GUIDANCE

Issue #19

Lectures of His Divine Grace

Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj

published at SCSMathInternational.com during April-June 2019

CONTENT

Sri Gaura Purnima: Our Main Festival

Sri Nrisingha Palli

14 March 2019, part 1

All the devotees are coming tomorrow. Gurudev always told, and Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also told that Sri Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama comes from the guru parampara, so only the temple acharya is to invite the devotees for Sri Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, and Math secretary, Math manager invite for all the other festivals. Gurudev always told me, "When you print the invitation card, always write my name at Gaura Purnima because the acharya must invite for Gaura Purnima." Gurudev told me that and it was always done in this way in Gurudev's time. At present also, the invitation card is made in my name, and Math's secretary, Math's manager or devotees of the temple write invitation for all the other festivals on my behalf.

This festival is a grand festival for our spiritual life, for our Krishna consciousness line. In the age of Kali, this is the main and the biggest of all festivals—Sri Gaura Purnima, Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, the appearance day of Gauranga Mahaprabhu; because Mahaprabhu shows our conception, i.e. He shows us what is separation from a devotee, what is separation from Lord Krishna. Mahaprabhu shows us what is called separation and we must hanker for that, we must understand and realise this. We must come to this level. This is the main thing.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a combined form of Radha-Krishna, but when He is in Gambhira, He manifests His vipralambha lila, or separation pastimes, "Dvadasabda-bahni-garbha-vipralambha-silanam: for the last twelve years of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's manifest pastimes He was deeply absorbed in union and separation." This is written by Srila Sridhar Maharaj about Mahaprabhu's separation pastimes. That kind of feeling for Lord Krishna should come to the devotees. That is the main thing.

Mahaprabhu shows us how one can be a devotee, what is the character of a devotee, what is the main thing for a devotee.

Mahaprabhu's appearance day is coming, before His appearance day we are going to do Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama—this is the biggest festival in our line, and everybody should be alert that we have come here for service. Service mood is necessary. We come to serve devotees. Such mood must come to everybody. I pray to the Lord, I pray to Gurudev and I pray to you all also that no ego will not come to you that "I am a devotee, they will serve me." No, this is not our line. If I want to be a devotee, then I must serve. Such mood must come to us. You can see my example also—I do not think that I am the Acharya of the Mission, I go here and there, I do all kinds of services.

These are the main things.

* * *

Importance of Service Mood

Sri Nrisingha Palli

14 March 2019, part 2

Service mood is necessary. Service mood is very essential in our spiritual life. And Gurudev told, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also told that these words, this kind of Krishna-katha, Hari-katha will not enter our ears until and unless we have a desire to serve. "I will serve; service is our life"—until and unless this kind of desire, this kind of mood comes to us, Krishna-katha, Hari-katha will not enter our ears.

Srila Guru Maharaj told one time that if someone wants to play football, the football will always go to them. Here also it is the same—if you want to do some service, service will always come to you. I believe it 200%. I have a strongest faith in what Gurudev has told.

Actually, I do not have any capacity to manage anything, but I have to follow my Guru, and Gurudev is doing everything—giving all responsibility to him, I am free of any responsibility. I am free. At any time—whether I am thinking, sleeping, or eating, I always think, "What is the next service? What is the next service?" This is the main thing.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur stayed in Svarup-ganj, Godrumdwip, here on this island. This is Bhaktivinod Thakur's place. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj made a temple in Koladwip, but you know what is the situation there. Still, we cannot stop Gaura Purnima. Even last year also, we arranged the festival within two-three days. This year we have got some time and you are all helping also. Earlier this year, there was so much collection and preaching, I have attended many preaching programmes—sometimes I also went to Nepal, sometimes to South India. In this way, I am trying as far as possible by me, but I know that Gurudev is doing everything.

* * *

Sri Godrumdwip Bhajan

Sri Nrisingha Palli

14 March 2019, part 3

When Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur was staying on this island, in Godrumdwip, he wrote a song about Gurudev. We all are habituated to always sing, "Gurudev, krpa bindu diya," "Sri Guru-charana-padma," but when I read that song, I was very pleased. I had never sung it before. Actually, when I saw it in this small book—[Parivrajik Maharaj] sells it for ten rupees in the bookstore—I thought, "The price of this book is ten million dollars, and even that would be insufficient." This book is Saranagati, and this very nice song that Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote about Godrumdwip, is this [His Divine Grace then chants the kirtan with the devotees]:

gurudeva!

bada krpa kari', gauda-vana-majhe

godrume diyacha sthana

ajna dila more, ei vraje vasi',

harinama kara gana

Gurudev! You have very mercifully given me a place in Sri Godrumdwip amid the forests of Gauda, and ordered me: "Reside in this abode which is non-different from Vraja and chant the Lord's Name."

kintu kabe prabho, yogyata arpibe,

e dasere daya kari'

chitta sthira habe, sakala sahiba,

ekante bhajiba hari

But when, O master, will you mercifully grant this servant the qualification to do this? Then my heart will become steadfast, I will tolerate everything, and I will serve the Lord sincerely.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's expression is very nice. "Bada krpa kari'": Gurudev, you have given me so much mercy, you are so merciful to me—you have given me a place in the middle of Gaura Mandal to stay in. And what will I do here? You have given me an order—"ei Vraja-basi' Harinama kara gana." 'Vraja' means this place is non-different from Vrindavan. "Harinama kara gana": you must always sing. There are nine islands and nine practices—sravanam (Simantadwip), kirtanam (Godrumdwip), smaranam (Madhyadwip), pada-sevanam (Koladwip), archanam (Rtudwip), vandanam (Jahnudwip), dasyam (Modadrumdwip), sakhyam (Rudradwip), atma-nivedanam (Antardwip). Godrumdwip is for kirtan. So, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says, "You have given me an order to sit here and sing holy songs, to chant the Holy Name." "Kintu kabe prabho, yogyata arpibe": Prabhu, when will I get that kind of quality to chant the Holy Name? I have no quality to chant the Holy Name. To chant the Holy Name, it is necessary to have some qualification, but my mind is always chanchal (fickle, restless), it always goes here, there, there., and I cannot tolerate anything. When will I be able to tolerate everything and stay here only thinking about the Lord? My mind is always chanchal, it is never sthira—kabe amara chitta sthira habe? When will my mind become fixed?

saisava-yauvane, jada-sukha-sange,

abhyasa ha-ila manda

nija-karma-dose, e deha ha-ila,

bhajanera pratibandha [3]

In my childhood and youth, I was attached to material happiness and my habits were wicked. Now because of my sins this body has become an impediment to engagement in service.

Saisava-yauvane—when I was young, when I was teenager, I did so many bad things, I have been always enjoying with material things, and as a result my habits have become very bad, I cannot change myself now (abhyasa ha-ila manda). Nija-karma-dose: then the reaction for my actions has come now and have got this body, but I cannot chant the Holy Name with this body. I am becoming very old now and I am suffering from five kinds of diseases:

vardhakye ekhana, pancha-roge hata,

kemane bhajiba bala'

kandiya kandiya, tomara charane

padiyachhi suvihvala [4]

Now aged, I am afflicted by various diseases. Tell me, how shall I serve? Crying incessantly, I have fallen at your feet, utterly overwhelmed.

I am suffering from five kinds of diseases: 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). With all these diseases there, how will I worship you? That is why I am crying and crying—now I am surrendering to you, I do not know what will happen.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur writes this. He is too much humble. It is necessary to have some quality. Humility, tolerance, giving honour to others are the most important qualities.

* * *

Power of Purity

Sri Nrisingha Palli

14 March 2019, part 4

We are staying here in a very special place... Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that we have taken initiation from Gurudev, but have we actually become disciples of our Gurudev? That is the main question.

After Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj's disappearance also everybody claimed, "Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj is our Guru!" but Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told straight and very strictly, "None of them are his disciples!" Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj gave everything to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and they thought they were his disciples too, so if they could take their Guru's dead body and make his samadhi, then they could become like Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, but Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur did not allow them to do that. He objected and declared that none of them was Srila Babaji Maharaj's disciple.

So, when we take initiation, not everybody becomes a disciple—some pretend to be a disciple. There are three types of disciples—guru-bhogi (those who use their Guru), guru-tyagi (those who renounce, or reject, their Guru), and guru-sevi (some few persons who are servitors of the Guru).

If at least one person is a proper disciple of Gurudev—if at least one person can follow Gurudev properly—then one-two people like that is sufficient. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj made many disciples, but among them he made only one proper disciple—Gurudev, who then conquered the whole world. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur also had so many disciples, but it was Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad who conquered the whole world. Srila Swami Maharaj created a big mission coming from householder life and coming to Krishna consciousness at a very old age, but he is so powerful—he has got the mercy from Prabhupad, and the mercy from Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also. Both our Gurudev and Srila Swami Maharaj became very powerful and conquered the whole world—that is sufficient for us.

* * *

Service with Heart

Sri Nrisingha Palli

14 March 2019, part 5

"All of us have come here to serve devotees"—if such mood comes to us, it will be good for us. Everybody does not really have equal quality or qualification, but in whichever way we can help, however much we can do, whichever way we can serve, we will try. This kind of desire should come to us, then we can easily make this festival successful.

We should happily help each other. Some tolerance, sacrifice is also necessary because the temple here is small and there are so many devotees coming—you see that there are so many devotees staying together in a very little room, we are also renting many rooms outside near Krishnanagar. What can I do? They want to come and join the parikrama, then I must give them an opportunity to join the programme, I cannot reject anybody. It is not a question if someone has money or not—everybody can join the parikrama.

When Srila Gurudev was seventeen-eighteen years, when he just joined the temple, he wrote one very nice poem, saying,

"aya aya tvara kari' bala-vrddha nara-nari

divya-chintamani-dhama—gaura-janma-bhumi

pranayi-bhakta sane jivanera subha-ksane

gauranga-janma-dine aya parikrami'"

"Men and women, young and old, come immediately! Come to the divine abode made of wish-fulfilling gemstone, the land of Sri Gauranga's advent! Come and circumambulate this land in the company of loving devotees at the most auspicious time in life: the day of Sri Gauranga's advent."

Come, join quickly, do not hesitate, do not look behind—throw everything and join the festival, join Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama.

Actually, as you know, this parikrama was first started by Sriman Nityananda Prabhu—He did it first with Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu.

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."

We should realise, we should understand the places Gaura visited, the pastimes that are going on in each of those places and we should keep everything in our heart. Service should be coming from the heart—you must serve with your heart. This is the main thing. Srila Prabhupad told also, "Make a temple in your heart"—give some space to the Deity in your heart. You heart is now full of all kinds of material desires, but you remove these bad elements, bad desires from your heart and give some space to your Lord, give some space to your worshippable Deity. That is main thing.

* * *

Sri Madhyadwip

Sri Nrisingha Palli

14 March 2019, part 6

We will start the first day of the parikrama from Godrumdwip, that is good. That day is ekadasi, we will do a short parikrama of Godrumdwip, come back and have anukalpa here [in the temple at Nrisingha Palli].

Actually, there is one more dwip (island) nearby where we never go—it is Madhyadwip. Before, when we stayed at Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Kolerganj, we also did not go there, and this year we are thinking to go there. This island is included in our calendar (panjika), but we do not go there... It is near here.

When Mahaprabhu went to that island, He was chanting the Holy Name on the bank of a lake when a crocodile came out of the water. It was actually not a crocodile—it was a demigod child who made a Vaishnav aparadha and was cursed by Durvasa Muni. One day, when Durvasa Muni was resting, the child cut his sikha and when Durvasa Muni woke up, he got angry, "What have you done! I curse you! You will live in a crocodile's body for four ages—Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali." The boy began to cry so much and asked Durvasa Muni to please forgive his offence, and in the end Durvasa Muni said, "All right, I can forgive your offence, but what has come out of my mouth will happen—you will still have to be born as a crocodile—but I can give you a solution. You will stay in Nabadwip Dham in the water of a lake, and when Mahaprabhu comes to that place with devotees an will chant there the maha-mantra, you will hear it and get your previous body of a demigod."

So, in Mahaprabhu's time, that boy came out of the water of the lake and grasped Mahaprabhu's legs saying, "Prabhu, You are that person Durvasa Muni had told me about! He said Krishna would appear in the age of Kali and through His chanting of the Holy Name I will get my previous body!"

Mahaprabhu performed so many pastimes is Nabadwip Dham... Gaura Hari…

* * *

The Right to Serve

Sri Nrisingha Palli

14 March 2019, part 7

By the mercy of Gurudev everybody is coming to the festival and we are going to start the parikrama soon. Almost all arrangements for the festival are finished now, and everybody is ready to go to Sri Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama. We will get a little bit austerity, some walking is necessary, but if somebody does not want to walk, they can go by a man or an auto rickshaw. In this way we will start our parikrama...

By the mercy of Gurudev we are still continuing—we are still trying to continue his glorification. If we cannot surrender properly to Gurudev, how will we understand what he has given to us? Unless we surrender we cannot understand Gurudev; but when we surrender properly, with heart and soul, then we can realise how much Gurudev is trying for us, how much he is trying to keep us, to help us continue practising Krishna consciousness. How much of his life he has sacrificed for his Guru—it is an example for us. Like Nityananda Prabhu, he went door to door, rescuing fallen souls like us, engaging us in the service of Nitai Gauranga or Srimati Radharani.

Who can give the right to serve Srimati Radharani, or Krishna also? Krishna is the property of Srimati Radharani and Srimati Radharani is non-different from Gurudev. So, if we properly surrender to the Guru, Gurudev can give us the permission, Gurudev can give us the right to serve the Lord. That is main thing.

There is Krishna and kasna—Krishna and Krishna's devotee. Our main thing, our fortune is to serve the devotees of Krishna. We try to serve devotees, we try to serve Lord Krishna, and whether He will take our service or not is His matter—we must try to serve. That is the main thing.

Hari bol. Hari bol. Gaura Nityananda. Nitai Gaura Hari bol.

* * *

Spiritual Mockery

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in São Paulo (Brazil),

7 April 2019

Without the mercy of Gurudev, without the mercy of the devotees, you cannot proceed in your spiritual life. Sometimes, we see that something can start in a gorgeous way, but it slowly diminishes and comes to nothing. Actually, we do not need to be a guru, we do not need to be an acharya, a manager or a temple president. It is not necessary. It is only necessary to be a simple servitor. We cannot understand what is Krishna consciousness life, what is our movement's life, but if we look at it from a little distance, then we can understand it. I was telling today also,

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)

You have got the seed from Gurudev, and if you water that seed, the bhakti-lata bij plant will sprout and grow, but if you water it too much, the tree will rot and you will become a sahajiya (imitator)—devotion will run away from you. We want to learn, we want to read so many things, but Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told that if you are thirsty you need only one glass of water, it is not necessary to think about a big ocean. So, for our spiritual life, it is sufficient to be only a simple servitor. It is important to understand this.

Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also said that when we do some service, when we come to Krishna consciousness, we think that we will get something, some spiritual or material benefit, but this is also a desire (kama). Prahlad Maharaj said that if you put a piece of wood into a fire, the fire will start burning more, if you put ten pieces of wood, the fire will burn even more—if you put a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand pieces of wood, the fire will grow more and more, it will never stop. Material desires are like this. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur said,

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara

sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

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

(Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Kama, desire, should come for the Lord. We must increase our service mood day by day—for the Lord. Kama (desire) is there, it is unavoidable, but it must be used for the opposite—not for our own interest, not for our own things.

We live in the material world and enjoy with Krishna's things, but everything exists for the service to the Lord. Because we have so much ego, we use everything for our own pleasure. Actually, we took initiation from a Guru, but it is not a real initiation—we only pretend to be disciples. The temple that Srila Guru Maharaj made and that Gurudev served is not for enjoyment—it is for service.

If you think, "I will see Jagannath," you will not be able to see Jagannath. If you think, "I will see Lord Krishna," you will not be able to see Him—you will only see a wooden doll. You cannot see the real Lord, real Krishna. Only if you think of Him as your worshippable Deity (sevya-vastu), if you realise that Krishna is the Supreme Personality and you are only His tiny servitor—if such conception comes to you—then Jagannath will appear, Krishna will appear in front of you, then you will be able to understand it, otherwise not.

* * *

Painful Day

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in São Paulo (Brazil),

7 April 2019

Our Gurudev's disappearance festival is very soon, that day is coming soon, next dvadasi...

It is a very sad day for me. It is the most painful day in my life, and this very painful day comes every year. I do not have the words to describe what kind of pain I got that day... But in another way, on this day I am trying to serve the devotees, to give them some prasadam, to make a festival remembering Gurudev—in this way, it is also my happiness. I try to make myself a little happy—if I can serve devotees, if I can make them happy, that is my happiness.

I am also look at all the Brazilian devotees and I want to say to you all—do not be disheartened, do not be discouraged. Always think that Krishna is always with you, Gurudev is always with you. Do not be discouraged—read Gurudev's books, read Gurudev's scriptures, listen to Gurudev's lectures. It will bring benefit to your spiritual life.

* * *

The Seeds of Discord

Sri Nabadwip Dham

30 March 2010, part 1

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya

chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

I offer my obeisance unto Sri Gurudev, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the salve of divine knowledge.

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.

You know that our Param Gurudev left in 1988 and I joined the temple permanently, started staying at the temple, in 1992. Even at that time also I saw many problems happen.

I remember when I joined, on the first or second day, one senior sannyasi told me, "Why have you come here? This temple's Guru is like that and like that." I was new at that time and did not know anything, but I replied, "If this temple is bad and everything is like that, then why are you here?" Then he left me alone thinking, "That boy is very bad."

Later Gurudev started this Centenary Building in 1993. You know that there used to be two litchis trees here, a rose garden and this small house, 'Govinda Dham.' Gurudev told me that he had had the key from that house (he had stayed there) for fifteen years. At that time I was not in charge of the temple, I was not the manager of the temple, but I supervised the running of the temple—some senior devotees managed the construction at that time. So, Gurudev started the construction of this Centenary building in 1993 and soon after that left for the West for preaching leaving some senior devotee to manage the construction—I only observed and kept account of how many trucks of soil had come, how many trucks of cement had come, etc. When Gurudev left, the devotee who was in charge of the construction decided to demolish this Govinda Dham building. Before Gurudev left, he told me personally that he had lived in this house for many years, he had many memories there—he did not tell me not to break it or to keep it, but from what he told me I understood that he loved this building. So, when they were going to demolish that house, I fought the man—'fought' means I opposed it and told him that no, they could not break it. Now you see that the Centenary building is built without breaking Gurudev's house. So many things have happened...

When it came to Gurudev's Vyasa Puja, they did not write 'Vyasa Puja' at that time—they would write 'Acharya abhinandan' in the invitation letters; also they would not use 'Om Vishnupad' title—they would write 'Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj'. A year after I came to the temple, I wrote the invitation letter and I wrote 'Vyasa Puja' and I wrote 'Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj'. When the invitation letter was printed, Gurudev asked me who had written that letter, and I told him that I had written it.

I also did some decoration for Gurudev's Vyasa Puja—I put some lights on his building and wrote 'Acharya Bhavan' on it. Some devotees became angry with me and started fighting. I cried to Gurudev and Gurudev called that brahmachari saying, "What is problem? He has only put some small light..." then he told me, "OK, Vinod, you can take the light off and paint my building black, that would be better!" Then I understood what his desire was. Another time, when Gurudev's Vyasa Puja was coming, I made a banner, but somebody broke it... So many things have happened and I think about many things because I have seen what has been happening here from 1992.

Another time, Gurudev gave me one service, "You must keep guard at night time." I would take a big five-cell torch light with me and keep guard at the temple. One night, I saw somebody doing some wrong in one of the buildings, and I told about it to Gurudev. I have never told about it to anyone else because I was afraid. Gurudev told me, "If you tell anybody, they will kill you." In Srila Prabhupad's time also something happened, and nobody could tell about it to anyone. Gurudev also had many dogs, you know that he loves dogs very much, and they were big dogs. When I was keeping guard, the dogs would often be around me. One night, I went to sleep at one-two o'clock at night, and the next day we saw that all dogs were dead. Gurudev asked me, "What happened?" I told him that in the evening before that I had seen somebody near goshala and I thought to myself, "What are they doing there at 9-10:30 p.m.? Maybe they will give poison to the cows..." This thought came to my mind, and it turned out that somebody from the temple killed all Gurudev's dogs.

I have seen many things have happened here since 1992, and there were so many obstacles, so many things Gurudev's godbrothers have been doing against Gurudev when he would go to the West. I have always been fighting everything. You know that Gurudev has gone abroad twenty-five times since 1992, and during all this time I have been managing everything downstairs. That was my job...

At first, Gurudev chastised me much, and I knew that I had some fault, that I was doing some wrong sometimes. Three days before Gurudev left, Srila Janardan Maharaj asked me, "Maharaj, why do you keep that man in the temple?" I replied, "Maharaj, he has been here for many years during Gurudev's time and Gurudev cannot kick him out, then how will I kick him out? What can I do? This is their nature, we have to tolerate a little..." At Gurudev's Vyasa Puja, when he made the declaration, I was in Australia, but when I came back, Gurudev chastised me,

"You always go preaching in Bengal, sometimes in the West, you do collection sometimes, but you have not seen so many things happening here inside?"

I told Gurudev, "I thought that if somebody hates me, it is OK—I love everybody."

Gurudev said, "This animosity, these things have not grown overnight—it has been growing and increasing day by day, day by day. You did not see what was happening inside, and now that tree has grown very big!"

I saw this first when I made the small brahmachari building at the front of the temple, where the fountain is also. It used to be a printing press room before—and at that time it was a very ugly looking tin shed, no one worked there any more, the printing had finished, but the printing press was there and there were so many snakes living there. At that time I thought no one was my enemy. When I broke that tin shed and made a good small house for brahmacharis, with a fountain, I asked one devotee, "Prabhu, you see? Does it look good or not?" He replied, "Anyone can do that! You got the money and you did it!" Now, so many years later, these things are coming out... At the beginning I did not understand it and did not care for it. That is why Gurudev chastised me. He told me I should have thought about it at that time when I was told that, but I did not because I thought, "What is there to think?"

* * *

Strong Faith and Chastity

Sri Nabadwip Dham

30 March 2010, part 2

Gurudev told so many things. Gurudev said to me, "In Guru Maharaj's time I had so much stand, no one could compete with me, but you have to fight carefully." We are trying... but I know that Gurudev is always with us, with all the devotees, and you, all his devotees, are always with me, that is why I am not worried.

I promised to Gurudev, "As long as there is even one drop of blood in my body, I will protect your mission, your Deities, and your devotees." I have already promised him. When he was leaving Nabadwip for Kolkata, I asked Gurudev, "Gurudev, shall I go to Kolkata with you?" and Gurudev answered, "What have you just promised? You have just now promised to me that you will protect my temple, devotees and Deities. Why do you want to go with me now? No, stay here."

I always think about what Gurudev wants, what is his desire and I understood it from the beginning—I have told the stories about painting his house, the centenary building, etc. And if there is any problem I can always ask him, and he will solve that problem, I know it. One day, when I was keeping night guard, I suddenly saw Gurudev standing at the samadhi of Param Guru Maharaj. I was surprised to see him there so late at night (it was midnight or one o'clock at night), and I thought, "Do I see a ghost or something?" But it was Gurudev. Later I asked him what he was doing there and Gurudev said, "There is some problem that I cannot solve, I came to Guru Maharaj to solve it." So, Gurudev always exists and he is always helping. When Gurudev went to America one year, he fell down from the hill there and he told me later, "Guru Maharaj picked me up that day." Gurudev always protects us, he is always with us.

You know I went to Bamunpara today—I went to see the construction works at Nityananda Sarovar [a pond next to the temple]. Some devotee came to me and I told them about Nityananda Sarovar: I left Kolkata on Friday at 11 a.m., and before I left Gurudev told me, "You are making Nityananda Sarovar, it is good, I am very happy. Can I participate in your service?" and he ordered Yamuna Didi to give me 50,000 rupees for Nityananda Sarovar. That was last Friday, and I went today to see how the works are going on.

One time, I asked Gurudev, "Gurudev, can I give a temple to them?" Gurudev said, "I will not give any temple to them!" And I must follow Gurudev's order, that is why when they now come to compromise saying, "OK, give us one temple," I remember that Gurudev had ordered not to give any temple to them. What can I do? I wanted to give a temple to them before, and I asked Gurudev for permission, but Gurudev said, "No! I cannot give any temple to them."

I have to follow Gurudev's order. That is our faith, sraddha—full faith. There is kamala-sraddha (delicate faith), taranga-sraddha (fickle faith), drdha-sraddha (strong faith), sudrdha-sraddha (strongest faith). It is necessary to have the strongest faith. Devotion depends upon faith. If Gurudev says this is a rope, then even if you see it is a snake, you must think, "No, it is a rope." This is the nature of devotional activities.

Gurudev has seen many times that I am reckless—I do not care for anything when it comes to myself. When there was a heavy flood, I would bring straw for the cows from Gurudev's birthplace area by boat. Gurudev saw that I did not care for myself. Whether I die or I live, it is not my problem—this body can go any day, but we have got this body for the service to Gurudev, for the service to the Lord, and if I cannot use my body for his service, then what is the use of this body? It is useless then.

Somebody thinks now, "Oh, Gurudev is not here, we will not go to the temple." I think that those who say or think this have not got any connection with Gurudev. Somebody thinks, "Oh, Gurudev is now in samadhi..." Samadhi means he is thinking—he is still there. He may not be able to talk now like before, but he can see everything, and he is watching everything. The other day Rana Didi told me, "Why will I go to Dum Dum Park now?" [She used to go there every day.] I told her, "If you have some faith, you can go there every day even now and you can talk to your Gurudev, it is not a problem." He may not speak, but Gurudev is always here. I think those who say Gurudev is not here anymore have not got any connection with Gurudev. That is why it is necessary to have a strong faith.

* * *

"I Want to Forget"

Sri Nabadwip Dham

30 March 2010, part 3

I am telling to you all, to all our godbrothers, godsisters—you can chastise me also. Gurudev chastised me, then you can also chastise me. I will not be angry. Gurudev used to chastise me before, but who will chastise me now?

I am always thinking... You know I have not been able to sleep since Friday. I always keep waking up, three-four times during the night, and I am always thinking. I fall asleep and then in half an hour I again wake up, and I start thinking about Gurudev's words... I look at my watch, it is 1:30, sometimes 2:30, 3:30. I cannot sleep. I do not know when sleep will come or what will happen...

I keep thinking about Gurudev, I keep thinking about what happened from Friday to Saturday morning and I feel I cannot understand it. That is why I want to go somewhere—like, Bamunpara, crops field, etc. I want to get some relief. When I am sitting in the office, I get some relief, but as soon as I go to my room, I again start remembering everything. I want someone to come to me so that I could talk to them, so that I could forget a little about it, because when I am alone, then again Gurudev's words and what has happened comes to my mind, at least when I talk, some memories go away. That is why I went to Bamunpara and crops fields today—I am thinking I want to forget it, but I cannot... It is impossible to forget this. Such is my situation.

Anyhow, it is prasadam time now, we should finish. Please forgive my offence.

I remember one time a devotee from a Gaudiya Math came here with an invitation for Gurudev. He first saw me—I was sitting downstairs in a small office. At that time this Centenary building was not there, and there was a small office in the nat mandir, a sitting office, without chairs (now that room is broken). So, I was sitting in that office and the devotee came to me saying he wanted to give invitation to Gurudev, and he insisted that he wanted to give it directly to Gurudev. I told him, "OK, you can go." That devotee did not even know the name of our temple—he wrote 'Sri Chaitanya Saraswata Gaudiya Math.' When Gurudev saw it, he said, "What?! We are not qualified to be Gaudiya! We still have not been able to become Gaudiya! We are Chaitanya Saraswat Math." I remember this... Gurudev said that we cannot be even qualified to be called Gaudiya. That was 1994-1995.

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

All the assembled devotees ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

* * *

Appreciating Worship of Nrisinghadev

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

4 January 2019, part 1

vande 'ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams cha

sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana raghunath-anvitam tam sa-jivam

sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krsna-chaitanya-devam

sri-radha-krsna-padan saha-gana-lalita sri-visakhanvitams cha

I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of my Guru, the predecessor Gurus, the Lord's devotees, Sri Rupa, Sri Sanatan, Sri Raghunath, Sri Jiva, Sri Rupa's followers, Sri Krishna Chaitanyadev, Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Sri Advaita Prabhu, Sri Chaitanyadev's associates, Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, Sri Lalita Devi, Sri Visakha Devi, and all of Their associates.

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya

chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

I offer my obeisance unto Sri Gurudev, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the salve of divine knowledge.

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.

devam divya-tanum suchanda-vadanam balarka-chelanchitam

sandrananda-puram sad-eka-varanam vairagya-vidyambudhim

sri-siddhanta-nidhim subhakti-lasitam sarasvatanam varam

vande tam subhadam mad-eka-saranam nyasisvaram sridharam

I offer my obeisance unto my lord, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, whose speech is most pleasing; whose divine form is adorned with garments the colour of the newly-risen sun; who is an abode of intense, ecstatic devotion; who is the sadhus' sole choice; who is an ocean of renunciation and knowledge; who is a treasure-house of perfect conclusions; who is resplendent with pure devotion; who is the best of Srila Saraswati Thakur's followers; who is the giver of all good; who is the leading general of the tridandi-sannyasis; and who is my sole shelter.

vanchha-kalpatarubhyas cha

krpa-sindhubhya eva cha

patitanam pavanebhyo

vaisnavebhyo namo namah

Again and again I offer my obeisance unto the Supreme Lord's devotees, who are saviours of the fallen, oceans of mercy, and wish-fulfilling trees.

vrndayai tulasi-devyai priyayai kesavasya cha

krsna-bhakti-prade devi satyavatyai namo namah

Again and again I offer my obeisance unto Vrnda Devi, who is known as Tulasi Devi and Satyavati, who is most dear to Krishna, and who bestows devotion to Krishna upon us.

atha natva mantra-gurun gurun bhagavatarthadan

vyasan jagad-gurun natva tato jayam udirayet

Having offered obeisance to one's initiating Guru, to the Gurus who have taught one the meaning of the Bhagavat, and to all the authors of Vedic literature, who are the Gurus of the entire world, proclaim "Jay!"

jayah sa-parikara sri-sri-guru-gauranga-gandharvagovindasundar-padapadmanam jayastu!

All glory to the lotus feet of Sri Guru, Sri Gaurasundar, Sri Sri Gandharva-Govindasundar, and all of Their associates!

vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Sri Rupa Goswami, Sri Sanatan Goswami, Sri Raghunath Bhatta Goswami, Sri Raghunath Das Goswami, Sri Jiva Goswami, and Sri Gopala Bhatta Goswami.

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda

sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura-bhakta-vrnda

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

When your mind goes to some other place, or when it gives some disturbance, you must always loudly chant this Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

By the mercy of Gurudev, by the mercy of devotees, we are present here, in Vijayawada. We did some programme here yesterday also, and today we have been to the temples of Pana Nrisingha and Laksmi Nrisingha.

Actually, you are very fortunate souls because you live near Laksmi Nrisingha, Pana Nrisingha temples. You should understand how much devotion Prahlad Maharaj has, and what his devotion, his desire and mood of devotion are like; you should also read Srimad Bhagavatam. Prahlad Maharaj has a disinterested nature, he never thinks about himself: whenever we worship any demigod or god, we always ask for something for our own benefit, but Prahlad Maharaj said, "Prabhu, please remove that kind of asking mood from my heart."

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also came here—the Lord Himself came here to pay obeisance to Lord Nrisinghadev, and He asked Nrisinghadev for mercy. Nija achari' dharma sikhaya: He poses as a student, as a devotee. The Lord Himself comes as a devotee and He shows us that we must worship Lord Nrisingha.

That is why at our temple we have established singing the pranam-mantra of Nrisinghadev as the arati:

jaya nrsimha, sri nrsimha, jaya jaya nrsimha

prahladesa jaya padma-mukha-padma-bhrnga

"All glories to Nrisinghadev! All glories to Nrisinghadev, who is the Lord of Prahlad Maharaj and, like a honeybee, is always engaged in beholding the lotus face of the goddess of fortune."

Our Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, also chanted this pranam-mantra song. By the mercy of Gurudev, last year we installed the Deities of Laksmi Nrisingha and Prahlad Maharaj in Nrisingha Palli, Nabadwip Dham, Godrumdwip. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, the acharya of Gaudiya Math and the main acharya of our Guru-parampara line, also installed the Deities of Laksmi Nrisingha in Yogapith. Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that Nrisinghadev always went to Yogapith to see the arati of Lord Nitai Chaitanyadev, the arati of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the arati of Radha Krishna, but now that Laksmi Nrisingha had appeared in Yogapith, it was not necessary for Him to come from His place—now He can always see the arati there. By the mercy of Gurudev, Laksmi Nrisingha appeared in Chaitanya Saraswat Math also—in Nrisingha-tala, Nrisinghapur (Godrumdwip, Nabadwip), so now it is not necessary for Him to come to Yogapith also—Lord Nrisinghadev can see the arati of Nitai Chaitanyadev from where He is seated.

* * *

Proper Care

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

4 January 2019, part 2

You are all fortunate souls because you chant the Holy Name, this Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and practise Krishna consciousness near Lord Nrisinghadev. Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita told,

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)

Only a fortunate soul can receive this devotional seed (bhakti-lata-bij) from a perfect guru. However, sometimes we receive the seed, but we do not take care of the seed, sometimes we do not give water. 'Water' means sravanam, kirtanam. The problem comes when we do not practise sadhu-sanga, Nama-sankirtana, Bhagavata-sravana, Mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana ("devotees' association, chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, hearing Srimad Bhagavatam, residing at Mathura and worshipping the Deity with faith).

Sravanam and kirtanam are the main things in our spiritual life, they are the highest practices. Sravanam and kirtanam are always like water. If we do not practise sravan and kirtan properly, we will forget everything: if we do not practise properly, we will forget our service, we will forget our practising life. Maya Devi is always searching for a vacancy—she can attack you at any time.

By your fortune, by the mercy of Gurudev, some of you have got this connection and have already started to practise. We are also practitioners, we do not think that we are gurus, that we are great Vaishnavs. This is not our identification. We are also practitioners of Krishna consciousness, we also practise devotional activities. We also have to be careful—Maya Devi always sits near us and she can attack us at any time; she can take us away from the service of Krishna and use for her own service.

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya

sadhu-gurur krpa vina na dekhi upaya

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

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

There is no other way except the mercy of sadhu and Guru by which we can overcome attacks of Maya. Maya always gets her power from Krishna—you know that Krishna Himself said, "I created Maya, that is why it is very difficult to conquer Maya. You cannot defeat Maya. There is only one way to defeat her—how?"

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya

mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

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

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

Lord Krishna said, "If you can fully surrender to Me—causeless, without any condition—then Maya will automatically run away.”

* * *

Learning to Surrender

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

4 January 2019, part 3

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya

upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

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

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

Tad viddhi pranipat means full surrender, saranagati, and surrender means:

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana

'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

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

bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara

bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

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

Dainya, we must be humble. Atma-nivedana, we must surrender ourselves. Gurudev always gave this example. Suppose you go to bathe in a pond, or the Ganges, when it is very cold. You are thinking, "Oh, it is very cold. Shall I bathe or not? Shall I bathe or not? It is very cold..." but if you throw your gumcha, then you will jump into the Ganges to get your gumcha. In the same way, your mind always thinks, "Shall I jump or not? Shall I jump or not?" but you must throw your mind into Krishna consciousness life, then you can understand everything. Mind is always naughty, but you have intelligence, sumedha.

krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam

sangopangastra-parsadam

yajnaih sankirtana-prayair

yajanti hi su-medhasah

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

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.5.32)

Krishna appeared in this world in the form of His Name and as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, desiring to taste and enjoy the devotion of Srimati Radharani...

So, tad viddhi pranipat is full surrender. Dainya is humility. Atma-nivedana is self-surrender. Then, goptrtve varan—Krishna is our protecter. Krishna takes care of us, but we forget that. We think, "My parents take care of me," "My husband does this," "My wife does that," "My child does this," "My son does that," but this is material ego. You must understand that you are not doing anything, that they are not doing anything—there is some power controlling you, and this power is Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna controls you.

Then, another two of the six types of saranagati is 'bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara' and 'bhakti-pratikula bhava varjanangikara': you must understand what is favourable to devotion and is unfavourable to devotion, and you must accept what is favourable. At the same time, it is not correct if you accept what is favourable and continue doing what is unfavourable to devotion. You must accept what is favourable to devotion and you must reject what is unfavourable to devotion. Suppose you drink milk every day—milk gives vitamins, it improves you health (everyone knows that milk is very powerful), but in the meantime if you take some alcohol also, then that alcohol will diminish the power of milk. Therefore, you must understand devotional life, you must understand what is necessary for devotion or devotional activities and accept that, and you must always avoid what is not necessary for devotion.

Mahaprabhu told Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, for our benefit:

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe

bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe

amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be

vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

"Do not listen to the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krsna, and in your mind serve Radha-Krsna."

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

Always avoid talking nonsense and always avoid listening to nonsense talks. You have got eyes to see the Deities of Radha-Krishna, Mahaprabhu, then you should see the Deities' form with your eyes—do not see bad things with your eyes. You have got ears, but you should not listen to bad things, always listen to Hari-katha, Gurudev's katha—listen to that. You have got a mouth, and you must chant the Name of Krishna with it—do not use your mouth only for eating and talking nonsense.

You must understand that our practice is yukta-vairagya (proper renunciation), not phalgu-vairagya (false renunciation). False renunciation is not our practising life. We are not enjoyers, neither are we renunciates. We are only servitors—that is our identity.

