GUIDANCE

Issue# 11

Lectures of His Divine Grace

Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj

published at SCSMathInternational.com during April-June 2017

CONTENT

Where There Is a Will...

21 February 2017, Tarakeswar

Bengali evening class

If you try, you can do it. If you say, "I will chant the Holy Name," you will be able to do it, but if you do not have any desire to do it and say, "I will not chant the Holy Name," then no one can force you. Is it not so? There is one story about it.

One brahman shopkeeper had two sons, their names were Lalu and Kanu. Both children were very naughty—they did not study at all but mixed with some bad boys and took ganja. The shopkeeper was already old and wanted his children to take over the shop, that is why he tried hiring private teachers for his sons.

He hired one teacher after another, but none of them could teach his children anything. In the end, he decided to give an advertisement in a newspaper saying he needed a teacher for his two children to make them qualified to run his shop. One brahman came to him and said, "I can do it. It will cost you 10,000 rupees and you must provide my food." The shopkeeper agreed.

The children were so naughty that the teacher had to stay with them all the time. Sometimes they would say, "Oh, we are going to the bathroom," and in the meantime they would go to take ganja.

One evening, after they had supper, the teacher told them to go to bed, "Your father said I must sleep with you, so sleep now. I am here, watching." The younger brother, who was the naughtier of the two, said to his brother, "Let's pretend we are sleeping!" So, they closed their eyes and started snoring. Seeing that they were both asleep, the teacher went to bed too. A little later, the younger brother heard the teacher snoring and woke his brother up. They went out of the house, took ganja with their friends and came back. When the teacher woke up, he could feel the smell of ganja in the room. He woke the boys up and asked them,

"Hey! Are you asleep? Why is there smell of ganja here? Have you taken it again?"

"Teacher, what are you talking about? You told us to sleep, and you have fallen asleep yourself. We did not go anywhere!"

"Let me see your hands!"

The teacher checked their hands—they smelled of ganja.

"You are so naughty! How come your hands smell of ganja then?"

"You know, I think somebody must have put ganja on our hands while we were asleep!"

The teacher did not believe them. He ordered them to get up and come out with him. As they were walking, they saw a man with some cows. The teacher said, "Hey, Lalu, how many legs does this cow here have?" The boy started counting slowly, "One, two, three..." As soon as Lali counted to three, Kanu (the younger brother) said, "Brother, do not say it, do not say it! The teacher is trying to teach you!"

If somebody does not want to serve or chant the Holy Name, then nobody can force them to do it. On the other hand, if somebody really wants to serve the Lord, they can do it; if somebody wants to learn something, it is not necessary to force them—if somebody feels the necessity to do service, it is not necessary to force them to do service.

* * *

Devotee's Humility

21 February 2017, Tarakeswar

Bengali evening class

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya

sadhu-guru krpa vina na dekhi upaya

"It is not possible to conquer maya by engaging in maya. I see no other way to get relief except for the mercy of sadhus."

('Ki rupe paibe seva', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

In Srimad Bhagavad-gita it is also said,

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya

upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

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

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

It is necessary to surrender fully, it is necessary to have saranagati. Saranagati means dainyata, humility:

dainya, daya, anye mana, pratistha-varjana

chari-gune guni hai karaha kirtana

“Humility, mercy, consideration of others, and giving up position are the four qualities needed to perform kirtan.”

Humility means,

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara

apane manabi sada chhadi' ahankara

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana

pratihimsa tyaji' anye karabi palana

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

Bhakti Vinod Thakur writes very nicely. He also says about jealousy:

amara jivana sada pape rata

nahika punyera lesa

parere udvega diyachhi ye kata

diyachhi jivere klesa

“My life is always engrossed in sin. There is not a trace of piety in it. I have caused others so much anxiety and trouble.”

nija sukha lagi' pape nahi dari

daya-hina svartha-para

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

We are not afraid to commit sin for the sake of our own enjoyment.

You know, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed in Puri, He would dance and chant the whole day. In Puri, there is a place called Gambhira (lit. "a room inside a room"), and Mahaprabhu used to stay there. He was 7'6" high, His arms reached below His knees (ajanulambita-bhuja), such was His figure. One day, this Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lay in the doorway of His room, His head and upper body facing one side of the room and His legs the other. He also had a servitor called Govinda who would come every day and massage Mahaprabhu's feet after a long day outside. Govinda did not use any oil, he would massage with some water only. When Govinda came to Gambhira that day, he saw Mahaprabhu lying in the doorway. He said,

"Prabhu, please move a little so that I can come inside and massage Your feet."

"I am very tired today, I cannot move."

"But I do this service every day... How will I do it today?"

"That is your matter. What am I to do? I am tired and resting, you go too take rest."

Govinda thought, "I do this service every day, so I must do it today too."

(This is called sincerity, nistha, determination) Three things are necessary: sincerity, acceptance, and chastity. Chastity is the main thing—if you do not have chastity, you do not have anything then. Devotion mean to be firmly fixed in the service of your Guru.)

So, what did Govinda do? He put his uttariya (cloth) on the body of the Lord and crossed Him. He thought, "I am going inside and if some sin comes, I am doing it for the service of the Lord." Inside the room, he massaged the feet of the Lord nicely, and the Lord rested very well.

Later at night, Mahaprabhu woke up and saw Govinda still sitting in the room,

"Govinda, have you not gone to take rest? Have you not taken prasad yet?"

"Prabhu, how will I go? You are lying in the doorway..."

"How did you come inside then?"

"Prabhu, that time I came for Your service, but I cannot cross You for my own food and rest."

You must always remember this. "Nija sukha lagi' pape nahi dari": we are not afraid to commit sin for our own happiness. "Daya hina, svartha para": we are unkind and selfish.

para-sukhe duhkhi sada mithya-bhasi

para-duhkha sukha-kara

“I always tell lies. I am unhappy when others are happy, and happy when others are unhappy.”

Seeing others' happiness I feel unhappy—somebody's child passes all exams and gets a good job; somebody's daughter gets a good husband, marries a high school teacher, and others say something bad, they become envious, etc. "Sada mithya-bhasi", I always lie. "Para-duhkha sukha-kara": I become so happy to see others unhappy.

These are Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur's words.

asesa kamana hrdi majhe mora

krodhi, dambha-parayana

“There are unlimited sinful desires in my heart. I am angry and arrogant.”

I am angry, I am greedy...

kama-krodha-adi chaya batapare deya bhaya

avasana haila asi bela

“I am attacked by the six highway robbers lead by kama and krodha, and my life is coming to its end.”

How beautiful these words are…

* * *

Mind Matters

21 February 2017, Tarakeswar

Bengali evening class

If you hear the kirtans every morning and evening, you will like it very much and when you learn the kirtans you will see that you will be able to understand everything.

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."

"Sri Krishna Chaitanya" means Mahaprabhu—out of compassion to the jiva souls, Krishna Himself appears with His associates in this Kali-yuga. He went door to door telling people, "This is not your house! This is not your address! You have lost your address! You have lost your house!" When you are born as a cow, you stay with cows; when you are born as a cat, you stay with cats; when you are born as grass, you live as grass on some road side...

You may have heard the kirtan that is sung during the kartik month, "Namamisvaram sach-chid-ananda rupam lasat-kundalam gokule bhrajamanam..." There, it is said that Manigriva and Nalakuvara were so proud of their wealth and riches that they did not care for anyone in the world. One day, Narad was passing a lake and saw them playing there with two girls—naked. Manigriva and Nalakuvara did not care, but the girls got shy and quickly covered themselves with some clothes. Seeing their vanity, Narad cursed Manigriva and Nalakuvara to be born as trees. You heard what Gopal did later.

One day, Mother Yasoda was churning butter and Gopal got very hungry. He started crying for milk, but Mother Yasoda said, "Wait, let me first finish the butter." Gopal got angry. He broke some pots with butter and started feeding the butter to monkeys. When Mother Yasoda came to see Him, she saw what was going on and got angry, "Oh no, I worked so hard to make this butter and You are feeding it to monkeys!" She decided to tie Krishna, but when she tried to tie Him, the rope was two fingers too short. She took more rope and tried again, but the rope was again two fingers too short. There are 900,000 cows in Vrindavan, and Mother Yasoda asked the gopis, "Please bring all cows' rope!" But no matter how much rope she put together, the rope was too short. How much short? Two fingers too short. [Then, seeing how much trouble Mother Yasoda took trying to tie Him, Krishna took pity on her and let her bind Him. Having tied Gopal, Mother Yasoda left the room and Gopal went outside. With the help of the mortar that He was tied to He broke two trees and in this way liberated these two brothers, Manigriva and Nalakuvara.]

Why was the rope two fingers too short? What does it mean? One finger is desire, and the other finger is mercy. If you make one step towards the Lord, the Lord will make ten steps towards you—but you have to make the first step. If you sit at home, can you hear Hari-katha? You cannot. Some can hear the class from outside because we have loudspeakers, but their mind will be in some other place. One time, somebody asked me, "Maharaj, I went to Puri and saw some pointless pictures on the walls..." I said, "Really? But I have never seen it!"

There was one Maulana, or Maulvi, who used to give lectures. One lady came to his lectures and only cried all the time. One day, Maulvi asked her,

"Every day I give class, what do you understand from my class?"

"I do not understand anything," answered the old lady.

"Then why do you cry?"

"I cry because, you see, I lost a goat many days ago, and that goat had a beard, just like yours. When I see you, when I see how your beard moves when you speak, I remember my goat and how its beard moved when it ate grass..."

So, when that person asked me why they have these pointless cheap pictures in the temple in Puri, I explained to him that only those whose mind does not go out of control or astray are qualified to see Jagannath. We must see good things. We have got these eyes to see the Deity of the Lord. If you look at all those other things, will you see Lord Jagannath? No. So we will not look that side then.

In this way, if we can surrender to the lotus feet of Sri Guru and Vaishnavs, if we can throw ourselves at their feet, we will be able to get supreme benefit. Always think about this, always remember this, it will be very good for you.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Remember Where You Belong To

9 March 2012, Sri Nabadwip Dham

When devotees would be going back home [after a festival], Guru Maharaj used to say, "Where you are going?" They would replied, "We are going back to our home today." Then he often said what Prabhupad had told. Prabhupad said, "Where is your home? The place where you are going is not your home. When you took initiation you promised me that you will always service, all your time—you will serve the devotee, you will serve the Guru. Why are you now going back to your home?"

You must promise me now that if you go back to your home, you will serve the Guru, Vaishnavs, Bhagavan, that you will practise properly. You are going back to your home, but do not go back to the mundane world, do not go back to the attachment with the family life. Gurudev said that you can live anywhere, you can stay anywhere, but you must maintain your spiritual life properly. This is our life. Jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnava seva (mercy to other jiva souls, chanting the Holy Name, and service to Vaishnavs). You are chanting, you enjoying the festival this year, but next year you must engage others in enjoying the festival, in service to the devotees, and in chanting the Holy Name.

Actually, you are very fortunate. Devotees come knocking at your door and they are bringing you to such a spiritual place, to Gurudev's place, your real home. You may live in another country, but you can think about your home, Nabadwip. There, it is your rented house; and here, it is your real home.

mahanta-svabhava ei tarite pamara

nija karya nahi tabu yana tara ghara

"It is the general practice of all saintly people to deliver the fallen. Therefore they go to people's houses, although they have no personal business there."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.39)

Mahantas (great devotees), spiritual master, acharya, Guru, Vaishnavs, great Vaishnavs—they all go door to door not for themselves, but to bring benefit to others. They come to your home to give benefit to you—they do not come to take something from you, they come to your house to help you.

...What did Gurudev leave sannyasis, leave brahmacharis for? Not to show, "I am a sannyasi," or, "I am a brahmachari"—not for that! Sannyasis and brahmacharis are like soldiers—Gurudev has left us here as soldiers so that we can bring more people to Gurudev's lotus feet. That is your main duty.

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Odds and Ends (7)

Compiled on 9 April 2016

Several excerpts that were not included in the main posts:

Rupanuga-dhara | 16 June 2001

I have come here for the first time and I am happy to see that so many devotees are following our Gurudev. It is very good. He is actually the Rupanuga-dhara, he always carried the main conception—only he does it. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that he had kept one disciple (Srila Sridhar Maharaj) as his successor, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj himself also gave his chair to my Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, he made him his successor. So, only he can carry this conception in this world.

You can see many Gurus in this world—if you go to some shop, every shopkeeper will tell you, "My shop's sweets are very nice," but you must see with your own eyes. The problem is that we actually have no eyes. Can we see the Deities here, for the example? We cannot—because our eyes are full of dirt, they are full of dust...

Cleaning | 16 June 2001

When we take bath in an ocean or in the Ganga, it can clean our body but it will not clean our mind. That is why we must come to the class every day, we must come in front of the Deities every day—if we get some good association, we will proceed, we will increase our Krishna consciousness life. We have much dirt in our heart and it is necessary to remove it. How will you remove it? It can be removed with the help of good association.

Practice at home | 11 August 2002

Question: Is it possible to worship Krishna at home just like we are doing it here in the temple? Can we do the same things at home?

Yes, you can. You can make your house an ashram. Those who are grihasthas (who live with their family) can make their house an ashram. "Kariya Krsnera samsara chhadi' anachar": leave your bad habits and make family a family of Krishna. You must understand that the family you live with is is not your family, it is Krishna's family.

You can make an altar at home—put Gurudev's picture—you can offer some fruits to him, you can keep Tulasi, sing the songs that we sing here every day in the morning and evening, you can read the scriptures that we read here (Srimad Bhagavatam, Chaitanya-charitamrita, etc.) in front of the Deities.

Krishna said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, "I am the proprietor of all things. If you take something without giving it to Me, you are stealing My things." So, we must give everything to Krishna—we do not eat, we take prasadam. Before taking anything, you must give it to Krishna, otherwise If you do not offer it first to Krishna, it will be a sin. Everybody should do it.

My answer is always straight and direct.

If Gaura had not come... | 28 September 2009

yadi gaura na ha'ta tabe ki ha-ita

kemane dharitam de

radhara mahima, prema-rasa-sima

jagate janata ke?

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

(Srila Vasudev Ghosh Thakur)

Have you seen anywhere in Srimad Bhagavatam Radharani's name? No. When Mahaprabhu came, He showed us who Radharani is. If He had not come, we would not know who Radharani is. We can understand Radharani's glories only after Mahaprabhu came.

Practise chanting kirtans | 11 November 2010

It is necessary to practise kirtans. You do not have to know how to read for this. Listen and repeat, then you will learn them by heart. You do not even have to read a book.

'sadhya-vastu' 'sadhana' vinu keha nahi paya

krpa kari' kaha, raya, pabara upaya

"No one can achieve the goal of life without practising (following sadhana). Please kindly tell me, Ray, how can I attain this goal?"

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.197)

If you want to get sadhya-vastu (the goal of life, supreme attainment), you must practise (engage in sadhana). What is the practice? Mahaprabhu asked Ramananda Ray "Please tell me how to get this sadhya-vastu?" It is necessary to practise and it is necessary to have some devotional attachment. Come to the lectures, do kirtan. Sravan and kirtan are necessary.

Guru-vandana, Pancha-tattva, Vaishnav vandana, Nityananda vandana—it is necessary to sing these every day, every morning and evening. When devotees sing the kirtans you must sing too, then you will learn them by heart. These are such beautiful kirtans.

Buy kirtan guide | 28 February 2012

Buy the kirtan guide book, it does not cost much money—it does not even cost the price of one meal, but this book will last you all your life. Take prasad up to your neck and loudly chant the Holy Name. You must chant kirtans out loud—you must sing when I sing.

Stay on track | 28 February 2012

"Samsara-davanala" is the Guru vandana. What goes next? Whose vandana do we sing after Guru? Our line is Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan. Do we ever say Bhagavan, Vaishnav, Guru? It is Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan. So, Vaishnav vandana goes after Guru vandana. This is how you must practise, this is the line.

What happens if you go off the line? If a train goes off the track, it falls over. Follow the line. To get to Vrindavan, you must get on the train that goes to Vrindavan. If you want to get to Nabadwip from Kolkata, you must get on the bus or train that goes to Nabadwip. You must take the right train.

Your home is here | 10 March 2012

Devotee [in Russian language]: Maharaj, please forgive our aparadhas that we have committed here due to our imperfection and ignorance. [Then in English:] Please sorry.

No. No sorry, you have no offence. I understand what you have said. No offence, you are a good devotee. You are a surrendered soul, and there is no offence for a surrendered soul.

Devotee [in English]: Thank you Maharaj. Dandavat. I go home [I am leaving now].

[A few seconds' pause.]

Go home? No! Home is here! Your home is here!

Blessing for progress, not regress | 11 April 2013

Gurudev said once, "If a saffron-clad brahmachari comes to me saying, 'Maharaj, can I change to the white cloth?' then I will say, 'No.' I cannot give somebody my permission to change from the saffron cloth, but I can tell somebody to leave their wife—that permission I can give."

[His Divine Grace laughs.] Gurudev said this in front of me, I remember that.

Actions speak louder than words | 11 April 2013

Do you sometimes give the deer some food from the vegetable storehouse? Sometimes give some pumpkin, cut some straw, OK? Take care of this. If you only say, "I love the deer, I love the camel," but you are not giving them food, it is not good. Somebody says, "Oh, my father is very good, my mother is very good," but they do not give them any food. Or somebody always chants, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna," but does not serve the Deities, does not think about the Deities' service. Somebody always says, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna! Hari bol! Hari bol!" but they do not do service for Lord Krishna...

Like, in one country the devotees say, "Oh, I love Gandharva Govinda Sundar so much, I have so much love and affection for Them!" but they only pay dandavat and go—there is no servitor there. If you have love and affection, then serve there. Why complain? Somebody says, "I do not want the Deity to leave from here." OK, go and serve! Gurudev has made the Deity for you—to give mercy to you and all the devotees, why should only one person serve there? Go and serve! Is what I am saying correct or wrong? If I am wrong, please forgive my offences.

Temple is not a house for old cows | 11 April 2013

Some devotees do not do service, do not come to the class, do not do kirtans, does not come to the arati. What is this Math for? Is it a place where you get free food? This is not pinjrapol.

There is a pinjrapol in Kolkata. Do you know what it is? Sometimes when cows are very old and do not give milk any more, people take such cows and serve them in a special place—the cows only eat and sit there. That is called pinjrapol. Gurudev said that this temple is not a pinjrapol. These are Gurudev's words.

Do service according to your capacity. If you can carry a bucket of water to take bath, then you also can carry a bucket of water to water Tulasi plant or other trees. Is it not so? There is so much service here. When you stay here, you should give service, but do you give to the Math or do you take from the Math? How much do you give to your Guru and how much do you take from your Guru? (Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "I will stay alone! You all go.")

If somebody does not wake up in the morning for mangal arati, you can sometimes throw water on them... Now I cannot do this, but before I did it. Somebody did not come mangal arati, they slept all day, and I went to their room, knocked at the door one hour before the arati, but they did not wake up, so I put a bucket of water on them and all their sleep was gone. Then (it was in winter season) they spent the whole day drying their clothes, bed, etc., and the next day they woke up for arati. I was a very naughty boy... If somebody does not do service, you can also turn off electricity in their room.

Ultimate obstacle | 18 August 2013

When *** cooked, he could not do it properly because he had some material desire. Srila Sridhar Maharaj said that if somebody has some other desire, some material desire, it is very difficult to serve to Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan. Now one Bengali boy is serving very nicely. He cooks so many items—nine-ten-eleven at a time. He has desire to learn, that is why I told him something and he has learned very fast. Sometimes when he is cooking he is on the phone with his mother—he is learning to cook from his mother over the phone!

In the lap of Maya | 12 September 2015

What has happened? Are you sleeping? Why are you sleeping? Listen to what I am saying. Do you know why you are sleeping? Sleep means Maya Devi. Do you understand? Listen attentively to what I say.

Technology for service, not indulgence | 20 February 2016

What is a mobile phone for? It is not for your own enjoyment. It is for service. Internet, Facebook, movies—this is all enjoyment, it wastes your time. You can use a mobile phone, but for service—you cannot use it for your own enjoyment. For example, you can get now all books about the Lord (Srimad Bhagavatam, Chaitanya-charitamrita, etc.) online and your can read them. This is what we can use these things for. Always remember this. Whatever we get we must use for Govinda, for the Lord.

Fateful change | 24 February 2013

On Ekadasi day, when I met with Gurudev last day, I came back to Nabadwip... I had so much work, but Gurudev called me to Kolkata and came to meet with him (on Ekadasi day). When I was leaving, Gurudev asked me, "Are you going to Nabadwip?" I said, "Yes." Then Gurudev said, "OK, you will come tomorrow." Gurudev said he was going to leave, and I thought, "What is Gurudev saying?" He had told this many times before too, so I did believe it at that time. My plan was to go to Mednipore for preaching the next day (all my party was ready, my bus was ready), but in the morning a phone call came saying, "Please come quickly," and all my programme was postponed. It is Krishna's will... When Gurudev left his body he showed us what our duty was, "Are you going for preaching now? This is not you duty now. You must take me now.”

* * *

Sailing or Treading Water?

24 December 2010

Vaishnavs are adosa darasi, they do not see others' fault and they do not criticise or offend others.

Madhavendra Puri had two disciples, Ishwar Puri and Ramachandra Puri. What is the position of Ishwar Puri and what is the position of Ramachandra Puri (who always made Vaishnav-ninda and had to leave Puri because of that)? Vaishnavs do not blame others, they look for their own faults. They do not criticise others—only Krishna-katha always comes from their mouth.

You must see the Vaishnav through your ears. If somebody criticises others, offends others and talks nonsense, how can they be a Vaishnav? How do you recognise if one is a Vaishnav? If somebody does not chant the Holy Name, does not preach, how can they be a Vaishnav? Vaishnav always preach (jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnava seva)—they brings souls who have become averse to Krishna, to this path. This is jive daya. They engage others in service to the Lord.

What do we preach about? We preach the words of Gurudev.

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje

svakarma karileo se raurave padi maje

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

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.26)

In the same way, "Guru bade Gauranga bhaje, sei papi raurave padi maje: the sinner who worships Gauranga without the Guru will fall into a terrible hell." You cannot get Krishna without the Guru.

Why do we worship the Guru? Why do we make festivals and glorify our Guru? Foreign devotees understand it. You can see they come from abroad and become pujari here. This is called revolution! Brahmins do not do puja, but devotees from other countries come and do it. They play mridanga, they do kirtan, but why do we not know kirtans? They do not even speak Bengali but they can chant kirtans. Why is this so? Because we do not practise. Practice makes perfect. When somebody sings a kirtan, you sing along—this is practice.

Gurudev said that wherever you are staying you must proceed with your spiritual life. We chant kirtans in the evening and morning, you can learn them by heart, then you will not think about other things, your mind will not go to other talks, and time will not be wasted. You come after work in the evening, you can go to bed and wake up early in the morning, do mangal arati, chant kirtans. How much time does it take? You say, "Oh, I have no time," but you have time for other things. It is necessary to practise. You are going home and you must practise there.

If you chant the Holy Name and remember Gurudev's face at the time of death, you can go to Gurudev, but if you see others' face and if you practise other things, then you will not be able to remember anything at the time of death. We lack practice. Gurudev said there are different kinds of devotees in this world—somebody is a 10% devotee, somebody is a 20% devotee, some is a 50% devotee, and so on.

There is no want of food or clothing. People come to the Math asking for many things, "I want this, I want that," but these foreign devotees do not come for this—they only come for mercy. They are not interested in big buildings or anything like that.

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 as a result we are burning now with the three-fold miseries. We have forgotten our Father, we have forgotten our Lord... We forget what Gurudev taught us, what he said to us. We backchat, we lie to Gurudev, we debate with Gurudev, but where does that take us in the end? Think about it. You have come here to practise spiritual life, so proceed in this way, do not take the wrong path. Gurudev is the captain of this Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math boat, and we must stay in that boat. If we can stay in this boat, then we can get to the place where Gurudev is taking us to.

Remember this and practise.

* * *

The Wheel of Time

19 July 2013

In Vrindavan there are now only two forests (vana) left, only two forest exist there—all forest is gone, they have cut it...

We can see now what happened in Kedarnath, Badrinath—Sivji Maharaj became angry because they had cut all the trees... In Srila Sridhar Maharaj's time, Gurudev took Srila Sridhar Maharaj's hand and they walked from Haridwar to Kedarnath, to Badrinath, to Siva Prayag, etc. They walked there! But now they have cut the trees and made a concrete road and people their girlfriends', boyfriends', girls' and women's hand and go there to enjoy with Kedarnath and Badrinath. That is why Lord Vishnu and Sivji Maharaj became very angry and demolished everything. This is Kali...

One day this whole world will also be demolished. Kali-yuga's duration is 432,000 years, and only some 5,500 years have gone so far. When these four lakhs of years expire, then slowly, slowly everything will be damaged, everything will be finished. At that time, "Utkale Purusottama"—the Lord will come in the village of Sambalpur, Odhish (Utkal means Odisha). The Lord in His avatar as Kalki Maharaj will come with His sword and horse and will slay all mlechas. Those who are born as brahman now will become mlechas and Kalki Maharaj will finish them. That will be the last, final play.

After that, Krishna will be again alone. He will make Brahma, and Brahma will again create this environment.

"At first there was no one, I was alone," Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita. "I was alone and I will be alone in future too. I will create Brahma, give him an order and he will create everything, all this material and transcendental abodes." Everything will appear again…

* * *

Balaram's Position in Kuruksetra Lila

19 July 2013

Question: We have heard that Balaram has much affection for Duryodhana but Duryodhana hates the Pandavas who are the Lord's devotees, so how can Balaram feel so much affection for him?

[His Divine Grace laughs] To answer your question I would have to tell you the whole Mahabharat story... I know this is a contradiction, and Gurudev explained it.

You must understand that the pastimes of Balaram and the Pandavs are separate lilas (pastimes). Durdhyodan, Duhsasan, and others are a part of Krishna's Dvaraka lila or Kuruksetra lila, but Balaram helps Krishna's lila during Krishna's pastimes in Vrindavan lila. You must remember that Krishna left Vrindavan and had not been there for a hundred years—His lifetime was 125 years and He spent a hundred years in Mathura, Dvaraka, and Kurusetra.

Balaram loves Krishna. When both sides, the Pandavs and Duryodhana's group, were present, Krishna asked both sides, "Whom do you want? Do you want Me alone or do you want all of My associates?" All Pandavs immediately said, "We want You alone." At that time Balaram said, "They only want You, and they are not even mentioning my name?! But Krishna is nothing without me!"

This may be so in Vrindavan lila, but in Kuruksetra lila Krishna is self-sufficient. In Vrindavan lila, although Krishna can do everything Himself, Balaram always helps Him. Only one day Balaram did not go with Him, and that day Kaliya-daman lila happened—Krishna went outside alone that day. Balaram thought, "I did not with Him, that is why this happened." His mother also chastised him, "You did not go with Krishna, that is why this problem has happened today!" But actually, this was Krishna's pastime—He wanted to show His lila to everybody because not everybody (not all Vraja-gopis, not all Vraja-sakhis) knew about Krishna's pastimes, so Krishna was floating in the water of Kaliya lake and waiting for everybody to come. Balaram called Him, "Please come out! Please wake up! Come out of the water!" but Krishna thought, "No, I have to wait for everybody to come."

So, when Krishna asked, "Do you want Me alone or do you want My associates?" and the Pandavs said, "We want You alone," Balaram became a little upset and decided at that time, "I will side with the Duryodhana's group. I will love them." But you can see that although Duryodhana's group chose all soldiers, etc. they were still defeated.

This is actually a simple matter, and it is not so important for our spiritual life.

I read Mahabharat without Gurudev's permission but when Gurudev got to know about it, he asked me, "What are you reading Mahabharat for?" I explained that I could not understand Srimad Bhagavatam completely without Mahabharat, that is why I had read it. Then he said that if it is necessary for your study of Bhagavatam, you can read it, but actually Bhagavatam is Bhagavatam and Mahabharat is Mahabharat, and in our spiritual life, in our Gaudiya Vaishnav spiritual life, not so much importance is given to Mahabharat—it is important to study Srimad Bhagavatam. This is what Gurudev said to me.

