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 #02 (2015/1)

Pranam-mantra

Gopeshwar Mahadev's Surrender

Sivji Maharaj and Nandi: Journey to Sri Nabadwip Dham

Open Your Eyes

Proper Utilisation

Sannyas Lila: Roaming the Land

Sannyas Lila: Breaking the Staff

Meeting Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya

Strong Desire

The Soul's Misery

Adosa-Darasi

Sadhu-Sanga: Primary Practice

Full Surrender

Reviving Srila Prabhupad's Preaching

Reforming Others

Proper Positioning

Come What May

At a Crossroads

Correction: Try and Pray

Setting on the Right Track (1)

Setting on the Right Track (2)

Abhidheya: the Main Practice

Service in Separation

Chaste and Selfless

Disturbance In Service

Ekachakra Festival: Attachment To Prasadam

The Supreme and the Tiny

Best Service To the Guru

Chastity To Prasad

Genuine Line—Genuine Life

Continue Your Service, by Hook or by Crook

Strongest Faith in Guru

Mind and Heart: Be Careful

A Servitor's Mood (Govinda)

A Servitor's Mood (Two Lazy Disciples)

Sri Madhavendra Puripad

Far but Near

The Gift of Guru

Food for Thought

A Temple Manager's Qualities

Chanting: Maha-Mantra and Bhajans

The Power to See a Vaishnav

Where Your Desire Can Take You

Going Home?

Perfect Family Life

Practise and Preach

The Sticky Blanket

Odds and Ends

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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Gopeshwar Mahadev's Surrender

20 April 2010

Gopeshwar Mahadev always stays near the rasa-mancha in Vrindavan (the place where the rasa-lila takes place) because the Lord told him, "It is not necessary for you to go anywhere. Stay with Me."

Even Laksmi Devi stays so far, in Belvan, but Gopeshwar Mahadev always stays at the rasa-mancha. Whenever you see the Vamsivat tree, you should remember and keep it in your heart. In the kirtan Jaya Radhe Jaya Krishna Jaya Vrindavan we sing "Vamsivata, Dvadasa-kanan: all glories to the Vamsivat tree, where Krishna attracted all the gopis to come by playing His flute. Glories to all of the twelve forests of Vraja." Vamsivat is near the place where Gopeshwar stays.

One day, Gopeshwar Mahadev wanted to go to the rasa-mancha, but Parvati asked him,

"How will you go there? You are a man! Only ladies, gopis, are allowed into the rasa-mancha. It is not that anybody can enter it."

"Please, give me a gopi's dress then. I will become a gopi!"

"You do not know how to wear it, you do not know how to wear the ankle bells and so many other things. I will dress you, do not worry."

Parvati always serves devotees' devotees, you know that. There is a sloka in Padma-purana,

aradhananam sarvesam visnor aradhanam param

tasmat parataram devi tadiyanam samarchanam

When Parvati asked Lord Siva, "Who shall I worship? Whose worship is the highest?" Lord Siva replied, "Although the Vedas recommend the worship of demigods, the worship of Lord Vishnu is the best." Hearing this, Parvati became very sad. She thought, "I always worship Lord Siva, but he says that the worship of Lord Vishnu is the best..." Then Lord Siva said, "However, above the worship of Lord Vishnu is the worship of Vaishnavs, who are related to Lord Vishnu." Then Parvati understood it and became peaceful.

So, Lord Siva, dressed as a gopi now, asked Parvati, "Please give me some mercy. I am going to the rasa-mancha..."

"You look like a gopi now, but are you actually a gopi?" We dress as a sannyasi, dress as a devotee, but we must be a devotee. This is very important. If you make yourself look like a gopi and think you are the best, you will not enter there. Only if you serve a gopi there—if go there with this mood—then you can enter there. If you think, "I will come to the temple and become the manager, I will become the guru," you cannot serve there like this; but if you want to be the foot dust of the Vaishnavs, the great devotees—if you surrender fully in this way—then you can enter there. Otherwise not. Parvati taught this lesson to Lord Siva, and it is an example for us all.

So, Parvati said to Siva, "If you want to be a gopi, you must surrender to a gopi. Can you do that? Can you serve under their guidance?"

"Yes, if you allow me, if you give me mercy and bless me, then I can try my best."

Lord Siva entered the rasa-mancha in this mood, and Krishna understood who had come. He spent much time talking to him, and everyone could see that this new gopi was very dear to Him. Everyone wondered where she had come from and why Krishna was giving her so much honour. Some older gopis even charged her, "Who are you?! How did you come to this place?" Krishna pacified them, "She has some quality, so only she can enter this rasa-mancha." You can understand then what the power of surrender is. This is when Krishna told to Gopeshwar Mahadev, "You do not have to stay so far away. Stay always with Me."

It is very important to understand that only surrendered souls, only those who serve under the guidance of a great Vaishnav, under the guidance of their Guru, can enter this lila. Even Laksmi Devi cannot enter there: she always stays in Belvan, crying. She cannot cross the Yamuna River to enter there...

The followers of Narayan sometimes say, "Narayan is so majestic. He is not like your Krishna who always grazes and milks the cows and is up to all sorts of things." The devotees of Krishna, on the other hand, reply, "Your Narayan is sitting in Vaikuntha on His vyasa-asan, and is so great, but why is it then that Laksmi Devi left Him and is crying now in the jungle?”

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Sivji Maharaj and Nandi: Journey to Sri Nabadwip Dham

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 8 November 2010

...I got the Giriraj Deity, and then it was necessary to get Sivji Maharaj. After Govardhan I was going to Haridwar and Kashi. Everybody told me that Benares Siva lingas were good, so I thought I would go first to Haridwar and then on the way I will stop in Kashi (Benares), but I could not wait. When we were in Haridwar, everyone went to the market (it is very cold in Haridwar and they sell many warm clothes, so Indian devotees like to shop there), and I went searching for a Siva linga. Finally, I got one Siva linga and Nandi there. They are still here in Nabadwip.

Then I had to arrange the transport. My bus driver agreed to bring Giriraj because he did not know much about Giriraj, but he refused to take Sivji Maharaj and Nandi. He said it was too heavy, it was a deity, etc., so I booked a place on a train. The linga and Nandi were packed and ready to be sent, but when I called them fifteen days later to ask if they had been sent, I found out that they had not. After I called them several times and gave them some money they finally sent it.

When Siva linga and Nandi were delivered to the Howrah station (Kolkata), I got a phone call and was told that the linga and Nandi were there but there were no papers for them. I took the car (the one that is now in the Centenary Museum) and my driver and went there, but at the station they said, "You cannot take the cargo because you have no papers for it. How do we know it is yours?" It was a big problem also because every day we had to pay a fine—one rupee per one kg. Siva linga and Nandi are very heavy, maybe 300-500 kg, so every day we had to pay the detention fine of Rs 300-500. We did not know how to get the papers also—who will go back to Haridwar and bring it? Then there was Krishna's arrangement.

One Nabadwip judge, my good friend, had been transferred at that time to Howrah (when there were some criminal incidents at the station he would decide the cases). I went to see him, and he took me to the railway station manager.

The railway manager told us that he could not release the Deities without the papers, but he agreed to free us from the fine. The judge was happy, but I had already come there with the car, spent the money, and so on, and did not want to leave without Sivji Maharaj and Nandi. Suddenly, Krishna gave me another idea. I said to them, "What am I to do now? I do not know when they will send the papers, but the inauguration festival is in three days. Many people are coming for the festival..." I made some illusion. The judge supported me, "I know Maharaj and his temple. He is a good man; he is not a thief." The railway manager believed him, and after the judge signed a paper vouching for me they released the Deity.

At that time, the road to Nabadwip from Dum Dum Park was through Madhyamgram (a town north-east of Kolkata), and because the linga and Nandi were so heavy the car broke on the way. I was alone, with a broken car and an angry driver. I left the driver to repair the car and hired another taxi. I finished at Howrah at 4-5 o'clock and came to Nabadwip only at 11-12 o'clock at night.

This is how Sivji Maharaj came here. So many things have happened, and it was all like a miracle...

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Open Your Eyes

5 December 2010

If we start our day with something good, the whole day will be good for us.

nidralasya-hata sukarye virata

akarye udyogi ami

Saranagati, 5.4

"We are always sleepy and lazy and do not do what is helpful and beneficial for our spiritual life"—that is not good.

pratistha lagiya satya-acharana

lobha-hata sada kami

e hena durjana sajjana-varjita

aparadhi nirantara

I engage in deceitful behaviour in pursuit of prestige. I am ruined by greed and constantly covetous. Such a sinner as I is shunned by devotees, and is a constant offender.

Saranagati, 5.4-5

Sajjana-varjita: we are not getting the association of our true family. Can you say who is your true family—who is your sajjan? Sei pita pita non, sei bandhu bandhu non, sei mata mata non: that father is not your father, that mother is not your mother, that brother is not your brother, that friend is not your friend, if they cannot show you what is the most important, if they cannot show you the real path. Your true friend is the one who can give you some service, who can show you the real path—such person is your friend, such person is your mother.

When Narottam Das Thakur wanted to go to Vrindavan, he cried to his mother, "Mother, if you do not allow me to go to Vrindavan, I will die." Mothers are always attached to their children, and they do not allow them to go anywhere. The father can chastise his child, but the mother always gives affection; sometimes the father may even kick the child out of the house, but still the mother secretly gives food to the child. Narottam Das Thakur's mother actually gave him 30 rupees to go away to Vrindavan. That is the real mother—not the one who always gives affection and does not let you go anywhere. Your best friend, your sajjan is the one who allows and encourages you to go to Krishna consciousness.

e hena durjana sajjana-varjita

aparadhi nirantara

Such a sinner as I is shunned by devotees, and is a constant offender.

We are always great sinners, so we do not get the good association... That is why it is necessary to practise well. We sing in the morning:

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu jive daya kari'

svaparsada sviya dhama saha avatari

Being merciful to the souls, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descends with His associates and abode.

atyanta durlabha prema karibare dana

sikhaya saranagati bhakatera prana

To distribute the most rare form of divine love, He teaches surrender, which is the life of the devotees.

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'...

bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara

bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

Engaging only in activities that are favourable to devotion, rejecting everything unfavourable to devotion ...

sad-anga saranagati ha-ibe yanhara

tanhara prarthana sune sri-nanda-kumara

"These are the six types of saranagati, and if you can surrender in all the six ways, Krishna will hear you." Gurudev would often say: if you serve the Vaishnavs, serve your Guru, follow the order of your Guru, Krishna will come to serve you.

Another nice song is Vibhavari sesa aloka pravesa:

vibhavari sesa aloka pravesa

nidra chhadi' utha jiva

bala hari hari mukunda murari

rama krsna hayagriva

O souls! The night has ended and the light has come. Awake and arise! Chant 'Hari! Hari!' The Supreme Lord Krishna is the bestower of liberation, the enemy of the demon Mura, and Sri Radha's lover. He appears as Hayagriva, the horse-headed Avatar.

Vibhavari sesa aloka pravesa: the night has finished, and now the light is coming—do not sleep! Even the scriptures, the yoga-sastra say that it is bad to sleep at the time of sunrise and sunset; it is good if you chant the Holy Name at this time.

udila aruna purava-bhage

dvija-mani gora amani jage

bhakata-samuha la-iya sathe

gela nagara-vraje

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

'tathai tathai' bajala khola

ghana ghana tahe jhanjera rola

preme dhala dhala sonara anga

charane nupura baje

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

mukunda madhava yadava hari

balena bala re vadana bhari'

He calls out, "Chant aloud Mukunda, Madhava, Yadava, Hari!"

Mukunda means Krishna, Madav means Krishna, Yadav means Krishna, Hari means Krishna—all are Krishna. Param Guru Maharaj writes:

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

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

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

prema-dhama-devam eva naumi gaura-sundaram

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

Prema-dhama-deva Stotram, 22

...What Bhakti Vinod Thakur gave us, what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave us is exceptional, inconceivable, and incomparable!

sri-krsna-chaitanya-daya karaha vichara

vichara karile chitte pabe chamatkara

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

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.15

adyapiha sei lila kare gora raya

kono kono bhagyavane dekhibare paya

"These Pastimes are still going on, but only the fortunate ones can see that." Somebody goes to Vrindavan and sees the Pastimes of Radha-Krishna, and somebody sees the monkey stool instead. The eyes are different—I have my own eyes, you have your own eyes. Only when the net of maya is removed, will we be able to see the nirmal chinmay dham (pure transcendental abode), otherwise not...

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Proper Utilisation

1 January 2011

dina jaya michha kaje, nisa nidra-base

nahi bhavi—marana nikate achhe ba'se

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 labhiya samsare' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

All our Guru-varga gave their life for service to the Lord. Gurupad-padma, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur—they all used everybody and everything for service to the Lord—even ash!

Once when one of the disciples of Srila Prabhupad went to collect, some angry lady gave him ash, but Prabhupad said, "What is the problem? This ash is good too—you can clean prasadam or Deities' plates with it. It can also be used for service to the Lord, and the one who gave it will get some sukriti."

There is also another example. There are many banana trees growing here in Nabadwip, and once somebody came to take the banana leaves, but Gurudev did not allow it. The men called him a miser, but Gurudev explained, "It is not about being a miser. These banana leaves are used for service to the Lord, but you are taking it for your own enjoyment. Why should I give the Deities' property—Krishna's property—for your own enjoyment? This is why I do not allow to take it."

Gurudev also organised tours and parikramas, set up a printing press to raise the funds and maintain the temple, to serve the devotees. Our Guru-varga use everything for the service to the Lord.

You must surrender fully, then Krishna will fulfil your desire, and He will give you protection. Service mood is necessary: we have a chaittya-guru in our heart, and that chaittya-guru takes us to a mahanta-guru; when we have got a mahanta-guru, a bona fide spiritual master, we must serve his lotus feet properly.

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Sannyas Lila: Roaming the Land

Reading from Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Antya-khanda, chapter 1

16 January 2011

Vrindavan Das Thakur describes this Pastime very nicely in his Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat.

The Lord Himself initiated Keshav Bharati. When Mahaprabhu reached the house of Keshav Bharati and was about to take sannyas, He asked Keshav Bharati, "Is this the mantra you are going to give Me?" Later, Keshav Bharati said to Mahaprabhu, "I know You are Jagad Guru. You think You are accepting me as Your sannyas Guru, but it is only to teach people." Both the Guru and the disciple began dancing after the sannyas ceremony, and Keshav Bharati too chanted, "Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna! Hari! Hari!"

The day Mahaprabhu left Nabadwip, His mother made some nice prasadam, and that was the last when He ate. Sachi Devi knew that Nimai would leave that day, and Nimai consoled her, "Mother, do not worry. Life after life you will be My mother. Previously you were Aditi, Prisni, now too you are My mother, and in the future, in the next two births, you will again be My mother."

After taking sannyas, Mahaprabhu left Kantak-nagar (Katwa) and began walking again. Mahaprabhu had told Chandrasekhara Acharya to go back to Nabadwip and tell everybody the news—he came back and told everyone, "Mahaprabhu has taken sannyas, and now He has left Katwa and is going somewhere in the direction of the forest." Some news also came from the sky, akash dhvani, "Do not cry, do not be sad, worship the Lord. He will surely come back. Do not leave your body. He will come back and you will meet Him, you will dance and chant with Him again." Mother Sachi was like a statue. She was very sad, and the devotees were afraid that any time she could have a heart attack and anything could happen to her, so they were all with her at her house.

