bhogaiçvarya-prasaktänäà

tayäpahåta-cetasäm

vyavasäyätmikä buddhiù

samädhau na vidhéyate

(BG 2.44)

Translation:

In the minds of those who are too attached to material opulence and sense gratification, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Lord cannot take place.

Why do we come together on beautiful evenings like this? In this world there are so many different types of parties and festivals where people come together for entertainment, enjoyment, or for some sort of meetings, conferences, etc. by which they can plan out future sense gratification in the form of such parties. So in this world the spell of maya is alluring everybody individually as well as collectively simply to seek out material opulence and sense enjoyment. When the devotees of the Lord come meet they don’t have that same purpose. They come together for one purpose alone FOR PURIFICATION. The purpose of this human form of life is purification. “janma murtyu jara vyadi dukh doshanu darshanam”. Krishna explains that a wise man knows that the real problems are birth, old age, disease and death and what the cause of it is. “Na jayate mriyate va kadacin, nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah, ajo nityah shashavato ‘yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sharire (B.G.2.20)”. For the soul there neither is birth nor is there death. The soul is unborn, undying and primeval. “Na hanyate hanyamane sarire”, it is not slain when the body is slain. So what is death? Death is a great illusion which causes us to forget the realty of our true existence as the eternal soul. “Mam eva vamsho jiva loke jiva bhute sanatanah, mann sthani indryani ….”,throughout our life we simply struggle very hard in this material world to always try and avoid birth, old age, disease and death; but this is  unavoidable.

Even the most powerful, most wealthy person cannot escape through all these endeavors. We see that everyone ultimately is embarrassed and humiliated by the material energy. People are very attached to their false pride but through material nature Krishna brings everyone down to their knees. Krishna shows everyone who is supreme and who is subordinate in due course of time. Yet we are very much inclined to clinging to our own opinions, to our own ideas, to our own pride and prestige. Today people come together in the name of religion also for some prestige. Sometimes there are inter faith conferences in the name of God, and big Gurus and politicians come and they are on television and they have garlands put on them, they get their pictures taken with famous people, they give talks and they leave. They don’t want to hear anybody else. They come for their prestige. In the western world and perhaps in India too when people go to out, everyone is looking who has the nicest clothes, which lady has the nicest wardrobe, which women has the most colorful sari and the one that has the nicest, everyone tells her how nice her dress is, how elegant she looks etc, and the lady starts thinking everyone is attracted to her, but little does she know that even though externally they are praising her, but internally they are burning with envy, they hate her. “This nonsense wretched women, she is wearing the sari that I should be wearing, let her die”- That is what others think inside. That is material life. But when the devotees come together they simply come together for purification. They know that this pride, this desire for prestige, this desire to enjoy material opulence, to be entertained for the pleasure of our senses, it is all the very root cause of death, bondage and illusion. So we singularly come together for the purpose of purifying ourselves of these anarthas.

Need for Purification:

“Anartha nivriti sahah. Sarvasya chaham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedanta krd veda vid eva caham, (B.G. 15.15)” Krishna is situated in the heart of every living being, he knows our every desire, he knows our ulterior motives, we cannot cheat him. If we truly come together for the purpose of purification, then Krishna will make all arrangements for our purification. It means to strip away all of those diseased elements within our heart that we have attached ourselves to throughout our life. But at the same time Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu out of infinite causeless mercy he has made it joyful. We come together to chant the holy name of the Lord to dance in the kirtan of the holy name, to hear the subject matter of Krishna Consciousness, to show our mutual love and respect for one another on the basis of helping to enthuse each other through this process of “shravan kirtanam vishnoh. Ananda buddih vardanam partipadam punya mirta svadanam”. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has made this painful experience of purification very much joyful. When Lord Sri Krishna sees that we are joyful in this way he will make all arrangements to help whatever is necessary to purify our minds and our hearts. Krishna knows the past, present and the future. In Gita Krishna says, “vedaham samatitani vartamanani carajuna bhavisyani ca bhautani mam tu veda na kascana (B.G.7.26”). He says that I know everything that has happened in the past, I know all things that are happening now and I know all the things that are yet to come.

