“sa viçva-käyaù puru-hüta-éçaù
satyaù svayaà-jyotir ajaù puräëaù
dhatte ‘sya janmädy-ajayätma-çaktyä
täà vidyayodasya niréha äste”
Srimad Bhagavatam 8.1.13
TRANSLATION
The entire cosmic manifestation is the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, who has millions of names and unlimited potencies. He is self-effulgent, unborn and changeless. He is the beginning of everything, but He has no beginning. Because He has created this cosmic manifestation by His external energy, the universe appears to be created, maintained and annihilated by Him. Nonetheless, He remains inactive in His spiritual energy and is untouched by the activities of the material energy.
PURPORT BY SRILA PRABHUPADA
Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu says in His Çikñäñöaka, nämnäm akäri bahudhä nija-sarva-çaktiù: the Supreme Personality of Godhead has many names, which are all nondifferent from the Supreme Person. This is spiritual existence. By chanting the Hare Kåñëa mahä-mantra, consisting of names of the Supreme Lord, we find that the name has all the potencies of the person. The Lord’s activities are many, and according to His activities He has many names. He appeared as the son of mother Yaçodä, and also as the son of mother Devaké, and therefore He is named Devaké-nandana and Yaçodä-nandana. Paräsya çaktir vividhaiva çrüyate: [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport] the Lord has a multitude of energies, and therefore He acts in multifarious ways. Yet He has a particular name. The çästras recommend which names we should chant, such as Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare. It is not that we have to search for some name or manufacture one. Rather, we must follow the saintly persons and the çästras in chanting His holy name.
Although the material and spiritual energies both belong to the Lord, He is impossible to understand as long as we are in the material energy. And when we come to the spiritual energy, He is very easy to know. As stated in Çrémad-Bhägavatam (1.7.23): mäyäà vyudasya cic-chaktyä kaivalye sthita ätmani. Although the external energy belongs to the Lord, when one is in the external energy (mama mäyä duratyayä [Bg. 7.14]) He is very difficult to understand. However, when one comes to the spiritual energy, one can understand Him. Therefore in Bhagavad-gétä (18.55) it is said, bhaktyä mäm abhijänäti yävän yaç cäsmi tattvataù: one who wants to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead in reality must take to the platform of bhakti, or Kåñëa consciousness. This bhakti consists of various activities (çravaëaà kértanaà viñëoù smaraëaà päda-sevanam/ arcanaà vandanaà däsyaà sakhyam ätma-nivedanam [SB 7.5.23]), and to understand the Lord one must take to this path of devotional service. Even though the people of the world have forgotten God and may say that God is dead, this is not a fact. One can understand God when one takes to the Kåiñhëa Consciousness Movement, and thus one can be happy.
TRANSLATION
The entire cosmic manifestation is the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, who has millions of names and unlimited potencies. He is self-effulgent, unborn and changeless. He is the beginning of everything, but He has no beginning. Because He has created this cosmic manifestation by His external energy, the universe appears to be created, maintained and annihilated by Him. Nonetheless, He remains inactive in His spiritual energy and is untouched by the activities of the material energy.
Purified Senses perceive God:
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the absolute truth cannot be understood with our present material sense perceptions. Indeed, matter can only perceive matter. Sometimes, people challenge can you show me God? Yes, God can be seen but God can only be seen, when we see through the eyes of scriptures. This means by hearing the glories of the Lord. By hearing, of how he reveals himself and by hearing the instructions of the great saints, who are teaching us how to purify our life. Then our senses become purified and with those purified senses, yes we can perceive God everywhere and in anything. The Brahmasamhita explains to us –
“premäïjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena”
(BS_5.38)
That when one’s eyes are divinely decorated with the ointment of bhakti, then we can perceive the beautiful form of God.
