18th February 2020

The Art of Chanting

Hare Krishna. How many rounds have you completed today? Any comments about that? How many rounds should have been completed?We should not be too fast or too slow during chanting. If too fast then there might be a possibility that we might not be listening. Speed might be there, but attention might not be there. If too slow then it takes 15 mins to chant and there are too many thoughts in our head. We take the beads out again and again.Too fast and too slow chanting are the effects of inattentive chanting. Anyone else have any realisation or comments?

When we are chanting in the dhama. it is like a local call. Lord can come in a local call. By going to a nearby temple we can meet the Lord. I was thinking that if the Lord is locally there as this is His place, where would He be now? Gauranga Mahaprabhu has His astakaliya lila like Krsna. If we have to meet Him now then where should we meet Him? How much time will He take to come to us? This is Gauranga Mahaprabhu consciousness. When we are remembering our beloved person then we think where would he be now?Is he in the courtyard, shopping,…Where? We anticipate when will we meet him. When the door bell is ringing then we imagine our husband or children have arrived. When we open the door then someone else is there. It might be Maharaja also. This is meditation.We think whether God Is alone or whoever else is accompanying Him? This is worth remembering in the morning. Thus we are talking about a local call.

Question: Where would He be during the afternoon?
Answer: Gauranga Mahaprabhu goes to Radha-kunda in Rudra dvipa. There is also a place known as Madhya Dvipa where He goes to in the afternoon. He spent a lot of time near the Ganga.

Question: How to avoid offences while chanting?
Answer: If we take care to avoid offences while not chanting then we can avoid offences during chanting.We are more cautious while we are chanting about avoiding offences. We should prepare for chanting one day before. What we ate, drank, whom we met a day before? What should I think or eat now, so that I’ll be able to chant attentively at the time of japa? We should prepare for chanting before the actual chanting. If we are not careful about chanting and we eat too much the previous night and sleep late then the next morning, we will face the consequences. We should prepare one day earlier . Prevention is better than cure. If we could prevent them there is less need to cure.

Question: Just hear the chanting and don’t even think. Is this good?
Answer: Many people think like this. When we hear, then we should think also. The Name what we have heard will inspire us to think. Sravan kirtana should lead to smaran. The Name only can take us to the Lord. We have come to His abode. This we said a few days ago in Srimad-Bhagavatam class.

Question: We souls are arrows and the string of the bow is holy name.
Answer: Lord sends the arrow and where should that arrow be targeted – at the lotus feet of the Lord. Lord’s names takes us to the Lord.

Question: In the 9th offence, we hear that we shouldn’t instruct faithless people. How can we instruct someone who is faithless?
Answer: We have been instructed to preach Krsna’s instructions to each and every living entity. We preach in a positive manner that a person can take a positive impression and he would like to hear more. If his faith is less and if we hammer down, then he will think that he does not want to have anything to do with Hare Krishna. Faith is a degree. When we say he is faithless, still he has 5% faith. In China the government is preaching to them that they are atheist. When we preach, we don’t tell them everything in one go. When Srila Prabhupada was instructing in the West, he didn’t speak of the 4 regulative principles. He spoke to them after the first initiation ceremony. First things come first and not the last thing first. Preachers have to be experienced. When you meet them, you will understand their level and then you can speak. Initially, give them prasada. When they visit they may just appreciate the cleanliness in the temple. This is enough in the first meeting. Jesus said, “I’ve many things to tell you, but not now. I’ll come back.” So don’t say everything in one meeting. This is the art of preaching.

Question: How to focus on chanting after you are so tired after the end of an office day?
Answer: Sometimes devotees say I’ve 500 rounds to chant. This is not the way. Best is to get up early and chant Hare Krishna. There are 24 hours. For practical devotional service, you can consider that there are just 22 hours. 2 hours should be untouched and reserved. First thing I was thinking this morning is that I have chanted all my rounds every day. This is my first business of the day. Because it’s a busy day, I’ll do the business first and then chant in the afternoon. This is not good. We should give priority to chanting.
Pujaris also work with Deities. They should decide when they should chant. If you’re not chanting then you’re spaced out. If we are not able to do it in the morning then plan your chanting time and let the world know that you are busy chanting. Tell the person, “I’m busy.” I’ve shared this earlier. In the earlier days, a big business man wanted to meet the temple president when I was in Bombay. I told the president that such and such person wanted to meet him. I saw he was chanting. President told me to tell him, “I’m busy.” I thought how is he busy? He is just chanting Hare Krishna. Then later, I realized that chanting of Hare Krishna is serious business. We need to have that kind of business. We should honour this business. We should chant in such a way that if someone wants to interrupt then one should offer obeisances and beg forgiveness to interrupt his chanting. We shouldn’t interrupt the chanter abruptly to ask him to do some service. This is not correct behaviour. It is also an offence to the holy name.

Question: Sravan kirtana smaran happens together or does it intermingle?
Answer: Do you remember Mahatma Gandhi in his old age? What do you remember? His form. So through his name, we remember his form. When you read and study then it comes to your mind. When you remember then assimilation happens. You make that part of your consciousness. Then you become a person with character. When we take the name of any person, that person’s face immediately comes to mind. But this doesn’t happen in the case of the Lord.

Question: How we can see the Lord?
Answer: We have to go to Mangal Arati and see the Lord. After that when we chant we see the form of the Lord very easily. In English it is said, “easy to cry easy to dry”. We see many people are crying while chanting. Such tears are sentimental. But philosophy should also be there. If tears come after hearing philosophy, then they are natural. We have heard that as we progress we will witness tears in our eyes. It may happen that they may come and go. To make them steady, we need religion and philosophy. Religion without philosophy is sentimentalism. Philosophy without religion is mental speculation.

Question: I face the problem of sleeping while chanting.
Answer: This might be some kind of disorder or you didn’t take proper rest. May be the atmosphere is not proper like the temperature, air. There are two types of sleeping. One is a disorder and it is occasional. This can be cured by chanting along with some friend. You should have someone who has a water spray with him. You can get up. There is one book “Rising Sun with the Holy Name”. In this book, it is mentioned that the mind is affected by different waves in different modes. When we are in sattvic the waves are different. When in rajsic, the waves are different and when in tamsic, the waves are different. Sleep is the effect of ignorance. To get awake we need passion. If someone is sitting then we end up sleeping. If someone is feeling sleepy then we need passion by standing up and circumambulating around Tulasi . We should sit properly. If we sit like a yogi then there is the right flow of energy. If we sit properly then it is also a solution. Prabhupada would always say, ‘Sit properly.’ So these are some solutions for attentive chanting.

Gaur Premanande!
Hari Haribol!

8th February 2020

Kirtaniya Sada Hari

Yesterday we celebrated Nityanand Trayodasi.

ha ha prabhu nityananda, premananda sukhi
krpabalokana koro, ami baro duhkhi ( By Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura)

Translation:
My dear Lord Nityananda, You are always joyful in spiritual bliss. Since You always appear very happy, I have come to You because I am most unhappy. If You kindly put Your glance over me, I may also become happy.

Lord Nityananda is one who gives bliss. We also pray in this way because such a prayer was written by Srila Narottama Das Thakur. He prays to the Lord that You are always blissful and I’m always miserable. Please let me have Your merciful glance so that I’ll also be happy. Every day when we chant we pray to Pancatattva before every round.

jaya sri-krsna-caitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara
srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda

Translation:
I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara Pandit, Srivas Thakur, and all the devotees of Lord Caitanya.

We pray to everyone Lord Caitanya, Nityanand Prabhu, Advaita Acarya, Gadadhara Pandit, Srivas Thakur. On the left-hand side of Lord Caitanya, He has Gadadhar who is an incarnation of Radharani.

pancha-tattvatmakam krishnam
bhakta-rupa-svarupakam
bhaktavataram bhaktakhyam
namami bhakta-shaktikam

Translation:
Let me offer my obeisances unto Lord Sri Krsna, who has manifested Himself in five as a devotee, expansion of a devotee, incarnation of a devotee, pure devotee, and devotional energy. (CC Adi lila, 7.6)

The Pancatattva are a five-fold manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, featured as five tattvas (truths). In Mayapur, we have Pancatattva who are worshipped. We worship Caitanya Mahaprabhu along with four members. Somewhere Lord Caitanya is worshipped along with Lord Nityanand or Lord Gadadhar. Like Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur would worship Gaura Gadadhar at Svananda-sukhada-kunja (Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s House), worshipping of Gaur-Nityananda means worshipping Krsna and Balarama. And worshipping Gaura Gadadhar means worshipping Krsna and Radha. It’s quite complex. Gauranga is Radha Krsna Himself, still He has Radharani on His left appearing as Gadadhar.

sri krsna caitanya radha krsna nahe anya (Caitanya Bhagavata)

Translation:
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is none other than the combined form of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna.

Radharani can’t always stay with Krsna in Vrindavan. They are social bonds and they have to hide and meet. Radharani always wants to meet Him. She always wants to stay with Krsna. This desire of Radharani is fulfilled when She appears as Gadadhar in Gaura lila. Her form is like that of a man.

Let’s speak about Nityananda Prabhu. The founder of this Sankirtana movement is Nityananda Prabhu. It’s team effort. It’s like Gaura-Nitai, Rama and Laksman working together. Hare Krishna Movement was started by Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Nityanand Prabhu. In Rama-Lila Rama Laksman stay together. Rama is Vasudev and Laksman is Sankarsana. Caturvyuha ( Vasudev, Annirudha, Sankarsana, Pradyumna) stay together. So Vasudev is Rama and Sankarsana is Laksman. Krsna is Vāsudeva as He is the son of Vasudev. Balaram is Sankarsana.

