O! SOUL ,YOU DON’T BELONG HERE

Yesterday I got the report that more than around 850 devotees are chanting with us on an average. I am happy, Krishna is happy & I am sure, you also must be happy by chanting ‘Hare Krishna’. Are you happy? Is it your personal experience also? Or you have just heard it that chanting gives you happiness. One who chants ‘Hare Krishna’ becomes happy, we have heard. That’s nice that you have heard it, but if we also experience what we have heard, i.e. happiness. That’s good.

Some of you are chanting from a while, some of you are chanting from few years. I am hopeful & confident that you are becoming happier & happier by or with chanting. Someone says ‘in Bliss!’. You have to tell the truth, from bottom of your heart. You have to tell from heart, your experience & not just lip service. So, think about it.

So, Lord is certainly kind. Why not, we could give Him name also. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is very kind. ‘Hare Krishna’ is also His name. Sri Krishna Chaitanya is also His name. That holy name will reach every town & village on this Earth. Lord’s prediction was not just that His name will be chanted in every town & village, but His prediction was that His name will reach the souls, who are His children in those villages & towns.

Yesterday Murali Mohan Prabhuji with devotees from Jamshedpur, chanted on the streets of Jamshedpur in one day padayatra. So, the target is not just streets & walls hear, but the target is people around them, who hear the holy name. The souls will hear the holy name.

As I was chanting with you all today, I was thinking, that prediction has come true because that holy name has reached me & that holy name has reached you – that’s the perfection of prediction. It has not just reached towns & villages you reside in but it has reached the souls residing there. Haribol!

Prediction of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu must come true & has come true. Then what has happened in your case is, you have taken to this chanting seriously. Most of you have been initiated formally to chant this holy name or mantra by diksha. So, what you have heard just one day on the streets through somebody, somewhere. Or you read the glories of the holy name.

Reading is also hearing. Gradually by hearing again & again this mahamantra or glories of mahamantra, you have become serious chanter & you have realized, this is the way. Then you make connections. Of course, devotees were around you. At some point you came in contact with the followers of holy name, Gaudiya Vaishnava. They had been talking to you & talking & then you got convinced & decided to accept this mahamantra in a formal way & connect to this parampara. Not only connect with parampara, but you are also connected with the Lord, through the holy name of the Lord.. ‘I want to connect with the Lord, through the holy name, that is the idea, at the time of initiation.’ Then you signed the contract that,’I will chant 16 rounds daily.’ then you are formally initiated, you established your relation with spiritual master, with this disciplic succession, with the parampara.

You made connection with Krishna through Holy name, because holy name is Krishna. So, chant ‘Hare Krishna’ & be happy.

What this ‘Hare Krishna’ movement is doing by preaching to us, by talking to us , by giving this ‘Hare Krishna’ mahamantra to us, is trying to separate us from the rest of the world. The mess of the masses. That understanding comes to us, No! No! We don’t belong to this world; we belong to another world. You are also doing that by way of preaching.

Srila Prabhupada formalized it by establishing ISKCON. Now we are members of it. Original founder is Nityananda Prabhu.

There is example, Srila Prabhupada also gave this example. One time a cub of a lion got mixed with the flock of sheep & was staying with sheep & watching sheep around & then acting, eating, braying as ass like them. He forgot his origin. He belongs to the lion species or society. Then Lion & lionesses were attempting to separate that cub. But whenever they went & as they would roar, all the sheep’s used to run away & so would little cub, run away with rest of the sheep. So, it was very difficult to get him back into their Lion community. Lion & lioness made so many attempts. How could they give up. They have lost their child, gone astray! So finally, somehow or other, on fortunate one day, they managed to separate their cub, their kid. Then what they did was, they brought him on the bank of river. They were trying to preach to him, do some brain washing, try to convince to him, No! No! you are not sheep. you are the lion! king of the forest! future King!. Now you are prince, & future king. Sheep had dirtied the brain of cub & now parents had to do the brainwashing to make him realize his real identity, that you are not sheep, you are lion. They were doing Chetodarpana marjanam for the cub. They also said look! look into the water. So, little cub looked into water. Then they said, look at us. Don’t you look like us? You look like sheep or you look like us? Then he realized, ‘I don’t look like sheep. I am lion! I am lion!’ Then the lion & lioness took him & went where flock of sheep was grazing & told him ,’Today is your turn! Now you roar.’ Then this little lion roared. Then what happened? All the sheep flee in fear. They were all afraid to hear the roar of little lion. Then parent lion told, ‘Look! you are lion. All the sheep’s ran away, just by hearing your roar. You must be & you are lion. You are not a sheep.’ Then he agreed, ‘ Yes! Yes! I am fully convinced, that I am a lion! I have nothing to do with sheep.’

So, you could understand or come to conclusion, how that applies to us & to preaching which we are doing. That attempt of preaching aims at, we try to ‘Let the soul know that you are not this body. We try to, attempt to let them know, you don’t belong to this place, so don’t go on & on & on with things over here. ‘

Then one may say, ‘okay! I am not the body! then who am I?’ You are the spirit soul & like that talk goes on. And the goal is to try to separate that, living entity, taking him away from world to another world to spiritual world.

So, attempt to preach. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ask everyone, ‘jare dakho tare Kaho Krishna upadesh’

(CC madhya 7.128)

When we do that, we are attempting to, bring the souls to Krishna’s side. Come over here! Come here!! Come here!!! Lord says, ‘I am here, come near, do not fear.’

People could be doctors, engineers, politicians, social workers, there can be so many conditionings. Such person could be our family members our neighbours. I think you are getting the point. Is it clear? Okay , I will leave you with this food for thought. This will nourish your brain, solidify your thoughts.

Hare Krishna!

NAAM CAN TAKE US TO DHAM!

On Sunday many of our chanters they take break. Sunday is supposed to be a holiday. Not for chanting. So numbers drop drastically. We have been making this observation. We are happy with those, who are chanting even on Sundays. But we are not happy, who are not chanting with us on Sundays. We are not that kind of devotees who take break on Sundays or take it easy on Sundays.

We have to chant. Someone may feel, “How long we have to keep chanting?” So the response is, we have to chant forever. Like ‘staying high forever’, we have to ‘chant forever’. So we have to get ready to chant forever. We have to understand, deep meaning, importance of ’forever’.

What is meant by ‘forever’? tomorrow, day after tomorrow, next month, next year, next life, next birth, but, there will be no birth. We go back to Krishna! Haribol!

Then we continue chanting there. We continue chanting here & then we will also continue to chant up there. So, that is chanting forever. We have to get prepared with that kind of determination to chant forever.

Uttsahat nischayat dhairyat tat tat karma pravartant,
sanga tyagat sato vritte shadbhir bhaktir prasiddhati. (NOI verse 3)

That is there. So by chanting with ‘uttsaha'( enthusiasm), chanting with ‘dhairya’ determination, with patience, like that six items are there. So, we attain perfection of chanting by following these six items. We will attain perfection of chanting ‘Hare Krishna’, which is one of those siddhis – to realize Krishna to see Krishna. Have His darshan & ultimately to go back, where Lord eternally resides & we continue to stay with Him.