“ataù çré-kåñëa-nämädi
na bhaved grähyam indriyaiù
sevonmukhe hi jihvädau
svayam eva sphuraty adaù”
(CC Madhya_17.136)
Experiencing God in Everything:
That when our senses become spiritualized by engaging in the process of devotional service, one can experience God. We are factually experiencing God everywhere because God is in everything. There is no question of ever being apart from the supreme lord. This material energy is His divine energy, as He explains in the Bhagavad-Gita –
“daivé hy eñä guëa-mayé mama mäyä duratyayä”
(BG_7.14)
And therefore, we are experiencing Krishna at every moment. But we cannot perceive the essence of our surroundings which is Krishna, until we find the essence of our own self. As long as you have a superficial conceptions of, who you are, your perception of the all the world is superficial. As long as you have illusory understanding of your own identity, then everything you perceive is based on an illusion. So therefore reality begins with knowing oneself.
Sanatana Dharma- Eternally Serving the Lord:
When we understand the self, as separate from this body, when we understand that we are a part and parcel of Krishna, then we will perceive the presence of Krishna everywhere and in everything. Now it is a very simple process of how to realize that we are part and parcel of Krishna. We simply have to act according to our dharma – Sanatana Dharma. Sanatana Dharma means that our constitutional position as Krishna’s parts are to eternally serve him and through that service spiritual awakening takes place.
“sarvopädhi-vinirmuktaà
tat-paratvena nirmalam
håñékeëa håñékeça-
sevanaà bhaktir ucyate”
(CC Madhya_19.170)
This means that by serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead with our present senses, our senses become purified and with purified senses, experiencing God is as effortless as perceiving light in the middle of the day. If we are outside in noon day Sun, is it difficult to find the light? The light is everywhere, it is all around you. But for those who are rebellious against the desire of the lord, they become contaminated by illusion and they enter into the abode of darkness. That darkness comes about only close our eyes. Even if you are in the middle of the noon day sun and if you close your eyes then you cannot see any light. All you see is darkness. So Krishna Consciousness is very simple, which means to open your eyes. It means to open your eyes to the reality that all around you and the process of opening our eyes is Krishna Consciousness. Learning how to engage our natural inclinations in the loving service of Supreme Lord, who has many many names and inconceivable potencies. This is the most simple and most direct process of self realization.
Advancement in Devotional Service is More Service:
Sometimes it is said that the ends are the means in Krishna Consciousness. We are serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead and what is the goal of this service? The goal of this service is pure devotional service, more service. Sometimes a neophyte devotee is thinking that why I have so much service? When will I able to get done with my service? But such a person, he should be warned that the result of making advancement in devotional service is more service, never less service. To the degree you become advanced, to that degree Krishna gives you more service and you want more service, more quantity as well as more quality. So there is no question of wanting to avoid devotional service. There is no question of wanting to finish with our devotional service. That means you want to leave the path of bhakti. This is the idea of impersonal class of philosophers. They will engage in the service of lord but their idea is- let me get it done with, then I never have to serve again. Then I am liberated. Their idea of liberation is not only that they never have to suffer the pains of birth and death, but also they never have to serve any more. But a devotee, because he understands the principles of spiritual love, he never wants to stop serving. He wants more and more and more service and he wants his heart to grow in such a way that he has a capacity to do more and more and more service. Just like Srila Rupa Gosvami, he explains that, “When I chant the name of Krishna, I desire to have millions of tongues because to serve Krishna by chanting His names with only one tongue is not enough. I want to chant millions of names at a time, billions and trillions, there is no limit to how many times I want to chant at every moment, the name of Krishna”. And some of us were thinking, “When will I get my rounds done”. When will I be able to finish all this chanting of Hare Krishna and go on to do something that I like to do”. We are wishing like this. But Rupa Goswami is wishing that he had millions of tongues because he just has such an attraction for the chanting of the holy name, for serving the Lord through this process, that he just has an infinite desire to serve Krishna more and more and more by chanting his name.
