Radhanath Swami: I am very grateful for this opportunity to be among all of you in this very holy abode, Srila Prabhupad’s office the temple of Shri Shri Radha Rasbihariji. My special gratitude to Brajhari prabhu for inviting me today, Bhaktrupa prabhu for tolerating my existence and with us today, and everyone. We are reading from canto four from Shrimad Bhagvatam, chapter 23, entitled “Maharaj Prithu’s going back home”, text 27. In this particular verse, we are hearing the words of the wives of the demigods as they are personally witnessing Prithu Maharaj and Arci his wife ascending to the spiritual world Vaikuntha. Both Prithu Maharaj and Arci lived extraordinary exemplary life, how they appeared in this world is very instructive and echoes one of the consistent and primary teachings on the path of bhakti.
Radhanath Swami on Bad qualities of king Vena
How something great can emerge from something horrible if we know the science of seeing the opportunity and extracting it. King Vena was the one of the worst king of the history from every perspectives, he was selfish, egoistic and sinful. It wasn’t about the citizens, it was about him. He had great power and control and he would do anything, say anything for that purpose only. How he exploited people, how he corrupted the very culture. The king is suppose to be the representative of the God and sees everything as the property of the God, including all of the citizens and is a humble caretaker, this was the way Ambarish, Rantidev, Ramchandra, Yudishthir, Parikshit, Vrishabhdev, all the great kings of history. It wasn’t about them being the masater of the post “sarva lok maheshvaram” Krishna says in Bhagavat Gita that everything is my property. So the king’s first and foremost duty is to protect the earth and all of his citizens according to the will of Krishna and give everyone the opportunity to perfect their lives. But Vena did just the opposite; he was so envious of God that with his political and his military forces he outlawed any brahamans to perform any type of yagya that was not specifically and exclusively for him. Worship me. The king is the representative of the God, I am the king therefore whatever you want to do for God or anyone else you just do it through me because I am the one and anyone who deviates will be punished. This is how he twisted the philosophy.
Radhanath Swami on Proper mood of a King/Guru/Leader
Srila Prabhupad explained- the guru, the king, they are the representatives of the God that means they are the humble servants and they don’t accept anything for themselves, whatever is offered is the property of the God. Prabhupad didn’t name the movement- “The A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami society” or “The international society for A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Consciousness”. It’s the “Krishna consciousness”, as the representative of God, he was teaching us how to know God, how to love god- Krishna. In the story of Dhruv maharaj, Prabhupad even.. So humble, he was saying like Dhruva’s mother I am hoping even my disciples’ help me to go back to Godhead, this is his humility. Another words he wasn’t saying I am God, I am the representative of the God that means a humble servant of God, the messenger of the God, the servant of the servant of the Lord. Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was God but as a devotee in a role “Gopé-bhartuù pada-kamalayor däsa-däsänudäsaù“. He proclaimed to be the servant of the servant of the servant, this is the way every great king, every great guru, every great leader has lived.
Manipulation of Philosophy by king Vena
But Vena, extremely intelligent, he took a good philosophy and he completely manipulated it to satisfy his own ego purposes. I am the representative of the God therefore I am your God, you surrender unto me, you abandon all varieties of religion and you surrender unto me, that’s what he was saying. And in this way he was taking everyone away from the path of Dharma, so he created havoc, ignorance, he was cruel. The word Vena basically describes his quality of cruelty. He wasn’t protecting the citizens; he was cruelly exploiting the citizens for himself.
Death of Vena and the Birth of Prithu Maharaj
So the brahamans, who are outlawed to do anything according to the principles of dharma, they chanted some mantras and ended his life. So here is this very sinful king, but now there was a problem, there was no king and therefore the secondary thieves under him, they started blundering everything and there was no way to discipline them, so they had to have a king. And those days it was a very sacred thing that the king was a descendant…Dhruva, Uttanpad, so many all these were all in this line, so they wanted to preserve the line. So they churned by a mystical yogic process, they churned the body of Vena through mantra and from that ugly, dark, cause of misery came Prithu and Arci, they took out all bad out of him and then the essence came and they became one of the greatest, most compassionate loving kings of the history of the world. So these brahamans, they had spiritual vision and this could be applied to situations that we are all personally confront within the world.
Radhanath Swami on Proper mood for facing the difficult situations
When there is even crisis, difficulties within life, whether there is small or gigantic, Shrimad Bhagvatam says- with folded hands, have a grateful heart, accept that I deserve the worst and try to look for the opportunity to grow and to serve in that situation.
