, like chaksu, karna, nasika, jihva, tvak (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin)—the Lord gave us everything, and we must use that property for the service to the Lord, which means preaching. You are doing that, and therefore you can see the result—so many people have come to hear some Krishna-katha. You are also getting purified—there is some dirt, and you are getting purified in this way. You are also getting the association of Sripad Tyagi Maharaj. He is following my instruction, that is why he came there, to give something to you; and by getting his association, you are benefitted.

I am also with you all. You are serving my Guru, you are following Gurudev's instruction, so you can think that I am always with you. I am always your friend, your well-wisher, everything, and I am always thinking of you. Krishna is very busy with so many things, and the Guru has a duty to always think for the good of his devotees: what will be good for his disciples, devotees, well-wishers. If a disciple can fully surrender to his Guru, then the Guru can always think about the prosperity, success, and benefit of the disciple.

You must observe, see your Guru through your divya chaksu, through the eyes of your heart, then you can realise what the Guru's position is, what the Guru can give us. You can observe your Guru with your internal eyes—you cannot recognise him properly with your brain, with your teachings or education. Only through your heart, through your love and affection can you realise your Guru.

Like Sri Gopinath Acharya. He can observe, realise who Mahaprabhu is. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya cannot recognise, or realise, who Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is because he has no mercy; and because Gopinath Acharya has mercy of Mahaprabhu, he can realise that through his heart. You too can realise, observe your Guru through your heart—not through your education or intelligence.

When through their energy, through their enthusiasm, somebody is trying heart and soul for the Lord, for Krishna, Krishna will always think for them. Actually, if you think for the devotees, if you serve the devotees of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, you will get mercy from Nityananda Prabhu. The scriptures, the sastra told that. And you are doing that, so you will easily be successful in your spiritual life.

You must, however, be always careful about Vaishnav aparadh. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord Himself says that we are making offences, and only the Vaishnavs, the mercy from the Vaishnavs can remove all our offences, but if you make offence to great Vaishnavs, no one can remove that offence. Only Vaishnavs can remove our offences, so we must be careful and we must always avoid Vaishnav aparadh.

Are there any questions from you?

Question: How can we have attachment to the Guru?

Through practising Krishna consciousness. Through following Gurudev's instruction. Gurudev can see everything. Follow Gurudev's instruction, with sincerity, humility, and dedication. If you have humility, sincerity, and dedication, then automatically you can become attached to your Guru.

Lokanath Goswami promised that he would not take any disciples, but Narottam Das Thakur wanted to take initiation from him so much that he did the lowest service—he cleaned the place where his Guru passed stool—and anyhow Lokanath Goswami was bound to give him initiation. In this way, if you have this strongest desire, sudridha sraddha [unflinching faith], to serve your Guru, you will get attachment to your Guru easily.

My Gurudev told me, "If you serve Vaishnavs, if serve the devotees of the Lord, then Krishna will come to serve you." That is why Mirabai is not in our Guru-parampara. She is always crazy for Krishna, but she does not serve the devotees of Krishna, she always avoids serving the devotees of Krishna. For this reason, we do not follow her conception, and she is not in our Guru-parampara.

We must understand that Krishna is infinite, and it is impossible for us, the finite, to serve in the infinite. You can see in Sri Guru and His Grace, the book by Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, that although Dhritarastra was blind, he could see Krishna's visva-rupa [universal form]. Krishna gave him His mercy, and with his blind eyes Dhritarastra could see Krishna. He prayed to Krishna to remove his blindness, but Krishna told him it was not necessary to remove his blindness, he could see the form of Lord Krishna.

Everybody can give a mantra, but you have to find out where that mantra is coming from, who the guru is and where the root, the Guru-parampara, is. It is necessary, otherwise anybody can give a mantra, but you do not know whether that mantra will not work or not. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj gave an example of homeopathic medicine. There are two kinds of globules: with and without medicine. They are different: if you take the globule without medicine, it will not work; and if you take the one with medicine, it will work. Both globules looks the same, and the mantras look the same—but only the mantra that is coming from the original guru will work. Otherwise, we are simple-hearted people, and anybody can cheat us easily if we go to not proper guru and not proper Guru-parampara.

We must also understand the example of Eklavya. Eklavya was a disciple of Dronacharya, and when his Guru asked for Guru-daksina, Guru-pranami, Eklavya cut his finger. It was not devotion—he wanted to learn more and become greater than his Guru. Dronacharya did not give him so much power, but Eklavya went against his Guru and fell down. That is the example of Eklavya.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "If you want to be bigger than a Vaishnav, if you want to be a great Vaishnav, that is not devotion." You must always remember and keep in your heart that we get honour, we get respect, name and fame, but how do we get it? Actually, we get it for our Guru. It belongs to our Guru. We got all this—name, fame, etc.—for our Guru, and if we do not use it for the service to the Guru, that is a big problem. If we use it for our own purpose, it is the main offence, and because of that we can easily fall down.

Why was Arjuna the best disciple of Dronacharya? Because he did what his Guru told him. When Dronacharya was testing all his disciple (Yudhisthir, Bhima and all others were there), everybody saw other things, but Arjun followed him properly. What his Guru told him, he carefully listened to that through his mind and heart, and he followed properly his instruction, direction. This is necessary: you have to follow carefully what the Guru tells you. Arjun did that, and Dronacharya said that he was his best disciple.

So, you can realise, observe your Guru through your heart—through your heart and soul.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave one example. A man is born in a dark place, and if you call him to see the sun, he will bring a kerosene lamp to see the sun. You can tell the man it is not necessary to take it to see the sun, but he will not believe. He thinks, "I am not foolish. If you want to see anything, it is necessary to take a kerosene lamp." At first he cannot understand that if you want to see the sun, your light is not necessary, you can see the sun through its own light, but when he saw the sun, then he understood that. It is the same with the Guru also: you can see the Guru through the Guru's own mercy. If you have mercy from the Guru, you can observe your Guru.

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Your Well-Wishers

5 October 2014

Question: Maharaj, I would like to introduce to you my friend...

Very nice. How are you? I am very happy to see you.

Actually, a devotee always engages the jiva souls in the service to Krishna, in the service to the Guru. It is a devotee's nature. A drunkard engages others in drinking whisky, alcohol, in bad things; a devotee always engages the jiva soul in the service to the Lord.

A devotee always wants good for others. Krishna is always very busy, He has so many things to do, and it is the duty of the Guru and Vaishnavs to always think for the jiva souls, for the fallen souls. They always think for the good of others and teach how to adjust properly, how to behave properly, how to follow the proper etiquette, how to learn humility, sincerity, dedication.

You must take good association, and if you get it you will be very benefited, you can be successful. You have got a human body, and this body is not only for eating, sleeping, and enjoyment—you must use this body for the service to the Lord. Your head is very heavy on your shoulders, but if you bow your head to the Lord's lotus feet, to Vaishnavs' lotus feet, then it will be light. We have five properties, chaksu, karna, nasika, jihva, tvak (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin)—we have all this property, but we must use it for the service to the Lord.

Do you have any questions?

Question: You say that without mercy of the Guru, we cannot attain the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. How we can attain Srila Gurudev's mercy?

