Musical Anatomy

[47:07]

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare

There are series of kirtanas some during early morning hours “udilo aruno puraba bhage” and “ Jiv Jago” and Vrindavan mangala arati they sing, Vibhavari sesa, meaning what “Vibhavari Sesa, Vibhavari Sesa, sesa means finished, Vibhavari – night is over and aloka pravesa and light is entering. Light is here, sun is rising and this is time for singing, “Jiv Jago”. What do we say, “jiv Jago”- Why you are plundering in maya? So Jiv Jago and translation also it says, wake up sleeping souls doea not say wake up sleeping bodies, that’s is what we think “Jiv Jago kirtana” means, you go around doing kirtana wake people up and then they come waking up, come running.

This happens on padayatra, padayatra kirtana party right from mangala arati, they are doing kirtana, till they are leaving that village. So that is “Jiv Jago” waking people, deeper meaning is “Jiv Jago” that is wakeup call for the soul. Soul wake up, soul wake up time. So lot of times or every time body is waking up but the soul is still sleeping. Body is up, the soul is still sleeping and where is it sleeping? “pisacira kole”, pisacira is an illusory energy of maya, kole is the lap, the lap of witch called maya. Soul is sleeping, so body is up, body is running, different wanderings going on but still, soul is fast asleep as “Gaurachanda Bole”, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is calling, “Jiv Jago, Jiv Jago”.

We mentioned three songs, they are sung in morning time, traditionally for every kal, there are songs. Asta-kaliya-lila, known as eight periods- Pratah kal, Purvana, Madhyan, Aprahan, Sandhya kal, pradosh kal, ratri kal and usha kal. So like that eight kals, eight periods, these are the technical names and for each kal there are different raga’s, particular raga’s and they create a right emotion, the right moods when these songs are sung in that particular raga.

So there is a whole science which is now becoming lupta, it is disappearing very fast and not so much people are practicing. Only some Gharana’s somewhere are still practising that to this day. Each song has also melody. Melody is one thing and raga is another. This is all science, art which is disappearing very fast. So this all comes under sangeet, bhajan, sangeet and as per definition of sangeet, there is a geet if it is only geet that it is not sangeet, then it is only geet. In order for it to become sangeet then vadaya also has to be there. So geet, vadaya and nrtya, then it is sangeet. So these are the three components of sangeet. Sangeet means geet (the song), musical instrument and also nrtya. So they are integral part, then it is sangeet.

mahaprabhoh kirtana nrtya gita
vaditra madyam manso rasena

Vaditra is also there, Mahaprabhoh kirtana nrtya gita vaditra (vadya), so geet and there are vadya’s musical instruments of various kinds. Basically we use mirdanga and kartal. Mirdanga is representing flute in Krsna’s past times. Flute is appearing as mirdanga in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s kirtana, sangeet. And for dance you need vadaya’s, otherwise you can’t dance. As soon as the vadaya’s is not made properly then it is difficult to dance. So vadaya and nrtya goes together and then there is whole song. Sometimes also there is only vadaya and nrtya but still technically it is not sangeet because geet is missing. In South India there is lot of vadaya and nrtya, but there has to be geet, sangeet.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna Himself and every step is dance and every talk is song. The spiritual sky is filled with song and dance. So that whole spiritual sky descends on the earth, we are goning to experience as there is display, performance of sangeet, geet is there, instruments are being played and then there is a dance like the original dance, rasa dance and gopis dance. They just don’t do the swami’s step- raise your arm, they start there but then devotees do more than the swami’s step. the gopis are very expert dancers specially Radha Rani her abilities to play the instruments. Hey my Radha Rani, the Suka and Sharika they were debating, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard the dialogue and the Sharika was advocate of Srimati Radha Rani. Hey shut up, you know my Radha Rani , she is good at this and she plays music and she does this, she sing songs. And then Krsna is a Nataraj, the best amongst the dance, Nata mean actor and what is nata known for, the way he even walks, you watch the way actor walks. So many are maddened just by seeing their actor or their hero walking watch his steps.

So Krsna is Nataraj, so He is the original dancer and original dance is rasa dance, in that the dance there is music and song so on. So that’s the original sangeet in the spiritual sky. It is relishable that’s why we will invite people, please come back home. We will not like to miss the music there, real and original music is in the spiritual sky and the soul dance. There are no bodies in the spiritual sky there are no bodies, only spirits or spiritual bodies, bodies are spiritual bodies and they dance. We get to experience that down on the earth here, little bliss as we sing the song given to us by the acarya’s and we sing them and play instruments there is dance also that goes with it for the pleasure of Jagannath. Small Jagannath temple is known for Devdasi’s they dance after shayan arati. At the end of Lord’s big day before He goes to sleep, there are dances for the pleasure of Jagannath. 500 yrs ago Ramananda Rai use to take care of the department, the ladies who will be dancing for the Lord, in front of the Lord, in the darsana mandap, Ramananda rai used to dress them up and make up and different things. So Ramananda Rai although in a male body. We know he is “Vishakha”, so no surprise if Vishakha is dressing up some other gopis, some other ladies, making them ready to dance for pleasure of Jagannath and “Geet Govind” also famous song compiled by Jaidev Goswami, these are very favourite songs of Jagannath.

Jagannath is most pleased when Geet Govind is sung, unto this day I have heard many times, in the evening we go to darsana, go out then on the side there is a little mandap. Where the music is played and they sing different songs but Jaidev Goswami’s, Geet Govind they have to sing every single night this is very beautiful. So geet, sangeet this is the integral part of the spiritual sky. This is the life. Muslims are kind of just opposite to Hindu’s they wanted to do something different. So they banned sangeet. So they don’t sing, they don’t use the instruments there and being impersonalists and against the music and instrument play. That’s the unfortunate part. So Chaitanya Mahaparbhu He brought the spiritual sky down to the earth, Hari, Haribol. So this is a gift of Gauranga for us. He himself always sang and danced even there was no music before, sing and dance. Even of course when Mahaprabhu started his kirtanas , say that talking of Japa and kIrtana. So cause for all this is the Lord Gauranga, cause of all causes, He is

sarve karan karanm
and for the singing that is going on, devotional singing or Mahamantra singing and dancing with it, that goes on , behind this is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. That’s nice , that He danced and chanted and danced so much that chanting and dancing which caused the vibrations, and those vibrations are still there making us chant and dance because of his chanting and dancing. It is shocking that present batch of devotees are still that trembling is going on. So because He chanted and danced it is cause of our chanting and dancing.

So Mahaprabhu, one time He just came back from Gaya he had received his holy name initiation. As soon as he started chanting and dancing, He returned to Jagnnath to Mayapur ( Navadvip) chanting and dancing, to Gaya He had gone as Nimai Pandit he gone as a pandit but when he returned he was chanter and dancer of the holy name. He transformed “Chant for Change”, Chant for change, He really changed, He is so much changed that he has to ask his Guru Maharaj, He said,

kiba mantra dila gosani
kiba tara bala
japite japite mantra
korila pagala
[CC Adi lila 7.81]

Oh, what kind of mantra have you given so much power is there in this mantra, that you know I am just gone mad from the time I have taken to this chanting. So certainly this is result of sincere chanting, it is result of offence less chanting. Quickly he received all the benediction, all those fruits and pure chanting and dancing, in ecstasy rolling on the ground and shedding tears, trembling body, stunned like a “stambah”, all the symptoms. Then initially he was chanting and dancing with very selected few devotees in “Srivasa Angan”, or courtyard or home, closing doors and windows they will do the chanting and that went on for some time and Advaita carya was not very happy with this. So he said, Prabhu Mahaprabhu this is not the reason why asked you to descend that you will chant and dance only with selected few devotees. What about the whole world is in need of your help, they need you, please come out. Get out of there, So Advaitacarya he had become the cause of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s advent. So then Lord was in His special class but not for the masses, then Advaitacarya intervened, he had offered prayers, then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu opened all the doors. All the devotees come out and more joined and then, they started.

udilo aruno purava bhage
dvija mani gora amani Jage
bhakta samuha laiya sathe
gela nagara vraje

So this is how, kirtna/sankirtana , sangeet sankirtana started chanting and that time they all were chanting, singing and playing instruments and dancing and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu dancing also.

tathai tathai bajala khola
ghanna ghana tahe jhajhera rola
preme dhaladhala sonara anga
carane nupura baje

So, all the instruments, the manjira, jhanj, and khol and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu “preme dhola dhola sonar anga” His golden body dancing and “carane nupura baje” tinkling of the bells. So I was thinking that those instruments players must be playing instruments very expertly. So in order for this nupur, sound of nupur, also they are able to hear. They are making sure that the sound of nupur is no drowned. It is called drowning the sound that sound is not being drowned while the louder sounding instruments, must be playing very expertly. They will have little pause, so that nupur also could be heard. Sound of nupur could come across. So this is Bhakti Vinod Thakur making this observation. Mahaprabhu is dancing and all instruments are being played and including these bells around his ankle are also that can be heard and then sound cause hmmm

mukund madhava yadava hari
boleno bolo re vadana bhori

So this is how vadana bhori comes and this is repeated in many places this “vadana bhori.” Indradyumna Maharaja says, singing should be whole hearted, full throated, full throat then it comes “vadana bhori”and it is full voice is coming in full force when, full heart is open and then throat is open and then mouth has to be full and then opened and if it is not opened then whispering is going on.

So this song compiled by Bhakti Vinod Thakur here, this is the pastime of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The description, dairy, observation, notes what He used to do during those kirtana and nagar kirtans.

gaya gora madhura svare
gaye gora madhura svare
hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
gaya gora madhura svare
gaye gora madhura svare
grhe thaka, vane thaka
sada hari’ ba’le daka
sukhe duhkhe bhule na’ka
vadane hari, nama kare re
gaya gora madhura svare
gaye gora madhura svare
mayajale baddha ha’ye
acha miche kaja la’ye
ekhanao cetana py’ye
radha
madhava nama bala re
gaya gora madhura svare
jivana haila ‘sesa
na baajile hrsikesa,
bhaktivinoda-(ei) upades’a,
eka-bara nama-
rase mata re
gaya gora madhura svare
gaye gora madhura svare
gaya gora madhura svare
gaye gora madhura svare

What is this called, nagar kirtana, gaye gora madhura svare then hare krsna, hare krsna, grhe thake, vana thake, so some advice preaching is done, with the song like this. sukhe dukhe bhula na’ka, vadana hari namm kara re and “jivana haila sesa, na bhajila hrsikesa”. So this dvital, we play mainly in trital. As it is one, two, three; one, two, three; so there are many many tals, our Vrindavan team, Aindra Prabhu and company, they kind of getting so much different tals. It creates more variety more appeal. “Svara” and “tal”, svara is like the beads and tal is like a string, a svara is like a flowers and tal is like a thread. So what keeps the flower together or beads together is that string, without that string, it is just bunch of scattered flowers. Some shape is given to those with the use of that string and then there is a garland. So just the svaras with no proper tal, could not sound good. It is more pleasing when this system is followed, svara and tal, tal badha, tal and sura. Singer is singing that is svara and there is kartal or the mirdanga provides tal, should go hand in hand and make a very pleasing offering for the pleasure of the Lord. Singer is playing with his voice or singer acts with his voice, the regular actor acts with his body or face and the singer acts with his throat. There are different kind of acts

One has to be careful, translating mantras or songs. This is also very sweet song, different flavour. goplala govinda ram sri madhusudana”, so we sing mostly first two lines. Prabhupada recommends like that during kirtans and more “sri caitanya nityananda sri advaita sita, hari guru vaisnava bhagavat gita.” It is not Bhagavat Gita, Bhagavat is one scripture and Gita is the other one. But everyone says Bhagavat Gita (laughter) so both scriptures.

gita bhagavat karate sharavan, akhanda chintan vithoba che

Tukamane, kaun mane tukamane. So one should study both scriptures. So, sri rupa sanatana bhatta raghunath, sri jiva gopala bhatta dasa ragunath. I was just there, I was going to Bangladesh for the first time, when I have been travelling around the world, but I never been to Bangladesh. So two weeks ago, I have been to Bangladesh, that is so special, I didn’t spoke about. So we went to Rupa, Sanatana’s birth place, Jiva Goswami, of course, he was also from the same family and who was the fourth one? Anupam. Not much of their remnants, there is not much to see, there is Rupa Sanatana Smriti Mandir ISKCON has build not far from that place, I also went to Narottam Dasa Thakur’s birth place. One day I went to Rupa Sanatana and the next day was Lokanath Goswami’s birth place, I must go, I am Lokanath Swami (laughter). So we drove many hours and we went to the village of Lokanath Goswami and there was nothing just the place where his house one time, there is another building construction, but that is new. Radha Vinod temple they have built some distance from this spot in the same village.

The third day we went to Haridasa Thakur, where he was tested by, what you call Laksha-Hira, the prostitute. So that place is Binapur. Binapur very nice place. Then fourth day, every day we were going on pilgrimage. Fourth day we went to Kechari Gaon, Narottam Dasa thakur’s birth place. Now that palace is not there, just some new building and properties in the same land. We stayed; we spent one night there and with Hari Sauri Prabhu and some other devotees we went to Padmavati river, to take a holy dip. That’s where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had left Krsna prema for Narottam Dasa Thakur. So he left that in Padmavati river, so we tried to explore are there few more drops of Krsna prema still around in the waters hoping that, so we also took a dip. So those are few of the places of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s past time places of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu associated, they all have appeared in different part of Bengal and they later on migrated to Navadvipa, Mayapur as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appears.

So mention of sri rupa sanatana bhatta raghunath, sri jiva gopala bhatta dasa ragunath, Vande rupa sanatanau raghu yugau sri jiva gopalkau, all six of them, so this, vande rupa sanatanau raghu yogau, two raghu’s gopalkau, sri jiva gopal bhatt, sri jiva gopal gopalkau, so au. It means two, in pair. So krsnau means two krsna’s ramau, so as the reason au, au is used here meaning two in pairs, refer the two Goswami’s.

ei chay gosai kori carana vandan
jaha hoite bighna nas abhista puran

jaha hoite bighna nas abhista puran, abhista, Sri Chaitanya mano bhistam, that bhistam, puran means complete. ei chay gosai jar mui tar das, mui has to be pronounced properly mui – I am tar das, your servant. In Guru puja also there is mui.

bando mui savadhana mate

bando mui, means I worship, savadhana mate, with all precautions I worship,

tadera carana sebi bhakta sane bas
janame janame hoy ei abhilas
ei chay gosai jabe braje koila bas
Radha Krsna nitya lila korila prakas

Gaudiya Vaishnav songs and bhava, there is nothing like that in the world, in Brahmanda on this planet, all Gaudiaya Vaishnav’s Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has presented to us and then acarya’s are presenting the top class, highest thing,

radha-krsna-nitya-lila korila prakas
anande bolo hari, bhaja vrndavan
sri-guru-vaisnava-pade majaiya man
sri-guru-vaisnava-pad-padma kori as
nama-sankirtana kohe narottama-das

So many songs, this is one of his favourite one. Then je anilo prema dhana, that is also contribution of Narottam Dasa Thakur, reason why he has to compiled this song was, he was the last one, he goes to Vrindavan, hoping to meet so many of these great personalities, that he had heard about. So travelling and travelling, as he arrives, first he arrived in Mathura, as he arrived there, he received the news, oh this one is not there, that one is no more, long time gone. This one, that one. So Narottam Dasa Thakur was heartbroken and he was thinking there is no use of me surviving. All these vaishnav’s were my life and soul and they have all gone. Why should I survive, Why should I be? So that is his mood here.

se saba sangria sange je koila bilas
se sanga na paiya kande narottama das

So, as he was aspiring to have sanga of these, different devotees were not getting that association, I am simply kande, means crying, I should simply weep now. pasane kutibo matha anale pasibo, I break my head against that rocks enter the fire, guranga gunera nidhi kotha gele pabo, I cannot find Gauranga anymore, nowhere to be found so I would enter the fire. So these are his inner deep, within are his emotions, feelings and he had expressed those in this particular song. He is deprived of the associations of vaishnav’s so like that it goes on.

dhule dhule gaura chand, the complier of this song in not known, not one of our acarya’s. So bhajahu re man, radhika satva, by Rupa Goswami also, jaya jaya madhava dayite, gokula taruni mandala mahite, then Madhurasthakam also.

If you want to know the Lord, become acaryavan

ISKCON Vrindavan
We welcome all the assembled devotees and thank you for being with us this morning to hear Srimad Bhagavatam canto nine chapter eleven text number one. I already gave a little indication and I’m sure you heard the announcement this morning. Today is Srila Jiva Goswami’s disappearance day festival. So we will do a Bhagavatam verse and also we must remember Srila Jiva Goswami. Today is a very special day. Please repeat:

Sri Suka Uvaca
bhagavan atmanatmanam
rama uttama-kalpakaih
sarva-devamayam devam
ije athacaryavan makhaih

Translation and purport by SrilaPrabhupada ki Jai.
Sukadeva Gosvami said: Thereafter, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Ramacandra, accepted an acarya and performed sacrifices [yajnas] with opulent paraphernalia. Thus He Himself worshiped Himself, for He is the Supreme Lord of all demigods.

Purport: Sarvarhanam acyutejya. If Acyuta, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is worshiped, then everyone is worshiped. As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam

yathatarormula-nisecanena
trpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopasakhah
pranopaharac ca yathendriyanam
tathaiva sarvarhanam acyutejya [SB 4.31.13]

“As pouring water on the root of a tree nourishes the trunk, branches, twigs and leaves, and as supplying food to the stomach enlivens the senses and limbs of the body, worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead satisfies the demigods, who are part of that Supreme Personality.”

Performing yajna involves worshiping the Supreme Lord. Here the Supreme Lord worshiped the Supreme Lord. Therefore it is said, bhagavan atmanatmanam ije: the Lord worshiped Himself by Himself. This does not, of course, justify the Mayavada philosophy, by which one thinks himself the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The jiva, the living entity, is always different from the Supreme Lord. The living entities (vibhinnamsa) never become one with the Lord, although Mayavadis sometimes imitate the Lord’s worship of Himself.

Lord Krsna meditated upon Himself every morning as a grihasta, and similarly Lord Ramacandra performed yajnas to satisfy Himself, but this does not mean that an ordinary living being should imitate the Lord by accepting the process of ahangraha-upasana. Such unauthorized worship is not recommended herein.

Sri Suka Uvaca
bhagavan atmanatmanam
rama uttama-kalpakaih
sarva-devamayam devam
ije athacaryavan makhaih

Lord Ramacandra rules the world is the chapter title here. In the middle of the Bhagavatam came the Ramayan which Srila Sukadeva Goswami has summarised in just two chapters. We have covered first of those two chapters wherein the Lord being in the exile, of being in the forest that’s been covered including all the way going to Sri Lanka. From Ayodhya to Lanka whole thing on foot doing Padayatra all over the length of India. And He has killed Ravana, Jai Sri Rama! hogayakam [laughter]. Just by remembering the utterance of Sri Rama hogayakam, everything is accomplished. And Rama has returned to Ayodhya and where in He is going to reside for almost eleven thousand years.

dasa sahastra dasashatani ca, Ramayana says. Ten thousand and one more thousand. Like that eleven thousand years and so those pastimes – Ram being in Ayodhya, Ram as Raja Ram the king of Ayodhya.And that way the king of the whole world. This world has not seen a king, a king like Shri Ram. na bhuto na bhavishyati – such ideal King. He is a Raja,he is a king. A Raja has a praja, the citizens are praja. Raja and Praja – so he is taking care of praja, citizens as his own family members.They are His own. Hari Hari – so that Sri Ram here we are reading. He is busy performing Yajnas, makhai?. He performs sacrifices and no wonder – this is the Treta Yuga. How is the Lord worshipped in Treta Yuga? By performance of Yajnas.

tretayam yajato makhaih krtedhyayatovisnum

In Satya Yuga He is worshipped by dhyana, the meditation-tretayamyajatomakhaih

dvapare paricaryayam- Dvapara, offering worship. Kalau tad dhari-kirtanah. And Hari kirtana is dharma for the age of Kali. And this is how the world is programmed by the Lord. Every time Satya Yuga, get into meditation.Every time Treta Yuga- Svaha, Svaha,Svaha.Yajnas must take place – and then deity worship and as soon as Kali arrive,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna KrishnaKrishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama RamaRama Hare Hare.

Rama ije, the verse says Rama ije. Rama worshipped – who did He worship? Atmanam – Rama worshipped Rama. How did He worship? By Rama. Atmana ramena ramam ije. Rama worshipped by Rama. To do so is the performance of yajna. He is using the best of all the paraphernalia available. Yajna is a big thing huh? Expensive also – lots of preparations.