We are not enjoyers means you have some things, you earn some money, you cook something or do something, and you must understand that it is not meant for you—you must offer everything to the Lord because everything is His property otherwise you will be stealing His things, you will be eating all the sinful things.

* * *

Triumph of Life

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

4 January 2019, part 4

Try to understand what Sri Brahma-samhita (5.1) says,

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

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

Brahma says that the figure (vigraha) of the Lord is sach-chit-ananda. He always exists, present, past and future: He existed before, in the past, He is present now, and He will be there in future also. Krishna says that when everything is demolished, only He is there. It will happen after Kali-yuga, you know that. There are four ages—Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali. After Kali-yuga finished, Krishna will come to Sambalpur in Purusottama Ksetra as Kalki Maharaj and He will demolish everything. The duration of Kali-yuga is 432,000 years, and only about 5500 years have passed so far.

In the meantime, we must understand what is necessary for our spiritual life. Life is very short—we can die any time. We do not know when we will leave our body, when we will go to the cremation ghat, that is why time is very short. Mahaprabhu appeared in this age of Kali and went door to door calling you, offering to take you to your real home—back to God, back to home.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also said

prthivite yata achhe nagaradi grama

sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

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

But who actually arranged this? Mahaprabhu only said it, but which guru-parampara accomplished this? Our Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, our Gurudev Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, all the sannyasis, brahmacharis and followers go door to door and tell, "This is not your house. You have lost your address, this is not your real home. Please come with me, I take you home—I can show you the way to your real home!"

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also told,

jiva jago, jiva jago, gorachanda bale

kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

Sri Gorachand calls, "O souls, awake! O souls, awake! How long will you sleep in the clutches of the witch Maya?"

"How much longer will you sleep on the lap of Maya Devi? How much longer will you sleep? You must wake up! Please wake up and listen to this Hare Krishna maha-mantra! Chant this Hare Krishna maha-mantra! Come! Krsna bolo, sange chala, ei matra bhiksa chai. I am begging you only for one thing: come with us and chant 'Krishna'! I am begging you, I am praying to you—I am coming to you and I am sending all my followers, everything to you, please listen to them, come with them to your real home."

tava nija-jana kona mahajane

pathaiya dile tumi

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

daya kari' more patita dekhiya

kahila amare giya

ohe dina-jana suna bhala katha

ullasita ha'be hiya

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

('Emona Durmati' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

"Ohe dina-jana suna bhala katha: please listen to me! Ullasita ha'be hiya: you will be very grateful, you will be very glad and happy!"

tomare tarite sri-krsna-chaitanya

navadvipe avatara

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

"You will be rescued from this illusory environment."

You all the time keep coming and going, coming and going—you have got this human body now and you have a family life; when you were in a cat's body, you also had a cat's family at that time; when you were in a dog's body, you also had a dog's family. We always come and go, come and go—we are always swimming in an ocean, but when we get to the shore, then we will finally get some rest—that shore is your real home. We are swimming in an ocean of illusory environment (Maya samudra) and we do not understand which way we must go, we do not know what will happen, but we have finally got this human body, we are fortunate souls. We must understand what is our duty in this human body—only sleeping, eating and enjoying like cats and dogs?

When Mahaprabhu went to Gaya to do his father's sraddha ceremony, He met with His Guru, Sri Ishwar Puri, at that time, and He said,

"samsara-samudra haite uddharaha more

ei ami deha samarpilana tomare"

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

"Please rescue Me from this ocean of Maya. I am surrendering to you, please rescue Me from this kind of situation." He also said

prabhu bale, "gaya-yatra saphala amara

yata-ksane dekhilana charana tomara"

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Adi-khanda, 17.50)

"I have come to Gaya, a holy place, and My pilgrimage has now become successful because I have got a real Vaishnav, I have got a bona fide Guru here!”

* * *

Crooked Service (1)

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

4 January 2019, part 5

Mahaprabhu told very nicely,

chetodarpanamarjanam bhavamahadava nirvapanam

sreyah kairava chandrikavitaranam vidyavadhujivanam

anandambudh ivardhanam pratipadam purnamrtasvadanam

sarvatmasnapanam param vijayate srikrsnasankirtanam

"The Holy Name of Krishna cleanses the mirror of the heart and extinguishes the fire of misery in the forest of birth and death. As the evening lotus blooms in the moon's cooling rays, the heart begins to blossom in the nectar of the Name. And at last the soul awakens to its real inner treasure a life of love with Krishna. Again and again tasting nectar, the soul dives and surfaces in the ever-increasing ocean of ecstatic joy. All phases of the self of which we may conceive are fully satisfied and purified, and at last conquered by the all-auspicious influence of the Holy Name of Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 20.12)

Chetana-darpan: suppose you have a mirror in your house; if you do not use the mirror for a long time, it will become covered with dust and you will not be able to see your picture in it because of that; you must first clean the mirror, then you will see your picture.

Srila Narottam Das Thakur says also, "Krishna se tomar, Krishna dite paro, tomara sakati achhe: Krishna is yours, you have the power and you can give Krishna." Who can give Krishna to you? Only a great Vaishnav can because Krishna lives in their heart. Krishna never lives in a non-devotee's heart because non-devotees always ask Krishna to fulfil their own desire. "Atmendriya-priti-vancha—tare bali 'kama'—the desire to gratify one's own senses is kama (lust)." They always keep asking for different things, and Krishna becomes very tired and runs away from such non-devotees.

We are all sons and daughters of Lord Krishna, but we are searching for Krishna because we have lost our parents. Krishna mata, Krishna pita: Krishna is our mother, Krishna is our father. We have lost our real parents, and Krishna also has lost us. We all come from Krishna, but we have been wandering through so many samsaras (family lives) for so many years, so many births and deaths, births and deaths. Krishna is also searching for us—He sends a real devotee to us to tell us how we can go to our father, how we can go to our parents, and He shows us the real path by which we can reach our real home and our real parents.

Sometimes we worship some demigod or even Krishna, but Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told, "Are you worshipping Krishna or are you making Him your servant?" If someone always asks Krishna, "Please give me this," "Please give me this", then Krishna becomes your servant. This is not the real way to worship the Lord. You must not use Krishna for your own purpose. Do not use Krishna, do not use any worshippable God or demigod. Such is real devotion—that is Vraja bhakti, that is Vrindavan bhakti, the devotion of the gopis. They do not want their own happiness—they want Krishna's happiness. They do not think that they will go to hell. You can see that even Laksmi, even Sivji Maharaj, even Narad, even Brahma could not give their feet dust to Krishna, but the Vraja gopis are always ready to give it and they gave their feet dust to Krishna. That is why Krishna showed, "You see, Uddhav Maharaj? How very dear the Vraja gopis are to Me!"

You can understand this from the example of family life also. Suppose somebody has three-five sons—one son is asking his parents for this, another son is asking his parents for that, and so on. Everyone is asking for something unnecessary, and the parents become tired. But if there is a son who does not ask for anything, but always takes care of his mother and father, always asks, "How are you?", "How is your health?", etc., then the father and the mother become pleased with that son. This is an example of mundane service, but you can understand that we all—all over the world—are sons and daughters of the Lord, and we always serve or want to serve the Lord, but do we want to serve to fulfil our own desire or to fulfil Krishna's desire?

* * *

Crooked Service (2)

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

4 January 2019, part 6

I remember one time I went to Midnapore for preaching. The programme was in the evening, but the road was very bad and there was some problem on the road, and when we arrived we had to walk three-four kilometres to the place—and there was no road, we had to walk through a field. So, when we reached the place it was very late, perhaps eight o'clock already. They told me that there were one thousand people in the evening, but because we were late many people had left and only two-three hundred people stayed. When they saw us coming, they started kirtan and gave me a chair. I sat down. Because I had been walking, I was very tired and asked them, "Please give me a glass of water"—but they were already queuing with pots of water, they wanted to wash my feet. I had waited for half an hour thinking, "My glass of water is not coming..." I was very upset, I told them, "What is devotion? What do you want—do you want to please yourself? Is this devotion? This is your own enjoyment!" They only show so much externally. Moreover, later on, I was about to take prasadam, and before I even started taking the food they asked me, "Maharaj, please give us some of your prasad." I got very upset, I told them, "What is this? Who taught you all this? I do not consider myself a Vaishnav, but you are asking me for my prasad. This is external devotion, not internal."

You can remember Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj's pastimes also—you can see his photograph in our Guru-paramapara, he is the last one on the right. You can see what is called vaishnavata (qualities of a Vaishnav) and how Vaishnavism is practised. When Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj came from Vrindavan (he was brought from there in a basket by his servant named Bihari Das), he was very old—he left his body when he was 132 years old, so that time he must have been 128-129 years old. So, one time a lady invited Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj to her house, she wanted to give some prasadam to him. Bihari Das arranged for Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj to come there.

At that time, there was no transport from Nabadwip—they could reach her place only on foot, and it was something like 20 km from their place to that lady's house. So, Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj started off with his servitor early in the morning—he told, "OK, there is an invitation for today, we must start out early in the morning because we have to walk for so many hours." You know that Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj would wear only a short dhoti and an uttaria; he would never wear a kurta. On their way, one rich man saw Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj from the roof of his house and thought, "Oh, this sadhu has no money. If I help him with something, it will be good." He was very proud of his money. So, the man came down from the roof of his house and gave one rupee to Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj. Babaji Maharaj took that money, tied it in his cloth, and continued walking. Having walked a little further, Babaji Maharaj told his servitor Bihari Das, "Turn back. Go back to that man." Babaji Maharaj was old and could not speak loudly, so he asked his servitor to call that man. When the man came downstairs again, he thought, "What has happened? He is probably going to again ask for money!" He asked, "What do you want? Tell me." Babaji Maharaj did not say anything—he took the money and gave it back to the man. The man was surprised, "You have taken this money, why are you giving it back now?" Then Babaji Maharaj said, "It is too much money, I cannot tolerate it. When I have this money, I am walking and thinking what I will buy with this money, what I will do with this money and I cannot chant the Holy Name properly on my beads. Please take it back and give me relief."

After that, Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj continued walking and finally they reached the house of the lady; it was a little late. The lady said, "Oh, you have come. I am waiting for you. The prasadam is ready." Babaji Maharaj said, "No problem, Bihari Das can offer the bhog to the Deities, after that we can take prasad." After the bhog was offered, the lady started serving prasadam to both Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj and Bihari Das. Babaji Maharaj took little, but he finished whatever she gave. Seeing this, the lady thought, "I have brought him to my house, he is a great Vaishnav and I want his prasadam, but he has taken everything!" She did not say anything and again started serving him prasadam. Babaji Maharaj said, "No, no. Not necessary, not necessary!" But she insisted, "No, take, take!"—she again gave him some rice, dal, etc. Then, Babaji Maharaj again took prasadam and this time he not only took everything, he ate the banana leaf plate (kola-pata) as well. Bihari Das became very afraid, he said, "I will never again accept such invitations!"

This is material desire. Gurudev said that this is not right—you want to serve your Guru, and if you want to take some prasadam of your Guru, you should not put too much on his plate for your own enjoyment. If your Guru leaves prasadam on the plate, then you can take a little when you are cleaning the plate—at that time you can take, but you must not force your Guru, "Give me, give me." This is real Vaishnavism—we want to learn from great Vaishnavs.

* * *

Who Is a Real Disciple?

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

4 January 2019, part 7

Who is a Vaishnav? A Vaishnav is actually a great soul. Only a great acharya can recognise who is a great Vaishnav, that is why we have to follow their instruction:

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

ara na kariha mane asa

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

You must follow what is coming from their lotus mouth (mukha-padma), that is your religion, that is your main teaching.

You may be living in family life, I have no objection, no problem. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also told that somebody can live householder life, it is not a problem because even a householder devotee can be a vanaprastha or a sannyasi because their mood is devotional, they dedicate their life fully to Lord Krishna, they always serve twenty-four hours a day; they may go to work, but they always work for their Guru, for the Vaishnavs, they offer everything to the Lord. Such householders are sannyasis.

In Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswat Thakur's time also, the secretary of Chaitanya Math was a grihastha, his name is Kunja Bihari Prabhu (affectionately known as Kunja Babu), later he became Srila Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Maharaj. Kunja Babu could not always stay at the temple, but he always served Chaitanya Math from his householder life. Moreover, when he would come to visit Chaitanya Math, to see Prabhupad, at that time almost all sannyasis would give him their full obeisance.

In this way, Srila Prabhupad teaches us that we do not discriminate who is a grihastha, who is a brahmachari, and who is a sannyasi. Those who are dearest to Gurudev, those who can serve Gurudev properly, who can follow his instruction properly, they are the real devotees.

* * *

Flunkies of Flesh

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

4 January 2019, part 8

There is one song,

durlabha manava-janma labhiya samsare

krsna na bhajinu duhkha kahiba kahare? [1]

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

Although it is very rare to get this human body (manava-janma), we have finally got it, but the truth is we cannot worship Radha-Krishna. "Krsna na bhajinu duhkha kahiba kahare." It must come to our mind, we must feel very sad because we cannot serve our Guru properly, we cannot serve to our Lord properly—we cannot practise Krishna consciousness properly.

'samsara' 'samsara' kari' michhe gela kala

labha na ha-ila kichhu, ghatila janjala [2]

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

kisera samsara ei chhayabaji praya

ihate mamata kari vrtha dina yaya [3]

“What sort of world is this? It is like a play of shadows. While I affectionately take it as my own, my days pass by in vain.”

We are always wasting time on family life. We are born, we play in our childhood, then we go to school, college, university, we get a job, after that we retire, but even then we also serve our grandsons, granddaughters. We always pass time, but you must think that one day you will leave this body. You are doing so many things for your body only—you are working the whole day only for your body, only to maintain your son, daughter, father, mother, etc., but when you leave this body, you will go to the cremation ghat—think what will happen to this body of yours then.

e deha patana ha'le ki rabe amara?

keha sukha nahi dibe putra paribara [4]

“When this body drops dead, what will remain ‘mine'? Upon death neither my sons nor my family will give me any satisfaction.”

Your sons, daughters and other relatives will not give you any happiness when you leave your body.

gardabhera mata ami kari parisrama

kara lagi' eta kari, na ghuchila bhrama [5]

“I toil laboriously like a donkey. For whom am I doing this? Still my illusion has not been dispelled.”

You are like a donkey—it is carrying sugar but can never get any taste of that sugar. Who are you doing all this for? You must understand it. You work so much your whole life—you work day and night, who are doing it for? What is your real benefit in doing it? You do not know that it can bring benefit to this body only, but what is your ('your' means your jiva soul's) benefit? Do you think about that? Do you think about yourself properly?

dina yaya michha kaje, nisa nidra-vase

nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe vase [6]

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

The whole day passes, from sunrise to sunset, you work the whole day and night time you enjoy. Gurudev said that if you are alive for thirty years more, you must count that your lifetime is fifteen years more because you will spend the other fifteen years on sleeping at night. We do not think. We say many things, we do many things, we plan what we will do for ten years ahead, but we do not know that we can at once leave this body at any time. We are eating, sleeping and enjoying, but we do not think that we will not live in this body any more.

bhala manda khai, heri, pari, chinta-hina

nahi bhavi, e deha chhadiba kona dina [7]

“I eat luxuriously, look around, and dress carelessly, never considering that one day I will leave this body.”

deha-geha-kalatradi-chinta avirata

jagichhe hrdaye mora buddhi kari hata [8]

“Constant thoughts of my body, home, wife, and so on, arise in my heart and spoil my intelligence.”

haya, haya! nahi bhavi—anitya e saba

jivana vigate kotha rahibe vaibhava? [9]

“Alas! Alas! I never considered that all of these things are temporary. When my soul departs, where will all these opulences remain?”

smasane sarira mama padiya rahibe

vihanga-patanga taya vihara karibe [10]

“My body will be laid to rest at the crematorium. There birds and insects will enjoy it.”

kukkura srgala saba anandita ha'ye

mahotsava karibe amara deha la'ye [11]

“Dogs and jackals will happily have a great festival with my body.”

ye dehera ei gati, tara anugata

samsara-vaibhava ara bandhu-jana yata [12]

“This is the fate of my body, its effects, material wealth, and all of my companions.”

ataeva maya-moha chhadi buddhimana

nitya-tattva krsna-bhakti karuna sandhana [13]

“So, intelligent souls! Abandon Maya's illusion and search for the eternal truth: devotion to Krsna.”

When our dead body is taken to the cremation ghat, so many insects will bite it then, so many things will happen—some insects, some ants will go into the ear, some will go into the eyes, they will eat your flesh. You know that sometimes some flood or some earthquake comes and you can see jackals and dogs making a feast of the bodies. This will happen to your body after death. Still, you are not running under the guidance of Guru and Vaishnavs—you are running under the guidance of your body.

You must understand this and you must leave your attachment to the family life. You are attached to your family life, but that kind of attachment should come to Lord Krishna, Gauranga Mahaprabhu, and Gurudev. Search for Sri Krishna Reality the Beautiful! Search for Krishna-bhakti—you must search where you can get real devotion!

* * *

A Heartfelt Appeal

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

4 January 2019, part 9

Does anyone have any question? [Silence.] No questions? It means everybody agrees with me? In this case, everybody must follow Krishna consciousness, practise and chanting the maha-mantra. All right?

Leave your family, leave your husband, leave your wife—I am not telling you anything like this. Only leave your ego. "I am working," "I am earning money," "I am cooking"—you must leave this kind of ego. Sri Brahma-samhita (5.1) says,

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

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

He is the cause of all causes—He does everything, and we are only His instruments. Therefore, do not steal His things. Think about it. Someone plants a tree, or a flower plant, but not all flowers, not all things are used properly. Today, you have offered garlands to Gurudev and all the Deities, that means these flower plants are also fortunate because they are getting a chance to serve Krishna, they are getting a chance to serve Radharani. Some flowers are used at the cremation ghat, some flowers are used at some sraddha ceremony or a wedding ceremony, but only fortunate souls can get some ajnata sukriti (unconscious spiritual merit) through service to the Lord.

So, you have no questions? Have you listened properly? Do you understand everything? What kirtans do you sing? You must sing five songs every morning and five songs every evening. We sing, "Gurudev, krpa bindu diya" and "Sri Guru-charana-padma kevala bhakati sadma", "Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda Sri Advaita Gadadhara Srivasadi Gaura-bhakta-vrinda", "Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu daya kara more, toma vina ke dayalu jagata majhare" (evening time) and "Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu jive daya kari svaparsada sviyadhama saha avatara" (morning time), "Ohe Vaishnava Thakura dayara sagara e dase karuna kari diya pada-chaya sodha he amare tomara charana dhari." These are the main songs—we are always in a worshipful mood. "Thakura Vaisnava-gana, kari ei nivedana mo bada adhama durachara." We always feel we are very fallen souls, we are durachar, most sinful and wicked.

[His Divine Grace starts a kirtan:]

thakura vaisnava-gana kari ei nivedana

mo bada adhama durachara

daruna-samsara-nidhi tahe dubaila vidhi

kese dhari' more kara para [1]

O worshippable Vaisnavas, I offer you this prayer. I am very fallen and misbehaved. Destiny has immersed me in the fearsome ocean of material existence. Please grab me by the hair and pull me to the shore.

vidhi bada balavan na sune dharama-jnana

sadai karama-pase bandhe

na dekhi tarana lesa yata dekhi saba klesa

anatha katare tei kande [2]

Destiny is very powerful. It does not listen to my knowledge of religion and always binds me with the ropes of karma. I do not see even a trace of hope. All I see is hardship. Thus helpless and distressed, I cry.

"Prabhu! I am always crying to you—please grab me by my sikha and rescue me from this illusory environment! Give me some opportunity to serve you! I am suffering in the illusory environment—I keep coming and going, always attacked by the illusory environment; only you can rescue me from this situation! You are a great Vaishnav, please give me an opportunity to serve you!"

kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, abhimana saha

apana apana sthane tane

aichana amara mana phire yena andha jana

supatha vipatha nahi jane [3]

Lust, anger, greed, illusion, pride, and ego all pull me in their own directions. Thus my mind wanders like a blind man who does not know the right way from the wrong way.

A blind man cannot cross the road on his own, some help is necessary. My mind is also like that. I am praying to you, O Vaishnav Thakur! Without your help my mind is going everywhere, to so many bad places, my mind is very naughty—only you can control my mind! Just as a blind man does not know how to cross the road, does not know what is the good way, what is the bad way (supath and vipath), my mind also does not know anything, it is always running everywhere, sometimes going down the good path, sometimes going down the bad path, but you can control my mind—through your association, my mind can change. I surrender to you, only you can control my mind, and through your association my mind can get some service to you.

na la-inu sat mata asate majila chita

tuya paye na karinu asa

narottama dase kaya dekhi' suni' lage bhaya

taraiya laha nija pasa [4]

I have never accepted the proper conception. My mind has been immersed in illusion, and I have never aspired for your feet. Narottam Das says, "Seeing and hearing about my situation, I am stricken with fear. Please rescue me and keep me by your side."

Narottam Das Thakur is praying to the Vaishnav Thakur in this way. How much quality he has, you can see his humility. He is praying to Vaishnav Thakur, "I am very afraid. When I see everything in this world, I feel very afraid. Please, Prabhu, take me. I want to go with you!" 'Laha nija pasa' means, "Please take me from the illusory environment and engage me in your service!”

* * *

Nityananda Prabhu's Campaign

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

4 January 2019, part 10

akrodha paramananda nityananda raya

abhimana-sunya nitai nagare bedaya [1]

"The anger-less, prideless, supremely joyful Nityananda Ray wanders throughout the towns."

adhama patita jiver dvare dvare giya

hari-nama maha-mantra dena bilaiya [2]

"Going from door to door to the homes of the lowly and fallen souls, He distributes the Hare Krsna mahamantra."

Akrodha paramananda: He is never angry, He has no ego. He always gives Himself to the service of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and He is giving us to the service of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He sacrifices His very own life for us, and He goes door to door distributing this Holy Name. I told yesterday also that Guru comes to rescue us from the illusory environment and to engage us in the service of the Lord. He does not come to you for your property, your wealth, your food or anything else; he has no attachment to that. An acharya is the one who always thinks about you, who always thinks how much you are suffering, that is why he comes to grab you from the illusory environment and to give you shelter at the lotus feet of Vaishnavs, Gurudev, Krishna, and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

adhama patita jiver dvare dvare giya

hari-nama maha-mantra dena bilaiya [2]

"Going from door to door to the homes of the lowly and fallen souls, He distributes the Hare Krsna mahamantra."

Nityananda Prabhu distributes the Holy Names,

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, My heart."

yare dekhe tare kahe dante trna dhari'

amare kiniya laha bhaja gaura hari [3]

"He says with a straw in His teeth to whoever He sees, 'I will be sold to you, please accept, serve Gaurahari!'"

Nityananda Prabhu (who is non-different from Gurudev) says, "You can buy Me! You cannot buy Me with money, with your property or wealth, but you can buy Me if you only worship Gauranga!" Krishna Himself says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, "I do not want any opulent things or food, you can only give Me a drop of Ganges water and one Tulasi leaf. If you worship Me with Tulasi leaves and Ganges water every day, I will be sold to you—I will not be able to repay your debt; I will have to give Myself to you, then My debt will be repaid."

eta bali' nityananda bhume gadi yaya

sonara parvata yena dhulate lotaya [4]

"Saying this, Nityananda rolls on the ground like a golden mountain rolling in the dust."

Nityananda Prabhu comes with folded hands. He is so humble. Like a cow, He takes a straw in His mouth and comes to you with folded palms saying, "I am your servant." He falls at your lotus feet and prays to you, "Please chant the Holy Name, please chant Mahaprabhu's Name, then you can go to your real home!"

hena avatare yara rati na janmila

lochan bale sei papi ela ara gela [5]

"Lochan Das says of one who has not developed attachment to this Avatar, 'Such a sinner simply came and went.'

At the end, Lochan Das Thakur says, "You have no attachment to Nityananda Prabhu, to Gurudev! You are a sinner, you only come and go, come and go, how will you ever get relief? You do not understand how much you are suffering…"

* * *

Foundation of Surrender

19 October 2018, Dum Dum Park, part 1

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

Vishva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Jay Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa-kula-churamani Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay!

Jay Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay!

Om Vishnupad Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj ki jay!

Sach-chid-ananda Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur ki jay!

Sarvabhauma Sri Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj ki jay!

Rupanuga Guru-varga ki jay

Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay

Vrinda Devi Tulasi Devi Sri Bhakti Devi ki jay

Sri Shyama Kunda Radha Kunda Sri Giri Govardhan ki jay

Sri Mayapur Dham Sri Nabadwip Dham Sri Vrindavan Mathura ki jay

Purusottam Ksetra ki jay

Baladev Subhadra Jagannath jiu ki jay

Akar-math-raj Chaitanya Math ki jay

Mayapur Yogapith ki jay

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

Tadiya sakha-math samuha ki jay

Sri Mather sevak-vrinda bhakta-vrinda ki jay

Ananta-koti Vaishnav-vrinda ki jay

Sri Gaudiya Acharya-gana tridanti-pada ki jay

Sa-parsada Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ki jay

Sa-parsada Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay

Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay

Suddha-bhakti-vighna-vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay

Jay Sada Siva Gangadhar jiu ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

The appearance day of Sri Madhva Acharya ki jay

(Sri Madhvacharya Prabhur avirbhav tithi bara maha-mahotsav ki jay)

Sri Ramachandrer vijay utsav ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gour premanande haribol

sri-guru-gaura-gandharva-govindanghrin ganaih saha

vande prasadato esam, sarvarambhah subhankarah

"I make my obeisance unto the lotus feet of my Divine Master, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Sri Gandharva Govinda Sundar, that is Srimati Radha and Lord Sri Krishna, and Their associates. By Their grace, all endeavours are successful."

(Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 1.1)

It is a very auspicious day today—the holy appearance day of Sri Madhvacharya, also today is vijaya maha-mahotsav of Lord Ramachandra, the day when Lord Ramachandra killed Ravan, conquered Sri Lanka, which means He removed all inauspicious things and gave all auspiciousness. It is a very auspicious day, and we are getting some chance to speak some Hari-katha, to practise sravanam, kirtanam.

sravana-kirtanadinam, bhaktyanganam hi yajane

aksamasyapi sarvaptih, prapattyaiva harav iti

"Everything is accomplished by surrendering unto the lotus feet of Sri Hari, even for one who is unable to execute the integral practices of devotional service based on hearing and chanting."

(Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 1.40)

When one surrenders to the Lord, even if they are unable to understand Krishna consciousness, if they practise sravanam, kirtanam, they too will get a great benefit through that. Through sravanam and kirtanam, we can clean our heart, we can clean our mind, we can clean our everything, and we can understand everything easily—we can understand what a devotee of Krishna is. Sravanam and kirtanam are the main things.

krsna-gatha-priya bhakta, bhakta-gatha-priyo harih

kathanchid ubhayor atra, prasangas tat prasidatam

"Tidings of Lord Krishna are naturally very dear to the devotees, and tidings of the Lord's devotees are also dear to Him. Since narratives of both the Supreme Lord and His devotees can be found within this book, I have hope, O pure devotees, that you may be propitiated hereby.”

(Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 1.10)

Who is a devotee? A devotee is the one who is always the dearmost of Lord Krishna. If we listen about devotees, if we listen to the glorification of devotees, Krishna likes that; and devotees of Lord Krishna like it if we speak about Lord Krishna, about His glories, if we speak about what is favourable to devotion and what is unfavourable to devotion.

anakulyasya sankalpah, pratikulyavivarjanam

raksisyatiti visvaso, goptrtve varanam tatha

atmaniksepa karpanye, sadvidha saranagatih

evam paryayatas chasminn, ekaikadhyayasangrahah

These six chapters have been compiled, each consecutively dealing with the six limbs of surrender, which are as follows: (1) to accept everything favorable for devotion to Krishna; (2) to reject everything unfavorable for devotion to Krishna (3) to be confident that Krishna will grant His protection; (4) to embrace Krishna's guardianship; (5) to offer oneself unto Him; (6) to consider oneself lowly and bereft.

(Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 1.26-27)

We must accept what is favourable to devotion, and we must reject what is unfavourable to devotion. It is necessary to have faith that Krishna will protect us. If we accept this kind of saranagati—if we can surrender following all six types of saranagati—that is the main thing in our spiritual life.

As I have just said,

sravana-kirtanadinam, bhaktyanganam hi yajane

aksamasyapi sarvaptih, prapattyaiva harav iti

"Everything is accomplished by surrendering unto the lotus feet of Sri Hari, even for one who is unable to execute the integral practices of devotional service based on hearing and chanting."

(Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 1.40)

Those who are surrendered to the Lord, even if they cannot understand something, even if they cannot worship properly, they too can understand and get everything through practising sravanam and kirtanam. Krishna always looks after us—this is goptrtve varan. We think that our father, mother, our relatives look after us, but they are not our relatives. Who is your relative? You must understand this. Those who show you the path of Krishna consciousness, who show you the real path following which you can get Krishna, those who can show how to practise properly and teach how to chant the Holy Name—they are your relative.

What is favourable to devotion? There are six kinds of favourable practices, one of which is enthusiasm (utsaha). We must accept these practices. Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu described what is favourable:

utsahan nischayad dhairyat, tat tat karmapravartanat

sangatyagat sato vrtteh, sadbhir bhaktih prasiddhyati

(Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 3.5, verse by Sri Rupa Goswami)

Because of their favorability, the six qualities beginning with enthusiasm should be honored -

bhajane utsaha yara bhitare bahire,

sudurlabha krsna-bhakti pabe dhire dhire

krsna-bhakti prati yara visvasa nischaya,

sraddhavan bhaktiman jana sei haya

krsna-seva na paiya dhira-bhave yei,

bhaktira sadhana kare bhaktiman sei

yahate krsnera seva krsnera santosa,

sei karme vrati sada na karaye rosa

krsnera abhakta-jana-sanga parihari',

bhaktiman bhakta-sange sada bhaje hari

krsna-bhakta yaha kare tad anusarane,

bhaktiman acharaya jivane marane

ei chhaya jana haya bhakti adhikari,

visvera mangala kare bhakti parachari

"Within, without, he who serves with (1) enthusiasm will gradually attain to the rarest pure devotion. In devotion to Lord Krsna, one who has (2) firm faith is a person loyal and devoted on the path. And if Sri Krsna's service he fails to attain, yet practices with (3) patience - devout is such a man. (4) That which serves Lord Krsna, for only Krsna's pleasure, in such action, the devotee can never feel anger. (5) Abandoning the company of the nondevotee, ever with devotees, the devout serve Sri Hari. (6) Following the pure devotees' direction on the path, the true devout practice, as a matter of life and death. Who follow these six qualities qualify for pure devotion - they purify the universe by their preaching mission."

(Bengali verse by Sri Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura)

If you feel enthusiasm to practise Krishna consciousness, if you feel enthusiasm coming to serve Krishna, inside and outside, then you will get proper devotion. Devotees know what is devotion to Krishna, they have faith, they have love and affection for the Lord, and they also know what Krishna bhakti is, so they do not become impatient. They always think, "Even if I do not get anything, I must continue practising." It is necessary to have patience. Sometimes they may feel they are not getting Krishna bhakti, but they still practise properly and regularly; and when they get some service to Krishna, they are pleased with that, they are never angry. Also, they always avoid bad association of non-devotees and always do service with devotees.

* * *

Strict and Straight Preaching

19 October 2018, Dum Dum Park, part 2

You know, one time Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur went to Vrindavan by car. At that time, there were not so many sadhus going to Vrindavan by car, it was very rare, but Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur did it. He said that he could become an ordinary babaji—he could wear a kaupin and go to a very secluded place in a jungle and do my bhajan there quietly, but he did not preach that. He always told what is phalgu-vairagya (false renunciation) and what is yukta-vairagya (proper renunciation)—he always rejected false renunciation.

One time, when Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was staying at Radha Kunda in Vrindavan, he heard about one brahman who lived in Vrindavan. Being very proud, thinking he was a very wise man, possessing so much knowledge, born in Vrindavan, or Vraja Dham, that brahman always ignored and disrespected our previous acharya Srila Raghunath Das Goswami. He told, Oh, I can easily teach Raghunath Das Goswami, and he must follow what I am saying!" When Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur heard it, he became very sad. He could not tolerate it. He said, "I have come to Vrindavan, and if I was an ordinary babaji, then, being unable to tolerate hearing this, I could go to a jungle. But I am not that. I am practising and I must preach that which is the real things. I will not hide from them, I will not run away from them." He did not do that. What did he do? He declared that because that brahman was disrespecting Raghunath Das Goswami, he would go on hunger strike, and he started fasting with all his associates—none of them ate anything. After a while, some good man, a Vraja-basi, heard that Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was very upset and very sad because of what the brahman had said about Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, and he brought that brahman to Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and made him ask Srila Prabhupad for forgiveness. After that, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur broke his hunger strike, and all devotees also took some prasadam. Everybody was very happy.

This is what Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur teaches us. "Achar-prachar Namer adhikarya": you cannot just close your mouth, you must do what is necessary—you must practise the real conception and you must preach it also. That is why Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "If I was an ordinary babaji, then I could close my mouth and go hide somewhere from this kind of nonsense that is going on in Vrindavan, but I have come in Vrindavan by car in front of everybody, I have taken the position of an acharya, then I must preach openly, I must preach the proper conception, the real Krishna consciousness." This is very important to understand.

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhu ki jay

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 sa-parikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

All the worldwide devotees ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

* * *

Do Not Ruin Yourself

20 October 2018, Dum Dum Park, part 1

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

Vishva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Jay Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa-kula-churamani Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay!

Jay Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay!

All the assembled devotees ki jay

All the worldwide devotees ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta vrnda ki jay!

Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay

Suddha-bhakti-vighna-vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay

Rupanuga Guru-varga ki jay

Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

All over the world branches ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari Hari bol

I giving my full obeisance at the lotus feet of all the devotees, Gurudev's devotees and well-wishers, all the Vaishnav-mandali, all the assembled devotees, all my godbrothers and godsisters, and all the exalted Vaishnavs.

Actually, I always want them to engage me in their service. I want to be their servant, that is always my wish.

Srila Guru Maharaj and Gurudev always say (I read it in Gurudev's and Srila Guru Maharaj's books and I heard it also) that Krishna says, "These twenty-four hours is My time. I am giving this time to you and you must use it, you must use these twenty-four hours, for My service." However when I see mundane people all over the world, I see that almost all people are engaged in their own activities, their own enjoyment. People think about heaven, liberation—they say, "If I do something sinful, I will have to go to hell, so I must do pious activity, then I will go to heaven." They waste their time and they play games with their life and spend their life on nonsense. That is why sometimes I think when people with such mentality come to Krishna consciousness, they will use their time for the service of the Lord, but now they are always sleeping, eating, enjoying with their life, that is why they will have to come again. Maya is always there.

If you have some material desire in your heart, you should remove it with the root otherwise it will slowly, slowly grow big—if you have such material desires, it is Maya, and it can remove you from the service of the Lord.

We always, life after life, become servants of lust, servants of anger, servants of greed, servants of material attachment, servants of envy, and we follow their orders. However, we now understand something—we have got some good association. Krishna Himself comes in front of us, or He sends His representative, as a Guru, and we have accepted him as our guardian of devotion, we have accepted him as our manager of practising life who will show us the way to our real home. Gurudev has come to show us that.

We must be careful of the illusory environment. Maya (illusory environment) is always very active, and we can fall down at any time. If we think we have become a great Vaishnav, we have become a great maha-purush (great personalities), that we know everything, then this will be the cause of falldown—we can get out of Krishna consciousness and service at any time. We should be careful. We must become servants of Nityananda Prabhu, servants of Gurudev, servants of devotees—if we can become their feetdust, that is sufficient for our spiritual life.

* * *

Starting Siliguri Branch

21 August 2011, part 2

In 2004, when Gurudev was in America, some Gaudiya Math invited me to Siliguri. At that time, we did not have a branch there. I went there and gave a lecture, it was some sannyasi's disappearance festival. That year Gurudev was in hospital in America and was going to be operated. Before going to the operation theatre, he called me (it was night time, 8-9 o'clock here) and said, "Maharaj, I am going for an operation, I cannot say if I will come back or not, only Guru Maharaj and Krishna know it, but you can take all charge, all responsibility for the entire society of Chaitanya Saraswat Math all over the world." I told Gurudev, "Do not worry, Krishna will protect you," and then I asked him for permission, "Gurudev, there are many good devotees in Siliguri. Can I make a branch here?" Gurudev said, "Yes, yes. If you want, you can start."

Then, I went to Siliguri again and a devotee there helped to arrange an old house. You can see that some new construction is going on there upstairs. A month after I bought that house, I started a centre there—we made an altar with Gurudev's and Nabadwip Deities' photos. One year later, I also bought another house there. Later, Gurudev sent me to do the Deity installation there, and by the mercy of Gurudev, I installed the Deities there.

Today, there are many good devotees in Siliguri. They are good-hearted, simple-hearted devotees, but only they do not know so much strong conception, they do not know Rupa Goswami's conception. Although they are a little sahajiya style people (they know everything, but they are attracted to fish and meat), but almost all of them came from Bangladesh, Mahaprabhu's place, so they are devotees. If preachers can give them some good conception, they can easily change. Also, there are some good disciples there, there are Gurudev's disciples and even some disciples of Srila Sridhar Maharaj. If they turn others into good devotees and bring them to the real line, real path, it will be good.

* * *

The Holy Sannyas Order

Sri Ekachakra Dham, pre-sannyas instructions

16 February 2019

When Mahaprabhu took sannyas from Keshav Bharati, He took an eka-danda sannyas, but Nityananda Prabhu broke Mahaprabhu's danda and it became a tri-danda sannyas. Actually, there is no sannyas in Kali-yuga, but Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur started making sannyas disciples in his life and he explained that tri-danda sannyas means sannyas with kaya, mana, vakya—'kaya' means 'body', 'mana' means 'mind', and 'vakya' means 'speech'. Gurudev also explained that tri-danda sannyas means one has to be humble, tolerant and give honour to others. Sannyas is not only changing one's dress. Try to always cultivate these qualities, you must be an example for our society, and try to always preach.