We will get Gurudev's mercy through service to the Guru and Vaishnavs. Service means association with great Vaishnavs. Also, your aim should be one-pointed, "I will fulfil my Gurudev's desire. What Gurudev will tell, I will follow that. Do or die." If Gurudev says that the sun rises in the West, we must believe that. The Guru must not be questioned. Do you understand? If you have this kind of surrender, this kind of anugatya, this kind of feelings, then easily you can get mercy.

Gurudev is always merciful. He is ready to give his mercy, but the problem is our ego. We think we know everything, that is why we cannot accept his mercy. Everything is all right, but we must be a good receiver—that is the main mistake.

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Make a Temple in Your Heart

Speaking to the devotees of Paipa, Colombia,

16 November 2014

Devotees have returned from Vrindavan parikrama. Everything went happily and smoothly. They visited so many places.

Before, Gurudev would take Guru Maharaj and all the pilgrims to many places, and after Guru Maharaj's time, when Gurudev went to foreign countries, we continued doing the tours every year. Now too, after Gurudev's disappearance, by the mercy of the Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan, we are continuing the parikramas every year. It is only for preaching: we take people to various places, tell them about the Pastimes of Lord Krishna, Radharani, about the Pastimes of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundar, the Pastimes of Giriraj Govardhan. In this way we do Vrindavan parikrama every year and our preaching movement is going on everywhere.

Also Tyagi Maharaj came back. I heard from him that he also made nice programmes all over the world. He is very happy to get energy through devotees' practising life, and you also have got some energy through his preaching.

Are there any questions from you?

Question: Today we are making an event downtown and we are going to distribute prasad to the people...

That is good, but it will be even better if you distribute Krishna-katha, Govinda-katha, Guru-katha, Gaura-katha to the people—then they will be more benefitted. You can distribute prasadam and they will get a little benefit, but if we distribute Krishna-katha, Gaura-katha, Govinda-katha, that will bring more benefit to them. If they hear Krishna-katha, get some sadhu-sanga, they will get relief from birth and death, that is why it is necessary to distribute Krishna-katha and clean their hearts—make a temple in their hearts! That is good.

You can distribute prasadam, no problem, but if along with the prasadam they chant the Holy Name, hear some Krishna-katha, that will be good.

Question: A devotee is asking what she can do—she is passing a difficult situation in her life. Even knowing the scriptures, she still finds herself in a difficult situation...

She must remember Pariksit Maharaj. He got a notice that he had to leave his body within seven days, so how much difficulty did he have to go through? I think she is not facing this kind of problem. We are all suffering, but we can get relief through service to the Lord, through full surrender to Him—this is the only way to get relief. Why are we suffering? Because we forget Krishna, we forget our Guru. We think we can maintain ourselves—it is our ego. We want to enjoy everything, want to taste everything, but we are not the proprietor. Krishna is the proprietor. You must think in this way, then you will get relief from everything. Do you understand?

Question: What is the best line of behaviour when we have some difficulties in the dealings with the devotees?

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. Give up vengeance and nurture others.

You must be humble, tolerant, and give honour to others. If somebody chastises you or uses bad language, you are not to do that in return. Give honour to others and leave your ego. If you are cutting a branch of a tree, the trees gives you shadow, and you must be like this too. Who is the perfect person to chant the Holy Name?

dainya, daya anye mana, pratistha-varjana

chari gune guni hai karaha kirtana

Humility, compassion, honouring others, and giving up prestige—become qualified with these four qualities and chant the Name.

Those who are kind, not cruel, who do not think for their own self interest, who always give their life to others. You must give shelter to Radha-Krishna, Gurudev within your heart, and you can understand how wide you must open your heart to do that...

para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

It means you must throw your own happiness, your own life into the Ganges for the benefit of others. Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote this.

Do not be selfish. Svartha-para, selfishness; pratihimsa, somebody chastises you and treats you bad, and you show the same behaviour towards them—this is not the religion of Mahaprabhu. If you are humble and sacrifice for the sake of others, then you can harmonise everything. If you are selfish, cruel, and angry, you will never harmonise with anybody.

Be humble, tolerant, and give honour to others, in this way you can harmonise with everything.

Question: We engage in many devotional activities, but how can we know these activities are seva?

You can always understand it—if it pleases your Guru, then it is seva; if it does not please your Guru, it is karma. Seva and karma look the same. If you do karma, reaction will come, but there is no reaction if you do seva.

Question: How can we get devotion despite so many difficulties in the environment? How can we develop devotion?...

Through practising Krishna consciousness. Sravanam, kirtanam, sadhu-sanga, Nama sankirtan. You will develop your spiritual life through practising Krishna consciousness.

'sadhya-vastu' 'sadhana' vinu keha nahi paya

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.196

"Without practising, no one can develop their practising life." Always practise Krishna consciousness: practise what is favourable to devotion and reject what is unfavourable.

Question: You have given us so much... but how can we please you?

Follow Gurudev's instruction and serve my Guru, in this way you can make me very happy.

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

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Practice Makes Happy

Speaking to the devotees of Ukraine and Russia,

22 November 2014

I am very happy to see you all. How are you? If everybody OK?

Devotees: Yes, everyone is OK, Gurudev.

By the mercy of Gurudev you are all happy. You chant the Holy Name, you always remember Krishna, remember Gurudev, you always practise properly and engage yourself in service to the Lord, so Krishna always makes you happy, Krishna is always with you, Gurudev is always with you.

We can only proceed in our spiritual life by the mercy of the Guru, by the mercy of the Vaishnavs. Whenever we do some service, if we always remember our Guru, Vaishnavs, and Bhagavan, then we can happily practise Krishna consciousness and proceed in our spiritual life, and no bondage will come.

You may have some bad things inside, like anger or ego, but if you get the mercy of the Guru, of the Vaishnavs, everything bad will be removed from you. There is so much bondage—kama, krodha, lobha, and so on—but it cannot touch those who have got the mercy of the Guru and Vaishnavs. Sometimes some bondage, some problem may come in our spiritual life, but it is Krishna testing us: how much love and affection do we have for our Guru, for the Lord? How much attachment do we have to Krishna and to our service?

It also depends on the devotee and the quality of the devotee—those who have the strongest faith, get the strongest devotion; those who have little faith get little devotion. Gurudev told that if you give your Guru 25%, you will get 25%. You cannot hope to get 50% because you did not give 50%, but if you give 50%, you will get 50%.

We only have a very short time—there is not enough time to serve Krishna, serve the Guru, and the problem is that maya takes our time for herself, for the service to herself. We must be careful—if maya takes our time, we will not get the proper time to chant the Holy Name and serve our Guru.

Are there any questions?

Question: Gurudev, in the book Golden Staircase, Srila Sridhar Maharaj speaks about intuition. What is intuition in the context of Vaishnavism?

Intuition is anubuti, it means some feeling. That kind of feeling comes and inspires you to take initiation, or takes you to your Guru. That kind of feeling should come automatically by the mercy of the Guru—if you have an open heart, you are simple-hearted, these feelings come automatically.

Question: What should we think about when we are separated from the association of the devotees, so that we can practise properly in our devotional life?