So uttama-kalpakaih, He has organised the best ingredients, paraphernalia, etc and how is he worshipping – Rama, worshipping the Lord? And He is setting an example this way. You have to worship the Lord! aradhananam sarvesam. visnor aradhanam param. You have to worship the Lord, now you are human beings, you should worship Radha Krishna. Janiya suniya visha khainu, knowingly you are drinking poison. Better drink the nectar, so he is setting an example like that. So by performing yajna he is worshipping the Lord.

So yajna is also Lord. Ram is performing yajna.Yajna is fire and all – yajna is sacrifice. That is also the Lord, called Yajna Purusha.

yajnarthat karmano nyatra loko ‘yam karma-bandhanah

All the karmas should be done for yajna. Yajnarthat – for the purpose of yajna all the activities should be performed, all the activities should be dedicated. tat kurusva mad-arpanam– they should all be offered to yajna. So another name for the Lord also is Yajna. He is Govindam adi purusham. Adi Purusha and He is also Yajna Purusha.

Purusha is personality – personality of Godhead. Yajna purusha, Adipurusha, Purushottam. So Sri Rama is performing yajna. So yajna is also Rama Himself and that yajna also being performed by Sri Rama. So that way Rama is worshipping Rama. Rama is worshipping Rama Himself. Bhagavan atmanatmanam.Bhagavan, the Supreme Lord Shri Rama, atmanatmanam ije. He Himself worshipped himself. One element is missing, I mean I haven’t mentioned. It’s there, how did he worship? In order to worship, Sri Rama became acarayavan.

ije athacaryavan makhaih

In order to perform fire sacrifice, in order to worship yajna by Sri Rama, he has become acarayavan. Acaryavan purusho veda. This is a very big principle. One of the Upanisads, I don’t remember which Upanisad. Acaryavan purusho veda. If you want to know the Lord and if you want to serve or worship the Lord – Acaryavan.

First of all you have to have Acaryavan. You have to have Acarya. Then you become Acaryavan. As soon as you have Jnana, as soon as you have knowledge what do you become? Jnanavan. As soon as you have wealth you become Dhanavan. Like that so many words like that. So as soon as you become Acaryavan, because you have Acarya then Acaryavan purusho veda. All knowing.Vedais ca sarvair ahameva vedyo. I am to be known by studying all the vedas but they are to be taught by Acarya. So Sri Rama also set that example by worshipping Himself, He is worshipping Himself but He hasn’t kept that Acarya out of the picture. Acarya has to be there otherwise worship cannot be complete, cannot proceed, cannot be completed. It cannot happen successfully. So acaryavan makhaih. For performing yajnas he has accepted Acarya. So everyone must have acarya. Tasmadgurumprapadyeta Guru or Acarya.

So we all have become- I think you are all acaryavan, me included. We are all acaryavan beginning with the six Goswami of Vrindavan. They are our acaryas. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Ki Jai! He gave us acaryas. He came with a big battalion of acaryas. All his associated were sangopangastra-parshadam. All those angas and all His parikas and all His parshads and all His associates, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used them to do what? Dharma samsthapanarthaya. In order to establish dharma, the Lord appears to establish dharma. And in order to establish dharma, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared with so many, many devotees. Unlimited number of acaryas, devotees and they have acted as acaryas. So amongst all those the six Goswamis are those are big names. Sad Goswamis.

nana-sastra-vicaranaika-nipunau sad dharma-samsthapakau

So what have these acaryas done? Nana-sastra-vicaranaika-nipunau. First of all they compiled also, lots of books. A lot of scriptures in pursuance of the vedic version, so many sastras. And they were very expert, nipunau- nipun. And they would sit and have isthagosthi’s. Sit in the courtyard, the side courtyard of the Radha Damodar temple and they would have sastrartha.They would discuss sastra, what is the purpose? Dharma samsthapanarthaya, establishing dharma.

dharma sthapana hetu sadhuravyavahara

There is another statement. I wanted to talk about JivaGoswami. So I started it, getting there, heading in that direction. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu once said, He said that in Mathura – dharma-sthapana-hetu sadhuravyavahara. All the activities and dealings of the sadhus are for dharma-samsthapana. To establish the principles of religion, they act. Whatever they do, all the vyavahara, their dealings. All their talks and walks. They walk the talk to do what? Dharma samsthapan hetu. So the Sad Goswamis, so that is what they did. So we have our Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They assisted Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in establishing dharma in the age of Kali. Which is Krishna consciousness.

So amongst six of them they’re known as Sad Goswamis. vanderupa-sanatanauraghu-yugausri-jiva-gopalakau. In a batch of two, in a pair of – a pair means two, right? They have mentioned like that.Vande – Vande means I offer my obeisances unto who? Vande. Aham vande rupa sanatan. That’s one team, vande rupa sanatana. I offer my obeisances.Vanderupa-sanatanauraghu-yugau. Raghu, Raghu Yuga. Raghu – that is Raghu and yuga that is two. I offer my obeisances unto two Raghus. Who are the two Raghus? Raghunath Das Goswami and? Raghunath Bhatta Goswami.

And jiva goapalakau, JivaGoswami and Gopala Bhatta Goswami.We offer our obeisances – this is how Shrinivas Acarya kindly, he compiled this GoswamiAstaka. He is glorifying the six Goswamis of Vrindavan in those prayers. So of the six, JivaGoswami was the youngest of all. So today was year 1598 today at Radha Damodar temple while he was a care taker and worshipper of RadhaDamodara. He departed on this day, Hari Hari. Later on our Srila Prabhupad, everyone is Prabhupada also. Rupa Goswami Prabhupada, Jiva Goswami Prabhupada and Bhaktivedant Swami Prabhupada. So we say our Prabhupada. This Bhaktivedanta Swami SrilaPrabhupada, he also stayed at RadhaDamodara temple, at Jiva Goswami’s temple.

So that’s SrilaPrabhupada’s Jiva Goswami connection. So he’s closely connected with Jiva Goswami and he is planning the future of the foundation of ISKCON. Anyway, who am I, I’m just nobody. First time ever I came to Vrindavan and the first temple I visited was also Radha Damodar. No wonder because Prabhupada – ’72 Prabhupada he had just arrived in Vrindavan to do the first ever Kartik festival. So then we had come and so then I had darsana of the first deity I saw in Vrindavan was Radha Damodar. Then I saw my acarya Prabhupada also.

He was there in the temple so I have some bonds of affection and I have fond memories of Jiva Goswami temple and we offered, we circumambulate the temple, Radha Damodar temple and then the Samadhi of Jiva Goswami and the Rupa Goswami also. JivaGoswami, he wasa little different from other five Goswamis in the sense that he had little or no interaction with Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Others had spent years, especially Raghunath Das Goswami he had spent a lot of time with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannath Puri. And others also had opportunity to be with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu but Jiva Goswami, when Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also along with Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakur visited Ramakeli, and his purpose was to meet Rupa and Sanatan this is after Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has taken sannyas and after his South India tour then he had gone to the tour of East India, Bengal.

And then he goes Ramakeli to meet Rupa and Sanatana, just to meet them no other business he had. And everyone was wondering ‘why Ramakeli, why Ramakeli? Why is he going to Ramakeli?’ So when Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu met Rupa and Sanatan, JivaGoswmai was just born. This was year fifteen hundred thirteen, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited Ramakeli and there is some mention that Jiva Goswami was born that same year.

It is also even mentioned that Jiva Goswami was not even a boy, he was a baby, so he was already born and that he had seen Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So there is also a little controversy about this. Jiva Goswami’s birth year was 1513 or he was couple of years old so maybe it was 1511 or 1512. Anyway he had a darsana kind of, of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So Rupa, Sanatan and Anupam they were three brothers and JivaGoswami is the son of Anupam. Rupa and Anupam, they were headed for Sri Vrindavan dham ki Jai”! That is where they wanted to meet Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu but that did not happen. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was too fast. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had already visited Vrindavan and he was going back took JagannathPuri and now while he was at Prayag, that is where Rupa and Anupam met Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

namomaha-vadanyayakrishna-prema-pradayate
krishnayakrishna-chaitanya-namnegaura-tvishenamah

This prayer for the first time ever, it was composed and offered to Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by Rupa and Anupam. They were both offering this prayer. Dante trinadhari, they were holding straw between their teeth with all their humility they were offering full dandavats and they would get up and say : Namomaha-vadanyaya and they would fall flat and then get up and Namomaha-vadanyaya, like that so the father of Jiva Goswami also was a great devotee of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But then Anupam, he died. He left his body during that tour on the bank of Ganga. When the news reached Ramakeli, the news reached Jiva Goswami he was just a boy but he was very much affected by this news.

And all the spirit of vairagya and detachment and he wanted nothing to do with his world. He developed that spirit of detachment and he did not want to be the part of the family and the world anymore and he wanted to join Hare Krishna movement. Something, something happens in your life and you’re like ‘I’m gonna join, I’m gonna join.’ So JivaGoswami made up his mind. And he had affection for especially SrimadBhagavatam from his early childhood and he had already started worshipping Krishna Balarama. He was worshipper of Krishna Balaram in his home town at home. And then he wanted to leave home. So he kind of tricked, they say he tricked his mother ‘No I want to go to my maternal uncle’s place and he boarded a boat and he ended up in Navadvipa –dham ki jai! Upon arrival there, he comes to the house of Shrivas Pandit in Mayapur and upon entering the house of Shrivas, he had audience of Nityananda Prabhu. He immediately surrendered ‘You are Balaram, please accept me, I surrender to you!’ And Balarama – Balarama hoila Nitai, Balarama had now become Nitai. He accepted Jiva Goswami and he became the guide, the friend, the philosopher of Jiva Goswami. Nityananda Prabhu bought Jiva Goswami to Yagapitha to meet Sacimata. ‘Here Is Sacimata.’ So Jiva Goswami had darsana of Sacimata.

And now this time, this time Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is in JagannathPuri. He has taken sannyasa and all that has already happened and Vishnupriya cooked for Jiva Goswami and NityanandaPrabhu and they had sumptuous prashad cooked that day cooked by Sacimata, Vishnupriya. Then Nityananda Prabhu gave a tour of Navadwipa Mandal to JivaGoswami. This is same Antardvipa, Madhya dvipa like that –koladvipa, Rudradvipa all these nine dvipas, this is Antardvip. So Nityananda Prabhu became a guide of Jiva Goswami and Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur has this Navadvip dham mahatmya, the parikrama khand and he talks of this tour that Nityananda Prabhu gave to Jiva Goswami.

We get to hear, or we are guided the way Nityananda Prabhu was guiding Jiva Goswami during that tour. Then next instruction, so Jiva Goswami had more association of Nityananda Prabhu than Chaitnaya Mahaprabhu. ‘You go to Benares and study sanskrit and sastras, especially sastras. So Jiva Goswami left for Benares, he became a student of Madhusudan Vidyavachaspati. He is said to be a disciple of SarvabhaumaBhatthacarya.
So he became his student and very quickly he learnt entire vyakaran the grammar part and nyaya the logic, siksa and pronunciation. Then the next destination was Vrindavan Dham ki Jai! He comes to Vrindavan.He was twenty years old when he now officially and formally joined the Krishna Consciousness movement of Rupa and Sanatan his uncles and started.

So he approached Santana Goswami ‘Please accept me as you disciple.’ And Sanatan Goswami refused out of humility he said ‘no, no, no you better go to Rupa.’ Then he goes to Rupa Goswami and there were some trials and testing. It wasn’t easy to become disciple of Rupa Goswmai. And Rupa Goswami was pleased and accepted JIva Goswami as His disciple. Hari hari. The other Goswami’s, they left one by one to join the dancing party of Radha and Krishna. They all gradually became Nitya lila pravistha. Rupa Goswami, Rupa Manjari joined Radha Shyamsundar and Santana Goswami, Rati Manjari joined. And Jiva Goswami who is Vilas Manjari, he is kind of left behind.

So there was a time JivaGoswami is the guardian of the whole GaudiyaSampradaya is protected, guarded, and reserved. He is kind of in charge- JivaGoswami. While others, they had kind of departed or they were getting older. So Jiva Goswmai was in command of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism on the planet, in the world, in Vrindavan – everywhere. JivaGoswami is known for.This world has not seen a scholar, learned person like Jiva Goswami. The number of books he wrote, some twenty five books and he compiled four hundred thousand verses- slokas. The only person who comes closer who had accomplished compilation of such a big number of verses is none other than Srila Vyasadeva.

So amongst the learned scholars, contemporary learned scholars, those who really know they know that RupaGoswami was distinguished scholar.The quality, the content and volume of what he compiled -Sad-sandharbhas. This is kind of based on his contributions and Krama Sandharbha the commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam. All the twelve cantos he comments upon. Gopala Champu, Purva Champu and Uttara Champu – Lord’s pastimes in Vrindavan.The Lord’s pastimes in Mathura and Dwarka.Harinamamrita-vyakaranam and on and on and on as we enter deeper. Hari Hari. So he has become, he is our Acarya. Acaryavan purushoveda – if you want to know the Lord, become acaryavan and you will know.

So Srila Jiva Goswami has become our acarya by the causeless mercy and arrangement of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and in that parampara of course Srila Prabhupada has introduced us to all these including Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswami Goswami. He was getting very popular and his name and fame had spread.

ebe jasa ghushuk tribhuvana – then there was emperor of three worlds those times he was a Muslim emperor; he was ruling India – Akhbar. When he heard the glories of Jiva Goswami he wanted to have audience and darsana of Jiva Goswami. ‘May I do something for you?’ The emperor wanted to serve, assist Jiva Goswami. So why not? So he spent a lot of wealth in building temples including Radha Damodaratemple and some other temples, building temples, renovation of temples.

The Grantha Mandala, the Granth Mandal. The whole library of all the Gaudiya Vaishnava literature, all Goswami’scompilation sastras they were to be preserved and protected. So this emperor Akhbar, he gave a big contribution so that these granthas are protected, preserved. So he was acarya and everyone was turning to him to take lessons in Krishna consciousness.

Even other acaryas or other spiritual masters were directing their disciples ‘you go. You go and you become a student of Jiva Goswami.’ That Narrotama, he became a disciple of LokanathGoswami. ‘Okay I will initiate you or give you Diksa but Siksha, go to JivaGoswamiamd become his student.’Shrinivas Acarya, he was a disciple of Gopal Bhatta Goswami. ‘Okay you go, become a student of JivaGoswami.’ Hridaya Chaitanya in Bengal, his disciple was Dukhi Krishna. When he came to Vrindavan, he was given a new name by Jiva Goswami. Okay I understand.

Your name is Shyamananda. So this Shyamananda disciple of Hridaya Chaitanya, Gauridas’s disciple is Hridaya Chaitanya and his disciple is Dukhi Krishna who became known as Shyamanand. aThis Shyamanand became the student of JivaGoswami, like that.. After the first batch of the six Goswami’s, they were like a guardian of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and then they started departing, getting older.Then at one time JivaGoswami was in command. And then after Jiva Goswami, then the batch of these three called acarya tres – three acaryas. Shyamanand, Narottama and Srinivas Acarya.They became acaryas of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. They were all students of JivaGoswami and in order to preach and propagate the cult- Prabhupada said ‘the cult of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’ JivaGoswami had instructed them ‘take all these scriptures, the Gaudiya Vaishnava literature and load that into the carts and bring them to Bengal.’

So they would have travelled from Vrindavan to Bengal with all scriptures. And this was the order and part of his vision and mission, JivaGoswami’s vision and mission for propagation of Krishna consciousness.To propagate the knowledge. So that Jiva Goswami, I should not. That means a lot more. That means what I said here, Goswami. Which Goswami? What I meant to say. Well it’s not just that – there’s much more. That Jiva Goswami {pause} He departed on this day.

Je aniloprema-dhana koruna pracur heno prabhu kotha gela acarya-thakur

Je aniloprema-dhana, one who bought Premadhana to this world and handed out, became charitable- giving charity of that dhan, wealth.Making us dhanya, or richer and enriched. Our lives have become enriched by the wealth of these six Goswamis {which} Srila Jiva Goswami has left behind. So that Jiva Goswami henoprabhukotha gela. Where has he gone? All the questions are raised that where has he gone? It is not that we do not know where he has gone. Question should be ’Why did he go, why did he leave? Why did he leave? We know where he went – he is Vilas Manjari so where does Vilas Manjari go?

Doesn’t go to Moscow after..Or doesn’t go to another body and round and round and up and down – Samsara. Not there. These great souls go so we know where he went. Question is ‘why did he?’He could have stayed on till today. Why did he leave? Suddenly, why did he suddenly go? So that’s our shok, lamentation. So this day as it is said and understood, is a disappearance days of our acaryas is cause for lamentation and cause for jubilation also. Jubilation because they are going back to Krishna, they are with Krishna. Lamentation is because we missed the bus, we wished we was there while he were also on the planet. His vapuh has gone, yes that’s amazing also. He is a Manjari yet he has a body of a male form. All these Goswamis are female, they’re all Gopis and Manjaris in the body of a man. Inside them is all Gopi bhava – Manjari bhava.

So they left the vani behind, their words behind, their instructions behind description of Krishna behind, or how to understand Bhagavatam better. All that knowledge they have left behind. The books are the basis – books are the basis! So Jiva Goswami’s books are also the basis. Our Prabhupada has included all acarya’s vani – Gauravani, in his books, in his purports. So we could study his books, Srila Prabhupada’s books and.’If you want to know me, what did Prabhupada say? ‘If you want to know me, read my books.’

The same thing regarding Jiva Goswam. If you want to know Jiva Goswami, do what? Read his books. You want to know? You want to know? ‘And so far my books would get distributed, I will never die. The books are being distributed’ Prabhupada said ‘the books are being distributed, I’ll be alive. I’m living, I’m there. But I’m there in the form of my books.’ So that what Prabhupada said also applies to Jiva Goswami’s books, so let us read Jiva Goswami’s books, distribute his books. Let’s read Prabhupada’s books and ‘distribute,distribute,distribute my books.’

So in this way, by reading Prabhupada’s books, distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books also Jiva Goswami’s and spread the glories of Jiva Goswami around and we also get association of Jiva Goswami that way.

Hari Hari, let’s pray to Jiva Goswami.

Krishna se tomara, Krishna diteparo, tomarasakati ache
ami to’ kangala, ‘Krishna’ ‘Krishna’ boli’, dhai tavapache pache

This could be one prayer also. krishna se tomara, Krishna diteparo.‘You have Krishna, you have Jiva Goswami Prabhupada. You have Krishna and you are competent of giving that Krishna to me. And look at me, ami to kangala – I am just bankrupt. I am just bereft of Krishna and Krishna consciousness and hence I’m running after you, O Jiva Goswami wherever you are.

dhai tava pache pache, hoping that you would give us Krishna prem. We are running after you, we are remembering you. We are offering our prayers at your lotus feet.’

Srila Jiva Goswami Tirobhava tithi Mahotsavaki Jai!
Radha Damodarki Jai!
Srila Prabhupadaki Jai!
Granthraj Srimad Bhagavatam ki Jai!
Srila Prabhupada’s transcendental book distribution ki Jai!
Bhagavad Gita Jayanti marathon ki Jai!
Gaura premanande hari haribol.

The behavior of a perfect person

Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya! Hare Krishna! Thank you for joining us. This morning recitation of Srimad Bhagavatamfrom canto 7, chapter 13, text number 19, ‘The behavior of a perfect person’ is the chapter’s title. Please repeat,

kavihkalponipuna-drk
citra-priya-kathahsamah
lokasyakurvatah karma
sese tad-viksitapiva [SB 7.13.19]

kavih — very learned; kalpah — expert; nipuna-drk — intelligent; citra-priya-kathah — able to speak palatable words that are pleasing to the heart; samah — equipoised; lokasya — of the people in general; kurvatah — engaged in; karma — fruitive work; sese — you lie down; tat-viksita — seeing them all; api — although; va— either.

Translation and Purport by Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!

Translation: Your Honor appears learned, expert and intelligent in every way. You can speak very well, saying things that are pleasing to the heart. You see that people in general are engaged in fruitive activities, yet you are lying here inactive.
Purport:- Prahlada Maharaja studied the bodily features of the saintly person, and through the saint’s physiognomy could understand that he was intelligent and expert, although he was lying down and not doing anything. Prahlada was naturally inquisitive about why he was lying there inactive.

kavihkalponipuna-drk
citra-priya-kathahsamah
lokasyakurvatah karma
sese tad-viksitapiva

Hari Hari! Some activity there in the sky! Perfect person is being talked about here. There are many speakers, Narada Muni is speaking to Yudhistira Maharaja, Sukadeva Gosvami is speaking to king Pariksit and Suta Gosvami is speaking to the assembled sages and then Srila Prabhupada is speaking to us and I am speaking to you and later on you could speak to others. This is a shaili, this is a style of Bhagavatam. Radha Rasabihariki Jai! So dialogue within a dialogue within a dialogue!