A sannyasi means a servitor, not a manager—you must be a servitor more and more, you must be more and more a servant of a servant. That is the main thing. You yourself must have good quality. I also pray to Gurudev that no pratistha comes to you. Sannyas pratistha is very bad for our sampradaya. You can see that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu showed that He had taken a sannyasi dress, that He had taken sannyas, but He also showed how much He served others with that dress, how much He preached with that dress. He did not sit in Kashi Misra's house in Puri all the time—He always served, and every day without exception, without stop, He chanted the Holy Name, he preached Hari-katha. Without stop.

You must understand that it is necessary to help with preaching. If you surrender to the Lord, if you help, then Krishna will help in your service. Always help, help, help. Some day you may get sick, but Srila Haridas Thakur said, "Asustha hoya mora mana, asustha nay mora sarira: my mind is sick, my body is not sick."

Also, you must not remember your previous life. All of you were householders before, but you have been detached from that householder life for many years now, so never remember it again now, never let it come to your mind. Do not keep any connection with them without service. Yes, you had a family before, but you must use that family for the service of the Lord, service of Nityananda Prabhu and Gurudev—you can engage them in service, but without service do not even talk to them.

One time, one of Gurudev's sannyasis told about me, "Acharya Maharaj is the acharya of the temple, but he is going temple to temple inviting all the brahmacharis and sannyasis for his Guru's festival. What is he doing? How can he do it? He is the acharya!" When I heard it, I thought, what is wrong with that? I am like that. I never think that I am the manager or the acharya. Mahaprabhu invited everybody, going door to door, collecting everything Himself for the festival of Haridas Thakur, and what am I compared to Him? I am nothing. If I invite brahmacharis and sannyasis, what is the problem? I go door to door, it is my duty. I do not sit in one place like a statue. Do you understand it? This is not our duty. Go door to door. You must go to householder people to rescue them from maya, it is necessary. In another way also, when you go to householder people, you yourself have to have a good character, good qualities. Sannyas life means you must always teach very nicely.

Actually, you are all already serving Gurudev, and I am only helping you by giving you this sannyas. I know you took initiation and shelter from Gurudev many years ago and you have been doing much service in his mission, but now the time has come to take more and more service. If you take sannyas and behave like a householder, then everybody will think, "He is also a householder, and I am also a householder," and nobody will listen to you when you come to preach Krishna consciousness.

With this said, I am telling you again and again—taking sannyas is not for pratistha. You must serve more and more. That is the main thing. Remember it.

Do not remember your previous life, your family life. This is also being a vantasi [a vomit-eater—you vomit something and then again take that vomit]. Do not be attached to any material things, to that which does not satisfy your Guru. You may be thinking you are doing some big job, some big things, but if it does not satisfy your Guru, then it is not a big thing—it is nothing, actually. So, the main thing is how to satisfy your Guru.

In this way, you must preach Krishna consciousness, you must practise proper Krishna consciousness.

sannyasira dharma nahe—sannyasa karina

nija janma-sthane rahe kutumba lana

"After accepting sannyas, it is not the duty of a sannyasi to remain at his birthplace surrounded by relatives."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 3.177)

It is not appropriate for a sannyasi to stay with family. On the other hand, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also told that if you want to run away and stay alone, this is also not a sannyasi's life. When you stay alone, nobody can understand what you are doing, but nirjan bhajan (practising in seclusion) is kaitva (cheating), atma-vanchana (self-deceit). You will go to some place and be doing nirjan bhajan thinking you are alone, so nobody can understand what you are doing, but it is Kali-yuga and Mahaprabhu said it should be gostha-bhajan (practice and service together with devotees). Even when Mahaprabhu Himself took sannyas, He always preached. When Gurudev also took sannyas, he always stayed with many devotees—he was always surrounded by devotees. If you are always with devotees, then you cannot do wrong—you have to come to the mangal-arati, you have to attend programmes; but if you are staying alone, then always bad things will come to your mind. Always stay with devotees and engage in service. That is our life. So many problems will come, so many difficulties will come, but we do not run away from our service. That is our line.

There are so many centres, so many temples all over the world. You can see Sripad Tyagi Maharaj's example also: he goes all over the world, door to door, preaching. There were problems in Nabadwip and I told him, "All right, they are targeting you, you can go abroad and preach there." I told him that and he is following it. He comes to India only once a year at Gaura Purnima. Engaging in service is our life.

Always engage yourself in service. You should also understand that if you keep even a little distance from service, then so many problems will come to your mind, but if you engage yourself in service, then good, proper things will be coming to your heart. Do not be a vantasi. Do not think about your previous life, about your father, mother, etc. Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math is your real family. As for others, neglect it, it is maya, do not think about it. Only do service, and Krishna will look after you. He is thinking about us, why will I think about myself? If I serve Him, it is His duty to think about me. If I serve Nityananda Prabhu properly, then it is Nityananda Prabhu's duty to think about Me—why will I waste my time on thinking about myself? It is Nityananda Prabhu's duty! Will I waste my time on thinking about myself then? Not at all! Not—at—all.

* * *

What Is Service?

21 August 2011, part 1

It is Janmastami tomorrow, and just now I have called to the Vrindavan temple, spoke to the manager there. I keep in touch with every place, always give instruction. It is all will of Krishna.

Actually, devotees do not know what is service and what is not service. Somebody thinks, "This is service," "That is service," but they do not think properly. I realised this in Gurudev's time. And that is why some of the devotees cannot reach their own goal—they do not know what is service.

I am also remembering now there are so many devotees who were Gurudev's personal servitors, they did so much service for Gurudev, and I did not do so much personal service, I was not Gurudev's personal servitor, but I followed whatever Gurudev told me.

Somebody asks Gurudev, "Oh, Gurudev, can I massage your feet?" Gurudev says, "No, you can stand over there." The devotee is thinking, "Oh, why did Gurudev tell me to stand here? There is no service here!" But we do not know—if Gurudev tells me to stand up there, he knows what my service is. That is why, if Gurudev tells us to do something and we think, "Oh, this is not service," then we do not actually understand what is service; and if somebody thinks, "This is service," then they are following their mind. You cannot fulfil Gurudev's desire in this way. You can understand easily what I want to say that.

The problem is that they do not understand what is service and what is not service. If you follow what Gurudev tells you, that is service. You can think, "There is no work here," but if Gurudev tells you to stand there, it may be no work, but Gurudev thinks it is service, then it is service. We cannot think that it is not service. Then, we must realise what Gurudev wanted to tell me and what Gurudev wanted to tell everyone.

This line actually depends upon surrender, that is why Gurudev always told that there are 10% devotees, 20% devotees, 30% devotees, 50% devotees, and so on. Why did he say this? I understand it now.

You know that I did not always stay close to Gurudev, I was not his personal servitor, I did not even spend a long time with him, rather I always stayed far—he would send me far, to many places; but he ordered me from wherever he was staying and I tried to fulfil his desire—whatever he told me, I followed his order. That is why he chose me as his successor. Sometimes I think why Gurudev has chosen me—I have not done so much, there are so many personal servitors, they did so many things for Gurudev, and they were near him, but why did Gurudev choose me? I am thinking about it now.

* * *

Sri Gadadhar Pandit: Mahaprabhu's Shadow

(A chapter from His Divine Grace
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj's Bengali book

‘Sri Puri Dham Mahatmya-mukta-mala’)

Sri Gadadhar Pandit stayed with Mahaprabhu from his childhood. His father's name was Madhav Misra, and his mother's name was Ratnavali Devi. They lived in Mayapur near Jagannath Misra's house and considered Sachi Devi their elder niece.

In His childhood, Sri Gaura Hari played with Gadadhar Pandit, and although Gadadhar Pandit was a few years younger than Mahaprabhu, they both went to the same school in Their village. Mahaprabhu could never stay without Gadadhar Pandit, and Gadadhar Pandit could not stay without Mahaprabhu even a moment too. In Dvapar-yuga, he was Srimati Radharani.

Once, when Sri Ishwar Puri came to Mayapur, he taught Gadadhar Pandit a scripture called Krishna-lilamrita, and Gadadhar Pandit was enchanted to hear it from his holy mouth. Gadadhar Pandit was calm, peaceful, reserved and renounced from his childhood. Sometimes, Mahaprabhu, showing very naughty pastimes in His childhood, would challenge Gadadhar Pandit with tricky questions about nyaya (logic), and Gadadhar Pandit did not particularly like it and sometimes wanted to keep away from Mahaprabhu—at times, seeing Nimai walking down the street, he would try to avoid him, but Gaurasundar would not let him go.

One day, Gadadhar Pandit came to Mahaprabhu and said, "Prabhu, give me initiation." But Mahaprabhu said, "Your Guru is coming. He will give you initiation."

Some time later, Sri Pundarik Vidyanidhi came to Nabadwip from Chattagram. Mahaprabhu would always call him "baba" (father).

One day, Mukunda Datta came to Gadadhar Pandit and said, "Prabhu, do you want to see a Vaishnav?"

"Yes, of course! Let's go!" Gadadhar Pandit answered.

When they came to the house of Pundarik Vidyanidhi, the faith and eagerness that Gadadhar Pandit had come with somewhat diminished: he saw Pundarik Vidyanidhi was a householder devotee lying at leisure in his bed, wearing an expensive dhoti and very nice shirt, eating a paan. Gadadhar Pandit had come to see a sadhu, but the sadhu he saw looked like a materialist. In this way, Gadadhar Pandit made some offence to Pundarik Vidyanidhi—he thought, "Who is this man? Why does he behave like a materialist if he is a Vaishnav?" Mukunda Datta could understand his mind, so he sang a sloka about the pastimes of Krishna:

aho baki yam stana-kala-kutam

jighamsayapayayad apy asadhvi

lebhe gatim dhatry-uchitam tato 'nyam

kam va dayalum sharanam vrajema

"Oh! Even though the wicked Putana nursed Krishna with her poison-smeared breasts, intending to kill Him, Krishna granted her a position befitting His mother! Of what merciful Lord shall we take shelter other than Him?"

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 3.2.23)

Hearing the extremely sweet voice of Mukunda Datta reciting the pastimes of Krishna, Pundarik Vidyanidhi at once exclaimed, "Krishna! Krishna!", began to cry and fainted. Gadadhar Pandit again thought, "Not understanding him, I have taken this great maha-bhagavata person for a materialist! I have made an offence! Unless I take initiation from him, I will not get relief from my offence—my offence will not be removed."

Why did Mahaprabhu call Pundarik Vidyanidhi "father"? There is a reason for this. This Pundarik Vidyanidhi was Raja Vrisabhanu, an incarnation of Srimati Radharani's father, in Dvapar-yuga, And who was Gadadhar Pandit? Gadadhar Pandit was an incarnation of Srimati Radharani. Therefore, when Gadadhar Pandit told Mahaprabhu what had happened, Mahaprabhu said, "To atone for your offence, you must take initiation from him! He is your Guru!"

Then, another day, Mukunda Datta told Pundarik Vidyanidhi very nicely about Gadadhar Pandit, and when Pundarik Vidyanidhi heard it, he smiled,

suniya sasilen pundarika vidyanidhi

"amare ta' maharatna milaila vidhi

karaimu ihate sandeha kichhu nai

bahu janma-bhagye se e-mata sisya pai

"Hearing it, Pundarik Vidyanidhi smiled and said, 'I have got hold of a precious jewel. There is no doubt that I have got such a disciple by many lifetimes of good fortune."

(Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.7.117-118)

"I am very grateful to be getting such a disciple as him! Actually, it is not me who is giving mercy to him—he is giving mercy to me by allowing me to have him as my disciple."

Then, Gadadhar Pandit came close to Pundarik Vidyanidhi, offered him his obeisance, and Pundarik Vidyanidhi gave him the mantra. When Gadadhar Pandit came back home, he got a new life—he was day and night floating in Krishna-prema.

Gadadhar Pandit always stayed with Mahaprabhu in His Nadiya pastimes, and when Mahaprabhu showed the pastimes of accepting sannyas, Gadadhar Pandit accepted ksetra-sannyas on Mahaprabhu's order and started living in Nilachal (Sri Puri Dham). He stayed there like Mahaprabhu's shadow. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj composed the pranam-mantra about Gadadhar Pandit:

nilambhodhi-tate sada sva-viraha-ksepanvitam bandhavam

srimad-bhagavati katha madiraya sanjivayan bhati yah

srimad-bhagavatam sada sva-nayanasru-payanaih pujayan

gosvami-prabaro gadadhara-vibhur-bhuyat mad-eka-gatih

"On the shore of the broad blue ocean Gadadhar Pandit used to read Srimad Bhagavatam to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who was suffering from the great internal pain of separation from Himself (Krishna). Gadadhar Pandit supplied the wine of Krishna-lila to intoxicate his afflicted friend and give Him relief. As he read, tears would fall from his eyes like flower offerings onto the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam. May the pleasure of that brilliant personality, Gadadhar Pandit, the best of the Goswamis, be my only object in writing this book."

When Gadadhar Pandit took ksetra-sannyas on the order of Mahaprabhu, he started serving the Deity of Sri Tota Gopinath. "Tota" means "a garden" in the Oriya language.

One day, Mahaprabhu came to Gadadhar Pandit and said, "Gadadhar, I will give you today a great gift!"

Gadadhar Pandit got excited, "Give, Prabhu, give!"

Then Mahaprabhu went with him to a garden. When they came there, Mahaprabhu began to dig the sand and suddenly found a beautiful Deity there. Having got the Deity, Mahaprabhu said, "Here is your gift!"

From that day, Gadadhar Pandit served that Deity of Sri Tota Gopinath.

One time, Gadadhar Pandit thought, "Mahaprabhu always goes out to different places for preaching, and I never get to go with Him. I always stay here and do puja..." Desiring to go with Mahaprabhu, he felt sad. One day, however, when Mahaprabhu was going out, Gadadhar Pandit started walking behind Him. Mahaprabhu turned round and seeing Gadadhar Pandit said, "Where are you going?"

Gadadhar Pandit said, "I am going with You!"

Mahaprabhu replied, "Do you have no service? Who gave you permission? Do you think you will go with Me and eat nice things staying at different people's houses?"

Then, Gadadhar Pandit decided to be clever, "No, no, actually I am not going with You at all. I am going to see Ai (Mother Sachi Devi)!"

"Listen, you have your service. You cannot go away from here leaving your service. Serve Gopinath!"

What did Gadadhar Pandit say then? He said openly, "If I serve You, then millions of services to Gopinath are accomplished through that! Actually, millions of services to Gopinath cannot compare to the darshan of Your holy feet."

"Quiet! Be quiet! Not another word!" Mahaprabhu did not take him along. When He got on the boat, Gadadhar Pandit fainted. Such was his love.

In this way, Gadadhar Pandit never left Puri Dham. He served Gopinath every day, and when he became old, he prayed to Gopinath, "Prabhu, I have become very old now, I cannot do Your service any more! I cannot dress You, I cannot put a garland on You. I cannot do anything properly. Prabhu, please give me relief from this service." Then, hearing the humble prayer of His beloved servitor, the Lord sat down to accept the service of His devotee! This is 'loving search for the lost servant.' Next day, when Gadadhar Pandit came to the temple do the mangal-arati, what did he see? Gopinath sat down to take the service of Gadadhar Pandit.

There are different stories told about how Mahaprabhu disappeared. Some say that He went to the temple of Jagannath and merged into the temple, and some say that He entered the temple of Tota Gopinath and never came out again—He had merged into Gopinath through Gopinath's thigh. Even now you can see also that there is a blood mark on the thigh of Gopinath. There are two versions, and both are correct.

Gadadhar Pandit cooked spinach called abona sak almost every day, and he would invite Mahaprabhu to take prasadam. Mahaprabhu loved coming to him and taking prasadam prepared by him. One day, Gadadhar Pandit thought, "What if I cook sak today and not invite Him—will He come or not? How much does He think about me? How much does He love me? I want to see it." So, that day he cooked abona sak and invited Nityananda Prabhu and devotees—and everybody came—but he did not invite Mahaprabhu thinking, "Will He come or not?" Suddenly, Mahaprabhu came and said, "What, gosai, you are cooking such nice things and not inviting Me? Are You trying to cheat Me? Do not cheat Me!" Then, Gadadhar Pandit was very pleased. He told Mahaprabhu to sit down and gave Him prasadam.

Jay Sri Tota Gopinath ki jay!

Jay Sri Gadadhar Pandit Goswami Prabhu ki jay!

* * *

Purpose of Life

21 August 2011, part 3

Question: What is the purpose of life?

The purpose of life is that you are born to serve the Lord. Every jiva soul—even trees, flowers, etc.—takes birth for the service to the Lord, but not every jiva soul can do it on their own. Everything must be used for the service of the Lord, but only human life can use all jiva souls for this purpose.

There are different types of consciousness, or chetan sakti—achchhadita-chetan (fully covered consciousness), sankuchita-chetan (closed, subdued consciousness), mukulita-chetan (budding consciousness), vikachita-chetan (blooming consciousness), and purna-vikachita-chetan (fully blossomed consciousness). You can go, for example, to a Jamalpur fair and see that there is a million of goats there standing in a line—they cut one goat after another in less than one minute, perhaps fifteen-twenty seconds per goat, and while a goat is killed, the goat standing next in line is eating grass. Or you can go to a market and see that people kill one hen after another, and while one hen is being killed, another one is standing nearby and eating. They have no feeling that, "Oh, next is my turn. I am going to die now." But if it was a human body, we would think, "Oh, I am going to die next!" or if the government gives someone death sentence and they are to be punished by hanging, people often fast and eat nothing for the whole month—they keep thinking, "I have to die next month!" That is why, humans have a good sense, their chetan sakti (power of consciousness) is very strong. Trees also have a strong chetan sakti, but it is achalita chetan, covered. For example, when you take out a tree's bark, the tree is crying but you cannot even think it is crying, but if somebody takes my skin out, then I will feel pain in my body. The tree also has some sensation, it also feels pain. Even the science says that everybody possesses consciousness, but humans' consciousness is strong.

Then, what have we got this human body for? We have got sumedha, some good intelligence, and good association, therefore we can realise what we have got this human body for and we can realise that everybody and everything is meant to be used for service. Only a human body can use other species like trees, flower plants, etc. in service. For example, you collect or buy some flowers today and use it for the service of the Lord—that flower comes from a plant and the plant gets sukriti in this way. It is Janmastami tomorrow, and many devotees will come and offer mango, jackfruit and other fruit, they will keep it in the temple—all that fruit is very fortunate. Not every fruit has got good fortune. There are many flowers, many kinds of fruit in the market, there are many trees, but devotees always use everything for the service to the Lord. This is what we are born for.

You know, when we were in the womb of our mothers, we cried so much—there is a song that says, "Janani-jathare, chhilama yakhana, visama bhandana-pase"—when I was in the womb of my mother, I suffered so much; insects, worms, etc. were biting me and I cried out at that time, and Krishna showed His form to me in my mother's womb. I said to Him, "I cannot tolerate it, I want to go out!" and Krishna said, "When you come out, you will forget Me..."

bhajiba baliya ese samsara-bhitare

bhuliya rahile tumi avidyara bhare

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

At that time, I promised, "No, No, I will not forget You," but actually when we were born, the illusory environment attacked us and we forgot our Lord, we forgot our father, forgot our real home. After that, "brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva..."—we came and went, came and went, came and went, and at some point a guru comes to us: we have a guru in our hearts (it is called chaitya guru), and that guru takes us to the mahanta guru, a real guru, my spiritual master. Then, we get some advice from our spiritual master and we get to know the real way. In this way, we get some good association, we practise properly—we practise sravanam and kirtanam.

This is how we get to be practising now that real path, the real way.

* * *

Service vs Karma

21 August 2011, part 4

Question: My purpose of life is service to the Lord, but what is service and what is not service? How to distinguish between these two things?

If you are fully surrendered, then you can realise what is service and what is not service. If what you are doing is not service, then this is some karma going on. Karma and service look the same same.

I have told this example many times—suppose two people are going to the market. Both buy some fruit, vegetables, but if you buying vegetables for the Lord, that is service, and if the other person buys fruit, flowers, etc. for his own enjoyment, then it is karma. Do you understand it? These are simple things. Suppose two wives or mothers are cooking—one mother is cooking for her son and the other mother has Deities and she is cooking to make an offering to the Deities. What the mother who is cooking for the Deity does is service, and what the other mother who is cooking for her son does, goes to karma and a reaction will come for that—every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If you do something for any purpose other than service to the Lord, reaction will come, but if you do service, reaction will not come—your action then goes to the Lord, it becomes nirgun (not tainted by the three modes of material nature).

You can read Srimad Bhagavad-gita, this is explained there clearly. The Lord says, "If you are drinking a glass of water, you must offer it to your Guru or the Lord first—when you first see the water, you must say or think, "Oh, I am giving it to my Guru." And if you do not offer what you take to the Lord or your Guru, it means you are doing papa-bhaksan—you are eating sin. The Lord Himself says, "If you eat something without giving it to Me, then you are eating sin."

* * *

Nurturing Spiritual Life

21 August 2011, part 5

Question: Our natural tendency is towards materialistic life, we are actually inclined to these things, but how can we convert our mind?

It comes gradually through good association and practice.

Suppose you are walking down the road, and suddenly your leg gets into a hole—you cry, "O mother!", "O father!", "O mummy!"—you call your parents' name. If you practise Krishna consciousness—if you always chant the Holy Name, think about Gurudev—then when you fall, "Jay!", "O Gurudev!", "O Krishna!" will come to your mouth. Because in your previous lives (when you were in a dog's body, cat's body, etc.) you always first called your mom, father, daddy, mummy, then even now when you walk and hit your leg, you will cry, "O mom!" "O dad!" This habit comes from all the previous lives. If you beat a dog, the dog also cries, "O mother!" but you cannot understand its language. So, when you chant the Holy Name, "Krishna, Krishna, Krishna" then "Krishna, Krishna" will always come to your mouth—when you practise properly, then you will automatically think, "Oh, I am about to eat something, I must offer it to my Guru." It comes through practice. Practice makes perfect (gaite gaite gayen, bajate bajate bayen—a Bengali proverb, "you cannot learn to play mridanga or learn to sing without practising"). When we are born, we do not know anything, but we are practising now. We are all students, we are not masters, so we must practise properly.

Question: But I am a student of materialistic science...

I was also a student of mathematics, physics, chemistry, vector analysis, Newton's law, quasi-geometry, linear algebra, etc. I used to teach mathematics, physics, chemistry, and everything else, so what is the problem? If Krishna gives His mercy to you, He will bring you—you do not know how, but you will come to this line.

You have come to this line, you are asking me questions about what this life is for, etc., and you do not understand that Krishna is changing you—you have some good sukriti, and as a result you have got some good association. This Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are a three-day holiday—people go to Darjeeling, people go to Digha, they are enjoying with women, girls, but you are going to attend Lord Krishna's festival. Think about it, why have you come to the temple instead? Krishna has brought you there. Because you have some previous good sukriti, you have got a little faith, it is not the strongest faith yet, but you have got some little faith and through that faith you are now listening to some Krishna-katha, some good advice, and you must know that you are getting some benefit through that.

Do you understand what I am saying? I am telling it clearly, as it is. People have got three days of holidays for Janmastami, but they go to enjoy—they drink whiskey, go to bars and dance—people do not use this time for Krishna, for Janmastami; but you have got these holidays and you are using this time for Krishna. That is your benefit, it means you have got something real.

* * *

Our Enemies

21 August 2011, part 6

Question: What are the enemies a new or a beginning devotee should be cautious about?

There are actually many enemies, and we must realise what they are. For example, Gurudev told me three things: ku-katha boliba na, I will not say bad things; ku-suniba na, I will not hear bad things; and ku-dekhiba na, I will not see bad things. You should not listen to bad things. Do not listen to Vaishnav-ninda, sadhu-ninda, it is bad and it can remove you from Krishna consciousness. Sadhu-ninda and Vaishnav-ninda are Nama-aparadhas. You can see and read the ten offences of the Holy Name (ten Nama-aparadhas). Gurudev always tells, "You can read these offences and you must avoid them."

There are also four rules and regulations—dyuta, pana, striya, suna. Avoid gambling (dyuta), intoxication (pana), illegal sex (stirya), and do not harm, do not kill any jiva souls (suna). You know these four things—we always tell it at the beginning when somebody takes initiation. These things are our primary enemies. Later, there come six more enemies—kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya.

You know what kama is. Some sex desire, some lust comes easily, but it must be used properly:

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

lobha sadhu-sange hari-katha

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

niyukta kariba yatha tatha

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

(Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika, 22)

Krishna says, "If somebody offers Me something thinking about his own self, it is not bad; or if somebody pays obeisance to Me, but in lieu of that they ask Me for something, this is also not bad—at least they offer something to Me, at least they are surrendered to Me." Krishna also says,

krsna kahe,—ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha

amrta chhadi' visa mage,—ei bada murkha

ami—vijna, ei murkhe 'visaya' kene diba?

sva-charanamrta diya 'visaya' bhulaiba

"Krishna says, 'They worship Me, desiring material happiness—leaving aside nectar, they ask for poison. They are great fools. I am very intelligent though. Why will I give these fools material things? Instead, I will give them the nectar of My lotus feet and make them forget the material world."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.38-39)

"Somebody is worshipping Me but thinking about his own material enjoyment. It is actually not right, but I am not foolish—I am intelligent, why will I give these material things to them? Instead of that, I will give My lotus feet to them—I will engage them in My service." Krishna Himself says this, you can see it in Chaitanya-charitamrita.

Krodha bhakta-dvesi-jane. Krodha means anger. You have anger, but what must you use it for? If somebody speaks against your guru, if somebody speaks against Vaishnavs, you can say it is not good. You should not say, "Oh, you are bad," but do not listen to such talks, it is illusory environment.

Lobha is greed. I have lobha—but what should this lobha be for? You should be always greedy for Krishna-katha and Krishna-prasad.

Moha is attachment.

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara

sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

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

(Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

You have some attachment to your family, to the people you have blood relation with, like your husband, daughter, sister, brother, mother, etc., but this kind of attachment, love and affection must come towards the Lord, towards your Guru, then you can understand that there is some devotional activity in your life. Gurudev told me also, "Do you love or like to read the newspaper or do you like to read Srimad Bhagavatam or Chaitanya-charitamrita? Do you get pleasure from hearing Hari-katha or do you get pleasure from hearing some fiction and cinema stories? If you realise it, then you can understand whether your devotional activities are increasing or decreasing."

Mada means ahankar, ego. Yes, everybody has an ego, but what kind of ego is it necessary to have? The ego must be that, "Yes, I am a servant of my Gurudev. I am a servant of the Lord." Such ego must come. I am a sweeper of the temple. I am a sweeper—I am not the manager of the temple, I am not the master of the temple, I am not the guru—I am a servant of the temple, I am a sweeper, I am a gatekeeper of the temple. Such ego must come. Actually, everybody has ego, but that kind of ego is very difficult. Suppose the sun rises, but we cannot see the light of the sun because there is a wall in the middle that does not let any sunlight come through. Ego eats everything, it is very difficult.

Finally, matsarya, envy, or jealousy. Krishna says, "Jealousy is very bad, I cannot give any place for it." Jealousy means, for example, somebody thinks, "Oh, he has become a great guru, and I cannot become a guru!", "Oh, Gurudev has given this position to him!", "He has become a sannyasi, and I cannot become a sannyasi!", "He joined just a few years ago and he has become a sannyasi, he has become a guru, but I joined 30 years ago, 50 years ago, and Gurudev cannot give this position to me!" This is jealous mood and if it comes to somebody's mind, they will go to hell. Krishna has given some place for five things (lust, anger, greed, attachment, ego), but Krishna has not given any place for matsarya, jealousy. Jealousy is very bad, that is why you must be careful.

And there are also other things—rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa (eye-beauty, taste, smell, sound, touch).

Rupa means beauty. You know that beauty gives us problem because our eyes always go after beauty. Suppose there an ugly girl going and a beautiful girl going down the street—our eyes will go after the beautiful girl. This is also bad, this is rupa.

Gurudev gives an example of what rasa means. You know that ants always go to a pot of molasses. If you eat some molasses, you will find many ants in it—nobody puts ants in molasses, but ants themselves comes wherever there is molasses. Ants come to molasses thinking, "It is very nice! I do not want to come out from here! It is so good here!"—then the ants eat and eat, and in the end become so full that they cannot come out of the pot. This is rasa.

Gurudev gives many examples. There is also gandha, enjoying smells, there is also sparsa; even gandha (smells), even sparsa (tactile experience), even sabda (sounds) also make us die. There are many examples of this. Therefore, rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa (search for pleasure through form, taste, smell, sound, and touch) are also our enemies.

Devotee: Thank you very much, Maharaj. You are very kind, very merciful to us all...

Gurudev is very merciful. I do not have anything to give to others, I actually always want to take something from devotees—I want to take their feetdust. That is always my desire; that is my hope and pleasure. I am a fallen soul, a mlechchha, but Gurudev has given this position to me, and I am taking all the brahmans' remnants now.

Devotee: Jay Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj ki jay!

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

All the assembled devotees ki jay

Jay Sri Krishna Janmastami maha-mahotsav ki jay

Jay Nanda Maharaj Yasoda Mayi ki jay

Devaki Vasudev ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

How powerful Krishna is! When He is only three days old, He finished demoness Putana. Only three days old! I have had the good fortune to visit that place where Krishna killed Putana, and sometimes I think a lot that little Krishna has such small and tender feet, but He killed Putana. How powerful He is...

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

Jay Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

All the worldwide devotees ki jay

All the Goswami-vrnda ki jay

All the sannyas-vrinda ki jay

Samagata Sri Gaura-bhakta-vrinda ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math all the worldwide devotees ki jay

Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

Devotee: Jay Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj ki jay

* * *

Servant Consciousness

20 October 2018, Dum Dum Park, part 2

Once, an Iskcon devotee came to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and asked Srila Sridhar Maharaj to give him sannyas. Iskcon always preaches that one must become a servant of the Lord, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "You have already become a servant of Krishna, but you must become a servant of Radharani, then I can give you sannyas." Read Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, read Bhaktivinod Thakur's books, try to understand what the siddhanta is, what Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur teaches, what the main conception is.

You have also heard one story from Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's book (Search for Sri Krishna). It happened during the first world war. There was one Professor Nixon, a British pilot. One day, he was in the plane with many other soldiers, and suddenly he understood that something was wrong with the engine and the aeroplane was going to fall. He thought, "The death is very near, it is knocking on our door." At that time he only remembered the Lord; he prayed, "O Lord, if I can survive, I will give all twenty-four hours to Your service, I will be Your servant twenty-four hours a day."

Then, the aeroplane crushed, many soldiers died, but fortunately, or you can say accidentally, he did not die, he was alive. After that, he thought, "I have promised to the Lord that if I stay alive, I will give myself twenty-four hours to the Lord. I must do it." So, he went first to a Christian church and spoke to the priest who was in charge of the church. He said, "I want to serve twenty-four hours a day to the Lord." The priest replied, "It is not necessary. You can come once a week and pray for one hour, that is sufficient for you." He continued searching and had visited many holy places, many religious places, but everybody told him that it was not necessary to give twenty-four hours a day—he could not find any place where he could get twenty-four-hours-a-day service.

After that, he came to India, Kashi (Benares). There, in Benares, there was one lady, a Gaudiya Vaishnavi. He met with her, and she advised him how he could engage himself twenty-four hours a day in the Lord's service. He understood it, and took initiation, began chanting the Holy Name. In this way, he engaged himself twenty-four hours a day in the service of the Lord.

We must be servants of Radharani, servants of Nityananda Prabhu, servants of Gurudev, who is non-different from Radharani or Nityananda Prabhu. This is the main thing that we must understand in our spiritual life. It is not necessary to be a Vaishnav—it is necessary to be a servant of a Vaishnav.

* * *

Traversing Maya-Samudra

20 October 2018, Dum Dum Park, part 3

As I have told before, there are many kinds of surrender,

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana

'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

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

bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara

bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

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

(Saranagati 1, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Be humble. Have faith that Krishna will protect us, that Krishna will look after us. What is atmaniksepa? How can you do it? Sri Yamuna Acharya told,

aparadha-sahasra-bhajanam, patitam bhima-bhavarnavodare

agatim saranagatam hare, krpaya kevalam atmasat kuru

"The perpetrator of thousands of offences, fallen into the terrible ocean of material existence, I have no shelter but You. O Lord Hari, please graciously accept this surrendered soul as one of Your own."

(Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 7.12)

"O Lord! I am doing so many offences—thousands of thousands of offences. I have already fallen into so much maya, so much illusory environment. I do not have any property, I do not have any qualities—and I have no other way, that is why I surrender to you, I am throwing myself at your feet! Please hijack me!"

We also sing the same thing,

sakti-buddhi-hina ami ati dina

kara more atma-satha

"I am devoid of ability and intelligence, and greatly distressed. Please accept me."

"I have no intelligence, I have no strength, please hijack me!" I have explained many times what 'hijack' means. An honest proper guru will never hijack your money or property—Gurudev may come to your house only to rescue you from the mundane world and take you to the spiritual world where we have come from. Gurudev shows you the way. We do not know the road, we do not know which way we must go, that is why we must make a relationship with the Guru. This is sambandha-jnana (knowledge of the relationship).

Suppose you are in Kolkata, it is a big city—or any other big city in any other country; you need to get to some place, but sometimes you may have no address, or even if you have the address, sometimes you have to approach somebody and ask, "O brother/uncle, which way should I go to find this house?" And the person shows you the house. To find the way, we have to establish some relationship with someone.

We do now know who will be our Guru, but Krishna sends His associate, or maybe Krishna Himself comes in front of us, and our chaitya-guru tells us, "He is your Guru"—in this way, somebody comes in front of me and I can recognise them as my Guru. Like it happened with Mahaprabhu also: when He went to Gaya for his father's ceremony (His father had just expired, and generally Hindu people always go to Gaya to perform the ceremonies; it is near Benares), and when He saw Ishwar Puri, He immediately understood, "He is My guru!" Mahaprabhu said,

"samsara-samudra haite uddharaha more

ei ami deha samarpilana tomare"

"Please rescue Me from this ocean of material existence! I am surrendering Myself to you."

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

"Please rescue Me from this ocean! I am swimming in it and do not know where the shore is. I cannot find the shore! I am swimming, swimming, and floating, I do not know what will happen to Me later, what will be in future, I do not know anything. I have been making so many offences, but I have no other way—therefore I have come before you. Please rescue Me from this kind of situation!"

Our situation is the same, actually. We are fallen souls, we are always swimming in the ocean of maya (maya-samudra), in the ocean of material environment, and we do not know anything. We pray to our Guru—please, rescue me from this situation, then I will be the gainer. And we understand that Gurudev has rescued us from that kind of world and is using us now for the service of devotees. This is our activity, this is our main thing.

I have told you just now—it is not necessary to be a servant of Krishna. First, we must be a servant of Radharani, and for that we must first be a servant of Vaishnavs, then we can be a servant of our Guru.

tinera smarane haya vighna-vinasana

"By remembering Guru, Vaishnav, Bhagavan, all obstacles are destroyed."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 1.21)

Gurudev, Vaishnav, Bhagavan. Guru and Vaishnavs are first. Our main goal and purpose and to be become a servant of Vaishnavs. We pray for this. In our situation only the Guru can be the authority, and only Guru can rescue us from this kind of situation. That is why we must take shelter of Nityananda Prabhu and Gurudev (Guru-tattva) who is non-different from Nityananda Prabhu.

* * *

Paramount Quality

20 October 2018, Dum Dum Park, part 4

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)

Mahaprabhu cannot reject those who take shelter of Nityananda Prabhu, who take shelter of Gurudev. This is the main thing.

Krishna comes in front of you as the Guru—He comes Himself or He sends His dearmost associate, His dearest devotee to you. If you take shelter in the guidance and at the lotus feet of such Guru (if you receive his guidance and listen to his advice or order), then Krishna cannot reject you (because such Guru is Krishna Himself or Krishna's dearmost associate). That is why we must follow his instruction.

We have no quality or qualification, but we can surrender fully. As I have just told, we are floating in a big ocean, we cannot see the shore, but we have no other way—unless we surrender fully, we cannot get out of it. Surrender, atmaniksepa, is necessary. You must follow, you must jump! Gurudev also told one example. Suppose you are going to bathe in Govinda Kunda or Ganges during the winter season—it is very cold, and you are thinking, "Oh, it is so cold, shall I bathe or not? Shall I bathe or not? It is so cold!" Then what should you do? You should throw your towel, throw your cloth into the Ganges, and when the Ganges starts carrying it away, then you will jump. So, throw your mind, throw everything at the lotus feet of the Lord, then you will be able to understand everything.

We must understand clearly what is necessary in our spiritual life, what are the main things in our spiritual life. We have no quality or qualification to preach about the madhura-rasa, or any other rasa, or any other things, but it is kartik month now, niyam-seva mas. We sing this song every day:

namamisvaram sach-chid-ananda rupam

lasat-kundalam gokule bhrajamanam

yasoda-bhiyolukhalad dhavamanam

paramrstam atyantato drutya gopya

"To the Supreme Lord, whose form is the embodiment of eternal existence, knowledge, and bliss, whose shark-shaped earrings are swinging to and fro, who is beautifully shining in the divine realm of Gokula, who [due to the offence of breaking the pot of yogurt that his mother was churning into butter and then stealing the butter that was kept hanging from a swing] is quickly running from the wooden grinding mortar in fear of Mother Yasoda, but who has been caught from behind by her who ran after Him with greater speed—to that Supreme Lord, Sri Damodara, I offer my humble obeisances."

