GUIDANCE

Issue #16

Lectures of His Divine Grace

Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj

published at SCSMathInternational.com during July-September 2018

CONTENT

Where Shortcuts Fail

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas

28 June 2018, part 2

You must understand that the Deity is not a simple doll, it is not just made of some material. The Deity is Lord Krishna Himself, the Deity is Gaura Nitai Themselves. They appear there, and you must try to serve Them heart and soul. You may think, "Oh, before Venezuela was doing well and we had so much money, but now we cannot give proper food to Gaura Nitai..." but if you just give one Tulasi leaf and a drop of Ganges water, it is sufficient for Them. You must understand how merciful Nityananda Prabhu is. His mercy is not a small matter—He is Guru-tattva, and it is a very big matter. It is actually very difficult to get Nityananda Prabhu's mercy.

A few days ago we were at Panihati where Raghunath Das Goswami had got mercy from Nityananda Prabhu. After getting Nityananda Prabhu's mercy, all his bondage, all his problems, everything was solved. He had tried to go to Mahaprabhu many times—he wanted to serve Mahaprabhu, but many obstacles came in his life. So many problems came to him, he even had to get married, but after serving Nityananda Prabhu everything was resolved, all problems were solved and he finally got the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. We must understand this.

There is a place called Jhamatpur some 60-70 km from Nabadwip. This is the birthplace of Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami, and you have heard this story from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. There were two brothers, Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami and Govinda Das. One day, Govinda Das arranged some rented people to do Harinam sankirtan and invited a brahman called Gunarnava Misra (he was a very jealous person who did not follow any rules or regulations).

Gunarnava Misra worshipped only Gauranga Mahaprabhu and did not worship Nityananda Prabhu because he did not like Nityananda Prabhu. A servitor of Nityananda Prabhu called Ramdas Minaketan also came there that day, and that brahman did not give any respect, did not give even any asan or say anything to him. The brahman was doing his puja of Mahaprabhu while everybody else gave respect to Ramdas Minaketan because he was a servitor of Nityananda Prabhu.

Later, Ramdas Minaketan came to Krishna Das and asked him, "What is happening? What is your brother doing? He is worshipping only Gauranga, but he should know that without Nityananda Prabhu he cannot get the mercy of Gauranga Mahaprabhu! He does not give any respect to Nityananda Prabhu, he does not give any respect to Nityananda Prabhu's servitors, what is he doing? He is making an offence. I am very surprised and I am like shaking to see it. He does not give any respect to Nityananda Prabhu and does puja of Gauranga Mahaprabhu only! Even Gauranga Mahaprabhu gives respect to Nityananda Prabhu, but he does not! What is he doing? What result will he get? Where will it take him? This is half-hen logic (ardha-kukkuti nyaya)!"

You can read what ardha-kukkuti means in Chaitanya-charitamrita. When I was a brahmachari, I read it and could not understand it, so I asked Gurudev what ardha-kukkuti is, and Gurudev explained it very nicely. Ardha means half and kukkuti means a hen. A hen has two holes—it eats through one hole, and it passes the eggs through the other hole. You think, "Oh, I only need the egg, so I will cut the hen in half and keep the side that gives eggs. I will throw away the other half." This is foolishness, and this is what is called ardha-kukkuti nyaya: if you cut the hen, you will get nothing. So, similarly, if you serve Gauranga Mahaprabhu and do not serve Nityananda Prabhu, you will not get anything.

Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami was also very upset thinking, "What offence my brother is doing! He brings a brahmin who does not know anything... I should not stay here..." Later that night, Nityananda Prabhu came to him in a dream and said, "Do not associate with your brother. Do not stay in this house with your brother. Come to Vrindavan." Next day, he left his house and set off to Vrindavan. It was there, in Vrindavan, where he composed Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita.

So, without mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, you will not get anything. If you want to get the mercy of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, you should serve Nityananda Prabhu.

asraya laiya bhaje tare krsna nahi tyaje

ara saba mare akarane

"Krishna never leaves those who have taken shelter in Him. All others simply die in vain."

(By Srila Narottam Das Thakur, Prarthana, 17)

If you do not take shelter of Nityananda Prabhu, you will not get the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and if you take shelter of Nityananda Prabhu, you must get the mercy of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Without mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, all your attempts will be nothing. Nityananda Prabhu is asraya-vigraha, and Sriman Mahaprabhu is visaya-vigraha—without the asraya you cannot get the visaya.

* * *

Serve Deity Properly

Speaking online to devotees in Caracas

28 June 2018, part 3

I have told many stories before—Arjun Misra, Mukunda Prabhu's son and others...

Mukunda Prabhu had only one son, his name was Raghunandan. Mukunda Prabhu and his wife were very pure devotees and served their Deities properly—they offered the bhog, did the mangal-arati, etc. They did everything in their house properly just like at the temple. One day, Mukunda's wife and Mukunda wanted to go to the market for the Deities (to get some dress, etc.). Mukunda Prabhu told his wife, "I will not manage alone, if you come with me to the market you can choose everything nicely." That day, Mukunda's wife cooked very nicely, kept the bhog in a plate for the Deities, but they had to leave early that day and they thought, "Who will do the offering for the Deities?" So, the mother told her son, "Raghunandan, we are going to the market. You must offer the bhog to the Deities at 12 o'clock." Raghunandan was just ten years old, he said, "Mother, I do not know any mantras, or anything, how do I offer it?" She said, "No mantras are necessary, just chant Hare Krishna maha-mantra only and offer it with Tulasi leaves to the Deities."

At twelve o'clock, noon time, Raghunandan took the plate to the Deities' room. He did not offer it politely ("O Deities, please take it), he said it in a rude way, "Take it!" When Raghunandan saw that the Deity was not taking it, he said, "My mother gives You food every day and You take it. I guess because I am a child, some naked boy, You do not like me. If You do not take it, I will beat You! I will break Your head!" The Deity (Gaura Nitai) got scared, "Please do not beat Me! I am taking, I am taking!" Raghunandan said, "Yes, You must take everything, all of it!" The Deity took everything and Raghunandan kept the empty plate in the kitchen.

Later on, his parents returned at one or two o'clock. Raghunandan's mother asked, "Raghunandan, where is our prasadam?" Raghunandan said, "Mother, perhaps you cooked little today—the Deity has taken everything." His mother did not believe it; she thought that he had taken it, or given it to some friends, or maybe he had just thrown it away, wasted the food somehow. Raghunandan tried to assure his mother, "Please, mother, you must believe me. I did not take anything, I did not waste anything! I did not give anything to my friends. The Deities have taken everything."

His mother was quite puzzled, so she decided to test her son and see what had happened. At four o'clock, they opened the temple. She prepared some fruit, sweets, etc. for the afternoon offering and gave the offering to Raghunandan saying, "So, you say you have not taken anything. I want to see how the Deities eat it." Raghunandan went went inside the temple room again and said, "Hey Deity! Take this!" The Deity answered, "I took so much at noon time, I am not hungry now. How will I take it now?" "Oh, so You cannot? My mother will not believe me. If You do not take it again now, I will beat you! You must take it all now!" Hearing some noise from the altar room, his mother was surprised and wondered, "Who is that talking with Raghunandan?" She looked into a hole in the door and saw the Deity was taking a sweet—half of it was in the Deity's hand and the other half was the Deity's mouth. When she saw it, she became like senseless, overwhelmed with ecstasy, and asta-satvik-vikar (eight ecstatic transformations) appeared in her body.

So, you must serve the Deities properly. Those who are doing this service to the Deity must believe it and do this service properly, that is good for you.

* * *

Unpretentious and Forgiving Heart

22 May 2018, Siliguri, part 8

You have been serving the Lord for so long, you have been chanting the Lord's Name for so long, but you still have not got the result. Somebody thinks, "Why will I chant so much then?" and they start chanting less. What will be the result? We chant so much, we practise so much, we do so much service, but nothing happens—we have not been able to do anything... Always think about this. You should read the life description of great souls, you should listen to their lectures—how did they serve the Lord?

You have all heard Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's name—all Gaudiya Vaishnavs respect him as a profound expert of siddhanta. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave him this name 'Sridhar'. There is Sridhar Swami who composed the commentary to Srimad Bhagavatam. It is said, if a woman does not respect her husband (swami), then she is no better than a prostitute. In the same way, if somebody does not respect Sridhar Swami, their position is like that too. With this in mind, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave him the name Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

In old days, there were no brick walls at the Math, there were only some trees that marked the boundaries. One time, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was working with the soil, and a person came to the Math from a far away place. He had heard Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's lecture somewhere and knew that Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was a great pandit, a great sadhu and possessed much knowledge, so he had come to meet him.

When he arrived at the Math and got off the rickshaw, he saw Srila Sridhar Maharaj in gumcha, and, thinking it was some menial worker, asked him,

"Is Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj here at the temple?"

"Yes, he is here."

"Where is he?"

"He is over there, upstairs. You please sit down here, I will inform him and he will meet with you."

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj went to his room, took a quick shower, put on his clothes and uttariya and sat in his chair. Then, somebody came to him and gave him the news that a man had come to see him. Srila Sridhar Maharaj told them to bring him in. The devotee went back to that man and told him that Srila Sridhar Maharaj was waiting for him upstairs and took him there. When the man came upstairs, he saw that it was that same person he had first met when he arrived.

"You are Sridhar Maharaj?!" the man exclaimed.

"Yes, it is me."

"I did not understand it, please do not take my offence."

In this way he taught that even though he was so great, he did not think it was beneath him to wear a gumcha and do low menial jobs like cleaning a bathroom or the drain. He was that kind of a sadhu. Our Gurudev took initiation from him and got an opportunity to serve in his shelter, and our Gurudev too served in this way—when he came to the Math, he never slept in the afternoon, he would do the gardening, dig the soil, plant trees, serve the cows, etc. When I came, I also did the cow service at first—I would feed the cows, etc. In this way, we must learn from our Guru-varga.

Neither Krishna nor Mahaprabhu were proud—Mahaprabhu Himself would distribute prasad, He would personally arrange Vaishnav seva. We must learn from this, we must learn to live in the plane of service.

We must leave our ego. Our religion is forgiveness—forgiveness is one of the qualities of a Vaishnav. If we cannot forgive everybody, then, as Guru Maharaj says, how can you become a Vaishnav? If somebody does something wrong to you, offends you, and you cannot forgive them, how can you be a Vaishnav then? Nityananda Prabhu was beaten, but He still forgave them. This is Mahaprabhu's teaching for us. Who beat Nityananda Prabhu? Madhai. When he did it, Nityananda Prabhu forgave him, but Mahaprabhu did not. Nityananda Prabhu is Guru-tattva (asraya-vigraha), and Mahaprabhu is Bhagavan (visaya-vigraha). Even though Mahaprabhu could not forgive Madhai, Nityananda Prabhu did—He threw Madhai at Mahaprabhu's feet.

If the Guru gives his mercy to you, he can pick you up from a very low position, and if you do not have the Guru's mercy, you will not achieve anything... You may have everything, but if have no mercy of your Gurupadpadma, if your Guru is not happy with you, then you will not be able to get anything. If you do what your Guru wants, that is called seva. If you do something that your Guru does not want, that is not service. You must do service—do what your Guru wants you to do. Always think about this. Try to understand these things.

* * *

Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj's Pastimes

22 May 2018, Siliguri, part 9

What kind of character did Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj have? Many of you cook for Gurudev and then come to Gurudev and ask him for his prasad. This is what sahajiyas do. People do this in Midnapore and here in Siliguri also sometimes. They come to you and ask your for your prasad. If this is a real Guru, he will get irritated, he would never want to give his remnants to anyone. If you want to get prasad, you must do it secretly—if you get some prasad of your Guru, you should accept it and take it quickly, but never come in front of your Guru and ask him for it. Sometimes people bring also their Guru to their house and when they do not get any prasad leftovers, they start feeding him forcefully.

One time, one lady from Dhatrigram (a village near Kalna) wanted to invite Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj to her house. Babaji Maharaj had a servitor, Bihari Das. She told Bihari Das, "I am inviting you and your Master (your Gurudev). I want to cook for you and give you prasad at my house." Bihari Das said, "OK. I will ask Babaji Maharaj, if he agrees, I will tell you the date when he will come." Then, he went to Babaji Maharaj and said, "One elderly lady, a widow, has come and is asking you to come to her house. She wants to cook, offer the bhog and give you prasad." Babaji Maharaj told Bihari Das to settle the date. Bihari Das asked the lady about the date, then told Babaji Maharaj, and Babaji Maharaj agreed to come on that date.

When the day came, Babaji Maharaj set off to her house on foot (there were no trains in those days) and finally arrived at that house. The old lady said that she had already finished cooking and told Bihari Das to offer the bhog. Bihari Das offered the bhog. Then, the lady told Babaji Maharaj and Bihari Das, "You please sit down, I will serve you prasad." She placed two banana leaves on the ground and served them prasad. Babaji Maharaj ate whatever she had given him leaving not a trace of prasadam on his plate. The lady thought, "It was so hard to invite Babaji Maharaj, I wanted to take his prasadam, but now I see he has not left any remnants! Let me feed him something more." When she tried to give him more, Babaji Maharaj refused, "No, no, it is enough, not necessary! I have finished prasadam, not necessary to give anything more," but she insisted, "No, no, take a little more!" In the end, she forcefully gave him a few subjis and rice. Babaji Maharaj understood what was happening and was displeased at heart. He thought, "You are forcing me to eat, but I have understood what is on your mind." He did not say anything to anybody. Without saying a word he again ate whatever she gave him—along with the plate this time! Seeing that Babaji Maharaj had eaten the plate, Bihari Das told the old lady, "O God, so much austerity for Babaji Maharaj! I will never again accept such invitations!" But Babaji Maharaj did not say anything, he just quietly ate the plate...

Another time, Babaji Maharaj was walking down the street [Bihari Das was carrying him in a basket] when one rich man saw him and thought, "Oh, this sadhu is so poor, he is walking bare feet, his clothes are all torn. Let me give him some money, at least he can buy some clothes for himself." The man was so proud that he was rich. He gave Babaji Maharaj some money. Babaji Maharaj took it and continued his way (he was walking to that same house where he had been invited to take prasadam). A while later, having walked some three-four kilometres further, he ordered Bihari Das to turn back. Bihari Das asked,

"Why? Are you not going to that lady's house?

"No, I will go there, but first take me to the house of the man who has given this money."

"But why?"

"Go, go. Turn back."

Bihari Das brought Babaji Maharaj to the house of that man—a big three-storey house. They saw the man sitting on the roof of the house. Babaji Maharaj told Bihari Das to ask him to come downstairs (Babaji Maharaj was old at that time and spoke softly, he could not shout). So, Bihari Das shouted to the man,

"Could you please come down?"

"Why?" asked the man.

"Babaji Maharaj wants to talk to you," replied Bihari Das.

When the man came downstairs, Babaji Maharaj gave him his money back.

"Why are you giving it back? I have given it to you and you are returning it—why?" asked the man.

"My friend, look, I cannot tolerate the burden of this money. When I was walking down the road, I kept thinking what I will buy with this money, what I will do, what should be done with that money. I kept thinking about this and could not chant the Holy Name. You please take it back."

The man was surprised, "I have hundreds of thousands of rupees, but I do not think anything of it, it does not give me any headache."

"Well, you have a big head, but my head is small, I cannot take it. Please save me, take this money and let me go," Babaji Maharaj said handing the money back to the man and left.

That was Babaji Maharaj. You can see him in our Guru-parampara, his picture is the last on the right. Such is the quality of a Vaishnav. We must learn from this. Somebody thinks they are a big Guru, so they stretch their legs and tell others to wash their feet, etc. or they distribute their own prasad... The Lord possess six opulences in full—full strength, full fame, full wealth, full knowledge, full beauty and full renunciation. Who can give the Lord? Vaishnav Thakur. We pray, "O Vaishnav Thakur, please give me your mercy so I can serve you!"

"Sukhe duhkhe bhule nako vadane Harinam koro re: in happiness or sadness, never forget it, always chant the Holy Name." Always chant the Holy Name, always serve the Lord, take prasad. Leave your ego and serve the Lord.

* * *

A Welcome Austerity

Sri Puri Dham, first evening class

20 June 2017, translated from Bengali, part 1

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

Vishvavarenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

Om Vishnupad Jaga-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay

Jaya sa-parikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda-sundarjiu ki jay

Jay Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Prabhupad ki jay

Rupanuga Guru-varga ki jay

Nama-acharya Haridas Thakur ki jay

Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

Purushottam-ksetra ki jay

Baladev Subhadra Jagannath jiu ki jay

Akar Chaitanya Math ki jay

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

Tadiya sakha-math samuha ki jay

Bhakta-raj Prahlad Maharaj Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay

Samagata Sri Gaura-bhakta-vrinda ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari Hari bol

Devotee: Jay Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj ki jay. Gaura premanande Hari bol

You must keep Gaura in your heart. When you keep Gaura in your heart, you will not feel attracted to anything else. You must give your mind, your heart to Gaura. Jagadananda Pandit said,

anera mana rakhite giya apanake dibe phanki

manera katha jane gora kemane hrdaya dhaki

If you go to satisfy the minds of others, you will only cheat yourself. Gora knows your thoughts, so how will you hide your heart from Him?

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.4)

Gora knows everything, He knows whether your heart is for Him or for something else. Gora knows where you give your heart. We never feel the kind of love that Gaura felt. We do not want Krishna, we want love for Krishna. Whatever problem, whatever disturbance comes, let it come. We have come here to do the parikrama, to get some sukriti. We have not come here to see monkeys' stool and other dirty things. I know you are getting some austerity with food, clothes, with different facilities—at home, you stay one person per room and each sleeps on their own bed, but here there are ten people in a room, sleeping all on one bed. Some austerity is unavoidable. There are frequent electricity cuts, the generator stops all the time. But those who can tolerate all these austerities can get the Lord...

The Lord is testing us through all this, "If I give you much austerity, will you be able to tolerate it? Will you tolerate this austerity and do the parikrama with My devotees?" There are many big buildings, many big hotels in Puri—there are hotels where you can get a room for 700 rupees, and there are also hotels where you can get a room for 100,000 rupees (with a swimming pool, alcohol, drugs, girls and everything else). But we have not come for all this. We have come here to circumambulate the Holy Dham despite all austerities.

We must do this parikrama enduring all austerities. If you want to come to the Lord, you must make much effort. We are dirty, filthy people—externally, we put tilak on our foreheads, beads on our neck, but I have told you so many times,

"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)

We are hypocrites. We want to come to the Lord, and for us to do this the Lord gives us many tests—He washes and scrubs us and takes to His abode. So, we must clean, we must scrub ourselves, and it means there are many tests we must undergo. We must pass all sorts of tests, we must follow all the rules and regulations. There must be no anger, no malice, no envy in us.

We must realise that we are jiva souls. We are staying in a room, but frogs, insects, snakes live in jungle. Cows do not have mosquito rackets—when a mosquito bites us at night, we cannot sleep, we need to use mosquito coil, but how many mosquitos bite cows all the time... These souls have got their body and suffer so many austerities, but we have got this human body and cannot tolerate even the slightest disturbance. So, if we want to get the Lord, it is necessary to tolerate all austerities. This is our message today.

Every second our life is diminishing, but we have come today to circumambulate the Holy Dham and if we can remember all this, then it will be the Holy Dham, then it will be the parikrama of the Holy Dham.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Yogini Ekadasi

Sri Puri Dham, first evening class

20 June 2017, translated from Bengali, part 4

We fast on ekadasi, but do we do it because of the glories of ekadasi? They say if you do ekadasi, you will get this result, that result, etc., but do you do ekadasi with all this in mind? Why do we fast on ekadasi? We fast for the pleasure of the Lord—out of love for Krishna (Krsner priti hetu). Dharma (religion), artha (wealth), kama (material desires), moksa (liberation)? Throw it into the Ganges! If you do ekadasi, you will get some dharma, arta, kama, moksa, you will get some result, you will get some money, this, that—is this why we must do ekadasi? We do ekadasi out of love for Krishna, it is a kind of rite (vrata). When people observe rites (when they do Durga puja, Kali puja, Laksmi puja, Ganesh puja, etc.), they do not eat rice, so we too do not take grains on ekadasi days, it is our rite.

Yani kani cha papani—killing your parents, killing your brother, killing your guru, killing a brahman—these are all sins. If you take grains on ekadasi, it means you commit all these sins.

sri-hari-vasara-dine krsna-nama-rasa-pane

trpta haya vaisnava sujana

anya rasa nahi laya anya katha nahi kaya

sarva-bhoga karaye varjana

"On the day of the Lord, pure devotees are satisfied by drinking the rasa of Krishna's Name. They do not partake of any other rasa or speak about anything else. They avoid all forms of enjoyment.

prasada bhojana nitya suddha vaisnavera krtya

aprasada na kare bhaksana

suddha ekadasi yabe nirahara thake tabe

paranete prasada bhojana

"Taking prasad is a daily activity of pure devotees; they do not eat anything that is not prasad. On pure Ekadasi, however, they fast and then take prasad to break their fast (the following day).

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 18.10-11)

If somebody eats grains on ekadasi, they commit the sin of killing their own mother, father, brother, guru, etc. They get all sin for it. Such people not only never reach the Lord, they never get the association of Vaishnavs. Whatever sin there exists, it takes shelter in grains on the day of ekadasi, so whoever takes rice on ekadasi, commits all these sins.

Why do we observe ekadasi? First of all it is out of love for Krishna—to make Krishna happy. And secondary reason is because fasting on ekadasi is prescribed in the scriptures and if you do not observe this rite you have to take the fault that it entails. The scriptures write about both these reasons. Also, if a Vaishnav eats some grains on ekadasi by mistake, then his Vishnu-puja becomes futile and he will fall into a terrible hell...

There is also a section in the scriptures that tells about the glories of ekadasi—just as when you read Gita, you are aware of its glories. It is necessary to understand the meaning of the Gita. It is written there,

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja

aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

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

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

The Lord says, "Leave all religions and take shelter in Me. I have told you about Kali puja, Durga puja, Laksmi puja, Ganesh puja, Kartik puja, but when you do all these pujas, you are actually worshipping Me but using a wrong process. All these pujas are not the proper method, it is actually wrong and you will not get any result by that." You must worship Him by worshipping whom all worships are fulfilled. If you worship Krishna, 330 000 000 demigods' worship is automatically fulfilled. No one of you can even tell the names of all these 330 000 000 demigods, I cannot either. Do you know that after this human body you can easily become a demigod—somebody can become a god, somebody can become a goddess, somebody can become Indra, the king of heaven (but even Indra always thinks, "How can I serve the Lord? How can I get this human birth again and serve the Lord? If I get a human birth again and serve the Lord, then I can reach the Lord..." You can also become Kali or Durga after this human birth. In this human birth you can achieve anything. You can become a demigod, go to heaven and enjoy a happy life, and when your sukriti finishes you will have to again fall into hell—you will again have to live as a frog or a snake in some jungle. Then, wandering throughout the universe in different species, if you, by some fortune, get a human birth again and coming to a bona fide guru engage in the service to the Lord, then you can come to the Lord.

What ekadasi is it today?

Devotees: Yogini ekadasi.

There is a conversation between Yudhisthir Maharaj and Sri Krishna related in Brahma-vaivarta Purana. Yudhisthir Maharaj asked Krishna a question and Krishna said in reply, "O dear one, yogini ekadasi (i.e. the eleventh day during the dark fortnight in the month of Ashadha) destroys all kinds of sins."

You think you can just do ekadasi today and all sins will go away, and tomorrow you start sinning again. That is called "Nama bale papachar: sinning relying on the power of the Holy Name." You do whatever you want 364 days a year and one day you do a twenty-four hour kirtan and think that all your sins are removed through that. That is 'Nama bale papachar.' It is one of the ten offences against the Holy Name. Do wrong all day long and in the evening chant four rounds on the mala and all sins go away—if somebody chants with this idea, that is 'Nama bale papachar'.

[His Divine Grace reads about the glories of the yogini ekadasi:]

So, yogini ekadasi (i.e. eleventh day during the dark fortnight in the month of Ashadha) destroys all sins. Yogini ekadasi can take one across the ocean of the material existence.