Mahaprabhu said to the rest of the devotees who were following Him, "Go back home, take the Holy Name! I am praying to Lord that you will get the devotion that even Brahma and Siva want to get." Hearing Mahaprabhu's boon, everybody began to cry loudly.

Mahaprabhu ran ahead like a man lion. He went to Rada-desh (Burdwan district), and when the day finished, He took shelter at the house of a brahman. All the devotees were with Him, always surrounding Him, and at night, just before the mangal-arati time, while everybody was still asleep, He ran away. When everybody woke up, they saw that Prabhu was not there and began to cry. They searched for Mahaprabhu, and at night, when it was very quiet, they could hear Mahaprabhu crying. They followed the sound coming from some field, and found Him there.

Mahaprabhu would go in a zigzag way—sometimes He went to the East, sometimes to the West, and the devotees followed Him not knowing where He was going, but when Mahaprabhu would turn to the East, they would become happy thinking that He was coming back to Nabadwip. Finally, Mahaprabhu told them He was going to Puri.

Mahaprabhu visited Rada-desh, Bamunpara, and other places where people did not know about Krishna, did not know about chanting. He also went to Bangladesh, and even now everyone there knows Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, although He visited it only once. Sometimes Mahaprabhu would walk and chant the glories of the Ganges, and Ganga Devi would become shy to hear that the Lord Himself was giving obeisance and so much honour to her.

This is how Mahaprabhu's sannyas lila happened. The Lord Himself took sannyas—He Himself shows us how we must practise, how we must serve...

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Sannyas Lila: Breaking the Staff

1 January 2011

After Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He went to Puri, and on His way He and the devotees passed a bridge called Atharnala. 'Athar' means eighteen. King Indradyumna, who made the Jagannath temple, had eighteen sons. He thought at that time that if any of his sons were alive, they would become the heirs of the temple, but he considered the temple to be the property of the devotees and did not want his sons to later claim any right over it and use it for their own purpose, so he killed all eighteen sons.

It was at that bridge that Nityananda Prabhu broke Mahaprabhu's danda and threw it into the Bhargi River. Mahaprabhu asked later, "Nityananda, where is the danda I gave You? Please return it to Me." Nityananda Prabhu replied, "Prabhu, You were doing so much kirtan, and in ecstasy You fell over and broke it." Mahaprabhu understood everything and became angry, "I have left everything in Nabadwip, I did not bring a single thing from Gaura Mandal except for the danda, a stick. You know why I have taken sannyas and accepted that danda. What you have done is not right. I will not go with You. You go, and I will go behind, otherwise I will go first, but I will not go with You."

It is written in Chaitanya-charitamrita, "Iho kene danda bhange, tenho kene bhangaya: why did Nityananda Prabhu break the danda, and why did Mahaprabhu allow Him to break it?" (Madhya-lila, 5.157) I once asked Gurudev about the meaning of this phrase and he explained that there were two meanings.

First, Nityananda Prabhu thought, "Sannyasis take danda (the staff of a mendicant monk), but Mahaprabhu is the Lord Himself, so He is not an actual sannyasi—He only pretends, plays the role of a sannyasi. Actually, He took sannyas just to teach people."

The other meaning is that all paraphernalia, even the temple itself, is Nityananda Prabhu. For example, we do not climb the temple to pay dandavat—even the pujari does not pay dandavat in the Deities' room but does it outside. We do not enter the Deities' room unless it is for service. Gurudev explained that all paraphernalia—the temple, the danda, the mayur pankha (peacock fan), the chamara (yak-tail fan), and so on—is Nityananda Prabhu Himself, the Lord Himself. So, Nityananda Prabhu thought, "Why will Mahaprabhu carry Me? Actually, it is I who should be carrying this danda. I must break it!"

These are the two causes.

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Meeting Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya

1 January 2011

When Mahaprabhu said He wanted to continue His journey alone, Nityananda Prabhu thought, "If we go first and Mahaprabhu goes behind, then we will not be able to see where He goes." So, Mahaprabhu walked first, but He went so fast that they had to run behind Him, and soon they could not see where He had gone. The Atharnala bridge is about 4.5 km away from the Jagannath temple, and the devotees thought that Mahaprabhu could have gone to see Jagannath.

In the meantime, Mahaprabhu reached the Jagannath temple. Chanting "Jagannath, Jagannath," He entered the Garba mandir. There is something like a barrier inside the temple, and the security, the pandas, quickly stopped Mahaprabhu near it. Mahaprabhu fell on the floor, and, not being able to see Jagannath, He kept crying, "Ja-ja ga-ga, ja-ja ga-ga," and foam came from His mouth.

Everybody was surprised and wondered who He was. They called Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, who was the leader of the temple. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said it did not matter who the Person was and, seeing that Mahaprabhu was no ordinary man, asked the pandas to take Mahaprabhu to his house. Several men lifted Mahaprabhu and took Him to the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Mahaprabhu was senseless.

Soon afterwards, Mukunda, Nityananda Prabhu and the rest of the devotees who had been walking behind Mahaprabhu and were now looking for Him everywhere, found out where Mahaprabhu was and went to the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Nityananda Prabhu knew what had happened and told the devotees to chant the Holy Name loudly. Mahaprabhu came back to His senses and sat up, looking around in surprise.

After a while, Acharya Gopinath, a relative of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, came home and asked Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, "Do you not know who this Person is?"

"Well, I heard He is a sannyasi..."

"He is Jagannath Mishra's son and the grandson of Nilambar Chakravarti! He took sannyas from Keshav Bharati and His name is Sri Krishna Chaitanya. He is the Lord Himself!"

"I do not think so and I cannot accept that He is the Lord."

"That is because you have no mercy."

"How do you know I have no mercy?"

"I have mercy and can understand who this Person is, and you have no mercy, that is why you cannot understand it."

Later on, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Mahaprabhu,

"You are a new sannyasi, what have You studied? Have you read Vedanta?"

"No, I have never read Vedanta. My Gurudev told Me I had no qualification to read it. He said I was murka, foolish and ignorant. He told Me to only chant the Holy Name, and that is what I am doing."

"What? You must study some Vedanta!"

"I am crazy. I have just taken sannyas—you can protect My sannyas."

"All right, no problem. I am going to teach You Vedanta."

After seven days of teaching, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Mahaprabhu,

"You have been listening to me for seven days already, but You are not asking me any questions... I do not know whether You understand or not what I am saying."

"Prabhu, when you read, I can understand everything very nicely, but when you give explanation, I cannot understand anything."

In the course of that conversation the meaning of the sloka "Atmaramas cha munayo" was discussed—Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya gave nine kinds of explanation, and Mahaprabhu gave eighteen more, without touching the first nine explanations. When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya heard it, his eyes bulged and turned red. He was perplexed, "I have been teaching this boy for seven days, and He can give such explanations! Who is He? Who is this sannyasi?" He still could not believe Mahaprabhu was the Lord Himself; only after Mahaprabhu showed him His form (His Treta-yuga, Dvapar-yuga, and Satya-yuga forms) did he fully surrender and fall at His lotus feet. He lay motionless at His feet. Mahaprabhu cried, "Sarvabhauma, wake up, wake up!" When Sarvabhauma looked at Him, he saw that He was a sannyasi again. "What did I see just now? Who is He?" He was surprised. At that time Mahaprabhu gave him mercy, and he could understand who Mahaprabhu was.

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Strong Desire

1 January 2011

Arthi, desire, is necessary.

In front of the Jagannath temple, there is a big black pillar called Garuda-stambha. Mahaprabhu would always stand at that pillar because He was very tall, and if He stood at the front, no one would be able to see from behind Him.

Once, Mahaprabhu was standing behind that pillar, surrounded by a large crowd and absorbed in the ecstasy of seeing Vrajendra Nandan, when a lady climbed the pillar and put her leg on His shoulder. Seeing this, Govinda, Mahaprabhu's servant, interfered, "Hey! What are you doing?!" Mahaprabhu then saw what was happening and asked not to disturb the lady, "This lady has so much desire to see Lord Jagannath. She only thinks of how to see Jagannath—she does not even see whether one is a sannyasi, a lady, or a man. That kind of mood is necessary for everyone. I do not have that mood, and I need it!"

If you have this kind of strong desire, mercy will come. It is necessary to have such permanent, unflinching desire for service, for chanting or anything else. Desire is necessary, then you can get anything. "Where there is a will, there is a way."

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The Soul's Misery

12 May 2012

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim

yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

Bhavartha Dipika

The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy from Gurudev. That is why we first offer our full obeisance at our Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's lotus feet, then to all the Vaishnav-mandal, bhakta-mandala.

Sastra, the scriptures, say that a bad day is not a cloudy day: the worst day in our life is the day when we cannot chant, we cannot talk about good things—the day when there is no Hari-katha.

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

Brahmanda bhraman: we are going and coming, but the fortunate soul is the one who can get good association. We sing in the song:

e ghora-samsare padiya manava

na paya duhkhera sesa

sadhu-sanga kari' hari bhaje yadi

tabe anta haya klesa

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

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

We are suffering so much with family attachment. Sadhu-sanga, good association is necessary because if we get good association we will be able to remove that kles, the tri-tap jara, three-fold suffering: adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik.

Although we have everything, still we are suffering so much. Adhidaivik jara means some suffering comes from the devata, demigods: some train accident, bus accident, an earthquake, a flood, and so on. Adhibhautik jara comes from other jiva souls: every jiva soul comes from the Lord, He created us, but every jiva soul suffers from another jiva soul—grass is eaten by a cow, people are bitten by mosquitos, frogs are eaten by snakes, and so on. Adhyatmik jara is mental suffering, like diseases, for example. How can we be rescued from such kinds of suffering?

'ke ami', 'kene amaya jare tapa-traya'

iha nahi jani—'kemane hita haya'

Who am I? Why do I suffer so much? How can I get relief?

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.102

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha

ataeva maya tare deya samsara-duhkha

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

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.117

We have forgotten Krishna, the Lord, that is why we are suffering in this way, but if we get good association, the illusory environment can be removed:

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya

mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

My alluring, 'trimodal,' illusory potency is practically insurmountable. However, those who take shelter in Me can overcome this powerful obstacle.

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14

Maya, illusory environment, is very powerful. Krishna Himself says, "I create the illusory environment, you cannot conquer it. How is it possible to overcome it? If somebody surrenders to Me, I can remove it from them." Illusory environment means we are covered by an illusory net and we forget everything. Overcoming this illusory environment will depend on the quality of our surrender.

It is said in Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila, 22.64), "Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari, devotion depends upon the quality of faith." There are four kinds of faith—kamala-sraddha, taranga-sraddha, drdha-sraddha, and sudrdha-sraddha—the more faith you have, the more your devotion is. If you have 100% faith in Krishna, you are a 100% devotee, if you have 50% faith, you are a 50% devotee. It depends upon faith.

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Adosa-Darasi

12 May 2012

Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu thought, "My Gurudev is gone, Mahaprabhu is gone... I will go to Vrindavan and jump from Govardhan—I will commit suicide." He had heard that Mahaprabhu kept Sanatan Goswami and Rupa Goswami in Vrindavan, and he went to see them before carrying out his plan, but after getting their good association he immediately changed his mind and decided not to commit suicide.

Sanatan Goswami told him that he too was once thinking to commit suicide, but Mahaprabhu told him not to, "You will not get Krishna by committing suicide. Jiva souls always change their bodies—do they get Krishna? No. So, you must leave your bad idea! You have got this body for service to the Lord."

We have this body, and devotees always use everything for the service to Krishna. We must take everyone's good quality—somebody has 50% good quality and 50% bad quality, somebody has 70% good quality and 30% bad quality; even if somebody has 90% bad quality and only 10% good quality, you must take that 10% good quality and use it for service. This is what Gurudev would do, and we can easily understand this line.

Vaishnav quality is adosa-darasi—devotees do not see others' faults, they do not hear others' faults. If you go to a temple, you will see there is a Deity, a dome, some devotees, and there is also a toilet, a bathroom, some stool. Why will you see the toilet and the stool? You must always see the good things. Such should be our quality, then we will be adosa-darasi.

Gurudev said, "If you criticise somebody, that fault will come to you." He did not want to hear anybody criticising or anybody being criticised.

Criticism takes one to a hellish position. When Sridhar Maharaj gave position to Gurudev, those who could not accept his choice fell down. Some again surrendered to Gurudev, and Gurudev rescued them, but at that time some devotees—even from other temples—criticised Gurudev thinking Sridhar Maharaj did not make the right choice. For 7-8 years—from 1985 when Sridhar Maharaj gave position to Gurudev to 1992 when Gurudev went to foreign countries—Gurudev would have to hear this. This is why Gurudev did not want to mix with anybody.

Sridhar Maharaj gave him that position, so he held it, and Guru can change everything: kakke guru garuda korte pare, Guru can turn a crow into Garuda. Guru can do anything—such faith is necessary for our spiritual life.

We must not criticise anybody. I hear some sannyasi criticises another sannyasi, but it is not our business. This is not our Vaishnavism, not a Vaishnav quality. We must practise properly: practise makes perfect...

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Sadhu-Sanga: Primary Practice

12 May 2012

We must practise properly. I have told many times about the five types of practice:

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

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

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124

Sadhu-sanga is necessary—always read Gurudev's books. You think you have time, but,

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

We sing this song of Bhakti Vinod Thakur every morning. We do not say that you must not do your job, but you must understand that life is not certain—there is so much danger—and take shelter of the Holy Name. Do your job, but do not waste your time on gossiping and other things—whenever you have time chant, read books.

Mind always disturbs, it is very naughty:

aichhana amara mana phire yena andha jana

supatha vipatha nahi jane

'Thakura Vaishnava-gana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur

"My mind is blind." Just as a blind man can always get into an accident and needs help to cross the road, to go somewhere, etc., our blind mind can any time cause an accident, so we need help and advice from somebody with good qualification, from somebody who knows how to control mind.

Mind does not know what is the right way, what is the wrong way, that is why Gurudev and Srila Sridhar Maharaj always tell us not to follow our mind.

na la-inu sat mata asate majila chita

tuya paye na karinu asa

I have never accepted the proper conception. My mind has been immersed in illusion, and I have never aspired for your feet.

'Thakura Vaishnava-gana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur

First thing for our practising life is sadhu-sanga—our mind always goes the bad way, but if we get proper advice, proper guidance and practise properly, our mind can be changed.

Life is very short, we can die any time, so we must realise now what we must do—what Srimad Bhagavatam says, what Srimad Bhagavad-gita says—and follow that.

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Full Surrender

12 May 2012

We sing this song in the morning:

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu jive daya kari'

svaparsada sviya dhama saha avatari

Sri Krishna Chaitanya—Bhagavan, the Lord Himself—came in the form of Chaitanya. Chaitanya means consciousness: Krishna, who comes in Dvapara-yuga, comes Himself in Kali-yuga with all His associates and the abode to give consciousness—Krishna consciousness—for the benefit of the jiva souls.

atyanta durlabha prema karibare dana

sikhaya saranagati bhakatera prana

To distribute the most rare form of divine love, He teaches surrender, which is the life of the devotees.

Saranagati has six parts [sad-anga, lit. 'six limbs']. What are they?

bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara

bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana

'avasya raksibe krsna'— visvasa palana

1) Accept what is favourable to devotion.

2) Reject what is unfavourable to devotion.

3) Dainyata, humility. We think we know everything; we are proud we took initiation thirty years ago; somebody is proud they are Srila Sridhar Maharaj's disciple—it is ego, and it is a big problem. If you want to learn, be humble.

