Misdirected Love

pürteñöa-dattam uta bhüta-sauhådam

yat samparetaù punar eva bälako

diñöyä sva-bandhün praëayann upasthitaù

Translation

Nanda Mahäräja and others said: We must have previously performed austerities for a very long time, worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead, performed pious activities for public life, constructing public roads and wells, and also given charity, as a result of which this boy, although faced with death, has returned to give happiness to His relatives.

Purport By His Divine Grace Srila A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Nanda Mahäräja confirmed that by pious activities one can become a sädhu so that one will be happy at home and one’s children will be protected. In the shästra there are many injunctions for karmés and jïänés, especially for karmés, by which they can become pious and happy, even in material life. According to Vedic civilization, one should perform activities for the benefit of the public, such as constructing public roads, planting trees on both sides of the road so that people can walk in the shade, and constructing public wells so that everyone can take water without difficulty. One should perform austerity to control one’s desires, and one must simultaneously worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus one becomes pious, and as a result one is happy even in material conditions of life.

Even on spiritual level there is danger at every step

Shri Nanda Maharaj, in his supreme affection for the Lord in Vatsalya rasa was unable to perceive the truth and the glory of Shri Krishna. In fact, he was perceiving the truth and the glory of the Lord that is far higher, far deeper than what we can understand through worshiping the Lord as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is to be understood that Nanda Maharaj has already surpassed these stages of self-realization. Last night we were speaking from the Caitanya Caritamrita where Raghupati Upädhyäy, he was speaking to Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He met him at Prayag, at the house of Vallabhacharya. Mahaprabhu was there, He had taken prasada cooked by the family of Shri Vallabhacharya. Rupa Goswami and his youngest brother Anupama were also present. At that time Raghupati Upädhyäy approached the Lord. He was a very great scholar,most learned and a pure devotee of the Lord. And He approached Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu with great humility and surrendered to His lotus feet. And Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu instantly upon seeing the humility of this devotee, gave him a benediction. Krishna matir raho, which means may you always be in Krishna consciousness. Such a benediction. You see in this material world, even if we are Krishna conscious, on the spiritual level there is danger at every step. Just like on the material level there is danger at every step. Our physical body, our mental equilibrium, at any moment they could be dismantled, they could be destroyed through the threefold miseries of material nature. There is no place where there is safety in this world. You cannot find anywhere where there is really safety on the physical or mental level in this world. And on the spiritual level there is also danger at every step because the temptations, the allurements of Maya are all pervasive. In and between every atom, maya is trying to seduce us to try to seek the enjoyment through the mind and senses and forget Krishna, forget the principle that we are His eternal loving servants. What does it mean to fall into Maya? Essentially it means that we have forgotten that we are the eternal servant of Krishna, we are seeking something but service for Krishna. That is maya. Anything that we do that is not in the motivation of the loving service of the Lord is Maya. It is being directed and influenced by Maya, the illusory energy. Therefore spiritually there is danger at every step. So to always be free and protected from the influence of this material energy and to always be engaged in the loving service of the Lord, to always be engaged in glorifying the names and the qualities of the Lord and His devotees, this is called Krishna consciousness. Krishna matir raho, may you always be Krishna conscious, may you never give up the loving service of the Lord, may you never let go off the lotus feet of your spiritual master, not even for a second, this was the supreme benediction that Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave to Raghupati Upädhyäya. And indeed this should be a benediction that we are all seeking eternally that we never give up the service of the Lord even for a moment because what appears to be a moment, this material energy Maya devi is so powerful that if you give her a moment in that one moment she could completely bewilder your intelligence and you could lose your vision for Krishna for millions of births. Therefore a devotee must very sincerely be on guard to always seek the protection of Shri guru; to always seek the protection of those great Vaishnav’s who are keeping us in the service of Shri guru. Because if we give up their kind grace, the material energy has hundreds and millions of ways to try to divert our attention away from Him, not only through gross material objects of the senses, not through the subtleties of ones own doubts and ones owns mental weaknesses, but also maya tries to induce us off the path of pure devotional service through so many other apparent spiritual movements and religious philosophies. Rupa Goswami explains,