Krsna Balarama also stayed together as you can read in Sila Prabhupad’s Krsna book or the 10th canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. When Balarama was not there Krsna got into trouble. When Lord Brahma stole the cowherd boys, Balarama was not there. Also in Damodar-Lila Krsna got bound to the mortar when Balarama was not there. In the same way, Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Mahaprabhu stay together. They met each other when Lord Caitanya was 20 years old. At Kuruksetra also Krsna and Balarama were not together. As Lord Balarama went on pilgrimage all across Bharat, Lord Nityananda also went on pilgrimage following in His footsteps. He got to know about the birth of Lord Caitanya in Navadvipa when He was at Radha-kunda in Vrindavan. Then He stopped His yatra and He went to meet Lord Caitanya at Nandan Acarya Bhavan at Navadvipa. Then they always stayed together. When they met each other, the Sankirtana movement started at Srivas Thakur’s courtyard. Srivas Thakur is Narada Muni. All members of Pancatattva joined there. Nityanand Prabhu is a very close associate of Lord Caitanya. He also joined. Advaita Acarya from Santipur also constructed His house ( Advaita Bhavan) in Mayapur and joined. Gadadhar stayed there only. In this way, the Sankirtana movement was started by Pancatattva. Initially the kirtana happened as it happens in Goloka. In Goloka, there is Svetadvipa and Navadvipa. In Goloka, there is Vrindavan and Navadvipa. Both Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu are residents of Goloka.

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis
tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ
goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

Translation:
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, the one who enlivens the senses of everyone by His personal bodily rays, resides in His transcendental abode, called Goloka. Yet He is present in every nook and corner of His creation by expansion of happy spiritual rays, equal in power to His personal potency of bliss.” He is therefore simultaneously personal and impersonal by His inconceivable potency, or He is the one without a second, displaying complete unity in a diversity of material and spiritual manifestations. He is separate from everything, and still nothing is different from Him.( Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37)

In Vrindavan there is Krsna and in Navadvipa there is Krsna Caitanya. So in Navadvipa over there, there is constant kirtana of Hare Krishna.

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

As a sadhaka we also do kirtana. Perfection comes from sadhana. We keep on doing this sadhana. If we are not feeling to chant it always means there is no perfection of this sadhana.
Kirtaniya sada hari means even if we leave this body, still we will keep on chanting in Goloka. Life is never terminated. The living entity always lives. In the Lord’s abode also there is constant kirtana. We have to practice in such a way that it becomes natural for us.

As the kirtana which was happening in Srivas Angan was prakata lila of Lord Caitanya, there was entry for only pure devotees. Only pure devotees were allowed to enter and chant. Advaita Acarya had a problem with this. He was thinking that he had invited Lord Caitanya Who had mercifully appeared, but he had called Him to reestablish religious principles.

yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛijāmyaham ( BG 4.7)

Translation:
Whenever there is a decline in righteousness and an increase in unrighteousness, O Arjun, at that time I manifest myself on earth.

Before the appearance of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Advaita Acarya had appeared, who is an incarnation of Maha-Visnu. When he saw that there is a decline of righteousness, he prayed to the Lord, Who then mercifully appeared. But Mahaprabhu was not doing anything to reestablish dharma. Initially, He always did kirtana with pure devotees which He usually does in Goloka. Then on Advaita Acarya’s request Sankirtana began.

Udilo Aruna Puraba Bhage by Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura from Gitavali

udilo aruna puraba-bhage,
dwija-mani gora amani jage,
bhakata-samuha loiya sathe,
gela nagara-braje (Verse 1)

Translation:
When the rising sun appeared in the East, the jewel of the twice-born, Lord Gaurasundara, awakened, and, taking His devotees with Him, He went all over the countryside towns and villages

‘tathai tathai bajalo khol,
ghana ghana tahe jhajera rol,
preme dhala dhala sonara anga,
carane nupura baje ( Verse 2)

Translation:
The mrdangas (khol) resounded “tathai, tathai,” and the jhanjha [large metal karatalas that look like small cymbals] in that kirtana played in time. Lord Gauranga’s golden form slightly trembled in ecstatic love of Godhead, and His footbells jingled.

Sankirtana began and Lord Caitanya started to inspire everyone.

krsna-nama-sudha koriya pan,
jurao bhakativinoda-pran,
nama bina kichu nahiko aro,
caudda-bhuvana-majhe (Verse 8)

Translation:
Drink the pure nectar of the holy name of Krsna. There is nothing but the name to be had in the fourteen worlds. It has filled the soul of Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

In this way, Sankirtana started and reached all of you.

Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu ki jay!
Nityananda Prabhu ki jay!
Advaita Acarya ki Jay!
Gadadhar Pandit ki jay!
Srivas Thakur ki jay!
Gaur Bhakta Vrinda ki jay!

5th February 2020

The True Lifetime Achievement Award

Today 550 devotees are chanting with us. Greetings to all of you as you are receiving the mercy of the holy name.

One who is humble is eligible to receive mercy. We have utensils in the kitchen to keep something. In the same way we have to humble ourselves in order to be qualifiedto receive and retain what we have received. Many of you have congratulated me for the life time achievement award. You have noted down what I spoke about yesterday. This award is not my glorification, but they have glorified the Lord, Srila Prabhupada and ancient India. Whatever a devotee becomes, is all because of the mercy of our previous acaryas, Guru and Gauranga.

jogyata-vicare, kichu nahi pai,
tomara karuna—sara
karuna na hoile, kandiya kandiya,
prana na rakhibo ara

Translation
If you examine me, you will find no qualities. Your mercy is all that I am made of. If You are not mercifulunto me, I can only weep, and I will not be able to maintain my life.

We still have to receive the mercy. We haven’t yet achieved the complete mercy. I was thinking that still there is so much to do.

nayanam galad-ashru-dharaya
vadanam gadgada-ruddhaya gira
pulakair nichitam vapuh kada
tava nama-grahane bhavishyati

Translation
O my Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with tears of love flowing constantly when I chant Your holy name? When will my voice choke up, and when will the hairs of my body stand on end at the recitation of Your name?[Siksastakam 6]

Some part has been heard and some not. When will I become qualified to have such a day that when I hear the holy names, tears will glide from my eyes? When will my soul hear Hare Krishna and realise that Hare Krishna is the Lord Himself? When will my soul need Their Lordships?Then there will be tears and choking of the throat. Lord Caitanya prayed in this way. When will be we able to chant in this way? When will I get the result of such a prayer? Something is yet to come.

Today is Bhaumi Ekadashi as well as Varaha Dwadasi. We are fasting today for both. Upavaas- Upa means near and Vaas means association. We are close, closer and closest. We try to be closer to the Lord. We should try to do strong sadhana today. It’s not just fasting from grains or eating little. Yes, one should eat less. Excessive eating always keeps going on.

atyaharah prayasas ca
prajalpo niyamagrahah
jana-sangas ca laulyam ca
sadbhir bhaktir vinasyati

Translation
One’s devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required; (2) overendeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters; (4) Practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Krsna conscionsness; and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements.[NOI 2]

When we hear Atyahara we just think of eating, but Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur says that Atyahara is there for all senses. All senses like the eyes – see, nose-smell, ears-hear. In this way sense objects are food for the senses. Touch is food for the skin. The skin tries to eat soft skin or limbs. Men feel the touch of women. The skin wants to gobble up that touch. They want to embrace. You can understand. There are five sense objects. This is also calledfood for thought. Thinking, feeling, willing, accepting and rejecting keeps on going within the mind. The mind likes something, dislikes something. Acceptance and rejection keeps going on within the mind, 24 hours a day even while sleeping also. There is Jagriti, Susupti and for sometime Turya (transcendental). The mind keeps on devouring many thoughts. Some things we like and some things we don’t like.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur has said that not only the tongue, but we have to fast all other senses also. We keep on consuming various sense objects with our senses. This is not favourable for devotional service. On this day we don’t eat grains, but we eat fruit prasada. Apart from this also there are many senses and they should also undergo fasting.

There will be a Bhagavtam class at ISKCON Nagpur. I have to get ready. Many people do not understand the meaning of Upavaas. Real meaning is to spend time in close association with the Lord by controlling the senses and the mind. Instead of engaging the senses in gratifying sense objects we have to make the Lord the object of our senses. Take darsana of the Lord, Study more, hear more with your ears, smell what has been offered to the Lord. Keep your senses engaged. Feed them nicely. Make Krsna the object of your senses. In this way make your life successful and achieve the real glory of our life.

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajatyante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ

Translation:
Whatever one remembers upon giving up the body at the time of death, O son of Kunti, one attains that state, being always absorbed in such contemplation. [BG 8.6]

etāvān sāṅkhya-yogābhyāṁ
svadharma-pariniṣṭhayā
janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām
ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ

Translation:
The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by acquirement of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of one’s occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life. [SB 2.1.6]

sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor
vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane
karau harer mandira-mārjanādiṣu
śrutiṁ cakārācyuta-sat-kathodaye
mukunda-liṅgālaya-darśane dṛśau
tad-bhṛtya-gātra-sparśe ’ṅga-saṅgamam
ghrāṇaṁ ca tat-pāda-saroja-saurabhe
śrīmat-tulasyā rasanāṁ tad-arpite
pādau hareḥ kṣetra-padānusarpaṇe
śiro hṛṣīkeśa-padābhivandane
kāmaṁ ca dāsye na tu kāma-kāmyayā
yathottamaśloka-janāśrayā ratiḥ

Translation:
Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord’s temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṇa or about Kṛṣṇa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s temples and Kṛṣṇa’s places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord’s devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord’s prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires. [SB 9.4.18-20]

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

Translation:
‘Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord. [CC Madhya Lila 19.170]

If we are able to remember the Lord at the end of our life then that is the true life time achievement. Achieve that true lifetime achievement.