You can remember the Lord and your Guru through their pastimes, activities, instruction, and so one.

When Vraja gopis were separated from Krishna, they always remembered Krishna's Pastimes. Uddhav Maharaj also remembered Krishna's Pastimes—when he heard from the gopis, from the trees of Vrindavan about Krishna, he wanted to become a tree to always hear Krishna-katha.

In your separation, remember the Lord's Pastimes and you can easily understand it and be happy with that.

Question: Gurudev, you spoke about difficulties in our spiritual life. Should we think that this difficulty comes from Krishna, or perhaps it comes from maya or somewhere else?

Actually, Krishna created maya. Everything comes from Krishna, and He also gave the solution, the siddhanta, so if we follow that, we can overcome maya, we can overcome all problems…

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Other Preachers: No Free Mixing

Speaking to the devotees of Ukraine and Russia,

22 November 2014

Question: Gurudev, will you be happy if your disciples go to take some instruction from other Vaishnav missions outside Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math?

Actually, we belong to Srila Sridhar Maharaj's temple—we do not mix with so many people. Once in Gurudev's times, a sannyasi from another mission wanted to make a programme here in Nabadwip on behalf of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and Gurudev was very upset. Gurudev said, "We will not allow anybody to have any sahajiya kirtan here."

You heard about Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu. He was very fanatic about Srimati Radharani. A babaji would bring him some buttermilk every day, and he would bring it in a leaf bowl from Radha Kunda, but one day he could not bring the bowl from Radha Kunda, instead he brought it from another kunda that was nearby, Surya Kunda. Raghunath Das Goswami asked, "Where did you get this dona, bowl? It is not from Radha Kunda." The babaji said that it was from Surya Kunda, a place near Chandravali's house. When Raghunath Das Goswami heard it, he threw that dona with the buttermilk away. Do you understand?

Our mission is like that—we do not like our disciples to go everywhere. Even Chaitanya Mahaprabhu does not like it. He mentioned everybody's name, but He did not mention Mukunda's name, because he went everywhere.

Also when Jagadananda Prabhu wanted to go to Vrindavan, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told him, "You can go to Vrindavan, but when you are there, always stay with Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami. Do not mix with other people, do not go to any places without Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami."

We will not go to so many places or allow other temples in, because we do not mix with those who do not like my Guru, who criticise my Guru and think they are more than my Guru.

We have kamala sraddha (tender faith)—we do not have such a strong faith—so we can be easily cheated by some Guru. There are so many kinds of Gurus in this world and because we do not have firm faith, because we are simple-hearted, immature and do not know so much background history, when we see some saffron colour Vaishnav, we at once think they are maha-bhagavat. This is our foolishness.

You must sing this song that Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote in Saranagati, Sarvasva Tomar Charane Sapiya. If you sing and explain this song, you can understand what is necessary in our spiritual life.

pratipa-janere asite na diba,

rakhiba gadera pare

It means: I will not allow those who are against my Guru to come close; I will keep them outside. I am a dog—you can tie me, and as a guard dog I will keep those who are against my Guru away.

The problem is that we think we are maha-bhagavatas, great Vaishnavs, but Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "Those who think, 'I am a Vaishnav,' they are not Vaishnavs." We should understand what a Vaishnav's qualities are.

Bhakti Vinod Thakur writes in one of his Siksastakam songs:

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara

apane manabi sada chhadi ahankara

Give up your false ego, and always consider yourself lower than grass, poor, needy, and mean.

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana

pratihimsa tyaji anye karabi palana

Practise tolerance like a tree. Stop ill-treating others, instead nurture them.

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe

para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

Do not trouble others for your own upkeep, and forget your own happiness in the course of helping others.

We must be humble, tolerant and give honour to others. Apane manabi chhadi ahankar: You must leave your ego and give respect to everybody. Vrksa-sama ksama-gun: if somebody insults you, you must forgive them; if somebody says something bad to you, you must embrace them. When somebody is cutting a branch of a tree, the tree still gives them shadow, so if somebody is beating you, you will embrace them. You must have this kind of quality, then you can think that you can become a servant of a Vaishnav—not a Vaishnav, you can be a servant of a Vaishnav.

Question: Gurudev, there is one more question. What quality is the most important for a disciple?

A disciple's most important quality is to follow their Guru's instruction...

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Proceed Smoothly

Speaking to the devotees of Veracruz, Mexico,

23 November 2014

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

These are the main things.

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

By the mercy of Gurudev, the devotees are very happy because they are practising Krishna consciousness, and everything goes smooth because sravan and kirtan go on regularly.

If we practise properly, we will be very happy. There will come so much bondage, so many obstacles for Krishna consciousness, there will be some bad things, but if we get mercy from the Guru and Vaishnavs, that kind of bondage will not be able to do anything, we will be able to overcome it.

Anger and ego are obstacles for our spiritual life. Yadi haya sadhu-jana sanga: if we get good association, association of great sadhus, these kinds of bad elements will be removed from our heart.

Proper guidance, proper instruction are necessary for us because we are simple-hearted and can be cheated any time by a bogus sadhu, by some cheaters. We must be always careful: when we see somebody wearing saffron colour, we think they are a maha-bhagavat, a great bhagavat, but it is not so. We cannot recognise with these mundane eyes who is a sadhu. Only by the mercy of Gurudev, by the mercy of great Vaishnavs, can we recognise a sadhu, otherwise not.

We must practise and think properly, then we can focus on the main way and realise the Guru, Vaishnavs, Bhagavan, otherwise we cannot understand them properly.

Our beloved Gurudev's appearance day is coming soon. We are going to see his festival, his appearance day, celebrated... We must celebrate it in a proper way, because Gurudev did not leave us here only for eating, sleeping, and to just maintain the body—he left us for preaching Krishna consciousness. We must complete what he had not completed. So, everybody should come together to glorify and preach about our Guru, to please our Guru. A disciple's main duty and service is to please their Guru.

Try to always serve Gurudev, always keep connection with Gurudev, and always remember him and his pastimes, then everything will go smooth.

Devotee: We try our best to make daily programmes. Unfortunately, some devotees could not come today...

No problem. Every day we make a programme, and Saturday is good for a larger programme.

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

ye-dina grhe, bhajana dekhi,

grhete goloka bhaya

"The days when there is practising, it becomes non-different from Goloka Vrindavan..."

Devotee: We would like to show you the altar...

Good, very nice.

Sraddhaya sri murti sevana: everybody can serve in any way, Krishna will be very happy, but it is necessary to serve the Deity with full faith.

One time Mukunda said to his son (his son Raghunandan was about 10 years old), "We are going out, offer the bhog to the Deities." When he offered the bhog, the Deity took everything. His father came back and wanted to take prasadam, but Raghunandan said, "You cooked a little bit less, the Deity has taken it all." His father did not believe it. In the afternoon he told him to offer again so that he could see how the Deity would take it. Raghunandan again gave the offering, and he chastised the Deity, "You must take it, otherwise father will not believe me!" The Deity took half of the sweets. Mukunda was very surprised, "How is this possible!"