There was once a king of Alokapuri called Kuvera who was a dear devotee of Lord Siva. He worshipped Lord Siva with bilva (bel) leaves and cow milk. He had a gardener (mali) called Hema, or Hemamali, who had a very beautiful wife called Visalakshi. He loved his wife very much. One of the daily duties of Hemamali was to go to a pond and pick flowers for the king's daily service of Lord Siva. One day, however, he did not go there—his attachment to his wife was so strong that on the way to the pond he forgot about the pond and flowers for Lord Siva and went to his wife instead. When the gardener did not come back with the flowers, Kuvara become annoyed and sent his man to the gardner's house to bring him back. When the man came to Hemamali's house, he saw the gardener was enjoying with his wife so much that he had become intoxicated with pleasure and forgotten about everything. The king was informed about this. Later, when the gardener came to the king and shamefully greeted him saying that both he and his wife deserved his punishment, the king was so angry that his eyes became blood-shot, he said, "You sinner! Out of lust you have neglected the worship of most worshippable Lord Siva! You have wasted time! I shall curse you today—you will become a leper!"

As a result of the curse, the whole body of the gardener became covered with sores. Hemamali suffered immensely. To avoid people he left his house and started living in a forest. He was so miserable that he could not sleep at night, neither did he get any relief during the day. But because he used to worship Lord Siva before, due to his past fortune, he once met Markandeya Rishi, a sage whose lifespan was seven days of Brahma. Feeling low and sinful, Hemamali paid obeisance to the sage from far.

Muni Thakur, who is para-duhkhi-duhkhi (feels pain seeing others suffer), seeing a leper in front of him, asked him, "How did you get leprosy all over your body? What sort of sinful works have you done that you have become afflicted with this terrible disease?" Hemamali explained, "I was a gardener at the garden of king Kuvera, my name is Hemamali. I used to bring flowers from the pond every day, but one day I did not bring the flowers, I instead became enamoured and got involved with my wife. The king became very angry and cursed me, and as a result I am suffering from this leprosy. For a long time now I have not been staying with my wife anymore. Today, however, by some sort of sukriti, I have got this chance to have the darshan of your holy feet. O worshippable sage, I am surrendering to you, please give me shelter." Then, Markandeya Muni said, "Let me tell you one thing for your supreme benefit. Fast on the ekadasi day on the dark fortnight of the month of Ashadha. By fasting on this day you will certainly get your previous beautiful form back and get relief from the leprosy."

Filled with hope, Hemamali bowed to the sage and following his order, being constantly absorbed in devotional practice, fasted on this yogini ekadasi. He got his beautiful form back and returned home. Such is the result of fasting on yogini ekadasi.

And yet, we do not think about all these results. We follow ekadasi because our Gurupadpadma told us to, Mahaprabhu Himself also ordered to fast on ekadasi. Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur eased the rules by allowing us to take anukalpa on this day. Mahaprabhu did not eat anything on ekadasi and spent the whole day and night chanting the Holy Names, but Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur is so merciful:

nikhila-bhuvana-maya-chhinnavichchhinna-kartri

vibudhabahula-mrgya-mukti-mohanta-datri

sithilita-vidhi-raga-radhya-radhesa-dhani

vilasatu hrdi nityam bhakti-siddhanta-vani

"With his first step, he vigorously cut asunder the whole plane of exploitation, and with his second, he put a stop to all the calculations of the different scholars with their different conceptions of liberation. With his third step, he eased the hard rules and regulations by a touch of the Divine Love: he gave us the worship of Sri Sri Radha and Govinda. The real existence of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad is in his divine teachings. May those teachings dance eternally within the core of your heart."

"Sithilita-vidhi-raga-radhya-radhesa-dhani: he eased the hard rules and regulations by a touch of the Divine Love." He made the rules less strict. For example, if somebody has gastritis, they cannot fast even till 12 o'clock as it is done at the temple (if they do not eat something in the morning they get gastric disorders)—in this case, they can take some boiled potato, some fruit, some vegetables. If somebody has diabetes, for example, and they do not eat in the morning, their blood sugar falls down, then they can also take some anukalpa prasad. In such cases, there is no fault in that. It is said that you can take whatever prasad your Guru gives you and if it is medicine. When we take medicine, we do not even know what is inside it, but because of some disease we take it for the upkeep of the body. The Lord has given us this body for His service. If you do not use this body for service, then it does not matter whether you take care of it or not, it does not matter whether you live or not. You must promise that as long as you are alive you will serve your Guru, you will serve Govinda, the Lord.

* * *

Give Yourself to Service

Sri Puri Dham, first evening class

20 June 2017, translated from Bengali, part 5

"Sevaya karma, sevaya dharma, sevaya chatur-vargera phala pabe: through service you will get the result of any effort, of any religion, and whatever result of following the fourfold social division." But our mind is very naughty—day after day our mind is always engaged in bad thoughts, in talking nonsense... We must always use ourselves in the service of the Lord. Always remember this. Always keep yourself engaged in the service of the Lord.

"Dusta man tumi kisera vaishnav: when your mind is naughty, what kind of Vaishnav are you?"

"ami ta' vaisnava," e-buddhi ha-ile,

amani na ha'ba ami

"If I think, 'I am a Vaishnav,' then I will never stop expecting honour from others (I will never become void of the desire for honour)."

(Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We sing in the kirtan, "Ami sakti-buddhi-hina, ami ati dina, koro more atmasatha! O Gurudev, please hijack me!" We ask our Gurudev to hijack us, to take us. Take us where? Take us away from this family of maya and bring us to the family of Krishna. Maya is always surrounding us, and to get relief from that we must become and live as members of Krishna's family. It is due to our misfortune that we always try to leave Krishna's family and enter maya's family. By a great fortune we have got this opportunity to become a part of Krishna's family—do not waste this chance! You must enter Krishna's family.

Bhajan means service. Bhaj datu sevaya. Srila Prabhupad writes very beautifully that you may practise all sixty-four devotional practices but if you do not have devotion to your Guru, if you do not follow your Guru—you may go all over the world, follow so many rites, do everything, but if you do not have that staunch adherence to your Guru, you will not get any result. While you are alive, give yourself to the service of your Guru. One day you must die and leave, nobody can say whether we can stay in this body whole life or not. Everybody has to change their body. If you want to get the Lord in this life, you must make all possible effort to preach the message of the Lord.

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."

When Sanatan Goswami came here [to Puri], he contracted a very bad skin disease because had walked on scorching sand and got bad blisters. He thought, "This body is useless, I will commit suicide." (As I said, "Dusta mana tumi kisera Vaishnava.") Mahaprabhu told him, "Have you no shame? How can you want to destroy somebody else's property? 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 took initiation, you gave your body to Me. So, I will use it, you cannot do what you want."

"Following the whims of your mind on pretext of service is not service; following the order of the Guru, serving the Vaishnavs and satisfying them is called service." "Anyera mana rakhite giya apanake dibe phanki: if you go to satisfy the minds of others, you will only cheat yourself." (Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 8.4) You must give your mind to Krishna, but we instead keep it in all sorts of other places. Who are you cheating? Gora knows everything. Jagadananda Pandit writes this in his Sri Sri Prema-vivarta. Do not try to cheat Gora.

* * *

Sambandha, Abhidheya, and Prayojana of Pilgrimage

Sri Puri Dham, first evening class

20 June 2017, translated from Bengali, part 2

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim

yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

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

(Bhavartha Dipika)

Today is a very good day, a very good occasion—an ekadasi day. On this day we have come to Sri Puri Dham. Jagannath, Baladev, Subhadra are here, Nitai Chaitanyadev are here, Gurudev is here and Mahaprabhu manifest here His highest pastimes (vipralamba-lila, the pastimes of separation).

There are two reasons, two kinds of pastimes, why Mahaprabhu came to this world—one is the main reason and the other is hidden reason. Since He came, He had to give something. The religion of Kali-yuga is, "Harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam: only chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name." This is what He came to give to the world. "Nija Nama kari dana": He came to the world to give His own Name. The Name, form, qualities, pastimes, associates and features (Nam, rupa, guna, lila, parikar, vaisistya) are absolutely non-different from the Lord, and nobody except the Lord Himself or His associates can distribute these to the world. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu distributes this side of His pastimes in this world, and the other side is vipralamba-lila (pastimes of separation). "Why does Radharani cry so much chanting My Name? What sort of happiness does Radharani feel when She is serving Me? What does it taste like?" Desiring to taste this, Krishna promised in Dvapar-yuga that in Kali-yuga, He would appear in this world in Sri Dham Mayapur.

After finishing His grihastha-lila (household pastimes), Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu travelled around South India, and in the end He spent His last eighteen years here in Sri Dham Puri. Tomorrow in the morning, we are going on parikrama and we will have the darshan of all those places when Mahaprabhu was, where Haridas Thakur was, where Prabhupad was, where the samadhi of Haridas Thakur was (on the shore of the ocean), we will also take darshan of Tota Gopinath. We hope that by the mercy of the Lord, by the desire of the devotees, there shall be no obstacle.

Near Medinipur there are also beaches, at Digha there is also a large beach, there also you will see sand, ocean, etc., but if you compare it to Puri, you will be making an offence. What is this place where we have come? We have come to Mahaprabhu's dham (abode), Jagannath's dham (abode). By the mercy of Jagannathdev, by the mercy of Balabhadradev, by the mercy of Subhadra Devi, we come here every year at the time of Ratha-yatra and spend the time here with Krishna-kirtan.

Just now you have heard kirtans—Mahaprabhu's kirtan, Nityananda Prabhu's kirtan, Pancha-tattva's kirtan, the kirtan of Radha Madhava, and you also heard one more kirtan—ekadasi kirtan.

suddha-bhakata-charana-renu

bhajana-anukula

bhakata-seva parama-siddhi

prema-latikara mula

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

Our key point, our foundation is service to devotees. We must serve devotees in any possible way.

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)

Honouring prasad removes whatever faults or illusions you have in your mind. Dharma, artha, kama, moksa, rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa—pursuing religion, material prosperity, material things, liberation, seeking pleasures of eye, taste, smell, ear, touch—how can you stop all these? By honouring prasad (prasad-seva).

Today you are doing ekadasi (you have been fasting since the morning, took some anukalpa prasad at noon) and the paran is tomorrow in the morning. Somebody secretly takes also some tea, somebody secretly goes to the ocean and eats some biscuits. [Devotees laugh.] Is it not true? [His Divine Grace smiles.] But you are here at the temple on ekadasi, that is your great fortune. Despite the austerity, you have come here observing the fasting. When we when to Vrindavan after the Gaura Purnima, we also came there on an ekadasi. This comes only as a result of a great fortune.

You have heard also in the kirtan,

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)

If you do no understand the meaning, you cannot sing it—if you sing a song without understand its meaning, you will not feel like singing it. The meaning is this. Any house where there is continuous, daily service to the Lord takes place is actually Goloka Vrindavan—the house where Govinda is bathed, where archan is offered to Govinda, where whatever is earned, bought, worn, etc. is for Govinda, such house is Goloka Vrindavan. It can be a house of twenty rooms, it can be a mud house, but where such service is going on, that house is Goloka Vrindavan.

And another line is this,

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."

In Bengal, people go on bus tours and visit many places, but this is called eye exercise. You get off the bus, the guide tells you, "Get off, take darshan and come back." You do not understand the glory of the place, you do not know what the place is. You must get back in ten minutes and if you are old and cannot walk so fast, when you walk half way to the place, it is time to go back already. People do such "parikramas". If you do parikramas like this your whole life, you will not get any benefit. It is necessary to follow the Guru and Vaishnavs.

tirtha-yatra parisrama kevala manera bhrama

sarva-siddhi govinda-charana

"The trouble of visiting holy places is simply a mental delusion—all possible perfection is the feet of Govinda."

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur, "Anya-abhilasa chhadi...")

You can travel all your life—visit all places from North India down to Kanyakumari in South India, but you will not get any result or benefit…

* * *

Change of Heart

Sri Puri Dham, first evening class

20 June 2017, translated from Bengali, part 3

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli

tabu tattva na sikhili

nijer matha nije khaili

e-dosa dibe kare bhai?

"Coming and going, coming and going, and never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain, who will you blame now, brother?"

How many times we have come and gone, there is no end of it. Yet, you are your own enemy, you are your own friend. If you are your own friend, then leaving behind all material attachment, keeping yourself far from the material things (visaya), sacrificing your life, offering your life to the lotus feet of the Lord, you must come to this line.

dhana jana ara, kavita-sundari,

baliba na chahi deha-sukha-kari

janme janme dao, ohe gaurahari!

ahaituki bhakti charane tomara

"When will I declare that I do not desire wealth, followers, erudition, beautiful women, or any other bodily pleasure? O Gaurahari! Birth after birth, please give me unconditional devotion to Your feet."

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We do not want any wealth, followers, erudition, beautiful companions for the happiness of this body.

'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 must not be attached. You must see everything in relation to the Lord. We have a temple, it is necessary to clean it, to wash it, it is necessary to clean the buildings and the rooms—devotees are coming and will be staying here; it is necessary to clean the bathrooms for them, to clean the garden around, to fix the lights. We must not be attached thinking, "Oh, without me nothing will be done." No. "I am only a guard of Govinda's wealth. I am a gatekeeper. This is my identity."

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

ei dose maya tara galaya bandhila

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

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

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha

ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

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

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.117)

We have forgotten the Lord, and as a result we are burning now with these three-fold miseries. The only way to get relief from this suffering is taking shelter of Gauranga's lotus feet.

Mahaprabhu told Nityananda Prabhu, "Nitai, I have left West Bengal. You must preach Krishna-katha there now." Nityananda thought, "People will not accept preaching about Krishna so easily, they will take it in the opposite way and make offence. I know what I will do. I will preach about Gauranga!" He would 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!"

"Those who worship Gauranga are My life and soul." Nityananda Prabhu said, "They are My soul." When will we get the mercy of the lotus feet of this Nityananda Prabhu?...

kabe nityananda more kari' daya

chhadaibe mora visayera maya

"When will Nityananda be compassionate to me and relieve me from the mundane illusion?"

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

You must sing this, you must always think about this. Always, at every moment you must think about this!

kabe nityananda more kari' daya

chhadaibe mora visayera maya

"When will Nityananda be compassionate to me and relieve me from the mundane illusion?"

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe

samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become insignificant?"

('Prarthana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

"When will Nitaichand be merciful to me? When will my material desires become a mere trifle?" It is not so easy to come to the stage when your material desires lose any importance...

You can see many sadhus in many places—at Kumbhamela, in Ganga Sagar, etc. There are so many pretending sadhus in this world, but it is not so easy to find a real sadhu. I tell you this story sometimes—we want to leave the blanket, but the blanket does not want to leave us.

There were two sadhus in Haridwar. They were sitting one day on the bank of the Ganges—in Haridwar, the Ganges is very large and swift. One of the sadhus notices something big floating down the Ganges and said to the other sadhu, "Look! Here is a blanket floating in the river! We can dry it and use at night!" [It is cold in Haridwar.] Actually, it was not a blanket, but a bear that had fallen into the Ganges and could not get out of it because the very swift current. When the sadhu jumped into the river and grabbed onto the 'blanket', there started a fight—both of them wanted to get out. The sadhu who had stayed on the bank was surprised, "Why is he not getting out?" and shouted, "Brother! Leave the blanket!" The sadhu in the water replied, "I am leaving the blanket, but the blanket is not leaving me!"

So, we want to leave material things, but it is very difficult to do it. To leave the material world, to leave material desires, it is necessary to do so many things. It is not so easy. That is why there is a need of sadhu-sanga.

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

lava-matra sadhu sange sarva siddhi haya

"Good association", "good association," all the scriptures keep saying. Only by good association can you get all perfection.

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.54)

If you have many desires in your heart, you will not get anywhere—you will not get any result.

* * *

Heal and Declutter

Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham

11 July 2018, part 1

By the mercy of Gurupadpadma, we have completed the second day of the parikrama today. Do you remember where we went today? First we went to Jagadananda Pandit's bhajan kutir. He composed Prema-vivarta. This book has been published from our Math in a very beautiful way. Many other Maths have printed this book, you can get it for some ten rupees, but we have printed it in a very beautiful form, both English and Bengali together. I had told Sripad Tyagi Maharaj that if he could print both together, it would be good. Those who are fortunate can read it and those who have no fortune can never in their life read it... People easily spend two-three hundred rupees on many things but they will not buy a book for this money. I feel much pain to see people's nature—to see this world's inauspicious habits, this world's aversion to service. Where will they go after this life? What place will they get after this life?...

I have told it many times—the Lord has given you this human birth, and if you spend your whole life chanting, "Pore Keshto Pore Keshto Keshto Keshto Pore Pore*," you will get nothing. You must chant Krishna Nam—pure Name of Krishna. Why will you chant it? To get service. We must chant the Holy Name to get service. What did Mahaprabhu tell 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."

There is no other religion except this. You must be kind to the jiva souls. You must bring the souls who are averse to Krishna to this path—those who do not understand anything about Krishna, who are averse to Krishna, averse to Mahaprabhu. It is necessary to preach in this world. You must get taste for chanting the Holy Name. What does 'taste' mean? Suppose my mother cooks for me or my servitor cooks for me, but if I have fever or I am sick, I will not feel any taste for the food because the body is sick. In the same way, we are also sick. Our disease is avidya, asmita, etc. There are five diseases, they are written in the [Bengali] Calendar. This is not cancer, not gall stone, not women's uterus tumour, none of this. The five diseases are avidya (ignorance), asmita (false identification), raga (misdirected love), dvesa (aversion to anything that goes against one's enjoyment), and abhinivesa (being unable to give up unfavourable habits).

Avidya means ignorance. The soul has forgotten its own true identity. We forget who we are. We think, "I am such and such Maharaj," "I am such and such manager," "I am such and such Temple Manager," "I am such and such secretary," "I am in charge of the temple," "I am in charge of the house—and these children, this wife are all under me, they listen to me and obey me." Some people take sannyas, they stay at a temple, but they still keep their ego. This is a disease.

Asmita means identifying yourself with your body. "My house," "my son", "my husband," "my wife"—always thinking about "my", "my", "my".

Rag. It is not "rag" that is anger; it is attachment to the things that are favourable to your body [material pleasure]. "What will become of me?", "I have joined the temple, but when I am old, who will look after me? I must save some money!"

Dvesa—being averse to anything that is opposed to material enjoyment. Somebody is doing service and you see them and become jealous—you do not do it yourself and do not want others to do it, and you criticise them behind their backs. Somebody can get angry hearing this, but I am reading this from a book. Everybody can understand themselves who does this, I do not need to tell any names.

And last is abhinivesa—there are sixty-four devotional practices (such as serving sadhus, offering vegetables, washing the Lord's asan, etc.), and abhinivesa means you have no attachment to this. You feel apathy towards these practices, but you are eager to engage in material activities.

These are the five diseases that we have.

Think about it. Suppose you invite me to your house saying, "Baba, come to my house," but the room that you have is full of your things—you are keeping there sacks with rice, dal, etc. all sorts of household things, etc. Where will you tell me to sit there? There is no place. In the same way, you must give place for Gurudev, for the Lord, for Bhakti Devi to take their seat. You must give them place in your heart! Your heart is full of kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (desire, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy), rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa (seeking pleasures of eyes, taste, smell, ear and touch), kanak, kamini, pratistha (seeking wealth, companions, self-establishment)—when you call Gurudev or Bhakti Devi, or the Lord, there is no place for them to sit. When there is no place in your heart for them to sit, what happens when you call them? They will come and go back. Bhakti Devi will leave and go back.

Listen carefully to what I am saying.

*'Pore Keshto' is a reference to a story His Divine Grace likes to tell from to time. Once, a lady took initiation into chanting Hare Krishna maha-mantra from a Guru. When she came home, her husband, whose name happened to be Krishna, became angry, "How can you take your husband's name?!" [In India, it is a custom that a wife never address her husband by his name.] So, instead of chanting Hare Krishna, she started chanting Pore Keshto, Pore Keshto thinking it was all the same.

* * *

Love, Lust, and Rust

Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham

11 July 2018, part 2

When you drink sugar cane juice, you throw the pulp away, and if some madman can come and suck that dry pulp—will he get any sweetness from that? We are also like this. Time after time we get birth, time after time we live a material life—some time you may leave the material life and come to the temple, but then you get another birth again and you again become bound by material life.

Listen to what I am saying. We only keep on repeating the message of Chaitanyadev.

So, today we first went to Jagananda Pandit's place, he is the author of Prema-vivarta. Actually, what is called prema (love)? He teaches this in this book.

The love between a man and a women that is commonly known in our days is not love, it is lust. Lust is darkness. Two people fall in love, get married and what happens after that is what they call love, but if that is love, then how can the husband kill his wife? Is this love, tell me? If you read the newspapers, you can see that this happens every day...

There is a saying in Bengali that literally says "even if you wash coal a hundred times, the dirt will not come off" [black will take no other hue]. If you associate with a good person, you will become good, and if you associate with a bad person, you will also become bad. We all know that magnet always attracts iron, but if the iron is covered with rust, then it will not attract it any more. Because of our ignorance, we have become rusty and Krishna does not attract us.

* * *

Jagadananda Pandit: Childhood

Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham

11 July 2018, part 3

In his Prema-vivarta Jagadananda Pandit tells what prema (love) is, and the prema (love) that he himself has cannot be seen anywhere... I will tell his story.

Where is the birthplace of Jagadananda Prabhu? [Addressing Sripad Paramarthik Maharaj] Maharaj, have you been there?

Sripad Paramarthik Maharaj: Yes, it is near Sylhet.

And where did he stay in Nabadwip? In a village that is now called Jagadanandapur. We have been there, it is very near our Hapaniya temple. There is an ashram now with a very big house in that place. The landlord actually requested Srila Sridhar Maharaj many times to take possession of the house, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj said that they did not have servitors to serve there, so he refused. Later, he requested Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj to take charge of it and Goswami Maharaj sent a servitor to that place.

What kind of prema did Jagadananda Pandit have? He was with Mahaprabhu from a very young age, and he was a little older than Mahaprabhu. When Jagadananda Pandit was seventeen, Mahaprabhu and he went to the same school to study grammar. One time, they had a fist fight (you know, how the boys fight with each other at school). After the fight, Jagadananda Pandit did not go home to his mother—instead, he went to the bank of the Ganges in Nabadwip and sat there silently. His mother came to Sachi Mata and asked, "Sachi Ma, has my Jaga been here?" "No, why?" Suddenly, hearing that Jagadananda was missing, Mahaprabhu got alert, "What? Where did Jagadananda go?!" He at once took a lantern and went out to look for him. Finally, Mahaprabhu found him sitting on the bank of the Ganges—He brought him to His home and asked Sachi Mata to give him prasad. Jagadananda spent the night at their house and in the morning went to school with Nimai. After that he returned home.

* * *

Jagadananda Pandit’s Hot-Headed Heart

Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham

11 July 2018, part 4

Jagadananda Pandit stayed at his house and would come to Gambhira to serve Mahaprabhu. What was his mood like? Can anyone here tell whose incarnation was Jagadananda Pandit?

—Radha-avatar.

Gauranga is the vigraha of Radha-Krishna, then how can he be an incarnation of Radha?

—Satyabhauma.

Good answer! I have told it before also. In Dvaraka, you see Satyabhauma and Rukmini. Dvaraka is the place of opulent service (aisvarya-seva), and Vrindavan is the place of sweet, loving service (madhurya-seva). There are three types of mood—aisvarya, audarya, madhurya. Mahaprabhu is audarya-lila, Radha-Krishna is madhurya-lila, and when Krishna was in Dvaraka, it was aisvarya-lila.

Satyabhauma appeared in this Kali-yuga as Jagadananda Pandit and got the opportunity to serve Mahaprabhu. You know, when a man has two wives, the second, younger, wife is always more temperamental and domineering. Similarly, Satyabhauma is also always domineering, always controlling, and so was Jagadananda Pandit here.

For example, one time Jagadananda Pandit said to one person [Sanatan Goswami] who Mahaprabhu had much respect for, "What are you still doing here in Puri? Your service is in Vrindavan—go, go!" He transgressed the limits, and Mahaprabhu got very angry—He said, "Sanatan Goswami is My teacher, but you, who are born only yesterday, dare tell him that he must go! Who gave you permission to do this?!" Hearing this, Sanatan Goswami began to cry, "Prabhu, You are giving him sweet and You are giving me bitter!" Not everybody has the fortune to be chastised.