There are so many big stories in Mahabharat—it describes the fighting and so many other things—but if you read it you will see much contradiction about spiritual life...

* * *

Habit Is Second Nature

24 December 2010

When devotees went back to their homes, Prabhupad used to cry. Now you are also going back to your homes, and I feel pain. All these people who came here for Gurudev's festival, are now going back home and they are going to fall into illusory bondage. But if you practise from morning to evening, you will not fall into the illusory bondage.

Mahaprabhu said,

yadi ama'-prati sneha thake sabakara

tabe krsna-vyatirikta na gaibe ara

"If you have any love and affection for Me, then only say 'Krishna'—do not say anything except 'Krishna.'"

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-khanda, 28.27)

When you are here you wake up for the mangal arati, do you not wake up when you are at home? "Manusa abhyasera das": habit is second nature (lit. a man is a slave of his habit). Is it not so? It is necessary to practise regularly, it is necessary to make it your habit. Wake up early in the morning, do mangal arati, chant kirtans. The kirtans (Samsara-davanala and others) are so beautiful, and how beautiful practising life is. If you can practise in this way in your house in the morning, you will get energy.

nidralasya hata sukarya

virata akarya udyogi ami

pratistha lagiya sathya-acharana

lobha-hata sada kami

"I am ruined by laziness and sleep. I do not like to do what is good, I like to do what is bad. I always do bad things for my own name and fame. I am ruined by greed and I am always full of desires."

e hena durjana sajjana-varjita

aparadhi nirantara

Devotees avoid such a sinner as I am. I am a constant offender.

How beautifully Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote it.

Nidralasya hata sukarya virata (always sleepy and lazy we do not want to do what is good for us). Chanting the Holy Name, taking about the Lord, glorifying out Guru, glorifying the Name of the Lord—we do not do anything!

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base

nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

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

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

One by one, days are passing... How many hours do we have? Gurudev said that if you are alive for thirty years, it means that fifteen of these years are day, the other fifteen years are night—you sleep fifteen years and you live fifteen years, and out of these fifteen years that you live how many days and years do you spend on going to the bathroom, eating, talking, etc.? How many hours do you give to Guru, Vaishnavs, and the Lord? How many days' time do you have? Wake up from sleep early in the morning, practise.

udila aruna purava-bhage

dvija-mani gora amani jage

“The sun arises in the east, and the jewel of the brahmans, Sri Gorachand, awakes.”

This is a very beautiful kirtan.

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."

It is not necessary to give up your work. You are doing some job, but you must do this job for the Lord, for your Guru. When you cook, you must cook for your Guru, for your Lord. It is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, "If somebody eats something without offering it to Me, they actually steal it and enjoy sin."

Wake up early in the morning, do mangal arati, chant kirtans, then go to work; offer some bhog at midday, take prasad, rest; in the evening you can chant the kirtans again. You have got time now, and you must think about it now.

bhajibo boliya ese samsara-bhitare

bhuliya rohile tumi avidyara bhare

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

You have promised to the Lord, "I will worship You! I will see Your divine form with these eyes, I will hear Your glorification with these ears, etc." Gurudev said, "If you do not use this life for the service to the Guru, for the service to Krishna, then this life is nothing, it is not necessary to keep such life."

diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana

sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama

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

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.192)

Soon after Sanatan Goswami took initiation, he wanted to commit suicide, but Mahaprabhu said to him, "How can you do this? Why are you going to destroy My property?! When you took initiation from Me, you have given everything to Me—you have given your mind, your body, everything to Me—so this body is not your body. Why are you going to spoil My property? You are cheating Me! You surrender to Me and now you say you want to destroy your body! What is this?! Are you shameless? You are going to destroy others' property—do you have no shame?" Then Sanatan Goswami understood everything.

That was the teachings of Mahaprabhu—through His devotee (Sanatan Goswami), Mahaprabhu was showing and teaching it to all of us, fallen souls.

When you have given everything to Gurudev, why are you now thinking about your own enjoyment? In this world people can worship the Lord or live for their own enjoyment...

nija sukha lagi' pape nahi dari

daya-hina svartha-para

para-sukhe duhkhi sada mithya-bhasi

para-duhkha sukha-kara

“I am never afraid to engage in sinful activities for the sake of my own happiness. I am unkind and selfish. I always tell lies. I am unhappy when others are happy and happy when others are unhappy.”

For our own enjoyment we are not afraid to commit sin. We eat, sleep and live at leisure...

asesa kamana hrdi majhe mora

krodhi, dambha-parayana

mada-matta sada visaye mohita

himsa-garva vibhusana

“There are unlimited sinful desires within the core of my heart. I am angry and arrogant, always maddened with vanity, infatuated with mundanity, and malice and pride are my ornaments.”

We are so proud thinking, "I know it, I understand it," but we must always think, "I know that I have actually not been able to do anything," "I have not been able to do anything for my Gurudev, for the Lord." It is simple to understand this. What can I do? Who is He and who am I?

'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)

jivera 'svarupa' haya—krsnera 'nitya-dasa'

krsnera 'tatastha-sakti' 'bhedabheda-prakasa'

"By its intrinsic nature, the soul is an eternal servant of Krishna; the souls comes from the marginal energy of Krishna and are simultaneously one with and different from the Lord."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.108)

If you take a tip of a hair and divide it into 10,000 parts, one of these parts will be our position. We think, "I know so much," "I understand so much," "I know everything," but even Brahma said, "Those who say they know, they may know, but I know that I do not know anything..."

* * *

Vaishnavs' Mercy Is Our Refuge

24 December 2010

Guru Maharaj always, all the time gives us guidance, gives us some instruction, but it goes in one ear and out the other...

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj kept Gurudev, kept all the devotees here to serve this Math, and this is our only hope and refuge. The mercy of Vaishnavs is our blessing, this is our hope and prayer. We must always remember and think about this.

You should come for the festival of Nityananda Prabhu in Ekachakra—even if you do not receive the invitation letter, still come. Nityananda Prabhu is in Ekachakra, and you must come and get His mercy there. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also went to Ekachakra Dham because he wanted to get mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, but when he came there he heard some akash-dhvani (lit. "sound from the sky") from Nityananda Prabhu. What did Nityananda Prabhu say to him? He said, "You have got mercy from Jagad Guru Prabhupad, from Nayana Manjari, and you must first distribute it. Why are you such a miser? First distribute what you have got, then come to Me." After that Srila Sridhar Maharaj came to this Math and started taking some disciples. Before that he had not taken any disciples.

So,

nitaiyer karuna habe vraje radha-krsna pabe

dhara nitaiyer charan duhkhani

nitaiyer charana satya tanhara sevaka nitya

nitai-pada sada kara asa

"When Nitai bestows His mercy you will reach Radha-Krsna in Vraja. Grasp Nitai's feet! Nitai's feet are truth, and His servants are eternal. Always aspire for Nitai's feet."

Nityananda is Guru-tattva. Remember this. Nityananda Prabhu and Mahaprabhu are non-different from each other, so if you do not get mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, you will not get mercy of Mahaprabhu. What did Nityananda sing?

bhaja gauranga, kaha gauranga, laha gaurangera nama re

ye jana gauranga bhaje, sei amara prana re

"Worship Gauranga! Say Gauranga! Take Gauranga's Name! Those who worship Gauranga are My heart and soul!"

Nityananda said, "Those who worship Gauranga are My life and soul." So, you must worship Gauranga then, if you worship Gauranga, you will be worshipping Nityananda. Somebody says, "Shall we pray to Nityananda or shall we pray to Mahaprabhu?" This is ardha-kukkuti nyaya (half-hen logic).

One time—it happened in Jhamatpur Baharan, the place where Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami (the author of Chaitanya-charitamrita) lived—Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami's brother invited Gunarnava Misra to do puja (Deity worship), and when Minaketan Ramdas, a devotee of Nityananda Prabhu, came there, Gunarnava Misra did not show him respect because he did not believe in Nityananda Prabhu or His devotees so much. Seeing this, Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami got angry, "You drink cow's milk but do not serve the cow! This is half-hen logic. You are giving honour to Mahaprabhu, but you are not giving honour to Nityananda Prabhu. There is no Mahaprabhu without Nityananda Prabhu and there is no Nityananda Prabhu without Mahaprabhu! You must respect both—if you respect only one of Them and do not respect the other one, it is half-hen logic."

Devotee: There is also a sloka:

dui bhai eka-tanu—samana-prakasa

nityananda na mana, tomara habe sarva-nasa

[Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami said to his brother,] "These two brothers are like one body, They are identical manifestations. If you do not believe in Nityananda, everything will be ruined for you!"

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 5.175)

Yes, true.

* * *

Practice Secures Your Life

24 December 2010

Gurudev told me, "If you love me, first love my dog." Clear-cut and straight. Even Srila Guru Maharaj (Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj) himself said, "If you love me, you must give honour to Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj." Clear-cut.

It is necessary to remember the words of Gurudev.

Come, always come. This Math is your Math, and Gurudev is always here. You can find his presence even in the kirtans that we sing in the morning and evening—Guru Maharaj often sang "Emona durmati samsara bhitare," and if you sing it every morning and evening, you will get association of Gurudev. The same is true for the arati of Gurudev, "Jaya jaya Gurudever arati ujjvala." It is chanted here three times, and they chant it one time a day in Bamunpara and Nadan Ghat. Chant the daily kirtans, you will find Gurudev and his shelter there.

You do not need to sing with a good tune, this is not necessary. Some do not have a mridanga, some do not have kartals, some do not know the tune, but nothing is necessary—you can just take the kirtan guide book and sing with the book; eventually you will learn them by heart. The Lord does not need your tune. The Lord and Gurudev know whom you are calling, they know you are calling them.

Always chant the Name of Krishna, chant kirtans, and you will see that you yourself will get energy and you will be able to stay in this line all your life until death. If you want to stay in this line, you must practise.

This is how you will get connection, this is how you will get association—and you can stay wherever you want. Always remember this. From now on you must understand that you have no time and from now on start practising. Otherwise it is taranga-sraddha—you come for the festival, stay here for two-five days and when you go home, you forget everything. Practising seven days a year and doing other things the rest of the days will not do...

When Sivananda Sen asked Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu we are householder people, we are going back our home, what is our duty?" Mahaprabhu said, "When you go home, serve Vaishnavs and engage in Nama sankirtan, then you will quickly get the wealth of Krishna-prema." Remember this. You must serve the Vaishnavs. What does "serve the Vaishnavs" mean? What is called Vaishnav-seva? What is called Guru-seva? Guru-seva means when Gurudev orders you to do something, you must follow his instruction. This is called Guru-seva. In the same way, what is Vaishnav-seva? It means following the Vaishnav's order.

How can you recognise a Vaishnav? Those who chant the Holy Name once are Vaishnavs, those who chant the Holy Name all the time are Vaishnavs and

yanhara darsane mukhe aise krsna-nama

tanhare janiha tumi 'vaisnava-pradhana'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.74)

Those by seeing whom Krishna Nama comes to one's mouth, are also considered Vaishnavs. So, Vaishnavs are those who constantly chant the Holy Name, who speak Hari-katha, who are always engaged in service of the Lord. You must serve to them.

Jaya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Fending Maya Off: Nourish Others, Protect Yourself

Sri Vyasa Puja day, speaking online to London,

28 September 2011

Sometimes you should call the devotees who do not come, who are not so much connected. It is our duty because if some devotee stays away, maya can attack them. Call them and bring them to the temple, help them keep connection. It is necessary. You know what illusory environment is like—it can attack you at any time and you can fall down at any time. That is why it is necessary to call devotees from time to time.

Even if somebody is creating disturbance for us, or for me personally, you can give them some nourishment, you can give love and affection to them. Their character may be disturbing me, but why should I change my character? I will give love and affection. Even if somebody is against you, somebody stays far and does not come, somebody does not like you, this is not a problem! If somebody does not like me, it is not a problem—I am a bad person, it is not necessary to love me, but please love Gurudev, love Gurudev's mission, love Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundar. If I did anything wrong to them, I can apologise to them and ask them to please forgive my offence. Call them, they can all come—they are Gurudev's devotees. This is loving search for the lost servant.

You know that mercy is always there, but you must be able to keep it, you must be a good receiver. Somebody can say, "Oh, he is a young boy, what can he do?" This is not the question. How old were Sukadev and Jiva Goswami? When Jiva Goswami took the service of Rupa Goswami, he was a young child, a baby, but he took that position. Take care of yourself and always be careful of the illusory environment—problems can come at any time. Always keep chastity and sincerity, be a sincere seeker—you must learn these things. This applies to everybody.

Give nourishment, help the devotees. Take good qualities of the devotees and reject their bad side. We all are sometimes guilty, we all sometimes have some bad qualification, but we must reject devotees' bad qualification and take their good qualification. Do not criticise anybody. You can use everybody in service of the Lord—everybody can do some service. Everybody does not have the same qualification—everybody's qualification is different—we must take their good qualification and engage them in service. If you can do this, you will become great.

Actually, maya is very powerful, but when devotees are with devotees, maya always runs away. Do you understand it? Our movement is mainly preaching movement—we should not worry about the building and bricks so much, it is not necessary. We must look for quality, not quantity. We must worry about our quality. We can be small, but our line should be perfect—the channel we go through must be perfect and proper. It is not necessary to have a big apartment, a big or a small house—the temple is always in the devotee's heart.

* * *

The Eyes to See, the Heart to Feel

18 June 2010

Question: Do we have to give up (renounce) everything?

Not renounce—bhog tyag, tyag tyag—you must renounce renunciation; you must renounce what you renounce something for [renounce the cause of renouncing]. This is Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's phrase—bhog tyag, tyag tyag. You must renounce enjoyment (bhog) and you must renounce renunciation (tyag). It is very nicely put. But for service of the Lord, for the service of your Guru you can do everything.

Question: How can one recognise when somebody has Krishna-prema?

How to recognise it? You must have good spectacles for that. You are wearing the spectacles of kama (lust), but to recognise Krishna-prema you must wear the spectacles of prema (divine, transcendental love). If you have Krishna-prema, you can recognise Krishna-prema—if you have love and affection for the Lord, then you will be able to recognise who has love and affection for the Lord. Otherwise, if you are wearing the spectacles of kama (other desires), you will not be able to see anything.

Srila Prabhupad gave an example. Suppose somebody studies at university—at university, boys and girls sit together, talk to each other, etc.; and suppose a cowherd boy is grazing cows and talking with some girls—this is not the same. Or like in India, when we chant and dance, somebody outside can say, "Oh, they are very needy and poor people, they have no food and cannot sleep all night, that is why they are chanting and dancing!" or people criticise us saying, "Oh, they are drinking whisky, and dancing and chanting all night!" They see what we are doing in another way. Even when I tell people about jive prema (Mahaprabhu called it "jive daya"), they cannot understand what it is.

So, those who have no power, they cannot enter this line, they cannot understand this line, and they cannot understand what Krishna-prema is...

Question: How a devotee recognise a true senior devotee?

Whether somebody is senior or junior does not depend upon age. You can realise, or understand, who is senior through service, through sincerity, through chastity. If you are a sincere seeker and have chastity, you will be able to understand who is senior, who is junior. It does not depend upon age—whether somebody came to Krishna consciousness five years ago or twenty year ago, is not the question. Gurudev also said that somebody is a 5% devotee, somebody is a 10% devotee, somebody is a 20% devotee, somebody is a 50% devotee, etc.

At the market, if you buy something at a good price, you get good things, but if you buy something at a low price, you will get rotten things. This is not a matter of joke actually, is is necessary to understand it. Mahaprabhu said, "Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari: quality of devotion depends faith." (Cc, 2.22.64)" Those who have strong faith, who are steady, will get great devotion.

You can see also that Prahlad Maharaj was only five years old, but everybody would pay their full obeisance to him—Brahma, Vishnu, Maheswar (Siva), all demigods would give him their full obeisance! He is a five-year-old boy, but everybody is giving him their full obeisance!

Prahlad Maharaj's time was very long ago, I can also give an example from Kali-yuga. In Mahaprabhu's time, Advaita Prabhu had a son called Achyutananda. One day, when Mahaprabhu came to Advaita Prabhu's house, Achyutananda asked his father,

"Who is this man? He has no hair, His head is shaved..."

"He is the son of Jagannath Misra. Before, His name was Nimai, and now He has taken sannyas from Keshav Bharati and His name is Sri Krishna Chaitanya," replied Advaita Prabhu.

"What?! But He is the Guru of the entire universe! Who can be His Guru?" asked Achyutananda.

Hearing this, Mahaprabhu laughed and asked Advaita Prabhu, "Who is the son here and who is the father?"

Advaita Prabhu admitted, "Yes, today I am the son and he is my father."

There was also another pastime. Mahaprabhu Himself said, "I will not give initiation to anybody," but how did five-year-old Kavi Karnapur, Sivananda's son, take initiation? He used his intelligence and he had got mercy from Mahaprabhu. One day, Mahaprabhu said to that boy, "Say, 'Hare Krishna!'" The boy said nothing. Mahaprabhu said again, "Hey, say, 'Hare Krishna!'" but he again said nothing. Then, Mahaprabhu asked the devotees present there, "When I went through the jungle Jharikhanda, even tigers and deer chanted Hare Krishna, but this boy is not chanting Hare Krishna! What has happened?" Then, Swarup Damodar, Raya Ramananda answered,

"Prabhu, he has already become Your disciple..."

"How is this possible?"

"You told him to chant Hare Krishna, so he has already taken the mantra from You, and he cannot say this mantra again in front of You, his Guru. You have made him Your disciple."

"Yes, maybe..." said Mahaprabhu shyly.

* * *

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya: "Please give me shelter!"

Russia, 11 August 2003

You have heard about many pastimes of Mahaprabhu from Chaitanya-bhagavat and Chaitanya-charitamrita. He performed many types of pastimes, but you know that Sarvabhauma Pandit at first did not believe that Mahaprabhu was the Lord Himself.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya had a brother-in-law, Gopinath Acharya, who told him that Mahaprabhu was the Lord, but Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, "How can I believe that this boy is the Lord? And He is only twenty-four years old, how will he keep His sannyas?" In the end, Mahaprabhu showed Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya His sat-bhuja-murti (six-handed form)...

One day, Mahaprabhu was walking from Nabadwip to Puri. He had given His danda to Nityananda Prabhu, but Nityananda Prabhu broke it. When they were not far from Puri, Mahaprabhu asked Him,

"Where is My danda?"

"When You were chanting, Your danda fell down and You fell on it, so it broke," lied Nityananda Prabhu. But Mahaprabhu could understand what He had done and showed His anger,

"I have left everything, and this danda was My only wealth—I have brought only one danda with Me, but You have broken it! I will not go with You! Either You go first or I will go first."

"Prabhu, You go first, we will come after You," answered Nityananda Prabhu, and Mahaprabhu went to Puri first. When He ran into the temple of Jagannath, He did not see Jagannath—He saw Lord Krishna and Radharani instead, and seeing Their form, He fell unconscious.

Then, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya came there and saw a sadhu lying in the temple senseless. He noticed that the sadhu looked very unusual—He was very tall and healthy, He did not look like a man. Anyhow, he took Mahaprabhu to his house.

Later, when Mahaprabhu returned to His senses and was talking with Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Him (Mahaprabhu was a young sannyasi, He was only twenty-four, and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was an old man at that time),

"Have you read Vedanta?"

"No, I have not read any Vedanta," answered Mahaprabhu.

Then, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya started reading Vedanta to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu listened to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya quietly. Seven days later, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Him,

"You have been listening to my reading of Vedanta for seven days, but You are not saying anything, You are not asking me any questions. What is wrong? Can you not understand why I am teaching You?"

"When you are reading Vedanta, I can understand it, but when you are explaining it I cannot understand anything. If you give Me permission, I can try to explain something."

When Mahaprabhu began to explain Vedanta, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's eyes bulged. He was astonished, "Such a young boy is giving such explanation! What He is explaining is right..." In the end, Mahaprabhu showed him His form (showed him who He was), and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya surrendered, "Please give me shelter at Your lotus feet!"

* * *

Ekadasi Tithi: One of the Practices

19 July 2013

Question: What is the meaning of Ekadasi?

If I give answer in Gurudev's words, then I can say to you, "OK, ask Tirtha Maharaj." One time somebody asked Gurudev, "What is the meaning of Ekadasi?" and Gurudev replied, "OK, ask Tirtha Maharaj."

There are sixty-four bhaktyangas (devotional practices), and Ekadasi is one of them. We practise these sixty-four bhaktyangas (for example, we do parikrama, arati, we stand during the arati, pay obeisance, etc.), and one of these practices is Ekadasi. It is not so much important, what is important is

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

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

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

Ekadasi is not so important, but we follow viddhi-marga (we worship the Lord and Guru), that is why we follow Ekadasi. Also, because Mahaprabhu told to do so. We are devotees of Mahaprabhu, so we follow whatever Mahaprabhu tells us to do.

Before, in Mahaprabhu's time, Ekadasi was very hard—they would fast for three days, but now Ekadasi fast is one day only and not nirjal (not dry-fast). On Ekadasi, we take what is necessary and maintain our health through service. We do not take rice, corn, grains, dal, peas, flour, sesame and mustard seeds, etc. Ultimately, we follow Ekadasi because our Guru-varga follows it. This is the meaning of Ekadasi.

In general, it is nothing special. Ekadasi is a tithi (lunar day). There are many tithis like dvadasi, trayodasi, chaturdasi, purnima, navami, and so on. A month starts on prathama and ends on chaturdasi, then there is either purnima or amavasya (full moon or dark moon). In this way the moon comes and goes. Ekadasi is one of these tithis (the eleventh day).

Mahaprahu also told His mother, "Mother, I am begging something from you. Please follow Ekadasi." His mother said, "Yes, very nice. I can follow it." So, we too follow it because our Guru-varga followed it.

Even many doctors and scientists also say that every day you take many kinds of food, and if you do some fast once-twice a month (if you take some fruit and light food, do not take masala, etc.), then your stomach will be good, and it is very good for your health.

* * *

Gaudiya Math—Transcendental Hospital

4 March 2017, Sri Nabadwip Dham

Bengali & English evening class

In this world, "Jivana anitya janaha sara tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara: life is uncertain and full of all sorts of dangers." Life is uncertain, temporary.

Of what help is making hospitals? If you make a hospital in Nabadwip and in so many other places, what is the use? Today they cure pain in your hand, but tomorrow you will have pain in your head. Who can give you real relief? Only Guru can relieve you from this material world, can cure you from the material disease of heart (bhava-rog). That is why Gaudiya Math, Chaitanya Saraswat Math, is a university where all diseases are cured. For this reason (to rescue the souls from the illusory world), Mahaprabhu also comes in Kali-yuga,

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).”

daya kari more patita dekhiya

kahila amare giya

ohe dina-jana suna bhala katha

ullasita ha'be hiya

“Seeing me so fallen and being merciful, he came to me and said, "O humble soul, listen to this wonderful message and your heart will rejoice.”

tomare tarite sri-krsna-chaitanya

navadvipe avatara

"Sri Krishna Chaitanya has appeared in Nabadwip to deliver you."

(Saranagati, 19)

Only Guru can save you from from this world of maya (illusory environment) and convert you to Krishna consciousness. Krishna sends His own associate in form of a Guru, but actually it is Krishna Himself who comes as a Guru to give Krishna consciousness to all souls. What is Krishna consciousness? It is 'Search for Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful', it is 'Loving search for the lost servant.'

You must search for the Lord! You must find your house, find where your real house is. Your own house is in a place where you will not want to come back from, where all trees are benedictine trees (kalpa-vriksa), where all cows are surabhi cows (wish-fulfilling cows). There, if you ask a banana tree for a mango, it will give you mango, or if you ask a blackberry tree for some grapes, it will give you grapes. That is called Goloka Vrindavan. Here, if you want milk, you have to milk a cow, but there you can put a bucket under the udder of a surabhi cow and milk will automatically pour. Can you get anything like this in this mundane world? No, never. Can you come to a mango tree here and ask, "Hey, mango tree, give me a rose apple!" Will you get it? No, you will not. Can you come to a cow here and ask, "Give me milk!"? Will the cow give milk to you? No, it will not—you have to milk the cow to get milk.

This kind of place is your home, and you can come there. If you get to that home there, you will never come back, you will not want to come back here. That kind of place is our home—I, you, we all have come from that kind of place and we must all go back to that place.

That is why we pray to you all to dedicate yourself to what is necessary to come back to that kind of place. What is this? It is called practising Krishna consciousness. This is what you must do. If you can practise Krishna consciousness, it will be good for you, then you will be able to return to your home. You must go back to your own home.

If you go to a hospital, what will that give you? What can they do in these mundane hospitals? You can go to a mundane hospital and say you have a headache, the doctor gives you medicine, your headache finishes. Next you have pain in your knee, you go to the doctor again. When knee pain finishes, then your arms start to pain, and so on. Hospitals cannot cure you properly! But if you come to this line, then everything will be always happiness, always ananda, pleasure.

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

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

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

He is the cause of all causes. He is ecstasy personified, and if you get to His abode, you will get eternal happiness, eternal pleasure.

That is why Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that you can make millions of millions hospitals, but if in lieu of that you can make one person a devotee (if you can bring one devotee from the illusory environment and use them for the service of the Lord), that is far better, it is far better than anything else.

Remember this, think about this when you do this Nabadwip Dham parikrama...

* * *

Perils of Pleasure

Talking online to the devotees in London

21 May 2016

That is called deha-rami [deha—body, rami—being into enjoyment]: someone lives in the temple but always thinks about their health, thinks about their body, about a comfortable life. It happens.

Guru Maharaj told gave one story, maybe it is Prabhupad's story, but I saw it in one of Guru Maharaj's books. There was once a very big flood in Haridwar, and one sadhu thought he saw a blanket floating in the Ganges. He jumped into the Ganges to take the blanket, but the blanket turned out to be a bear. The bear wanted to survive, so it caught the sadhu. The sadhu could not get out.

"Come out! Come out!" someone shouted to him.

"I cannot come out!" he replied.

"Come out, leave the blanket!"

"I want to leave the blanket, but the blanket does not let me go!"

So, we wanted attachment to the family life and now the family life does not leave us—we want to leave maya, but maya does not want to leave us...

* * *

Bond of Krishna-Katha

Sri Nabadwip Dham

11 November 2010

nijendriya-sukha-hetu kamera tatparya

krsna-sukha-tatparya gopi-bhava-varya

"Lusty desires are experienced when one is concerned with his own personal sense gratification. The mood of the gopis is not like that. Their only desire is to satisfy the senses of Krsna.”

nijendriya-sukha-vancha nahi gopikara

krsne sukha dite kare sangama-vihara

"Among the gopis, there is not a pinch of desire for sense gratification. Their only desire is to give pleasure to Krsna, and this is why they mingle with Him and enjoy with Him.

