Hare Krishna.

Thank you for being with us this evening. Entrance into a holy place is only really possible when by the Lord’s mercy our hearts are opened with faith and devotion. Then we can access and genuinely appretiate the unlimted good fortune that we have. premäïjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena, the Brahma Samhita tells us that when our eyes are decorated with prema, with spiritual love, then we can actually see Krishna personally. bhaktyantam..vidurjana Bhagavad Gita tells “It is only by bhakti, unmotivated uninterrupted loving service, that I can be see as I am standing before you”.

ye yathä mäà prapadyante täàs tathaiva bhajämy aham

As we approach Krishna, Krishna reveals himself accordingly and Vrindavan is the manifested expansion of Krishna’s own pastimes and pleasure potency. Vrindavan is non different from Krishna. According to the sincerity of our devotion we will be actually be able to appretiate it. We read in the lives of great acaryas how they were living in Vrindavan he rädhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-süno kutaù, the six goswamis day and night were seeking Krishna. Seeking Krishna through pleasing Krishna, through the service of Krishna. As Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura taught us and Srila Prabhupada cited oftern, do not try to see Krishna try to serve Krishna with such sincere devotion that Krishna is pleased to see us. Vrindavan being Krishna’s own expanded self in the form of His abode is to be understood and approached in the same way. It is through our devotion and through our intense eagerness to serve and please Krishna that we can actually experience the blessing of being in Vrindavan.

There are nine processes of devotional service, of which the foundational platform in which our love of God, is built and awakened is sravanam and kirtanam – hearing and chanting. Simply by hearing these transcendental subject matters with eager and faithful heart

çåëvatäà sva-kathäù kåñëaù puëya-çravaëa-kértanaù

Krishna is pleased. Its an act of love. In the beginning its may be a tapasya, an austerity sitting in a lecture especially when I am speaking or when I go overtime, it may be an austerity. But this transcendental sound vibration which has been passed down through scriptures and acaryas is transcendental, And when we are eager and enthusiastic to hear and repeat what we hear then Krishna within our heart become very pleased and when Krishna is pleased Krishna removes all obstacles of modes and passion and ignorance and reveals himslef

çuçrüñoù çraddadhänasya väsudeva-kathä-ruciù
syän mahat-sevayä vipräù puëya-tértha-niñevaëät

Srimad Bhagavatam tells us we can acquire this eager taste to hear and chant the glories of the Lord when we are eager and sincere to serve great souls, through sat sangh, through blessings of great souls which naturally springs from thier hearts, when we desire to please them through our service then the gates to the higher realms of true bhakti are opened from within and without. So let us attentively surrender our consciousness, surrender our very life force which is manifested through our consciousness by absorbing ourselves in hearing Krishna’s incredible pastimes and teachings

janma karma ca me divyam evaà yo vetti tattvataù
tyaktvä dehaà punar janma naiti mäm eti so ‘rjuna

One who understandas the transcendental nature of Krishna’s apperance and activities, when He comes into this world never had to take birth again and attains His supreme abode. Krishna is pavitra. He is supremely pure and simply by hearing about him we get purified:
oà apavitraù pavitro vä sarvävasthäà gato ‘pi vä/ yaù smaret puëòarékäkñaà sa bahyäbhyantaraù çuciù
whether we are pure or impure that’s someting a result of the past. Not so much we can do about what has already happended in the past. But there is everything we can do about where we want to go in the present and future. Simply by remembering Krishna who is all pure with in our hearts we become purified, its so simple. In Vrindavan we read about vrajavasis in Srimad Bhagavatam, they we constantly in intimate meditation on Krishna by speaking about him, by singing about him, by remembering him in every situation and by chanting His holynames.
HKHK
When Krishna performs His lilas in this world He delivers the whole world, the suras the asuras everyone. But through Vyasa dev and the acaryas in the parampara, they have preserved the sound vibration of his teachings and pastimes so that everyone and anyone from anywhere can achieve the same experience of the residents of Vrindavan simply by hearing, chanting and remembering in this attitude of service. paraà vijayate çré-kåñëa-saìkértanam, it is the greatest benediction. It is through hearing and chanting names and glories through developing the enthusiasm to please and serve the Lord we could be liberated from all material limitations, especailly predominated by birth death oldage and disease. Adhyatmika, adhinhautika, adhidaivika, who ever we are what ever we have where ever we are from the same three fold miseries will come upon us. miseries of body and mind, anxieties and sickness and pain. Miseries caused by natural disturbances heat, cold, rains. Miseries caused by other living beings humans, family memmbers, insects, monkeys. But through bhakti, through simple process of hearing and chanting which has descended from spiritual world it is not necesasaily material situations change but we change. An ordinary flower in muddy water is very muddy but a lotus flower in the same water is pure and fragrant and untainated by the filth. So similarly in this world the three fold misiries…in bodies that has various transformations, through the grace of Krishna we can connect with our eternal soul. That is just a beginning, we can connect with the eternal love of soul paraà dåñövä nivartate and experience the happiness of Krishna’s unlimited beauty, Krishna’s unlimited fame, Krishna’s unlimited love for us and all the living beings and thats where we take out pleasure from. There is no power that can disturb that pleasure becasue that is transcendental and eternal.

When Krishna appeares in this world we can’t expect him to live by our conceptions of what is possible. We heard from HH Giriraj Swami when Srila Prabhupada gave the devotees a very very inconceivably difficult service they looked at Srila Prabhupada with utter dismay and as a matter of fact they said “that it is impossible.” That sounds quite convincing. Srila Prabhupada was even more convincingly when he said, “impossible is a word in the fools dictionary.” Becasue with Krishna nothing is impossible. Krishna has acintya potencies. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna teaches we are not the body but eternal souls. And he teaches the nature of the relatonship between the body and the soul, the body,soul and god, time how we are temporaily influenced by karma and how we can disentangle ourselves from our karma and ultimately how we can achieve the highest goal of ecstatic loving service by surrendering to Krishna.
man-manä bhava mad-bhakto mad-yäjé mäà namaskuru, and we can surrender to Krishna by always thinking of Him, surrendering to him, offering worship to Him and homage to Him. In this way Krishna promises us with out fail we will come to him.