Hare Krishna

4th February 2020

Holy name: Caitanya rasa vigraha

I interrupted you in your Japa. Please forgive me for that. Now we just chanted. After japa, we have a japa talk.This is going on for 1 year and 1 month. Radio conferences keep going on in the world. I would chant in the morning and devotees of those respective temples would chant along with me. Then the thought of chanting on this zoom conference came and now we have devotees from 503 places chanting with us.

Pune is one of the locations. 10 to 20 countries are also participating in this conference. Devotees who do not get any association or are grihasta devotees, benefit by joining this japa conference. There is a small place called Reunion Island. There are just a handful devotees and they also join this japa conference. In this way many devotees join. Many devotees are from India and hence we do the japa talk in Hindi. English transcription also takes place and it is also transcribed in Russian. Many devotees from temples and BACE join. We have taken this initiative. You can also follow in the same way by chanting with your counselees.

There can be a japa and a japa talk. Walk the talk. Many devotees are benefitting and thanking me for this. So how can I stop? Devotees from Mauritius, Toronto, Moscow are chanting with us. While chanting we are benefitted by the place and the association of devotees. When we chant we are protected because of the association of the devotees. We have to think of devotees before thinking of the world of Maya. When we do japa then we are protected and we are benefitted by Krishna conscious thoughts.This helps our chanting. Devotees take benefit of this facility. Many are nodding their heads. There can be a question answer session also.

Sometimes a dialogue can take place with the help of this chanting facility. We chant for 45 minutes and have a 15 minute japa talk. The chanting of the holy names is dharma. Philosophy has to be there with religion. Japa talk is there for philosophy. Religion without philosophy is sentimentalism. We need to understand the glories of the holy names. Package of japa and japa talk becomes a complete presentation. We don’t have any talk in any particular sequence. I just share my realisations. Sometimes I share those in series.

In ISKCON, senior devotees are welcomed by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra three times. I was also welcomed in this way. When I was hearing this announcement, a thought came in my mind. I thought Krsna will also be there to welcome me. When devotees say we welcome by chanting Hare Krishna I realised that the Lord will also be there to welcome. What is siddhanta?

naham tisthami vaikunthe
yoginam hrdayesu va
tatra tisthami narada
yatra gayanti mad-bhaktah

Translation:
“I am not in Vaikuntha nor in the hearts of the yogis. I remain where My devotees engage in glorifying My activities.”

nāma-cintāmaṇe kṛṣṇa
caitanya-rasa-vigraha
pūrṇa śuddha nitya muktā-
bhinnātman karuṇāmaya

Translation
O Lord whose holy name is a cintamani jewel! All-attractive Lord Krsna! Lord whose form is spiritual nectar! Perfect and pure Lord! Eternal Lord! Liberated Lord! Lord not different from Your holy name! Merciful Lord! [Song Nama Cintamani Krsna 1]

Nama and Nami are non different. I thought that the Lord will also be there.When we relate this with our chanting and chant, then we can think that the Lord is welcoming us and saying ‘Thank you.’ When we chant we all call Radha and Krsna . They appear in front of us and respond also. Chanting means an interview with the Lord. This is a personal dialogue with the Lord. When there is an interview, we shake hands also. Japa means a meeting with the Lord. When we are chanting, I am sure that the Lord could welcome you. This happens when we say Hare Krishna. This is not only shaking hands, but embracing each other. In this way devotees keep on welcoming each other. In the same way we will be welcomed at the entrance of Vaikuntha.

Dhundhukari listened to this katha for 7 days and an airplane came from Vaikuntha for him. He took his seat in that plane. Gokarna, the speaker asked why he was going alone when all had heard the katha. In the same way why is Radheshyam Prabhu going ahead alone? There was an air host only, no air hostesses. There was a difference in the hearing. One heard without committing offences and one heard committing offences. Only one devotee was contemplating on what he heard. This is called manan, smaran. This is not just to be accumulated, but also assimilated and only one person heard in this way. One should contemplate on what one has heard. Gokarna then asked what would happen to these people. They were given a list of offences which they had committed. If they heard attentively without committing offences then they could be taken back to Godhead. There was a list of dos and don’ts (vidhi and nishedh). Next time when all heard the katha in this way, they brought a big jumbo jet, like a 747. Earlier there was just a helicopter. In this way thousands were greeted. Individuals can also be welcomed as well. We were welcomed at the time of japa. In this way we were welcomed and we got the association of the Lord.

Nama is the Lord. From that the form will manifest. That’s why we call Nama Prabhu. It indicates that the Lord is a person. While chanting, that same name can give us darsana. The name is the complete Lord, full of all opulences. There is no difference between Nama and Lord. One must think of the Lord, His form, pastimes and associates while chanting.

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam

Translation:
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. [NOI 4]

In this way we can meet the Lord and also discuss confidential matters by revealing our heart. The Lord hears. He may not respond on the spot. But if you call from the core of your heart then surely, He will reciprocate. It might not be immediate, but He will surely respond in His way and by His calculation, He will respond and answer. It might be that devotees answer our questions. Gandhiji said that he referred to Bhagavad-Gita when in difficulty. The Lord is very personal. No one is as personal as the Lord. There is need, interest and concern. NIC.

The Lord is our best friend and He knows our needs, interests and concerns. If He thinks about us then why worry? Then there is,

ananyāś cintayanto māṁ
ye janāḥ paryupāsate
teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ
yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham

Translation:
But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form – to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have. [BG 9.22]

He keeps his promise,

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te
pratijāne priyo ’si me

Translation:
Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend. [BG 18.65]

We have to do our part then the rest is taken care of by Krsna. This is His promise. When we call the all – powerful Lord, then He reveals Himself to us.

sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah

Translation:
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear. [BG 18.66]

Gaur Premanande!
Hari Haribol!

2nd February 2020

There is a Ravana in our heart

I’m here in Beed. Yesterday we had Krsna Balarama Ratha-yatra Festival. All participated, chanted and danced with great enthusiasm in the Ratha-yatra. The Deities of Gaur-Nitai were also there on the chariot. It was announced that this will be a Krsna Balarama Ratha-yatra. Krsna Balarama were welcomed and a Shobha yatra happened. When I saw all the people dancing and chanting with devotion, I got the memory of the return of Rama, Laksman, and Sītā to Ayodhya and how the residents of Ayodhya welcomed them back with great enthusiasm. I saw devotees were whirling their upper garments in the air. Similarly, ten lakh years ago the residents of Ayodhya welcomed the procession towards the palace. It has been explained in Ramayana. Nowadays I am reading and hearing Ramayana.

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge ( BG 4.8)

Translation:
In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.

Ravana and all his associates and demons were killed by Rama, Laksman, Sugriva, Hanuman, and an army of monkeys and bears. When those demons were killed Mandodari, Ravan’s wife (having manda udara which is a symptom of beauty) was also there. When she reached the battlefield, all the women were searching for the bodies of their husbands. Mandodari also started to look for Ravana’s body. Sukadeva Goswami has described this in two chapters in the 9th canto in Srimad-Bhagavatam.

hā hatāḥ sma vayaṁ nātha
loka-rāvaṇa rāvaṇa
kaṁ yāyāc charaṇaṁ laṅkā
tvad-vihīnā parārditā (SB 9.10.26)

Translation:
O my Lord, O Master! You epitomized trouble for others, and therefore you were called Rāvaṇa. But now that you have been defeated, we also are defeated, for without you the state of Laṅkā has been conquered by the enemy. To whom will it go for shelter?

Mandodari is addressing her husband who had left and is not able to hear. She is addressing Ravana as one who made others cry. Sītā was crying day and night and Ravana was the cause of that.

na vai veda mahā-bhāga
bhavān kāma-vaśaṁ gataḥ
tejo ’nubhāvaṁ sītāyā
yena nīto daśām imām (SB 9.10.27)

Translation:
O greatly fortunate one, you came under the influence of lusty desires, and therefore you could not understand the influence of mother Sītā. Now, because of her curse, you have been reduced to this state, having been killed by Lord Rāmacandra.

Whatever you did, was done under the influence of lust and it made you dance. You wanted to enjoy Mother Sītā and this is the reason for your death. How you dealt with Sītā which I could see, is the reason behind your downfall.

kṛtaiṣā vidhavā laṅkā
vayaṁ ca kula-nandana
dehaḥ kṛto ’nnaṁ gṛdhrāṇām
ātmā naraka-hetave (SB 9.10.28)

Translation:
O pleasure of the Rākṣasa dynasty, because of you the state of Laṅkā and also we now have no protector. By your deeds, you have made your body fit to be eaten by vultures and your soul fit to go to hell.

Mandodari is saying that as Ravana is no more, she became a widow along with the whole of Lanka. Now the vultures will eat his body and his soul will go straight to hell. You attained such a destiny as you were under the influence of lust. Ramayana teaches us that those who are under the influence of lust face the same thing. History gets repeated over again and again. Nowadays, the same thing is happening in every city. People are dying and born again and again as they have become victims of lust and greed. He got the name Ravana and such a Ravana is also present in us. Many such Ravanas are there in and around us. We should read the 16th chapter of Bhagavad-Gita .

dvau bhūta-sargau loke ’smin daiva āsura eva cha
daivo vistaraśhaḥ prokta āsuraṁ pārtha me śhṛiṇu (BG 16.6)

Translation:
There are two kinds of beings in this world—those endowed with a divine nature and those possessing a demoniac nature. I have described the divine qualities in detail, O Arjun. Now hear from me about the demoniac nature.