Such was Jagadananda Pandit's service.

Another time, Jagadananda Pandit spoke to Govinda. Govinda was Mahaprabhu's servitor. He was a disciple of Ishwara Puri, that is Mahaprabhu's godbrother, but he served Mahaprabhu as His disciple. Before Ishwar Puri left his body, Govinda asked him, "Prabhu, whom shall I serve after you leave?" and began to cry. Ishwar Puri replied, "Why are you crying? You must serve Mahaprabhu." Then, Ishwar Puri left, and Govinda came to Mahaprabhu's lotus feet. He paid obeisance to Mahaprabhu and said, "Prabhu, please take me, take me for Your service." Mahaprabhu became quiet and thought, "If I use him for My service, people will start talking about it and it will be impossible to close their mouths—people will say, 'He is using His godbrother for His own service!'" (This is written in Chaitanya-charitamrita, you can get everything there—Srila Sridhar Maharaj said that even if all books were lost and only Chaitanya-charitamrita remained, there would be no loss because everything is there in Chaitanya-charitamrita.) Having thought for a while, Mahaprabhu replied to Govinda, "How can this be? One must give honour to a servitor of his Guru, how can one engage his Guru's servitor in his own service?" Govinda, who had stayed with Ishwar Puri for a long time, was very intelligent; he said, "Prabhu, what You are saying is written in the scriptures, books, but if the Guru (and my Gurudev is Your Gurudev) tells that one must serve this Person, who will you follow, the scriptures or your Guru's words?" Mahaprabhu was swayed and could not say anything now. Swarup Damodar and Ramananda Ray were there, they said, "He is right, Prabhu! What Govinda is saying is right!" In this way, having no choice, Mahaprabhu kept Govinda as His servitor.

So, one day Jagadananda Pandit spoke to Govinda. He said (in his domineering and a bit rough way), "Govinda, you must massage Prabhu's feet every day." (Mahaprabhu would dance and sing all day long. Not like us—we dance for one hour and feel tired. Having danced all day, when Mahaprabhu would come home in the evening, His feet would be sore.) "What should I give you?" asked Jagadananda Pandit, "Do you want some oil?" Govinda replied, "Prabhu does not want anything—even when I use some water it makes Him angry. I massage like this." "No, no," objected Jagadananda Pandit, "It is not good. I'll go to Bengal and bring some oil!" He went to Bengal and with much effort brought some very fragrant oil. He gave the oil to Govinda saying, "Govinda, from tomorrow you must use this oil when you massage Mahaprabhu's feet." When Mahaprabhu came to His room that day, He felt the smell and asked Govinda, "Why does the room smell of perfumed oil?!" Govinda said fearfully, "Prabhu, Jagadananda Prabhu has brought some scented oil and told me not to massage You without anything, he told me to use this oil."

...We went once to a temple of Lord Siva and asked there, "What is the name of this temple?" The man replied, "It is Yameshwar Tota." It means Yameshwar [Lord Siva] is the ksetra-pal [protector] there. There is Bhuteshwar Siva, Gopeshwar Siva, Gangadhar, Tarakeshwar, Dhameshwar, in Ganga Sagar we have a temple of Lord Siva and Siva's name there is Gangeshwar, etc. There are many names of Lord Siva. When we asked about Lord Siva in that Yameshwar Tota, somebody told us that Lord Siva there was the elder brother of Jagannath. Where does this come from? People are confused. Where is Jagannath and where is Sivji Maharaj? If Sivji Maharaj (Yameshwar) hears it, he will get angry—he will send those who say such things to Yamalay [abode of Yamaraj]! If somebody comes and says, "Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Acharya Maharaj are one," must I admit this? If think in this way, then I will become proud. The scriptures say, "Too much praise causes an offence (ninda, slandering)." It means if you hear too much glorification of yourself, you will be making an offence.

So, when Mahaprabhu heard about the oil, He told Govinda to take the oil out. "Am I a dari sannyasi [a tantric renunciate who keeps women for sense gratification]? I will rub the oil on My body and walk down the street, and people will get the smell from My body and say that I keep a woman! They will say, 'He has become a dari sannyasi!'" Govinda began to shiver seeing Mahaprabhu so angry. And another thing Mahaprabhu said was, "Perhaps, Jaga wants to have a marriage life with Me again!" (Satyabhauma became Jagadananda and Krishna became Mahaprabhu; Mahaprabhu was referring to Dvapar-yuga.)

The next day Jagadananda Pandit came to Gambhira and asked Govinda, "Hey, Govinda, did you use the oil yesterday?" When Jagadananda heard what Mahaprabhu had said, he smashed the pot of oil against the floor and stormed out in fury. He came to his house (the place where we went today) and locked the door. He stayed there locked without opening the door to anyone—not just one day, not two days, he had stayed there for three days and had not eaten anything.

On the first day Mahaprabhu asked Govinda, "Is there any news? Did Jagadananda come out? Did he open the door?" Govinda said, "No, it is still closed, and he is not opening it." Mahaprabhu knew everything, but He still asked. On the second day, He again sent somebody to Jagadananda and asked if he had opened the door, but he had not. On the third day, Mahaprabhu went there Himself. (You can see how Mahaprabhu was testing His devotee.) He knocked on the door and called out, "Jaga! Brother, it is Me! You have been locked there without eating anything for three days, I have also not eaten anything all this time." (Mahaprabhu was clever. He took Jagannath prasadam every day, so how could it be true?) "Open the door, brother! I never feel full unless I take food prepared by your hand! I also have not eaten all this time." When Mahaprabhu Himself had come, how could Jagadananda not open the door? He opened the door, paid obeisance to Mahaprabhu and quickly went to cook something. Mahaprabhu went to see what he was doing—Jagadananda had not said a word. Then, Mahaprabhu sat down and waited. Jagadananda cooked, offered the bhog, and then, having arranged the seat and the plate, gave prasad to Mahaprabhu. Actually, Mahaprabhu had not come there to take prasad—He had come to stop Jagadananda's anger. So, Mahaprabhu said to him,

"You take prasad too! Let us take it together."

Jagadananda replied, "No, no, I do not want to trouble You!"

"No, you must take first, then I will sit to take it too."

"No, no, believe me. You have come and I have cooked for You, offered the bhog, etc. You take prasad, and I will take later, believe me."

"Are you sure? Are you telling the truth?"

"Yes, it is the truth, it is the truth," Jagadananda assured Mahaprabhu.

"All right," Mahaprabhu said and took prasad. "I have taken prasad, and I am going to Gambhira now, now you take prasad!"

"All right, do not worry, go take rest. I will take prasad."

Mahaprabhu came to Gambhira to rest, but His mind was restless—He kept thinking, "Did he take prasad or not?" He sent Govinda to check on Jagadananda. Govinda went there hidingly and saw Jagadananda taking prasad. Suddenly, Jagadananda saw Govinda and said to him sweetly, "Oh, you have come here at this odd time. So, Mahaprabhu has sent you to check if I was taking prasadam or not, has he not? I know everything, I know." In this way, Mahaprabhu checked his haughtiness.

Such was Jagadananda Pandit's love.

* * *

Nine Digits

Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham

11 July 2018, part 5

What is it? Is your phone ringing? Who is calling you? Is it Krishna calling you?

—It is Nimai...

Oh, Nimai... Do you know the phone number of Krishna?

—Can you give it to me?

His is a nine digit number. You know? Krishna's phone number is the Flute!

When somebody calls us on mobile phone, we come, but what grips and pulls the Vraja gopis to come?

vamsi varanao mane na katha ye sune na

o mora keno more na?

"The Flute heeds no prohibition, listens to no words. It is dead [a piece of wood], why does it not die then?"

This is Radharani's separation...

vamsira kono laj nai divanise dake-tai

ami yata dure yay vamsi bole eso rai

keno ye samay bujhe na

o mora keno more na?

dusta vamsi dustami krtera pagalami

"The Flute has no shame! It only keeps on calling day and night. No matter how far I go, the Flute keeps calling, 'Come, Rai.' Why does it not understand? Why does it not die? Naughty Flute is full of mischief, it drives Me crazy."

This is very beautiful. There is also Krishna's separation—becoming crazy in separation from Radharani, He says, "O Subal! My mind is burning in agony, you will not be able to understand anything, O Subal!"

Anyhow, I can tell about this when we are in Vrindavan. It is not necessary to speak about this here...

* * *

Two Fables—Two Lessons

Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham

11 July 2018, part 6

There is a saying in English—"where there is a will, there is a way." There are many stories that illustrate it also. For example, this one.

Once, there was a crow. Very thirsty, it was flying in the sky looking for some water, but it could not find water anywhere. Suddenly, it saw a clay pot at the bottom of which there was some water. The crow put its head inside the pot, but it could not reach the water. What did the wise crow do then? It brought some stone chips and as it put them inside the clay pot, the water rose and the crow could drink it. What is the moral? Where there is a will, there is a way.

There is also another story. I read it when I was seven or eight years old. It is called "Slow and Steady Wins the Race." When you play football, you must always be steady and aim at the gate to score the goal. Many people play football now all over the world, I also played it in childhood, but one time the ball hit me in my stomach and my mother told me not to play it again...

Guru Maharaj often told that it is necessary to be steady, and another thing he said we must have chastity. It is necessary to be a sincere seeker and have chastity—as a woman keeps chastity to her husband, or a husband to his wife, in the same way we must keep chastity to our Guru. Always remember this. Women do not mix with other men, and men do not mix with other women. These are straight words. Never engage in illegal sex.

So, do you know the story about "slow and steady"? One day, a hare had a bet with a tortoise. They had to come to a certain place and the one who came first would win. The hare said, "It is simple, the tortoise will walk so slow, and I will make it there in three leaps!" Halfway to the finish, the hare thought, "I am tired, let me take a nap. When I wake up, I will just make three leaps and get to the finish." What did the tortoise do? It kept walking steadily and reached the finish. When the hare woke up, it hurried to the finish, but when it got there it saw the tortoise was already there before it.

Remember this. It is necessary to be patient and steady.

* * *

Sincere and Selfless Service

Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham

11 July 2018, part 7

There is much that can be told about Jagadananda Pandit, it would take so much time. I read from Prema-vivarta from time to time,

"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.

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, 8.6-7)

These are Mahaprabhu's words, written in Sri Sri Prema-vivarta.

"'Gorara ami, Gorara ami' mukhe balile nahi chale"—when sahajiyas come to do kirtan, you give them so much money so that they can do their twenty-four hour kirtan. There are many of such hired kirtaniyas. Their party comes, sings kirtans, takes money and leaves, but have they even once told you, "Please say 'Hare Krishna'"? Have they? Tell me, have they ever told you this or not? Never! Sadhus, on the other hand, do not come to do kirtan for money. They come to your house so that you chant the Holy Name:

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)

They do not come to chant the Holy Name, they come to make you chant the Holy Name!

Devotees: Nitai Gaura Hari bol!

This is what Jagadananda Pandit writes.

You must all remember the siddhanta, the conception. What conception do I mean? Do you remember the pastime that happened in Gambhira? It is described in Chaitanya-charitamrita. For the service of the Lord, you should be prepared to commit an offence. Remember it, I keep telling it to you again and again. And for your own pleasure you cannot do any wrong. For example, you do not have flowers in your garden to offer to the Lord—you can steal it from somebody's garden, there will be no offence because you do it for the Lord. When the Vraja gopis gave their foot dust for Krishna, did they think about what will become of them. Did they think, "We will fall down!", "We will die!", "We will commit sin!"? They did not. They were ready for sin, for ruination, for leprosy, etc.

So what happened at Gambhira was this. One day, Mahaprabhu danced so much that He had got very tired by the end of the day. He walked slowly back to His room and lay down in the doorway. The door to His room is very small (you have seen how small Gambhira is), and you know that Mahaprabhu was 7'6". So, He entered the room and fell right in the doorway—He had no strength to move. Govinda, His servitor, said,

"Prabhu, please move a little, I want to come inside to do Your service."

Mahaprabhu replied, "I cannot move, I cannot do anything."

"But I do this service every day—how will I do it today?"

"That is your matter..."

Mahaprabhu was testing him. This is how the Guru tests his disciple. If you have sincerity, if you are dedicated to your service, then whatever service you do every day, you must do it every day. You pass stool every day, you go to the toilet every day, you eat every day, and you must serve the Lord every day too. You must do your service every day, with sincerity and dedication.

You can ask me now, "Maharaj, I cook the bhog and do everything at home, I offer it to Gurudev and to Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda, but now I have come for Ratha-yatra..." When you are at home, you offer the bhog, but when you are in Nabadwip or in any other temple, they offer the bhog to the Deities there, so there is no offence for you. If you cannot keep Deities [if you cannot maintain the service, if you have to leave the house and there is nobody to look after the Deities], you must keep a photograph of the Deities, then there is no offence. This is what Guru Maharaj said.

So, Govinda thought, "I do this service every day, will I not do it today? But I cannot force Mahaprabhu to move..." Do you know what he did then? He took his upper cloth, spread it on Mahaprabhu's body and crossed Him, then he took whatever dust had fallen on the cloth and put it on his head. Then, he massaged Mahaprabhu's feet and fell asleep sitting.

(There are many people who sleep seated. In Ekachakra, we have a foreign devotee who sleeps while standing. He cannot lie. He serves Gaura Nitai there, his name is Nitaichand. He sleeps while standing or sitting, he cannot lie and sleep.)

So, Mahaprabhu took a good rest and Govinda took a nap while sitting inside the room. Suddenly, deep at night, Mahaprabhu woke up and saw Govinda still sitting there.

"Hey, Govinda, you are sitting here! Did you not go to sleep? Did you not go to take prasad?"

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

"What do you mean? But you did cross Me to come inside!"

"Prabhu, I crossed You to come to do Your service, but I cannot cross You for the satisfaction of my senses, to eat and to sleep. For my own self, I cannot make such offence.”

* * *

Chanting 24/7

Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham

11 July 2018, part 8

Today, we also went to Radha Kanta Math. In that Math, there are Deities of Radha Krishna installed there and in Mahaprabhu's time Their servitor's (pujari's) name was Gopal.

One day, Mahaprabhu was going to the bathroom. What was a bathroom like in those days? What we have here is VIP—there is a bucket, mug, etc. in each room. In those days, you would take water from a well and bring it to a bathroom. So, Gopal saw Mahaprabhu going to the bathroom. How was He going there? He was going with His tongue held out between His teeth. Gopal asked, "Prabhu, is something wrong?" Mahaprabhu did not say anything—if you bite your tongue, how can you say anything? So, Mahaprabhu only made some sound in reply and went to the bathroom.

Having taken bath, etc. Mahaprabhu came out and saw Gopal standing there. Gopal asked him again, "Prabhu, what is wrong? Why did You go with Your tongue between Your teeth? What has happened to You?" Mahaprabhu explained then, "My tongue has become so naughty!"

Do you not sing it in the kirtan about maha-prasad?

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."

What is said here? Durmati (wicked) is bad enough, but su-durmati (extremely wicked) is even worse! The tongue always wants something—walking down the street, you feel like eating a samosa or something...

jihvara lalase yei iti-uti dhaya

sisnodara-parayana se krsna nahi paya

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

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

So, Mahaprabhu said, "My tongue has become so naughty!" We chant the Holy Name and the next moment start speaking all sorts of nonsense, but Mahaprabhu says, "Even when I go to the bathroom, My tongue wants to chant the Holy Name!" Hearing this, Gopal became very serious and said, "Why are You saying this, Prabhu? You have said Yourself,

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)

"These are Your words, Prabhu! You say we must do kirtan ahar-nisa—whether we are eating or sleeping—twenty-four hours a day. Amidst those twenty-four hours we also have to go to the bathroom, so if we sit in the bathroom and chant the Holy Name, what offence is there in it? Really, I cannot take mala there, but if I chant with my mouth, what offence is there in it?" Then Mahaprabhu exclaimed, "Gopal, what you are saying is right! From today you are no longer Gopal, from now you will be known as Gopal Guru!"

Devotees: Nitai Gaura Hari bol!

Do you understand? Mahaprabhu accepted it.

* * *

The Proof of the Pudding

Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham

11 July 2018, part 9

When we were at the Radha Kanta Math, I told you about Sachi Devi, about Ganga Mata Goswamini—you have heard it, have you not? Also, there was brahma-jnani Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Mahaprabhu saved him, used him for the service of Govinda.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya had a very big job at Jagannath temple, but he did not take Jagannath prasad.

Devotee (surprised): Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya did not take prasad?

No, he did not. He did not have devotion for prasad, did not have taste for prasad. He arranged everything at the temple, but he himself ate at his home.

Mahaprabhu thought, "It is necessary to give him taste of prasad. If he does not take it, how will he understand how wonderful prasad is?" So, one day Mahaprabhu came to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya after mangal arati with some prasad. Coming to his house, Mahaprabhu shouted,

"Sarvabhauma! Are you at home?"

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was in bed, sleeping, at that time. Hearing Mahaprabhu's voice, he quickly arose.

"Sarvabhauma, wake up!" shouted Mahaprabhu.

"Yes, yes... You have come so early?"

"Yes, I have brought some Jagannath prasad for you!"

"Prabhu, I have not brushed my teeth yet, I have not washed my face, how shall I take prasad?" asked Sarvabhauma.

Mahaprabhu said, "If you take Jagannath prasad, it is not necessary wash your mouth or brush your teeth!"

"Oh?"

"Yes, take this prasad!"

When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya took that prasad, he thought, "Oh, this is so sweet! So nice!" From that day he got the taste for maha-prasad.

* * *

"Gora Knows..."

Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham

11 July 2018, part 10

I have a question to you all—who was Kashi Misra in Dvapar-yuga? Who can tell me? Kubja. Have you heard this name? A lame, hunchbacked lady. She lived in Vrindavan and had one wish—she thought, "Krishna goes to all places, He stays with all gopis. It would be good if He could spend a night with me..." Krishna stays in every gopi's house—whichever house you go to, you can see Krishna there. So, what happened to Kubja in the end? Krishna told her, "Your desire will be fulfilled in this Kali-yuga." In Kali-yuga, Kubja took birth as Kashi Mishra and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Krishna Himself, stayed in a Gambhira room in his house—not just for one night, but for eighteen years!

Much time has passed now, much has been said, and I will not speak much longer, but I just want to say one thing, and you may not like what I will say. You have all come here to do what? Can you tell me? What have you come to do here in Puri Dham? You need to examine yourself. You have spent money, etc., but what have you come to do here? Tell me.

Devotee, quietly: Sadhu-sanga...

I also gave up a job in a college, I left my mother and father and came to the lotus feet of my Guru. I used to earn a lot of money, but I left everything and came to the lotus feet of my Guru. One time I told Gurudev, "I want to go to Bangladesh—I have inherited some land there. I want to sell it and give the money to you." Gurudev asked me, "How many days will it take?" I said, "Seven days." Then he asked, "How much will you get for it?" I said, "Twenty lakhs." Then Gurudev said, "If I give you this money today, do you still need to go?" I could not say anything after that in front of Gurudev. I understood that Gurudev did not want to lose me and he let me understand that I was worth more than twenty lakhs...

Anyhow, have I not told you when I feel sad? There is a saying in Bengali, "Dase mile kari kaj hari jiti nahi laj." [Many drops make light work; two heads are better than one.] We are here like ten sticks together—if you take one stick, it is easy to break it, but if you take ten sticks together, you cannot break them.

And one more thing is that you have come here and you must think that this place is your home. One time, Prabhupad said, "Where are you going?! Where is your home?! Even if your home is on fire, you do not have to go there!" There is a [Bengali] book by Srila Sridhar Maharaj called Harikathamrita, it is written there. Read it. My [Bengali] book called Upadesh is also there, read it. I went to the kitchen in the evening and saw how few devotees were there, working so hard, cutting the vegetables...

People come to me weeping, "Maharaj, we have no money, we are so poor..." but you must have a heart—you must have service mood. When I went to the kitchen I saw those ten people working there, and yesterday they were washing the dishes until after ten at night. They fed you at noon also and while everybody was resting one person was washing the dishes all afternoon... If only everybody did this together. When you wash dishes at home and when you wash dishes here, it is not the same. Who do you wash the dishes for here? For the Lord. I am telling this to you gently, with a smile, but I am feeling pain inside.

Ultimately, it means that the Lord is not using you for His service. You come here, you go for a walk, you play around, but why have we come to Jagannath Puri? We have come to serve. Here is Gaura Nitai, here are Vaishnavs, and we have come here to serve them.

Today we went to Bhuvaneswar. I had called them in advance, arranged the prasadam, arranged the transport, but I see that the people who have come do not serve, they do not have devotion to their Guru—they run to the bus to take a good seat first. I know everything, and I cannot forgive that.

I see everything but I do not say anything. Remember one thing. Srila Sridhar Maharaj said that Prabhupad was as hard as a lightning outside and as soft as a flower inside. I have always wanted to learn from Prabhupad.

I saw yesterday a devotee was cleaning the bushes, was washing the rice. You may think, "He will do everything himself," but he will not be able to do it—everybody is here, everybody can help, but I do not see anyone doing it. At their homes they do work, but at the temple they rest and sleep... I am saying it straight, in plain words.

Somebody is old and cannot do service, but I see here old people struggling but serving—seventy-, eighty-year-old people; and we are young people, there are young boys and girls—they only care to go out. When I give a lecture, even when I come to their houses for preaching, I see that they do not listen to the Hari-katha properly. My eyes are as sharp as an arrow.

Remember this.

Jaya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

* * *

Love for Guru

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 1

I am very happy to see you all today. After so many days I have got this time to meet with you.

I was very busy at the Ratha-yatra in Puri, after that I came back and have also been very busy. Actually, I also very busy today, I have an appointment with some minister that I have to attend, but it is not a question—busy or not, for the service to my Guru I can give you as much time as you want.

Yesterday I celebrated the Guru Purnima. I told the devotees that it was not necessary to many anything for me—as an example for everyone, I must serve my Guru on the Guru Purnima. So, yesterday I cooked myself, some devotee came here and gave them prasadam. I was very happy. Gurudev, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj always wanted to give some prasadam to the devotees, and I saw in Chaitanya-charitamrita, Prapanna-jivanamritam, and even Jagadananda Pandit's Prema-vivarta that if you have something, you must give it to others—if you have no wealth, you can give others some prasadam, and if you have no prasadam, nothing, you can give others sweet words. That is the main thing. You can make others happy with sweet words. So, I cooked myself yesterday, and I was very happy. This is how I celebrated this day.

If you give a garland to Gurudev, if you pay obeisance to Gurudev, it is a formality, but the main thing is that you must serve your Guru from your heart. The problem is that everybody wants to do service, but we do not know what is service. Service means you must please your Guru, that is the main thing. Gurudev tells you, "Give some mustard oil on my head," but you are rubbing mustard oil on his feet. This is not seva. Seva is what is dear to your Guru, what Gurudev will be pleased with. This is how you must serve.

You must preach Krishna consciousness. You must go all over the world, serve Krishna consciousness, preach about your Guru—do not preach about yourself.

Gurudev told four types of people come to the temple—arto, jijnasur, artharthi, jnani (the afflicted, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of happiness, and the self-realized; Bg, 7.16). I can give a political example also. Some people join politics for their own interest—to earn some money, for example; some people join a political party for their pratistha (establishment); but some people want to serve people. In a temple it is also like this—some people join for their own interest, they do not think about their Gurudev's interest.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj says that you may be crying, you may be dropping so many jars of tears from your eyes, but it is not for Krishna, it is not for Gurudev—what you are doing is emotion, it is for yourself. When Gurudev chastises you, he is getting pain in his heart because he sees his disciple is going some other way, doing some other things, sees that his disciple is not following Krishna consciousness properly, is going to fall down, lose their Krishna consciousness. It is his pain, that is why he chastises you. If you cry for your Gurudev because you think that your Gurudev is very sad, your Gurudev is getting pain, then it is good for you, but if you cry for yourself, that is emotion.

* * *

Mind Your Own Faults

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 2

I am telling this to all the devotees all over the world. What for have you come to Krishna consciousness? What for have you become a disciple of your Guru? Becoming a disciple, you must serve your Guru.

I see that at a young age boys and girls do not think about their future life. They do something emotionally, but after that, when they become 22-26 years old, they change automatically—somebody washes their brain, they change and after that they do not think what is Krishna consciousness, what is practising life.

