Hare krishna,

I welcome you to Vrindavan dham. A devotee once asked His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada, “what is our qualification to receive the highest knowledge of the super most, top most realm of spiritual world. Srila Prabhupada with all humility and honesty replied, “You had no qualifications, I made your qualifications” And this is so true, it is something for us while here in Vrindavan to very sincerely meditate on. It was here for many years at the Radha Damodar temple that Srila Prabhupada lived in those tiny little rooms. Now if you go there it is very opulant compared to time of Srila Prabhupada. As he was translating Srimad Bhagavatm, writing purports, he was prayting praying to his Guru Maharaj Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur to Srila Rupa Goswami, Sanatan Goswami, Jiva Goswami praying at feet of all great acaryas of our parampara to help him to empower him to fulfill the desrer of Lord Caitanya, Lord Niyananda, Thakur Bhakti Vinod and all our acaryas to bring this message of the love of vrindavan as Lord Caitanya taught it to the whole world. Srila Prabhupada was alone. In one beautiful essay he wrote he described how everything of worldly exitance has vanished like a dream, in fact he gave everything up for the simple purpose of fulfiling the order of his spiritual master.

we know the story of in 1922 his first meeting with Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He was given an order, “You are an intelligent young man, take this message of Lord Caitanya and present it through out the wolrd in English language.”
At that time he was married and he had just had a child who was a baby and no one had ever succeded in the history of the world to succesfully spread this message beyond the boundaries of India. Srila Prabhupada posed his questions and he was very eager to tell us how happy he was to be defeated by his Guru maharaj. And from that moment he took this order as his life and soul. Even though it was 11yrs later that he got initiated. In 1959 he had recurring dreams of his Guru maharaj Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada beckoning him to take sannyasa for this specific purpose. Sep 17th, 1959 Srila Prabhupada took Sannyasa at Kesava gaudiya math. Interestingly Bhakti Pragyana Kesava maharaj asked Srila prabhupada to give a lecture. That doesnt often happen that the people getting initiated are asked to give a lecture. And gathered there were a few Brajvasis who knew hindi, bengali. Hardly a few people there, who knew a word of english. But Srila prabhupada very enthusiastically gave a lecture in english. Because Prabupada’s life and soul was to please his Guru maharaj. He didnt consider material concepts.
vyavasäyätmikä buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana bahu-çäkhä hy anantäç ca buddhayo ‘vyavasäyinäm
Srila Prabhupada took from Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur’s purport of this verse from the gita, those who are in this path must be resoulte in this purpose their aim must be one. This means to take the will of the spiritual master as ones life and soul. He left everything in the same mood as Lord Caitanya left everything – to give Krishna to the world. Here in Vrindavan Srila Prabhupada not only prayed, not only desired but he worked tirelessly to prepare himself for that mission. And just before his 70th birthday he boarded the Jaladuta in kolkatta. He said good bye to Vrindavan, in one sense this is very historical. I cant personally site any reference of history of a person at 70 years old, with not good health at all, to leave vridavan to go across 2 oceans and 3 continets to speread the message of Krishna. Most people retire to got to vrindavan. Yes it was Srila Prabhupada’s compassionate prayes and his inconceivable sacrifice that was, is and forever will be the qualification of the people from all over the world to receive the message of Vrindavan in such a true, pure and accesible form.