änukülyena kåñëänu-

çélanaà bhaktir uttama

If you want to have Krishna consciousness you must cast aside all the sub-religious principles of the Shastras,

trai-guëya-viñayä vedä

nistrai-guëyo bhavärjuna

nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho

niryoga-kñema ätmavän

The Vedas mainly deal with the three modes of material nature. Krishna tells Arjuna give them all up, be transcendental to all of them, be established in the self. What does it mean to established in the self?

jévera ‘svarüpa’ haya kåñëera ‘nitya-däsa’,

The eternal nature of the self is to always be engaged in Krishna’s service. To be established in the self means simply to be engaged in devotional service. Which is above the modes of material nature.

mahätmänas tu mäà pärtha

daivéà prakåtim äçritäù

bhajanty ananya-manaso

jïätvä bhütädim avyayam

Krishna says the Mahatma, the great soul, he is always above the modes of material nature; he is always under the shelter of the divine potency of the Lord. Why? Because he is always engaged in worship of Me and engaged in My loving service. That, is the qualification. Bhakti, devotional service is above and beyond the modes of material nature. Why? It is explained in the Bhagavad Gita that Krishna is above and beyond the three modes of material nature.

mayädhyakñeëa prakåtiù

süyate sa-caräcaram

And therefore devotional service, bhakti yoga is that connection that we make with that supreme source of everything who is above and beyond the modes of material nature. Devotional service connects our hearts, connects our consciousness, and connects our entire being with Krishna. Just like the electrical wire connects us to the power house which is the source of all electrical power and the same electricity is coming part and parcel through every wire. So similarly the process of bhakti yoga is the process of connecting our consciousness, our lives to the supreme powerhouse of Krishna and through that powerhouse like we see, from that electric wire comes light, that light dispels all darkness, all ignorance.

kåñëa—sürya-sama; mäyä haya andhakära

That, Maya is darkness. The three modes of material nature ultimately are all in darkness, they are all in illusion, but when we simply connect ourselves to the supreme source of all power and energy and all light – Krishna, then all darkness, all ignorance, all illusion is automatically removed from our life. So therefore to always be connected with Krishna through devotional service which essentially begins with hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord, One could always be in Krishna consciousness. Krishna matir raho, may you always be in Krishna consciousness. In fact this is the benediction that Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has come to give everyone. It is our choice whether we are willing to receive this benediction by simply following His divine instructions being the servant of the servant of His devotees.

Meditation of Raghupati Upädhyäya

So Raghupati Upädhyäya was very happy to receive this benediction, overwhelmed with joy. And Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu knowing him to be a great scholar of the Vedas asked him to explain what is the most important thing you have learnt? Tell Me the glories of the Lord. And Raghupati Upädhyäya said, “That I have studied through all the Vedas, through the Shruti, through the Smriti, I have studied Mahabharata , Bhagavad Gita and I have heard from so many great sages and I have found that practically everyone in this world is approaching the scriptures because they are afraid to suffer in material world. They approach out of fear. Artha, Kama, Dhäma, Moksha, when we approach the Lord for economic development, for religiosity, for sense gratification or even for liberation, the essential motive for approaching the Lord for any of these things is fear of suffering, fear of death, fear of poverty, fear that my sense gratification will be taken away. Even in the name of religiosity especially today, people perform so many rituals they do not even know what they mean but they are afraid not to do them. They are afraid, if I do not do this I may get some punishment. But, if I do this I don’t know really what I am doing but some God, somewhere may protect me from danger, from suffering. Not a very philosophical world today. Most religion is done on the basis of sentiment and that sentiment is motivated by fear. So Raghupati said, “Everyone is approaching the Vedas trying to relieve this fear in their heart, but I do not care for any of these things. I do not care to worship the Shruti, to worship the Smriti, to worship any of these sloka’s or any of these instructions or any of these passes of self-realization. I have fixed my mind in one conclusion after studying all the Vedas – that I only want to worship Maharaj Nanada in whose courtyard the supreme Brahmand is crawling like an innocent child.” Here we find Nanda Maharaj who is worshiped as a supreme object of love by such a great devotee. When Raghupati Upädhyäya spoke, Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu became very very happy, He became so happy.