The Process of Hearing is Devotional Service:
During Srimad Bhagavatam class, sometimes we are looking at the clock thinking, “I hope the class is done on time today because my God, I have to sit here and hear Srimad Bhagavatam”. But Rupa Goswami is saying, “that when the name of god enters into my ears, I desire to have millions and millions and millions of ears”. Because by serving the lord, by hearing His glories and hearing his names, it is not that we want the great souls, it is not that they want to ever have a get over with, but at every moment, they want to hear just every page of the Srimad Bhagavatam, they want to hear every class, and they want to hear everything now. They have such an anxiety to hear more and more and more to serve the lord. Understand that the process of hearing is devotional service. Some of us are thinking, “I know the philosophy and I heard it before”. But factually, you have to understand that hearing is an act of service for the pleasure of the lord. It is not simply something what you like it or not. That’s not even a consideration. Whether you like who is talking or not, should not even be a consideration.
Srimad Bhagavatam states,
“Shrinwatam swakatham krishnah punya sharvana kirtanah
Hridyantshtho hi abhadrani vidhonoti suhrit satam”
(SB_1.2.17)
This means by hearing the glories of the lord and taking pleasure in hearing, that is the greatest pleasure given to Krishna within your heart. When He sees that you relish hearing his message, He is so satisfied, that from within He delivers you from all ignorance, He dispels all darkness. So in other words, we are listening to Srimad Bhagavatam, primarily because it pleases Krishna, because it is a service to our spiritual master.
“nañöa-präyeñv abhadreñu
nityaà bhägavata-sevayä
bhagavaty uttama-çloke
bhaktir bhavati naiñöhiké”
(SB_1.2.18)
It is said that this is the order of God Vedavyas to Srila Suta Gosvami that by hearing Srimad Bhagavatam regularly everyday, then all inauspicious anarthas and all inauspicious desires within our heart are removed. And we can understand the supreme Lord within our heart as an irrevocable fact.
Real Inspiration- Service to the Guru and Krishna:
So it is the order of Krishna and it is the order of guru to attentively here the holy name, to attentively hear the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness. And therefore, we accept as service. It is not a question of I like it or I am enthusiastic about it or I am inspired by it. You may or you may not be, but understand what is the real inspiration you derive from hearing and chanting. The real inspiration will come when you perform these activities as a service to the guru and service to Krishna. Inspiration in Krishna Consciousness does not mean doing activities that are fun to do. Some people, they become very inspired by doing things that they consider enjoyable. Oh yes, I am very inspired by doing this because I like it so much. But that is not the real inspiration that we are looking for. The real inspiration comes through the process of surrender. Even if you hate to do something, if you perform that activity for the service of the Lord and for the service for his devotees, through that process inspiration comes which is on the spiritual platform.
The Result of Devotional Service is More Devotional Service:
So Rupa Goswami is praying, “Krishna, when I chant your names, I want millions of name. I want to chant more and more and more.” He never wants his rounds to the end. He says, “Krishna, when I hear you names and glories, I want millions and millions and millions of ears.” He never wants the Srimad Bhagavatam class to end. “And when the holy name enters into my heart.”- because of this anticipation and eagerness to hear the name, to chant the name. You see this shloka, step by step. When we have such eagerness to chant and such eagerness to hear the lord’s name, then what is the result? Then when that name enters your heart, it conquers your heart. It defeats all your material desires. It vanquishes all your illusions and you become indifferent to material life. “Paraà dåñövä nivartate”- you experience the higher taste. The result of devotional service is devotional service. It was asked to Srila Prabhupada, what do you expect to get out of all of this chanting of Hare Krishna? What is the end result? Srila Prabhupada replied was to chant Hare Krishna.
Now for a materialist, thats not what they like to hear, you get something done, so you can get something else. Right?? Just like, if someone works hard you ask him, what do you expect to get out of this hard work? He will say, “I’ll get a lot of money and I’ll get very famous position in society. How many people will say when you ask, “What you get out of all these hard labor”? He says, “more hard labor”. But Krishna Consciousness, what we expect to get out of hard labor is more hard labor. This is the principle in which New Vrindavana was built up on. First you chant Hare Krishna and then you work hard, then you chant Hare Krishna. This is Srila Prabhupada’s order.