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.217-218)

sei gopi-bhavamrte yanra lobha haya

veda-dharma-loka tyaji' se krsne bhajaya

"Those who are attracted by that ecstatic love of the gopis do not care about popular opinion or the regulative principles of Vedic life. Rather, they completely surrender unto Krsna and render service unto Him.”

raganuga-marge tanre bhaje yei jana

sei-jana paya vraje vrajendra-nandana

"If you worship the Lord on the path of spontaneous love and go to Vrndavan, you receive the shelter of Vrajendra-nandana, the son of Nanda Maharaja.”

vraja-lokera kona bhava lana yei bhaje

bhava-yogya deha pana krsna paya vraje

"In their liberated stage, devotees are attracted by one of the five moods in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. As they continue to serve the Lord in that transcendental mood, they attain a spiritual body to serve Krsna in Goloka Vrndavana."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.220-222)

This is a very high conception.

ataeva gopi-bhava kari angikara

ratri-dina cinte radha-krsnera vihara

"Therefore one should accept the mood of the gopis in their service. In such a transcendental mood, one should always think of the pastimes of Sri Radha and Krsna.”

siddha-dehe cinti' kare tahanni sevana

sakhi-bhave paya radha-krsnera carana

"After thinking of Radha and Krsna and Their pastimes for a long time and after getting completely free from material contamination, one is transferred to the spiritual world. There the devotee attains an opportunity to serve Radha and Krsna as one of the gopis.”

gopi-anugatya vina aisvarya-jnane

bhajileha nahi paya vrajendra-nandane

"Unless one follows in the footsteps of the gopis, he cannot attain the service of the lotus feet of Krsna, the son of Nanda Maharaja. If one is overcome by knowledge of the Lord's opulence, he cannot attain the Lord's lotus feet, even though he is engaged in devotional service."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.228-230)

Mahaprabhu stayed with Ramananda Ray for ten days and in the end He said,

dasa dinera ka-katha yavat ami jiba'

tavat tomara sanga chadite nariba

"To say nothing of ten days, as long as I live I will not be able to give up your company.”

nilacale tumi-ami thakiba eka-sange

sukhe gonaiba kala krsna-katha-range

"You and I shall remain together at Jagannatha Puri. We shall pass our time together in joy, talking about Krsna and His pastimes."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.240-241)

"Ramananda Ray," Mahaprabhu said, "Why ten days? As much life I get, I want to always stay with you. I will not separate from you, I will always stay with you."

Sukhe gonaiba kala Krsna-katha-range. When the taste for Bhagavat-katha, for Krishna-katha comes, there remains no taste for any other katha—if you see Him once, you will not want to see anything else. This is Krishna-prema.

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)

But we have forgotten the Lord and as a result all this suffering started...

* * *

Sober Up!

May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham

If you do not control six senses, you are bound to be unhappy. If you cannot control your senses—

kama-krodha-adi chaya batapare deya bhaya

avasana haila asi bela

“I am attacked by the six highway robbers lead by kama and krodha, and my life is coming to its end…"

("Anadi karama-phale" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (attachment), mada (madness, intoxication), abhiman (ego)—if you do not bring these under control, if you do not hold them, then sooner or later you will be unhappy. When you want something, you think, "I need this, I want this," and when you do not get it you feel dissatisfied and frustrated, your mood becomes foul. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also says this here in Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, I was just reading about it the other day. It is written there very beautifully.

"When will Nityananda Prabhu be merciful to me? When will He force me to leave my pride and give me the shade of His feet?" [Pv 10.16] When will Nityananda Prabhu take the pride out of my heart? "Pride is the path to hell. Carefully avoid it, and humbly immerse yourself in the lotus feet of Radha and Govinda." [Pv 10.15] "The Lord bestows greater mercy upon the humble, and pride and humility do not co-exist." [Pv 10.14] "When you give up your pride, you will give up the world, and when you give up the world, your heart will become pure." [Pv 10.11] "Withdraw your affection from the world and dedicate it to the lotus feet of Krishna." [Pv 10.12] You have some affection towards the material world, and you must withdraw that affection, take it away—withdraw your affection from the world and dedicate it fully to the lotus feet of Krishna.

abhimana chhadile bhai chhadibe visaya

visaya chhadile suddha habe tomara asaya

"When you give up your pride, you will give up the world, and when you give up the world, your heart will become pure."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 10.11)

Otherwise your heart will not be pure. Those who are proud people, do not give respect to Vaishnav devotees, they do not even have any regard for religion or irreligion—"they neither respect Vaisnava devotees nor do they have any regard for religion or irreligion. Out of pride, they always remain idle or commit sins." [Pv 10.5]

"Remember, glorify, and serve the Lord, and be kind to all beings. Do all this as a proper renunciant." [Pv 9.34] "Krishna may not give you friends and relatives, or He may give them and then take them away. Accept all such conditions as a source of joy." [Pv 9.35]

The Lord has given you a wife, a son, a daughter—He has given you everything—and having got all this, you forgot the Lord. Then, the Lord will again take everything away from you—He will take away your wife, children, brothers, sisters and give you misery instead. He can give you happiness and He can give you also sadness, but people of this world do not understand this. Having got everything (a car, a house, money, wealth, Guru), they forget the Lord... People can stay at the place of their Guru, but they do not go to the temple of their Guru, they do not offer obeisances at the temple of their Guru. You have got a wife, children, etc. for the Lord, but you forget Him—you forget the One who you get everything from.

krsna yadi nahi deya parijana-parikara

athava diya ta laya sarva sukhera akara

"Krishna may not give you friends and relatives, or He may give them and then take them away. Accept all such conditions as a source of joy."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 9.35)

He can take everything from you. Today somebody is a king, next day he is a street beggar; somebody is a street beggar today, next day he is a king. It is His play. Is it not so, tell me?

* * *

Remembering Sri Vrindavan

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 17 December 2010

"Radha-padankita dhama, vrndavana yara nama: Vrindavan, the abode decorated by the lotus-like Radha..." You must always do Vrindavan parikrama with your head. Do you know that? Not with your legs, but with your head. [His Divine Grace and devotees laugh]. We are laughing, joking, but actually you must remember in your mind, "Oh, I am walking here with my head." You must do parikrama of Vrindavan with your head.

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela

krsna-bhajana tava akarane gela

"If you do not worship Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna is nothing."

Without the mercy from the Guru, nothing can be possible, everything is impossible.

"Radha-padankita dhama, vrndavana yara nama: Vrindavan, the abode decorated by the lotus-like Radha..."

Vrindavan is a very nice place. In Vrindavan, there is no meat, no eggs, no fish in the restaurants and hotels there. They arranged it there so well, I like that kind of things. Here (in Nabadwip), if you are hungry, you cannot have anything—you cannot take food anywhere because in every shop everything has eggs. I used to think that sweetshops were OK, but now even in sweetshops when they make samosa (singara), they put there some onion, garlic. You cannot bring anything from the shops now. We have tried to arrange so many things for Nabadwip, for so many years, but the government does not agree. People cut fish, meat, goat, chicken, etc, in the open (you can see how much degraded they have become). There is no restriction, no rules and regulations, they do it openly, without even any cover.

But we do Govardhan parikrama and Nabadwip dham parikrama—

gaura amara ye-saba sthane

karala bhramana range

se-saba sthana heriba ami

pranayi-bhakata-sange

"In the company of loving devotees, I behold all the places my Gaurasundar roamed during His ecstatic Pastimes."

I was just singing this now. "I will go to the places where Gaura went—I will see all these places with devotees (pranayi-bhakata-sange)." Mahaprabhu went to many places—for example, in South India. We have not got an opportunity to go there, but Gurudev went for the parikrama of South India many times. We also think that if we got time, we could go there after Gaura Purnima. I know much about South India from books, but I have never gone there—Guntur is there, the Godavari, the bank of the Godavari River is there. There are many very nice places there.

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi

grhete goloka bhaya

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

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

Actually, if worship is going on in some house, that house is like Goloka. That is why Gurudev would also tell the householder devotees, "You can make your house a temple." Mangal arati, kirtans—you can do it every day. That is called practising, and that is our practice.

...There is Govinda, Gopinath and Madan Mohan.

ei tina thakura gaudiyake kariyachena atmasat

e tinera charana vandon, tine mora natha

"These three Deities of Vrindavan (Madana-mohana, Govinda and Gopinatha) have stolen the heart and soul of the Gaudiya Vaishnavs (followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu). I worship Their lotus feet, for They are the Lords of my heart."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 1.19)

They are the Deities of sambandha tattva, abhidheya tattva, prayojana tattva. First is Madan Mohan, sambandha tattva, then abhidheya tattva, Govinda, and then prayojana tattva, Gopinath. Sanatan Goswami served Madan Mohanji, Rupa Goswami served Govindaji, and Madhu Pandit served Gopinathji. They served them in Vrindavan.

Almost all Mahaprabhu's parsadas (associates) served Deities, this was Mahaprabhu's sampradaya. And Vaishnavs live everywhere in Vrindavan. You see that behind the place of Kaliya-daman-lila there is samadhi of Prabodhananda Saraswati's. All Vaishnavs are there—in Govardhan and Vrindavan. At Radha Kunda, there is Raghunath Das Goswami's samadhi, in Radha Damodar there is Jiva Goswami's samadhi, Bhugarbha Goswami's samadhi, Rupa Goswami's samadhi...

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Vaishnav-Seva: Highlight of Life

22 January 2012, Guntur (Andhra Pradesh, South India)

Today is a very fortunate day because today we can join a disappearance festival of a Vaishnav. “Bhakta-sangete mana anandita anuksana"—when we get the association of great Vaishnavs, we always feel pleasure from that association, and through association our hearts will be clean. That is why we arrange festivals—to get the association of great Vaishnavs.

All Vaishnavs are actually associates of the Lord, they are media—they come to spread Krishna's message to all of us. When we have some problem, we can tell about it to a Vaishnav, and the Vaishnav tells about it to the Lord. The Lord cannot always come Himself, but He always sends His associates to preach Krishna consciousness all over the world, so if we get association of a Vaishnav, we can get mercy of the Lord through them.

Krishna Himself says, "Those who say they are My devotees, are not My devotees; but those who are devotees of My devotees, are My devotees." If you invite Krishna, Krishna will not come, but if you invite Mother Yasoda, Yasoda will bring Krishna to you—that is why we must please, we must make devotees happy, that is why we must serve devotees.

When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in Puri, one householder devotee, Sivananda Sen, asked Him, "Prabhu, we are householder devotees, what is our duty?" Mahaprabhu replied, "Go to your home and serve Vaishnavs and engage in Nama sankirtan." Vaishnav seva means following the order and advice that a Vaishnav gives you. How can you do Vaishnav seva? How can you please a Vaishnav? If you follow their order, you can please them. For example, if you go to a big doctor, the doctor will give you a prescription, but if you just keep that prescription aside and you do not follow it, if you do not take the medicine, how will you then be cured? Your Guru gives you some advice, and if you do not follow that advice (if you do not take his medicine), how will you be cured?

When leaving Nabadwip to take sannyas, Mahaprabhu Himself said,

yadi ama'-prati sneha thake sabakara

tabe krsna-vyatirikta na gaibe ara

"If you have any love and affection for Me, then only say 'Krishna'—do not say anything except 'Krishna.'"

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-khanda, 28.27)

"If you have love and affection for Me, then say, 'Krishna,' speak about Krishna, and engage others in service to Krishna." This is what all of our Guru-varga (Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, and others) preaches all over the world,

prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama

sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

"This Name will be distributed all over the world—in all the villages, towns, and cities that there are in this world."

They always fulfil Mahaprabhu's desire—they take His prescription and distribute it all over the world. What is the main teaching that Mahaprabhu Himself teaches us? Be humble, tolerant, and give honour to others.

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna

amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

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

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

Be humble, tolerant, and give honour to others. This is what I have come here for, this is what we are preaching.

I am also thinking,

gaura amara ye saba sthane

karala bhramana range

se saba sthana heribo ami

pranayi-bhakata-sange

"In the company of loving devotees, I behold all the places my Gaurasundar roamed during His ecstatic Pastimes."

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

Mahaprabhu visited many places, He visited all of South India also, and we want to visit those places with devotees, that is why we have come here in Guntur [Andhra Pradesh, South India].

Actually, we have come here to serve everybody—we have not come to take service, we have come to serve everybody. Devotees always engage everybody and everything in service. For example, a flower is used on a birthday celebration, a wedding festival, or some marriage ceremony, but when a devotee gives one flower to Lord Krishna, he gives benefit to the flower tree. Krishna said that everything that exists in this world is for His service, but we are enjoying with that—we must understand that we are not enjoyers, Krishna is the only enjoyer. Because we have ego we suffer and enjoy ourselves. For example, you live in a family—you can enjoy with family life, but you must understand that this family is Krishna's family, then you can enjoy with Krishna's family. Work for Krishna, serve Krishna, cook for Krishna—whatever you do, you must do it for Krishna. If you want to eat something, first offer it to the Lord, then take prasadam.

Disappearance of a Vaishnav means Vaishnav viraha (separation from a Vaishnav). When Mahaprabhu was talking to Ramananda Ray, He asked him, "What is our real, main sadness?" Ramananda Ray replied, "When our devotee leaves some place, that is our greatest sadness."

Today is actually also a sad day because one sannyasi has left his body on this day, but at the same time we do not think that he died, we do not think that this is actually sad because we understand that Krishna sent him here to serve, to preach Krishna consciousness in this area of the world, and now his work has finished and Krishna has taken him again to His place. That is why, we make disappearance festivals, that is why we do Guru-puja and Vaishnav-puja (we worship the Guru and Vaishnavs). This is an important day in our spiritual life. "Chhadiya vaisnava-seva nistara payechhe keba: Without service to the Vaishnav, you cannot get any relief." You must always do Vaishnav seva—without service to the Vaishnavs we cannot proceed in our spiritual life.

hari-sthane aparadhe tare hari-nama

toma-sthane aparadhe nahika edana

"If you make an offence to the Lord, Vaishnavs can remove that offence, but if you offend Vaishnavs, then not even Krishna can remove that offence." We must be always careful.

Also, the scriptures say that when you bring a Deity, it is necessary to have some installation, but for a Vaishnav and Tulasi Maharani no installation is necessary—they are always automatically established, or installed. So, when we see a Vaishnav (it does not matter whether it is a senior Vaishnav or a junior Vaishnav), we must pay obeisance to them. When Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur saw his disciple, even if it was a seven-eight-year-old boy, he would pay obeisance to him and say, "Daso 'smi, I am your servant."

Who is a Vaishnav? Those who have chanted the Holy Name once are Vaishnavs (kanistha-adhikari); those who always chant the Holy Name are Vaishnavs (madhyam-adhikari); and if seeing somebody you take the Holy Name, they are also Vaishnavs (uttam-adhikari, or senior great Vaishnav). The Guru is an uttam Vaishnav (highest Vaishnav), but, because the Guru has to make disciples, he has to come down to the level of a madhyam-adhikari.

So, I am very happy today to get association of so many Vaishnavs and hear the chanting of the Holy Name here—this is my pleasure, this is my happiness.

* * *

Tracing Our Roots

22 January 2012, Nandigram (Andhra Pradesh, South India)

Actually, I am very happy to be getting the association of all of you. We have all come from the same place, from the same family.

We think that some people here have come from Italy, Venezuela, Malaysia, or some other country, you are also coming from a village in Andhra Pradesh, but actually we all come from the same place—our home is one. Back to God, back to home. That is why Krishna appears in this age of Kali to bring us to our real home.

Srimad Bhagavatam also says,

krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam

sangopangastra-parsadam

yajnaih sankirtana-prayair

yajanti hi su-medhasah

"Those of sharp intellect will worship Krishna who appears with a non-black bodily hue, who is armed and surrounded by His associates and servants, and who always chants the Holy Names."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.5.32)

Those who have come good merit, some good fortune (brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva, Cc, 2.19.151)—those who are great fortunate souls—they can get and take advantage of this opportunity.

You know that in Dvapar-yuga Krishna appeared in Mathura, Vrindavan, and He wanted to dance, chant and play with His devotees. There are four ages—Satya-yuga Treta-yuga, Dvapar-yuga, and Kali-yuga. Srimad Bhagavatam says that each age has its own prescribed religion. In Satya-yuga, people did meditation, in Treta-yuga fire sacrifices, in Dvapar-yuga worshipped Deities, and in Kali-yuga the religion is Harinama sankirtan. There are four ages and four religions for each of them.

The duration of people's life in Satya-yuga was one lakh (100,000 years), and people did meditation for 60-70,000 years, this is how they got association of Krishna, but Krishna thought, "In Treta-yuga the lifespan is 10,000 years, in Dvapar-yuga 1,000 years, but in Kali-yuga the lifespan is only 120 years. This is a very short time, how will people be rescued from that kind of environment?" One day, Krishna was sitting under a tamarind tree on the bank of the Yamuna in Vrindavan and He saw His shadow (His reflection in the waters of the Yamuna). He was surprised, "How beautiful I am!" Then He thought, "Why does Radharani chant My Name and cry? Why do devotees chant, dance and cry? I want to taste it too!" So, as you know, Krishna appeared in the age of Kali in Nabadwip Dham some 527 years ago as Mahaprabhu, Sri Krishna Chaitanya, who is a combined form of Radha-Krishna, and He also appeared in the form of the Holy Name.

Mahaprabhu, who is Krishna Himself, went house to house, door to door, calling everybody,

jiva jaga, jiva jaga, gorachanda bale

kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

Sri Gorachand says, "O souls, awake! O souls, awake! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?"

"Do not sleep, do not sleep! Wake up! This is not your house! This is not your real home! How many days will you stay here? We have all come from the same place—you have come from Me, and I have come to take you there!"

Sanatan Goswami asked Mahaprabhu five questions— (1) Who am I? (2) Why do I suffer? (3) How can I get relief from this suffering? (4) What is real? (5) How should I practise? First, we must know who we are. My name is this, your name is that, but this is not our real identity! We came

jivera 'svarupa' haya—krsnera 'nitya-dasa'

krsnera 'tatastha-sakti' 'bhedabheda-prakasa'

"By its intrinsic nature, the soul is an eternal servant of Krishna; the souls comes from the marginal energy of Krishna and are simultaneously one with and different from the Lord."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.108)

We are Krishna's eternal servants, but we have forgotten it, and as a result we are suffering now.

You know that I and my body is not same. Just as we change our clothes, we also always change our bodies. Sometimes we have a cow's body, sometimes a goat's body, sometimes a cockroach's body, sometimes a mosquito's body, sometimes a cat's body, sometimes a dog's body—just as we change our clothes every day, we also always change our bodies.

When we were in our mother's womb for ten months, ten days, we cries and suffered there so much. Those who are fortunate souls can see Lord Krishna. Krishna comes to them and says, "When you come out of your mother's womb, you will forget Me! You will not see My divine form with your eyes, you will not hear My katha with your ears, you will not chant My Holy Name with your mouth—you will always forget Me!" Krishna also explains why:

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)

Lord Krishna Himself says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, "I created this illusory environment and you cannot defeat it. However, if you surrender to Me, then I can remove My illusory environment—it will always run away from you."

Service to the Lord is the religion of all jiva souls. It is not a Hindu religion. We do not preach Muslim religion, we do not preach a Buddhist religion or a Christian religion—this is jaiva-dharma, the religion of the jiva soul. Every soul, even a tree also, must serve the Lord, but a tree does not know about it. So, if a devotee takes a flower from a tree and gives it to the Lord, then the tree can also do service to the Lord through a Vaishnav.

yei bhaje sei bada, abhakta—hina, chhara

krsna-bhajane nahi jati-kuladi-vichara

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

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.67)

You can be a brahmin, a brahmachari or even a sannyasi, but if you do not worship the Lord, you will go to hell. Or you may be a sweeper, a low caste person, or even a person from the drain, the lowest caste, but if you serve the Lord, you become great. Mahaprabhu did not make division according to the caste and creed, He always said that everybody is equal, everybody is a jiva soul. We are not brahmins, we are not ksatryas, we are not vaisyas, we are not sudras, we are not sweepers or cleaners, or anything else, we are not Muslim, we are not Christian—we all come from the Lord and we all must go to the same place. That is why in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's time even a brahmin and a chandal (the lowest persons) hugged each other and paid obeisance to each other.

We must understand Mahaprabhu's conception. The Lord comes from Goloka Vrindavan as the Holy Name and as a teacher. This Name comes through Guru-parampara...

* * *

Serve, Chant, Remember

22 January 2012, Nandigram (Andhra Pradesh, South India)

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

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

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

We keep coming and going, we are always changing our address—sometimes we are born in Russia, sometimes in India, sometimes in Japan, sometimes in some other place. We always change our address, but now that we have got a human body:

bharata-bhumite haila manusya janma yara

janma sarthaka kari' kara para-upakara

"One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India should make his life successful and life for the benefit of all other people."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 9.41)

Why are we born here in India, in a religious country? What is our duty? Now we are actually not different from cows and dogs—they all eat, sleep, enjoy and we do the same thing, we do not worship the Lord, we do not chant His Holy Name... That is why Krishna sends Guru-varga, His associates, to distribute His message all over the world.

Mahaprabhu said that it is not necessary to leave your family, it is not necessary to leave your job, etc. When you are cooking, you can chant the Holy Name (or when your mother is cooking, she can chant the Holy Name); when you are working, you can chant the Holy Name. It is not necessary to leave your country, to leave your family life. You can live in a family, but you must understand that your family is Krishna's family and when you work, you should work for the Lord.

Service and duty (karma) are not the same. For example, a cat takes a rat into its mouth and another cat takes its baby into its mouth—both actions look the same, but one is service and one is karma. The scriptures say, "Sevon mukhe kaha Krsna Nam. You can do service with your hands and chant with your mouth."

In this world, Krishna is the only enjoyer, but because we have ego we enjoy with His property. Everything in this world is created and exists for the service of the Lord. Moreover, Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita (9.30),

api chet suduracharo, bhajate mam ananya-bhak

sadhur eva sa mantavyah, samyag vyavasito hi sah

"If even a very sinful person serves Me exclusively with devotion, he should be regarded as saintly, for his resolve is perfect."

Krishna says, "Somebody is doing some bad things or did many bad things in his previous karma, but if such person surrenders to Me, I remove his offence and engage him in the service to My lotus feet."

You know also that after taking sannyas Mahaprabhu first went to Puri. There, He met with Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, who used to have so much ego, told Mahaprabhu to come to the bank of the Godavari River and see Raya Ramananda. When Mahaprabhu met with Ray Ramananda, He brought him back to Puri with Him. This was when Mahaprabhu came here and preached to all South Indian people. He said, "If you have love and affection for Me, then say 'Krishna', worship Krishna, do not forget Krishna, always remember Krishna."

So, you all know who our Guru-varga is. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, the founder of ISKCON, our Param Gurudev Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, our Gurudev Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj—they are all our Guru-parampara. This Guru-parampara originates from Krishna, from Krishna it came to Brahma, from Brahma to Narad, from Narad to Vyasadev, from Vyasadev to Madhva Acharya—in this way it came to Madhavendra Puri, Ishwar Puri, and finally Mahaprabhu Himself. This is how, through Guru-parampara, this Holy Name comes. If some fortunate soul can take this Holy Name and chant the Holy Name, they can go to their real home, and it will not be necessary for them to come and go again, it will not be necessary to suffer all kinds of suffering any more.

When I went to Turkey, I saw so many Muslim people who wanted to chant this Holy Name. They are many restrictions in their country because of their religion, but when we tell them not to kill anything, that there is a jiva soul existing in every body, that we must be humble, tolerant and give honour to others, they liked our conception—they think, "Why kill cows, goats, etc.? This is a very nice conception." They start to follow it, they begin to chant the Holy Name. Even in Mahaprabhu's time also, there was Chand Kazi (Muslim ruler) who broke a mridanga but later became a devotee (Mahaprabhu rescued Him); there was Jagai and Madhai who also became devotees through chanting of the Holy Name. These are just a few example of the power of the Holy Name. It is said in the scriptures that even a crore (million) of fire sacrifices performed in Dvapara-yuga is not equal to chanting just one Holy Name.

* * *

This Is Your Medicine, Take It

22 January 2012, Nandigram (Andhra Pradesh, South India)

You have heard the pastimes of Indra and of Nrisinghadev. When Hiranyakasipu worshipped Brahma, he asked Brahma, "I want to be immortal," but Brahma said, "I do not have such power. Even I also have to leave this body one day."

Brahma Himself says in Brahma-samhita,

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

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

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

There are thirty-three crores (million) demigods—if we worship Lord Ganesh, Kartik will be angry; if we worship Siva, Parvati will be angry, and so on. There are thirty-three million demigods and we cannot worship all of them, but if you worship Krishna, then

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya

krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

If you put water under the tree, it is not necessary to put water on the branches, leaves or anywhere else. In the same way, if you worship Krishna, you do not need to worship anyone else. Everything is arranged by Krishna.

We do something good, we want to go to heaven, but when Hiranyakasipu attacked heaven, all demigods, including even India, the king of heaven, ran away. Moreover, Indra himself once got a pig's body for twelve years—he had to forget that before he was Indra, the king of heaven.

We have very much attachment with family, that is why we do not tell you that you must leave your family. You can stay with your family, but try to be detached and remember the Lord:

‘asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'

visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

"When you are free from material attachment and establish relationship with the Lord, then you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself."

('Vaishnav ke?' verse 12)

You can stay with your family, but do not be so much attached to it. You are not the proprietor of your house—you are only a security guard, a gatekeeper of your house.

So, I am praying to everybody—Mahaprabhu brought Harinam-sankirtan, this is your medicine, take it. If you take this medicine, you will be rescued from this world. When you get a good doctor and good medicine, your disease will be removed. This Harinam-sankirtan is your medicine.

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

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

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

Mahaprabhu asked Haridas Thakur, "How will this maha-mantra rescue souls all over the world?" Haridas Thakur answered, "Nama-abhase mukti paibe—through the chanting of the Holy Name everybody will be rescued from this material environment."

jive daya name ruchi vaisnava seva

iha bahi sanatana nahi ara dharma

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

These are Mahaprabhu's worlds. Jive daya means giving benefit, being kind to the jiva souls. A devotee can rescue others. I have told you this example before—suppose you grow a coconut tree, you cannot drink that coconut water yourself; you must first give it to Krishna, then you can take prasadam. This is how you can rescue, you can give benefit to others—in this way the coconut tree gets benefit. Name ruchi means relishing the Holy Name. How will that taste come? How is it possible? This taste will come, but when you are sick and some good food comes in front of you, you do not feel any taste for it because your mouth is bitter. In the same way, we have some disease inside us—this disease is kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (lust, anger, greed, attachment, illusion, envy), rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa (being controlled by the senses of sight, taste, smell, hearing, touch). There are so many things inside us, that is why we do not get the taste through chanting. We must pray to the devotees of the Lord to get relief...

* * *

Devotion to Devotees

22 January 2012, Nandigram (Andhra Pradesh, South India)

Krishna says, "If somebody says, 'I am Krishna's devotee,' they are not My devotee; but if somebody says, 'I am a devotee of Krishna's devotee,' they are My devotee." Narad Goswami asked the Lord, "Prabhu, where do You stay?" and the Lord replied, "I stay where My katha (Krishna-katha) is going on. I stay where My mother cooks for Me. I stay where Nityananda Prabhu is chanting and dancing. And I stay where My devotee prepares food for Me."

We forget Krishna, we forget our father! But He is searching for us, His lost sons—it is Loving search for the lost servant. We are searching for our father, and our father is also searching for His sons. We must go to our father. His associate comes here to take us to our real home...

It is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita also: you think that you are cooking, that your family member is earning some money, but can you say who actually does it for you? We are not doing anything—Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is doing everything. If you really think about it, you can easily realise it. If we do not offer something to the Lord or His senior associate, it means we steal His things. That is why when you cook, you should offer what you cook to the Lord and then take prasadam.

I am inviting all of you to Bengal for Gaura Purnima and Nabadwip Dham parikrama. Come and do this parikrama. We come and go in this world, we always do this samsar parikrama, but I am inviting you all to come and get relief from this samsar parikrama—I am inviting you all to Nabadwip. You will get prasadam and a room there, it is not a problem, you do not need to pay any money, only get your train fare and come to stay in our temple for five-seven days. Every year, ten thousand people from seventy countries all over the world come for this Nabadwip Dham parikrama. Come and you can also enjoy at Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's birthplace. We also arrange Puri Dham parikrama and Vrindavan Dham parikrama. If you can do parikrama with devotees, you can get real benefit for your spiritual life.

Generally, why is it necessary to take initiation, why is it necessary to take a Guru? When we want to learn something, it is always necessary to take some Guru—if we want to learn to cook, we need a Guru (teacher); if we want to get to some school, it is necessary to have a Guru (teacher). In every field, you must have somebody to teach you. That is why a spiritual master is also necessary. Why do we go to the temple? There is a good story about this.