Bhakti Yoga means to reconnect our desires through devotional service to Krishna

Here, we find why Nanada Maharaj is in such a glorious position. He appears like a very ordinary father. What is he speaking here? He said to others that Krishna is been saved from this Trinavarta, such a powerful whirlwind demon. He came, although he was a Rakshasa, he came to drink the blood of our child and to kill Him and to kill all the rest of us, so mighty and powerful and he took our child way, way, way up in the air and how it has happened we do not know exactly but all of a sudden he just came crashing to the ground. Nanada Maharaj did not know that Krishna became heavier than the universe. He was thinking, He is just my child therefore we must have previously performed austerities for a very long time, we worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead perhaps. Perhaps we performed the pious activities for public life, constructing public roads and wells and also we have given in charity, and as a result of which this boy although faced with death, has returned to give happiness to His relatives. Nanada Maharaj was so much blinded by parental affection he could not see the truth of Krishna in His supreme glory standing before him. This is the difference between Yoga Maya and Mahä Maya. Krishna is everywhere and in everything; in Mahä mäyä we are covered from seeing the true glory of Krishna. We cannot see that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why? Because we are blinded by our own material attachments, we are blinded by lust, Kama. We are standing before Sri, Sri Radha Gopinath, Shri Radhika Rani. If you ask Shyamananda prabhu he can tell you all about the qualities of Shri Radharani from the Caitanya Caritamrita. Why, when we are seeing the beautiful form of Srimati Radharani, why aren’t we not just completely enraptured in ecstatic love? And when we see the beautiful form of Shyamsunder we have read in the Brahma samhita, in Bhagvatam, how this beautiful form, it is the transcendental kamadeva, cupid who completely attracts the minds of all living beings, why our mind is not ecstatically, intensely infatuated by His beauty. Why we just come, we offer obeisances and we say Haribol Krishna and we go on in our activities in this life. We are blinded by Kama, we are blinded by material desires, we are blinded by material attachment. Therefore we cannot see the supreme glory and the ultimate position that Krishna is Paräm brahma. But, what is this Kama? Kama or lust is a pervaded reflection of love, prema. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami describes that love is like gold and Kama is like iron, they are both metal, they are both of the same essential quality but one is a pervaded reflection of the other. The natural energy of the soul is to love Krishna.

nitya-siddha-kåñëa-prema ‘sädhya’ kabhu naya

That the soul’s natural propensity is to love Krishna and the natural energy that is always emanating from the soul is love of God. But when that loving energy is misdirected, not in the service of the Lord but in forgetfulness of the Lord then that love is transformed into Kama or lust. It is the same energy. Therefore to dovetail all of our desires in the service of Krishna is to awaken our original love within our heart. The impersonalists took school of philosophers they say we should extinguish all of our desires. Because after all desire is the cause of attachment, attachment is the cause of bondage and bondage to anything material is ultimately the cause of suffering.  Because it is temporary, you cannot keep it. Everything in this world is a cause of frustration because everything has to die. And the vehicle by which you are trying to enjoy all these objects must die, therefore it is all suffering, Mrtyaloka – it is all death in one stage or another. So therefore, when this natural inclination of the energy of the soul to love is directed not towards the service of the Lord, but towards the temporary objects of the senses in this world, that love is transformed into lust or Kama. The impersonalists say destroy this lust, destroy this attachment, destroy all desires. The Buddhists also, this is their philosophy. Then you will be free, then you will be liberated. But the Vaishnav’s understand the higher principle, if you destroy that energy, you destroy the capacity to love and factually you cannot destroy it but Krishna fulfills everyone’s desires, if you so deeply perform our austerities for so long to destroy this energy than what Krishna will do is, He will make that energy unmanifested, potentially it will always be there but it will be unmanifested. That is why it is said in the Bhagvatam