Suta Gosvami is quoting Sukadeva Gosvami, he quotes Narada Muni and then he is also quoting Prahlada Maharaja through his addressing or talking to this Sri brahmana uvaca. Tomorrow or day after tomorrow Brahmin will begin speaking and he will be speaking about the perfect person. Already some of the qualities of that perfect person are mentioned in here by Prahlad Maharaja. So ‘you are kavi, you are very learned,’ yeah Srila Prabhupada is mentioning in the purport that Prahlad Maharaja is right there with this brahmana, who is also mentioned as avadhut, and soon we should be mentioning that this avadhut, this brahmana is none other than Dattatreya. Is it here? It is right here.

So Prahlad Maharaja is talking to that Dattatreya. Prahlada Maharaja is addressing that Dattatreya, he said, ‘you are kavi’. So as he has studied the body language and some vibrations that coming from this personality, he did the study and mentioned few findings. What are the findings? You are kavi- you are very learned, kalpah- very expert, nipuna-drk- very intelligent, citra-priya-kathah- your talk is citra-vicitra, wonderful, amazing, at the same time priya, also very dear, very pleasing to the heart. Pleasing to the heart is what, pleasing to the heart that pumps the blood? Could heart be pleased? No! In the heart is residence of the soul. Soul resides in the heart, so pleasing to the heart meaning pleasing to the soul. From bottom of my heart, we say, from bottom of my heart, or from the core of my heart. So within the heart, that core of the heart is where we stay. So this talk is pleasing to the soul. And samah, equipoised, and look what is wrong with you, something like that, lokasya kurvatah karma, people all around you are, all running around and getting ready, lokasya kurvatah karma, they are busy, they are active, running around, but look at you, sese- you are just lying down there, tad-viksitapiva- you are seeing right in front of you, you are seeing everyone busy-busy, the whole rat race is on, but you seems to be disinterred and you seems to be busy with something else, sese tad-viksitapi.

So this is the enquiry. This is the observation and comment by Prahlada Maharaja. This is seventh canto. Lord has already made His appearance and Prahlada has been blessed and now Prahlada is a king and is a ruler and is moving about. He has come across this avadhut, this Brahmin and is about to have a dialogue. Well he is enquiring and that Brahmin would respond. And this Brahmin, this avadhut is going to be talking about the perfect person. He himself is a perfect. So then it is easy to talk, right. He will just talk about himself. He is a perfect. So talks from his experience, from his realizations, because he walks the talk.

bole jaisa chale tyachi vandavi paule (Marathi).
And this perfect person is Lord Himself. This perfect person is Dattatreya, avadhut. Just to remind you that Lord Krsna is source of all incarnations, you know that. And there is a whole list of incarnations. 22 of them are mentioned, not 24. It should have been 24, but only 22 mentioned in the third chapter of 1st canto. So as he begins, Suta Gosvami is giving the list of incarnations, then he comes,

sastham atrer apatyatvam
vrtah prapto anasuyaya
anviksikim alarkaya
prahladadibhya ucivan [SB1.3.11]

He talks about the sastham, the sixth incarnation was son of Atri Muni and Anasuya and as Lord appeared at some point during His pastimes, He enlightened, ucivan, Lord spoke, Sri Bhagavanuvaca, like that Sri Dattatreya uvaca, ucivan. Prahladadibhyah, many so He spoke to many personalities, few are mentioned here, Alarka is mentioned here, Alarka and Prahlad is mentioned. We know He spoke to Yadu also.

I was born next to Dattatreya temple in my village. Just next door, my house where I was born next door is a house where Lord was residing, Dattatreya mandir. So very first Lord I worshiped, I went to darsana is Dattatreya. He is quite popular worldwide, but in Maharashtra He is very popular. Dattatreya, Digambar! Digambar means He doesn’t wear any clothes. The directions are His clothing, dikambar, dik is directions and that is His cloth. He is avadhut. He is so renounced, no bodily concept, what so ever, Digambar.

So Prahlada Maharaja met and is speaking to this Brahmin, this avadhuta, Dattatreya somewhere in Karanatak where Kaveri flows, earlier it is mentioned in the same chapter. Two places are mentioned, Kaveri river is mentioned and Sahya mountain is mentioned. Sahyadri, you know Sahyadri. When you go to Pune, you climb up, there is Khandalaghat, that mountain is Sahya, Sahyadri. It goes all the way down to Manglore. Anyways! And Maharashtra is divided into Desa and Konkan and what is dividing is this mountain. So that mountain in this same chapter. So in that region in the valley of that mountain on the bank of Kaveri, and the vicinity of Kaveri, somewhere this dialogue has taken place.

So this Dattatreya was born of Anasuya and Atri Muni, they performed severe austerities, so much so that the Lord was pleased and Lord made the appearance. And not just one Lord, three Lords appeared, Brahma, Visnu, Mahesh and as Atri muni looked right there, ‘hey how come? I was praying for one Lord but three of You are here.’ They said, ‘No we are three in one. We are not different.’ This is Gunavatar. Three together is a complete package. Brahma, Visnu Mahesh!’ So these three Lords gave benediction to this couple and all those three appeared as sons of Atri muni and Anasuya. Brahma appeared as Soma, that is Candra (moon), Somavar (Monday), candra, Siva appeared as Durvasa muni and Visnu appeared as Dattatreya, three children. So this is that Dattatreya Bhagavan ki Jai! So yad yad acarati sresthas, Lord Himself is setting example of a perfect person, so that the whole world could follow that example.

Another dialogue, another enquiry, when Lord was about to, Lord Sri Krsna was about to leave the planet, syama tyaktva svapadam gatah, before leaving this planet, returning to His abode and when Uddhava found that out, then he wanted to go with the Lord, but then Lord Sri Krsna did some preaching to Uddhava, gave some instructions. So that time Uddhava wanted to know, ‘Tell me about the perfect devotee, what are his symptoms, what are his qualities?’ These were the enquiries of Uddhava, enquiring directly from Sri Krsna and this is the Uddhava Geeta. One is Bhagavad Gita and another Gita is, named after Uddhava, not named after Krsna, one Gita is named after Krsna, Bhagavad, Bhagavan’s song, the other one is named after Uddhava. Two Gitas! So while Sri Krsna was speaking to Uddhava, as Arjuna was enquiring, here Uddhava is enquiring. So that time the Lord gave the list of qualities, He gave list of 27 qualities. I was looking at those qualities.

The first quality mentioned here kavi, is a last quality that Sri Krsna mentioned in 11th canto. Kavi- learned, devotees are learned. So while this, not only Lord mentioned the qualities of a perfect devotee, but then He also sites an example of avadhut, this Brahmin. And Lord Sri Krsna made the reference to the dialogue between Yadu and this avadhut Brahmin.

Once upon a time, Lord Sri Krsna says, long long time ago, how the story goes, when Yadu met, Yadu came across this avadhut and which avadhut? This Dattatreya avadhut, Dattatreya Brahmin, Dattatreya avadhut! So there this Brahmin is talking, here he is talking to Prahlada Maharaja, there same Brahmin, same personality is talking to Yadu. And Lord Sri Krsna mentions, I am Yaduvamsi, My ancestor, when Yadu was ruling, when Yadu was on the planet, Lord Sri Krsna said, he met idle character, a Brahmin, avadhut and then they spoke, avadhut Brahmin and Yadu spoke. So when they spoke, that speech or dialogue, there is a mention of, yeah this Brahmin mentions that, ‘I take lessons from 24 Gurus. I have 24 Gurus,’ he says. ‘Oh you are kavi, you are learned. How did you become learned? ‘Oh I have 24 Gurus.’ And then he talks, same Brahmin, same Dattatreya, ‘I take lessons from Prithvi also. I take lessons from..’ There is a whole list.

The earth is tolerant, I take this quality from this person, this quality from that person, honeybee and honey and there is whole list, 24 of them. Prostitute is also in that list. One who makes the arrows sharp, ‘Oh just procession passed by here, did you take note of this?’ The person who was making his arrows sharp, he was so much absorbed in his sharpening the arrow activity, he said,’ what procession?’ They took 2 km long procession, procession was big, big bands and DJ set or whatever was there, he did not even noticed. He was so much focused, absorbed in what he was doing. So this avadhut said, ‘I made him a Guru. He is one of my Gurus.’ Fully focused on, on hearing, right? If your mind goes off, everything is stopped.

So as question was being raised by Prahlada Maharaja, you better hear directly from the Brahmin answering his questions or enquiry. That how come the whole world is busy, active, running around, making money, and even bhukti and mukti and siddhi, these parties were also busy, but Krsna bhakta niskam ataeva shanta. Answer is right there also. Bhukti kami, mukti kami, siddhi kami, everyone have kamana (desires), full of kama, kamamaihai (they say, I am in the kama, work). Come, festival is there, Damodara vrata, come here. People say what? Kurvit, they are busy, lokasya kurvatah karma, they are busy. They say, ‘see you later.’ I asked one person, ‘what is your name?’ He said, ‘my name is Karmarakar.’ Understood? He said, my name is Kar (do work), then Mar (die) and then take birth again and then again Kar and again mar, then kar and mar. Kar-mar-kar, what a nice name! But I thought not just he have been named Karmarkar but the whole world, the befitting, appropriate name for everyone, what would that name be? Karmarkar! Whole world is Mr. Karmarkar. This Brahmin will give the message; we cannot stop the Kar part. We have to be active, but different way, different activities.

kuberatmajau baddha murtevyadva ttvaya mocito bhakti bhajo kritoca, this verse was getting my attention this morning. Tatha prema bhaktimsvakam me prayasca, namokse grihome sti damodareha, so that’s the prayer. Enough of this Kar-mar-kar, because as soon as you do something, Kar, that makes you think also, and then you think and do or these days they even propose, you do first and think later on, this is ‘just do it’. Just do it, do not even think, just do it. If you feel good, ‘kuch kuch hota hai’, go by feeling, don’t think. Be a mental case, just be mental. Above the mind is intelligence, do not even think; do not use this intelligence faculty. Just go by feeling, thinking, feeling. Yeah then result of this is dhyayato visayan pumsam sangahtes upajayate, immediately as soon as a wrong thought, think of Maya, and only two things you could think about.

There are only two parties in this world, one is Krsna party and other one is Maya party. As soon as you think about Maya, zapatiya dhare (Bengali), zapatiya, zapatatela (Marathi- got haunted).So this world is very entangling, you are baddha murtai vyadvat, baddha, you can bound up, hriday granthi, rope between one person and another, there is knot. You don’t see the rope but asha pasha shataih baddhai, bondage, asha pasha shataih baddhai, Krsna says, kama krodh parayanah, people of this world are expert, parayana, in what? Kama krodha parayanah, expert in kama and krodha and then asha pasha shataih baddhai, this gentleman, this brahman, he does not want to get bound up. He wants to stay out of it, this bondage. He is very cautious, very careful, thoughtful.

So what happens with this kuberatmaj? Kuberatmaj, the sons of Kubera! Any dearth of wealth there? The wealthiest person is Kubera. Ambani is nothing. But then you see what the outcome is? They became dhanandha, dhana-andha, that dhana (wealth) made them andha, blind. So much blind that Narayana! Narayana! Giver of Narayana, Nara-da, giver of Narayana was going, he has been in the heaven up there. There was some mixing mingling, whole naked show of the topless bottomless shameless ladies, when they noticed that Narada is passing by, they quickly ran to grab their clothes and they covered their bodies. But these kuberatmajau, they were two of them, they continued their nanga-nacha, nanga-dhadanga (naked dance). Shameless! And no etiquette, no shistacar! So Narada muni cursed, I curse you, you like to stay without clothes, that is your preference. So you could have a body in next life, that you don’t have to go to a tailor. Become trees! No clothes! This is your preference, you like to be naked, no problem. You could have body that wears no clothes. Become trees! And then they kind of came to their senses and they were begging, please not, please have mercy upon these wretched souls. Then Narada Muni said, too late! Curse had been already activated. But okay, I could do one thing for you. Certainly you will have to be trees, but trees not in Bombay, but you could be the trees in Vrindavan, trees in Gokul, trees in courtyard of Nanda Maharaja. And Krsna will personally make you free.

Satyavrat Muni is the compiler of this astak, Damodarastak. So he is praying, everyone is praying like that and he is praying, or he is teaching how to pray. So his prayer is ‘my dear Lord Damodara, tatha prema bhaktimsvakam me prayasca, please give me also please give me bhakti. Tatha, yahta- tatha, what is yatha? kuberatmajau baddha murtai vyadvat tvayamocito, so those Kuberatmajau, there are two of them, Manigriva and Nalakubera. So those kuberatmajau baddha, they were bound up, but You made them free and You gave them bhakti also. Not only they were made mukta but they were made bhakta. Mukti is nothing. I don’t care for mukti, he said earlier. No Mukti! Give me bhakti, the way those two sons of Kuber were given bhakti. We should also, we are hearing right now, we pray all the time, praying right now, praying during this month of Damodara, this is the prayer. So this month reminds us of that pastime of the Lord, the pastime that took place on Diwali. The stealing used to go on in the neighborhood, Krsna the Makhan-chor, but He did stealing right in the home. And then He was caught red handed, red handed or white handed? White handed! White because of butter all over. White handed, white face, everything white! So that was Diwali. So that day, these two sons, they came out of the tree bodies and they had darsana of the Lord and they had lots of benedictions. They also prayed to the Lord.

So tatha prema bhaktim svakam me prayasca, oh Lord to me also. These should be our thoughts, praying like this. Yeah? This thought should come to our heart, in our mind. HariHari! And then we could talk also those thoughts and prayers.

namo deva damodar ananta visno prasid prabho dukha jalabdhi magnam, jala,

I am absorbed. Anyway! Nice prayers! Study these prayers, understand these prayers, Damodarastak. Learning by heart, not learning by throat; they are in the throat but they are not in the heart. Prayers are coming from the throat, but heart is not involved. Not saying the prayer from within the core of the heart. Who is in the core of the heart? Soul! So making this prayer as soul’s prayer, soul is praying, our soul, my soul, your soul is praying. Hridayangam, not kanthastha, not in the throat, in the heart!

Gaur Premanande Hari Haribol!

We should all come together and serve the Lord
4 February 2020,
Pune, [12 minutes]

Occasion: Maharashtra Rajya Partrakar Sangh conferred it’s Lifetime

Achievement The hippies of America accepted Krsna, They chanted Hare Krishna and they became happy. Srila Prabhupada would say, “Even hippies became happies.” Once they were hippies and then they became happies. There is lots to talk. Lord is ananta and His topics are also ananta [unlimited]. 

I thank all of you for your presence on this occasion and also accepting me as one of you and for glorifying me.   

The glory of a Lord’s devotee is the Lord's glory and the glory of our Bharat, the glory of Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. He was Bharatratna. He recognised our real Bharat. He recognised the wealth of Bharat. That’s why he said, “I did not come to your country to take anything.” Many politicians, scientists went to America,  to bring something from there

“Give us something! Give me, give me.”  

People asked me also “Where have you come from?” 

“Oh! Bharat, that poor country.”

This is how our Bharat was glorified in those days. Whenever we went to the West we mostly went to bring something – Give us computers, give loans, give this, give that. They called our Bharat “Oh! That poor country.” 

Srila Prabhupada said, “I have not come to take anything from your country. In fact I have come to give you the wealth of Bharat. Accept this wealth.” This Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada recognised the wealth of this country and the glories of this country. Technologically the Western countries are rich, but Srila Prabhupada said, “They are blind. Indians have vision, but they are lame.” Srila Prabhupada talks about “andhapangu nyaya.” One is blind and one is lame. They both have to go to the same destination. What can they do? The person who is lame can sit on the shoulders of the blind person. The lame person will show the direction and the blind person will walk.

They can help each other. The technology and science of the West and the culture of the East, India – they can both come together, become friends and they could help each other. This can be done.

bharata-bhumite haila manusya-janma yara
janma sarthaka kari kara para-upakara

Translation:  
“One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bh?rata-var?a] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people. (CC Adi 9.41)

Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu  says that if you are born in Bharat bhumi what should you do? kari kara para-upakara.  Don’t  just take, give also, do some para-upakara. Whatever can be given, we should give to others. Give Krsna to others.

 Give Bhagavad-Gita to others. 

We have 1000 ISKCON temples all over India. In Pune also we have an ISKCON temple. Our Pune temple brahmacaris and congregation devotees on the occasion of Gita jayanti in the month of December, in the month when Lord Krsna spoke Bhagavad-
Gita to Arjuna, together distributed 3,14000 Bhagavad-Gitas.

dharma-kshetre kuru-kshetre samaveta yuyutsavah
mamakah pandavashchaiva kimakurvata sanjaya [BG 1.1]

Many of them are present here also. This is the score for just one month. Of course ISKCON Pune was number one in book distribution in the world. We have inter-temple book distribution competitions. In that competition the winner was ISKCON Pune temple. Radheshyam Prabhu is sitting here. He is president of the temple. He is MTech and what not. There are so many highly educated youths and ISKCON develops and nurtures the character of these youths. We need quality people. There is no need to decrease the population. 

It is a big misunderstanding to think that if the population is decreased, we will become more prosperous, we will get more houses, we will get more food, more clothes etc. Till the population is greedy, nothing will work out. Suppose we decrease the population and finally only two persons remain on the earth, they will also say, “Two are too many.”
How many are needed? Only one and that’s me! Thus, greed is our enemy.  

ISKCON is making the character of people notable and imbibing good qualities in them. The news of their work, the news about Gita and Bhagavat is spreading all over. Srila Prabhupada’s  Ghata has come up in Pandharpur. There are many goshalas. Our grandfather Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, “There is so much news that every minute we can publish a paper.” Good news! The best news!

We should all serve the Lord, not serve the material senses or this body,  but serve the soul. Then the soul will be happy, liberated and achieve the lotus feet of the Lord at the end of his life.  “ami jato amchya gava” – This will come true. Then once we reach there what will happen? “ami jato amchya gava dev deil visava.”  The Lord will give us shelter and we can stay there peacefully. Such a village exists where the Lord stays and we are all His children.

vittho maza lekurwada 

Such preaching, such inspiration, such guidance we are doing and you should also. We will join hands and do work for dharma. We will establish dharma.

Dharma rakshati – rakshitah means if you protect dharma, then dharma will protect you. Otherwise the whole world is facing big obstacles and they have no solution. The solution is there in Gita and Bhagavat. You have no solution. Today’s oliticians and leaders have no clue, but God knows. One who knows Gita is a scientist. One who knows Gita should be called satrajna, as Gita is sastra. Chemistry, History, Geography – everything is a big zero. But to make that zero meaningful we need a one in front of it, otherwise what kind of heroes are we? We are all zero. The glories of all the living entities is in glorifying  the Lord otherwise everything is Maya’s wealth. How to come out of this Maya? The answer is ISKCON who is providing the means to get out of the clutches of Maya all over the world, sarvatra prachar hoibe mora nama.

Thank you
Everyone say once after me loudly:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna  Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama 
Rama Rama Hare Hare

Memories of Srila Prabhupada at Hare Krsna land
Occasion: 42 nd anniversary of Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari
ISKCON Juhu
January 2020 [30:54]

So, welcome all the assembled devotees, great souls! Prabhupada disciples are also present. We welcome them, haribol. I wasn’t sure whether to say Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, so it’s normally sung at katha. I wasn’t sure but I thought for sure I will talk about Radha Rasabihari Ki Jai! And we have to talk about Srila Prabhupada and he is a Mahabhagavat. So, it’s a katha, Bhagavat katha. So why not sing Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya? That was appropriate? You think also?

Haribol.
So, it is a big occasion today for Radha Rasabihari Temple Juhu Hare Krishna land, Srila Prabhupada’s office. As this is the day, forty two years ago when I was there. Some of you anyone else attended? Its 42nd is now and there will be 100 th anniversary and there’ll be always a celebration of this occasion, or the anniversary festival of Radha Rasa Bihari Temple opening ki Jai

I did say I was there. Many others were there. Of course, Gopal Krishna Maharaja was there, Giriraj Maharaja more over Sridhar Maharaja was there, Mukunda Maharaja was there. Big international media was invited to cover the event. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vasant Dada Patil. He did the opening. And we had some central ministers and it was a big gathering so many were invited. And we were badly missing physical presence of one person. And that was, what do you think that we’re missing? Devotees: Srila Prabhupada As yesterday I said at another gathering I was addressing and I said, we were missing Srila Prabhupada’s presence. Srila Prabhupada ki Jai or he was conspicuous by his absence, being conspicuous by someone’s presence and being conspicuous by someone’s absence so Srila Prabhupada was conspicuous by his absence.