Examples from scriptures
In one lecture on Narsimha chaturdashi, Srila Prabhupad…I listen to the tape from time to time, it gives me hope. Prabhupad begins the lecture by saying- all glories to Sriman Hiranyakashyapu, because if it wasn’t for him we would not know who is Lord Narsimha dev. And if it wasn’t for the Ravana we wouldn’t have known Ramchandra, He came because the demigods were so desperate. And we know from Srimad Bhagvatam- the devas, the Rishis, the sages along with Lord Brahma they went to the ocean of milk beacuse mother earth was being plundered and exploited by the demons like Kamsa and Jarasandha and they prayed Krishna save us, Lord save us and Krishna appeared and where did He appeared, Vasudev and Dewaki they were in prison cell, in chains for years suffering since six of their children brutally killed in front of their eyes, it was the most horrible situation. But from that prison cell of Kamsa the supreme personality of Godhead appeared to deliver everyone to perform His most beautiful pastimes. Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Adwait prabhu, Shrivas, Haridas thakur, they saw the atheism spreading within this age of Kali like poison. People were so much addicted to materialistic, egoistic ways. Even brahamans and scholars had nothing about devotional service. Their hearts were paining. Seeing this impelled Shri Adwait prabhu to be crying out with tears of love- Krishna please come to this world, no one else can save us but you and it was 500 years ago. But Adwait Acharya could see the future too. And then the Lord, how did He appeared, apparently was the inauspicious time, the lunar eclipse when people go to the Ganga and drop all other activities and just cry out the names of Lord Hari even if they don’t believe in Hari because it was considered as very desperate time of inauspiciousness, it was then that the “parama karuëa, pahü dui jana”…” saba avatära, sära çiromaëi” the essence of all avatars, the most merciful Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared.
Examples from the life of Srila Prabhupad
So again and again we find in Srila Prabhupad’s life we appreciate and glorify Prabhupad so much because what he had to deal with. He didn’t get a first class seat on Air-India, he had a simple little bed in a cargo ship, 38 days crossing the Arabian sea, two continents and the Atlantic ocean. And at the beginning of his journey two heart-attacks , severe sea sickness, at the age of seventy. Then he came to America and after few weeks in Butler, Pennsylvania where nobody really cared anything for his message they just thought he was something entertaining, they never heard of a Swami in Pennsylvania and here he was among them. And then the Bowery where he was robbed, his life was threatened; he was in poverty, nobody back home in India wanted to help him. Either they just say we cannot help or they say come back home it’s impossible. From that situation Prabhupad emerged as world Acharaya. So Krishna repeatedly wants to teach us that this world is a place of difficulties, it is a place of inevitable obstacles, it is a place of crisis an tragedy. But we should never be discouraged. Because if we see the opportunity to serve Krishna in any condition, Krishna is 100 percent there. It’s just the matter of our consciousness.
Example of jesus
In Christian faith the most horrible thing that can ever happened was when Jesus was crucified, but that’s what makes Christianity so great, that’s why they keep it on the top of their churches and they wear cross on their bodies, that’s what spread the moment all over the world to be the largest religion on the planet. It’s the most horrible thing that could possibly happened. Because they promoted the essence of what it means. So we should learn individually and collectively that what may appear to be the setback has the potential to empower us to do something that could have never been done if it wasn’t for that setback. But we have to have this spiritual vision.
Radhanath Swami on Meaning of eternal servant
Srila Prabhupad taught us not to think in terms of mundane logic. Srila Prabhupad taught us Krishna consciousness, Krishna consciousness means to be conscious of the inherent presence of Krishna in everything and every situation. And “jivera svarupa hoey krishare nitya das” to understand we are the eternally the servants of Krishna, internally doesn’t mean simply….you know after we die for our more. It means in every situation today. Eternal means always it’s not just something in the future, it’s something of the present and the future. So eternally the servant of Krishna means in whatever situation, where there everything is being taken away from us or there were being smasahed in all directions or there were failing or whether we are in the Goloka Vrindavan dancing with the Gopas and the Gopis. Eternal servant means we are ready to serve Krishna and do what Krishna wants in whatever situation comes and if we do that we will find Krishna because He is in our hearts ready to reciprocate.