Where I am stationed right now, is a place not far from, Tukaram Maharaj’s birth place Dehu. That personality Tukaram is a glaring example, who attained perfection, mantra-siddhi by ultimately going back to Vaikuntha, back to Godhead. So, during his final days, not that he wanted those days to be his final days. Tukaram maharaj was, outside his hometown. His hometown is on the banks of sacred river Indrayani. Many had assembled there, many may be hundreds, thousands had assembled & they were chanting & singing with him. He was crying & praying. His prayer was please take me back home, wherever You reside eternally. You take me or bring me to place, wherever You are. He was chanting & chanting.

‘Jai Jai Ram Krishna Hari! Jai Jai Ram Krishna Hari!! Panduranga Panduranga!Panduranga!’

So, he was chanting like that. Where I am staying now is not my home. I had so many such homes. Home after home after home. Country after country, planet after planet, universe after universe I had been changing my so my so-called home. This is not my home. My home is where You reside. Or Your home is my home. I am Yours, please take me back home. So this was his prayer. Gokul or Nandgram is my home. As he was praying & crying like this –

premanjanchhurita bhakti vilochanen (Brahma- samhita)

Tears were gliding down his cheeks. He was singing ’anandale man preme pazarati lochan’ (My mind is full of ‘anand’ but more Anand is emanating & arousing)

anaandabhudhi vardhanam. More Anand is coming out of my eyes as tears of joy.

Ok, so then the Lord had no choice. The prayer was so sincere, intense & ongoing that Lord had to fulfill the desire of His pure devotee -Tukaram. Tivren bhakti yogen. He was revealing his heart unto Lord – Guhyam akhyati … (NOI – verse 4) so Lord had no choice. Then Lord sent an aeroplane from His abode to Dehu, wherever Tukaram was dancing & singing for last several days. He was not stopping & chanting & chanting. So, the aeroplane landed near this sankirtan party. Next thing was Tukaram maharaj climbed on the plane. He took his seat, fasten his belt & the pilot was about to start engine. Last things he said to his family members & all those assembled, with folded hands he told ’aamhi jato amuchya gava,amucha Ram Ram ghyava!’

( I am going back home, please accept my humble obeisances) He also said while returning back home, “You also chant, continue to chant the holy names of the Lord & for sure Lord will take you back home.” These were his inspiring words to all the Vaishnava’s. Keep chanting.

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

This historical event took place in Dehu, not far from here Vyasa Puja festival this year, we also have planned to go to Dehu dham, birthplace of Tukaram maharaj. We have also planned at the place from where he departed for Vaikunth. Tukaram maharaj’s departure to Vaikuntha took place in or two days after Gaura Purnima not same year. It’s a Vaishnava-tithi. It is called ‘Tukaram-bij’. Must be Dwitiya. So, by chanting the holy names of the Lord, one & ultimate outcome could be, chanter could go & does goback to Godhead.

Someone may raise the doubt , ‘What is the proof?’ So this is the proof. This is one of the proof. There are many many proofs that Lord had displayed or presented to the world. All assembled did see aeroplane coming, they did see Tukaram boarding the plane, they saw him going & they never ever saw him again & hence there are samadhis of all the saints, but there is no samadhi of Tukaram. How is it possible? He just went with his body, his whole being. This is a history. This is a fact. Thousands have seen it. They have written about it. So this should give us further inspiration to keep chanting ‘Hare Krishna’. Our enthusiasm should increase, our determination should increase & will increase.

So, hope & pray that this event keep giving you enthusiasm, determination, patience & dhairya to keep chanting & dancing, keeping your mind on the goal. One goal is ultimately Go! Go! ‘Go for Gauranga back to home, back to Godhead.

Hare Krishna!

CRY LIKE A BABY!

Keep Chanting. What you are doing is a right thing to do. But just do it ‘rightly’, if we could use that word, verses wrongly Chant it correctly, properly, rightly verses wrongly, inattentively, offensively like that. I think that is the main purpose among others, why we are conducting this japa conference.

What is right chanting or correct chanting? What is outcome of attentive chanting? Or in words of Srila Prabhupada, chant like a ‘crying of a baby’, then that is the right chanting, with a great longing for Krishna, missing Krishna. Realizing all around me is misery & material suffering existence. So that’s our goal, that’s our target.

One may think, we do think, ‘why should I cry like a baby? Why should I cry?

When everything is just right around me. I have good health, I have good bank balance, I have good job & good this & good that. Then why? Why should i cry?? Reason for crying is, wherever we are right now, we are not supposed to be there. We do not belong to this place. We are not at home here. This is foreign location. Lord has declared it as dukkhalayam ashashwatam …(BG 8.15).

This place is full of misery & it is temporary. We are not at home. We are thrown on the streets. We don’t belong to this place. Lot could be said regarding this miserable existence.

Sansar davanallidh loka tranay karunya Ghana ghanastvvam. (Gurvastakam verse 1)

‘Hare Krishna’ devotees get up in the morning & first thing that comes out of the mouth is -Sansar davanallidh loka…. This sansar is ‘davanal’ & we are caught up in this forest. We die every day, we have died long ago, so we have forgotten that we have died. But every now & then we die.

There is a dialogue in Mahabharat. Yaksha had raised so many questions & Yudhisthira maharaj had to reply, ‘ka varta?’ ( What is the news?) Yudhisthira maharaj responds, ‘All the living entities are getting fried, deep fried in a pot. This universe or whole Brahmand is a pot & all the living entities are cut, chopped & they are thrown in the pot. Sun rays are heating it up. Sun rays or Tapatraya. Three kinds of miseries are three kinds of heat & all the living entities are getting deeply fried & cooked up in the pot of this Brahmand. This is the news.’So what happens is in this world, you should understand. Whenever there is some reason for happiness or as it is said, when does happiness come?

ye hi saṁsparśa-jā bhogā
duḥkha-yonaya eva te
ādy-antavantaḥ kaunteya
na teṣu ramate budhaḥ
(BG 5.22)

As soon as senses come in contact with the sense object, there is a bhog. This is enjoyment. In that when living entity is enjoying, in sukh becoming jubilant. There is jubilation. But they forget, dukkhayonaya Eva te… whatever gave you happiness will become cause of your suffering. So, you just have to wait. That’s why Lord says,

sukha-duḥkhe same kṛitvā lābhālābhau jayājayau
tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi
(BG 2.38)

We are expected to be transcendental in happiness & distress. Don’t be jubilant when there is happiness, don’t be distressed when there is every reason to be aggrieved or suffering. That’s the transcendental position we have to achieve.