äruhya kåcchreëa paraà padaà tataù

that one cannot remain in the liberated position in the Brahmajyoti for very long. Although by performing this tapasya, by studying the Shastras, by discriminating between matter and spirit, we can attain mukti or liberation and merge into the effulgence of the Lord, Brahman and thus all of our desires, all of our attachments, all Kama is extinguished. When it’s all extinguished there could be no more suffering, there could be no more birth, old age, disease and death. We approach the Lord and we work so hard for the purpose of extinguishing this Kama, so He makes us think that we can extinguish it. But what we actually extinguish is the manifestation of that energy. But because it is the natural energy of the soul it remains potential in its unmanifested stage and ultimately that loving energy of the soul will reawaken because Änanda-mayo ‘bhyäsät, the soul is by nature eternally seeking loving reciprocation. So therefore sometime or other even that spiritual spark that merges into Brahmajyoti must again desire and if that spiritual spark has not purified its desire to love Krishna, again it will fall down into this material world to seek the love and the pleasure of the illusory energy. So therefore the Vaishnav’s they do not say extinguish material desires. The Vaishnav’s say purify your desires. That lust that is now in your heart it is so powerful, driving you to do so many things in so many ways. It is the natural energy of the soul in a pervaded form, just redirect it towards Krishna and that very energy in its purified state you will find is prema bhakti, pure love of God. So therefore we dovetail all our desires, all of our activities, all of our words, all of our thoughts everything in the service of Krishna, this is bhakti yoga. To reconnect our desire with Krishna through the process of service, devotional service. So the  materialistic person he is completely blinded by this Kama, he cannot understand Krishna’s supreme opulence and supreme glory. But, when you attain the higher stages of love of God then you see the Supreme Personality of Godhead everywhere and with great on reverence you could recognize Him everywhere. This is the condition of Vaikuntha. Vaikuntha is that place where everyone is constantly aware that I am the eternal servant of Narayana and Narayana is here and He is my master and He is always engaging me in His loving service and the service of His servants. And Goddess of fortune Laxmi Devi, she is always seated by His side, so let us worship Him, let us do everything for His pleasure-this is Vaikuntha, this is love of God. But when that love becomes even more intensified, that love, that pure bhakti in enough itself is some so great beyond the interim state of Vaikuntha, the love blinds us, we become so blinded by Prema Bhakti that we cannot see the truth and the glory of Krishna although He is standing before us, this is the position of Maharaj Nanada.

Nanada Maharaj exhibiting the ultimate state of unconditional love and parental affection towards Krishna

Here is as Raghupati Upädhyäya has said, “Here is the Param Brahma, the supreme Brahman. This is the personality that showed the Virata rüpa to Arjuna. Where all of creation was just entering into His mouth being devoured, who is the personification of time, the predominant deity of life and death, whose body reached in the extent of all directions feeling everything, everywhere that supreme Brahman whose plenary portion, just the portion of the supreme Brahman is Mahavishnu, Karanadakasayi. Who is so massive in His size that by His exhalation innumerable universes are emanating from the pores of His bodies. This earth planet is just one speck in this universe; you can imagine how massive the size of the universe is. The universe is smaller than even one pore in the body of Mahavishnu just coming out; it’s not pushing its way, just coming out.  That means a tiny little part of the size of one pore of His body and this great, great Karanadakasayi Vishnu, His original source Krishna whose infinitely greater even than Mahavishnu because after all in the spiritual world everything is infinite. So if you are greater you must be infinitely greater. Nanda Maharaj is seeing this Supreme Personality of Godhead as a helpless ordinary child. Because he is blinded by love and Krishna likes him to be blinded by love. In this sweetness of this mood of Vatsalya Rasa Krishna can enjoy taking a subordinate position from His devotee, because in Vaikuntha no one thinks himself in a higher position than Vishnu. But in Goloka Vrindavan everyone is to some extent practically thinking they are in a higher position than Krishna, at least equal to and in this way there can be such confidential intimate loving relationships. It is explained that the great Brahmans, they are coming together sometimes by thousands to perform Yajna’s and they are chanting the Vedic mantras to glorify the supreme absolute truth, the personality of Godhead. But in the Shastras it describes that Krishna enjoys more being chastise by mother Yashoda hearing those words than hearing the glorifications of all the great, great Brahmans. That all we worship you godhead,