So here from the most horrible situation came the most wonderful benediction because the brahaman saw the opportunity even in darkness to bring light. Nobody likes the monsoons, but there is no life without them. We complain Oh! it’s raining so hard today, but it doesn’t rain we complain there is not enough rain, there is no water, no food, prices are going up. So the hardships of the monsoons are actually nourishing whole earth, so similarly the tapasyas, the difficulties we endure if we just keep our mind fixed on Krishna in a positive way, they nourish our bhakti and they provide wonderful opportunities. Devotees should never be discouraged; devotees should never give up, devotees should be happy with the opportunity to serve Krishna in this situation… what is that you want? How can I serve you?
Then through that transformation….when Chaitanya mahaprabhu cleaned the Gundicha temple, from the description in Shri Chailtanya Charitamrita sounds like it was pretty dirty before when He went in there, collecting mountains and mountains of dust and sand and straw pieces didn’t seem like it was being cleaned every day, it’s dirty place but Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made that cleaning into the most glorious festival not only the devotees enjoyed that festival of cleaning Gundicha that even 500 years later we are enjoying the festival just by reading about it, its wonderful.
Desperate need of Krishna Consciousness
So yes, our hearts are dirty places so we could be depressed about it. We have lust and envy and anger and pride and greed and illusion we could think- Oh! What am I supposed to do? I give up its just too much or we could say this is wonderful opportunity to really take shelter of the holy name, it s not just the matter of chatting as a ritual or chanting as the formality or I am chanting because I am suppose to, that’s there but beyond that we have a desperate need, we see lust and anger and envy and greed and pride and illusion showing their ugliness in our life and it impels us Krishna- I am in desperate need of your mercy and in this sense we don’t just say to vaishnavas- Hari bol! prabhu, but we realize the association of devotees is the desperate need in my life. Hearing Srimad Bhagvatam is not just an interesting book to read or a pious activity, it’s critical, like Parikhsit Maharaj, he was in rapt attention because he understood it was the critical need of his life, there is nothing more important. That is how we should hear Shrimad Bhagvatam. And we should cultivate that same sense of desperate urgency when we chant the holy names of the Lord.
Radhanath Swami on Kaliyuga-the best time for practicing “bhakti”
But for most of us it’s the reversals in the darked sides of life that impel us to actually take shelter of the Lord. That is why Srila Prabhupad said- that the great sages worship Kaliyuga as the best time. Its the age of quarrel and hypocrisy, it’s the age of darkness, where there is not much memory, there is not much pioty, there is not much ability to perform tapasya and people are so mislead, there are so many sins and so much corruption. But because of all these problems Krishna descends with its name “Kali kale nam rupe Krishna avatar” and not only you just chant the name but there is enough suffering everywhere around that people really have the opportunity in that situation for both seeing the darkness within and without, Krishna I need you and you are so kind ” Namnamkari bahuda nij sarva shakti” that you made yourself so available with a grateful heart let me take shelter of your names my Lord. Kaliyuga is the best time. Once in a day of Brahma, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in His original form of “Shri Krishna Chaitanya Radha-Krishna nahi anya” there is a yuga avtar every Kaliyuga that teaches nam-sankirtan is the yuga-dharma but only once in a day of Brahma, this Krishna comes to search for the sweetness of the love of Shri Radha to understand that love and to distribute it to the world. So yes, kaliyuga is so bad but Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu comes with this most merciful dispensation of the easiest process “Keval anand kand”, it’s a joyful process, we read in this chapter what Prithu Maharaj had to do to perfect his life will discuss that in a moment. But Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu just followed these simple regulative principles develop a nice service attitude, associate with the devotees and take shelter of the holy names. It’s the best time in a whole day of Brahama. “It’s the worst time”, “It’s the best time”, because the Lord appears in His most merciful way. So in this way devotees should always be encouraged with this faith and the absolute truth that every situation is a perfect opportunity to become perfect, if we just take shelter of Krishna and live and speak according to Srila Prabhupad and our acharyas had taught us.