Ayodhyanath Prabhuji from Mauritius, gave one example other day, which I liked. Someone may say look! I see some mangoes on that mango tree. But as it is not a mango season someone may say , oh! I don’t see any mangoes. But then he said, – just hold on, keep looking at the tree for few more months & soon you will see the mangoes hanging down from branches. Right now you are not seeing the mangoes, but they are within the tree. As soon as they will manifest physically, then you will see. So this is what happens. It is also called as “cause & effect’. If effect is happiness, then eventually there will be suffering. The cause is happiness & the outcome, result is suffering. So, like that we have been put into this illusory existence of dual nature. We go between happiness & distress, happiness and distress, distress & then happiness & distress & happiness. This is all distressful, because ultimately there will be distress. You strive for happiness but what you end up getting is distress.

This way, the whole world is Dukhalayam. Or what Yudhisthira maharaj said,’ka varta?’ what’s the news? What Krishna said ‘Dukkhayonaya Eve te.’

Like this ‘Dwandwa’ we have. There are many ‘dwandwas’. Distress & happiness is one of them. Lord has said it, so it can’t be wrong. Arjuna has said –

sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye
yan māṁ vadasi keśava
na hi te bhagavan vyaktiṁ
vidur devā na dānavāḥ
(BG 10.14)

Whatever you are saying Lord is all true. Lord has said, it’s a place of misery. But the whole world is trying to make it a place of enjoyment. You will never ever be successful. This has been tried & tried from the beginning of creation & no one could change the nature of existence, which is creation of the Lord. We can’t go against the will of the Lord. So all parties, all politicians, all scientists, all social welfare workers, all doctors, all engineers, all this all that are trying & endeavouring hard, breaking their brains to change the nature of this world. to make this samsara as ‘Sukhalaya’.

Prabhupada used to say, they are trying to make it like, kingdom of God, but they will never ever succeed. That is why person should come to the senses & realize where he is stationed right now. Where he situated right now. If he really realizes & looks around, take a stalk of the situation, then he will definitely begin crying, seeing no shelter, no hope. If he has really come to the senses, he will begin crying out for the Lord. He will chant.

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

It should be like a crying of a baby. Chanting should be like crying of a baby.

This was some food for thought for all of you, new chanters. Because all of you are chanting, that’s nice. We are happy. But now we have to make sure we are chanting rightly correctly, perfectly, offenselessly, attentively, prayerfully & eventually crying like a baby.

When we will realize there is no other help, then we will also turn to Lord for help. We could take help from Lord or we could also take help from those who are representing the Lord, like acharyas, gurus, devotees. As Sukdev Goswami said as soon as he began reciting the Bhagavatam in the second canto he has said:

dehapattya kaladishu asat sainyeshu

All the people, family members around you , beginning with your deha( body), apattya (children), kalatra (wife or husband) etc. Everyone else is included, so he mentioned, this ‘sainya’ is ‘falgu’ or ‘asat’ or are fallible. This soldiers around you that you have gathered & you are so much expectant of getting their help but they are fallible. They will not help you. Don’t relay. They are not reliable. When Yamraj comes, everyone is around, even your family-doctor is around or other dear & near ones are around. But they all are going to be helpless. Whenever disease comes, no one could really help. We try to find some relief some patchwork we do, but that doesn’t ultimately help. So, don’t rely on any of these sources & forces.

Depend upon Krishna & devotees of Krishna. Depend upon the holy name. Take shelter of the holy name. Chant ‘Hare Krishna’.

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

Okay,see you another day.

Hare Krishna!

VYAKARAN TURNS SO JUICY!

In temples book distribution scores, Laxmi collection scores are announced. Vrindavan they announce how many visitors chanted one round of mahamantra. This is our japa conference , so we announce how many devotees chanted on the conference.

One little boy, son of Vaikuntheswar Prabhuji, he has been Chanting on this conference, every single day. We congratulate him. Haribol!!

I wanted to say something about ‘Hari namamrut Vyakaran’ of Jiva Goswami, which I had been studying since few days. As you know, how Jiva Goswami thought that other Vyakarans are ‘niras’ (without any juice). He felt, his Vyakaran is juicy or nectarian. He calls it Namamrut Vyakaran, which is full of names of the Lord. He writes in the beginning – ‘Narayan udbhut ayam Varna kramaha’

It explains how all the varnas, all letters, all syllables they originate from Narayan. They come from Narayan. Then he also writes this ‘Ka’ varga i.e. letters ka , kha, ga , gha, ghya they all appears from throat of Narayan. ‘Ch’ varga comes from pallet & ‘Pa’ varga from the lips. ‘Ta’ varga from the teeth of the Lord. Then there is more detailed explanation also. This is the truth, he is not just speculating, that all the varnas which we utter has origin in Narayan. From varnas we get words, from words we get sentences & from sentences we get essays like that.

Original Narayan is Krishna only. ‘Aham sarvasya prabhavaha’

(BG 10.8)

Krishna has said this in Bhagavad Gita. I am the source of everything. Everything emanates from me.

So someone may have the question, O! all the varnas, syllables have they emanated from you my dear Lord? Lord says -‘yes! yes!’

So this is not a speculation of Jiva Goswami, but it’s a fact, that all the varnas originate from the Lord. We can’t go into details. Throughout his Vyakaran we see names of the Lord scattered, sprayed, dispersed everywhere. As it is said

vede rāmāyaṇe caiva purāṇe bhārate tathā ādāv ante ca madhye ca hariḥ sarvatra gīyate (CC adi 7.131)

So, in this Vyakaran, you will find everywhere, names of the Lord. Taradrdo chaturdusha sarveswaraha

Swaras or 14 vowels are called as ‘Sarveswaraha’. He is giving names to ‘A aa ei ee u ………’ these vowels as Sarveshwara. Going down He says first ten varnas are Dashavataras. The pairs of ‘A Aa’ then ‘ei ee’ , ‘ u oo’ this is called as ‘Ekatama’. Purvo vamanaha…. First Varna in each pair is Vaman – A, ei, u … all these ‘hrswa’ Swaras are Vaman. Paras trivikramah.

The long – Aa, ee, oo .. these gets the name Trivikrama. ‘A’ is vaman, ‘Aa’ is Trivikrama. ‘ei’ is Vaman & ‘ee’ is Trivikrama. It’s amazing. A & Aa as varjitaha Sarveshwaraha. ishwaraha – all these vowels, excluding ‘A & Aa’ remaining 12 vowels, he names them as Iswaraha. Dashavatara ishaha – Dashavatara excluding ‘A& Aa’ are Ishaha.

First of all this is introduction to the grammar or Vyakaran. This is a first chapter of Harinaam Vyakaran. He says first ones ‘A ,Aa, ei, ee, u, oo ‘ these are called Anant. Only ‘ei, ee, u oo’ these are called as Chatushanaha i.e. four kumaras. The next ‘u , oo, rhi, rhoo’ are called as ‘Chaturbhuja’. The next ones ‘ae, ei, o, ou’ they get the name ‘ Chaturvyuha’. Anuswar (nasal sound) ‘aam’ they get the name Vishnu-chakra. ‘Aham’ i.e. chandrabindu moon like sign with dot on it is called ‘Vishnuchapaha’.