In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna showed the viratarupa the incredible dazzling universal form. However much progress we see in science and technology, no movie makers with the optimal progres in special effects could ever come close to what Arjuna saw of the universal form. And we read in Srimad Bhagavatam about how Krishna as Kapiladev describes the creation of the material existance and how it works. It is absloutely inconceivable. Our greatest scientists cant fathom the secrets of a single atomic molecular particle, the deeper they go the more it gets indescribable. What to speak of the universe itself, its length its breadth, the various planets and life forms its undescribable. This entire universe is just a spec in the unlimited universes in the cosmic manfestation is just a creation that Krishna manifests through an exhalation. God is great. You are exhaling so many times every few secods and you think you are great and you think you can become God. Wwhat has been created through your exhaling, may be a few germs. But Krishna exhales cosmic manifestation are created and when He inhales its all destroyed. The cause of all causes
éçvaraù paramaù kåñëaù sac-cid-änanda-vigrahaù anädir ädir govindaù sarva-käraëa-käraëam
Lord Brahma who is the secondary creator of our universe, who lives for 311 trillion years, the father of everyone, by his wisdom revealled that Krishna’s body is not a produt of illusion. its not just a temporary manifestation of the illusory energy. Krishna’s beautful body placing on is flute is sat cit ananda vigraha it is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Anadir adir govinda, sarva karana karanam, he is the original source of everything that exists and the casue of all causes. It is that para brahman that appeares in this world where we are sitting today in Vrindavan as a little child with all of His full potencies. But all of those potencies are subordinate to his supreme potency which is prema or love. Krishna controls his devotees with his love and in reciprocation Krishna is controlled by our love. when Krishna perfoms his activites in this world devotees dont think this is some mythical figurative understanding that will help us expand our consciousness..

I remember in 1971 when i first came to Vrindavan , I was 20, I was heaing these incredible stories and it was so obvious to me. How could I not belive it, if God is here in this world what is it that he cant do. One time Yashoda was feeding little baby Krishna milk from her breast and as she was feeding Krishna yawned and his mouth was small. As he yawned she looked inside she saw little teeth growing and saw the entire universal creation with in little gopal’s mouth. How is that possible. Now you could open your mouth and I could open mine, sometimes it is better we dont open our mouth. What do we see inside. But little baby Krishna yashoda saw the whole universe in His mouth and it was not something figurative. If Krishna can manifest the whole universal creation outside, than Krishna he hasw the power to manifest it within His mouth and His mouth is no more than a few inches wide. Why not, whats the use of being god if you cant do all this? But Krishna does all this in Vrindavan in such a special way that Yashoda is seeiingthe entire universe in Krishna’s tiny mouth but Krishna doesnt want her to have her motherly affection distrubed so she is thinking this must be some kind of a diease Krishna has and she gets worried for Krishna and then He simles and she forgets everything.

From Gokul mahavan after damodar lila Upananda and other gopas had a meeting ..mahavan not a safe place ….Putana, Shakatasur, Trnavarta and now the trees falling ..we should go to Vrindavan….let us go there. so they put everying in a chatik ar and began to travel like that in the Bhandiravn Krishna delivered vatsa sura, Khadir van bakasura during that time Krishna was put in charge of calves. I believe in last 3 days u all went to place of Brahma’s bewilderment.
This is a special story for unlimited reason. one sple reason by Krishna and rr grace it was SP’s concluding chapter of his tras and commt of SB. he translated and dictated the purport during his last days with us . so it has a v spl place in pur hearts. it begin in aholyu place in vrin calle sapholi. K woke up one mrng decide to leave early with gopas and have a picnic…sio y m bathed hism and ected him with fine ..jewle and put his peaccok feathers and He took a horn and blew that hor to call all of his friends and soon 100 nad 100 of c b gahtereed .and each one had large qty of calves. he is wher really mediete on reality of Krishna’s acin shakti. vrin is abt 32 sq mileasn d Krishna had 100 1000of cow boys and how many calves sb syat=s asankhya..what does unlimted means..it is only thru faith and mercy we can understnad the limited…..

So we cnat patheom what is unlimted but VCT oin the basis of holyscrip giveas glimse o hat …1 with 17 zeros afeter it. now my worse subj in school is maths i was pretty good at spelling but niot at maths until I cma ein conact with gaudiya math. nut i was even worse in scinece; so i tries to caluc 1 with 17 100quadrillion. Thats how may calces that were dancing around and ther ewer no traffic jams. ther ewas just spce ..k if he wasnt he can pu t the entire spce in vrin…we dont doubt is it tru how can it be true the more devs …..
HKHK
ANd each of the boys had their littel tiffin..little lunch boxes tied up theri mother ptrepared from them and ecah had fluete nad bufalo horm and all thei mother scdecorated nicely before coming to pastires…..they wernt som mcuh attracted by the was y their parent decoreted them. they satred decteing themsleves with leaceves peacock feathera nd minerals they had wonderful exp decoratin geach other and serving each oter …Krishna would play on his flutet nad htea flute would mesemerixe every one …becasue that ….it melts our heart and as Krishna played his flute and other c h b would play his horn that horn plays v harh i wil sing like cuckoo..and all ofthem statred singin like a cucokk…and then aniother boy said ch b are know for their speed….runing exactky inder the shadow of hte birds…so of the boys heard the bees huming and they all stared humig like the bees….can u imagein 100 and 100s of ch b buzzing like bees. and thye;d see swans in waterso gracefully moving inwater….jus tliek the swans they asaw litel ducks sititng quitely…imitating the ducks…peackos dancing …and other boys would see monkeys sitting with the baby mokeya..and sit nest to the monlye and the mkey would make the face towasrd them…and the mokye would …frog ….they would chastixze the reflection…sometime s hey would go to the well and screamsed out at the ell and hear the echo…they started calling bad names to the echo gopsa were just playing …Krishna would just go to abeuautiful place to se ethe vri scenery….each one is thinking i toucjed Krishna first . Krishna can reciprote all the siers of his devs…