Pride free nature of Prithu maharaj
Prithu maharaj came out of the body of Vena and everyone started glorifying him, Prithu maharaj he didn’t want anything glory for himself, he just wanted to serve, if glory comes he will used it in Krishna’s service if it doesn’t come it doesn’t matter, I serve unconditionally. So he told when they were all glorifying him, he said I haven’t done anything yet, I was just born. You shouldn’t glorify me until I do something. They had their horoscopes and everything they knew what happened but he told let me do something and what did he do? Chapters of Shrimad Bhagvatam how he protected the earth, how he protected the citizens. One of the great things he did. It is the example of pridelessness for the higher purpose, he was performing these hundred “Ashwamedh yagyas” and Indra had the world record, the universe record and he was attached to that and Prithu, he was about to break that record. So Indra was doing everything he possibly could to stop him, to protect his prestige, to protect his name being in history as the greatest of the sacrifice doers. So he was actually creating all source of irreligion throughout the universe in his repeated attempts he didn’t cared so much that he was misguiding other, he is polluting the environment and everything else because he was so focused on his prestige. But Prithu was so powerful that he actually defeated Indra, then Brahma came down and said- don’t do anymore sacrifices, let Indra has his world record, so Prithu said alright. He was doing it for the purpose of serving the great souls.
We may say we are doing something for Prabhupad but it may be mixed with doing it for me and the question is what if the great soul says not to do it are you attached to doing it? Even if it means you lose so much? That’s the test. So he was about break the record and go down in history and Brahma said- don’t do it. He didn’t debate with Brahma, what about this? What about this? Look at Indra why should he hold the record when he is such a nonsense person doing all these things. Prithu maharaj was just, I am here to serve, I was only trying to these yagyas for service and if it’s better service to not to do yagya I won’t do the yagya. And then Vishnu came down and praised Prithu and chastised Indra. And today in the Shrimad Bhagvatam Indra has the record. But what you do may impress people’s minds a little but actually impress people’s hearts is based on our character not that is based on our accomplishments. It is based on our character in which we do those accomplishments.
Srila Prabhupad’s character his compassion, his qualities of love is what went in our heart and then we see what accomplishments were, it goes to our hearts. There are cheating kinds of preachers of other religions and who have even more followers but does that impress our hearts? It’s Prabhupad’s character; accomplishments are great when they are built in the foundation of character, compassion, humility, devotion. So now we are sitting here millions of years later and we are all impressed by Indra, does great service, sometimes the Lord uses him to teach us lessons what we should be careful not to do and if Lord wants to use him then all we could do is offer obeisances. And besides that it was a different Indra then so we don’t have to worry about, this Indra getting angry with us. It’s the post, that changes. Today when we read this story, when we hear this story, it’s Prithu maharaj’s willingness to give-up his own fame and prestige for a higher purpose that impresses us hundreds and thousands of times more than Indra who holds the record.
Radhanath Swami on Qualities of Prithu Maharaj
So Prithu maharaj did so many wonderful things. There are beautiful verses glorifying him, he was so powerful and he was so learned but he used all his opulences in a spirit of compassion to all living beings and service to Krishna. His intellect is described equal to Brahaspati. He always was engaged in the loving devotional service to the Lord, always protecting his citizens. There was no poverty, he was young, he was beautiful, he had tremendous wealth, no one was envious of him because he was so philanthropic and charitable to everyone, Prabhupad in one purport explains that he did his philanthropic from his heart, not as a show. Many politicians, they do philanthropy as a show so that they can get popularity or other benefits. But he was “par duhk dukhi” , he was helping people because, Prabhupad quotes when you help someone you should feel if I was in that situation how would I want someone to help me. You are identifying, you see other people’s suffering is your own, you see other people’s happiness as your own and in this way he was ultimately by his own example and every aspect of his life, leading people in the path of pure devotional service. But in this chapter he describes, he was getting old so he just walked away. When we really read it, what kind of a great soul is this? From the day of his birth he is living in palaces with servants and all sorts of luxuries and now he is getting old he just walks out, he announces to his citizens I am leaving now, he puts someone else as the king and just went into the forest with nothing. And he wasn’t like going to check it out with the alternative of may be coming back for calling of some help, when he left it was for good and it wasn’t that he was that old.