The idea was that temple would be opened by Srila Prabhupada in his presence and Prabhupada had even come to Bombay from London because his health was not good. But instead of going to America, to Gita Nagari, he had to return. Srila Prabhupada attended Janmashtami at Bhaktivedanta manor and next day his Vyas Puja also was celebrated there at London. And then “Bring me back, let’s go back, Back home”.

Where is Prabhupada’s home? Vrindavan. Vrindavan is my home. Mayapur is my place of pilgrimage, place of worship and Bombay is my office. So, he wanted to go to Vrindavan. And month of September 77 Srila Prabhupada was very much here, up there. The fifth floor, which tower is that? Prabhupada tower. Srila Prabhupada ki Jai. This is Prabhupada’s tower, whole thing is Prabhupada’s of course. Temples also and that tower was one other one also.

One tower is named after Prabhupada. So Prabhupada was at that floor. Prabhupada was not well. During this visit a lot of things that are different for first time kind of we had different experience. There were no more morning walks. So, walking and talking. Japa. Walk Japa talk Japa with Dr.
Patel and company, debating and so that was not happening. And 77 September, every morning after walk Srila Prabhupada returned. And we all eagerly awaiting Prabhupada’s return, “Prabhupada is coming, Prabhupada is coming.” So, always had this spirit, because this was his office.

Doesn’t person spend more time in the office than any other place somebody spends time at the home and the other place where he spends a lot of time most of his time is the office. So Srila Prabhupada spent lot of time, lot of time in Bombay, his office. So many trips. Those days he was spending half time overseas and other half time in India. So he was landing, “Prabhupada is coming, Prabhupada is coming” from Nairobi.

Gopal Krishna Maharaja is coming from Nairobi today I heard. Jayapataka Maharaja is also coming from London today. So, those days, “Prabhupada is coming from his came from yours came from this country, that country that continent, Prabhupada is coming.” And then we would be preparing to receive Prabhupada and anticipate to associate with Prabhupada. And morning walks with Srila Prabhupada.

And then Prabhupada returning to the temple after morning was such a great anticipation. So, we were so much conscious of Prabhupada consciousness was very wide spread and very thick in the air, “Prabhupada consciousness.” So, as he returned from the morning walk, we used to greet Radha Rasa Bihari and this was all happening during Prabhupada days. Prabhupada tower is underneath. That old temple just cement sheet roof and some poles were supporting and very tiny structure which was even attempted by municipality to demolish, so many things. Memories of Srila Prabhupada! This had become Kurukshetra also. Hare Krishna land was also battlefield land [Laughter] guarding all night long with a gun, literally there were guns.

Prabhupada was in Australia, and he got the news on telephone, Srila Prabhupada was delighted, “Narsimha has killed him.” The funeral ceremony they were taking his body to the cremation ground from this road. Ladies satsang was going on in the temple, Mrs. Single had been organizing weekly mahila satsanga, Hare Krishna mahila satsang. So, they were doing kirtana. When they found out who was it, they were all happy.

They were all delighted, there is a celebration. “paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam Sure, who else Radha Rasa Bihari was behind all this. The battle of Hare Krishna land went on and on and on from 72 onward till literally opening up the temple. Mr. Shetty was the contractor, he took up the task of building one additional floor to be added. On the top of all the buildings, tenants had occupied, when the construction was going on, one time Prabhupada was doing the inspection, he wanted to check the progress and personally. When he saw Shetty that he was doing this great service, creating accommodations or building accommodations. Then Prabhupada had also declared, “You are building accommodations for devotees and Lord has already made house for you in Vaikuntha.” The temple was built and the deities stood mostly all the time till the opening they were they were there. So, Srila Prabhupada would return from morning walks and he greeted Radha Rasa Bihari with folded hands.

He would always bow down, bow down whenever he offered his obeisances to the deities. Even in his old days or ill health Srila Prabhupada he not with folded hands or doing panchang, but every time he did full dandavat. Approved by Srila Prabhupada, we started playing Govindam Adi Purusam recording in the Radha Rasa Bihari temple. Then we would do Guru puja, Srila Prabhupada’s guru puja and there were times there was no Guru Puja. Prabhupada founded ISKCON in 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, to all these years there was no guru puja in any Iskcon temple. And one time, as Prabhupada arrived at Santa Cruz Mumbai and Dum, dum Kolkata.

Prabhupada was greeted and worshipped, some puja was offered to him. Aditya mataji something to do, she took some initiative or leadership for this idea and then others joined and we did offer Guru puja short one at the airport and from then we started, we did guru puja at Radha Rasa Bihari temple And the word got out and then whole world started doing guru puja. Others were saying, “Prabhupada accepted Guru puja at Radha Rasa Bihari temple, Bombay, his office” So, a lot of new things were also taking place happening here and there. Bombay’s his office some new standards were being followed, whole world was following. Hari, Hari.

And we did kirtans during Guru Puja and very special kirtans, very ecstatic and excited kirtans. And Srila Prabhupada’s presence in the presence of course of Radha Rasa Bihari and towards the end of Guru Puja kirtana and Guru puja, Srila Prabhupada used to take lots of flowers and he would throw that at usand then we used to jump to catch those flowers, this side and then that party is jumping and in the middle and that party is jumping to catch some of those flowers on this side. And then adding the further dimension to the excited and ecstatic kirtans. And then Jai Om Vishnu Pada Pramhamsa ki Jai, Ki Jai. And then Srila Prabhupada would begin, “Jaya Radha Madhava Kunja Bihari” Prabhupada playing kartals and Prabhupada, fully absorbed. Occasionally, opening his eyes are some side long, long glance at us sitting at his feet and occasionally we would notice some tears gliding down his chicks.

As he was with Radha Rasa Bihari while chanting Jaya Radha Madhav. Almost in trance, Prabhupada would sing and then Bhagavatam class.
Then Prabhupada would return to his quarters.

Srila Prabhupada ki jai

Keep chanting and study Bhagvad gita

Surathkal, Shantipur Base

05 06 2016 [43:05]

Surathkal Youth Form ki…jai

Name is Shantipur Base, but where is Ganga here? Caitanya Mahaprabhu also travelled through Suratkal some five hundred years ago. He went to Udupi and then to Belgaum, Kolhapur, Pandharpur, Satara, Nasik and back to, back to Jagannath Puri. This land has been blessed by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It is also called God’s own country, Kerala. And someone says this is also the part of the same country. God’s country doesn’t end where, Karnataka Kerala border is. It extends, Parshurama Kshetra, right. We went to very nice Parshurama temple. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu very kindly appeared into this material existence.

golokam ca parityajya lokanam trana-karanat 

The scripture says ‘lokanam trana-karanat’ lokas, the people are uplifted sufferings in this material world, ‘trankaranat, in order to give them relief from the suffering, Caitanya Mahaprabhu left His Goloka behind and enter this material existence. He appeared just for you, each one of you, each one of us in fact. There is no other purpose of His coming into this world. Hari Hari! Then He had His family, old mother also and young
beautiful wife Vishnupriya. He abandoned them and He took sanyasa. So only Lord, only incarnation that takes sanyasa that is Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He gave up the comfort, gave up the comfort zone, of the family comfort zone. He went to Katava, took sanyasa and immediately wanted to go to Vrindavan. He took sannyasa no bondage, free, free like a bird to fly.

So very first place He wanted to go to is Vrindavan, which is our, our original place also. We are all from Vrindavan. Mahaprabhu is playing a role of a devotee and He would like to go back to home, back to Godhead back to Vrindavan. Anyway, but instead of going to Vrindavan He changed His plans. Mother met Him at Shantipur. Advaitacarya made the arrangement for Sachimata to meet her Nimai. And then Sachimata proposed, “Why don’t you stay in Jagannath-Puri instead? Vrindavan is so far away”. So Mahaprabhu accepted the proposal, mother’s proposal and decided to reside in Vrindavan, mean decided to reside in Jagannath-Puri. He came to Puri, He was there for only two months and then He left again. He told all the devotees, “No, I must go. I will find my brother, Vishwarup. He had taken sannyasa and He was travelling somewhere in the South. So I would like to go catch up with him.” He just gave that reason, excuse. And then He started travelling. And He travelled all over south India. Walking, not flying. Chardham air yatra (laughs). Recently while Hare Krishna devotees were doing padayatra all over India there was Ad in a paper. They said,” Chardham air yatra.” Go to all four dhamas travel by air. So Mahaprabhu, no air yatra, no train journeys, no travelling by buses.

Sometimes He would take boat to cross rivers on the way but mostly walking. As Rama also had walked before all over India during His vanavasa while He was in exile. And of course Krishna also walks all, all over Vrindavan forest all day taking care of His cows.

So Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna. He is Krishna. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Proprietor of the whole universe. Owner, controller, source of everything and He is, He is only walking. And not only even walking, dancing, meaning He was enjoying His walk, enjoying His travel. He was dancing at every step. And of course chanting,

“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”

And sharing His holyname with everybody that He came across. He was connecting everybody with the holyname. “Take Krishna in the form of holy name.”
‘Radha Krishna Bolo sange chalo’

This is Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s prayer. ‘ei matra bhikha’. Give me alms. Bhiksham dehi bhiksham dehi. What is bhiksha? You just chant Hare Krishna. This is bhiksha.

Mahaprabhu was appealing everybody to chant Hare Krishna. In the evenings He would have been big gatherings. Every night people from nowhere, somewhere they would come in big numbers. In village of one thousand, population of one thousand would get hundred thousand people. So this way also He was exhibiting His opulence, showing He is Lord. He could manage getting large gathering, getting together. No posters, no banners, no Ads, no Sms’s. Sitting in their hearts. So He could communicate, inspire as many as He could. There is no limit how many He could inspire, instantly, that’s the Lord. And then He would perform His kirtana. Large gathering all around Him and Lord is in the middle with raised arms,

ajanu-lambitbhujau kanakavadhatau sankirtanaika- pitarau,
sundar lala sachir dulala nachat srihari kirtan me

He is dancing in Hari kirtana. The beautiful Gauranga chanting,

“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama RamaRama Hare Hare.”

And getting them getting everyone also to chant and dance. He would inspire and say Hari….bol (Hari….bol) As if, as if He would lift them and drop them, lift them drop them like a puppets. I would like Mahaprabhu also to pick us up, drop and pick and drop and make us dance? It would be nice and He is doing that in fact. When you chant and dance, ya? You do? You must be chanting and dancing. This is Mahaprabhu’s program. This was He did. Inauguration of the program five hundred years ago and that program continues to this day. And He said one day, day will come, My name will be chanted.

prithvite ache yatanagaradigrama, sarvatrapracharahaibe moranama

My name will be chanted in every town every village of this planet. What is name of this village? Surathkal. My name would be also chanted in Surathkal. That was prediction, prediction has come true. As He was chanting and dancing in this village. So fifty years ago Srila Prabhupada was only one, chanting on the streets of New York. And then he wouldinvite those, who he met on the streets or in park to come to his satsanga
storefront called ‘Matchless Gift shop’. You heard of that ‘Matchless Gift Shop’? And the whole movement started from that ‘Matchless Gift shop”. You have seen? You could go, see sometimes in future. First time I went to New York was in seventy-eight. And the day after I arrived in New York, I went to see that Matchless Gift and many other places or pastimes when Srila Prabhupada was in New York. The Bowery and many, the China town, Hari Hari. And then some of his followers were becoming serious, serious practitioners. They have started chanting Hare Krishna also.

So one day Srila Prabhupada gathered the more serious of his students together and proposed that we could together do something. He was thinking of the Hare Krishna movement organization or foundation of Hare Krishna. Then he said, you have to follow, chant Hare Krishna and also follow four regulative principles. What are those? And Prabhupada for the first time in formal way says, “These are the four: no more meat eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex, no gambling. Are you ready”? And You are not ready (devotees say Haribol). They were all assembled. Young American boys and girls were ready and Prabhupada initiated them also eventually. With those just handful young American boys and girls, he founded the ‘International Society for Krishna Consciousness’. He just had a storefront. He had just one temple and may be number of followers you could count them on the finger of hand, fingers of two hands.But he named his society International society. It was just a local, not even regional, not
national. But he called ‘International Society for Krishna Consciousness’.

So Hare Krishna movement is celebrating 50 th anniversary of ISKCON this year. ISKCON’s golden jubilee celebration ki jay!! Srila Prabhupada was trying to get some Indian young boys to join him,but they would not joining. Prabhupada was approaching different gentlemen. He would,”how many children you have?” “I have eight sons” those days those common to have. Now it’s we two and ours two, the family planning. So he would say, “Please give me one son”. No one, no one was coming forward. Ya in Jansi, while he was in Jansi, before going to America, he was giving Ads in news-paper,
“Students, youths wanted, youths wanted. I will train them as brahmacaris and then will send them all over to propagate Krishna Consciousness”. No response.One gentleman was travelling in the same train as Prabhupada, in same compartment with his son and this person was saying,” Swamiji Swamiji, please bless my son please bless my son”. Every now and then he was appealing, “Please bless my son please bless my son”. He was not leaving Prabhupada alone. “Please bless my son”. Then Prabhupada said, “Give me your son” (laughs) and after hearing that, person took his son away in another compartment where Swamiji would not never ever find them. He was hiding, oh not such blessing no, no. Hari.

So then after spending many years in the west Prabhupada returned. It should be during, returned to India forty-five years ago, 1971. Around this time, in April, May and he was holding festivals in different parts of India and one such festival was held in Mumbai, Cross Maidan, Church Gate station and that time I remembered I also was a student like you are students now. Studying chemistry and physics in Mumbai and I was fortunate to attend that festival. The advertisement was that the American sadhus are here, European sadhus are in town. We all went to see American sadhus, European sadhus. Ya they were sadhus. I was convinced yes they were sadhus, wasn’t just to catch the attention. They were genuine sadhus and Prabhupada was mahasadhu for, Prabhupada at whose feet all the masters sit. He was their spiritual master. Hari.

Radhanath Maharaja also was another. He was American but he was not Hare Krishna sadhu that time. He was in the audience like I was in the audience. So later on we both ended up also becoming some sort of sadhus. So that was forty-five years ago. So we are happy that you are also becoming sadhus. Sadhu is a big post big padavi. If we could become a sadhus that is perfection of our life. If we could become sadhus. This life is meant to become sadhus. And could be brahmachari sadhu or grihastha sadhu.

grihe thako vane thako sada ‘hari’ boledako
sukhe duhkhe bhulo nako vadanehari-namkoro re

So please keep chanting “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare” and study Bhagvad-gita and become devotees of Krishna and whatever else you may do. Be engineers, be doctors, be this, be that, be javan, be kisan. Whatever, that is secondary the primary is becoming mad-bhakto.

man-mana bhava mad-bhaktomad-yaji mam namaskuru [BG 18.65]

So all those who stay in asram, some continue to stay in brahmachari asram, some also return to their family to their parents is the tradition. They are upkurvana, upkurvana kind of brahmachari. He takes vow, ‘so many years I would be in brahmachari ashram.

Then I will be, take up some job or be grihastha but devotee, grihastha devotee, brahmachari devotee, vanaprastha devotee, sannyasa devotee, sanyasi devotee, a Brahmin devotee, kshatriya devotee, vaisya devotee,sudra devotee. You may be, have different talents, different inclinations.

mam anusmar yuddhya cha [BG 8.7]

Be fighter, administrator, be farmer, could be this, that but all those activities mam anusmar, while remembering me you perform those activities. yogastha kuru karmani, this is, this is Krishna Consciousness. So Hare Krishna Movement is providing thisopportunity for Indian youths to undergo such training, become cultured, develop their personalities, personality development. Men of character, character is lost everything is lost, right? So this is what is lacking. So take advantage because there is no gurukul system these days. ISKCON is doing something.

brahmacari gurukule vasantanto gurorhitam

Some gurukul like experience, not full fledge but something. Some exposure. Ok I am happy here. You are in association, you are in good company of sadhus, of Sadayogi, is always yogi and others and then you also become yogi, sadhu and give association to others. Attract them to Krishna bring them to Krishna that’s the idea, so that we become happy, we become happy that’s all. Everyone wants to be happy but Hare Krishna movement is letting everyone know how to be happy. Wish you happy new year that’s not enough. Wishing is nice, I wish you Happy New Year but we say how to be happy. We say chant Hare Krishna and be happy. Ok.

Hare Krishna!!

Sri Siksastakam Seminar Verse 1

Mayapur [1:28:19]

So, we welcome you to Mayapur dhama. Mayapur dhama ki Jai!

And in Mayapur we get to hear Siksastaka. It was not here in this dhama where Caitanya Mahaprabhu compiled or recited or presented this Siksastaka, it was in Jagannath Puri.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu spent 24 years in Mayapur and then He proceeded to Jagannath Puri. This was the will of Saci Mata, and then He travelled for six years spreading the holy name around and He returns, well He goes and returns, this happens few times. And finally, He comes back to Jagannath Puri resides there for next 18 years total. There He is performing nama sankirtana, relishing, not just asking others -you chant ‘Harer nama eva kevalam’, He doesn’t just give pravachan.

Mahaprabhu is relishing chanting, relishing those rathyatra festivals, there He is Radharani now. There is Her Lord Jagannath in the chariots and there is whole reciprocation going on and more of that Radha Krishna, mood of Radha Krishna Mahaprabhu is relishing in Jagannath Puri. There are external reasons for His appearance, and there are some internal, personal private reasons why Caitanya Mahaprabhu appears.

So, He has taken care of so-called external reasons, and that is:

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

So, He has done that part, that obligation is kind off over, duly completed and now He wants to go to internal, personal, private reason. And that is Radha Rani. Who is this Radha Rani? What does she think? When she is with Me and relishing Krsna prema, what is on Her mind? What does She think? How does She enjoy?

Lord wants to know, in brief, we are trying to summarise. Lord wants to understand Radha Rani, understand the mood of Radha Rani. So that is going very deep, deeper or vast or very high subject matter of the realm. So, while Mahaprabhu is in that kind of mood. So now when He is sitting down with His associates. He selected few, Svarup Damodar and Ramananda Rai all night long.

radha bhava suvalitam

He has Radha’s bhava, He has Radha’s kanti, Radha dyuti- complexion of Radha rani, mood of Radha rani. So, while He is in that mood with His associated, we are just trying to kind of set the scene or trying to explain in what context, like in Bhagvat gita there is setting the scene, in first chapter, setting the scene and then topic of Bhagvat Gita. So here is little setting the scene for Siksastaka. There Krsna is speaking in
Kuruksetra and the first chapter is setting the scene and here that Sri Krsna Chaitanya going to be speaking or reciting these eight verses and
this is setting the scene or platform or forum or the context, this is the mood of Mahaprabhu. We will realise as we understand this scene, the
situation, the context. How special, how extra special are these eight prayers, or eight verses.

ei-mata mahaprabhu vaise nilacale
rajani-divase krsna-virahe vihvale [CC Antya lila 20.3]

Day and night Mahaprabhu feeling intense separation from who? Krsna. In the mood of Radha rani, feeling intense separation

vihvale, svarupa, ramananda, — ei duijana-sane

These are the two persons Svarupa Damodara and Ramananda Raya, Ratri-dine – day and night rasa-g?ta-sloka asvadane-spending all night, no sleep. Sleepless nights, staying awake all night. Can’t sleep, can’t sleep. These moods are keeping Lord awake, He keeps thinking of the
Lord, His moods are sweeter than the sleep,

nana-bhava uthe prabhura harsa, soka, rosa
dainyodvega-arti utkantha, santosa [CC Antya lila 20.5]

And different emotions, sometimes jubilation, sometimes lamentation, rosa, danya-humility, anxiety, grief, eagerness, satisfaction. Lord is going through all these emotions day and night, especially in the night He is overwhelmed.

kona dine kona bhave sloka-pathana
sei sloka asvadite ratri-jagarana

During the day He hears some topics in certain mood and that mood lingers on during the night.

sei sei bhave nija-aloka padiya
slokera artha asvadave dui-bandhu lana [CC Antya lila 20.6]

So He takes these two bandhus, two friends, brothers Ramananda Raya and Svarupa Damodara they are with Him on His right side and left side

and nija-sloka padiya His own slokas, referring to these eight verses, this Siksastaka are His nija slokas,

nija-sloka padiya slokera artha asvadaye

Meaning of this sloks not that He is reciting only the translation and then next verse and then next verse and then next, we sometimes do that way. But He is relishing, He stops in the middle. Sometimes the gramophone goes round and round, in same place not going forward, now they don’t have this.