AMP BEGINS

They would play so many games with amalaki fruits and in this way they spent their time, laughing, playing. There is a beautiful verse that Sukadeva Goswami speaks that the jnanis approach absolute truth as brahman, the yogis as Paramatma, and the devotees as the supreme personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, but these little cowherd boys due to amassing krta punya pujna… they are playing with Krsna as ordinary little child, wrestling and dancing with him. Krishna, to please his friends, would do anything. He would dance like peacock for them, and everybody would be dancing and laughing and singing. This krta punya is not materialistic pious activities, but unmotivated loving service that pleases the Lord. This is what enabled them to play with the supreme absolute truth as their dearmost intimate loving friend.
Rupa Goswami tells that somehow or other just think of Krishna and he’ll steal our hearts away from all sufferings of this world. Rupa Goswami writes that if you are attached to things of this world – properties, family, wealth – or anything else that charms your heart – do not go at the bank of Keshi ghat at Yamuna, because if you go and see the form of Govinda there, then that beautiful form will make you indescribably endlessly attracted only to that.
Krishna tells in Bhagavad Gita that whatever is beautiful is only a particle of a spark of his splendour. When we connect to the source it is not that we become hard hearted, but we become soft hearted. Vaisnava philosophy teaches us that when we actually connect with Krsna we see Janmadasya yataha everything is emanating from Krishna. Om purnam ada purnam idam. Everything is the energy of Krishna therefore we see Krishna’s presence in everything that exists. We see everything as meant for the pleasure of Krishna’s and we see every living being as a part of Krishna, therefore there is universal infinite love for Krishna which manifests as compassion for all living beings and respect for everything that exists. This is Krishna consciousness.
So as these Gopas were playing , dancing and plating so many games Whatever games have ever been played in this world, the origin of all that is Goloka Vrindavan, not the brahma jyoti, not even Vaikuntha, but Goloka where all games are expression of pure love between God and his devotees, and between devotees and each other. Vishwanath Chakravari Thakura and Sukhdev Goswami explain that Krishna and gopas would get so absorbed in together they were so conquered by the love that they were sharing together there is no way that they would stop playing together but at the same time prasada was there. So by Krishna’s yogamaya potency, everyday just before lunch time some asura would come to Vrindavan to break their plays and really built up their appetite so that they take prasadam more. At this time, the lila Shakti of the Lord affected the Paramatma in the heart of Aghasura.
Kamsa was really frustrated. He sent so many asuras to Vrindavan to kill Krishna and Brajavasis but they all died. Kamsa called Agha “Your older sister Putana was killed by Krishna as a baby. And your older brother Bakasura was also killed by Krishna. You are the most powerful, ferocious, and undefeatable. You are the one who can avenge the death of your family members by killing Krishna. I order you to go to Vrindavan.” On this particular day, Agha appeared and he was watching how much fun Krishna was having with all the Gopas. He couldn’t tolerate it. This is the nature of envy. A devotee is para duhkha duhkhi – that means another person’s happiness is my happiness, and another person suffering is my suffering. That is the nature of soul but when there is envy, everything becomes perverted Ï enjoy to see others in suffering because it makes me feel better about myself, and others’ happiness is a threat why not me I deserve all happiness.
Aghasura was so envious that he couldn’t tolerate seeing the happiness of these children. His mind was burning with anguish and he was determined to kill them all to prove his supremacy. He was a mystic. By the Siddhis that he had acquired , He had mahima siddhi and he manifested the body of a gigantic serpent, specifically a python, and his body extended 8 miles long. And he opened his mouth. He had a huge mouth. The bottom lip was on ground and the top one on clouds. You may say it’s impossible, but that’s your problem. People can do incredible things but just because you can’t do it doesn’t mean nobody can do it. In kaliyuga people are dwarfed by limitations. He was thinking in his mind this is the Mentality of envious person – that here is Krishna he killed my brother and sister. “In honor of my brother and sister, to offer them the Pinda sesame seeds and water, I’m going to kill Krishna and I am going to kill all the calves and the cowherd boys and kill the parents and brothers and sisters and then naturally all the parents and cows and calves will die so in this way through a swallowing act I’m going to completely annihilate the entire population of Vrindavan.” That was his demoniac mentality. He opened his mouth and waited.

