HOW TO CELEBRATE HOLI!

I am sure you must have enjoyed the Gaur Purnima festival yesterday. Wherever you may have been, you must have taken part in Gaur Purnima festival. Are you happy? Enjoyed? Rest of the Indians and Hindus were enjoying Holi , throwing colours and using pichkaris. Hare Krishna devotees were enjoying Holi festival differently, by chanting and dancing. nama nace jiva nace nace premadhan. ( Harinama Cintamani) For the devotees, Harinama was dancing and Jiva was also dancing. You are dancing means that’s the sign that you are happy. Happy people dance. Sometimes mad people also dance, but we are also becoming mad by chanting and we dance.

This holy festival is a festival of Radha and Krsna or Gopis and Krsna or may be also of some cowherd boys. These days they play Holi, but people don’t have any clue that this is Radha Krsna’s pastimes. They forget Krsna. They forget Radha or they themselves become Radha and Krsna. So this is dharmasya glanir that Krsna talks about in Bhagavat Gita – declination of the religious principles. They keep Krsna and Radha out of the picture. They play Holi twithout Radha and Krsna. That is dharmasya glanir and abhyutthanam adharmasya. ( BG. 4.7) Lord appears to facilitate the rise in pure religion. So this pure spiritual activity holi is made into mundane play or mundane entertainment devoid of Radha and Krsna. My thought on Gaur Purnima day was that Radha and Krsna also play holi. They join together and they appeared together as Gauranga Mahaprabhu. sri krsna caitanya radha krsna nahi anya. Radha and Krsna appeared on Holi Purnima day and the day became Gaur Purnima. Then we could play holi every day. When the Lord appeared and krsna prema pradaya te. ( Gaur pranam mantra) He gave himself to us, take me. I also said yesterday , on the Gaur Purnima talk that it was the appearance of Gauranga. So many others came with a birthday gifts. Sita Thakurani had come from Santipur with lots of gifts. Lord received gifts on his birthday party and he also gave a gift. He was receiving some gifts and he was giving out the gift which he had brought from Goloka to everyone . That gift is

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Take it , have it. The Lord who plays, Radha and Krsna they play holi, on Holi day. , Krsna Caitanya gave us Radha and Krsna on that same holi day. Take Radha and Krsna. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was giving us Hare Krsna , Hare Krsna which means take Radha and Krsna. ‘Take Me and take My Radha. So in this ways we, Gaudiya Vaisnavas play holi differently by keeping Radha and Krsna in the centre. We chant the holy names and dance and we play holi. For us everyday is also Holi. Everyday we get the association of Radha and Krsna. So we are very grateful. What can we say? The Lord has given us the gift of the holy name. So we should be saying ‘ Thank you Krsna for this gift.’ We have no words to express our gratitude. This holy name is just his causeless mercy. Hari! Hari! Prabhupada has given this gift, Guru Maharaja has given us this gift. But first the Lord brought the gift. Prabhupada or any of the previous acaryas have not produced this gift. We are not the producer or creator. We heard of this amazing or out of this world kind of gift. This gift is like, before the battle of Kurukshetra, Lord was approached by Arjuna as well as Duryodhana. Lord gave his choice to both of them – one share will be My army – Narayani Sena and other was Myself – Dwarkadhish.’ Choose. Guess who received which share. Duryodhan was happy getting army of the Lord and Arjuna was happy to have Krsna on his side. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave us the gift. It’s not like you can take the gift and go away. Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave Himself , just like Arjuna received Krsna. He has given Himself to us. He has not given some item, but has given His whole self. purna mukta nitya suddha abhinnatvat nama namino. Lord who is full and complete that is the holy name. That was given to us by Gauranga yesterday as he made his appearance 533 years ago. If we could realise what is this gift or what is the value of this gift, that would be Krsna realisation or nama realisation then we would fully realise the holy name. This is Radha and Krsna. By chanting and chanting and chanting it will make us realise this holy name. Then we will realise this holy name is Krsna himself. So remember to think and thank the Lord for that.