Last ‘Aha’ that is ‘Visarga’, in Panini’s Vyakaran it is termed as ‘sargaha’. Jiva Goswami names them as Vishnu-sargaha. He is Krishnazing those names, so to sarga he calls as Vishnu-sargaha. Ka dayo Vishnujanaha. All varnas from ‘K’ onwards are called Vishnujans. Earlier he was dealing with vowels, now he is dealing with consonants or ‘Vyanjanas’.

All the Vyanjanas, ‘K kha, Cha Chha, ja za , pa pha‘ are called Vishnujans. It’s quite interesting. These groups of five varnas , where each one has five varnas ‘Ka’ varga, ‘Cha’ varga, ‘Ta’ varga there are five of them. He calls them as Vishnu-vargas.

We count them horizontally. ‘Ka kha ga gha, ‘Cha chha, ja za…’, ‘Ta tha, da dha…..’ , ‘Pa pha ba bha…. ‘ this is horizontal. But when we call these varnas vertically ‘Ka Cha Ta ta Pa’.

He calls them by different names as ‘Harikamalani’. First word is ‘Ka’ so Harikamalani. Next group is ‘Kha , Chha, tha pha … ‘ these gets the name ‘Hari-khadgaha’. ‘ Ga, za, Da, D, Ba’ these gets the name ‘ ‘Harigada’. Then ‘Gha, za, dha, bha’ are called as ‘Hari-ghoshaha’. That is conch shell of the Lord. Then the ending ones ‘ghya, na, naa, Ma‘ is termed as ‘Hari-venu’ that is flute of the Lord.

Etad vargitaha Vishnudasaha. And then remaining consonants are called ‘Vishnu-dasas’. ‘Ya Ra La, Va, Sha, Sa’ these are ‘Vishnu-dasas’. There is a special group of four, ‘ Ya, Ra, La, Va’ they are called ‘Hari-Mitrani’ that is Hari’s friends. ‘Sha Shha, Sa Ha’ , he calls them as ‘Hari-gotrani’. ‘Sha Sa Ksha’ this is ‘Shauraya’ like ‘Hari-Shauri’. And then putting these last three groups, Vishnudasas & Harigotrani are called ‘Vaishnavas’. When we put all Harigada, Harighosh, Harivenu, Harimitrani Khashcha together, they are called Gopala. There is a reason why these groupings are there in Grammar. That happens in these groups, that when different rules are applied to this group to that group, to that combination. Any other Vishnujans, other then Gopala’s are called Yadavas. There is one more name ‘Satvataha’. ‘Yadavas’ excluding ‘Shauri’s are called ‘Satvataha’. Varnaswarupe Ramaha… The word ‘Rama’ is used to designate single Varna. Every Varna he, called this as ‘Rama’.

As A – Rama, or AA – Rama, or Ka – Rama or Pa – Rama, all the varnas also get one name and they are all called Ramas.

Virinchi – ‘aadesha’ substitution is called virinchi is also Brahma’s name.

When something is substituted one Varna is removed and other one is put in that place this is called substitution and that gets the name ‘Virinchi’

Aagama ha Visnoh,- insertion is called ‘Visnoh’.

Lopaha – deletion – when something is deleted in grammar, there is a grammatical rule, if it is to be deleted that is called Lopaha or haraha – take away.

Kṛṣṇa di e harti – so Hari both, harihar is not two it is one.

It goes on, there is no end, all these rules of grammar is pervaded with names of the Lord.

Namas are everywhere, so as one studies, it’s also explained that this was not clearly known to the author here. Translator either Rupa Goswami or Sanatana Goswami had begun this work of Harinamamrut Vkyakran, and that literature was called ‘Laghu Hari Namamrut Vyakaran.’

Then Srila Jiva Goswami he expanded that and made it Brihad or full fledged.

It was tasteless Jiva Goswami made it very tasty very juicy. It will be great for those who could manage to study this. Our Godbrother late Gopiparanadhana Prabhu, when he had his vidyapith, in Goverdhan he used to teach this Harinamamrut Vyakaran.

Those who wish to learn could also learn. There are many scholars in ISKCON.

This way Srila Jiva Goswami has glorified the holy names of Lord through this Grammar Harinaamamrut Vyakaran.

Be busy all day, it’s not chanting that all we do, our day begins with chanting and we beg for lots of Devotional service. We have been saying that if you have chanted sincerely and Lord has heard your prayers then he will give lots of Devotional service to you.

Srila Prabhupada wanted us to be busy serving Kṛṣṇa for how many hours? 24 hours a day.

Harer nama Eva kevalam.

(CC adi 7.26) & seva yogyam kuru (Explanation of mahamantra by Sri Gopal Guru Goswami)

Why SP said 24 hours?

Because there are only 24 hours in a day, had there been 25 hours in a day, he would have said stay busy for 25 hours or 48 hours

Stay busy serving the Lord, remembering the Lord & reminding others about him.

Hare Kṛṣṇa

Haribol

Reporting is inspirational/ Seeing you chanting gives me inspiration

I am happy, I am sure Lord is also happy that you are chanting. I am seeing you and so is Lord seeing you chanting. He also has eyes, He sees first then the world sees.

As you know the whole world is chanting with us. 17 devotees chanting from Nashik, devotees from Mauritius are chanting with us, 20 devotees from Surat. I was just there, few days ago in Surat.

Anadi Govind I also saw him chanting. I was especially pleased to see him chant, because I had not seen him for long time and now I see him chanting, so I was very happy to see him chant. 52 from Greater Noida. Where is Noida? 55 from Mauritius!

Haribol!

Noida, they are not keeping track those who are chanting.

Devotees in Shukratal are doing japa with us.

Wonderful! place where Shukadeva Goswami recited Bhagavatam on the banks of Ganga. So, our Vamsidhar Prabhu, co-president of Noida has reached Shukratal, where recitation of Bhagavatam is going on. Devotees from Shukratal are chanting with us Haribol! So we get benefit of their association also, devotees from Shukratal.

Noida devotees are only sending their pranam obeisances but not their score. Hari hari!

ISKCON Solapur, ISKCON Pandharpur, ISKCON Latur, ISKCON Greater Noida, ISKCON Pandharpur. Vaidarbhi from Pandharpur or Pune also may be. Vrajleela from Solapur. 55 devotees are tracked from Noida. It’s great news, so Noida has defeated Greater Noida. 17 from Bangalore. Akinchan Bhakta Prabhu he is reporting and I am grateful to him, he does translation of japa talk in Hindi.

Namasankirtan from Toronto, Canada. Radha Kshirchora Gopinath ki jai!

There is a temple of Radha Kshirchora Gopinath in Toronto. Devotees are chanting. Namakirtan is chanting with us. Madhupriya is chanting from Nagpur, she is very steady. Ratikeli Mataji originally form Nagpur now in Australia is also chanting with us. Anandprada from Noida. She is also steady. She is chanting daily with patience. You all have beautiful names sweet names. Meaningful names you should also remember. The meaning of Anandprada is giver of ananda. Da- giver, ananda and that is Radharani, so anandprada is Radha dasi.