We do not believe it—we think the Deity is made of wood, made of steel—but the Deity is non-different from Krishna…

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Success, Attachment, Fearlessness

2 December 2014

Maya Devi always takes our time to engage us for herself. Success in spiritual life depends upon the devotee—how many percent can you give to your Guru, to the Lord? If you can give only 50%, you cannot hope to get more than 50% from Krishna—if you give 50%, you will get 50%, not more than that. Life is like that...

Our devotional activities must be in favour of the Lord, in favour of Gurudev. That is the main things. Whatever we do, it must be always in favour of devotion. Must be. In this way you can succeed in your spiritual life. Otherwise, we may try, and try, and try, but we will not succeed.

Atmedriya-vancha Krsner sukhe, Krsner priti bhog tyag: we have no right to engage or use this property (senses, mind, etc.) for ourselves. Actually, we have no right to either exploit or renounce it (bhoger adhikar nai, tyager adhikar nai), but you can do anything for the happiness of the Lord, for the happiness of your Guru.

Indian prime-minister now wants to stop the family tradition of inheriting governmental posts. India has been running with the family tradition for the past 60 years: if you are the PM, your son will be the next PM, and after that your grandson will be the PM. Our line is not like that. We are not sahajiya—we follow Srila Rupa Goswami's conception. Sahajiya gurus say that if somebody is a guru, their son will be the next guru, and then their grandson will be the guru—the power is inherited by their own family. We cannot do that.

I was surprised to see how much attachment Gurudev has to the Lord, to the Guru, and to Krishna, and how renounced he is from his family—three days before his disappearance, Gurudev asked me, "Do you remember that the Govardhan land is my name?"

"Yes, I know that. I remember."

"Are you foolish? Why are you not handing that land over to the Math? Why are you not making the papers?"

I made the papers and he signed them. Otherwise, if this land had remained in his own name, then even though he is a sannyasi, his family could have made some problem. In this way, we can understand how much attachment Gurudev has to his temple, to the service to his Guru, and how detached he is from his family members.

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana

'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

Humility, self-submission, embracing the Lord's guardianship, maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me.'

Saranagati, 1

We must keep the faith that Krishna will maintain, Krishna will protect us. When attachment to service, attachment to Krishna comes, day by day you will get more and more joy, pleasure.

It is very close to Gurudev's appearance day. Everybody is saying, "Gurudev, Gurudev," but how many percent are following Gurudev's instruction?

Gurudev's last word was, "Do not see his fault, love him." I do not know how many percent of the devotees follow Gurudev's instruction... What Gurudev told me, I do that. I did not run away. He told me, "Look after my temple, my Deities, and the devotees." I cannot go to foreign countries, but from time to time I send Sripad Tyagi Maharaj to give nourishment to the devotees, and I think he is successful by the mercy of Gurudev. What works I am doing, he is doing it on behalf of me, I think so and I see it also.

Gurudev also told me one abhay vani [encouragement, lit. a message that makes one fearless], "Do not be hopeless—when one door closes, another door opens…"

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Fulfilment of Life

3 December 2014

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."

bhajiba baliya ese samsara-bhitare

bhuliya rahile 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."

We do not understand the value of this life. Ahara, nidra, bhay, maithuna (eating, sleeping, defending, mating)—in any life we can get it. It is said in the scriptures that in any life we will get mother, father, and friends. Even a dog has a father and a mother, but it is not in any life that you can get a Guru, not in any life you can engage in Hari-kirtan, not in any life you will get Bhagavan. Therefore,

durlabha manava janma labhiya samsare

krsna na bhajinu duhkha kahiba kahare?

I attained a human birth, which is most rare in this world, but did not serve Krishna. To whom shall I express my sorrow?

We have got a rare life, but if we do not serve our Guru, this life is nothing: it is wasted in vain.

Once, when Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was in Benares, Kashi, and went to bathe in the Ganges, he saw many people coming to a man with a long beard and hair. People would ask him for medicine or to help solve some family problems. The man did not say anything. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur watched him for some time and then asked somebody why that man did not speak. Somebody explained to him, "He is a mauni baba—he has not spoken for more than twenty years." Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was disappointed, "O Krishna, You gave him a good mouth, a good tongue for speaking, but he does not speak. What will become of him next life?"

What is this mouth for? This mouth is not for talking nonsense or gossiping. This mouth is for preaching Krishna consciousness. What are these hands for? To do service for the Lord. What are these eyes for? To get the darshan of the Lord's form, vigraha. What are these legs for? To do parikrama around the holy dham. Even those who cannot go to the holy places, they must do parikrama around Tulasi Devi at their home—if you do parikrama around Tulasi Devi, you get the same result as when you do parikrama around Vrindavan. As you sow, so you reap.

Uddhav Maharaj said, "Why is our head so heavy? How to make it light? If you pay obeisance to the Lord, to your Guru, to the Vaishnavs, then your head will be light."

You must understand that Gurudev always protects us.

durdaive sevaka yadi yaya anya sthane

sei thakura dhanya tare chule dhari' ane

If by chance a servant falls down and goes somewhere else, glorious is that master who captures him and brings him back by the hair.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.47

Our mind goes everywhere, and we do not have any power, but our Guru is very powerful. He can do anything, but we cannot understand it. Even Brahma said, "I do not know so much about Krishna. Somebody can say, 'I know Krishna,' but I do not know Him." What did Sivji Maharaj say?

When there was a debate between the Sankar Acharya sampradaya and the Vaishnav Sri sampradaya, the Sankar Acharya sampradaya said, "We do not follow Sridhar Swami's tika, commentary. Only if Sivji Maharaj tells us, we will follow it." They put the book in a temple of Siva, and when they took it out, Sivji Maharaj pronounced, "Aham vetti, Suka vetti, Vyasa vetti na vetti va. I know it, Sukadev Goswami, the son of Vyasadev, knows it, but Vyasadev himself, who composed Srimad Bhagavatam, may not know it."

Krishna Himself may or may not know, but His associates know everything. The Lord resides in the hearts of His devotees.

Once Ramanuja Acharya heard there was a Guru who had a mantra that could liberate anyone. He went to that Guru and asked him, "Prabhu, I want to be your disciple. Can you give me the mantra that can give liberation?"

"Yes, I can give you that mantra, but there is one condition. You cannot give that mantra to anyone."

Ramanuja Acharya agrees, but after he took initiation many people surrounded him, "Oh, you have got that mantra... Please give that mantra to me! I too want to be liberated." Ramanuja Acharya gave that mantra to everyone. His guru was angry, "You promised me not to give that mantra to anyone, but now you are giving it to everyone! Why are you doing this? Do you know what is going to happen to you?"

"Yes, Gurudev, I know. I will go to hell; but your mantra is very powerful, it can rescue anyone from hell—it can give liberation."

You must have faith—faith in the mantra of your Guru. You must be firm, determined (sudridha).

'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

We must not bargain with Bhagavan like in a grocery shop, "I am serving the Guru, and I will get something in return."