There was once a barber shop. In the shop, there was only one barber, and many visitors were in the line—they were sitting and talking, gossiping with each other. Then, a brahmachari entered the shop to have his head shaved. The barber saw that the man had a tilak and Tulasi mala and said, "In this world, there is no Lord, no Krishna, no God! If God existed, then why do people suffer? Why do floods come? Why do so many people die? Why do train accidents happen? There is no God in the world!" The brahmachari thought, "They are the majority here and I cannot defeat them..." so he did not say anything.

When he was walking from the shop, he kept thinking, "How can I defeat them? How can I turn that man into a devotee when his mind is polluted by those people..." Suddenly, he found himself at a train station. There, he saw a man who had not shaved for maybe ten years—he had very long hair and a very long beard. He grabbed the man and brought him to the barber shop.

"There is no barber in this area! There is no barber in this country!" said the brahmachari at the shop.

"Hey, what are you saying? I shaved your head only yesterday! Why are you saying there is no barber?! I am the barber!"

"If you are a barber, then why does this man have such long hair and such a long beard? Why has this man not shaved for ten years?"

"How am I to shave him if he has not come to my shop?!"

"So, yesterday you said that the Lord does not exist, you said there was no Bhagavan, but how can you say it if you never go to the Lord's temple, if you never go to Krishna's temple, you never go to the devotees of the Lord? If you stayed with a great devotee of the Lord, then you would see Lord Krishna."

If you stand and watch somebody play football, you cannot get the taste, but when they play, they get so much excitement and energy. If you want to play football, you must come and join a football team. Devotees chant, dance, cry, roll, etc. Why do they do this? They do not take whiskey, they do not take any liquor, they do not take ganja, pan, or anything like that, but what kind of taste are they getting when they are chanting? You must join that kind of association to understand it.

If you invite Krishna, Krishna will not come to you, but if you invite Mother Yasoda, she will take Lord Gopal, Krishna, on her lap and bring Him to you. You must serve the devotees. Gurudev said, "If you serve devotees, Krishna will come and serve you." You heard what happened in Kadam-khandi, Vrindavan—Radharani Herself came and cooked sweet rice for Sanatan Goswami and Rupa Goswami!

* * *

Priceless Wealth

22 January 2012, Nandigram (Andhra Pradesh, South India)

I can tell you one story from Bengal.

Many years ago, there was one brahmin called Jivan Chakravarti. He worshipped Lord Siva—always meditated on him, always worshipped him. One day, Lord Siva became very happy with his meditation and asked that brahmin,

"O Jivan Chakravarti, what do you want?"

"O Lord, my daughter is twenty years old, it is time for her to get married, but it is necessary to give some dowry. That is why I want some money... Please, can you give me some wealth?" answered Jivan Chakravarti.

"I have no wealth," said Lord Siva, "but you can go to Vrindavan. Sanatan Goswami lives there, he can give you proper wealth. You can go and ask him."

In those days, there were no cars, no buses, no trains—Jivan Chakravarti walked to Vrindavan. When he reached Vrindavan, he asked some poor brahmin sitting in the street,

"Do you know where Sanatan Goswami lives?"

"I am Sanatan Goswami," answered the brahmin.

Jivan Chakravarti was surprised. He thought, "I am a poor man, but this man has nothing at all. He has no house, he lives under a tree. He has no glass, no plate—all his utensils are made of clay... How will he give me wealth? He is even poorer than me. I must have come to a wrong person." He said to Sanatan Goswami, "I have come to you for wealth, but seeing you I think I must have made a mistake." He turned round and walked away.

Suddenly, Sanatan Goswami called him, "Oh, I remembered! The other day, when I was bathing in the Yamuna, I found a piece of touchstone. I threw it somewhere in the sand on the bank of the Yamuna. You can take that touchstone and become a rich man—you will be able to arrange the marriage of your daughter, you will get a house and anything else you want."

Jivan Chakravarti went to the bank of the Yamuna and found the touchstone, but suddenly he thought, "Why did that man throw a touchstone in the Yamuna? Maybe he has something more valuable than that... I want to ask him." So, Jivan Chakravarti again came back to Sanatan Goswami.

"Why did you come back?" asked Sanatan Goswami. "You have got your touchstone. Go back to your home, you will be rich."

"I have a question to you... Maybe you have something more valuable? What valuable thing do you have that you throw away a touchstone? Can you perhaps give something more valuable to me?"

"Do you want that wealth? I can give it to you, but first you must throw this touchstone into the Yamuna."

Jivan Chakravarti threw the touchstone away, and Sanatan Goswami gave him chanting beads.

In the end, his family became rich and his daughter got a good husband. It was not necessary for him to arrange anything—Krishna arranged everything for them.

Krishna said, "If you think about Me, I will think about you, but if you are always thinking about yourself, why should I help you then?" It is necessary to fully surrender to the Lord…

* * *

Captured By Heart, Not Kartals

22 January 2012, Nandigram (Andhra Pradesh, South India)

We must practise. Krishna Himself comes as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for practising, and actually He practises Himself.

Our line is Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan—first is Guru, not Bhagavan. So, first we must do Guru vandana (worship the Guru), then Vaishnav vandana (worship great Vaishnavs). Vaishnavs always keep Krishna in their hearts, and we always follow them. When we sing Vaishnavs' songs, we pray to Vaishnav Thakur, "Please, give me Krishna-bhakti (devotion to Lord Krishna)!"

Actually, I have come here not to chant myself—I have come to hear you chant, I have come to engage you in chanting. You can simply clap your hands and chant.

When Mahaprabhu went to Benares, Kashi, He chanted and danced there. Later, somebody asked Mahaprabhu about mayavadi sannyasis, "Why do they not chant?" and Mahaprabhu said that they did not chant because they were offenders of the Name of Krishna. I do not think that you are offenders of the Name of Krishna, so I have come here to chant with you all.

If I chant, I will be getting benefit—if I take medicine, I will be cured. If you want to be cured, you have to take the medicine yourself. You must chant yourself, and I have come here to engage you in chanting. When you go to Goloka Vrindavan, there will be no kartals, no mridanga there, only clapping your hands and chanting.

Through Her service, through Her chanting, Radharani captured the heart of Krishna. You know that Radharani did not study at Cambridge or Oxford University—simply through service, through chanting, She captured everything.

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela

krsna-bhajana tava akarane gela

"If you do not worship Srimati Radharani, your worship of Krishna is nothing."

If you do not worship Radharani, you cannot worship Krishna—your worship will be nothing, useless. "Nitaiyer karuna habe Vraje Radha Krsna pabe: when Nitai bestows His mercy, you will reach Radha-Krsna in Vraja." Nityananda Prabhu is Guru-tattva, so if you do not worship the Guru, your worship of Krishna is useless.

* * *

Power of Surrender—and Faith

22 January 2012, Nandigram (Andhra Pradesh, South India)

Jay Srila Gurudev. Does anyone have any questions?

Question: If the Lord has decided on some lot for me, can I change this lot through kirtan?

Yes, of course. The Lord can change everything. Even if you did some karma previously, everything can change, everything is possible through chanting and through association. You may think that something will happen, but it may not happen—you think something is impossible, but nothing is impossible, anything can happen. But it all depends upon your faith, the strongest faith is necessary. There are four kinds of faith—kamala-sraddha (delicate faith), taranga-sraddha (fickle faith), drdha-sraddha (firm faith), and sudrdha-sraddha (the strongest faith). If you have the strongest faith and you surrender fully, then you will get a real benefit.

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya

krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

If you have the strongest faith and devotion, then you will have no offence, you do not have to suffer atonement—by the mercy of the Lord, everything will be fulfilled.

I am remembering one sloka from Srimad Bhagavad-gita:

ananyas chintayanto mam, ye janah paryupasate

tesam nityabhiyuktanam, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

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

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.22)

Krishna says in Gita, "If somebody does not think about anything else except Me (ananyas chintayanto)—if they only surrender to Me—then I personally carry their food to them."

There was once a brahman and brahmani, his wife. They lived together and served Radha Madhav, they did not have children. Every day they went begging. They did not go to so many houses—they would go to one house, and the householder would give them some rice, dal, subji, oil, salt, etc. They collected what was necessary and did not deposit anything for the next day. After collecting the bhog, they would cook and offer it to Radha Madhav and then take prasadam.

The brahman also read Srimad Bhagavad-gita every day. One day, he saw this sloka where Krishna says, "If you think about Me, I will carry your food to you," and thought, "This is not true! I go begging every day and I get my food. Krishna does not get it for me." So, he tore that sloka, wrote, "I am doing it myself," and he left for begging.

At that time, Narayan and Laksmi Devi were in Vaikuntha. Laksmi Devi was serving Narayan when suddenly Narayan cried, "Oh, how painful!" (In Gita, Krishna says, "Gita is My body"—so when the brahmin tore his Gita, Narayan felt pain in His back.) Narayan said, "My devotee is in trouble, I have to come to earth," and, taking Laksmi Devi's permission, He came to earth in a human body.

Narayan came to this planet as a small twelve-year-old boy and carried a big sack of rice, a big sack of dal and vegetables to the house of the brahman. The brahman was begging outside, so He called his wife,

"O brahmani! Please come, please come, it is very heavy! Please take this!"

The brahmani came out and asked the boy, "Who are You? Who gave You all this?"

"The brahman gave it to Me."

"But why are You carrying so much? Does the brahman not know You are a small boy?"

"I told I him it was too heavy and I could not carry it, but he gave Me a slap and told to carry it," said the boy and showed a mark on His back.

"But he is a brahman," said the brahmani, surprised, "he comes from a good family, and he is a Vaishnav, he is not an angry person. Why would he beat You?"

"You take these things first, then we can talk."

The brahmani went inside to keep the bhog, and the boy ran away.

In the meantime, the brahman was begging in the village. He came to the first house—they said, "Oh, my relative died, we are going to the cremation ghat. We are busy today and cannot give it to you today." He came to the second house—they said, "Oh, my mother is sick, we need to go to the hospital. We are busy today and cannot give you anything. Come another day." He came to the third house—the house was closed and nobody was at home. He came to the fourth house—a lady who was working and cooking there said, "I am busy today, come another day." In this way, he went house to house around the whole village, but nobody gave him anything.

It was getting late. The brahmani cooked and offered the bhog, but the brahman was not coming and she began to worry. Then, late in the afternoon, the brahman finally came home empty-handed.

"I have not got anything today! My Radha Madhav will fast today and we will fast today too," cried the brahman.

"What are you saying?" his wife was surprised. "You sent some boy with so many things and now you are saying you have not got anything?"

The brahmani told her husband what had happened. The brahman went to the temple of Radha Madhav and saw that Bhagavad-gita was lying open there. He asked his wife,

"Were you reading Bhagavad-gita today?"

"No, I did not read it," said the brahmani.

"Then why is Gita here? I read it in the morning and kept it on the shelf."

Then he noticed that the book was open on the same place where that same torn sloka was, and it was written there now, "You do not know anything—'vahamy aham' means I do everything." Krishna came and wrote it Himself.

Do you understand? Krishna does everything. Even Brahma said,

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

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

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

"Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the cause of all causes, He does everything." But we are "asatya satya kari mani"—because of our false ego we accept false things as truth. We think, "She is my wife," "He is my husband," "This is my house," etc., but all this is temporary. We are living in a rented house, and when rent term finishes neither your daughter, not your wife, husband, son or anyone else can bind you—you will have to leave this house.

* * *

Initiation—Surrender of Heart

22 January 2012, Nandigram (Andhra Pradesh, South India)

Question: Some of us are interested in taking the Holy Name initiation—will you give initiation to us?

Actually, I have come here to serve you all. If somebody wants to take this Holy Name, I am ready—Gurudev gave me this position to serve you all. You know that the Holy Name comes through a Guru-parampara, and in his lifetime, Gurudev said to me, "If somebody is a sincere seeker, if they will follow the rules and regulations—if they have got good association and sincerely want to chant the Holy Name—you can give this Harinam diksa, this Holy Name, to them."

I will tell you some of the rules and regulations. You can understand it easily. There are four places where Kali always stays—these are dyuta, pana, striya, suna. These four are restricted and prohibited in our line. (1) Dyuta means gambling. (2) Pan means whiskey, drinking liquor, alcohol; you must avoid this. (3) Striya means illegal sex; a man has a good wife, a woman has a good husband, that is not a problem, but prostitution and living like cats and dogs is not good, it disturbs everything. And (4) suna means jiva-himsa; we do not kill anything. Every body has a jiva soul, so we do not kill anything. Sometimes people say to me, "But you also cut vegetables, sak, etc." People kill cows, goats, chickens, etc. and they say that sadhus, devotees also commit sin—they cut vegetables, sak, etc. Yes, sadhus do that, but who do they do it for? For the Lord—they cut vegetables to offer them to the Lord. Here too, they are cooking today, but they will offer it to the Lord and then we will take prasadam. Krishna says, "When devotees do something for Me, this is nirguna—there is no sin in it." So, you must offer first food to the Lord, then take prasadam.

...I am very happy with you all. Prabhu who has invited you all and is arranging this programme, arranging Krishna-katha is getting benefit (commission), and I am also getting benefit through that. Actually, you do not understand my language, and I do not understand your language, but we do not have any 'skin connection'—you and myself have a heart to heart connection. When you come to take initiation, it is not necessary to bring money or anything. You can bring a few fruits, this is sufficient. We are not asking anyone for money—we are asking for your love and affection.

This temple Chaitanya Saraswat Math was established in 1941, many years before ISKCON, and you know that the siksa guru of Srila Swami Maharaj, the founder of ISKCON, was our Param Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Maharaj. If you want to hear more about the history of our Math, you can get some books or leaflets and read about it. Take the invitation letters also. We have 120 centres all over the world, and if you want to join some of our centres permanently (we also have a ladies' ashram), you are always welcome. I am requesting you all to come and join. It is not necessary to bring any money or anything, you can simply come with your clothes and stay.

Question: Do you follow Bhagavad-gita?

Yes, Gita is the authentic, primary book. We also follow Chaitanya-charitamrita and Bhagavatam.

Question: Why is it then necessary to take a Guru?

Even Gita also tells that it is necessary to take a Guru. Krishna Himself says you must follow the Gita, rules and regulations, etc. and we follow it. Gita is our primary book. But Gita comes from Dvapar-yuga, and now, in Kali-yuga, the prescribed religion is chanting of the Holy Name, and you must take the Holy Name from a Guru-parampara.

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

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

You must take Guru-prasad. This is said in Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila, 19.151). Otherwise, you can read books like Gita and get the primary education, but if you can get education by reading books from the library, why do you then go to school?

—Because it is necessary to have a Guru (teacher)...

Yes, a Guru is necessary. Even Mahaprabhu, the Lord Himself, took initiation from Iswara Puri, and later He took sannyas initiation from Keshav Bharati. He shows us by His example. How can I tell you, "Come to the mangal arati early in the morning" if I myself do not follow it? Mahaprabhu Himself took initiation and He told us to take initiation also. Nije achari dharma jivke sikhaya: practise yourself and teach the right path to others. If we follow something ourselves, then we can tell everybody to follow that.

* * *

Festival of the Lord—for the Lord

Eve of Sri Nrisingha Chaturdasi

2 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham

Translated into English from Bengali

One time when I went to Kolkata with some books, I was sitting in the car and watching people around. I saw how as soon as people got off the bus, they began to run, and I thought to myself, amused, "How much people are running around, how much they are hurrying..." They hurry so much to do some work and errands. What for? Just to have some nice food and nice clothes... Is it not so, tell me? The whole world is busy with these things, but how many people are busy with the Lord? Nobody thinks about the Lord...

You have all come here to observe this festival tomorrow, the festival of Lord Nrisinghadev's appearance. Amidst so many things you have come here thinking about the Lord. For so many days you have been thinking, "When will I come for the festival of Lord Nrisinghadev?" You have been planning it, you have been thinking about it. This is how we must always think.

Tomorrow is a fasting day. It is a very difficult day, but it is necessary to do it. Even if it is hard for you, still you must do it. The other day a man from Colombia died—he had been fed with saline and oxygen for a month before he died; he had not taken any food for a whole month. Think about it. When you are sick and hospitalised, when you have fever or you are operated, you do not get food for a few days. Is it not so? And here you must think, "I am doing this for the Lord. I am fasting tomorrow for the Lord."

So, tomorrow the fast is from morning till the evening. If somebody cannot do it, if they have some problem with their stomach, they can take something at noon. This is allowed by the scriptures. Those who cannot do full fast can take some fruit, something to drink, but not rice, dal—no muri, no singara (samosa) and tea from the shop [His Divine Grace laughs]. Some say, "Oh, I am fasting," and go have a cup of tea at the tea shop, or take muri, roti. This is not fasting.

We do not worship the Lord using the Lord. People worship Kali, Durga, Laksmi, etc. What do they say? "Vidyam dehi, rupam dehi, bharyam dehi, kavitam dehi, sundarim dehi: give me knowledge, give me a nice body, give me a nice wife, make me a poet, make me beautiful," and so on. They say, "Lord, give me this. Serve me. I will give You some nice rice and banana (=I am giving You a bribe) and in exchange You will give me money, knowledge, etc." Is it not so? They want the Lord to serve them.

A pujari cooks so many nice things and brings the bhog to the Lord, and in his mind he is thinking, "Today I will eat so nicely!" Before giving it to the Lord, he is eyeing the offering. Is this an offering to the Lord?

Think about this...

Jay Srila Guru Mahraj ki jay!

Harinam sankirtan ki jay!

* * *

Perfect Attitude to Nrisinghadev

Sri Nrisingha chaturdasi class

20 May 2016, Sri Nabadwip Dham

Translated from Bengali

Today is a very auspicious day. Today is the appearance day of Lord Nrisinghadev.

On this day, in Satya-yuga, Nrisinghadev appeared at twilight to protect Prahlad Maharaj and to remove the obstacles to pure devotion. Many of you have been to Nrisingha Palli. After Nrisinghadev defeated Hiranykasipu and washed His hands in a pond nearby, He took rest at that place. Later (in Satya-yuga), a Deity was installed, and that Deity worship has been running since then. We come to that place every year (during Nabadwip Dham parikrama).

You must always remember that the Lord cannot tolerate insult, humiliation or any trouble of His devotee. So, to protect His devotee, the Lord assumed the form of Nara-simha (half-man, half-lion). There is one more thing everybody must always remember. I heard it directly from the lotus mouth of Gurudev, and these are very important and confidential words. You must listen to it with your heart because you cannot understand it with your common intelligence, with your material intelligence, or intelligence full of material attachments, full of bhukti (desire for enjoyment), mukti (desire for liberation), siddhi (desire for perfections), full of dharma (desire for religion), artha (desire for wealth), kama (desire for material things), moksa (desire for liberation). You can understand Nrisinghadev teachings with this kind of intelligence (buddhi). If you have desire for dharma (religion), artha (wealth), kama (material benefit), moksa (liberation), if you have material attachment, you will not be able to understand this. It is necessary to have exclusive pure devotion, to be fully dedicated.

So, this is what Guru Maharaj (Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) said. Once, a devotee made got a kavach (amulet) with a Nrisinghadev sloka on it. He wore it on his neck and came to Gurudev. Noticing the kavach, Gurudev asked him, "What is this?" The devotee answered, "This is Nrisinghadev kavach." Gurudev said, "It is not the perfect way. You cannot use Nrisinghadev for yourself. You must serve Nrisinghadev, not use Him for your own self."

People pray, "O Nrisinghadev, please remove obstacles from my life!", "Please do this!", "Please do that!" When you come to Nrisinghadev, you must come to do service, to offer obeisance—not to use Nrisinghadev for other things. This is Gurudev's teachings, and it is very important teachings. You cannot use Nrisinghadev for your self, to remove your obstacles—you can serve Nrisinghadev. These words of Guru Maharaj are so beautiful.

When I go to Nrisingha Palli, I always first come close to the Deity and offer my obeisance. Even if I pass the place and have no time, still I offer obeisance from the car. It is necessary to show respect to the Deity, to have faith in the Deity. We do not have the eyes to have the darshan of Lord Nrisinghadev, but when I come there, Nrisinghadev knows it well—when I come there, Nrisinghadev can see me, and that is enough. I do not have the eyes to see Him,

andhibhuta chaksu yara visaya dhulite

ki rupe se para-tattva paibe dekhite

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

We must serve Nrisinghadev, not use Nrisinghadev. If you wear a Nrisinghadev kavach, you are using Nrisinghadev. You can see that many people sell Nrisinghadev kavach, they do it to get money—they use Nrisinghadev to do business. This is not our line. The only reason why we go to Nrisinghadev's place is to serve Nrisinghadev. We come and give some sweet rice, we give some milk, sugar, some other bhog—this is service of Nrisinghadev. You must always have this mentality, this attitude to Nrisinghadev.

We will speak about the main pastime a little later, you can also read about it in Bhagavatam, it is written there about it elaborately. (The appearance of Lord Nrisinghadev is in the evening—He appears at the twilight, then we must make an offering and sing "Bhaja bhakata vatsala".) We do not have time to read all of it now, but what we can say now is that Prahlad Maharaj learned about devotion from the mouth of Narad Goswami. When Narad Goswami spoke and read about devotion, Prahlad Maharaj's mother listened to it and Prahlad Maharaj, being in the womb of his mother, heard it too. These teachings are described in Bhagavatam too.

Everything that exists comes from the Lord,

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

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

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

Dharma, artha, kama, moksa (religiousness, wealth, material benefit, liberation) are all temporary, but devotion that can give your the Lord is not, it is permanent and eternal. Avoiding dharma, artha, kama, moksa, we must practise devotion. There are different moods of devotion—there are santa-, dasya-, sakhya-, vatsalya-, and madhura-rasa. Prahlad Maharaj is a santa-rasa devotee—he got the Lord by worshipping Him in the mood of neutrality. He was a little boy, only five years old, but he got the Lord.

For the Lord, he had to give up his father. In the same way, Bali Maharaj gave up his guru—when Bali Maharaj's guru gave him some bad advice and obstructed the service of the Lord, Bali Maharaj could not follow that and gave up his guru. Bharath Maharaj gave up his mother for the Lord. And here too, Prahlad Maharaj gave up his father, although later he prayed to the Lord for his father. Do you see? This is called nirmatsara, non-enviousness. Prahlad Maharaj's devotion was non-envious (nirmatsar) and selfless (niskam), he was not selfish (sakam).

You can see when people come to Nrisingha Palli, they tie some note to the tree there, they make some wish, etc. but devotion must be selfless, not driven by some material desires. Devotion can be of two types, sakam and niskam. Sakam-bhakti means I want something from the Lord in exchange of service. Prahlad Maharaj's devotion was niskam-bhakti, he prayed, "Lord, I want to serve You, I do not want anything in return. Please remove this asking mood from me." This is the main lesson of Prahlad Maharaj. Sakam-bhakti means you want dharma, artha, kama, or moksa, but these things are temporary. What is eternal? If you practise devotion, if you practise Krishna consciousness, you can get the Lord. This is eternal.

Prahlad Maharaj is a santa-bhakta, and I will tell you something about this devotion again, listen carefully. I always remember what Guru Maharaj said, and you too should always remember and think about it. When one devotee came to Guru Maharaj (Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) wearing a Nrisinghadev kavach, Guru Maharaj asked, "What is this?" The devotee said, "This is Nrisinghadev kavach." (He had bought it somewhere and wore on his neck). Then, Guru Maharaj asked him, "Do you want to use Nrisinghadev, or do you want to serve Nrisinghadev? What do you want?" It was a senior devotee, and Guru Maharaj asked him this question. I was surprised and sat there quietly, waiting to hear what Guru Maharaj would say.

Nrisinghadev destroys the obstacles of pure devotion—Nrisinghadev is not for destroying your obstacles. Why do you keep Nrisinghadev for your own purpose? Do not use Nrisinghadev, serve Nrisinghadev. When you are going to do some service, you can remember Nrisinghadev, you can remember Gurudev, this is all right, but do not use Nrisinghadev for your health, for your body, for your mind. These are Guru Maharaj's words. This what Guru Maharaj taught the person who wanted to use Nrisinghadev.

* * *

Lord's Care For His Devotee

Eve of Sri Nrisingha Chaturdasi,

2 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham, part 1

Translated into English from Bengali

The Lord comes whenever His devotee calls for Him. Every time He appears, whenever He appears, whether personally or in His Deity form, He does it to rescue His devotees. Mahaprabhu also appeared in this way, Lord Sri Krishna, Lord Nrisinghadev too... If you go to South India, in the direction of Vijayawada, you will see there mostly temples of Nrisinghadev.

Tomorrow is the appearance day of Lord Nrisinghadev. Mahaprabhu went to Nrisingha Palli, He sat there. The Lord appeared to protect Prahlad Maharaj, He removes obstacles on the path of pure devotion... It is was Guru Maharaj's (Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's) desire to get the service of Nrisinghadev—he tried to get it but could not. Now, by the mercy of Nrisinghadev, we have got a place in Nrisingha Palli. There will be a temple where we will be able to do service and worship of Lord Nrisinghadev.

If you are always fixed at remembering the Lord, you can get the Lord.

sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam,

dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam

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

Prahlad Maharaj got the Lord by remembering Him (smaranam). You can get the service of the Lord by chanting His glories.

To protect His devotee, the Lord took the form of Nrisingha—when it comes to protecting His devotees, the Lord does not remain idle. I told you yesterday how, to protect Ambharish Maharaj, the Lord did not remain indifferent.

Ambharish Maharaj had been dry-fasting all day, and the next day he took some charanamrita of the Lord to break his fasting, and Durvasa Muni got the ego, "I am a guest at your house, and you, without letting me know, without telling me anything, break the fast before me!" He chastised him so much. The Lord could not tolerate this—He called for His Sudarshan, and Sudarshan chaste Durvasa Muni everywhere, so much so that Durvasa Muni did not know where to go, he had gone to all places but could not get away from Sudarshan. But Ambharish Maharaj himself prayed to the Lord, "Prabhu, this is enough, please save him."

The Lord does not tolerate any trouble, any insult of His devotees...

* * *

Simple and Exclusive Process

Eve of Sri Nrisingha Chaturdasi,

2 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham, part 2

Translated into English from Bengali

When Mahaprabhu rescued Chand Kazi, He showed that there is nothing besides Krishna-kirtan in this world. The result of chanting the Holy Name is such that if anyone chants this Holy Name, they become rescued.

The Lord has given such an easy process—you do not need to meditate, you do not need to make sacrifice, you do not need to do Deity worship—you can get the Lord if you simply chant the Holy Name.

In Vrindavan, there is Kaliya-daha near the Yamuna, and in Nabadwip there is Gaura-daha near the Ganga (it is not far from the place where we take prasad on one of the days during Nabadwip Dham parikrama). One day, Mahaprabhu was walking with the devotees, and they came near this lake. A cowherd boy ran out to them and said,

"O Brother Nimai! Do not go there!"

"Why?" asked Mahaprabhu.

"There is a big crocodile there, even cows do not go there. When they went there to drink some water, they started crying and mooing out of fear!"

Mahaprabhu understood everything. He said, "All right. We will go and chant kirtan there."

So, they came to the bank of that lake chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra loudly. Hearing the sound of the kirtan, a god-child came out of the water. The child paid obeisance to Mahaprabhu and began to cry so much.

"What has happened? Why are you crying?" Mahaprabhu asked the boy. "What were you doing there in the lake?"

"Prabhu, I have lived in the body of a crocodile in the waters of this lake for four yugas (Satya, Treta, Dvapar, Kali)—not just several years or a yuga, but for four yugas... You have come here chanting kirtan and as a result I have turned back into a child again."

"Why were you in the crocodile body? How did this happen?" asked Mahaprabhu.

