“Results of disrespecting our superiors”
January 16th 1994
New Delhi, India

tasyayam anayasyasit
parebhyo vah parabhavah
praksinebhyah sva-vairibhyah
samrddhanam ca yat surah [SB 6.7.22]

Tranlsation:
Because of your misbehavior toward B?haspati, you have been defeated by the demons. My dear demigods, since the demons were weak, having been defeated by you several times, how else could you, who were so advanced in opulence, be defeated by them?
Purport
The devas are celebrated for fighting with the asuras perpetually. In such fights the asuras were always defeated, but this time the demigods were defeated. Why? The reason, as stated here, was that they had offended their spiritual master. Their impudent disrespect of their spiritual master was the cause of their defeat by the demons. As stated in the sastras, when one disrespects a respectable superior, one loses his longevity and the results of his pious activities, and in this way one is degraded.

So, this is yet another incidence from the history which took place long time in the past have been shared with us by Srila Vyasadeva in the form of Srimad Bhagavatam and this takes place here. We are here and history repeats. Meaning what happened in the past could and does happen all over again. So here, what we are understanding from this part of Bhagavatam is what happens when your superiors are disrespected or misbehave our relationship with our spiritual master and our respectable superiors. The results has been given.

We could say that happened in the past, that has nothing to do with us or with the present time. Can we say that? No. This is the rule. The world is governed by different rules, different sets of rules. Big and small rules. They do not change. So we cannot say that one time this had happened and this was the results of the misbehavior or misconduct in the part of demigods, Indra. They offended their spiritual master, Brihaspati, and he left their company disgusted and unsupported of their behavior. Then he walked away but the result was there was a fight which is a normal again – fight between demons and demigods.

Prabhupada is using the term perpetual. This fight is perpetual. Devas are celebrated for fighting with asuras perpetualy. Now there are only two kinds of people in this world,
Two kinds of persons, devotees and demons, and they always fight for their rivalry, one wants to defeat the other one. And who wins ultimately? Demigods always win. This time, they were defeated.

So, Brahma has personally asked them questions, “How come? In the pasts, you defeated the demons so many times, but this time you are defeated! You have been continually defeated these demons, they had become weaker. The strong demons you have defeated. After so many defeats, the demons have become weaker. Those demons you could not defeat. Strong demons you have defeated, but now weak demons you are not able to defeat. Can you think of some reasons? What do you think what is the difference? That time when you defeated the demons and now the demons have defeated you. What is the difference? Just think for a while. There must be some thing.”

Now the demigods had no answers to the questions. Brahma is going to reveal the facts to them as he is going to make it clear that the reason is that in the past you had several of your superiors including Brihaspati, your spiritual master, but now, this time, you are not favoured by your spiritual master. As a result, you lost all your powers and now you are defeated.

We get powers from whom for our spiritual advancement? If we want to make this advancement, we get powers from Krsna. Krsna’s powers come through the previous acaryas and they come to us through our spiritual master, diksha guru, shiksha guru, caitya guru, vartma-pradar?aka-guru – varieties of gurus. One diksha guru, many shiksha gurus, our family – Prabhupada’s family. There are so many gurus. Some are giving us initiation and so many more giving us instructions, sharing their realizations, giving us guidance, inspire us. They are also gurus and by their mercy we are making some progress. It is not automatic.
According to Cakravati Thakur,

yasya prasadad bhagavat prasado
yasya aprasadan nagati ko to pi

You will not make any progress if there is no prasad or the superiors. We thrive on prasad. If there is no prasad or the supply is cut, we will starve. First of all we have to manage to get some food to eat. But there are other kinds of benediction and mercy that we need which is not some material sustains. There are some mercy in the form of plate of prasad that we eat and some other necessities are coming also: devotees care and maintenance, soaps, toothbrush, toilet kit. These things, are they mercy? Are they prasad? These things are healthy in the service of the Lord. So it’s some kind of mercy.

Yet, there is another kind of prasad that you do not even see. It is so subtle. Because it is so spiritual then mercy flows. Mercy flows from high potential as there is the electricity flows. If we keep ourselves at the higher potential or the higher level than the spiritual masters or others vaisnavas, how will the mercy flow? So we bow down at the feet of vaisnavas, spiritual superiors, spiritual master. Where do we touch our hands and head? We touch by their feet or we touch the feet. We bow down or our head goes down. We try to put ourselves at a very lower level. More lower position we take, what will happen? More flow will there be. Is this easy to understand? Yes.
In case we put ourselves like Indra who thinks he has so much opulence and “that makes me superior to my spiritual master or other superiors,” so, immediately, mercy flow is stop. So, one has to be always watchful and always careful so that this mercy is not cut off. We need mercy all the time. We are at the mercy. Just like mercy case, so that is our case. Without the mercy of Krsna, vaisnavas, spiritual masters, we can not make any progress. We need mercy all the time, not that certain time in our life we would not require or need mercy anymore. There are various examples, because they thought, “we are superior, we do not need the superiors.”

There was a mouse and he was always harassed by a cat. He was wondering, “what should I do?” So the mouse went to a sage, some mystic yogi like sai baba. He said, “There’s a cat who is always harassing me. Do something and make me a cat.” He chanted some mantra and “chu-mantra”. So he became a car. You want to become someone superior to you, by position or body you are. Now he was cat but mouse was not harassing. Who was harassing them now? The dog was harassing, always chasing the cat and again he got into trouble.