This day was Balarama’s birthday, because it was his birthday so he sent a message to Krishna that I am not allowed to play with you all, because I have to charity to the Brahmins and I have to do all kind of yagnas with my parents and I have to stay back for rituals and charity.So Balaram was not there. Meanwhile, the Gopas saw Aghasura and they were thrilled thinking “What an incredible scenic piece of landscape for us to play with. Let’s play and as they got closer .”some cowherd boys said this looks like a huge python got scared and let’s run away. Other said no no don’t be afraid it doesn’t matter, Krishna will save us. But they were seeing is this some gigantic statue it looks like python or is it really python? Look his mouth is so big it is touching the clouds his teeth like mountains tongue is like a wide highway, and hat fishy smell coming out of his mouth is warm and is because he eats all animals and living beings.”and as they were looking they were thinking ïf this is a python and if he swallows us then Krishna will save us by killing him just like he did Bakasura. So lets go in and they were clapping there hands laughing singing the glories of Krishna So they laughingly ran in mouth of Aghasura. And all calves, so innocent, ran with there tails raised with tears of affection in their eyes and faces they just ran in to the mouth of Aghasura after the cowherd boys, with their tails upraised, as Krishna stood their watching them. Krishna knew the identity and purpose of Aghasura. He was the dangerous most mystical Asura and he came to kill them, and he thought he’ll stop them from entering, but before he could stop them they were all smiling everyone of the calves and cowherd boys were looking at Krishna as they were clapping there hands and running deep into the belly of Aghasura.
Now how is it possible if Krishna, is the controller of all controllers,why is it that he couldn’t stop his friends from going in? Because Krishna is controlled by love.Krishna actually wanted to stop them from going inside him but his friends wanted to go in so that for their love of Krishna he could do something wonderful to save them, and ultimately Krishna had his desire to stop them and they had their desire to go in and see Krishnas lilas and Krishna was conquered by the love of his devotees. Meanwhile, Aghasura kept his mouth open because he was waiting for the killer of his brother and sister. Krishna was thinking “how to kill this demon without hurting my friends who are inside the body of Aghasura?”then making a plan, Krishna entered into the mouth and belly of Agha. Whoooooo…. The mouth closed and it was absolutely pitch dark inside his stomach. Pythons have a special power that inside their stomachs they can contract so as to crush any animal that they want eat. And he was just about to crush the gopas and calves. And the little cowherd boys they felt unconscious as if dead because there was no light no air and in that pitch darkness they couldn’t see Krishna so they were in so much separation, they just fell and lost their lives. Krishna began expanded his body, and as he expanded he filled up Aghasura body Aghasura, being a mystic yogi, he expanded as Krishna expanded his body, and then Krishna also again expanded, and when it comes to competition of yogic powers. But Krishna is yogeshwara he is the supreme mystic from whom all yogic powers are coming from. Now Agha began suffocating and ultimately he gave up his life, and his life force it had nowhere to go so it bust through a hole from the top of his head and went to sky in form of a brilliant light and remained there.
This is interesting because this was the only time in Vrindavan lila that Krishna changed his form or exerted himself for any reason. When he lifted Govardhana hill, he was just a little seven year old boy who was effortlessly lifting by left hand fingertip. Similarly with Putana he remained a tiny little baby just a few days old.And same with when Krishna showed universe in his mouth and Yashoda mayi took hundreds and hundreds of meters of rope to bind Krishna, Krishna’s waist remained a little baby waist throughout, because he didn’t want to interfere with intimacy of his devotees’ love for him as a friend and a child. But in this case of Aghasura, all his friends were unconscious and they couldn’t see . It was closed so Nanda and Yashoda could not seeso no one was witnessing them so he grew and grew and grew to a magnificient size and ultimately Agha lost his life with his mouth open. His mouth opened and Krishna brought back Gopas and calves back to life by glancing at them, and Krishna got them out of Agha’s body and all of then clapped there hands and went outside the body of Aghasura and at the very end Krishna came out. Then something amazing happened – right in front of everyone, the jiva, the atma soul of Agha which was waiting in disguise merged into the body of Krishna. Now Srimad Bhagavatam Sukhdev Goswami tells it is very rare for any demon to get liberation sayujya mukti but Krishna gave many of those Asuras that he killed liberation into his all-pervading Brahman. For Putana his sister he gave the liberation motherly nurse in Goloka Vrindavan. Because she gave her motherly service so Putana’s whole family became dear to Krishna even Aghasura.And right in front of everyones eyes Aghasura achieved Svarupya mukti.Which means taking the liberated position of one of Krishnas personal associates in Vaikuntha to join Narayans pastimes for ever. Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakura explains how this happened? Because Aghasura gave so much pleasure to the cowherd boys they just had a very wonderful fun time running and dancing through his mouth and they were so much looking forward to enter into his mouth and they knew that Krishna would do anything to save them, because they were in his mouth he was associating with these Gopas who were having such happy experience with him and because of that association he was actually transformed and at the last moment he was actually relishing their association and therefore he was given eternal loving service in spiritual world by Krishna’s grace.
Aghasura, according to Bhaktivinod Thakura, represents the mentality that causes us to be harsh, mean or cruel to others due to envy. This is a great obstacle on path of bhakti, and as Aghasura was considered the greatest of all demons this is one of the greatest impediment in our own hearts. Envy, which causes us to disrespect and mistreat others. Instead of serving that propensity, we should recognize it for what it is. Sometimes we speak about the good dog and the bad dog – the divine and the demoniac nature within all of us. this agha is within all of us invoking us to cause harm to others due to envy, but somehow or other if we take shelter of the Lord, we have no power to kill aghasura, but the Lord can liberate us from him, as he did to Gopas. And Krishna is non-different from his holy names, we simply have to learn to take shelter of chanting these holy names. Ye yatha mam prapadyante… Krishna says as you approach me, I reward you accordingly. Krishna entered into Aghasura’s mouth or let us say to his body, and in reciprocation Krishna allowed Aghasura to enter his body and in doing so he went back home Back Home Back to Godhead.
Sukadeva Goswami told Pariksit Maharaja that this happened during Krishna’s kaumara lila i.e. From Krishnas birth upto 5 years old. And Pauganda is from 6-10 years old. Sukadeva Goswami says that after Aghasura was killed ,His body dried up and skin of his body became a favourite playground for the cowherd boys, but it was until 1 year later that the Gopas told the Brajavasis about liberation of Aghasura, but they told it as if it happened the same day. Pariksit was fascinated, “How is it possible that after this incredible lila they didn’t talk about it till one full year?” They did and they spoke about it as if that day. Sukadeva Goswami starts the next chapter of Srimad Bhagvatam by praising Parikshit Maharaj that you are Bhagvatottama you are the best devotees. You are the best of the devotees because you are eager to hear more and more and more. And the nature of Krishnas pastimes is that they are ever new. Even you hear the same pastime for a hundred million times, or even asankhya times or a hundred quadrillion times the same lila.If you are actually tasting devotion every time you hear it it’ll be sweeter and fresher and newer , because Krishna is Nava youvanam cha he is ever fresh ever new. Similarly his names are ever fresh and ever new. This is the test of our devotion. We are chanting this Mahamantra, how many names have we chanted of mahamantra? Rupa Goswami tells us what his experience is how much nectar two syllables of Krsna produced. When these syllables dance on my tongue I desire many many tongues when that sound vibration of Krishnas names enters into my ears, I am so thirsty it is so nectarine that I desire millions and millions of ears and when it comes to courtyard of my heart it conquers his consciousness. These pastimes of Krishna are ever fresh and ever pure. If we don’t know anything but one simple story of Krishna we can repeat that story for rest of eternity and never get bored. It’ll get sweeter and sweeter every time and you’ll accessing Krishnas real mercy.
Here is Pariksit – fasting till death, sitting on the bank of Ganges. He is not drinking water he is not eating food – and yet he is so much relishing the nectar of Krishna katha. In another place Pariksit says, “Previously when I was thirsty I made an aparadha to Samik rsi but now I’m drinking from the nectar of river of Ganges of Hari Katha nectarfeeling absolutely no hunger or thirst or desire to sleep while hearing the nectarine Krishna katha.” Sukadeva Goswamine stories about Krishna flowing through my ears and into my heart . Its insatiable , he says I am feeling absolutely no desire for drinking anything of eating anything or going to Sleep and Sukhdev Goswami he explains that when those who are listening are eager to see about Krishna they empower the speaker to speak about Krishna because Krishna within the heart of speaker sees how eager you are to hear but Krishna empowers the speaker to speak with greater enthusiasm and empowerment. Sometimes in Hari-katha the listeners are more empowered than the speakers. It is a reciprocation of love. So Sukadeva Goswami said, “I’ll explain everything to you because you are so eager to hear. There so are no secrets that Guru wants to hide from a truly eager and submissive disciple.
After Aghasura’s death, Krishna brought all Gopas and calves to sandy banks of Yamuna for their prasada. Krishna said, this is such a wonderful and beautiful place to perform our lila of eating our lunch today“ Here sand is so clean and soft, and here at the part of Yamuna river there are fragrant pollen on banks of Yamuna, from many many luxurious lotus flowers that are blooming. Can you hear all the amazing bees which are mad after nectar of lotuses? Can you hear the parrots singing and cuckoos calling? Let us all enjoy our lunch here.” All Gopas sat in little circles around Krishna. Sukhdev Goswami says that all cowherd boys were like petals of lotus flower in circles around Krishna who was like whorl of lotus flower. And there were many many of them.And each boy was looking at Krishna and by Krishna’s power of Bhakta vatsal, to show affection to his devotees even they inconceivable every gopa was experiencing that Krishna was only looking at him. This is Krishna! There are so many other Gopas here, and all of them are more qualified than me, but Krishna loves me so much that he is looking only at me. And all the cowherd boys in this way were unblinkingly like honey bees drinking the from lotus like beauty of Krishna. Nothing could be higher than those exchanges of loving glances on the bank of Yamuna.
Then one boy tasted some preparation out of his packet and said, “Krishna this is so good would you like to try it?” Krishna would do the with them sharing his lunch cooked by Yashoda. They were all sharing prasadam in this way, and then bumble bee came. Krishna said, Ï know you have come y saw some monkeys and they started telling jokes because you are attracted to Madhumangal, my brahmana boyfriend. But beware! If you kill a brahmana, it is a great sin. Now we are not laughing, but there was uproarious laughter by cowherd boys which filled the 14 worlds by the cowherd boys. Anything Krishna says is absolutely pleasing to the heart because it is said with so much affection. Some of the boys started looking at the monkeys . And said monkeys if you want some good Prasad go and attack that boy over there he has very nice prasad.They all started laughing and laughing and Krishna was laughing.One boy took a samosa and broke it open and emptied out the vegetables and filled it with jasmine flower petals, packed it in, closed it and gave that to another gopa, “Just taste this, my mother made it, it is so nice.” Jasmine flowers smell nice but they are very bitter. So when he bit into it, he made a bitter expression and all others laughed and laughed. And the gopa who ate it, out of ecstatic anger, playfully started beating up the gopa who gave him that samosa. And everyone laughed in these exchanges of intimate love.
Similarly one gopa said I’ll give you very nice sweetmeat if you open your mouth and close your eyes, but he put a flower inside Krishna’s mouth. So everyone laughing laughing and Krishna was laughing.Meanwhile after Krishna liberated Aghasura the demigods were so afraid of Aghasura they had been doing all pujas and mudras and they were praying that somehow this Agha, the demon they feared from, dies. And now they saw Krishna how incredibly manifested not only killing Aghasura but giving him liberation to Vaikuntha! Something even the Demigods even could not attain. So they were celebrating this pastime all over the universe, so Lord Brahma he heard about this and he saw the mystical liberation of Aghasura and they were celebrating all over the Universe .So Brahma came down just to see this tiny little boy Krishna. He knew that Krishna is supreme Personality of Godhead.But Inherently every soul knows Krishna as supreme Lord but covering of Maya makes us forget. So Brahma and devas were seeing Krishna. According to Vedas, Krishna’s name is yajna-bhuk, enjoyer of sacrifices. The sages do yajna with fragrant pure ghee from surabhi cows and when it is offered with perfect rituals, motivation and mantras, Krishna accepts it. And here the same Krishna was eating the food right out of the mouth of little cowherd boys. This was incredible! To see God like this is unbelievable. So Brahma was bewildered, Ï have to test this Krishna. Vrindavan lila is so sweet and so intimate and so spontaneous that God almighty is totally conquered in such a way that he is playing like a totally ordinary boy with little boys . As they were eatingprasad and laughing and joking together the calves wandered off searching for fresher grasses to eat. So when the little cowherd boys noticed that the calves were away they became afraid as they were loving the calves and they were responsible to protect there calves. But Krishna didn’t want them to be disturbed. All of you stay right here and you all enjoy your pastimes of eating Prasad undisturbed and I will personally by myself will go to bring the calves back. Krishna left , he searched for the calves. He didn’t see them he looked them in the pastures and the forests and the mountain caves he didn’t see the calves anywhere . Then he came back to the place of the bank of Yamuna and all the Gopas were gone and Krishna in his playful lila was thinking where have they all gone I know where have the gone. Brahma has taken them . lord Brahma had stolen all the calves and cowherd boys and put them in a mystical sleep and put them in a cave in a solitary place ,Where no one could find them . Meanwhile the sun was descending towards the horizon and it was time for Krishna and all the Gopas and Calves to return home. Krishna was thinking what will happen to the mother calves and the Gopas if I return home without them.