The last words in this song are very nice: "Namo radhikayai tvadiya-priyayai—I humbly bow down to Your most beloved Srimati Radharani." It is very nice. We give obeisance to Srimati Radharani and Her associates, to those who are Her dearmost (Lalita, Visakha, and others).

kuveratmajau baddha-murttyaiva yadvat

tvaya mochitau bhakti-bhajau krtau cha

tatha prema-bhaktim svakam me prayachchha

na mokse graho me 'sti damodareha

O Lord Damodara, just as the two sons of Kuvera (Manigriva and Nalakuvara) were delivered from the curse of Narada and made into great devotees by You in Your form as a baby tied with rope to a wooden grinding mortar, in the same way, please give to me Your own prema-bhakti. I only long for this and have no desire for any kind of liberation.

(Sri Damodarastakam, 7)

"Even the sons of Kuver can be rescued, can get benefit by surrendering to You! But I am a fallen soul, I am much worse than the sons of Kuver—at least they have some quality, but I have none of it. Please, rescue me from this illusory environment! Please rescue me from this situation!"

It is necessary to have the mood of surrender. It is not necessary to have so much qualification—you know that Srimati Radharani did not get any degree from Cambridge University or Oxford University, but whatever university there is in the world, She knows more than that, Gurudev knows more than that. You know, Gurudev sometimes told, "I did not even finish school—I went to school up to 9-10 years old, and after that I did not go there." But how much Gurudev knows! How much he preached all over the world! Then you can understand that somebody may be taking Ph.D., a doctor's degree, but Gurudev also has that degree—and even more than that. That is why, it is not necessary to be a big guru, a big acharya, a big temple president—these are mundane things, forget it. If you can be a servant of devotees, it is sufficient for your spiritual life. Forget everything, if can only surrender to the Lord and if you can always remember your Guru, Vaishnavs, and Bhagavan, if you can be the dust of Gurudev's lotus feet, that is sufficient.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

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

Jay Sri Rupanuga Guru-varga ki jay

Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol.

* * *

Jail of Maya

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

7 January 2019, part 1

Actually, you must understand, you must think what for you attend some programmes—try to understand why we go door to door begging you: "Krsna bolo, sange chala, ei matra bhiksa chai—I am begging you for one thing only: come with us and chant 'Radha Krishna'!" I am always begging you to come with us, to say "Hare Krishna." What does 'come with us' mean?

It means so many fallen souls, so many jiva souls are attacked by illusory environment. You are living in a mundane family now, but one day you will have to leave it. You have passed so many births, so many millions and millions of years, and finally you have got a human body. It means you have some intelligence—then you can understand what we want to say to you.

There are so many jiva souls in this world, and all of them do not have the same consciousness—there is achchhadita-chetan (fully covered consciousness), sankuchita-chetan (closed, subdued consciousness), mukulita-chetan (budding consciousness), vikachita-chetan (blooming consciousness), and purna-vikachita-chetan (fully blossomed consciousness). However, the jiva souls that live in human bodies have purna-vikachita-chetan (fully blossomed consciousness). What does it mean?

I have seen many times that in some places where people sell chicken meat, while people cut hens one by one and sell their meat, the other cocks and hens in cages see it, but they continue eating at that time. I have also seen people offering goats at some Lord Siva temples or some other sakti temples—there is a big line and people cut goats one by one—it does not even take them thirty seconds to kill a goat and get to the next one, they take a goat, kill it and fifteen-twenty seconds later it is the next one. In the meantime, the goat standing next in line eats grass—it cannot understand that twenty seconds later it will leave its body, it is going to die. Even human beings understand this—if somebody is in jail for some big offence, when the judge sentences them to death, people stop eating worrying, "Oh, I am going to die!" They may get an opportunity to go to the higher court or supreme court, etc. but when they hear they are going to die soon they stop taking food.

A judge may pass judgement, but the ultimate judgement is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead—it is already written that we can leave our body at any time now, we can die at any moment. Those who commit some big offence and get death sentence may have one-two months left, but actually we do not know that even those who are free from such mundane jail also live in a jail—in a jail of maya, illusion. There are many people living in jail—thieves, dacoits, murderers, rapists, etc. but you cannot judge the millions of people living in this world by these few people in jail.

There are some few persons in this world who are free from the jail of maya—persons who have got liberation. Such liberated souls worship Krishna, worship the Lord, and they think, "This is not our house. We live at a temporary address." How many percent of us think like this? Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur says that not so many people in this world in this age of Kali will follow Krishna consciousness—most people do not think about themselves, do not think about their own benefit, but Srila Prabhupad said that we must not be disheartened because of that.

* * *

Benefactors

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

7 January 2019, part 2

You should also understand this. You live in Vijayawada where there are so many people who work and work the whole day, from morning to night, just for a little bit of happiness—for eating, sleeping and enjoying; people are always busy thinking about their temporary happiness, about keeping good health, about their bodies, but they do not think about their real self, there are only few people who follow Krishna consciousness, only few people think about their own benefit.

I have come here two-three times before, and some devotees surrendered to Gurudev, to the Lord. You have come to Krishna consciousness, and your duty is not only chant the Holy Name yourself; you must not only keep the wealth you have got from your Guru, the wealth you have got from the good association of sadhus and Vaishnavs for yourself—you must also distribute it.

Sometimes, when you come to distribute these things, karmi people, other people will not want to listen to you, they will tell you other things, they will tell you bad nonsense things, but that is also good for you because through that you will become humbler, more tolerant and you will learn to give honour to others. Others can do anything they want, but you will do your job—you will distribute the wealth, the property you have got from your Guru. You must tell about that property to your friends and well-wishers.

I told you yesterday about Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Hriday Bon Maharaj, an acharya of Chaitanya Math. He was one of the most senior sannyasis in Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's time (there were only a few sannyasis at that time; only twenty-two sannyasis took sannyas directly from Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, one of them is also our founder acharya Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj). One day, that Sripad Bon Maharaj went preaching and collecting little by little door to door in Kolkata. He did not know the city well, so suddenly he appeared in a lane and only when he entered the lane did he understand that it was a pros-quarter lane. All the prostitutes gave him whatever they could—some gave ten rupees, some five rupees, one rupee, two rupees, and so on. Sripad Bon Maharaj got very shy because he did not know at first what place it was and when he understood where he was he thought, "What a big offence I have made! All my bhajan, whatever I have done so far is all gone!" Then he came back to Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He paid obeisance to Srila Prabhupad and cried, "Prabhupad, I am ruined! I have made a big mistake today." Srila Prabhupad asked him, "What have you done? Tell me." Sripad Bon Maharaj told everything to Srila Prabhupad, and Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "It is not an offence. I am doing the same thing as you did—if you think you have done wrong, am I also doing wrong? I also send so many brahmacharis and sannyasis to people who are attached to the illusory environment, it is the same thing. Those women do business with their bodies, and these people also work the whole day, they do not think about themselves. It is the same thing. Therefore, you have made no mistake—you took money from the prostitutes and their money is going to be used at the Deities's place, it is going to be used for the service of Vaishnavs and Deities, and they will get some benefit, some sukriti through that—it will help them."

There is also a story about the temple when Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj took the second initiation. Just as yesterday also, Prabhu took initiation—there was a fire sacrifice, and after that he went begging. When I took second initiation and sannyas, I also went begging, but at that time, and in the time of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Srila Prabhupad, devotees were told not to beg inside the temple—they had to beg house to house, door to door. So, when Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj took second initiation, he went begging and came to a house of a widow lady. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said, "Bhavati bhiksam dehi. Please, give some donation." The lady was working around her mud house, she was cleaning the floor, perhaps, and said said, "I am very busy, I cannot give you anything!" but Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said, "Please, this is my first time, it was my brahman initiation, I must take something from you." The lady got even angrier. Now people cook using gas and electric stoves, but in those days they used wood. So, when the lady got very angry, she took some ash and gave it to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj!

Upset, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj came back to Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Srila Prabhupad asked him, "What has happened? Why are you crying?" Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told, "I will never do collection again. Some lady has given me ash!" Prabhupad replied, "Why are you crying?! You have done very well. The lady has given you some ash—you can use it to clean Deities' plates, through that the lady will get some sukriti!"

What happened the next day? The next day that lady came to Prabhupad and said, "Yesterday a sadhu came to me, but I was busy at that time and got a little angry. I gave him, and I feel bad about it now. Can I see that sadhu?" Prabhupad said, "He may be chanting at the gate, I do not know where he is. You can go and find him." The lady went to the gate, but she could not recognise Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj—there were many brahmacharis and sannyasis there. Then, she asked someone, "Do you know who went begging yesterday?" and the person pointed at Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, "This sadhu went to your house." The lady came to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and asked him, "Please forgive my offence, I have made a mistake. Please, you must come to my house, I will give something to you." Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj replied, "I cannot go now, but I can come in the afternoon with some brahmachari or sannyasi for kirtan. I cannot go alone now." The lady happily agreed and left. Later that day, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj came to her house with another brahmachari and started some Hari-katha at her house, he gave some lecture. When the lady heard everything, when she heard what was the purpose of her life, she was very impressed. One-two days later, she again came to Prabhupad and said, "Prabhupad, I do not want to live in my house! I want to stay here. I want to give my house for the service to Vaishnavs and the Deities. I do not want to keep anything, I want to give everything to the sadhus." Prabhupad told Kunja Babu (the temple manager) and Vinod Babu, "She wants to join the temple, you can give a room to her." From that time, the lady stayed at the temple and gave everything, her house and her land, to the temple. Everybody gave her respect and called her pishima (auntie).

Good association is the main thing. This is what the sadhus come to you for. Sivji Maharaj told Parvati Devi, "O Devi! There are many gurus in this world who will come to take away your property and money, but there are very few gurus who will come to take away your material misery." So many gurus in this world take your property, take your money, but these are very few gurus who can rescue conditioned souls from their mundane position, from the material environment—who can grab them from their conditioned position and bring them to a liberation position, who can engage them in the service of the Deities—only such guru is a perfect guru. That is the main thing.

* * *

Your Heart Is the Commodity

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

7 January 2019, part 3

You must understand clearly what you have come to this world for, what you have got this human body for. You have gone through so many lives, and after that you have finally got this human body—you have got good association, you are listening properly, then what are you waiting for? Because of some simple things—because of your self-interest, you are waiting, thinking, "Oh, I will take initiation next time," "I will take initiation in a few days," "I will take initiation after a few months." There is no certainty—you can leave your body at any time, you can go to another body at any time, and you must understand that you do not know what will happen then—you do not know what body you will get. As you sow so you reap—the result, or reaction, will come depending on the karma that you are doing.

Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu want devotees' hearts. They do not care who has property, who has money in this world. You can see that you live in a simple house, but you have a heart to serve devotees, to serve Vaishnav. You think there are so many rich people in this world and you feel you are less than them, but those rich people do not get the sukriti to serve Vaishnavs, to serve the Deities, to serve Lord Krishna. People say, "Jay Sri Krishna!", but they do not follow what Krishna tells in Srimad Bhagavad-gita. If you say Krishna is great, then what Krishna says is also great, and you must follow that. Krishna told, "Follow what I have told you," but do you think that only saying, "Jay Sri Krishna" is sufficient?

The same is true about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Here in Bengal, so many people put tilaks, wear beads, but they only show it externally—they only say, "We are devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu," "We are devotees of Lord Krishna." In Vrindavan also, everybody says, "Radhe! Radhe!", but they all follow their own interest, their own business. For example, some people have Krishna's photo in their shops—or they hang Radharani's photo, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj's photo or Srila Gurudev's photo in some shops, but they actually only use their names to do business.

You know that when Krishna came to Duryodhan, Duryodhan offered Krishna opulent food, but Krishna did not even touch it, whereas when Krishna was visiting Vidur, who is a poor person, who has nothing, his wife gave Krishna banana skins, and Krishna ate it. Sriman Mahaprabhu also did not beg from rich people—He would go to Sridhar, a seller of thor (banana stems). Sridhar Pandit did not want to give it to Mahaprabhu, but Mahaprabhu forcefully took it from him. One time, Mahaprabhu came to Sridhar's house and asked Sridhar, "Please, can you give Me a glass of water?" Sridhar Pandit replied, "Yes, I can give You a glass of water, but I do not have a proper glass—I have a glass, but it has a hole in the bottom." Mahaprabhu said, "It is not a problem. I can close the hole with My finger and drink the water. It is sufficient." Also, Mahaprabhu asked Raya Ramananda (I told about it the other day in Kovvur; Cc, 2.8.247), "Sampattira madhye jivera kon sampatti gani? Who is the richest person in this world?" Raya Ramananda replied, "Radha-Krishne prema yanra, sei bada dhani. One who has Krishna-prema (who has love and affection for Krishna, love for Vaishnavs, and love for Gurudev) is the richest person."

We also sing, "Bhaktera hrdaye sada govinda-visrama": Krishna rests, lives in the heart of devotees. Why does He choose the heart of devotees? Because devotee can give peace to Him. Why does Krishna not go to non-devotees? Because non-devotee always ask Krishna for their own interest, "Give this," "Give this," "Give this," "Give this"—Krishna becomes very tired and runs away from them.

* * *

The Price of Mercy

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

7 January 2019, part 4

In Sriman Mahaprabhu's time, at some point all the school students in Nabadwip thought, "Oh, that Nimai was born in this village, and after Him this sankirtan started. They sing and chant the whole day and we cannot study, we cannot sleep!" One time they decided, "Let us gather together—we will break and throw the houses of Nimai's followers into the Ganges and we will beat Nimai!"

Before that, Mahaprabhu told all devotees, "You work all day, it is not a problem, but every evening you must gather at Srivas Pandit's house and do sankirtan. Sankirtan must run every day." Devotees followed Mahaprabhu's order, but one day, they gathered at Srivas Pandit's house, but instead of sankirtan they were talking about those threats made by the students. Suddenly Nimai came—He asked,

"What has happened? Why is kirtan not running? Why has kirtan stopped today?!

"Prabhu, please, calm down. Please, calm down!"

"No, no! First tell Me why kirtan has stopped!"

Then, they explained, "Prabhu, all the villagers, all the school students are saying they will break and throw our houses into the Ganges. It is not a problem, we do not care about any houses, but they are saying also they will beat You—how will we tolerate that?"

Mahaprabhu replied, "Oh, is this why you have stopped kirtan?"

At that time little Narayani came to Mahaprabhu—she was a small girl at that time, she was not even four, perhaps three and a half years old or a little more (she was Srivas Pandit's niece and later became Vrindavan Das Thakur's mother). When she came to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu put His hand on her head and blessed her, "Tomar Krishna bhakti hauk: may Krishna give you mercy, may Krishna bless you." As soon as Mahaprabhu said it, she began rolling on the ground and crying, "O Krishna! O Krishna!" She cried and cried. Then Mahaprabhu asked devotees, "Now do you still believe they can beat Me and throw your houses into the Ganges?" Devotees replied, "No Prabhu, all doubt have already left us!"

Another time, it was Mahaprabhu's appearance day (birthday) coming and devotees were going to celebrate it at Srivas Pandit's house. At that time, one old lady who had nobody (no husband, no parents) lived at Srivas Pandit's house—she would always clean plates and bring water from outside; and her name was Duhkhi ('duhkhi' means 'one who is always sad'). So, that day, Srivas Pandit told her, "Duhkhi, you always bring water, but do you know who you will be bringing water for today? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nimai, my master is coming today, and He will take bath and we will do abhisekh with that water!" Duhkhi became very happy, and out of happiness tears came to her eyes. Suddenly, Mahaprabhu came at that time and seeing her bringing water and crying, He asked her, "What is your name? Why are you crying?" She said, "My name is Duhkhi (sad)." And Mahaprabhu said, "No, from today your name will be Sukhi (happy)!"

She got mercy of Mahaprabhu through service—you know she does not have any education, she has no money, she did not even know how to read, she does not know the meaning of anything, she does not know anything, but she got the mercy of Mahaprabhu. Mukunda also got mercy of Mahaprabhu through his faith. That is why it is necessary to have faith, the strongest faith.

* * *

Acme of Service

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

7 January 2019, part 5

It is necessary to have faith, the strongest faith.

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya

krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

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

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

As I was telling the other day, sometimes, you may serve Lord Krishna and also worship Lord Ganesh, Lord Kartik, Lord Siva—you worship so many demigods, but you actually make ghuskar (bribe-takers) out of them because you always ask them to fulfil your material desires. This is not right. All demigods can only give you material happiness, but Kali and other demigods cannot give you eternal happiness; only Krishna can give you eternal happiness. That Krishna came in this Kali-yuga as Radha-Krishna's combined form, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu practised what Radharani was practising—He experienced the separation from Krishna that Radharani feels.

sri-radhayah pranaya-mahima kidrso vanayaivasvadyo

yenadbhuta-madhurima kidrso va madiyah

saukhyam chasya mad-anubhavatah kidrsam veti lobhat

tad-bhavadhyah samajani sachigarbha-sindhau harinduh

"'What is that great glory of Sri Radha's love? What is My extraordinary loving sweetness and charm that Sri Radha enjoys? And what is the joy Sri Radha feels by experiencing My sweetness and charm?' Yearning to taste these three sentiments, the moon—Krishna-chandra—was born from the ocean of the womb of mother Sachi."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 1.6)

krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam

sangopangastra-parsadam

yajnaih sankirtana-prayair

yajanti hi su-medhasah

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

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.5.32)

Mahaprabhu experienced the same feelings that Radharani felt when Krishna left Vrindavan. Mahaprabhu practised this in Puri, in Kashi Misra's house. Such separation should come to you also through your service. You can examine yourself and understand whether devotion is coming or not—ask yourself if you want to chant the Holy Name, if you want to chant kirtans or if you want to do gramya-katha, gramya-varta (hear and talk about gossips). If you practise properly, then that kind of condition—that kind of highest devotion—can also come to you.

Following the guidance of a bona fide guru, through the service to Vaishnavs, you can get liberation, and through that you can go to your real home—it will be not necessary to be born and die, to come and go again and again; it will not be necessary to suffer from adhibhautik-, adhidaivik-, adhyatmik-jvala (agonising miseries caused by your body, by the nature, and other souls)—you can go to your real home and be happy.

* * *

Hari-Katha at Sri Kovvur (Godavari): Part One

Godavari, Kovvur, Andhra Pradesh

5 January 2019, part 1

Our Param Gurudev Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote very nicely in his Prema-dhama-deva Stotram:

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

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

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

prema-dhama-devam eva naumi gaura-sundaram

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

(Prema-dhama-deva Stotram, 22)

In this stotra, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj composed seventy-two slokas explaining Mahaprabhu's lifetime. He writes that Mahaprabhu always chanted, "Krishna, Krishna" and through Krishna Nam He spread Krishna consciousness all over India and He came to South India also.

You know that having taken sannyas Mahaprabhu went to Puri—He went with Gadadhar Pandit, Nityananda Prabhu, Mukunda Prabhu, and other devotees. When they were near Atharnala, Mahaprabhu asked Nityananda Prabhu,

"Where is my danda?"

Nityananda Prabhu told some lie, "Prabhu, when You became senseless, some asta-sattvik-vikar happened, You fell down on the danda, and it broke. I threw it into the Bhargi River."

Mahaprabhu understood that Nityananda Prabhu was telling a lie, He understood what had happened, and He said to Nityananda Prabhu, "I have come here... I have left everything in Nabadwip and I did not bring anything, I have brought only one danda with Me, and You have thrown it!" Mahaprabhu showed a little anger and told the devotees, "I will go alone! I will not go with you! I can go first and you can go behind, otherwise you go first and I will go behind."

Everybody consulted with each other and decided, "OK, Mahaprabhu can go first, then we can see where He is going, otherwise if we go before, we will not be able to see where Mahaprabhu is. Let Mahaprabhu go first, we can follow Him."

Then Mahaprabhu left and His walking was like running—devotees were running behind but they could not catch up with Him. Then, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu entered Jagannath Temple. He stormed inside chanting Jagannath's name and maha-mantra and fell down at the bamboo bar in front of the altar. Seeing Him, the servants of Jagannath, the pandas, wanted to beat Him, but seeing His form they could not beat Him. Mahaprabhu lay on the ground saying, "Ja-ja-ga-ga, Ja-ja-ga-ga"—He could not say, "Jagannath," only "Ja-ja-ga-ga" came from His lips, then foam started coming from His mouth, and He fainted. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya came there quickly and told the pandas, "I do not know who He is, but take Him to my house."

Very soon after that Nityananda Prabhu, Gadadhar Pandit, Mukunda Prabhu, and others who were going behind Mahaprabhu, came to Puri. They were searching Mahaprabhu everywhere and when they came to the Jagannath temple, they asked the pandas, "Have you see Mahaprabhu?" They said, "No, we did not see Him, but one person has come today—He fell down here and we brought Him to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house." Then, everybody went there, and they saw that Mahaprabhu was lying there senseless. Nityananda Prabhu understood what had happened. He chanted the Holy Name (the Hare Krishna maha-mantra) into Mahaprabhu's ears and Mahaprabhu came to His senses. He asked, "How did I come here? Why have you brought Me here?"

In the meantime, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's relative Sri Gopinath Acharya was also present there, and Gopinath Acharya could recognise who Mahaprabhu was. He told Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya,

"Do you not recognise Him? His Name was Nimai Vishvambhar, and now, after taking sannyas from Keshav Bharati, His Name became Sri Krishna Chaitanya. He is the Lord!"

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya replied, "You may recognise Him as the Lord, Bhagavan, but I do not think so. I do not think He is the Lord."

Gopinath Acharya said straight then, "Yes, that is because you have no mercy from the Lord; but I have some mercy, then I can see He is the Lord."

Later, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Mahaprabhu, "Why did You take sannyas at this age? You are very young."

Mahaprabhu said, "I have become crazy. I have left My parents, everything, and became a sannyasi, but you are a very great soul, you are a great pandit, please protect My sannyas."

"All right, You have taken sannyas, but what have You studied?"

"I did not read anything. I only learned some vyakaran (primary grammar)."

"Have You not even studied Veda-Vedanta?"

"No, I have never even heard Veda-Vedanta."

"All right," Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, "You must study Veda-Vedanta. I will give You class every day and you must listen."

Then Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya started reading and explaining Veda-Vedanta, and Mahaprabhu, like an obedient student, sat in front of him and listened to everything. Seven days later, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Him, "O new sannyasi! You have been listening to me for seven days, and You have not asked me a single question! How can I understand if you understand what I am explaining to You or not?"

Mahaprabhu answered, "When you are reading the Vedanta, I understand it very well, but when you give explanation, I cannot understand anything."

"What?!"

Then Mahaprabhu asked Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya to explain the meaning of the "atmaramas cha munayo" sloka. Sarvabhauma gave nine different explanations, but all his explanations were mayavad-bhasya (impersonalism), and after that Mahaprabhu gave eighteen types of further explanation. Hearing that explanation from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya became astounded—his eyes bulged and became red! But Mahaprabhu thought, "Still he cannot understand Me!" Then Mahaprabhu showed His sad-bhuja murti. Then Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya immediately fell at Mahaprabhu's lotus feet—he fell and did not get up. Mahaprabhu said, "O Sarvabhauma! What has happened? Wake up!" But Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, "Prabhu, what form have You just showed me? And what do I see now?" This is how Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya became a devotee of Mahaprabhu.

After that, Mahaprabhu wanted to visit South India and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya told Him, "If You go to South India, please go to the bank of Godavari. There is a rasa-bhakta, a devotee just like You, a devotee of Your line, there. His name is Ramananda Ray, You can meet with him there."

So, Mahaprabhu came here and met with Raya Ramananda at this very place where we have come today. In their conversation, Mahaprabhu discussed raganuga bhakti and established what is our main destination place, what is our highest place. Talking with Ramananda Ray, Mahaprabhu became very happy.

This temple here was established by our Param Gurudev, the Acharya of Sri Gaudiya Math, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupad, and the founder acharya of our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and our Gurudev also, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj also visited this place with devotees.

We are also very fortunate, I am also very fortunate to be able to come here for the first time, to be able to visit this place. I have no qualification, I am a very fallen soul, but by the mercy of devotees, I have come here with you all and I can pay obeisance such a great place as this... That is why we explain something about this place.

* * *

Hari-Katha at Sri Kovvur (Godavari): Part Two

Godavari, Kovvur, Andhra Pradesh

5 January 2019, part 2

Mahaprabhu consulted Ray Ramananda Prabhu on many subjects. Ray Ramananda was an incarnation of Srimati Visakha, and you know that he was King Prataparudra's minister staying here in Rajahmundry. After their talk, Mahaprabhu told him, "When I stay permanently in Puri, come and stay with Me."

Actually, Raja Prataparudra had so much desire to meet with Mahaprabhu, but Mahaprabhu did not want to meet with a king. Finally, because his desire was so strong, through some tricks of Nityananda Prabhu and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, Mahaprabhu did embrace Prataparudra.

King Prataparudra did much service to Mahaprabhu's followers and devotees. At Ratha-yatra time, many devotees came from Bengal and from all over South India and stayed in Puri—King Prataparudra would always give them prasadam, some place to stay, and would take care of all their needs.

Today we are briefly reading the chapter that describes the meeting of Raya Ramananda and Mahaprabhu (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, chapter 8). Listen to it properly, it is the highest conception.

sancharya ramabhidha-bhakta-meghe

sva-bhakti-siddhanta-chayamrtani

gaurabdhir etair amuna vitirnais

taj-jnatva-ratnalayatam prayati

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is known as Gauranga, is the ocean of all conclusive knowledge in devotional service. He empowered Sri Ramananda Raya, who may be likened to a cloud of devotional service. This cloud was filled with the water of all the conclusive purports of devotional service and was empowered by the ocean to spread this water over the sea of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself. Thus the ocean of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu became filled with the jewels of the knowledge of pure devotional service.

jaya jaya sri-chaitanya jaya nityananda

jayadvaita-chandra jaya gaura-bhakta-vrnda

All glories to Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityananda! All glories to Advaita Acharya! And all glories to all the devotees of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu!

purva-rite prabhu age gamana karila

'jiyada-nrsimha'-ksetre kata-dine gela

According to His previous programme, Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went forward on His tour and after some days arrived at the place of pilgrimage known as Jiyada-nrsimha.

nrsimha dekhiya kaila dandavat-pranati

premavese kaila bahu nrtya-gita-stuti

Upon seeing the Deity of Lord Nrsimha in the temple, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu offered His respectful obeisances. Then, in ecstatic love, He performed various dances, chanted, and offered prayers.

As I told yesterday, He came singing:

"sri-nrsimha, jaya nrsimha, jaya jaya nrsimha

prahladesa jaya padma-mukha-padma-bhrnga"

"'All glories to Nrsimhadev! All glories to Nrsimhadev, who is the Lord of Prahlad Maharaj and, like a honeybee, is always engaged in beholding the lotuslike face of the goddess of fortune.'

He first went to Nrisinghadev temple. Coming there, He was singing this stuti of Nrisinghadev. There is also a sloka from Srimad Bhagavatam (7.9.1):

ugro 'py anugra evayam

sva-bhaktanam nr-kesari

kesariva sva-potanam

anyesam ugra-vikramah

"'Although very ferocious, the lioness is very kind to her cubs. Similarly, although very ferocious to nondevotees like Hiranyakasipu, Lord Nrsimhadev is very, very soft and kind to devotees like Prahlad Maharaj.'"

Although a lion is ferocious, it is always very kind to its cub. Nrisinghadev is also ferocious, but when Prahlad Maharaj is there, then He is very kind.

ei-mata nana sloka padi' stuti kaila

nrsimha-sevaka mala-prasada ani' dila

In this way Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu recited different verses from the sastras. The priest of Lord Nrsimhadev then brought garlands and the remnants of the Lord's food and offered them to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

purvavat kona vipre kaila nimantrana

sei ratri tahan rahi' karila gamana

As usual, a brahmana offered Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu an invitation. The Lord passed the night in the temple and then commenced His tour again.

prabhate uthiya prabhu chalila premavese

dig-vidik nahi jnana ratri-divase

The next morning, in the great ecstasy of love, Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu started on His tour with no knowledge of the proper direction, and He continued the whole day and night.

Mahaprabhu visited so many on the way, and He always kept walking without any sense which way He was going.

purvavat 'vaisnava' kari' sarva loka-gane

godavari-tire prabhu aila kata-dine

As previously, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu converted to Vaisnavism many people He met on the road. After some days, the Lord reached the banks of the river Godavari.

godavari dekhi' ha-ila 'yamuna'-smarana

tire vana dekhi' smrti haila vrndavana

When He saw the river Godavari, the Lord remembered the river Yamuna, and when He saw the forest on the banks of the river, He remembered Sri Vrindavan Dham.

On His way to Godavari, Mahaprabhu had met many people and He turned so many people into Vaishnavs when He showed them His conception. When He finally came to Godavari and saw the bank of Godavari, He immediately remembered Yamuna, and when He saw a forest on the bank of Godavari, He immediately thought, "This is Vrindavan!"

sei vane kata-ksana kari' nrtya-gana

godavari para hana tahan kaila snana

After performing His usual chanting and dancing for some time in this forest, the Lord crossed the river and took His bath on the other bank.

Mahaprabhu danced and sang on the bank of Godavari, and after that He took bath in the Godavari River.

ghata chhadi' kata-dure jala-sannidhane

vasi' prabhu kare krsna-nama-sankirtane

After bathing in the river, the Lord walked a little distance from the bathing place and chanted the Holy Name of Krishna.

hena-kale dolaya chadi' ramananda raya

snana karibare aila, bajana bajaya

At that time, accompanied by the sounds of music, Ramananda Raya came there on a palanquin to take his bath.

Mahaprabhu was bathing and chanting the Holy Name, and at that time Ramananda Ray came—he came very gorgeously, with a band and party.

tanra sange bahu aila vaidika brahmana

vidhi-mate kaila tenho snanadi-tarpana

Many brahmanas following the Vedic principles accompanied Ramananda Raya. According to the Vedic rituals, Ramananda Raya took his bath and offered oblations to his forefathers.

prabhu tanre dekhi' janila—ei rama-raya

tanhare milite prabhura mana uthi' dhaya

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu could understand that the person who had come to bathe in the river was Ramananda Raya. The Lord wanted to meet him so much that His mind immediately began running after him.

tathapi dhairya dhari' prabhu rahila vasiya

ramananda aila apurva sannyasi dekhiya

Although Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was running after him mentally, He patiently remained sitting. Ramananda Raya, seeing the wonderful sannyasi, then came to see Him.

Mahaprabhu saw Ramananda Ray first, and He was waiting for him to come. As soon as Ramananda Ray saw a sannyasi, he came up to Him.

* * *

Hari-Katha at Sri Kovvur (Godavari): Part Three

Godavari, Kovvur, Andhra Pradesh

5 January 2019, part 3

[His Divine Grace continues reading from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, chapter 8. Below are verses 18-56:]

surya-sata-sama kanti, aruna vasana

subalita prakanda deha, kamala-lochana

Srila Ramananda Ray then saw Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was as brilliant as a hundred suns. The Lord was covered by a saffron garment, He was large in body and very strongly built, and His eyes were like lotus petals.

dekhiya tanhara mane haila chamatkara

asiya karila dandavat namaskara

When Ramananda Ray saw the wonderful sannyasi, he was struck with wonder. He went to Him and immediately offered his respectful obeisances, falling down flat like a rod.

uthi' prabhu kahe,—utha, kaha 'krsna' 'krsna'

tare alingite prabhura hrdaya satrsna

The Lord stood up and asked Ramananda Ray to arise and chant the Holy Name of Krishna. Indeed, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very eager to embrace him.

Mahaprabhu knew who he was, but still He asked him, "Who are you? Are you Ramananda Ray?" Ramananda Ray replied, "Yes, I am a sudra—I belong to a very low cast and I am your servant."

tathapi puchhila,—tumi raya ramananda?

tenho kahe,—sei hana dasa sudra manda

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then inquired whether he was Ramananda Ray, and he replied, "Yes, I am Your very low servant, and I belong to the sudra community."

tabe tare kaila prabhu drdha alingana

premavese prabhu-bhrtya donhe achetana

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then embraced Sri Ramananda Ray very firmly. Indeed, both the master and the servant almost lost consciousness due to ecstatic love.

svabhavika prema donhara udaya karila

dunha alingiya dunhe bhumite padila

Their natural love for each other was awakened in them both, and they embraced and fell to the ground.

stambha, sveda, asru, kampa, pulaka, vaivarnya

dunhara mukhete suni' gadgada 'krsna' varna

When they embraced each other, ecstatic symptoms—paralysis, perspiration, tears, shivering, paleness and standing up of the bodily hairs—appeared. The word "Krishna" came from their mouths falteringly.

dekhiya brahmana-ganera haila chamatkara

vaidika brahmana saba karena vichara

When the stereotyped, ritualistic brahmans who were following the Vedic principles saw this ecstatic manifestation of love, they were struck with wonder. All these brahmans began to reflect as follows.

ei ta' sannyasira teja dekhi brahma-sama

sudre alingiya kene karena krandana

The brahmans thought, "We can see that this sannyasi has a luster like the effulgence of Brahman, but how is it He is crying upon embracing a sudra, a member of the fourth caste in the social order?"

ei maharaja—maha-pandita, gambhira

sannyasira sparse matta ha-ila asthira

They thought, "This Ramananda Ray is the Governor of Madras, a highly learned and grave person, a maha-pandit, but upon touching this sannyasi he has become restless like a madman."

ei-mata vipra-gana bhave mane mana

vijatiya loka dekhi, prabhu kaila samvarana

While the brahmans were thinking in this way about the activities of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Ray, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu saw those outsiders and restrained His transcendental emotions.

sustha hana dunhe sei sthanete vasila

tabe hasi' mahaprabhu kahite lagila

When they regained their sanity, they both sat down, and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu smiled and began to speak as follows.

'sarvabhauma bhattacarya kahila tomara gune

tomare milite more karila yatane

"Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya spoke of your good qualities, and he made a great endeavor to convince Me to meet you.

toma milibare mora etha agamana

bhala haila, anayase pailun darasana'

"Indeed, I have come here just to meet you. It is very good that even without making an effort I have gotten your audience here."

raya kahe,—sarvabhauma kare bhrtya-jnana

parokseha mora hite haya savadhana

Ramananda Ray replied, "Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya thinks of me as his servant. Even in my absence he is very careful to do me good.

Raya told, "Sarvabhauma thinks I am his servant, but he also wants good for me."

tanra krpaya painu tomara darasana

aji saphala haila mora manusya-janama

"By his mercy I have received Your audience here. Today my human birth has become successful.

sarvabhaume tomara krpa,—tara ei chihna

asprsya sparsile hana tanra premadhina

"I can see that You have bestowed special mercy upon Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Therefore You have touched me, although I am untouchable. This is due only to his love for You.

kahan tumi—saksat isvara narayana

kahan muni—raja-sevi visayi sudradhama

"You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayan Himself, and I am only a government servant interested in materialistic activities. Indeed, I am the lowest among men of the fourth caste.

mora sparse na karile ghrna, veda-bhaya

mora darsana toma vede nisedhaya

"You do not fear the Vedic injunctions stating that You should not associate with a sudra. You were not contemptuous of my touch, although in the Vedas You are forbidden to associate with sudras.

tomara krpaya tomaya karaya nindya-karma

saksat isvara tumi, ke jane tomara marma

"You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself; therefore no one can understand Your purpose. By Your mercy You are touching me, although this is not sanctioned by the Vedas.

ama nistarite tomara ihan agamana

parama-dayalu tumi patita-pavana

"You have come here specifically to deliver me. You are so merciful that You alone can deliver all fallen souls.

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.”

Srimad Bhagavatam (10.8.4) also says,

mahad-vichalanam nrnam

grhinam dina-chetasam

nihsreyasaya bhagavan

nanyatha kalpate kvachit

"'My dear Lord, sometimes great saintly persons go to the homes of householders, although these householders are generally low-minded. When a saintly person visits their homes, one can understand that it is for no other purpose than to benefit the householders.'

amara sange brahmanadi sahasreka jana

tomara darsane sabara dravi-bhuta mana

"Along with me there are about a thousand men—including the brahmans—and all of them appear to have had their hearts melted simply by seeing You.

'krsna' 'krsna' nama suni sabara vadane

sabara anga—pulakita, asru—nayane

"I hear everyone chanting the holy name of Krishna. Everyone's body is thrilled with ecstasy, and there are tears in everyone's eyes.

akrtye-prakrtye tomara isvara-laksana

jive na sambhave ei aprakrta guna

"My dear Sir, according to Your behaviour and bodily features, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is impossible for ordinary living beings to possess such transcendental qualities."

prabhu kahe,—tumi maha-bhagavatottama

tomara darsane sabara drava haila mana

The Lord replied to Ramananda Ray, "Sir, you are the best of the topmost devotees; therefore simply the sight of you has melted everyone's heart.

anyera ki katha, ami—'mayavadi sannyasi'

amiha tomara sparse krsna-preme bhasi

"Although I am a mayavadi sannyasi, a nondevotee, I am also floating in the ocean of love of Krishna simply by touching you. And what to speak of others?