The Lord is saying that there are two types of living entities in this world. Some are divine and some are demoniac. Some are yogi and some are bhogi. We need to study this to know who we are. Then we can understand who we are and what our identity is.

pravṛittiṁ cha nivṛittiṁ cha janā na vidur āsurāḥ
na śhauchaṁ nāpi chāchāro na satyaṁ teṣhu vidyate (BG 16.7)

Translation:
Those possessing a demoniac nature do not comprehend what actions are proper and what are improper. Hence, they possess neither purity, nor good conduct, nor even truthfulness.

He had further said this in the same chapter. Demoniac people don’t know what to do and what not to do, what’s right and what’s wrong.

āśhā-pāśha-śhatair baddhāḥ kāma-krodha-parāyaṇāḥ
īhante kāma-bhogārtham anyāyenārtha-sañchayān ( BG 16.12)

Translation:
Held in bondage by hundreds of desires, and driven by lust and anger, they strive to accumulate wealth by unjust means, all for the gratification of their senses.

The Lord has further said in the 16th chapter that demoniac people are bound by strong ropes of hundreds and thousands of expectations. They are not able to even move a little here and there. He is very expert in lust and greed. If you’re lusty, then you will get angry. The answer is very simple. Anger arises from lust. Then people start earning money by illegal means.

We should study Bhagavad-Gita and from there our learning starts. We should become a student of Bhagavad-Gita. It explains Raja vidya which is the most confidential thing. We should learn this knowledge. Harinama is the life of vidya-vadhu (the wife of knowledge). When we acquire knowledge then we can chant and do sankirtana in this Kaliyuga. Lord Brahma says that he has read all the Vedas and he knows all the Vedas and hence….

ei nām brahma jape catur-mukhe kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
ei nām nārada jape vīṇā yantre kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
ei nām śiva jape pañca mukhe kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare

…. Lord Brahma is chanting the maha-mantra with his 4 mouths and Lord Siva with 5 mouths. Lord Siva hears with 10 ears and sees with 15 eyes.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate ( CC 19.170)

Translation:
“Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.”

Bhakti means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord. The Vaisnava traditions start with Brahma and Siva. Sampradyas begin with these two. What does Lord Siva do? He always discusses Bhagavat Katha with his wife Parvati. This is an ideal life for a wife and husband. One should not do idle talks. Siva and Parvati always remain engaged in Bhagavat Katha. We should follow them. Brahma and Siva are knowledgeable and Vedagaya. They do kirtana in this Kaliyuga. As kirtana and Harinama are the wealth in this Kaliyuga, they earn these. And those who are belonging to the demoniac mentality don’t know which is the legal means of earning a livelihood. They don’t know that they are souls and consider themselves to be bodies. How much more foolishness can there be if we just work for our bodies and not for ourselves, our souls? We are souls, part and parcels of the Supreme Lord and if we don’t work for our souls, or the souls of our husbands, wives, daughters, sons, and citizens of the nation, then we are knowingly drinking poison.

hari hari! bifale janama gonainu
manushya-janama paiya, radha-krishna na bhajiya,
janiya suniya visha khainu

Translation:
0 Lord Hari, I have spent my life uselessly. Having obtained a human birth and having not worshiped Radha and Krsna, I have knowingly drunk poison.

We are drinking poison and being born again and again. We should drink the nectar of the holy names to stop the cycle of birth and death.

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge (BG 4.8)

Translation:
In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.

We have died so many times for the same reasons as Ravana – lust and greed. We are getting killed and if we have to save ourselves then we have to drink the nectar and then we can attain the Lord. We follow the 4 regulative principles to get rid of demoniac propensities. We honour Krsna prasada. Intoxication and illicit sex are demonic propensities. Ravana was trying to run after another’s wife and that was the reason for his downfall. Both Lord Rama and Mother Sītā had vowed to have just one wife and one husband. Srila Prabhupada gave the four regulative principles so that the demoniac propensities within us will be vanquished and Krsna Prema will awaken.

nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya (CC Madhya 22.107)

Translation:
Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.

By hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-Gita, Caitanya-caritamrta or pastimes of the Lord, then our consciousness will get cleansed and we will work under the influence of love. Krsna’s devotees work under the influence of love. Understand these teachings and keep chanting.

Hare Krishna
Gaur Premanande
Hari Haribol!

1st February 2020

Talks Between the Lord and Rāmānanda Rāya – Krsna’s Golden Mood

One day Rāmānanda Rāya asked Mahaprabhu:

eka saṁśaya mora āchaye hṛdaye
kṛpā kari’ kaha more tāhāra niścaye (CC Madhya 8.267)

Translation:
Rāmānanda Rāya then said that he had but one doubt within his heart, and he petitioned the Lord, “Pease be merciful upon me and just remove my doubt.”

I have one doubt. It’s been troubling me for many days. Clear my doubt.

pahile dekhiluṅ tomāra sannyāsi-svarūpa
ebe tomā dekhi muñi śyāma-gopa-rūpa (CC Madhya 8.268)

Translation:
Rāmānanda Rāya then told Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, “At first I saw You appear like a sannyāsī , but now I am seeing You as Śyāmasundara, the cowherd boy.

So Rāmānanda Rāya says when you came then I saw your form of sannyasi.

ūrya-śata-sama kānti, aruṇa vasana
subalita prakāṇḍa deha, kamala-locana (CC Madhya 8.18)

Translation:
Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya then saw Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to be as brilliant as a hundred suns. The Lord was covered by a saffron garment. He was large in body and very strongly built, and His eyes were like lotus petals.

You were covered by saffron garments ( aruna vasana). You had a golden complexion, but now I’m seeing You in a dark complexion. Why has this transformation taken place?

tomāra sammukhe dekhi kāñcana-pañcālikā
tāṅra gaura-kāntye tomāra sarva aṅga ḍhākā (CC Madhya 8.269)

Translation:
“I now see You appearing like a golden doll, and Your entire body appears covered by a golden luster.

Rāmānanda Rāya says, “I’m also seeing that you were appearing golden( Gaursundara form) and I’m now seeing you dark( Śyāmasundara form) and again I’m seeing that dark complexion is being again covered by a golden complexion. The same thing is stated in Caitanya Bhagavata that “antar krsna bahir gaura”. Inside there is Krsna and outside there is Radha. So when I look at You, I see You Two. I’m seeing both Your golden and dark Complexion.

“sri krsna caitanya radha krsna nahe anya” ( Caitanya Bhagavata)

Translation:
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is none other than the combined form of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna.

I’m seeing You in two forms. Earlier I was seeing You alone.

āhāte prakaṭa dekhoṅ sa-vaṁśī vadana
nānā bhāve cañcala tāhe kamala-nayana (CC Madhya 8.270)

Translation:
“I see that You are holding a flute to Your mouth, and Your lotus eyes are moving very restlessly due to various ecstasies.

Rāmānanda Rāya says, “You are carrying a flute and it has been covered by the golden complexion of Radha or it might be that You are getting embraced by Radharani or You are embracing Radharani. Sometimes I see Radha, sometimes Krsna or sometimes both.

ei-mata tomā dekhi’ haya camatkāra
akapaṭe kaha, prabhu, kāraṇa ihāra (CC Madhya 8.271)

Translation:
“I actually see You in this way, and this is very wonderful. My Lord, please tell me without duplicity what is causing this.”

I’m getting surprised to see this. So why am I seeing this? Please explain to me.

prabhu kahe,—kṛṣṇe tomāra gāḍha-prema haya
premāra svabhāva ei jāniha niścaya (CC Madhya 8.272)

Translation:
Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “You have a deep love for Kṛṣṇa, and one who has such deep ecstatic love for the Lord naturally sees things in such a way. Please take this from Me to be certain.

Mahaprabhu answered back, “ I’m here as it is. You are the only cause of such a vision. This is happening due to your love for Radha and Krsna.”

mahā-bhāgavata dekhe sthāvara-jaṅgama
tāhāṅ tāhāṅ haya tāṅra śrī-kṛṣṇa-sphuraṇa (CC Madhya 8.273)

Translation:
“A devotee advanced on the spiritual platform sees everything movable and inert as the Supreme Lord. For him, everything he sees here and there is but a manifestation of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

I came in the form of a sannyasi and now also I am a sannyasi. The difference that you are seeing is because of your vision and love for Krsna. Hence you’re getting (Sphurti) inspiration to see Krsna everywhere.

tāhāṅ tāhāṅ haya tāṅra śrī-kṛṣṇa-sphuraṇa

By saying this now Lord Caitanya spoke the principles in the form of a formula. It is a very important principle.

sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe, nā dekhe tāra mūrti
sarvatra haya nija iṣṭa-deva-sphūrti (CC Madhya 8.274)

Translation:
“The mahā-bhāgavata, the advanced devotee, certainly sees everything mobile and immobile, but he does not exactly see their forms. Rather, everywhere he immediately sees manifest the form of the Supreme Lord.”

Elevated devotees like Rāmānanda Rāya, whatever they see inanimate, as well as animate, moving or non-moving, they see not the only external form, but by seeing such forms, they are reminded of their worshipable Lord. In one sense, Lord Caitanya said, “You earlier saw My sannyasi form and now you’re seeing My dark complexion ( Śyāmasundara form ), and you also see how that dark complexion is being again covered by a golden complexion. You are seeing both Gaura rupa and Syama rupa. So what’s My fault? You are responsible for all this. The Lord is inspiring you to see in such a way. I’m the same as I was. I’m sannyasi. I’m Gaur Sundar. I’m Gauranga. But instead of Me, you’re seeing Syamsundara and Gaurangi. This is due to your remembrance of your worshipable Lord. In this way, Lord Caitanya inspired Rāmānanda Rāya as He was his Worshipable Lord ( ista-deva).

divya-gyan hride prokashito ( Guru Puja)

In this way, He gave such darsana to Rāmānanda Rāya of Radha and Krsna. Radha and Krsna are one only. In Kali-yuga they become one. Here Rāmānanda Rāya is seeing Them as one. He is Vishakha and this can’t be hidden from her as she sees Radha and Krsna in Goloka. Lalita and Vishakha are having these experiences and this can’t be hidden for them. Radha Krsna come together in Kali Yuga to spread the holy names. Taking the complexion of Radharani, He becomes Lord Caitanya. This is clarified in this conversation on the bank of river Godavari at Kovvur.