Tomorrow during the japa session time I will be in the train from Nagpur to Nasik. Once I tried in the train and it had worked. So let’s see. Hopefully if the internet is favourable we will be able to connect. So see you tomorrow.
Hare Krsna!

YUGADHARMA – HARINAMA SANKIRTANA!

Hare Krishna to all the chanters. Today’s score is 390 participants. I was expecting a bigger number being Gaur Purnima. Around me about 100 devotees are chanting. Many other participants are with bigger groups. There are lots of messages about ‘Happy Gaur Purnima’. I also wish you Happy Gaur Purnima!! This wish for you to be happy is not only on Gaur Purnima , but every single day you could be happy by chanting Hare Krishna! Srila Prabhupad’s message to the whole world is ‘chant Hare Krishna and be happy. But it’s also said, there is no other way –

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha ( CC Adi 7.26)

There is no other way. Sri Krsna Caitanya also repeated this message in Varanasi to Prakashananda Saraswati. The whole was debate going on . Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu attempted to establish the glories of the holy name. No one is equal to him and no one is above him. That Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu also said harer nama harer namaiva kevalam. There is no other way. You shut up. That time Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu also said to Prakashanands Saraswati, ‘My Guru Maharaja said to me murkh tumi… ‘ You are the fool. You are not competent to study the vedas. You are just fit for chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. This is the age of Kali and you cannot study the Vedas. The sole purpose of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu who appeared today on Gaur Purnima day was to share the holy name, propagate the holy name all over the world. To establish this chanting of Hare Krishna is the dharma for the age of Kali. That Lord was in debate with Prakashananda Saraswati. He successfully established the glories of the holy name defeating everybody. He said

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge ( BG. 4.8)

To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.

I appear to establish Dharma in every age. This is the age of Kali and kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha. So religion for age of Kali is chanting of Hare Krishna. As he was talking to Prakashananda Saraswati, who had 60,000 disciples. I don’t know how many were present at that time. There must be thousands if not sixty-thousand. Caitanya Mahaprabhu further explained his personal experience, his realisations of the glories of the holy name. His realisations – self realisation, god realisation , holy name realisations. He shared that with Prakashananda Saraswati. He said –

mūrkha tumi, tomāra nāhika vedāntādhikāra
‘kṛṣṇa-mantra’ japa sadā, — ei mantra-sāra (CC Adi 7.72)

“ ‘You are a fool,’ he said. ‘You are not qualified to study Vedānta philosophy, and therefore You must always chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. This is the essence of all mantras, or Vedic hymns.

He said mūrkha tumi. You are fool. That means you are all fools, including myself. That’s the idea. In front of Guru you are fool. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘I received the holy name from my Guru Maharaja and I started chanting. He said as he started chanting the holy name, he had full realisation, Krsna realisation, Vrindavan dham realisation, nama, rupa ,guna ,dham, lila realisations. One thing he wanted to do immediately was to run to Vrindavan – from nama to dham. For us that takes a lot of time. We receive the holy name then bahu-janma. This part He has shared with Prakashananda Saraswati, that He returned chanting and chanting. ‘I returned to Nabadwip chanting and dancing, in a state of mind that all the people watching me saw my trembling body, shedding tears, singing, sometimes rolling on the ground, stunned and what not. So they all started calling me ‘Pagal pagal’!! He has gone mad. Massage him with some special oil. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘I went back to my Guru Maharaja and asked him ,

kibā mantra dilā, gosāñi, kibā tāra bala
japite japite mantra karila pāgala ( CC 1.7.81)

My dear lord, what kind of mantra have you given Me? I have become mad simply by chanting this mahā-mantra!