So Mahaprabhu would get stuck with some word with some meaning some bhava, so asvadan, so point is, that His own verses this Siksastaka. Not that He complied and let the world read this and study this, these are His verses. Like sometimes we use to see Prabhupada reading his own books and he would say, “No, no, I did not write these books.” Prabhupada, this is your Krsna book and you are reading, ‘That’s not my Krsna book” Krsna wrote through him. So he is going back to it and reading again.

So, these eight verses complied by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, not that it is printed and published and let the world read, He would revisit those verses, go back to those verses and relish, asvadan.

slokera artha asvadaye

Along with these bandhus, these two brothers. In other words, these Siksastaka verses were compiled and uttered, recited, relished by Caitanya Mahaprabhu along with Krsna Karnamrita and then Chandi Dasa’s scriptures, and then Mahaprabhu use to relish and Jagannath Vallabha Natak of Ramananda Raya. These are the scriptures Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to relish. So along with these scriptures, His own verses, this Siksastaka is also part of that relishing.

har?e prabhu kahena, — suna svarupa-rama-raya

So sometimes in great jubilation Caitanya Mahaprabhu use to say, “Dear Ramananda,

ramananda raya, nama-sankirtana — kalau parama upaya [CC Antya lila 20.8]

While He was relishing these eight verses of Siksastaka and He used to stop in the middle and show some of His ecstasies. Hey Ramananda Raya, you know? This nama sankirtana, kalau parama upaya”, this is the best solution for all the difficulties, problems updritaha, everyone is greatly troubled in this age of Kali and what is the solution, what is the way out? The only way is nama sankirtana. This is what he is talking,

param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam

So while reciting,

ceto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha–davagni-nirvapanam
shreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanam
anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamritaswadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krishna-sankirtanam

He stops there and says “Hey you know, this is parama upaya,

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam

And then of course right there Krsnadas Kaviraj has put this verse from Bhagvatam and prior to that there is another verse in Bengali,

sankirtana-yajne kalau krsna-aradhanata
sumedha paya krsnera carana, sankirtana-yajne

Those who are intelligent people in this age of Kali, they will perform sankirtana yajna, these are the words of Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu is
speaking in the middle of the night in the mood of Radha Rani, madhurya Bhava to Ramananda Raya and Svarupa Damodara. So He is speaking like this as the sankirtan yajna is the only way to worship Lord and this is the only way kalau krsna-aradhana Krsna could be worshiped, by Krsnas sankirtana

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

This is aradhana, it is worship. The Brahman is worshiping the deities, likewise that murti and the name is not two, its one. Lord is standing in the form of the deity and then Lord is standing before you in the form of Nama Prabhu and you worship Him by chanting His names, this is the way to worship. Somewhere I read today, the statement said that ‘Krsna and His name has no difference, but there is one difference and that is of the two, the Lord is more easily accessible in the form of name and that’s the way to worship Him. paya krsnera carana, that is the way to achieve the lotus feet of the Lord.

nama-sa?kirtana haite sarvanartha-nasa
sarva-subhodaya, Krsna-premera ullasa

Caitanya Mahaprabhu is saying, “Simply by chanting the holy name of Lord Krsna, one can be freed from all undesirable habits. This is the means of awakening all good fortune and initiating the flow of waves of love for Krsna. So Lord said that much, the next thing He says now is, He is uttering now is the first verse of Siksastaka, in that kind of mood He is glorifying the Lords holy name and that’s the way to worship the Lord. He said that or made those remarks and next thing he says,

Ceto darpana marjanam Mahaprabhu is speaking,
ya svayampadmanabhasya mukha-padmad vinihsrita

In Bhagvat Gita those words mukha-padmad, from the lotus mouth of Sri Krsna, those words uttered, patram pu?pam, Lord moved His lips, patram pu?pam, or sarva-dharman parityajya. Lord has a mouth, He speaks and He spoke, mukha-padmad vinihsrita. So likewise these instructions, in the form of Shiksastaka. Lord also gave instructions to Rupa Goswami in Allahabad Prayag, gave instructions to Sanatana Goswami in Varanasi, gave instruction to some other devotees, and they ended up writing different books like Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu and Chaitanya Charitamrita and it has all those instructions included in it but there are still only eight verses which are attributed to the Lord. Lord gets the credit of compiling only eight verses, although other scriptures by the six Goswamis of Vrindavan they are also based on Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s instructions to them. Still these eight verses remain very very special.

So, all that Lord speaks is the only essence, there is no cheap talk, when Lord talks, it is not cheap, it is meaningful, He says the essence of
everything and then He says of all those essential things, essence of the essence are these eight verses of Siksastaka, which Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally relished night after night after night. Not that, I have memorised, I know those verses and we all finish with these eight verses and go to do something else. No, He used to stay in that mood of those verses day and night. These eight verses and others like Gita Govinda, Krsna Karnamrita and other such scriptures reciting and relishing and in that list is this Siksastaka.

So that is the point, so you all know Siksastaka? Learn by heart? I am thinking of making a photo copy and bringing for all of you, I will do that
tomorrow. But those who are able to say with us, Eklavya Prabhu will lead us with these prayers, Siksastaka prayers and sing along. Trying to relish and then we will talk about those verses more.

Mahamatra includes these eight verses also, when you say hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

All the moods are there. All the moods which are there in these eight verse, they are included in the mahamantra. Our acaryas use to go from
one hare to Krsna and then from another hare to Krsna like this they go on and they give meaning The meaning of hare is, “O Hara, from Hara comes hare, our acaryas have given the meaning. First hare has one meaning and the second hare has another meaning and the third one has another and the fourth one has yet another mood. So there are 8 hares, and how many Krsnas? 4 Krsnas and How many Ramas? 4 Ramas. That Rama is also Krsna then Krsna and Rama is Krsna, Krsna 4 times we say and Rama Rama 4 times we say different moods, different feelings, different emotions.

Different acaryas, Bhakti Vinod Thakur and others gave their commentaries on the holy name. The holy name is further revealed, all those meanings and the moods and the emotions of the mahamantra are also coming from the Siksastaka. Siksastaka in the mahamantra so as we say eight verses, in the conclusion, Siksastaka eight verses and mahamantra they come in the same group, they belong to the same family or category, same mood, same feelings, same emotions.

So we will try to write the verses of the day on the board tomorrow, I am going to do that so you can look at the mantra, you could meditate upon
those mantras. And we would be doing some asvadan, relish some words and the meanings of those mantras. So, thinking that I am going to do two mantras a day. As today is the first day and we had to also talk of some introductory statements we had to make and setting the scene and little kirtana and then prasadam late. So, will do first mantra today and then we will do three mantras tomorrow, two mantras the next day and two the last day.

nityam bhagvat sevaya.

So sometime one, sometime two sometime three so in this way we will complete, it is never completed, these things are never completed. I am done with sixteen rounds finished, I am done. No, it is not good to say that it is finished; this is an offence to say it is finished.

We should be feeling sorry, oh I finished, could I chant more? Do I have to really finish? So, I have to stop now? So, I was also saying we will finish eight mantras but they are never finished. These studies of these mantras is a life time study. You will never finish study of these eight verses. Each time you read or revisit or study them, you will derive deeper meaning, yet another flavour. You will go deeper, you will go higher, wider. So, this is non-different from the Lord, Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So, it was difficult for Him to finish.

Lord is Ananta, unending, unlimited so His topic is unlimited, unending.

Some commentaries are available on Siksastakam. Especially Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur, he wrote commentary Sanmodan Bhashyam, he complied. Some 400 years after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s disappearance he wrote a commentary on Siksastaka which is available.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur wrote some purports on theses commentaries, so we will make some references to these works of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur.

I think during the day if you could try to keep these verses on your mind or keep them in your pocket like pocket book, try to recite or memorise
verses in your mind, or try to understand the word’s meaning then it will be easier to follow what we are presenting here.

So this is homework for you. You are students, right? I was thinking this a PhD level. Bhagvad Gita is primary education and the Bhagavatam is
graduation and Caitanya Caritamrita is post-graduation and you know where this Caitanya Caritiamrita is. This Siksastaka is not in Adi lila, not
is Madhya lila, this is in the Antaya Lila and at the very end of the antya lila, this is the chapter. Chapter 20 th of antaya lila. So, if Caitanya
Caritiamrita is a post-graduation course then this is at the end, the essence or the conclusion of it. After Siksastaka, there is nothing. This is
like the last word, that’s the position of Siksastaka and you are here to study, me too, I am also a student, we are all studying Siksastaka.
So, if you think you are students and try to memorise these verses and this is the time, I don’t know if you are going to join us day after day then
4 days, little more introduction, going more deeper into the subject matter of Siksastaka. So Siksastakais giving all the prayers in mind or in
the forefront. You will see that there is a kind of progression going on from one verse there is a link, going higher and deeper, higher moods.
Going from Sugarcane juice to jaggery, then sugar candy, then what do you do more, you put camphor and then sweet rice, like that more condensed. One preparation after another, going from sugarcane juice to sugar candy. So theses verses also get more condensed, going higher. So that verse Ceto darpan marjanam, we will quickly run through, a quick overview of theses eight verses and see what the gist of these eight verses is, what is the teaching or mood and meaning of each of these eight verses quickly.

So first one is basically talking about param vijayate sri-krishna- sankirtanam All glories to what, Sri Krsna Sankirtana, that is the conclusion of the first verse. And then there are seven parts, param vijayate sri-krishna-sankirtanam this is the eighth part of that first verse and there are seven other parts which are only different qualities or different attributes of this sankirtana. So that is the first verse.

Now the second verse says,“Oh Lord, you have invested all your energies into these names Krsna, Govinda but unfortunate as I am, I have no attraction for it”. nanuragahah I have no anuraga, raga means attachment, nanuragahah means, to this holy name I have no attraction. “Oh, how unfortunate I am”. Its fine that holy name is all supreme, all glories, all victory and everything is in there, Haribol! Haribol! But I have
no attraction for this. You made everything so easy, but look at me, I have no attraction to chanting.

In contrast the holy name is glorified like anything and it’s everything, it complete, it’s victorious but look, I am not into this, I have no liking, I have no attraction. But you could develop attraction, that says the next verse, if you are really serious, if you like to develop attraction, what should I do? You do these four things.

trinad api sunicena
taror api sahishnuna
amanina manadena
kirtaniyah sada harihi

Four things mentioned there, being humble, tolerant, respectful and do not expect any respect in return and what would be the result? The person who was saying, “Oh, I have no attraction”, that person will do kirtaniya sada harihi. You could always chant the holy names of the Lord. If these four conditions are fulfilled that is mentioned in verse number three, then result is kirtaniya sada harihi.

Going to the verse number four ‘na dhanam na janam na sundarim’ as one chants the holy name, he becomes free from anarthas, no wealth, no beautiful women, no followers, and like that, then what do you want? Okay so you don’t want bhukti then what about mukti? You don’t want to enjoy, don’t want to gratify body, senses, this world then go for mukti, “No no, mama janmani janmanisvare, I don’t care for mukti, I am ready to take birth again and again and again, give me birth and also give me one more thing my dear Lord, give me your Bhakti. bhaktir ahaituki tvayi.

Unconditionally I want to serve you. That’s the verse four. Now why do you want to serve me? Because I am a servant,

ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram
patitam mam vishame bhavambudhau
kripaya tava pada-pankaja-
sthita-dhuli-sadrisham vichintaya

That’s my position, ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram I am your servant my dear Lord, please pick me up from this ocean, I am getting drowned here, please help, help, help pick me up and fix me as an atom in your feet. You don’t have to make me a garland on your neck or crown on you head or ankle bell around your ankles. No, just make me a particle of dust of your lotus feet. That’s the verse five.

And the sixth verse says, when one chants, his sambandha gets established, we will get to that part, Sambandha-Abhideya-Prayojana, it is explained through these eight verses that ‘Oh! When that time would come?” What kind of time or days you would like to see? Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu says

tava nama-grahane bhavishyati

As I chant your holy name oh my dear Lord nayanam galad-ashru-dharaya When would that happen? Me shedding tears as I say Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, gliding down the cheeks and my voice getting choked up and trembling some of those kinds of symptoms, “Oh! When that day would be mine?” Oh! Lord so that’s the mood of the verse number six. And then there is all bhava and feeing of separation

yugayitam nimeshena
chakshusha pravrishayitam
shunyayitam jagat sarvam
govinda-virahena me

‘Oh! When that one nimesha-one moment without you O Govinda! I feel this whole world zero, shunya,

shunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda-virahena me

Govinda viraha-pangs of separation with one moment to be twelves year or longer. ‘I cannot handle this, Oh! Lord where are you, where are you?’
That was verse seven.

And the eighth one is atmanivedena, the final and unconditional surrender. Oh! But this is up to you, you are free, you do whatever pleases you, ashlishya va. He says you may like to embrace me, give deep embrace to me,

ashlishya va pada-ratam pinashtu mam

Or you may like to crush me under your feet, you may like to use your hands and embrace me, or you may choose to use your feet and kick
me, crush me, you are free, whatever.

adarshanat marma-hatam karotu va

You are giving me distress by not giving your darsana

yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampato

Whatever, this way that way, you are what you are, you are free to do anything everything but one this is mat-prana-nathas tu sa eva naparah for me there is no one else but you as my Lord. You are my prana-natha you are my life and soul and goal of my life, there is no one else. Whatever way you want to treat me or deal with me, you are mine. So, that’s the eighth verse.

So, you could quickly sing how it goes, juice become more condensed and further condensed and then solid and got more relishing and higher so that is the progression that we have to take note of each verse. There is a string going through theses eight different pearls and keeping these
eight pearls together as one nice offering. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, he in the purport to the commentary of Bhaktivinoda Thakur he explains this Sambandha- Abhideya-Prayojana. For Gaudiya vaisnavas, we worship three deities, three phases, three stages.

We worship Radha Madanmohan as Sambandha Vigraha to establish our relationship with the Lord. Sambandha, everything begins with a relationship. If there is no relationship, then there is no going further. When you shake hand, the sambandha is established. Instead of gun in the hand, there is another kind of relationship. You throw the gun and you shake hand that is sambandha. Then further down there is talk, let’s sit down and talk or sit down and take lunch or sit down and sign some kind of treaty or contract. So, first is sambandha-the relationship.

So, in these eight verses, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Maharaja is pointing out that the first five verses are establishing Sambandha,
from ceto-darpana-marjanam to kripaya tava pada-pankaja- sthita-dhuli-sadrisham vichintaya Those five verses are establishing sambandha or relationship with the Lord.

Then he explains, after Sambandha comes Abhideya, getting situated in devotional serve and you worship Radha Govinda in that mood that helps you getting situated or getting settled in certain service. Forming relationship is just not it, there is more to life, what do you after establishing relationship? You serve, so service. So,Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says all these eight verses are Abhideya, first five verses are Sambandha, but all the verses from beginning to end are Abhideya, they are all about service, serving the Lord and then he says after Sambandha, Abhideya comes Prayojna. What is the aim, what is the goal ultimate destination, or purpose. After all what is the purpose and Gaudiya vaisnavas have Radha Gopinath as their deity and there are different acaryas for this Sambandha-Abhideya-Prayojana. So in the Siksastaka last three verses are establishing Prayojana.

nayanam galad-ashru-dharaya
And
nimeshena govinda-virahename
And
ashlishya va pada-ratam pinashtu mam

Those three verses are prayojana. That's the final mood and the consciousness, destination of the Gaudiya vaishnavas. So, that's the talk about how Sambandha-Abhideya-Prayojana is applicable to these eight verses. Then, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura also brings to our notice, he enlightens us how in bhakti there are also three phases: the sadhana bhakti, this is Bhaktirasamrta Sindhu/ Nectar of Devotion topic. There is a saddhana bhakti, there is a bhava bhakti, and there is Prema bhakti. So, the first five verses correspond with saddhana bhakti. The mood of the first five verses of Siksastakais sadhana bhakti, the regulated life of devotional service, following rules and regulations and making progress, adau shraddha.

That's another angle. We'll talk about that in a minute. So, upto the first five verses is sadhana bhakti.

And the verse number 6, he says this is the bhava, bhava begins there; emotions, feelings. Prior to that, making progress, getting rid of
anarthas. Unless anartha we get rid of, there is no bhava, there is no emotions. So, the verse of Siksastaka number 6 says bhava.
 
The seventh verse He says there is still some more bhava and at the same time, some prema comes into the picture, Prema bhakti.

And the verse number 8, there is all Prema, full of Prema.  Take note of that. Five verses are saddhana bhakti. The sixth verse is bhava. Seven is bhava and prema. And 8th one is prema.  Then, Bhaktirasamrta Sindhu talks about, from shraddha to prema, progression:

Adau shraddhha, Sadhu sanga, Bhajan kriya, Anartha nivrtti, Nishtha, Ruci, Asakti, Bhava and Prema

So, these nine stages, phases from shraddha to prema, these are also the eight verses of Siksastaka there's correspondence. Starting with the
beginning verses there is faith and you go forward. Then you are developing sadhu sanga, bhajana kriya, anartha nivrtti.

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam. 

What is happening here? Anartha nivrtti. With that when you are free from anartha nivrtti, anarthas, undesirable things, unwanted things, immediately there is a Nistha; steadiness in Krsna consciousness. So, after na dhanam na janam na sundarim, immediately, a person wants to
be fixed up, please fix me as a dust particle of your lotus feet, that is Nistha.

Then Ruci, Asakti, Bhava, Prema, the verse numbers 6, 7, 8 corresponds with these phases or these stages on that ladder from shraddha to prema. The ruci, asakti, bhava, prema. Ruci, “Oh, when that day would come I will have so much attraction that as I chant the holy name, immediately, 

nayanam galad-ashru-dharaya vadanam gadgada-ruddhaya gira, 

My voice would become choked up.” That kind of ruci, that kind of asakti, also, attachment to Krsna. 

And then bhava. Bhava what? Without Krsna, I cannot even stay for a moment. 

nimesena chakshusha pravrishayitam shunyayitam 

So this kind of bhava. Without Krsna? No, no. And then, 

aslisyava padaratam pinastumam 

You are my Lord under all circumstances. This is prema. So, going from shraddha to prema. Then you go from,

ceto-darpana-marjanam to aslisyava pada pinastumam,

There is a relationship that corresponds. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura is pointing this out. 

Then, as we had proposed to do one verse, today. We will do that now. We did all 8 verses and we could also say oh seminar is over now, see you later, next year, for another seminar. But we were reminding ourselves how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu relished His Siksastaka, going over again and again, going back to it, revisiting and stopping, and relishing before proceeding, and stopping and chewing and digesting and taking another drop, relishing. That part of Him making sure that goes through the system, consciousness permeates, the thoughts. Not that we want to just gather information, gather information wants to see some transformation. Not that we want accumulation of knowledge but assimilation of the knowledge.
 
Like animals, cows and bulls and others, they eat twice, they eat two times. They eat one time but hurriedly then belly is full. But that kind of
stalk of grass or whatever they have eaten, that does not help them, does not give strength. What they need to do is sit down. After their bellies are full, the cows, then Krsna plays His flute and then all the cows come and sit down underneath that tree and what do they do next? They chew the cut. They bring another little stalk from their stomachs back to their mouths, more chewing the cut. When that goes second time in, then, from that comes the strength of the body. 

So, first, as we said this is jnana but we want to make sure we become vijnanis. The practical application and the accumulations become the
assimilations or information and can transforms us. For that we have to go slower and on what we have heard, we'll have to contemplate that.
Bring back to the mind and think of it, and relish it, and understand it, contemplate, ponder over it and make that part of you your property, it is
the reverse. Now, that could never be stolen by anybody. It's your property, your knowledge, your realisations. 

So, in one sense, we have completed our seminar, 8 verses recited, and we ran through the quick meaning of each verse and some more things, but we need to more following the footsteps of Sri Krsna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Of course, we will be never ever be able to do what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did with these verses. But some attempt, some attempt we could make. His own verses He relished. So, we could make attempt to relish those verses.

So, the first verse, He pointed out earlier, the essence of the matter here is, parama vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam. So, the four lines, long lines, long long. Bhagavad Gita has small verses, called Anustupchan, only eight letters.

patram pushpam phalam toyam.