At this place, Lord Caitanya gave this darsana of Radha and Krsna. There the Gaudiya Matha is established by Puri Maharaja, a god brother of Srila Prabhupada. There is a diorama showing this display. Srila Prabhupada also went to that place at Kovvur in 1972 before the Mayapur Festival. He was accompanied by his Western Disciples. I also went there as a padayatri and had the fortune of bathing in the Godavari, taking darsana and hearing this pastime. This is also called Vrindavan of the South. The Godavari is called the Ganga of South India. You can also go there.

This conversation took place within one day and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave darsana to Vishakha. This proves that Lord Caitanya is non-different from Radha and Krsna. Inside there is Krsna and outside there is Gaurangi. So it’s Two in One.

krsnaya krsna-caitanya- namne gaura-tvishe namah

I offer my respectful obeisances to Krsna known as Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu who has assumed a golden complexion. His dark complexion has been covered by the mood of Radharani. Hence He is called Gauranga. So study and think about this.

Hari Haribol!

30th January 2020

Day of Remembrance of our glorious acaryas!

Hari Hari!

Today early morning we were there in Radha Damodar temple, ISKCON Solapur and devotees had gathered in big numbers and they are also chanting on the zoom conference. Yesterday I had said that we will be discussing the conversation between Raya Ramanand and Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but after mangala arati it was announced that there are many Vaisnava tithis of significance today. If you had gone to an ISKCON temple for mangala aarti you would also have heard these announcements. Today we will discuss the significance of these Vaisnava tithis.

Our acaryas are to be remembered in the morning. There is the disappearance day of some and appearance day of a few, and there is also Vasant Panchami and Sarasvati puja today. What should we celebrate and who all should we remember? We will talk about these tithis and talk about the glories of these acaryas by which they will bless us which will lead to improving our consciousness. That will also lead to improving the quality of our japa. We also may get some bhava bhakti or develop loving emotions towards the Lord. There are so many unwanted things imprinted and stuck in our brain. We keep on remembering or have to remember at times some notorious personalities or demons, as we keep meeting such demons, people with demonic mentalities, terrorists, actors , politicians . But remembering our acarya is the auspicious remembrance. Whatever we hear and read we keep remembering that and in this way we keep remembering characterless personalities. In place of such remembrance when we replace that with auspicious remembrance of acaryas then the other memories will get wiped off which will lead to our welfare. In Marathi they say,

Thor mahatme houn gele
Charitra tyanche paha Jara
Aapan tyanchya saman whave
Hach sapade bodh khara.

In this it is said that one should read and hear the glorious characters of great personalities and acaryas and get inspired by that. Develop determination that we too can imbibe such good qualities. We cannot become similar to them, but we can definitely follow in their footsteps. Bole taisa chale tyachi vandavi paule. We should not be imitating them, but we have to follow in their footsteps. By this we will gain enthusiasm and will be able to progress in our devotional life. This is also termed ‘acaryopasana’ which is the worship of acaryas. Remembering them is also a type of worship. Let’s see how many of them we can remember in this conference. This is a challenge for me as there are so many appearance and disappearance days and Vaisnava tithis today. There are very few days like this in the year and today is such a rare day.

Today is Vasant Panchami. Today is the first day of Vasant Ritu. In Vrindavan , Radharani sometimes goes to her in laws place in Javat and sometimes she is with her parents. Today she comes to Barsana from Javat. In Javat there are many restrictions and Jatila and Kutila constantly keep watch on her and do not let her meet Krsna. They constantly keep creating some obstacles in meeting Krsna. But on the day of Vasant panchami Radharani goes to Barsana, so she is free and can meet Krsna without any restriction, which makes her happy. I have also read somewhere that Nanda Maharaja gives time to Krsna for playing. From today onwards for 40 days Krsna doesn’t go to herd His cows. There is no Gocaran Lila. Krsna will play with his friends, gopi and with Radharani. It’s vacation for Krsna. Whenever there is vacation what do children do? “We will play! We will play! It’s time for playing.” There is lot of significance of Vasant Panchami.

There was one associate of Caitanya Mahaprabhu named Kavi Karnapur, who was the son of Sivananda Sen. He has written so many glories of Vasant Panchami. He has narrated beautifully so many astonishing past times of Vasant Panchami. You all should also read that sometimes.

bṛhat-sāma tathā sāmnāṁ
gāyatrī chandasām aham
māsānāṁ mārga-śīrṣo ‘ham
ṛtūnāṁ kusumākaraḥ

Translation:
Of the hymns in the Sama Veda I am the Brhat-sama, and of poetry I am the Gayatri. Of months I am Margasirsa [November-December], and of seasons I am flower-bearing spring. ( BG. 10.35)

The Lord has explained in the 10th chapter of Bhagavad-Gita His various opulences that, out of all seasons , “I am the Vasant Rutu.” Kusumakaraha, – Kusum is a flower. The season in which there is the blooming of so many flowers and the cuckoo starts singing sweetly kuho ss kuhu ss . The Lord explains that, ‘Such season of Vasant is Me only.’

In Navadwip there is one island called as Ritu-dwip. There was a conference of all the seasons before the appearance of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They were discussing in which season the Lord would appear? Everyone was boasting that it will be during his time. There is the season of Varsha and Grishma, Sharad , and Shishir. Like that there are six of them. Each ones time period is for 2 months. But at the end Vasant season exclaimed, ‘Stop this discussion. Lord will appear in Vasant only’. You will notice that Gaur Purnima falls in Vasant season itself. All glories to such season of Vasant! All glories to Vasant Panchami! It’s Panchami, the fifth day of the bright fortnight. Raag Vasant is sung during this time. There is also the significance of the colour yellow on Vasant panchami. Yellow coloured garments and yellow flowers are used in Vrindavan for the Lord. Today so many ISKCON Ratha-yatras are being conducted.

Earlier on we could celebrate Ratrha-yatra on which ever day we wanted. There were no restrictions. But now there are certain restrictions that have been put in place by the pandas in Jagannatha Puri. However today’s day is considered one of the auspicious days when Ratha-yatras can be conducted and so there are many Ratha-yatras today in India as well as outside India. In Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Latur and many other places Rath-yatras are being conducted.

Today is also the appearance day of Pundarik Vidyanidhi.

tapta-kanchana-gaurangi
radhe vrindavaneshvari
vrishabhanu-sute devi
pranamami hari-priye

Translation:
“O Srimati Radharani, I offer my respects to You whose bodily complexion is like molten gold. O Goddess, You are the queen of Vrindavana. You are the daughter of King Vrishabhanu, and are very dear to Lord Krsna.” ( Sri Radhika pranam mantra)

King Vrsabanu, father of Radharani appeared in the form of Pundarik Vidyanidhi. Vrsabanu of Sri Krisna Lila or Radha-Krsna Lila. King of Barasana, father of Radharani appeared in the form of Pundarik Vidyanidhi in Gaur Lila. It was observed that Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu had special affection for Pundarik Vidyanidhi. He used to love him very much and why not? As Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Radharani herself. Radharani in the form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu had special affection for Pundarika Vidyanidhi. Pundarik Vidyanidhi became disciple of Madhavendra Puri, and then Gadadhar became disciple of Pundarik Vidyanidhi.

jaya sri-Krsna-caitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-adwaita gadadhara
Srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda

Translation:
I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara Pandit, Srivas Thakur, and all the devotees of Lord Caitanya.

This Gadadhar from Panca tattva is also Radharani. Gadadhar accepted to become a disciple of Pundarik Vidyanidhi. So you see the connection. Radharani has become Gadadhar and Vrsabanu has become Pundarik Vidyanidhi.

Today is also the appearance day of Sri Raghunandan Thakur. All glories to his appearance day!! Raghunandan is from the place called Sri-khand. Many of the associates and followers of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to do Katha over there. Then the whole team from Sri-khand would come to Jagannatha Puri for Ratha-yatra, to get direction and association of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This Raghunandan Acarya was from Srik-hand. Mukund Datta , Madhav and Narahari Sarkar were three brothers. Raghunandan acarya was the son of Mukund Datta . But this son was more mature in devotion than his father.

Once Mukund Datta had to go to Howrah station and he instructed Raghunandan to offer bhoga to the Lord. He told him not to eat food without offering. Raghunandan should eat only after Lord has eaten. So Raghunandan offered bhoga to the Lord and the Lord ate it. We offer all the time, but at that time He finished all the food in the plate. When Mukund Datta returned he asked for the maha prasada from the offered bhoga. But Raghunandan said that nothing was left and the Lord ate up everything. Then he told Raghunandan to show him how the Lord eats. “Offer bhoga again. I want to see.” Then again lunch was prepared and offered again along with the chanting of mantras. That time Mukund
Datta was hiding behind the curtain to see whether the Lord really eats. But that time Lord did not finish the whole plate, but ate only laddu and that to only half. Mukund Datta saw this. Father enquired from Raghunandan why the Lord ate only half a laddu? Raghunandan replied that some time back the Lord had taken a full meal , so how could He eat 2 meals at a time. If His stomach would have been empty he would have eaten everything, but that was not the case so He ate only half of the laddu. Raghunandan was such an acarya , who had such a close, deep and loving relationship with the Lord. Once when Raghunandan acarya and Mukund Datta were present in front of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He asked them, who is the father and who is the son out of both of you? Sri Mukund Datta replied that Raghunandan is my father. Father is usually older than the son. But one type of old age is according to the number of years and the other type is counted by the knowledge one has. One is ‘vayovriddha’ and other is ‘Jnanavridha’.