Yes I have from Burma, Padmaja, is chanting. I think I like to see that she keeps chanting with us forever. Ya, thank you.

Everyone is offering dandavats. So, you should also thanks devotees around and offer them dandavats also. 17 devotees from Ahmedabad, 13 devotees from Bhubaneswar, its Shivaji’s place, Bhubaneswar, next to Jagannath Puri.

Vaikuthanayak is preaching here, others also preaching but Vaitunthanayak is one of the preachers in Bhubaneswar. Akash Markande from JJ, JJ what is that JJ? RCF workers chanting. What is RCF?

So, our Giriraj Govardhan and another devotees, devotees from Alibag chanting. Chanting with some of the workers there in factories. Raichur, good 5 devotees from Raichur. This is in Karnataka, our Jaytirtha is chanting. Chanting with his associate devotees, his friends and family.

ISKCON Amaravati, they have not mentioned how many. And I am missing lot, 5 devotees from Sangali, only, Sangali lai changli [laughter] only 5 devotees why. Preacher from Sangali is with us. Audarya Gaur Prabhu not very udara. May be today number has dropped. Normally good number of chanters from Sangli. 15 from ISKCON Jalagaon. Engaging, getting more. Nashik Road devotees are attempting, endeavoring to get more to join conference.

30 devotees from Solapur. That’s good. Jamshedpur, this is where? Bihar? Jharkhand. That is where animals chanted with Caitanya Mahaprabhu, now from Jharkhand human beings are also chanting. You know Jharkhand lila of Caitanya Mahaprabhu?

20 devotees from Nagpur, 20 devotees from Nagpur, 5 devotees from Vaikuntha BACE. Pandharpur Vaikuntha BACE has 5 chanters now. Normally they are more.

Dayalu Radha this is very special. This is one island in Indian Ocean near Mauritius. Small island, I was there few years ago. Reunion Island, few matajis, only few handful of devotees few followers of Gaudiya Vaisnava. So, she is chanting that is very special. 9 devotees from Udaipur, Rajasthan, 3 devotees from Satara, 15 from Vrindavan, Anandmayi Radha is reporting. Vrindavan Dham ki jay!

Why only 15 we should have more.

5 devotees from Hadapsar BACE. 11 from Melbourne ok that’s nice. Melbourne Australia is chanting, so this way the grand total was 558 today.

From ISKCON Beed, Radha Govind Dev ki jai! 15 devotees are chanting and Haribol from somewhere.

Jamshedpur started Padayatra very wonderful, Caitanya Mahaprabhu did padayatra in Jharkhand. I am very happy with this news that devotees from Jamshedpur organizing padayatra. That may be one day padayatra. Welcome, wonderful! And 9 devotees from Andhra Pradesh. 2 from New Zealand are chanting and 12 from Dubai Sharjah. Bangladesh one chanter only. Only one should have more people. 31 from Russia 31 chanters from Russia. Hare Krishna! Russia is defeating so many countries. 2 from Ahmad nagar. Ahmad nagar is near Pune. Naradi Gopi, Why only two? We should have more. 9 from Kolhapur. Mahalaxmi mataji ki jai. Alibag devotees are planning for one day padayatra. I am waiting for the posting. I missed some of the posting. Too fast I couldn’t keep track of the reporting. 4 devotees from Baroda. 4 devotees from Ahmad nagar. Amravati updated score is 25. 3 devotees from Yavatmal. Why only 3, should be more. Vaikuntha BACE Pune 10 devotees. Ok there are two BACEs, one vaikuntha BACE is in Pune and another is in Pandharpur. Youths are chanting with us, most welcome. Youths are chanting. Anadi Govind from Solapur. 3 devotees from Pandharpur Jagannath temple. We also have Jagannath mandir in Pandharpur and devotees are chanting form Jagannath temple. Jai Jagannath!

500 devotees are going from Bangalore to Mayapur today. Ok. That’s good news, you are welcome to Mayapur. And Hardik Patel’s Haribol one more time. Hari hari bol! And maybe we are towards the end of the session. We spent most of the time in reporting, which is inspirational, good to know who is chanting. How many are chanting. This inspires us to chant. We would like you to pray for our Yashoda Dulal Prabhu from New York. He met with an accident yesterday car accident. And he was admitted and being operated upon and recovering now in New Zealand. So, pray for the faster and early recovery. Yashoda Dulal prabhu is admitted in New Zealand. So please pray. So, let’s all pray by chanting out loud one time together.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

So Krsna Bhakta Prabhu is next to me He is coordinator and organizer of Pandharpur ekadasi festival. He will personally invite you for the festival.

Hare Krsna

GLORIOUS LIFE OF NAAMACHARYA

Thank you all for Chanting with us. Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jai! He is Haridas, but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave him title of Naamacharya. He is our Acharya. He is like ‘ Hero’ of the Chanters. His Chanting was exemplary. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has put glaring example in front of us, in form of Haridas Thakur.

vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga-
śikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-śarīra-dhārī
kṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye
(CC 6.254)

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared to teach Chanting to the whole world. Then He selected & empowered Namacharya Haridas Thakur, so that he would become the empowered teacher, for Chanting of the holy names of the Lord. He is most inspiring for the Chanters. He is the ‘Shiromani’ or ‘Mukutmani’ among Chanters. We should study the life of this Acharya. We will learn many things. Primarily we learn to Chant. We will get inspiration to Chant, in all different types of situations & circumstances & we see whatever situation he was in, he kept Chanting. Sometimes there were so many odds & challenges, but he never ever stopped Chanting.

Kirtaniya sada Hari. (Shikshastakam verse 3)

happened in each & every situations & in all those circumstances.

We could may be going over some of those incidents to understand how Naamacharya Srila Haridas Thakur didn’t stop his Chanting. He continued Chanting.

We can discuss some of the incidents of his life, to understand in which situations he didn’t stop his Japa. So there comes the prostitute, in the middle of the night, who was young & beautiful & no one else was around. Srila Haridas Thakur didn’t stop Chanting. He suggested her to be there, three nights passed one after the other & he was still busy Chanting. That was a time when Maya personified, came in form of a beautiful young girl, but that also didn’t work, as he kept Chanting. We all know, prostitute couldn’t convert Namacharya Haridas Thakur but on the contrary, he converted the prostitute & she became the great Chanter of the holy name & she also started Chanting three hundred, thousand holy names. She renounced everything. Just took beads & sat down to Chant. She became Aacharya of the Holy name.

Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was once residing in a Phulia gram & Namacharya Haridas Thakur was Chanting. He had to share the cave with a big poisonous snake. Visitors who used to come to meet him had noticed that snake is sharing the cave, because they were afraid of the snake, they stopped visiting.

But Srila Haridas Thakur was not afraid, he kept Chanting there. So, this was another situation. Where Namacharya Haridas Thakur kept Chanting. He didn’t leave the cave. Instead the snake had to leave the cave. You could learn lessons from each of this situation. I am not going to draw any conclusions, to bring it to your attention.