Vrindavana –Madhurya Rasa:
When Srila Prabhupada came to New Vrindavana in 1968, he said this is a very beautiful and peaceful place in the country. He said, “I know the nature of the young people of your America. There are so many hippies, they will want to come here simply to relax it is not aishwarya, it is not in the mood of grandeur, it is not in the mood of majestic kingship. But the opulence of Vrindavana is Madhurya Rasa. Madhurya means in its sweetness. In this spontaneouses of the love that takes place there. Not only between Krishna and the gopis and the gopas. Between Krishna and everything that exists in Vrindavana.
Vrindavana-Pure and Full Consciousness:
In Vrindavana everything is conscious. Not only conscious, but pure, full consciousness. There is no such thing as matter inanimate, dead substance in Vrindavana. Everything is vibrant, alive. Everything is fully conscious. Conscious of ecstatic loving service to Sri Krishna. And in Vrindavana, everything and everyone that exists, there is no envy or jealousy. Because Krishna is expanding his love in such a way, that everything is fully satisfied with its relationship with Krishna. Each tree, even the wall, the floor, the ground, the flower, the boat that Krishna goes on Jamuna with, everything in Vrindavana, even the decorations on the cowherd boys, they are all fully conscious and liberated beings. Taking that divine form- simply to give pleasure to Krishna. And Krishna personally shows so much love like the radiant Sun. The Sun’s shine, it fully manifests itself everywhere and on everyone. So similarly Krishna’s love is so special, that even what we would consider the most insignificant piece of matter that is on the ground, Krishna is showing his love towards that in such an ecstatic way, that bee is thinking Krishna loves me. Krishna has given me such a special special service to assist His divinely Lover- Sri Radharani, Vrindavaneswari.
Opulence of Vrindavan:
It is this sweetness that is the opulence of Vrindavan. And this madhurya Rasa of Vrindavan, it is completely beyond the jurisdiction of material limitations. There are five Rasas-primary Rasas and seven secondary Rasas. The five primary Rasas are –
1. Santarasa– which means that of neutrality.
2. Dasya rasa– that of servitor ship.
3. Sakhya rasa– that of equals or friendship.
4. Vatsalya rasa– that of the superior parent.
5. Madhurya rasa– that of conjugal lover.
In the other Vaikuntha planets and in the other incarnations of Lord Sri Krishna, we find santa rasa and dasya rasa and we find semblances sometimes of sakya rasa and vatsalya rasa but they are not pure like in Vrindavan. For instance, Kausalya and Dasaratha, they certainly had a vatsalya rasa relationship with Sri Rama. They are parents. But still they are thinking Rama to be the great king. Even from his birth, they were seeing Him as the great powerful, majestic prince. Therefore, there was reverence, there was this bhava aishwaraya and therefore, according to the standards of Vrindavan, that vatsalya rasa was not completely free and pure. Mother Yashoda and Nanda Maharaja, they had no conception that Krishna was great. They simply loved him as a parent. Similarly, Lakshmana and Bharata, they certainly had some sense of Sakhya rasa with Rama. But there was always with amount of great respect and reverence for his majestic existence. But the gopas, they didn’t consider Krishna was great person. They just loved him because he was Krishna, unconditionally.So therefore in Vrindavan, all the five primary rasas are integrated with the mood of Madhurya rasa. This feeling of conjugal love permeates all the rasas of Vraja Bhumi. And therefore it is Madhuraya Dham. It is the abode of the ultimate full manifestation of the sweetness of Bhakti. And Srimati Radha Rani, she is the Bhakti Rupa. She is the source of the personification from whom all this madhurya bhakti is emanating and therefore she is Vrindavaneswari. She is the queen of Vrindavan. But she is not queen like Lakshmi, as the queen of Vaikuntha. Lakshmi being queen of Vaikunta means she sits on the throne and everyone recognizes that you are our master. But in the supreme original form of Lakshmi, in the form of Sri Radhika, she is the queen of Vrindavan in the sense, that by her infinite love for Shyamsundara and the sweetness of that love, the whole Vraj bhumi is simply permeated and completely influenced by that love. Ultimately, everyone is serving Krishna according to their rasa under the divine potency of Sri Radharani’s love- Madhurya dham.