Austerities of Prithu maharaj and Arici in the forest:
He couldn’t have done it if he was that old because the nature how he lived, he and his wife together they only eat roots and tree bark and whatever fruit they happened to just see on the trees. They wore tree bark as clothes, they slept on the ground, no bed and in the summer Prabhupad explains- like a yogi they light fire around them, blazing fires and then the sun overhead and sit in meditation and in the monsoons they don’t go under the tree for protection, they go right directly under the rain in meditation and in winter instead of wearing warm clothes, they go inside the river, its colder in river than outside, the outside is not cold enough for the Himalayan winter, they go underwater up to their necks. Have any one of you had gone to Gangotri or Gomukh and taken a bath? Please raise your hand. In Alaknanda and Badrinath you know how cold it is. I remember the first time I went to Badrinath and went to do my Gayatri mantra, it was the fastest Gayatri mantra my whole life. So cold. But Prithu maharaj was just going to the those rivers upto his neck in the winter time.. we went in May. He goes in the winter time, stays there throughout the day and night. At certain point he was just eating dry leaves and at another point he decided dry leaves were sense gratification and all he did is breath, he nourished himself by breathing. He was preparing himself for death but the amazing thing is that he was very enthusiastic about it, it wasn’t like, he was at the fag and there was life and someone took him on the wheelchair into the forest. If he was able to do all these tapasya that mean he was very energetic, he could have live much much longer. And ultimately he fixed his mind, everything all of his tapasyas were to fix his mind in devotional service to Krishna. He didn’t cared about the heavenly planets, he didn’t cared about the impersonal brahman, everyone of his austerities was throughout the description of tapasya in the Bhagvatam the word Bhakti is being used.
Radhanath Swami on Disappearance of Prithu maharaj and Arici
It was all for Krishna’s pleasure, no other purpose and he was so eager to go back to Godhead, we can understand by these principles that if he can do this kind of austerity, he could have live much longer but he couldn’t wait to go back to Godhead. No time for natural death for him, Prabhupad said he sat in “muktasan” and he raised his life airs and he raised his divine energies in the body through yogic process with the whole time his mind fixed on Krishna, so he could just end it quick. He raised, the shakti through the chakras between his eyebrows, fixed it on Krishna, surrendered his body, mind, words and soul to Krishna and then through the top of his head his soul left, he was sitting there and Arici was looking at him and her son was dead, so she made the funeral pier and joined them. And here we see that the demigods… people in this world are so interested in sense gratification and higher planets are were there is really sense gratification. This earthly existence sense gratification is mixed with so many complications and implications and sufferings, but they were looking down and they saw his body was in flames and they were looking up, Prithu maharaj’s and Arici’s original spiritual bodies were in an airplane going to Vaikuntha and they passed ride them, they even didn’t look in the direction of heavenly planets with all its luxuries. So for a devotee, we try to stay within this world as long as we can render nice service but from another level of devotee a devotee is looking forward to death because we can go back to Godhead.
Prithu maharaj was really looking forward to death, he was making so many wonderful arrangements for his death, he was preparing himself. Prabhupad quotes a Bengali proverb that “all you do in life and all that you accomplished with life, you will all be tested at the moment of death”
yaà yaà väpi smaran bhävaà
tyajaty ante kalevaram…
If you remember Krishna at death we attain Krishna. Whatever we remember we will attain that without fail. So Srila Prabhupad gives us so much encouragement, he says- living in a ___ is in the mode if ignorance, living in the city is the mode of passion, living in the forest is the mode of goodness. But today who can do what Prithu maharaj did in the forest, just live like that. And even the forests are not that good anymore.
Long ago I used to live in the forest and I used to hear airplanes going and I know a great yogi in the forest, he lived in a cave, he lived very much like Prithu maharaj and another yogi shot him dead with a gun because he thought he was becoming too popular. So in kaliyuga living in the forest is not necessarily the best way but Prabhupad says living in a temple of Vishnu or Krishna is Vaikuntha, it’s beyond material existence. Instead of eating dry leaves you can just eat mahaprasad, but not too much. Instead of being alone with animals and tigers, you can be with devotees, sometimes we may think they are like lions and tigers, but we have to see the essence in them, we have to not be so concern with the marks on the moon, they are the Vaishnavas, they are devotees, we come together, we chant the holy names, we read Shrimad Bhagvatam by fixing our mind on Krishna this way is more conducive and more powerful than trying to do it alone in the forest, it’s a spiritual world. Narottam das thakur prays “anand bolo hari bhaj vrindavan”, just chant “Hare Krishna” and worship Vrindavan. And wherever we are chanting “Hare Krishna” sincerely in a mood of devotional service, Vrindavan is manifesting. And the inevitable fate of death becomes the doors opening to the spiritual world if we are looking for Krishna, if we are seeking Krishna in our life “abhay-charanarvind re” then even death doesn’t cause us fear.