Gurudev said that if you live for twenty years in this world you must think that your life is actually ten years because you have been sleeping for the other ten years. There is no time!

uthare uthare bhai ara ta samaya nai

'krsna bhaja' bale uchchaihsvare

"Wake up, wake up, brother, there is no time! Worship Krishna!"

You can die, you can leave your body at any moment! You must think that time is very short. Raghunath Das Goswami served twenty-two and a half hours and spent only one and a half hours on sleeping and bathroom, but we sleep for twenty-two hours and do something during two hours. It is very bad for our Krishna consciousness life. We must engage ourselves full time:

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 must understand what is Krishna consciousness, what is service. Do not criticise anybody.

It is not your duty to see who is doing what. Always searching others' fault, when will you get time to serve others, to serve your Gurudev? When will you get time for that? You are thinking somebody's nature is bad, somebody's nature is this, somebody's nature is that, but Gurudev said that those who eat coal will pass black stool—if somebody does wrong, they will suffer. Do not worry about others. Vaishnav must be adosa-darasi—Vaishnav will not see others' fault. Vaishnav always thinks that he is guilty. Close your eyes and do not see so many bad things. Gurudev told also not to say bad things, not to hear bad things, not to see bad things (ku-bolibe na, ku-sunibe na, ku-dekhibe na). You must always think about other's good qualities; you must always pray for everybody to be good.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur also taught this. One time, two brahmacharis were fighting with each other. He called them and they started to complain about each other in front of him. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "Stop. Stop! You have told so many bad things about him. I think, and you probably also think, that he has some quality. Tell me about his good qualities, I am giving you ten minutes." This is what Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told. Learn from this.

* * *

Root of Anartha

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 3

Where is ***?

—He is working today.

Very bad news. He is always working, he is not getting time to give class...

Actually, I had much hope for him, I thought I would keep him here, but it was my mistake that I had sent him back too quickly. He knows Krishna consciousness, he wants to give lectures, and I have seen that he has some good qualification, but he is now working most of the time, earning some money... But artha anarther mul—money brings anartha (ruin, unwanted and inauspicious habits). Money is the root of anartha. It is said so in the scriptures.

Chaitanya-charitamrita says:

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)

You know what it means, you can explain it better than me.

If you run behind money, wealth, property, ladies, Krishna will give you property, wealth, etc., but ultimately He will remove devotion from you—you will lose devotion. That is the main thing.

* * *

On Mission's Integrity

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 4

Gurudev started a boat, Chaitanya Saraswat Math boat, why will you make another boat? When Gurudev went to Australia, he said everybody must come under one umbrella and one devotee said, "Oh how they will come under one umbrella? Everybody has their own raincoat." This is an important thing, remember it. Gurudev started a boat, this Chaitanya Saraswat Math boat, and wherever this boat goes, you must be a passenger in this boat, then you will reach the place where the boat is going.

This is Srila Sridhar Maharaj's temple, this Chaitanya Saraswat Math boat, and you should serve under the guidance of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math—under guidance of those who are preaching about Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. You can help them, you can participate in their activities in any way you can. You can do any service that you are good at—you can print books, you can even clean the boat (the temple), you can make garlands, you can do the gardening, you can go to goshala and serve the cows. Whatever service you do you can reach your goal—you can go to your Guru, then it will be a success in your spiritual life.

Are there any questions from you?

Devotee: I have a question, Maharaj. I am wondering if you can say something regarding the acharyas and their disciples and what your relationship with them is.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told this very clearly. I will give an example.

Suppose you make a disciple. It is OK, not a problem. What will be the relation between me and your disciple? I will be their uncle. What is the problem?

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave respect even to Ramachandra Puri. Ramachandra Puri always criticised Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and others, but Mahaprabhu gave him the highest position—he gave him a chair. You must learn from this.

One time, Sripad Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Maharaj made some offence to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, but when Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was at the Nabadwip station he saw Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Maharaj and immediately sent my Guru to pay obeisance to Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Maharaj. Learn from them.

Devotee: I have one more question. Some of your disciples are saying directly that those who are following other gurus cannot be a part of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. I had one follower very severely attack me and criticise me for so many things.

This is not my desire. It is their problem. Actually, they want to be so fanatic, but it is not done in this way. I want to tell it openly that it is not Vaishnav etiquette. If you want to become my disciple you must be respectful to other Vaishnavs. If the Guru does not teach them, who will teach them then? At the same time, the disciple has some feeling—if somebody criticises me in front of my disciple, they will not tolerate that…

* * *

Highest Devotion

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 5

Devotee: There are different kinds of inner devotion, what is the highest kind of devotion?

You know what is the highest relation. The scriptures tell (and Gurudev told it also) that a tridandi sannyasi means serving with your body, mind and speech (kaya, mana, vakya). That is OK, but Gurudev said, "The highest kind of a devotee is the one who has such qualities as humility, tolerance and who gives honour to others." Those who have these qualities are the highest kind of devotees. Be humble, tolerant and give honour to others, then you will be the highest devotee and you will be adhikari—you will have the power to chant the Holy Name.

Those who are humble, tolerant and give honour to others are the highest devotees. Do you think that if somebody has all scriptures in their head, in their brain, if somebody reads so many books and knows everything, they are the highest devotee? No. The books do not say this. "Bahu grantha na paribe, bahu kalabhyasa na karibe: it is not necessary to read so many books, it is not necessary to practise so many artificial things." It is only necessary to serve your Guru properly, nothing else. You know the story about a disciple of Gauridas Pandit, I have told it before. You must listen to it.

Gauridas Pandit lived in a temple in Kalna and served Gaura Nitai there. He had a disciple called Chaitanyadas who helped him to serve Them, and there were many other devotees also. Gauridas gave one service to Chaitanyadas, he told him, "You must make a flower garden for the Deities and look after it every day." At that time, it was very difficult to get water—there was no tube well, no tap water, so the water had to be brought from the Ganges. So, Chaitanyadas would bring water for the garden every day and he was so busy that he did not even get time to pay obeisance to his Guru.

A few months later, Gauridas Pandit thought, "I must go and see what garden he has made." He came to the garden and when he saw it he was astonished, "What a good garden! So many flowers!" He waited in the garden for his disciple to come. Soon, Chaitanyadas came. He was carrying water in a clay jar on his head, and as soon as he saw his Gurudev, he removed the jar from his head and fell down in obeisance to his Guru. Then Gurudev saw that there was a big wound in his head, and it was full of insects. Gauridas Pandit said, "What has happened? Come to me! What has happened to your head? You have so many insects, but you are still working and carrying water?!" Chaitanyadas replied, "No, Gurudev, nothing has happened, nothing has happened." Gauridas Pandit personally took him to a doctor—the doctor took out the insects, bandaged his head and they returned to the temple.

When Gauridas Pandit became old, who did he give his power? He had many scholarly disciples, but he gave his power, his authority to Chaitanyadas and made him his successor. But when Gauridas Pandit left, all these scholarly disciples took over the temple—they beat Chaitanyadas and threw him out. So, Chaitanyadas went to Vrindavan and lived there under a tree, chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

One day, a big merchant from Delhi had a dream, "There is a devotee of Krishna in Vrindavan, he is suffering very much. Help him." The next day, the merchant came to Vrindavan to see that devotee, Chaitanyadas, and soon after that he made a big temple for him in Vrindavan.

Do you see? Gauridas Pandit had so many disciples, so many followers, but the temple has been ruined. If you go to Kalna now and see that temple, you will see that now those who are serving there are not devotees of Krishna—they eat fish, meat, etc., they do not follow Gauridas Pandit's conceptions. This is what happened.

So, what do you love? Somebody loves bricks and stones, but who do you love? You love your Guru.

* * *

"This Is Our Life"

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 6

Any other questions?

Devotee: Here is **. He wants to join and serve you.

Good. I am very happy that through somebody one by one jiva souls, fallen souls are joining Krishna consciousness and getting an opportunity to serve the Lord and Guru. This is jive daya:

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."

So many sannyasis like Sripad Santa Maharaj, Sripad Muni Maharaj, Sripad Mahayogi Maharaj, Sripad Tyagi Maharaj and others are preaching in their own countries. Also, Srila Janardan Maharaj, Srila Ashram Maharaj, Srila Avadhut Maharaj, Sripad Bharati Maharaj are doing so much preaching. This is our life. "Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara": if you have life, if you are still alive, you must preach. Krishna is in your heart, so you must preach for Krishna, preach for your Guru—preach for those who are preaching Krishna consciousness all over the world.

That is our main attitude and main things.

* * *

Tolerance Is Unavoidable

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 7

Question: You say that if a person is a Vaishnav, a Vaishnav never takes offence. But we always feel offended by everything. How can we develop that humility? We always feel, "Oh this person told me this, I am offended," "This person did this to me, I am offended." How we can dominate our ego and never feel offended by anything?

Do not react. You have to tolerate it, and you have to have so much tolerance. Gurudev said jokingly one time, "When I cannot tolerate so many things, I am biting my arms." I also cannot tolerate so many things, but what can I do? If I cannot tolerate something, it is not Vaishnav etiquette.

Gurudev told one story also about a manager from one ISKCON temple. Sometimes he would go outside for preaching, distributing books, etc. and one time when he came back he saw there was no prasadam, so he only drank some water. After that, he gave an order, "You must keep some prasadam for me!" And what did they do? The next day they kept so much prasadam for him that it would be enough to feed five people. When the manager came back, they told him, "Now you must take all this prasadam!"

Gurudev told also that the scriptures say and sometimes Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told it also that if you do many offences for one hundred births, then you become a temple manager. [His Divine Grace laughs.]

Yes, it is very difficult to tolerate. What you are saying is simple and obviously we react when something happens. Actually, if something is intolerable, if you hear something and cannot tolerate it, then it is better to avoid it.

They tell so many things about me also. When some disciple or some godbrother of mine comes to me and says, "Oh, Maharaj, they are telling so many things against you," I say that what they are saying is nothing, I am much worse than that!

* * *

On Guard

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 8

Everybody must preach, everybody must come to the class.

Actually, there are some who are spreading so many rumours, this is another type of devotees... One time, when I was in Brazil with Srila Ashram Maharaj and Srila Janardan Maharaj, Sripad Tapasvi Maharaj wanted to take sannyas. His health was not good at that time and I was consulting with the senior sannyasis (Srila Janardan Maharaj and Srila Ashram Maharaj), I asked them, "Sripad Tapasvi Maharaj was a sannyasi previously... What should I do now?" Both Srila Ashram Maharaj and Srila Janardan Maharaj accepted it and told me to give him sannyas, and they chose the name also. As soon as I gave him sannyas, somebody wrote in facebook—do you know what they wrote? "Oh, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj made Srila Acharyadev his successor, and now Srila Acharyadev has also made Sripad Tapasvi Maharaj his successor." Do you see? Do you see what kind of things they are doing? Actually, "an idle brain is devil's workshop," "an active man has no time to waste"...

Devotee: Maharaj, Saraswati Didi [the London Temple manager] is working day and night, maintaining the temple, seeing that everything is going on nicely, and she is doing a beautiful job.

Yes, I know she is doing a beautiful job. She is running, but somebody is taking her sari and holding her back, "Do not go!" [His Divine Grace laughs.] This world is like that. Gurudev says that when somebody is working, many people will criticise them behind their back, and those who are doing nothing have no problem.

Saraswati Didi: Maharaj, we have a very good team of devotees here.

Yes, I understand it. They are doing so much service, but everybody should not be proud because of their service. OK? "I am doing this! I doing that! I am doing so many things!" Do not become proud. Do you understand? Gurudev is still there, Gurudev is in front of the Deities, Gurudev is with the Deities, Gurudev's photo is there, everything is there, and if somebody says, "I am doing this, I am doing this, I am doing this," they become proud.

You know, Raghunath Das Goswami used to give Vaishnav seva with his father's money, but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not like it—He said later that it was not good because pratistha could come.

Actually, we cannot do any service. We cannot do anything! We are tiny jiva souls, like ants, like mosquitos and even worse than that, and Gurudev is very powerful, Krishna is very powerful—how much we can do for them? We cannot do anything. This kind of feeling should come.

tomara sevaya, duhkha haya yata,

seo ta' parama sukha

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

(Saranagati 16.4)

"I am doing some service and some kind of unhappiness is coming to me, but this is not unhappiness—it is the greatest happiness! It is the purest happiness!"

Some unhappiness can come, but do not express it—it is the greatest happiness.

tomara sevaya, duhkha haya yata,

seo ta' parama sukha

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

(Saranagati 16.4)

When some sadness is coming, it is not so—it is happiness. Some obstacles can come in your service, it is true because maya is always attacking you, maya is always obstructing your service. So, every time you think that something bad is happening in your spiritual life, you must understand that this is created by Maya, created by Kali Maharaj.

Devotee: Maharaj, I wanted to say also about Lavanya Moyi Didi. She is working day and night in the temple, four days a week, and then she goes for collection at the weekend. She sometimes carries on for sixteen hours a day. She has unbelievable energy and service mood, it is so inspiring.

Of course. They are getting mercy from Gurudev, they are getting mercy from Vaishnavs, and they can do all the time. Why only sixteen hours? They can do service twenty-four hours! I am not astonished by sixteen hours—when Gurudev's mercy comes, she can do service for twenty-four hours. I believe that.

* * *

A Perfect Serviceholder

13 July 2018, Sri Puri Dham

We came for the parikrama of Sri Dham Puri a few days ago and have done the parikrama of many places—Srila Haridas Thakur's samadhi, Siddha Bakul (Haridas Thakur's bhajan kutir), Gambhira (Kashi Misra's house where Mahaprabhu stayed), Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's temple, Jagannath Temple, Gundicha Bari, Ramananda Ray's house and Vallabha Udyan (garden), Saksi Gopal, Ananta Vasudev, Sivji Maharaj Temple in Bhuvaneshwar, and Alarnath. With more than five hundred devotees, we are making a tour programme to many places this year.

By the mercy of Gurudev, Sri Jaya Ram came from America and gave some news about the Soquel Ashram. I am very happy that everybody is doing service happily under the guidance of Srila Janardan Maharaj. I am very happy that he is following Gurudev's order and instruction, and he has these qualities also—he is humble, tolerant and gives honour to others. This was Gurudev's preaching all over the world. Gurudev explained that tridandi [a triple staff, or a three-fold vow] sannyas actually means being humble, tolerant and giving honour to others (giving respect to everybody).

We all can learn from the pastimes at Mahaprabhu's place in Gambhira that for the service of Mahaprabhu, for the service of the Guru you can make an offence, it is not a problem, but you cannot make any offence for your own interest. You can do anything for the service to your Guru. We can also see the example from Vrindavan—the gopis gave their foot dust to help Lord Sri Krishna and they did not think about themselves, they did not think that they could go to hell, their legs could be burnt or be taken by leprosy.

At this moment, each of us must think deeply what is necessary for service. It is necessary to serve from the heart—it is not necessary to show service to others. Service will be heart and soul, then that is service. You must do service with 100%. That is the main things. You must surrender 100% to your Guru. Your mind must be chaste and sincere otherwise you cannot proceed in your spiritual life. Try and try. Even if you think you cannot do anything more, but still you must try to do more. You must also respect your Guru properly—you must respect Gurudev's order and follow it.

You must think what you are doing. Think in your room for one hour what you are doing and what you are thinking.

I am telling this to all the devotees—service Gurudev's Mission with heart and soul. If you want to proceed in your spiritual life, you must have some aim in life. Just as you cannot run a boat without a captain, a man cannot run without an aim in life. If you want to be a big businessman, you need a good business, and if you want to be a big good serviceholder, then you must do your service properly. If you want to be a proper sannyasi, then you must practise spiritual life properly. You have come to Krishna consciousness line and you must practise properly and perfectly. Practice makes perfect.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Sacred and Cherished Moment

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 9

You know what is Krishna consciousness, you have heard so many of my lectures. If any time you have some questions, you can write to me by email, I will give you an answer. Always keep in touch with me, I will engage you in service (I can give you whatever service you like doing). Also, Sripad Shanta Maharaj is with you, he can advise you. I am very happy that he has brought you to me.

You know that it is not Satya-yuga, it is not Treta-yuga, it is not Dvapar-yuga now. In Satya-yuga, people's lifetime is 100,000, they practised meditation; in Treta-yuga, people's lifetime is 10,000 years, they practised fire-sacrifice (asvamedha-yajna, rajasuya-yajna, even naramedha-yajna, etc.); in Dvapar-yuga, people's lifetime is 1,000 years and they practised puja. In Kali-yuga, however, people's lifetime is only 120 years, but Krishna appears in this age in the form of Name. Krishna's Name, beauty and pastimes are non-different from Krishna, that is why if you have some qualities, if you follow Mahaprabhu's conception (I have told about it today before—if you can be humble, if you can be tolerant, and if you can give honour to others), then you can chant the pure Holy Name.

You know everything from Shanta Maharaj's association and other devotees' association, therefore your land is fertile, which means your heart is clean and open, you can give Bhakti Devi a place in your heart...

I know that you are prepared and know everything, so I do not want to explain the simple matters like dyuta, pana, striya, suna (no gambling, drinking whiskey, etc., no illegal sex and not to kill anything for yourself, like no meat, fish, etc.). You know that it is very strict in our spiritual life. Also, you must follow Ekadasi. This is how you can follow Krishna consciousness line.

This Holy Name comes through Guru-parampara—from Krishna to Brahma, from Brahma to Vyasadev, from Vyasadev to Madhvacharya, and so on. In this way the Holy Name comes to Sri Madhavendra Puri, then Ishwar Puri. Mahaprabhu Himself took initiation from Ishwar Puri. When Mahaprabhu was in Gaya, He said, "Gaya-yatra saphala amara" (Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, 1.17.50). Visiting the holy place in Gaya, He said, "My pilgrimage has become successful because I have got My Guru there!" When He saw Ishwar Puri in Gaya, He thought, "He will be My guru!"

"samsara-samudra haite uddharaha more

ei ami deha samarpilana tomare"

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Adi-khanda, 17.54)

Within this material existence, we always have to come and go, get birth and death—sometimes we get a human body, sometimes we get a cow's body, sometimes we get a monkey's body, sometimes we get a cat's body, dog's body, etc. So, Mahaprabhu is asking His Guru, "Please rescue Me from the this kind of existence! I am giving My heart, mind, body, My everything to you."

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)

At the time of initiation, if a devotee becomes a complete saranagata—fully surrenders to his Guru—then Krishna thinks, "He is My heart"...

So, the Holy Name comes in this way to Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj, Bhaktivinod Thakur, Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, our Param Gurudev the Founder-Acharya of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and he gave everything to our Gurudev Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. In his lifetime, our Gurudev also said that if anybody wanted to receive initiation, they would take initiation from the one who is taking care of Nabadwip and other temples in India. That is me, and I am very happy that Shanta Maharaj has chosen me and you have come to me to take initiation. As I said, initiation means you must surrender to your Guru and you must serve your Guru—you can serve your Guru in many ways (you can learn from the senior devotees).

Then, I am initiating you now…

* * *

Eternal Occupation

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 10

Hold your mala with two fingers [between thumb and middle fingers]. Then, touch this big bead called Sumeru to your head and chant Pancha-tattva's Name:

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda

sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura-bhakta-vrnda

This is Pancha-tattva's Name. Any time you start chanting, you should first touch the Sumeru bead, chant Pancha-tattva's Name, give 'jay' to your Guru, and then you can ask them for mercy because this Pancha-tattva has brought the Holy Name to this abode and without Their mercy we cannot chant this Holy Name. So, first you chant the Pancha-tattva's Name:

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda

sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura-bhakta-vrnda

After that, start chanting from the big beads. There are two types of beads on both sides of the Sumeru—there are big beads on one side and small beads on the other side. Chant one by one starting from the big beads:

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

One by one. Next bead:

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

In this way you will come from the big beads to the small beads. Do not cross the Sumeru bead—when you come to the small beads, start chanting again from the small beads: the big beads to the small beads, the small beads to the big beads.

You can chant sixteen rounds or more in this way. More than sixteen is also good—it is sixteen rounds or more. If you are busy with service any day (you told me you are a software engineer, so you must be doing so much computer work, always busy with the computer) and do not get time, then you can chant the Holy Name four rounds minimum. Do not make your beads fast. Sometimes when your computer is running and you are sitting, you can chant the Holy Name with your mouth also, without beads. Sometimes, you are cooking, making a garland, cleaning, or doing any other work, even when you are bathing or going to the toilet, you can also chant at that time. (But do not take your beads there—chant without the beads!)

You know, one time Mahaprabhu was going to the bathroom sticking out His tongue and holding it between His teeth. Gopal asked Him, "Prabhu, are You sick? Has anything happened?" Mahaprabhu replied, "No, it is just that My tongue has become very naughty—I am going to the toilet, it is a dirty place, and the tongue also wants to chant, 'Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.'" Gopal said then, "Prabhu, what is the problem? You can go to the toilet and chant—You have told Yourself,

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 twenty-four hours a day, so if you are chanting when you are going to the toilet, what is the problem?" Mahaprabhu said, "Yes! What you are saying is correct. From today your name will be Gopal Guru!"

There is also the ten offences book. Read the whole book, you will see there that there are many offences (Vaishnav-ninda, and others). I do not have time to explain all of it now, but if you cannot understand something, you can always ask me later. Read what the ten offences are—you must memorise and avoid them. If you chant without offences, Krishna will reveal Himself in your heart and you will be successful in your spiritual life.

* * *

Serve Under Guidance

Speaking online to devotees in London

28 July 2018, part 11

[Concluding words to the devotees in London:]

Everybody must serve under guidance of Saraswati Didi. Actually, she is doing so much service—Anjali Didi and Sachi Didi are also there. They are all dearmost servitors of Gurudev and they are trying their heart and soul for the Mission. Serve under their guidance. If you can serve them, I will be very happy.

Sometimes people want to come to me, but actually you do not know that it is very difficult to serve me because I am very strict and always chastise everybody. It is very difficult to tolerate this.

[His Divine Grace jokes:] I have bought one stick. Nityananda Prabhu kicked Sivananda Sen, kick Raghunath Das Goswami with His legs, but my legs are not so strong, they are weak, that is why I 'beat' with a stick. [His Divine Grace laughs.]

Thank you so much. I am very happy to see all the devotees, all of you. Take care of the temple. This is Gurudev's Mission. And I mean not only the Temple in Feltham [Hatton Cross], you must also sometimes go to the Green Street Temple. OK?

Dandavat.

* * *

Meaning of Mercy and Service

Sri Nrisingha Palli

10 August 2018, part 1

By the mercy of our Gurupadpadma, by the desire of our Guru Maharaj, the festival of Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj is held here at Nrisingha Palli for the first time. You have all gathered here to hear the glories and glorification of Param Gurudev Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. This is, however, a viraha-tithi (separation day). When the Guru leaves it is more painful that when one's own father leaves. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote about Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur in a kirtan,

krpaya hari-kirtana-murti-dharam

dharani-bhara-haraka-gaura-janam

janakadhika-vatsala-snigdha-padam

pranamami sada prabhupada-padam

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

He writes about Prabhupad that he is more affectionate than a father, and this Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's own and dearmost associate is our Param Gurudev, the founder acharya of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Today is his disappearance day...

He left this world on this day in 1988 in Gaura Dham. Guru Maharaj [Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj] told me that he felt as if the sky fell on him, or that as if he was struck with lightning, on that way...

Those who have some relation with the Guru, who can understand and who can know Gurudev, are never actually separated from their Guru. Who can know the Guru? Who can understand the Guru? You will not be able to understand your Guru unless you become a real disciple, so it is those who are real disciples that can know the Guru—they can understand what is Gurudev's innermost cherished desire.

We always say, "Gurudev, please give me your mercy." Do you understand the meaning of mercy, the meaning of "please give me your mercy"? I have told it before and a [Bengali] book is being printed now, you can get it in about seven days at the Math. I told there what mercy means (I told what I heard from Gurudev): "Gurudev, give me your mercy" means, "Gurudev, please engage me in your service." By doing your service properly you can please Gurudev, and for that you will have to tolerate much austerity—so many obstacles, so much suffering will come. If you can withstand all that and please your Guru despite all that, that is called mercy. Remember this. When Gurudev gives you any job, any task, that means you have got his mercy. Gurudev himself said, "Those who have no service have no mercy; those who have service have mercy."