SACHIN P BEGINS

Day 7 : 1:18 to 1:58
Meanwhile after Krishna liberated Agasura, the Demigods were so much afraid of Agasura, they were performing Pujas and Mudras and doing all sorts of prayers that somehow this Aga should die and when they saw Krishna how incredibly he manifested, not only killing Agasura but giving him liberation into Vaikuntha, something that even the demigods cannot attain, they were celebrating like anything and Lord Brahma he heard about this and he saw the mystical liberation of Agasura and he saw they were celebrating all over the universe. So Brahma came down to see what is this cowherd boy Krishna. He knew that Krishna is the supreme personality of God. But inherently every soul knows that Krishna is the supreme personality of Godhead. But the covering of Maya bewilders us to forget. So the brahma and the devas were watching Krishna. According to Vedic literature Krishna’s name is Yagyabhook; which means he is the enjoyer of sacrifices. The Devas, the greatest of the Brahmins, the rishis and the yogis they do yagya with the fragrant pure ghee from Surabhi cow and when it is offered with precise mantras and exact rituals with perfect motivation, Krishna accepts it.

And here that very Krishna is just eating the food right out of the mouths of the cowherd boys. This is incredible! To see God like this! Unbelievable! Brahma was, “I have to test this Krishna”.
Brahma became bewildered by this.
Vrindavan leela was just so sweet, and so intimate, and so spontaneous, that God, the almighty is totally conquered in such a way that he is just playing like a totally ordinary little boy with little boys.
As they were all eating Prasad, and laughing and joking together, the calves wandered off searching for fresher grasses to eat. Meanwhile the little cowherd boys, they know this that the calves were away, they became afraid because they loved their calves; they were responsible to protect their calves. But Krishna did not want them to be disturbed. He said, “
All of you stay right here, and you enjoy the past times of eating Prasad undisturbed and I will personally by myself go to bring the calves back.”
Krishna left. He searched for the calves, He didn’t see them. He looked in the pastures, in the forest, in the mountains, in the mountain caves. He did not see the calves anywhere.