There is karma-misra-bhakti, jnana-misra-bhakti, jnana-sunya-bhakti, suddha-bhakti. Krishna said in Bhagavat-gita, "Sarva dharman parityajya...", but Mahaprabhu said, "Leave that, go forward." Then there is jnana-misra-bhakti, "I am doing service and want some material happiness, wealth, knowledge, beautiful body, tasty food, beautiful companions, etc." Pure devotees serve only for the happiness of the Lord.

What service did Vraja gopis do? When they were prepared to give their foot dust for Krishna, Narad Goswami asked them, "Do you know what will happen to you?" They replied, "Yes, we know that. We will go to hell, but it is alright as long as the Lord is happy." That is the love of Vraja gopis to Krishna.

Where we will go, what we will do—we do not know anything. Sadhu, Guru, Vaishnavs come here to rescue us. We sing this song:

tava nija-jana kona mahajane

pathaiya dile tumi

You have sent a great soul, Your associate (to rescue me).

daya kari more patita dekhiya

kahila amare giya

ohe dina-jana suna bhala katha

ullasita ha'be hiya

Seeing me so fallen and being merciful, he came to me and said, “O humble soul, listen to this wonderful message and your heart will rejoice.

tomare tarite sri-krsna-chaitanya

navadvipe avatara

toma hena kata dina-hina jane

karilena bhava-para

"Sri Krishna Chaitanya has appeared in Nabadwip to deliver you. He has brought many humble souls just like you to the shore of the ocean of material existence."

We are swimming in an ocean, and somebody throws some log into the ocean to help us reach the shore, then we must try to get there. We can try to practise—this is what Guru Maharaj, Gurudev established this Math for.

Gurudev is very kind. If I have ego, he will not come to me, but If I have no ego, he will come to me—I am a fallen soul, and it is his duty to rescue the fallen souls.

Vraja gopis and Srimati Radhika said to Krishna, "You made us cry because of separation. All the Vraja gopis are crying. You must also come to cry." In Kali-yuga, Mahaprabhu also cries—He cries for the jiva souls.

jiva jago, jiva jago, gorachanda bale

kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

Sri Gorachand calls, “O souls, awake! O souls, awake! How long will you sleep in the clutches of the witch Maya?

tomare la-ite ami ha-inu avatara

ami vina bandhu ara ke achhe tomara

"I have descended to save you. Other than Me, who is your friend?"

Who is your real friend in this world? Your father? Your mother? Your friends?

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

Srimad Bhagavatam said, "Those who do not help me in Krishna consciousness are not my relatives—if somebody does not help me in Krishna consciousness, they are not my father, they are not my mother, they are not my husband, not my wife, they are not my Guru." Very strong words.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "Many sannyasis, gurus will come in this world. Some will give cloth, some will give medicine, and so on." Some sannyasis give some material benefit, and people think, "Oh, this guru is very nice. He is the best guru!" But those who give advice, give spiritual knowledge, who rescue and engage in service to Krishna, are considered not good, "Whenever I go to him, he tells me to do this, to do that. He is not good." Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told this in his lecture.

Those who cannot rescue you from material death, are not your Guru. If you take initiation but that Guru does not engage you in spiritual activities, you can leave that Guru, no problem. You should accept as your Guru the one who engages you in service, in spiritual activities. This is very important to understand.

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Laziness

3 December 2014

We have no enemy other than ourselves. If you do not bring benefit to yourself, no one else can do it instead of you.

'Time and tide wait for none'. Time is passing—do not wait! If we are not engaging ourselves in service, we become nidralasya hata sukarya virata akarya udyogi ami: always sleepy, lazy, and happy to do bad things.

pratistha lagiya satya-acharana

lobha-hata sada kami

e hena durjana sajjana-varjita

aparadhi nirantara

Such a sinner as I is shunned by devotees, and is a constant offender. I am devoid of virtuous motives, always intent upon evil, and racked by various miseries.

Saranagati, 5.5

You are science people. It is told, an idle mind is devil's workshop. Is it correct or not? If you do not do anything, bad thoughts will always come to your mind, but when you make yourself busy you cannot think of bad things. It is simple words, it is not even a spiritual matter.

Something is better than nothing—do something. How many days will you live in this world? Time is very short.

uthare uthare bhai ara ta samaya nai

'krsna bhaja' bale uchchaihsvare

Wake up, wake up, brother, there is no time! Worship Krishna!

You can die at any time—are you going to do something after death? Next life? Do something now.

My duty is to engage you in service to my Guru. I can tell you right now to get out, but it is not my duty—my duty is to engage, to try and try, and again try.

Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur writes very nicely:

amara jivana sada pape rata

nahika punyera lesa,

nija sukha lagi pape nahi dari,

daya-hina svartha-para,

My life is always engrossed in sin. There is not a trace of piety within it. I am never afraid to engage in sinful activities for the sake of my own happiness. I am merciless and selfish.

We think Gurudev gives us a room, Gurudev gives us prasadam, some accommodation, and we do not have to do service for the Guru. Daya-hina svartha-para—unkind and selfish: we stay in Gurudev's temple, we take his energy, but we do not give him our own energy. Instead, nidralasya-hata sukarye virata akarye udyogi ami: we are lazy, we always want to sleep or do some bad works... What is this?

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Pure Line: Disciples, Quarrels, and Prasadam

4 December 2014

Some gurus give initiation out of affection, some gurus give initiation out of greed, but both such gurus and their disciples are going to hell. A Guru always thinks about their disciple's spiritual matter, but some make disciples thinking, "The disciple will serve me because I am the guru." When this guru-abhiman, acharya-abhiman comes, it is very bad. It is written in Hari-bhakti-vilas:

snehadva lobhato bapi yo grhniyad-diksaya

tasmin gurau sasisyetu devatasapa apatet

Hari-bhakti-vilas, 2.5

"Both the guru who gives initiation out of affection or greed and their disciple get a curse from the demigods and go to hell."

yo vakti nyaya-rahitam-nyayena srnoti yah

tabubhau narakam ghoram vrajatah kalamaksayam

Sri Narada-pancha-ratra, cited in Hari-bhakti-vilas, 1.62

"If one is an acharya and does not give class and do kirtan according to the scriptures, but instead does what goes against the scriptures, both the speaker and the listener will go to hell."

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana

pratihimsa tyaji' anye karabi palana

Practise tolerance like a tree. Stop ill-treating others and nurture them instead.

They can give galagal [chastisement] to me, but I cannot give galagal to them—somebody can use bad language for me, but I cannot use bad language for them because it is not Vaishnavism to do so.

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe

para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

Do not trouble others for your own upkeep, and forget your own happiness in the course of helping others.

"For my own happiness and enjoyment I will not give any anxiety to others; I will not be the cause of anxiety for anyone. For others' benefit, I must renounce, must throw my own happiness and everything into the Ganges."

Pratihimsa tyaji anye karabi palana (giving up vengeance, nurture others): there was one Vasudev Vipra who had leprosy. How much he tolerated! You say I am tolerating so much, but how much Vasudev Vipra tolerated! Insects would fall out of his sores, and he would pick them up and put back inside his sores, thinking, "Oh, it is very hungry! It is happy and satisfied here."