4) Atma-nivedan, surrender, atma-niskep—throw yourself at the lotus feet of the Lord.

5) Goptritve varan means Krishna is the palankorta, protector. We cannot save ourselves—no one can—only Krishna can save us. Do you believe it or not?

Gurudev said in Srila Sridhar Maharaj's time there was a devotee, a perfect brahmachari—he worked all day and night, and slept on a rice sack in the store room, where rice, dahl and other bhog was kept. Srila Sridhar Maharaj said about him, "I have not seen that kind of brahmachari in my life." That kind of service mood that devotee had. Do you know how he died? Next to our old prasadam building, there is a big guava tree. Once he saw some ripe guava there and wanted to pick it for the offering. He climbed the tree, but a branch broke and he fell down. He fell from only three-four feet but died immediately.

In another case, one chief minister broke his leg and died. Do you see? Who will protect us? Krishna protects us.

6) Avasya raksibe Krsna: who will take care of us? Krishna takes care of us. Not mother, not father—we think our father and mother protect us, but they cannot do anything. They can only help us survive, give us some nourishment, but not protect.

You must understand these six aspects of saranagati,

sad-anga saranagati ha-ibe yahara

tahara prarthana sune sri-nanda-kumara

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

That kind of full surrender must come, then Krishna will protect—Gurudev said, "If you serve the Guru, Krishna will serve you."

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Reviving Srila Prabhupad's Preaching

12 May 2012

When we go on Vrindavan parikrama, we always go to Kadamba-khandi, it is a very good place, and there is also Srila Sridhar Maharaj's sloka written there...

Srila Sridhar Maharaj stayed at Pavan Sarovar. At that time, in 1937, there were many problems at the temple of Chaitanya Math, and two groups were fighting between each other. Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not want to stay with fighting people, so he decided to go to Vrindavan and do bhajan; but when he came to Vrindavan, he got some akash dhvani—a sound came as if from the sky, "What did I give you sannyas for? For your own self? So that you become a big Vaishnav? For your bhajan?" He was staying and chanting in Vrindavan like a sadhu, but when he heard that, he hurried away from Vrindavan. He remembered also, "Vrndavane giya na thakiya chira kal: when you go to Vrindavan, do not stay there for a long time," and thought it was a bad idea to stay there.

He left and stayed at the bank of the Ganges, where he put up a long bamboo pole with a flag and made a thatched house. Once there was a snake living in his room and, when somebody brought it to Srila Sridhar Maharaj's notice, he replied, "What is the problem? It does not disturb me. I do not disturb the snake, why would the snake disturb me?" His bed was just some straw—not a cushioned mattress, but straw; and as a pillow he used bricks with some straw on it. This is how he slept. These were the first days in the history of the Math...

I heard from Gurudev that many Godbrothers would come to meet him, including even Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj. In those days, Goswami Maharaj was a householder. Because there were so many problems at the temple, he returned to his house and got married. Srila Sridhar Maharaj went to his house and asked him, "Prabhu, you got married, but who will preach Prabhupad's conception? What will you do now?" He said, "Maharaj, if you give sannyas to me, I can leave my wife and come back again." Then he came back, joined again. He was so powerful. He made Imlitala temple in Vrindavan, and a temple in Nabadwip, Nandan Acharya Bhavan. (When we go on parikrama, we first stop at Madhav Maharaj's temple, pay dandavat there, and then go to Nandan Acharya Bhavan. It is the place where Nityananda Prabhu and Mahaprabhu first meet.)

Every year when Goswami Maharaj had his birthday, he would invite his sannyas Guru, Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Even though Goswami Maharaj was senior to Sridhar Maharaj, he took sannyas from him, and he would say, "My Guru comes every year, and my age increases by one more year. I get one more year of life." Whatever pranami he would get for his birthday, he would give it all to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. One year, however, Srila Sridhar Maharaj could not come, and Goswami Maharaj said at that time, "This year my sannyas Guru, my siksa Guru, could not come—I will not live until my next birthday. I will die." And that happened...

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Reforming Others

12 May 2012

...Bhakti Dayita Madhav Maharaj was a very strong person. When the bell went off for prasadam, all the brahmacharis were there and the hall was full. Madhav Maharaj thought, "When I give lecture only five-six brahmacharis are there, but when it is prasadam time there are twenty!" He then went to the prasadam hall, sat at his vyas-asan and took Chaitanya-charitamrita out: "You take prasadam and I will read to you." The disciples were shy. That was Madhav Maharaj.

Once, somebody told Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, "Prabhupad, that man smokes!" Prabhupad sent them away, "Ok, no problem, go." Later, Prabhupad himself bought some bindi, and when he went to give the class he kept it in his pocket. Prabhupad called that man up,

"Prabhu, come here. I know you smoke and you take money from your house, but your house money is maya, do not use it. I will give you cigarettes myself instead."

"No, no! I will not smoke any more!" The man was ashamed.

In this way Prabhupad would change people...

Prabhupad would often come to Mayapur—in Nabadwip there were too many aul, baul, and so many other bad things, and sometimes they would throw bricks at Prabhupad and torture him... Once a goswami, a smartavadi brahmin, came to see him in Mayapur. Prabhupad had been speaking to him for a very long time when a woman came in—she was not so good-looking, of dark complexion, and not looking so healthy; she was initiated by Prabhupad and would clean the plates, sweep, and do other services at the temple. The woman called out to Prabhupad, scolding him affectionately, "Thakur Masai, you have been talking for so long! Now take prasadam." (She did not address him "Gurudev" or "Prabhupad", but affectionately called him Thakur Masai.) When she left, the brahmin asked Prabhupad,

"Who was that woman?"

Prabhupad would never say, "This person is my disciple," so he replied, "It is a temple devotee. She serves here, does so much service..."

"What did she bring?"

"Prasad."

"Prasad?! Will you take it from her hand?! But she has touched it!"

"Yes, every day I take from her hand. If you give it today, I can take it from you too. In general, you a brahmin, and I cannot take prasad from you, but today I can take even from you."

He replied in this way, cutting his brahmanism...

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Proper Positioning

12 May 2012

There are many examples from the preaching of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He taught the grihastha devotees too—taught how the householder people should live...

Once, a brahmachari got married, and somebody told about it to Prabhupad. Prabhupad replied, "OK. He got married, it is not a problem. One can serve in the householder life too: you work, your wife cooks, you offer the bhog, and after she has taken prasad, you take her prasad. You will also address each other as 'Prabhu' and 'Didi'." Stri bhoger vastu nai, you cannot use stri for yourself—a wife is for service, not for enjoyment. You can manage your life, think, and maintain your family life in harmony in this way.

Gurudev is very merciful to us—he always engages us. What did Gurudev keep us here for? He kept us here only to protect his temple, to preach—for his mission.

Gurudev left us here so that we can preach for him. When Srila Sridhar Maharaj left, Gurudev went everywhere, preaching for and about Srila Sridhar Maharaj, otherwise nobody would have known about Srila Sridhar Maharaj. So, you can understand what our preaching is for. It is for glorification of our Guru—Guru-katha, Govinda-katha. We do not speak about ourselves—what I have done and what I am doing. If we praise ourselves, it is a big problem. We must always praise our Guru. It is necessary—you must understand it.

Who is kanak (money or gold) for? Kanak is for Narayan, kamini (women) are for Krishna, and pratistha (name and fame) is for Gurudev. We must keep these three things in these three places, not to use it ourselves, otherwise you will become very heavy and your boat will sink.

Kanak is Laksmi Devi's property; kamini is Krishna's property, and pratistha is the Guru's property. It is not easy to take sannyas, but it is very easy to fall down: kanak, kamini, pratistha-baghini chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava (Vaishnav Ke? 11). Pratistha is compared to a tigress. Bhakti Vinod Thakur also wrote, "Gopinath, hara ye menechhi ami! All the illusory environment—kam, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy), and so on—has defeated me. I cannot defeat them—they defeat me." If you can avoid these three—kanak, kamini, pratistha—and give them to their proprietors, then you will have no problem and you will not fall down.

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Come What May

24 February 2013

Question: We are trying to practise, but sometimes things happen in our lives and we do not know how to act, even though we have heard about the philosophy and the spiritual advice. How can we again focus and understand, "OK, this is happening by the will of the Lord?"

Prahlad Maharaj's father threw him into the sea, threw him down a hill, his mother gave him poison, but what did he do? Smaran (remembering), he only remembered his Gurudev, Krishna, "Whether You kill me, whether You throw me, what is the problem?"

After A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj went to Russia, one lady devotee was put into jail (due to the religious persecution in the country at the time). She was pregnant, and when her baby was born, a prison officer put his foot on the face of the baby and said, "I will kill your baby if you chant the Holy Name." She replied to him, "No problem. When he leaves his body, I will chant the Holy Name loudly, something will enter his ear, and he will be rescued from this kind of environment."

Problems come, this life is always like this, Prabhu. What can you do? It is the will of Krishna, but all problems will be removed, we must not stop. "Tomara sevaya duhkha haya yata, seo ta' parama sukha—whatever suffering comes in the course of Your service, it actually gives me so much joy." So many obstacles will come—problems will come, and problems will go—but our life is service to the Lord, our heart is service to the Lord, everything in our life is service to the Lord, and we are grateful for anything that happens. It is said in the sastra that what is in the past is good, what will happen it will be also good.

So, do not think much about it, do not worry about anything, "Krishna, it is Your creation. Marabi rakhabi, yo ichchha tomara: You can kill me, You can save me, it is all right, but until my death I will serve You."

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At a Crossroads

24 February 2013

Question: I realise that it has been a short time since I joined the mission, and I feel very strongly that I must fully surrender and be fully dedicated, but at the same time I find myself not able to surrender fully because I always worry about my job and other things. I do not know what to do—whether to ask for some instruction, or just wait for something to happen...

What you are saying is not correct. Somebody always says, "Hari bol! Hari bol! Hari bol!" and you think they are surrendered, but it is not surrender. You must remember Gurudev's words: in the Western culture devotees do not have so much attachment like here in India. Indian people are too attached to their family. Bhakti Vinod Thakur also wrote about this in his songs.

In India, people have children, wait for their son to get married, then wait to see their grandson's wife and maybe even their great-grandson's wife. In the West, if a girl wants to go somewhere alone, her father allows it easily, but in India an unmarried girl cannot go out without her parents, and even a married girl who already has a baby cannot go out without her husband. There is so much attachment.

I go house to house, calling people to join the Vrindavan parikrama, and somebody says, "I want to go to Vrindavan, but I cannot go because this year is my son's wedding ceremony. I will go next year..." Next year their son's wife is pregnant and has a baby, and they have to postpone it again, "I cannot go now, I will go next year." The baby grows up a little and says, "Grandfather, take me to Vrindavan with you, I want to go with you," but they cannot take the baby with them because the baby always needs attention and there are too many problems with the accommodation and other facilities, so they think, "Oh, no, Maharaj, I cannot take this baby with me. Next year maybe..." In this way they can never go to Vrindavan. Attachment is very dangerous, but attachment to the Lord is good for you.

Do not worry about anything. What is the problem? If you must maintain your family, then it is necessary to work; and if it is not necessary to maintain your family, then the temples in Ekachakra, Nabadwip and other places are open for you.

This is the time to come and join because if you join the temple when you become too old and sick to work and your family does not look after you, you will have to take service from the devotees instead of giving service, which is not good for you. It is good to join the temple when you are young. I joined the temple when I was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, but I also think that if I could join earlier, at ten or eleven years old, I could have made more progress. Those who come to the temple at a young age, at fifteen-twenty years old, can control all their senses and can easily cross that part of their life. Have a little tolerance and patience, and you can pass that age very quickly...

Householder life is also not bad. You can maintain your spiritual life as a householder, but practise properly. You see what we do here—mangal arati, parikrama, and so on—and you can do that at your home too. Wake up, have morning arati, cook something and give an offering to Gurudev with Tulasi leaves. Always avoid outside food—cook yourself or your wife can cook. Make an altar in your house, or have a shelf with a photo of the Deities, the Guru-parampara, and offer the food you cook to them. You can take the same food for lunch too. Is it very hard to maintain this? I do not think so... You have to eat something, so cook and offer it for ten minutes to Gurudev and the Deities, in this way all your senses will be controlled, the chhaya dos (the six faults: excessive eating, materialistic endeavours, useless talks, inability to follow instructions, bad association, fickle-mindedness) will be removed, and you will get energy.

Gurudev said that wherever you stay you can maintain your spiritual life. It is viddhi-bhakti. We are practitioners; we are not big devotees or great Vaishnavs...

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Correction: Try and Pray

24 February 2013

Question: Sometimes you post a devotee to do a particular service, but they cannot receive your direct instruction, and someone may notice that they are doing something wrong. They may go to some higher authority, check themselves to make sure they are coming from the right place, and try to correct the devotee but still this devotee cannot accept it, thinking what they are doing is good for the Mission. We do not want to discourage the devotional feelings of this devotee because they are doing the best they can, but at the same time there could be some slight disturbance in their service. How can we help somebody in such a situation?

Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that a flatterer who always says, "Yes, you are good," is not a guru. If I really want your good, if I am your good friend, then you will believe this is an instruction.

I have told the story about a doctor and a blood-sugar patient before. The doctor tells the patient not to eat potato and sweets, but the patient objects, "But I want to eat it—I cannot leave potato and sweets." If the doctor is bad, he will say, "OK, you can eat some," but this doctor is not good for you. You must try to do what the doctor says.

Sometimes devotees may not be following all things, but you should teach them with love and affection how to do it properly, "Please, this is not good." Devotees may do something bad, but Gurudev tolerates it and we must tolerate too. You can pray, "O Gurudev, my power is small, what can I do? Please protect them. Gurudev, please protect them." What else can you do?

You cannot kick them out, you must try to adjust again and again. Devotees must understand, but sometimes they cannot understand, no matter how many times you tell them. If the person is good and they have sukriti, then they will practise properly. Actually, the main thing is to engage yourself in sravanam, kirtanam. If a devotee does sravanam and kirtanam, they will never fall down. Do you know any example when somebody who practices, chants and maintains their life properly falls down? Nobody. You must also understand that there are different kinds of sravanam and kirtanam, and you must be always careful about Vaishnav aparadh, Nama aparadh, seva aparadh. Sometimes, we are doing kirtan and Vaishnav aparadh or seva aparadh comes, then we can also fall down...

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Setting on the Right Track (1)

28 March 2013, Sri Jagannath Mishra's Anandotsav

Today is a very nice day: Jagannath Mishra's maha-mahotsav... Actually, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself, Krishna Himself came as an Acharya, as a Guru, to teach us...

If we do not serve the devotees of the Lord, we will not get mercy from the Lord: if we do not serve Nanda Maharaj, Yasoda Ma, if we do not serve Jagannath Mishra, Sachi Mata—if we do not remember them—how will we remember Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? How will we be able to think about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu without Jagannath Mishra or Sachi Mata? If you invite Jagannath Mishra or Sachi Mata, Nimai will come with them. Similarly, if you invite Mother Yasoda, Krishna will come too—it is not necessary to give a separate invitation to Krishna. This is the main point, and we must understand it.

We always search for fault in others, but we do not think that we have our own faults—our ego is our problem. Vaishnavs do not look for faults in the devotees or Guru: the scriptures say that those who criticise sadhus, Vaishnavs, or the Guru, cannot be a Guru.

kanaka-kamini, pratistha-baghini,

chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava

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

Vaishnav Ke? 11

What did we all join the festival for? How much pleasure have you got? That will depend upon your service, upon your devotion, and upon your faith.