He went back again to the same yogi. “My problem is not from the mice but my problem is from the from the dogs. So please make me dog.” Another mantra was chanted and he became a dog. No problem from cat anymore but now problem from lion. So he goes back again, “could you make a lion?” “Yes, yes, why not? You are approaching, begging me for mercy and no other shelter, just me.” The yogi did a mantra again and he was made a lion. Then he started roaring, “I am the king! There is no creature as powerful as I am.” So he wanted to make someone around him his first target and this was the sage in front of him. So he went wandering in the forest to find someone to eat or scare.
So on whom he was going to try his power on? The sage! Roaring him up. And then what happened? Before he could do something to the sage, the sage chant another mantra and that mantra was meant to make the lion back into mouse. He became mouse again by that mantra. He took all his powers that made him into the cat, the dog and the lion and he was mouse again – back into trouble. He could have let the lion by the mercy of this powerful sage, by his mantras, he could have let him alone but the person who gave him all these powers and vision, he was trying to get him. Ungrateful, “namakharam.” “Namak” means salt. You eat somebody’s salt then you owe him something or you have some obligation towards him as you are eating his “namak”, his salt. You do not eat only salt, it is part of the whole meal. It is not just salt that you are eating. He was someone ungrateful so, he lost all his powers.
This could and this does happen. This has happened, also. We have seen many some of our godbrothers and devotees also. Position is no big thing but losing service or not having desire for serving Krsna anymore or the mantra does not come, or if one does not want to chant mantra anymore, would there be any worse defeat than that? One may think, “oh, demigods had to fight. They were ksatriya and they had to fight, physically, with the demons. We are just simple people. We are not emperors or kings, we do not have army and there is no fight and battle and no victory and defeat. So why should we learn anything from this example? What kind of defeat is no defeat?” But we have enemies.

These demons represent, they are personification of, bad qualities. Demons represent what? “Anarthas.” Which also, broadly speaking, big, big anarthas. Big enemies are in how many numbers? Six enemies are there – kama, krodha, mada, moha, lobha, matsarya. So, who would defeat us? If we do not have the mercy of the superiors, mercy of the spiritual master, who will save us? When the kama is powerful, the lust is trying to devour you, who will save us? When krodha, so much energy. When a person becomes angry, he is losing so much of his power. When you go through this anger thing you become physically weak, you begin trembling, you can not think and lot of energy is drained by this kama. Kama is powerful, it defeats us. Krodha is powerful.

Lobha is powerful. Greed keeps us busy. There are two things. One thing a need yet other thing is a greed. Need is okay. You need somethings, few things. As soon as those things are provided which you need, you should be happy. But if your enemy called greed is very, very strong then there is no end this greed will make you work and work as you will never be satisfied with few necessities of your life. If there is greed then you will have no time for Krsna and you will not chant Hare Krsna. Like that, it is to explain that how kama, krodha, lobha, mada, moha, matsarya defeat us when we have no mercy of the respectable spiritual superiors. So, we have to be very, very careful.

We were talking to one devotee in Melbourne, last week. He was saying, “I rather be careful as I turned up my eyes and I see some senior devotees, some leaders having difficulties and they had to leave and they are no more serving. Am I the next?! That makes me fearful which makes me more careful. Or am I an exception?”
So we have enemies and in order to become victorious, we are in need of mercy. We are a mercy case. But when the superiors become merciless, no more mercy – can you think of that state of existence that you do not get, anymore, mercy? If you are told, now, no more mercy. If you are beginning trembling and will you know what to do and how you would survive? What will happen to you? Because we are not here with our own strength, we are not lively because of our own powers or strength, adjustment or physical strength or material opulence, no. None of these things are called of our present spiritual status. Whatever all we have attained is all simply mercy. What kind of mercy? Causeless mercy.

We do not even deserve it. We do not even talk of our past. Not even take a look to go with the history case. Our own history is so bad and still we are here and around Krsna and devotees. It is amazing. We are amazed that we are here. What is the cause of us being here? It is the causeless mercy. Those who are giving us mercy, even Krsna is giving us mercy through the spiritual master. Krsna is giving us mercy to the association of devotees. Somehow, we deserve that mercy. As soon as you start thinking otherwise, immediately, the enemies are here. It is not the regular demons but our own anarthas. We have not conquer all so there is a remain in our bhajana kriya. The result of bhajana kriya is what? “Anarthas nivrati”. Before bhajana kriya us what? Sraddha, sadhusanga and then comes bhajana kriya. As we begin bhajana kriya, then we become free from our anarthas, conquering our enemies.
So we cannot forget that we have enemies, very powerful enemies. We can conquer or defeat our enemies by mercy of Krsna and the spiritual master and vaisnavas. Arjun and the pandavas were only 5 in number, their army was much smaller in number but they became victorious and what is the cause? They have mercy of Krsna.

vijayatu panduputranam
esam pakshe janardhanam

“Panduputranam”, Pandu putras became victorious because they were inspired by Janardhana Krsna, inspired of Krsna. That was the cause of their victory. So stay in the side of Parthasarathi, of Prabhupada and the devotees we become victorious by conquering all of our enemies, lust, greed, etc. Being small we have so many enemies, hovering around, just around the corner they are waiting to get us. As soon as you are not alert, immediately, they are going to grab us. So keep serving the devotees and also for protection by the mantra

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

This is our ISKCON bullets, gulab jamuns. Do not eat too many, otherwise, you will be fat then you will be defeated.
Okay, thank you. Sri Sri Radha Partha Sarathi ki, jai!

The origin of bhagvad gita

11th December 2008
Iskcon Amravati

Sri Krishna Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu ki jai!
Rukmini Dwarkadish ki jai!
Srila Prabhupada ki jai!

These days, the topic for discussion can only be Bhagavad Gita or it should just be Bhagavad Gita. Why? You all know why. This most auspicious time is the time of Gita Jayanti. The birth day of the Bhagavat Gita. You know Hanuman Jayanti, Mahavir Jayanti, Buddha Jayanti. Jayanti means the birth day and so the same meaning goes for Gita Jayanti. The day of the birth of Bhagavad Gita.