It is Param Guru Maharaj's advice: when you serve prasadam to devotees, you must be like a mother. When a mother feeds her baby, she feeds it from the spoon, with a handkerchief, with so much care. I am not telling you to do like that (with a spoon and handkerchief), it is not necessary, but I am watching here how they serve prasadam, and I see there is no love and affection...

We are always taking but not giving, that is the problem. A sadhu is now a Kali-yuga brahmin—always takes but does not give. It is necessary for our spiritual life to give nourishment to others. Somebody can use bad language, but we will not do that in return, it is not our religion. We joined the Krishna consciousness line, and our line must be very pure—we will be most humble, most tolerant, and give all honour to others. It is very important. When you cut a branch of a tree, the tree does not say anything. Instead, it gives shelter to you—when you are in the sun and feel hot, the tree gives you shadow. We must also be and think like that.

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The Guard and the Guardian

5 December 2014

Maya is taking our time for her own purpose, for her own enjoyment.

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18

"Krishna always hides devotion. If you always think about material things and want material enjoyment, Krishna will give you that, but He will hide devotion and take everything away from you."

I do not want to just sit as a Guru, as an Acharya, and everybody would come and pay obeisance to me—I must go to the battlefield and fight Maya. As Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur writes,

pratipa-janere asite na diba,

rakhiba gadera pare

You will tie me up nearby and maintain me. I will remain at Your doorstep. I will not allow any inimical persons to enter; I will keep them on the far side of Your moat.

Saranagati, 19.2

"I will keep those who are against you far away from your zone; I will not allow them to enter." 'Pratip' means those who are not in favour of your Guru.

Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote a very nice song.

sarvasva tomara, charane sapiya,

padechhi tomara ghare

tumi ta' thakura, tomara kukura,

baliya janaha more

I have offered everything at Your feet and taken shelter in Your home. You are my Master; please consider me Your dog.

Saranagati, 19.1

This is very important.

If we follow regularly and attentively the advice and the practising mood that Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, that Guru Maharaj, that Gurudev gave us, then no matter what obstacles may come, they cannot do anything. Gurudev said that it does not matter where you live—even if you live in a hospital, it is not a problem as long as you maintain your spiritual life properly.

Gurudev also told that to manage a temple it is not necessary to be a great devotee. A temple manager must be a gentleman: when devotees come, the manager must give some prasadam, give some sweet talks, and have a sweet behaviour. That is sufficient. It is not necessary to be a very big scholar, or to be Rupa Goswami or Sanatan Goswami. It is sufficient to be a gentleman…

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Service: Proof of Love

Speaking to the devotees in Hungary,

6 December 2014

You are celebrating Gurudev's appearance day and I am very happy to see that.

Actually, Gurudev has left us here to finish his job—we must finish whatever service he could not finish. He preached Krishna consciousness all over the world, and we must give nourishment to that. Every year we make this festival together, and we must promise on this day: Gurudev is giving us life for one more year, and for one more year we will engage ourselves in service to the Guru. This is very important.

Gurudev said, "You can stay anywhere, but you must maintain your spiritual life properly." That is his advice and his practising mood, and we must follow that properly. By service we can prove how much attachment, how much love and affection we have for our Guru, so every year we make his appearance and disappearance festivals, Guru Maharaj's festival, etc.

Our preaching movement is increasing by Gurudev's mercy, and we continue, by the mercy of Gurudev, protecting Gurudev's devotees, mission, and Deities.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj had waited for thirty years to give the chair to Gurudev, that is why Gurudev could not leave his service although so many obstacles and problems came in his time. He suffered so much. After Gurudev's disappearance I am also suffering so much—so many obstacles have come in our spiritual life, but we will not run away from our service. We continue our service.

We make preaching centres and temples, ashrams in every corner of West Bengal, every corner of India, and we are very fortunate that we have got this kind of a bona fide Guru. Gurudev kept us, gave us love and affection, but we are doing so much wrong, and Gurudev tolerates so much for us. He has left us behind and engaged us in the service to his Guru, and in his absence we must continue this service until death—that is our promise, our intention, and determination.

Do you have any questions?

Question: I have a question about the Holy Name. Srila Guru Maharaj says that the real Holy Name cannot be pronounced by our mouth, only the soul can utter the pure Holy Name, but every day we chant...

When we chant, Namabhas or Nama aparadh comes, but if through sadhu-sanga, good association, you chant the pure Holy Name even once, that is sufficient. Nama aksara bahiraya bate tabu Name kabhu naya (Pv, 7.1): we pronounce the letters, but the pure Holy Name is rare.

eka-bara krishna-name yata papa hare

patakira sadhya nahi tata papa kare

If the real Holy Name comes once, all offences will be removed from the heart. We chant all day and night, but it is all not the pure Name—some Namabhas, Nama aparadh. Sevon mukhe kahe Krsna Nama: if you keep good association and a service mood, then if you do some service, for example cook, with your instruments (using your hands, senses, mind, etc.) and chant the Holy Name, that time pure Holy Name can come. What was your question?

Question: My question was how to harmonise that we are chanting Nama-abhas, Nama-aparadh...

It is not necessary for you to think about it.

ki sayane, ki bhojane, kiba jagarane

aharnisa chinta krsna, balaha vadane

Whether you are sleeping, eating, or resting, always chant the Name of Krishna.

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Madhya-khanda, 28.28

Do your duty and chant the Holy Name when you do your service, and also Gurudev told that when you get some time you must chant on the chanting beads, minimum four rounds, or sixteen rounds. Follow Gurudev's order, and do not think what result is coming or whether Nama-aparadh or Namabhas is coming—that is not your department.

In his last days, in 1986-1987, Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not chant on his beads—he would always chant, "Nitai Gaura haribol, Nitai Gaura haribol." Once his servitor asked him, "Maharaj, should I give you your chanting beads so you can chant the Holy Name?" Guru Maharaj replied, "You can give those chanting beads to Govinda Maharaj (Gurudev)." He would only chant "Nitai Gaura haribol."

Do you have any other questions?

Question: What is you favourite place to be in, and why?

Actually, Gurudev told me to stay in Nabadwip, then I have no say in what my favourite place is. I must follow what Gurudev said. Even if I had a favourite place, I could not go there because I must follow the order Gurudev gave me—I cannot follow my mind, otherwise it will be enjoyment, and I did not come here for enjoyment.

For seven years after I joined the mission, I did not spend one night outside Nabadwip. Even when I went to Kolkata to meet with Gurudev, I would leave in the morning and come back at night time—sometimes after dinner I would take the car and come back from Dum Dum Park the same day. Sometimes I would leave Kolkata at 10 o'clock at night and come at 1 o'clock in the morning. Later, Gurudev sent me for preaching to villages and I had to spend a night, or sometimes three-five nights, outside Nabadwip. When I went to foreign countries for preaching, I also could not come to Nabadwip the same day and had to stay outside.

Any other questions?

Question: If we somehow forget everything, what is one thing that Gurudev teaches us that we should remember and hold on to?

When you are going to die, the last what you must remember is your Guru, then no problem will come. The last you do must be remembering your Guru.

...You are doing very well—you keep a regular programme, and it is necessary. It is sincerity, nistha: whatever you do if you do it every day, all time, regularly, that will be good.