We should realise it ourselves: how much can we proceed in our spiritual life and why did we come to Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math? Again and again we do Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, but how much can we use ourselves for the service to the Guru, Vaishnavs, and Bhagavan?

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

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

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18

If in lieu of devotion we ask for something else—we have some other material desires, we want some other things (a house, a car, money, etc.)—Krishna will give it to us, but He will hide devotion from us. Why did we take initiation? Why did we join the mission and take shelter in Gurudev and Vaishnavs then? It is all useless if we have come with some material desires and do not try to progress in our spiritual life.

That is why Param Guru Maharaj said: emotion and devotion. Devotion must come without emotion. How much can you surrender to your Guru? How much can you give to your Guru? How much can you dedicate yourself and serve your Guru, the Vaishnavs, Bhagavan, and your mission? It all depends on your practising life, on your Krishna consciousness life. How much do you think about yourself, about your pratistha, establishment, and enjoyment? Then you can realise whether you are increasing your devotional life or decreasing.

The question is not what you want—the question is what your Guru wants. We do not know what is good for us, we do not know what is beneficial for us—only the Guru, Vaishnavs can say it.

Parere udvega diyachhi ye kata, diyachhi jivere klesa: how much anxiety we are giving to others!

Nija sukha lagi' pape nahi dari: for our own happiness we are not afraid of engaging in sinful work.

Daya-hina svartha-para: kindness and selfish, we always think about our own interest.

Para-sukhe duhkhi sada mithya-bhasi: if somebody is happy, I am very sad: "If somebody makes a good festival, I am very sad. If Acharya Maharaj comes here, I am very sad, and if he cannot come, I become very happy."

Asesa kamana: I think I will get something, I am waiting for it so much, and when I do not get it, I become so angry.

Mada-matta sada visaye mohita: ego, material attachment...

Himsa-garva vibhusana: I become proud, "I know so many kirtans, I can give such a good class. I am so good at singing. I have done so many things!"

Nidralasya hata sukarye virata: always sleepy, lazy.

Akarye udyogi ami: always doing something that has nothing to do with devotional activities.

And now what? Vardhakye ekhana upaya-vihina ta'te dina akinchana: when we become old, there is nothing left for us.

We must realise everything, we must practise our own spiritual life properly, and pray to the feet of Guru, Vaishnavs sincerely, not pretending or showing off.

Everybody should think, "How can I protect Gurudev's mission, Gurudev's devotees? How can I fulfil Gurudev's desire?" Try to do what Gurudev wanted us to do—serve the mission, serve the devotees, serve the Deities—always try and try, and you will be successful.

This is your own place, your own home. Do not think you are a guest here—you think when you come to Gurudev you are a guest, but if you can think you are the host, I will be much happier.

visaye je priti ebe achhaye amara

sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

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

Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

You should have the same feelings for your Guru, for the Vaishnavs, and Bhagavan, as you have for your own self. We become sad, "I am a big Acharya, but nobody gives me respect—somebody did not give me a garland, somebody did not pay obeisance to me, etc." Actually, kanak's proprietor is Narayan and Laksmi Devi, kamini's proprietor is Krishna, and Gurudev is the owner of pratistha.

If I get even a five-rupee donation, it is for my Guru. If you want to go to hell—if you want to destroy your spiritual life—it is very easy. If you think you have some position and use it for your own purpose, it is a sure way to hell—you will be removed from Krishna consciousness. We sing, "Yogyata vichare kichhu nahi pai: when I examine myself for qualifications, I find none," and say, "I have become an Acharya due to my own activities and qualification," but in fact, "Yogyata vichare kichu nahi pai—tomara koruna-sara! Your mercy is all in all."

If you think about the Lord, about your Guru, then your Guru will give you everything:

kirtana-prabhave, smarana haibe,

ta kale nirjjan bhajana sambhav

Vaishnav Ke? 19

You can remember through kirtan: when you sing Sri guru charana-padma, if you remember Gurudev's face, Gurudev's activities, Gurudev's feelings and dealings with you, then you can understand something is happening inside you—you can understand that you have got some relation with your Guru.

I always feel indebted to everyone—you are all doing so much service... I am trying to use everyone for service—sometimes I chastise, sometimes even give a slap, but when I die, you will understand why I do it.

If you surrender 25%, you will get 25%; if you surrender 10%, you will get 10%.

What did Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, make this Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math for? So that we can practise—so that we can come here to hear about the Lord.

We proudly say that we are a disciple of this person, of that person, we are a disciple of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, but Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur himself would pay obeisance to his disciples with the words, "Daso 'smi. I am your servant." We do not understand this, but Gurudev is very merciful, he is engaged in a loving search for the lost servant:

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

He takes us by our sikha and throws us to the lotus feet of Gurudev, Krishna, but we are like insects—he takes us out of stool, and we again go to the stool. Gurudev has given us so much service, but we do not do it. We have no desire to serve because we are attacked by a disease: kutinati (insincerity, duplicity).

Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that some think, "I have become a brahmachari, but in my old age who will look after me? Who will give me medicine?" and they keep aside some money for themselves. How foolish they are!...

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Setting on the Right Track (2)

28 March 2013, Sri Jagannath Mishra's Anandotsav

...In Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math there are many big buildings, there are Deities, there is a Guru, there are Vaishnavs, and there is also a drain. Whether you see the Deity or the drain depends upon you. Those who think about a commode get a commode—those who think about the drain become drain inspectors.

Sincerity and faith are necessary. When this Museum building was built, in 1994-1995, somebody washed Gurudev's brain and he did not talk to me so much—he told me to get out; but when I took him from here to the new building (the present veranda in Nabadwip), he was very happy.

Also when we were making the Govinda Kunda everybody told Gurudev that I was stealing money. Once I was paying dandavat to Gurudev, and he said, "Yes! I understand that he is a thief, but can you say where he keeps the money? Did you see the big building that is being constructed in Bamunpara? I have got the news today. He is not begging, he is not collecting, but he is always serving, and with that money he made a temple in Bamunpara!"

Another time, Gurudev criticised me in front of my friend, who he knew would go and tell me about it, and said that he wanted to throw me out. When that person came and told me, "Gurudev is saying bad things about you." I replied, "OK, no problem. Go away, I do not want to hear that." Later, Gurudev explained, "I was testing you! I was testing how much attachment, how much relation you have with me."

Three years have passed since Gurudev left, but we still cannot understand anything. “ahankare matta haiya, Nitai-pada pasariya, asatyere satya kori mani, maddened with pride, forgetting Nitai's feet, I accept untruth as truth"! If you have some deficiency in faith, then slowly, slowly you will change and everything will be removed from you. By the mercy of the Lord we have got this association, we have got Gurudev and service to Gurudev, but it is easy to fall down and leave the service, leave this line...

Actually, I could not speak today, but Krishna, Gurudev are speaking through me. I thought I would not come to the class today, but Gurudev brought me here... I am very sad and pained for Gurudev. When he left Nabadwip, he said, "Guru Maharaj, protect my temple." Now everybody is wondering, "Who will protect the mission?" Gurudev will protect Guru Maharaj's mission! The problem is that not everybody has this kind of faith, and that makes me very sad.

yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado

yasyaprasadat na gatih kuto 'pi

dhyayam stuvams tasya yasas tri-sandhyam

vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, praising and meditating upon his glory at the three junctions of the day. By his grace, one gains the Lord's grace. Without his grace, one has no shelter anywhere.

Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 8

Guru-mukha-padma-vakya chitete kariya aikya: we must believe that which is coming from Gurudev's lotus mouth. We took initiation, came for the festival and are going back home, but we did not understand anything, did not learn anything... Who is to blame now? "I am the one who is guilty, I should not search for others' fault"—such mood must come... How much can you surrender? How much have you dedicated yourself? How much chastity do you have? How much sincerity do you have? You can easily analyse it yourself—but be always careful.

hari-sthane aparadhe tare harinama

toma-sthane aparadhe nahiko edana

If one commits an offence at the feet of Lord Hari, he can be forgiven if he chants the Holy Name. But if one offends you, there is no salvation for him.

I am praying to you all that you do not forget your service to your Guru, to the Vaishnavs, Bhagavan. I am praying to you, I am bowing at your lotus feet: if you serve my Guru, I will serve you my whole life; if you serve my Guru, I will sacrifice my life to serve you. Do you understand?

Do not forget Gurudev. Asusta hoya mor man, my mind is disturbed because slowly, slowly you are going away and jumping into the illusory environment. That is my sadness. Do you know when I suffer? When somebody forgets their own duty, their own service. Gurudev said there are guru-bhogi, guru-tyagi, guru-sevi. Some use their Guru for their own interest, use the temple for their own benefit. That is very sad news.

nija sukha lagi', pape nahi dori

doya-hina svartha-paro

I am never afraid to engage in sinful activities for the sake of my own happiness. I am merciless and selfish.

That is why we are suffering, and I am suffering so much because of that.

It will soon be Gurudev's disappearance festival, and I am inviting all the devotees: please do not go after the festival, stay until Gurudev's disappearance festival.

When I am saying something, Gurudev's own words, then I remember everything. Now the position is very hellish. Gurudev gave me this chair, but I do not know why he chose me—there are so many big scholars all over the world. I cannot understand why he chose me. At present I am suffering so much, but I have to tolerate and I am tolerating...

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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Abhidheya: the Main Practice

9 April 2013

What is the main abhidheya, the main practising life? To do sankirtan yajna under the guidance of the Guru and Vaishnavs and without offence. That is the main abhidheya. There is sambhanda, abhidheya, and prayojan: in a gist, it means establish relation and practise—without practice it is not perfect.

Many kinds of offenders can be rescued through this process. Everybody lives in their own way, but there is somebody who is always keeping a diary for us—writing there all our karma-phal of the past and present. Through Vaishnav seva, through Harinam sankirtan that diary can be destroyed, along with all our previous karma-phal. Now is the main opportunity for that.

Sripad Jajavar Maharaj was the last sannyasi of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. When he was taking sannyas, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said to him with a smile, "Why are you afraid? You are going to jump into the place where there is no fear." When you jump somewhere, do not look behind—you know that maya is very strong; slowly, slowly, it gives more and more problems.

Why do we do kirtan? Why do we do service? We must understand it, then we will get happiness through our service. That is the main abhidheya. If you follow abhidheya properly—if you engage in sankirtan under the guidance of Guru, Vaishnav, without offence—anger will not come.

We have so many books, but we do not read them. We did not print books to use them as a paper plate for chanachur or samosas. When you get time, read the books. It is very important.

dinere adhika daya kare bhagavan

kulina, pandita, dhanira bada abhimana

Those who have a high birth, knowledge and wealth are so proud of themselves, but the Lord is so merciful to those who are poor and needy.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.68

Everybody has some quality, and that quality should be used for service. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Gurupad-padma also, told, "Everybody can run with a good person, but who can run with a bad person?" Everybody can run with the people who have good qualities, but who can run with the crazy people?

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Service in Separation

22 April 2013

Today is the adhivas (eve) of our Gurudev's disappearance, tirobhav maha-mahotsav...

In a conversation with Ramananda Ray, Mahaprabhu asked,

'duhkha-madhye kona duhkha haya gurutara?'

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

"From all kinds of sad things, what is the saddest?"—"I do not know what other sadness can there be other than bhakta-viraha, separation from a devotee."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.247

Separation from devotees is very sad, but sometimes through separation pleasure comes—separation can bring one closer.

Somebody thinks, "Tirobhav... There is no Gurudev there, so why will I go there?" It is a misconception, a wrong conception. Gurudev said one time, "Some of my godbrothers stopped coming after Guru Maharaj had left. They think, 'Guru Maharaj is not there, why will I go there?' But I would tell them: they actually have no relationship with Guru Maharaj..."

Is Gurudev still here or not? If you take initiation, it does not mean there is a relation—a heart to heart connection is necessary. It is necessary to make relationship through service, through some exchange—in this way a transcendental relationship comes; it is not a relation of this world. When your father, he who gave you birth, dies, that relationship finishes, but when Gurudev, the transcendental, divine master, leaves, that relationship does not finish—it is a life after life relationship and it never stops. We cannot understand that...

Separation is another thing—it does not come in one day. When you connect with your Guru every day, serve him, live with him, have that continuous relation, then slowly, slowly separation comes.

Gurudev never wanted to come for the disappearance festival of Srila Param Guru Maharaj... I do not want to remember also anything about the day Gurudev left and making his samadhi. When I come to that samadhi, these things always come to my memory and I want to stay far, but Gurudev said: if you follow your Guru's instruction, if you fulfil his desire, even after his disappearance, if you always think what will make him happy, then you will get his association, you will feel joy...

You can make his disappearance festival, serve him, serve the Vaishnavs, and think what will make him happy and how to make his festival.

What did Gurudev leave us for? So that we join the festival, give some glorification, take prasadam, and leave? Our service does not finish there. We must distribute to others what Gurudev told all over the world, what Gurudev kept for us—his books, his audio and video recordings. What we invent or discover is not necessary to distribute; distribute what he told, what he invented and discovered, that is sufficient—people will be benefitted through that. That is necessary for us. We should understand what he wanted and what he did not want...

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Chaste and Selfless

9 October 2013

I do not know what my benefit is, and I have no capacity to understand it, but my Guru and Krishna know what will be good for me. Association is the best and most powerful way to convert anybody. You may make many mistakes, but you must correct yourself. If you make a mistake and Gurudev chastises you, but out of ego you do not understand it and think you did right, it becomes a problem for your service life.

Suppose there is a man with a large plot of land who wants to dig a pond. He starts digging in some place, and after having dug about 20 feet, somebody comes up to him and says, "What are you doing? You will not get any water here. Try another place, just 10 feet next to it." The man goes to the other place and starts digging there. After a while, another man comes up to him and says, "What are you doing? You will not get good water here," and advises to try another place. This repeats many times and the day is finished. The man who gave him advice first decided to come and see what the man had done. He came and saw that the man had dug out so many holes but done nothing: the man did not listen to him. We must not be fickle-minded: today we go to this Math, tomorrow we go to another temple; today we associate with Srila Swami Maharaj's disciples, tomorrow we go to associate with Narayan Maharaj's disciples, or Puri Maharaj's disciples. This is not chastity...

What are you afraid of? Yes, sometimes Gurudev may chastise us, but it is for our benefit because we do not know what is good and what is bad for us. If you surrender, if you have full faith in me, there is nothing to be afraid of. When Nrisimhadev is very angry, everybody is afraid, but Prahlad Maharaj is not afraid. You may think it is because he is just a little boy, but it is not so: Prahlad Maharaj is not afraid because he has so much faith, love and affection for his dearmost Lord, "The Lord has come, why should I be afraid? I am His child, His son..."

I was reading today in the Gaudiya: when Krishna left rasa-sthali with Srimati Radharani, Vraja gopis may have become a little sad in their minds, but they did not leave Krishna, they did not leave their service, their love and affection. Instead, they thought, "She is the most powerful, and She can control Krishna, that is why Krishna took Her."

Gurudev chastised me so many times because I did wrong, but I always had faith that Gurudev would not throw me out, and even if he did throw me out, I may leave, cry a little, and then come back again. If you have attachment to service for your own happiness, not for the happiness of your Guru—if your own happiness means more to you than the happiness of your Guru—then it is a problem. If Gurudev tells me to get out, I will get out to make him happy, but I will come back. Is it right or not? This kind of chastity and faith are necessary—not self interest or concern for my own happiness.

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Disturbance In Service

2 February 2015

Once, two dogs set off to go from Kolkata to Ekachakra.