Gita took birth on the day of Ekadasi and that Ekadasi is named Moksada Ekadasi. On the battlefield of Kuruksetra this Bhagavata Gita took birth and the time was morning time and it was the first day of battle. The battles of that time were called ‘Dharma Yudha’ (righteous battles). And they would start in the morning and continue till evening.

So on the first day at the beginning of the battle, both armies, the Kaurava army and the Pandava army had arrived and were ready to fight. Now In the middle partition of both armies there is a chariot.

tatah svetair hayair yukte?mahati syandane sthitau (BG 1.14).

A great chariot settled in the midst of both armies, or it started towards the middle. Arjuna spoke saying ‘take the chariot further in the middle.’

senayor ubhayor madhye
ratham sthapaya me ’cyuta (BG 1.21)

Arjuna said, ‘Oh Acyuta (infallible one), please draw my chariot between the two armies.

As the Lord did this, it was during the morning time and the Lord’s wonderful chariot was pulled by horses which were white in colour. This was the chariot that the Supreme Lord Himself, Dwarkadish was driving. The Lord had come from Dwarka, not Vrndavana or Mathura, but He had come from Dwarka. In Kuruksetra what is the Lord’s role? He is a charioteer; He is Parth Sarathi (charioteer of Partha, Arjuna). In the Lord’s right hand the Lord is holding a whip and He is controlling the horses.
For who is He riding? For His friend Arjuna.

bhakto ‘si me sakha ceti (BG 4.3)

madhavah pandavas caiva (BG 1.14)

The personalities on the chariot are Madhava and Pandava, Arjuna. Arjuna is one of the five Pandavas and he is on that chariot.

divyau sankhau pradadhmatuh (BG 1.14)

In the first chapter of Bhagavad Gita it is said that as soon as the chariot has reached the middle of the arena, the Kaurava army have blown their conch shells and so from the Pandava’s side Krishna and Arjuna both make sounds of their conch shells. Everyone blew their own conches.

pancajanyam hrsikeso (BG 1.15)

Lord Hrsikesa blew His conch shell of the name Pancajanya.

devadattam dhanan jayah

Dhananjaya Arjuna blew his conch shell and Bhima blew his conch of the name Paundra. Ananta Vijaya was the name of the Sankha blown by King Yudhisthira. Left now were the two brothers Nakula and Sahadeva who then also blew their conches Sughosa and Manipuspaka.

So the names of the conches have also been given in the Mahabharata or you can say in Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad gita is one limb of the Mahabarata. There are different sections in the Mahabarata and there is Bhishma Parva (chapter) as well. Bhishma Parva in itself has eighteen chapters which is this Bhagavad Gita. So the description is given.

dharma ksetre kuru ksetre
samaveta yuyutsavah
mamakah pandavas caiva
kim akurvata sanjaya (BG 1.1)

So this is the beginning of Bhagavad Gita. Dhrtarastra uvaca. Dhrtarastra asked Sanjay, his minister and both were sat in Hastinapura from where they could see from that far- do you know where is Hastinapura? It is on the bank of the Ganges and it is very far from Haryana where Kuruksetra is situated. Haryana is so named as the Lord Hari came there (came means ana). Haryana the city, where the Lord personally came.

So Madhava and Pandava are on their chariot in the main part of the battlefield, in between both armies and now there will be a discussion between Krishna and Arjuna. Arjuna will be listening to the discussion as he is the main limb of this conversation. Also far away in Hastinapura this discussion is being heard by Sanjaya who is turn will tell Dhrtarastra
all that he hears.

Dhrtarastra is blind and so cannot go to the battlefield so Srila Vyasadeva has been very merciful to Sanjaya. ‘I will give you .. chhhooo.’ He must have not done that, a Chu Mantra (black magic spell) but ‘Oh Sanjaya I am giving you a power that from by sitting here in Hastinapura you will be able to have Darshan from far.’

Doordarsan television. Even before five thousand years what did they have? Doordarsan. (Door means far) so darshan from far. It is a good thing that that Darshan was Darshan of Krishna or had in it Darshan of Krishna. These days Doordarsan means there are others’ Darshans and less of Krishna Darshan. So Sanjaya is seeing and hearing and so to this Sanjaya Dhrtarastra is asking ‘kim akurvata sanjaya?’

‘Oh Sanjaya tell me, tell me. Mamakah pandavas caiva (BG 1.1). When my sons and the sons of Pandu met on the battlefield of Kuruksetra, which is also Dharmaksetra, what did they do? Samavets yuyutsavah (BG 1.1). They have both assembled to fight so what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do? kim akurvata sanjaya?’

So the answer to this curiosity is included in the whole Bhagavad Gita. There are other descriptions in the coming chapters of Bhagavata Gita and also after all the eighteen chapters it goes on further. So Arjuna and Krishna have both blown their conches.

divyau sankhau pradadhmatuh

After this Arjuna says ‘Prabhu, Prabhu please take my chariot further. Denayor ubhayor madhye ratham (BG 1.21). Please take the chariot forward. Yavad etan nir?kse ’ham yoddhu kaman avasthitan (BG 1.21). O Lord, please draw my chariot between the two armies so that I may see who is present here, who is desirous of fighting, and with whom I must contend with in this great battle.’

So the Lord did just that and drove the chariot forward so now the Kaurava army was a little closer in view and so they could recognise which individuals were in the opposite army. Krishna and Arjuna were just looking when the Lord, Hrsikesa spoke.

‘Pasyaitan samavetan kurun iti (Bg1.25). So you wanted to see with whom you would have to fight so take a look.’ So then Arjuna looked. The Lord told him to take a look so as Arjuna is looking the Lord says ‘pasyaitan samavetan kurun.’ Those who have assembled here to fight are indeed the Kauravas. You have to fight with the Kauravas and you are also a Kuru and they are also Kurus, from the same family. Hari Hari.