Mahaprabhu says He is a mayavadi sannyasi because He took sannyas from Keshav Bharati.

ei jani' kathina mora hrdaya sodhite

sarvabhauma kahilena tomare milite

"Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya knew this would happen, and thus to rectify My heart, which is very hard, he asked Me to meet you."

ei-mata dunhe stuti kare dunhara guna

dunhe dunhara darasane anandita mana

In this way each of them praised the qualities of the other, and both of them were pleased to see each other.

hena-kale vaidika eka vaisnava brahmana

dandavat kari' kaila prabhure nimantrana

At this time a brahman Vaisnav following the Vedic principles came and offered obeisances. He fell flat before Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and invited Him for lunch.

nimantrana manila tanre vaisnava janiya

ramanande kahe prabhu isat hasiya

Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu accepted the invitation, knowing the brahman to be a devotee, and slightly smiling, He spoke as follows to Ramananda Ray.

tomara mukhe krsna-katha sunite haya mana

punarapi pai yena tomara darasana

"I wish to hear from you about Lord Krishna. Therefore I wish to see you again."

raya kahe, aila yadi pamara sodhite

darsana-matre suddha nahe mora dusta chitte

dina pancha-sata rahi' karaha marjana

tabe suddha haya mora ei dusta mana

Ramananda Ray replied, "My Lord, although You have come to correct me, a fallen soul, my mind is not yet purified simply by seeing You. Please stay for five or seven days and kindly cleanse my polluted mind. After that much time, my mind will certainly be pure."

Raya told, "You have come to rescue me, a fallen soul, but only seeing You is not enough—I want to hear something from you."

yadyapi vichchheda donhara sahana na yaya

tathapi dandavat kari' chalila rama-raya

Although neither could tolerate separation from the other, Ramananda Ray nonetheless offered his obeisances to Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and departed.

prabhu yai' sei vipra-ghare bhiksa kaila

dui janara utkanthaya asi' sandhya haila

Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then went to the house of the brahman who had invited Him and took His lunch there. When the evening of that day arrived, both Ramananda Ray and the Lord were eager to meet each other again.

prabhu snana-krtya kari' achhena vasiya

eka-bhrtya-sange raya milila asiya

After finishing His evening bath, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sat down and waited for Ramananda Ray to come. Then Ramananda Ray, accompanied by one servant, came to meet Him.

namaskara kaila raya, prabhu kaila alingane

dui jane krsna-katha kaya rahah-sthane

Ramananda Ray approached Lord Sri Chaitanya and offered his respectful obeisances, and the Lord embraced him. Then they began to discuss Krishna in a secluded place.

* * *

Sri Ramananda Sambad

Godavari, Kovvur, Andhra Pradesh

5 January 2019, part 4

[His Divine Grace continues reading from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, chapter 8:]

prabhu kahe,—"pada sloka sadhyera nirnaya"

raya kahe,—"sva-dharmacharane visnu-bhakti haya"

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ordered Ramananda Ray, "Recite a verse from the revealed scriptures concerning the ultimate goal of life." Ramananda replied, "Devotion to the Lord is the execution of the prescribed duties of one's social position."

Mahaprabhu rejected it.

prabhu kahe,—"eho bahya, age kaha ara"

raya kahe, "krsne karmarpana—sarva-sadhya-sara"

The Lord replied, "This is external. Go further." Ramananda replied, "To offer the results of one's activities to Krishna is the essence of all perfection."

yat karosi yad asnasi, yaj juhosi dadasi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kurusva mad-arpanam

Ramananda Ray quoted Srimad Bhagavad-gita (9.27), "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."

prabhu kahe,—"eho bahya, age kaha ara"

raya kahe,—"svadharma-tyaga, ei sadhya-sara"

The Lord said, "This is also external. Go further." Ramananda Ray replied, "To give up one's occupational duties in the varnasrama system is the essence of perfection."

ajnayaivam gunan dosan

mayadistan api svakan

dharman santyajya yah sarvan

mam bhajet sa cha sattamah

Ramananda Ray quoted Srimad Bhagavatam (11.11.32), "Occupational duties are described in the religious scriptures. If one analyses them, he can fully understand their qualities and faults and then give them up completely to render service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a person is considered a first-class man.'

The Lord says in Srimad Bhagavatam, "Those who have left everything that I have prescribed in the many scriptures, who do not think what is correct, what is incorrect, who have given up everything and worship Me—they are the highest saints." And Srimad Bhagavad-gita also told,

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."

"Leave everything and do not worry—I am the Lord, surrender to Me, and I will remove all your sins." Mahaprabhu rejected it too.

prabhu kahe,—"eho bahya, age kaha ara"

raya kahe, "jnana-misra bhakti—sadhya-sara"

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, "This is external. Go further." Ramananda Ray replied, "Devotional service mixed with empiric knowledge is the essence of perfection."

brahma-bhutah prasannatma

na sochati na kanksati

samah sarvesu bhutesu

mad-bhaktim labhate param

Ramananda Ray quoted Srimad Bhagavad-gita (18.54), "The joyful-hearted, enlightened soul who has attained his divine nature neither sorrows nor desires. Seeing all beings equally, he comes to attain transcendental loving devotion for Me."

prabhu kahe, "eho bahya, age kaha ara"

raya kahe,—"jnana-sunya bhakti—sadhya-sara"

The Lord again rejected it, "This is external. Go further." Then, Ramananda Ray said, "Pure devotional service without any touch of speculative knowledge is the essence of perfection."

To support this point of view, Ramananda Ray quoted a verse that says, "O Lord! It is generally very difficult and rare to get You, but those who worship You and distribute Your Holy Name, who explain and distribute Your katha, Your glories everywhere, can get You easily." Then the Lord said, "Eho haya, age kaya ara. Yes, it is so! But go further." He accepted it.

prabhu kahe, "eho haya, age kaha ara"

raya kahe, "prema-bhakti—sarva-sadhya-sara"

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, "This is all right, but go on." Ramananda Ray then replied, "Ecstatic love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the essence of all perfection."

krsna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita matih

kriyatam yadi kuto 'pi labhyate

tatra laulyam api mulyam ekalam

janma-koti-sukrtair na labhyate

Ramananda Ray quoted a famous verse later included by Srila Rupa Goswami in Padyavali (14), "Pure devotional service in Krishna consciousness cannot be had even by pious activity in hundreds and thousands of lives. It can be attained only by paying one price—that is, intense greed to obtain it. If it is available somewhere, one must purchase it without delay."

"You cannot get the Lord by any amount of pious activities, but you can buy Him with devotion."

prabhu kahe, "eho haya, age kaha ara"

raya kahe, "dasya-prema—sarva-sadhya-sara"

The Lord said, "This is good, but go further." Ramananda Ray said, "Spontaneous loving service in servitude—as exchanged by master and servant—is the highest perfection."

After that, Ramananda Ray gave examples of devotees possessing sakhya-prema, Sridam, Sudam, Vasudam, and others, saying how fortunate they were to have Lord Krishna as their friend. It is very rare to get Krishna, but how fortunate they are—they have become Krishna's friends.

prabhu kahe,—"eho uttama, age kaha ara"

raya kahe, "vatsalya-prema—sarva-sadhya-sara"

The Lord said, "This is very good, but please proceed further." Ramananda Ray then replied, "Loving service to the Lord in the parental relationship is the highest perfectional stage."

Mahaprabhu said, "It is good, but can you tell something more? Can you go further?"

nandah kim akarod brahman

sreya evam mahodayam

yasoda va maha-bhaga

papau yasyah stanam harih

Ramananda Ray quoted Srimad Bhagavatam (10.8.46), "O brahman, what pious activities did Nanda Maharaj perform by which he received the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna as his son? And what pious activities did Mother Yasoda perform that made the Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna call her 'Mother' and suck her breasts?"

nemam virincho na bhavo

na srir apy anga-samsraya

prasadam lebhire gopi

yat tat prapa vimukti-dat

Ramananda Ray quoted Srimad Bhagavatam (10.9.20), "The favour Mother Yasoda obtained from Sri Krishna, the bestower of liberation, was never obtained even by Lord Brahma or Lord Siva, nor even by the goddess of fortune Laksmi, who always remains on the chest of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Visnu."

What Yasoda has got—she gives her breasts to the Lord, she beats Krishna, etc.—not even Brahma, Siva, not even Laksmi Devi could get it.

prabhu kahe, "eho uttama, age kaha ara"

raya kahe, "kanta-prema sarva-sadhya-sara"

The Lord said, "This is great, but go further." Ramananda Ray then replied, "Conjugal attachment for Krishna is the topmost position in love of Godhead.

nayam sriyo 'nga u nitanta-rateh prasadah

svar-yositam nalina-gandha-rucham kuto 'nyah

rasotsave 'sya bhuja-danda-grhita-kantha-

labdhasisam ya udagad vraja-sundarinam

Ramananda Ray quoted Uddhav Maharaj (Srimad Bhagavatam, 10.47.60), "When Lord Sri Krishna was dancing with the gopis in the rasa-lila, the gopis were embraced around the neck by the Lord's arms. This transcendental favor was never bestowed upon the goddess of fortune or the other consorts in the spiritual world. Nor was such a thing ever imagined by the most beautiful girls in the heavenly planets, girls whose bodily luster and aroma resemble the beauty and fragrance of lotus flowers. And what to speak of worldly women, who may be very, very beautiful according to material estimation?"

krsna-praptira upaya bahu-vidha haya

krsna-prapti-taratamya bahuta achhaya

"There are various means and processes by which one may attain the favor of Lord Krishna. All those transcendental processes will be studied from the viewpoint of comparative importance.

kintu yanra yei rasa, sei sarvottama

tata-stha hana vicahrile, ache tara-tama

"It is true that whatever relationship a particular devotee has with the Lord is the best for him; still, when we study all the different methods from a neutral position, we can understand that there are higher and lower degrees of love."

"Sraddha anusare haya bhakti adhikari." One's devotion depends on what kind of faith one has, and the Lord reciprocates depending on one's qualities:

ye yatha mam prapadyante, tams tathaiva bhajamy aham

mama vartmanuvartante, manusyah partha sarvasah

"Howsoever people surrender to Me, I accordingly reward them. Being the ultimate goal of all paths, I am the objective to be attained by all. O Partha, all men follow My various paths."

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.11

The Lord reciprocates with the devotional mood of a devotee—He is the Master to those in dasya-rasa, a son to those in vatsalya-rasa, etc.

purva-purva-rasera guna—pare pare haya

dui-tina ganane pancha paryanta badaya

"There is a gradual order of improvement in transcendental mellows from the initial ones to the later ones. In each subsequent mellow the qualities of the previous mellows are manifested, counting from two, then three, and up to the point of five complete qualities.

Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur says that those who have the right (adhikar) in a particular rasa (dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, or madhurya) cannot cross their line—those who have the right to worship in santa-rasa, will worship in santa-rasa; those who have the right for dasya-rasa, will worship in dasya-rasa. They never cross that line. He also warns that those who have no right to worship in madhurya-rasa must not go there.

krsnera pratijna drdha sarva-kale ache

ye yaichhe bhaje, krsna tare bhaje taiche

"Lord Krishna has made a firm promise for all time. If one renders service unto Him, Krishna correspondingly gives him an equal amount of success in devotional service to the Lord."

ye yatha mam prapadyante

tams tathaiva bhajamy aham

mama vartmanuvartante

manusyah partha sarvasah

Ramananda Ray quoted Lord Krishna (Bhagavad-gita, 4.11), "Howsoever people surrender to Me, I accordingly reward them. Being the ultimate goal of all paths, I am the objective to be attained by all. O Partha, all men follow My various paths."

ei 'preme'ra anurupa na pare bhajite

ataeva 'rni' haya —kahe bhagavate

"In Srimad Bhagavatam (10.32.22) it is said that Lord Krishna cannot proportionately reciprocate devotional service in the madhurya-rasa; therefore He always remains a debtor to such devotees."

na paraye 'ham niravadya-samyujam

sva-sadhu-krtyam vibudhayusapi vah

ya mabhajan durjaya-geha-srnkhalah

samvrschya tad vah pratiyatu sadhuna

"When the gopis were overwhelmed with dissatisfaction due to Lord Krishna's absence from the rasa-lila, Krishna returned to them and told them, 'My dear gopis, our meeting is certainly free of all material contamination. I must admit that in many lives it would be impossible for Me to repay My debt to you because you have cut off the bondage of family life just to search for Me. Consequently I am unable to repay you. Therefore please be satisfied with your honest activities in this regard."

prabhu kahe,—ei 'sadhyavadhi' sunischaya

krpa kari' kaha, yadi age kichhu haya

Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, "This is certainly the limit of perfection, but please be merciful to Me and speak more if there is more."

raya kahe,—ihara age puchhe hena jane

eta-dina nahi jani, achhaye bhuvane

Raya Ramananda replied, "Until this day I did not know anyone within this material world who could inquire beyond this perfectional stage of devotional service.

inhara madhye radhara prema—'sadhya-siromani'

yanhara mahima sarva-sastrete vakhani

"Among the loving affairs of the gopis," Ramananda Raya continued, "Srimati Radharani's love for Sri Krishna is topmost. Indeed, the glories of Srimati Radharani are highly esteemed in all revealed scriptures.

churi kari' radhake nila gopi-ganera dare

anyapeksa haile premera gadhata na sphure

"During the rasa dance Sri Krishna did not exchange loving affairs with Srimati Radharani due to the presence of the other gopis. Because of the dependence of the others, the intensity of love between Radha and Krishna was not manifest. Therefore He stole Her away.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur warns that those who have no right, or qualification, to consult with the works of Jayadev, with Padmavali, Gita-Govinda, etc. must not go there—it is better then not to consult with such things, otherwise we will go another way and do nonsense. Gurudev also told, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also told that we can read the last part of the Siksastakam kirtans, but we do not sing it.

prabhu kahe,—'sadhya-vastura avadhi' ei haya

tomara prasade iha janilun nischaya

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu confirmed these verses recited by Sri Ramananda Raya, saying, "This is the limit of the goal of human life. Only by your mercy have I come to understand it conclusively.

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

krpa kari' kaha, raya, pabara upaya

"The goal of life cannot be achieved unless one practices the process. Now, being merciful upon Me, please explain that means by which this goal can be attained."

Mahaprabhu wants to hear from Ramananda Ray's mouth, but Ramananda Ray says, "Prabhu I do not know anything. You are playing in my tongue—I simply say whatever You make me say."

raya kahe,—yei kahao, sei kahi vani

ki kahiye bhala-manda, kichui na jani

Sri Ramananda Raya replied, "I do not know what I am saying, but You have made me speak what I have spoken, be it good or bad. I am simply repeating that message."

sakhi vina ei lilaya anyera nahi gati

sakhi-bhave ye tanre kare anugati

radha-krsna-kunjaseva-sadhya sei paya

sei sadhya paite ara nahika upaya

"Without the help of the gopis, one cannot enter into these pastimes. Only one who worships the Lord in the ecstasy of the gopis, following in their footsteps, can engage in the service of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna in the bushes of Vrindavan. Only then can one understand the conjugal love between Radha and Krishna. There is no other procedure for understanding."

That is a very high conception.

krsna saha radhikara lila ye karaya

nija-sukha haite tate koti sukha paya

"The happiness of the gopis increases ten million times when they serve to engage Sri Sri Radha and Krishna in Their transcendental pastimes.

Again, these are very interesting, but very high things.

eta suni' prabhu tanre kaila alingana

dui jane galagali karena krandana

After hearing this, Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu embraced Ramananda Raya, and both of them, embracing shoulder to shoulder, began to cry.

ei-mata premavese ratri gonaila

pratah-kale nija-nija-karye dunhe gela

The entire night was passed in this way, in ecstatic love of Godhead. In the morning they both departed to tend to their respective duties.

vidaya-samaye prabhura charane dhariya

ramananda raya kahe vinati kariya

Before departing from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramananda Ray fell to the ground and caught hold of the Lord's lotus feet. He then spoke submissively as follows.

'more krpa karite tomara ihan agamana

dina dasa rahi' sodha mora dusta mana

Sri Ramananda Ray said, "You have come here just to show me Your causeless mercy. Therefore stay here for at least ten days and purify my polluted mind.

toma vina anya nahi jiva uddharite

toma vina anya nahi krsna-prema dite'

"But for You, there is no one who can deliver all the living entities, for You alone can deliver love of Krishna."

Both of them left then, but the next day Ramananda Ray and Mahaprabhu met again...

* * *

Sri Ramananda Ray's Answers

Godavari, Kovvur, Andhra Pradesh

5 January 2019, part 5

[His Divine Grace continues and concludes reading from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, chapter 8:]

Later, Mahaprabhu again met with Ramananda Ray, and this time Mahaprabhu asked Ramananda Ray questions and Ramananda Ray gave answers:

prabhu kahe,—"kon vidya vidya-madhye sara?"

raya kahe,—"krsna-bhakti vina vidya nahi ara"

The Lord inquired, "Of all types of education, which is the most important?" Ramananda Ray replied, "No education is important other than the transcendental devotional service of Krishna."

Krishna-bhakti is the highest transcendental education (para-vidya).

'kirti-gana-madhye jivera kon bada kirti?'

'krsna-bhakta baliya yanhara haya khyati'

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then asked Ramananda Ray, "Out of all glorious activities, which is the most glorious?" Ramananda Ray replied, "That person who is reputed to be a devotee of Lord Krishna enjoys the utmost fame and glory."

Kirti means glory. Mahaprabhu asks, "What is the highest glory? Who is the most famous?" Ramananda Ray replied, "One who is a devotee of Krishna is the highest person."

'sampatira madhye jivera kon sampati gani?'

'radha-krsne prema yanra, sei bada dhani'

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked, "Of the many capitalists who possess great riches, who is the topmost?" Ramananda Ray replied, "He who is richest in love for Radha and Krishna is the greatest capitalist."

Sampati means property, wealth. What is the proper, the greatest wealth? Who is rich? One who has love and devotion for Radha-Krishna.

'duhkha-madhye kona duhkha haya gurutara?'

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

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked, "Of all kinds of distress, what is the most painful?" Sri Ramananda Ray replied, "Apart from separation from the devotee of Krishna, I know of no unbearable unhappiness."

What is the greatest sadness in life? Sometimes we think, "Oh, my parents have died," "My wife has died," "My husband has died," "My son has died"—we think this is very sad, but actually it is not sad. The greatest sadness is separation from a devotee.

Next question is who is the liberated soul? One who is Krishna-premik—who has love and devotion—is the greatest liberated soul.

'mukta-madhye kon jiva mukta kari' mani?'

'krsna-prema yanra, sei mukta-siromani'

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then inquired, "Out of all liberated persons, who should be accepted as the greatest?" Ramananda Ray replied, "He who has love for Krishna has attained the topmost liberation."

'gana-madhye kona gana—jivera nija dharma?'

'radha-krsnera prema-keli'—yei gitera marma

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu next asked Ramananda Ray, "Among many songs, which song is to be considered the actual religion of the living entity?" Ramananda Ray replied, "That song describing the loving affairs of Sri Radha and Krishna is superior to all other songs."

Next question is what is 'sreyo'? 'Sreyo' means 'auspicious'. Auspiciousness is the association of a devotee of Krishna.

'sreyo-madhye kona sreyah jivera haya sara?'

'krsna-bhakta-sanga vina sreyah nahi ara'

Then Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked, "Out of all auspicious and beneficial activities, which is best for the living entity?" Ramananda Ray replied, "The only auspicious activity is association with the devotees of Krishna."

Next question. What should we remember every day? Krishna is the only object of daily, eternal remembrance. Krishna also gives the injunction, "Remember Me, and do not forget Me."

'kanhara smarana jiva karibe anuksana?'

'krsna'-nama-guna-lila—pradhana smarana'

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked, "What should all living entities constantly remember?" Ramananda Ray replied, "The chief objects of remembrance are always the Lord's Holy Name, qualities and pastimes."

'dhyeya-madhye jivera kartavya kon dhyana?'

'radha-krsna-padambuja-dhyana—pradhana'

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu further inquired, "Out of many types of meditation, which is required for all living entities?" Srila Ramananda Ray replied, "The chief duty of every living entity is to meditate upon the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna."

What is the greatest meditation (dhyan)? Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told,

matala hari-jana kirtana-range

pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange

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

Then, next question is what is the greatest place of residence?

'sarva tyaji' jivera kartavya kahan vasa?'

'vraja-bhumi vrndavana yahan lila-rasa'

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked, "Where should the living entity live, abandoning all other places?" Ramananda Ray replied, "He should live in the holy place known as Vrndavana or Vrajabhumi, where the Lord performed His rasa dance."

But do not think that you must now leave Vijayawada and go stay in Vrindavan. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told that Vrindavan is where the sadhu is.

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 stay in Vrindavan, Mathura, or Govardhan for your own enjoyment, for own interest, that is not residence in Govardhan, that is not staying in Mathura. That is why Mahaprabhu said,

vrndavane giya na thakiya chira kala

govardhane uthiya na dekhiya gopala

"When you go to Vrindavan, do not stay there for a long time and do not climb the Govardhan Hill to see Gopal."

You can only stay in Vrindavan for service; without service, you cannot stay there because Vrindavan is a place of Radhanuga-bhakti (devotion under the guidance of Srimati Radharani), and if you try to imitate what all the Vraja gopis do, you will go to hell.

'sravana-madhye jivera kon srestha sravana?'

'radha-krsna-prema-keli karna-rasayana'

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked, "Out of all topics people listen to, which is best for all living entities?" Ramananda Ray replied, "Hearing about the loving affairs between Radha and Krishna is most pleasing to the ear."

Once, a disciple of Gurudev wanted to hear Radha-Krishna's pastimes from Gurudev, but Gurudev replied, "If you hear it, you will get pregnant."

'upasyera madhye kon upasya pradhana?'

'srestha upasya—yugala 'radha-krsna' nama'

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked, "Among all worshipable objects, which is the chief?" Ramananda Ray replied, "The chief worshipable object is the Holy Name of Radha and Krishna, the Hare Krishna mantra."

You must keep this in your heart, do not show it to others.

matala hari-jana kirtana-range

pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange

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

You must practise sravanam and kirtanam, but as for worshipping Radha-Krishna's lotus feet, you must keep that in your heart.

'mukti, bhukti vanchhe yei, kahan dunhara gati?'

'sthavara-deha, deva-deha yaichhe avasthiti'

"And what is the destination of those who desire liberation and those who desire sense gratification?" Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked. Ramananda Ray replied, "Those who attempt to merge into the existence of the Supreme Lord will have to accept bodies like those of trees. And those who are overly inclined toward sense gratification will attain the bodies of demigods."

What is the destination of those who want liberation and enjoyment? They get another body or a demigod's body.

Then, Ramananda Ray said,

arasa-jna kaka chuse jnana-nimba-phale

rasa-jna kokila khaya premamra-mukule

Ramananda Ray continued, "Those who are devoid of all transcendental mellows are like the crows that suck the juice from the bitter fruits of the nimba tree of knowledge, whereas those who enjoy mellows are like the cuckoos who eat the buds of the mango tree of love of Godhead."

eka samsaya mora achhaye hrdaye

krpa kari' kaha more tahara nischaye

Ramananda Ray then said that he had but one doubt within his heart, and he petitioned the Lord, "Please be merciful upon me and just remove my doubt."

pahile dekhilun tomara sannyasi-svarupa

ebe toma dekhi muni syama-gopa-rupa

Ramananda Ray then told Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, "At first I saw You appear like a sannyasi, but now I am seeing You as Syamasundara, the cowherd boy.

tomara sammukhe dekhi kanchana-panchalika

tanra gaura-kantye tomara sarva anga dhaka

"I now see You appearing like a golden doll, and Your entire body appears covered by a golden luster.

tahate prakata dekhon sa-vamsi vadana

nana bhave chanchala tahe kamala-nayana

"I see that You are holding a flute to Your mouth, and Your lotus eyes are moving very restlessly due to various ecstasies.

ei-mata toma dekhi' haya chamatkara

akapate kaha, prabhu, karana ihara

"I actually see You in this way, and this is very wonderful. My Lord, please tell me without duplicity what is causing this."

prabhu kahe,—krsne tomara gadha-prema haya

premara svabhava ei janiha nischaya

Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, "You have a deep love for Krishna, and one who has such deep ecstatic love for the Lord naturally sees things in such a way. Please take this from Me to be certain.

maha-bhagavata dekhe sthavara-jangama

tahan tahan haya tanra sri-krsna-sphurana

"A devotee advanced on the spiritual platform sees everything movable and inert as the Supreme Lord. For him, everything he sees here and there is but a manifestation of Lord Krishna.

sthavara-jangama dekhe, na dekhe tara murti

sarvatra haya nija ista-deva-sphurti

"The maha-bhagavata, the advanced devotee, certainly sees everything mobile and immobile, but he does not exactly see their forms. Rather, everywhere he immediately sees manifest the form of the Supreme Lord."

radha-krsne tomara maha-prema haya

yahan tahan radha-krsna tomare sphuraya

Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu continued, "My dear Ray, you are an advanced devotee and are always filled with ecstatic love for Radha and Krishna. Therefore whatever you see—anywhere and everywhere—simply awakens your Krishna consciousness."

raya kahe,—prabhu tumi chhada bhari-bhuri

mora age nija-rupa na kariha churi

Ramananda Ray replied, "My dear Lord, please give up all these serious talks. Please do not conceal Your real form from me."

Ramananda Ray said, "Prabhu, do not hide from me! Do not try to deceive me!"

radhikara bhava-kanti kari' angikara

nija-rasa asvadite kariyachha avatara

Ramananda Ray continued, "My dear Lord, I can understand that You have assumed the ecstasy and bodily complexion of Srimati Radharani. By accepting these, You are tasting Your own personal transcendental humor and have therefore appeared as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

nija-gudha-karya tomara—prema asvadana

anusange prema-maya kaile tribhuvana

"My dear Lord, You have descended in this incarnation of Lord Chaitanya for Your own personal reasons. You have come to taste Your own spiritual bliss, and at the same time You are transforming the whole world by spreading the ecstasy of love of Godhead.

apane aile more karite uddhara

ebe kapata kara,—tomara kona vyavahara

"My dear Lord, by Your causeless mercy You have appeared before me to grant me liberation. Now You are playing in a duplicitous way. What is the reason for this behavior?"

Then Mahaprabhu laughed,

tabe hasi' tanre prabhu dekhaila svarupa

'rasa-raja', 'mahabhava'—dui eka rupa

Lord Sri Krishna is the reservoir of all pleasure, and Srimati Radharani is the personification of ecstatic love of Godhead. These two forms had combined as one in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Smiling, Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu revealed His real form to Ramananda Ray.

dekhi' ramananda haila anande murchchhite

dharite na pare deha, padila bhumite

Upon seeing this form, Ramananda Ray lost consciousness in transcendental bliss. Unable to remain standing, he fell to the ground.

prabhu tanre hasta sparsi' karaila chetana

sannyasira vesa dekhi' vismita haila mana

When Ramananda Ray fell to the ground unconscious, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu touched his hand, and he immediately regained consciousness. But when he saw Lord Chaitanya in the dress of a sannyasi, he was struck with wonder.

alingana kari' prabhu kaila asvasana

toma vina ei-rupa na dekhe anya-jana

After embracing Ramananda Ray, the Lord pacified him, informing him, "But for you, no one has ever seen this form."

mora tattva-lila-rasa tomara gochare

ataeva ei-rupa dekhailun tomare

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu confirmed, "All the truths about My pastimes and mellows are within your knowledge. Therefore I have shown this form to you.

gaura anga nahe mora—radhanga-sparsana

gopendra-suta vina tenho na sparse anya-jana

"Actually My body does not have a fair complexion. It only appears so because it has touched the body of Srimati Radharani. However, She does not touch anyone but the son of Nanda Maharaj…"

* * *

Sri Ramananda Ray's Expertise

Godavari, Kovvur, Andhra Pradesh

5 January 2019, part 6

Later, when Ramananda Ray stayed in Puri, one day a brahman named Pradyumna Misra came to Mahaprabhu and asked Him if he could hear Krishna-katha from Him. Mahaprabhu replied, "I do not know Krishna-katha. Go to Ramananda Ray."

Pradyumna Misra went to Ramananda Ray, but at that time Ramananda Ray was busy teaching Jagannath's Deva Dasis dancing—he was showing them how to dance, how to wear clothes, etc., and he himself was dressing them also. When Pradyumna Misra heard that this was what he was doing in the garden, he thought, "What kind of a sadhu is this? Why is he doing this?"

Pradyumna Misra left and went back to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu asked him, "Have you not heard Krishna-katha?" Pradyumna Misra did not say anything, and Mahaprabhu understood what had happened—He told Pradyumna Misra, "Go to Ramananda Ray again." So, Pradyumna Misra went to Ramananda Ray again, and this time Ramananda Ray met with him. He said, "Please forgive my offence. I was busy yesterday. What is your question?" Then Pradyumna Misra and Ramananda Ray conversed about Krishna-katha the whole night—even when prasadam came in the evening, they forgot all about it. Then whole night passed and when the sun rose in the morning, they stopped. Pradyumna Misra was very happy, he said, "You have got mercy from Krishna! Only you can distribute Krishna-katha!"

Pradyumna Misra came back to Mahaprabhu and said, "Yes, Prabhu, You have sent me to a perfect person." Mahaprabhu said, "Yes! I will tell you more. Even My mind can be disturbed if I see a picture of a lady, but when Ramananda Ray dresses and touches the bodies of girls, etc. at that time he is not a man—he becomes a women, a gopi."

Jay Sri Ramananda Prabhu ki jay!

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

[His Divine Grace then chants "Radhe Jaya Jaya Madhava Dayite" kirtan.]

* * *

History of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (1)

Masulipatnam, Andhra Pradesh

6 January 2019, 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)

First, I am giving my obeisance at my beloved Gurudev Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's lotus feet. Then, I am giving my obeisance to all the acharya-vrinda, all the acharyas all over the world, and all the Gaudiya Vaishnav vrinda, and at the lotus feet of my Guru-varga Om Vishnupad Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad's lotus feet. I also offer my obeisance to all the Vaishnav-vrinda here in attendance. I am praying for the mercy of you all—please help me protect my devotional life. I am praying to you all also because without your mercy I cannot say anything, I cannot even practise Krishna consciousness. Your mercy is also necessary for me.

You all know ISKCON, but some devotees do not actually know about Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.

When Chaitanya Math had not yet been established, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad stayed in Kolkata and preached from there. At that time, our Param Gurudev Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was a law student and he would come every day to listen to Hari-katha from Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He was greatly impressed when he heard his Hari-katha—he thought, "I have heard so many lectures, I have heard so many things, but I had never heard such Krishna-katha before!" Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj would come and only listen, he never asked Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur any questions. At that time, India was under the British rule, and although Srila Sridhar Maharaj was actually against the British, devotees doubted him thinking, "That boy comes and sits quietly, maybe he is a British spy." Then, the temple manager told Srila Sridhar Maharaj not to come again. Srila Sridhar Maharaj was very sad and the next day he did not come to the programme. In the meantime, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur asked the next day, "There was one boy sitting always behind, listening, why did he not come today?" Nobody said anything, nobody complained, but of course Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur understood what had happened. The next day, however, Srila Sridhar Maharaj thought, "I do not go there for prasadam, I do not go there for take anyone's money, I only come to listen, so even if they kick me out, even if they throw me out of there, I will still go."

Eventually, after hearing Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's Hari-katha, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj decided, "He will be my spiritual master," and in 1923 he took shelter of the guidance of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj was a great scholar and composed many verses about Srila Prabhupad, about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, and, although there were so many senior disciples, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave him sannyas in 1929. Later, after Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's demise in 1937, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj became very sad and went to Vrindavan. He stayed in Nanda-gram, Pavan Sarovar (the bhajan place of Srila Sanatan Goswami), and stayed there... Another thing that you should know is what had happened before that.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur left his body in Bagh Bazar Gaudiya Math in Kolkata. During his last days, all sannyasis divided the service among each other and always stayed with Srila Sarawati Thakur Prabhupad—somebody stayed for two hours, somebody for three hours, or for one hour, etc. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also served him at that time. During his last moment, when Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was about to leave his body, the doctor tried to find his pulse and said there was no pulse, but at that time Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur suddenly spoke. He asked, "Where is Sridhar Maharaj? I want to hear one song, Sri Rupa-manjari-pada ei mora sampada." Everybody was surprised, "There are so many good singers who can sing with good tune, and Sridhar Maharaj does not even know how to sing a song—why did Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur choose him?" When Srila Sridhar Maharaj came and sang that song, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur left his body. After that, all godbrothers understood that Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur had selected him (Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj) as the proper acharya, the proper guardian who can preach Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's proper conception.

So, when Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was in Vrindavan, Srimati Radharani and Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur sent a sky message (akas-vani) to him saying, "Why are you in Vrindavan? Do you want to go to Goloka Vrindavan alone? There are so many fallen souls all over the world—will you not think about them? You must go to Nabadwip and stay there. You must rescue the fallen souls, you must preach Krishna consciousness all over the world!" Srila Sridhar Maharaj left Vrindavan and made a small cottage on the bank of the Ganges in Nabadwip, which is now Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. At that time he gave that place the name Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math and put up a big flag on a long bamboo pole. So many things happened after that...

Gradually, many of godbrothers sought Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj out and started coming to him. Many also took sannyas from Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. He established Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in 1941, and in 1947 our Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, came as Gaurendu Brahmachari to take shelter of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj…

* * *

History of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math (2)

Masulipatnam, Andhra Pradesh

6 January 2019, part 2

Gurudev (Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) always went to Kolkata for preaching, and at that time he stayed at the house of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad at Ultadanga Road. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and our Gurudev, Gaurendu Brahmachari, both lived in that house.

Our Gurudev told me directly, "When we lived at Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad's house and I saw Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad and Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj always conversed with each other, they laughed and talked inside a room. I could not understand what they were talking about, but it seemed like Srimati Radharani was talking with Lalita and Visakha."

Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad sometimes received invitations from some householder devotees. Srila Sridhar Maharaj never went there, but Srila Swami Maharaj and our Gurudev always went preaching house to house. Gurudev said, "At that time I saw how much vaishnavata, how much humility and giving honour to others Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad had, and I learned from him!" Gurudev was a brahmachari at that time, a very young boy, perhaps twenty years old, and Srila Swami Maharaj would take him to those programmes and tell him to sit at the vyasa-asan—he would say, "Because you are a brahmachari, you are wearing saffron clothes, you sit at the vyasa-asan, I will not sit there. You can read Srimad Bhagavad-gita, and I will explain it."

One day, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, "Why are you staying here? You know such a high conception, you know so much about it, you are capable of preaching so much—it will be good if you take sannyas." Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad replied, "Yes, if you can give me sannyas, then I can leave my house." Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "How can I? I sleep with you on the same bed, you are my godbrother—how will you respect me as your sannyas guru? It is impossible. And your wife will hold me responsible for it—she will say, 'Sridhar Maharaj comes, stays here, I cook for him, and he takes my husband!'" Despite that, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad insisted that he would take sannyas from Srila Sridhar Maharaj, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj finally told him, "I cannot give you sannyas, but I have given the sannyas mantra to Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Goswami Maharaj (the founder-acharya of Devananda Gaudiya Math). You can take the mantra from him, it will be the same." And Srila Sridhar Maharaj selected his name—Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj. After that, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad took sannyas from Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Goswami Maharaj.

Then, Srila Sridhar Maharaj gave Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad so much inspiration to go abroad, and, when he did so, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj called him a saktya-vesa avatar of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu.

You can all see the photo of ISKCON's Chandra-daya Mandir's inauguration. When ISKCON started in 1973—when Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad started the first temple of ISKCON in Mayapur—he invited Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to the inauguration. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj took my Gurudev (he wore white clothes at that time) and Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj to the Deity installation at the ISKCON. When they arrived, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was surprised—he asked Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, "Oh, Maharaj, you have invited us at the opening of your ISKCON center, the Chandra-daya Mandir, but where is the yajna and other ceremonies?" Srila Swami Maharaj replied, "Maharaj, these are external things. You have come to the inauguration of my first temple of ISKCON, and that is sufficient for me—you have come, then my temple has already opened." That day, Srila Swami Maharaj asked Srila Sridhar Maharaj to speak, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "No, my disciple Srila Govinda Maharaj will give a lecture on my behalf." During his lecture, Gurudev spoke one sloka meaning, "Who could say and whom shall I tell that Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad is going all over the world preaching and thousands of thousands, millions or millions of fallen souls are coming and taking to Krishna consciousness? Whom shall I tell that?" Hearing this, everybody clapped their hands—everybody was very happy. In the end, Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad said about Gurudev, "He is my real son."

I am a very fortunate soul. I am very fortunate to have got such a guru as Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, who was selected by Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, who selected by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad. I am very fortunate that I could take his shelter, and I am very fortunate he accepted and is still accepting my service.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

* * *

Think Deep and Tell Everyone

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in São Paulo (Brazil),

26 May 2019, part 1

It is very nice to see you all. Is everything OK there? Who is living at the temple now? Only Damodar Prabhu and Mathuranath Prabhu?

Devotee: Mathuranath Prabhu is not living in the temple, but he is here now. He comes every week to help. Also, Samantha comes very often to help Damodar Prabhu. Also, they are handing out the flyers that we showed you when we were with you to the houses in the neighbourhood, and many newcomers are coming to the programme here at the temple.

Good. They are fortunate. How much fortune these souls have!

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)

If anyone joins the programme, listens to kirtan, listens about Gurudev and hears some Krishna-katha about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's pastimes, Nityananda Prabhu's pastimes, all the Vaishnavs' pastimes from devotees, their heart will be clean and offences will be removed—after that, if they chant the Holy Name without offence, with a clean heart, they will get a real great benefit.

We must understand who is Mahaprabhu and who is Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda Prabhu always shows us, "My Prabhu (My Master) is Gaurachandra." Actually, Nityananda Prabhu and Gauranga Prabhu are the same—They are asraya-vigraha and vijaya-vigraha, but Nityananda Prabhu shows, sets the example for us that Gauranga Mahaprabhu is the master of Nityananda Prabhu. He always says, "My Prabhu is Gaurachandra."