We have come here, there is approximately 5000 devs registered for the yatra, perhaps many more will come. At least many monkeys, we can hear them. And in this month of Kartik, the most holy of all months of the year. Kartik is the month that manifests and personifies the unlimited compasssion of Krishna’s eternal pleasure potency Srimati Radharani. In Vrindavan any devotional service performed has many many times potency to purify our hearts and connect us to Krishna, than devotional service perfomed any where else. Ofcourse we have to be careful, any offences are also magnified here. And in this month of Kartik any progess we make is also magnified many times. To be in Vrindavan, in the association of devotees at this time is an incoveivable good fortune that we should never think we deserve. It has been given to us, it is a gift, a matchless gift. If our hearts are truly grateful and if we expres that gratitude through our humble appreciation for Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, for all the vashnava acaryas, for all the assembled vaishnavas and the Supreme Lord Sri Radha Shyamasundar and we express our gratitude through our service attitude.Vrindavan is land of bhakti. Rupa Goswami explains bhakti – anyäbhiläñitä-çünyaà jïäna-karmädy-anävåtam änukülyena kåñëänu- çélanaà bhaktir uttamä
True bhakti is without a tinge of desire for one’s own personal selfish gratification, without tinge of desire for mystic powers of even liberation. It is executed exclusively for the pleasure of Krishna in the mood of servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord. Sri Caitanya Maharaprabhu explained bhakti in so many ways. In the Siskastakam it is explained
na dhanaà na janaà na sundaréà kavitäà vä jagad-éça kämaye mama janmani janmanéçvare bhavatäd bhaktir ahaituké tvayi
My lord I am surrendering my body, words, mind, life, everything to you. I dont want wealth in return. i dont want the pleasures of the world or of the opposite sex. I dont want fame or prestige, I dont want even liberation. I only want to serve you my Lord, for your pleasure. I want to serve you birth after birth after birth after birth after birth. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to personify in his life the Srimad Bhagavatam.
sa vai puàsäà paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokñaje ahaituky apratihatä yayätmä suprasédati
The supreme ocupation for all humanity is loving devotional service for Sri Krishna. Such devotion must be with out any motive to fulfill any type of selfish desire and uninterrupted by any situation that may come upon us, because to practice devotional service in this world we are inevitably going to face incredible impediments, because this world is made of dualitites. Pleasure-pain, honor-dishonor, fame-infamy, happiness-distress,victory-defeat, success-failure, health-disease, birth-death. Every one of these things come upon every one. Some times due to our conditional nature we want to select the challenges that we like. But Krishna is so merciful he will sned us the challenges that we do not like. Because if we like they are not challenges. In Brhat Bhagavatamrita, when Gopa kumar goes through all the difficulties of life and returns to the spiritual world, the Lord expresses to him, “My dear devotee, you have gone through so many hardships for My sake. now I welcome you home” Krishna embraced him. All good qualities have their origin in Krishna to an unlimited degree. With out a grateful heart the seed of bhakti cant grow its roots deep or have the strength to grow its fruits of love of God or prema. Krishna is infinitely grateful for a devotee who strives to remain faithful to serve under any situataion. If we actually are seeing, Krishna, as the object of our service when difficulties come although they may be hard on our heart, our mind, our body, deep down there is an enthusiasm that Krishna is allowing me to not only become purified but to express my sincerity of desire to service, which is the meaning of love. In the beginning stages of bhakti we may not have love but we may all have the intent to love, and that’s what Krishna sees and feels our intenet to love Him. Srila Prabhupada writes, Krishna doesnot accept every thing that is offered to him, but Krishna accepts the intent or the purpose with which that it is offered .

We are here in Vrindavan because of blessing, because of grace and we want to express that through our sincere deligent prayers to serve with love. And Srila Pradhupada taught us Krishna Consciousness in such a practical way, its not a theoretical conceptual prayer we offer. Every momment of everyday of our lives of our life we have an opportunity to live by that prayer by sincerely chanting the holy names, by serving vaishnavas, by spreading this glorious misson that Srila Prabupada risked everything for to the world, by reading Srila Prabupada’s books Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita, by discussing the subjects with each other, by doing puja, worshipping the deities, sweeping the floor, or cooking or chanting the holynames sitting in train or in a Mumbai traffic jam. Every moment is an opportunity to practically express out gratitude. that is how we make spiritual progress.
Srila Prabhupada invited devotees from all over the world to come to Mayapur and Sri Vrindavan dham to associate with one another and to absorb the infinitely merciful environment of bhakti that permiated this holy place and to utilize our every moment to hear and to chant and to serve. This is the rule of the yatra. This is not necessarily a rule that we enforce, but it is a rule that we must discpline ourselves with by our free will. Every moment of life is precious. To be in Vrindavan in Kartik with thousands of devotees is supremely precious. Anything we do with sincere devotional service, Sri Vrindavan dham is going to reciprocate with us, the eternal abode of Sri Sri RadhaShyamasundar, where every spec is a chintamni gem and every tree is a Kalpavriksha and where the presence and mercy of all great acaryas is forever manifesting into the hearts of each and every one of us, who ever we are. Krishna does not see our material qualifications or disqulifications, Krishna doesnot see if we are big, small, whether we are famous or we are nothing at all, whether people like us or hate us. Krishna just sees the sincerity of our hearts and our will to serve and to chant the holynames.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