Om tad vishno paramam padam sada

Pasyanti surayah diviva caksur atatam

Vishnu is the source of everything, Vishnu is the supreme worshipable Godhead. We surrender our heads at the lotus feet of Vishnu. They are chanting with pure devotion and Vishnu is hearing these things but that same Vishnu when He hears mother Yashoda saying,“You Rascal, why you stole this butter, I am going to hit you with the stick.” Millions of times more pleasure He obtains by hearing these prayers, why ? because they are imbued with sweeter and higher sense of love of devotion. So therefore, Raghupati Upädhyäya his prayer is, I don’t care for all these Vedas, I only care to worship the lotus feet of Nanda Maharaj, because after Krishna kills Trinavarta, he is thinking it must be due to his pious activities that God saved Krishna. He is thinking that I have helped make public roads and I have planted trees and I have dug wells so that people have water and because of that, this beautiful little baby has been saved. And when people tell him, Nanda Maharaj, NandaBaiöhäka, Nanda Baiöhäka is the place of the assembly hall of Nanda Maharaj. They would meet there when problems arose. One time they approached Nanda Maharaj – Upananda, Sunanda, Nanada, Abhinanda all the brothers and they said, “Nanada Maharaj there is a big problem here in Vraja.” What is the problem ? The way you treat this Krishna, I mean, can’t you see what He is doing, how He is knocked over these Arjuna trees, how He has killed Putana, how He has killed Trinavarta. Either He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Vishnu or He is some Demi-god that is incarnated in this earth or He is such a great, great Yogi empowered by the supreme Lord, He is not an ordinary being; He is a very, very great personality and yet look at your wife Yashoda, how she deals with Him. She chases Him, she spanks him, she chides Him, she pinches Him, she puts Him to bed without eating, what way is  this to treat such a powerful personality of Godhead as Krishna? These things have to stop, we should offer Him all respect and reverence understanding His divine position. Nanda maharaj says you think he is such a great personality?, what does it say in the Shastras about great personalities. First of all a great Personality has complete control over His senses and of all the senses the tongue is the most difficult to control. And Krishna eats, “He is eating all day, you tell me a time when He doesn’t have some butter or some sweets in His hands eating, eating, eating, eating and if we don’t give it to him, He will go to your houses and steal it and eat. If for any minute we don’t allow Him to be eating then He goes in tantrums, a great Yogi is supposed to have conquered anger but Krishna, if He is not satisfying His tongue with nice sweet butters and yogurts He starts breaking all pots, He breaks all the furniture in our house, He screams, He yells, He goes completely wild in a fit of rage, is this the way great personalities behave? And great personalities are supposed to be fearless. Krishna fearless, are you serious, mother Yashoda just picks up the stick and He stars crying, running away and at night if there is thunder, you think He will stay in bed alone, no, He will start crying, He will run to our bed and start embracing, please protect me mother, please protect me father, so much loud noises.” Is this the way God behaves, is this the great personality? He said, “No, Krishna is Krishna, He is my child, if I don’t protect Him, if I don’t teach Him, who will? ,and then he just started going on and on and on explaining Krishna’s qualities, all the qualities that makes Krishna appear to be just an ordinary child.” And as he was explaining these qualities in ecstatic love, he just started to laugh and to cry and everybody started laughing and crying and laughing and crying, just laughing and laughing and then they completely forgot that they came to Nanda Maharaj to complain. They just became immersed in chanting the glories of Krishna. So Krishna is blinding him from understanding His supreme glory so that He could understand the glory higher than the supreme glory- that is Vrindavan. Vrindavan Lila is to go beyond this supreme, to enter into the mood of unconditional love. If we love God because He is God, that’s a condition, that’s conditional love but if we love Krishna simply because He is Krishna that’s unconditional. You see God has a position, it’s the highest position, and no one can attain this position. If you love a person because of his position that’s conditional but if you completely forget all things regarding position and you simply love Him because he is what he is, that is unconditional. And Nanada Maharaj here, is exhibiting this ultimate state of unconditional love and parental affection and therefore we worship the lotus feet of Nanda Maharaj why, because he is giving such infinite pleasure to Krishna through his loving devotion.