They tried to take a train or a bus but were chased out, so they had to run all the way to Ekachakra. They thought it would take them seven days to get there.

They had ran for a half a day and decided to stop to take some rest, but the local dogs protected their territory and did not allow them to stay anywhere, so they had to continue running. When the night came, they wanted to stay somewhere for the night, they lay by some closed shop, but even then the local dogs barked at them and they had to leave. In this way, they continued running and reached Ekachakra within one day instead of seven.

Disturbance is not bad, it can actually help in service.

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Ekachakra Festival: Attachment To Prasadam

3 February 2015

The festival in Ekachakra this year was very successful, and we are also very happy that we could give some prasadam to the devotees...

Whatever I took in the truck from here, Nabadwip, finished on the dvadasi (paran) day—before the festival even started. I had to go to Rampurhat for marketing and rent a car to bring the bhog.

Even yesterday (the day after the festival), they started serving prasadam after the noon arati and carried on until the evening arati, five-six o'clock. In the evening, I gave them another 400 kg rice. I thought that some may still come later in the evening and told the cooks to make another 100 kg, but not so many people turned up, so in the evening I told them to soak the rice in water and make eight-ten tubs of subji. In the morning, that wet rice was mixed with the subji and distributed—the people finished that too within a few hours.

People took even rotten rice. Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu took what even cows could not tolerate, and when I fed this to the people, they too took it. The favourite dish of Hadai Pandit, Nityananda Prabhu's father, was muri or wet rice with mashed eggplant (baked in the fire and mashed with mustard oil and chilli). We had no eggplant left, so we served wet rice with subji—a very nice breakfast. About 500 people took it today, happily.

Nityananda Prabhu is very merciful to them: they get prasadam and they have attachment to prasadam. Some people came and begged with a stretched out hand, "Please, give me at least a drop." Yesterday by the evening everything had finished, all pots were empty, but still, at 5-6 o'clock people came asking for a drop of prasadam.

If they follow the proper Krishna consciousness in the line of Rupa Goswami, it would be nice. There is a good opportunity for preaching Krishna consciousness in Birbhum because they do not know what pure Krishna consciousness is. If somebody gives them some pure conception, it would be good.

Our gate is always open—people like and people love that. Also, if we depend upon the Lord, He will make arrangement for everything. You see how everything happened—no one left without prasadam. People came, got some simple things (even madhukori—everything mixed together), and left...

When people serve prasadam affectionately, it is good. When Gurudev could not come to some festival in Nabadwip, he would send his servitor, "Give me the report whether the devotees are getting prasadam or not, whether they are serving properly or not." He would always ask about it, and until the festival has finished, he would be sitting there, waiting for the report. Serving prasadam is very important.

Our cooks' department is also very good. Every day I called them at 3 a.m. so that they could start early—I knew if they did not start at 3, they would not be able to finish in time. So, I called them at 3, they started the fire, heated the pots, and carried on cooking until 5 o'clock in the evening. Do you see how much energy they have? They must be praised. The whole day they fight with the fire and stir 11 kg in those huge pots.

The crowd cannot be checked—the flow of people never finished, they were coming and coming...

Devotee: Did they come from the local village [Ekachakra]?

They came from the local village as well as from far away places. There are no restaurants, no hotels in Ekachakra, so, hungry, they came to our temple to take some prasadam. It is Lord Nityananda Prabhu's mercy...

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The Supreme and the Tiny

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 3 February 2015

Only Nityananda Prabhu and Srimati Radharani know who They will take service from. Everybody does not get such service—a great fortune is necessary.

Gurudev said that we are practising and one leg may already be in Vaikuntha, inside, but if there is bad fortune, some offence, that leg can be removed from there—the leg that is inside can go outside; and by the good fortune, by the mercy of the Guru, Vaishnav, the leg outside can go inside, it also happens. That is why we must be always careful with our service, our service mood, and our practising life.

Yesterday we were happy—by the mercy of Gurudev, Srimati Radharani and Nityananda Prabhu took our service.

Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur said:

bado duhkha paiyachhi svatantra jivane

duhkha dure gelo o pada-varane

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

Saranagati, 21.5

Why do we become sad? Why do we feel unhappy? Because we want to run independently. If you fully surrender to the Lord, surrender to your Guru, your sadness will go away because you will depend upon him in everything. You will have no problem at all, no unhappiness, nothing. If we depend on ourselves, we feel unhappy when something happens in our life, but a surrendered soul is never unhappy. Everything happens by the mercy and will of the Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan. So, the main thing is faith, saranagati—it is necessary for our spiritual life to believe that everything happens by the will of the Lord.

Srila Gurudev told once that when Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj expired, he thought, "I am alone, who will make the arrangements? Who will dig and make Guru Maharaj's samadhi?" Gurudev did not tell anybody, did not invite anybody, but he was surprised how many people came that day and helped make the samadhi and arranged everything else. He was wondering, "Who sent these people?"

Gurudev has told that you get service by the mercy of Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan, but you must be careful you do not lose your service through Vaishnav aparadh, seva aparadh, and Dham aparadh. You must be careful with this. We make so many offences unknowingly; if the feeling comes to your heart that "I am doing so much offence," it is a good symptom for your spiritual life. If, through your ego you think, "What I am doing is all right; everything is all right," it is not good at all for your practising life.

Sometimes, when the practising life is a little longer, we start thinking that we are doing so much, we have done so many things, but Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead—how much can we do? We are tiny simple jiva souls. When we do something, we think we have done so much, then ego comes to our heart. It is not good for a practitioner. The feeling must come to our heart that we are offenders, making so many offences...

Once, Gurudev was sitting in Dum Dum Park, and many devotees were doing so much big service. At that time my hand was shaking because of high blood sugar—I could not write properly and could not put my tilak properly. Seeing this, one devotee gave me a stick for putting tilak. When I was putting my tilak, I was remembering his name. He did a little service—not even one rupee was necessary to spend—but I was happy with that service. Do you see? It is a simple thing.

It is Sriman Nityananda Prabhu's and Srimati Radharani's matter who They will take service from, but we should try heart and soul. We must do our duty.

We must follow Mahaprabhu's instruction and teachings. Pratihimsa tyaji karaha palana: stop ill-treating others, instead nurture others.

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe

para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

Do not trouble others for your own upkeep, forget your own happiness in the course of helping others.

For your own happiness, to satisfy your own lifestyle, do not give any anxiety to others. You must sacrifice your life and renounce all enjoyment of material things for others' benefit. Our duty will be like that...

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Best Service To the Guru

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 10 February 2015

Yesterday our festival was very nice—Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's festival. Many people (about two hundred) came—the house was full.

If someone maintains a proper householder life, it is no problem. A devotee family stays at the house we went to yesterday at noon time—the husband came here for a few days, then he got married, and his wife is a very nice lady, she helps him so much in his spiritual life. They are very poor people, but they do not look poor. He has three brothers, two small sons, and his parents (Gurudev's disciples) stay with them. They have a small house, one room and a veranda, and a small piece of land where he grows vegetables: he works alone in the field and then sells the vegetables. This is how he maintains his family. Once a year they make Vaishnav seva. They have chastity for the Lord, chastity for their Guru, and they have no anya-abhilasita (other desires), that is why they can run their life easily—no shortage of money, no problems. On the other hand, you can see rich people who have no chastity for their Guru, for Vaishnavs—they suffer.

When we make a festival for Gurudev (appearance day, for example), we offer him what he likes, and Gurudev is happy with that, but when will Gurudev be even happier? When will Prabhupad be even happier? When we preach for him. Gurur katha prachar korte habe: we must preach, spread the words of our Guru. We must tell people about our Guru, about Krishna consciousness. That is the main thing. Why was Gauranga Mahaprabhu so happy with Nityananda Prabhu? Because Nityananda Prabhu was preaching about Gauranga Mahaprabhu. That is the duty of a pure disciple—the disciple will preach for their Guru, not for their own self, or their own interest.

If Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur had not come, who would have known about Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj? Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur took initiation from him, and this is how everyone knows now Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj. Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also made so many scholar devotees, many exalted devotees, and now the whole world knows Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Vasu Ghosh wrote,

yadi gaura na ha'ta tabe ki ha-ita

kemane dharitam de

"If Gauranga had not come, who would have known the mood of Radharani? Who would have known about the love of Vraja-basis?" If our Gurudev had not preached all over the world, who would have known about Srila Sridhar Maharaj? A real disciple is the one who preaches their Guru's conception all over the world...

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Chastity To Prasad

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 10 February 2015

Without service, our life is nothing, our life is useless...

The place we went to was a place of pure devotion, but not everywhere the place is good. For example, next Saturday I am going to a place of false renunciation, sahajiya.

There are many kinds of areas, many kinds of people, and many kinds of devotees in this world—some have devotion to alcohol, some to Mother Kali, some to Lord Siva, etc. There is karma-misra bhakti, jnana-misra bhakti, jnana-sunya bhakti, but pure devotion (suddha bhakti) is very rare. Many come to the lotus feet of Gurudev, but there are guru-bhogi, guru-tyagi, and guru-sevi—some use their Guru, some renounce their Guru, and only a very little percent serve their Guru.

These villagers have so much love, affection... You saw how yesterday an old lady grabbed me. This is her devotion. There were many people around, but she was not ashamed—she forcefully took me to her house.

Devotee: Does she know you from before?

Yes, she has come here many times, and I also have been going to that area for twenty years. After Gurudev disappeared there was some problem, and I could not go, I sent somebody else to that area. So, the devotees were waiting for me—even yesterday at night they were also asking me to come to their houses, but it was too late to visit any more houses.

In that area, there are a few disciples of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, and mostly Gurudev's disciples. Gurudev did not go house to house in India. He only went for preaching to one place in Bengal, in 1990, but after that they lost faith in their Guru. Although Gurudev had stayed there, I do not go to that house any more because they do not follow the proper line—even in Gurudev's time also they did not come regularly, did not attend the programmes, etc. I tried to go there a few times, tried to give them some benefit, but they did not accept it. If I went there now, I would have to take a glass of water from them, but if I cannot give any benefit to them, why will I take water from them? This is why I do not go there any more.

This time I did not go collecting house to house, door to door so much—we only went to maybe ten-twelve houses, not more, and people came themselves and gave me some donation. Sometimes somebody would forcefully take me to their house, then I would go. Before, when I was a brahmachari, I would go to eighty houses a day—fifty houses in the morning, thirty in the afternoon. This time it was like relaxing. When Gurudev was there I would go door to door, house to house, collect rice, potato, etc. At that time I could also eat much—I would go to eighty houses, and every house they gave five-ten pieces of rasagulla, and I had to take at least one: eighty houses, eighty rasagullas...

People have devotion, have love and affection, and that is our happiness: pran achhe yar, sei hetu prachar, as long as you are alive, as long as you keep your jiva soul in the body, you must continue preaching, continue your preaching movement. One day this body will also be finished—everything will be finished, demolished. We always remember, "Sarira avidya-jala jadendriya tahe kala jive phele visaya-sagare: the body is a net of illusion, and the material senses—chaksu, karna, nasika, jihva, tvak, man, buddhi, ahankar, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, mind, intelligence, ego—are one's enemies; they throw the soul into the ocean of mundanity."

Next Saturday we are again going for preaching. Are you tired?

Devotee: I'm not, but so many misti (sweets)...

Why are you eating so many misti then? Do not eat it...

Devotee: They are giving it forcefully.

Not at all places...

visayira anna khaile malina haya mana

malina mana haile nahe krsnera smarana

When a materialist offers you some food, your mind becomes contaminated, and when the mind becomes contaminated, you cannot remember Krishna.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.278

We cannot take things at all places. Sometimes I take only the Tulasi leaves. If you take something from the hands of someone who is not a devotee—karmi, jnani, yogi—that reaction will come to you. This is why we do not take things from outside without discrimination. If you stay alone, you can cook in your room, offer it to the Lord, to your Guru, and take that prasadam—you will be happy, and your devotion will be all right.

You will not get so much opulent prasadam at every place. Some place is a mayavadi place, some is a false renunciation, sahajiya, place. You have been to the place of pure devotion, and now we are going to the place of false renunciation—they will touch your feet and cry, but they will not spend one rupee for the Deities, for the Lord, or the Guru. They only show false renunciation. You will see...

For this reason we do not accept things from everywhere without discrimination, even if it is prasadam—somebody offers something to Mother Kali, Mother Durga, Laksmi Devi, demigods and goddesses, but we do not take that prasadam. Reaction will come if we do. Big-big Vaishnavs have the power to digest anything, but we are practitioners...

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Genuine Line—Genuine Life

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 12 February 2015

Gurudev said that you can stay anywhere, but you must maintain your spiritual life—that is the main thing. Our line is yukta-vairagya (proper renunciation), not phalgu-vairagya (false renunciation). Yukta-vairagya is necessary: wherever you live or stay, the main thing is to practise Krishna consciousness properly.

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

You can live a householder life, it is no problem, but your family must be Krishna's family. Everything can carry on, but you must realise that Krishna is in charge of everything and live under the guidance of your Guru, the Vaishnavs, and Bhagavan. Continue your practising life in this way, and that will be your happiness.

We do not know where we will be posted next life, so service is our life, and the twenty-four hours we have is His time, it is not our time—we have got this time to serve the Lord, serve our Guru, serve our mission—but sometimes because of our bad karma or some bad association, Maya Devi takes our time and uses it for her service.

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."

There is no other way—without mercy of the Guru, the Vaishnavs you cannot conquer, you cannot defeat maya. Maya is always taking your time, but when offences and bad elements are removed from your heart, the desire for service will increase day by day, and you will get great joy through your service. This is what Gurudev told me, and I also see it.

Mercy of the Guru is necessary. This mercy will come to the surrendered souls, to those who are fully surrendered and who hanker for devotional activities. Actually, the main question is how much of your life can you give to your Guru? It depends upon you—how much of your body (deho), your heart (prana), your mind (mana), and your speech (vakya) can you give for the service to the Lord, for the service to your Guru? Jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaisnava seva: how much benefit can you bring to the jiva souls? When you give benefit to others, you too are benefitted through that.

Gurudev also said that the Guru places a seed of devotion (bhakti-lata bij) in your heart, but that seed will come to your mouth. When offences are removed from your heart, the bhakti-lata bij, the Holy Name, will come to your mouth and you will always get pleasure from chanting the Holy Name. How can you understand that the actual Name is happening? When the Name dances on your tongue, then you can understand that the Name is happening.

Nama chintamanih Krsnas chaitanya-rasa-vigraha (the Holy Name is transcendental, nondifferent from Krishna and the embodiment of pleasure and consciousness, Cc, 2.17.133): Bhagavan's nam, rupa, lila, parikar, vaisistya (Name, beauty, Pastimes, associates, personality) are all non-different from Krishna. Who has the power to distribute it? Gurudev said that only Krishna Himself or Krishna's associates can distribute it. What others are preaching or distributing is impure things, imitation.

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Continue Your Service, by Hook or by Crook

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 21 February 2015

[At the beginning, addressing one of the Mexican devotees who has just arrived at Sri Nabadwip Dham:]

You are a very fortunate soul because you have got the association of Madhuchanda Didi and Srila B.K. Ashram Maharaj. Actually, through sadhu-sanga our heart becomes clean. We sing, "Tabe to' gaibo Harinama-sukhe aparadha habe hata: we make so many offences, but by chanting the Holy Name all offences will be removed."