Raghunandan was so full of devotion that his father admitted that he is more progressed in devotion than him and so he is his father. Raghunandan acarya is the inspiration for Gaudiya Vaisnavas. To become Gaudiya Vaisnava is in itself glorious. There are four authentic Vaisnava sampradayas. Out of which Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya is supreme as they are in Radha bhav or Gopi bhav. They follow Raganuga bhakti path. Due to this Gaudiya Vaisnavism is best.

Acaryas like Raghunath das Goswami are the crest jewel of this glorious Gaudiya Vaisnava parampara. We may discuss any number of past times of such acaryas but they are not enough. He was the son of big landlord and he met Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Santipur when he was very young. His family was preventing him from giving himself totally to the service of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.’They then galyat bandhala londhana.’ Some heavy object is tied around the neck of cows or buffaloes which is called as londhana. They got him married. Still very tactfully he broke all the ties of material attraction. He had met Haridas Thakur in Saptagram to get his association. Further he was blessed by Vidyananda Prabhu and he ran towards Jagannatha Puri and join the Krishna conscious movement. Caitanya Mahaprabhu kept him in the association of Swarupa Damodara and told him to take care of Raghunatha das Goswami. Because of this later he was recognised as Swaruper Raghu. Swarupa Damodara became Counsellor and Raghunath das Goswami became counsellee. Raghunatha das Goswami wrote a diary about the various pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu which he performed there. This was called Kadcha. Whatever he saw and experienced hewrote. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu completed His manifest past times and returned, then Raghunatha das Goswami was very distressed by separation from Mahaprabhu and wanted to commit suicide. He went to Vrindavan. There other Goswami from shad Goswami Vrinda like Sanatana Goswami tried to pacify him. Then Raghunatha Das Goswami agreed and stayed there in Vrindavan for a further 40 years on the bank of Radha-kunda. Krsna das Kaviraj Goswami also stayed there on the bank of Radha-kunda. Later Krsna das Kaviraj Goswami wrote Caitanya-caritamrta as he was requested by others to write a scripture explaining the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Krsna das Kaviraj Goswami had heard of the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu from others, but had never met Him. In Vrindavan Raghunatha Das Goswami daily explained the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu to the people. On the basis of the diary which was written by Raghunatha Das Goswami, Krsna das Kaviraj Goswami compiled Caitanya-caritamrta.

tyaktva turnam asesha-mandala-pati-srenim sada tuccha-vat
bhutva dina-ganesakau karunaya kaupina-kanthasritau
gopi-bhava-rasamritabdhi-lahari-kallola-magnau muhur
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau

Translation:
These Gosvamis left their very comfortable lives as ministers, Zamindars and learned scholars and joined Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement, just to show mercy to the fallen souls of the world (dina-ganesakau karunaya). Accepting very humble lives as mendicants, wearing no more than loincloths and torn quilts (kaupina-kantha), they lived in Vrndavana and followed Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s order to excavate Vrndavana’s lost glories. (Verse 4 of Shad-goswami astakam.
Narrated by Srinivasacarya)

All the Goswamis were emblems of magnanimity. They left everything wearing only kopin and a torn quilt . It was very simple living.

sankhya-purvaka-nama-gana-natibhih kalavasani-kritau
nidrahara-viharakadi-vijitau catyanta-dinau ca yau
radha-Krsna-guna-smriter madhurimanandena sammohitau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau ( Shad-goswami astakam verse 6)

All of you want to chant properly? Then you should follow Raghunatha Das Goswami and all the Shad Goswamis. They chanted sankya poorvak. This much chanting must be finished. They respected all. Not that they only offered obeisances to the Lord or worship the Lord only, but they also offered obeisances to the devotees of the Lord again and again and honoured them, fell at their feet. This was also the behaviour of Raghunatha Das Goswami. There were two Goswamis named as Raghunatha. One was Raghunatha bhatta Goswami and the other one is Raghunatha Das Goswami. His samadhi is there on the bank of Radha-kunda.

On the day of Vasant panchami Sri Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur went back to Godhead. Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur is also a prominent name among Vaisnavas. At one time he was the only protector and chief acarya of the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya. He was from Bengal. He reached Vrindavan and stayed there. He had a disciple named Baladev Vidyabhusan. Viswanath Chakravarti has written many books, which are available. All glories to disappearance day of Srila Viswanath Chakravarty Thakur.

Today is the appearance day of Vishnupriya Devi. Vishnupriya was the second wife of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The first one was Laxmipriya. Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to East Bengal and at that time Laxmipriya left her body in pain of separation from Him. Then on advise of Saci Mata Caitanya Mahaprabhu married again. He didn’t spend much time with her as shortly after marriage He accepted the renounced order. Caitanya Mahaprabhu had given His own Deity to her and told her that He is non different from the Deity and she should worship That. Vishnupriya worshiped that Deity . There is one famous temple of Dhameswar Mahaprabhu in Navadwip. That deity of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is still present over there. It is a very important temple. Whenever we go to that side in Navadwip we make it a point to take darsana of Dhameswar Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu’s padukas are also there. The pujari keeps them on the head and we are blessed by the touch of the padukas of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Along with the worship of this Deity she also used to do worship of Harinama.

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

She would worship the name. She had taken shelter of Harinama. While chanting she kept grains of rice at her side. After finishing one round moved a grain of rice to the other side. We hear about this one grain after one mantra or after one round both. Whatever rice was collected in that way was the rice she would have. Most of her time was spent in chanting only. Chanting means remembrance of the Lord. sravanam kirtanam visnohu smaranam – she would remember Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Mahaprabhu was an Avadhut. He was visiting various places during Madhya lila. He met one person named Jagannatha Khatri. Visnupriya was in Mayapur. Being a renunciate it was not possible for Visnupriya to get the association of her husband, but she associated with Him by chanting His names. All glories to appearance day of Visnupriya Devi!

Today is also Sarasvati puja also. Sarasvati is considered as one of the goddesses among many demigods. Vagyisha Isha yasya vadane …

Vak means vachan. Words of glorification. Isha means swamini. Yasya vadane of the mouth. She is present in the lotus face of the Lord. She is one of the potencies of the Lord. Whenever the Lord speaks Sarasvati makes Him speak. She serves Him. Laxmi yasya vakshyasi. Laksmi Devi is present on the chest of the Lord.

Out of the following three saktis – Samvit, Sandini and Hladini – Samvit sakti is present in the heart of the Lord. Sarasvati puja mahotsav ki Jay!

All should chant more on this auspicious day. It’s a time for darsana now.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Hare Krishna!

29th January 2020

The Lord lights the lamp of knowledge

Welcome all you souls to this Japa conference who are chanting the names of the super soul.

The best thing is to chant. This is called nama sankirtana. Once again I am remembering the conversation between Raya Ramananada and Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Earlier we have already discussed this conversation in a japa talk. The conversation kept on going with many discussions, Once assumption is that Vishakha Devi appeared as Raya Ramananada and the second assumption is that Arjuna also appeared as Raya Ramananda. His father is Bhavananda Raya who is Pandu Maharaja. Hence this conversation which took place between Arjuna and Krsna is Bhagavad-Gita. But this conversation which is taking place is not possible between Krsna and Arjuna. It should be between Krsna and Vishakha.

Srila Prabhupada used to say that Bhagavad-Gita is primary study. Srimad-Bhagavatam is graduation and Caitanya-caritamrta is post graduate study, but we should not misunderstand that Bhagavad-Gita is less important. This conversation between Raya Ramananda and Krsna is more confidential than Krsna and Arjuna’s conversation.

Raya Ramananda would ask Caitanya Mahaprabhu to wait to discuss pastimes. The Lord told him that He wants to be with him for his entire life. He also asked Raya Ramananda to join Him in Jagannatha Puri where Lord Caitanya stayed in the gambhira and also spent time with Swarupa Damodar who is Lalita and Raya Ramananda who is Vishakha.

lalita visakha-adi jata sakhi-brinda
ajnaya koribo seba caranaravinda

Translation:
With the permission of all the sakhis, headed by Lalita and Visakha, I will serve the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna.