So the Lord also wants to call Arjuna’s attention to the fact that.. So Arjuna has seen and now understood that ‘hey! These are my own family members! They are my cousins, my Guru’s and other relatives are there.’ So Arjuna thought or in his mind there came a thought.

Na ca sreyo ’nupasyami hatva sva janam ahave (BG 1.31). Arjuna spoke ‘Oh Lord, I am not seeing anything good coming out of this battle, out of killing my own family members. No profit I can see in this.’

Na kankse vijayam krsna na ca rajyam sukhani ca (BG 1.31). Arjuna further says ‘I have no desire to become a king or to become happy. I have no such desire!’ In this way there are thoughts occurring in Arjuna’s mind. Bhramativa ca me manah. Arjuna spoke to the Lord ‘Oh Lord I am forgetting myself, and my mind is reeling.’

Then Arjuna further says ‘sidanti mama gatrani mukham ca parisusyati (BG 1.28). I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up. My bow Gandiva is slipping from my hand.’ If you want to fight you need to hold a bow like Gandiva tight but if the hand is quivering resulting in the bow slipping from the hand then can one do battle?

So Arjuna says to the Lord, ‘look look! Look at me. Sidanti mama gatrani mukha?lm ca parisusyati (BG 1.28). Brhramativa ca me manah (BG 1.30). My mind is reeling.’ There are so many things Arjuna has spoken of in the first chapter of Bhagavad Gita. He speaks of many duties, ‘what will become of this and what will become of that?’ Duties towards society and towards mankind.

‘If there is a war then the women will become widows and they will also become polluted. There will be unwanted population with children who are an unwanted progeny. They cannot become proper due to the unwanted circumstances of their birth and upbringing.’

So there were many thoughts on Arjuna’s part for the many groups of people and for the family, the domain and it’s protection. Thoughts of his duties and of fulfilling his duty in a proper way.

All these thoughts Arjuna conveys to the Lord. ‘Yes so for this reason we should not fight or for that reason we should not fight.’ Maybe Arjuna was thinking the Lord would have agreed.’ ‘Yes okay Arjuna you are right, let’s not fight. Let’s sit and have some snacks.’ But that is not what happened and the Lord carried on listening and Arjuna kept speaking and telling his thoughts on why battle should not happen.

Arjuna then got tired and at the end of the first chapter Arjuna sat down on the chariot. He had kept his Gandiva in his arm and was so confused and tired, so much so that in the second chapter there is a description of how from his eyes tears are flowing. Now the Lord will speak. The Lord could see the state if Arjuna, his plight and so the Lord says to Arjuna.

Sri bhagavan uvaca kutas tva kasmalam idam (BG 2.1). ‘Whatever you just said, how have these impurities come upon you? Since when have you started speaking these nasty, polluted things? They do not befit you nor your upbringing, your heritage. Such persons cannot go to the higher planets. Also you are speaking like a learned man but actually nanusocanti panditah.

Although you speak like a learned man you are not a pandita, a learned man because a pandita does not do what? A learned man does not lament. Na nusocanti panditah. But if you look in the mirror you will see your face is full of sorrow and you are lamenting with tears in your eyes. Being a Ksatriya, a warrior you are sitting with the bow in your hands on the chariot so this is not how one prepares to battle.’

When you want to play fight, a small fight with someone, what do you say to them? ‘Hey get up!’ If somebody is sat down you get them up and sometimes you may grab their collars to get them to stand up because naturally you can only fight whilst standing. Of course if you need to talk you say, ’please sit, sit.’ So to talk you sit down but to fight you must stand. So the fact that Arjuna is seated means that he has firmly confirmed- actually he had already said and will say it again plainly that ‘I don’t want to fight. I will not fight.’

Na ca sreyo ‘nupasyami hatva sva janam ahave (BG 1.31). ‘I do not see how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle, oh Lord.’ So this is the beginning of the Bhagavad gita and is the grounds for Bhagavad Gita to take place, on the battlefield of Kuruksetra. Also the state of Arjuna’s mind is described in the beginning of Bhagavad Gita.

So the beginning, the first chapter of Bhagavad gita, we call it the Gita this first chapter, right? What Gita (song) is it? Bhagavad Gita. It is the Lord’s song and in the Lord’s Geet, the song of god, the first chapter is included but in this first chapter the Lord has not really spoken. His song, Geet, his words are not really in the first chapter, the Lord has only said a few words in this chapter.

Partha pasyaitan samavetan kurun iti (BG 1.31). Just these five small words the Lord has spoken in the first chapter. Otherwise it is all ‘Arjuna Gita.’ It is Arjuna’s feelings, his thoughts and his state of mind. Before that there is a description of the armies and of Kuruksetra. From the second chapter of Bhagavad Gita the Lord starts speaking. Sri bhagavan uvaca means who spoke? The Lord has spoken and what sort of Lord is this?

Sri Bhagavan whom is the possessor of the six opulences and within these six opulences is the opulence of knowledge. Bhagavan means all- knowing. Bhagavan also means all attractive and all powerful, all opulent and famous as well as the most renounced. These are the six opulences of the Lord.

aisvaryasya samagrasya viryasya yasasah sriyah
jnana vairagyayos caiva sannam bhaga itingana (Visnu Purana 6.5.47).

These are the six opulences and one is knowledge. So here it is said said Sri Bhagavan uvaca which means the all- knowing uvaca, the all knowing supreme Lord Sri Krishna uvaca. He is the source of all knowledge. He is saying Aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate (BG 10.8). ‘I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me.’