What kind of mantra have you given me Guru Maharaja ? What a powerful mantra. As I have been chanting,I have gone mad.

namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis ( Siksastakam verse 2)

This mantra has all the power, which mantra
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAM RAM HARE HARE

Bhaktivinoda Thakura has said in Harinama Cintamani – nama nace jiva nace nace premadhan. When there is chanting the holy name begins dancing. It means Radharani is dancing and Krsna is dancing. Jiva nace means jiva joins this dancing party. Nace premadhan means this wealth of the Harinama is also dances. The holy name is dancing. So when there is chanting everybody is dancing. Lord begins dancing and Chanting. Jiva – the chanter begins chanting and dancing. Of course this is the perfection, topmost evolution, full of devotion . When it is aroused, this is what happens nama nace jiva nace nace premadhan. One time Prabhupada said that the goal of life is to join the dancing party of Radha and Krsna. There are also comments of the acaryas, commenting on the holy name. They say when we chant the mahamantra and when we say Hare which is Radharani’s name then Krsna becomes very happy. Someone is chanting my Radha’s name and He begins dancing. He becomes jubilant. As the chanter chants Krsna then Radharani who is not far from Krsna exclaims, “Oh! Someone is chanting my Krsna’s name and She becomes very happy .

As we say Hare, Krishna begins dancing and as we say Krishna, Radha begins dancing. Then this is – nama nace . Nama nace – names and the forms are non-different. abhinnatvat nama namino. ( Padma Purana). As we chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna , the name is dancing, Radha Krishna are dancing and the living entity, Jiva also begins dancing seeing my Radha and Krsna dancing. Of course this is the perfect stage – nama siddhi. When we attain the perfection in chanting the holy names of the Lord then this is siddhi or perfection. We are sadhakas,not siddhas as of yet which could only be achieved by practice. Practice makes man perfect. So better chant everyday, all the time of the day. Then one day we will attain perfection. On this occasion of Gaur Purnima day, take your chanting seriously. Let your faith in holy name increase, because not to have faith in the holy name is an offense. My best wishes for you – May your faith increase day by day.

So we will stop here. I will be giving Gaur Purnima class at 8.00 am, if you have time and interest you can watch it on Facebook. Class will be in Hindi.

During the day we will be installing Ananta Sesa at our new temple project site. We will be praying and begging Lord Ananta Sesa to hold the whole project on his transcendental hoods.

Okay, we stop here. Hare Krishna!

IN SUCH A STATE OF MIND…..

At one point we had 404 participants. 84 years old Mokshada Mataji was the eldest devotee chanting with us. There were many young devotees from VOICE and BACE. So all young and old are joining the conference. They all are chanting with us. That us includes you all , me and why not? That us also includes Gauranga – Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We are chanting with Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We are chanting with Krsna or at least our goal is to chant with the Lord. Chant so that He makes His appearance, we feel His presence. We do Japa yoga and we establish our connection with the Lord so we pray that He gives us his association, as we chant. As He has promised

naham vasami vaikunthe yoginam hridaye na cha
mad-bhakta yatra gayanti tatra tishthami narada

Neither do I reside in Vaikuntha nor in the hearts of the Yogis, but I dwell where My devotees sing My name, Oh Narada !

Wherever My devotees are chanting, I am present there. That becomes My address. You will find Me where My devotees are chanting. So we are chanting and a promise is a promise. I am sure the Lord is keeping His promise. He said you just chant I will be there. We are confident He is keeping his promise and giving us His association. The Lord is more than a gentleman. It is a gentleman’s promise. Of course each one of us has to experience the presence of the Lord and that presence will depend upon the purity of our chanting or surrender unto the holy name, unto the Lord.

ye yatha mam prapadyante
tams tathaiva bhajamy aham
mama vartmanuvartante
manusyah partha sarvasah ( BG. 4.11)

As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.

Lord reciprocates to the degree of our surrender, and to that degree we will get association. Some get less , some get more. It’s up to you how much you are willing to surrender unto the Lord. So let’s keep chanting.

nama asraye kari jatan tumhi tako apan kaje

So let’s keep surrendering to the Lord. Let’s keep surrendering to the holy name of the Lord. That is what we practice every time we chant. We wanted to do that in the mood of surrender and mood of helplessness also. Help! Help! Aayi nandtanuj… that prayer is also there. My dear lord, you are the only refuge. In that prayer we beg to the lotus feet of the Lord to accept us and fix us at his lotus feet. Engage us in service of his lotus feet. In order to give us shelter, or to give us opportunity to surrender unto him Lord appeared 533 years ago. Gauranga appeared. Gaur Purnima is just one day from now. He kindly appeared.