Raya Ramananda stayed with Lord Caitanya in Jagannatha Puri where such conversations took place everyday. Lord Caitanya remained in Radha Bhava and both these sakhis spent time in Gopi Bhava. The Lord appeared to experience this ecstasy and re-establish dharma.

yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛijāmyaham

Translation:
Whenever there is a decline in righteousness and an increase in unrighteousness, O Arjun, at that time I manifest myself on earth. [BG 4.7]

The Lord went everywhere and spread the holy names without considering other’s qualification.

patra apatra naahi kari vichaar

Since He spread the holy names like this, we are able to chant. Lord Caitanya always chanted in the mood of Radharani and established nama sankirtana in the age of Kali. In this way we have received the holy name which we are chanting. He said, “My names will spread everywhere. All jivas belongs to Me and I am also theirs wherever they may be. So jivas are everywhere in heavenly planets including on the earthly planet.

teṣhām evānukampārtham aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ
nāśhayāmyātma-bhāva-stho jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā

Translation:
Out of compassion for them, I, who dwell within their hearts, dest Raya the darkness born of ignorance, with the luminous lamp of knowledge. [B.G. 10.11]

Earlier there was only a single country known as Bharat, but now all the sudras are influenced by ignorance hence they are fighting. All the jivas are brothers and sisters and we all are children of the Lord. This fact is forgotten by all the jivas due to the influence of ignorance. When the Lord feels compassion for such jvas who have danger at every step, padam padam vipadam, at that time the Lord appears and removes darkness caused by ignorance.

kṛṣṇe sva-dhāmopagate dharma-jñānādibhiḥ saha
kalau naṣṭa-dṛśām eṣa purāṇārko ‘dhunoditaḥ

Translation:
This Bhāgavata Purāṇa is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa to His own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the age of Kali shall get light from this Purāṇa.[SB 1.3.43]

Above in Srimad-Bhagvatam also it is said that we can’t see properly in age of Kali. That’s why Lord appeared in form of Bhagvatam. It is mentioned that all jivas will lose their vision that is why the Lord gave them sastras by which they can see. The Lord also says that He lights lamps in their heart.

jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā [BG 10.11]

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah [BG Mangalacharan]

Translation:
I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto him.

sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’ — sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya

Translation:
The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success. [CC Madhya Lila 22.54]

He gives us the company of Guru who put jnananjana in our eyes which becomes premanjana. Lord Caitanya established nama sankirtana, Bhagvatam, Gita. He also made sadhu sanga available. He inspired Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur who inspired Abhay Babu to preach all over the world. In 1922 he received instructions to spread Bhagavad Dharma in English among Western countries and in 1966 he established ISKCON to spread Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement. The main aim of ISKCON is to provide sadhu sanga to all without discrimination so that everyone gets the benefit in the association of the sadhus.

kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā
ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ
ye ’nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ
śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

Translation:
Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him. [SB 2.4.18]

Srila Prabhupada prepared his entire lifetime for this. He said that those who may belong to any places of the world and who take shelter of the association of sadhus will be uplifted.

kali-kālera dharma–kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana
kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana

Translation:
The fundamental religious system in the age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Unless empowered by Kṛṣṇa, one cannot propagate the saṅkīrtana movement. [CC Antya Lila 3.7.11]

Lord Caitanya said, “My names will spread everywhere.” Hindu, Muslim, Christianity is not an eternal religion, but we have assumed it our self. In the age of Kali, nama sankirtana is the religion. Lord Caitanya spread this movement in India and left the rest of the task of spreading this movement all over world to ISKCON and whatever I said is the truth.

Keep on chanting. We will discuss this conversation between Raya Ramananda and Lord Caitanya some other day. This is the most confidential discussion between Vishakha and Krsna. Lord did not discuss such pastimes with Arjuna.

Thank you

Gaur Premanande!
Hari Haribol!

28th January 2020

Hanuman gets the ultimate embrace

Hare Krishna. Let’s start our Japa talk. All of you are welcome in this conference.
Lord Rama was pleased with the service of Hanuman.He didn’t just say thanks to this great servant, but He embraced Hanuman.

Yesterday we had Sankirtana in Ichalkaranji. Maharashtra Padayatra also joined the Shobha yatra. Where the Padayatra ended, was a beautiful temple of Hanuman. There we had darsana of Hanuman. Hanuman is the ideal acarya for brahmacaris, sannyasis and also grihasta brahmacaris. He is ideal for all asramas. In that Shobha yatra,we sang a Tukaram abhanga.

govinda govinda mana lagaliya chhanda
govinda dehaya bheda nahi kaya
anandile mana preme pazarti lochana
tuka aane aali jevi nure chi ve gali

Translation
My mind is attracted/addicted to Govinda.There is no difference in Krishna , His form and His Holy Names. My mind is filled with Anand and eyes with love, seeing His form. [Tukaram Abhanga]

In the end Tukaram was saying.

tuka aane aali jevi nure chi ve gali

He is saying that he can’t live without Govind and it has become his hobby. He is saying that when the Lord embraces him then what else remains to be asked from Him? He doesn’t need anything. His life is successful. “If the Lord embraces me and accepts me then this is the perfection of life.” We had this discussion at Ichalkaranji during the evening satsang. At that time we had darsana of Hanuman. I told them how the Lord embraced Hanuman. Then I asked them, “Do you want to be embraced by the Lord? They all said yes. I’m saying this now that this is the right of all living entities. The Lord says that the jivas come to Him or approach Him. Why? Because every living entity or bhakta is very dear to Him. Then why won’t He embrace us? To get such an embrace is the right of all living entities. But a few jivas have become demons (badamaash) and they embrace some others. When the Lord was embracing Hanuman he was expressing his gratitude to Hanuman.

Many teams were looking for mother Sita. All of them were sent to the South. Sugriva had said that they all had 1 month and if they didn’t find her then they would be killed. All the teams returned within one month without any information of Mother Sita.

But Hanuman was very determined to find Her. He realised that one month had already passed. Then Angad said at that time, “I know my uncle and he is very cruel. Let’s rather fast and die over here.” I was hearing this yesterday. When they thought to kill themselves they met Sampati, the brother of Jatayu. Sampati had such power that he could see Sita in Lanka in Ashokavan. It was about 800 miles away. Sampati had received a benediction that when he serves Sri Rama then he will get his wings back. He told them that Sita is alive and gave Her address. When Sampati was just thinking like this to serve which was a great service indeed as it was going to reunite Lord Ram and Mother Sita, he started to fly again. Hanuman and company realised that there is the Indian Ocean in between. They started to discuss how far they could jump? Jambavan said that Lanka was 800 miles away. Angada said that he could go, but could not come back. While this conversation was going on, Hanuman was maintaining silence.

Jambavan turned towards Hanuman and made him remember his mystic power. He is pavan putra and he has so much potential that he can go to Lanka and come back very easily. Hanuman recognised his power and jumped from Mahendra Parvat (mountain) with the speed of wind. When he jumped some trees also started to go along with him just as few leaves or dust goes along with a moving vehicle. Hanuman is not just powerful, but intelligent also (shakti-yukti yukta). Everything doesn’t happen with strength alone. You need intelligent tricks also.

In this way he found Mother Sita. There are many incidents which are described. He kills various demons, son of Ravana (Aksh) and then is brought in front of Ravana in his assembly. Ravana put his tail on fire thinking that Hanuman will die. He is about to die when the wind started to blow and entire Lanka started to burn. Hanuman touched his burning tail against all the windows. In this way he showed a trailer of Lord Rama’s arrival in Lanka. Entire Lanka started burning. Then he went to the sea and extinguished his burning tail. He as looked at his reflection and saw that his face had turned black due to the smoke of the fire in Lanka. Then he returned to Rameswaram. Angad was very happy to receive Hanuman.

Then they went to Kishkindha where Sugriva was ruling. Earlier Bali was ruling there. Lord Rama had helped Sugriva to defeat him. There were all of them as well as an army of monkeys and bears. This party headed by Hanuman reached Rama and informed Lord Rama about Mother Sita. He said that he gave Lord Rama’s ring to Mother Sita and She gave him Her own ring to return to Lord Rama.

At that time Lord Rama said, “If I was in Ayodhya then I would have given you so many rewards. But now as I’m in a forest and I’m empty pocketed. Actually I don’t even have pockets”. At that time Lord embraced Hanuman expressing His gratitude and appreciation. Same thing is being expressed by Tukaram Maharaja – the jiva meets the Lord with eagerness. What else is needed?

Keep on chanting. When you have love towards the Lord then you will also chant with love.

Earlier I used to chant committing offences(nama-apradha), then one reaches namabhas where one have yet to realise the name completely. It’s just like the sun hasn’t risen over the horizon yet. The same happened with Ajamila. As one gets free from the offences, one reaches the level of ruci. As offences reduce then one reaches asakti, bhava. When we save ourselves from the remaining offences then we can chant with love.

Lord Caitanya is waiting for such a moment. The Lord is waiting for us. We have to make ourselves qualified. Keep chanting.

Gaur Premanande!
Hari Haribol!

27th January 2020

Sanghe shakti kalau yuge!

namo maha-vadanyaya, krsna-prema-pradaya te
krishnaya krishna-chaitanya, namne gaura-tvishe namah

Meaning of the mantra:
O most munificent incarnation! You are Krishna Himself appearing as Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. You have assumed the golden colour of Srimati Radharani, and You are widely distributing pure love of Krsna. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.

Hari Hari!

We have 426 participants from different locations. I am in Iskcon Aravade. All the ISKCON temples from my zone, namahattas and Bhakti vrikshas over there are all chanting together.

Sanghe shakti Kalau yuge….