He is speaking this and so knowledge is also coming from him. The Lord himself is all knowing and if there is any knowledge in this world it is coming from the Lord. Separately no person can produce knowledge in their factory or in their home. And there was never a time when-well, the Lord spoke this Bhagavad Gita five thousand years ago and the Lord gave knowledge to Arjuna.

So knowledge did not come into existence then. Since when is knowledge in existence? Since the Lord is there knowledge is there because that knowledge is only in relation to him. So therefore ever since there is the Lord, from then there is knowledge. All this knowledge, information and news is here since the Lord has been here.

It’s not that the Lord came and a much longer time after that these things came. So the all knowing Lord has made Arjuna the example, the reason to speak this knowledge. The Lord has lit the lamp of knowledge. You have all told me you have not been to Kuruksetra, you haven’t, have you? Oh you went and you too, so now there’s two and now three of you. Now you are remembering that you have been there.

So in Kuruksetra upon the order of Arjuna the Lord took the chariot into the middle of the battlefield and stopped it there. Bhramativa ca me manah. He became confused and forgetful and his mind reeled, the state of his mind going crazy. Then the Lord spoke to Arjuna the message of Bhagavad Gita. You can all go to this place, where the chariot was standing. That place within Kuruksetra is called Jyotisar, or we can say the light (Jyoti) of knowledge.

The Lord shone the knowledge of the light of the Gita. Therefore that place from where the Lord did this and spoke the Gita is called Jyotisar, the place of Jyoti, light. So in this world so many speeches are forever taking place but this speech, this discussion, which happens between two people is unique, a very important speech. People are always talking and there are always questions and answers going on when you go to school, market place, court place or shopping place or on the phone.

This is going on day and night, many discussions and talks, look even now there is a conversation going on but this conversation of the Gita is amazing and for the greatest good for all. Every man should understand this with great attention. One should not try to memorise the Slokas like a parrot but he should take them into the heart with proper learning.

We should lead our lives according to the order of the Lord in the Gita. This is the greatest mercy of the Lord on all of us that the he has given us all the knowledge of the Gita. Ya svayam padmanabhasya mukha padmad vinihsrita. In the Gita Mahatmya it is written, ‘what is so special in Bhagavad Gita when there are so many other scriptures?’

Gita sugita kartavya kim anyaih sastra vistaraih (Gita Mahatmya). What use is there of any other Sastras when we have Bhagavad Gita? Ekam sastram devaki putra gitam. So this Bhagavad gita which is the song of Devaki Putra, son of Devaki, Ekam Sastram – this one scripture is enough. So what is so special about it?

Svayam padmanabhasya, mukha padmad vinihsrita. One of the The Lord’s name is Padmana. Because his navel is like a lotus flower or also it could be said because from his navel a lotus flower grew on which Lord Brahma was born. The lotus flower sprouted from the navel of Garbhodakasayi Vishnu and so he is addressed as Padmana.

The Lord’s navel is very deep and so is the impression on his throat. His intelligence is also very deep. In Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu the signs and impressions on a great personality’s body are described. In these descriptions three places are said to be deep including the navel and the Lord’s throat which is deep like the sound of thundering clouds.

When one hears or sees some documentary of Sri Krishna, other people talk in the documentary or film but when the Lord’s turn to talk comes then the voice is different, a different sound and deepness of voice. And his voice and words reach far distances. Also there is depth in the Lord’s intelligence. His intelligence is not mixed up but is deep. So this is the Lord and devaki putram gitam is this Sastra (the words of the son of Devaki).

In the Mahatmya it is said that whoever-

gita gangodakam pitva punar janma na vidyate

When one drinks Ganges water that person becomes liberated so here it is said that this water comes from his lotus feet. Tu ja charani ca ganga nimani chandrabhaga ganga bhajan. You may have heard this.

Chandrabhagaya, Gangaya Jamuna, Saraswati, Godavari, Kaveri Sindhu, Narmada and all other rivers which are there, where do they come from? From the lotus feet of the Lord and from his lotus mouth comes out the Gita. Around the Lord’s arms are the cows and so we have these great signs of religion in our culture – Ganga, Gita, the cow.

So the Ganga comes from the Lord’s lotus feet and the Gita from his lotus mouth and he is a Gopa who stays with the cows and looks after the cows. So from the lotus mouth of Lord Padmana is this promise of the Gita. When the Lord declares

Sarva dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah (BG 18.66)

So the Lord spoke by moving his lotus lips and therefore these words are from the lotus like mouth of the Lord. It is no ordinary air of this material world moving out when these words are coming out and spreading from his lotus mouth-

patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati (BG 9.26)

This is eternal and transcendental to material sound and it is indeclinable. Imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam. The Lord has said this in the fourth chapter of Bhagavad Gita and so the words that have come out of the lotus mouth of the Lord and are Avyaya. These words are never going to become lost or any less or be spent, this will not happen. These words will never be hidden and are therefore eternal words.

We can also take these words of Gita to be the form of the Lord. In the form of the Gita the Lord descended. And in the form of Bhagavad Gita although the Lord himself came out of his lotus mouth through his words, he did not become any less by expanding his form into the Gita.

om purnam adah purnam idam purnat purnam udacyate
purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate (Sri Isopanisad invocation).

So if from the complete the complete was taken away then what is left? The whole complete is left. One minus one is zero in this material world. If something is one whole thing and is taken away then nothing is left but here the supreme Lord is speaking and these words are his complete form and so the Lord does not any become less. The Lord is complete and the Bhagavad Gita, his spoken words also remain complete .

Sarvopanisado gavo dogdha gopala-nandana (Gita mahatmya 6)

Like this the greatness of the Bhagavad Gita has been sung. Sarvopanisado gavo. All the Upanisads in existence are in the form of the cow. How has the cow been made? From the Upanisads, Sastra. From these the cow has been made.