I know every living being thoroughly but no one can know me in full. So Krishna makes arrangements according to how we approach him. So we have all come together for one purpose and one purpose alone for purification. We come together to invoke the divine presence of the Lord in the most magnificent and powerful of all forms, the chanting of his holy name, naam-sankirtan. ************And Krishna how gloriously he is reciprocating. How he is making his presence known tonight for the purpose of our purification and I will tell you how we can understand this. We chant the holy name asking Krishna come to purify us. What does Krishna say in the Bhagvad Gita, of purifiers I am the wind. What ignorant person thinks this is just the climatic condition of Bombay. You may say that oh it is windy for several days, Krishna knew that on this night in honour of Chaitanya Chandra’s return to Bombay, in honour of these three wonderful New Vrindavan devotees Remuna, Tilakini and Jennifer that we would have this wonderful programme that we would all be chanting the holy names. So Krishna wanted to prepare the scene so that we could get the maximum purification. As the purifiers I am the wind, he came, he incarnated to purify us, so we should be very grateful, we should feel this beautiful, wonderful wind as Krishna himself coming to purify our lives.

You see even to invoke the mercy of the Lord you should be prepared for anything. Krishna’s name is Hari that means, he steals away all our bad qualities and how does he do it. Recently I heard someone saying that whenever I am around you Hare Krishna devotees, everything goes wrong. Trains are late, planes are late, cars break down, when I am with anywhere else with anyone else everything is alright, I am on time. I have to examine what is happening. This is evidence that Krishna is most manifested in this movement. Because Hari means one who steals away all your attachments to your worldly endeavours. You see what is the grand illusion of the world. Krishna says in the Bhagvad gita, ahankara vimudatma kartaham iti manayate (B.G.3.27), we want to be the controllers, we want everything to go my way. when I want the plane to leave, it must leave, I am the controller, I am the Lord, when want this train to leave it must leave, when I want people to do as I say, they must do it as I say. But when you chant the holy name of Krishna, be prepared my friend everything would go wrong. Because in order to purify your heart Krishna must whip it from the core of your heart, this demoniac propensity to Lord it over material nature.

To accept that I am not the controller, I am simply the grateful recipient of Lord’s mercy. I am always sub ordinate to him, nityo nitya naam, chetanas chetana naam….There is one supreme internal Krishna, Narayana, om tad vishna paramam ……, and all others infinite living beings, jiva-atlas are subordinate to him eternally, that is our constitutional position. We are not controllers we are not doers, we are simply the humble servants of the Lord and to purify our hearts Lord Hari has to steal away all of these misconceptions. He must have to steal away all of these illusions and make us simply content, satisfied with whatever Krishna wants, isn’t that the position of a good servant. Does a good servant ever demand of the master. The good servant simply says, my dear master, my dear Lord whatever you like I am here to assist, whatever makes you happy heaven or hell that is not my concern. So this tendency to Lord it over the material nature, to Lord it over other living beings, must be purified from our heart and therefore Krishna takes great pleasure and actually he has lots of fun to dismantle all of our plans. Just to show who is who, what is what, the truth and when we are willing to surrender with a grateful and thankful heart, in any situation then and then only we will see Krishna.

We can go to the temple and see the form of the Lord but Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur used to say do not try to see Krishna, but try to render humble service to Krishna in such a way that he comes to see you. Tat te ‘nukampam su samiksamano bhunjana evatma- krtam vipakam hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te jiveta yo mukti-pade sa daya-bhak (S.B. 10.14.8) Lord Brahma prays that my dear Lord when one is put in the most painful suffering condition and in that condition does not complain does not criticise but with folded hands says my dear Lord thank you very much I deserve so much worse all the sins I have done through so many innumerable births you are so kindly giving me a little portion, just to purify my heart, thank you my Lord. Such a person who has that consciousness in that situation liberation is his rightful claim. So a devotee is not particular about what kind of mercy he receives from Krishna, after all a servant is grateful for anything. We must have faith in the words of Bhagwan. Bhoktaram yajna tapasam, sarva loka maheshwaram, suhrdam sarva bhutanam janva mam santim rcchati (B.G.5.29), means that Krishna is the best well wishing, loving friend of all living beings. Serveshishwara, ishwara param Krishna sad cid ananada vigraha, anadir adir Govind sarva karna karanam.