While Namacharya Haridas Thakur was staying in Saptagram in big assembly, he was challenged & insulted, offended. Because the other party, someone in the assembly was not accepting the Holy name. He was saying, ‘it is just exaggeration of the Glories of the Holy name’ Namacharya Haridas Thakur was talking about Naamabhas stage of Chanting that time. He was protesting & insulting. But Namacharya Haridas Thakur didn’t take that as an offense. He kept Chanting & Chanting.

Once Namacharya Haridas Thakur was imprisoned. But did he stopped Chanting in a prison? No! he kept, preaching co-prisoners & converting them to be a devotee. He inspired them to Chant.

Once he was with Advaita Acharya in Shantipur & then those two persons were the first one to receive the news of appearance of Gauranga or Nimai. They were Chanting & dancing on the banks of Ganga & everyone was wondering, what has happened to Them. But they knew the reason of Their jubilation, as Lord had appeared.

Namacharya Haridas Thakur was also Chanting there that time. So we note that he was Chanting even before the advent of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He was aware of the appearance of the Supreme Lord. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was one day old, that time Advaita Acharya was fifty years old. Namacharya Haridas Thakur & Advaita Acharya both got the news that Nimai or Gauranga has appeared. Namacharya Haridas Thakur was a Chanter, even prior to advent of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Then Kazi ordered, this person is born in Muslim family, but he just keeps Chanting names of the Hindu God. ‘Hare Krishna Hare Ram’, stop him!! Beat him to death!!! Then that attempt was also made. Who could understand, what Acharyas’ have undergone?

Namacharya Haridas Thakur got beaten up in one market place & then another like that 21 market places. They said you stop Chanting, we will stop beating. But if you don’t stop Chanting, we won’t stop beating. But Namacharya Haridas Thakur, he went on & on with his Chanting & they also went on beating, but he didn’t stop. It’s a long story.

Under those circumstances also he didn’t stop Chanting. And we know what happened to those who were beating, they stopped, but Namacharya Haridas Thakur didn’t stop Chanting.

Then Haridas Thakur reached Jagannath Puri. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also reached along with His few parshads. Haridas Thakur was not allowed in the temple, since he was a Muslim. Muslim Born are not allowed in the temple. But he kept Chanting. Whether he was allowed in the temple or not allowed, he kept Chanting. It didn’t matter to him. He didn’t protest. He respected the rules & kept Chanting. Of course, we know, he was not able to go to Jagannath but Jagannath used to come to him, to give him Darshan in form of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Then he became very old. So old that he couldn’t even sit up & Chant. He used to lie down & Chant. One day Govind was sent by Mahaprabhu with prasadam. When prasadam was given to him, he exclaimed, No! No!! my Chanting is not finished yet, so I can’t take prasadam. He was still attempting to stick to his standards, even in his last days. He just took few grains, just to respect the prasadam, as prasadam is the form of Lord. Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had come. Then He was asking, why he has to stick to the quota of Chanting three thousand rounds? You could come down or reduce the number. But Namacharya Haridas Thakur didn’t want to minimize his Chanting. Lord Himself was telling , O! Chant less! To us our counsellors or Gurus keep telling, Chant more! Chant more!

Here Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was telling chant less! But still he didn’t want to reduce his usual number of rounds.

Time was passing & against all the circumstances or odds we will find that Srila Haridas Thakur stick to his Chanting. That’s the reason why he is called as Naamacharya. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave him title of Naamacharya. Srila Haridas Thakur ki Jai!

We pray to such Naamacharya to give us necessary inspiration, determination & devotion to keep Chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. We keep doing Kirtaniya Sada Hari.

Okay, you study the life of Naamacharya Haridas Thakur. This is the homework for you. All glories to Naamacharya Haridas Thakur!

All glories to Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Nitai gaura premanande.

Hari Hari Bol!!.

DEVOTEES EXPRESS THE GRATITUDE

I want to quickly run through some of the comments posted on conference. Today there were around 100 postings. We have reviewed some postings of previous days. Devotees from Radha Rasbihari are here with us today.

From Ukraine, Natalia mataji is expressing her gratitude for precious inputs. I think many of you have been grateful for conference & for Japa talk. Prahlad Maharaj from Himachal Pradesh is offering obeisances. Most of the postings are obeisances & koti koti dandavat. At least, you have that emotion & devition of offering obeisances. This mood of being grateful & thankful is appreciated, wanting to offer obeisances to the devotees & to the spiritual master who is also Chanting.

Srila Sanatan Goswami for sure is a glaring example that while doing Chanting on Govardhan Parikrama, whenever he used to come across a Vaishnav on the way, he used to offer his obeisances. We hear, sometimes he used to offer two thousand obeisances during one Govardhan Parikrama while Chanting. It used to be outward expression of the verse

trinadapi sunichen
tarorapi sahishnuna
amanina manden
kirtaniya sada Hari.
(Shikshashtakam verse 3)

Don’t sleep! ‘Soega woh khoega’- one who sleeps will lose. Then you will not be able to see Vaishnav on the way. Then how you will offer obeisances? You can stand up if feeling sleepy. Sanatan Goswami used to stand, while doing Japa as he used to do Parikrama.

How will you show that you are amanina manden? By offering obeisances. It is giving respect to other Vaishnavas. Sanatan Goswami used to fall at their feet & offer obeisances. So, following in that mood, we should be also offering obeisances.

This way you translate that statement into action. amanina manden. That not expecting any respect for oneself, but offering respect to others. Then it is said, in such a state of mind, one can chant holy names of the Lord constantly. If our mental state is not like this, then our sadhana can have break.

Tanu Shukla from Noida is offering Dandavat. She says her husband has joined the conference for the first time. Shiromani Gopi mataji wants to serve Guru & Vaishnavas. So, by Chanting & Chanting, she has developed this desire. Since as we Chant we are praying, ‘O Lord! Please engage me in your Devotional service.’

In Sanskrit there is commentary which says ‘ Seva yogyam mam kuru’. So, she has developed intense desire to do service, that means Lord has heard your prayers. You are praying O! Engage me ! Engage me! That means Lord has heard your prayers. That means we are being blessed. Lord is giving us service, will to serve. Where there is will, there is way.

Next one is from Coimbatore. Their son Parth’s birthday today so they seek blessings. Then Sankirtan Gaur from Bangladesh was reminded of what I was talking about two days back. I was talking about Cuckoo’s singing & spring season with lots of flowers & Radha Rasbihari being offered with lots of flowers that day. He is also reminded of that sweet spring morning.

From Greater Noida Neetu Tripathi Mataji is writing, that her sister Chanting from Jodhpur, first time. So, this Mataji succeeded in preaching her sister in another town.

Some devotees from Greater Noida are trying to join the devotees from Meerut.

Some devotees from Noida & Bangalore are actively getting others to join.

Krishnam from Beed has realized, how Krishna consciousness is very near to mother nature. He is commenting on what we said about spring season. Yes, it’s a part of it.

From USA Hardik Patel, who is a young boy of seventeen years old expressed he Chants extra round in the evening with you. Earlier he never used to sit, while walking he used to Chant, but now as per my instructions to him, he sits down & chant.