Service opportunity comes by a great fortune but service can also leave within a moment—within a second Maya or some material desire can attack us. That is the difficulty.

tomara sevaya, duhkha haya yata,

seo ta' parama sukha

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

(Saranagati 16.4)

If there is some distress when you do service, that is a great joy. What austerity is it anyway? If you want to serve your Guru, you must work hard.

This time we do not get time to do a parikrama because past few days I have had to go out every day—it is necessary to please Param Guru Maharaj and Gurudev. I know that we gather here so that we can do some Vaishnav seva on this day, that is why I have been personally going out to Mayapur, Svarup-ganj and other places to distribute the invitation for the festival. If we can serve Param Guru Maharaj well, then Guru Maharaj (Gurudev) will be very happy.

One time, Gurudev called me and told me with much pain, "Vinod, if I come to Nabadwip, I will feel much pain... I do not like to be there at this time." That is why at this time of the year, Gurudev mostly stayed outside (he would keep himself busy with preaching at some other place), he did not come to Nabadwip Math. Since I came to the Math, I have seen him maybe only three-four times in Nabadwip on this day. One time he gave me the order and explained what Param Guru Maharaj liked and what he did not like and I arranged everything in accordance with that.

* * *

Serving and Understanding One's Guru

Sri Nrisingha Palli

10 August 2018, part 2

Param Gurudev established this Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math where you have assembled today and preach for. What does service mean? It means not satisfying yourself—it means satisfying your Guru. It does not matter if I do not like something or I am not pleased—we must think whether Srila Gurudev is happy. If I do some service and Gurudev is happy with it, that is called service.

You have heard about Madhavendra Puri who would cry,

ayi dina-dayardra natha he

mathura-natha kadavalokyase

hrdayam tvad-aloka-kataram

dayita bhramyati kim karomy aham

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

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 4.197)

His dearmost disciple was Ishwar Puri, the Guru of Mahaprabhu. Ishwar Puri understood how much pain, how much anguish Madhavendra Puri felt and he would keep quiet. However, Madhavendra Puri had another disciple, Ramachandra Puri, who seeing his Guru's state would say, "Gurudev, why are you crying? You are expert in knowledge, what need is there to cry?" Madhavendra Puri sent him away, "You do not understand anything! Go away." Ramachandra Puri had lost his Guru's mercy and service—having lost his Guru's shelter he went to hell.

So, who can know Gurudev? Who can understand Gurudev? You must always think about this. Then, you must understand who could understand Param Guru Maharaj Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj? Gurudev could. Param Guru Maharaj did not listen to what anyone said—he had many godbrothers, and many of them advised him, "You are making a mistake [by making Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj your successor]." They cannot understand, they see Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj with their external vision, but nobody can see the Guru or Vaishnavs with their external vision. Unless you have Gurudev in your heart and unless you try to understand him with your heart you cannot understand anything. So, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj did not listen to anyone—he made my Gurudev sit in his chair.

Today is the adhivas (eve) of this Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's disappearance…

* * *

Revealing Service

Sri Nrisingha Palli

10 August 2018, part 3

There are many things that can be said about Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. You can take Gaudiya Gitanjali home with you, I am sure many of you sing at home,

jayare jayare jaya gaura-saraswati

bhakativinoda nvaya karuna murati

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

prakasile gaura-seva bhuvana mangala

bhakatisiddhanta suddha prajnana ujjvala

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

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj is writing, "You have revealed the service of Gaura." Who preached about the service of Gauranga Mahaprabhu? Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur.

You must understand and you must know your Guru. It is necessary to please your Guru with service. I heard in a lecture that one time, a husband and a wife came to Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur to take initiation. They came and said, "We want to take initiation," but Prabhupad asked them, "Why do you want to take initiation?"

When Mahaprabhu was talking with Ramananda Ray, He asked him, "Pada sloka sadhyera nirnaya. Please recite verses concerning the ultimate goal of life." What did Ramananda Ray say in reply? He said, "Sva-dharmacharane visnu-bhakti haya. Doing your prescribed duties can arouse devotion to the Lord." In other words, whether you are staying in a house as a grihastha, whether you are following the duties of a brahmachari, vanaprastha or a sannyasi, you can serve the Lord in any of these ashrams. Mahaprabhu said, "Leave that, go further. Go further!" Then, Ramananda Ray said, "Krishne karmarpana—sarva-sadhya-sara. The essence of one's perfection is to offer the results of one's work to Krishna." It means whatever you do, you must do it for Krishna. Srimad Bhagavad Gita also says (9.27),

yat karosi yad asnasi, yaj juhosi dadasi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kurusva mad-arpanam

"O Kaunteya, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give and whatever vow you may keep-do everything as an offering unto Me."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.27)

Krishna says, "Whatever you do, whatever meditation you practise, whatever yoga or sacrifice you practise, do it for Me." This is true karma-misra-bhakti, but people understand it in a different way—they think, "O Lord, I have put some pranami into the pranami box, I have come to pay obeisance to You, and in lieu of that give my son a good job, let my health be good, let my daughter be married well." But this is not a devotee's prayer. A devotee's prayer is

yat karosi yad asnasi, yaj juhosi dadasi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kurusva mad-arpanam

That is "Krishne karmarpana," but when Ramananda Ray mentioned this, Mahaprabhu said, "This is external, go further." Then, Ramananda Ray spoke about jnana-misra bhakti—such people pray, "Lord, give me power," "Give me liberation," "Give me knowledge," etc. (this is hard to understand—sahajiyas can never understand this). After that, Ramananda Ray spoke about jnana-sunya-bhakti and then Mahaprabhu said, "Yes, this is right." Then he explained many things about Krishna-tattva, rasa-tattva, lila-tattva, etc. We must know and understand these things.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur asked Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to sing "Sri Rupa Manjari-pada, ei mora kirtana, ei mora bhajana pujana", and through that he let everyone understand that the one who will preach Rupa-Raghunath's line later is Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj…

* * *

Do You Agree?

Sri Nrisingha Palli

10 August 2018, part 4

So, I was going to tell you about Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. One time, two new people came to Prabhupad saying, "Prabhupad, we want to take initiation from you."

Prabhupad asked them, "Why do you want to take initiation?"

"We want our family to run smoothly."

Prabhupad said, "Then I will not be able to give you initiation."

The couple got upset, and Prabhupad said then, "There is no need for you to worry. I will tell you what you must do—I will give you a room, stay here for a few days, go to arati, parikrama and when I give class in the morning and evening, come and listen about the Lord."

Then, during seven days they went to the aratis, sang the kirtans... Sometimes people come to the temple and stay in their room without coming out for the arati or parikrama of the Lord, but this is not a hotel—this is a place of kirtan of the Lord's Name and a place of Lord's service. This place is not for enjoyment, you come here to serve... So, they stayed here, went to the aratis, parikrama, listened to Prabhupad's Hari-katha. Prabhupad is "kripaya Hari-kirtana murti dhara." Do you understand the meaning of these words? He did not chant so many kirtans with mridanga, kartals. He was Hari-kirtana murti dharam (the very embodiment of the Lord's kirtan) through his Hari-katha. So, the couple listened to his Hari-kirtan for seven days, and after that Prabhupad asked them,

"You have listened to some lectures, what do you think about it?"

"Prabhupad, we like it very much. Now we have understood the meaning of initiation, we have understood everything. Please give us initiation."

"If you are to take initiation, I want something from you."

"We are poor people, we cannot give so much money, etc."

"I do not want you money and wealth."

"Then what do you want, Prabhupad?"

"You must give me a room in your house. Let me stay there and feed me three-four times every day."

The people were surprised, they thought, "How is it possible? We have a small mud house and Prabhupad is staying in such a grand house, how can we give him a place at our house? How will we arrange food for him?"

They hesitated a lot and in the meantime, a sannyasi (Prabhupad's disciple) saw them and asked, "Why are you so upset? You have stayed here for seven days, is Prabhupad not giving you initiation?" The couple explained, "Prabhupad says he wants a place to stay and we must give him food four times a day. How will we be able to do this?" The sannyasi said, "Fools, you do not understand Prabhupad. Make a small room in your house, make an altar there and keep a picture of the Lord and Prabhupad on it. Offer bhog to Prabhupad, take his prasad. If you do this, then it will mean Prabhupad is staying at your house." The couple got excited, "Yes, true, we did not understand it! Then there is no problem. We will buy a small altar and keep Prabhupad's and the Lord's picture on it, we will offer flowers, etc. bhog to him. Prabhupad spoke about this at his lectures, and we did not think of it!"

Then, they came to Prabhupad, prostrated in obeisance and said, "Yes, Prabhupad, we will give you a place to stay and feed you, we will do everything."

Prabhupad replied, "So, do you agree?"

"Yes, we agree."

"Good, come tomorrow in the morning, I will give you initiation."

Prabhupad showed that it is necessary to give Guru and Vaishnavs a place in your heart.

* * *

Rights For a Place

Sri Nrisingha Palli

10 August 2018, part 5

Yesterday one Maharaj called me and said, "Maharaj, I have heard you are making a very big building in Mayapur now and you are writing some names there..." (There are names of those who were senior devotees or senior sannyasis in Gurudev's time, written there.) I said, "Yes, I am writing the names of those who are doing service for this big project there in Mayapur." Then, that Maharaj said, "I will send you some money, but I do not want a place in Mayapur, this is not a big thing for me—what I want is a place in your heart. Please, give me a place in your heart." I replied, "What are you saying? You are always in my heart..."

This is the mood of some devotees.

We must give a place for the Lord in our heart, but our hearts are full of other things—we have kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsaryata, ahankar, rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa, kanak, kamini, pratistha there [lust, anger, greed, illusion, bewilderment, envy, ego, desire to enjoy eye-pleasure, tongue-pleasure, nose-pleasure, ear-pleasure, touch-pleasure; desire for money, women, name and fame]. With all this in your heart, you will not be able to serve the Lord. Where will you give a place for the Lord?

I always tell you: who will have the right, who will be able to chant the Name of the Lord? Tell me.

Devotee: Trinad api sunichena...

Yes.

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)

And what did Bhaktivinod Thakur write?

dainya, daya anye mana, pratistha-varjana

chari gune guni hai karaha kirtana

“Humility, compassion, honouring others, and giving up prestige—become qualified with these four qualities and chant the Name.”

(Sri Siksastakam Giti)

There must be no ego. "I am Math's manager, I am Math's manager"—if you think like this, you will not get the Lord—you will get everything, name, fame, etc., but you will not get the Lord. Guru Maharaj also said, "You will never be respected if you cannot respect others." We must be always humble, tolerant and give honour to others. We must be compassionate, merciful to others. If somebody says something bad about me, this is not a problem—I am actually worse than that…

* * *

For Your Own Good

Sri Nrisingha Palli

10 August 2018, part 6

You have heard this story about Nityananda Prabhu. What did He do? Sivananda Sen tried so hard to bring all the pilgrims, but he was a little late. Nityananda Prabhu had got very hungry and cursed Sivananda Sen, "May his two sons die!"

Hearing this curse, Sivananda Sen's wife began to weep, but when Sivananda Sen got to know about it later, he said, "This is not a curse, this is a blessing! If your children die by the curse of Prabhu, they will go to the Lord! This is a blessing!"

When Sivananda Sen came to Nityananda Prabhu, he said, "It is all my fault, it is all my fault," falling in full obeisance before Nityananda Prabhu, and Nityananda Prabhu kicked him. Think about it—you come with so much effort and end up getting kicked, how will you like that? Sivananda Sen, however, got up and began to dance, "This is a blessing! This is a blessing!"

Sivananda Sen's nephew Srikanta saw what happened and thought, "Everybody respects my uncle, and this person is giving so much disrespect to him!" He went to Mahaprabhu to complain, but Mahaprabhu already knew everything and when Srikanta came to Him, he could not say a word. Mahaprabhu asked him, "Why did you come? Has anything happened" Srikanta could not say anything, so he replied, "No, I have just come to give my obeisance to You."

How are you to understand Nityananda Prabhu? When Gurudev punishes or chastises someone, he does it for their own good.

* * *

Srila Rupa Goswami and Gauridas Pandit: Disappearance Day

Speaking to devotees in London,

18 August 2013, part 1

Today is the disappearance of Srila Rupa Goswami and disappearance of Srila Gauridas Pandit Prabhu, and Wednesday is Baladev Purnima, the appearance day of Baladev, also a very nice day.

Today is also a good day—Srila Rupa Goswami's disappearance festival. Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu transmitted His power to Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu actually did not say this about anybody except Srila Rupa Goswami, "Yes, I have given some mercy to him, but this is not sufficient. Everybody must give some mercy to him."

Today is also Gauridas Pandit's disappearance. He lived in Kalna, within Gaura Mandal, near Nabadwip. It is not so far from here. One day, Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu went to his house in a boat. When They were about to leave, Gauridas Pandit told them, "Prabhu, You have come to my house on Your own accord, but I do not allow You to leave this house. You cannot go, You must stay here." Mahaprabhu replied, "How is it possible? We go door to door preaching, how shall we stay permanently at your house?" Then, They told Gauridas Pandit to look behind—by the mercy of Nitai Gaura, Gauridas Pandit saw there were Gaura Nityananda's Deities inside his house. Gauridas Pandit was puzzled, "Whom shall I keep? Those who are outside or inside?" Mahaprabhu told him, "You can keep Those who are inside." From that day he started worshipping Gaura Nitai Deities.

Jahnava and Vasuddha were Nityananda Prabhu's sakti and their father's name is Suryadas Sarakhel, he was a brother of Gauridas Pandit.

Once, at Gaura Purnima time, Gauridas Pandit went for preaching before Gaura Purnima. One of his disciples named Chaitanyadas, was at the temple, waiting for his Guru to come back. There were only three days left in hand—the festival of Mahaprabhu's appearance was soon and no arrangement had been made yet, so Chaitanyadas invited some local people for the festival. Suddenly, Gauridas came back. Chaitanyadas told him, "Prabhu, I have invited a lot of people for the festival." Hearing this, Gaurdas Pandit got a little angry, he said, "Who gave you permission to invite people? Get out. There will be no festival here." Chaitanyadas went to the bank of the Ganges...

On the day of Gaura Purnima, so many devotees started coming with the paraphernalia for the festival—rice, dal, vegetables, etc. Gauridas Pandit met them and said, "What have you come for? Who invited you? Why have you come here? Go to the one who has invited you. He is not here." So, everyone went to the bank of Ganges—so many came there by boat bringing so many things, there was also a big merchant who brought so many things. In the meantime, on the Gaura Purnima morning, Gauridas Pandit was alone. He went to open the Deities' room for the mangal arati. The room was locked from outside, but when he opened it, he saw there were no Deities there. Gauridas Pandit became a little bit upset, he thought, "Gaura Nitai are my wealth, my property! Where have They gone?!" Then he thought of Chaitanyadas and went to the bank of the Ganges. When he came close, he saw thousands and thousands of people dancing and chanting there, and even Gaura Nitai were dancing and chanting there. Then, he came there to take Gaura Nitai back ("Hey, come back to my house!"), but as soon as he came, he could no longer see Them—Gaura Nitai had actually entered the heart of Chaitanyadas. From that day, the name of Gauridas Pandit's disciple became Hriday Chaitanya ('hriday' mean heart).

So, it is a very rare person who can understand who the Deities will take service from whom…

* * *

Careful and Sincere

Speaking to devotees in London,

18 August 2013, part 2

Param Guru Maharaj Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told that our mind is like a naughty manager who controls everything on behalf of the atma (jiva soul), that is why we always say, "I want this," "I do not want that."

Suppose there is a big factory run by a managing director. Suddenly, the managing director dies and his young twelve-year-old son becomes the next managing director. Because he is a very young small boy and does not know anything about running a factory, all the naughty thieves (factory workers) start stealing many things from the factory. Very soon the factory collapses or becomes destroyed.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wants to show us using this example that our devotion is also very young—we have very little devotion, and this devotion is soft (kamal). There are so many enemies—lust, greed, much attachment with this material world—who are like many naughty managers within us. They can easily remove devotion and faith from our heart if we do not take proper care from the beginning.

So, if you have something bad, some bad desires in your heart, some bad elements in your heart, you must remove it from the heart from the beginning. If you have some bad habit, if you have some problem, you must careful with that. You can fall down at any time; Krishna can take service away from you at any time. You must understand this clearly.

The other day I told you to write about a fisherwoman—you can easily understand from that story who a Deity takes service from. Gurudev told this story of a fisherwoman and a Deity: the salagram sila wanted to go back to the fisherwoman and did not want to stay with the brahmin because the brahmin did not serve the Deity—he only showed the Deity to the people and used it for his own purpose. But those who serves the Deity from their heart are proper servitors. They can even make some mistake, they may make some offence, but they serve from their heart, they do not use the Deity for their own purpose.

Then, you should understand how you must serve the Deity, how you must do puja, and how you must serve your Guru. It is necessary to understand this clearly.

* * *

Your Consciousness

Speaking online to devotees in Latin America

24 August 2018, part 1

I am very happy to see you all today. Actually, I am very sorry because I am a little late, I was very tired—I have gone to many places today; but it is my happiness to see you after so many days.

We get the news of your preaching. You are preaching Krishna consciousness constantly and continuously, going our to the streets, etc. In this way you are following Gurudev's order.

Gurudev and Guru Maharaj told, "Prana achhe yara se hetu prachara: you must preach as long as you have life." While you are staying here, while you are living in this world, you have this human life for the service of the Lord. And you are doing that. You get this human body for the service to the Lord and if you do not do that, then this body is useless—Krishna gave you this human body for service, for preaching Krishna consciousness and if you do not use this body for the service to the Lord, then next life Krishna will take your human body back and you will go to another body.

We have got this body to serve the Lord, but not everybody can do it because they have forgotten Krishna, they have forgotten Krishna consciousness, forgotten their own consciousness due to the illusory environment. However, through good association we can understand who we are and what is our body, then we can get our consciousness back. Through good association you can also meet and get the association of a bona fide guru who is a close friend of the Deities, close friend of the Lord.

By the mercy of Lord, we have got a bona fide guru, we have got his association, but sometimes we forget our service, forget our duty, forget our Krishna consciousness and forgetting ourselves and go to some other way, do some other things. Sometimes we love ourselves more than the Lord, more than the Guru—we love our body more than ourselves, more than our Guru. This is called illusory environment, and this illusory environment can go away, can be removed from our life through good association, through sadhu-sanga.

Sometimes we think we will stay alone, but that is your mind satisfaction. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told "nirjana-bhajan kevala kaitava: if you go to a secluded place and stay alone, that is atmavanchana, you are simply cheating yourself." That is why you should take good association and continue practising Krishna consciousness which means service.

"Jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnava seva: be merciful to other souls, have taste for chanting the Holy Name, and serve devotees." You must preach to yourself and preach to others also. Sometimes you must preach to yourself also because you forget your own consciousness. That is why this kind of programme is necessary.

Today I became very sad because one of our friends who was the pujari at the Soquel Temple, Ramai Prabhu, has passed away. I got the message last night. What can I do? We cannot keep anyone—Krishna gives us their association and when He wishes, He takes devotees away from us and takes them to Himself. We have to continue Krishna consciousness with practice…

* * *

Vision and Hope

Speaking online to devotees in Latin America

24 August 2018, part 2

Gurudev gave me this service of protecting his devotees, protecting his mission and his Deities, and I am trying, I am trying heart and soul. Today I have been travelling the whole day—I am trying to serve and protect Gurudev's mission. In this way, I am trying to continue the programme and practising, trying to make the festival, trying to give some energy to the devotees, and also trying to make some temples, some shelter for the devotees. This is the vision.

prthivite yata achhe nagaradi grama

sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

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

Mahaprabhu said that His Holy Name would be preached in every village, in every corner of the world, but we are trying to extend this consciousness to everybody's heart. That is the main thing, and we should do whatever is necessary for that service.

I am thinking a devotee wants to take initiation, we can do it now because I have another programme to attend to today—I have to go to some political people for my mission and I cannot stay with you so much time today. I always remember you. You may be staying far from me, but distance does not matter—it is a heart to heart relation. Devotees are always in my heart. Venezuelan, Colombian, Brazilian devotees always try to serve and they follow Gurudev's order. I do not have so many good qualities, I have many bad qualities, but Gurudev told you all to help me and stay with me and you are doing that.

I have been serving Gurudev's temple, Guru Maharaj's temple for almost thirty years, but now I am out of Nabadwip and actually cannot go to the temple. Still, I am trying to keep the devotees together. And at this critical moment, in my critical condition, devotees are helping me, they are supporting me in one way or another, they do not forget me... It gives me hope.

I heard there is going to be an initiation today. Who will take initiation?

Devotee: Arturo from Maracaibo (Venezuela).

Venezuelan devotees are doing so much. They are facing so much problem because of their country's economical condition, but tolerance is our religion. It is necessary to have tolerance and patience.

You may not have so much money now, you may have no money actually—you cannot even buy fruit or other bhoga for the Deities, but Krishna said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita that even if you cannot provide so many things for the Deities, you should still try to provide at least one Tulasi leaf and one drop of Ganges water. That is sufficient. Krishna says, "If a devotee gives Me one Tulasi leaf and one drop of Ganges water, I cannot repay their debt—therefore I have to give Myself to that devotee." So, do not worry about it. When you collected much money, you offered much opulent food and Gaura Nitai took it, but now you cannot provide that—do not worry about that, do not be sorry, do not be sad about it because even if you have nothing, you still have Tulasi leaves and Ganges water. That is sufficient.

* * *

Eternal Obligation

Speaking online to devotees in Latin America

24 August 2018, part 3

I am giving initiation to you now. You know that it is a fortunate soul who gets this connection:

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)

"Brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva:" we are coming and going, coming and going in this world, but those who are fortunate souls can get the association, can get connection with a Guru. That is why I am saying that it is very rare to get this association. I am giving you what Gurudev gave me, I am giving that connection to you. By the mercy of Gurudev, by the mercy of the Lord, I have got that kind of a bona fide Guru. By his tolerance and patience, he accepted me as the next acharya of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math all over the world, I am very fortunate.

This connection comes from Krishna to Brahma, from Brahma to Narad, from Narad to Vyasadev, from Vyasadev to Madhvacharya—it comes in this way to Madhavendra Puri, then from Madhavendra Puri to Ishwar Puri, from Ishwar Puri to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu Himself took initiation from Ishwar Puri—He showed to people and devotees that it is necessary to take a proper, bona fide, Guru who will think about your spiritual matter. A bona fide Guru will think about your spiritual matter—he will not think about your material matter, material desires or material enjoyment. He will think about your spiritual life, and this connection comes directly from the Lord (I have told you just now that it comes from Krishna). In this way this connection comes to Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and then comes to our Param Gurudev who is the Founder Acharya of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. After that, it comes to our Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj chose him and Gurudev, in his turn, chose me as his next successor. I am still following Gurudev's order, and for this reason I am giving that connection to you now.

You can chant this Holy Name everywhere: "Grhe thako, vane thako, sada 'Hari' bole dako, whether you stay in a house or in a forest, always call out the Holy Name." You can chant this Holy Name without beads also, but the beads are given for your obligation, or bond—you must remember, "Gurudev has given these beads to me, I must chant the Holy Name." You must chant the Holy Name on the beads every day. The number of rounds depends upon your service, upon how busy you are—if you are very busy with service, then it is not necessary to do so many rounds, but you can chant with your mouth while you are working with your hands. You can chant with your mouth anywhere—even while sleeping or lying down. The main thing is that you must chant the Holy Name of Krishna.

First, you should touch the sumeru bead and chant Pancha-tattva's Name. I think you know Their name, you may have chanted it before:

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda

sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura-bhakta-vrnda

This is Pancha-tattva's name. Chant first Their name, ask Them for mercy, "I am a fallen soul, I have no quality or qualification to chant this Holy Name. Prabhu, You have brought this Holy Name to this abode, please give me some mercy so that I can chant this Holy Name." After that, you can start chanting from the big beads to the small beads:

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Chant in this way from the big beads to the small beads, then turn the beads and chant from the small beads to the big beads.

Chant in this way sixteen rounds or more every day. If you are busy with service, then not less than four rounds—four rounds must be chanted every day. Take the Nama-aparadh book also. The ten offences against the Holy Name are there, you must read what these offences are and you must avoid them. Chant without offence and Krishna will reveal Himself in your heart, you will succeed in your spiritual life. Chant and you will get the result quickly.