He is the Supreme controller not a blade of grass can move without his sanction, so how much a devotee is conscious of the mercy of  Lord in every situation of life and of course we benefit or we degrade ourselves simply how we are willing to receive the mercy of the Lord as it is coming. Maharaja Chitraketu when he was cursed to go to hell he was happy, thank you my Lord, thank you goddess Parvati, everything you said about me was not correct. I was misjudged, I was misunderstood, but I am not blaming you because nothing happens by chance. It is all God’s arrangement. You think I criticised your husband, actually I was glorifying him, but you just didn’t understand but now you have cursed me to go to hell and become a demon thank you very much. Now with your permission give me this great fortune of going to hell and becoming a demon. It is the will of Lord and when Lord Shankar saw this he was very happy. Narayana parah sarve na kutashcana bibhyati svarga apavarga narakesv api tulyartha darshinah (S.B.6.17.28).

Lord Shiva said to Paravati look at these devotees of Lord Narayana they are so unmotivated in their loving desire to please the Lord, that for them whether they are in heaven, whether they are in hell, whether they are liberated, whether they are in Vaikhunta, it makes no difference to them, they simply want to think of the Lord, chant his names and please him. That is peace. If we have this faith that Krishna is truly our friend and well wisher then factually we can always be at peace. Not only in peace but ananda, we can be in great ecstasy. And this is the real nature of the consciousness of every living being and to bring about this consciousness the Supreme purifier Lord Hari comes to our rescue. After all who has the nerve to think that he can purify or she can purify themselves. This is another form of contamination, maya is so tricky she is so clever, she is so thorough and complete in keeping the living entity in bondage, that even when you try to purify yourself, the process of purification becomes the cause of bondage. Because we become proud. Just see I am a very advanced devotee I have given up so many attachments, I am kind to everyone, I am a great soul and I am going to purify myself.

I am going do puja, I am going to do japa, I am going to purify myself, this is another trapping of ego, ahankar, Krishna is pavitra, om apavitrah, pavitro va, sarvavastham gato’pi va, yah smaret pundarikaksham sa bahyabhyantarah suchi, sri visnoh, sri visnoh, sri visnoh, one who remembers the beautiful personality of Godhead he is purified from within and without that purification takes place by the mercy of pavitra, pavitra is the name of Krishna, which means the supreme pure, by associating with the supreme pure, we become purified by the mercy of who we are associating with it has nothing to do with us. The common example but we really understand what it means when you take an iron rod and put it in fire. It takes on all the qualities of fire, becomes red hot, is it by the power of the rod, that it becomes red and hot?, it is exclusively by the power of fire, that rod cannot make itself red and hot only by the grace and mercy of fire that it becomes red and hot. We can never purify ourselves to know this exalted position of knowing Lord. But if we simply like that iron rod allow  ourselves to just remain with Krishna, in that association with Krishna we become purified, by the mercy of Krishna, pavitra.