Golokam ca parityajya lokanam trana-karanat kalau gauranga-rupena lila-lavanya-vigrahah.( Markandeya Purana)

This is the verdict of puranas. Lord left His Goloka behind and He appeared in this world to save us, to protect us, to give us relief from distress, from all sorts of miseries. It is said and it’s also true. Prior to His appearance in the evening as Nimai, the Lord appeared during the day yet in another form. That form is the holy name.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Caitanya Bhagavata describes that the Lord was kindly bringing many, many persons, conditioned souls on the banks of Ganges, bringing them to Dham. Some sinners were coming. Normally they are not in the mood to come to the dham or come to Ganga. On lunar eclipse the Lord kindly compelled them or kindly drag them. Changed their whole attitude, their consciousness and they were all running. They were all practically running to the bank of the Ganges chanting – Har har Gange and chanting of Hare Krishna mahamantra. Lord was throwing his mercy on all those in the form of holy name. Giving himself to them in the form of the holy name. kali kale krsna rupe nama avatar (CC Adi 17.22) Lord kindly before appearing in the evening at the time of moonrise or Sunset , during the day he appeared in the form of Holy name. Sastra’s describe we should all remember this kali kale naam rupe Krishna avatar. In the age of Kali Lord appears in the form of Holy name. We should all take full advantage of this merciful form of the Lord. This naam- Swarup of the Lord. Nama is Swarup of the Lord. It is said about holy name that. – nama Cintamani’

rasa vigraha nitya shuddha nitya Mukta abhinnatvat nam namino. ( Padma Purana )

So holy name is nama Cintamani. Like dham Cintamani’, nama is also Cintamani. Caitanya rasa vigraha. It is full of Caitanya, full of consciousness, full of Krishna consciousness. Rasa vigraha full of rasa.its nectarean. It’s nittya – eternal. It’s purna – complete, suddha – pure. What else abhinnatvat nama namino. The Lord and His name are non different. Because of establishing a relationship with nama prananti we will become enlivened. There will be life flowing. Rasa vigraha. It’s full of rasa anandabhudhi vardhanam. – full of happiness. In such a state of mind as we have been describing , understanding the naam-tattva, with humility and in prayerful mood, “ in such a state of mind” , actually lot more could be said about This – “ such a state of mind”, but I just mentioned few things . In such a state of mind one can chant holy name of the Lord constantly. If we have such a state of mind then we will be able to chant holy name of the Lord constantly, that is the idea.

Okay, we will stop here. I am still here at Radha-Gopinath temple . We are getting ready for tomorrow’s installation of Ananta Sesa. We are setting the scene. You are all welcomed. Wish you all a happy Gaur Purnima festival. Gauranga!!!
Hare Krishna!

Some devotees are joining now when we are about to finish. We are 407 participants today. Congratulations! Because of your efforts, numbers are on the rise. There were 400 participants which actually means that actual chanters may be 600 or above as many chant in groups.

Some of be you are joining little late. The first batch to join is from Russia and South Africa. They are taking so much trouble to get up early in the morning. Also Mauritian devotees are getting up early. From India they are a little behind. They should be the first ones. Because this is a favourable time. We are beginning the conference somewhere around 5.45 am. We will appreciate it if you could join the conference from the very beginning. Some of you are catching us at the end, but then you miss all fun – the joy of chanting together. So try to be on time. Early to bed early to rise makes a man and woman also healthy, wealthy and wise. So sleep early and get up early and chant .