Thank you. Dandavat.

* * *

Stick It Out

Speaking online to devotees in Latin America

24 August 2018, part 4

May Krishna bless you. Always try to serve to Gurudev and Gurudev's mission, that is good for you.

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay, Vishva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay. Thank you so much. Jay Gurudev, jay Nrisinghadev. Haribol, Haribol, Hare Krishna!

[Addressing one of the managing devotees:] Is is very hard to maintain the temple, is it not?

Devotee: Yes, very hard.

I know. Try and serve. If somebody stays with the Deity at this critical moment, the Deities will think, "That is My friend." Many are there at good times, but there are few people who stay with the Deities during the bad times, but if somebody stays with the Deities at a critical moment, in a bad situation, the Deity will also remember them. That is the main thing. Some of the devotees have left the Deities because they are very afraid, but if you stay with the Deities at a critical moment, the Deities will look after you later, do not worry about that. You must understand these things. You must remember what I am telling you.

Also, try to come to India again. Try to join the festivals during the Kartik programme, try to join the Gaura Purnima, Gurudev's Vyasa Puja. You can come. It is difficult to maintain the temple in Venezuela because of the financial condition, but why do devotees not come here? At least I can provide a room and some food for them here, it is not a problem. If they have no money to buy the aeroplane ticket, they can walk here—if they start walking with chanting, they will come here within one year, it is not a problem. [His Divine Grace chuckles.]

Jay Gurudev, Jay Nrisinghadev. Haribol, Haribol! Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay. Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay. Jay Bhagavan Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sawaswati Thakur ki jay. All the worldwide devotees ki jay. Samagata Gaura-bhakta-vrinda ki jay. Nitai Gaura premanande Haribol.

Gracias.

* * *

London Temple

Speaking online to devotees in London

24 August 2018, part 1

I am very happy because we are going to celebrate the festival of the temple inauguration anniversary in London, as we do every year on this day.

From the time the temple was established, I have not been able to go there because of my legal problem, but even though my body is not there, my mind and heart, my everything is actually there with you all, all the devotees. Gurudev said that London Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math was one corner, one room of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math Nabadwip, head office, and I always remember that.

I am very happy to see that many devotees and some sannyasis have come to attend the festival. It was Gurudev's desire to have a temple there because before we had only one centre in Green Street. Gurudev went there and always said that the centre was very small and if we could get a bigger centre, it would be good. It was not possible in Gurudev's time, but after that by Gurudev's strong desire and Gurudev's mercy we could finally make this ashram with the help of the devotees who had contributed so much.

Sripad Bharati Maharaj and Lalita Madhava Prabhu contributed much money at that time to purchase the house. After that, Saraswati Devi Dasi took charge of the management and many other devotees like Lavanya Moyi Didi, Devashish Prabhu, Sachi Devi and Sripad Mahayogi Maharaj also helped the temple financially. This is how Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math London, Hatton Cross, happened. Finally, the Deity also came from the Green Street Temple, so now both temples have Deities, the worship is going on properly at both places, and so many Western devotees from other countries like Venezuela, Colombia, etc. come to help run the temple.

* * *

Spiritual Vitality

Speaking online to devotees in London

24 August 2018, part 2

I do not think that this is my temple—it is devotees' temple, it is your temple; and yet I see that when I was in London at the Green Street Temple in Gurudev's time, so many devotees would come and meet, they would help Gurudev, and at this moment I see that not so many are participating in this festival. But why? I may have made some big mistake, I may have made some offence to you, if it is so, I ask you all for forgiveness. At the same time, you all also have a duty.

You know what Gurudev said. I have so many faults, but Gurudev says that everybody is not pure, everybody has some fault—everybody has some bad quality, and everybody has some good quality. I may have so many bad qualities and because of that you may not be able to join the festival, but Gurudev told everybody—and you must follow Gurudev's order, you are disciples of Gurudev or Guru Maharaj—your duty is not to see my fault, you must help me and give me love and affection. That is your duty.

If you come for the festival, it is good for you. Do not think that this is my temple. From time to time, I hear from many devotees, "It is Acharya Maharaj's temple, we will not go there!" but you can see that even when the temple was established I could not come.

I may not be able to attend this day's programme, but my heart, mind and everything is there and I am very happy with those who have come and joined the festival. As for those who have not joined it, I am praying to them: please come and join, participate in this festival; please continue your spiritual life. You think that it is not necessary for you to come to the temple to practise Krishna consciousness, but this is not correct. You cannot practise if you do not get good association, sadhu-sanga.

You may think that those who are joining the festival are not sadhus, but who can recognise the sadhu? Who has the eyes? Even Brahma says, "I cannot recognise a sadhu," then how can you recognise who is a sadhu? Those who have assembled for the festival are making a festival—they are chanting the Holy Names, they are worshipping and serving the Deities, they are continuing their service to the temple and they make the temple.

Temple is not for enjoyment. Temple is not only just offering some bhog and doing some sankirtan—a temple is a preaching centre. If you preach outside in the streets of London or in any other country, you must give people some address where they will go, so you should have an address, and that is Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, London, Green Street and Hatton Cross. You must remember Gurudev's words, Prabhu: I am telling you all that you think that it is not necessary to go there, that Gurudev is not there, but you cannot see that Gurudev is still there. I can tell you that Gurudev is there. If you come and join the festival, if you participate in the festival, help the devotees, if you engage yourself in the service to the Deities, in the service to the devotees, it will be good for you.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says, "Nirjana-bhajan kevala kaitava: if you think you will stay alone and practise on your own, that is kaitav, atma-vanchana—you are cheating yourself." These are not my words, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur says this. If you stay alone, your mind will always disturb you, it will always go to kutinati [duplicity, deceit], it always goes here and there—the mind is not stable. That is why you must do sadhu-sanga [keep good association] for your practising life.

You should understand that Deity is not just a doll, it is not just made of some materials. The Deity is is Saksad-Vrajendra-nandan [Lord Krishna Himself]. You can read Chaitanya-charitamrita and see the stories of Saksi Gopal, Ksir-chor Gopinath, Mukunda's son Raghunandan (how the Deity took food from Raghunandan)—there are many stories like this that prove that the Deity has pran [the Deity is alive], the Deity is not a doll.

I am very sad today actually because I got the news last night that the pujari of the Soquel Temple had left his body. A pujari is the closest sevaite, the closest friend of the Deities... He had been doing this service constantly for many years in Soquel, and I think that his time has come and Gurudev called him because he needs him in his place for some puja, so he went there to do puja.

...This festival means getting some sadhu-sanga, good association and cleaning your heart. You can realise why it is necessary to have good association, why it is necessary to keep sadhu-sanga. Just like this festival, we are also making so many festivals here—Janmastami and Nandotsav are coming in a few days, and a few days ago we also made the disappearance festival of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj... So many sannyasis and brahmacharis from Mayapur joined the festival at Nrisingha Palli. You can understand it yourself: I am not at the main temple of Chaitanya Saraswat Math now, where, as you know, Srila Sridhar Maharaj's samadhi-mandir is, but no one came there from Mayapur, they all came to Nrisingha Palli and joined us. The temple in Nrisnigha Palli is small, and even though the samadhi-mandir of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj is not there, still they came and joined the festival on Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's disappearance day in Nrisingha Palli. So, there can be a place that is considered holy, but if there is no sadhu living there, then it is not a holy place.

What do we make festivals for? Such festivals give us so much energy to do service. That is why festivals are essential. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur made so many temples in every corner of India as well as in foreign countries, Gurudev also made so many temples, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj also made so many temples. What did they make them for? They made preaching centres.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur writes,

mana, tumi tirthe sada rata

ayodhya, mathura, maya, kasi, kanchi, avantiya,

dvaravati ara achhe yata [1]

O mind! You are always attached to places of pilgrimage—Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya, Kasi (Varanasi), Kanchipuram, Avantiya, Dvaraka, and so many other places.

tumi chaha bhramivare, e sakala bare bare,

mukti-labha karibara tare

se kevala tava bhrama, nirarthaka parisrama,

chitta sthira tirthe nahi kare [2]

You want to travel all these places again and again for the sake of some liberation. These places will never help you fix your mind, so all this is just your illusion, a meaningless labour.

tirtha-phala sadhu-sanga, sadhu-sange antaranga,

sri-krsna-bhajana manohara

yatha sadhu, tatha tirtha, sthira kari’ nija-chitta,

sadhu-sanga kara nirantara [3]

The result of visiting a place of pilgrimage is sadhu-sanga (pure devotees’ association) and being drawn to the exclusive service of Sri Krishna. A place of pilgrimage is where a sadhu (pure devotee) is. Always keep the association of pure devotees and firmly fix your mind by such association.

Suppose you go to a holy place, but there is no sadhu there—if there is no sadhu-sanga, then what kind of tirtha (holy place) is that? Bhaktivinod Thakur says here that you must always keep good association. Those who have left everything—who have left all enjoyment in life, who only think about their Guru, about the Deity, who are sarvat-Krishna, who think for the benefit of the temple, think about the benefit of Gurudev's mission—they are sadhus.

ye tirthe vaisnava nai, se tirthete nahi yai

ki labha hantiya dura-desa

yathaya vaisnava-gana, sei sthana vrndavana

sei sthane ananda asesa [4]

I never go to a place of pilgrimage if there are no Vaishnavs in that place (what is the use walking so far?). Vrindavan is where Vaishnavs are, in such a place there is no end of joy.

There can be a holy place, but if there is no sadhu there, why will you go there? Why will you take the trouble of walking all the way there?

krsna-bhakti yei sthane, mukti-dasi sei-khane,

salila tathaya mandakini

giri tatha govardhana, bhumi tatha vrndavana,

avirbhuta apani hladini [5]

Liberation is a maidservant, all water is Mandakini, all mountains are Govardhan, all land is Vrindavan, and the internal energy of the Lord automatically appears at the place where there is devotion to Krishna.

vinoda kahichhe bhai, bhramiya ki phala pai,

vaisnava-sevana mora vrata [6]

Vinod says, "O brother! What will I get by all this pilgrimage? My sole vow is service to Vaishnavs."

Vaishnav-seva. When you join the festival, you can distribute prasad, you can cook, you can cut vegetables, that is also Vaishnav-seva, Prabhu.

I am telling to everybody all over the world where there is a festival: leave, give up ego. Your ego is eating everything. Ego is abhiman, and abhiman is your worst enemy. Nobody is your enemy—your only enemy is abhiman. Abhiman is your enemy! That is why, please give up your abhiman. Maybe you are thinking, "I am senior to them," "I am a great Vaishnav," but what is Gurudev's teaching?

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, give honour to others. Gurudev even explained the meaning of tridandi sannyas with this—he said that those who had these qualities could be a sannyasi. Mahaprabhu also said this in Chaitanya-charitamrita. Who can do much kirtan?

dainya, daya anye mana, pratistha-varjana

chari gune guni hai karaha kirtana

Humility, compassion, honouring others, and giving up prestige—become qualified with these four qualities and chant the Name.

(Sri Siksastakam Giti, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Dainyata, be humble; be kind; give honour to others; and give up your name and fame (pratistha). You must think about yourself that you are a servant of a servant of a servant. Not more than that. If you think like this, it is good for you. If, however, you think that you are doing so many things, you did this, this, this and this, then it is your ego.

I would like to conclude here. This has been a very happy service today…

* * *

Cherished Hope

Speaking online to devotees in London

24 August 2018, part 3

I have given this lecture one day ahead actually because I will be even busier tomorrow with the service of protecting Gurudev's mission so I will not be able to get time. You know I have to do so many things.

My heart, my mind, my everything is saying, "When will I go to Nabadwip Chaitanya Saraswat Math temple?" I will make the temple good again—now the temple is very dirty, they have cut some trees, sold cows and they have even sold the fans from every room as well as the air conditioners from the few rooms that had it...

It is not a problem for me if I go there. I want to enter the temple again... When I joined the temple, there was almost nothing there, there were no buildings except only Srila Sridhar Maharaj's samadhi mandir which was not fully completed, a Western brahmachari guesthouse and a little brahmachari guesthouse along with Srila Sridhar Maharaj's bhajan kutir and the old prasadam hall. That is all that was there, nothing else. Later, so many buildings, so much construction has happened.

One year I could not enter the temple but I am thinking this problem will be resolved within a few days and I will again be able to enter the temple. That is my prayer and hope to Gurudev.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

* * *

Advice

Evening class at Nrisingha Palli

1 September 2018, part 1

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim

yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

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

(Bhavartha Dipika)

Those who are dumb can also talk, those who have no legs can climb a hill—how is it possible? It is necessary to have the mercy of Gurudev. What is mercy? Gurudev said that those who have service have mercy, and those who have no service have no mercy. That is why we must engage everybody in the service of the Lord, of Gurudev through the Guru-parampara, through Gurudev.

Mahaprabhu gave one advice to the householder people, to those who do not live in a temple, "Make sure that not a day passes without the Holy Name and without service to Vaishnavs." Do not spend your day without chanting the Holy Name, do not spend your day without service to the Vaishnavs—such day is not your day, it is a bad day in your life. The day when you cannot serve Gurudev, the day when you cannot serve the Lord, the day when you cannot chant the Holy Name is a very bad day for you.

Those who have taken shelter of Gurudev are the real disciples. You must follow what the scriptures tell and every day you must engage yourself in the service of your Guru and chant the Holy Name, both. If you spend any day without chanting the Holy Name, or if there is a day when you cannot do service, that is a very bad day for you. We must use ourselves for service to the Name every day.

At the same time, if you want to serve Gurudev, then you must be a proper devotee. Without being a pure Vaishnav, without being a proper devotee, you cannot serve the Guru. Service to your Gurudev does not mean only massaging his feet, this is not service. Service means you must follow what your Gurudev tells. That is called service.

* * *

Vaishnava Culture

Evening class at Nrisingha Palli

1 September 2018, part 2

If you live in a house, you must think yourself what you are eating. If you do not offer food to the Lord, how will you conquer the prapancha?

You have five diseases—that is written in the scriptures, I have told you about it before. How will you cure these five diseases that you have? If you go to a pharmacy or a hospital, you can cure cancer, you can cure other diseases, but you cannot cure these material diseases with that kind of medicine. You must remove these five diseases from your heart, and for that you must take pure medicine, you must take proper medicine. What is the medicine?

The medicine is in front of you, but somebody take it, somebody does not. Most people do not take it, that is why they cannot remove these diseases from their hearts. "Prasada-seva karite haya, sakala prapancha-jaya: by honouring the Lord's prasad all material faults are removed." [Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur]

If you think you are hungry and buy something and eat it, that is not prasad. First you must buy something and offer it to Gurudev, offer it to the Deities, then you can take it, otherwise the scriptures say that if you eat something without offering it to the Deities and Gurudev first, you are eating stool. That is Vaishnav culture.

What is the difference? What have you taken initiation for? Outside people who are not devotees (not initiated) also chant the Holy Name, but they take outside food, eat at random—they cook for themselves or their wife or mother cooks for them and they eat that, but devotees should not do that.

* * *

Pure Devotees' Practice

Evening class at Nrisingha Palli

1 September 2018, part 3

Devotees practise every day. Just as you eat every day, you go to toilet every day, you take a bath every day, the Deity also must have a bath, get an offering, etc. You must have an altar in your house—make an altar in a room. I have told one story about Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, you know it:

Once, a couple, a husband and a wife, came to take initiation from Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur asked them,

"What for did you come to the tempe?"

"We have come to take initiation from you."

"And why do you want to take initiation? What benefit is it to you?"

"If we take initiation from you, then our children will get very good education, they will get a good job. We also have some monetary and other problems, we can solve everything..."

"I cannot give you initiation for this," replied Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. "It will be better if you can stay here instead—I can give you a room, stay here for seven days. I give class every morning and evening, come and listen to the classes."

So, the couple stayed at the temple and listen to Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's classes every morning and evening. After seven days, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur asked them,

"Are you ready to take initiation now?"

"Yes, Prabhupad," they replied, "We are ready. Can you give us initiation?"

"I can, but I have some condition."

"What condition?"

"If you take initiation, you must give me a room and feed me five times a day. Will you do that?"

The couple was very surprised. They thought, "Prabhupad is staying in such a big building, and we live in a mud house... We are very poor people, how will we keep Prabhupad? How will we feed him?" They were silent. Prabhupad said, "Think about it and come later."

They came out and saw one sannyasi. He asked them, "What has happened? What are you thinking about? Is Prabhupad not giving you initiation?"

"He wants to give us initiation, but he has given some condition. He wants one room and he wants us to give him food five times a day. We are poor people, and Prabhupad lives in such a big building, he has a good room... How will we give him a room?"

The sannyasi told then, "You are foolish, you could not understand it! When Prabhupad gives you initiation, his servitor will give you a photograph of Prabhupad. You can make a small singhasan [altar], put the photograph there and offer bhog to the photograph of Prabhupad five times a day. This is what Prabhupad wanted."

"Oh, that is very easy! He spoke about this at the class also, we have heard it. Of course, we will keep his photograph, do arati every morning and evening, and offer what we cook and take that prasadam. That is what Prabhupad wanted to say!"

After they spoke to the sannyasi, they came back to Prabhupad and said, "We have understood it now. We were very foolish and could not understand anything, but now we understand and accept your condition. We can follow your condition."

That is initiation. Practising life is necessary. I tell all the devotees—remember and sing five songs every morning and five songs every evening. It is easy. It takes twenty minutes to sing five songs in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening. Forty minutes a day. You work all the time, but can you not give forty minutes to your Gurudev, to Krishna, Radharani, Gaura Nityananda? Your wife cooks something, she can offer it or you can cook and offer it to your Guru, and then take prasad. Put some prasad in a container and carry your lunch with you. Those who are pure devotees, they do like this here in India.

I tell everybody: wake up for mangal arati every day. Grihastha, householder devotees, do mangal arati every day. They follow the same programme as what we do at the temple. I tell everybody—you can turn your house into a temple. That is what Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur wanted. He said, "I want to make a temple in everybody's heart." You can make a temple in your house.

You can put the Deities' picture on your altar—it is not necessary to have a vigraha [Deity]. Gurudev says that if you have a Deity, then it is very difficult because you must sometimes come to India, you must visit some festivals, go to the temple, etc. who will offer bhog at that time? But if you have the Deities' picture on your altar, then whenever you cannot offer the bhog properly because you must go to the temple, it is not a problem, the Deities' picture is always worshipped. For example, if you take a picture of the Deities from this temple and cannot offer the bhog one day, it is not a problem because the Deities are offered bhog here every day; or if you take Nabadwip Deities' picture, the bhog is offered and the Deities are worshipped every day is Nabadwip properly, so it is all right if you cannot do it one day at home. If you think, "Oh, I have made an offence," it is not an offence actually because you have to go to different places for service—you go to the temple, you have to visit your family, you fly to India, etc. If you cannot worship the picture properly for one or two days and you think, "I do it every day, but I could not do it today," if some sadness or pain comes to you, it is a good feeling, but it is not a problem because the Deities' picture is always worshipped all over the world.

It is necessary to practise in this way.

* * *

"What Answer Will You Give?"

Evening class at Nrisingha Palli

1 September 2018, part 4

Time is very short. What answer will we give when we come to the bank of the Viraja River? To cross the river and enter Paravyoma Goloka Vrindavan you must give an answer. If you have no ticket to cross in a boat, there is no other way to cross the river—you will have to come back again to this material world, maybe in a human body, maybe in a snake's body, maybe a cow's body, maybe a cat's body or a dog's body, that will depend on your karma. You will not even be able to enter Vaikuntha—you will not even be able to get liberation. It is very difficult.

That is why I sometimes become very sad that devotees do not practise properly. They think, "I have taken initiation from Gurudev, that is enough." A chair has four legs, and initiation is only one of the legs. If a chair has only one leg, you cannot sit on it, the chair will fall down. Initiation is only one of the legs, and you must do the rest. That is the main thing. So, it is necessary to take initiation, but when you take initiation it is also necessary to practise. If you do not practise, you will not get any result.

That is why we must learn the arati kirtans, we must learn the parikrama kirtans. It is not necessary to learn all songs (there are two-five hundred songs), but learn the minimum. You all know it, and I always tell it—sing five songs in the morning and five songs in the evening. It is necessary to chant at least ten songs and some arati songs also. It is easy to learn them. This is how you should practise.

We have come to this world for the service to the Lord. We have got this body for the service to the Lord. This body is not for enjoyment. This body is not for doing what your mind tells you to do. Be careful.

When the time comes to cross the river in a boat and you see that you have no ticket, then you will regret it, "What have I done? Why did I not follow what Gurudev told me? Why did I not practise properly?" The scriptures say that among ten million of karmis (fruitive workers) there is one jnani (wise man), and among ten million wise souls you will get one liberated soul, and among ten million of liberated souls you will get one devotee. To see a devotee is very rare. That is why you must practise, then you can become a passenger of the boat where Gurudev is the boatman. Those who practise more can become a passenger there. Practising properly is the main necessity.

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."

You must chant the Holy Name and you must engage others in chanting the Holy Name. That is called jive daya, being kind to the jiva souls. You must be kind to the jiva souls and you must have taste for chanting the Holy Name. If you have some other material desires (if you talk so much nonsense, gossip, or pursue your own happiness), you will not get taste for chanting the Holy Name.

* * *

My Happiness

Evening class at Nrisingha Palli

1 September 2018, part 5

We always ask the Deities for our own happiness—we always think about our own happiness and pray to the Lord for our own happiness. I just sang this song today,

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)

"Sarvasva tomara, charane sapiya": I have given everything to you, to your lotus feet. "Padechhi tomara ghare": I am surrendering to you. It is necessary not only to say it, but you must show yourself whether you are surrendered or not. Only saying you are surrendered will not do, you must be surrendered. "Tumi ta' thakura, tomara kukura, baliya janaha more": Prabhu, you are the Thakur, you are the Deity, and I am just your dog.

taba nija-jana prasada seviya

uchchhistha rakhibe yaha

amara bhojana parama-anande

pratidina habe taha

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

"Prasada seviya uchchhistha rakhibe yaha": we will be happy to take what Vaishnavs, Gurudev take.

This is what Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur is saying in this song. That is its meaning.

"How can I make Gurudev happy?" Always think about it. "I do not want my happiness—I want the happiness of my Guru." That is service.

tomara sevaya, duhkha haya yata,

seo ta' parama sukha

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

(Saranagati 16.4)

I will not think about my own trouble or well-being, whether I am sad or not, it is all my happiness—I may get pain, I may get some problem, but it is all my happiness, it is not a problem.

"Nijera posana, kabhu na bhaviba": I will never think about myself. "Nijera posana", what is good for me, what is bad, I do not know anything. I will never think about myself, I will stay with you only—I will only stay in the transcendental world, not in the material world. "Nijera posana, kabhu na bhaviba rahiba bhavera bhare."

It is a very nice song. If you think in this way, you will be very happy.

* * *

Janmastami: Making the Lord Happy

Evening class at Nrisingha Palli

1 September 2018, part 6

Sri Krishna Janmastami is coming soon. What is Janmastami? What service can we do? Devotees are coming for the festival—how can I serve them? How can I make them happy? We are coming here to celebrate Janmastami, but what is our duty? If we can make devotees happy, if we can serve devotees, then Krishna will be happy. That is called Janmastami. That is the main thing. We are going to celebrate the appearance day of Lord Sri Krishna, Janmastami—is it only about putting some water and milk on the Gopal, showing something externally? How can we actually make the Lord happy? Srimad Bhagavatam tells how you can serve Lord Krishna.

One time, when Krishna, Balaram, Subal, Sridham and other cowherd friends went to graze the cows, they came to a brahman village. That day, the brahmins were making a big fire sacrifice, yajna. In the meantime, Balaram told Krishna, "We are very hungry. What kind of village have You brought us to? There is a jungle forest, but there is no fruit here." Krishna replied, "It is not a problem. You can go to the village—there are many brahmans there, they are doing puja and a big fire sacrifice today, so they are offering so much fruit, so many sweets, etc. You can go to them and ask them for something."