Then he came back to the place on the banks of Yamuna, and all the gopas were gone and Krishna in his playful Lila was thinking, “Where have they all gone? I know where they have gone. Brahma has taken them!”
Lord Brahma has stolen all the calves and cowherd boys, put them in state of mystical sleep and hid them in a cave in a solitary place where no one could find them.
Meanwhile the sun was descending towards the horizon. And it was time for Krishna and all the gopas and calves to return home. And Krishna was thinking, “What will happen to the mother cows and the mothers of the children if I return home without them?”
Krishna then by his own sweet will manifested personally the forms of all the unlimited calves and the large large population of gopas. Incredibly each cowherd boy was Krishna himself and Krishna manifested himself with the exact physical feature of each and every one of them. He was wearing the same clothes, the same jewellery. He had the same exact personalities and mannerism, the same sound of his voice, the same little identical sticks and flutes and buffalo horn and each calf was identical in every way.
Krishna is the source of everything that exists. Whether philosophically we know, Krishna, his Achintya Shakti he could do anything! But In Vrindavan the way he does it is just so sweet, so attractive that it melts our hearts and awakens our love.
Then Krishna who was in the form of all the gopas was playing with himself. And Krishna in the form of all the calves was calling all the calves and all the calves who were Krishna were running up and reciprocating with Krishna’s love. And then Krishna played his flute and all the gopas who were Krishna himself started singing and dancing and playing their horns and flutes. And they all came back into the village of Vrindavan.
When the mothers of the gopas saw the children, it was an indescribable experience. They embraced their children, they wept tears of affection for their children, they bathe them, they cloth them, they put ornaments on them, they fed them, they smeared them with sandalwood oil and other fragrances. They put them to bed, after feeding them nice Prasad.
But something mystical was there, because all the mothers, they loved Krishna more than their own children. They loved their children more than anybody could love their children, but still they loved Krishna even more and this is inconceivable and each one of them in their heart of hearts they honored, they worshiped and they rejoiced the Good fortune of Yashoda and Nand with no envy, with no competition. In their heart they cherished the desire to be able to love Krishna and express that love the same way as Nand and Yashoda. And Krishna Knew that desire in their heart and simultaneous with bewildering brahma he gave every one of the elder mother of Vrindavan the opportunity to personally love him as the mother and experience the exact same ecstasy as Yashoda. And all the fathers the exact same ecstasy as Nand Maharaj.
And when the little calves came to their mothers, the mother cows also, they longed to love Krishna like Yashoda mayi, and now Krishna became all their little calves and mother cows seeing their little calves coming home; they did not know that it was Krishna, but somehow or the other the love was so incredibly ever increasingly manifesting, they were licking and licking and licking the children calves as if they were going to swallow them and milk was pouring from their udders as the Little Krishna was sucking their milk.
And then when Krishna would go out with all the calves and the cowherd boys, the next day, they would just perform their Lilas exactly. Every cowherd boy was reciprocating with Krishna but the cowherd boys were the Krishna and Krishna was the cowherd boys and the calves and they were performing the same Lilas and games together. And then they came home. And this beautiful experience took place for one year.
Vrindavan is Chintamani dham, the place where all our desires to love and to serve Krishna are fulfilled.

Each of the mother cows and mother gopis got to share the experience of having Krishna as their own child for one year.

According to Garbha Sanhita at that time, inconceivably by Krishna’s arrangement young gopis got married to the young gopas. And the Young Gopis wanted Krishna as their husband and they all got Krishna as the husband for one year. Shri Krishna Bhagavan ki Jay !
In this way Krishna manifested himself as everyone. About 5 or 6 days before the year ended, Balaram and Krishna and all the gopas and calves they were near Gowardhan hill and cows were on the top of the hill with the elder cowherd men. When those cows saw their calves, they were so overwhelmed with motherly affection they ran down the hill as if they had just two sets of legs. They were galloping down the hill. And it was a very very rough terrain. The cowherd men were very concerned, “What’s going to happen to these cows. They could hurt themselves.” And meanwhile as their love for their little calves was increasing, their milk bags were increasing and increasing and increasing. And milk was nectarine, Love milk was pouring out of their udders and finally when they reached their little calves, they were licking them and licking them. And the calves were eager for their mother’s milk were sucking sucking sucking. All the calves were Krishna personally himself. And most incredible thing that Balaram is seeing is that these cows were having younger calves. The older calves didn’t need to drink the milk. It was the young calves, but the cows didn’t care about giving the milk to the younger calves. They were so overwhelmed with affection for the older calves and suddenly Balaram was thinking, “For this whole year, I never really connected to this reality that all the mothers of the gopas and all the mothers of the calves, I have never seen them love their children so much. They love their children, exactly the way they love Krishna. How is this?”

Krishna’s Yogmaya potency, when he wants to increase the sweetness of his Lila, even covers Balaram, who is non-different than himself. He is his first expansion and Balaram was wondering, “How is this happening. How is it that I am noticing it just now?” And then he came to the realization, the conclusion, the only way this is possible is Krishna has personally become each calf and gopa. Just to fulfill the innermost desire of every cow and mother.
And he asked Krishna “Tell me why? Tell me how? Tell me who is responsible?”
And Krishna explained everything about Lord Brahma. Meanwhile, 5 or 6 days later when exactly one year had passed, it was Balaram Jayanti again and so Balaram was not there. And Brahma decided to come and see what kind of confusion he created in Vrindavan. For Brahma it is one moment. One moment for Brahma is one year by Earthly time.
When Brahma came down, he was shocked. He saw all the gopas, and all the calves, with Krishna.
“How is this possible? I put all these calves and gopas to sleep.”
He went back to the place and saw that they were still sleeping. And he came back to Vrindavan and saw that they were all still with Krishna and he went back and saw they were sleeping.