"When I was little, I was very naughty. One day, I saw Durvasa Muni lying down and resting in Kamyavan (it is a place in Vrindavan; we do not go there because it is far, in the area of Rajasthan, but it is a part of the churasi crore, eighty-four crores of the Vrindavan parikrama). He had very long matted hair, and out of mischief I cut his matted locks. Durvasa Muni got angry and cursed me. He said, 'You will stay in the body of a crocodile for four yugas!" I began to cry and beg him, 'What will become of me?' Then he said, 'When Krishna, the son of Nanda, appears in Kali-yuga as Gaura Hari, He will come to the place where you will be staying and chant kirtan. When you hear His kirtan, you will be rescued from the crocodile body.' You have come here and, hearing Your kirtan, I have again got my previous form. Prabhu, please be merciful to me. You have already given me Your mercy by saving me, but I have one more thing to ask You for... Please give me Your permission so that I could go see my parents, I have not seen them for so long..."

Mahaprabhu agreed and the god-child left.

This child was rescued from a crocodile body and went back to God. This is the effect of the Holy Name...

* * *

Lord's Reciprocation

Eve of Sri Nrisingha Chaturdasi,

2 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham, part 3

Translated into English from Bengali

Tomorrow is the appearance day of Lord Nrisinghadev. Those who have faith in Nrisinghadev, can get everything, and on the other hand, if you do not have faith, you will not get anything.

Hiranyakasipu did not believe in God, he said, "You say God is everywhere, is He then in this pillar too?" Prahlad Maharaj said, "Yes, He is there too." Hearing this, Hiranyakasipu got so angry that hit the pillar with all his might, and a great cry came from the pillar.

When the demigods heard this sound, they became petrified and began to shiver with fear—they thought the Lord was so angry that the entire universe, all fourteen worlds, would become annihilated! They thought what to do and ran to Laksmi Devi, "Please, go to Him! Please calm the Lord down!" But Laksmi Devi said, "I myself am shivering with fear! How can I go there? I serve the Lord, but I have never seen Him in this kind of form." In the end, everybody came to Prahlad Maharaj, thinking, "The Lord has come for his sake, so he should not be afraid." They came and asked Prahlad Maharaj, "Dear child, please go to the Lord." Prahlad Maharaj agreed calmly and came to Lord Nrisinghadev.

When Prahlad Maharaj paid his full obeisance to Lord Nrisinghadev, the Lord picked him up in His hands, sat him on His lap and began to lick him just like a cow licks its calf. Do you know what happens if you take away a newly born calf from the cow? The cow becomes mad, but once she gets the calf back, she begins to lick it. When Nrisinghadev got Prahlad Maharaj, this was the kind of mood that came to Him. Such is the nature of service to the Lord...

It is necessary to accept the teachings, the conception of Mahaprabhu. You all should read Siksastaka carefully, read about Mahaprabhu's conception.

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'

gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

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

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.7)

Do not worship Gora just to impress others. You wear Tulasi beads on your neck, put on tilaks and show others, "Look, I am a devotee," but you do not behave like a devotee. This is not right.

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'

gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

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

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.7)

“gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale

gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

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

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6)

Do not keep saying, "I am Gora's! I am Gora's!"—it is necessary to practise what Mahaprabhu teaches. It is the same if I only say, "My father is good, my father is good," but actually I do not give food to my father. It is necessary to make your family Krishna's family, it is necessary to offer bhog to the Lord, to take prasadam of the Lord, do not eat anything outside…

* * *

Control Your Urges

Eve of Sri Nrisingha Chaturdasi,

2 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham, part 4

Translated into English from Bengali

How can you conquer your tongue?

prasada-seva karite haya,

sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Tongue always wants to eat so many things, and the Lord gave us the remedy. There are six urges—vakya-veg, jihva-veg, mano-veg, krodha-veg, udar-veg, upastha-veg (urges of speech, tongue, mind, anger, stomach, and genitals). We sing about this the kirtan—"chhaya vega dami', chhaya dosa sodhi'." You must know what these six urges are, what the six faults—we sing about it in the kirtan but do not know the meaning, we do not read about it, but it is all written in the [Bengali] calendar... It is necessary to control the six urges (urges of speech, mind, tongue, anger, stomach, and genitals), to correct the six faults (too much eating; too many material activities; too much talking; too much attachment; not rejecting what is unfavourable; associating with materialists). Of all urges, tongue is the worst—tongue destroys everything.

We sing when we take prasadam,

mahaprasade govinde nama-brahmani vaisnave

svalpa-punya-vatam rajan visvaso naiva yayate

"O king, one whose fortune is meagre never develops faith in mahaprasad, Govinda, the Holy Name, or the Vaisnavas."

sarira avidya-jala jadendriya tahe kala

jive phele visaya-sagare

"The body is a net of illusion, and the material senses are the enemies; they throw the soul into the ocean of mundanity."

This body is full of ignorance, and it throws us into the material world. There are five karmendriya (senses that allow us to function physically) and five jnanendriya (senses that allow us to function mentally). The five karmendriya are feet, hands, rectum, genitals, mouth; the five jnanendriya are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin; and also there is mind, intelligence, and ego. These are our ten senses (properties), and it is necessary to control them so they do not roam everywhere. How to control them? To control them, you must do prasad-seva (serve, honour prasadam):

prasada-seva karite haya,

sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

If you honour prasad, you can control all your senses. That is why we sing this, then take prasad. "Jive phele visaya-sagare": the tongue throws you into the ocean of material world. If you cannot control your tongue, you cannot control everything.

ta'ra madhye jihva ati lobhamaya sudurmati

ta'ke jeta kathina samsare

"Among the senses, the tongue is the most greedy and wicked. It is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world."

To conquer your tongue (ta'ke jeta), you must take prasad.

krsna bada dayamaya karibare jihva jaya

sva-prasad-anna dila bhai

sei annamrta pao radha-krsna-guna gao

preme daka chaitanya-nitai

"O brothers! Krsna is very merciful: to conquer the tongue He has given us His remnants! Accept this nectarean food, sing the glories of Radha-Krsna, and with love call out, 'Chaitanya! Nitai!'"

You must honour prasadam, chanting the glories of Radha Krishna and calling out to Chaitanya-Nitai. If you want to conquer your tongue, you must take prasad.

Everybody takes initiation and goes back to their houses, but it is not enough to just take vegetarian food. You cannot get the Lord by being vegetarian. Monkeys eat only vegetarian food; calves are also vegetarian, they drink only milk—but tell me, do they get the Lord? If you want to get the Lord, you must understand the siddhanta (conception), you must accept and follow the rules and regulations.

matala hari-jana kirtana-range

pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange

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

We must keep the raga-patha in our hearts. Why do we never worship the yugala-murti of Radha-Krishna (Radha-Krishna alone, without Mahaprabhu)? Because this is beyond our capacity and right, we cannot do it. Have you ever seen yugala-murti of Radha-Krishna in any of our temples? Radharani serves Krishna, but we do not go to worship Their yugala-murti. This is the reason:

matala hari-jana kirtana-range

pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange

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

We must always keep the rasa-lila of Radha-Krishna, the rasa-lila of Krishna and the gopis in our heart, we must always remember this lila, but we must serve in the audarya mood, or audarya-rasa [Mahaprabhu's sankirtan movement]. We must keep the madhurya-rasa in our hearts, and externally we must engage in the audarya-rasa—we must chant the Holy Name, we must preach, etc. This is our line, and we must always remember it.

* * *

World of Faith and Humility

Eve of Sri Nrisingha Chaturdasi,

2 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham, part 5

Translated into English from Bengali

It is necessary to have faith. Param Guru Maharaj said that for those who have ears, there exists a world of sound (if somebody is deaf, even if you drop a bomb near them, they will not hear it, is it not so?); for those who have eyes there exists a visual world (if you have no eyes, you are blind, then no matter how close one can bring some picture to you, you will not see it, it will not exist for you and will have no value); and for those who have faith, there exists a world of devotion, bhakti.

It is necessary to acquire faith. Faith can be acquired by sadhu-sanga, good association. If you have good association, if you listen to the sadhus properly (as I was saying, if you accept the conception and practices of Gora, if you accept what Mahaprabhu taught), then you will get supreme benefit.

Jagadananda Pandit said, "When I wanted to go to Vrindavan, Mahaprabhu did not tell me to go there, but when I asked Him, 'Prabhu, can I go to Vrindavan?' He did not say no. He said I could go, but when I went there, I could not see anything! Why does it have to be like this?" He cried in separation, "I think my Lord did not want me to go to Vrindavan, but seeing me ready to go, He did not say no—He told me to go. But what did I see there? Prabhu! I went there to see Your pastimes, but I could not see anything there!" How beautiful Jagadananda Pandit's words are...

yei bhaje sei bada, abhakta—hina, chhara

krsna-bhajane nahi jati-kuladi-vichara

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

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.67)

Mahaprabhu instructed devotees that nobody could touch His feet when they paid obeisance to Him, but there was one person for whom Mahaprabhu said, "Do not stop him." It was Kalidas.

One time, Kalidas came to the house of Jhadu Thakur to take prasadam. He carried a few mangoes with him. Seeing Kalidas, Jhadu Thakur said, "You are a brahman, why did you come to my house? I belong to a low caste, I am a cobbler and maintain my life by selling leather, and you, a brahman, have come to my house to take prasadam... I cannot give you prasad because I belong to a lower caste, but there is a brahman's house nearby, I will ask them to serve you prasadam." Kalidas refused, "No, Prabhu, it will not do. OK, I am going, but keep these mangoes, you can offer them later to the Lord and take prasadam." Having given the mangoes to Jhadu Thakur, Kalidas left and hid secretly behind the house in the bushes—he waited when Jhadu Thakur would offer the mangoes to the Lord. Soon, Jhadu Thakur offered the mangoes to the Lord and gave one to his wife—she ate the mango and spat the peel out. Kalidas saw where the peel fell—he picked that spat out peel and ate it.

Later, he came to Puri one day. At that time, nobody would be allowed to touch Mahaprabhu's feet. When Kalidas paid his obeisance and grasped Mahaprabhu's feet, devotees were about to stop him, but Mahaprabhu said, "Do not stop him! He took the remnants of all Gaudiya Vaishnavs—he has so much devotion that he took remnants from everybody's plates!" One day, when all Vaishnavs finished taking prasad and threw their plates away, Kalidas took those plates and licked them. That is why Mahaprabhu said, "Do not stop him."

It is necessary to be humble—humility must come.

dainya, daya, anye mana, pratistha-varjana

chari-gune guni hai karaha kirtana

"Humility, mercy, being considerate to others, and giving up self-establishment are the four qualities needed to perform kirtan."

How did Narayani, the mother of Vrindavan Das Thakur, get such a wonderful child? She took Mahaprabhu's prasad.

One day, when Mahaprabhu was taking prasad, a cat came and began to disturb Him. Mahaprabhu moved the cat away with His hand, and as the cat moved away a grain of rice dropped out of its mouth and fell in some place nearby. Narayani picked it up and put it into her mouth—she did not feel squeamish. When Mahaprabhu saw this, He was surprised. He thought, "Narayani has so much devotion! A grain of rice falls on the ground, but she does not feel it is dirty—she thinks it is prasad and takes it!" Later, Narayani got a bad (non-devotee) husband, but it does not matter—by the mercy of Mahaprabhu, Vrindavan Das Thakur came from her womb.

The pastimes of Vrindavan Das Thakur, this pastime of Narayani's devotion—these are examples for us to understand. You can also remember Chand Kazi who broke a mridanga but later was rescued, you can remember Jagai and Madhai who became rescued. We hear all these examples, but we ourselves are not even making an effort...

dainya, daya, anye mana, pratistha-varjana

chari-gune guni hai karaha kirtana

"Humility, mercy, being considerate to others, and giving up self-establishment are the four qualities needed to perform kirtan."

As I was saying yesterday, somebody says, "Krishna! Krishna!" all the time, but if you want to get devotion to Krishna (Krishna-bhava), if you want to serve and worship Krishna, you must first get devotion to Gaura (Gaura-bhava). Without devotion to Gauranga, nobody can serve Krishna.

* * *

Surrender—Can We Do It?

Eve of Sri Nrisingha Chaturdasi,

2 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham

Translated into English from Bengali

Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi (birth, death, old age, and disease)—you can leave at any time, depending on the result of your karma. There is no guarantee that I will stay any longer, but devotees are never afraid of janma, mrtyu, jara, vyadhi. I remember when there was an earthquake, *** got scared and stayed in his room. I thought, "Why are you afraid? Will you serve the Lord like this?" It is necessary to have faith. This body will go, but tell me does a devotee ever leave the Lord? Never. You have heard about the pastime of Chhota Haridas. What did Mahaprabhu say?

yadi chaha pranaya rakhite gaurangera sane

chhota haridasera katha thake yena mane

"If you want to keep love for Gauranga, remember the story of Chhota Haridas."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.12)

You must always remember it if you want to keep love for Gauranga... Mahaprabhu punished Chhota Haridas to teach the world, but He also taught that after he got his punishment, he attained the Lord. Chhota Haridas stayed with the Lord. Externally he received a severe punishment and committed suicide, but when he committed suicide, he got the Lord. But Mahaprabhu did not allow Sanatan Goswami to commit suicide. When Sanatan Goswami said, "Prabhu I will throw myself under the wheels of the chariot," Mahaprabhu said, "No. Are you not ashamed of yourself? How can you want to destroy another's body? Is this your body?

diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana

sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama

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

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.192)

"When you surrender, at that time Krishna accepts you as His own! So, when you took initiation from Me—when you came to Me and said you wanted My shelter—you gave your body to Me!"

We hear this, but tell me can we do it? We do what we want. Gurudev tells us to do one thing, and we do the opposite. "Following the whims of your mind on pretence of doing service is not service." Without service to Gurudev, your service to the Lord is actually service to maya. Have you read this instruction of Srila Prabhupad?

Even if you go to all places of pilgrimage—Jagadananda Prabhu said, "I went there without the order of Mahaprabhu and I could not see anything!"—without service to the Guru, your service is service of maya. Whatever you do, wherever you go, you must always follow your Guru. Even if you practise all sixty-four devotional practices, but without following your Guru you will get nothing—you will get no result, you will be able to do nothing.

* * *

Nurture Your Practice

Eve of Sri Nrisingha Chaturdasi,

2 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham

Translated into English from Bengali

We need sukriti. Without sukriti, nothing will work—if somebody has no previous sukriti, it is very difficult for them to do service of the Lord.

If you come to this line of service to the Lord and do not practise properly, you will not get any result. Practice is the main thing. Those who take initiation and chant the Holy Name, practise properly, then they can easily get to their destination. Srimad Bhagavad-gita also says this. How can you control a fickle mind? What should you do if you cannot chant the Holy Name properly, you cannot serve properly, cannot do anything properly? Gita gives the answer. It is said there that you must practise—without practice it is not possible to control your mind.

You must not run after your mind. If you want to control your mind, you need to use your intelligence to judge what is right and what is wrong, which will be good for you, which will be bad for you. Sometimes we lose our intelligence, but in that case we need good association, sadhu-sanga. If you associate with bad people, you will go in bad direction—if you associate with a thief, you will also become a thief; if you associate with a liar, you will also become a liar; if you associate with a drunkard, you will become a drunkard too; if you associate with those who smoke, they will give a cigarette to you, and so on. It is necessary to understand what harms your devotion, what is inauspicious and what will bring you benefit and auspiciousness. In Kali-yuga, people do not understand this... There are four places where Kali stays: gambling (playing cards, dice, etc.), intoxication (drugs, cigarettes), illegal sex, killing other jiva souls (sarva-jive Krsna adhisthan, Krishna lives within all jiva souls, but people kill other souls). It is necessary to always avoid these things, then you will get supreme benefit.

How many days will you stay in this world, tell me?

'samsara' 'samsara' kari' michhe gela kala

labha na ha-ila kichhu, ghatila janjala

"Time has passed as I have been busy in my material life, and I have got nothing—only became burdened."

There is only burden in this life, but if you make your family Krishna's family, then you will have no burden. You can live in a family, but if you serve prasad to your children, if you can bring them to the Lord, then your family will not be a burden. "Kariya Krsnera samsara chhadi' anachar": you must make your family Krishna's family and give up what is unwanted and unfavourable. It is necessary to do both.

I have told it to you before. You must make your family Krishna's family. You have got a house, a wife, children, brothers, sisters, friends for the Lord, but the Lord can also take them all away. Many people are so proud of their wife, husband, proud of their sons and daughters, they say, "My son has got a big job!", "My son has become a big doctor!", "My son has become a big engineer!", "My son has done this!", "My son has done that!" Having got everything from the Lord, we forget Him, but the Lord can take everything away.

When Indra got a pig's body, he did not listen to Brahma because he was too much attached to his wife and children. In the end Brahma thought, "I have no time to wait—he was given twelve years and his time is almost finished." To end Indra's attachment to his pig-wife, he had to kill her, only after all his attachment was finished in this way, did Indra start listening to Brahma.

* * *

Service Mood Brings Service Joy

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 1

22 July 2012

I am very happy to see you all today again. I got a chance to speak some Hari-katha, Krishna-katha, and I am getting energy through good association.

We must always engage ourselves in sadhu-sanga and Nama-sankirtan, that is why we have gathered here today. We do not want to miss this kind of day, this kind of moment. Every moment in our life is important, and we must engage every moment of our life in service of the Lord. In this life, in this human body, we have got a chance—we have got intelligence and good association—so we must use this opportunity and this time to serve the Guru and Vaishnavs.

Sometimes we think, "What service do I do?" Sometimes such thoughts come to our mind, but this is the not the question—everything that has some connection with our Guru, Vaishnavs and Bhagavan is service. How can you understand that what you are doing is service? If you serve realising that this kind of service fulfils your Gurudev's desire and you feel pleasure and happiness coming to your mind and heart, then you can understand that your service mood is proper.

Sometimes our health gives us some pressure, sometimes you have to do some difficult service... But here is what Gurudev told me once. Before, in old days, there was no money to buy vegetables and other ingredients for offering, so devotees would grow many things. Sometimes, Srila Sridhar Maharaj told each brahmachari to pick figs (dumur) from trees every day. They would look it like a vegetable, and it is also very good for health, but it was very difficult to collect figs because the trees were full of ants. Gurudev said that when they would climb the trees, ants would bite them so much, but because they thought that service was giving pleasure to Guru Maharaj, they too actually felt pleasure from it.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote in one of his songs (Saranagati, 16.4),

tomara sevaya, duhkha haya yata,

seo ta' parama sukha

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

Sometimes, some sadness, some unhappiness comes through service, but that too is our happiness; when some kind of hardship comes, when we have to do so much hard work, that too is our happiness.

So, we must understand clearly what is service and what is karma. I always say this to everybody.

Sometimes you are doing something and you think it is service, but actually it does not make your Guru happy—if this is so, then in the end you too will not get any pleasure from it. Such action becomes karma, and the result of this bondage (karma bandhan) will be very bad. It is necessary to be careful.

We must understand how much, how many percent we can serve our Guru. Sometimes we may offer so many things, but we cannot make Krishna happy through that, but on the other hand, you can cook only one item, but the Lord, Gurudev will be pleased with that. It is necessary to understand what Gurudev wants, what his favourite items are, otherwise you will be cooking for your Guru, for Gaura Nitai and making so many things, but it will not make them happy. Krishna Himself said also, "I did not go to Duryodhan's house even though he was giving so much raj-bhog (king-style food), I did not take anything there; but I went to Vidhura's house and took there some laddu, some simple, poor kind of food—I was happy with that." So, we must understand this, then we can easily proceed in our spiritual life.

How will we proceed in this line? We must understand clearly how to practise, how to get proper benefit in our spiritual life—we must understand what Gurudev wants. I can give you my own example—even now, I am still getting the association of Gurudev because I remember what Gurudev told me, what he told me his wish was, and I am fulfilling his desire. Through that, I feel glad myself and through that, I am still getting my Guru's association.

I am also happy to see you all, to see that you are so enthusiastically, with heart and soul, coming so early to the temple to hear some Hari-katha. Gurudev told me one story. Once, a disciple of Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur came to Prabhupad and said, "Prabhupad, I cannot do bhajan... Actually, I cannot do anything, I cannot do any service for my Guru, and I am very sad. I want to do something but I cannot... What should I do?" Prabhupad asked him, "You are telling the truth?" "Yes, Prabhupad," answered his disciple, and Prabhupad said, "Then, something is happening." When you think that you have desire to hear some Hari-katha, Krishna-katha, then you must think that your mind is becoming clean and that you are proceeding, you are going forward, not backward.

* * *

Bread of Life

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 2

22 July 2012

What you are doing there alone? Are you working so hard only to eat eating something? Come and stay with me! Kartik parikrama is coming soon, you can visit all parikrama places, come.

When I see people working so hard outside only for their food, I become sad. They work hard to spend time on eating and a little sleep, and they cannot even sleep properly. They work outside the whole day from early morning, coming home at midnight, always eating outside. What for? Only for eating? Is this a life? This is not the proper lifestyle.

If they are working hard and can serve the Guru and Vaishnavs, that is another matter, but they do not even get a chance to chant the Holy Name. I am sad to see them. They cannot even remember anything—when they are working, they forget to remember their Guru's name, Krishna's name, they forget about them. This is how much they work for themselves... If they could keep one percent of their time for their Guru, Vaishnavs, and Bhagavan, that would be good, beneficial for them. Krishna sent them in this body to serve Him, but they are always in the illusory environment, always attached with their work...

I am praying for everybody—try to understand how valuable this human body, this human life is. You cannot even imagine how valuable this life is. If we lose this life on some other job, it will be bad for everybody, it will be bad for us also.

Does anybody have any questions?

Question: What happens to a devotee if they cannot remember or think about Krishna for some time?

Still, they remember something, they get some benefit... They will not go to hell, do not worry. But why did Gurudev say that there is a 5% devotee, a 10% devotee, a 20% devotee, an 80% devotee? Can you not understand why he said this?

Anyhow, do not be discouraged because when Krishna is powerful, by His mercy anything can happen at any moment. Even if some devotee cannot do something, sometimes anything can happen—within one moment Krishna can take them to His own place... "Kartavya na akartavya anya ta kartama"—it means that we think something will not never happen or we think that something must happen, but by Krishna's mercy neither of the two things may happen. For example, we are thinking that it must rain today and somebody thinks it will not rain, but any moment anything can happen—neither of the two things may happen and something else will happen.

* * *

Sharing, Shunning, and Shirking

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 3

22 July 2012

Question: Why is it said that the sloka "Sri-gauranumatam svarupa-viditam..." from Srimad Bhakti Vinodaviraha Dasakam is the most important sloka for the Gaudiya Vaishnavs?

You can see the meaning of this sloka:

What Rupa Goswami said, it is al correct and it is coming from above. Everything descends from Mahaprabhu to Rupa Goswami, Sanatan Goswami, Jiva Goswami, Raghunath Das Goswami, and it descends further through Bhaktivinod Thakur to our Guru Maharaj. Srila Sridhar Maharaj is explaining who Bhaktivinod Thakur is, what he gave to us.

Mahaprabhu gave all His power to Rupa Goswami, and Rupa Goswami, together with his older brother Sanatan Goswami, distributed it all together, along with Jiva Goswami and Raghunath Das Goswami. Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami made the food and Jiva Goswami and Raghunath Das Goswami distributed it. Finally, Bhaktivinod Thakur is giving these things to us.

In this way, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj explains everything in this sloka—what Mahaprabhu gave, what Bhaktivinod Thakur gave. That is why this sloka is so important for us.

[sri-gauranumatam svarupa-viditam rupagrajenadrtam

rupadyaih parivesitam raghu-ganair asvaditam sevitam

jivadyair abhiraksitam suka-siva-brahmadi-sammanitam

sri-radha-pada-sevanamrtam aho tad datum iso bhavan

"The internal purport is known to Sri Svarupa Damodara by the sanction of Sri Gaurachandra, of that which is adored by Sri Sanatana Goswami and distributed by the preceptors realized in transcendental mellows, headed by Sri Rupa Goswami; that which is tasted and enhanced by Sri Raghunatha Dasa Goswami and followers and carefully protected by the votaries headed by Sri Jiva Prabhu; and that which (from a respectful distance) is venerated by great personalities such as Sri Suka, Lord Siva, the chief of the demigods, and Lord Brahma, the grandfather of all beings—wonder of wonders! the nectarine rapture of servitude unto Sri Radhika—that, too, you can give us."]

Question: What is the real meaning of detachment?

Our line is,

‘asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'

visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

"When you are free from material attachment and establish relationship with the Lord, then you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself."

('Vaishnav ke?' verse 12)

We must have no attachment, but have relation [with the Lord]—this is our line; and detachment is another thing, it is not fully our line. We have no attachment but with relation, that is our line. I told the other day, "Bhog tyag, tyag tyag"—we must renounce enjoyment and renounce renunciation. This is enjoyment and renunciation, it is a different matter. We do not actually follow detachment, but we follow no attachment and with relation.

I cannot present it to you all properly, but my feelings are coming in this way, we should try to understand it.

Question: One time you said that when somebody wants to go to the bathroom in the middle of a programme, it means maya wants to take us out of the programme. Could you speak about the importance of being at the programme, at the class?

I remember when I said it. What I meant was this. When we are children, we were naughty and used to play truant (Beng. phankibaj, shirking)—we did not really need to go to the bathroom, but we did not want to attend the class, so we would hide and sit in the bathroom instead. This is maya. If somebody actually needs to go to the bathroom, they can go to the bathroom, this is not a problem—we did not need to go to bathroom, but we would sit there to avoid the class. [His Divine Grace laughs.]

* * *

Service to Tulasi

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 4

22 July 2012

Question: I have an opportunity to have Tulasi in my house but I am afraid because I am thinking I can commit offence and not worship or serve her properly. What should I do?

Why will you make offence? You must know how to serve Tulasi. Tulasi is now in a tree form but actually Tulasi is dearmost of Krishna. It is easy to serve Tulasi, and it is good to keep Tulasi in the house. Why not? Everybody can serve Tulasi. After you cook something, you can offer it with Tulasi leaves and take that prasad, you can give water to Tulasi, etc. If you can take care of your children, why can you not take care of Tulasi?

"Tulasi dekhi' judaya prana madhava-tosani jani': seeing Tulasi Devi soothes my soul, for I know she pleases Madhava." If you see Tulasi once, your heart, you mind will become cool and all kinds of bad elements will be removed.

Tulasi is the dearmost of Krishna, she always fulfils Krishna's desires, and if we serve her, it is good for everybody—even if a non-devotee wears Tulasi mala or serves her, it is good for them too. It is necessary to serve Tulasi—service to Tulasi is our line.

You think some offence will come... Suppose you have Deities in your room. You think, "Oh, I will make an offence," so you do not feed the Deities, do not cook for Them—you only sleep and eat everything yourself. This is not right. Krishna knows everything, He is merciful, and He will remove your offence, but you must always cry, "Prabhu, I do not know how to serve You! I am doing what I can, and if it is Your wish, You can take my service..." This is the service mood.

Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He is a senior member of your house. Tulasi is also a senior member of your house. If you serve Tulasi properly—you water her, you take care of her—it is good for you. Otherwise, if you keep Tulasi but do not serve her properly, it is not good. You must keep Tulasi and serve Tulasi also, both.

One time, there was Deities' inauguration at a temple in Prabhupad's time. Prabhupad is the Guru at that time, and he was supposed to do the Deity inauguration according to the viddhi-marga and archan-puja rules, but at that time Srila Sridhar Maharaj did that service and everybody criticised him, "The Guru, Prabhupad, should have done this! Why did Sridhar Maharaj do it?" Srila Sridhar Maharaj felt he had made an offence, "I did that service, but perhaps the Guru should do it, and everybody is saying I did wrong..." He came to Prabhupad and said, "Prabhupad, please forgive my offence. I did that service—you were supposed to do it, but I did it before you. I think I made an offence, please forgive my offence." But Prabhupad replied, "You did good. There is no offence for a surrendered soul."