In this beautiful prayer .
he kåñëa karuëä-sindho déna-bandho jagat-pate
we begin by addressing Krishna as karuna sindhu. He Krishna , he means a cry, a call out with all humility to Krishna like a baby in a helpless condition cries out for its mother, like a littel calf when surrounded by Vrindavan monkeys that are going to tear it apart cries out for its mother. He Krishna, we cry out for Krishna, who is an ocean of kindness. But we have no conception of this kind of ocean. During Prabhupada’s time when he wanted to cross an ocean he took a boat, took 38 days from Kolkotta to New york. Whether its the Atlantic ocean or the Pacific ocean, these are tiny specs from a drop of water compared to this Karuna sindhu. Because the ocean of Krishna’s mercy it has no bottom or shore and it is infinite in all directions. And that infinite inconceivable kindness, Krishna can direct all of it towards each and everyone of us.

In Bhagavad Gita Krishna tells
yadä yadä hi dharmasya glänir bhavati bhärata abhyutthänam adharmasya tadätmänaà såjämy aham
Krishna descends into this world many many times in the course of history

janma karma ca me divyam evaà yo vetti tattvataù tyaktvä dehaà punar janma naiti mäm eti so ‘rjuna
And one who understands the transcendental nature of Krishna’s apperence and activities in this world will never take birth again and will attain the Lord’s supreme abode. The Lord especially comes to reciprocate with the love of the devotees and in this reciprocation to attract the hearts of all the fortunate devotees back into this unlimited ocean of His love.

The Srimad Bhagavatam explains many incarnations of the Lord from this prespective. We will just see a few of them. Lord appeared as Matsya to reciprocate with the love of Satya vrata muni. The Lord appeared as a tiny little fish. Satya vrata went to get some water from a little pond of water and this little tiny fish that was covering just a small part of his hand and obviosuly he didnt eat fish he was about to throw the fish back into the water and the little fish spoke, not in a thunderous voice like the 10 commendments, but a sweet little fish voice. I dont know how to speak like a little fish, but he spoke according to his size. King dont put me in this water there are som many big fish that will swallow me. Take me home with you. Satyavrata did not know this was God. Of course talking fish are not ordinary, so he took him home and put him in a little bowl anmd suddendlt the fish becasue as big as the bowl. So he threw him in a well and he became as big as the well. Then he threw him in a lake and the fish becase as big as the lake, threw him in the ocean, now there may be so many big fish that may swallow me. Now by this time Satyavrata maharaj was beginning to understand who this was. And he realized this was the Supreme personality of Godhead. And the Lord accepted so much kindness and love from his devotee and he wanted to reciprocate. So he said, “Soon there is going to be torrential rains which is going to create a deluge in the world, get a boat and the rshis and so many other species and I will come and take you.” And Matsyvatar appeard as a huge fish and as they were blissfully sailing through the ocean of dissolution and devastation, Matsya was reciting the vedas to him. Very good lesson, that if we just please the Lord and accept the Lord’s mercy, even in the conditions of disollution, devastation or even death itself the Lord will be there to protect us, to save us.