Madhurya Power- the Power of Gopi’s Love:
Krishna and Sri Radharani, when they appeared on this earth, they brought the Madhurya Rasa of Goloka along with them, simply to attract the mind of all creation to the original pleasure of divine love. Therefore for a devotee who has the blessings of the previous acaryas, they do not in even for a second doubt the inconceivable pastimes of Vrindavan. But they accept with the faithful heart and relish the unlimited potency of Krishna’s love. The gopis, when they would close their eyes at the time of blinking which is necessary- You cannot help blinking. It is the nature of the eyes that every now and then they need moisture. So lord Brahma has created the eyes in such a way that they blink. How many times we blink a day? I am sure none of us even once a day noticed that you have blinked. I doubt, if anybody has, even scientist of all over their studies, they probably have never analyzed how many times a human blink their eyes every day. Because it is considered something that nobody ever notices, it is so insignificant. I am looking at all of you, every few seconds we are blinking. You do not even know you are blinking. I do not even know I am blinking. But we are blinking. The eyes are going like this. But it is such a fast time, you cannot even calculate what time, it is not a second. It is not even a fraction of a second. But the gopis, their love for Krishna was so deep and so pure, that every time they blinked their eyes, they would be completely devastated in the agony of separation from not seeing Krishna. And they would chastise Lord Brahma for being a useless creator, that why he created eyes that blinked, that interfered with us beholding in the infinite beauty of Shyamsundara. This is the power of the Gopi’s love. This is super power. This is madhurya power. Not aishwarya power, but the power of love. And Krishna, who is within the heart of each gopi, He is giving them this divine realization.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained in the mood of the gopis.
“yugäyitaà nimeñeëa
cakñuñä prävåñäyitam
çünyäyitaà jagat sarvaà
govinda-viraheëa me”
(CC Antya 20.39)
That bereft of the side of Govinda even a moment, seems like twelve years or more and during that moment, the whole universe appears like really void, bereft of the sight of Govinda.
So Krishna, He could make a moment, twelve years or more to increase the Gopi’s feelings of love.
Vipralamba – Love in Separation:
There are two principal forms in which Krishna performs his loving Lila with his devotees, Sambhoga and Vipralamba, in meeting and in separation. So here, when the gopis would blink their eyes, Krishna would increase their love in separation by making that blink seem like years and years and years of not seeing Krishna. He condenses years into one blink to increase their love in separation.
“çünyäyitaà jagat sarvaà
govinda-viraheëa me”
(CC_Antya_20.39)
Here, the gopis are meeting with Krishna. After separation, they are meeting during rasa dance and Krishna wants to increase the ecstasy not only of their separation of their meeting, so by his inconceivable potency they had one night to enjoy with Krishna. Krishna plan to send them home the next morning. So Krishna condensed an entire night of Brahma, billions of years into that twelve hours. Just so, the Vraja Gopis could enjoy the ecstasy of their bhava of love with Krishna to their hearts content.
Well, Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur is explaining here, that when it was the time of dawn was approaching, the sun was about to rise, Krishna, who is Vasudeva, the presiding deity of everyone’s consciousness, He told the Gopis that whatever our lila may be, you must keep it secret. No one is to know. And then, He invested within their hearts, a feeling of embarrassment and fear that we have been out all night long and our fathers, and our elder brothers, and some of our husbands, they will be very much angry with us. May be we should go home. And therefore, when Krishna told them that you must go home. They all graciously complied with His orders.