Dogdha gopala nandana. And Dogdha, who is milking this cow? Gopala nandana.
Parthovatsa. Partha, Arjuna who is he? Vatsa, the calf. What does the calf do? So Krishna is milking the cow, the Sastras he is wringing and Arjuna is drinking the milk of Sastras what Krishna is milking and wringing.

Sudheerbhoktha. The Gitamrutam which Arjuna is drinking (nectar of the Gita). Gitamrutam mahat. So the Gitamrutam which Arjuna is drinking, Sudheerbhoktha. This Amrita (nectar) that Arjuna has drunk, is Maha- Maha Prashad. Who drank it first? Arjuna drank it and in the form of Maha Prashad who will take it now? Sudheerbhoktha, those who are intelligent, Sudheer. What will they do? They will drink this Gita nectar through attentive listening and recitation, those who are intelligent will do this.

When one is intelligent and studies Bhagavad Gita they will become more intelligent. Only by intelligence does our life have existence just like a car driver or an air pilot. He is a very important person and even if the passengers fall asleep that’s okay but if the pilot becomes confused or inattentive then there can be devastation.

So in our lives intelligence has the most important role just like the driver of a car is the most important in making the car drive or move. This is the type of intelligence that the Lord is giving in the Bhagavad Gita.

Dadami buddhi yogam tam
yena mam upayanti te (BG 10.10)

So this intelligence should be used in what way? Yena mam upayanti te. ‘To come more closer to me they can use their intelligence, to come to me.’ So
How should we use this intelligence which has been given to us by the Lord? To get closer to him. This is the right way to use one’s intelligence. When I was small, even I was small at one time, there was that time as well. So when I would go to the temple with my mother, when she would go I would go along with her.

So my mother would tell me, ‘put your hands together, put your hands together.’ So I would do so and I remember then she would tell me to ask the Lord to give me intelligence. ‘Go on ask for intelligence, ask for intelligence. Oh Lord give him intelligence.’ Maybe your mothers have done this or said this before, ‘give my child intelligence.’ So finally when the Lord gave me intelligence and I became his devotee and joined Iskcon, when my mother found out she became very angry with the Lord.

‘Oh what sort or intelligence did god give you??!’ When I was young she would tell me to pray to the Lord to give me intelligence and when the Lord gave me this intelligence-

Yena mam upayanti te (BG 10.10). So that I could go closer to the Lord. This intelligence was at that time not pleasing to my mother, she was very hurt and upset. ‘Why did the Lord give you such intelligence and till when will you carry on thinking like this?’ She went to an astrologer to find out ‘till when will his intelligence, his thinking stay like this?’ So they also wanted to get some money, the astrologers so they said, ‘it won’t be for very long.’

So my family became happy but the prediction of the astrologer has not become true as yet. He had given them faith that it would not be for too long, maybe a month or two. So when I went back to my village I went to meet my older brother and the village people were saying ‘what a good boy he used to be.’ So I was before a good boy and when the Lord actually gave me intelligence I wasn’t good anymore.

Actually I became a Mahatma then and before this I was a Duratma. So now when I was a Mahatma they were saying ‘what a good boy he used to be.’ So I had gone for a very short time back to my village and my friends were playing cards. I was chanting japa.

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

So my older sister, when she would see me chanting Japa and all the other boys playing, she would cry and pray to the Lord, ‘when will my brother play like this? When will you give my brother intelligence to do like this?’ She was praying to the Lord like this. Rukmini Dwarkadish ki jai!

So Bhagavad Gita is the most important thing given by the Lord, it is a gift and you could say it is a letter written by god. But who is this letter for, only Arjuna? Hari Hari. The Lord has written a letter. Who is this letter for? For all of us or for just you all or just for me? It is for all of you. So who has he written this for? For me and for all of us individuals the Lord has done what? The message is one for all of us, the message is the same. And what is that message?

Man mana bhava mad bhakto
madyaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo ‘si me (BG 18.65)

This is the message and this is a very confidential message. The Lord said ‘now I will tell you something very confidential.’
Guhyatamam pravakshyamy (BG 9.1)
Guhyatamam, Guhya, Guhyatar, Guhyatam.
‘I will teach you the most confidential knowledge.’ After saying this the words spoken by the Lord are these.
Man mana bhava mad bhakto
madyaji mam namaskuru (BG 18.65)

The Lord said ‘work in this way.’ And what way is that? Man mana, meaning ‘think of me. Mat manah, put your mind on me.’ Give the Lord your mind, put that concentration of the mind on the Lord. So this one thing is now done, so now?

‘Become my devotee. Madyaji. Serve me and worship me. Mam namaskuru, bow down to me.’ None of this is difficult so become a devotee of the Lord. And whoever will do this, the Lord says and it is written on these pages- Mam evaisyasi. Those who do this Mam evaisyasi, they will attain me. ‘Satyam te’ he says that he is telling the truth.

The Lord has no need to convince us or say that he is telling the truth, to justify this fact. Because whatever the Lord says is always the truth and apart from the truth he doesn’t say anything else. In the court what book is there? Bhagavad Gita is there and it is said ‘whatever I say I will speak the truth and apart from lies I will not say anything else.’ (Laughter)

‘I’m telling the truth that apart from lies I wont speak anything else.’ But the Lord is the epitome, the form of truthfulness and whatever words are said from his lotus mouth are always the truth. He doesn’t have to separately state that he is telling the truth. For the sake of social customs we say ‘I am telling the truth’ but here the Lord says ‘Mam evaisyasi. Hey you persons who are doing man mana bhava mad bhakto madyaji mam namaskuru, you devotees will attain me.’