Then, those who are new should understand what they have got this human body for, how they should use their human body—eyes, ears, legs, etc. Everything is meant for the service to the Lord, but unfortunately we are wasting so much of our time on our body—we always think about our body, about our health, we worry where we will sleep, where we can get food, money. We always think about our own purpose, but these simple matters.

You know, street dogs have no idea where they will get food, they have no deposit—going there, there, there, they spend every day searching where they will get food, and in the evening they take rest. They spend their lives always trying to get something for their own stomaches, but Krishna brings them food from one place or another. We are also like that—we only worry about our body, but it is not this life's purpose.

We have got a human body, and our mind always goes external way, but there is an atma (soul) inside every body, and the atma has connection with Paramatma, the Lord—the atma knows what is necessary for Paramatma, and Paramatma knows what is necessary for the atma. The atma's food is not rice, dal, subji, chapati. Rice, dal, chapati, subji is the food for the body, for our indriya, all the parts of the body, but the atma's food is Krishna Nam, Krishna-seva (the Holy Name of Krishna, service to Krishna). Atma wants to serve Paramatma.

This is what we must tell everybody. It is necessary to think about this deeply. This is high thinking. Simple living, high thinking.

* * *

Learn Proper Conception

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in São Paulo (Brazil),

26 May 2019, part 2

Who can understand Sriman Nityananda Prabhu? Nityananda Prabhu is so merciful—because He bestows His mercy all over the world so many fallen souls like us have taken shelter at the lotus feet of Srila Gurudev, then we can easily understand the extent of His mercy. Sometimes, however, we cannot understand it because of maya. When we get good association—when feel the desire to listen to these things, when we feel the desire to serve the Lord—then we can surrender to a great Vaishnav and Krishna will remove maya (illusion). That is why we must understand and know some teachings; we must know sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojan. First we must establish the relationship (sambandha), then we must practise (abhidheya):

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

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

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

Sadhu-sanga, good association, is necessary. Through good association we can hear and understand the proper things, proper guidance, proper etiquette, and proper consciousness. We should listen to our Guru-varga's, Vaishnavs' classes from time to time. We should listen to what they tell, then we can understand how we can avoid Vaishnav-aparadh, how we can avoid seva-aparadh. If we do not know it, then no matter how much we practise, how much we chant and how much service we do, we can still sometimes be doing Vaishnav-aparadh, seva-aparadh, dham-aparadh, Nama-aparadh. We must know what seva-aparadh is, what Vaishnav-aparadh is, what dham-aparadh is. We must understand it.

You know, once Sriman Mahaprabhu told Devananda Pandit, "You have made a Vaishnav-aparadh," but Devananda Pandit was puzzled, "When did I do a Vaishnav-aparadh? I do not know!" Then Mahaprabhu reminded him about Srivas Pandit. Devananda Pandit gave class on Srimad Bhagavatam every day and he was a very good commentator—he would give very good explanation of Srimad Bhagavatam, and so many devotees would come to hear his Bhagavatam class. One day, Srivas Pandit came to hear his Bhagavatam class, and as he was listening to his good explanation, suddenly asta-satvika vikara (ecstasy) came over him and he began to cry, etc. Some of the followers of Devananda Pandit said to Srivas Pandit, "Stop it, you are disturbing the Bhagavatam class! Leave!" In the end, they took Srivas Pandit out from the class, and Devananda Pandit he did not say anything to them. That was his offence.

That is why we must understand that sometimes we can unconsciously make an offence—we make an offence but we are not aware of it.

* * *

Inconceivable Nitai

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in São Paulo (Brazil),

26 May 2019, part 3

Who can understand Nityananda Prabhu?

One day, I remember I read in Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Sriman Nityananda Prabhu came to Srivas Pandit's house. There, Srivas Pandit's wife Malini always worshipped the Deities, did puja, and that day she was doing archan with milk, yoghurt, etc. when suddenly a crow came and took her archan pot away. Afraid, she began to cry, "What will happen today? If Srivas Pandit hears it, he will chastise me." Suddenly, Nityananda Prabhu came to her and said, "Do not cry. Do not worry, I will tell the bird to give you back the pot." Then Nityananda Prabhu told the bird, "Hey, give the pot back!" and the crow actually came and returned the pot. Malini thought, "He is not an ordinary person! He ordered the crow and the crow gave her pot back. He is like my son..." Thinking like this, suddenly milk started coming from her breasts—there was no milk, but suddenly milk came, and Nityananda Prabhu drank it.

There is another thing I want to tell you. One day, Mahaprabhu was at home taking prasadam with devotees, when suddenly Nityananda Prabhu ran in stark naked. Seeing him, Mahaprabhu asked Him, "What has happened to You? Where are Your clothes? Why are You naked?!" Nityananda Prabhu answered something like a madman, and Mahaprabhu quickly took a piece of cloth and Himself put it on Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda Prabhu was not conscious of anything. Seeing this, Sachi Mata laughed—she thought to herself, "Nityananda is My son, He and Nimai and my two sons, like Vishvarup and Vishvambhar."

This is what happened at Sachi Mata's house. There are so many pastimes of Nityananda Prabhu and Mahaprabhu...

* * *

Devotees' Nature

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in São Paulo (Brazil),

26 May 2019, part 4

[His Divine Grace enquires about a young devotee living on his own:] Who cooks for him?

Devotee translates: Sometimes he cooks, and sometimes he buys food.

visayira anna khaile malina haya mana

malina mana haile, nahe krsna-nama grahana

"If you take food that comes from materialistic people, your mind becomes contaminated. When your mind is contaminated, you cannot chant the Name of Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.278)

Always take prasad, that will be good. Do not buy outside food, it is not good. Practise from a young age. If you dream about another world now, it is not good—you must remove material desires from your heart.

Do you have any questions?

Devotee: Could you speak about tolerance, please?

Tolerance, patience should be devotees' nature. It is necessary to have tolerance.

kuliyate pasandira atyachara kaila ya'ra

ta sabara dosa ksama kari'

jagate kaile ghosana 'taroriva sahisnuna'

hana 'kirtaniyah sada harih'

"You [Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad] forgave all the atheists of Kuliya village, despite their bad behaviour. Loudly you proclaimed to one and all: one who is more tolerant than a tree can always chant the glories of Lord Hari."

So many people from Nabadwip town even came to beat Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur—they even tortured Mahaprabhu, after which Mahaprabhu left Nabadwip and went to Puri. Gurudev also tolerated so much. We should learn from them. How much they tolerated in their lives! If you read the description of lives of Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatan Goswami, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, Srila Jiva Goswami, if you see how they maintained their lives, then you can understand what is called tolerance.

Srila Raghunath Das Goswami went to Puri on foot—he walked during twelve days and only took some milk three times. He ate nothing, but if we fast for one day, we become angry, "No food!" We fight for milk, we fight for prasadam—we fight for simple things; but if you read the description of the lives of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, Srila Rupa Goswami and others, then you can easily understand what tolerance is.

Devotee: We would like to ask why the fasting on 13 June this year is nirjan [dry, without water]. Why is this one particular Ekadasi nirjal?

Actually, this is the ekadasi rules, but Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Srila Gurudev gave us some relief because we want to do some service and if you fast the whole day without drinking anything, it is very hard for you—it is better if you serve and chant; these are the main things for you. It is not necessary to follow too many rules and regulations and fast without water (nirjal). Do not damage your health.

Sithilita-vidhi-raga-aradhya-radhesa-dhani: Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote this about Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur in his pranam mantra. It means that Srila Prabhupad gave us some relief, he allowed less restriction for us. Gurudev also did that. For example, Gurudev and all Vaishnavs say that one must not drink tea. I also do not drink tea, but Gurudev told for the Western devotees, "They are so much suffering from cold, etc., then they can sometimes drink some herbal tea."

Also, we sometimes joke about the nirjal ekadasi [dry fasting]—we say, "Nirjal ekadasi means you can take everything except water!" [His Divine Grace laughs.] It is a joke.

Nirjal ekadasi means you can observe it as usual ekadasi, not necessary to do a full fast without water.

Devotee: Could you say something about the Ratha-yatra that is coming soon?

I can tell about Jagannath, Baladev, Subhadra, later one day, it is a big story.

You can remember that every year before Ratha-yatra, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would clean Gundicha, the temple, and also scriptures say that if somebody is a fallen soul and cannot enter the Jagannath temple, Jagannath, Baladev, and Subhadra come out on Ratha-yatra day and ride the chariots bestowing Their mercy everywhere and if we can see Jagannath on the chariot, then we do not have to take birth again, we can get relief from birth and death.

If you cannot come this year, try to come for the Ratha-yatra next year, it will be good. OK?

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

Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

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

Sa-parikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda-sundarjiu ki jay

All the Brazilian devotees ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay

Suddha-bhakti-vighna-vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

You will make the chira-dahi mahotsav festival of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami on 15 June. This day Nityananda Prabhu gave His mercy to Srila Raghunath Das Goswami—he had all his bondage removed through that Vaishnav seva and finally got the mercy of Mahaprabhu. So, do Vaishnav seva on this day. Offer flat rice, yoghurt, mango, jackfruit, etc.—whatever you have there.

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

Devotees: Jay Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Learn from Gurudev

Dum Dum Park, Kolkata

29 May 2019, part 1

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

Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

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

Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay

Jay Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay

Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay

Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay

Vrinda Devi Tulasi Devi Sri Bhakti Devi ki jay

Sri Shyama Kunda Radha Kunda Sri Giri Govardhan ki jay

Sri Mayapur Dham Sri Nabadwip Dham Sri Vrindavan Mathura ki jay

Sri Purusottam Ksetra ki jay

Baladev Subhadra Jagannathjiu ki jay

Akar Math-raj Sri Chaitanya Math ki jay

Mayapur Yogapith ki jay

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

Tandiya sakha Math samuha ki jay

Sri Mather sevak vrinda bhakta-vrinda ananta-koti Vaishnav vrinda ki jay

Sri Gaudiya Acharya vrinda ki jay

Tridandi-pad-gan ki jay

Saparsada Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ki jay

Saparsada Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay

Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay

Suddha-bhakti-vighna-vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay

Sri Sada-Siva Gangadhar Giriraj Govardhan ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

Today, I am very happy to have this opportunity to speak to all the eastern and western devotees from all over the world. When I get news that devotees practise Krishna consciousness properly, that devotees follow Gurudev's instruction, I feel very happy, and Gurudev also becomes very happy through that—when all the devotees serve under the guidance of the Acharyas of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math whom Gurudev selected, Gurudev becomes very happy.

Sometimes, I remember how Gurudev would give all his life to the temple, he would give all his energy to the devotees, to the service of the devotees. This is a great example for us all. If we think how Gurudev gave respect to devotees, how Gurudev gave honour to devotees, and how Gurudev gave love and affection to devotees, this is an example for us how to be humble, tolerance and give honour to others. That is Mahaprabhu's teaching, and Gurudev expressed it all over the world—we must learn from Gurudev, and we must also teach it to all of the followers of our Mission all over the world. We must understand what is Mahaprabhu's conception, Mahaprabhu's nature, Gurudev's nature, Guru Maharaj's nature, Guru Maharaj's character, and we must learn from them. Everybody should speak the truth—do not run behind false things. You must follow what is the truth. We must understand this.

Sometimes, when Gurudev was alone, he would think about the pastimes of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu, and he would become very excited when he spoke about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's pastimes. He would very often remember Mahaprabhu's pastimes and Nityananda Prabhu's pastimes, and we saw, when we were in front of him, how much happiness it gave him.

* * *

Service Etiquette

Dum Dum Park, Kolkata

29 May 2019, part 2

Gurudev always told us to serve devotees—he would always say that rather than serve Krishna it is better if you serve devotees. This is what he taught us.

When Srila Raghunath Das Goswami went to Govardhan after Mahaprabhu and Svarup Damodar left, he was very sad and wanted to commit suicide, but Srila Sanatan Goswami and Srila Rupa Goswami told him so many things about suicide, about future life, they told him everything about Krishna consciousness, told him what was necessary for him, and after that Srila Raghunath Das Goswami expressed, "What I have got from Rupa-Sanatan is even more than what I have got from Svarup Damodar and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu!"

So, actually we do not know Krishna—we have come to see our Gurudev, not Krishna. Gurudev has made this mission not for earning money, not for enjoyment—we must understand that the temple is for service, for the service to devotees. If devotees do not stay in the temple, then no Deities will stay there—if there are no devotees staying in a temple, then Deities do not stay there, only dolls stay there. These are the main things.

One time, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Srivas Pandit's house and asked Srivas Pandit, "I want Krishna's flute! Can you give it to Me?" Srivas Pandit replied, "The Vraja gopis have stolen Krishna's flute (vamsi)!" Hearing this, Mahaprabhu became excited and wanted to hear more, "What happened? What happened? Tell Me more!" Then, Srivas Pandit began describing the Vraja-lila, Vrindavan-lila, Krishna's pastimes, Radha-Krishna's pastimes, Vraja gopis' pastimes, one by one, and hearing these descriptions, ecstasy came over Mahaprabhu—He began to cry and chant, "Sri Radhe! Radhe! Radhe! Radhe!" In the meantime, Mahaprabhu's students came and seeing their teacher's state, they asked, "Why are you saying, 'Radha Radha Radha Radha' instead of Krishna's Name?" When Mahaprabhu heard it, He ran towards them and wanted to beat them!

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is not an ordinary man. Many scriptures also say it, Bhagavatam also says it.

Another thing is that, most Indian devotees' character is such that when they come to give dandavat pranam, they always want to touch our feet. This is their samskrti, culture, but it is not Vaishnaviya culture to allow others to touch your feet. Why do we not allow to touch our feet? We tell it to them, but people still cannot understand it and they still want to forcefully touch your feet saying they want to take your feet dust...

I read that one time Mahaprabhu was sitting with His eyes closed, absorbed into thinking about Krishna's pastimes, when suddenly a lady came and touched His feet. Mahaprabhu became very unhappy, very sad—He immediately ran away from there and jumped into the Ganges. Nityananda Prabhu ran after Him and saved Him—He took Him out of the Ganges. This is a lesson for us and we should learn from it. And it is not for only ladies, even any man cannot also touch our feet. This is what Mahaprabhu teaches us. Another time, in Puri, one devotee threw water at Mahaprabhu's feet and when that water went down from the temple (it was Gundicha marjan day), that man drank it. Mahaprabhu saw it and was very upset. He told Svarup Damodar, "What is your gaudiya doing?! I am washing the temple and he puts water on My feet and drinks it! Throw him out of here!" This is Mahaprabhu's teaching...

* * *

Learn to Give Honour

Dum Dum Park, Kolkata

29 May 2019, part 3

Mahaprabhu teaches so many things.

One time, Sachi Mata committed an offence—she commented one thing about Advaita Prabhu. Advaita Prabhu did not know about it, but Mahaprabhu told His mother, "It is a big offence!" Later, one day Srivas Pandit said about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, "You have bestowed Your mercy to everybody, You have given Krishna-prema to everybody, but why not to Your mother?" Mahaprabhu replied, "I cannot give Krishna-prema to My mother because My mother is an offender to Srila Advaita Prabhu's lotus feet. If she asks Advaita Prabhu for forgiveness of her offence, then I can give her Krishna-prema."

Mahaprabhu teaches all devotees all over the world. He did not give Krishna-prema to His own mother at first because she was an offender to Advaita Prabhu. This is Vaishnav aparadh. It is very high [grave] things. Without thinking, we write something, we do something, we think something, and we consider that what we think is the highest...

I have told many times also—you know that once, when Mahaprabhu saw Devananda Pandit, He remembered Srivas Pandit and some offence that Devananda Pandit had committed. What kind of offence did he make? Devananda Pandit was a good Bhagavat reader and commentator—he would give class on Bhagavatam, explain its meanings, etc. and many devotees would come to hear his class. Once, when he was doing a Bhagavat class, ecstasy came over Srivas Pandit and he began to cry. All of Devananda Pandit's students and followers removed Srivas Pandit from the class, and Devananda Pandit did not stop them. That was his offence. It happened in Kuliya, Nabadwip. We must understand this point very clearly.

hari-sthane aparadhe tare hari-nama

toma-sthane aparadhe nahika edana

"If one offends the Lord, the Lord's Name delivers him, but if one offends you, O Vaishnav, one has no salvation."

These are the main things. We must understand clearly what are the main things in our spiritual life. We must understand the importance of sravanam-kirtanam and:

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

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

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

We are practitioners. If we think we are becoming big persons, then "pride comes before a fall." We think we are becoming big personalities, we know everything, we know everything better than others—if such things come to you, then there can be a problem in your spiritual life; this can destroy your spiritual life, this can destroy everything. You must learn to give honour to others. Even if the person is junior, even if they do not know anything, we must learn to give honour to others. These are our main things.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

* * *

Great Fortune and Great Responsibility

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in Medellin (Colombia),

2 June 2019, part 1

Dandavat, how are you? I am very happy to see you all. I am very glad to see your smiling face and excellent service mood. Seeing you all I remember my Gurudev. Preach about Gurudev, Guru Maharaj, Srila Prabhupad's conception more and more, proceed and continue your spiritual life, and you will be successful—you will reach your goal, you will be successful.

Devotee: Here, devotees are very happy to have their first darshan with you.

They are always in my heart.

By the mercy of Gurudev, everything will run properly. Serve Gaura Nitai properly, arrange weekly programmes, spread the preaching movement—if you do this properly, it will give me even more happiness. If devotees make daily and weekly programmes, if devotees practise more and more, I will be very happy.

Actually, you are fortunate that the Deities are coming to your centre. I am telling to everybody: the Deities are coming by the mercy of Srila Prabhupad (Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj), by the mercy of Gurudev, and these Deities will engage you all in service. This is only Gurudev's mercy that he engages you in the service of Sri Sri Guru Gaura Nityananda. That is why you are very fortunate. Someone may be making garlands, someone may be cooking, cleaning, doing puja, cutting vegetables, etc.—if someone participates in any kind of service with love and affection, with heart and soul, they are always a fortunate soul; they are very fortunate to be getting that service.

After Mahaprabhu, Sanatan Goswami, Rupa Goswami, Jiva Goswami—Shyamananda Prabhu and Acharya Srinivas installed many Deities of Radha-Krishna in Bengal, but often householders can worship Deities during one-two generations, and after that they cannot serve the Deities properly, so the Deities end up in a very horrible state. After that, some fortunate soul or some great soul rescues the Deities and gives Them to the devotees who can serve Them. Something like this has also happened to you now—Sri Sri Guru Gaura Nityananda are coming to you now. Sometimes also the Deity is not getting proper nourishment, proper service, and the Deity may also be coming to you for this reason. For this reason, you are very fortunate.

So, do not hesitate—anyhow, whatever comes, be it in rain or in storm or whatever other problem comes, you must do your service with nista, sincerity. This is my humble request to you all.

* * *

Take Care of Deities

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in Medellin (Colombia),

2 June 2019, part 2

One time, I remember, everybody was going to Vrindavan for the Kartik parikrama and the pujari who had been doing puja in Nabadwip for many years came to Gurudev and said he also wanted to go to Vrindavan for the parikrama. Gurudev asked him, "If you go to Vrindavan, who will take care of your son and daughter?" So, being a pujari is a very responsible service—the Deities are like their small son and daughter—how will They survive without Their mother? You must be careful with this service.

You know, the Deity of Jagannath is now in Puri, but that Jagannath Deity used to be served in His Narayan form by one very low caste devotee (sabar) named Visvavasu. The Deities wanted to go to Puri, but Visvavasu did not want to leave the Deity—he wanted to serve the Deities there. One day, the Deity (chaturbhuja Narayan) told him, "You always give Me the same kind of food, some roots, but I want to eat many good things, that is why I want to go to Puri and be served by King Indradyumna." In the meantime, when Indradyumna heard that the Deity was there in his kingdom, he arrested Visvavasu, but the Deity told the king, "You did not give respect to him! Since you have arrested My previous servitor and punished him, I will not come to you!" After that, Indradyumna asked Visvavasu to forgive his offence and finally the Deity came to Puri. Now you can see that Lord Jagannath, Baladev, and Subhadra are there. I do not want to explain more now because it is a very big story. I will tell about Jagannath some other day.

Anyhow, in Mahparahbu's time, the Deities of Mahaprabhu appeared in three places—Ambika Kalna, served by Gauri Das Pandit; in Nabadwip, served by Vishnupriya Devi; and Gaura Gadadhar in Champahatti, served by Dvija Vaninath. The Deities you have got are very special—They were installed by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, and Gurudev also saw those Deities. Now you are getting the service to these Deities, and I will be very happy if everybody helps to serve Them there.

* * *

Arati of Sri Gaura Nitai

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in Medellin (Colombia),

2 June 2019, part 3

I told Sripad Tyagi Maharaj to write the arati in a certain way and send it to you—have you got it? It was before "Jaya Guru Maharaj karuna sagara..." and I told him to write:

jaya jaya prabhupada karuna sagara

sri-bhaktivedanta-swami acharya prabara

"Glory to Srila Prabhupad, the ocean of mercy and best of Acharyas, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad!"

prakasile karakase bhuvana mangala

guru-gaura-nityananda-seva samujjvala

"He manifested in Caracas for the welfare of the world the effulgent service of Sri Sri Guru Gaura-Nityananda."

gaura-nityananda bhakta krpa patra gana

dekhena arati sobha durlabha darsana

"Recipients of the mercy of the devotees of Gaura and Nityananda see the splendour of this arati, a sight most rare to behold."

nadiya-lilaya nityananda gaura-nidhi

medellin-bhakta-sange milaila viddhi

"Providence has brought Nityananda and Gauranidhi from Their Pastimes in Nadia to the community of devotees in Medellín."

Are there any questions from you all?

Question: Should we sing this song at all the three aratis?

How many songs do you want to sing? The Deities are Gaura Nitai, so sing some Gaura Nityananda songs in the morning, at noon and in the evening. Which songs to sing is up to you, but sing this arati minimum in the evening. OK? Other than that, whatever you decide, I have no problem with that.

There is also a very nice song written by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur:

kali-kukkura-kadana yadi chao he

kali-yuga-pavana kali-bhaya-nasana,

sri-sachi-nandana gao he [1]

If you want to tame the dog Kali, then chant 'Sri Sachi Nandan!' He is the saviour and destroyer of fear in Kali-yuga.

gadadhara-madana nitai-era prana-dhana,

advaitera prapujita gora

nimai visvambhara srinivasa-isvara,

bhakata samuha-chita-chora [2]

He is Gadadhar's joy, and Nitai's life and wealth. He is worshipped by Advaita Acharya. He is known as Nimai, and is the maintainer of the universe. He is Srivas Thakur's Lord, and He steals the devotees' hearts.

Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also wrote:

jaya sachi-nandana sura-muni-vandana

bhava-bhaya-khandana jaya he

jaya hari-kirtana-nartanavartana

kali-mala-kartana jaya he

All glory to Sri Sachi Nandan, who is worshipped by the demigods and sages! All glory to He who destroys all fear of material existence! All glory to the inaugurator of dancing and chanting the Lord's Names! All glory to He who removes the contamination of Kali!

There is also "Yasomati nandana..." You can sing any of these, it is not a problem. You can sing the arati song in the evening or at any other time you like—if you like, you can sing it three times a day also, it is not a problem.

* * *

Questions and Answers

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in Medellin (Colombia),

2 June 2019, part 4

Question: How can I fight against the fear and doubt? How can I establish myself in the real faith in Guru?

If you follow Gurudev's instruction properly, then you will get real faith in your heart.

Question: How can a devotee overcome the stage of merely knowing the sastra and develop real devotion and real saranagati to Gurudev and Krishna?

Actually, it depends upon faith and the practitioner—there are many practitioners in this world, and how they practise depends upon each of them.

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

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

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

If you do these five every day, and day after day, then you will proceed and increase your devotion, and saranagati will come.

Question: At what point can one say that a devotee has activated real love and devotion to the Guru and Krishna?

Even Brahma says, "I cannot recognise who is a great Vaishnav." We have no quality to be able to recognise who is a Vaishnav, but if we serve properly, if we follow a Vaishnav's instruction properly, then we can see and understand that they have love for Krishna and the Guru. Also, if you have service mood to the Guru and Krishna, then you will also be able to understand that somebody has love and affection for the Guru and Krishna. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says that we do not have that kind of quality—we only have bad qualities; we always search others' fault, but we do not see our own fault. That is our problem.

Question: What activities would you like us as a temple, as a community to do with the children to ensure their spiritual progress?

Children should always learn from what their parents do. If some children's parents engage in bad activities, children will learn that, that is why you must always give a good example for your children. Also, they must learn now, from the beginning, to pay obeisance, to pay dandavat, to sing devotional songs. If they practise everything from the beginning, it will be good. This is our primary teaching. If the father and the mother fight, then the children will also learn that, that is why you must be careful—you must be real grihastha, real householders [sadachari grihastha—pious householder devotees], then your children will also be good.

Question: Here in Medellin, there is a temple of *** [an overall favourable, but separately-acting sannyasi] and some devotees from that temple come here to our Math. Sometimes they keep coming and after some time they want to surrender at your lotus feet. The question is what should we do with these devotees who come from another line? What should be our actions? How should we treat them?

Give them love and affection. If somebody comes from other mission, you will give them proper respect, then they will learn from you. You are Srila Sridhar Maharaj's line—Srila Sridhar Maharaj, after that Gurudev, and Gurudev gave this line to us, so if someone comes from there and wants to surrender here, we can easily accept them. Suppose you have some good food in your pond—if someone comes from another pond to take the food from your pond, you will accept it, what is the problem? If some fish comes to take food in our pond, we will accept them into our society. What is the problem?

Question: I am coming from the line of ***, and I want to ask you what I should do—should I ask for a new name or...?

No problem, Prabhu. It is not necessary to have any doubt. Actually, you want to stay in our line, you want to serve here, and I will happily accept you as our family member. My nature is give honour to others, that is why I have no problem—you can stay in our temple, you can serve here. I cannot give disrespect to *** Maharaj because I have seen him many times and when I saw him I hugged him, so I do not have any problem with him. There was a little problem between him and Gurudev, but I can digest that. So, you can stay in our line, read our books, follow our books, and continue your service with our devotees.

Question: There is a devotee who used to live in Venezuela, in the Parama Karuna temple, and now he has been here serving the temple in Medellin for the past three months. He is worried about the situation in Venezuela...

Do not worry. One day everything will be good and perfect in Caracas. We must wait and see—in everything, you must wait and see. We must have tolerance and patience. There are some devotees there, they are taking care of Caracas. He can go to Caracas from time to time and help them, and if he wants, he can also come to Medellin from time to time. No problem.

Question: This devotee is a disciple of *** and he has been doing a lot of service here in the temple in Medellin. He has been helping us a lot. He also wants to take shelter at your lotus feet.

They are all in my heart—they are not only in the shelter of my feet, but they are all in my heart. I have already given them shelter in my heart.

* * *

Do Not Compromise with Maya

Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj

7 June 2019, Kolkata

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

Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

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

Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay

Jay saparikara Sri Sri Nitai Gaurachandra Prabhu ki jay

Laksmi Nrisinghadev ki jay

Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay

Suddha-bhakti-vighna-vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay

Sri Sada-Siva Gangadhar ki jay

Giriraj Govardhan ki jay

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

Tandiya sakha Math samuha ki jay

Sri Mather sevak vrinda bhakta-vrinda ananta-koti Vaishnav vrinda ki jay

Sri Gaudiya Acharya vrinda ki jay

Tridandi-pad-gan ki jay

Saparsada Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ki jay

Saparsada Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay

Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay

Suddha-bhakti-vighna-vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay

Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

All the worldwide devotees ki jay

All the sannyasi, all the brahmachari-vrinda ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

I am very happy to hear all the devotees today.

Sometimes, we are not getting a proper opportunity to listen to some Hari-katha or Krishna-katha because we are always, the whole day and night, busy with our service to the temple, service to the devotees, service to the Mission. We are getting only little time to hear some Hari-katha, Krishna-katha, but at the same time we must set aside some time for chanting the Holy Name, for chanting Gurudev's glorification, for chanting the Lord's glorification.

"Jivana anitya janaha sara tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara: understand the essence that this life is not eternal and is filled with various danger." We can leave our body at any time, we can die at any time, but that is not the question. For as long as our body exists in this world, for as long as we exist, i.e. hold this body and all the senses (indriya), we should not waste time on our own enjoyment, on our own selves; we should not live a selfish life.

Suppose we stay in this world, in this human body for a hundred years, but if we enjoy ourselves and waste our time on ourselves, waste our time on our family, children, etc. during all these hundred years, then this life is nothing—these hundred years of life is nothing, it has no value; there is no sense living a hundred years. However, if you live even thirty years or forty years in this world, its worth depends on what you have done for the jiva souls. However long you are alive in this world, be it thirty years or forty years, etc. the main value, the main meaning of your life depends on whether you use your time for the service to the Lord, service to Vaishnavs, service to Gurudev, for helping the jiva souls, for being kind to the jiva souls, being humble towards the jiva souls. These are the main things.

After Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He went to Santipur and stayed at Advaita Prabhu's house. One day, His mother, Sachi Mata, suddenly came there. Chaitnaya Mahaprabhu told her, "Mother, I am very sorry. I have left your service... You have given Me this body, so this body is meant for you, My duty is to serve you, but I have become crazy and taken sannyas. Please tell Me, where shall I stay now?" Mother Sachi thought, "If I tell Him to stay at my house, Nimai will be sad because it is not good for a sannyasi to stay at his home, birthplace. No..." After thinking for some time, she said, "You can stay in Puri. It is near Nabadwip, and many people go there, so at least I will get some news what is happening to You." This is also pastimes of Mahaprabhu, this is also Mahaprabhu's teachings, Mahaprabhu's lesson for us.

You can understand that the Lord Himself comes to this world, but He renounced everything—He left, He sacrificed everything for the jiva souls—for us. For us! The Lord Himself has left everything for us. We should learn from Him. We should learn from our Guru, we should learn from our Gurudev, we should learn from our Guru Maharaj, we should learn from Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and all the Guru-varga. We must really realise and understand what they did.

Sometimes we get some service, we get an opportunity to serve Gurudev, but sometimes it is our bad fortune—those of us who are unfortunate souls sometimes lose that service because of our own interest, because we want our own enjoyment. This is the main point in our spiritual life—do something for Gurudev's Mission: serve Gurudev's mission, serve Gurudev's devotees. I am telling it to everyone, please listen.

There will be time when many problems will come, when many obstacles will come, but you can learn something through that—it is a lesson for you. If you depend upon Gurudev, if you depend upon Lord Krishna, if you depend upon Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu, if you have the strongest faith, then you will definitely succeed, you will definitely reach your goal and get to your main destination. It is necessary to realise this. That is the reality, it is a fact in our life!

So many obstacles will come—so much misconception came in Mahaprabhu's time, so much misconception also came in Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's time. So many problems came in their time, and they did not back off, they did not run away—they spoke the truth; but we are ready to compromise our niti, our principles—we compromise what Mahaprabhu teaches us with other things. What is this?! We cannot compromise with anything. Any problem can come, any situation can come, we should overcome it by the mercy of Gurudev. Why are you taking so much burden on your shoulders? What is the problem? Surrender. If you have proper surrender, you can understand it easily. If you have proper surrender, you can overcome everything.

Then, some problems can come—problems came in Gurudev's time also, in Guru Maharaj's time also. Our Param Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, left Chaitanya Math without anything, but after that he made his own mission Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. There was not so much manpower at the beginning—only Gurudev and one or two other brahmacharis; but Srila Sridhar Maharaj saw a big dream—Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math will preach Mahaprabhu's proper conception all over the world. He saw that the conception of Rupa-Raghunath, the conception of Rupa-Sanatan would be preached all over the world by Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and that is happening now. We must know the proper conception, and we must not surrender to maya—we must surrender to the Lord. Surrender to Gurudev; do not surrender to maya.

I see that sometimes we surrender to maya, but why?! Why is it necessary? If you surrender to maya, maya will eat you—maya will take you away from the service to the Lord. That is a real fact, it is not imagination, and the scriptures also tell that. Then, we must understand these things clearly, we must surrender properly, do proper guru-seva, keep proper sadhu-sanga (good association is necessary)—if we can do that, then we can easily conquer the hearts of devotees.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

* * *

Mahaprabhu's Attempt to Go to Vrindavan

Based on 16 chapter of Madhya-lila, Chaitanya-charitamrita

8 June 2019, Kolkata, part 1

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

Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

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

Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay

Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Madan Mohan jiu ki jay

Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Radha Gopinath jiu ki jay

Saparsada Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ki jay

Saparsada Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay

Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay

Suddha-bhakti-vighna-vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay

Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay

Rupanuga Guru-varga ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Samagata Sri Gaura-bhakta-vrinda ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

First, I am giving my full obeisance at the lotus feet of my Gurudev, Guru Maharaj—Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Then, I am paying my full obeisance to all the Vaishnavs all over the world, all of my godbrothers, godsisters, all of my friends, all the goswami-vrinda, all the Vaishnavs, I am paying my full obeisance to you all.

I am getting some time time and an opportunity to give a class, to speak about the Lord to all the devotees, and we shall try to utilise this opportunity for my own benefit and for everyone's benefit. I will tell you today what I have heard from the holy mouth of my Gurupadpadma, from the holy mouth of Vaishnavs—I would like to speak about the pastimes of Mahaprabhu based on what I have read in Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. Actually, you know everything, and if you remember these pastimes sometimes, it will be good for you.

When Mahaprabhu decided to go to Vrindavan, King Prataparudra helped Him a lot. He set off from Puri and crossed the Chitrotpala River. At that time, Ramananda Raya, Mardaraj, Harichandana Prabhu were there with Him. Gadadhar Pandit also went with Him, but at the Chitrotpala, Mahaprabhu told Gadadhar Pandit to go back and stay in Nilachal. Gadadhar Pandit did not listen to Him, he wanted to go with Mahaprabhu. Reaching Cuttack, Mahaprabhu finally sent Gadadhar Pandit back, and upon reaching Bhadrak he told Ray Ramananda, "You must go to Puri too." From Cuttack, Mahaprabhu went by boat and, crossing the border of Odisha, came to Panihati. At Panihati, you know that there is Radhav Pandit's house, there staying one night. From there, He went to Kumarhatta (Halisahara) and Kuliya-gram (Koladwip, Nabadwip) where He removed everybody's offence. After that, He went to Ramkeli where He met with and rescued Rupa and Sanatan Goswami. There, He told them to come to Kasi when He would go there. After Ramkeli, on His way back, Mahaprabhu met Raghunath Das Goswami—having instructed him, Mahaprabhu sent him back home.

You all know that Raghunath Das Goswami had tried many times to go to Mahaprabhu, but each time Mahaprabhu told him, "Go back home, do not become crazy. Your father will go mad because you are the only son in the family—who will take care of the land and all the property? Who will take care of the kingdom?" So, Mahaprabhu sent Raghunath Das Goswami back to his home.

markata-vairagya na kara loka dekhana

yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana

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

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

Mahaprabhu told him, "Do not show false renunciation like a monkey. Stay in your house, but think about Krishna in your heart."

So, after Ramkeli, Mahaprabhu went back to Puri. He thought, "I must go to Vrindavan alone. I will not take anybody with Me." This is Mahaprabhu's teachings for everybody.

Staying in Vrindavan, staying in a dham is not enjoying the dham—a dham is not for enjoyment; we must go to the dham for service. Many people go to holy places to remove their sins, to earn some piety, but Mahaprabhu did not teach this. Goloka Vrindavan Dham, Nabadwip Dham, Puri Dham, etc. or any other holy abode is an aprakrta dham (transcendental abode). Those who have no devotion think about hell, heaven, things like this, but those who are great devotees, who are pure devotee, understand the meaning of Sri Dham Vrindavan…

* * *

Purpose of Pilgrimage

8 June 2019, Kolkata, part 2

In order to teach materialists, Mahaprabhu performed the pastimes of going to Vrindavan to take the darsan of the transcendental abode of the Lord's pastimes. He did this to teach us. Krishna and Mahaprabhu are non-different—Vrindavan is the place of Krishna's pastimes, but Mahaprabhu went there to discover many places in order to show others how it is necessary for them to practise Krishna consciousness. What for should one go to Vrindavan? For the service to the dham. This is what Mahaprabhu went there for.

The souls who are bound by maya mistake a holy abode of Vrindavan for a material place—material people think Vrindavan is a place for their enjoyment. They go to Puri and see it as a place for enjoyment, they bathe in the sea and see it as a place for enjoyment, but this is wrong—Mahaprabhu did not teach this, it is completely against Mahaprabhu's teaching.

People think that living in a holy place can give them a birth in heaven, it can help them remove sins, it can give them piety or renunciation, but it is not what is implied by the sloka "Premanjana-chchhurita-bhakti-vilocanena: the Lord is always seen by the devotee whose eyes are anointed with the pulp of love." Materialists' staying in Vrindavan and pure transcendental devotees' staying in Vrindavan is not the same. Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatan Goswami, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, Srila Jiva Goswami and the rest of the six goswamis are the ones who truly stayed in Vrindavan. It is not like us, material people, who stay in Vrindavan for enjoyment. It is completely different.

So, this is what Mahaprabhu teaches us. He went to Vrindavan to show people, "I am visiting holy places—I am searching for the holy places, I want to discover holy places—so that those who are conditioned souls, who cannot understand everything, could go there with devotees and be able to understand what a holy place is. This is what we should go to a holy place for.

* * *

Mahaprabhu's Arrival in Vrindavan

Based on 17-18 chapters of Madhya-lila, Chaitanya-charitamrita

8 June 2019, Kolkata, part 3

That same year, Mahaprabhu became determined that He would go to Vrindavan after Ratha-yatra and He told His associates that He would go alone. However, Ramananda Ray and Svarup Damodar requested Ballabhadra Bhattacharya and one brahman to go to Vrindavan with Mahaprabhu and help Him. Mahaprabhu accepted it, "OK, no problem, I will take them."