When Balaram came to the brahmans, He saw twenty-four brahmans sitting and chanting at the sacrifice, "Om svaha, om svaha, om svaha... " Hungry, Balaram waited for them to finish the yajna, and as soon as they stopped chanting, "Om svaha" He asked the brahmans, "Please can you give us some sweets? Krishna has sent us to take some sweets and fruit from you." Hearing this, the brahmans became angry, "The puja has not finished yet! You are ignorant cowherds! Get out of here!" Balaram became very sad. He came to Krishna and told Him what had happened.

[Do you see? Those for whom they do their puja came Themselves and asked them for some fruit, sweets, but they could not recognise Them; instead, they told Them to get out.]

Krishna said then, "They told You to get out? No problem! You went to a wrong place. These brahmans have wives—while the brahmans are doing their yajna, their wives are at home cooking so many things. Go to them."

Then, Baladev, Subal, Sudam, Sridham, Madhumangal, and others went to the brahmans' wives. They asked, "We are very hungry. Krishna has sent us to you—do you have anything in your house?" The brahmans' wives got excited, "Oh, Krishna has sent you?!" They left their cooking and went to the room to give curd, butter, yoghurt, etc. to the cowherd boys. Not only that—when they heard that Krishna had sent them, they decided to go with them, so taking whatever they had at home, they came to Krishna. All the ladies distributed food and fed Krishna.

Very happy, with His stomach full, Krishna said, "We are very full and happy now. We are going to take rest—you can go back to your homes." The brahmans' wives were dismayed, "What is this? We did not come here to go back again! We will not go. Besides, our husbands saw us coming here, they will not take us back." Krishna told them, "How can you stay? I am Yadav [ksatriya] by caste, and you are brahmins—if you stay here, what will people say? Go!" They said, "We will not go." What did Krishna do then? He knew the brahmans were angry thinking, "Oh, they are going to Krishna! We will not take them back!" but Krishna created some illusory environment and the brahmans' mood changed—they thought now, "When will our wives come back? Why are they not coming back?" The ladies' mind also changed—they thought, "We need to go back home now, our husbands will be at home any time."

In the end, the brahmans' wives told Krishna, "We know that we can never serve You directly because Your mind, Your heart, everything is always with the Vraja gopis, but if You allow us to serve the Vraja gopis, we will be happy." Pleased to hear this, Krishna said, "You do not have to stay with Me personally. You can stay at your house and make My vigraha (Deity, like Gopal). If you serve Gopal in your house, offering bhog, bathing Him, etc. every day, then it is actually more than the direct service to Me. It is not necessary to serve Me directly. You can serve Gopal at your home, that will be your service to Me."

What Krishna says is very nice. We must serve under the guidance of the Vraja gopis, following their footsteps—that is, if you can serve Gurudev, serve the Lord under the guidance of great Vaishnavs, then you will be successful in your spiritual life. We must always engage ourselves in service. "Sevaya karma, sevaya dharma, sevaya chatur-vargera phala pabe: through service you will get the result of any effort, of any religion, and whatever result of following the fourfold social division."

Our mind alway goes to different places and we are not able to do service, but we must have attachment to service, then it will be service, otherwise not. We must understand and always remember this, otherwise we will not be able to understand anything. Spend your life in the service of the Guru and Vaishnavs. If you can serve your Gurudev under the guidance of Gurudev and Vaishnavs, it is very nice for you.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay. Harinam sankirtan ki jay. Nitai Gaura premanande haribol.

* * *

Karma-Buddhi

Morning, 12 September 2013

If you are attached to what you are doing (karma), if you enjoy with the result of your actions, that is not service, but karma. If you are doing some service but thinking only about the result, then you are not a karma-sannyasi; on the other hand, if even a great sinner (a person who has committed many sins before) does some karma but does not want liberation, does not want any result from that karma—if they have no desires, they simply do their work without dvesa (aversion to anything that goes against one's enjoyment), himsa (envy or violence)—such person becomes a karma-sannyasi.

If you do something and hope to get some result, it is called karma-buddhi (mentality attached to karma), and if you do something without desiring any result, then it is karma-sannyas. So, when you do some service, you must understand that the result belongs to the Lord—He is the master, the owner of the result. If you do some service and want to get something in return, this is not asakati-rahita (being free from attachment). You must be asakti-rahita (you must have no attachment).

Radhastami is coming soon and we are going to Hapaniya to pay our obeisance there.

radha-padankita dhama, vrndavana yara nama,

yatane ye nahi aradhila

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

('Radhika charana padma' by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj appeared in Hapaniya...

...If somebody does some karma, but they do not hope to get any result from that karma (they have no attachment to the result), then they can get out of the bondage of karma. Just as a lotus grows in water but it is not affected by water—in the same way, you can do some karma but not be affected by it, then you will not get caught in the net of karma; and if you engage in karma and create bondage with that karma, you will not be able to get out.

* * *

Sri Lalita Devi

Sri Uchagaon, Vrindavan

15 November 2012

radha-mukunda-pada-sambhava-gharma-bindu-

nirmanchanopakarani-krta-deha-laksam

uttunga-sauhrda-visesa-vasat pragalbham

devim gunaih su-lalitam lalitam namami

"When Lalita Devi finds a drop of perspiration at the feet of Sri Sri Radha-Govinda, she furiously engages herself to remove it. 'How has it come there? We are circumambulating Them to see that not the least pain can enter this domain to trouble Them, but how, without our notice, has this perspiration appeared? Perspiration, perspiration!' So she is furiously chastising herself and wants to immediately take birth one lakh (100,000) times—with that force she comes to remove that drop of perspiration from the lotus feet of either of the Divine Couple."

(Sri Lalitastakam, 1, by Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu)

We have come here today. This is Uchagaon, Guru Maharaj's [Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's] dearmost place. When asked, He said, "My favourite place is Uchagaon." He also told me, "You are going for the Vrindavan parikrama—first go to Uchagaon, then you can enter Varshana." Near this place, to the north, there is Lalita Devi's kunda (pond) called Deha Kunda, we will go there and take some water on our heads.

Guru Maharaj explained that if you do not get the mercy of Lalita Devi, you cannot get the mercy of Srimati Radharani. He also said that if you do not get the visa to Vrindavan, you cannot enter it. Who gives that visa? Lalita Devi. Ultimately, Radharani gives entrance, but first, before you enter an airplane, you need a visa. So, if Lalita Devi does not give permission, it is impossible to enter that land. Lalita Devi controls everything. She controls Srimati Radharani also. If we do not get the mercy of this Lalita Devi we cannot get the mercy of Radharani.

You have come here in Uchagaon by a great fortune. Lalita Devi's village (Lalita Gram, or Uchagaon) is just a few kilometres from Varshana. Lalita Sakhi was born in this village, therefore this village is known as Lalita Gram (the village of Lalita). To the east of it, there is a temple of Sri Baladev jiu, to the north there is Deha Kunda. Srimati Radharani was born in Raval (we will go there later), but because of the atrocities of King Kamsa everybody—Nanda Maharaj, Raja Vrinsabhanu and others—came to this area, further away from Mathura.

Lalita Devi appeared in this village in the month of Bhadra (Sravan), on the seventh day of the bright moon. Her father's name is Vishok, her mother's name is Sarada, her husband's name is Bhairava. Her village is Lalita Gram, her mood is vama-prakhara, her complexion is of yellowish hue. She likes to wear the clothes of peacock feather colour. Her service is tambul (supplying betel nut). Her kunja (Lalitananda) is the color of lightning and situated in the north of Vrindavan, and in Nabadwip-lila her name is Svarup Damodar. Her age is fourteen years, three months and twelve days old, she is just a little older than Srimati Radharani. Her friends are Ratna-prabha, Rati-kala, Subhadra, Bhadra-rekhika, Sumukhi, Dhanistha, Kala-hamsi, Kalapini.

You have come to this Lalita Gram by a great fortune...

In fear of Kamsa, Nanda Maharaj came to Nandagram and Raja Vrisabhanu, a friend of Nanda Maharaj, came to Varshana. Varshana is one-two kilometres away from here, not so far. After this place we are going back to our car and then we will go directly to Varshana.

Jay Srimati Radharani ki jay. Srimati Lalita Devi ki jay. Jay Astha-sakhi-gan ki jay.

Krishna stayed in Nandagram and, when He grazed cows, He would come here with the cows. We have come here by a great fortune.

Through her service, Lalita Devi controls Radharani. When Radharani is sweating, when she sees one drop of sweat, she thinks, "Sweating! Her face may become dirty and Krishna may not like Her! I have to clean Her face, I have to remove that perspiration!" She is always ready to serve Radharani—whether some dust, some perspiration, etc. appears, she always want to freshen Radharani at once. She does not want to wait, "Oh, Krishna can come any time and He will see Her—what if He sees Her perspiration!" She is always ready to serve Srimati Radharani. Lalita Devi's mood is like this. She is always ready to supply whatever is necessary.

Lalita Devi also manages Radharani—she helps Her with wearing the sari, earrings, lipstick, etc. She always prepares Radharani, and if there is any problem, Lalita Devi is there preparing everything. She says, "I want to make myself into a hundred thousand of Lalitas for the service. I alone am not sufficient, a hundred thousand Lalitas are necessary."

You know that there are eight principal sakhis—Lalita, Vishakha, Champakalata, Chitra, Tungavidya, Indulekha, Rangadevi, Sudevi, and Anuradha. All manjaris (Rupa Manjari, Lavanga Manjari and others) are their assistants—they serve under the guidance of the sakhis. We are in that line, the line of Sri Rupa Manjali. This is Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's line also—he said, "I am an unqualified servant of Lalita Devi." Lalita Devi is Rupa Manjari's line, Lavanga Manjari's line, and Rupa Goswami also said, "I have no qualification." We belong to this line.

* * *

Krishna's Dearmost

Bengali class on Sri Radhastami

13 September 2013, part 1

Today is Sri Radhastami day—the appearance day of Srimati Radharani. We sing today,

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela

krsna-bhajana tava akarane gela

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

Radharani is non-different from Gurudev.

saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair

uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih

kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya

vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

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

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7)

Who is the dearmost of Krishna? Srila Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur explains in this Vandana that Srimati Radharani is the dearmost of Krishna, and Gurudev is non-different from Her. You know that Krishna Himself serves the lotus feet of Srimati Radharani at the seva-kunja. This is a very high conception. Even Srimad Bhagavatam does not say anything about Srimati Radharani, but the deepest devotee, who know Radharani can take detect Radharani's conception there and extract it from Srimad Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam does not even mention Her Name, but actually everything is there—you can understand it easily if you search Radharani's glorification in it.

We observe this day in a beautiful way, spending it in discussions of the glories of Srimati Radharani, of Her service and love.

radhara dasira krsna sarva-vede bole

"Krishna is the property of the maid servants of Srimati Radharani. All Vedas say this."

(Gitavali, Sri Radhastaka, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Without service to Radharani's lotus feet, no service can be possible. If, however, we can serve the servitors, the associates of Radharani (Lalita Devi and others), then we can get the supreme benefit.

Srimati Radharani is Krishna's Hladini-sakti. Krishna is source of all powers, and She is the power. If you do not get service to your Gurudev, you cannot get Krishna; in the same way, if you do not serve Srimati Radharani, you cannot get Krishna, and Gurudev is non-different from Srimati Radharani, therefore it is necessary to serve the Guru.

One time Krishna showed His pastime that He had a fever. A doctor came and said to Krishna's mother, "Your son is very sick, you need to give Him water from the Yamuna. The water must be brought in a pot with holes, and only a very chase lady who has never seen another man's face can bring it." Krishna's Mother thought, "Who can be such a chase lady here in Vraja?..." There was Jatila and Kutila, but when they tried they could not bring it—many other ladies who were considered chaste tried to bring water in a holed pot but nobody succeeded. Then, the Lord again came in disguise of a doctor and advised to Mother Yasoda, "You are looking for a chase lady in this area—go to Radharani." Then, Mother Yasoda Herself went to Radharani and asked Her, "Dear, please come. My son is not well." Radharani understood that it was Krishna's pastimes, so remembering Krishna, She took a clay pot, put a Tulasi leaf inside and went to the Yamuna praying, "Krishna, You can do anything. What can I do? You please arrange everything." Then, She scooped some water with the pot and Krishna Himself held the water in the pot. Then, the water was given to Krishna and He got well. In this way Krishna shows that Srimati Radhika is His dearmost.

* * *

Appearance of Srimati Radhika

Bengali class on Sri Radhastami

13 September 2013, part 2

This day we sing the kirtan, "Radhika-charana-padma, sakala sreyera sadma—the lotus feet of Sri Radha are the abode of all auspiciousness, the supreme goal of life." If you pray at the lotus feet of Srimati Radharani, you will get the highest auspiciousness. It is necessary to worship Her lotus feet with greatest care.

She appeared on this day in Raval. Mother Kirtida and King Vrisabhanu lived in Raval, near Gokula. When we go to Vrindavan, we go there every year. Varshana is not the actual birthplace. We often say that Varshana is the birthplace of Srimati Radharani, but they came there later—Her birthplace is in Raval.

One day, King Vrisabhanu went to bathe in the Yamuna. Suddenly, he saw a large lotus coming towards him—he waited for the lotus at the bank and when it floated to him, he saw a beautiful girl of bright complexion lying in it. He took the girl home and as soon as Kirtida Maiya saw the girl, she got the same feeling like a pregnant lady who had just given birth to a child, but actually the child came floating in the Yamuna. This is how Srimati Radharani appeared.

When everybody heard that King Vrisabhanu had got a daughter, everybody came to his house. When Radharani appeared though, She was blind—She had promised before that both She and Krishna would come in Dvapar-yuga, but She said to Krishna, "I will not see any man's face," and Krishna replied, "All right, You will be born blind and You will see My face first." For that, when She was born blind.

Then, when King Vrisabhanu and Mother Kirtida arranged a festival in honour of their child's appearance, they invited everybody to their house including Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaj. Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaj came to their house with Krishna who was only fifteen days old at that time. When everybody was busy talking, Krishna crawled to the cradle of Srimati Radharani and began to swing it. Everybody said, "Oh, the Lord has given you such a beautiful girl, but He did not give Her eyes—Her eyes are closed." Then, suddenly Mother Yasoda said, "Where has my Krishna gone? Where is my son?"—everybody began to search for Him. Then, they went to the room where Radharani's cradle was, and they saw that both Krishna and Radharani were laughing—Radharani was looking at Krishna, and Krishna was looking at Radharani. Everybody said, "Krishna has blessed Her by giving Her eyes!"

This the brief story of Srimati Radhika. Jay Srimati Radharani ki jay. Raja Vrisabhanu ki jay. Kirtida Maiya ki jay.

* * *

Heart for Preaching

Speaking online to devotees in Johannesburg

15 September 2018, part 1

Dandavat, I am very happy to see you.

In Gurudev's time, so many devotees would come from South Africa, and Gurudev also went there from time to time there. He told about South Africa and said he was always worried about it. Still, some devotees are continuing some preaching for Gurudev and Guru Maharaj, and it gives much happiness to my heart. I see the devotees and I am thinking that devotees's hearts will not be broken—they will always keep their heart for preaching for Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, for preaching for Gurudev and Guru Maharaj. That is why I still have some hope for South Africa. Before, I sent Sripad Narayan Maharaj—I told him to preach in Mauritius and South Africa and he did that, but Krishna gave his association and by His will He also broke that association. Past is past...

We are all servants of Gurudev, servants of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. We are actually not managers, not secretaries, not acharyas of the mission. That is not the question. We are all servitors. Somebody may be the leading servitor and others are servitors; or somebody may be the guardian of the servitors, and others are servitors—but everybody is a servitor. We are not managers, we are not secretaries.

In my own example, when I joined the temple, I did not come to see so many buildings—at that time there were not so many buildings, bricks and temples in Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Most buildings were built later, and at that time some were not even fully finished. At that time, there was Srila Sridhar Maharaj's samadhi and the main temple of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundar—even the good nat mandir was not there, it appeared after many years. You know how it happened. It was Gurudev's instruction and I myself was an instruments of my Guru—I followed whatever instruction came from him.

After that, after Gurudev's disappearance, many of those who are not related to Gurudev, who are jealous of Gurudev's activities and preaching, wanted to hijack Gurudev's mission, wanted to steal Gurudev's and Guru Maharaj's temple, and they are still creating disturbance at the temple, they are still doing nonsense at the temple.

Our duty is not that. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur said that we did not come to this world to be labour workers or for bricks, sand and cement—we have come to this world to distribute the message of Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, to distribute His teachings everywhere, door to door. That is our duty, and you are doing that, I am also doing that. You are participating, helping me with these activities. That is why I am very happy to see that you are preaching.

Do not worry, do not become sad. If somebody wants to be a manager, if somebody wants to be a secretary, it is OK, let them do that. Do not worry about that. Sanatan Goswami, Rupa Goswami, Raghunath Das Goswami did not make so many temples—even Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself did not make so many temples. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lived in Kashi Misra's house, He did not live at any temple. Temples started appearing only after Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's time. And temples appeared not for eating, sleeping, and enjoying. If you think that the temple is for enjoyment, that it is not for service, it is a very big mistake, it is very wrong. Prabhupad did not make temples for that. The temple is not for anyone's own interest and enjoyment—the temple is for preaching, for service. If you make some big construction, a big building but there is no service going on there, then it is not a temple, it is not a holy place.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur writes that if you go to some place and there is no Vaishnav there, then it is not a holy place. You may go to many places thinking you are going to a holy place, but if there is no Vaishnav there, then why are you going there? Somebody thinks Gurudev's samadhi, Guru Maharaj's samadhi is there in some place, but a samadhi is only a building—if there is no Vaishnav in that place, then it is not a holy place. This is what scriptures, what Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says.

* * *

Three Pillars of Religion

Speaking online to devotees in Johannesburg

15 September 2018, part 2

We have come to this world for preaching, we have come for Krishna consciousness. What is Krishna consciousness? It means service—jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnava seva. You must go to each fallen soul and give them the message of Gurudev, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Guru Maharaj. What did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tell 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."

That is the religion. We must be kind to the jiva souls.

You must engage every jiva soul in service of the Lord—even a flower tree, even a mango tree, even a guava tree, even a rice plant. You must engage everything—whatever grows or exists in this world—in the service of the Lord. All of us—trees, plants, humans, even dogs, cats—are covered by the illusory environment. We are serving maya, but what is Gurudev's duty? What is Gurudev's message? He removes us from the illusory environment and sends us to the service planet, the place where service is going on. Where is that place? That is Goloka Vrindavan. In this world, we are serving maya, but Gurudev has taken us from maya and sent us for Krishna's service to Goloka Vrindavan. That is called jive daya.

Name ruchi—chant the Holy Name everywhere, anywhere. Not only four rounds or sixteen rounds—you can chant at any time: grhe thako vane thako sada hari bole dako. Wherever you live—whether you live in a forest, on a train, on a bus or you are sitting on an airplane—you must chant the Holy Name all the time.

Think about Krishna. Chant Krishna's Name. Do everything for Krishna. Whatever you do—whether you are doing some service or you are doing your work—you can use everything in service. For example, that Prabhu has given you this place for speaking Hari-katha, Krishna-katha today—that is his sukriti, he has done something for Krishna's service. He may be a school teacher or a school manager, but he has given you all and me a chance to service Krishna, to distribute Hari-katha, Krishna-katha. That is his sukriti. That is called jive daya. That is called Name ruchi.

Chant everywhere. The problem is that you have fever. If you have fever and your mother, wife or you yourself cook something good, you will not get any taste because your health is not good. In the same way, we are not happy to chant the Holy Name, we do not get taste for chanting the Holy Name because we have pancha rog, five diseases. When you are sick (you have fever or any problem), you go to a doctor, but this kind of diseases must be removed through a good doctor, that is the Guru. You must take shelter of a Guru who is a second-hand associate, next closest sevaite of Sri Sri Guru Gandharva Govinda Sundar, that is Gurudev. His duty is to initiate you. A bona fide Guru never thinks about your money, your wealth—a real Guru thinks only about your spiritual matter, how to remove you from maya and send you to Goloka Vrindavan for the service of Radha Krishna. You must always remember this.

What is your duty after you take initiation? Your duty is Vaishnav seva. Vaishnavs always think about Krishna, Vaishnavs always think about service, that is why you must serve them. Service to a Vaishnav does not mean you must always stay with the Vaishnav, you must always sleep on the same bed with the Vaishnav—that is not service. You must follow his instruction.

* * *

Glories of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's appearance day

7 September 2014

sri-gauranga-parisada thakura bhakti-vinoda

dina-hina patitera bandhu

kali-tamah vinasite anilena avanite

toma' akalanka purna indu

"Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur is an associate of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and a friend of all low and fallen souls—to dispel all darkness of this dark age, he brought to this earth you [Srila Saraswati Thakur], a spotless full moon."

If Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur had not come, we would not have got Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur who is spotless—even the moon has some spots, but he has no spot. This Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur writes very nicely about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, I read it in Gaudiya:

[Below is a summary of the Bengali article:]

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur is the god of the Gaudiya sampradaya. He appeared in this world in the form of Srila Bhaktivinod, an ocean of mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. His name "bhakti-vinod" means one who distributes pure saraswati [pure knowledge]. Ultimately, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur compares him to Srimati Radharani.

The religion of Kali-yuga is Krishna Nam sankirtan, congregational chanting of the Holy Names of Krishna, but no one can distribute it, no one can preach about Mahaprabhu all over the world without being empowered by Krishna and Mahaprabhu. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur is that svarupa-sakti of Mahaprabhu. You can see the symptoms in Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur that he is able to distribute Mahaprabhu's Name, form, qualities, pastimes, associates, abode.

He tried so much, heart and soul, to establish Gaura's Name, Gaura's Dham, Gaura's associates, etc.—everything related to Mahaprabhu. There are other six goswamis who distributed Mahaprabhu's teaching before, but by the time Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur appeared, it gradually had gone down and become adulterated because of the immense power of Kali Maharaj and the sahajiya-vad and other misconceptions had become prominent.

Unless you have no ego, unless you reject jealousy, unless you see things from neutral perspective, you cannot understand what Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur has given to us. Only a rupanuga (follower of Srila Rupa Goswami) can understand the glories of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, otherwise it is impossible.

isvarera krpa-lesa haya ta' yahare

sei ta' isvara-tattva janibare pare

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

(Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 6.83)

Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur writes a sloka about Srimad Bhagavatam saying that everybody reads Bhagavatam (even all mayavadis read it—you can watch the television and see them read it), but they cannot understand Bhagavatam, Bhagavatam does not give its main gist to them just as a chase lady gives her love and affection only to her husband—she may speak to other people, but she gives her internal things only to her husband, nobody else. So, only those who know Bhagavatam can understand it.

There were so many obstacles in Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's devotional activities due to the power of Kali—there were so many thorns that it seemed impossible to proceed—the line of devotion was in a very difficult position at that time. The opposition of bhakti was so strong—people are simple-hearted, they cannot understand anything and can change very quickly, so very soon deception, knowledge, atheism, karma, penance, punya had become prominent and were passed off as devotion, but Bhaktivinod Thakur said no—he established the true conception of devotion.

Who could recognise Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur? Only very few did—that was Sarvabhauma Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj and Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj. Finally, who else could understand him? Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and also our param-gurudev Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj who wrote about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur,

srigauranumatam svarupaviditam rupagrajenadrtam

rupadyaih parivesitam raghuganairasvaditam sevitam

jivadyair abhiraksitam sukasivabrahmadi sammanitam

sriradhapadasevanamrtam aho tad datum iso bhavan

"What was sanctioned by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by His descent was intimately known only to Sri Svarupa Damodara Goswami. It was adored by Sanatan Goswami and served by Rupa Goswami and his followers. Raghunatha Das Goswami tasted that wonderful thing fully and enhanced it with his own realization. And Jiva Goswami supported and protected it by quoting the scriptures from different places. The taste of that divine truth is aspired for by Brahma, Siva, and Uddhava, who respect it as the supreme goal of life. What is this wonderful truth? Sri radhapadasevana: that the highest nectar of our life is the service of Srimati Radharani. This is most wonderful. O Bhakti Vinoda Thakur, you are our master. It is within your power to allow them to bestow their grace upon us. You are in a position to bestow the highest gift ever known to the world upon us all. It is at your disposal. O Bhakti Vinoda Thakur, please be kind to us and grant us your mercy."