Is there any question?

Question:- You said that if you want to, and you try your level best with the core of your heart to become Krishna conscious, and you won’t waste a single moment, whenever you get time. Just try to be involved in Krishna consciousness activities. Here also Maya is so strong that you are attracted somewhere or the other either by lust, greed, envy or something or the other and that time you become really disturbed. I am trying my level best to see that I am Krishna conscious, yet why is Maya trapping me all the time? At that time we just lose our inspiration, letting of we just have to go on and on and on, that time our heart is so much broken and I have tried my level best. I am doing all, whatever is required but yet I am being trapped off from the circumstances. We are somewhat weakened up. Now, how to see that this thing doesn’t happen and we just move on and on and on?

Answer: – Are you really trying your level best? How can anyone say that they are trying their level best? You cannot try harder, can you honestly stand before this assembly of Vaishnav’s, before the deity of Krishna and say that you cannot try harder. What is the reply? That means you are not trying your level best. So first of all you should try harder, you should never think you are trying hard enough, that is an illusion in itself, that is a great obstacle to our spiritual life, if we think I am trying my best, I cannot try any harder; you should always be striving to try harder. In itself striving that protects us from Maya. But we do not even have the capacity to try our best. We can try, we can keep trying and keep aspiring to try harder and if we are in this process then like baby children sometimes we fall, but what do we do, do we just lay there and say, oh, I am all broken up, if you lay there thinking like this then you will lay there for the rest of eternity. When child falls down he just gets right back up and he falls again and he gets right back up. When you become mature in Krishna consciousness you will not fall anymore but because we are in our infant stages, we are falling a lot but we have to keep practicing. Krishna says by constant practice and detachment we can overcome our weaknesses by His grace. So just keep trying to try your best and whether you fall, if you are trying your best when you fall what does that mean you will get up otherwise you are not trying your best, as soon as you fall you will get right back up that means you are trying and by this type of practice, Krishna will take our devotional service seriously. When Krishna takes our devotional service seriously,

ananyäç cintayanto mäà

ye janäù paryupäsate

teñäà nityäbhiyuktänäà

yoga-kñemaà vahämy aham

Krishna says I will preserve what you have and I will carry what you lack, I will lift you up. I will protect you from ever falling but first we have to manifest to Him our sincerity, by our determination, by our practice.

Question: The three modes of nature ….but in the fourteen chapter of Gita Krishna says inaudible

Answer: It is material illumination, it is an illusory material illumination; it is not the light that allows us to see the truth, it is only the light that allows us to see better within the prison house of darkness. But we are seeking that light by which we can see the truth, not the light that helps us to see clearly the illusion.

Question:inaudible

Answer: It’s not love; we just define what is love. Love is the pure energy of the soul towards God; directed toward anything or anyone else, it is Kama, it is lust, it is not love at all. Inaudible 46.54}He also may become caught up and start engaging in those propensities and then gradually the soul becomes degraded into lower, lower forms of life, or he can again be elevated. It is a great risk.

Question: Are there more chances of associating with devotees in this material world than the Brahmajyoti?

Answer: There is no chance of associating with anyone in the Brahmajyoti.

Question: So when a living entity is ready to come to material world there are more chances of going to back to home than Brahmajyoti?

Answer: Definitely,

durlabha mänava-janama sat-saìge

taroho e bhava-sindhu re

How rare this human birth is but the rarest thing in this birth is the association of Sadhus. If we do not associate with sadhus then there is no possibility of understanding what Krishna consciousness is.

Question: In this material world there … padaà padaà vipadäà, now how to see that material life would be process of, inaudible. How to come out of spiritual padaà padaà yad vipadäà? inaudible.