We had also been mentioning, – Healthy, Wealthy and Wise! How would this help you to become wealthy? How does getting up early in the morning and chanting Hare Krishna make you wealthy? This holy name is wealth. It’s the most valuable gift. It is Krsna himself. So we begin acquiring Krsna early in the morning. We begin our fixed deposits at 5.00 am. Every one begins making money at 10.00 or 11.00 am when they open their shops. They may be making money then, but we make money from 5.00 am. Some devotees start even earlier than that. In our recent GBC meetings, there was talk about japa. Some of the sannyasis, Gurus were saying , ‘I get up at 2.00 am in the morning and chant my rounds before mangal-aarti.’ One leader, Narahari Prabhuji from Hawaii said this. We address these kind of devotees who get up early morning and chant their Hare Krishna as “Dhanya ho!” You have become wealthy, enriched, richer by chanting Hare Krishna. For this purpose acquire this wealth, which is acquiring Krsna. Get up early in the morning and first business is to chant Hare Krishna. Everything else comes later.

I just remembered, once HH Radha Govinda Maharaja was saying, “People generally say , we have no time, we are so busy. We have this to do, that to do. If we become free, if we find time then we will chant Hare Krishna or then we will come to the temple. We will read Bhagavad-Gita when we are free, as we have so much to do.” It should be the other way round. We should think, I have so much to do in my spiritual practices. I need so much time for my chanting, so much time for darsana. I need so much time for sadhu sanga. I have to read Bhagavatam. nityam bhagavata sevaya. ( SB. 1.2.18) I have so much to do, if I have some free time from this, then I will do some other things. If only I find time after doing this spiritual business, then I will think of doing this or that. This was Radha Govinda Maharaja’s point about giving priority to spiritual life and spiritual practices. Take care of our soul. Take care of yourself. That we have to take care of one self. If we have to make atma as mahatma, then what Radha Govinda Maharaja was saying was very true. Give priority to your spiritual practices, nourish your souls. Then you are richer or dhanya.

We have a few days to go before Gaura Purnima. I am here at ISKCON Nagpur. As I told you all yesterday, we are preparing to celebrate Gaura Purnima. There will be lots of chanting and hearing and prasada in the evening. During the day we are going to commence construction of our dream project of Radha Gopinath temple and international Vedic Cultural Centre. We will be installing Lord Ananta Sesa. He will be ready to hold the project on his transcendental hoods. So all the devotees, life members and patrons are getting ready. This year’s Gaur Purnima will be celebrated by commencing construction of Radha Gopinath temple of ISKCON Nagpur. You are all welcome to join. My god brother Haripad Prabhuji will be attending the function. So we will have the association of senior devotees , Prabhupad disciples on Gaura Purnima.

Guru Maharaja showed the Deity of Ananta Sesa to be installed before starting of construction

Take darsana of Ananta Sesa. He will be installed. He will hold the project on His hoods on the day of Gaura Purnima.

We will stop for the day with that announcement. You will get a report of festivities here. We will meet tomorrow. You have to chant more and more attentively as Gaura Purnima is approaching, coming closer and closer.

Hare Krishna!

BECOME A DEVOTEE OF THE DEVOTEES!

Our score for today is 397. Just a shortfall of three or four to cross the mark of 400. We have to double the number in next hundred days.

Chant together. A family that chants together, stays together. By chanting together we develop bonds of love with the Lord and with the devotees of the Lord. Remember we don’t just wish to have loving dealings with the Lord. No! No! That’s not complete. We must also have loving dealings with the devotees. You love the Lord and be friendly with the devotees. prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā (SB 11.46) is what the sastras say. We love the Lord. Have friendly relationships with devotees. We express our kindness and compassion to the faithful newcomers. We avoid or stay away from those offending Visnu and Vaisnavas. We keep a distance from those who are anti-Visnu, anti-devotees. As we chant our goal is to revive our dormant Krishna consciousness. To become Krishna conscious also includes becoming devotee conscious. You love the Lord, but do you hate the devotees, ‘Oh! I hate him, I hate her.’ If you are in this state then you lack Krishna consciousness , you are only partially Krishna conscious. If you love the Lord and hate the devotees, that means something is lacking. Not only do you have to be friendly, but you have to serve the devotees as well.