Gurudev told that Krishna has given us time for serving the Lord, but, unfortunately, through illusory environment Maya takes our time away: Maya uses Krishna's time for herself. That is very unfortunate, very bad luck for us. We have got much time for the service to the Lord, but Maya is taking her share. It is very difficult to avoid it, but anyhow—by hook or by crook—you must engage yourself in the service to the Lord. That is very important.

Maya will always try to take you away from the service, but you must forcefully keep yourself within service—that will be good for your spiritual life. Sometimes we become sad when service leaves devotees (actually, devotees do not leave service—service leaves them). It leaves them because of their offences, their ego, or bad fortune...

I am not saying everybody must stay in a temple—everybody does not have that kind of good fortune to stay in a temple; staying in a householder (grihastha) life is not a problem, but Gurudev said you must maintain your spiritual life wherever you stay. So, wherever you stay, wherever you are, you must maintain your spiritual life perfectly. That is the main point.

Once, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur went to Murshidabad, Kasim Bazaar, but they did not let him give the class: he would begin giving a strong class, but they would stop him. Because of this, Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur did not take even one glass of water from their house. He stayed there for three days, and they gave him so much prasadam, but he took nothing except the Tulasi leaves. He said, "I did not come to take food or money from your house. I have come here to give some benefit to you, but I could not do that. For this reason, I do not want to waste your rice." You can get some idea from this...

Gurudev said that in different countries devotees should preach and practise under the guidance of a senior sannyasi, a senior Vaishnav, and he mentioned many times the names of Srila Ashram Maharaj, Srila Janardan Maharaj, Srila Trivikram Maharaj, Srila Avadhut Maharaj. I become very happy when I see or hear that they are doing it, that their service still continues, and day by day, year by year, it increases and our family also increases. You have been sending me pictures, reports, and I can see that.

Last year, by the mercy of Gurudev (that was also his mercy) I could not do the parikrama, but I do not have any problem with that. I still got energy through that—when I came here on the last day I was very happy. It is also a lesson for me: every year I had been doing the parikrama, why did Gurudev stop me that year? It is his wish, Krishna's will. Whichever way Krishna keeps you, you must be happy with that. That is the main thing.

You are coming, or you have already come, for the Gaura Purnima festival, and you must continue your service. If somebody wants to stay for a longer time in India, I have no objection. We have many branches, and you can stay in any of them—in Ekachakra, Kolkata, Nabadwip, Vrindavan, Puri, or others. This is your temple actually, and, day by day, by the mercy of Gurudev, everything is increasing. You can see on the Internet that every year several Deity inaugurations take place. Last month, in January, by the mercy of Gurudev, there was inauguration of Sri Sri Gaura Nityananda Gandharva Govinda Sundar in Ganga Sagar...

I am always with you all, and I always want to serve Gurudev's mission together. This is my wish. I want us to run this mission together and want the preaching to go on happily everywhere. I will be very happy with that. Two-three years ago, some devotees told me that the 'Western' parikrama should be separate from the 'Indian' parikrama. I said, "No." Gurudev did not tell me to do so, and Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur said that 'black' colour people and 'white' colour people would run together, dancing and chanting in the Gaura Mandal.

This year I have also bought a land in Mayapur, near the birthplace of Mahaprabhu (Yogapith). It was my plan to give prasadam there on the first day of the parikrama, but the land is not levelled properly yet, and it will be hard to make a pandal. The devotees will be very sick if they sit in the hot sun, that is why I did not take the risk this year. I can show that land at the Gaura Purnima time. After that, my plan is also to make a centre in Nrisingha Palli. I got a land right next to the temple there...

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Strongest Faith in Guru

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 22 February 2015

Actually, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu always teaches us, always shows us with His own example.

Mahaprabhu accepted a Guru: when His father left his body, He went to Gaya to perform the last rites for His father, and when He saw Ishwar Puri there, He was very happy. He said,

prabhu bale, "gaya-yatra saphala amara

yata-ksane dekhilana charana tomara"

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Adi-khanda, 17.50

"I came to Gaya and now I have attained all the fortune, all the benefit, and everything has become successful because I have got my Guru here."

Also, what He said to Ishwar Puri was very nice,

"samsara-samudra haite uddharaha more

ei ami deha samarpilana tomare"

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Adi-khanda, 17.54

"I always swim in the samsara-samudra, the ocean of material environment... Prabhu, please rescue me from that kind of environment. Please rescue me. I fully surrender at Your lotus feet—my mana, prana, deha, my heart, my life and body, everything I am giving to You." This is a fundamental point.

When you fully surrender to your Guru, you must have faith, "I may have no power, but my Guru is very powerful—he can rescue me. I am not perfect, but Gurudev is perfect, and he can make me perfect." That is the main point. "Gurudev can make me perfect"—such faith is necessary. I may not be fully qualified, but Gurudev is the most qualified devotee, a great Vaishnav, so if I have his association and have faith in him, he can give everything to me. Such kind of faith and mood is necessary for our spiritual life.

The quality of our devotion depends upon faith. There are four types of faith: kamala-sraddha, taranga-sraddha, dridha-sraddha, sudridha-sraddha, weak, a little stronger, stronger, and the strongest faith. Haridas Thakur has the strongest faith. They were beating Haridas Thakur and saying to him, "Do not say, 'Hare Krishna'!" but Haridas Thakur shouted, "Hare Krishna!" They were beating him, and he was shouting, "Hare Krishna!" Eventually he became senseless, like dead, and those who were beating him thought he was dead and began to cry... So, such strongest faith is necessary.

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

Prahlad Maharaj is a santa-rasa bhakta. He has nothing, but he has faith in Hari, "Hari can protect me—no one can harm me. My father can do anything he likes, my Hari will protect me." It is necessary to always keep such strongest faith. Gurudev also gave another example of faith, and I have told it many times. You are going somewhere with your Gurudev, and you see a snake, "Oh, Gurudev, there is a very big snake!" but Gurudev says, "No, it is a piece of rope." You have to believe that. If you have such faith, you will be successful in your spiritual life.

So many problems will come, but still you can go to God, you can go to your position if you have this strongest faith in your Guru. He can do everything for you, but our problem is that we cannot properly, 100%, surrender to our Guru...

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Mind and Heart: Be Careful

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 22 February 2015

We want to conquer the whole world, but we cannot even conquer ourselves—there are so many enemies inside us that are obstacles to the devotional activities. Lust, anger, greed, and so on—we have so many material things within, and they are pulling us, taking us each their own way. That is why if we get good association, sadhu-sanga, it will gradually give some solution to these problems, otherwise slowly, slowly they will only increase. If a material desire is coming to your heart, you must finish it at the beginning, otherwise day by day it will increase and you will fall down, you will leave your spiritual life. We must be always 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."

Without the mercy of the Guru, Vaishnavs, Bhagavan, you cannot conquer maya.

We have twenty-four hours' time, but these twenty-four hours are Krishna's time, not ours. If even for a moment you think of something that is not related to Krishna—if your mind goes to another place—that is bad for you. Always think about the Lord, think about your Guru, think about Krishna.

Who is my friend? Who is my enemy? I am my own friend, and I am my own enemy. If I cannot give benefit to myself, who is going to give it to me? You must do good for yourself, and for that you must come one step towards the Lord, and Krishna will come ten steps towards you, but you must make the first step. Continue your practising life in this way and you will eventually succeed in your spiritual life.

Tomara sevaya yata haya duhkha, seo ta' parama sukha (Saranagati, 16.4): so much unhappiness and so many problems will come through your service—it is impossible to harmonise with everybody, so some problem must come—but do not leave your service at that time. Do you understand? Try to be attached to your service.

Gurudev would always say that everybody is doing some service, but only a few people have attachment to their service. Attachment to the service, seva-asakti is good and it is necessary to have it. If you have attachment to your service, then you will be happy, you will always be glad, and you will think, "I want to do more, I want to do more..." Such mood will come. If, however, you have material desires in your heart—if have the desire for liberation, the desire for enjoyment, or exploitation in your heart, then you will not get happiness. You will be doing something, but happiness will not come to your mind because of these desires in your heart. Mahaprabhu said,

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."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.175

We get proud and want to enjoy, but who is the actual enjoyer? Krishna is the enjoyer. We are not the enjoyers. In the same way, we cannot renounce anything. Whose property are you going to renounce? Nothing is yours, so you cannot leave what is others'. Everything is Krishna's property, and everything is for service to Krishna. Some think they are bhogi (an enjoyer), some think they are tyagi (an renunciate), but you can be neither an enjoyer nor a renouncer. That is why it is said, "Bhog tyag, tyag tyag: renounce enjoyment and renounce renouncing." We must understand this clearly.

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A Servitor's Mood (Govinda)

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 22 February 2015

For the service to the Lord, for the service to your Guru, you can make an offence, but for your own enjoyment you cannot make any offence. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu showed this by the example of Govinda; you heard it from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita.

One day, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had been dancing and chanting all day, and at night He was so tired that He fell asleep in the doorway of His room. Govinda, His servant, would every day massage His feet, but that time he could not go inside the room. He asked Mahaprabhu,

"Prabhu, can You please move? I want to go inside..."

"No, I cannot do it. I am very tired..."

"I do this service every day. Will I not do it today?"

"That is your matter. Whether you do or do not do it, it is up to you..."

That is called sincerity: what I do, I must do every day. Some are doing puja, worshipping, one day, and after that not doing, but if you have a deity, if you have an altar in your house, you must worship every day. If you make an offering for your deity, or at the altar, then you must make the offering every day. You eat every day, you go to the toilet every day, then you must feed your deity every day too. That is what sincerity is.

So, Govinda served Mahaprabhu every day, but that day Mahaprabhu did not allow him to enter the room. Govinda thought, "Oh, I do this service every day, should I stop my service today? No!" So, what did he do? His put his uttariya on Mahaprabhu's body, crossed Him, and put whatever dust fell from his feet on his head.

After he finished massaging Mahaprabhu's feet, he stayed in the room and dozed off. Mahaprabhu took a good rest and, when He woke up at midnight, He saw Govinda was still inside,

"Why you are still here?! Why did you not go to take prasadam and rest?"

"How could I go? You are in the doorway."

"How did you come here then?"

"At that time I came for Your service, but for my own enjoyment—for sleeping and eating—I cannot cross over Your body."

This is a servitor's mood...

In this way Mahaprabhu teaches us, through His devotees. From this example, you can understand how one can commit offence for service, but not for one's own enjoyment.

*Uttariya, an upper garment worn over the right shoulder and under the left arm.

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A Servitor's Mood (Two Lazy Disciples)

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 22 February 2015

I heard this story from a disciple of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. His name is Bhakti Kumud Shanta Goswami Maharaj. I saw him in 1995 when he came here for Srila Sridhar Maharaj's centenary festival; that time he told this story.

A Guru made a temple and had two servitors there—one was cooking, and the other one was doing puja. Every day the two brahmachari fought. One of the them was saying, "I am doing more service!" The other one said, "I am doing more! You are not doing anything!"

One day, they fought like this in front of their Guru. Gurudev asked, "What happened?" One of the disciples said, "Gurudev, I cut the vegetables, I cook, I offer the bhog—I do everything, and he only rings the bell and gives the offering to the Deity. He does nothing! I am even taking care of you too." The other disciple argued, "No, I am also taking care of the Guru!" Gurudev listened to them and said, "OK, I am dividing my service between you two. Before I bathe massage my legs with mustard oil—you will massage my right leg, and you will massage my left leg."

One day, one of the servitors was sick and could not come, and the other brahmachari massaged only the left leg of his Guru. Gurudev asked,

"Hey, why are you massaging only my left leg? Why is nobody massaging my right leg?"

"Oh, Gurudev, you said it was not my leg, it is his leg."

"His leg?! Is it not my leg? Then I will break that leg!"

This is the servitor's quality...

We always want to be lazy, want to be like this, but we do not realise that Krishna always goes to those who do service. Gurudev said that if you serve devotees, Krishna will serve you. Gurudev said that, and I 200% believe that.

Such should be our service mood. We must enter the seva (service) planet, and we must go there through good association, through sravanam, kirtanam. We must practise properly...

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Sri Madhavendra Puripad

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 2 March 2015

Every year on the second day of the parikrama, on Gaura Dvadasi, we celebrate this day—Sri Madhavendra Puripad's disappearance festival. Actually, Srila Madhavendra Puripad is the root of the bhakti-kalpa-vriksa (the wish-fulfilling tree of devotion). It is told in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila:

jaya sri madhavapuri krsna-prema-pura

bhakti-kalpatarura tenho prathama ankura

Glory to Madhav Puri, the abode of love of Krishna, from whom the divine tree of devotion initially sprouts.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 9.10

He is the ankur, the root of bhakti-kalpataru (wish-fulfilling tree of devotion). Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told also to Nityananda Prabhu about Sri Madhavendra Puri:

prabhu kahe, "nityananda, karaha vichara

puri-sama bhagyavan jagate nahi ara

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 4.171

"Nityananda, You can judge for Yourself—there is no one in this world as fortunate as Madhavendra Puri!"

“dugdha-dana-chhale krsna yanre dekha dila

tina-bare svapne asi' yanre ajna kaila

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 4.172

"He is very fortunate—Krishna Himself came to see him, He brought him milk, and He came to him in a dream three times." Three times—not only once. One time Krishna came with some milk, another time He came to ask him to bring some Malaya sandalwood from Nilachal, and third time He came to him saying it was not necessary to bring the sandalwood to Vrindavan, he could give it to Gopinath instead.

“yanra preme vasa hana prakata ha-ila

seva angikara kari' jagata tarila

Bound by Madhavendra Puri's love, Krishna manifested Himself (in the Deity form as Gopal) and, by accepting his service, He liberated the whole world.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 4.173

Krishna took service from him, and, moreover, for him Krishna—the Lord Himself—stole ksir (sweet condensed milk known also as amrita-keli):

"yanra lagi' gopinatha ksira kaila churi

ataeva nama haila 'ksira-chora' kari'"

For him, Gopinath stole ksir, condensed milk, earning thus the name 'Ksir-chor' ("Ksir-stealer").

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 4.174

When Madhavendra Puri went to Vrindavan, he went there alone, and he would stay at Govinda Kunda, chanting the Holy Name, and not asking anybody for anything—if somebody gave him anything, he would take it, otherwise he would fast. He was passing his days in this way.

One evening, a boy came to him with some milk and said, "Madhav, I heard all day you have not eaten anything... Some ladies came to bathe and take some water from Govinda Kunda, and they said there was a sannyasi here, and he was not eating anything. So, I have brought you some milk." Madhavendra Puri was surprised, and asked Him many questions, "Who are You? Where do You stay?" and so on, but the boy replied, "First you drink the milk. I will come back later to take the pot." Madhavendra Puri drank the milk and thought, "It is nectar, it is not ordinary milk! I have drunk milk so many times before, but I have never tasted this kind of milk!" He waited and waited for the boy to come back, and when he finally fell asleep he saw a dream: the same boy came to him and said that many years ago Krishna's prapautra (great-grandson) established a Deity of Govardhan-dhari Gopal, and when some Muslim mlechchha people broke the temple, the pujari hid the Deity in the jungle. He told him to find that Deity and take Him out:

bahu-dina tomara patha kari niriksana

kabe asi' madhava ama karibe sevana

tomara prema-vase kari seva angikara

darsana diya nistariba sakala samsara

I have been watching you for many days, wondering, "When will Madhav come and serve Me?" Bound by your love, I will appear in this world and accept service—I will liberate the whole world."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 4.39-40

"I have been waiting for many days for the one who will serve Me—I have been waiting for you, Madhav." You can understand what loving search for the lost servant is...