Simply by associating with the all pure, by the mercy of the all pure, raga dvesha vimuktais tu visyan indriyaish caran atma vashyair vidheyatma prasadam adhigacchati, Krishna explains that one who follows these regulative principles  in the path of bhakti, sadhana, he obtains the complete mercy of the Lord and by that mercy alone he becomes purified. And what is the external manifestation and internal realisation of that purification, one becomes detached, one hankers for nothing and laments for nothing. Na sochati, na kanshati. One becomes attached to Krishna. So really when we come together, we are simply come together to invoke the divine purifying presence of the Lord. Krishna explains to Narada Muni, tatra tisthami Narada , yatra gayanti mad bhakta, you have all heard that wherever my devotees are gathered together to chant my holy name, I make myself present in that place. Kali kale naam rupe Krishna avatar, that in this age of Kali yuga, mandah sumandamatayao mandabhagya hi upadrutah (S.B.1.1.10) which in an ocean of faults. There is one benediction that Krishna has incarnated in the sound of his name. During the time of Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu there was a devotee his name was Murari Gupta and he was a classmate of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

When they were young children and one of the most intimate childhood friends of the Lord when he was displaying lila as Nimai Pandita and by the grace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Murari Gupta who is said in the Gaurganodesa Dipika to be the incarnation of Hanumanji, he witnessed the Lord’s wonderful, wonderful activities and heard his divine teachings through all the transformations within Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s lila and Murari Gupta he took notes, he kept a thorough diary of the Lord’s pastimes and complied a book and he name it Chaitanya Charitaamrita, and Damodar Pandita who was a very very intimate associate of the Lord, he was also very very dear devotee friends with Murari Gupta, so together the two of them, very very thoroughly studied, analysed and complied the life of Lord Gauranga, as they were seeing it day by day. Unfortunately this Chaitanya Charitamrita by Murari Gupta is no longer visible on earth. But what happened is there was a very very sincere empowered devotee his name was Lochanadas Thakur and Lochan das Thakur from his very birth he was a very devoted servant of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and he would hear the wonderful pastimes of the Lord, he came to a place I think it was Katwa there he met Narhari Sarkar Thakur and he accepted him as his spiritual master and accepted the mantra diksha from him and this Narhari was also a personal associate of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Damodar Pandit would regularly come to visit and between Narhari and Damodar Pandit they were constantly explaining the pastimes of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to Lochan das as they had personally witnessed and they were constantly describing the diary of shri Murari Gupta.

So in this way Lochan das Thakur was very very thoroughly revealed the intimate lila of the Lord. And of course Vrndavan das Thakur who is an incarnation of the Srila Veda Vyas he wrote the Chaitanya Bhagvat just after the disappearance of Lord Chaitanya and Lochan das Thakur was the next biographer. He was thinking that Vrndavan das Thakur who is an incarnation of Sri Vedavyas himself he has explained the divine lila of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in such wonderful way for the purification of the all the world, but there are certain parts that he elaborated and many parts that he was very concise and very brief. So he wanted to expand on that and so he wrote a book that was called the Chaitanya Mangala. Vrndavan das Thakur’s book was also called the Chaitanya Mangala. This was an elaboration. But later on Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami who the acharyas accepted as the incarnation of Sukadev Goswami he accepted that Vrndavan das Thakur who is non other than Vedavyas who wrote the Bhagvatam for Lord Krishna, this was the Bhagvatam for Lord Chaitanya. Namo maha vadanyaya krishna prema pradayete, te krishnaya krishna chaitanya namine gaura tivse namah, that Lord Chaitanya and Lord Krishna are the same identical personality. So the bhagvatam for Shri Krishna is Srimad Bhagvatam and so therefore Lochan das Thakur as well as Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami were thinking, that since the same Vyasdev wrote the Chaitanya Mangal, it is the Bhagvat for Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and so renamed this book as Chaitanya Bhagvat. Just to make clear the authority of this great scripture. So Lochan das Thakur explains in the beginning of Shri Chaitanya Mangal, how there was a narration by Jaimini Rishi it was called as the Jaimini Mahabharata, this is a great literature and in this he is describing how Narada Muni at the end of the Dwaparyuga, he could see the degradation of Kali coming in. Krishna was still on earth living in Dwarka in his 16108 palaces. And Narada was thinking that I know very soon, Bhagvan Vasudev Shri Krishna is going to leave this world and then Kaliyuga is going to come in.