How many? Eight. When you go to the next line, eight. Another line, eight. Like that, some verses have eight letters, some have eleven, some have fourteen, some have many more according to different chhandas, different metres.

Siksastaka has different different chhandas. Some are short ones, some are long ones, some medium sized. This is maha large size, the first verse, long one. So, four long lines, consisting of two, we could say two objectives. Two of the attributes, two of the qualities of this nama sankirtana, Sri Krsna sankirtana. Each line will say two qualities or virtues of the holy name. Two, two, two, and then, one. The last fourth lines has only one more. So, what are those? So, this is what we have to understand.
 
ceto-darpana-marjanam 
bhava-maha davagni nirvapanam 
shreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam 

Three.
Vidya-vadhu-jivanam
Like that. 
anandambudhi-vardhanam
How many? Five.
prati-padam purnamritaswadanam 

Sixth one. And,
sarvatma-snapanam 
Seven. 

So, just giving an idea where to stop. Mmm means one finish, mmm. There is a grammar here, the way it ends that way, and this is all parama vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam is all adjectives or qualities of the sankirtanam.

So what are those seven items? Even I had been, since I joined, we were introduced to these verses but only few years ago, in fact, I realised as I heard Chandra Mauli Maharaja giving seminar on this topic. Oh! There are 1, 2, 3, 4, oh there are seven items here. After 30 years, there are some ideas, these many items are there, and they are all related with parama vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam. 

So, briefly, what are those items? I mean if we all knew Sanskrit and all that, there were no need to talk further. As soon as you said, Ceto-
darpana-marjanam, everything is understood, no more talk. But for us, we need explanation and that is not our language and not just the language, there is more to than just words. These are spiritual words coming from spiritual worlds. And there are so much in there, loaded.

These words are loaded. 

Ceto-darpana-marjanam

As one chants the holy name, parama vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam, what happens? Ceto-darpana-marjanam. Darpana, the mirror of chetah, chetana; means either, mind or you could call heart, you could call consciousness. Cleansing is done as one chants the holy names of the Lord. Of course, as we go through, we will realise what kind of chanting cleanses the consciousness. The offenceless chanting. That is the topic of the next verse, following verses. 

The chanting could do the cleansing and once consciousness is clean, that's a revolution in consciousness and that's it. There is nothing more to be done. All year long, we have one assignment. What is that assignment? Cleansing the consciousness. Keep the consciousness clean. There is nothing more or less to do other than this. When the consciousness is clean, that's it, You did everything that was desired, expected of you, of me. Ceto-darpana-marjanam. That becomes possible by this sri krsna sankirtanam. That's one. And then, bhava maha davagni nirvapanam. 

When consciousness is clean, bhava maha davagni. Bhava, this material existence and this world has been described as Davagni, like a forest on fire. This world is on fire. As soon as we get up, we go to Radha Madhava temple. The first thing, what all the Hare Krsna devotees say, first thing in the morning? What do they say? Samsara davanalalidha loka. This is what we say. Samsara davana, this world is one fire.
 
tava kathamrtam tapta jivanam kavibhir iditam

Tapta, it's on fire, davagni. This world is a fiery, blazing fire, burning.  So, as soon as there is this kathamrita, namamrita, the fire is
extinguished. And that namamrita is given to us by the spiritual master. And that's why we glorify the spiritual master who gives us the holy
name and with the help of the holy name we extinguish that fire of the material existence. The result is davagni nirvapanam, you're finished
with the material world. You're finished with birth, death, old age and disease. You're finished with kaylvayram narakayate, you kick, also, the kaylvarya mukti, the impersonal liberation. Once you have bhakti, once you have this chanting of the holy name, moksha laghu ktrta, the moksha become just laghu, just insignificant. That's part of this bhava maha davagni nirvapanam. That is two.

shreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam.

Shreyah, all good fortune. For all the living entities, this sankirtana movement is a prime benediction for humanity at large. Shreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam, the word meaning, there is a white lotus and from the white lotus comes the rays of benediction moon and they are spreading everywhere, benedicting everywhere. There is also an understanding that in the heart there is that lotus, Lord is also there. As the holy name manifests, reveals unto the chanter in the heart, then, that shreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam. All good fortune for that person as he chants holy name and as holy name reveals unto the chanter and all good fortune.

vidya-vadhu-jivanam.

vidya is knowledge. Vadhu is wife. Jivana is life. This chanting of the holy name or nama sankirtana. Nama is the husband, Pati. And Vadhu, the wife is a bhakti, the process of chanting which is done with a knowledge, vidya, this is the shakti. The Bhakti devi is a person, also. Tulasi Devi, Bhakti Devi, there is a whole bhakti and a there is a Gyan Vairagya these are the two children of Bhakti Devi or Gyan and Vairagya are two children. So, Bhakti Devi is there. That bhakti, as Saraswati's husband is Krsna. The Ganga, Saraswati, Yamuna, their husbands is the Lord. This vidya, the knowledge is some kind of, this is wife. The whole knowledge and the bhakti performed with the knowledge, vidya vadhu jivanama. Her life is the holy name. The Lord in the form of the holy name, He becomes, He gives life to the wife in the form of vidya, the knowledge. So, this is how some explanation has been given of vidya vadhu jivanam.

anandambudhi-vardhanam 

Ambudhi, ocean. Ocean of ananda. And He says vardhanam, ever-expanding. The jiva is very tiny. What is the size, length and breadth of jiva? You take a tip of the hair and then what you do? Hundreds parts. Take one part. Then what do you do? Another hundred parts. Take one part and that's the length and breadth of the jiva. That's your size. That makes you humble, right? We would know our size and we would be, 

trnad api sunichena  taror api sahishnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

And all that would happene. This kind of also, vidya vadhu jivanama, knowledge. So, any point I'm trying to make is for living entity, so tiny, if that small soul is drowned in a drop of ocean, would be like an ocean. Such a tiny soul could get drowned in a drop, yes or no? Yes. The soul
is in the middle of a drop of the ocean, a drop, to go across to see the end of that drop would be a lot longer. Then, this living entity, this nama
sankirtana, parama vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam, this is for He gets the anandambudhi, an ocean of bliss and not just ocean that is static for the
fixed amount of water the Lord has. Hey, you can't go. 

One time, Prabhupada was walking on the beach in Hawai with his disciples and then Prabhupada suddenly stopped and he said, you know this ocean has been ordered. The order for the ocean is this is limit for you, you can't go a step forward. 

maya dhakshay na prak?ti suryate sa characharam

So, that morning Prabhupada had the comment to make as he was walking on the Pacific Ocean and stopped. These ocean has been ordered, it cannot go forward. So, the ocean has a limit. All the big oceans, deep oceans depth is there but still limit is there. But this anandambudhi is not limited, vardhanam, ever-expanding bliss is awaiting the chanter of the holy name. It's an invitation to join the sankirtana movement and this is what is awaiting.

anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamritaswadanam 

As one chants the holy name, prati-padam, at every step krsna consciousness is to be relished, could be relished. It's so relishable at
every step, at every moment. This is future. Once there is a Ceto-darpana-marjanam and all that has happened, vidya vadhu jivanama, then it results in anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamritaswadanam. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is relishing this at every step, prati-padam purnamritaswadanam. There is no dissatisfaction of any kind. There is no anxiety. We have no experience of this in life, this material world but everybody is aspiring for such a phase of life. Why is everyone aspiring for this?  Because such thing exists. Such life exists.

We like life of uninterrupted joy. Why is this desire in each person? Why is everyone desiring like this? Because such thing is possible by this

parama vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam, prati-padam

purnamritaswadanam. So, that is the 6th item and the 7th item is, and we've already touched upon it, 

sarvatma-snapanam 

Sarvatma, all the living entities or each living entity in full way; complete way. Snapanam, would be drowned, getting drowned, getting absorbed
in everything else. The material world would become non-existent, irrelevant, oblivious to the surrounding of material existence. Sarvatma-snapanam. Bathing of the self is sarvatma-snapanam. Bathing of the self, the self-will bathe. So, that's the seventh one. In conclusion, parama vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam. To such sankirtana, let there be vijaya, vijayate, victory. But what kind of victory?

Parama vijayatesri-krsna-sankirtanam. Not ordinary kind of victory.

Supreme victory. Sankirtana movement would become victorious and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is talking like this in His highest ecstatic emotions and feelings in Jagannatha Puri. He's talking to Ramananda Rai and Swarupa Damodara, you know, parama vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam. This holy name be victorious. Victory to the holy name.

How far it would go? Every town, every village. The victory not only in Mayapur. The sankirtana started at Mayapur. This sankirtana started near Yoga Pit, there is a Srivasa angan, started there, behind the doors and closed windows. And with request of Advaita Acharya, Mahaprabhu had to go around, chanting publicly all over Navadvipa. And then, Mahaprabhu was thinking no, no, more people should be benefited. He took sannyasa, He travelled all over India, bharat varsha, spreading the holy name and then His prediction was this chanting is parama vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam. 

Hare krsna Hare krsna krsna krsna Hare Hare 
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare 

If it is only limited to Yogapitha, Shantipur, Mayapur, that is some victory. It goes all over India, that is some victory. But the supreme victory is everywhere, every town, every village. 

nagar adi grama sarvatra pracar hoile mora naam 

So, thats victory. So, parama vijayate, the supreme victory meant His name will reach every town, every village of this world, of this planet. So,
this is what Mahaprabhu is thinking and talking. So, that was not just some gossips were taking place. That was Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri KrsnaChaitanya Mahaprabhu; the sankirtanay kapitaro, the founder of this sankirtana movement. He was sharing these thoughts, confidentially, to His most confidential associates. So, what He whispered, recited, relished with His associates, in his final, final talk.

We could see that Siksastakais here, His rest of the Chaitanya Charitamrta, Siksastakais here. These are the final talks. Siksastakaverses are the final talks, final pastimes. So, the Siksastakais part of that confidential pastimes, confidential guyhyam, parama guyhyam, thoughts of Mahaprabhu which have been made available to use in the form of Chaitanya Caritamrta and in that Chaitanya Caritamrta, this Siksastaka we get to hear in Mayapur as we have come to celebrate 521 st birth anniversary of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, may Mahaprabhu reveal the deeper, inner meanings of His eight verses, Siksastakaunto us as we study these verses day after day for 3 more days.
 
So, thank you very much for joining us today. So, remember the Siksastaka, better learn by heart or words meanings. Tomorrow, some of you could say, today, I've learned this verse, I've only knew one, before. trinad api sunichena, everyone knows, right?  Some temples, they chant that in the morning along with the pranam mantra they chant.

trinad api sunichena taror api sahishnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

Hare krsna Hare krsna krsna krsna Hare Hare 
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare 

Some temple does it. They chant this verse and immediately Hare krsna Hare krsna, devotees begin chanting. So, you could memories, give some time, devote some time to memories all the 8 verses. One, two verses a day and you will have memorised all the 8 verses. So, tomorrow, I think we will have sign boards, verses of day. 

Any questions, so far? 

How is that Rama is also Krsna?

Maharaja: Rama, Rama Like Krsna comes from the root word is krish is one who attracts, all-attractive, one who attracts. ya akarsakti sa krsna.
One who attracts all the living entities, that is Krsna part. So, that is Kr??a part and in Rama, there is a dhatu or root word. The root word is
ram. Ram means to enjoy. From ram comes rama. So, Krsna is. And it says Rama is described in two ways:

ramati ramayati ca iti ramah

Rama is that person, personality who enjoys, the enjoyer. You want to call enjoyer, then, you call Him Rama. You want to call Lord God is great, then, you call Allah. Like that, so, different names of the Lord convey different meanings. So, Rama is the enjoyer, bhokta yama jagyan tapasam. So, that is Rama. So, Lord is the enjoyer, ramati ramayati ca, and He becomes the cause of other's enjoyment also. Not only He enjoys, then He is Rama; but he is also cause of other's enjoyment. He does not enjoy just by Himself. He gets others and He enjoy with them and they also enjoy, and He is enjoying. So, that's Rama. That's Krsna.

So, Hare Rama is Hare Krsna. Because Hare is Radha, so Rama has to be Krsna. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna is like Hare Rama Hare Rama. That is explained if you want to think this Rama is not Krsna but it is Ramachandra, Sita Rama. Prabhupada, also, some people would ask. if they are devotees of Rama, they would ask, hey, we are worshippers of Rama, is this Hare Rama Hare Rama refers to Rama of Ayodhya? Yes, yes. Because Rama and Krsna are non-different. Rama comes from Krsna. In Krsna, Rama is included. But if you want to think that this Hare Rama is your Sri Rama, Ayodhyapati Rama, then this Hare would be, Sita. Hare is a pleasure potency, aladhini shakti of the Lord. So, Krsna’s aladhini shakti is Radharani and Rama's aladhini shakti is Sita, and Narayana's aladhini shakti is Lakshmi, like that. So, if it is Balarama who is almost Krsna, then it is Revati. So, acaryas take Rama as Krsna and the comments are given like that. Krsna, meaning in this mood and this Rama is this mood, next Rama is that mood, Rama Rama is that mood, that emotions, those feelings, these thoughts. Let's stick to Rama is Krsna. 

Another devotee asked about the way of chanting of the maha-mantra, chanting Hare Krsna first and Hare Rama first.

Maharaja: There's a mantra like that in Kali Santarana Upanishad.

Maha-mantra is explained in that order: 

om Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
iti shodashakam namnam kali kalmasa nashanam
nathah parataro payah sarva vedeshu drsyate.

This is Kali-Shantarana Upanishad. So, this mantra is beginning with OM, then you have to be a brahmin, otherwise you cannot chant the mantra. Vedic mantras starting with OM. So, we understand that this mantra was in order to make this mantra for deliverance of all the fallen souls in the age of kali who are shudra-like kalo shudra sambhavah.

Then, this OM has been kind of separated and at some point, I don't remember or know the history that have this reversal that took place.
Specially, Gaudiya Vaishnavas they chant in order, Hare Krsna then Hare Rama. So, in India Gaudiya Vaishnavas too chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna but there are others, they chant this mantra but starting with Hare Rama Hare Rama.

The compiler of Ramayana, Valmiki, he was so sinful, he had difficulty chanting the names of Rama in the right order. He was so sinful; the
name of Rama would not come in the right order. So, he started chanting mara mara mara. Instead of Rama, he started saying

mara mara mara mara maramaramaramarama…

You got that? So, as one chants then it becomes… or once you are with the holy name, there is Lord, and Lord is madhuram, sweet. So, sugar
candy you could eat, sugar candy is sweet, its top, bottom, right side, left side, this side, that side. It's all sweet. So, even if you chant it the other way from the rear end, it is going to be sweet.

Lord Krsna dispels all fear of His devotees

03 05 2016

Bhaktivedanta Manor [53:15]

sa tvam ghorad ugrasenatmajan nas
trahi trastan bhrtya-vitrasa-hasi
rupam cedam paurusam dhyana-dhisnyam
ma pratyaksam mamsa-drsam krsisthah [SB 10.3.28]
Devaki is speaking,

Translation: My Lord because you dispel all the fear of Your devotees, I request You to save us and give us protection from this terrible fear of Kamsa, Your form as Vishnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is appreciated by yogis in meditation. Please, make this form invisible to those who see with material eyes.

So this is the birth of Lord Krishna. What I was meant to talk was the pastimes after He has taken birth and then His, immediately His childhood pastimes, first of all in Gokul and then later on in Vrindavan. So, we will not talk of those pastimes, not that there is no pastime here. Taking birth is a pastime and upon the request of mother, yeah ‘this’ mother, there is no exception, like every other mother thinking of protection of her child. And ‘this’ mother, She thinks even her child could be killed, could be harassed, beaten up, could be wounded. So how many things are possible? She is thinking like this which is like ignorance on her part and she’s put into that kind of transcendental ignorance. We are ignorant, we are really ignorant, pure ignorance, but then devotees like Yashoda, like Nanda Maharaja, like cowherd boys, like other Gopis. Transcendentally Yoga Maya puts them in some kind of ignorance specially not letting them know of the Lord as He is or the transcendental nature of the Lord. One new bhakta could have said, “?Hey!, He is the Lord, and His form is transcendental.”

? nainam chindanti sastrani nainam dahati pavakah [BG 2.23]

The soul cannot be killed, and He is the Supreme soul, what are you talking about Dekavi? He cannot be killed. No weapon could kill, ?

nainam chindanti sastrani nainam dahati pavakah,

Agni, the fire cannot burn. ? na sosayati marutahand no amount of wind or hot air could burn or make it dry like the body dries, or the water cannot make the soul wet. Water would remain water, it cannot even touch the Supreme soul.

So, that is the nature of the Lord, that is the form of the Lord, sac-cid-ananda-vigrahaha. ?But just see what Devaki is talking about and She is afraid, scared and hence all the prayers here, lot of prayers. Of course, Vasudev was the first one to take turn of offering prayers, which is also
unusual?. When your child is born, of course some of you have your children born, did you offer prayer? To the child? No. Maybe prayers to the Lord,
please protect the child, please protect the mother, let the whole thing, the whole affair, the delivery, may it go through smoothly, the less pain. You don’t pray to the child, anyone here? Child, helpless child, and praying to Him? But, here father and mother, Vasudev and Devaki, they both have ?aikshata, ?they have seen the Lord, they are the first ones to see the Lord and there is the whole description on how Lord looked like.

Sukadev Goswami now, for sure, He is also seeing and describing what Vasudev and Devaki saw there in the prison house of Kamsa. Little baby, baby Krishna and that was of course, before appearing as a baby, the Lord had appeared as Vishnu, the four handed form. “Hey!

How could I hide you, with the four arms?

Please disappear, please drop these two additional hands, for sure he’ll then take You seriously. So, My dear Lord, of course He is saying Lord. So there is some understanding He is, He is the Lord. But still, afraid of this ghorad ugrasenatmajan. ?Ugrasena atmaja, the son of Ugrasena and what he could possibly do, ?trahi please protect, please protect! ?So the Lord has responded through this prayer and He has not completely disappeared from the vision altogether. But from four handed form, He has become the two handed child and Lord is going to do a lot of things now to protect Himself, I mean because the parents are really worried about the very existence. Would He survive? Would Kamsa allow the existence of this child? So, they
are really concerned, really worried. So, after the Lord has become ‘Bala Krishna’, He became Bala Krishna, the baby Krishna and He has a whole plan, He has a whole strategy.

How to get out of there before even Kamsa would get to know, the eighth child has taken birth. And the whole strategy is in place. He is not consulting anyone, the father, mother are not competent. They don’t know what could possibly be done or She is just suggesting okay, okay, okay, at least no four hands, go for two hands then let’s see what happens. She thinks with that two hands, no four hands, then probably He could give some excuse, say something to Kamsa and the child could be protected, but that was not going to work out, that wasn’t sufficient, just from four hands to two hands status. So Lord, He is the Lord, even as a baby He is the Lord. He does not become Lord later on, He is already Lord, He is always the Lord and He know exactly what could possibly be done and He has proposed, daddy, my dear father, please get me out of here and Vasudev probably wondering, “what? Don’t You see the shackles, I can’t even move, I am tied down here and You say you get me, I should get You out of here, how is that possible? But, as the child suggested, He has picked up His baby Krishna with the intention, the Lord is saying okay, get me out of here. So, Vasudev is going along. So as soon as He picked up the child, the shackles were shattered into different pieces and Vasudev was free to do anything
and everything, go anywhere, everywhere. As we accept the Lord in the heart.

(Darshan opens – Hari Hari, Radha Gokulnanda ki Jai!)

And Vasudev begins, Vasudev is carrying Vaasudev. I usually say this just to make sure we are understanding the difference of these two names, the way we pronounce. Vasudev is father, Vaasudev is son.

?Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya.

You can’t say ?Om namo bhagawate vasudevaaya. Om namo bhagavate vaasudevaya.

?Bhagavan Vaasudeva and father is Vasudev. So, Vasudev is carrying Vaasudeva and He is now moving, trying to move out and there is a door locked and
giant size. Then, no problem”, because as Vasudev comes, that door is not only closed, but locked, he is just following the order of the child, “Get me out of here!” So okay. So, as soon as he comes and standing before that door with the child, locks are unlocked and drop down, door is opened. Yeah automatic, system automatic, this is not a new thing, it was there. When I first time went to the airport, in 77 and Prabhupada had arranged that trip to go bring His doctor from Allahabad, doctor Ghosh. Anyway, I went to the airport and my bag on the trolley and I was pushing towards the door. The door was all closed and I was, I parked my trolley and was going forward. I thought I should open it before I could enter with my bag and baggage. As I moved forward closer to the door, oh the door opened. And I was, “Hey what happened?