The demigods are on the various levels of devotees some are pure devotees, some are kamra misra devotees, some are jnana misra devotees, but the Lord gave them the order churn the ocean of milk and they were working to do it on the order of the Lord. And they had this gaint mountain as the churning rod and as the mountain began to sink to recprocate with the sincere service of his devotees the Lord manifested himself as Kurma, a very large sized tortise and he bore the entire weight of the massive mountain that all the devas and the asuras could not hold up. And as it was grinding on his back he was feeling a pleasing scratch. Because he had an itch on his back, just so that he could enjoy the service of His devotees.

And then the Lord appeared as Varaha dev. Lord Brahma is a great vaishnava, a great devotee and on behalf of the rshis and the devas, Brahma prayed, “the earth has sunk on the bottom of the ocean, there is nothing I or anyone else can do to save all the living entiies and mother earth”. And in a helpless state he prayed to vishnu. And Vishnu is transcendental, how he takes his birth. First of all Brahma is a man and usually people dont take birth from a man and second of all He came from Brshma’s nose. Now of all places to take birth out of a man’s nose and he was just the size of a little tip of a thumb. he came out as a sweet little boar and then he grew and grew and grew until he was massaive as a mountain and he dove into the ocean and lifted up the earth on His tusks just to show kindness to all of us. He dove into the ocean to show his ocean of kindness.

And the Lord appreared as Nrsingha dev. First he allowed Prahalad maharaj to endure incredible challenges in his life. He was thrown in fire, he was thrown in oceans, he was thrown in pits of snakes, but little 5 year old Prahalad fearlessly remembered Krishna in every situation. And when Hiranyakasipu, this mighty conqurer of the entire universe challeged Prahalad, “Where is the God that you worship. You say I get my power from Vishnu, where is He?” Prahalad said, “He is every where” Hiranyakasipu just to insult Prahalad to mkae him look like a fool, “He is every where, is He in this pillar?” Little Prahalad with firm conviction said, “Yes he is in this pillar”. “So let me see Him come to save you” Hiranyakashipu smashed his mighty fist against the pillar and then he drew his sword to cut off Prahalad’s head. Prahalad with folded hands, fearlessly “Krishna if you want to protect me there is nothing anyone can do to kill me and if you want to kil me I am happy to go, I am yours”. märobhi räkobhi jo icchä tohärä, Bhakti Vinod Thakura expressed this spirit of the vaishnava -“Krishna if You want to protect me, protect me. If You want to kill me, please kill me. I am Your sevant unconditionally. My body, mind, home, everything belongs to You.” And just to make Prahalad’s words true, this little 5 year old chld, Lord Nrsingha Dev appeared from a pillar. Incredible! Just to prove the word of His devotee, He appeared. And just to protect the words of another devotee, Brahma, He appeared as a half man and a half lion. And He was very angry. And after liberating hiranyakashipu in a very graphic way, he was trembling with so much anger the Brahma, Lakshmi, the sages, the rshis, the devas, no one could approach Nrsingha Dev. but then little Prahalad, compared to the demigods he was very tiny. But with tearful eyes of love he approached Lord Nrsingha Dev and the Lord byb placing His hand on Prahalad’s head, felt such ecstacy that the Lord’s anger was conqured by His devotee’s affection and Lord Nrsingha Dev became completely peaceful. Recprocation of Love. For vaishnavas the killing of Hiranyakashipu is incidental in this story. The key feature is the Love between Prahalad and our beloved Lord. And that Lord of our hearts has that same Love for each and every one of us, if we just follow in the footsteps of Prahalad. Mahajano yena gatah sapantah. These stories are not just histories to study to give lectures. These are stories that are meant to invoke infinite hope in our hearts of the Lord’s relationship with you and me.And the potential that is there.