I know we’re very expert in offending the devotees. Very expert! Naturally we offend Vaisnavas. But that is in fact unnatural materially natural ,spiritually unnatural. We have to be friendly with devotees. Gadadhar Pandit has defined the friend as – Friend in need is friend indeed. We are in need of help at the time of japa and otherwise. Those devotees who help fulfil our need we call friends. We need help. Help! Help! Help! Help that we need to become Krishna conscious or attain Krsna, to go back to Krsna. From where are we going to get that assistance? It’s from devotees or through devotees. We have to search assistance that help from devotees of ISKCON. Those devotees who are around you, in your temple, in your house, in devotee society around you only those will help you. Ultimately when we are saying,Help! Krsna help! Krsna will help us. Our Guru will naturally help us. Krsna or Guru is going to help you through some devotee around you. Maybe he is sending a helping hand to you. We are not independent. We are dependent. There is also term called interdependent where we depend upon each other. With this we could talk about cooperation. What kind of operation? Cooperation. Co means two. We accept help, gifts , whatever. All the time that’s not the best policy, we also have to give. Take help, give help. So this again reminds us of

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam (Nectar of Instruction – verse 4)

Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasāda and offering prasāda are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another.

Our acaryas have given this formula to develop loving bonds with other Vaisnavas wherever you are. There are Vaisnavas around you. So how to deal with them? There is give and take. Give gifts , exchange gifts, exchange your hearts. Guhyam – something that is confidential. Share with devotees. They should also share that intern with you. bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva. You share prasada with them and you also honour prasada from them. Today is the big prasada distribution program that ISKCON is conducting at Santipur. Advaita Acharya’s place. Hundreds or we can say thousands of ISKCON devotees are arriving today at Santipur and they will be distributing some forty to fifty thousand prasada plates. Anyone who receives or honours prasada at Santipur , receives love of Godhead. Our religion is also known as the kitchen religion. We cook, offer it to the Lord and then we share it with the devotees. These are priti- laxanam or loving dealings.

Before we stop , I would like to congratulate Muralimohan Prabhuji from Ahmedabad, for conducting one day Padayatra yesterday. They chanted Hare Krishna throughout the long walk. I don’t know where it was, somewhere around Ahmedabad. There was lots of book distribution also. Hundreds of Srila Prabhupada books were distributed. At the end they had some picnic. They honoured prasada and had a good time. They did –

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva

Thank you Muralimohan Prabhu. Others could also take it up and arrange one day Padayatras. Jaybhadhra mataji also arranged one day Padayatra in Amaravati. All young girls of ISKCON IGF took to the roads. We congratulate them also.

I am here in Nagpur. I will be here till Gaur Purnima. I will celebrate Gaur Purnima here. There will be inauguration of ISKCON’s Radha Gopinath temple in Nagpur. Construction will be inaugurated on Gaur Purnima day. It’s an auspicious day. It’s the appearance day of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. If you all can come , you are welcome. Sundarlal Prabhuji is doing four days Gaur-katha in Mauritius. In US they celebrated Gaur Purnima two days back, on the weekend as Gaur Purnima is falling on a week day. Outside India they do like that. So Gaur Purnima season has started. Be prepared. Gauranga! Gauranga! This is the time to be absorbed in Gauranga by hearing Gaur katha. Many temples organise many days of Gaur Katha a few days before Gaur Purnima. Go on listening to Gaur Katha and go on doing Krsna Kirtana and prepare for the grand celebrations of Gaur Purnima which is just in a few days. Develop your love for the Lord and be friendly with devotees. If there are few devotees that you have been offending, if that was your program, you can stop your program of offending devotees. Stop that nonsense! Be friendly with devotees. See how you can serve them and not offend them anymore. amanina manden, if you could do that Gauranga – Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu will be so pleased. Krsna has claimed, “If you say ‘I am your devotee’ No!No! You are not my devotee. If you say , ‘ I am devotee of your devotee ‘ then He will say,’ Yes! now you are my devotee.’ So try to understand what is on Krsna’s mind. How you can become a devotee of Krsna. By becoming a devotee of the devotees. Then the Lord will bless you and be very pleased with you. Make that kind of offering to Caitanya Mahaprabhu for Gaur Purnima. Become a devotee of the devotees of the Lord. So we will stop here and will meet again.