Someone has expressed, that Japa conference is like Naam-hata for them. He is writing that song of Bhaktivinoda Thakur.

Nadiya Godrume Nityananda Mahajan patiyache naam-hata jiver karan.

Nityananda prabhu has opened a market of Harinaam & all faithful souls should take advantage of it . He is announcing. Please come & buy the product. What is the product?

Harinaam.

But you will have to pay the price. What’s the price?

Faith is the price.

So pay the price, take the product, Chant Harinam & be happy. That’s a nice realization.

Okay, we better stop. See you all another day.

Haribol!!!

CALL OUT TO LORD LIKE DRAUPADI

Gaura Premanande Hari Hari Bol!

We are happy as number of participants have gone to 530.

I was thinking when you chant, Krishna is pleased & you get credit for chanting, but if you become cause of others to chant, you inspire others to chant, on this conference or otherwise, then also, Lord is pleased with your endeavours, if your attempts to get others to chant. So, keep endeavouring & get more & more participants.

It is not only me, who is seeing you & becoming happy by seeing you chant but originally Lord is seeing you chant & He is becoming happy, seeing you chanting. Yes? Do you agree, that Lord is seeing us?

(H.G. Anandmayi Radha mataji on the conference is traveling while attending the conference.) Devotees are chanting everywhere in all parts & in all conditions. So it’s nice & should be appreciated that, under all circumstances you are chanting, whether it’s a comfort zone of your temple or house or austerity of being outside in unfavourable circumstances such as travelling, but Lord is watching. And Lord is pleased with you.

So, keep chanting. Today in the middle of the conference I asked you all, whether you all can hear me properly? And you all responded saying, yes it was okay. Then my thoughts were, chanting is not only for others to hear, but chanting is for your own self to hear & for Krishna to hear. We chant with this objective, that Lord should hear. So make sure that Lord hears your chanting. That is why we say, “Hear with Attention. Hear with Meditation. Chant without Offenses.” That’s the reason, you are reminded again & again to chant attentively. You are chanting attentively means, you are hearing your Japa. Make your Japa prayerful.

Prayerful chanting Lord will definitely hear. Offenseless Japa, Lord will definitely hear. Your Chanting is then heard by the Lord. So, see to it, that your chanting is heard by the Lord.

Lord is merciful. If you pray, then Lord will definitely hear you. Advaita Acharya prayed & cried for mercy of the Lord, Darshan of the Lord, Advent of the Lord. Then Lord had to appear. He had no choice. He appeared as Gauranga. Sri Krishana Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai!

He prayed for advent of Gauranga not only for himself, but for benefit of whole world, he wanted Lord to appear.

The way Draupadi called out for the Lord. Hey Krishna! Hey Govind!! She must not have called this way. It’s difficult to exactly address the Lord the way she must have called. With how much amount of eagerness & devotion, she must have called, that Lord had to appear. Lord doesn’t come, why? Because we don’t call out to Him like Draupadi. So, this is a practice, we are addressing the Lord every day. Everyday chanting is the practice of chanting, calling, begging the Lord. So, one day, our calling out, our address, our prayer will be like that of Draupadi’s prayer. Then when those conditions are met, Lord has no choice but to make His appearance. Give us His darshan. Accept us in His company, in His association. Why Lord doesn’t eat? Because we don’t feed Him like Shabari. Why Lord doesn’t dance? Because we don’t make Him dance like Gopis. When our calling out will be like Draupadi, then Lord will definitely appear.

ahaṁ bhakta-parādhīno
hy asvatantra iva dvija
sādhubhir grasta-hṛdayo
bhaktair bhakta-jana-priyaḥ ( S.B. 9.4.63)

This is introduction of Lord.

I was also thinking, number of participants are increasing, so quantity wise we are doing better & better. That’s one target. But our main goal has to be quality chanting. So, work on quantity as well as quality. Or even sometimes devotees chant more rounds. But goal is one also has to improve quality wise. Our Japa should be Quality chanting. Attentive chanting, Offenseless chanting, Devotional chanting. So, work on both of these goals. More chanting, increase number of rounds as well as number of participants, as well as the quality of our chanting.

Okay. We will stop. See you another day. I am still in Juhu, at Lotus Feet of Radha-Rasbihari.

Hare Krishna!

Participants is lowest. In Christianity there is understanding that, God was very busy creating this world, six days he was busy & on Sunday he took rest. That is why people also have idea of resting on Sundays, as Lord took rest on that day. So, idea of taking rest, is their concept. But we don’t have that concept. So why we should take rest on Sundays? Especially when matter of Chanting comes, there is no rest. Most of us are not from West. We don’t follow Christian understanding. So why should we plan to rest on Sundays? Specially why should we give rest to the Chanting?

Christians also go to church on Sundays. That’s only one day. Muslims go to mosque on Friday. We the followers of Sanatan dharma, we are supposed to be going to the temple every day or as & when possible. Or we can make temple at home. We don’t take break from going to the temple, from remembering & serving the Lord, there is no break. No break. Constantly we have to do it.

We could chant ‘Hare Krishna’ at home also & wherever we are, we are supposed to be Chanting the holy name of the Lord. We may or may not go to temple, but Chanting goes on. We may not go to temple, but we may turn our homes into temple. We take darshan of home deities or we Chant ‘Hare Krishna’ at home. That way we worship the Lord, every single day. Sunday is no exception. I just said all this, because our numbers drop on Sundays.

As number of participants have gone down, so I realized, it must be Sunday. Likewise, cuckoo’s sing…. Kuhu ssss Kuhu ssss! So this morning Cuckoo’s they became alarm & woke me up & then I also realized, oh! the cuckoo’s are singing, so this must be Spring season. (Months of Chaitra & Vaishakh they are the spring season.) They continued their singing till Japa began. When I heard cuckoo’s singing, I was wondering, is this the spring season? Then as I thought, I did little counting & then I realized,Yes! Yes!! This must be the spring season. This is a month of Chaitra. That lead to another thought. This is spring season & Lord’s statement in Bhagavad Gita is – rutunam kusumakaraha.

Lord said in Bhagavad Gita tenth chapter, out of all the seasons, I am the Spring season. Then Lord said,

bṛhat-sāma tathā sāmnāṁ
gāyatrī chandasām aham
māsānāṁ mārga-śīrṣo ‘ham
ṛtūnāṁ kusumākaraḥ
(BG 10.35)

There is big quantity of something that is called as ‘Aakar’. This season is season of flowers. Spring season, all flowers bearing bushes & trees, they bear flowers. Kusumakaraha. That reminded me, I offered aarti this morning to my Lord, Radha Rasbihari, my life began with Radha Rasbihari & I was head poojari of Radha Rasbihari, all the way back in 1973. Radha Rasbihari gave me life & accepted me in Their service. All sorts of services I had been doing for their pleasure under the guidance & instructions of Srila Prabhupada. I was appointed as head poojari for Them in 1973. They made me eligible for Their service.