The Lord appeerad as Vamana dev to the grandson of Prahalad, Bali. First the Lord really tested him and even punished him. He came as a little dwarf and begged three steps of land. Sukracarya his guru said, “I curse you to lose everything, unless you withdraw this promise. Dont give him anything.” So here is Bali maharaj, he commits an offence against his own guru, who is furious and curses him. And then after giving Him the three steps, Vamana takes two, covers everything and totally humiliates Bali. He has already conqured most of the universe, now he is tied up with a snake rope and he is a prisioner, and he is being tried. And the Lord has taken away everything from him, absloutely evrything. And totally humilates him in the public eye and Bali says, “The only thing left i have is my life. Put your third step on my head, I surrender everything.” Inconceivable tests he was put through and pain. But because he surrendered the Lord reciprocated to give him a Vaikuntha planet in this world and the Lord became his door keeper. Bali maharaj for millions of years, could see vamamna dev his beautiful form, his love, constantly. Karuna sindhu! There are so many lessons from these stories, but the reciprocation of kindness of the Lord for His devotees and the surrender of His devotee is the most important lesson, the most important knowledge in all creation.

The Lord apprered as Rama and there are countless stories. Jatayu, he was a simple bird. And among birds he was a vulture. He wasnt a peacock, who dances beautfully. He wasnt a Cuckoo, who sings beautfully. He wasnt a Swan, which drinks nectar and swims so gracefully. He wasnt an eagle that soared in the sky with majesty. He was a vulture. What are vultures famous for – devouvoring dead corposus. Have you ever heard any one praise with heart felt appriciation by comparing them to a vulture. Think about it. They are ugly, they eat carcasus. Jatayu was a vulture, the lowest caste among birds. But when Sita was being taken by Ravana, Sita told Jatayu, “Don’t try to fight because you are too old, you will suffer and die. Just tell Rama where I am going.” But Jatayu could not stand back and see this offence taking place. He lept in the air with all the strength he had. He declared war against Ravana. He destroyed the asses that were pulling his arial chariot, he destroyed his cariot, he killed his chariot driver and started tearing Ravana’s body to pieces. But ultimately he got tired and Ravana cut off his wings, cut off his legs and Sita went and embraced this bloody bird. She was so infinately grateful, “You gave your life for me”. Later on Rama came to the scene and the saw pools of blood and this big bird. And after all that his own beloved Lord, who he did every thing for, Rama said, “this bird has eaten Sita. At this moment I will punish this bird and send him to the abode of Yamaraj.” Is that what you expect from the Lord, after you give your life for His beloved? Jatayu is in the verge of death. Jatayu said, “Rama…its me, Jatayu. I will try to explain what happened. Rama embraced Jatayu, with his own loving arms. He embraced Jatayu’s body tightly to his heart and he tolf Jatayu, “On this very day for the serviec you have done I will send you to Vaikuntha to my eternal abode.” And Jatayu chanting Rama’s names left his body and Rama wept torrents of tears. “The Loss of my father, the kidnapping of Sita doesnot pain my heart as much as the seperation from a devotee like Jatayu. Who has sacrificed everything for me.”

What’s so interesting about this story, is from a material perspective Jatayu failed! He lost! He tried to keep Sita from being taken away, he was cut to pieces, he was about to lose his life and Sita was gone with Ravana. Ramachandra did not see whether Jayau was successful or failure by materal standards, he saw his sincerity of devotion. And Rama wept and wept and wept to show the whole world how much he loved his devotee. To please the Lord is the only standard of victory and to displease the Lord is failure.