* * *

To Be or Not to Be—No Such Question

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 5

22 July 2012

Question: I engage in so many sinful activities that I am thinking it is better I neither die not live...

You can read this sloka from Srimad Bhagavad-gita (9.30),

api chet suduracharo, bhajate mam ananya-bhak

sadhur eva sa mantavyah, samyag vyavasito hi sah

"If even a very sinful person serves Me exclusively with devotion, he should be regarded as saintly, for his resolve is perfect."

This sloka says that if you think you have done some sinful work, you can surrender to the Lord, you can serve the Lord, then Krishna will remove all that sinful activity and He will engage you in His service.

Why should you die? Death is not a better option, it is actually worse for you. If we have service to Krishna, if we have service to the Lord, then we must engage ourselves in His service—why should we die? To die means to finish this body. If you have no service, then death is good, but when you have service, why will you die??

If we die, we will have to come back, but if we can fulfil Krishna's desire, if we can finish Krishna's service in this life, then it is not necessary to come back—we will not have to come back and be born again. If Krishna thinks, "I need to send him for My preaching, for My job," then Krishna will send us here again, just as Guru and devotees always come in a human body.

Krishna sends us to serve Him, so we must chant His Name, we must serve Him. Always remember this. What does Krishna send us in this human body for? Not for enjoyment and living like other jiva souls. If we do the same things that other jiva souls do [sleeping, fearing, defending, mating], then what is the difference between us and them? Then there is no difference. Krishna has sent us in this human body to service Him. It is easy to understand this. Those who have intelligence and brain (sumedha) can easily understand this.

* * *

Guru's Care for Mission and Disciple

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 6

22 July 2012

We have had so many stories with Gurudev, so many... When I sit alone, all these memories come to me. Gurudev said so many things, gave so much advice for our spiritual life. When I sat in front of him, I thought, "Every moment, his every single word is everything—just one his word is my wealth, his every word is very important for my spiritual life." I saw Gurudev's every word, every sentence—anything that came from his mouth—as a spiritual teaching.

In all his dealings, I saw how much he thought about the temple, how much he thought about his Gurudev's (Guru Maharaj's) mission. Just ten-twenty hours before he expired (left his body), he said in front of me, "There is some money in the Vrindavan bank, that money is on the name of some thief and *** Maharaj. If *** Maharaj does not withdraw it, the thief can steal that money." He remembered everything. I always think and realise how much he thought about the temple.

When he walked around the temple in Nabadwip, he would take care of every tree, and if there was even one light on in the daytime without need, he would chastise us for this. This is how careful he was in everything. I saw his service mood.

When I joined the temple, he would make the festivals and give me instruction how much rice, how much dal, how much oil, how much this, this, this, is necessary, how many people to arrange it for. He remembered everything in his mind and would tell it to me, and I would write it down. For example, five thousand people are coming for Gaura Purnima, and he would tell me how much of what is necessary to arrange. He only said it to me one-two times, the first time and the next year, at the Gaura Purnima festival and other festivals as well, after that he never had to tell me again and I did not have to write it down also after that. He taught me like this with his own hand.

I also saw how he did construction, he arranged everything himself. He always kept everything in his mind, he always kept everything in his heart. He did everything that was necessary and told me also what to do, and I tried to fulfil his desire as much as he tried to fulfil his Guru Maharaj's desire. I was a helping hand to him those years...

He always protected me, and still he is giving his protection to me. I can tell you one story. It happened in 2000 or 2001, I cannot remember the year, maybe 2002—at that time, there was construction going on at the Govinda Kunda. After I joined the temple, I actually had no relation with my previous family—I never saw my father's or mother's face. When they somehow got the news that I became a sannyasi and lived in Nabadwip, Chaitanya Saraswat Math, one of my relatives came here and said to me, "Your father has sent me to you. You have become a sannyasi, but you have some property—your father is going to die and wants to give some property in your name. You can come and take this property, otherwise your brother will take everything." It was not a small money at that time, something like $50 000 ten years ago, now it has even more value. I went to Gurudev and said to him,

"Gurudev, can I go to my previous home? I can get that land, sell it, and give the money to you."

"How much money will you get?" Gurudev asked me.

"$50 000."

"It is too much money! And how many days are necessary to go and come back?"

"Seven days."

"If I give you that money now, then it will not be necessary to go there, will it?" answered Gurudev.

At that time I thought, "Gurudev does not allow me to go—he does not want me to go to my previous home to bring that money because he thinks I am more valuable than that money..." How much he was protecting me from maya...

I saw Gurudev's protection from my brahmachari life, and I am thinking how much the Guru is the protector in this life—the Guru can protect us and the Guru can engage us in service. I can see this through my life.

* * *

Keep Yourself Afloat

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 7

22 July 2012

You are always welcome.

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)

Krishna always wants service from the devotees. Because of their bad karma and because the illusory environment is very powerful, maya always takes, always removes everybody from their service. If you can come out of the illusory environment, Krishna will again engage you in service—He will again give you service.

One devotee came to our temple in Vrindavan for Srila Sridhar Maharaj's disappearance festival. He came to me and said, "I am a disciple of Gurudev." I asked him, "Why are you staying in some other place? Do you not know you can stay here?" He said, "No, I did not know anything..." He is floating just like a piece of wood in an ocean,

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)

Souls always float in a river (like Ganges or Yamuna), like a piece of wood. If you do not know how to swim, you try so hard to swim, but in the end you begin to sink, you know you are going to die, at that time if you see some straw coming to you, you can hold onto that straw and easily get to the bank. The jiva souls always float in maya—when you see something to hold onto in the water, immediately catch it, then you can get relief.

I sent that devotee to Nabadwip and he is going there today. He does not know so much English, but he knows Spanish, and I told him, "You can serve there. There many Spanish-speaking devotees staying in Nabadwip, you can get some association from them, it will be good for you." Gurudev gave me this service and it is my duty to engage him in service. If somebody has lost their faith or service, if somebody is lost in the illusory environment, we use them in service.

Everybody does not have the same quality—somebody knows how to cook, somebody knows how to sing kirtans, somebody knows how to play mridanga, somebody can do puja, somebody can make garlands—we must use everybody, we must give everybody a chance to serve. Everybody's quality is not the same, but we will not reject anybody, we will use them and take their service—even if somebody does 10% service, that is also good. Do you understand? This is how I always engage devotees.

* * *

Perfect Service Environment

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 8

22 July 2012

I have some idea, but I know it is very difficult for Caracas because the temple is very small there... My idea is that we can make three kinds of places—in one place, only householder devotee will live; in another place, only women will live (those who have no husband, no family); and in the third place only boys, men who have no wife (brahmacharis, vanacharis) can live. This kind of arrangement would be good. If we can do this in future, it will be good for everybody.

Otherwise, if everybody mixes together, then some problem will always come. Even Mahaprabhu Himself said to Pradyumna Misra, "I am a sannyasi, but even if I see a prakriti (a lady's picture), My mind can change." It is always like this. That is why I am telling about this idea to the temple management in Caracas. If we can make it in this way—if we can arrange so that ladies will be separate, householder devotees (husband and wife) will live separately, and all boys (who have no wife) can live separately, that will be good for the temple, the future will be good then.

I know it is very difficult to find and secure the land, but we must try—if we try heart and soul, Krishna will fulfil our desire.

Ask them if my idea is OK or not.

Devotee: Yes, actually we already have it here in that way now. Married devotees live in one room, and brahmacharis in another room...

But that is in the same building...

Devotee: Oh, I understand, it should be not in the same building.

Yes, in different places, not the same.

Actually, householder devotees can stay with their wives, it is not a problem; those who have no wife, who have separated from their wife, can live in the same place with the brahmacharis; and the girls who have no husband, who are not married or their husband has left, can live together. To have it in that way is good. I have one place in mind, but it is too far from the city—I like Turgua, if you can get that kind of land here in town, it would be very good. Everybody can come together to the temple for service, and at other time they can do their own job, follow their own lifestyle—that is good. Like in Nabadwip, you know that here brahmacharis and sannyasis live in one building, householders live in another building and single ladies live in another building.

Does everybody agree with that?

Devotees: Yes!

* * *

Grace and Disgrace

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 9

22 July 2012

Question: How can we help a devotee if they have false ego?

This is a problem... Ego eats everything. If somebody is proud, they become very fat—they keep blowing up like a frog and then burst.

Yudhisthir Maharaj asked once a question, "What does Krishna eat?" And the answer was, "Krishna eats ego." Only Krishna eats ego, so if such devotee surrenders to Krishna, He alone can solve their problem. Ego and pride is a very difficult problem. Do you understand it? If somebody has ego and is proud, it is easy for them to fall down. If you ask, "How do people fall down?" The answer is, "They fall down because of ego."

Your question is how you can help them... They must themselves understand, "I am nothing. I have not done anything for my Guru, for Krishna." Krishna needs so many things, but what can we do? Only a little bit, and we cannot do even that little. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the proprietor of entire universes—how much and what can we, tiny jiva souls, do for Him? Nothing. If we think we have done so much, it is our big problem.

Do you know what service Krishna did in Dvaraka? When all guests, devotees were coming over, Krishna took care of their shoes! This is the kind of service He did. So, if somebody is a temple manager, he should clean toilets, then their ego will be removed. It is very hard, is it not? Otherwise ego will not be removed.

Every year Siddhanti Maharaj came at Gaura Purnima. Every year, before Gaura Purnima, he would take some toilet cleaner and clean all outside toilets around our temple in Nabadwip. One time he came late. Three-fours days were left before the beginning of the parikrama and people starting coming, I had to finish that service, so I hired some people and they cleaned the toilets. When Siddhanti Maharaj came, he was angry very and said to me, "Who are you? Why did you take my service! I have been coming every year for twenty years and I have been doing this service, why did you do my service." I replied, "Maharaj, please, you can take the cleaner and clean again, no problem."

Question: What is the real meaning of "His Divine Grace"? Like, there is a book Sri Guru and His Grace, what is the meaning of that phrase?

Guru and his grace means Guru and his mercy. Like, His Holiness means Sripad, and His Divine Grace means Om Vishnupad (it means non-different from Krishna). We give some honour and say that the Guru is non-different from Krishna, and if we give a little less honour, we say His Holiness, it means Krishna's servitor.

Two points exist within one sloka written by Vishvanath Chakravarti,

saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair

uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih

kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya

vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all the scriptures to be the Lord Himself, and considered to be so by the sadhus, yet is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7)

In first two lines he says, "Guru is the Lord Himself," and in the next line he says, "Kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya. Guru is the Lord's dearmost associate." So, on the one hand, he says that Guru is non-different from Krishna, he is Krishna Himself, and on the other hand he says that Guru is Krishna's dearmost (Radharani). Two things are mentioned in one sloka.

* * *

Offence and Sin: Committing, Removing, Tolerating

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas, part 10

22 July 2012

Question: What is the difference between an offence and a sin?

An offence and a sin are almost the same. An offence is an aparadh and a sin means a pap. A sin is a word that mostly non-devotee people use. The meaning is almost the same, there is not so much difference. Sometimes we make an offence, whether consciously or unconsciously, and if that offence is not removed, it becomes a sin.

Our scriptures never say "sin," we always say "offence"—non-devotees always think about sin, we always think about offences ("Please forgive my offence," "Please forgive my offence"). There are many kinds of offences—seva aparadh, Nama aparadh, Vaishnav aparadh, etc. For example, if you are greedy, this is your offence, and through your greed some sin comes, and in the end that sin leads to death.

In general, our main thing is that we do not want to make an offence. We must always ask, "Please forgive my offence." You say that a sin and an offence are similar. I can give another example. Suppose you kill somebody—this is an offence, and you get the result of that offence, that is a sin.

Question: How can we know when Krishna forgives or removes our offence?

When you feel you are getting so much pleasure through service, when you feel you are getting happiness when you chant the Holy Name, when you feel you are getting energy for chanting and service, then you can think that you have no offence and that slowly, gradually all offences are being removed.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was the head of the Puri Temple, but he did not use to like Jagannath prasad. He would never take it. One time, Mahaprabhu brought him some prasadam early in the morning,

"O Sarvabhauma! Are you still sleeping? I have brought some prasad for you!"

"Prabhu, I am still in the bed... I have not washed my face, have not cleaned my teeth..."

"No, no, it is not necessary—first you take this prasad!"

Then, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya took that prasad and from that day he took prasad from the Jagannath Temple every day—his offence was removed.

When I joined the temple, I was very unhappy for minimum two-three months at first. I thought, "Oh, I do not like this kind of food, this kind of temple prasad! What kind of food is this? The outside food is very nice..." It made me think that I still had offence in my heart, that my heart was not clean. After that, two-three months later, I could not actually tolerate the outside food—my mind did not go to the outside food anymore. I thought, "Oh, now my interest is in service. Now, my energy is going to serve, to take prasadam. I am not so much interested in the outside food now." It comes easily on its own, and when it comes, we can easily understand that our offence is being removed.

Are there any other questions? I heard somebody was asking something.

Question: Sometimes a devotee feels unhappy when they are doing some service, does it mean that the Guru also feels unhappy with their service?

Not always so. Gurudev is always merciful. He tolerates everything from us. Sometimes, Gurudev can be unhappy, but he tolerates it, he does not reject us. When it becomes too much intolerable, then he rejects us, but he always tries, tries, and tries to keep us, to engage us in service. He does not become unhappy immediately. The Guru is very powerful and he always tolerates so much—he has so much power to tolerate us. He tolerates us, but when he tolerates, tolerates and it gets intolerable and out of control, then he rejects us...

* * *

JOYOUS DAY IN SILIGURI

Deities' Pastimes (1): "I Do Everything!"

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 1

Today is an auspicious day. On this day, the Deities of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundar were installed here in our Siliguri Math.

The Deity manifests through the medium of a devotee, through the desire of a devotee—the Lord Himself comes to this world in the form of a Deity to take the service of the devotees. You must not think that the Deity is made of wood, of stone or of brass—the Deity is the Lord Himself. The Deity talks, the Deity gives witness, the Deity steals. You have heard many pastimes, and I can give you one example.

ananyas chintayanto mam, ye janah paryupasate

tesam nityabhiyuktanam, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

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

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.22)

In Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna, "For those who think of nothing except Me, who only think about Me and My words, I Myself deliver their food to their houses."

Devotees: Hari bol!

"I bring their food to their houses." This is what the Lord says. Who bears witness to these words? Arjun Mishra.

There lived once a husband and wife called Arjun Mishra and his wife. They did not have any children and every day they went begging—they would cook whatever they collected each day, offer it to the Lord and take that prasad. And every day, when Arjuna Mishra woke up and took bath, he read one chapter from Gita. One day, when he came to this ninth chapter of Gita and read the sloka "Ananyas chintayanto Mam...," he said, "How can this be true? The Lord carries the food? I have surrendered everything and took shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, but the Lord does not bring me my food!" He tore that place in the book and wrote, "I am doing it myself." After that, he left to collect bhog.

Every day he would go begging to some house and bring home whatever he got from that house, but that day he went to the first house and he was told, "We have a trouble at home, somebody died, we cannot give anything today." He went to a second house, "Somebody is sick, we cannot give anything today." He went to a third house, "My master is not at home, I cannot give anything now." In this way, he could not collect anything.

In the meantime, a boy came to the house of Arjun Mishra with bags full of rice, dal, sak, subji, etc. He called out to the wife of Arjun Mishra, "Come, come, I cannot hold this on My head anymore! My head is paining! Take this, take this!" The wife of Arjuna Mishra came out and asked, surprised,

"Why have You brought all these things? Who sent it?"

"Your husband sent Me... I told him I cannot carry so much, but look at My back there is a mark—he beat Me!"

"My husband is a brahman, a Vaishnav... he has never raised his hand against anyone. What happened today?"

"Please, empty the bags first, then we can talk..."

Arjun Mishra's wife went inside the house to empty the bags, and the Lord disappeared. When she came back, she looked for Him everywhere, "Where did the boy go?" but could not find Him anywhere.

Then, she cooked and offered the bhog—it was getting later and she began to worry, "Why has my husband not come back yet?" At about 3-4 o'clock, Arjun Mishra came back.

"Brahmani, there is no bhog for the Lord today, today is our unlucky day..." he said to his wife with tears in his eyes.

"What do you mean? You have just sent a boy with all these things, come and see! Not only you sent all this, but you also beat the boy!"

"I have not sent anyone, I have no beaten anyone!"

"But He said you had sent Him... and He showed a mark on His back saying you had beaten Him."

Then, Arjuna Mishra went to the temple of Radha-Madhav in his house and saw that Gita was down. He asked brahmani, "Have you been reading Gita today? When I finished reading Gita today, I put it up on the shelf..." His wife answered, "No, I have not read Gita today." Then he saw that Gita was open on that same page where the sloka was. It was written there now, "Do you see now, brahman? You do not do anything. I do everything, everything happens by My wish. Have you understood now? You were out today the whole day, begging for a handful of rice, but you could not get it anywhere. Whatever happens, happens by My will."

So, here too, the Lord has come assuming this human form...

* * *

JOYOUS DAY IN SILIGURI

 Deities’ Pastimes (2): "He Has Eaten It All!"

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 2

The Lord Himself appears out of His own mercy. Another example of this is the son of Mukunda, Raghunandan.

One day, Mukunda and his wife told their eight-year-old son, "Son, we need to go to the market today to buy some things for the Lord. I have already cooked and prepared the bhog, give it to the Lord later." Raghunandan said, "But I do not know any mantras..." "Do not worry, mantras are not necessary, just offer it to the Lord."

Later, Raghunandan went to the Lord to offer Him the bhog. He offered the food, but saw that the Lord was standing silently and did not eat it. He said to the Lord, "You are not eating? Oh, because I am a little boy You are not taking it, and when my mother gives You food every day, You take it." Then he saw a stick from a brass gong—he took it in his hand and said, "Eat or I will hit You! Eat!" Then, the Lord said, "No, no, do not hit Me. I will eat." And He began to eat. Raghunandan said, "You must eat everything! All of it!" After the Lord had eaten everything, Raghunandan took the plates back to the house.

When his parents returned home from the market, they asked him, "Raghunandan, where is our prasad?" Raghunandan replied, "Why? You cooked less today, and the Lord ate everything." "But the Lord does not eat! I offer Him bhog every day, and He has never eaten it. You must have eaten it yourself or fed it all to your friends!" "No, please believe me, I never gave it to anybody, the Lord has eaten everything."

Later in the afternoon, his mother woke up from rest and prepared some fruit and sweets. She gave it to her son saying, "Go offer it again, I will see how He eats."

Raghunandan came into the temple with the sweets and fruit and said to the Lord, "Eat!" The Lord said, "I have just eaten so much, I am not hungry!" Raghunandan's mother heard some sounds coming from the temple and wondered, "Who is he talking there to?" In the meantime, Raghunandan kept saying, "Eat, eat! Eat quickly! Otherwise mother will not believe me. She does not believe that you ate everything last time." Then the Lord took one sweet in His hand and took a bite—He bit one half and the other half was in His hand. At this time, Raghunandan mother's peeked into the temple room and saw the Lord eating—as soon as she saw it, she fainted.

So, the Lord accepts everything from His devotees.

You can remember Sachi Mata. She cooked and thought, "If my Nimai was here, He would eat it all..." and Nimai did actually come there and eat everything. Sachi Mata cooked and offered bhog to the Lord and then she saw there was nothing on the plate. She thought, "Maybe I have forgotten to offer the bhog..."

So,

bhakter jinish prabhu lutiputi khay

abhakter jinish prabhu ulti nahi khay

"The Lord eats anything and everything when a devotee offers it, but He does not take anything from a non-devotee."

* * *

JOYOUS DAY IN SILIGURI

Deities' Pastimes (3):"Here I am!"

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 3

Gopal Bhatta Goswami lived and did bhajan in Vrindavan--he worshipped twelve salagram silas. One day, a rich man came to him and gave him Deity ornaments and clothes saying, "Prabhu, please take this for your Lord." Gopal Bhatta Goswami said, "OK, I will give it to the Lord." Later that day, when he put the Lord to sleep in the evening, he thought, "That rich man gave me all these things, but my Lord has no arms, no legs... He is a sila... How will I put these garments on Him? How will I put the ornaments on Him? He has no nose, no hands... I took it but did not even think of it!" He became very sad thinking that he could not use these things in service, and soon he fell asleep...

In the morning, he woke up and went for the mangal arati. When he opened the door of the temple, he saw Radha Raman! He looked at the silas and started counting them—there were only eleven silas. Where did one sila go? Then he saw that sila on Radha Raman—it was in the middle of His back, stuck on His body like a magnet. In this way, Radha Raman appeared from that sila, through the hand of Gopal Bhatta Goswami.

That Deity is still there in Vrindavan. When Muslim rulers were destroying Hindu temples in Vrindavan, most Deities went to Jaipur, but Radha Raman is small, so He could hide Himself away and stay in Vrindavan.

In this way, the Lord arranges His own pastimes Himself, but without the medium of a devotee, the Lord does not come on His own...

By the mercy of Guru Maharaj, Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govindasundar manifested here in Siliguri. Also, many of the devotees here did not get the chance to serve Guru Maharaj (Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) personally, so to give the devotees an opportunity to serve him, there was installed his Deity. You all now have this opportunity—the Lord has given you this opportunity. Deity is not made of wood, stone or brass. Assuming the form of a Deity, the Lord gives you an opportunity to serve.

* * *

JOYOUS DAY IN SILIGURI

Deities' Pastimes (4): "Take This, Madhava!"

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 4

You have heard the story of ksir-chor Gopinath—the story how Gopinath stole condensed milk (ksir) for Madhavendra Puri.

"I will go to Vrindavan alone, I will not mix with anybody—I want to get the darshan of the Lord," thinking in this way, Madhavendra Puri came to the bank of Govinda Kunda in Vrindavan and sat there under a tree. In the evening, a cowherd boy came to him with some milk:

"Madhav, drink this milk!" said the boy to him.

"How did You know I have been sitting here without food?" asked Madhavendra Puri.

"In this village, if somebody eats, they get food, and if somebody does not eat, they also get food."

(Madhavendra Puri was ayachita-vritti, he did not beg—if he got something, he would take it, and if he did not anything, then he would not eat anything.)

"I will come later to take My mother's pot. She heard that a sadhu was sitting here only chanting the Holy Name from morning to evening and not taking any food. Hearing this, she sent this milk for you," explained the boy.

"Where do you live?" asked Madhavendra Puri.

"I live in this village."

"What do You do?"

"I herd the cows," answered the boy, "you please drink the milk, and keep the pot, I will come to take it later." And the boy left quickly.

When Madhavendra Puri drank that milk, he got Krishna-prema. He thought, "This is nectar! I have drunk milk many times in Bengal, but this boy gave me milk here in Vrindavan, and I am thinking this is not milk—I am thinking this is nectar!" He finished the milk and waited for the boy. "When will the boy come back? I should ask Him who He is," he thought. Then, night came and, tired, Madhavendra Puri eventually fell asleep.

The boy came to him in a dream and said, "You are looking for Me, you want to know who I am... I am Govardhan-dhari Gopal—Krishna's great-grandson Vajranabha installed Me. I am here, and I am suffering so much. During the oppression times, when Kala Pahar was destroying temples, the pujari put Me under his uttariya and hid Me in the jungle. I am still here, covered by soil, suffering so much austerity! Rescue Me from here! Come and restore My worship and service." Gopal said this to Madhavendra Puri and left.

When Madhavendra Puri woke up, he lamented, "Oh no! How could I not recognise Him! He for whose service I have come here in Vrindavan, came to serve me and left! I have come here to serve Krishna but He came telling me to drink milk—instead, He serve me! How unfortunate I am! He came right in front of me, but I could not recognise Him!"

Then, he came to the villagers and told them, "The Deity of your village is here in the jungle!" Somebody believed him, somebody did not believe him. Some men who did believe said, "OK, come, let's see where the Deity is." Cutting their way through the thick jungle, they finally found the Deity.

They put Gopal on top of a rock and leaned Him against another rock, and all the gopis (village girls) brought water there, carrying it on their heads in pots. In this way, they made abhisekh and bathed the Lord. After that, there was a grand festival (annakut mahotsav).

Some time later, Gopal again came to Madhavendra Puri and said to him, "You bathe Me with water every day, but My body is very hot. Bring for Me some sandalwood and camphor from Odisha." So, Madhavendra Puri walked to Odisha.

On his way, he came to a temple of Gopinath and sat there. He saw that the pujari was offering ksir to Gopinath. Nobody in that area knew that he was not begging, so nobody offered him any ksir, but somehow desire came to his mind to taste that ksir. When he felt that desire, he thought, "My tongue is greedy, I will not stay here! I will go and stay somewhere at an empty market place." He left.

But Gopinath got to know that Madhavendra Puri wanted to taste that ksir, so when Gopinath's pujari offered bhog, Gopinath hid one of the pots with ksir under His altar. Later that evening, when the pujari put the Lord to sleep and went to sleep himself, he saw Gopinath in a dream: "O pujari! You do not know, but My dearmost devotee Madhavendra Puripad is staying at an empty marketplace nearby. I have stolen some ksir from your offering for him—go to him and give him that ksir!" The pujari asked then, "How will I recognise Madhavendra Puri? There are so many people at the market..." Gopinath told him, "Go and call out, 'Where is Madhavendra Puri? Gopinath has stolen ksir for you!'" Then, the pujari woke up. He went to the temple and saw that it was true—there really was a pot of ksir there! He took that pot of ksir and went to the market crying out,

"Where is Madhavendra Puri? Where did he go? Gopinath has stolen ksir for you!"

"I am Madhavendra Puri," Madhavendra Puri admitted.

"Prabhu," said the pujari humbly, "Gopinath has stole this ksir for you." He at once fell at Madhavendra Puri's feet and gave the pot of ksir to him.

When Madhavendra Puri took that prasad ksir, he got so much Krishna-prema. He broke the pot into small pieces and took those pieces too, and every time he took it he was again overwhelmed with Krishna-prema.

Then he thought, "If I stay here this night, everybody will get to know what has happened. I will not stay here," and he hurried away. But before he could reach Puri, the news had already spread there—name and fame run ahead of the devotee. Everybody had already known that Gopinath had stolen ksir for Madhavendra Puri and everybody treated him with much honour, "Prabhu, is there another great devotee like you? Gopinath has stolen ksir for you!"

This is how the Lord steals for His devotee.

* * *

JOYOUS DAY IN SILIGURI

Deities' Pastimes (5): "Be My Witness!"

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 5

And there is also one more story of Saksi Gopal, the story how for His devotee the Lord gives witness. If you read Chaitanya-charitamrita, you will get everything there—what I have told you today is all there in Chaitanya-charitamrita.

There was once a brahman who became a vanaprastha, and, leaving his family, children, etc., went on a pilgrimage to all holy places. One day, he came to Vrindavan and met another, small brahman (chota-vipra). There are different brahmans—there are kulin (high caste) brahmans, and there are lower caste brahmans. The older brahman was a kulin brahman. The younger brahman said to him, "I can help you. How will you carry all your things around the holy places? Let me help you." The brahman agreed, and they visited all holy places together.

The older brahman became pleased with the young brahman and said to him, "My house is near your village. I have only one small daughter—when you go home, you can marry her. I am giving my only daughter to you."

"No, no. How can this be?" said the young brahman. "You are a high caste brahman, and I am of a lower caste. Will your wife and sons not get angry?"

"You do not need to worry about it."

"But I did not help you around the holy places to get a wife... I helped you for my spiritual benefit (punya)."

"She is my daughter, so I decide it. I am giving her to you. Moreover, I am promising you this in front of Gopal. He is the witness." Then he said to Gopal (a Deity in one of the temples of Vrindavan), "Gopal, I am giving my daughter to him—if anyone objects, You give witness."

Then, the older brahman returned home, and everybody came to see him ("Oh, father has returned from pilgrimage!"). Then, he told everybody, "When I was on the pilgrimage, I met a brahman who helped me a lot. I promised my daughter to him." When they heard who the boy was, the wife of the brahman said, "I will leave you!" the son said, "I will leave the house!" somebody else said, "How could you, a kulin brahman, give your daughter to a fool who does not know how to write or read?!" Everybody objected...