When I was worshipping today morning, I saw so many flowers. Altar was full of flowers. I also offered flowers. That was the part of offering Aarti. All sorts of flowers, Mogara & Champa all sorts of flowers were offered to Radha Rasbihari. That is the perfection of spring season. What good is the spring season, if the flowers of Spring season are not offered to Radha Rasbihari. Devotees they are consensus. They were offering Lord’s flowers unto the Lord. So while Chanting

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

I was thinking of some of these thoughts. All those thoughts are Krishna related, Radha Rasbihari related. They cannot be called as mundane thoughts.

prāpañcikatayā buddhyā
hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ
mumukṣubhiḥ parityāgo
vairāgyaṁ phalgu kathyate (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.256))

Things which have connection with the Lord, relationship with the Lord, to abandon those, discard those or consider those as mundane , this is a phalgu vairagya. This is false renunciation.

Prapanchik Taya budhya Harisambandhi vastunaha. Pra-panch is five great elements. This world is made of five elements, that is Prapanch & from that it comes as prapanchik & then prapanchik buddhi. So these thoughts are seemingly mundane, to think of singing of the bird & then remembering this must be Spring season. Then thinking of flowers everywhere & those flowers are offered to Radha Rasbihari & then you think that yes! this is a right thing to do.

So yes this is also right, this is not wrong. While thinking of Hare Krishna, we may be also thinking of these thoughts & they should not be considered mundane or prapanchik & they should not be abandoned. Cuckoo is singing again. This is remembrance. I was reminded of spring season. That spring season is Lord Himself, that’s what He said, so how that can be mundane?

There were lots of thoughts, I just shared few with you all. I could just quickly say one more thought, before we stop. I will make it short. When I was head poojari of Radha Rasbihari, I used to dress the deity & then curtains would open. Govindam adipurusham….. used to start. I used to stand in front of Radha Rasbihari with mirror & I used to show mirror to Radha Rasbihari. While showing mirror to the deity, I used to think & I am sure that’s the fact, that Radha Rasbihari used to see themselves into the mirror. Then I used to watch very closely, face of the Lord. I used to watch them , whether they are happy with Shringar or Dressing we have done for Them. Sometime we used to find Them happy & sometimes not. Those moments were like the essence of that service. You dress the deities & watch.

Face is index of your mind. So face is also index of Lord’s mind & heart. That is why we used watch Lord’s face. I was also thinking about those dealings & reciprocation with Radha Rasbihari.

[Gurumaharaj’s Godbrother H.G.Yashomatinandan Prabhuji staying in next room comes in & shared few memories of past days & Gurumaharaj shared that on conference.]

That happened in Vrindavan. Sridhar maharaj was recommended for sanyas. When I heard that, I went to Prabhupada saying ‘me too! me too!’

Then Prabhupada said ‘okay, you too!’ It was approved by Srila Prabhupada. We were all few years in ISKCON by then. Those were all good old days. Yashomati Nandan Prabhuji says , we were nobody. We were almost like animals. Prabhupada transformed us & made us eligible to serve Radha Rasbihari in different capacities & different ashrams. Okay. I am giving Bhagvatam class in Hindi today. We will stop here.

Hare Krishna!
Thank you

Some of you are not Chanting every day, that is why numbers keep fluctuating. If you are head of the family, then you could get other members of the family to Chant. If you are a Bhakti-vriksha leader get your group members to Chant, if you are temple president, get temple devotees to Chant. If you are councilors, make sure your counselees are joining the conference. ‘Each one teach one’.

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

So keep Chanting.

Harer nama Eva kevalam!

There is no other way. We don’t have any other way

(CC adi 7.26).

Lord is to be remembered in the morning & also devotees of the Lord are to be remembered in the morning. So remember Lord in the morning in association of the devotees. Krishna is worth remembering in early morning hours. As we get up, we should be remembering someone worth remembering. Everyone is not worth remembering, specially not in the morning. So we have to take & choose, whom do we wish to remember during Brahma-muhurta or early morning hours.

I was referring to Mahatma prabhu’s Guide book. There he has given one tip, one hint, meditation that he talks about. He says , “I am out of my mind & in my heart, fully present to the holy names when I chant.”

I think, what he is talking about is in English when we say, ‘out of mind’ that means he is crazy, that is also one of the meaning. But here in this case, what is mind’s business? It goes on doing ‘Sankalpa & Vikalpa’. It goes on, all the thoughts. Some we accept & some we reject & we go on thinking, we all do it. Thinking, feeling, willing is the business of the mind.

So, we are always thinking. We think of something & then we reject that thing for something else. Then we accept & reject. Those thoughts are at the mind’s level, without the help of the intelligence. Spiritual intelligence if it is not there, then you could be thinking of anything & everything or mundane things. Or your mind is going to be wondering of. Round & round, up & down. You are making rounds after rounds… 16 rounds, but your mind has done 16000 rounds. So he is talking about, getting out of such mind. Not allowing the mind to function normally or materially. Material mind as it functions. Get yourself out of the clutches of such mind. Liberate your mind & enter the heart. Then think of the Lord in your heart. Remember the Lord of your heart.

When we say ‘Hare Krishna’, we are addressing Krishna. We are saying O Krishna! O Radhe! If we address the Lord & Chanting is all about that. I am such & such. I am fallen.

Aayi nandtanuj kinkaram (Shikshastakam verse 5)

I am supposed to be Your servant, O son of Nand maharaj, but I am so fallen in this material existence. O Lord please pick me up from this ocean of birth & death. This is also prayer. When we are Chanting, we are also praying like this. So when we address the Lord like this, we will like Him to respond or pay attention to what we have to say. So hopefully Lord will listen to us, depending on how is our Chanting, what is the mood of our Chanting. How much ‘laulyam’ we have for the Lord. Is our calling out from soul or from only throat. Are we really praying from bottom of our heart, is our Chanting like a crying of a baby as Srila Prabhupada was expecting us to do.

Lord can sense immediately & He is going to take note of our attention & concentration in Chanting, intensity of our Chanting, greed in our Chanting. Lord definitely takes into consideration all these things. Accordingly, He will reciprocate with us. The point is also that when we are Chanting, we are praying, we are calling out, so Lord is going to ask, ‘O! What do you want?’ So we may be saying yes, ‘I want Krishna-prema’. If Lord did respond, He may ask , ‘What do you want? May I help you?’ Then we should be able to be respond to the Lord. Let the Lord know, why we have been praying. We have to reveal our heart unto the Lord.

One of the process of Devotion is to go in front of the Lord & reveal your heart to Him. So,here Harinam Prabhu is our deity, we can reveal our heart unto Him. Mantra only is Lord. Naam is incarnation. So to that incarnation we have to present our prayers, deep thoughts of our heart. So like this, remembrance, prayers & Lord’s reciprocation is expected to continue, during Chanting of mantra meditation. This is a Yoga, this is Link. Through the medium of Japa we communicate with the Lord. So this was some food for thought for you. Do contemplate on whatever has been said.

Hare Krishna!