What’s happening? Am I dreaming? Is the real gopas and calves in the cave or are the real gopas and calves with Krishna or vice versa, he could not figure out. You see, the more intelligent you are the more bewildered you become when you can’t understand things.
Simple people when they can’t understand things, they just kind of flow with their inabilities.
But people who are very intelligent and philosophical and Very very adept at reasoning and logic, it becomes dramatic. For Brahma it was really dramatic.
With his powers are the creator of the creation, he wanted to see what he could do in Vrindavan and what he saw is that he did absolutely nothing. Impossible !
As he was getting confused, Krishna out of his love for Brahma wanted to confuse him more.
Right in front of Brahma in front of his 8 eyes, every of those little calves and cowherd boys manifested the form of Narayan with 4 arms holding the conch shell and the disc and the club and the lotus flower. Each one had a complexion like a rain cloud with beautiful golden ornaments and each had the Kaustubha Mani and srivatsa on Chest.
And when Krishna wants to show his mercy to his devotees, what Krishna can do?
Brahma saw, now here are, unlimited Narayan standing before him and around each and every one of the Narayan he saw all living beings, he saw Brahmas and Shivas and Naradas and Devas and humans and animals. He saw all the different creating potencies and modes of material nature in personified forms in circles and incredible large circle Around each and every form of the Lord surrounding him.
And at this point, Lord Brahma he was practically unconscious.
He was Vimohan, totally bewildered, absolutely conquered. He was speechless. He did not who he was, or where he was, or what he was.
He was thinking himself so great and powerful that he could play tricks with Krishna. But now he realized that his potency was like the power of snow to produce light in pitch black darkness of the night. Or like a little fire fly. At Itanagar you have so many lightening bulbs.
And if you see at night, while I was at Itanagar, during those most Precious days, in service of Brijlila Devi and Ekwarya Prabhu and helping to do some Seva for Bhaktiteerth swami Maharaj, sometimes I used to go back at night and look at the lightening bug. Thousands and thousands, especially in moonless night and each one is going to … and it looks like they are lightening up the sky.
Srimad Bhagavatam compares Brahma to this. In the pitch darkness a firefly thinks, I am illuminating the universe. But when the sun comes out the lightening bug realizes that I am totally insignificant. Even though the lightening bulb is putting up as much voltage, nobody sees him and nobody cares because the sun in present.
So we can only become proud when we are forgetful of Krishna!
“Krishna suryas ….Maya hi andhakar”
Krishna is like the light of the sun and Maya is like Darkness.
The false ego, Ahankar, is only possible when there is ignorance. And this is testimony of what our actual position is in spiritual life.
Sometimes we want to somehow or other boast or show our greatness before others. But for people, who are little Krishna Consciousness, the more you do that, the more they realize that we are in the darkness of ignorance like a little fire fly trying to show off your light.
But when we actually understand the infinite sun of Krishna’s light, Krishna’s qualities, we take so much pleasure in Krishna’s infinite qualities; we do not have to boast about ourselves to anyone. We don’t have to prove ourselves to anyone else. We are just happy in any situation.
If Krishna wants us to serve, like Shyamananda pandit, by sweeping the pathways in the forests, he wants us washing the pots, or cutting subzis, giving lectures to thousands of people, leading kirtans or managing zones, Whatever we do we are just the servants of the servant of the servant. We have nothing to prove to anyone. That is knowledge.
Brahma realized, he was totally insignificant! In this regard, Srila Prabhupada tells a story, a little later, when Krishna was in Dwarka, Brahma came to visit him and doorkeeper asked “I’m Brahma, the father of the universe. I have come to see Krishna.”
And The door keeper announced his arrival. And Krishna said, “Ask him which Brahma”.
That’s quite humbling.
And he said, “the four headed Brahma”
Krishna said, call him in.
Brahma asked, “Why did you ask which Brahma?”
Krishna said, “You want to know?” and then Krishna called other Brahmas. And thousands of Brahma’s came. And every one of them was so much bigger and greater than this little Brahma.
The Chaitanya Charitamrita says, that our Brahma in the presence of these other Brahmas, felt like a mosquito in a herd of gigantic elephants. And Krishna told Brahma “Now you go and do your Seva. But understand that we are all insignificant”
“Jeever swaroop………….”
So Brahma was so perplexed, so bewildered as he was seeing all living beings gathered around infinite infinite Vishnus.
And suddenly when he was paralyzed in bewilderment, Krishna took the veil of yoga Maya away and all the Vishnus, everyone disappeared and all that was left was Krishna standing just as he was exactly a year before with little yoghurt and little rice in his left hand and little fruit in his hand, looking for the calves.

Lord Brahma looked around at the forest of Vrindavan and he saw, because he was completely purified of any ego, he now could see vrindavan for what it really was. He saw each tree as the beautiful Kalpavriksha Tree, He saw the nectarine flowing waves of the Yamuna, the river of the spiritual world, and he saw the ecstasies of love of God in total consciousness in every element of Vrindavan. Every grain of dust is Chintamani, the touch stone. He saw because there was no envy, between anyone Due to everyone’s common love for Krishna everyone loved each other, even in this forest, the tigers and the deers were in love with each other.
Where there is Krishna Consciousness there is love for each other and the true spiritual platform. That is the testimony of Krishna Consciousness. IF we are competing and fighting with any envy in our heart, that means we are like the little lightening bugs, the Fireflies in the darkness of the ignorance of ego. But Brahma was illuminated, his ego was cleansed totally and now he could actually see Vrindavan for what it is as it is. Previously he came down, he was not seeing Vrindavan as it is. Previously when Brahma came down, he was not seeing Vrindavan as it is. He could see who he was and what he could do.
But now Vrindavan was revealed, the spiritual world, the Chintamani dham, the land of the most intimate pure love. He was intoxicated and he was seeing with full realization that the absolute truth, the force of all incarnations, the creator maintainer and destroyer of all that exists in his original most munificent form is Krishna, the little cowherd boy, who is just entering form 5 to 6 yrs old.
Lord Brahma, he came off his swan carrier and offered his dandavats!
Srila Prabhupada explains, dandavats means when you fall like a stick. Prabhupada says doesn’t mean you just say dandavats. It means you actually do Dandavats.
And it does not mean just doing with your body. Because those who have been little around devotees for some time, they know that some people do their dandavats; because you know they have something to gain by doing it.
But actual dandavats is with the body, the mind, the words and the heart to actually humble oneself to the presence of God in the heart of the other living being.
Lord Brahma came down and fell down like a stick in the land of Vrindavan.
Srimad Bhagavatam tells us that generally devatas never touch the ground of the earth. But here the king , the king of the king of the king of all Devas was laying in the dust of Vrindavan and put all of his heads against Krishna’s feet and was weeping tears. His Tears were flowing like an Abhishekam on the lotus like feet of Krishna and Brahma came up and offered beautiful prayers.
Krishna did not say a word. Because Krishna in the role of a little cowherd boy really made Brahma seem insignificant. It was like “Who are you? I’m a little cowherd boy. I’m looking for my calves. Why have you come to disturb me?”
And Brahma offered beautiful prayers.
He glorified the beauty of Krishna’s body, whose complexion like a wonderful rain cloud, Lotus like eyes, beautiful peacock feathers, the Gunj mala, the Kaustubha Mani, Srivatsa decorating his beautiful chest.
The source of all beauty, the source of all sweetness, the source of everything attractive! And how the lord incarnates again and again in this world out of his causeless mercy in so many ways and so many forms just to attract our hearts.
And how Krishna manifested this beautiful vrindavan leela just to attract our hearts from the causes of the miseries of our material desires and attachments.
And how merciful the Krishna was to him, that just to cleanse him of his ego, just to cleanse him of his illusion, Krishna manifested this incredible wonderful past time.
“ ……”