Hare Krishna!

‘MADHAV-TITHI’ FESTIVAL OF DEVOTION

Hare Krishna

I am happy that you are chanting with us. 344 participants today for the japa session. Today is Ekadasi again. Lot of times in other countries Ekadasi falls on before or day after, not the same day everywhere. It’s a day for more chanting. In Noida we have 24 hours Kirtana on Ekadasi, chanting whole day and whole night. You could also similarly do in your temples. At many places, Vrndavana, Pandharpur, Latur and various places they chant that way. So those who are able to manage, can do 24 hours kirtana on Ekadasi.

In Maharashtra there are Tukarama bhajans all night. They sing Hare Krishna mahamantra also and chant the mantra Jay Jay Rama Krishna Hari. Saint Tukarama used to chant this mantra. Nowadays they sing Tukarama bhajans all night long. I remember when I was a small boy in my village also such singing of Tukarama bhajans used to go on. There used to be kirtana sometimes at my house. That’s how Ekadasi is celebrated. In Pandharpur pilgrims come.

Ekadasi is the special day, a special festival. The day to take darsana of Vitthal. Out of two Ekadasis, one is in Shukla paksha and other is in Krishna paksha , – Shukla paksha Ekadasi ( bright fortnight) is called Suddha Ekadasi , pilligrims come walking or driving from all over to take darsana of Panduranga.

śuddha-bhakata-caraṇa-reṇu,
bhajana-anukūla
bhakata-sevā, parama-siddhi,
prema-latikāra mūla
mādhava-tithi, bhakti-jananī,
jetane pālana kori
kṛṣṇa-basati, basati boli’,
parama ādare bori ( Bhajan by Sril Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Bhaktivinod Thakur has sung this bhajan – when would I get renu (association) of devotees? Association of devotees is anukul ( favourable) for chanting. He sings – madhav tithi bhakti janani. Ekadasi is called Madhav-tithi. Do you understand ‘tithi’? Ekadasi is called Madhav-tithi .According to Bhaktivinod Thakur it’s bhakti janani. Mother of Devotion. It gives you devotion. It’s a very special day. The Lord empowers the day before and the night. The Lord makes it a very special, empowered day.

Last Ekadasi I was chanting in Mayapur. I was also explaining how Ekadasi is called Upvasa day. What is Upvasa? ‘Up’ means near and ‘vas’ means residence, to stay. It is a day to stay near the Lord. How we stay near the Lord? By chanting

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Or nityam bhagvat sevaya. Hearing Bhagvatam, reciting Bhagvatam is also there. Sravanam kirtanam. Basically to do sravan , kirtana

srunvanti, gayanti grainanti sadhavaha. (SB. 1.5.11)

That is what sadhus do. What are the activities of a sadhu? Srunvanti gayanti, grinanti. Doing this is the way to stay near Krsna or with Krsna. That is how we observe this upvasa day. By chanting and chanting we want to feel the presence of the Lord. Oh! He is here! He is here! Caitanya Mahaprabhu ki Jay! So as soon as he used to start chanting, I was reading about this in ‘Mahakavya’ of Kavi Karnapura. It is written there that one utterance of the holy name was enough for Caitanya Mahaprabhu to get linked with the Lord and be absorbed in the Lord. Even if he just chanted Hare it was more than enough to get connected with the Lord. He will just chant once and then the next mantra will be difficult to chant and not because he was sleeping. Our chanting stops some times in middle of mantra also, we do not even manage to complete the whole mantra because of sleep. But for Caitanya Mahaprabhu and devotees like him , they chant for a while , or just chant once it would be difficult for them to chant as the voice would get choked up. All emotions would get aroused.