The next day, Madhavendra Puri took some villagers and, armed with different tools, they went to the jungle—clearing the path, digging the ground, he finally found the Deity of Gopal. Then, he established the Deity in a temple on top of the Govardhan Hill. Some time later, Gopal again came to Madhavendra Puri in a dream and requested his service: "My body is burning because for so many years I have been suffering from cold, hot, and rain in the jungle. Please, bring some sandalwood from Nilachal. Only you can do it."

Following the order, Madhavendra Puri started his journey to Nilachal (Puri). On his way, he stopped in Shantipur, at the house of Advaita Acharya. When Advaita Acharya saw him, he thought, "This is not an ordinary person, it is a great personality!" He washed and massaged Madhavendra Puri's feet... Madhavendra Puri stayed there for a few days, and during that time Advaita Acharya took initiation from him. Madhavendra Puri is actually our line (you know that Ishwar Puri took initiation from Madhavendra Puri, and Mahaprabhu took initiation from Ishwar Puri)—he is the kalpa-vriksa mul, the root of the wish-fulfilling tree of devotion.

After Shantipur, Madhavendra Puri came to Remuna. There, he saw Gopinath and was very happy to see His worship. He asked the pujari, "What bhog do you offer to Gopinath?" The pujari replied that every day he offered twelve pots of amrita-keli (ksir, or condensed milk). Madhavendra Puri wanted to taste it, thinking, "If I get to taste it, then I can cook it for my Gopal Deity in Vrindavan too," but then he thought, "No, it is my tongue that wants to taste it. It is very offensive! It is not good!" Thinking in this way, he left the temple compound and went to the open market. He went there crying so much and chanting.

That night, at midnight, Gopinath said to His pujari in a dream, "I have hidden a pot of ksir under my cloth. My devotee Madhavendra Puri is there, chanting outside the temple compound, take it and give it to him." The pujari went to look for Madhavendra Puri. He went down the street, shouting, "Where is this Madhavendra? Gopinath has stolen ksir for you!" When he came to the market, he saw a sannyasi chanting and crying, and he understood that it must be Madhavendra Puri, "Are you Madhavendra Puri? Gopinath stole a pot of ksir for you!" Madhavendra Puri took the ksir and kept touching it to his forehead—so much ecstasy then came that he became senseless: "Oh, Gopinath is very merciful! He has sent prasadam for me!" He took that prasadam, and then broke the pot, tied it in his cloth and later he would take a piece of clay pot every day... After that, knowing that pratistha would come to him, he did not stay there—he continued his way to Nilachal, Puri...

Madhavendra Puri served Krishna in this way... If you serve devotees, Krishna will come to serve you—so you can understand how powerful Madhavendra Puri is.

It is not written anywhere in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita whether Mahaprabhu had ever met Madhavendra Puri—Madhavendra Puri was an old man when Mahaprabhu appeared; but Vrindavan Das Thakur wrote in his Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata something about Madhavendra Puri's meeting with Nityananda Prabhu:

madhava-purire dekhilena nityananda

tata-ksane preme murchchha haila nispanda

nityanande dekhi' matra sri-madhava-puri

padila murchchhita hai' apana' pasari'

The moment Nityananda saw Madhav Puri, He fell on the ground, senseless in the ecstasy of divine love; and as soon as Sri Madhav Puri saw Nityananda, he fell unconscious, forgetting himself.

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Adi-khanda, 9.158-159

madhavendra-prati nityananda mahasaya

guru-buddhi vyatirikta ara na karaya

Nityananda Mahasay saw Madhavendra as no one other than His Guru.

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Adi-khanda, 9.188

janilu krsnera krpa ache mora prati

nityananda-hena bandhu painu samhati

ye-se-sthane yadi nityananda-sanga haya

sei sthana sarva-tirtha-vaikunthadi-maya

Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Adi-khanda, 9.183-184

Madhavendra Puri said to Nityananda Prabhu, "I have got the mercy of Krishna because I have got the association of Nityananda Prabhu! Wherever Nityananda Prabhu goes, that place is vaikuntha-maya (fully transcendental)."

Just before Madhavendra Puri left his body, he would recite this sloka:

ayi dina-dayardra natha he

mathura-natha kadavalokyase

hrdayam tvad-aloka-kataram

dayita bhramyati kim karomy aham

"O gentle-hearted Lord, ever-gracious upon the destitute, O Lord of Mathura, when shall I see You again? In Your absence my broken heart trembles. Beloved! what shall I do now?"

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 4.197

Bhagavan Gaurasundar would always become senseless when reciting this sloka...

Jay Sri Madhavendra Puripad ki jay!

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Far but Near

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 5 March 2015

Today is a very auspicious day for us because we are present here by the mercy of Gurudev. Without his mercy we cannot be present here. Every year we think we will join this festival next year, but only Krishna knows whether we can join or not. Only by the mercy of Gurudev, by the mercy of Mahaprabhu can we be here. We do not know anything about what will happen tomorrow, so we must celebrate this festival today.

We are going to celebrate here and everybody will join—everybody is making a festival, a programme. Many devotees, many sannyasis from different countries have come for this festival, and even those who have not come are also getting a place. Some devotees phoned me, some wrote to me saying that they have some personal problem, some financial problem, or some visa problem. Many things have happened, but they too remember Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's festival, and now is the modern age: they can see the festival through the internet. Even if they live in another country, in another place, but they remember the festival, they will get some sukriti through that. That is their hope.

Gurudev also said that you may live in another place, but if you think about the holy Dham, the holy place, about Nabadwip, about your Guru, you will get association of your Guru. You do not have to always be sitting beside your Guru or be always near—you can also serve your Guru from far, and that is good for you too.

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The Gift of Guru

5 March 2015

You can understand easily what Gauranga Mahaprabhu gave to us is inconceivable. No one could give us what He gave, and no one can give also, but we can understand something through the Guru-parampara, through Gurudev. I told in the morning,

yadi gaura na ha'ta tabe ki ha-ita

kemane dharitam de

radhara mahima, prema-rasa-sima

jagate janata ke?

By Srila Vasudev Ghosh Thakur

"If Gauranga had not come, who would have been able to tell us about the glories of Radharani?" We can also say that if Gurudev had not come, who would have been able to tell us about the glories of Gauranga?

tava nija-jana kona mahajane

pathaiya dile tumi

O Lord! I am very wicked-minded and have fallen into this material world, but You have sent a great soul, Your associate (to rescue me).

'Emona Durmati' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

(ek bar) 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.

'Emona Durmati' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur

Krishna sent a Guru to us, and, seeing that I am a very fallen soul and that I have surrendered to him, the Guru came to rescue me. If you surrender to the Lord, then you can recognise the Lord; otherwise who can understand the Guru? Even Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya could not understand who Mahaprabhu is.

Who can recognise the Guru? Who can recognise Mahaprabhu? You cannot see, cannot observe the Guru with your material eyes; but you also have eyes inside, and if you surrender these internal eyes to Gurudev and can see with them, then you can understand who the Guru is, otherwise you can understand neither Gurudev, nor Gauranga—nothing.

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Food for Thought

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 8 March 2015

To be a Vaishnav, it is necessary to chant the Holy Name:

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara

apane manabi sada chhadi' ahankara

"Be humble, tolerant, give honour to others, and leave your ego." If somebody does not have these qualities, they have no adhikar, no right, to chant the Holy Name—the proper Holy Name will not come.

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."

By Srila Rupa Goswami

Anya-abhilasa: Srila Rupa Goswami told there is no other way—if you have full chastity, your mind and everything must go one way. This is very important. Your focus must be on the main way, but at present your mind is going in so many material ways. If you give much food to your mind, your mind will become strong. You think your mind wants this and wants that, and you always give food to the mind, then it becomes strong and it can take you away from your service and from Krishna consciousness. That is why you must control your mind, control your tongue.

I have told many times that when Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj first joined the temple, for six months he had been taking prasadam with neem leaves. He was training his tongue, "In your life you are enjoying so much, and now I am giving punishment to you. Now, at least for six months you must take neem leaves." He controlled his tongue in this way.

If you give your mind, your heart to material things, these material things, visaya, will always stay with you. Do not give any food to your mind—if you give food to your mind, it will become strong and it can take you away from the service. That is what Param Guru Maharaj Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told.

If you do today what your mind wants to do, tomorrow it will be something else, next day again something else—that is why the mind must be controlled. You should practise Krishna consciousness in this way.

Actually, we have five properties: chaksu, karna, jihva, nasika, tvak (eyes, ears, tongue, nose, and skin), and we must use these in a proper way, otherwise if you do not use them in the proper way, they become useless. Your eyes must see only good things, see the Deities' form; your ears will only hear Krishna Nam, Krishna-katha; your tongue will chant the Holy Name and take prasadam, and so on. If you do not take prasadam, you will not be able to control the prapancha—without prasad-seva you cannot control your senses.

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

So, you must control your indriya: take prasadam, chant the Holy Name, and so on—maintain your practising life in this way...

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A Temple Manager's Qualities

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 8 March 2015

It is not necessary to know so many volumes of scriptures, not necessary to read so many books, not necessary to become a bona fide guru, nor is it necessary to become a great Vaishnav. Gurudev told one thing: to run a temple, you do not have to be a big guru, do not have to read volumes of books. You may not know so many scriptures, but if you are gentle, if you have some quality—humility, tolerance, and you can give respect to others, you have sympathy, love, and affection for others—you can be a proper manager of a temple. It is a simple matter, it is not some big Vaishnavism.

Sometimes, as a manager, you will have to chastise others, but not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to tolerate chastisement. Only a rare person can tolerate Gurudev's chastisement:

When Mahaprabhu heavily chastised Jagadananda Prabhu and praised Sanatan Goswami, Sanatan Goswami began to cry. He said, "I am such a bad person! It is my bad fortune that Mahaprabhu is giving bitter to me and giving sweet to him (Jagadananda Pandit)."

So, only a very fortunate soul can digest Gurudev's chastisement, that is why some tolerance is necessary for a manager.

Just now I have also told: who can chant the Holy Name, who has the right to chant the Holy Name? Only those who have these qualities—who can tolerate, who can be humble, who can give respect, honour to others—can chant the Holy Name...

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Chanting: Maha-Mantra and Bhajans

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 8 March 2015

A girl came to me yesterday and argued with me. She said, "Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math follows mostly Guru, and Iskcon follows mostly Krishna, that is why I do not like to stay here." What can I do? This is the main conception here—Krishna came to this world in the form of Guru.

We do not follow Mirabai because, as Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, she follows only Krishna: Mirabai wants Krishna without the mercy of Radharani, but without Radharani's mercy you cannot get Krishna. Who is Radharani? She is dearmost to Krishna and because Gurudev is nondifferent from Her, Gurudev is also dearmost to Krishna. This is our conception.

The girl argued with me like this for an hour and in the end she said that ** Maharaj had sent her to me, "Take permission from Acharya Maharaj that I can give you the second initiation." I told her I could not do that: it is not my duty—they can do as they like, but I am a busy person and cannot waste my time on this.

They also say that we chant so many bhajans, and they mostly chant Hare Krishna maha-mantra. I told her that we do not want to chant so much Nama aparadh—we want to make less Nama aparadh. We sing many songs—songs from Saranagati, songs by Bhakti Vinod Thakur, Narottam Das Thakur, and other Vaishnavs—because it is necessary to practise Krishna consciousness, to be humble, tolerant and give honour to others. We do not have these qualities, but if we sing and sing these kinds of songs, then one day humility, tolerance and giving honour to others will come. That is our hope.

If somebody says, "I have humility, tolerance, and I give honour to others—I have these qualities"—they are telling a lie. We cannot say that we have such qualities. You cannot say you are a great Vaishnav or you are becoming a Vaishnav—that is a lie. We always give food to the mind, and our mind becomes strong—the mind can any time take us away, remove us from Krishna consciousness. Great devotees are very unhappy when they waste even one minute of their time on something that does not have to do with their Guru, does not have to do with the service to Krishna...

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The Power to See a Vaishnav

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 8 March 2015

We can understand easily and properly what Mahaprabhu wants to teach us from the following example.

We cannot see or make out with our eyes who is a Vaishnav—even Brahma cannot recognise who is a great Vaishnav, or who is a servitor. Our eyes are always covered with the dust of the mundane, so we have no quality, no qualification to recognise a Vaishnav, but one can only recognise a Vaishnav or a servitor through Gurudev, through Guru Maharaj—Gurudev has so much power, and when that power is transferred to somebody, it can do many things. We must receive this power.

One time, Pradyumna Mishra wanted to hear some Krishna-katha from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said to him, "I do not know so much, but Ramananda Ray knows Krishna-katha better than Me." So, he went to Ramananda Ray to hear some Krishna-katha.

Pradyumna Mishra waited for Ramananda Ray for a while, and then he heard that he was busy with some other job—he was teaching some young dancers, servitors of Jagannath. He taught these young girls how to make garlands, how to wear a sari, and he was also dressing them himself. Hearing that, Pradyumna Mishra's mind was a little disturbed and he left that place.

When he came back, Mahaprabhu asked him, "You have come back! Have you heard Hari-katha from Ramananda Ray?" Pradyumna Mishra replied, "Prabhu, You sent me there to hear Hari-katha, but he was busy with some other job..." Mahaprabhu understood what he wanted to say and said, "You do not know it, but even though I am a sannyasi, if I see a picture of a lady, My mind can be disturbed, but Ramananda Ray may be teaching and dressing ladies, but when he is doing it he becomes a gopi. You must go see him again."

Next day, Pradyumna Mishra went again to Ramananda Ray, and Ramananda Ray apologised to him, "Prabhu, I heard you came here yesterday, but I was busy with another job so I did not give you the proper time and attention... What did you want to ask me?" Pradyumna Mishra asked questions and Ramananda Ray gave answers—the whole day and the whole night they spent with Krishna-katha, they even forgot to take prasadam, it was left there untouched. Only the next day, when they realised that it was already morning, Pradyumna Mishra came back to Mahaprabhu and said, "Prabhu, yes, You were right. You sent me to the right person to hear Krishna-katha!"

Mahaprabhu could recognise Ramananda Ray as the proper person to hear Krishna-katha from. Before that, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya sent Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, would You like to hear some Krishna-katha? Would You like to meet somebody? You are going to South India, and there is a devotee there just like You. You can meet him on the bank of the Godavari River..."

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Where Your Desire Can Take You

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 8 March 2015

Strong desire is necessary: if you have desire, mercy will come. You can read in Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila, Chapters 12-14) and see how much desire to meet with Mahaprabhu, to get mercy of Mahaprabhu King Prataparudra had. He tried and tried and tried. He would say, "You think I am happy, but what kind of happiness is it? I have everything—property, a good wife, and so on—but I am not happy. I only want mercy from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If I do not get His mercy, I might as well wear an earring, go to the jungle, and become a yogi."

Nityananda Prabhu, Sivananda Sen, Svarup Damodar and other devotees tried to persuade Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, King Prataparudra wants to meet with You... He is very rich and a king, but he is a very good person; his mind is very good. He always serves the devotees—when Nityananda Prabhu or Sivananda Sen bring so many people, he always provides accommodation for everyone. He is very good, he does so much for the devotees." Still, Mahaprabhu did not agree, "I know that, but he is a king, so I cannot meet with him." Devotees tried to tell Him again, but in the end Mahaprabhu showed anger, "If you say it again, I will not stay here any longer. I will go away from here and you will never see Me again." All the devotees put their fingers in their ears and promised, "We do not want to hear this, Prabhu. We will not say it again."