Then, one day, early in the morning, Mahaprabhu set off first for Cuttack. From there, He took the road through the jungle. He was walking and chanting the Names of Krishna, and so many birds and beast also chanted the Holy Name just by seeing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. On their way, they reached a village where they begged for some rice and vegetables—they took prasad at some house where they could cook some rice and subji. Sometimes, when there was no village, they kept some rice with them and took it with some sak. Mahaprabhu was very happy with Ballabhadra Bhattacharya's dealings and behaviour.

In this way, passing village after village, walking and walking, they passed Jharikhand, and reached Benares (Kasi). There are many ghats on the bank of the Ganges in Benares, among them there is a ghat called Manikarnika ghat—Mahaprabhu bathed in it. (When we went to Kasi, we also bathed in it.) When Mahaprabhu was bathing in the Ganges, Tapan Misra came there.

Mahaprabhu had met Tapan Misra when He went to Bangladesh. At that time, the Lord told him, "When you go to Bengal, come to Kasi, I will meet you there." And Tapan Misra came. When they met, Tapan Misra gave shelter to Mahaprabhu at his house—he took the Lord to his house and gave Him some prasadam. Mahaprabhu also met with Chandrasekhara Acharya there, whom He had known from before—Chandrasekhara Vaidya also served Mahaprabhu there.

In Kasi, there was one Maharastriyan brahman who, having seen and being impressed by Mahaprabhu's chanting and dancing, told about it to Prakasananda Saraswati, a local mayavadi sannyasi. Hearing about it, Prakasananda Saraswati criticised Mahaprabhu a lot and spoke many nonsense things about Him. The brahman became very sad and told everything to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu told him, "They are mayavadis and you are Maharastriyan. Do not associate with mayavadis—you should give up their association."

After that, Mahaprabhu went from Kasi to Prayag and then finally came to Mathura. In Mathura, there was a disciple of Sripad Madhavendra Puri whose name was Sanodiya brahman. Mahaprabhu took prasadam at the house of that Sanodiya brahman and bestowed His mercy upon him. Then, Mahaprabhu visited the twelve forests of Vrindavan—He would roam around listening to the talks of Suka-Sari parrots. He was very, very happy to come to Vrindavan.

One day, Mahaprabhu came to a village called Arit. There was a paddy field (a rice field) there, and although there was not only little water in the field, Mahaprabhu bathed there and said, "This is Radha Kunda here and that is Shyama Kunda over there."

Mahaprabhu did not want to climb on top of Govardhan. He had told before,

vrndavane giya na thakiya chira kala

govardhane uthiya na dekhiya gopala

"When you go to Vrindavan, do not stay there for a long time and do not climb the Govardhan Hill to see Gopal."

Understanding that Mahaprabhu did not want to climb Govardhan Hill, Gopal Himself came to Ganthuli village where Mahaprabhu could have His darshan.

Mahaprabhu visited also Haridev on the bank of the Manasi Ganga. (We go there every time, it is near our temple in Govardhan.) The Deity of Haridev was established by the great-grandson of Krishna. Mahaprabhu took the darshan of Sri Haridev. He also went to Nandiswar (Nanda Gram, Mother Yasoda and Nanda Maharaj's house), Pavan Sarovar, Sesasayi, Khela-tirtha, various forests. He had visited many places and then again came back to Mathura.

He stayed near Akrura ghat for ten days. Every day, He would bath in Akrura ghat and then go to Vrindavan from there. He had seen Kaliya-hrad, Dvadasiditya ghat, Kesi ghat, Rasa-sthali, Vamsi ghat, Chira ghat, Amlitara (Imlitala). He had taken darshan of many places.

"At Kaliya Lake, many people mistook a fisherman for Krishna. When some respectable people came to see Mahaprabhu, they expressed their opinion that when one takes sannyas, he becomes Narayan. Their mistake was corrected by the Lord. In this way, their Krishna consciousness was awakened, and they could understand that a sannyasi is simply a living entity and not the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

* * *

Mahaprabhu Returns to Prayag

Based on 18-19 chapters of Madhya-lila, Chaitanya-charitamrita

8 June 2019, Kolkata, part 4

One time, when Mahaprabhu was bathing in the Akrur ghat, He submerged Himself into the water and had not re-emerged for a long time. Becoming concerned, Ballabhadra Bhattacharya decided to take the Lord from Vraja Mandal to Prayag.

They visited a place called Soro Ksetra and then set off for Prayag. On the way, they stopped at a village where Mahaprabhu suddenly fell unconscious being overwhelmed by ecstatic love. A Muslim ruler named Bijuli Khan was passing that way and seeing Mahaprabhu senseless thought that those who were with Mahaprabhu must have given Him some dhutura-phul (jimsonweed, or datura; a poisonous plant) to make Him senseless and steal all His belongings. So, Bijuli Khan ordered his men to tie up Mahaprabhu's associates, but soon Mahaprabhu came back to His normal mood and told Bijuli Khan that there had been a mistake and asked him to release His associates. After that, Mahaprabhu told him about the Holy Koran—He explained what the Holy Koran was and explained everything pertaining to Mahaprabhu's conception. What happened then? Bijuli Khan and all his companions took shelter of Mahaprabhu and became devotees of Krishna. The village where it happened is still there, it is called Pathan Vaishnav now—a Pathan (a Muslim warrior/ruler) became a Vaishnav, therefore the village got the name Pathan Vaishnav. So, continuing His way, Mahaprabhu left that place. On the way, He came to Soro, took bath there, and then finally He arrived in Triveni where He had stayed for ten days, bathing in the Triveni each day.

In the meantime, Rupa and Anupam, Sanatan Goswami's two brothers came there. There was one South Indian brahman who invited Mahaprabhu to his house, so Mahaprabhu took prasadam there, and while there He asked Rupa and Anupam to tell Him all the news about Sanatan Goswami, "What has happened? How did you manage to come? You were working for the emperor Hussein Shah, how did you leave your job? And what is happening to Sanatan?" Rupa told everything—he told that he had managed to leave his job, but when Sanatan had also left his job, the emperor Hussein Shah had got even angrier, so he had put him into jail. Rupa told also that he had kept some money for Sanatan in a grocery shop and sent him a message that he had to manage and anyhow come out. Rupa told Mahaprabhu everything in detail, and Mahaprabhu said, "Do not worry, he will quickly come out from jail and meet with Me."

On the other side of the Triveni, there lived a devotee who established the Ballabha sampraya named Sri Ballabha Acharya. That day, Ballabha Acharya met with Rupa and Anupam, and, knowing they were Vaishnavs, he wanted to embrace them, but they humbly protested, "We come from a lowest class—we have been working for a Muslim king, doing the lowest kinds of job, please do not touch us." Vallabha Acharya said, "Whatever caste one comes from, when they always chant the Holy Name, they are pure devotees, that is why there is no problem to embrace you." Mahaprabhu was very pleased to see such behaviour of Vallabha Acharya.

Vallabha Acharya invited Mahaprabhu to his house and also gave honour to everybody, so one day Mahaprabhu took prasadam at his house. After that, Raghupati Upadhyaya came to Mahaprabhu and they discussed so many conceptions, spoke so much Krishna-katha at that time. Mahaprabhu would ask Raghupati Upadhyaya questions and Raghupati Upadhyaya gave answers. Mahaprabhu asked, "What is the highest? What form of Krishna is the greatest?" Raghupati Upadhyaya said, "Krishna's Shyama-rupa is the highest worshippble form." Mahaprabhu asked, "And what is the highest dham?" Raghupati Upadhyaya said, "Mathura is the highest dham." Mahaprabhu asked, "What age Krishna do we worship?" Raghupati Upadhyaya said, "Krishna's kaisor age, His youth time is the worshippable age for us." Finally, Mahaprabhu asked, "What is the highest taste, the greatest ecstasy?" Raghupati Upadhyaya replied, "Supramundane conjugal rasa is the greatest." Supramundane, not mundane—that transcendental conjugal relationship is the highest. That is what Raghupati Upadhyaya told to Mahaprabhu...

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

* * *

Sri Panihati: Place of Prime Pastimes

Adhivas of the annual chida-dahi mahotsav

25 June 2018, Sri Panihati

It is written in our calendar that tomorrow is the chida-dahi danda mahotsav. Only a fortunate soul who wants to get the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu can come here—only they can engage in service here. Without a great fortune no one can come here, no one can serve Sriman Nityananda Prabhu.

What is this place? What is it famous for? This is actually the place of Raghunath Das Goswami—the place where Sriman Nityananda Prabhu gave His mercy to Raghunath Das Goswami. Without the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu we will not get the mercy of Gauranga Mahaprabhu or the mercy of Radha Krishna: Nitai bhajile Gaura pabe; Nitaiyer karuna habe Vraje Radha-Krsna pabe (if you worship Nitai, you will get Gaura; if you get the mercy of Nitai, you will attain Radha-Krishna in Vraja Dham). These are very essential things. I am going to speak first in English, after that I will speak in Bengali.

There are two special places here, one is the banyan tree on the bank of the Ganges (we will go there with a parikrama later), and the other one is Sri Raghav Pandit's house. Raghav Pandit had a sister, her name is Damayanti. Damayanti would prepare food for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu during the whole year. At that time, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lived in Puri, and she would prepare achar, kasundi, samosas, cakes, and many other things. She could not go to Puri herself, but her brother Raghav Pandit would take all the preparations and bring them to Mahaprabhu in Puri—he would walk to Puri starting off two month ahead. Later, we can go on a parikrama together and visit Raghav Pandit's house—you can see there how many preparations, pounds and pounds of preparations, they make. They will go and take it to Puri before the Gundicha-marjan day, the eve of Ratha-yatra.

You remember that when Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He first came to Sri Advaita Acharya's house in Santipur. Raghunath was very young at that time, a child of perhaps six-seven, and his father Govardhan took him to Santipur at that time. There, he met with Mahaprabhu for the first time, and from that day Raghunath got some mercy from Mahaprabhu—he became completely detached, asakti-rahita. Raghunath had a very disinterested nature and no attachment to his family and family life; he would only always think about Mahaprabhu. Later, Raghunath tried to go to Puri to meet with Mahaprabhu many times, but he would stay there during a few days and then his father would come and take him back home.

His father was a big landowner. It is about a hundred kilometres to Nabadwip and fifteen to Katwa from here, and all the land between Nabadwip and Katwa was the property of Raghunath Das Goswami's father. So, his father thought, "If my son becomes a sannyasi, who will take care of my property?" That is why he always, again and again, came and brought his son back. Mahaprabhu also told Raghunath finally, "Batul hao na, ghore phire yao! Do not become crazy! Go back to your home! You always come and your father takes you back—better you stay at your house. Antare nista: it is not necessary to show others that you are a Vaishnav, that you chant the Holy Name, etc. You can chant secretly, chant within your mind, it is not necessary to show anything to others. Do you understand? When Krishna gives one His mercy, no one can bind them—they come to Him very quickly. Go back to your home, do not worry." After that, Raghunath Das Goswami came back to his home (it is about fifteen kilometres from here), and his father had him married to a very nice girl. Still, he was not interested in his marriage; he always had a disinterested nature.

One day, Nityananda Prabhu came to this place here. As I have told, Raghav Pandit's house is nearby, it is about a five minute walk from here. Raghav Pandit had invited Nityananda Prabhu, "Prabhu, come and take noon prasadam at my house." When Nityananda Prabhu came to Panihati, Raghav Pandit was at home, and Nityananda Prabhu, coming with all His parsadas (associates), sat under a banyan tree on the bank of the Ganges. Raghunath Das Goswami immediately got the news that Nityananda Prabhu had come to Panihati and, taking permission of his father, quickly came there.

Soon, one of the devotees said to Nityananda Prabhu, "Prabhu, look! Raghunath is coming!" Nityananda Prabhu replied, "Oh, Raghunath is coming? Very nice!" When Raghunath came closer, Nityananda Prabhu said, "Ai, chora, ai! Come, thief, come! You are a thief, and I will give you your punishment today!"

Why did Nityananda Prabhu call him a thief? What did he steal? It has a hidden meaning. Nityananda Prabhu called Raghunath Das Goswami a thief because he wanted to serve Gauranga Mahaprabhu directly—avoiding Nityananda Prabhu, he wanted to do direct service. This is not seva, it is karma! If you do any 'service' without the mercy of Gurudev, without the permission of your Guru, then it is not service, it is karma! Gurudev said also: if I do not tell you to read Bhagavatam, but you read it, then your reading of Bhagavatam will be like reading a newspaper; on the other hand, if I tell you, "Read the newspaper," then it is OK, you can read the newspaper and your reading of the newspaper will be like reading Bhagavatam. This is what Gurudev said. So, Nityananda Prabhu was saying, "You went to Mahaprabhu without My permission, that is why you were rejected by Him again and again—you could not stay with Mahaprabhu because maya always attacks you. You have been avoiding Me, that is why you are a thief! That is why I am giving you punishment!"

Hearing this, Raghunath Das Goswami said, "Prabhu, I am Your dog, whatever punishment You want to give, give it." Then, Nityananda Prabhu said, "Many devotees have come here today. You will give a chida-dahi mahotsav (mix some flat rice, yoghurt, some sweets, mango, jackfruit, banana, and give that prasadam to everybody)."

There are many shops at this place that sell flat rice, sweets, sugar, etc. Raghunath Das Goswami gave all the money he had with him and bought everything from the shops—with that, he made much prasadam and with the help of devotees distributed it to everyone, but first he offered two bowls for Nityananda Prabhu and Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Nityananda Prabhu prayed to Gauranga Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, please come," and Gauranga Mahaprabhu came—not everyone could see Him, only two-three persons could see Him there. After that, when the festival was over, Raghunath Das Goswami fell down at the lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu offering his full obeisance to Him, and Nityananda Prabhu put His leg on his head saying, "You have done this Vaishnav seva, so, yes, now you can go to Mahaprabhu!"

After that, Raghunath Das Goswami went to Mahaprabhu in Puri, and no maya came—eventually his father, mother, et al. died and Mahaprabhu gave him the service of gunja mala and Govardhan sila. Later, Raghunath Das Goswami left Puri and went to Vrindavan...

So, this place here is where Nityananda Prabhu gave His mercy to Raghunath Das Goswami. This place is called Panihati. Srila Prabodananda Saraswati Thakur wrote one sloka saying that sometimes we are on a train or in a car and we feel so much pressure in the belly, we are so worried because we want to go to the bathroom; as soon as we pass stool and urine we feel so much relief, we feel free. In the same way, Raghunath Das Goswami said, "When I have left everything, all my property, etc., I felt I was free—I felt so much relief. I could serve Mahaprabhu freely because I had no more headache about anything!"

This is how Srila Raghunath Das Goswami did his service.

* * *

Grand Festival in Panihati

Annual chida-dahi mahotsav of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami

15 June 2019, Panihati

Here in Panihati, near this place, is where Srila Raghunath Das Goswami made the festival of flat rice and yoghurt, mango, jackfruit, etc. on the order of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu.

Actually, Raghunath Das Goswami has been trying again and again to go to Mahaprabhu, but he could not get liberation from maya—maya always took him away from the service to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu also told him, "Batul hao na, do not become crazy. Go back to your home and chant the Holy Name in your heart. It is not necessary to show tilak, neck beads, etc. because when your father sees it, he becomes angry. It is not necessary to show markat-vairagya, false renunciation. Call out from your heart, and I will fulfil your desire."

So, Raghunath Das Goswami came back. He appeared in a nearby place called Adisaptagram, it is about 40 kilometres from here. Although he was born in a rich family of a landlord (his father's name was Govardhan), he kept trying to come and join Mahaprabhu's conception. Raghunath first met Mahaprabhu at Advaita Prabhu's house in Santipur, and since then, having become very attached to Mahaprabhu, he kept trying to come to Mahaprabhu, but he was the only son in the family, so his father, thinking, "Who will take care of the family property and the land, the whole kingdom?", kept bringing him back. Then, in the end Mahaprabhu told him, "Do not become crazy, go back to your home and practise internally, I will fulfil your desire."

After that, one day (on this day of gaura-trayodasi), Nityananda Prabhu came here to Panihati, and Raghunath, taking his father's permission, also came here. When he came, Nityananda Prabhu said, "You are a thief! Crossing Me, avoiding Me, you are going to Mahaprabhu!" Goda dingiye ghas kayoya (bypass the proper channel; lit. jump over the goda [raised platform for cows to stand while eating grass] to eat grass)—you are going to one person and avoid the other. From this we can understand that without coming first to Nityananda Prabhu, we cannot get the mercy of Mahaprabhu.

When Raghunath came up to Nityananda Prabhu, he bowed down to Nityananda Prabhu, and Nityananda Prabhu said, "I will give you the punishment today!" Raghunath asked, "What punishment will it be, Prabhu?" And Nityananda Prabhu ordered him to do Vaishnav seva. That Vaishnav seva (the chida-dahi manotsav) happened today, on this day of gaura-trayodasi. When the prasadam was ready, Nityananda Prabhu called Mahaprabhu, and Mahaprabhu came here from Puri. Only few people could see Him because everybody does not have the eyes to see Him—mostly everybody has the eyes of illusory environment. That is why I keep saying that we cannot see who is a sadhu, and who is not a sadhu, we cannot see it with our eyes—even Brahma cannot recognise who is a sadhu. So, Mahaprabhu came here and, seeing the big festival, He became very happy.

At the end of the festival, Raghunath came to Nityananda Prabhu and asked, "Prabhu, please, give me Your mercy now." Actually, he had already got the mercy—he had done Vaishnav seva. Then, Nityananda Prabhu put His leg on Raghunath's head and said, "Now go, Mahaprabhu will accept you."

After that, Raghunath went to Puri. He walked there during twelve days and during this time he ate only three times. When he came to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu gave him His mercy. He engaged him in the service to Svarup Damodar and later also gave him a kunja mala and a Govardhan sila.

In the meantime, that day when the festival happened, Raghav Pandit came from his house and asked Nityananda Prabhu, "Prabhu, I have cooked everything for You—what are You doing here?" Nityananda Prabhu replied, "Yes, I am coming to your house in the evening and will take prasadam there."

This all happened here in Panihati, on the bank of the Ganges. Also, during the chida-dahi mahotsav, so many people—millions of people—came to the festival, but the place here is small, so actually many people took prasadam standing in the Ganges up to their necks. Thousands and thousands of people were distributing prasadam—chida, dahi, kichuri, etc., and Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math preaches in this way also every year at this festival. This is good for everybody.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

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

All the Vaishnav-vrinda ki jay

All the sannyasi-vrinda ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

* * *

A Miracle. A Joy.

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in Caracas (Venezuela),

9 June 2019, part 1

I am very happy to see everybody, very nice. By the mercy of Parama Karuna Nitai Gaurachandra Prabhu, you are still there despite such a difficult situation in Caracas, Venezuela. You are suffering so much because of financial and other problems, but still you are practising Krishna consciousness, and this is very nice—it gives me so much happiness, so much enthusiasm, and so much energy to see you all. Moreover, you are adamant to take shelter of Gurudev, to take shelter of Parama Karuna Nitai Gaurachandra—what can I say? If I say it makes me glad, it is not sufficient to describe the joy I feel. You are showing a miracle to the whole world.

I do not want to spend much time today on giving a lecture. I sometimes give lectures online, you can listen to it there. Actually, you are very fortunate because you have come to this line, you have got the association of all the devotees—there are great devotees there, and they give you their time, they show a good example for you, they teach you everything. Having got the association of the devotees, your heart has become clean and the land where you are going to place the devotional seed is already fertile.

You are an example for the whole world. You are facing so many problems, but you have not run away, you have not left Parama Karuna Nitai Gaurachandra—you are still doing service. Gurudev will be happy, and not only that—Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, they will all be happy with you.

And I am telling you—Krishna will give the greatest benefit to you all because despite everything you are still doing your service, you are still going for collection, you are doing the marketing, etc. I have heard that you do not even get proper, you do not get proper water and proper electricity, but still you are tolerating so many things. This is devotees' nature—humility, tolerance, and giving honour to others. You must remember how Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatan Goswami lived in Vrindavan and how much they tolerated. At that time, there was no electricity, no house, no water, nothing, they only depended on the Yamuna's water—they drank the Yamuna's water and lived under a tree. It is either very hot or very cold in Vrindavan, but they did not even have a house. You can remember their activities, their situation, and you can easily understand that you are now also living in a similar condition there in Caracas, Venezuela.

* * *

Embarking On Surrendered Life

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in Caracas (Venezuela),

9 June 2019, part 2

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

We are very fortunate because Krishna has appeared in this age of Kali in the form of Name. There are four ages—Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga. In, Satya-yuga, the lifetime is 100,000 years and people practise meditation for 60-70,000 years. In Treta-yuga, the lifetime is 10,000 years, and they do fire sacrifices. In Dvapar-yuga, the lifetime is 1,000 years and people only do archan, puja (Deity worship). Finally, in Kali-yuga, the lifetime is only 120 years, but how long you live is not the question, actually, because if you live 100 years but only think about yourself, about your own enjoyment—about eating fancy food, wearing fancy clothes, sleeping in a fancy bed, etc.—then you waste this life. This human body is meant for the service to the Lord, so if you live even 100 years but only enjoy, without thinking about the Lord, only always thinking about the material body, thinking how you will sleep, how you will eat, how you will enjoy, etc. then your life, these 100 years, is useless. It will be better if you live less, for example fifty years, but if you spend these fifty years thinking about Krishna, about Gurudev, and thinking about your true self (your jivatma—you know you are not this body, you are the jiva soul), if you understand what is the benefit for the jiva soul, if you understand it is necessary to serve the Lord, then this life is useful, this life is meaningful.

So, you are a very fortunate soul—having got good association, you have come now to surrender yourself to the Lord. You are also fortunate because you have not run away from Venezuela, you are staying there and tolerating so much, doing service. Some people, even devotees also, have run away and live comfortably, but you can look at Purijit Prabhu—he can go anywhere, he can easily stay in America, but he is still with you all. Despite the austerity, he still takes care of the temple, all the devotees and everything else. He is an example for you all.

Now, give beads to his hand. Tell,

sri krishna chaitanya prabhu nityananda

sri advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura bhakta-vrinda

This is Pancha-tattva's name. First chant Pancha-tattva's name, ask for Their mercy, and then start chanting from the big beads,

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Next bead,

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

In this way, chant from the big beads to the small beads, take turn and from the small beads to the big beads, do not cross the Sumeru bead. Chant sixteen rounds or more every day, but if any day you are busy with service, then chant not less than four rounds. Four rounds must be chanted every day. When you are doing service, you can chant without beads at that time, "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare." When you work, when you do service, chant with your mouth. Krishna will reveal in your heart, you will be successful in your spiritual life. Here is also the ten offences book, read the whole book. You will find the ten offences against the Holy Name in this book—chant without offences and you will get the result quickly.

* * *

On Association: Rotten Potato and Secular Affairs

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in Kharkiv (Ukraine),

2 June 2019, part 1

How are you all? It is very nice to see you. I am very happy, very glad to see you all after so many days. By the mercy of Gurudev, we are still here. You are continuing nicely, going to preach sometimes, also practising properly, following Krishna consciousness properly. I am very happy to see you all and to see your mood. By the mercy of Gurudev, by the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, preaching is going on very nicely all over the world. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said,

prthivite yata achhe nagaradi grama

sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

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

What Mahaprabhu told is already happening now—in every corner, in every house; and Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told, "Make a temple in everybody's heart." You practise properly, with heart and soul, you chant the Holy Name, you take prasadam, and you give honour to Vaishnavs and devotees—this is the main thing in our life. Always avoid offences—dham-aparadh, seva-aparadh, Vaishnav-aparadh, etc. Offences are obstacles in our spiritual life, so we must avoid them. Also, it is necessary to practise the nava-vidha bhakti (nine types of devotion) properly: sravanam, kirtanam, 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).

Always keep sadhu-sanga, good association, and always avoid bad association. These are the main things in our spiritual life. It is true even in the material sense also. I remember, I have told one phrase to a devotee here in India today. They asked me, "Maharaj, why are you not mixing with such and such person? Why do you not speak to them?" I replied with a material analogy. Suppose you have good potatoes and you have one rotten potato—if you keep that one rotten potato with the good potatoes, then all the potatoes will get rotten; you must take the rotten potato out and throw it away, then the rest of the potatoes will be saved. So, sometimes we also must do that—we must avoid bad association, bad things, bad elements. We must remove bad thoughts from our heart. Do you understand?

Sometimes, externally, we have to give respect to devotees, it is necessary, but there is one thing you must remember. It is applicable for both sannyasis and householder devotees, and this is something we must be careful about. It is Mahaprabhu's teaching, and we can learn something from the example that He showed. I read about it in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita.

It says there that Ramananda Ray is the most powerful man under King Prataparudra, and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu showed him His Rasa-raj Maha-bhav form on the bank of the Godavari in South India. When Mahaprabhu told Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya that He wanted to go to South India, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya told Him, "Prabhu, there is one devotee living near the bank of the Godavari, his name is Ram Ray, or Ramananda Ray. Meet with him." When Mahaprabhu met with him and discussed Krishna-katha, Krishna's pastimes, Radha-Krishna's pastimes, etc., then He understood that what Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya had said was correct.

So, what I was going to say is this. The name of Ramananda Ray's father is Bhavananda Ray, and Bhavananda Ray had five sons, which means Ramananda had four brothers, and one of his brothers' name was Gopinath Pattanayak. 'Pattanayak' is a title—Gopinath was a tax collector, like a customs officer, collecting tax from people in Odisha.

One day, Raja Prataparudra's elder son made some mistake and, not being able to tolerate it, Gopinath pointed out this mistake to him. King Prataparudra's son got a little angry because he thought, "Gopinath works under my father, and I am the king's son, so why is he not following my instruction?" A few months later, that son of King Prataparudra used his power and influence and announced to everybody that Gopinath Pattanayak was a thief because he had stolen some money from the treasury, and he declared that he had to get punishment. What punishment did he want to give him? He declared that Gopinath would be hung. He made a big scandal about him, spreading much propaganda against him.

When devotees of Mahaprabhu heard that, they became very sad because they knew Gopinath Pattanayak was a devotee, a pious person—he always chanted the Holy Name, always thought about Mahaprabhu, and now the son of the king was telling a lie that Gopinath Pattanayak was a thief. Disturbed by the news of his punishment, devotees went to Mahaprabhu and prayed, "Prabhu, Prataparudra is Your follower. If You tell Prataparudra, he will solve this problem and cancel the sentence—Gopinath Pattanayak is not guilty, he is innocent!" Mahaprabhu was silent. He did not want to interfere with the kingdom matters, so He finally said, "I am a sannyasi, why will I get involved into this?" He did not want to become involved in this matter.

Two-three days later, the day when Gopinath Pattanayak was to be executed came, and everybody again came to Mahaprabhu and pleaded, "Prabhu, please, You must interfere! You must speak to the king. We are very sad this punishment is going to happen." In the meantime, when Gopinath Pattanayak heard about his sentence and even on the day when he was about to be executed, he was chanting the Holy Name, chanting Radha-Krishna's Names, and he was not afraid of anything because he knew he was not guilty, so why will he be afraid? When devotees approached Mahaprabhu again that day, Mahaprabhu said, "All right, you should all pray to Jagannath—Jagannath can save him, so if Jagannath wants, He will save him."

Then, somehow King Prataparudra got to know that his son was going to execute Gopinath Pattanayak. He was surprsised, "I am the king and I do not know anything about this!" He called for a committee and asked, "What is the fault of Gopinath Pattanayak? Did he actually steal the money or not?" The committee investigated and reported to the king that Gopinath Pattanayak was actually innocent, he was not a thief. Then, King Prataparudra announced that it was a false allegation against Gopinath Pattanayak. He released Gopinath Pattanayak and said, "Your job will stay with you, you will continue working for my kingdom, and I am giving you a promotion and a raise—you will now get double the salary you used to get!"

From this, we can understand this: Mahaprabhu is the Lord Himself, but He becomes a sannyasi and as a sannyasi He teaches that we should not interfere with any kind of family matters or any other kinds of material affairs. Family people too should not interfere with any kinds of material affairs. This is the lesson that we get from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, from Mahaprabhu's pastimes. We must understand it and try to follow it.

* * *

A Line Not to Be Crossed

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in Kharkiv (Ukraine),

2 June 2019, part 2

We can see another lesson also in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita.

There was once Sri Vallabha Acharya who knew Srimad Bhagavatam and all Vaishnavism and was very proud of that. Despite that, Mahaprabhu would still give him respect.

One time, Vallabha Acharya came to Mahaprabhu. As usual, Mahaprabhu showed him proper respect and welcomed him properly, but suddenly Vallabha Acharya told Mahaprabhu, "You must explain Srimad Bhagavatam to me!" Mahaprabhu knew Vallabha Acharya was proud and thought he knew everything, so Mahaprabhu decided to expose him. When Vallabha Acharya asked Mahaprabhu to explain Bhavagatam, Mahaprabhu replied, "I do not know anything about Bhagavatam." Then, Vallabha Acharya said, "If You do not know about Bhagavatam, I will explain its meaning to You!" Mahaprabhu said, "I do not know anything about Bhagavatam, neither do I want to hear about Bhagavatam."

Then, another day, Vallabha Acharya again came to Mahaprabhu and said, "OK, can You explain the meaning of the Holy Name?" Mahaprabhu said, "I do not want to explain about the Holy Name, neither do I want to listen to the meaning of the Holy Name. I only know Krishna and His Name are non-different, they are the same, and Krishna is Yasoda-nandan and Nanda-nandan—I know only that, and I do not want to hear anything more than that."

After that, Vallabha Acharya came again another day. Showing he knew everything, Vallabha Acharya said to Mahaprabhu, "You know, I know more than Sridhar Swami's tika [commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam]! I can make a better commentary than him!" Heading this, Mahaprabhu replied, "You do not have respect for Sridhar Swami? You do not follow swami? [Swami means Sridhar Swami, and swami also means 'a husband'.] If you do not follow your swami, then you are a prostitute!"

This is how Mahaprabhu removed Vallabha Acharya's ego. After that, Vallabha Acharya came to Mahaprabhu, surrendered to Him, apologising for his arrogance, and asked Mahaprabhu for initiation. Mahaprabhu said, "I do not give initiation. Go to Gadadhar Pandit, you can take initiation from him." Then, Vallabha Acharya came to Gadadhar Pandit, and Gadadhar Pandit gave him initiation. Before that, Vallabha Acharya used to worship Bala-Gopal, but after taking initiation from Gadadhar Pandit, he started worshipping Radha-Krishna…

* * *

Questions and Answers

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in Kharkiv (Ukraine),

2 June 2019, part 3

Do you have any questions?

Question: Can we offer the Tulasi leaves that have touched the floor or the ground or have fallen down?

Offer them to whom?

Question: To Gurudev or the Deities.

Oh, yes, you can wash the leaves and give them, it is not a problem. Tulasi is always pure.

Question: Gurudev, we see Tulasi tree as a tree...

No, no! Tulasi is not a tree. Tulasi always worships the Lord. You see Tulasi in the garden because Tulasi got a curse from Srimati Radharani—Srimati Radharani said, "You will be born in the material world." After that, Tulasi became a tree and started worshipping the Lord. So, wherever there a Tulasi in the garden, that Tulasi is doing dhyan—she is in meditation.

Tulasi is a part of Narayan, she is Laksmi. Tulasi Maharani's body became the Gandaki River in Nepal; and her hair became the Tulasi leaves. I was reading about this in Bengali from Brahma Vivarta and Padma Purana the other day.

Question: Tulasi Maharani expands herself into million forms to accept service from the devotees—is that so?

Yes, correct, and actually whenever we see a Tulasi in a forest or in a garden, she always practises meditation, dhyan.

Question: We have heard about the kirtan that Mahaprabhu did with the devotees in Jagannath Puri, that it was a great sankirtan before Lord Jagannath that all the fourteen worlds can hear, and we would like to ask you if the kirtans at Srivas-angan and the mood during those kirtans were the same or different?

This is sankirtan. Mahaprabhu externally showed the distribution of the Holy Names all over the world and manifested sankirtan at Srivas-angan, and He also did maha-sankirtan in Jagannath Puri before the chariot of Jagannath during Ratha-yatra. Both sankirtans are the same, there is no difference, but what Mahaprabhu discussed with Ray Ramananda and Svarup Damodar in Gambhira is the highest conception.

Question: We hear that the Guru is a representative of the Lord. If Gurudev gives one some blessing, will Lord Krishna always help or He will decide?

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur says that you will not get any letter from the Lord, if you ask your Guru proper questions about the solution of your problem or what is necessary for your spiritual life, Gurudev will send your message to the Lord.

vaisnavera avedane krsna dayamaya

e hena pamara prati habena sadaya

"Satisfied by the Vaishnav's prayer, Krishna will be merciful to this sinner."

When Gurudev tells about you to the Lord, Krishna will become kind and He will fulfil your desire to serve Him. Srimati Radharani is Krishna's power, and Krishna is Radharani's property—Gurudev is nondifferent from Radharani, so the Guru can engage you in the service of the Lord.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj also says that Nityananda Prabhu is nondifferent from Mahaprabhu. Nitai and Gaurachandra and Krishna are the same—They are two forms of One. There are different moods—dasya rasa, sakhya rasa, vatsalya rasa, madhura rasa. In sakhya rasa, Nityananda Prabhu is our Guru, and in madhura rasa, Radharani is our Guru.

What was the question?

Question: The question was that Srila Sridhar Maharaj says that the power of Nityananda Prabhu's mercy is such that we need only to be greedy to get this mercy—are there any actions expected from us though?

Nityananda Prabhu is nondifferent from Gurudev, He is asraya vigraha (He gives shelter), that is why we must start our devotional life from Nityananda Prabhu. We must worship Nitai Gaura. In this age of Kali, it is very difficult to worship or understand Radha-Krishna, it is a very high conception, that is why in our general, simple lives, we must follow Nityananda Prabhu's mood. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told Nityananda Prabhu to preach about Krishna, but Nityananda Prabhu would go and tell everyone,

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!"

During his last days, Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not even chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra—he would always chant, "Nitai Gaura Hari bol, Nitai Gaura Hari bol." That is because there is no offence in chanting the Names of Nitai and Gauranga.

Thank you everybody, make a programme again.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

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

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

Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupad ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

All the worldwide devotees ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

All the Ukrainian devotees ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

Devotees: Jay Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj ki jay

* * *

Fundamentals of Service Life

Kolkata, speaking online to devotees in London (UK),

2 June 2019

I am very happy to see you all. You are practising Krishna consciousness properly and preaching Gurudev's line, Srila Guru Maharaj's line, Srila Rupa Goswami's line properly. We should follow Mahaprabhu's teaching and we should preach it to others—we must practise ourselves and preach it to others also.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said,

prthivite yata achhe nagaradi grama

sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

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

The Holy Name and Krishna consciousness will be preached in every village of this world, and Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also told to make a temple in everybody's heart. Then, we must practise properly in the age of Kali—sravanam, kirtanam, sadhu-sanga, nama-sankirtan, Bhagavat sravan, Mathura vasa, sraddhaya sri-murti seven [hearing, chanting, good association, sankirtan, hearing Bhagavatam, living in Mathura, serving the Deity with faith]. We must reject what is unfavourable to devotion—chhaya vega dami' chhaya dosa sodhi' [subjugate the six urges: the urge of the mind, tongue, stomach, genitals, speech, anger; rectify the six faults: excessive eating, materialistic endeavours, useless talks, inability to follow instructions, bad association, fickle-mindedness]. Gramya-katha na boliba: do not talk so much nonsense, do not waste your time.

How many years will we live in this world? We can die, we can leave our body at any time. We have finally got a human body, and we must use it for the service of the Lord, but Maya Devi is very strong—she gets her power from the Lord, and she always takes us away from the Lord's service. Maya Devi uses us for her own service, her own seva—she always uses us and makes us follow her own bad orders. We must be always careful. Always avoid Vaishnav-aparadh, seva-aparadh, dhama-aparadh, Nama-aparadh. We must avoid these offences properly—accept what is favourable to devotion and reject what is unfavourable to devotion. These are the main things.

Dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varan—be humble, tolerant, have faith that Krishna will protect us, Krishna takes care of us. We must believe it.

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya

krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

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

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

It is necessary to have the strongest faith. If we practise properly, we can understand these things easily. Gurudev also told this. It is necessary to surrender with the strongest faith. Your devotion depends on how much faith you have.

So, surrender properly to devotees, surrender properly to the Lord. You will not get a letter from the Lord, but when you have an earnest request, you can ask a representative of the Lord (the Guru), and he will submit your request to the Lord. Because the Guru is the dearmost of the Lord, and the Lord is very kind, the Lord will listen to him and fulfil your desire.

Actually, Krishna is Srimati Radharani's property, and Gurudev is nondifferent from Srimati Radharani, so Gurudev can engage you in the service to Krishna. When we do something based on the ideas of our mind, it may not be service, so we must think how to fulfil the desire of Gurudev. We must think how Gurudev can be pleased, what will make Gurudev happy.

We must always think about service, always chant the Holy Name, always hear Hari-katha, class, etc. always engage ourselves in service. Do not waste your time. Time is very short in our life, so be careful with time. Every moment is meant for the service of the Lord, so we must use every moment for the service of the Lord. This is the main thing.

You spent previous lives on sleeping, eating, enjoying, and if you sleep, eat and enjoy in this life also, then what will happen to you next life? As you sow, so you reap—you will get the result, the reaction according to your actions. So, do not use this life for anything except service to the Lord. Take Krishna's prasadam. Offer whatever you want to take or eat to the Lord and take that prasadam. Even if you want to drink a glass of water, you must first think about Gurudev, about the Lord, offer it first to Gurudev, then you can drink that water.