Vrajvasis-Highest Quality of Love for Krishna:
In the loving pastimes of Sri Krishna from within and without, Krishna is making every possible arrangement, simply to satisfy his devotees. And His devotees from within and without are making every possible arrangement to satisfy Krishna. Each devotee, the gopis, when they were asked for the dust of their feet to put on Krishna’s head, to relieve Him of that headache, they immediately began to scrap the dust from their feet. They were asked- why? Do you not know that even the demigods, they would not dare to put the dust of their feet on Krishna’s head? Even the greatest Rishis and yogis, knowing that to commit this offence, you will go to hell. The gopis’ reply was, “We know that Krishna’s headache will not last very long, whether we put the dust of our feet on his head or not. But if, by putting the dust of our feet on Krishna’s head relieves His headache even for a second, we are willing to go to hell for the rest of eternity, just to give Krishna one second of pleasure”. This is the quality of the love of the Vrajvasis, that from within and without, their whole life is simply dedicated to assisting the wonderful pleasurable pastimes between Radha and Krishna.
Radha and Krishna’s Arrangements- For the Pleasure of Their Devotees:
Krishna and Sri Radharani, their lila is to orchestrate everything within the spiritual world to make every possible arrangement from within the heart of the devotees to all of the external arrangements, simply to increase the pleasure of His devotees. And there is a great competition Radha, Krishna and all of their divine servants of Vraj Bhumi. They are always competing who can give more pleasure to the other. We read the story of Srila Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. Sanatana Goswami was Rupa Goswami’s guru. He was his elder brother. And when it was Sanatana’s birthday – appearance day and Rupa Goswami was thinking, “I should make some special offering for the pleasure of my guru dev. But what do I have? I wish I could make some nice feast for my gurudev”. So he was thinking like this. Where do the thoughts arise? It is by the grace of Sri Radha and Krishna that all these thoughts of love come into our heart and just as he was thinking like that, a small beautiful little cowherd girl, little village girl came with nice pots and said that, “I have heard that it is your gurudev’s appearance day today? So here is some nice Khir (sweet rice) that I have made. Please offer to your gurudev.”
Rupa Goswami, he went and offered this wonderful pot of Khir to Sanatan and they drink it together. And as they drink it, they are utterly engrossed in ecstatic feelings of love. They were crying. Their hairs were standing on end. They were rolling in the ground. They could not understand, what is this? Sanatana said, “What type of bhakti, did you put into this Khir? Where did you get it? You are a poor beggar. You are doing madhukar? Nobody in Vrindavan gives you things like this, that the most you get are some rotis”. He said, “a little village girl came and gave me this pot of Khir to offer you.” Sanatana became very suspicious. “What little girl is this? Describe, what did she look like? What did she say?” When Rupa Goswami explained the characteristics of this little village girl, Sanatana became very angry at Rupa Goswami. He said, “that was Sri Radharani. You have accepted service from Sri Radharani. This is a great offence. We are the servants. Our position is to sacrifice everything to assist her in her loving service to Sri Krishna. That we have transgressed all the principles of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings, by accepting service from Srimati Radharani”. When Rupa Goswami heard that he accepted service from Sri Radhika and he began to weep and cry. They were both crying in shame. But of course in this spiritual consciousness, shame, embarrassment, fear it is all different varities of Ananda Vrindavan of divine ecstasy. It is all created simply for the pleasurable bhava of the devotees.
Supreme Destination of the Soul:
So in this way we see, in this beautiful story of Rupa and Sanatan, how there is always the competition between Thakurji and his devotees. Sri Radharani and Shyamsundar, they are always (inaudible) This consciousness, this abode is the supreme goal and supreme destination of the soul. And by very sincerely, with great great humility following the regulative principles of Krishna Consciousness, by hearing the glories of Lord, by chanting his holy names, with the strict vow of discipline, by becoming the servant of the servant, the obedient servant of the spiritual master and his servants, we can achieve the grace of Krishna and be given entrance into this wonderful lila. They cannot be taken cheaply. We cannot think that we can just go to Vrindavan and just enter into the ras of Krishna’s love affairs. Vrindavan is not such a cheap place. It is a place that is attained after total surrender to the Lord. By obediently performing great great sacrifices and taking all risks and doing hardships in the service of the spiritual master, by doing whatever he says and by chanting the holy name according to his direction and humbling one’s ego to serve all the servants of the Lord.