‘Satyam te I am telling the truth’ and that’s not all because further the Lord says, ‘Pratijane. I am promising you, this is my oath that I take.’ Why all of this? Priyo ‘si me. ‘Because you are all very dear to me. You are all mine- mamaivamso.’ The Lord says ‘mamaivamso jiva loke jiva bhutah sanatanah (BG 15.7). You are my parts and parcels and you are my limbs. You are not separate from me.

Yes it’s true that you are lost to me and wandering about aimlessly but nevertheless you are mine.’ So this is true that we belong to the Lord and that the Lord is ours and so the Lord is telling us to go back to him, to attain him. We are missing the Lord and the Lord also wants us to be back with him in his abode. So this unusual discourse- we were not there at that time five thousand years ago.

Well of course we were around and we must have been somewhere but we were not in Kuruksetra and we did not get the good fortune to hear Bhagavad Gita there as it happened. If we had heard it there at that time then would we be here now sitting in Amravati? We were not there and the proof of that is what? We are here now which means we were not there then and that is why we are here now.

If we had been there then we would not have stayed here but would have gone back long ago to the Lord’s abode by becoming devotees. After becoming devotees some stay here to preach the Lord’s message. Some devotees the Lord calls back to his abode and some devotees he sends and keeps in this material world.

Bhutani bhavyani janardanasya (SB 3.5.3)
Lord Janardana’s great souls, the Mahapurushas take the Lord’s message and spread it to others. So this is service of the Lord and upon those who do this service the Lord becomes very pleased. So whoever understands the knowledge of the Gita and then explains it to others, when the Lord sees this he becomes very happy and pleased. Why does he become pleased? Because he knows that when my message is heard and understood by the devotee, then what will happen?

Bhakti Yoga. There will be a link, forever there will be a bond between the Lord and the soul which is currently imprisoned in the material ocean of birth, death, old age and disease. Punar janma na vidyate (BG 8.16). ‘He will not attain another birth again and he will establish a relationship with me,’ the Lord is saying. So whoever helps one make a sacrifice in Yoga, in helping one to establish a relationship with the Lord, giving a helping hand by putting their hand forward to help someone, the Lord is very pleased with such a person who helps others in this way. He is called Bhurida.

Bhuvi grananti te bhuri dhajana. Whoever on this planet gives this message to others in his life- tava kathamrtam tapta jivanam. This life is like what? This Samsara is Davanal, this world is on fire. This type of fire is found in most cases and is everywhere in this material world in the form of fire, fever, poisons and various kinds of heat. So by hearing and understanding this Kathamrita or this Gitamrita a person becomes relieved and is freed and becomes a devotee.

So those who help others like this, they are the greatest benefactors. They are kind and benevolent who spread this knowledge to others, they are most benevolent as they share their own wealth. This Bhagavad Gita is the greatest possession, it is the greatest of riches and therefore those who distribute their wealth in the form of knowledge of Bhagavad Gita, they are the greatest philanthropist, giver of charity.

By giving clothes or any other thing in charity we help others, it is service to society and in doing this we fulfil our duty, but the greatest charity is the charity of spreading the knowledge of Gita. And whosoever attains the charity of this knowledge becomes wealthy. One who is knowledgeable is wealthy as well, and this is the actual wealth. From this wealth and knowledge come worthiness and then happiness.

By this Happiness which is eternal, the happiness of the soul is achieved. The soul will achieve happiness. So the endeavours made in the material world- yesterday we went to a school ‘Adarsh Vidyalaya.’ So for the many students Gita Jayanti Mahotsava was being explained over there. The devotees were explaining how one old lady went out to do her shopping and she bought a cage for her bird.

She put the bird in the cage but gave more attention to the cage and polished the cage frequently. Hardly any attention was paid to the bird inside the cage. She wasn’t feeding the bird so it was becoming weak and so one day came when the bird was no more. The lady still continued polishing the cage, making it shine. So she called her neighbours, ‘please come, please come and look at the cage! Look at the cage!’

Her friends were seeing the cage but at the same time they could smell a horrible, nasty smell. What was this smell? The poor bird that was dead in the cage, that was the horrible smell coming from the cage. So from this we learn that our body is alike to the cage and the bird in the cage is who? That is the soul. Is the cage most important or the bird? The animal, the bird is most important.

So who should be looked after more? The animal and not the cage. This the Gita teaches us and explains to us. It gives us knowledge of the soul and knowledge of how to keep or make soul happy.

Brahma bhutah prasannatma
na socati na kanksati
samah sarvesu bhutesu
mad bhaktim labhate param (BG 18.54)

The process to give the soul happiness is explained in the Bhagavad Gita. We can see that this world is looking for further knowledge of matter constantly and will continue to do so. Atoms and the molecule and nucleus, neutron, proton all these things they’ll put under a microscope and with the help of these microscopes and telescopes people are trying to go to the moon!

But the Lord is in the heart, so close to us and within us and yet we cannot go there, there is no endeavour to go there. ‘We are thinking ‘where shall we go elsewhere, further?’ We don’t want to go within or be absorbed in our inner self. So this Bhagavad Gita gives us actual eyes to wake us up and it open our eyes. This Bhagavad Gita is a pair of spectacles that we must wear to see ourselves, to see the Lord and to see our own families.

Those who we call our own family members we have not yet seen. We actually have not seen our own kin and do not see them throughout our whole lives and that is why when there is death we cry and say- what do we say? ‘He has gone.’ Well who is it that has left? That person with whom you were has gone but the body is lying there. It is either on your lap or on the bed but nevertheless it’s lying there in front of you.

You are saying ‘he’s gone, he’s gone.’ But who has gone? The soul has gone. But we never recognised that soul and the actual person who is the soul we did not take care of or worry about them. We did not make any arrangements to nourish that soul or we did not serve that soul in any way. If we did do anything, any service, then it was for the cage, the body and that’s all.