Serve in this way.

* * *

Glory of Srimati Tulasi Devi

Dum Dum Park, Kolkata

29 May 2019, translated from Bengali

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

Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

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

Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay

Jay Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay

Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay

Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

All the branches of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

All the worldwide devotees ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

I will tell you today about the glories of Tulasi.

Even those who have not taken Vaishnav initiation can have Tulasi at their home—if they serve Tulasi, do parikrama of Tulasi every day, they too will get benefit. Tulasi is Adhisvari (presiding Deity) in Vrindavan—she does not leave anyone without food in Vrindavan. If you do parikrama of Tulasi, if you worship Tulasi, offer arati to Tulasi, serve Tulasi, the Lord becomes pleased as she is very dear to Him. We also sing in the kirtan: "Yako darase parase agha-nasa hoi—if anyone sees her or touches her, their sins are destroyed." So, it is the duty of every one of us to serve Tulasi. No money is required to serve Tulasi; there is no question that you must first make a temple for Tulasi—if you cannot make a Tulasi mandir, just plant Tulasi in some soil in a pot and try to care for her—offer incense every morning and evening, offer obeisance to Tulasi before you leave home, offer obeisances when you come home and before you enter the house—the Lord will be pleased with you, and He will take care of your life. If you serve Tulasi in this way, you can get devotion to Krishna.

"Chhappanna bhoga, chhatrisa vyanjana vina tulasi prabhu eka nahi mani—the Lord does not accept even one of fifty-six grain offerings or thirty-six vegetable offerings without Tulasi leaves." The Lord does not care even for fifty-six and thirty-six preparations if there is no Tulasi. Even if you cook fifty-six items, none of it will be accepted without Tulasi. Why? There is a story behind it, and you should know it. You should know where Tulasi came from, how Tulasi appeared. It is written about this very beautifully in Brahma-vivarta Purana and Padma Purana. You may not find these books, so I am going to try to summarise it for you so that you can know about it.

To bestow His unlimited mercy to all the inhabitants of the universe, to allow others to serve Him and to make others happy, performing one of His variegated pastimes, Playful Supreme Lord Sri Krishna manifests Himself as salagram sila and a partial expansion of Sri Radha, asraya-vigraha, takes the Deity form of Tulasi tree. (You know that salagram silas are worshipped as the Lord—for example, Giriraj Govardhan sila, salagram sila, and so on. You know also that Gopal Bhatta Goswami worshipped salagram silas, and Radha Raman appeared from one of them.)

It is written in Brahma-vivarta Purana that there is a gopi named Tulasi in Goloka Vrindavan who is dear to Krishna and an associate of Srimati Radharani. One time, seeing Tulasi play with Krishna, Sri Radha cursed her, "You will be born as a human!" Hearing this curse, Tulasi was very hurt and sad. She came and sought shelter of Krishna, and Krishna assured her, "Tulasi, do not worry, accept a human birth. After that, engage in penance for Me, and you will enter My pious family [become My pious wife]."

Following the wish of Krishna, Tulasi came to this world. What form did she come in? There was a king named Dharmadvaj. His wife's name was Madhavi Devi. Tulasi appeared in this world from her womb in the month of Kartika on the full-moon (purnima) day. She was so incomparably beautiful that her parents named her Tulasi. After some time, Tulasi went to a forest and engaged there in severe penances.

We often see Tulasi in forests, jungles, we also make Tulasi gardens, but Tulasi is not an ordinary tree growing there. Wherever there is Tulasi, Tulasi is engaged in penance and meditation (tapasya).

Then, being pleased with her penance, Brahma appeared before her and wanted to give her a boon. Tulasi said, "My name is Tulasi Gopi. I used to live in Goloka, but one day, seeing me play with Govinda, Sri Radha cursed me, that is why I have taken this human birth. When Radharani cursed me, I surrendered to Sri Krishna and He said that I could attain His four-armed opulent expansion as Sri Narayan through penance. If you are satisfied with my tapasya, please give me the boon that I may unite with Narayan."

Brahma said, "Krishna's forms are truly wondrous. There is a cowherd named Sudama who was also cursed by Sri Radhika. He took birth as a demon named Sankachur. He had seen you in Goloka and was attracted to you, so first accept this Sankachur as your husband, and after that you will get Sri Narayan, the opulent form of Lord Sri Krishna. After the curse has finished, you will become a tree and, among all flowers, you will be the dearest to Narayan. You are extremely pure, therefore you will become the saviour of the universe—without you, no worship will be successful."

Hearing Brahma's words, Tulasi replied, "As you say, so be it."

Then, Brahma taught Tulasi the sixteen-syllable Radha mantra and blessed her, "May you be as fortunate as Radha."

After that, Tulasi married demon Sankachur. Sankachur also had a boon that he would be immortal for as long as his wife was chaste—if his wife ever mixed with another man, he would die. So, through his immense power, Sankachur conquered heaven (Svarga), and as a result all the demigods had to leave heaven. When they realised that there was no way they could defeat Sankachur, demigods surrendered to Brahma—they came to Brahma and prayed, "We cannot defeat Sankachur by any means, we had to leave heaven. We seek your shelter." Then, Brahma went to Siva, and Siva in turn went to Vishnu in Vaikuntha. Having heard everything, Vishnu reassured the demigods, "Do not fear. I will take the form of Sankachur and fulfil the desire of Tulasi, then you will also be able to defeat Sankachur."

Then, Narayan took the form of Sankachur. He came to Tulasi and fulfilled her desire. When Tulasi realised that it was not her husband, that it was Narayan Himself, she cursed Narayan, "How could You have done this to me?! I curse You to become a stone!" Then, Tulasi received the news that her husband had died. She fell at the feet of Narayan and began to cry. Narayan blessed her, "Give up this body, become My dear—you will be as dear to Me as Laksmi. Your body will become Gandaki River and your hair will become Tulasi trees." Following Narayan's words, Tulasi left her body, and her body became the Gandaki River and her hair became Tulasi trees. Ever since, Narayan stays at the Gandaki River as salagram sila, and He is always inseparable from Tulasi—without Tulasi, no worship of Narayan can ever be successful.

Therefore, no worship can be done without Tulasi. These are some of the glories of Tulasi, there is also much more. Later, if I get time, I will tell more.

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

Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

* * *

Astonishing Service Mood

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

8 January 2019, part 1

vande 'ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams cha

sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana raghunath-anvitam tam sa-jivam

sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krsna-chaitanya-devam

sri-radha-krsna-padan saha-gana-lalita sri-visakhanvitams cha

I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of my Guru, the predecessor Gurus, the Lord's devotees, Sri Rupa, Sri Sanatan, Sri Raghunath, Sri Jiva, Sri Rupa's followers, Sri Krishna Chaitanyadev, Sri Nityananda Prabhu, Sri Advaita Prabhu, Sri Chaitanyadev's associates, Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, Sri Lalita Devi, Sri Visakha Devi, and all of Their associates.

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya

chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

I offer my obeisance unto Sri Gurudev, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the salve of divine knowledge.

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.

devam divya-tanum suchanda-vadanam balarka-chelanchitam

sandrananda-puram sad-eka-varanam vairagya-vidyambudhim

sri-siddhanta-nidhim subhakti-lasitam sarasvatanam varam

vande tam subhadam mad-eka-saranam nyasisvaram sridharam

I offer my obeisance unto my lord, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, whose speech is most pleasing; whose divine form is adorned with garments the colour of the newly-risen sun; who is an abode of intense, ecstatic devotion; who is the sadhus' sole choice; who is an ocean of renunciation and knowledge; who is a treasure-house of perfect conclusions; who is resplendent with pure devotion; who is the best of Srila Saraswati Thakur's followers; who is the giver of all good; who is the leading general of the tridandi-sannyasis; and who is my sole shelter.

vanchha-kalpatarubhyas cha

krpa-sindhubhya eva cha

patitanam pavanebhyo

vaisnavebhyo namo namah

Again and again I offer my obeisance unto the Supreme Lord's devotees, who are saviours of the fallen, oceans of mercy, and wish-fulfilling trees.

vrndayai tulasi-devyai priyayai kesavasya cha

krsna-bhakti-prade devi satyavatyai namo namah

Again and again I offer my obeisance unto Vrnda Devi, who is known as Tulasi Devi and Satyavati, who is most dear to Krishna, and who bestows devotion to Krishna upon us.

atha natva mantra-gurun gurun bhagavatarthadan

vyasan jagad-gurun natva tato jayam udirayet

Having offered obeisance to one's initiating Guru, to the Gurus who have taught one the meaning of the Bhagavat, and to all the authors of Vedic literature, who are the Gurus of the entire world, proclaim "Jay!"

jayah sa-parikara sri-sri-guru-gauranga-gandharvagovindasundar-padapadmanam jayastu!

All glory to the lotus feet of Sri Guru, Sri Gaurasundar, Sri Sri Gandharva-Govindasundar, and all of Their associates!

vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Sri Rupa Goswami, Sri Sanatan Goswami, Sri Raghunath Bhatta Goswami, Sri Raghunath Das Goswami, Sri Jiva Goswami, and Sri Gopala Bhatta Goswami.

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda

sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura-bhakta-vrnda

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

We are very fortunate, actually I am very fortunate because I have come again to Vijayawada after almost four years, and with the help of Sripad Bhakti Niskam Shanta Maharaj, Sripad Bhakti Amrita Paramarthik Maharaj, Sripad Bhakti Vijnana Muni Maharaj, Kamalendu Prabhu, Vasudev Prabhu, Purna Prajna Prabhu, Uttam Krishna Prabhu, and all the South Indian devotees a great preaching has happened here. All these devotees have been helping this preaching programme very enthusiastically, they have been working and serving hard, and I am very pleased with their service.

Today is the last day of this programme you know that I have some other duties. 12 January is the inauguration anniversary festival in Ganga Sagar, I have to go there on 11 January; after that there will be a festival in Ekachakra, Nityananda Prabhu's birth place, and the Deities installation anniversary festival there; then, there will be a new Lord Siva temple inauguration in Burdwan district on the Siva-ratri day; and finally, Gaura Purnima is also coming soon. I do not want to leave seeing devotees' enthusiasm and service, that is why I am a little sad today because I am going so far away, but I am always with you and you are also with me. I am at your service, you can call me at any time, you can speak to me. I may not understand your language, but the heart to heart connection is there. You can call me at any time, do not hesitate. I am always at your service, and you can always come to any festival, or any temple.

Actually, I have seen your service mood, and the most important thing is that you do not do something externally—you do everything internally, with heart. I am quite astonished to see your service mood. I am actually taken by surprise that you are practising so properly. You must continue practising in this way every day. Start from mangal-arati, then do Tulasi parikrama, then sing some bhajans and kirtans, then go to cook for the Deities and make an offering, after that you go to work, etc. In the afternoon, you offer some fruit, some bhog, and in the evening you again do arati and some programme, as far as possible after a work day.

You may work the whole day, but you should always chant the Holy Name. You can chant even when you work; it is not necessary to always carry the beads with you—you can chant the Holy Name with your mouth, with your tongue, with your heart, and in this way you can serve properly. This is our main practice every day.

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)

Where is Goloka Vrindavan? If you any day serve the Deities, worship the Deities, chant the Holy Name, and remember sadhus, Gurudev, Vaishnavs, Krishna, Bhagavan—at that time Krishna always stays there. Krishna says, "I stay in devotees' hearts, in devotees' houses.”

* * *

Maintain Your Practice

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

8 January 2019, part 2

There are many devotees of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Although we cannot come for preaching all the time, we are very busy in other places, we will try to come again as often and as soon as possible. I have told you also that after Ratha-yatra we are making a tour and we will stay in Vijayawada for one night at that time—one hundred and twenty devotees are coming and you can come and meet with all the devotees then. If you want to join that parikrama up to Tirupati, you can join us, or come when we are here and meet all the devotees. If we can get some association of devotees, it is good for us and good for you also.

Actually, we do not have any centre of our temple Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in Vijayawada, but there are so many devotees living in their houses—they are all centres of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. It is not a problem to make a permanent centre, but a permanent centre means you need a permanent pujari, a permanent cook, a servitor, 24/7 devotees, etc.—to make a temple is not a problem, but it is difficult to maintain it properly. You can see that so many things are necessary for preaching. Here too Sripad Bhakti Amrita Paramarthik Maharaj offers the bhog, does the puja, Kamalendu Prabhu plays the mridanga, Sripad Bhakti Niskam Shanta Maharaj translates the lectures for you all, Vasudev Prabhu distributes books, Purna Prajna Prabhu takes photographs and sends it to the website. Preaching involves many things. Just as one human being requires so many indriya (senses)—one human being needs eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, hands, legs, etc.—preaching and temple maintenance also requires many instruments.

Still, I am praying to you all—we do not have a centre here, but you can all make a programme once a week. Gather together, sing some bhajans, etc. You can make a programme one week in one house, another week in another house. If you do it, it will make you stronger and give you so much enthusiasm. Practice makes perfect. This is the essence of our sangha. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj gave our sangha the name 'Sri Chaitanya Saraswata Krishna-anusilana Sangha'. Anusilana means practising.

* * *

A Life Worth Living

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

8 January 2019, part 3

jivana anitya janaha sara

tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara

namasraya kari' yatane tumi

thakaha apana kaje

"Understand the essence: life is temporary and filled with all sorts of adversity. Carefully taking shelter of the Name, engage in your work."

This song is composed by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and we sing it every day. This life is so temporary (jivana anitya), and not only that—so much danger, so many problems come in this life. Then, the only way out for us is to take shelter of the Holy Name and continue with our job. We also sing,

e deha patana ha'le ki rabe amara?

keha sukha nahi dibe putra paribara

When this body drops dead, what will remain ‘mine'? Upon death neither my sons nor my family will give me any satisfaction.

What will happen to me when I leave my body? We have come to this world, but where will we go after death? We always worry about the body... You think your wife, your son, your husband, your daughter will take care of you, but I have seen many families where people take care of their children, but then the children grow up, get education, get a job, get married and go abroad—and their parents end up alone at their old age, suffering; who will take care of them? Children do not think about them. This family life is like that. We are always like this:

gardabhera mata ami kari parisrama

kara lagi' eta kari, na ghuchila bhrama

I toil laboriously like a donkey. For whom am I doing this? Still my illusion has not been dispelled.

We do so many things, we go through so many austerities, we do so much for our family life, but what do we do it for? We do not know that. We only always do, do, do—we work the whole day only for some little eating, enjoyment and sleeping. "Gardabhera mata ami kari parisrama": as I told the other day, like a donkey who always carries sugar but never gets the taste of sugar we work the whole day but we do not know what we do that for or who we do that for. We only always do karma, karma, karma (work, work, work), but the scriptures say that if you engage in karma, you will become bound by the result of that karma, and the result of that bondage is suffering in hell. So, where will that take you?

I have told before also that we are alive in this world at the expense of killing so many millions of jiva souls, and you will get the reaction for that. However, if you do everything for the Lord, if you serve the Lord—if you offer everything to the Lord—then it will be nirgun, no reaction will not come to you. That is why,

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)

We have different senses and instruments—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin (chaksu, karna, nasika, jihva, tvak), mind, intelligence, and ego (man, buddhi, ahankar), feet, hands, rectum, genitals, mouth (pada, pani, payu, upastha, vak). We think we can win, we can defeat something, but the truth is we cannot even defeat ourselves. There are so many enemies within our hearts:

kama-krodha-adi chaya batapare deya bhaya

avasana haila asi bela

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

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

We have so much lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, ego (kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, abhimana) in our heart—how can we control them? With the help of good association, by practising Krishna consciousness and chanting the Holy Name, all these will be removed from our hearts.

When Sriman Mahaprabhu came to Keshav Bharati to take sannyas from him, Keshav Bharati asked Him, "Prabhu, first You must practise brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha, and then only comes sannyas, after seventy-five years. How old are you now, You are coming to take sannyas?..." We know also that actually sannyas is forbidden in Kali-yuga. Hearing Keshav Bharati's words, Mahaprabhu joked,

"Yes, it is correct. Let us say I am fifty."

Keshav Bharati said, "If You are fifty, You still cannot take sannyas because You cannot control the five tastes—rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa (form, taste, smell, sound, touch)."

"What if I am sixty?"

"Even at sixty You cannot control the six enemies—lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, ego (kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, abhimana); so even at sixty You cannot take sannyas."

"All right, I am ninety!"

"If You do not practise the nava-vidha bhakti (nine kinds of devotion), then You cannot take sannyas even at ninety."

"OK, I am one hundred!"

"If You cannot control the ten indriya (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin (chaksu, karna, nasika, jihva, tvak), feet, hands, rectum, genitals, mouth (pada, pani, payu, upastha, vak), then even if you are one hundred You cannot take sannyas."

Mahaprabhu and Keshav Bharati discussed this all night, and in the end Keshav Bharati agreed, "Yes, You are twenty-four, but You are perfect—You can control everything and You have all the necessary qualities. I can give You sannyas."

So, practise properly. You have come to this life and you can preach Krishna consciousness properly, under guidance of Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

* * *

Our Great Fortune

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

8 January 2019, part 4

Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, was selected as the acharya, or preacher, by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur.

I have told before also that when Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was going to leave his body, he wanted to hear Srila Sridhar Maharaj sing "Sri Rupa Manjari-pada sei mora sampada sei mora bhajana pujana." Why did he want to hear him sing it? Srila Sridhar Maharaj was not a good singer—he could speak Hari-katha, do some sankirtan, but his tune was not very good when he sang. Still, Srila Saraswati Thakur wanted to hear him sing that song. At that time, Srila Sridhar Maharaj was not present there and one of the devotees said to another devotee, "Prabhu, Srila Sridhar Maharaj is coming a bit later, but you are a good singer, you can start singing." When that devotee started the song, Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur stopped him—he was very angry, "I do not want to listen to the tune! I want to listen to the song."

Then it was 1941. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was in Vrindavan and one day got a message from Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. After that, he left Vrindavan and started Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, in 1941. Our Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, joined Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math under the guidance of Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj in 1947. Gurudev told that he had got an opportunity to serve all the great Vaishnavs such as Sripad Kunja Babu (Srila Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Maharaj), Sripad Bhakti Vinod Babu (Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Goswami Maharaj), Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Kamal Madhusudan Maharaj, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad and others. Actually, many of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's godbrothers eventually took sannyas from him and all of his godbrothers would come to him to hear some Hari-katha. At that time our Gurudev got the opportunity to serve them all; and when they would come, they would say that when Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was giving a lecture, they thought that it was as if Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur himself was speaking.

Also, when Gurudev came and joined the temple, he started to preach outside little by little. In the early years, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Gurudev stayed at the house of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj (Abhay Babu at that time) in Kolkata. Gurudev told me that when they were staying at Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj's house, Srila Swami Maharaj would teach him Srimad Bhagavad-gita and because Srila Swami Maharaj was expert at Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Gurudev said he had been able to remember the slokas from Srimad Bhagavad-gita perfectly. Also, Gurudev said that when his Guru Maharaj, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and Om Vishnupad Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad were talking, he thought it was like Srimati Radharani was talking to Srimati Lalita and Visakha—they would laugh and joke, etc.

Once, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, "You cannot stay in your family life. You must come out and go preaching abroad, to the foreign countries. It will be good for you. You can be a perfect preacher of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur." Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad told Srila Sridhar Maharaj, "If you give me sannyas, then I can come out." Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj explained, "Prabhu, you are my great friend, you are like a brother to me. How can I give you sannyas? It is not possible. It will be better if you take sannyas from Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Goswami Maharaj—I have given the sannyas mantra to him, so if you take sannyas from him, the connection will be there and everything will be perfect."

Later, in 1973, when ISKCON was establishing Mayapur Chandradaya Mandir, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad invited Srila Sridhar Maharaj to the inauguration ceremony. Srila Sridhar Maharaj went there with Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj and my Gurudev (at that time, his name was Gaurendu Brahmachari). When they came, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj asked Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, "Maharaj, you have invited me for the inauguration, but where is all the paraphernalia? Where is the yajna?" Srila Prabhupad replied, "Maharaj, what is the necessity for the inauguration ceremony? You have come, then my temple inauguration has already finished." That day, when Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad requested Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to speak, Srila Sridhar Maharaj said to my Gurudev, "My health is not good today, you can give the lecture today." Gurudev gave the lecture and everybody was very surprised to hear the sloka that he spoke—hearing it, Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj exclaimed, "Jay! Hari bol! Hari bol!" And Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj said about Gurudev, "He is my perfect son."

So, both you and I are very fortunate that we have got such a Guru who is recognised by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad and recognised by our Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. I am also fortunate that I have got an opportunity to serve my Gurudev, to serve his mission and that he has accepted me, he has been tolerating me, and that he has been accepting my service. This is my fortune.

* * *

On Vaishnav Aparadh

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

8 January 2019, part 5

You must believe and have faith in this—Gurudev told me if you serve Vaishnavs (if you do sadhu-seva), Krishna will come and serve you.

Gurudev also said that we do not come to this world, we have not joined this mission to become a Vaishnav or a Krishna-bhakta. We have come to this mission to be a servant of devotees. This is our identification. We are servants of devotees. We are not devotees of Krishna directly. This is our main conception and Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's conception is also like this.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur also says,

radha-bhajane yadi mati nahi bhela

krsna-bhajana tava akarane gela

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

radhara dasira krsna sarva-vede bole

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

radhika-dasi yadi haya abhimana

sighra-i mila-i taba golula kana

Those who consider themselves maidservants of Sri Radha will quickly meet Gokula-Krishna (Kan).

This is our main conception—to be a servant of devotees. Our identity is not a Krishna-bhakta, or a devotee of Krishna—we are devotees, servants of Srimati Radharani. This is main for us and it is necessary to understand this.

You have probably read in Srimad Bhagavatam that when all the yajna-patnis (wives of brahmans) wanted to serve Krishna, Krishna did not allow it, but then they understood, "You do not like us, but You always like the gopis and Radharani, then can we serve them?" Krishna accepted it, "Yes, that is the proper line!"

Do you have any questions?

Question: How can we avoid offences?

You know how to avoid it. There are different kinds of offences—there are four types of Vaishnav-aparadh, thirty-two types of seva-aparadh, ten dhama-aparadhas, and ten Nama-aparadhas. Read what these offences are and try to avoid them. Srila Guru Maharaj and Srila Gurudev also say that sometimes although we have read about these offences, we may consciously or unconsciously make some offence, that is why we should always ask for forgiveness. You do not know whether you are making an offence or not, but always ask when you pay obeisance to a Vaishnav, "Please remove my offence."

Sometimes some Vaishnav may make some aparadh, and we all the time talk about it or think about it. This is not good. Sometimes, somebody can make some little offence, but we must not discuss that with others.

One of the offences is also when you sometimes see a boy doing something wrong at the beginning, in his early life, but after that he may become a Vaishnav, join Krishna consciousness and become good, then you must not discuss his previous behaviour with others.

Sometimes you may also hear some aparadh, some Vaishnav ninda (criticism, abuse). When this happened, Bhaktivinod Thakur gave advice—he always keeps quiet (mauna) and does not say anything. Sometimes also in Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's time, some brahmacharis would fight and come to Prabhupad to complain about each other, but Prabhupad would stop both of them and say to them, "You must glorify each other for ten minutes."

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila Gurudev, and also Srila Guru Maharaj said that everybody has some good quality and some bad quality, and we must not take anyone's bad quality—we must not listen to anyone's bad qualities, we must not search for anyone's bad qualities. Do not be a drain inspector—if you always inspect the drain, you will always get a bad smell. Moreover, Srila Guru Maharaj and Srila Gurudev also say that if somebody has some bad quality and you always speak bad about that person or always discuss that person, you will have to accept that bad quality—that bad quality will come to you, and your good quality will come to that other person.

You have heard many pastimes about offences. For example, Ramachandra Puri was an offender to his Gurudev, Sripad Madhavendra Puripad. You know what offence he had made. Ramachandra Puri always searched others' faults, he even criticised Sriman Mahaprabhu, but Sriman Mahaprabhu gave him respect. Everybody complained to Mahaprabhu, "He always speaks bad about You, but You are giving him a high asan (honourable seat)!" Mahaprabhu did not say anything. One day, Ramachandra Puri came to Mahaprabhu's room in Gambhira and saw some ants there. He said, "O navin sannyasi (O new sannyasi)! I guess You are eating too many sweets, that is why You have ants in Your room!" Mahaprabhu thought, "I have heard that this man always criticises Me behind My back, but now He is telling it in front of Me!" and He replied, "Yes, Prabhu. What can I do? I am a fallen sannyasi. Sometimes My tongue wants to take sweets, so I eat sweets." But actually Mahaprabhu did not eat sweets...

When one makes an offence to a sadhu or Guru, this offence gradually goes up to the Lord. That is why we must always avoid sadhu-ninda, Vaishnav-ninda. You know that this is the first of the ten offences to the Holy Name. If you criticise sadhus, even if you chant the whole day and night, the result will be nothing. Gurudev also told many times that you may chant the whole day, you may chant one lakh Holy Names, but if you always search others' faults, you will not get any result. "Vaishnav habe adosa darasi"—a Vaishnav will not see others' faults, he will see he is the guilty one, "Everybody is innocent, I am guilty."

In a nutshell, if you know it is a Vaishnav-aparadh, you must always avoid it. Sometimes, a Vaishnav-aparadh may happen unconsciously, but then you should always ask when you pay obeisance to a Vaishnav, "Please remove my offence." Even when you come to the Lord, always pray, "Please remove my offence."

Do you have any other questions?

Question: If some sannyasi or brahmachari make an offence, is it an offence if I object?

You can correct them, but I will give you one example. You can read about this in Chaitanya-charitamrita.

Sriman Mahaprabhu knows what is right and what is wrong, but once He wanted to hear about it from His devotee, so He consciously did something wrong, some offence. What did He do? There was one widow lady who had a son, and that son always came to Mahaprabhu. One day, Damodar Brahmachari told that boy not to come again, but the boy complained about it to Mahaprabhu, "That old brahmachari always tells me not to come, not to come." Mahaprabhu laughed a little and gave him a sweet. Then, one day Damodar Brahmachari could not tolerate it any more, so He came to Mahaprabhu and told Him directly, "Prabhu, You are doing wrong. We preach about You, we go outside and if somebody says anything bad about You, we cannot tolerate it, and they will be making a big offence. I know that this boy is not bad, but people know his mother is a widow and a very beautiful lady—You must avoid the association of that boy." Mahaprabhu thought, "What is going on? I am a sannyasi and a brahmachari is chastising Me!" Then Mahaprabhu decided, "Yes, Damodar is the perfect man. I can send him to My mother with some Jagannath prasadam and cloth. Who else can I trust?" So, this is how Mahaprabhu chose Damodar to be sent to Nabadwip. Gurudev also said—was Mahaprabhu thinking only about His mother? No. His mother was old at that time, so He actually sent Damodar to Nabadwip and not anyone else because Vishnupriya was there.

So, if some brahmachari or sannyasi does something wrong, do not tell others about it, it will give a bad name to our society, but you can tell about it directly to the person, then it is not a problem.

Here is present Sripad Bhakti Amrita Paramarthik Maharaj, he is a disciple of Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and he is helping very much with preaching—he does the yajnas, he does the puja. He helps me in preaching very much, and he also has humility, vaishnavata (Vaishnav qualities).

Who is a Vaishnav? Gurudev told, a Vaishnav is the one who has these qualities:

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."

kanaka-kamini, pratistha-baghini,

chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava

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

(Vaishnav Ke? 11)

Everybody says that tridandi sannyas means kaya, mana, vakya (being surrendered and serving with one's actions, mind, and speech), but Gurudev preaches that sannyas means not only kaya, mana, vakya—a sannyasi should actually have more qualification: he must be more humble, more tolerant and give more honour to others.

[His Divine Grace requests Sripad Bhakti Amrita Paramarthik Maharaj to speak to the assembled devotees.]

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Appreciating Sadhu (1)

22 October 2018, Kolkata, part 1

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

Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay

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

Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay

Jay Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay

Jay Sri Rupanuga Guru-varga ki jay

Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

All the worldwide devotees ki jay

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

All the branches of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Jay Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay

Suddha-bhakti-vighna-vinasankari Bhagavan Sri Nrisinghadev ki jay

Sri Sada-Siva Gangadhar ki jay

Giriraj Govardhan ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

I am paying a full obeisance at my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's lotus feet and I am paying my obeisance to all my Guru-varga, all the godbrothers and godsisters, all the well-wishers, all of my friends, as well as all of the devotees all over the world. I am paying my humble obeisance to you all.

Actually, we must understand what we have got this human body for, what is necessary for this human body, how we shall utilise this body. These are the main things.

bahunam janmanam ante, jnanavan mam prapadyate

vasudevah sarvam iti, sa mahatma sudurlabhah

Absolute surrender unto the lotus feet of Sri Krsna is the purpose of knowledge (jnana) the great soul who realizes this truth is exceedingly rare—

"Having passed through many lifetimes of assiduous spiritual practices, by the influence of sadhusanga, the association of saints, one attains to knowledge of My identity, and thus surrenders utterly unto Me. Thereafter, he reaches Me, and realises that everything without exception is related to Vasudeva, and thus everything that be is of the nature of Vasudeva. Such a great soul is exceedingly rare."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.19; quoted here from Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 9.12)

We have been practising and practising birth after birth and finally have got some good association; as a result of that association we can now surrender to the Lord and then reach the proper place—we can get Him. We can now understand that everything created and everything happening in this world is related to the Lord. It is impossible to understand this without sadhu-sanga. That is why good association is so necessary—you can get proper advice through good association, and you can become a proper sadhu, that is a proper servant of Vaishnavs through that. Without the association and advice of a proper, perfect sadhu, you cannot realise proper things. This is the main thing about spiritual life. Proper guidance of a proper Vaishnav, a proper, perfect sadhu is the main thing—if you get such guidance, then it is possible to understand everything about spiritual life. Everything comes from the sadhu. The sadhu will always tell you what you should do, what is your duty.

mach-chita mad-gata-prana, bodhayantah parasparam

kathayantas cha mam nityam, tusyanti cha ramanti cha

My male or female servitors, who have dedicated their entire lives to Me and taken full shelter in Me, mutually assist one another in a manner befitting their respective internal devotional aptitudes. They eternally relish conversing about Me, the satisfaction of serving Me, and the nectar of devotion culminating in My divine consorthood—

These are the symptoms of these exclusive devotees:

"With heart and soul dedicated unto Me, they constantly exchange their devotional ecstasies while conversing about Me. By such hearing and chanting, in the stage of practice (sadhana) they enjoy the happiness of devotion; and in the stage of perfection (sadhya), that is, in the achievement of divine love (prema), they relish up to the mellow of My intimate relationship in divine consorthood, in the free spontaneity of Vraja."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 10.9; quoted here from Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 9.22)

That is an extremely high conception. It is the essence.

* * *

Appreciating Sadhu (2)

22 October 2018, Kolkata, part 2

We should understand this. Even if one is a very bad person, they may be surrendered to the Lord. Srimad Bhagavad-gita told also,

api chet suduracharo, bhajate mam ananyabhak

sadhur eva sa mantavyah, samyag vyavasito hi sah

By the potency of the purging effect of devotion for Krsna, glaring inauspicious traits may arise in the character of a person who is exclusively devoted to the service of the Lord. Although such faults may seem to be abominable, they are not condemnable as born of evil motivations (as in a nondevotee). On the contrary, due to the natural, marvelous pristine glory of his exclusive devotion (ananya-bhajana), that devotee is to be known as a true saint—

"If a person serves Me with heart exclusively devoted, even if his practices are abominable he is to be revered as a true saint (proper sadhu) because his life's resolve is perfect in all respects."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.30; quoted here from Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 9.24)

The Lord says, "Maybe someone is a bad person, but if they are surrendered to Me, then you can say that they are a sadhu." Maybe somebody's character is bad, but if they are surrendered to the Lord, you can say about them that they are a perfect sadhu because they are fully surrendered to the Lord, fully surrendered to their Guru.

Krishna also told Arjuna:

man mana bhava madbhakto, madyaji mam namaskuru

mam evaisyasi satyam te, pratijane priyo 'si me

Beyond all doubt, the highest attainment is to serve the (supramundane [aprakrta]) desires of the Sweet Absolute Cupid—

"Be My devotee, give Me your heart. Do not think of Me as the karma-yogis, jnana-yogis, and dhyana-yogis do. Sacrifice your every endeavour for Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is my vow that without a doubt You will then achieve the servitude of My own Self, which is the embodiment of truth, sentience, and beauty. Because you are most dear to Me do I reveal this transcendental devotion to you."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.65; quoted here from Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 9.30)

Krishna told Arjuna, "If you want to become a servant of the Lord, a servant of devotees, you must surrender everything to Me. Because you are very dear to Me, I am giving you advice—whatever you do, whether you do karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, or dhyan-yoga, always think about Me, give everything to Me."

Srimad Bhagavad-gita also says,

sarvadharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja

aham tvam sarvapapebhyo, moksayisyami ma suchah

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

"Whatever I have told you—Vedas, religions, everything—you must avoid it. Surrender to Me, and I will protect you. Do not think it will be sinful, for I will take all your sin—I will rescue you from all kinds of sins."

bhaktyaham ekaya grahyah, sraddhayatma priyah satam

bhaktih punati mannistha, svapakan api sambhavat

"I, who am dear to the sadhus, can be reached only by devotion born of unalloyed (unconditional) faith. Even a dog-flesheating outcast who dedicates himself to exclusive devotion for Me is delivered from the influence of the wretched circumstances of his birth."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.14.21; quoted here from Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 9.41)

The Lord says, "I am the dearmost of the sadhus. If one has devotion to Me, even if they are born in a bad caste, nothing will happen to them for they are a great sadhu, a great saint." Krishna Himself says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, "My devotee is surrendered to Me without any condition, so even if they are born in a very low caste, as a chandal (dog-eater), they are still a great sadhu."

You know that Sivananda Sen's dog also got liberated—that dog got Mahaprabhu's prasad. Sivananda Sen was searching that dog, but the dog had reached Mahaprabhu in Puri before Sivananda Sen, and Mahaprabhu gave that dog a coconut. Later, that dog left its body... The scriptures say the dog was very fortunate. So, devotees' dogs are also important. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says also,

kita janma hau yatha tuya dasa,

bahir-mukha brahma-janma nahi asa

"I do not want to be Brahma or Indra, I do not mind being born as an insect as long as I can be your servant, Prabhu."

(Saranagati, 11)

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur says, "If I am born even as an insect in my next life, it is not a problem as long as You consider me Your servant. I may be born even as an insect, but You must consider me as Your servant. If I can be born as a servant of the Lord, I do not mind getting an insect's life, but I do not want to be born as Brahma, it is not necessary for me. Even if I am born as an insect, if I can become a servant of a sadhu, a servant of a Vaishnav, a servant of the Lord, that is sufficient for me."

These are main things for us...

* * *

Appreciating Sadhu (3)

22 October 2018, Kolkata, part 3

na sadhayati mam yogo, na sankhyam dharma uddhava

na svadhyayas tapas tyago, yatha bhaktir mamorjita

"O Uddhava, pursuits such as eight-step yoga (astanga-yoga), knowledge of oneself as one with Brahman (brahma-jnana), brahminical religiosity and Vedic study, all kinds of austerity, selflessness in asceticism—none of these can bind Me as intense devotion does."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.14.20; quoted here from Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 9.40)

Lord Krishna says, "If one has achala-bhakti, prabala-bhakti, proper, intense devotion for Me, I am always with them, but those who practise even astanga-yoga, etc. cannot bind Me, I am not with them. I am always with those who have proper intense devotion for Me." How is it that Vraja gopis have the highest position?

kevalena hi bhavena, gopyo gavo naga mrgah

ye 'nye mudhadhiyo nagah, siddha mam iyur anjasa

"O Uddhava, simply by their unalloyed hearts did the cowherd ladies, the cows of Vraja, the trees headed by the Yamalarjunas, the animals, the snakes headed by the evil Kaliya, and various objects of stultified intelligence headed by the shrubs and creepers of Vrndavan all attain perfection and swiftly reach Me."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.12.8; quoted here from Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam, 9.48)

Lord Krishna is attained only through perfect, proper devotion and good association of Vaishnavs and the Guru, and by proper utilisation of that association.

We are told that there are different qualities of Vaishnavs—there is a kanistha-adhikari, a madhyam-adhikari, and an uttam-adhikari. Those who see Krishna only in the Deities are kanistha-adhikaris. Those who see Krishna in devotees and Deities are madhyam-adhikaris. Srila Rupa Goswami told, and Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also told that if you give respect only to the Deities but not to the Deities' servitor, it is not good. We must give proper respect to the servitors of the Deities also. The Deity is installed only through a servitor—through a closest associate, servant of the Lord. Then, those who see Krishna always and everywhere—even in trees, plants, etc.—those who see only Krishna everywhere are uttam-adhikaris.

Param Guru Maharaj Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj told that when one becomes a pujari, it is sometimes very difficult for them to give respect to the servitors of the Deities, to the servitors of Vaishnavs. This is the main problem. Sometimes they think, "I do puja, I am always near the Deities! I am great!" This is a very bad symptom for them. They only see the Lord in the Deities, and nowhere else, but the Lord is not only there—He also stays in the heart of His devotees. "Bhaktera hrdaye sada Govinda-visrama: Krishna always stays in the heart of devotees."

So, I am telling to everybody—give proper respect to the sadhu, do not make any offence to the sadhu. This is the main thing. Only a sadhu can rescue you from all kinds of bad elements—he can remove all your bad elements if you surrender to him properly. Remember this.

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

Jay Sri Rupanuga Guru-varga ki jay

Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

All the branches ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

All the devotees ki jay

All the worldwide devotees ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

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