räga-dveña-vimuktais tu
viñayän indriyaiç caran
ätma-vaçyair vidheyätmä
prasädam adhigacchati
(BG_2.64)
Entering into the Raas of Vrindavan:
This is how we achieve the purity of consciousness which brings us closer to eligibility to enter into the raas of Vrindavan. Some less fortunate people, they think, what is the need of guru’s instructions- it is hardship. It is disturbance to perform all these austerities. Better that, I just go to Vrindavan and just wander through the groves and do what I want, when I want, thinking of Krishna. Vraj Bhumi is not such a cheap place, that you can just buy a ticket and live there. There are people begging here in Bombay, there are people begging in Vrindavan. Certainly it is fortunate to be a beggar in Vrindavan. But a real beggar is a person who begs for service, not who just begs for rotis. We are begging for the service to please the Lord. We do not go to Vrindavan to enjoy Vrindavan. We go to Vrindavan to be enjoyed by Radha and Krishna and until we are in a completely purified transcendental state of consciousness, the only way to be enjoyed by Radha and Krishna is to be enjoyed by the spiritual master, who is their divine representative.
Service of the Spiritual Master:
To approach Radharani and Sri Krishna’s lila directly is impossible for a conditioned soul. Only liberated souls can enter directly into that arena of love. Therefore it is said –
“yasya prasädäd bhagavat-prasädo
yasyäprasädän na gatiù kuto ‘pi”
But, by pleasing one’s guru dev, one pleases Krishna. Those who are born in Vrindavan are Vrajavasis. Our guru maharaja said, “They may not need even a guru, they are directly with Krishna”. But those who are not, they should not try to imitate. They should not be bogus babas, imitating Raghunath Das, Rupa and Sanatana Goswami but still material desires are contaminating one’s heart. Better to be honest. You have to be what your guru wants you to be, you have to serve him.
If he wants you in Bombay cleaning toilets, that is the path to Vraja for you. That obedient service will attract the mercy of Krishna in your life. It will give you a real true tangible understanding of Vraja Bhumi. Within our own prestige that I am a great saint, I am a great saddhu, I am performing so much tapasya, I am chanting so many lakhs of names of God everyday. This is not our aspiration. Krishna is not impressed whether you chant one, two, three, four, five or ten lakhs of names of a day. Nor is he impressed, whether you eat one roti or whether you eat one grain of salt a day. He is not impressed whether you sleep on the ground, or you take cold baths. Mystic yogis can also perform these types of tapasyas. Only things that impresses Krishna is the humility of the heart to be willing to be the servant of the servant of the servants. When it is the order of the gurudev that you chant this many names everyday minimum and in a spirit of humility and service and follow that direction and chant, that is pleasing to Krishna.
If the guru wants you in Vrindavan, you live in Vrindavan and you serve him according to his direction, if he wants you in Hrisikesh, he wants you in Bombay, he wants you in America, You should know that Vrindavan will be revealed to the heart of the person who is surrendered with humility. But if we think, I do not need guru, I know myself what is good or my guru does not know what is best. Then where is our humility and we are simply proud. That proud heart, even if you are living right at Sevakunj, if your heart is proud, you will see trees and you will see monkeys. But you will not see the abode of Krishna. “premäïjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena” no doubt that there is not external and internal Vrindavan.
Vrindavan Dham- Supremely Inconceivable Power Of Krishna:
Vrindavana is the divine abode of the Lord, but you cannot perceive it, unless Sri Radharani and Lord Sri Krishna reveal it to you and it is only revealed as Panditji was explaining yesterday, to one who is adopted the mood,
“tåëäd api sunécena
taror iva sahiñëunä
amäninä mänadena
kértanéyaù sadä hariù”
(CC_Antya_6.239)
This is the process where we give dignity and value to Vrindavana Dham and to the path of Bhakti. We should not take it cheaply, we should not take it whimsically. We should approach at the beginning with great care and attention and respect. And then, although it may be a gradual process, it is a process where step by step, we are making progress in the path to Vraja. Vrajabhumi, that is why it is a very inconceivable supreme power of Krishna- Is exclusively being enacted to give the highest pleasure and ecstasy to everyone.
Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna.