Ghost?”

(laughters). Who opened the door? I was not even aware what is happening. So that was automatic. When you don’t know how that happened, who did it, then we understand, automatic. Actually there is, factually there is nothing like automatic. There is always, there is a cause. And so, here, the cause of all causes, He was getting His doors automatically opened. Door after door after door was being opened of course, all the guards, there was extra security, was in place, those days, Kamsa was more alert. The child is expected any day, could be any day, any moment He could appear. So, he had extra security. But then, what good was all that security? They were all (snoring sound) snoring, sleeping and there was no one to stop. Their guns were on the floor and they were all sleeping. So, Vasudev was with Vaasudeva, out of the prison. And then the first person who greeted Sri Krishna, Bala Krishna, was Balaram. Balaram had come from Gokhul, He had already taken birth and He had come in another form, it is Sankarsana and “Svagatam Krishna” I don’t think He sang the song, but that was the mood and He does, and then sage glorifies the Lord, that even Balaram serves
Sri Krishna.

So Vasudev is carrying, so outside the prison there is also the drizzle, it is the rainy season, month of Shravan. So, immediately, Sankarhan is taking position, walking umbrella, His hoods are serving as an umbrella, just over Vaasudeva, little baby Krishna, He is serving that baby. And because this is night time, yes, night time? What time? 12? Sure some time was spent in praying, both offered prayers and, some more time going
through gate after gate after gate. What time? 1:30? (laughters). Yeah, sometime like around that time. So, it was dark, so the moon is also there. That night, something special also had happened with the moon. It was the night of astami, Krishna astami. So moon is half moon.

astami’s moon is half moon. No moon, full moon, in the middle – half moon, astami. So, the Lord was waiting, when is moon going to rise. ?“Let the moon rise first before I rise, I appear” because He was, Krishna was appearing in the moon dynasty. Chandravansi Krishna, Suryavansi Sri Rama. So, He is letting, wanting the moon to rise, appear first. In fact, it is kind of simultaneous. While the moon was, Chandra was rising at the east, Krishnacandra rose from the womb of Devaki, ocean-like womb of Devaki. So there was some moon shine, but Balarama also was providing some extra light. All His hoods were decorated with jewels and they were providing some glitter, some light for Vasedev to walk through the lanes and by lanes and some hidden paths.

So hidingly He wanted to go through Mathura town, It is said, I heard this that, Radha Govinda Maharaja said this. I don’t know where he found this out from. He said that night was special in another sense. He said that all the dogs were sleeping also. All Mathura dogs were sleeping. The dogs are on, like a night duty. No one employs them, but they are around and barking. So, they were fast asleep because if they were to remain awake,
they would see, “Hey!!” Of course, they would not, they would not know as they are just dogs.

Someone is walking by, they would be barking and that barking could have woken up some, some residents in the area and they would say “Hey! Vasudev, how come, where is He going? And they could give, they are Kamsa’s men, they could communicate with Kamsa and that could be a trouble, Right, you get it, make that connection? This is why even the dogs were fast asleep. In that way, path was clear, and walking and walking, Vasudev comes, carrying Vaasudev, comes on the banks of Yamuna.

Yamuna Maiya ki! Jai!!

Because of rainy season, Yamuna is all flooded. So, He is standing on the bank of Yamuna. “?Oh, how to cross this flood situation, flooded?” ?But then here, Yamuna took note of Her Lord’s presence. “?Oh here is my Lord and He would like to go across. I better do something so that the path is cleared. If not, I could be in trouble”. ?And She remembered, this is the Bhagavatam, everything has origin in Bhagavatam, She remembered when Sri Rama, He wanted to cross Indian ocean and go to Lanka, but there was some delay on the part of Samudra Devata, Ocean God was delaying and then Rama became furious, He took His bow and arrow and oh, the whole ocean was shaken up all the creatures were in troubled. So, if I do not cooperate
with the Lord, I do not rush, do something quick, I could be in a similar situation as Lord was trying to deal with that ocean, disobedient ocean.

So remembering that, Yamuna, and She also thinks of another thing, “Oh, when Lord grows up and it is the time for His marriage and my marriage also, I will be marrying Him, I would be the fourth queen of the eight principle, I will be the fourth one, Kalindi. So, if I don’t behave or assist,
cooperate now, then when the marriage proposal comes, then it would not be considered favorably. So I have to be careful. So thinking thus, Yamuna made the whole path, cleared the water and Vasudev entered and this whole body of water here and in the middle He is walking, carrying. It is also
said that initially water seemed rising a bit because Yamuna was trying to have a little touch of the transcendental form of the Lord. Okay She had it, just a little touch and then she cleared the path and Vasudev now, crossed Yamuna. The destination is Gokul. ?

Krishna jinka nama hain, gokul jinka dhama hain?, Lord is going to make Gokul as His abode, as His residence. So, He is walking. They are some distance away. So, Vasudev is going through different emotions as He is carrying baby Krishna to Gokul. If He was going very slow, He would say ?“Hey!

If I move slow like this, it could take forever to get there and who knows news may reach Kamsa and he would come running, chasing after and then catch up with me. I will run!.”. ?And then He would begin running carrying baby Krishna. But, while running with baby Krishna then He would be thinking “Hey! If I run fast like this I would be in Gokul quickly, very soon, then, I will have to leave this child there and I’ll deprived of His association. I better take a little extra time on the way”. ?Thinking like this He would slow down. But, as He would slow down, He would, “hey but,
this will take too much time. Kamsa may catch up. I better run”. ?And He was running and while running ?“hey, but I would be there, in Gokul, very soon so I better slow down.”

So He was going through these emotions. But then finally, what time he arrived in Gokul? Before Brahma muhurta, before everyone got up. Everyone was still fast asleep and Vasudev entered not only Gokul but entered Nanda bhavan, not only Nanda bhavan, He entered those inner chambers, the quarter where Yashoda had given birth to two children. So, Krishna and Krishnanuja. Bhagavatam says Krishna anuja. Anu means to follow, ja means, like a ja here: atmaja, Ugrasena atmaja. Ugrasena’s atma, ja – gave birth to this Kamsa. From Ugrasena, atmaja, from self, His body, Kamsa is born. Ja means janma (birth). So, Krishna anuja. So, Krishna appears and in Gokul, Yashoda Nandana and baby daughter also has taken birth. So, anyway, these are some confidential matters. Don’t tell anybody (laughters). Gaudiya acaryas have revealed this, these secrets. So Vasudev Krishna or Mathura Krishna
who is Vaasudev, so that Vaasudev becomes part of Vrindavan Krishna, Yashoda Nandana Krishna and two Krishnas become one Krishna, okay? And so they were three now, one coming from Mathura and we have two children in Gokul. So one from Mathura and one Krishna Yashoda gave birth to in Gokul. So, those two Krishnas become one and that third child was the daughter, was His Yoga Maya who was asked by Lord, “You go, gaccha, go to that Braja.” and She was given a whole homework.

Transferring Balarama from Devaki’s womb to Rohini’s womb and so She had done that and now She is also appearing as sister of Krishna, Yashoda’s child and then, so Vasudev takes that baby daughter and back to, back to Mathura and then many more things to follow. But, we could see how the parents were concerned about the protection of the child. So, they have prayed and especially Devaki, trahi – please protect, please save, please save us. Give us protection from this terrible fear of Kamsa. So, first of all, their fear because they are more concerned, more than their own selves, Vasudev and Devaki, their concern is the protection of the child, and Lord, Jai Sri Krishna, Jai Sri Krishna, Haribol.

So Lord, was protected, He got out of there. He was safe there in Gokul. So this is how wonderful Krishna is. There is nothing impossible for Him. Impossible is the word in whose dictionary? Fools. We could still be fools. We have our limitations although that it says in fools’ dictionary, impossible. But, for sure, for the Lord, there is nothing, nothing impossible and He protected Himself and later on He is going to be protecting Vasudev and Devaki and He is going to be and He always protects as Prabhupada is, has quoted in the verse. Arjuna go ahead, Arjuna go ahead, and declare it boldly, na me bhaktah pranasyati, My devotee never perishes. My devotee is always protected, always protected. So, My ‘devotee’ is always protected. But then, we have to be a devotee. Let us see whether we are His devotees. Yeah? I don’t want to be a devotee and still I want to be protected. Then, Maya handles, Lord’s external energy handles us and we go through a lot of harassment, lot of trouble in the form of birth and death, old age and disease and this and that, but those main four things. But, as we become devotees, surrender unto Him, come to Him and then we are in protected zone or we are protected. So, Lord has kindly, even out of His kindness, out of His compassion, we have been chosen and we have been brought to Him. This idea of surrendering unto the Lord and knowing the Lord and serving the Lord and then becoming devotee of the Lord, this begins with,

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

I begins with Krishna again. He makes some of His chosen souls, fortunate and then they are brought to International Society for Krishna Consciousness whose founder acarya is,

Srila Prabhupada ki…Jai!!

guru-krsna-prasade paya

Krishna and the guru, guru and Gauranga, Srila Prabhupada and His army of siksha gurus and diksha gurus, Vartmapradarshak gurus, Caitya guru, He continues to be our guru, caitya guru. So together they, they make us, they have made us fortunate and we have been protected as we have taken shelter of Lord.

Or else, as Vasudev, He was also shackled, bound up, but as He lifted Vaasudev, He was free from all the shackles. Likewise, as we lift, we accept the Lord in our heart, in our lives, immediately, in the, in different forms, including the form of prasadam, in the form of prasadam we accept the Lord, sweet form of the Lord, sweetest form of the Lord, we are free, we are protected when we accept the form of Radha Gokulananda ki!… Jai!! And we serve their Lordships this way and that way man-mana bhava mad-bhakto, mad-yai mam namaskuru.

We are devotees of Radha Gokulananda, mad bhakta – become My devotee, mad yaji – worship Me, offer Me Your obeisance’s and remember Me. If you did this, ?

mam evaisyasi satyam te, pratijane priyo si me,

?I’ll bring you back to Me, ?mam eva esyasi, mam eva, ?where I reside, there You will come, ?mam eva, ?Me only, to Me only You will come. So, this is all lined up by Guru, Gauranga, Krishna , Srila Prabhupada, They have made always beautiful, wonderful arrangements and we are being benefited and this arrangement is, has become 50 years old this year. ISKCON’S Golden Jubilee celebration ki… Jai!!

So we are celebrating 50th anniversary of ISKCON and so many, those who come in contact with ISKCON, be part of ISKCON, served ISKCON, meaning serve Krishna, Guru, Gauranga and the protection, perfection is guaranteed.

Haribol! Gaura
Premanande, Hari Hari bol

Glories of Narottam Das Thakur

 10-10-2017

Vrindavan [40:32]

Narottam Das Thakur Disappearance day

All those great souls already departed. And he was one of the last ones from the batch left behind and then he wrote this song, feeling very intense separation from all those departed souls.

kaha mora swarup rupa kaha sanatan

He is remembering one by one, this one, that one, that one. Of course, he has mentioned just a few, yet all are on his mind.

kaha mora bhatta-juga kaha kaviraj

Where is that Bhatta juga- Gopal Bhatta and Raghunath Bhatta. Yuga means two, Bhatta juga – where are those two Bhattas? Where is Kaviraj Goswami?

eka-kale kotha gela gora nata-raj

– Where has Nataraj, the best of the dancers, Gauranga, gone?
 
pasane kutibo matha anale pashibo

– By not getting their association, feeling intense separation, I will rather smash my head against a rock or enter a fire.
What good is this life without the acaryas, my heros.

gauranga gunera nidhi kotha gele pabo – They were all embodiment of the qualities of Gauranga. Where have they gone?

se-saba sangira sange je koilo bilas
se-sanga na paiya kande narottama das

Narottam Das simply weeps. He is ending the song like that because he was not getting their association. We know that he is not only writing like this. I simply weep, but he was weeping all the time, missing them all the time. Anyways, we read, we sing, nothing much happens to us. Today is the disappearance day of Narottam Das Thakur he left us. We were somewhere at that time but now we know who he was and that he left on this day.
 
It’s a day for lamentation. Disappearance days are lamentation days. Also called shok sabha. The family gathers and that gathering is called shok sabha. Why have we gathered? For lamentation on the departure day, disappearance day. The gathering is called shok sabha.

Krsna comes, Krsna also goes. Prabhupada used to say. We not letting him go. In the month of kartik, forty years ago, we were making a humble appeal to Prabhupada. “Please stay on, please stay on.” Then Prabhupada responded. “Krsna also comes and He also goes.” Of course, we all cried on the day of departure. Some of us were here. Oh, what a day! Yes, so days like this, departure of previous acaryas are occasions for lamentation and it is also an occasion for harsha shok. Two terms are used. There is shok- lamentation and also harsha.

One thing is there, nithya lila pravishta jay om Narottam Das Thakur ki.. Jaya!
On this day in the month of Kartik some five hundred years ago. This is Krsna paksha, the first fortnight and Panchami- the fifth day, he departed. Well, he went straight back to join Gauranga.

Gauranga! … Gauranga!

He went back to Gauranga, what is the cause for lamentation? That is also harsha. Lamentation is also there. We are missing him but he went back to the Lord and he is happy. So, we could also be happy. Also, the cause for our happiness or joy is the whole caritra whole life and teaching of these acaryas, what they have left behind.

We could study their life and study their teachings. Anybody interested in self-realization here? Several are. Oh! Big surprise. Gaur Kishor Das Babaji used to ask, “Are there any person interested in self-realisation?” and as they raised their hands then he used to say: “Do you have five annas?” ‘Anna’ is like thirty paisa. Hundred paisa – one rupee. So, if you have some thirty paisa then you could purchase Narottam Das Thakur’s two poetries. The first one is prarthana and the second is Prem Bhakti Chandrika. You buy these two books with five annas. You read, recite, study and you will realize.

Srila Bhakti Siddanta Sarasvati Thakur also always encouraged his followers to sing and recite the songs of Narottam Das Thakur and Srila Prabhupada ki… Jaya.

Srila Prabhupada gave us in ISKCON, songs mostly of Narottam Das Thakur and Bhakti Vinod Thakur. Most of the songs that we sing globally are songs of,

sri guru charana padma kevala bhakthi sadma

Which song is this? In fact, this is the first song in the Prem Bhakti Chandrika, when you open that book and there are many other songs.

gauranga bolite habe pulaka sarira

These songs of Narottam Das Thakur are compared to the Vedas. It is Vedavani. He sends us Vedas in the form of a song. Then they become a little easier to understand. The Vedas are in Sanskrit and he complied them in Sanskrit or Bengali. Then it becomes accessible and you could sing also. Songs are easier to recite and also especially to remember. It is called Padya. Vedic literature is divided into two parts. One is Gadya, the other is Padya. Its poetry and prose. Most of Vedic literature is in poetry form. In the fifth Canto of Bhagavtam, Sukdev Goswami has some presented some Gadya there. It is even difficult to read the fifth Canto verse. We struggle to read and recite.

So, it’s also a cause for joy that such a personality has left wealth behind. Each acarya has contributed. And Narottam, he was ‘uttam’. He was the best among the Naras. Amongst the humans, he was the best. He was also very beautiful to look at with his arms reaching his knees. Like Sukdev Goswami or Uddhav, there are some devotees. He was a very handsome person. So, he was born in Khechari gram on the banks of Padmavati, I think it is a branch of Ganga. It gets named Padmavati there. A few years ago, I had an opportunity. Has anyone been to Kheturi gram? I have also been there and visited the birthplace.

He was a Prince. Krishnananda Datta was the king. His son was the prince of the country.

Kheturi gram is in Bangladesh. On the one bank is Bangladesh and you could swim across and reach India. Other side, there is no immigration, no passport controls. You could just swim across and enter India there.

So, as Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu was visiting Ramkeli one time, visiting Rupa, and Sanatana. Caitanya Mahaprabhu had gone to the Padmavati river and He was looking into the crystal clear water and then He just started shouting. Narottam, Narottam, Narottam. All those that were around him were surprised and were wondering what’s going on and why is he saying Narottam.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu saw in advance that Narottam would be appearing there in Kheturi gram. Caitanya Mahaprabhu kind of predicted the appearance of Narottam. The year Caitanya Mahaprabhu departed 1534 in the same year maybe within one year of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s departure to His own abode, Narottam appeared.

That time he started addressing the river Padmavati. He said: “I am going to make some deposits of Krsna Prem. I will leave this treasure with you. You hand it to a great personality, a special personality.” Padmavati: “Okay, how will I recognize the great personality that you are talking about?” Mahaprabhu: “As soon as he enters your water, you will get flooded. Water will overflow. There will be no rain or anything of that sort. As soon as this person enters, your water will begin flooding and overflowing, then you will know, this is the person.”

So Narottam was growing and growing. Many things were happening. Then when he was a teenager, Nityananda Prabhu appeared in the dream instructing Narottam Das Thakur to go and take a bath in the waters of river Padmavati and as Narottam did that and her water started flooding and Padmavati immediately realized that this is the person. Then she departed all the wealth, Krsna Prema that was left with her. As Narottam Das Thakur emerged from the celestial waters of Padmavati, he was transformed. From that time, he looked even more effulgent and beautiful, and his consciousness was fully aroused. He had practically become a madman. He started crying, feeling separation from the divine couple, Radha and Krsna. He was gone pagal, your son has become a madman.

He has no attraction for wealth or anything material. The parents were worried that he may just take off. So, he was kind of locked up, with guards around. He was under house arrest. His popularity was spreading all around. Even the governor of that state had heard the glories of Narottam. He was just a young man, teenager, yet glorious. He wanted to see, have an audience with the Governor. So, a meeting was set and Narottam took advantage of this and he left home. He went straight to Vrindavan dhama.

Vrindavan dhama ki.. jaya!

He wanted to meet Rupa and Sanatana. When he was reaching Mathura then he came to know that Rupa was no more and Sanatana was no more. Right there he was thinking of giving up his body. And then he wrote this song. What good is my life? He was thinking of committing suicide. Such is the affection of Narottam Das Thakur for all the acaryas, associated with Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and of course they also had so much affection for him. If we could take note of those loving dealings.

In Vrindavan or wherever or Mayapur or Jagannath Puri. Their dealings were priti lakshanam. A lot of priti was being expressed in their dealings, very friendly.

dadati pratigrhnati
guhyam akhyati prcchati
bhunkte bhojayate caiva
sad-vidham priti-laksanam [NOI verse 4]

They would do this all the time. Confidentially and sharing their thought and minds. As he was thinking of committing suicide then Rupa Goswami appeared in the dream and pacified him. Rupa Goswami was no more in Vrndavana, so he appeared in the dream.

So, Narottam Das Thakur enters Vrindavan and Srinivas Acarya somehow he was feeling very happy, and was wondering: “What is the cause of my happiness? What is making me so happy today.” But in the middle of the night. I think again Rupa Goswami appeared in the dream and said. The cause of your happiness is that Narottam Das Thakur has arrived in Vrindavan, tomorrow you will have the good fortune to meet this soul.Immediately he got up and ram towards Jiva Goswami to share his dream. Jiva Goswami was delighted to know that Narottam Das Thakur is about to arrive.

And finally, Jiva Goswami met Narottam Das Thakur in Vrindavan. Oh! What a glorious day. Jiva Goswami brought Narottam Das Thakur to the Radha Raman temple and introduced Narottam to Gopal Bhatt Goswami. And then he brought him to Madan Mohan temple. He took him to the Samadhi of Sanatana Goswami and then Narottam couldn’t stand it. He was dreaming to meet Sanatana, but he is no more. Then he was brought to Lokanath Goswami and introduced to Lokanath Gosswami. And it was a wish of Narottam Das Thakur to take initiation from him.

lokanath lokera jivan

So that song sri guru caran, so his Guru Maharaja-lokanath lokera jivan. My Lokanath Goswami is life and soul of people. That’s how he was glorifying his spiritual master. He had not yet become his spiritual master. We know how Narottam was serving. How he was hiding and serving. When Lokanath would perform his morning duties and then Narottam would arrive and would cleaned the place, then Lokanath would wonder what’s happening.

He was very menial servant. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu had to instruct Lokanath in a dream because he didn’t want many disciples, well he didn’t want any. He was reluctant to accept anyone. Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructed: “You initiate Narottam!” Finally, initiation took place and of course Jiva Goswami was the instructing spiritual master. He was the teacher of Narottam, Shyamananda Pandit and Srinivas Acarya. Jiva Goswami was the teacher/ Siksha Guru and after Rupa and Sanatana had left, he was care taker or protector of our Gaudiya Vaishnavism. He was a big scholar, author, and teacher.