There are nine kinds of devotion (sravanam, kirtanam, etc.—nava-vidha bhakti),

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

If you do Nama-sankirtan without offence, you will get the wealth of Krishna—Krishna prema-dhan.

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Love for Guru: Service and Commitment

Speaking to the devotees in Caracas, Venezuela,

7 December 2014

Today is a very auspicious day. Tomorrow is our beloved Gurudev's appearance day, and today is the adhivas day. We are very busy here arranging the festival.

We are fortunate that every year this day comes in our life. Every year we wait for this day to come, and we must make a commitment. We are arranging the celebration of Gurudev's festival and getting more and more enthusiasm and energy for the service to Gurudev's mission. What Gurudev has given us is inconceivable—if you take it properly, and follow his instruction, his advice, then there will be no obstacle in your spiritual life. Many obstacles will come, but it will all be removed from our way by the mercy of Gurudev, because Gurudev is always with us. Even if we forget everything but if we remember our Guru, then everything will be harmonised and everything will be all right by the mercy of Gurudev.

diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana

sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama

At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Krishna accepts him as nondifferent from Himself.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.192

Our duty is not just to take initiation. Initiation is a formality—if we take initiation and do not follow Gurudev's instructions, do not serve Gurudev, what is the use of such initiation? Nothing. It is like you go to a doctor but do not follow the doctor's prescription and do not take the medicine.

We are always busy with our own interest, with our own enjoyment, but we must understand: who do we love more, our Guru or ourselves? That is the main thing. We must realise it for ourselves in our heart. If we love our Guru more, then we must serve more—we must give more time for our Guru.

We did not come to Gurudev's lotus feet for our own enjoyment—we came to serve our Guru, serve our Gurudev's mission. This should be our thinking. If we cannot use ourselves properly for the service to our Guru, this life, this human body is nothing, wasted. What did we then come for? We have got so many instruments—legs, hands, mouth, etc.—and we must use it. We must think that we have got all these instruments for service to the Guru, Vaishnavs, and the Guru's mission.

Our Gurudev gives us so much, but how much can we give to our Guru? We always take from our Guru—we take more than we give, but it is not a disciple's duty. A disciple's duty is to always give to their Guru, not take. Serve heart and soul.

Gurudev said, "How much my Guru Maharaj is giving me! He waited for me for 30 years to give this temple. I had been always swimming in maya, but he took me out and gave that kind of service." Gurudev said this about his Guru Maharaj. So, we must follow Gurudev's instruction for our own spiritual benefit.

When Gurudev was going to leave his body, he specifically said to me at that time, "You go door to door, house to house to bring people to the temple, and I went to foreign countries so many times for so many years, but how many people follow Krishna consciousness? How many people come to our proper line and do service? How many percent of the people can surrender properly? Nobody—only a few." That is why, as Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote in his books, there is emotion and there is devotion. When we first join a temple, we think, "Oh, he or she has so much devotion!" Sometimes somebody cries so much for Krishna, for Guru, but it is not proper devotion—it is emotion.

You can read in Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, 16th chapter of Adi-khanda, about Srila Haridas Thakur. He would chant and experience so much ecstasy—he would cry and roll on the ground. Seeing it, one brahmin thought, "This Haridas Thakur has so many followers because he behaves like this. If I do like this too, then all people will respect and follow me." It was a dhanga vipra (a pretender, imitator). He copied Haridas Thakur's behaviour, and Anantadev came within his body and beat him so much that he ran away.

We must think about it: are we a sadhu or do we just wear the dress of a sadhu? Have we become a Vaishnav or do we only wear the dress of a Vaishnav? Do we practise properly or do we pretend and show false renunciation? We must ask ourselves.

Any pregunta (questions)?

Question: What is the real love for Sri Guru?

Real love for Sri Guru is following Gurudev's instruction.

Soon after I joined the temple, I was arranging a big festival for Gurudev's appearance day. It was 1993. Before that they would make an invitation, but they did not write "Guru Puja Mahamahotsav," they would write "Acharya Abhivandan Mahamahotsav." I printed "Vyasa Puja Mahamahotsav," and Gurudev was very happy. When I showed him the invitation for his Vyasa Puja, he asked who had printed it, and I said it was me. There was some mistake in the invitation, and Gurudev said, "My godbrothers can spit into my mouth, but you are my disciple, so you must write correctly." He showed me how to correct it, but he was happy. Mistakes are inevitable, they will come, but I was trying to establish him, establish his service, and he was happy with me.

After that, for the Vyasa Puja of the following year, 1994, I decorated his house, Acharya Bhavan, with lights and other things. When some of his godbrothers saw so much decoration, they complained to Gurudev that I was spending too much money. Gurudev said to me, "Why are you putting lights on my house? Why do you not paint my house black instead?" He chastised me, but it was love and affection, because I know he liked what I was doing. In this way I conquered Gurudev's heart—it did not happen over one day.

When I just joined, Gurudev told me, "You must not leave Nabadwip for even one night." Sometimes Gurudev would call me to Kolkata, and I would go in the morning and after taking dinner in the evening I would return to Nabadwip at 10 o'clock. Gurudev asked me, "Why are you going so late at night?" I said, "Gurudev, you told me not to leave Nabadwip for even one night."

If Gurudev tells you something, you must follow it, then Gurudev will rely on you, then there will be love and affection. Gurudev has so much burden, so many things to take care of: if he gives you some responsibility, and you follow that, you take care of that responsibility, then you take some of the burden from him. That is the main thing—to serve your Guru.

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Gurudev: His Example and Teachings

Speaking to the devotees in London, UK,

8 December 2014

Today is the most auspicious day of our life—Gurudev's appearance day. We celebrated it here in a very gorgeous way, and many thousands of people came for the festival. The festival was very big.

Gurudev conquered the whole world with his love and affection. Many people throughout the world do not know English language or cannot fully understand it, but they could understand Gurudev through their heart.

When Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj gave sannyas to Gurudev, he gave him the name Bhakti Sundar Govinda. Gurudev asked him, "Why did you give me the name Govinda? It is a name of the Lord and a very common name." Guru Maharaj explained to him, "My Deity is Govinda and my kunda is Govinda, so the name of my pure devotee will also be Govinda." He transferred Govinda and whatever was in his heart to the heart of Gurudev.

Gurudev is nondifferent from Krishna. Krishna Himself came as a Guru from Goloka Vrindavan. Gurudev appeared in a family, but he teaches us just as Mahaprabhu does when He comes in this world.

One time, Gurudev told me, a municipal officer, a brahmin, came here to measure the kitchen area, and he wanted to enter the kitchen wearing his shoes. Gurudev objected, "You can take the measurements from outside. This is Govinda's kitchen, Mahaprabhu's kitchen, Krishna's kitchen, and you cannot go inside, especially with your shoes on. This is not the culture." When Gurudev saw that the man still wanted to enter the kitchen forcefully, he said, "If you try to go there, I will cut off your leg." The man became very angry and went to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to complain, "You kept a boy there, and that boy wants to cut off my leg!" Srila Sridhar Maharaj asked him what he wanted to do, and when the man explained it, Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "Yes, he wants to do right."