So the ladies of the heavenly planets, they are praying, they are marveling- “in this material world every human being has a short span of life (and this is satayuga and they are living in the heavenly planets in satayuga that means their life was millions of years, here if we can live till 80 then that’s a long life and usually when the people are pushing us on the wheelchair or something its very difficult. But here these ladies, beautiful, heavenly, millions of year old ladies are saying and they are not looking old. But they are talking about the human life very very short span.) but those who are engaged in devotional service go back home back to Godhead, for they are actually on the path of liberation for such persons there is nothing which is not available.”
This is the beauty of this verse in this particular section of the Shrimad Bhagvatam, these damsels of heaven are so impressed because Prithu maharaj and Arici are not the slightest bit concern with all the things that they were attached to. They are so attached to these things and they see all the things Indra does just to sustain these attachments. But here they see these people, they are totally indifferent. They can tell their Vaikuntha airship let’s stop at this rest area for some time of a heavenly planet, I always wanted to see what it looked like there in Indra’s abode. They had no concern whatsoever; their minds were fixed on Krishna. Rupa Goswami explains if you want to be attached to all these things of this world do not go to Keshi ghat where you will see the beautiful three fold bending form of Govindji playing his flute, once you see that form society, friendship, love, wealth, even heavenly abodes, even liberation becomes insignificant. “param trisvani vartate” Prithu maharaj’s mind was fixed in pure love for Krishna.
Radhanath Swami on Importance of Purushottam month
Today is the first day of the month of Purshottam, Purshottam is Krishna the supreme personality of Godhead. This month is a particular time that comes every few years where the Lord manifests himself, manifests special opportunities to reconnect with Him. Just like the month of Karthik is considered to be specially blessed by Shrimati Radharani to give devotion for any spiritual activities we perform during that month. Purshottam is a special month that the supreme personality of Godhead presides over and in this month very special opportunities, whatever devotional activities are sincerely performed, Krishna will give special reciprocation and special increased benefits, just to give us opportunities. If He made every month like that we wouldn’t take it seriously, actually in one sense every month is like that every moment is like that but Krishna gives special months where He gives special benedictions and special puranic stories, so we take some things serious and we take it may be more serious but actually whatever is here in Purshottam month that whatever is in Kartik month, if we are really serious at every moment anywhere we are in the world at anytime we can take shelter of Krishna.
Just like with Bhishma he waited for the auspicious time when the sun was entering in the northern hemisphere the Makar sankranti to pass away and in Bhagwat Gita there are different explanations of how yogis choose a particular time. Prabhupad says for a devotee, because they are always trying to remember Krishna because are always immersed in Krishna consciousness because they are intense to utilize every precious moment for Krishna’s service it doesn’t matter, Krishna is with them. So some people the ritualistic people, they engage in sins or impious activities or they may be pious but they are just lethargic about their spiritual activities and they wait till Kartik or Purshottam and then they are serious because there is special benediction. That’s good but better and best is when we understand every single moment Krishna, Purshottam is there for us. But to help us what we should be doing every moment, everyday, for our whole life intensely taking shelter of Krishna, trying to increase our sadhana, Krishna wants us to improve. We are not willing to do it every moment what He is instructing us “man-manä bhava mad-bhakto” always thinking of me not just during Purshottam masa.
Radhanath Swami on Benedictions in Purushottam Masa
But to get that intense urgency, such benedictions come as in the month of Purshottam which is actually a great benediction. There will be for anyone who sincerely take shelter of the Lord and follows the principles to attentively chant the holy names or increase the chanting of the holy names, there wil be special benediction. In Vrindavan there are many temples and their tradition is all the festivals of the whole year can be celebrated during Purshottam masa and its non-different than that day. So in one temple they just choose any day of Purshottam masa and say we are gonna celebrate Janmasahtami again and its considered to be the day of Janmasahtami, the deity and everything is right there and another day Radhaashtami and another day Govardhan pooja and another day Holi and another day Gaur purnima, another day Ram-navmi, another day Nityanand Trayodashi, they just have festivals everyday and is considered to be that day that’s the way many temples do because this month is so special to access and connect again to Krishna. So let us take advantage and focus and increase our sadhana and increase our awareness and increase our humility and most of all increase our service attitude, our enthusiasm to please Krishna and in this spirit chant the holy names from our hearts.
Srila Prabhupad ki…jai!
Thank you very very much.
Bhaktrupa prabhu would like to speak something? Brajhari prabhu…..?
It is time to end the class. I am very grateful for your kindness to let me serve you. Hare Krishna!