Answer: By following the four regulative principles, by chanting two hours every day, by having very, very profuse association of devotees who are actually following the principle of being this humble servant of the servant of servant and humbly repeating the words of Guru dev,in this spirit, then you will never fall down. But, if you give up these processes then maya will overcome you, guaranteed.

Question: inaudible. What are the ways and means to attract the grace of Krishna?

Answer: Devotional service is the only means, bhakti. By carrying out the instructions of our spiritual master, by chanting the holy names, by serving His devotees, by worshiping the deities, by hearing the Bhagavatam, the Gita. There are nine processes of devotional service. By engaging in these nine process of devotional service under the guidance of an authorized servant of Krishna’s parampara that is the only means by which we can really guarantee to  know that we are attracting the blessings and the mercy of Shri Krishna. It is not a great mystery; it is something very tangible and simple to understand. But sometimes our mind is such a wicked enemy that this is just too simple, just by serving the Vaishnav’s and just by following the instructions of guru just sounds too easy, there must some very esoteric mystical way, there must be some shakti that you get some touch and you attract Krishna, it must be something else, it must be something mystical, something celestial, something exotic and we are so busy looking for that, that we do not follow the basic principles of being the servant of the servant of the Lord, and therefore we do not attract the Lord; we attract so many other powers and forces, we never attract the heart of Krishna. Krishna is only attracted by humble service nothing else, whatever else you do. You may attract Demi-gods, you may attract ghosts, you may attract forefathers, you may attract all big, big people in this world but only humble devotional service attracts Krishna, nothing else.

Question: What attracts gurus and sadhus who are sitting here?

Answer: Same thing that attracts Krishna, humble service nothing else. One time some big, big wealthy man gave Prabhupada big donation but he gave it with pride. Prabhupada said,“You think it seems I am attracted by your big donation; I don’t need your money.” He said, “You need to give it in a spirit of humble service and I am only accepting it for your benefit, so that you can learn how to be a humble servant otherwise all your money is just like a huge burden that you are carrying around with you, causing you to be infatuated by pride. If I accept it from you, I am simply relieving you of this massive burden and allowing you to be a humble servant.” So the spiritual master is only attracted by that humility and service. According to a persons conditioning a devotee may encourage that person in so many ways or forms to gradually try to bring him to the position of being a humble servant. Sometimes if a person is very expert at loading it over, the guru will say oh! You are very expert, very nice, he is actually tricking him; he is not impressed at all. But he is saying that just to get him, oh! He likes what I am doing and gradually by that association he will learn how to be humble servant. But it is only that humility in the spirit of a servant that can attract guru or Krishna.

Question:inaudible

Answer: Same Sampradaya but doesn’t mean that everybody in the Sampradaya, the äcäryas in the Sampradaya we are following but those who are in the Sampradaya that are on a lesser platform, we are not following them. Therefore Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was not following that line of Madhva, He was following the line of Laxmi Pati tirtha, Madhavendra Puri, Ishvara Puri who were all pure unalloyed Vaishnav’s – that line. But amongst even the leaders He found that there was, it doesn’t say that they weren’t great sadhu’s and great saints but they were emphasizing  Varnashrama dharma and He pointed out to them that this is a lesser conception by the congregational chanting of the holy name love of God is awaken in one’s heart this is far more important in this age of Kaliyuga than performing our activities through the process of Varnashrama dharma. So really what He was doing is He was trying to bring them to the highest platform, He saw that they were teaching and practicing something lesser.

Question:inaudible

Answer: Who said it would not be difficult? Nowhere we are saying that it’s easy, it may be difficult but, that means you are actually taking the position of the servant. If on the order of guru you are doing something more difficult, if you are doing only those things that are easy what kind of service is that? If you are doing it on the order of Krishna then you will be protected, if you are sincere and trying to perform that service honestly, then you will be protected. This is the same argument Arjuna was offering, it will be easier Krishna if I don’t fight this war, if I just chant “Hare Krishna”. Krishna said,“If you surrender to me don’t expect Me to tell you to do the easiest thing, I may tell you the hardest thing, that’s the meaning of surrender, you are willing to do that.

Question: inaudible.