And,

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

bhakti-dam bhuri-dam vande bhakti-vinodakam sada

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

(Sri Laghu-chandrika-bhasya, 1.8)

* * *

Speech at Sri Surabhi Kunja

Appearance day of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur

15 September 2018, translated from Bengali

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam

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

govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram

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

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

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

bhakti-dam bhuri-dam vande bhakti-vinodakam sada

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

(Sri Laghu-chandrika-bhasya to Sri Saranagati, 1.8)

First of all, I am offering my prostrated obeisance at the lotus feet of my Gurupadpadma Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj begging him for his causeless mercy. Then, I offer my obeisance to the lotus feet of the great personality whose holy appearance day we have assembled to observe—Sachchidananda Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur; I am begging him for his mercy. I offer my obeisance also to the chairman Maharaj who presides over this assembly, to all of the sannyasis seated on the stage, to the dham-bhusana sannyasi-vrinda (sannyasis who adorn and enhance the glory of the Dham), to all the brahmacharis, Vaishnavs, gentleman and lady devotees. This fallen soul bows in obeisance at your feet and prays that you may be merciful to his fallen self.

Today is a very good day—the holy appearance day of Sachchidananda Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. We have assembled here at this festival hosted by the Saraswata Gaudiya Vaishnav Sangha on this lunar day at Surabhi Kunja every year since 1996. This year too we have all assembled here on this very occasion. Another occasion we all gather on is the festival of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's appearance day, held centralised as well as in many temples throughout Mayapur and Nabadwip. Continuing this tradition, we have assembled here on this occasion, in your association. We feel very grateful to the Vaishnavs who have arranged this festival. I am offering my sincere obeisance to them as well as my innumerable prayers that they may obtain the mercy of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur—I pray to Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, Srila Prabhupad and the Lord that they may obtain this kind of blessing.

You all know that there are many beautiful works written by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, you have heard many kirtans based on his poetry. It is very difficult for a low fallen soul, especially for one like myself, to chant his glories. However, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote one thing which I humbly request you to remember: there are no Vaishnav qualities where there is no anugatya [adherence, following the order of Sri Guru]; the Vaishnav qualities are present where there is anugatya. Vaishnav qualities are where there is "humility, tolerance, and giving honour to others"; if there is no "humility, tolerance and giving honour to others," there are no Vaishnav qualities there. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur never accepts ahankar, abhiman [ego, pride], neither does the Lord. Therefore, we must always remember that Vaishnav qualities are present where there is humility, tolerance and giving honour.

Talking about the gift of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur to this world, there is a verse that Vaishnavs, as well as our Param Guru Mahraj, often recite: "Guru-dam, grantha-dam..." (I recited it at the beginning). In this verse, it is said that he has given a Guru to us: but for him, where would we have got Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, tell me? If he had not come, we would not have got Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He gave us Gaura, he gave us Gaura's abode. Many of you have heard that when he was going to Vrindavan he stopped at Tarakeshwar and upon hearing the order of Vaishnav Thakur (Lord Siva) he turned back and came here; after that, he discovered Mayapur. Many of the opposing sampradayas said many things—they denied that Mayapur was the place where Mahaprabhu appeared, but Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur proved it to the whole world that Mayapur is the actual birthplace of Mahaprabhu. He challenged all apa-samparadayas that exist in this world—aul, baul, kartabhaja, neda, darvesh, sani, sahajiya, sakhibekhi, smarta, jata gosai, ativadi, churadhari, gauranga-nagari—and fearlessly, with the help of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur also, proved to the whole world that it was true.

emana durmati samsara bhitare

padiya achhinu ami

tava nija-jana kona mahajane

pathaiya dile tumi

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

(‘Emona Durmati' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

(ek bar) daya kari' more patita dekhiya

kahila amare giya

ohe dina-jana suna bhala katha

ullasita ha'be hiya

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

('Emona Durmati' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Who said these words? Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur said these words to us.

We therefore pray to you: do not listen to all sorts of gramya-katha, gramya-varta ['village talk, village news'], do not listen to all sort of nonsense, inauspicious talks. We pray that we may all assemble here at the bhajan-kutir of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur at Surabhi Kunja every year, next year itself, and observe the holy appearance day of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur here.

Devotees: Haribol!

We have heard many things about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur today, Param Pujyapad Bhakti Prapanna Tirtha Maharaj from our Math has already spoken also. In Bhakti-Vinod-Viraha Dasakam it is written about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur:

srigauranumatam svarupaviditam rupagrajenadrtam

rupadyaih parivesitam raghuganairasvaditam sevitam

jivadyair abhiraksitam sukasivabrahmadi sammanitam

sriradhapadasevanamrtam aho tad datum iso bhavan

"What was sanctioned by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by His descent was intimately known only to Sri Svarupa Damodara Goswami. It was adored by Sanatan Goswami and served by Rupa Goswami and his followers. Raghunatha Das Goswami tasted that wonderful thing fully and enhanced it with his own realization. And Jiva Goswami supported and protected it by quoting the scriptures from different places. The taste of that divine truth is aspired for by Brahma, Siva, and Uddhava, who respect it as the supreme goal of life. What is this wonderful truth? Sri radhapadasevana: that the highest nectar of our life is the service of Srimati Radharani. This is most wonderful. O Bhakti Vinoda Thakur, you are our master. It is within your power to allow them to bestow their grace upon us. You are in a position to bestow the highest gift ever known to the world upon us all. It is at your disposal. O Bhakti Vinoda Thakur, please be kind to us and grant us your mercy."

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur gave the eternal supreme abode of Lord Krishna, the supreme destination. When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur heard this poem, he said, "Happy style." He was very pleased to see it. He said that Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj did not write it himself. Who wrote it? Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur himself came and revealed this. That is our treasure.

Today is the festival of this Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. Who can bring him the highest pleasure and satisfaction? Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. ...I have come across some very beautiful words of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, I have written them in my book also [Sri Upadesh, Part Two], I will read it here in conclusion:

mana, tumi tirthe sada rata

ayodhya, mathura, maya, kasi, kanchi, avantiya,

dvaravati ara achhe yata [1]

O mind! You are always attached to places of pilgrimage—Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya, Kasi (Varanasi), Kanchipuram, Avantiya, Dvaraka, and so many other places.

tumi chaha bhramivare, e sakala bare bare,

mukti-labha karibara tare

se kevala tava bhrama, nirarthaka parisrama,

chitta sthira tirthe nahi kare [2]

You want to travel all these places again and again for the sake of some liberation. These places will never help you fix your mind, so all this is just your illusion, a meaningless labour.

tirtha-phala sadhu-sanga, sadhu-sange antaranga,

sri-krsna-bhajana manohara

yatha sadhu, tatha tirtha, sthira kari' nija-chitta,

sadhu-sanga kara nirantara [3]

The result of visiting a place of pilgrimage is sadhu-sanga (pure devotees' association) and being drawn to the exclusive service of Sri Krishna. A place of pilgrimage is where a sadhu (pure devotee) is. Always keep the association of pure devotees and firmly fix your mind by such association.

ye tirthe vaisnava nai, se tirthete nahi yai

ki labha hantiya dura-desa

yathaya vaisnava-gana, sei sthana vrndavana

sei sthane ananda asesa [4]

I never go to a place of pilgrimage if there are no Vaishnavs in that place (what is the use walking so far?). Vrindavan is where Vaishnavs are, in such a place there is no end of joy.

krsna-bhakti yei sthane, mukti-dasi sei-khane,

salila tathaya mandakini

giri tatha govardhana, bhumi tatha vrndavana,

avirbhuta apani hladini [5]

Liberation is a maidservant, all water is Mandakini, all mountains are Govardhan, all land is Vrindavan, and the internal energy of the Lord automatically appears at the place where there is devotion to Krishna.

vinoda kahichhe bhai, bhramiya ki phala pai,

vaisnava-sevana mora vrata [6]

Vinod says, "O brother! What will I get by all this pilgrimage? My sole vow is service to Vaishnavs."

Today, on his holy appearance day, we pray to him, especially I myself pray to him that he may engage me in his service as a servant of a servant of his lotus feet to preach his message, his words in this world.

A Maharaj who has spoken before me mentioned a very good point—"baba badha Radha." You know that Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur appeared in Birnagar (this place is now within the bondage of sahajiya). Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's name was Bimala Prasad, and Lalita Prasad was his brother. Bimala Prasad received the mercy of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, but Lalita Prasad thought, "So many people go everywhere behind Bimala Prasad, but I am also my father's son, I must also get a part of his wealth!" He thought of material wealth, but Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur (Bimala Prasad) did not see him as his father—he saw Radharani's own associate, the Lord's own associate in him.

sri-gauranga-parisada thakura bhakti-vinoda

dina-hina patitera bandhu

kali-tamah vinasite anilena avanite

toma' akalanka purna indu

Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur is an associate of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and a friend of all low and fallen souls—to dispel all darkness of this dark age, he brought to this earth you, a spotless full moon.

(Sri Acharya-vandana)

Lalita Prasad thought, "Bhaktivinod Thakur is my father," and Bimala Prasad thought, "Bhaktivinod Thakur is my Prabhu [Master], he is the Lord's own associate." That is why he got Radharani (Radha) and his brother Lalita Prasad got a father (baba). Baba badha Radha [seeing Bhaktivinod Thakur as father is an obstacle to seeing him as Radharani].

Jay Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur ki jay!

* * *

Service under Guidance

Speaking online to devotees in Johannesburg

15 September 2018, part 3

Gurudev told you all, "Acharya Maharaj has so many faults, I know that, but even though he may have some faults, he also has some virtue, some good qualities. You must help and love him." Gurudev told this to all the devotees all over the world, you know that, it was in his declaration. Many devotees keep connection with me, and many devotees may not like me. It is not a problem. I think that I am guilty, that I am not a good person that is why they do not keep connection with me. It is not a problem for me—I am not blaming anyone, I do not think it is anyone's fault. I think that I am very guilty and I have so many faults that is why they do not come to me...

By some fortune, you have got a human body, but you must realise what you have got this human body for. If you do not come to Krishna consciousness, if you do not serve the Lord, then you will go to a worse place—you may get a cat's body, a dog's body, a cow's body or even some other worse body. It is your fortune that you have got a human body—you must use it for the service of the Lord. Whatever you do—whether you cook or work, it is not a problem. I do not tell anyone, "Stop your business, stop your work." Srimad Bhagavad-gita told,

yat karosi yad asnasi, yaj juhosi dadasi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kurusva mad-arpanam

"O Kaunteya, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give and whatever vow you may keep-do everything as an offering unto Me."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.27)

Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, "Whatever karma (work, business) you do, whatever sacrifice you make, you must do it for Me." After that, He said, "You must surrender fully."

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja

aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

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

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

Krishna says, "You must reject whatever I told in the Vedas, Vedanta, etc. Avoid it and only surrender to Me. I will look after you, I will remove all your sins. Do not cry, do not be unhappy. Always be happy."

Then, you understand,

sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja

aham tvam sarva-papebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

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

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

Now, Hindu people are starting doing pujas in Bengal, but how many pujas can they do? There are 33 crores (330 000 000) demigods. You can do some Durga puja, Kali puja, Laksmi puja, Ganesh puja, but you cannot do all pujas. If, however, you surrender to Krishna and worship Krishna, then all puja, all demigod puja will be accomplished. That is why you must surrender to Krishna, you must serve Krishna.

Gurudev always sings,

tava nija-jana kona mahajane

pathaiya dile tumi

(ek bar) daya kari' more patita dekhiya

kahila amare giya

ohe dina-jana suna bhala katha

ullasita ha'be hiya

tomare tarite sri krsna-chaitanya

navadvipe avatara

"You have sent a great soul, Your associate (to rescue me). 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. Sri Krishna Chaitanya has appeared in Nabadwip to deliver you.'"

Who told me about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sent somebody to tell His message to us, and that is Gurudev, that is Guru Maharaj—Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sent them to tell us about Himself.

"Tava nija-jan" means the closest friend of Mahaprabhu, that is Gurudev. Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur also said

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)

"Gurudev is saksad Hari (the Lord Himself)." Krishna says (acharya Mam vijaniyam) that the Guru is mat-svarup, non-different from Krishna Himself—he is the Lord Himself. Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur also says that on the one hand, Gurudev is saksad Hari, saksad Krishna, and on the other hand he is His associate (kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya). Guru is the dearmost of Krishna, that is Radharani. So, in one way Gurudev is Radharani, and in another way Gurudev is Sriman Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda Prabhu did what even Mahaprabhu could not do. Gurudev can do what even Krishna cannot do. At the same time, Gurudev gives us some power called anugatya.

Another point is the saying, "Aham vetti, Suka vetti, Vyasa vetti na vetti va." Sivji Maharaj told, "Aham vetti, I know; Suka vetti, Sukadev knows; And Vyasadev may or may not know." He who composed and narrated Srimad Bhagavatam, Vyasadev, may not know Srimad Bhagavam, but who did Vyasadev give his mercy to? Sukadev Goswami, his disciple and son. This Sukadev knows Srimad Bhagavatam.

Then, you can understand that Krishna may or may not know something, but He whom He sends (the Guru) knows it. Gurudev also may not know something, but if Gurudev gives his mercy to somebody, they may know it. Those who serve under the guidance have anugatya.

It is our duty to serve under the guidance of Gurudev. If we can do that, if we can serve under the guidance of Gurudev and the Vaishnavs, that is very good.

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Continue Preaching Programme

Speaking online to devotees in Johannesburg

15 September 2018, part 4

Try to gather together. I always go here and there serving Gurudev's mission, trying to protect Gurudev's mission, Gurudev's devotees. I am trying. And I am very happy to see you all today. Actually, when I see you, I remember Gurudev—I can see Gurudev through you all.

You would often come to India in Gurudev's time. Always come. When my legal problems are finished, I think it will be soon, and I am able to go abroad, I will try to come to South Africa. Also, I am telling you one thing. Actually, my representative, Sripad Tyagi Maharaj, is visiting different countries all over the world, and you can also invite him once or twice a year for perhaps seven days at a time. That will be good for you. He knows Gurudev's siddhanta, Guru Maharaj's siddhanta, and you can invite him—he can preach at house programmes or big programmes, any programmes; he can preach to you all and can give you all nourishment. I am sure about that. You can arrange the programmes and collect money for his ticket, contact him and find out what time he can come. That will be good for you. OK? Until I come to South Africa, he can give good nourishment to you. That is my hope.

In the meantime, you should continue your preaching. Go to house programmes from time to time—have istha gosthi, nama-hatta programmes, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Sankirtan Maha-Mandal programmes. You can also go to the street with street sankirtan, you can sometimes go to the market to chant the Holy Name if it is allowed in the country. I do not know about South Africa, but not all countries allow sankirtan everywhere, there are restrictions in some countries. If allowed, you can chant the Holy Name in the street, in a park—those who hear the Holy Name will be very happy. My point is that you must all continue your preaching programme. It will give happiness to Gurudev. OK?

I am going to Nrisingha Palli tomorrow and from there to Hapaniya because Radharani's appearance day is on Monday and I will make the festival there, in Hapaniya. In Gurudev's time I went to celebrate this festival in Hapaniya every year, and this year also—I will go to Hapaniya tomorrow in the evening and the programme will be the next day.

Always keep in touch with me. Whenever you want to have a skype programme, I will try to participate with you all. I am a fallen soul, please do not forget me.

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Our Plan and Programme

Speaking online to devotees in Spain

8 September 2018, part 1

I am very happy to see you all by the grace of Guru Maharaj and Gurudev. It is very nice to see your smiling face and good, happy service and preaching mood. Your practising mood is very nice. I am very happy—every time I see people are preaching some Krishna consciousness, I become very happy.

"Pran achhe yar, sei hetu prachar: as long as you have life in the body, you must preach." We have come to this world to spread the message of Gurudev, to distribute the message of Mahaprabhu. This is our plan and programme. This is what our life is for.

Only sitting in one place, offering the bhog, eating and spending so much time watching facebook, doing some nonsense work, commenting some bad things—that is "an idle mind is devil's workhshop." This is not what our life is for. We did not come to Gurudev for that. We have come here to preach. Whether you are a sannyasi, a brahmachari, or a householder devotee, your duty is to serve Vaishnavs. Without service to Vaishnavs, without the association of Gurudev, without the association of the great Vaishnavs, it is impossible.

We must always make ourselves busy—busy with service. We must use the whole of twenty-four hours—every moment of our life is very important. We must preach and distribute Mahaprabhu's message among the fallen conditioned souls.

We must maintain our spiritual life. Only chanting the Holy Name four rounds, offering some bhog at your altar and taking prasad is not sufficient for your spiritual life. You cannot reach your goal and destination in this way. You must do more service, you must give more time for Gurudev, for the Lord, for Mahaprabhu. You must maintain your spiritual life properly.

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Trials and Tribulations (1)

Speaking online to devotees in Spain

8 September 2018, part 2

Many troubles will come, many problems will come in our service life, in our spiritual life, but we must avoid them—we must not give so much attention to that. We must go forward, ahead; do not look behind at what has passed. You must preach and remember your spiritual life in this way.

So much patience, so much tolerance is necessary. You have heard from the scriptures how much fighting was going on, how many problems there were in the times of Mahabharata. You read in Srimad Bhagavad-Gita about the fighting between Pandavas and Kauravas. So much war was going on at that time, but we must wage war against maya, the illusory environment (just as it is said about Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur that he had declared war against maya).

Maya always comes to take you away from service; maya always wants to use you for her own purpose, but spiritual master and great devotees always use ourselves for the service of the Lord, of Krishna and devotees. That is why you must understand what you will choose—will you accept the works of maya or service to the devotees? You must understand yourself what is good for you. That is the main thing.

We must be tolerant. Our body has so many diseases—so many problems will come, but we also have five diseases called pancha rog, or prapancha. Through the association of the devotees, if you take the proper medicine from the devotees, you will be cured from those five diseases. This is not cancer, not heart attack, not diabetes, not some other material disease; this is another kind of disease, and to remove that disease from yourself, it is necessary to have good association and proper service to the Guru and Vaishnavs. That is the main thing. You must continue your spiritual life in this way.

Sometimes you think that I am not in Nabadwip—so many devotees all over the world ask when I will go to Nabadwip. But you know that when I joined the temple I did not come to see so many bricks and buildings (at that time, there actually were not so many buildings at the temple)—I came, I joined the Mission to see my Gurudev, I came for the spiritual matter. Later, by the mercy of Gurudev, by the service donations from the devotees all over the world so many things happened—Govinda Kunda, Centenary Building, Sevak Bhavan, Seva Ashram Bhavan, many other temples were made in Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. The property grew, that is why many greedy people came who wanted those things, and that is why they possessed them. These people do not want, do not know what is the spiritual things, they do not know what is the main thing. What for did they come to Gurudev? They want to possess buildings, they want to possess rooms, they want some material things. They took it, but now they cannot maintain it properly, they cannot serve the devotees properly…

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Trials and Tribulations (2)

Speaking online to devotees in Spain

8 September 2018, part 3

You can see that when you are going to do some service, some problem can come, some difficulty can come, but Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur writes,

nijera posana, kabhu na bhaviba,

rahiba bhavera bhare

"I will never think about my own maintenance; I will always remain within the shelter of loving attachment for You."

(Saranagati, 19)

We will not think about ourselves. If we think about our Gurudev, if we think about the Lord, the Lord will think about us—why is it necessary to think about ourselves? If you spend time on thinking about yourself, maintaining yourself, then you are losing your time—when will you get time to serve the Lord then? That is my question.

Have you heard Vasudev Vipra's story? How much tolerance Vasudev Vipra has! He had leprosy and so many insects lived in his body. The insects would eat his body and sometimes fell out of the sores, but Vasudev Vipra picked them up and put them back into his body again. He thought, "This body is useless, one day it will be ruined anyway, so if these insects are happy to eat my body, what is the problem for me?"

You know also the story of Gauridas Pandit. He lived and served Gaura Nitai in Kalna. He had a servitor named Chaitanya Das (later, his name became Hriday Chaitanya). This Chaitanya Das was not so educated, he did not know so much about the scriptures, but knew only how to serve his Guru, how to fulfil his Guru's desire.

One day, Gauridas Pandit told Chaitanya Das, his disciple, "The Deities are here and it is necessary to offer Them flowers every day. I have some land, but it is very difficult to make a flower garden there. Can you make a flower garden for the Deities?" Very happy to hear his Gurudev's order, Gurudev's desire, Chaitanya Das started making the flower garden.

In those days, there was not so much water, so people would have to bring it from the Ganges. So, every day Chaitanya Das went to the Ganges and would carry a big jar of water on his head to the temple. After a while, Gauridas Pandit thought, "I have told my disciple to make a garden. Let me see how he is getting on. He is always so busy with it that he does not even have time to come see me. I want to see that garden." So, he went to see the garden.

When Gauridas Pandit came to the garden, he became very happy, "So many good flowers blossoming! Very nice!" Gauridas Pandit was admiring the garden and waiting for his disciple, Chaitanya Das, to come back.

Soon, he saw Chaitanya Das coming slowly from afar, with a big jar of water on his head that he was bringing from the Ganges. As soon as Chaitanya Das saw his Gurudev, he removed the jar from his head, kept it on the ground and paid a full obeisance to his Gurudev. When Chaitanya Das was paying him an obeisance, Gauridas Pandit noticed that here was a big wound in his head infested with so many insects! Gauridas Pandit asked Chaitanya Das, "What has happened to your head?! You have such a big sore and so many insects, but you still carry water on your head! What has happened?" Chaitanya Das replied, "No, Gurudev, nothing has happened, nothing has happened." Gauridas Pandit immediately took him to a doctor who cleaned, bandaged his head and gave proper treatment.

Then, before his disappearance, Gauridas Pandit gave all charge of puja and other services to Chaitanya Das, but after Gauridas disappeared, many of his other disciples beat Chaitanya Das and kicked him out of the temple. Crying, Chaitanya Das walked away to Vrindavan. There, in Vrindavan, he would sit under a tree and chant the Holy Name.

After that, a big merchant (a big, rich man) had a dream one night. The Lord came to him and said, "My devotee has no house, he is sleeping under a tree. Can you make a house for him?" The next day, the merchant saw a man chanting the Holy Name under a tree and he asked him where he had come from, who he was, etc. Chaitanya Das told him everything. Then, the merchant asked him, "Can I make a house for you?" Chaitanya Das replied, "If you can make a house for Gaura Nitai, I will be very happy." Then, the merchant made a temple (house) for Gaura Nitai and Chaitanya Das. In this way, Chaitanya Das eventually became very famous, but the Kalna Temple of Gauridas has become ruined.

So, those who are great devotees do not think so much about the buildings and things—they only want to serve the Guru, want to distribute their Gurudev's message, their Guru Maharaj's message. That is the main thing, the main appropriate principle for them.

We must think about the service, we must think about preaching, we must think about the jiva souls. These are the main things for us.

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Preach and Practise

Speaking online to devotees in Spain

8 September 2018, part 4

Are there any question from anyone? Please tell me.

Question: Will we see God face to face?

Yes, if you practise properly. Gurudev said you can even play football with the Lord also.

Devotee: The Didi who asked the question is eighty-three years old. Although she is so old, she listens.

That is good. Sravan is 'sreyo yog van' (listening to beneficial talks). Sravanam and kirtanam (listening and chanting) is very nice. It is a part of the nine practices of devotion (nava-vidha bhakti) which are the main and indispensable practices in our spiritual life: sravanam, kirtanam, Vishnu smaranam, pada-sevanam, archanam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam (hearing, chanting, remembering the Lord, serving the Lord's lotus feet, worshipping the Deity of the Lord, offering obeisance, rendering service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission). These are the main things in our spiritual life.

Question: What will happen to us if we do not understand everything?

We not have to understand much. Only chant the Holy Name, serve the Lord, take prasadam. That is sufficient.

From time to time you can make some programmes, join istha-gosthi (confiding and reconciling talks among each other), joined sankirtan programme. You can go to the street with Harinam sankirtan, distribute leaflets, distribute books. You must preach—go for preaching from time to time, approach people with Krishna consciousness, tell them what is Krishna consciousness, what is the message of Mahaprabhu, Gurudev and Guru Maharaj. I am telling you: you must go door to door. Sometimes you will be rejected by them, but you must go again, you must try and try, and you will be successful.

Jay Gurudev. Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.

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