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By her arrangement, the earth made the ground of Vrindavan very soft and fine powder, like the pollen of the lotus flower. And it was never hot, never cold it simply gave pleasure to Krishna’s lotus feet. And there were no thorns or no stones. And Krishna in reciprovation of mothre earth, he stepped on her with bare feet. And proclaimed forever that the supreme ornament of all ornaments is Krishna’s lotus foot prints. She is giving Krishna ecstacy and krishan is giving her ecstacy.And those foot prints were so sacred that even though Krishna was running or walking and dancing and jumping all around not a single of all the cows, of all the bulls, of all the calves, of all the gopas and the gopis, of even the birds and the monkeys, they would never step on Krishna’s foot prints. Because each one of them was so beautiful to their hearts.
And Krishna would see a tree, as Krishna glanced at the tree the tree would instantly blossom, with flowers and fruits, like this world has never seen.
As an expression of their love for Krishna. And Krishna would reciprocate by showing through his smile that he was so plaeased with those trees and the trees would become so ecastatic to please with those trees that the flowers of the tree would become more fragrant and colorful and the fruits would become more beautiful and sweet and this would go on forever.
When Krishna would enter, Yamuna through her waves would embrace the body of Krishna, not for her pleasure, for Krishna’s pleasure. And Krishna would feel her love and by his touch he would reciprocate. Beautiful lotus flowers would grow in abundance all around Krishna as Yamuna would celebrate her good fortune. And Govardhan hill and all the mountains of Vrindavan, the stones would become soft and when krishna would will give ecstasy by stepping on them. All of the waterfalls wer elike tears of acstast offered to Krishna and the lakes and the bodies of water and the ponds were sweeter than the intoxicating nectar. And Krishna would reciprocate by drinking that water. And there is no greater happness that a devotee wants than just pleasing Krishna.

The caves would be cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And Krishna would go into those caves. The little calves, Jiva goswami explains, how krishna would embrace the little calves. And Krishna knows every devotee’s inner most consciousness. So if any calf had an itch, Krishna knew where that calf would itch and Krishna would go right up to that little calf and scratch and embrace the calf with one arm and then if the itch was on the side of the face of the calf Krishna would scratch. If the itch was on the bottom of the neck Krishna would scratch it. So personal! Sometimes Krishna would put His forehead against calf’s forehead and press the heads together and then say to the calf, “If you are missing your mother, I will immediately take you back to your mother.” And the little calf was thinking, “Krishna cares so much about me. Krishna is so personal to me.”
This is the loving reciprocation of Vrindavan, And then in the evening when it was time to bring the calves back, Krishna would climb the tree called as tere kadamba and then
He wold call out the names of every single calf. Its over 900,000. How long does it take to chant all those names. It took Krishna one second. Krishna has achintya Shakti. In Vrindavan those inconceivable potencies were manifested in how he increased the ecstacy of his devotees, through his love. So Krishna would say one name and call out, “surabhi”, but every single cow would hear her name – “Syamili, Godavari” what ever it is. And each cow was thinking Krishna was, out of all these cows, was personally calling me. And that cow would moo. And when that cow would moo, Krishna would hear that cow chanting His name, because Krishna knew every language. The cow would run, “Krishna is calling me” and their bags were massive bags filled with milk. Each of these kamadhenu cows could give incredible unlimited quantities of milk. And because of their motherly love for Krishna was so much awakened, milk was pouring out of their bags as their bags are swaying back and forth, and they were running to Krishna with their tails raised. And each one of them came to Ter kadamba and each one thought that Krishna is only looking at me. But none of them become proud. Becasue if you have any false pride you can not be there. They were simply grateful. If you are grateful you are humble.
If you are ungrateful, you become falsely proud.

The peacocks – Krishna would see the peacocks dancing for him. And H wanted to give pleasure for the peacocks and so He started to dance for them. And so all the peacocks they started to form a circle around Krishna, and Krishna was dancing playing His flute. And they were all dancing along with Krishna. And Krishna was in so much ecstacy feeling the love of the peacocks and giving love to the peacocks and soon he was holding his flute outward and the flute was in so much ecstacy that the flute was playing without even touching Krishna’s lips. Beautiful, beautiful songs and Krishna danced. And when everyone saw this they were struck with wonder. And at the end of the beautiful dance, the king of the peacock with tears of ecstacy in his eyes said. “on behalf of the whole dynasty of peacocks, we want to show our sincere love and gratitude to you by giving the best thing we have.” And he offered one peacock feather.
For Krishna the love of these little peacocks was something greater then what the demigods offer in the heavenly planets or the denizens of Vaikuntha offer in the spiritual world and just to broadcast for all time to come, his love for His devotees he placed that peacock feather on top of His head and wears it eternally.