When Krishna tests or challenges the devotees, if that devotee can simply with folded palms offer obeisances with gratitude and humility awaiting Krishna mercy even through the most difficult trials and tribulations, that person is the rightful heir to the supreme liberation of Prema Bhakti.
Brahma realized the supreme glory of vrindavan. In his prayers he was expressing to Krishna how, some worship you as supreme Brahman, Some worship you in the Vaikuntha as the majestic lord of all Lords, Some through the yogic process, they try to cleanse themselves of all desires and become peaceful, but here in Vrindavan, the gopas and the gopis, the cows and the calves, they intimately love you as a friend, as a child, as a lover and how you intimately reciprocate with their love. Brahma’s realization that this little form of Gopal is the Supreme source of everything that exists and the highest revelation of the absolute truth and the only way to achieve connection with Gopal is through Bhakti, through love, through devotion.
Brahma prayed to give up his high post which is the cause of so much bewilderment and he prayed that he could take his next birth in any form in any place in Vrindavan. He especially prayed let me be a little piece of stone or let me take birth as an insignificant blade of grass hoping that any of the maid servants or servants or any of the devotees of Vrindavan would place their feet on my head, because the dust of the feet of any of the residents of Vrindavan come upon my head then I will be blessed that someday I could also experience of the intimacy of the love that they have for you.
Brahma did not pray for Krishna’s feet on his head! He did not just pray for the Radharani’s feet on his head.
He prayed for the calf, the cows, the gopas, the servants of the gopas, the peacocks, any of them any one of them, Let their feet be on my head so that I can adopt the mood of the love of residents of Vrindavan.
In this prayer, Lord Brahma revealed the supremacy of Vrindavan dham.
Sanatana Goswami explains, Brahma had no power to steal Krishna calves or gopas. Just like Ravana had no power to steal Sita. By Rams arrangement, he created a Maya Sita and an expansion of real Sita for Ravana to take. In the same way, when Brahma came to steal the calves and the little cowherd boys, as soon as he came, Krishna covered over with Yoga Maya the real calves and the real gopas. and simultaneously manifested Maya Calves and Gopas and Brahma Stole them. And the real calves and real gopas they remained, exactly where they were but they could not be seen by anyone due to the curtain of yoga Maya.
After Brahma surrendered to Krishna and prayed to be a blade of grass in Vrindavan, he begged Krishna’s forgiveness.
And Krishna did not say anything to him. Krishna was just holding his little lump of yoghurt and rice in his hand and looking around. But in doing so, Brahma understood that I am not qualified yet to be a blade of grass in Vrindavan. Krishna wants me to go back to my abode of Brahmaloka to continue to do my duties and in future life I could be a blade of grass in Vrindavan. Brahma Circumambulated Krishna 3 times, offered his obeisance and left for his abode.
After he was gone, Krishna lifted the curtain of yoga Maya and the original calves that were eating the grasses in the pastures, they manifested and Krishna took all of them and went back to bank of Yamuna and there were all of his cowherd boyfriends waiting for him. And when Krishna came back with all the calves, the cowherd boys were so happy; they were all laughing and they said, “Krishna! How possibly could you come back soon! You went to find the calves not even one moment ago and you have come. And we couldn’t eat anything in your absence! So we haven’t taken even a morsel of food. So please come and eat with us.”
Vishwanath Chakravarty Thakur explains that a year passed, the children had grown somewhat substantially, the calves had grown too. But for them that year passed as if a moment by the power of Yoga Maya. But meanwhile for the rest of the Brijwasi a full year passed where Krishna was reciprocating with their love as their own child.
Krishna sat down with the gopas and they continued enjoying laughing, joking, smiling, reciprocating love as they took their Prasad.

1hr 58min

Then Krishna sat down with all the gopas and they continued enjoying, laughing, joking, smiling, reciprocating love as they took their prasad.

And they played for the rest of the day and they all came back to Vrindavan together playing their flutes and their horns and the cows welcomed the calves. And the elderly gopis and gopas welcomed the little gopas. And as they came into the village all the cowherd boys were singing the glories of Krishna. How today Krishna liberated this giant serpent named Aghasura. Brajavasis said, “Oh. Tell us about all that.” “Yes. Yes. It happened just a few hours ago. He came and he was so big. His tongue was like a road and we danced inside and Krishna liberated him and then on the way home his body was dried up and we were playing on his body. When Parikshit Maharaj heard this he was struck with wonder. He asked Shukadeva Goswami, “How is it possible that anyone could love someone else’s child more than their own?” This is contradictory to human nature, because in the material sense of love when we identify ourselves with our bodies, our body is very important. Because the body is what we identify with as who is loving and who is being loved and without the body, there could be no relationship of love. So the body is the most important thing for most people. But on the spiritual platform we understand that we are eternal souls and Krishna is the source of all souls. He is sarvatma. Every soul is part and parcel of Krishna. So for the gopis and residents of Vrindavan, the reason we love anyone is our inherent love Krishna. And in Krishna, the full potential, the full capacity of all our love can be expressed forever. And in that love for Krishna, we can have the most intimate sweetest deepest love for our family members and for every living being forever because we identify ourselves in our relation with Krishna. It is this state that is beyond birth and death. In this state, even sorrow, even anxiety is ecstasy because it is an expression of our love for Krishna.

Shukadeva Goswami, after speaking this beautiful story of Krishna and gopas returning to Vrindavan, gives a benediction that anyone who sincerely hears this pastime, all of their spiritual desires will be fulfilled. This story that Srila Prabhupad so intimately gave us in his very last days here in Sri Vrindavan dham, please do read that section of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srila Prabhupad purports are so deep, so personal and so incredible. In one place he talks about bhakti, how it affects people. He says, “In our Krishna Balrama temple in Vrindavan, when we first started construction, there was a very old sickly withered out little Tamal tree. But after the devotees started hearing and chanting and rendering so much loving devotional service in the area of that tree, now that tree is flourishing with health and has grown to cover an entire section of our courtyard. The bhakti lata bija, the seed of devotion, that is awakened in our hearts by the mercy of guru and the Vaishnavas through the practicing of devotional service predominantly hearing and chanting of the glories of the Lord  and being the servant of the servant of the Lord . Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught us – it becomes a flourishing tree and on that tree ripens the sweetest of all fruits, the fruit of Krishna prema. And when that fruit is offered at the feet of Krishna, then the gardener, the devotee, when he tastes the sweetness of that fruit, he finds the highest happiness forever. And while in this world the greatest motivation of that devotee is to please Krishna by distributing the sweetness of this fruit to everyone and everywhere. This is our prayer. This is our gratitude. This is our life.

Srila Prabhupad  ki jai..Sri Vrindavan dham ki jai!

Jai Jai Sri Radhe….Shyam