One day the class was going on and it was the wish of Jiva Goswami that his students would go on a tour in Vrindavan and right in the middle of their lesson, Raghava Goswami was passing by. He is another great personality. He had a cave in Govardhan. He was saying: “I am going to Vraj mandal.

Vraj mandal parikrama ki… Jaya!”

Then Jiva Goswami said to his student: “Please go.” Or maybe he requested to Raghava Goswami: “Please bring my students along with you.”

Then as Raghava Goswami gave a tour of Vraja Mandal to Narottam Das Thakur, which is described in a whole scripture which we use as guide book in Vraj Mandal parikrama.

And then three of them were dispatched for Bengal. Narottam, Shyamananda and Srinivas in a bullock cart loaded with the scriptures. Jiva Goswami had asked them to go. Srila Prabhupada also asked us to go from Mayapur to Bengal. So, I thought this was very similar in the parampara.

Then those books were stolen on the way and Srivas acarya stayed behind to look for the books and he sent Shyamanand to Orrisa and Narottam back to his hometown and he was preaching all over, making disciples. Even big Kings were becoming his followers.

The first Gaur Purnima festival was organized by Narottam Das Thakur in his hometown Kheturi. That was a grand festival and all the Gaudiya Vaishnavs were invited. Janava was leading the show those days she was personally there. Six sets of deities were installed during that Gaur Purnima festival. Narottam Das Thakur was the sponsor, organizer and caretaker and fundraiser and what not. So many elaborate arrangements were made.

Then on Gaur Purnima day something happened. Narottam Das Thakur took the microphone, and as he started singing. You could very easily say amongst other songs he was singing,

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

I was going to say, he sang like this. No, no. He certainly did not sing like this. Where the glories of the Lord are chanted, the Lord appears there and that’s precisely what happened that day.

All the members of Pancha tattva made their appearance. They had already disappeared, returned to their eternal abode. Yet when Narottam sang on that day, by hearing the calling for the Lord. The Lord could not resist the temptation.

And there was Nityananda and Srivas Acarya and Gadadhar Pandit.”. Haribol! He sang like that and attracted the members of the Pancha Tattva.

And then finally. When he wanted to leave this planet. He asked his associates to accompany him to the river Padmavati. So, he said. “Would you please pour water on me? Bath me with the water from the Padmavati river.” As they poured the water on him, his body started melting and was transforming in milk, and as they kept pouring more and more water, gradually different parts of his body/ personality was melting and turning into milk. Then finally, there was no more form of Narottam. He had disappeared. Then his followers had collected some of that milk and made a Samadhi. That samadhi became Dugda Samadhi.

Which means milk. There was no body to put into Samadi. So that happened on this day.

Thirobhava titi ki… Jaya

Performance of Austerities would result in purification

14-06-2018

New Vraj Dhama Hungary [1:17:09]

We'll read the, there are several verses. There are five verses and we'll just read one that is on the board and I think that is the relevant verse because we are talking today of tapah, which is part of this verse, mentioned in this verse. Tapah, is that the topic today. Thought for today. So, today is the austerity day.

So, please repeat. This is canto 7, chapter 11, text number 8th.

satyam daya tapah saucam
titikseksa samo damah
ahimsa brahmacaryam ca
tyagah svadhyaya arjavam

So, I don't know but maybe I've read this purport before. Yes? Ok. Today, we'll not read the purport. We'll just turn to our theme or topic for the day which is tapah, mentioned here.
 
satyam daya tapah saucam 

That is a kind of one set of the qualities. One set or one group qualities of which tapah, austerities, is one for us to focus upon. The chapter is
entitled to "Perfect Society for Social Classes" and that is one of the missions of New Vraja Dhama; to practice and establish social orders or varnasram dharma.

So the discussion here is very much relevant to our community, here, in New Vraja Dham. The qualities, qualifications, characteristics,
mentioned here, you could call them as jnana, then we become knowledgeable and in the beginning we need jnana-knowledge. 

jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam [BG 18.42]

After jnana comes the vijnana or practical applications of knowledge. May be, in classroom we acquire jnana, knowledge then we go out there and pratice what we had preached or what we have heard, learned. 

Dharma mulam

Speaker of these qualities is Narada Muni Himself and we say Narada Muni Himself. That means he is somebody, he must be important. Himself is talking. Narada Muni is talking, you shut up now, you don't talk, let Narada Muni speak. He is very honest. So, he is letting us know that the qualities which he is going to talk about, he had heard about these qualities from, 

narayana-mukhac chrutam [SB 7.11.5]

This is verse number five. So, three verses earlier, Narada Muni said narayana-mukhac chrutam. From mouth, mukham, of Narayana. I've
heard these qualities from Narayana Himself. So what Narada Muni had heard from Narayana he is taking or sharing with Yudhisthira Maharaja.
So, this way, the authority is established. These qualities, characteristics, principles, are all spoken by Lord Himself. Narada Muni
just heard from Narayana and then he repeats or shares his realizations of qualities which he had heard. 

dharmam tu saksad bhagavat pranitam

The principles of dharma, they come from Lord bhagavat pranitam. 

vaksye sanatanam dharmam
narayana-mukhac chrutam

Narada Muni is calling this as santana dharmam. aham vaksye now I going to speak which I heard from Narayana, I'm going to speak that and that speech is sanatana dharma. It's coming from the Lord. What is dharma? Srila Prabhupada defines that as “The laws of the Lord.” Laws of the Lord is dharma- Bhagavat pranitam, laws given by the Lord. So, some set of laws, qualifications are explained here and this constitutes dharma. Narada Muni said sanatana dharma but we could also called varnasram dharma because it's talking about four social classes. Or, we could also call this as bhagavat dharma.

Radha Shyamsundar ki………..jai

 Dharma, based on the principles of Srimad Bhagavatam, that is bhagavat dharma. So, there are different names: Bhagavat dharma, Sanatana Dhama, Varnarsram dharma but not Hindu dharma. That is something else. 

lokanam dharma setave

And I'm going to speak these qualities which I have heard from the Lord. Lord is described here as dharma setave, the protector of dharma.
 
natva bhagavate ajaya, 

So many ways Narada Muni, just few words, he is glorifying that Lord also. natva, I'm going to offer my obeisance, first of all, unto that Lord.
I'm grateful to the Lord.

aise sri bhagavan ko mere baram bara pranam hein

To such Lord, I offer my obeisances, again and again. natva, after offering obeisance’s unto bhagavate, unto Bhagavan, Supreme Personality of Godhead. Ajaya, one who never really takes birth, He is unborn. So, this is some background or setting the scene before the principles have been stated. And he also says,

lokanam svastaye adhyaste
tapo badarikasrame [SB 7.11.6]

And I heard this from Lord Narayana in Bhadrikasram and I heard about all these qualities and qualifications from the Lord while Lord Himself
was engaged in tapasya. And today's theme is tapah, tapasya, austerities. Lord was practicing all that qualities also. Especially, while
Lord was focusing on these qualities of tapah, He spoke to me. I heard these preaching from Narayana while He was practicing these preaching. We say, walk the talk. While Lord was walking the talk. So, as He was practicing austerities, then Lord spoke about austerities, preached about austerities. 

So, there is another incident. That is not mentioned here. One time, while Narada Muni was visiting Vaikuntha, visiting Laxmi Narayana, "Narayana, Narayana, Narayana!" You know, Narada Muni is a devotee of Narayana, also. He is a giver of Narayana. Hence, he is called Na-ra-da. Da means one who gives. The giver is called da, data. What does he gives? He gives Narayana. Hence, his name is Narada. So, what he had heard from Narayana, His principles or how is he giving Narayana to others, he shares the talk and thoughts of Narayana with the world.

As Narada Muni is speaking here, in this part of Bhagavatam right here, he is giving Narayana to us, to the whole world. 

So, one time, Narada Muni was visiting Vaikuntha. Narada Muni has a very special appeal to the Lord. My dear Lord, I visit you and I go all over giving you to others, sharing you and your pastimes and this, that to others but you know, whenever I visit you, I just see you relaxed and enjoying. You are lying down on a couch of Anantasesa, that is a nice soft bed and Laxmi is massaging your feet and someone is fanning and
someone is offering Narayana have this patram pushpam phalam toyam. So, you are just having a good time. This is life of enjoyment, you are just enjoying. Now, what could the grihasta around the world learn from your example? They would also like following your footsteps and have a good time. It may be good for you but it's not good for them.

yad yad acarati sresthas [BG 3.21]

Whatever great men do common men follow in their footsteps. So, could you do something by following that, people all around the world could be
benefited by that example. Then, Narayana took that appeal very seriously. Narayana had istagosthi with His good wife and proposed to her that I'm going and the Lord went. He went to Bhadrikasram on the top of the Himalayan mountains. He was also accompanied by Nara and Narayana.

Lord expanded Himself as His part and that was a Nara. So, Nara and Narayana, They performed austerities in Bhadrik ashram which is in Himalayas kind of austerities Lord performed, Nara Narayana performed. Lord became tapasvee. Tapa, tapasya. Tapa, tapasya, same thing. And one who observes, practices tapa or tapasya is called tapasvee. So, Lord Himself became tapasvee, practitioner of tapasya.

And the kind of tapasya that Lord performed,

na bhuto na bhavishyati 

No one had performed this kind of tapasya, very austere life. No one had practice it before and no one could ever practice like that in future,
best. So, Narad Muni said that from such Narayana, tapasvi Narayana, while He was performing tapasya, He spoke to me about tapasya and qualities also. 

So, it's a big topic. Tapasya is a foundational principle, kind of stands out of the thirty characteristics or qualities mentioned. The first four, as they are listed, they are the major principle qualities. 

You know, we all follow regulative principles, right? We do. So, satyam, we practice this principle, no gambling or no mental speculation. By
practicing this principle, no gambling principle, the satya or the truthfulness is established.

dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

I appear. Why do I appear? One of the purpose Lord states is, I appear to reestablish the principle of religion. Here you go as the principle
called satya, the truthfulness is a principle of dharma. So, by practicing truthfulness, we are establishing dharma. Next, daya. What is daya? Being very kind. 

daya dharma kamula hai

Daya is one of the foundational principle of dharma -no killing. By practicing this principle, we are practicing the positive aspect of it.  And
when we practice one of those four regulative principle called no intoxication, we are establishing this principle of austerity or dharmik
principle or principle of dharma called austerity.  And fourth one listed here is means purity, pure. And by practicing the fourth principle,
remaining one, no illicit sex or sex outside marriage, we are establishing the fourth principle, positive principle of religion and that is pavitrata or saucam. 

So, just a quick connection with the four regulative principle which we follow. When we follow those four regulative principles, regulative or
prohibitive, don't do this, don’t do this. If you do not do this then this will happen. If you do not eat meat, fish, eggs, you will establish this mercy principle, kindness principle. If you do not take intoxicants, then, you are establishing this tapah principle. And when you do not indulge in illicit sex, then you are practicing this saucam principle. And when you don't indulge in gambling, then the truthfulness is established. So, the no intoxication and tapasya there is some connection which we've just talked about. But tapasya is quite a broad principle, quite pervading, all pervading, being austere. 

nayam deho deha bhajam nr-loke 
kastan kaman arhate vid bhujam ye 
tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam 
suddhyed yasmad brahma – saukyam tv anantam  [SB 5.5.1]

So, here, we are hearing from Narada Muni who had heard from Narayana about these different qualities while Rishabha Dev, who is an another Lord, was addressing, talking to his sons, hundred sons, headed by Bharat Maharaja, King Bharat. He is giving advice to his sons. Putraka, my dear sons, 

nayam deho deha bhajam nr-loke 

In this human form of life, one should not work very hard, etc, to acquire some calm, some gratification.

vid bhujam ye 

Even the pigs, vid bhujam, the stool eaters, they are also may be working very hard to finally find stool and they enjoy their stool. So, when pig are enjoying stool, whatever experience he's now having now, gobbling up that stool, hot stool, fresh stool, it is same as human beings eating this or that, gobbling up hot dogs. You have hot dogs here? In America, they have hotdogs or burgers.  Experience is similar. Calm, enjoyment, pleasure quality is the same. So, don't work hard to accumulate, to exploit or to enjoy the objects of senses. That activity is no better than activity of a hog or a dog or camel or asses. Human form of life is not meant for this kind of business or activity. 

Hence is the advice of Rishabha Dev, who is the Lord, to his hundred sons. But you know, in that lila he has only hundred sons. Whose sons are we? We are also Rishabh Dev's sons, He is the Lord. So, His advice is not limited to His hundred sons who were assembled there but this advice is to every human being. His advice is practice tapasya. 

tapo divyam putraka ena satvam

Practice austerities, children, son and daughters, practice austerities. If you practice austerities, what will that do to you? Yashma suddhyed.
You will be purified. Performance of austerity will result in purification, self purification, mind purification, thought purification, consciousness purification. And then,

brahma saukyam twam anantam

Then real enjoyment, real happiness you will have then. How much? Anantam, unlimited happiness is awaiting you. So, tapasya is the changes around, changes completely. Then, after performance of austerities purity is attained. And that brahma saukyam, you will attain bramha sukha or param bramha sukha, happiness. So, that sukha, or that happiness is now at the level of the soul. Other or uglier happiness of life of no control, uncontrolled life, no mind control, no sense controlled. One is enjoying, he is enjoying his senses, his mind, his body. So, at one level this happens, his  body is enjoying which again will end up in suffering. This is an another angle to consider. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In the beginning comes enjoyment followed by suffering. We are trying to unite or go for sense and sense object.

ehi samsparsha ja bhoga 
dukha yo na ya evate

Krsna said. ehi samsparsha ja bhoga, when senses come in contact with sense objects, there is some enjoyment. But the very exact sense enjoyment then would become cause of your suffering.  dukha yona ya evate, yoni means source. Something that gives you mundane materialistic sense gratificatory happiness. This is, now, Krsna speaking. It was Narayana speaking, Rishabha Dev speaking, Krsna speaking. The same principle of self regulative. So, what gives you happiness for sense gratification, that will become the source or cause of your suffering. What we say or Krsna also says, from bhoga comes roga. You know bhoga? Did you make the offering or bhoga? Krsna is a bhogi, original bhogi.

bhoktarama yagya tapasa

I'm the enjoyer, Krsna says. Instead of offering to Him we try to offer it to ourself and we end up becoming bhogis, taking the place of the Lord, leaving him aside; I'm going to enjoy. From this bhoga comes the roga. Roga means disease. Bhoga, roga, there us a connection. From roga
comes suffering and rogas are the physical sickness and mental sickness also, mental illness. Roga also means vyadhi, disease.
 
The Vedic literatures is also mentioned of adhi. Adhi and vyadhi, these both are mind of sicknesses. Vyadhi, sickness of the body, the gross body. But when mind gets sick, depressed and what not happens to the mind. This also known as a sick mind. Body is sick, mind is sick. So, for this worldly bhogas, life of no austerities one is attacked by these vyadhis and adhis, physical sickness and mental sickness or illness. In the most sick nation in the world there was survey around the world to check the health status which country fits where, ranking. The result of this survey was or they declared America number one sick nation in the world, sick people. Physically and mentally they are fit for mental hospital. So, when I heard this, the survey report, result, that did not surprise me. Atleast, did not surprise me because I made this connection, from bhoga comes roga. From enjoyment comes suffering and the most enjoying or trying to enjoy the land of opportunity, America. 

So, more bhoga, more roga. Be prepared. So, if you do not want to suffer, do not enjoy. If you want to enjoy, be prepared to suffer. You have no choice. You want to enjoy, you must suffer. So, here is a program or principle of austerity meant to help us to transcend this worldly happiness and suffering, both. Going beyond wordly happiness and suffering. We interviewed someone on padayatra in India. It was not our ISKCON padayatra. They were going on a pilgrimage to Pandharpur. So, a devotee was interviewing him, one gentleman.

How are the facilities during this pilgrimage or padayatra to the holy place? They were going to a holy place. He said hardly, barely any facility here. But I'm happy, I'm enjoying. He said, back there in Puna, his home town, lots of facilities there. I was in comfort zone there but I was suffering there. A lot's of facilities but I was not happy there. Here, I'm on my way to a holy place on pilgrimage in association if holy men and there are hardly any facility but I'm the happiest person. So, the way to be really happy, the key factor is austerity factor. Keep it simple.

Again, I was in America some time ago, and some people are coming to senses and there is a group, their trend of practice is simple living and
they said to me, I had some encounter with them, they said, "Swami ji, Swami ji, we follow a program or a principle called KISS". Another kiss. I said, "No, no. I'm sannyasi, I do not know kiss. Don't tell me about a kiss!" K I S S is a kiss. But then they said, "no, no, not that kiss." I said, "what is it, then?" Then he said, "Keep It Simple, Stupid," you stupid. That is K I S S." That last S is stupid. So, this is a wise thing to do. Wise men have come to this conclusion. Do not complicate your life. Do not work hard, trying to accumulate more wealth and more facility, more this more that. Keep it simple. Be happy with the basic necessities.  When Krsna has spoken in Bhagavad-Gita about this topic, tapah. Tapasya is at three different levels. The Division of Faith, chapter seventeenth, is body, mind, speech. Krsna has specified that the austerities at the level of the body.

Tapasya at the level of the body. Some of the qualities that Narada Muni is going to be talking about, the thirty qualities, some of them are
to be practiced  at the the physical level. Even saucam, keeping body clean and all that, this is tapasya.  Make sure you are just speaking the
truth, not just atyahar, prajalpa. Prajalpa means most people talk talk talk talk. First they talk and then think. Did i say the right thing? Or they may never think that’s why the popular statement is just to wait. If you feel good just do it. Do not even think. So, person who are austere are encouraged to think or refined his thoughts, undergoing samskaras.

janmana jayate sudrah sa?skarad bhaved dvija?

By birth you are a sudra, or by birth you are just animal. Then, samskara bhaved dvijah. By undergoing samskaras, there are sixteen of them, right? Which is in varnasram system, society and family, grihastha and others also, they follow this. Garbhadhan samskaras, namakarana samskara, chuda the hair cutting ceremony samskaras, vidya arambha, beginning the studies, sashtra samskaras, vivah samskara, undergoing marriages. Entering grihastha asram, that is a samskara. And like that, until the antim samskaras. Antya means last ritual or rites, funeral ceremony. Ceremony, a samskara.
 
samskara bhaved dvijah 

One becomes second born, or he takes real birth. So, there are samskaras or tapah, austerities at the level of body, level of speech and level of mind. 

tapah manasam ucyate

Manasa means mind. Making mind austere mind. And what is the function of mind? Thinking, feeling, willing. So, while undergoing austerities of mind, one refines, controls and purifies his thoughts. When one thinks then feelings come. I feel. I hear, then I think and then there is a corresponding feeling and feeling, then, transforms in will. And when there is a will, there is a way. You will find the way and you are ready for action. So, in this mind, this thinking, let me think, let me think. Can you do this? Let me think. So as one thinks, feeling for or against it under the will, maybe for or against to do this, not to do this or strong will or some kind of will and action.

So, before action, the mind performs tapasya, austere mind, austerities of mind. 

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare  Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare 

We are working on the mind and mantra means the group of words, names. When they are repeated and are contemplated upon then that does one thro. Thro means liberation or freedom. Mind is made pure and free from conditioning and impurities. So that's austerity for the mind. Chanting of the holy name. We are saying and we are hearing, and very much thinking, feeling, willing is all by this maha mantra. So, this is austerity, austerity of the mind. 

Bharat varsha is Bharat Maharaja. Rishabha Dev spoke to his sons, headed by Bharat Maharaja. One time, this whole planet was known as Bharat varsha. What is Bharat varsha known for? There's one term that they used to describe Bharat varsha, as tapo bhumi. Tapah bhumi. Bhumi or a place, a land or a valley where tapasya is performed. All residents of that land are tapasvi, austere. Austere citizens. Bharat was and is still known as tapo bhumi. The western world, the modern world is known as bhoga bhumi where they do not go for tyaga. The western world or modern world they are not ready for tusga or renouncing or renunciation which is related to the austerity principle. 

Okay, there was an another survey and they concluded, again, the amount of gratification that goes on world wide, and for gratification sense gratification,  mind gratification, mind entertainment and this and that you need objects or material opulence to exploit the world or material nature. So, the result of that survey was that of what world than the western world is aspiring for the amount they want to grab and possess and exploit, the amount of that. Because, you know, humans on this planet are still not satisfied. Their wishes are not fulfilled fully.

They are still wanting more and more, more of this, more of that. So, the survey said, going by the European standards just to meet the demands
of European minds and senses, it would take three earths.