The Bees of Vrindavan – They are not attracted to the honey of this world. Such honey has no sweetness compared to the bhava, the love and the ecstacy of loving and serving Krishna. When the bees are humming, they are chanting Krishna’s names, they are expressing their heart felt love for Krishna and Krishna is reciprocating by glancing upon them. He is allowing them to smell the fragrance of the garlands of His body. And when swams of bees come together buzzing and glorifying Krishna, it is the sankirtan of the bees all coming together to loudly cry out the holy names.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Krishna gave the supreme jewel of ecstatic prema to a simple fruit vendor, who didnt even know who He was, but just wanted to please Him by giving him a few fruits. Nanda and Yashoda, who loved him more than their very life Krishna aappeared as a little child. He learned how to walk from them, Yashoda mai would take Krishna by his little finger and hold him up and walk a few steps and she would let go and Krishna would fall down and cry. And she tried to teach Krishna how to talk. She would tell Him some letters of the alphabet and he would pronounce them wrong and he would say them again and again and again, trying and trying and little by little Krishna was learning how to talk and walk. And sometimes mother Yashoda would ask Krishna wo pick something up and he would pick it up and bring it to her. Some times Maharaj Nanda would say, “bring me this little pot” and Krishna would struggle and try to pick it up and then He couldnt pick t up. And Nanda Maharaj would have to come and pick it up. That same Krishna would tell us in Bhagavad Gita I am the strength of the strong, I am the intelligence of the Intelligent, I am the ability in man, I am the cause of all causes, I am the source of all that exists. In the Bhagavad Gita he showed himself as the universal form, and in the Srimad Bhagavatam we learn that a partial incarnation of the expansion of the expansion of Mahavishnu who creates the entire cosmic manifestation through a single glance, and conquered by the Love of His parents he is learning how to walk and talk from his parents. This is Vrindavan. The opulence of love. Once tasting the sweetness of Vrindavan, there is nothing else in any material or spiritual world that can possibly attract us, because Krishna is all attractive.

The elder gopis they desired that they could all serve Krishna live Nanda and Yashoda. And the elder cows were thinking the same thing. And through the Brahma vimohan lila Krishna manifested as every Gopa and every calf so every cow and every elder gopa and gopi for one full year had the full experience of serving and loving Krishna perfectly as their own child with out ever knowing he was Krishna.