It shows that from the very beginning Gurudev had no fear, and he protected his Gurudev's temple properly.

Gurudev also told me that there was so much problem. In 1993 I started Gurudev's Vyasa Puja festival. Srivas Pandit made Vyasa Puja of Mahaprabhu in his house, Srivas Angan, and I also started Vyasa Puja mahamahotsav of Gurudev. Before, they wrote in the invitation cards 'Acharya Abhivandan'—they did not write 'Vyasa Puja'. I thought at that time that there were so many Gurus, and their disciples celebrated Vyasa Puja of their Gurus, then why would my Guru not have Vyasa Puja?

That is how I started Vyasa Puja celebration in 1993. Later, for the Vyasa Puja '94 I made some decoration with light and other things, and some of Gurudev's godbrothers went to Gurudev to complain, "That boy is new here, but he is spending so much money!" Gurudev called me and asked, "Why are you making these lights on my house? Why are you painting my house? Why do you not just paint my house black instead?" Gurudev showed he was sad, but actually he was extremely happy with what I was doing for that day. He was sad that his godbrothers were complaining. Gurudev told me, "My godbrothers may spit in my face, no problem, but you must do your job." You can see how much Gurudev tolerated and what his desire was.

I still think that Gurudev is always there behind us. Yesterday one of my disciples asked me, "How can I make you happy? What kind of service can I do?" I said, "If you serve my Guru, I will be happy. That is my happiness." That is the main things.

Once Gurudev told one of his Western devotees, "Your service is to sit in front of me." The devotee sat there, only listening to Hari-katha, and Gurudev told everybody else to do some service. After four-five days he thought, "Everybody is doing some service—Gurudev told everybody to do some service, but I am doing nothing. I am only sitting, listening and doing nothing. Maybe I should go to the arati and kirtans, do some service. Maybe Gurudev will be happier." He started doing something else, and, busy with his other service, he did not come to see Gurudev for three-four days. Gurudev asked him politely, "Prabhu, have I done anything wrong? Why are you not coming to me anymore?" The devotee began to cry. This is what Gurudev's love and affection was like.

Another time, I was sitting in the office, in the Centenary building, and I heard the sound of Gurudev's car going out. I immediately left everything and came out—I did not even close the office. I paid dandavat, and Gurudev told the driver to stop the car and asked me, "Will you go with me?"

"Where?"

"You are asking where—you have no chastity. If your Gurudev goes to hell, you must go with him." That is the main thing—there should be no question, and that kind of chastity is necessary. Gurudev taught us so many things.

Also, you know that Gurudev is a very good mridanga player, but for many years he had not played it, and during his last time he asked me, "Can you buy a mridanga for me?" I got him a small mridanga, but somebody broke it, and Gurudev said to me, "Why are people jealous of me? I only have a small mridanga, but they broke it..."

Gurudev said that he tolerated so much. He said, "Everyone wants to be a guru, but I know this Acharya chair has so many big problems, it is very austere, that is why I did not want to take it. For thirty years Guru Maharaj wanted to give that chair to me, and he was waiting, but I knew how dangerous his chair was. Finally, Guru Maharaj said that if I did not take the chair, he would give the Deities to his godbrother and break the temple." Then Gurudev took some of Guru Maharaj's burden.

That is why Gurudev kept us. Our duty is not only to take initiation and that is it—we have some duty.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "So many people accepted me as their Guru, but I do not accept them as my disciples—I see them as my Guru." Do you understand? These are very authentic things. When anybody paid obeisance to Prabhupad, he would say, "Daso 'smi—I am your servant."

This is how Gurudev shows us how to conquer the Guru's heart, he is an example of it. He does not hide it, he openly tells about it—once he said in a public meeting, "Everybody knows that I am a very naughty boy and I had no hope to come back again to Krishna consciousness, but my Gurudev is very powerful."

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told about Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur, "I could not recognise who Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur was; all I can say is that those who took shelter of Bhakti Vinod Thakur's lotus feet, are very fortunate." I also can say, "I could not recognise my Guru, but I can say now that those who took initiation from Gurudev, who took shelter of my Gurudev's lotus feet, are very fortunate."

Do you have any questions?

Question: When will you come to London?...

I am always with you all, at all times. You many not see it, but if you see through your heart, you will be able to see it. Gopinath Acharya said, "You cannot recognise Mahaprabhu with your brain, knowledge, or education, but you can recognise Him through your heart." I may be in India physically, but I am always with the devotees—mind, heart, and soul. When, by his mercy, Gurudev gives me chance to come out of India, I will definitely come.

All devotees are a family, and Gurudev also loved us as his own family. If we can stay in Gurudev's boat, then we can go where the boat will go. Yet, we are simple-hearted and we are always cheated by bogus gurus. That is our problem. There are so many gurus in this world—karmi guru, jnani guru, yogi guru...

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said, "Instead of serving your Guru, you are using your Guru." That is very important to understand. We use our Guru for our own purpose, own benefit. Gurudev told, "We have got some time for the service to the Lord, but Maya Devi is taking our time for her own service." If we remember Gurudev's lecture, Gurudev's instruction, Gurudev's words, and practise properly, then we can get a small room in Gurudev's place and continue our service. Service mood is necessary.

We are chanting, chanting, but we do not get the result. Gurudev also said, "Bad words and criticism of Vaishnavs will not come to the mouth that chants the Holy Name," but we are not getting the result because instead of the Holy Name, Nama aparadh always comes.

Once Sri Nityananda Prabhu came to Jagannath Mishra's house naked. Mahaprabhu immediately gave some cloth to Him. That time Sachi Mata, Vishnupriya and many other devotees were there in Jagannath Mishra's house, and Mahaprabhu knew they could think bad about Nityananda Prabhu, and He thought of a solution—He asked Nityananda Prabhu for a piece of His cloth:

"Prabhu, can You give Me a piece of Your cloth?"

"What are You going to do with that cloth?:

"Please, give it to Me, I need it for something."

Nityananda Prabhu gave some cloth to Mahaprabhu, and Mahaprabhu tore it into small pieces and distributed them to all the devotees with the words, "You can make a kavach with this cloth and wear it on your neck like tulasi." Mahaprabhu knew if some devotees thought bad about Nityananda Prabhu they would go to hell, that is why He protected them.

Without mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, you will not get mercy of Mahaprabhu. The question is how can we get mercy of Nityananda Prabhu: by serving Mahaprabhu's devotees.

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New Year Message

Addressing the devotees worldwide,

31 December 2014

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

This year, 2014, is finished... Actually, day by day, time is going quickly, but one more year is coming again. We have so many hopes, we want to do some service, but we do not know whether we will be alive for that one year, whether we can serve Gurudev—but we have faith that if we are doing some service for Guru, Vaishnavs, then Krishna will always keep us, save us.

So, I am telling all the devotees: you have been doing service this year, and next year you must do more and more—engage yourself in service to Gurudev.

We must engage in and practise more Krishna consciousness—it is necessary to preach, follow, and practise Krishna consciousness more. That is why I am telling the devotees: next year, with a good heart and good health, continue your service to Gurudev.

Jaya Guru Maharaj ki jay!

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