In Kaliyuga there is lot of power in uniting together. We display the power of devotion when we unite together or chant together. We are sangh. There are many types of such sanghas. People unite together and then they display their power. Or one gains power by uniting together. For doing Japa also these two are important. One is ‘Sangh’ – the way we are members of an International Society or sangh for Krishna consciousness. In this Krishna consciousness sangh we get ‘sang’ – that is association. One is ‘sanga’ and other is ‘sangh’. In talking about sangh we are united in big numbers, and by that we get more and more sang or association of other devotees and sadhakas. By that we derive power.

param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam ( Siksatakam verse 1)

What is meant by sankirtana? When we unite together and do kirtana it is called congregational sankirtana. If we do it alone, then it becomes difficult. We may sleep and there is nobody to wake us up. We all sadhakas who are doing this japa – yajna. We remain protected and our mind stays at one place and doesn’t run around. When we chant or perform devotional activities amidst the association of devotees, then the concentration of our mind increases, and the wandering of the mind reduces because otherwise mind just keeps on wandering. This is the business of the mind because unsteadiness is the basic nature of mind.

cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa
pramāthi balavad dṛḍham
tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye
vāyor iva su-duṣkaram

Translation:
The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krsna, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.(BG. 6.34)

In the 6th chapter of Bhagavad-Gita Arjun inquires from the Lord, which actually we should have inquired but we don’t know how to and so on behalf of us Arjun has inquired. What did he say? cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa….. he is calling out to the Lord although the Lord was in front of him. He is in conversation with Krsna. cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham pramathi — balavad dridham , the mind just becomes obstinate whenever it wants to meet someone or go somewhere Then he wants to do it for sure – pramathi – it’s also very powerful – balavad – it is determined to do so many things and then that becomes our character. Our mind, everyone’s mind, is an element. The way there is earth, water, fire, air and ether. There are three more and that is mind, intelligence and false ego. These are elements of which some are gross and some are subtle. The mind is the mind, but it differs from person to person in a way that stability of the mind varies person to person. Everyone’s mind is powerful in more or less quantity in a negative sense. It just keeps desiring things. It keeps oscillating between various choices and determinations ( sankalp and vikalap)

tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye – Arjun then said tasya ,to control this mind , samaha damaha… this way the Lord explains in the 18th chapter of Bhagavad-Gita, sense control , mind control , tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye , it is very difficult. Arjun said it is very difficult. Vayoriva suduskaram. It’s possible that if there is a cyclone that possibly I could stop. “O! Air you cannot progress further in this direction”! I can control air or cyclone, but it is very difficult to control mind. Su-duskaram it’s a very difficult task to stop the mind. In Marathi they say,’Man jikana jag jikanya evadha sopa nahi’. You can win over the world and become digvijayi meaning you have conquered the four directions, and have become the conqueror of the world. But such a person also could not be said to have won over the mind. To conquer the mind is even more difficult than conquering the world in four directions. Such was the experience about his own mind that Arjun had narrated to Krsna. With this the Lord and Arjun are giving us insight to understand the mind. We cannot trust the mind. It becomes possible to have some control on the mind when we are in the association of the devotees. This is the thing I am trying to explain to you. In association in this International Krishna consciousness society or sangh we get association or sang of sadhu’s. Then we our self start becoming sadhu. There could be misunderstanding that we are sadhu and we will just give association, but will not take association. Sadhu also needs association.
Bodhayantaha parasparam……

What do all my devotees or sadhu’s do? ( O! You are sleeping? You are sleeping during the day? thambala to sampala aani zopala to hi mela. – one who stops is finished and one who sleeps is also as good as dead. ) If we are in someone’s association they may wake us up. If we are doing it alone then who will wake us up? Who will remind us? If we are in any asaram – Grihastha or Brahmachari, then we get association in the asaram. Other devotees also care fo rus , remember us, whether we are attending mangala aarti or not. There is also roll call and attendance during mangala aarti. Once one devotee had not come for mangala aarti so they went to search for him in the asaram, and find out ,why he didn’t come? Those were the cold days of winter. They heard some voice was coming from somewhere, vande guro sri caranaravinda…. Then temple commander was searching and thinking that someone was doing mangala arati there. On searching further he discovered that one of the devotees was doing mangala aarti in his sleeping bag. He didn’t come out. Inside only he was singing, samsara-davanala-lidha-loka-… Yes ! Samsara is davanala. Then

Bodhayantaha parasparam……

For such devotees in whom there are some drawbacks or faults, who will remind them? Those who are with them and they are the friends well wishers they will remind them by doing

Bodhayantaha parasparam……

In Grihastha asaram also, people can make others wake up. They can wake their children up or if the wife is not getting up her husband can wake her up.

The Lord also gets up during Brahma muhurt in Dvaraka. He had kept cocks in every palace in Dvararka. You know cocks? They make this sound cucoo cucoo! On hearing this sound of the cocks the Lord used to get up. In those days there were no alarm clocks. It was done with the nature’s arrangement. The whole lifestyle was based in tune with nature. Nature is not independent, but of course under the control of the Lord.

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
sūyate sa-carācaram
hetunānena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate

Translation
This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.( BG. 9.10)

Such was the arrangement of the nature to wake people up. People kept cocks, as they were used to wake them up. They used to be grateful to them. Thank you! Thank you! O cock! You woke me up.

jiv jago, jiv jago, gauracanda bole
kota nidra jao maya-pisacira kole ( Arunodaya kirtana song 2 in Gitavali by BVT)

Gaurachanda is calling , wake up o! souls. Same message on behalf of Krsna is given by cock. Cock makes us wake up. O! Soul wake up!! People use to be grateful to the Cocks. But now a days, people of Kaliyuga think that these cocks are disturbing us. Our early morning sweet sleep is getting disturbed. They have given the name to the early morning sleep as ‘sweet sleep’. That sleep is disturbed by cocks, so instead of being grateful to them what they do? They just cut their throats and eat them up. O! Notorious creature!! You are disturbing my sleep? I will eat you up!! This is the type of behaviour with others and with cocks by the people of Kaliyuga. By eating cocks they slip more into mode of ignorance.

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

For this only we have this International Society for Krishna consciousness to give association and to take association.

utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt
tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt
saṅga-tyāgāt sato vṛtteḥ
ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati

Translation:
There are six principles favorable to the execution of pure devotional service: (1) being enthusiastic, (2) endeavoring with confidence, (3) being patient, (4) acting according to regulative principles [such as sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam – hearing, chanting and remembering Krsna], (5) abandoning the association of nondevotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas. These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotional service. ( NOI Verse 3)

pra-sidhyati , siddhi of harinama japa

We also need association. What do you think? Don’t you need association? Who all think that they need sadhu sang? Rupa Goswami Prabhupad said, saṅga-tyāgāt. Just now we’re talking about having sang or association, and now he is saying, saṅga-tyāgāt. Whether we want sanga or we don’t want it? It’s both. saṅga-tyāgāt. He is saying we have to abandon the association, but which association? Asat sanga tyagat vaisnava aachar. We have to leave one type of association and accept another kind of association. Abandon the asat-sang and accept sat-sang. ṣaḍbhir. Six nectarean things which he had discussed in that he talks about this sang or association.

utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt
tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt
saṅga-tyāgāt sato vṛtteḥ
ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati

In other sloka he says,

atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca
prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ
jana-saṅgaś ca laulyaṁ ca
ṣaḍbhir bhaktir vinaśyati

Translation:
One’s devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required; (2) over-endeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters; (4) practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Krsna consciousness; and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements. ( NOI Verse 2)

If you do these six things ,then you will gain and strengthen your devotion and there are other six things which if you do, will destroy your devotion. One leads to achievement of devotion while the other leads to its destruction. In another list he tells

atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca
prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ
jana-saṅgaś ca ….

This Jana sanga , one of the political parties name is also ‘Jana-Sangha’. These people out of which some maybe Karmi or some will be Jnani , everyone will have something different. If we take such association of worldly people then what will happen? ṣaḍbhir bhaktir vinaśyati

One sang leads to blooming up of devotion while another type of sanga will lead to its destruction – progression and destruction. There are two types of association. We all have to understand properly that whatever one is doing currently, whether it is satsang or a asat-sang. For that one needs intelligence. It is called sad -asad vivek which means power of discrimination. Sad-asad buddhi. This association is good sat-sang and that one is asat-sang. Lord is ‘sat’ and Maya is ‘asat’. This is Maya that is Krsna this is Krsna that is Maya, one needs intelligence to keep on discriminating this way. When bodhayantaha parasparam happens among devotees then we gain intelligence. The Lord bestows intelligence in such satsang. If we are buddu (unintelligent) then one will become intelligent. ‘Doka aahe ki khoka aahe?’( Marathi) means whether the head is full or it is an empty box, which is weak in itself. Scriptures say about uttam-anga. Anga means body part. Head is termed as uttam-anga. Out of all body parts which is the best part? It is the head.

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe ‘rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

Translation:
The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy. ( BG. 18.61)

yantrārūḍhāni māyayā – this body is like a machine and who is sitting in it? Whenever any machine or aeroplane is in action which is the most important part? Driver! If you are going by car or aeroplane if others sleep it is fine, but if the driver sleeps? Finished! Crash! Accident! Similarly if other body parts are a little weak or slack it is fine, but intelligence has to be sharp. If the driver is active and sharp then our journey becomes safe and comfortable. Similarly this life is also a journey ‘from womb to tomb’. From womb to finally till the graveyard. If we have good driver meaning sharp intelligence, then this journey will be smooth and in proper order and safe. Even if there are some obstructions that can be dealt with. How can we become intelligent? By sadhu sang. This association gives us intelligence. Lord also bestows intelligence to Arjuna. It is also called Buddhi-yoga even though it is actually Bhakti-Yoga. His mind was also unsteady. Then on the battlefield of Kurukshetra the Lord himself gave association to Arjun.

kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ
yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me
śiṣyas te ‘haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam

Translation:
Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me. (BG. 2.7)

Arjun accepted to become disciple of Krsna and accepted Him as Guru.
krsnam vande jagat gurum.

The Lord plays the role of an acarya, a spiritual master, guide, friend. He gave guidance to Arjun and made him intelligent. He didn’t want to fight, but then this pair achieved success.

Yato dharmaha tato jayaha… (verse quoted in Mahabharata 11 times.)

Wherever there is religion, there will be victory. Wherever there is victory, there is religion. The Lord is establishing the religious principle by explaining Bhagavad – Gita. Arjun became Dharmadyaksa ( knower of the religion) and also protector of the religion. He followed his religion that is Ksatriya Dharma and achieved success. All glories to Krsna and Arjuna! All glories to Bhagavad-Gita. Their conversation is available to us in the form of Bhagavad-Gita in which the Lord became Guru or Sadhu and then bodhayantaha parasparam happened. That conversation is useful for us also or in fact that is for us only who are so fallen.

Keep chanting. It is beneficial to chat in the association of the devotees.

Gaur Premanande!
Hari Haribol!