siva-suka-narada preme gada-gada ( Gaur aarti verse 7)

The word is ‘gadgad’. But the way we say , we don’t understand fully what it means. ‘gadgad’ implies , Voice getting choked up for Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Or he would be Chanting at gambira or hearing about Krishna from Ramanand Ray and Swaroop Damodar ,he would remember about Krishna and hear flute playing of Krishna at some distance and in middle of that hearing program he would drop everything and used to run in that direction where he thought his Krishna was playing his flute. He will begin looking for him here and there and everywhere. Outcome or result of Chanting was his feeling of separation from Krishna, that is why that is bhava-bhakti.

yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam
śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me

“O Govinda! Feeling Your separation, I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence.” (Siksastakam verse 7)

Although world is filled with overbridges and cars, malls , full of this and that, He was feeling vacant, there is nothing. Nothing of that interests me , that’s the idea. Otherwise whole world is filled with forms and sounds and smells. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to feel that the whole world is vacant. govinda-viraheṇa me… If there is no Govinda then what good is world around me? I have no interest.

krsna-nama-sudha koriya pan,
jurao bhakativinoda-pran,
nama bina kichu nahiko aro,
caudda-bhuvana-majhe

Drink the pure nectar of the holy name. There is nothing but the name to be had in the fourteen worlds. (Bhaktivinoda Thakura Arunodaya-kirtana Verse 8 from Gltavali)

Bhaktivinoda Thakura said this fourteen planetary systems, nama bina kichu nahiko. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is saying there is nothing here , nothing there, all vacant. Then Bhaktivinoda Thakura said oh! there is only one thing that interests me or is of value. – nama bina kichu nahiko. Apart from the holy name there is nothing worth remembering , or thinking of or talking about. So all these things would happen to Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates also went through similar kind of experiences. Now after 500 years it’s our turn, our generations turn to experience. All the previous generations of sadhus and devotees and Caitanya Mahaprabhu has set this example. He has set the goal. In such a state of mind one could chant the holy name constantly, that is also there. First 5 verses of Siksastakam talks about sadhana bhakti. 6th and 7th verses talk about bhava bhakti and the 8th verse talks about Prema-bhakti. Bhakti has three divisions – Sadhana bhakti, Bhava bhakti and Prema bhakti. We are sadhakas. Bhava is our goal . Prema is our goal. But how to reach there? Sadhana means in such a state of mind. What is that state of mind in which we can chant the holy name constantly?

trinadapi sunicena tarorapi sahishnuna amanina manden kirtaniya sada hari (Siksastakam verse 3)

Trinadapi – lower than the straw in the street. We have to practice this. To become lower than a blade of grass. Tarorapi sahishnuna – more tolerant than tree. amanina manaden – Not expecting respect for ourselves, but instead respect others. We should be working at that level. To attain that state of mind, -trinadapi sunicena . If we are not doing that , then our chanting becomes offensive chanting. All vaisnava aparadh taking place then we will be offending others mentally, vocally or physically. So we have to be very, very careful and cautious in our dealings and behaviour especially with Vaisnavas, jivas . Name ruci jive daya vaisnava sevan. While chanting I was thinking we should pray to the holy name, “ My dear Lord, this is my weakness. These are my shortcomings. Please make me stronger in this and that area. I beg at your lotus Feet. Be kind to me.” We were also saying at last Ekadasi that according to Bhaktivinoda Thakur it is also the day to review the past two weeks performance. Review the day and come to some conclusion. I did better in this area but these areas are still weak. This is my weakness. These are good points. You should take help from Vaisnavas and Visnu. Vaisnavas around us or senior devotees, counsellors who chant Hare Krishna and are devotees of Visnu or Krsna. He is ready to help us. We beg at the lotus Feet of holy name – Harinama Prabhu then He may bless you empower you

Hare Krishna!