Two months passed after this, and the young brahman came to the older brahman saying, "You have promised me in front of Gopal, why are you keeping quiet now? Which girl did you want to give me?" Hearing some talk about his sister, the son of the brahman came out with a stick, "You, a small brahman, a dwarf, came here to catch the moon in the sky! You want to get all the wealth and riches of my father!" The brahman ran away from there and went to the elders of the village.

"What happened?" they asked him.

"This brahman gave me his word at a holy place, Gopal is the witness. I did not go on pilgrimage with him for the sake of his daughter, but he has promised her to me, and if he does not keep his word, it will be a sin for him. That is why I have come to him."

"All right," said the elders. "Then let Gopal give witness, then it will all right." The son of the brahman also agreed, "Yes, if Gopal gives witness, then it is all right." But the brahman got angry with his son, he thought, "O Gopal! Please help me keep my word!"

So, the young brahman went to Vrindavan. He came to Gopal and said, "Gopal! Let's go! You must give witness!"

"How am I to go? I am a Deity, I do not go anywhere."

"Why can You not? How are You speaking to me then? If You can speak, surely You can walk."

"OK, OK, I will go... But you must cook one kilo of rice for Me every day—I will walk so much and get hungry, so I must eat a lot. And I will walk behind you—you must not look behind. If you look behind at Me somewhere, I will stay at that place."

"OK, but how will I know that You are walking behind me?"

"You will hear the sound of ankle bells."

Then, the small brahman and Gopal started walking. They reached Vidyanagar in Tamil Nadu and, when they had almost reached the village, the brahman suddenly got a very strong desire to look behind and see if Gopal was coming. He looked behind saw Gopal standing there with a smiling face. Gopal said, "Bring your people here now. I will give witness to them." The boy went to the village and called everybody, "Gopal has come from Vrindavan to give witness!"

In the end, they built a big royal-style temple in that place, the brahman got married, and everything was all right.

When an Oriya king went to conquer Tamil Nadu, he won the war and came to Gopal. He said, "O Gopal, whatever wealth I have got is all Yours!" and called Gopal to his kingdom. Gopal answered, "First built a temple for Me, then I will come." So, the king built a temple and brought Gopal to Odisha.

In Bengal, when a woman wears conch bangles, everybody understands that she is married, and in Odisha if a girl is wearing a nose ring, she is married, and if she is not wearing a nose ring, she is not married. So, when the king made a big temple and a great festival, the queen said, "If the Lord had a hole in His nose, I could give Him my nose ring—He is my husband..." Then night came, and Gopal came to the queen in a dream. He said, "O queen! I have a hole in My nose, but the nose ring has fallen out. The hole in My nose is very big, you have never seen such a big hole, please make a nose ring for it." The queen made a big one-kilo nose ring for Gopal, and there was another festival.

The Lord accept everything from His devotees. "Bhaktera adhin Bhagavan": He is controlled by His devotees, He does what His devotees wish.

bhaktera hrdaye sada govinda-visrama

govinda kahena—mama vaisnava parana

“Govinda always resides in the hearts of His devotees. Govinda says, ‘Vaishnavs are My life and soul.’”

* * *

Sincere and Eternal Service

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 6

Govinda always rests in the heart of His devotee. Always remember it and serve sincerely, simple-heartedly. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave a Govardhan sila and gunja-mala to Raghunath Das Goswami, and when he served Govardhan with heart and soul, intimately, he could get the darshan of Radha-Krishna's internal, intimate pastimes. Such is the service to a Deity.

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

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

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

It is necessary to serve the Deity with faith.

sadhu-sange krsna-nama—ei matra chai

samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

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

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.13)

Now you have got this rare human birth,

durlabha manava janma labhiya samsare

krsna na bhajinu duhkha kahiba kahare?

"I have got a very rare human life in this world, but I have not worshipped Lord Krishna. Whom can I tell of my misery?"

'samsara' 'samsara' kari' michhe gela kala

labha na ha-ila kichhu, ghatila janjala

"Time has passed as I have been busy in my material life, and I have got nothing—only became burdened."

kisera samsara ei chhayabaji praya

ihate mamata kari vrtha dina yaya

"What sort of world is this? It is like a trick, a show. While I affectionately take it as my own, days pass by in vain."

dina yaya michha kaje, nisa nidra-vase

nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe vase

"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."

Nobody knows when each of us will have to leave, you must always keep it in mind.

krsna se tomara krsna dite para

tomara sakati achhe

ami ta' kangala 'krsna krsna' bali

dhaitava pachhe pachhe

“Krishna is yours. You can give Krishna. You have that power. I am very poor. Calling, 'Krishna!' 'Krishna!', I run after you.”

And there is also this very beautiful Saranagati kirtan:

sarvasva tomara, charane sapiya,

padechhi tomara ghare

tumi ta' thakura, tomara kukura,

baliya janaha more

“I have offered everything at Your feet and taken shelter in Your home. You are my Master; please consider me Your dog.”

(Saranagati, 19.1)

tava nija-jana, prasada seviya,

uchchhista rakhibe yaha

amara bhojana, parama-anande,

prati-dina habe taha

“Whatever remnants Your devotees leave behind after honouring Your prasad I will eat every day with great joy.”

(Saranagati, 19.3)

If we can always keep ourselves within the mercy of sadhus, Guru, Vaishnavs, then we will get supreme benefit. This life is temporary and very rare. In Satya-yuga people lived 100,000 years, got the Lord through meditation; in Treta-yuga people made fire-sacrifices, their lifetime was 10,000 years; but it is said in the scriptures that if you make thousands and thousands of sacrifices, the result of all these sacrifices will not equal to chanting of the Holy Name just once.

eka-bara krishna-name yata papa hare

patakira sadhya nahi tata papa kare

"A sinner cannot commit more sin than once chanting Krishna's Name can remove."

koti janma yadi kare sravana kirtana

tabu na paya vrajera nandera nandana

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

You can practise sravan and kirtan for millions of lives, but you will still not get the Lord—because it means you have too many offences. You must chant the Holy Name without offences. It is said in the scriptures that atyahara, prayasa, prajalpa, niyamagraha, laulya, janasanga (too much eating, hoarding, too much talking, doing what is favourable while not giving up what is unfavourable, greed, associating with non-devotees)—these six things destroy devotion.

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Krishna for anything except devotion, He can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, and so on—but He will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

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

If you come to the Lord asking Him for a house, a car, etc. the Lord will give you everything, but He will make you forget Him and take devotion away from you.

You cannot get the Lord through any karma, any jnana, or any yoga—if you want to get the Lord, you can only get Him through devotion. How can you get devotion? Can you buy it with money? Bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta-sangena parijayate (Brhan-naradiya Purana)—you can get devotion through the association of devotees. If you associate with devotees, devotion will come; and if you do not associate with devotees, devotion will not come. That is why it is said that we must give up bad association. "Asat-sanga sada tyaga chhada anya gita-raga" (Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, 15): "give up bad association, do not listen to the material songs and music."

asat-sanga-tyaga,—ei vaisnava-achara

'stri-sangi'—eka asadhu, 'krsnabhakta' ara

"Vaishnav's line of behaviour is to always give up bad association. Those who associate with women is one kind of bad persons, and another kind is those who have no devotion to Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.84)

You must give up this kind of bad association. Then,

anya abhilasa chhadi, jnana karma parihari

kaya-mane kariba bhajana

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

ei bhakti parama karana

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

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

So, remember these five things:

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

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

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

Does 'Mathura-vasa' mean that you must go to live in Mathura? No.

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi

grhete goloka bhaya

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

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

When there is bhajan, service going on in some house, that house is Goloka Vrindavan. It must be nitya-seva—every day, eternal service. When there is eternal, constant service going on in some house, that house is Goloka Vrindavan. Remember this. Muslims pray namaz several times a day, and according to our scriptures we feed the Lord several times a day. You can actually pay sastanga-dandavat and be a complete yogi in this way.

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi

grhete goloka bhaya

On the day when there is service going on in some place, that place is Goloka Vrindavan, and this is actually not a matter of one day only—you must engage in nitya-seva of the Lord, you must serve the Lord constantly, eternally.

* * *

Irresistible Devotion

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 7

When Mahaprabhu was in Puri and somebody would come to pay their obeisance to Him, everybody would say, "Do not touch the Lord's feet when you pay obeisance! Do not touch His feet!" One day, when Kalidas grasped the Lord's feet, the devotees quickly said, "What you are doing? No, no, do not touch the Lord's feet!" but Mahaprabhu said, "Do not stop him. Nobody has the power to stop him." Did Kalidas have good looks? He did not—he wore soiled old clothes and did not look so good... But what was his merit? Why did Mahaprabhu say it? When Vaishnavs took prasadam, he did not take it with them, he would stay outside, and when the Vaishnavs finished prasadam and threw away their plates, he would eat the remnants on those plates. That is why Mahaprabhu said, "He took remnants of all Gaudiya Vaishnavs, and when he touches My feet, I do not mind it." This is what devotion should be like.

One time, Kalidas took some mangoes to the house of Jhadu Thakur. Jhadu Thakur took the mangoes and after his wife ate it, she threw the peel and the chewed remnants in the forest. Kalidas hid in the forest and ate those remnants... This Jhadu Thakur was a bhunimali but later became a devotee. Do you understand what bhunimali means? It means a cobbler who made shoes from cow's skin. So after this bhunimali had taken the mangoes, his wife took some mangoes too and having sucked the peel, she threw it away in the forest. Kalidas picked those remnants and ate them.

tava nija-jana, prasada seviya,

uchchhista rakhibe yaha

amara bhojana, parama-anande,

prati-dina habe taha

"Whatever remnants Your devotees leave behind after honouring Your prasad I will eat every day with great joy."

(Saranagati, 19.3)

sarvasva tomara, charane sapiya,

padechhi tomara ghare

tumi ta' thakura, tomara kukura,

baliya janaha more

“I have offered everything at Your feet and taken shelter in Your home. You are my Master; please consider me Your dog.”

(Saranagati, 19.1)

What should we ourselves say? "You are my Lord, please consider me your dog." Consider me your dog! This is what the scriptures say and it is necessary to listen to these things.

* * *

Devotees' Deities

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 8

So, this is how Deities manifest...

Sanatan Goswami himself installed Madan Mohan. Rupa Goswami himself installed Govinda. Haridas, the guru of Tansen, (it is not Chhota Haridas, not Haridas Thakur, it is another Haridas) installed Banki Bihari (you have heard the Name of this Vrindavan Deity). In Kalna, Gauri Das Pandit himself installed Gaura Nitai's Deities—when Gaura Nitai came to his house, by his desire They became Deities. At the place where Jayadev composed Gita Govinda ("Srita kamala..."), Dvijavaninath installed Gaura Gadadhar. And Vishnupriya Devi also herself installed Mahaprabhu's Deity. When the Deity was ready, she went there to see Him, but when she saw Him, she said, "No, my Prabhu was not like this." The Deity was adjusted, but when she saw the Deity next time, she again said, "No, my Prabhu's eyes were not like this," next time, "My Prabhu's toenails were not like this," next time, "My Prabhu's hands were not like this," and so on. A whole year passed in this way and she would come every day and say, "No, my Prabhu was not like this." This is how the Deity was finally made. Who made that Deity? Vishnupriya, she installed that Deity of Mahaprabhu.

Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur lived for sixty-four years and he established sixty-four temples during his lifetime, installing Deities there. Our Guru Maharaj also went to many places, many different countries and installed the Lord's Deities all over the world.

isvarera krpa-lesa haya ta' yahare

sei ta' isvara-tattva janibare pare

(Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 6.83)

"Only those who receive even a drop of the Lord's mercy, can understand the Lord, can know anything about the Lord." Without a drop of mercy of the Lord you cannot do anything.

* * *

Sri Gita: Primary Scripture

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 9

I have been speaking for an hour now—do you have any questions?

Question: What is the best time to read Srimad Bhagavad-gita?

You can read Gita at any time, it is not a problem. Gita is our primary scripture, and you can read it, there is no problem. Read Gita—memorise it and keep it in your heart.

I was just speaking about this ,

ananyas chintayanto mam, ye janah paryupasate

tesam nityabhiyuktanam, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

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

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.22)

অপি চেৎ সুদুরাচারো ভজতে মামনন্যভাক্ ।

সাধুরেব স মন্তব্যঃ সম্যগ্ব্যবসিতো হি সঃ ॥

api chet suduracharo, bhajate mam ananya-bhak

sadhur eva sa mantavyah, samyag vyavasito hi sah

"If even a very sinful person serves Me exclusively with devotion, he should be regarded as saintly, for his resolve is perfect."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.30)

What did Krishna say last? Krishna said to Arjun (9.27), "Yat karosi yad asnasi... Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever meditation you do, do it all for Me," but finally, when Arjun said, "I am Your disciple, I surrender to You," Krishna said (18.66), "Give up everything."

There it is also said,

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)

There are five different moods of service—some serve and worship the Lord in santa-rasa (neutral mood), some in dasya-rasa (as a servant), some in sakhya-rasa (as a friend), some in vatsalya-rasa (as a parent), some in madhura-rasa (as a paramour). And here Krishna said, "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."

Also,

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya

upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

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

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

It is necessary to learn this by heart, it is necessary to keep this in your heart. So many people read Gita, but this is not like reading any other books, it is necessary not only to learn it by heart and keep it in your heart, it is necessary to follow what is written in Gita.

“gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale

gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

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

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6)

loka dekhana gora bhaja tilaka matra dhari'

gopanete atyachara gora dhare churi

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

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.7)

Giving up 'monkey' renunciation, giving up false renunciation, it is necessary to be a true renunciate. You cannot become a sadhu just by dressing as a sadhu. Mahaprabhu told Raghunath Das Goswami, "Go back to your house, go back to your house,

markata-vairagya na kara loka dekhana

yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana

"Do not show your false renunciation to people. Serve accepting material things, but without attachment."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.238)

Do not do service just to impress others. You can use material things, but without attachment—do not be attached to them. You can serve the Lord even in this material world. How?

‘asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'

visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

"When you are free from material attachment and establish relationship with the Lord, then you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself."

('Vaishnav ke?' verse 12)

It is not necessary to leave your family to serve the Lord, the only exception for whom it is necessary are those who distribute Hari-katha in this world because people will not listen to family people, but if a sannyasi tells something to them, then they listen to it. That is why, for preaching, it is necessary to take sannyas. Otherwise,

grhi ha-uka tyagi ha-uka bhakte bheda nai

bheda kaile kumbhipaka narakete yai

"There is no difference between devotees—be they householders or renunciants. If someone makes distinctions between them, they go to the hell of boiling oil.

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 17.22)

"He is a householder, I am a sannyasi, I am much higher than him"—if somebody makes such distinction, they are going to the hell of boiling oil. This is written in the scriptures. If you read the scriptures, you will understand everything.

* * *

Sincere Practice

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 10

There are so many gurus in this world—there are karmi-gurus, there are jnani-gurus, etc. but there are very few santapa-harankari gurus (gurus who can take away your three-fold miseries)—there are many vitta harankari gurus (gurus who take away your money, steal your property, and so on).

Suppose you go to a doctor and say, "Doctor, my health is not good"—the doctor sends you for a blood test and sees that you are diabetic, you have high blood sugar. He tells you, "Do not eat sweets and potato," but you refuse, you say, "I have money, I cannot stop eating sweets—I must eat ten sweets a day. Prescribe me some medicine, I will take it." If the doctor does not love you but loves your money, he will say, "OK, take this medicine, you do not have to give up anything," and he will only waste your money—"He will come to see me every week, and I will get my fee." If the doctor is good (if he loves you), he will say, "I do not need such patients as you. Do not come to me again. If you want to come to me again, you must stop eating sweets, then only you can come."

Some come and take initiation from gurus who say, "Meat, fish, eggs, onion, garlic—do whatever you want, eat whatever you want, mix with women without marriage if you want, do not worry. Only come and give me pranami." There are such gurus in this world, and their number is very large.

“gorara ami, gorara ami" mukhe balile nahi chale

gorara achara, gorara vichara la-ile phala phale

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

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.6)

"Na kara markata-vairagya (Cc, 2.16.238)—do not show money renunciation." Markat means a monkey. Have you seen monkeys in Vrindavan? They walk naked—no clothes, nothing, but as soon as they see your glasses, they immediately take them, and if you give them a biscuit they return the glasses. Is it not so? That is markat-vairagya, phalgu-vairagya (false renunciation), it means that there are material desires inside.

krsna-bhakta—niskama, ataeva 'santa'

bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami—sakali 'asanta'

"A devotee of Krishna has no desires and is always peaceful. Those who have material desires, desire for liberation or desire for some perfection are always lusty and never know any peace."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.149)

We must serve and practise with yukta-vairagya, proper renunciation, not with false renunciation. Some say, "Oh, I will not stay in the temple, I will go to Haridwar and stay alone." Have you heard the story of Gita-samsar?

There was once a guru who told his disciple to read Gita every day. He started reading Gita every day, but there was much disturbance at home, he did not like it, so one day he said, "I will not stay here! I will go to Rishikesh and read Gita there, alone."

He went there and read Gita every day, but he had many material desires in his mind, so he would fall asleep while reading. As he was sleeping, a rat came and bit his Gita. He woke up and saw half of his book had been eaten. He thought, "Oh, what am I going to do? I must kill the rat!" He got himsa-buddhi in his mind—his inclination grew towards violence. So, how did he get rid of the rat? He found a cat and brought it to the place where he was staying. Seeing the cat at home, the rat ran away, but now the cat started meowing and crying for food... He thought, "Now the cat is hungry, how will I feed it? I want a cow!" He got himself a cow. Then he thought, "Who will feed and take care of the cow? I need a girl." He got some girl and married her. In this way, he ended up with a great samsara (family). He also had many children—somebody cried, "Give me a car!" somebody cried, "Give me a house!", somebody cried, "Give me money!"...

In the meantime, the guru of this disciple thought, "My disciple left for Rishikesh so long ago, let me go there and see how his reading of Gita is going on. He must have become so great." But when he came to his disciple he saw a great samsar—a great samsar of Gita!

So, do not keep material desires in your heart. You must remove all dirty things from your heart by continuously hearing Hari-katha—then the seed of devotion will sprout.

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

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

mali hana kare sei bija aropana

sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

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

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151-152)

You must water your seed of devotion with the water of practising (hearing and chanting). And,

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

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

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

tara madhye sarva-srestha nama-sankirtana

niraparadhe nama laile paya prema-dhana

"Of the practising processes, the best is Nama-sankirtan. If you chant the Holy Name without offence, you will get the wealth of divine love."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.71)

You must always, at every moment chant, "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare." When Mahaprabhu was in Puri, He would go to the bathroom biting His tongue. Gopal asked Him one day,

"Prabhu, is anything wrong? Why are You biting Your tongue?"

"My tongue is very naughty—I am going to the bathroom to pass stool, it is a dirty place, but My tongue wants to chant the Holy Name even there," replied Mahaprabhu.

"Prabhu," said Gopal, "but You said there are no rules and regulations regarding the time and place of chanting,

ki sayane, ki bhojane, kiba jagarane

aharnisa chinta krsna, balaha vadane

“Whether you are sleeping, eating, or resting, always chant the Name of Krishna.”

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Madhya-khanda, 28.28)

"You can chant the Holy Name the whole day, even if You chant the Holy Name in the bathroom, what is the problem?"

"What you are saying is right, Gopal," said Mahaprabhu. "You are My Guru from today—from today, your name will be Gopal Guru!"

You can chant the Holy Name at any time—when you go to the bathroom, while you are eating, etc. you can chant all the time. When we take prasad, we always say,

mahaprasade govinde nama-brahmani vaisnave

svalpa-punya-vatam rajan visvaso naiva yayate

"O king, one whose fortune is meagre never develops faith in mahaprasad, Govinda, the Holy Name, or the Vaisnavas."

sarira avidya-jala jadendriya tahe kala

jive phele visaya-sagare

ta'ra madhye jihva ati lobhamaya sudurmati

ta'ke jeta kathina samsare

"The body is a net of illusion, and the material senses are the enemies; they throw the soul into the ocean of mundanity. Among the senses, the tongue is the most greedy and wicked. It is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world."

Jadendriya (material senses) means five karmendriya (five senses through which we act—feet, hands, rectum, genitals, mouth), five jnanendriya (five senses through which we perceive things—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin), and the tongue throws the souls into the material world. What is said next?

krsna bada dayamaya karibare jihva jaya

sva-prasad-anna dila bhai

sei annamrta pao radha-krsna-guna gao

preme daka chaitanya-nitai

"Krishna is very merciful: to conquer the tongue He has given us His remnants! Accept this nectarean food, sing the glories of Radha-Krishna, and with love call out, 'Chaitanya! Nitai!'"

prasada-seva karite haya,

sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

If you take prasad, all these senses will be controlled. That is why you must do prasad-seva (take prasad). It is not about eating vegetarian food. Monkeys also eat vegetarian food, calves drink only milk, cows only eat grass—they are also vegetarian, but do they get the Lord through that? It is necessary to offer food to the Lord, then take prasad—if you do that, then your senses will be controlled. If you cannot control your senses, you will not be able to control anything.

* * *

Jada-Vidya

Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary

27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 11

Do you have any other questions?

[A question about knowledge follows.]

Material knowledge (jada-vidya) means,

jada-vidya yata, mayara vaibhava,

tomara bhajane badha

moha janamiya, anitya samsare,

jivake karaye gadha

"All mundane learning is an exhibition of maya and an obstacle to Your service. It brings about infatuation for the temporary world and makes an ass of the soul."

(Saranagati, 3.3)

Jada-vidya means all knowledge besides the knowledge about devotion. That includes school knowledge, yoga-vidya, karma-vidya, jnana-vidya, etc. In the place of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya there is a school of Vidya Vachaspati, and there you will find patanjali-vidya also. This is described in Nabadwip-dham-mahatmya.

Through such knowledge you cannot get devotion. If you want to get devotion, you must renounce, give up all kinds of material knowledge. Vidya Vachaspati and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya were experts of all material knowledge, but when Mahaprabhu came to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya left all material knowledge and accepted the knowledge that gives devotion to the Lord.

Sometimes they say in Nabadwip that Mahaprabhu went to Vidya Nagar to study there, but it is wrong—Mahaprabhu actually studied material subjects from a Bangladeshi pundit, and the knowledge that is there in Vidya Nagar actually destroys devotion, it is apara-vidya. Our prayer is, "When will we be able to give up such knowledge?"

kabe habe bala se dina amara

aparadha ghuchi suddha name ruchi

krpa-bale ha'be hrdaye sanchara

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

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

Knowledge, on the other hand, can only give liberation...

[His Divine Grace then sings "Kabe habe bolo..." and thus finishes the class on the holy festival of the Deity installation anniversary.]

* * *

Unpretentious Mood

Caracas, June 2010

Question: I was reading that Gurudev says that there is some illusion in the Holy Dham that covers everything and does not allow us to see the real spiritual abode. Does it mean that when we stay in the Holy Dham we do not commit offences? Will all our other offences be removed there?

Actually, our temple is in Koladwaip, it is aparadh-bhanjan-pat (a place where all offences are removed), but if somebody comes to the Holy Dham and makes some offence there, then such offences will not be removed.

Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote,

maya-jale baddha ha'ye

achha michhe kaja la'ye

"Bound in Maya's net, you work in vain."

'Jal' means a net, an illusory net. You think you are free, but we are actually not free—we are covered by the net of the illusory environment and the jiva soul cannot do anything. The jiva soul wants to serve the Lord, but it cannot because the illusory environment is always pressuring it—it cannot get out of it.

Question: Does the same apply to making offence here in Parama Karuna?

The aparadh-bhanjan-pat is Koladwip, but here too you can make an offence. If you think you have made some offence, you can pray, "Please forgive my offence."

But when somebody is a servitor of the Lord, a servitor of the Guru and some offence unknowingly comes, Krishna automatically removes their offence. A servitor is excused. Sometimes, a servitor can make some offence without knowing it (for example, you are offering the bhog and a drop of rice or subji falls on the flour and you step on it—you do not know it, but an offence happened automatically), but Krishna does not see His devotees' offences, He always removes His devotees' offences.

Question: Is detachment something internal?

I have told it many times: it is not necessary to show detachment, just as it is not necessary to [externally] show love and affection. Gurudev always told me, "Get out! Get out!" but I know how much love and affection he has for me. Gurudev said to somebody, "I always tell this boy to get out, I always chastise him, but he always gets out and comes back to me. I am testing him—if he has love and affection for me, then he will not get out, he will stay with me."

For example, somebody tells you not to come to the temple, but if you continue coming to the temple and doing service, then your offence will be removed and the person who had told you not to come will also eventually get the feeling, "Oh, I cannot tell anybody to get out from the temple."

Question: Can we chant bhajans of Bhakti Vinod Thakur in Spanish?

How is it possible? Is it possible? Language actually does not matter—you can chant them as it is, it is not difficult, and if you can make it in Spanish, you can chant in Spanish, but I do not know if it is possible. But do not chant Hare Krishna in Spanish! [His Divine Grace laughs.]

* * *

"Nitai Gaurachandra! Nitai Gaurachandra!"

Caracas, Venezuela—Deities' Installation Anniversary

26 June 2010

We are present here today to have some good association and also we are going to celebrate here this temple's Deities' Parama Karuna Nitai Gaurachandra Prabhu's seventh anniversary.

I told you in the morning and yesterday, and now I am also telling you that the Lord comes in this world to rescue all of us and He comes through Guru-parampara, through our Gurudev. Guru and Vaishnavs are sent here and when they come they install Deities. In this way, this Deity here in Caracas was also installed by Gurudev.

I have told many times before how Deities manifested in many temples. Haridev in Govardhan, Keshavdev (Adi-Keshav) in Mathura, and even Gopal who was later worshipped by Madhavendra Puri also—all these Deities were installed by Krishna's prapautra, great-grandson Vajranabha. There are many other Deities also.

We think that the Deity is a doll, that the Deity is made of some things, made by astadhatu (an alloy of eight metals), but it is not so—the Deity is actually Vrajendra Nandan Sri Krishna! "Vigraha naha Tumi—saksad Vrajendra Nandan! You are not a Deity—You are Vrajendra Nandan Himself! You the Lord, You are Krishna Himself!"

Gurudev installed Gaura Nitai and you know why. Even in the scriptures also it is said that when you chant Hare Krishna, chant the Holy Name, some offence can come, but if you chant Gaura Nitai's Name, no offence will come. How merciful They are. If you chant Hare Krishna, there are ten offences and you must remove these ten offences; but if you chant Gaura Nitai, Nitai Gaurachandra, then no offence will come. Gurudev is very merciful—he installed Parama Karuna Sri Nitai Gaurachandra here in Caracas.

Also, what did Nityananda Prabhu Himself preach? Nityananda never preached, "Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!"

bhaja gauranga, kaha gauranga, laha gaurangera nama re

ye jana gauranga bhaje, sei amara prana re

"Worship Gauranga! Say Gauranga! Take Gauranga's Name! Those who worship Gauranga are My heart and soul!"

This is what He preached! Nityananda does not preach the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, He preaches "Chant Gauranga, say Gauranga—whoever worships Gauranga is My life and heart!" Gauranga Mahaprabhu also said, "Jay Nitai! Jay Nitai!" So, now we chant both Their Names, "Nitai Gaurachandra! Nitai Gaurachandra!" and we are very fortunate that we can chant Their Names. Now is the age of Kali, so many things are coming, but if you chant Nitai Gaurachandra (and you can see that every time we finish singing we sing, "Nitai Gaura Hari bol!") all your offences will be removed.