Answer: You are here, aren’t you? Just keep doing like that. The fact that you are here today and the fact you are asking this question means you really are longing to be Krishna conscious, you are really afraid of maya, you are really striving for Krishna. Somebody that’s living here may be taking the whole association very familiar. So in that sense we can see that Krishna is protecting you. So you just go on as you are going on but try harder.

Question:inaudible

Answer: At the beginning you should love Him because He is God. But when you enter into that love beyond that, is to love Him because He is Krishna. So first stage is to understand  how He is God and love Him as God. The platform that the Brijwasis are on is way beyond the love of God, it is love of Krishna whether He is God or not. So this is very advanced, we have to go one stage at a time we cannot expect to jump all the way to the top. First we have to cultivate understanding of God and cultivate love of God and then with association of such pure souls following in the footsteps of the residence of Vrindavan, then we can love God in such a way that we do not even care whether He is God. But that comes after loving Him as a God, you understand? And in our present stage right now what unconditional service means is we simply put aside our own separate interest and desires to work for the satisfaction of Krishna and of course the easiest way to understand what is the desire of Krishna is,

tad viddhi praëipätena

paripraçnena sevayä

Krishna explains in the Gita, approach guru, enquire submissively from him and render service, in this way we have direct access to understand what is Krishna’s desire and if we serve that desire without expectation of anything material in return, then that is on our level unconditional devotional service.

Question: Sometimes a spiritual master gives us an instruction, something material instruction do this thing. Now just to satisfy the spiritual master we used to give our heart in that material activity itself, now because we are giving full heart in that activity we forget link with Krishna because we are giving full heart in that activity and because we are giving full heart in that activity we lose connection and maya attracts us. Now those circumstances are one side…. inaudible. I am doing the service and other side I am spoiling the spiritual life?

Answer: Are you actually giving your full heart, sitting before the devotees and the deity of Krishna can you actually say you are giving your full heart. What is your answer? Yes, you are giving your full heart to your service. Full heart means you have absolutely not even the slightest inclination or desire for anything else except that service. That’s full heart isn’t it? How much of your heart are you really giving? how many other desires?  how many other interests? how many other motivation? how many other priorities do you have in your life? To give your full heart you have to be a pure devotee. So are you giving your full heart? that is the problem? Second problem is that you are talking at the end of your question about being satisfied. Is a servant interested in being satisfied or is the servant interested in satisfying, which one? that is devotional service. So, if you are asked to do something and you give what you consider to be your full heart that means you are giving something. If you are giving it to that service that service is non-different than Krishna it’s not a material thing. If we do not have faith that is non-different than Krishna we will take something spiritual to be something material and that’s the problem that means we are not hearing properly, we are not hearing the philosophy correctly. If we think devotional service is something material, if we think that concentrating on our service will take my mind away from Krishna that service is Krishna, isn’t it? So, if we hear correctly and develop the proper faith in the process of devotional service then we will see no separation from our service and from Krishna Himself. But our service is to satisfy not to be satisfied, that is the problem.

Question:inaudible

Answer: By sincerely and honestly coming together to help the mission of guru, by discussing Krishna, by discussing his philosophy and by really being willing to work hard to serve the desires of Krishna and His devotees, by actually caring for one another, caring to help a person become more Krishna conscious, caring to assist a person in his Krishna consciousness, caring to assist a person in his service to guru. We actually have to put our heart into what we are doing and why we are doing it, then it is not superficial, it should not be mechanical. We have to perform our service with attention, with concentration, and with a sincere and honest heart. Without those ingredients it becomes superficial. inaudible. Loving relationship based on care, if you are in a lesser position you attentively are caring to help this person in his service to his guru so that you would be elevated and if he is in a lesser position than as a servant, we care for this person by trying to elevate him and bring him up in Krishna consciousness. In every condition we are the caring, loving servant. We are striving, struggling to be like that with each devotee. And can you imagine, if every devotee felt like that toward every other devotee what type of congregation this would be? could you imagine? the whole world would be attracted and we could all do it, if we just put our mind to it.

Thank you very much!

Srila Prabhupada ki jai!