In the meantime, anxious, Prataparudra would ask every day, "What happened? What happened? When can I can get His mercy?" One of the devotees gave Prataparudra Mahaprabhu's cloth, and the king worshipped it. Another time, somebody asked Mahaprabhu if they could bring the king's son to meet with Him, and Mahaprabhu agreed. After the devotees took the king's son, dressed in a devotee's dress, to Mahaprabhu, the king embraced his son, "You are so fortunate! You have got mercy of Mahaprabhu! I am so unfortunate..."

Later, Nityananda Prabhu told the king, "You have so much desire, so, yes, this time you will get mercy of Mahaprabhu! When He comes in front of Jagannath's chariot on the Ratha-yatra day, He will dance and chant so much that ecstasy will overcome Him and He will fall down senseless—at that time you can massage His feet." When Prataparudra did it, he also recited this sloka:

tava kathamrtam tapta-jivanam

kavibhir iditam kalmasapaham

sravana-mangalam srimad-atatam

bhuvi grnanti te bhurida janah

"My Dear, bestowing the greatest fortune that is attained after so many births, exalted souls come to this world and live here by singing and spreading Your nectarean glories that are life and soul for those suffering in this material world being devoid of Your divine love; that are the gist of all poets' songs; that are the destroyer of all sins; that benefit anyone who hears them; and that possess universal attraction."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamirta, Madhya-lila, 14.13

Hearing this, Mahaprabhu embraced Prataparudra, crying, "Bhuri-da! Bhuri-da!" 'Da' means 'data' (giver, donor). Who are the greatest donors (bhuri-da) in this world? Those who give money and material things? No—those who distribute the Holy Name, who spread Krishna-katha are the real donors, real benefactors.

In this way Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught us. He also taught us by showing some wrong examples.

You may have heard that there was a widowed lady who had a small son. Almost every day the boy would come to Mahaprabhu, and Mahaprabhu would give him some prasadam. Damodar Pandit could not tolerate that—he would every day chastise the boy, "Why do you come to Mahaprabhu every day?" The boy complained to Mahaprabhu about it, and Mahaprabhu understood what was going on.

One day, Damodar Pandit a little angrily said to Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, if people start saying bad things about You, they will make a very big offence. What will happen then? How can I close their mouths? Your behaviour must be perfect. I know You have no fault, but the mother of this boy is very beautiful, and You always give him so much affection—people will say bad things about You..." Chaitanya Mahaprabhu thought, "What is he doing? I am a sannyasi, and he is a brahmachari—a brahmachari is chastising and teaching a sannyasi!" Finally, Mahaprabhu chose Damodar Pandit to go to Nabadwip, Mayapur, to stay with his mother. He gave some prasad and a sari for his mother, and sent Damodar Pandit away.

Mahaprabhu thought that He could only trust Damodar—only he could take proper care of Mother Sachi. Gurudev said even more. What is written in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita? Did Mother Sachi stay alone? There was also another lady there—Vishnu Priya—and it was for this reason that Mahaprabhu chose Damodar Pandit to go to Mayapur...

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Going Home?

9 March 2015

When devotees come to their own home, it is a great joy, a great pleasure for them, but when they start going back, then sadness comes...

Once, the Gaura Purnima festival finished and before going back to their homes everybody wanted to see Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur to pay their obeisance and give some pranami, but they could not find him. They looked for him everywhere, wondering, "Where has Prabhupad gone?", and when they finally found him they saw that he was crying. He was crying because all the devotees had enjoyed, sung kirtans, gone on the Dham parikrama, given some pranami, but after that they were leaving and any time maya could attack and catch them if they did not get proper nourishment.

Prabhupad would always say with so much sadness, "Do not forget me. Do not cheat me. You have come here and I have made a relation with you—it is not just for two days, it is a birth-after-birth relationship. Your relationship with your parents and other relatives is temporary, but your relationship with me and the Lord is not."

"You" means your soul—we are not this body. This relation with the Lord was there before, but, covered by the illusory environment, we became conditioned and forgot it—that is why we are suffering...

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha

ataeva maya tare deya samsara-duhkha

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

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.117

We forgot the Lord and are suffering now from the three-fold miseries [caused by our body and mind, by others, and by the environment]... What are we to do now?

e ghora-samsare padiya manava

na paya duhkhera sesa

Those who have fallen into this terrible world never cease to suffer...

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

For so many years, for so many births we have been in this family life, suffering through so many births and deaths... As a cow we had a family, as a goat we had a family, as a cat or a dog we had a family too—in each birth we get parents, children, a house, etc., and it never ends. We have fallen into this material ocean, but how can we get out of it? If we do not come out, we will simply lose our body, but the jiva soul will still get another body, and we do not know where we will be posted in our next life. There is a solution however:

sadhu-sanga kari' hari bhaje yadi

tabe anta haya klesa

...but if they associate with sadhus and serve Hari, their suffering comes to an end.

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

If you get good association, if you worship the Lord, practise Krishna consciousness under the guidance of a great Vaishnav, under the guidance of a bona fide Guru, then you will get relief from this suffering. This is what the scriptures say. But if you do not serve the Lord, you will again become a dog, a cat, a goat, again will have to change your body...

So, you should think now what you will do—whether you will practise Krishna consciousness or not, whether you will use your property (your eyes, nose, ears, etc.) for service to the Lord or for another purpose. It is up to you.

samsara bhajili sri-gauranga bhulili

na sunili sadhura katha

iha-parakala dukala khoyali (mana)

khaili apana matha

You served your family (mundane ends), forgot Sri Gauranga, and never listened to the sadhus' words. O mind, you wasted both this life and your next life. You depraved yourself.

'Avatara sara Gora avatara' by Srila Lochan Das Thakur.

You are worshipping the family life, the material life, and you are not worshipping Krishna, not listening to sadhus' katha, Hari-katha, Krishna-katha, not following the sadhus' advice, so you become your own enemy—you are eating your own brain (khaili apana matha)!

Do you understand? This is how you should practise—you must understand what you should do and what you should not do. You must make a relationship with the Lord through the guardian of devotion—through a relationship with the bona fide Guru, a great Vaishnav. Make this relationship and continue your family life—worship the Lord, cook for Him, do everything for Him—and who will be the head of your family? Krishna will be the head of your family.

Continue your practising life in this way and you will get relief from birth and death and you can go back to God, back to home!

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Perfect Family Life

9 March 2015

Many come to the Math, but how many per cent among them do Hari-bhajan? How many per cent come to this line?

Kariya Krsnera samsara, chhadi anachar: make your family Krishna's family and give up bad habits." You must avoid what is unfavourable to devotion and accept what is favourable to devotion.

You should practise every day. Chant the Holy Name, recite your Gayatri, always remember Krishna—not only one time, or three-four times. When you are in your house practise the same way as you are doing here at the temple: you can wake up at the mangal arati time, sing the bhajans, then offer some things to the Lord, or at the altar, then you can take that prasadam and go to work. When you go to work, take also some prasadam with you; try not to eat anything outside. Maintain your spiritual life in this way, and you will get real benefit.

You must take the Lord's prasad and practise in this way—once a day going into the temple and paying obeisance is not service, not worship. Our bhajan (practice) is eternal, every day service: we eat every day, and we must serve every day, must cook for the Lord every day; we go to the toilet every day, and we must serve every day. If you do this continuously, you will see that your family will become Krishna-mayi (Krishna will become the centre of it).

You must think your family life is not your family life, but Krishna's family—your wife is Krishna's maidservant, you are Krishna's servant, and your son and daughter will be Krishna's servant and maidservant. In this way, as the scriptures say, kariya Krsnera samsara chhadi' anachar, make your family Krishna's family and avoid bad things, what is not in favour of devotion.

Continue the family life like this. I cannot tell everybody, "Take sannyas." Taking sannyas is not a problem, but sannyas is for preaching. Sannyas means serving even more—a sannyasi does not take service but gives service, gives benefit to others.

You too can give benefit to others—if you can preach Krishna consciousness in this way, it will be very nice. When Mahaprabhu went to householder people, He would tell some devotee, "Now you are the Guru in this village. Preach in this village and thus increase Krishna consciousness."

prthivite yata achhe nagaradi grama

sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

"My Name will be spread in every town and village of the world."

In this way Mahaprabhu spread His Name all over the world, village by village...

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Practise and Preach

9 March 2015

[A devotee comes in late, Srila Acharya Maharaj gives a summary of what he has been talking about.]

I am telling about practising life: devotees are leaving, going to do their own work, and I am telling them how they should practise Krishna consciousness, how they should maintain their spiritual life.

When devotees are going to their home, they think that is their home, but it is not their real home. They are going there and do not practise properly—they become busy with their own work. They work all day and night to maintain their family, and do not even get time to chant the Holy Name, to cook for the Deities, to remember Krishna. So, I am telling what they should do and how they can make their family Krishna-mayi (how they can make Krishna the centre of their family), and how they can leave their bad habits, anachar.

If you try, you can do everything. You can listen to Gurudev's lectures, listen to some songs of Bhakti Vinod Thakur, or you can sing some songs of Bhakti Vinod Thakur—but you must know the meaning of the songs otherwise you will not get taste through it; when you understand the meaning, you will get the real taste, the real sweetness through it.

In the morning we sing this song:

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu jive daya kari'

svaparsada sviya dhama saha avatari

The meaning of it is that Bhagavan Krishna, Chaitanya, came to this world with His associates for the benefit of the jiva souls. What did He teach? He taught sad-anga saranagati, six types of surrender.

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana

'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

(1) Krishna saves, protects us, (2) Krishna takes care of us, we are not independent, (3) humility, (4) surrender, (5) accept what is in favour of devotion, and (6) reject what is unfavourable to devotion. Mahaprabhu came to teach these six types of saranagati. He is the main teacher, the main acharya.

If you do not practise properly, no one will learn from you because what you tell others will not work. If you show that you practise properly, then that will work. For example, if you chant the Holy Name, then if you give the Holy Name to others, that Holy Name will work; if you recite gayatri, then when you give gayatri to your disciple, that gayatri will work—otherwise it will not. It is said,

nije achari dharma jivke sikhaya

achara prachara namera lainu karya

Mahaprabhu said that if somebody practises Krishna consciousness and does not preach, it is not correct—when somebody practises and preaches, that is correct. Practising and preaching are two main things.

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The Sticky Blanket

15 March 2015

Question: I do not want to leave Nabadwip, I want to stay here, but there is the family and all the so called responsibilities, and I do not understand how to arrange it...

The problem is that you want to leave the blanket, but the blanket does not leave you. Do you know this story? Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told it.

One black bear fell down into the Ganges and began to sink—he tried hard to swim out but the current was too strong. A man saw something black in the river and thought it was a blanket floating there, so he jumped in to get it. When he jumped in, the bear caught him. The man wanted to live and tried to get out, he shouted, "I do not want the blanket, I do not want the blanket, I want to go!"—he wants to leave the blanket but the blanket does not want to leave him.

That is maya—you want to leave maya, but maya does not want to leave you. That is the problem.

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya,

sadhur-gurur krpa vina na dekhi upaya,

You cannot conquer maya on your own, only when you get mercy of the sadhu, the Guru, can maya be conquered...

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Odds and Ends

Excerpts that were not included in the main posts:

2 January 2015

When you do service, happiness and satisfaction always come, no tiredness comes; but when you go to serve maya, that time tiredness comes. When you serve the Lord, you do not become tired.

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3 February 2013

Once I was driving through Vrindavan and our car stopped in a traffic jam. Everyone in the car was busy, but I heard a lecture—there was a Bhagavatam glass going on in one of the temples. Everyone was sitting on the ground in a big pandal, and the man giving the class said, "I am the chaukidar (the security) of this Bhagavatam, and you are all the landlords because you are using the 'land'." Then he asked the audience, one by one, "Who is your guru?"

Somebody said, "My wife is my guru."

"Yes! Of course, because you are always following what your wife says. It is correct."

Somebody else said,

"My guru is television."

"Yes, it is correct! Because you are always watching television."

Then he explained, "I am a Guru for one hour only—you will listen to my lecture for an hour, after that you will go home and forget everything. You will put on the TV, take the remote and start flipping through the channels. Then, your wife will squeeze your ear and tell you what to do. So, yes, the television is your guru, the wife is your guru."

I was very happy to hear this—very nice. He was telling how much maya there is...

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5 March

Srila B.P. Janardan Maharaj: I wanted to thank Srila Acharya Maharaj for something. I heard some people say, "Why is there always the microphone at 3 o'clock in the morning? They say, 'Hari bol! Hari bol!' At 3 o'clock in the morning..." But I will say that if that microphone had not sounded at 3 o'clock in the morning, I would not have made it to the Parikrama every day. I really needed it...

Not only you, Maharaj. We invite and forcefully bring people here for the Parikrama, we feed them, and if they do not go to the Parikrama, only sleep and maybe give some donation, what for do they come here then? [What benefit do they get?]

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15 March 2015

All that glitters is not gold. Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave one example. There was a car accident and some glass broke and fell on the ground. The sun light fell on the glass and somebody got excited, "Oh, I have found pearls!" and cut their hand... This example means that you may see many wearing saffron colour and, thinking everybody is equal, you go to somebody, but you may lose something in this way—some 'accident', or problem can come...

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15 March 2015

** asked me yesterday, "Maharaj, I am thinking if I give you one lakh rupees every month, you will be happier..."

I told him, "How do you think that? Even if you give me 10 lakhs, 100 lakhs, or even one crore, I will not be happy. Now you are a brahmachari, and if you take sannyas later and preach, that will be happiness for me."

He sees we go for rice collection and collect a little at each place and thinks we collect for money and food. He does not understand how much benefit we give to others...

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15 March 2015

Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told that you can chastise somebody at any other time but not to chastise, not to use bad language when taking prasadam. At the time of prasadam you must be a mother, but our fortune is very bad because we are not getting a good mother. "We are feeding you!" this type of ego comes to those who are serving prasadam. It is very bad, very unfortunate. It is a seva aparadh, and the service will go away from them. We do not have a real mother in the kitchen—all are stepmothers. That is the problem...

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Date Unknown

Sometimes we go to some house and people ask, "Oh, Maharaj, can you sing this one song and explain its meaning?" Half an hour is gone. Or sometimes we go on a parikrama house to house and somebody asks us, "Oh, please sing a song."

"Anya-abhilasa chhadi...—give up all your selfish desires"...

In 1989, when Gurudev just took charge, the temple condition was not so good—there were not so many devotees and not so much donation. So, once Gurudev went to a house in Kolkata. That day he had a fever, 102-103 F'. The lady at the house promised to give one lakh rupees (at that time one lakh had a good value), but she requested Gurudev to sing one song, and Gurudev understood that if he refused she might not give the donation. Gurudev thought, "Oh, so much fever, I cannot even talk, I am shivering so much, but they are asking me to sing a song... but what can I do? I have to sing..."

Sometimes also when we go house to house for preaching, the programme goes on the whole day, and then somebody says, "Maharaj, can you go to that house?" I go there, and they tell me, "Oh, please sing one song." I am so tired, but they do not understand it, and we have to make them happy. They use their guru—this is their worship.

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23 January 2011

I sing every day for your practice, to engage you in kirtan. Every day I sing the same songs, morning and evening—what for? I can sing all songs, but I do not do that because you must practise. You too must sing the same songs every morning and evening at the place or temple where you live. That is necessary.

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1 December 2014

If you go to Venezuela you will understand what arepa is—they are addicted to arepa there. Krishna's devotees are always addicted to Krishna's service, not to arepa...

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