* * *

Your Chance—Your Choice

Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 1

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim

yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"I am offering my obeisance to Sri Guru who delivers all fallen souls and by whose mercy even the dumb can speak, even the lame can climb a hill."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya

chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

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

"I am offering my obeisance to Sri Guru by whose mercy even a dumb man can speak, even a lame man can cross a mountain..."

sadhu-sange krsna-nama—ei matra chai

samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

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

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.13)

Every day you are chanting the Holy Name in the association of the sadhus... There are five most important practices,

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

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

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

Among these, sravan-kirtan is main:

tara madhye sarva-srestha nama-sankirtana

niraparadhe nama laile paya prema-dhana

"Of the practising processes, the best is Nama-sankirtan. If you chant the Holy Name without offence, you will get the wealth of divine love."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.71)

You must chant the Holy Name without offences. The Lord has given us a tongue so that we can do Hari-kirtan (chant the Holy Name and glories of the Lord). Mahaprabhu said to Raghunath Das Goswami,

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe

bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe

"Do not listen to the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236)

vairagira krtya—sada nama-sankirtana

saka-patra-phala-mule udara-bharana

"The duty of a person in the renounced order is to always chant the Hare Krishna mantra. He should satisfy his belly with whatever vegetables, leaves, fruits and roots are available."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.226)

This is the nature of a vairagi, renunciant. They fill their stomach with vegetables, leaves, fruits and roots... You must live remembering it. It is necessary to leave unfavourable association—there are things that are not favourable to devotion and it is necessary to gradually leave them, otherwise if you do not leave what is unfavourable, you will not get attachment to this path of devotion.

"Jivana anitya janaha sara tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara": life is uncertain, any time danger can come... Every day you sing kirtans, and it is necessary to understand their meaning and think about their meaning. Just now we were singing,

jivana ha-ila sesa, na bhajile hrsikesa

bhaktivinod-upadesa, ek-bar nam-rase mata re

"Your life is ending, but you have not served Hrsikes. Bhakti Vinod advises: once relish His Name's nectar."

Bhaktivinod Thakur is saying, "Please say this Holy Name once! Say it just once!" Life is uncertain and full of all kinds of dangers—so many diseases obstruct us, all the time something comes up, and we cannot serve the Lord...

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."

Nobody prohibits you to do your own work, but when you become old and so many diseases come, how will you serve then? When your health is bad, when you are not feeling well, you do not feel like doing anything, you know it yourself. Now your health is good, but every day we waste our time on other things. We have got this life only to serve the Lord, but if we waste time on other things, then, when this body is gone later, we will regret, "I could not serve the Lord! I could not do any service!" When this life is gone, who know whether you will get this chance again or not. We have time now, we can do service, but so many problems come in the way…

* * *

Successful Life

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 2

The Lord gives you everything and He can take everything away, but still you do not do anything—janiya suniya visa khainu, we know it, we heard about it, but still we take poison. That is why sadhu, Guru and great souls come in this world and, going door to door, tell everybody,

jiva jaga, jiva jaga, gorachanda bale

kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

“Sri Gorachand says, ‘O souls, awake! O souls, awake! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?’”

(Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

"O sleeping jiva souls, wake up!" They come and try to explain something to us—we hear it but do not take it serious... The love and attachment that we should have for the Lord is not coming to us... When you feel the same kind of love for the Lord that you feel towards your wife, brothers, friends, etc., then you can understand that there is some service.

We must serve the Lord. One day we will leave—we have got this rare human birth and we must take advantage of this opportunity. When it is gone, you will not be able to do anything. We have got a great fortune to serve the Guru and Vaishnavs, to follow and be chaste to the Guru and Vaishnavs, to live as the Guru and Vaishnavs tell us to live, and if we can use this opportunity, then our life will be successful. Do you understand it? We must always remember this.

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 the Lord and as a result we are now burning in the three-fold miseries (adhibhautik, adhidaivik, adhyatmik: miseries caused by one's body, by the nature, and other souls)…

* * *

Chant and Remember

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 3

"Jivana anitya janaha sara": life is uncertain. You can understand it yourself also.

We can leave this world at any time, but we must think what we have done, whether we have been able to serve the Lord while we are here in this world. We must always think about this.

It is necessary to always, all the time chant the Holy Name of Krishna. Krishna-nam is the main thing,

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

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

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

In Kali-yuga, there is no other way except chanting of the Holy Name, that is why in this Kali-yuga we must chant the Holy Name, we must engage in sravan and kirtan. Do not forget the great things running behind small things. The Lord has given us everything—food, etc. We got it all in previous lives also—whatever birth we got previously, we got all these facilities before too. Just for the sake of filling your belly, for the sake of such small things you forget the great things, you forget the Lord. We always think and worry about good food, good clothes, money, etc.—these are all small things. Prabhupad said that even if your boat is sinking, you must continue rowing. Chant the Holy Name. Start the fire, and wind will come automatically. We must always remember and think about these things, we must always engage ourselves in kirtan.

You are always busy with your work and family, but you must chant the Holy Name and take care of your family understanding that it is the Lord's family. Stay within service and chant—whether you are eating, sitting, lying down, etc.

ki sayane, ki bhojane, kiba jagarane

aharnisa chinta krsna, balaha vadane

“Whether you are sleeping, eating, or resting, always chant the Name of Krishna.”

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Madhya-khanda, 28.28)

"Aharnisa chinta Krsna balaha vadane": always chant the Name of Krishna, always think about Krishna. If you can always think about Krishna, you will get supreme benefit. If you can chant the Holy Name just once, you will get supreme benefit—you can reach the Lord!

The Lord has given you nine doors—they are not for eating. So many dirty things come out of these doors, but the Lord has given you a mouth so that you can chant the Holy Name of the Lord. If we can use this tongue for this purpose (to chant the Holy Name), we will be able to reach our ultimate destination. Please always remember this. There are many kinds of devotional practices (sadhana), it is not necessary to practise everything—if you can practise only one thing, it is sufficient.

* * *

The Only Hope and Aspiration

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 4

Mahaprabhu told Sanatan Goswami,

jive daya name ruchi vaisnava seva

iha bahi sanatana nahi ara dharma

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

We must bring the souls who have turned away from Krishna, to this path. People do not want to chant the Holy Name, they take shelter of Kali and Kali is gradually becoming stronger—there are more and more uncultured people, people who are averse and hateful towards Guru, Vaishnavs, and the Lord, who kill brahmans and cows... Such days are coming slowly, slowly, but if we can chant the Holy Name we can reach the abode of the Lord, then it will not be necessary to keep hopes and desires any more...

There is a very beautiful kirtan, "Asa-pasa sata sata klesa deya avirata—the shackles of hundreds and hundreds of desires constantly trouble me." (Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, from Sri Siksastakam songs, 5.2) We have so many hopes—hundreds and hundreds of hopes appear within us—and how much suffering we get in return... Whichever way you are, whatever your situation is, you must be happy and satisfied with that because whatever the Lord does, He does it for our benefit. Do you understand? And this is that Lord whom we have forgotten. If you have some fortune, then

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

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

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

By some fortune you have received the seed of the devotional creeper, and if you tend to this creeper well, then gradually it will turn into a kalpa-vriksa, a wish-fulfilling tree, and you will be able to taste its fruit of divine love. Such is the result that we can get—that must get.

The Lord has given you a nice body, etc.—is it all for eating, sleeping, defending and mating only—only to sleep and eat? No. The Lord has given us everything so that we can hear about Him, chant His Holy Name, glorify the Lord, serve the Lord.

prasada-seva karite haya,

sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

If you honour prasad, you can conquer all senses. It is necessary to honour prasad (prasad-seva).

* * *

Treading Wrong Path

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 5

Guru Maharaj often sang this very beautiful kirtan:

tava nija-jana kona mahajane

pathaiya dile tumi

“You have sent a great soul, Your associate (to rescue me).”

"The Lord has sent His own man in the form of a Guru..."

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)

If you get his mercy, his prasad, you do not need any other mercy, any other prasad. If we can get the mercy of these Guru and Vaishnavs, then we can reach our supreme destination. We want our Guru's mercy—if you have his mercy, then it is possible to get everything. Without his mercy, "Yogyata vichare kichu nahi pai—tomara koruna-sara! If you judge my qualifications, you will find I have no qualification, your mercy is everything." "If you give me your mercy, then everything is possible, otherwise not." We want the mercy of Gurudev.

You have heard also what happens to those who make offence to the feet of Guru and Vaishnavs—you have heard the story of Chapal Gopal, you have heard about the Buddhist sannyasi, you have heard the story of Gunarnava Misra—what position did they end up in? Mahaprabhu did not spare even His own mother—He told her, "You have made an offence to the feet of Advaita Acharya, you will not get mercy." Sachi Mata only said (not to Advaita Acharya's face, but behind his back), "Everybody says he is Advaita, but for me he is Dvaita!" Because her elder son mixed with Advaita Acharya and left house taking sannyas, and she worried like any mother, "Now My Nimai will leave too, who will look after me?" So, Mahaprabhu told her, "If you do not ask Advaita Acharya for forgiveness, you will not get relief. You have made an offence at the feet of a Vaishnav."

Why do we not get service? "Ki-rupe paiba seva muni durachara: I am so wicked, how will I ever get service?" How will I get service when I make offence to the Vaishnavs?

We hear it, we know it, but we do not understand it—many hear about it but they do not want to accept these things. What future awaits them then? What will become of them then?...

* * *

Love The Lord

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 6

You can see how much all the souls are suffering, how much we are suffering... We turn away from Krishna, forget the Lord and become engrossed in other works, and by and by the life comes to an end. Those who become averse to the Lord suffer from the blazing fire of material existence, they forget the Lord...

durlabha manava janma labhiya samsare

krsna na bhajinu duhkha kahiba kahare?

"I have got a very rare human life in this world, but I have not worshipped Lord Krishna. Whom can I tell of my misery?"

This is not only about the life in this material world—we have come to the material world so many times. Before too we got a life with all its paraphernalia (samsara).

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

labha na ha-ila kichhu ghatila janjala

kisera samsara ei, chhayabaji praya

ihate mamata kari' vrtha gela yaya

"Time has passed in the affairs of material household life, and I have got nothing—only became burdened... As if spellbound, I was attracted to this pointless material life, and being so much engrossed into it I pass my days in vain."

(Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

In this way times passes in the affairs of material life...

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base

nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

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

('Durlabha manava janma labhiya' by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

We never think about this, but the sadhu and Guru come and tell us so sweetly,

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

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

mali hana kare sei bija aropana

sravana-kirtana-jale karaye sechana

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

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151-152)

You must love the Lord with your heart. Nothing else is necessary. Even if you have nothing, you can worship the Lord with the water of Ganges and Tulasi leaves and hold Him close to your heart. Do you think if you have no money, no wealth, the Lord will not come to you? You have heard before,

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 very merciful to those who are poor and needy."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.68)

I have also told you this story before. There was one Lala Babu in Vrindavan who had a sworn enemy. One day, he came to his enemy's house and asked him, "Will you give me some alms? I have come to beg from you..." The man was going to give him some gold, but Lala Babu said, "No, I only want the remnants of the rotis that you had yesterday." It is necessary to have such humility.

dainya, daya, anye mana, pratistha-varjana

chari-gune guni hai karaha kirtana

"Humility, mercy, consideration of others, and giving up position are the four qualities needed to perform kirtan."

It is necessary to be humble, kind and give honour to others. We always pray to Gurudev and the Lord,

sakale sammana karite sakati,

deha natha! yatha yatha

"Prabhu, please give me such power that I can give honour to everybody. Please make it possible for me to do this!" This is what we want from Gurudev. Just several days it was Nrisingha Chaturdasi—what is the main meaning of that pastime? "Prabhu, please give me such boon that all asking desire is removed from me! The only thing I want from You is that I stop wanting anything from You." We want to get relief from any karma-misra bhakti (devotion motivated by some gain).

When Mahaprabhu talked with Ramananda Ray and Ramananda Ray spoke about karma-misra bhakti, Mahaprabhu said, "Eho bahya age kaha ara: go deeper, say more." Then he spoke about jnana-misra bhakti (devotion motivated by the desire to gain knowledge)—Mahaprabhu said the same, "Eho bahya age kaha ara: go deeper, say more." Only when Ramananda Ray came to jnana-sunya bhakti (devotion devoid of any pursuits of knowledge), then only Mahaprabhu accepted it. We must always think about such jnana-sunya bhakti…

* * *

Chant and Be Chaste

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 7

Jive daya, Name ruchi (be kind to the jiva souls, relish chanting the Holy Name)—you must feel taste for the Holy Name, such taste must come. If you chant the Holy Name without offence, then taste will come. If you chant the Holy Name all the time, then offences will go away—we always make aparadh (offences), but if you chant the Holy Name more and more, then offences will go away.

aparadha sunye haye laha krsna-nama

achirat tumi pabe krsna-prema-dhana

"Chant the Holy Name of Krishna without offence and you will quickly get the treasure of divine love to Krishna."

You must chant the Holy Name without offences—then you can the wealth of Krishna-prema. To deliver the souls—for the sake of the souls of this world—Krishna Himself appears as the Holy Name. In Kali-yuga, the souls do not want to chant the Holy Name, but for them Krishna Himself comes as the Holy Name,

kali-kale nama-rupe krsna-avatara

nama haite haya sarva-jagat-nistara

"In the Kali-yuga, Krishna appears in the form of the Name. The entire world is delivered through that Name."

(Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 17.22)

The Name, qualities, form, pastimes, features and associates of the Lord are fully non-different from the Lord Himself, and only the Lord's close devotees can distribute this Holy Name.

You must chant the Holy Name. You have come to this bona fide line and you must keep chastity to your Guru. This is how you should do service.

* * *

Rare Quality

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 8

There was a rule that nobody was allowed to touch Mahaprabhu's feet. When Kalidas touched Mahaprabhu's feet with his both hands, devotees rushed to him, "What are you doing?" but Mahaprabhu said, "Do not stop him. He took prasad of all Gaudiya Vaishnavs!" When Vaishnavs were taking prasad, Kalidas did not sit with them, but when they would throw their plates, he would come and eat the remnants from those plates. This is how he got mercy of the Vaishnavs—by taking their prasad.

It is necessary to learn what the teachings of Mahaprabhu is and accept it. "Cheto-darpana-marjanam..."—Mahaprabhu came to this world to awaken the consciousness of the jiva souls... Our hearts are covered by maya (illusory environment), and Mahaprabhu came to rescue us from that maya. After Mahaprabhu, Nayana Manjari came in the form of Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and he preserved and presented the teachings of Mahaprabhu in a very sweet way.

tava nija-jana, prasada seviya,

uchchhista rakhibe yaha

amara bhojana, parama-anande,

prati-dina habe taha

"Whatever remnants Your devotees leave behind after honouring Your prasad I will eat every day with great joy."

(Saranagati, 19.3)

What Srila Prabhupad taught is all there in Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's kirtans.

vardhakye ekhana upaya-vihina

ta'te dina akinchana

"Now aged, I am devoid of any means of deliverance and thus destitute and distressed."

(Saranagati, 5.6)

vrddha-kala aola, saba sukha bhagala,

pida-vase ha-inu katara

"Then old age came, and all happiness fled. Subjugated by disease, I became distressed."

(Saranagati, 6.3)

People in this world say, "When I get old, then I will think about God", "When I get old, I will chant", "When I get old, I will follow Ekadasi," and so on. They do not know that if you take grains on Ekadasi, you commit the same sin as when you kill your father, mother, brahman, Guru—all sin is there. People hear this but still they do not follow Ekadasi.

The scriptures say that in this world the number of insects, beasts, birds is very large, and the number of human beings is very small. Some people say they follow the Vedas, but at the same time they do what is prohibited by the Vedas. They say, "Karma is the highest," but then it is said that among millions of karmis (fruitive workers), there is one jnani (wise person), among millions of jnanis there is one liberated soul, and among millions of such liberated souls there is one devotee of Krishna. A devotee of Krishna is very rare, but one devotee is capable of delivering the entire universe.

* * *

Why Can We Not Get It?

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 9

At Srivas Pandit's house there was a maidservant Duhkhi—she got Mahaprabhu's mercy. There was a Muslim tailor near Srivas Pandit's house—he too got Mahaprabhu's mercy. A great sinner Chand Kazi broke a mridanga, but even he got Mahaprabhu's mercy. Why can we not get it?

We must want it. There must be some effort on our side. If you make one step to the Lord, the Lord will make ten steps to you. It is necessary to have an intense desire, hankering, necessary to make an effort, then you will get mercy. Do you understand it? If you do not try, if you do not make an effort, how will mercy come? You must open your heart! When you open your heart, then the Lord will come and sit in your heart, and if you keep your heart closed, where will the Lord sit? You must open your heart and soul. Surrender yourself with heart and soul, become surrendered (saranagata),

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’."

It is necessary to have faith.

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya

krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

You must keep faith that the Lord takes care, that the Lord protects. If Krishna protects you, nobody can kill you, and if Krishna wants you to die, nobody can save you. If even a very sinful person surrenders to the lotus feet of Krishna, ("Api chet suduracharo..." B.g., 9.30), the Lord forgives all their offences and engages them in His service. This is how merciful the Lord is, and there is no parallel to the mercy of Nityananda and Mahaprabhu—even when They are beaten They distribute divine love! It is written also about Srila Prabhupad,

kuliyate pasandira atyachara kaila ya'ra

ta sabara dosa ksama kari'

jagate kaile ghosana 'taroriva sahisnuna'

hana 'kirtaniyah sada harih'

"You forgave all the atheists of Kuliya village, despite their bad behaviour. Loudly you proclaimed to one and all: one who is more tolerant than a tree can always chant the glories of Lord Hari."

How tolerant and humble one should be? It is necessary to be as humble as a blade of grass, trnad api sunichena. It is necessary to learn this.

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna

amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

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

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

Be humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree, and give honour to others. It is necessary to understand and learn this! And these qualities must come within you, must come from your heart. We must give obeisance to all devotees, always say, "Hare Krishna" when you call others, etc. Such process and practice must come. We must try to change. People say, "When others give class, I will not listen," "I will not listen to another disciple," "He is his disciple," "He is his guru," etc. Such mentality is not good.

* * *

Mercy Is Not Always Sugar-Coated

Sri Puri Dham, the day after Ratha Yatra

19 July 2015, translated from Bengali, part 3

Without mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, without mercy of Gurudev, you cannot understand anything.

When Sivananda Sen came here with the devotees from Bengal—just as you came here with me following whatever I told you. In this way, Sivananda Sen would bring all the devotees here. And just look how Nityananda Prabhu gave His mercy to him—He kicked him! If I, on the other hand, chastise any of you, you will say, "I do not need such a Guru! My Guru must love me." What is love? What is love to a child?

When a child cries, "I will go with father to work!" He does not understand anything, he only cries, "I will go too!" and disturbs his father. What will the father do? He gives his son a chocolate or a toy—his son immediately forgets about him and the father leaves. It is the same with the Lord. If you want a car, house, money, the Lord will give you everything—He will make you forget Him and leave.

So, Nityananda Prabhu and His party were walking to Puri, and on the way Sivananda Sen got delayed. Now there are bridges, but before to cross a river you had to take a boat. For example, on the way, there is a river called Mahanadi, in some places it is ten kilometres wide, so everybody had to take a boat to cross it. Sivananda Sen got a little late because he was managing the boat fare, making sure everybody got on the boats, etc. Because he got delayed, Nityananda Prabhu cursed him—He said, "Siva's two sons will die!" Sivananda Sen's wife began to cry when she heard it, but when Sivananda Sen heard it, he began to dance... When Sivananda Sen finished at the river and finally came to Nityananda Prabhu, Nityananda Prabhu kicked him. This was His mercy.

* * *

Our Spiritual Lifestyle

Speaking to devotees in Canada

16 October 2011, part 1

I am very happy to see you all.

You can preach from there, you can do sankirtan, you can read the books, always keep contact with the devotees, listen to lectures. That is good for you.

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya

krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

Gurudev said, "Anywhere you stay, you must maintain your spiritual life." You can make your family Krishna's family. You cook for the Deity, cook for your Guru, you serve your Guru, you do some job for your Guru—this family is only Krishna's family. Do you understand it? We are servants of Krishna, we are servants of Gurudev. We must maintain our spiritual life in this way. It does not matter where we live, we can live anywhere—in a forest, jungle, in a small house, cottage, etc.—it is not a problem. What is necessary is to maintain our spiritual life.

sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam

archchanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam

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

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 7.5.23)

Sravan, kirtan, sraddhaya sri-murti sevan, bhagavat sravan: hearing, chanting, serving the Deity with faith, hearing Bhagavat-katha. What does good association mean? When you read the books—when you read the scriptures of Gurudev, of Guru Maharaj, of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj—you get their association. It is not necessary to stay with the sadhu or bona fide Guru together (physically). You know that mosquitos also stay together with the Guru, but they do not serve—they disturb. Some servitors show false renunciation, they serve their Guru, but they have some other desire (material desire) inside. This is called false renunciation, it is not good.

You know that everybody, even big-big sannyasis, would pay their obeisance to Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur when they saw him, even though he was a householder. Many sannyasis who stayed in Mayapur also paid their obeisance to Kunja Babu (later Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Maharaj), although he was a householder too. Prabhupad said, "Samsara bhitare na bahire? Is family life inside or outside?" You cannot judge family life externally. Somebody can be wearing saffron clothes, somebody can be a sannyasi, but they can have some other material desire—they look like a sannyasi, but inside they live a family life. And somebody can be a householder, wearing white clothes, but their lifestyle is a sannyasi life.

‘asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'

visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

"When you are free from material attachment and establish relationship with the Lord, then you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself."

('Vaishnav ke?' verse 12)

We can stay in a family life but without attachment—anasakta hana visaya bhunja’ (Cc, 2.16.238). Mahaprabhu told Raghunath Das Goswami, "You can serve your family without attachment, it is not a problem." Anasakta hana, visaya bhunja (accepting material things without attachment)—that is good for us. That is our spiritual lifestyle.

Mahaprabhu and Prabhupad said that it is not necessary to show monkey renunciation (markata-vairagya). "Markata" means a monkey. Monkeys walk naked, they wear no clothes, they do not eat anything except fruit, but they always have some material desires. Do you understand? It is necessary to understand this clearly.

If you can continue your practising life in this way, it will be good for you.

* * *

Cementing Your Faith

Speaking to devotees in Canada

16 October 2011, part 2

"Anasakta hana visaya bhunja': serve accepting material things, but without attachment" (Cc, 2.16.238). Mahaprabhu told this to Raghunath Das Goswami, and Raghunath Das Goswami went back to his house. When Krishna gives you His mercy—when He decides, "I need you for My full service," He will use you—He will engage you through Gurudev, through a great devotee.

Devotees always engage everybody and everything in service of the Lord. In this world, everything comes for service to the Lord, but not everything can do it. So, devotees always use everything—fruit, flower trees, even some plants, etc. for the service of the Lord. For example, you can eat some fruit, but if you offer it to the Guru, that will give benefit to the plant or tree where that fruit came from. Do you understand it?

You go to beg for rice or you eat rice, you eat a chapati—if you offer whatever you eat to the Guru, offer it to the Lord, then the plant, the soil, etc. gets benefit. All demigods—sun, wind, moon, water, etc.—want to serve the Lord, but they cannot do it themselves. However, they can serve the Lord through a great devotee.

In this way, devotees always use everything for the service of the Lord and get sukriti like this. Through sukriti comes sraddha, faith. It is necessary to have strongest faith. Strongest faith comes through service, through practising. There are four types of faith—kamala-sraddha, taranga-sraddha, drdha-sraddha, sudrdha-sraddha. "Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari" (Cc, 2.22.64)—bhakti, devotion, comes through faith. If you have a strong faith, a strong platform, then no one can break you—your house will not fall down.

Do you have any questions?

Question: I always think about faith, I always think how to increase my faith?

Faith comes through practising. If you practise properly—go to mangal arati, read the Gita, read Gurudev's lecture, etc.—and follow what Gurudev says, follow his instruction, then faith will gradually come on its own. Our faith will be strong if we follow Gurudev's instruction. Do not follow your mind, follow the instruction of Gurudev. You must not think, "Oh, maybe what Gurudev said is not good, maybe what I am doing is good." This is the problem. It is necessary to follow what Gurudev tells you, to follow his instruction fully. Gurudev gave one example. Suppose you see a snake, but Gurudev tells you it is not a snake, it is rope—then you must believe that, you must believe that it is a piece of rope. If you do not believe Gurudev's words, then you will gradually lose your faith.

Also, "gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe"—do not hear so many bad things, do not say so many bad things; only "Radha-Krsna seva manase karibe" (only serve Radha-Krishna in your mind)—only follow what Gurudev says, only follow his instruction, do service. If you practise in this way, faith will be gradually strong, the platform will be strong. The more cement you use, the stronger the platform will be—the stronger the iron rod will be. So, the strongest faith is following Gurudev's instruction. That is faith.

You must understand Sri Guru and His Grace. Srila Sridhar Maharaj described the Guru and the disciple in his book Sri Guru and His Grace. Suppose a lotus is blooming in a pond, there is so much heat coming from the sun, but the lotus does not dry, it looks good. But if you take that lotus out of the soil and water, it will immediately dry. So, if we take shelter, if we have faith and believe our Guru, then Krishna cannot remove us, Krishna cannot harm us. Do you understand it? In the example with the lotus, the sun is Krishna, the lotus is ourselves, and the soil and water is the Guru. If we are under the shelter of our Guru, Krishna cannot remove us, Krishna cannot do anything.

"Krsna rusta hale Guru rakhibare pare"—if Krishna is angry, the Guru can protect you, but if the Guru becomes angry with you, Krishna cannot protect you. Vrindavan Das Thakur said also, "Guru bade Gauranga bhaje, sei papi raurave padi maje." It means that those who worship Gauranga without the Guru, are great sinners, and life after life, birth after birth, death after death they will be in hell.

Sometimes, we do something that our mind tells us to do and we think it is service, but it is not—it is karma. Service means fulfilling Gurudev's desire, doing what makes Gurudev happy. For example, a non-devotee is cooking something and a devotee is also cooking it—they are cooking the same thing, but it is actually different because one is karma, one is service. Service goes to Krishna, and karma leads to karma-bandhan (bondage with the karma), and the result of karma-bandhan is suffering in hell (narak-yantrana)...

* * *

Practise and Preach

Speaking to devotees in Canada

16 October 2011, part 3

Devotee: We work the whole day...

Yes, you work, but when you get time, do not waste time on talking so much, etc. Everybody works, I also work, but what do we work for? Work is for the Lord, for the service to the Guru. Work is also service.

prasada-seva karite haya,

sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

If you take prasad, all bad reaction will be removed. If you offer everything to Gurudev, then it becomes service. You work, get some salary, buy some fruit, buy some rice, cook and offer it to your Guru, then all reaction will be removed. Do you understand? Is it easy or not?

Devotee: Yes, Maharaj, and Gurudev told us at the same to preach...

Yes, of course. I also want that. Preach there, you can talk to the devotees living in Montreal also. You yourself can preach to them being a foreign devotee, they will be even happier. There is a large Indian community in the Montreal side, and they all go to mayavadi or sahajiya conception. You can tell them something about the proper line, about Srila Rupa Goswami's line, Gurudev's line, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj's line, Prabhupad's line, Bhaktivinod Thakur's pure devotion, jaiva dharma—they will be happy. You will be benefitted and they will be benefitted through you.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj said that if you have some knowledge and you do not donate, share that knowledge to others, it is bad for you—bad things will come to you; just as when you have money if you do not serve the Guru with that money, some fault will come to you (vrtha-dosa). You have capacity for preaching, and if you do not preach, it will be bad for you. This is what scriptures say.

Preach in different areas, visit Montreal side sometimes, preach, invite people to your house, speak to them, they will be happier. In this way, the community will increase and the community will get pleasure. And when I go to America, I can come to Canada also.

Devotee: That would be very nice.

You can arrange some programme, some devotees, and I can come, do some kirtan, speak some Hari-katha. Preach and arrange some community and we can give lecture there. OK?

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

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