The younger gopis wanted Krishna as their husband and they performed katyayani vrata and at chir ghat, just at the end of their vrata when they are bathing in Yamuna, Krishna stole all of their clothes and brought them up a kadamba tree and called out, “ I have all your clothes. Now come out and get them from me.” And they said, “O Nanda Nandana, we can’t come out. We have no clothes on. And we are very cold and our bodies are shivering. Please give us our clothes” and Krishna says, “No. You have to come one by one and take them from me. They said if you don’t give our clothes we will tell Nanda Maharaj what you are doing. Krishna replied, “I am not afraid of Nanda Maharaj. And ultimately by coming out of water, Krishna fulfilled all of their desires because He accepted the role of their husband.
And a little later, at Vamsi Vat, He played his flute and called the gopis to fulfil their innermost deepest desires to satisfy Krishna by giving Him the highest pleasure. And Krishna facilitated that by dancing in the rasa lila, expanding Himself to be with each and every gopi. And each of them is thinking that Krishna is only with me. When Krishna plays upon his flute the mountains melt, waters become solid, the trees blossom. When the cows are giving milk to their little calves, when the cow hears the flute, she forgets about all about the calf and her ears go up to drink the nectar of the flute and tears of love fall from her eyes. And the little calf, in the middle of drinking the milk from the mother, upon hearing that sweet sound, becomes stunned and no longer drinks. Srila Prabhupad explains they just weep in ecstasy embracing Krishna heart to heart. When the gopas hear the sound of the flute they celebrate, they play, they wrestle with Krishna. They jump and they dance. And when that sound of the flute enters the ears of gopis, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu explains- it’s like a bird that enters into their ears that makes a nest so that no other sound can enter their ears and no other thought can possibly come into their hearts. And Krishna personally manifests Himself from within. This is Vrindavan.
Here Krishna fulfils all the desires of the devotees. There is a place not far from here, called Mohan Thera. It was at that place that Kamadeva or cupid who infatuates and mesmerises the entire creation, came to attract Krishna. Kamadeva took the best of arrows on his bow and aimed it at Krishna. But upon seeing the beautiful form of Lord Krishna, Kamadeva fainted in ecstasy. Krishna bewildered the person who bewilders everyone. Not far from there is Madanmohan temple and Srila Prabhupad and our acaryas teach us that Srimati Radharani is Madanmohan-mohini. In Sri Vrindavan dham where Krishna is absolutely fully satisfying everyone’s desire, it is Sri Radha that absolutely fully satisfies all of Krishna’s desires. She is the supreme abode of love. Krishna, who is the knower of everything, wanted to understand the nature of Sri Radha’s love. Krishna came into this world as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. radha bhava dyuti suvalitam naumi Krishna svarupam. The one absolute truth eternally manifests as Sri Radha and Krishna, the male and the female aspects of the absolute.Krishnais the supreme object of love and Radha is the supreme reservoir of love. Now they have appeared as one. Krishna appeared with the mahabhava and the golden complexion of Sri Radha to taste the sweetness of that love and to distribute the sweetness of that love even to the fallen conditioned souls of Kaliyuga. And he specially did so through harinaam sankirtana, through the chanting of the holy names. At the Gambhira, at the conclusion of Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, where is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is experiencing and displaying the deepest ecstasies of Sri Radha’s love, springing from his heart came shikshastakam, the eight verses which praise the glories and teach us the method the spirit of accepting the love through chanting the holy name “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare| Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”.
Trinadapi sunichena taroriva sahishnuna amanina manadena kirtaniya sada harih. One should strive to be more humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree, be satisfied to offer all respects to others and not expect or demand respect for oneself. In this spirit of the servant of the servant of the servant, Krishna will be so pleased to reveal himself within the name. namnamakari bahudha nijasarvashaktis. All the Lord’s power is within the name.
Bhaktisiddhanta saraswati thakut quotes Gaur Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj that simply by hearing and chanting the holy name in the humble pure state of seva of the consciousness, Krishna manifests everything in the name. His eternal transcendental all attractive form, qualities, the abode of Vrindavan wherever we may be, what to speak of seeing it while we are in Vrindavan. If we chant the holy name of the lord seriously we can see that Vrindavan within our heart wherever we are. We could understand the lord’s lilas. And understand our eternal relation with Krishna in those lilas.
Param vijayate srikrishna sankirtanam. There is no greater benediction than lord Caitanya’s and lord Nityananda’s mercy. Param karuna pahun dui jana nitai gaurcandra saba avatara sar shiromani kevala ananda kanda. These two brothers are supremely kind. Karuna sindhu. They are the essence of all avatars. Because they are giving what no other avatars have ever given so simply. They have come to give entry in Vrindavan, the madhurya dham, the supreme abode of love to everyone and anyone. Bhaja bhaja bhai caitanya nitai sudridha vishvasa kori. Just worship these two brothers by following their simple teachings.
It was here in Vrindavan that Srila Prabhupad prayed for our deliverance. He prayed for each and every one of us to receive the highest prema. And he gave his life and soul to make that possible.
To inaugurate this yatra, let us fold our palms and bow our heads in profound gratitude to Srila Prabhupad and to all our beloved compassionate acaryas. Let us pray that we could overcome all the anarthas of any desire any aspiration separate from the loving service of the lord. Pray to chant the holy names of the Lord offenselessly with love. Pray to taste the sweetness of hari katha pray to love Krishna simply for the pleasure of Krishna. To be an instrument of that love to show compassion to each other and to all beings. It may appear that we are universes away from this realization – ananyascintayanto mam. But if we are sincere in our prayer, in our efforts, the grace of Sri Radha Krishna as lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu through Srila Prabhupad and the vaishnavas will most certainly fulfill that prayer.
Thank you very much.