So this is the knowledge that is in need and this knowledge is available in Gita. Srimad Bhagavad Gita ki jai! Gita Jayanti Mahotsava ki jai! Rukmini Dwarkadish ki jai! Srila Prabhupada ki jai.

So we have another two, three days left and so we will further speak the message of Bhagavad Gita to understand it and put it into practice. We can plan and have a think about all this. About practicing and spreading this message, we can speak about this as well as think about it. This can all be the talk in the coming days and the fact that you all are present here, you have come, you are welcome and I thank you from my heart for your coming here.

Please continue coming and we will speak further and there will be an endeavour to understand the Gita. So it is all profitable. The actual profit is attaining the Lord, what is the profit? Attainment of the Lord by the help of Gita. Who do we need to attain through the assistance of the Gita? The supreme Lord. The Gita is his words which is the only thing he left here when he went away. So through concentration on these words..

When we understand these words we will be able to understand the Lord and attain him. This is profit and apart from this profit there is no other profit.

Sukh Sampati Ghar Ave (a song which asks the Lord for happiness and material gain and mental peace). This all carries on but this is not the profit we are talking about. Dhanam Janam Sundarim (wealth, long life and beautiful women). These things are useless and temporary. This sort of profit will bring us distress alongside the temporary so called happiness. It is duality and this is what we are trapped in, Bhagavad Gita teaches us this.

We need to be transcendental to this duality of happiness and distress, rising above it. we need to transcend victory and defeat and this is the highest point, to learn this and then we will not be so unsettled. We are trapped in these dualities of happiness and distress, day and night, poor and rich, man and woman, countryman and foreigner, Hindu and Muslim and the list is very long.

How to arise above these dualities? We are actually going backwards not forwards. So the Gita teaches us liberation from all these struggles. So please begin study of Gita or continue this study and we will further speak on this matter tomorrow and the day after.

Gaura Prem Anande Hari Haribol.

End.

Spirituality and Youth
Prerana Festival
Zoom lecture for Iskcon Chowpatty
23rd January 2021

So Hare Krishna to you all assembled youths. Radha Gopinath ki jai! Yes there were the days where the Prerna festival used to take place right there in front of Radha Gopinath. I understand today is the one hundred and eightieth Prerna festival. That’s what I was told so I am very happy with the organizers of today’s event and especially with those who started this Prerna festival a long, long time ago. Maybe fifteen, twenty years ago the Prerna festival started.

I suppose Gauranga is one of the organizers or inaugurator of this festival. This is our oldest youth program in India so I once again thank and congratulate the organizers of this Prerna Iskcon youth forum festival. Of course without you students, the Prerna festival is not possible and so I am very happy today. I don’t see many of you but I suppose many of you are there, not visible but wherever you are in different forums.

Yes, those were the days, during my days when I was a young man like you, and of course there were so many other millions of other young men, youths like me some fifty years ago. They coming to satsang, coming to the temple and joining program like Prerna festival, forget it!

But now things have changed and revolutionized and now there are thousands of youths stepping forward and participating in this program of Iskcon youth forum all over Bombay and all over New Delhi and all over Bangalore, all over everywhere. Thousands of youths are part of these Prerna-like festivals. So I am very, very glad, some fifty years ago as you heard the announcement, in the early seventies I was also a young man, right? One day I was also a young man and a youth like you and I was also studying right there in Mumbai, Kirti College Dadar. Do you know Kirti College of Dadar? So some of you know it and I was a student of Kirti College. I was a student of the Willing don College, Sangli. I was a student there but by the grace of the Supreme Lord- I realized that later on. When Krishna is kind to us he brings us to his devotees.

So Krishna kindly took me to His devotee Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Hari Hari. And as I was studying I came in contact with Srila Prabhupada. I came in contact with Srila Prabhupada’s followers at Cross Maidan near Church gate Station. There was a huge festival- Hare Krishna festival and there was a huge advertisement all over the town that said ‘American Sadhus are here! American Sadhus are in town!’

I was along with so many Bombaikers, so many Bombay Wala’s surprised to hear. American Sadhus? How is that possible? American scientist is okay but American Sadhu?! Forget it! So the huge crowds were rushing and participating in Hare Krishna festival and so I also was one of the participants. So this is how I was put in contact with the devotees of the Lord and with Srila Prabhupad as well as his followers.

I considered and consider that even today that that was my great fortune and likewise now Krishna is calling you.

Jiva jago jiva jago gaurachandra bole.

I’m sure you’ve heard that song which says ‘Gauranga is calling Gauranga is calling. Wake up sleeping souls. Wake up youths of India, Gauranga is calling.’ So you are hearing Gauranga’s call and you are responding to that call. You are running, rushing and you have already ran and rushed and you are in the association with the devotees of Krishna and they are guiding you on the path, on the journey of life.

Life is a journey so it’s good to have, it’s the best to have the guidance of devotees of Krishna otherwise certainly you will be misguided- guaranteed. Because that is what this world is, of cheaters and cheated. No one knows the truth and no one shares the truth with you. Because if they don’t know the truth then how could they share the truth with you?

They do not know the ultimate reality in all that you see around or touch or smell, that is not all that exists. There is a lot more that exists out there or up there. But you cannot study and understand that world, the spiritual world and Vaikunthaloka and the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Panduranga. He exists and His kingdom, so much exists! The spiritual life exists, spirituality exists and so we have to study and understand that the ultimate reality is something that is eternal. We are also eternal and to even understand that we are eternal.. We get to know all these truths by coming in contact with devotees of Krishna. That is why sastra says:

Sadhu sanga sadhu sanga msarva sastre kaya
lava matra sadhu sange sarva siddhi haya (CC Madhya 22.54).

So in this Iskcon youth forum, you get sadhu sanga. Sadhus come where you are based and you also get to go to Sadhus, Hare Krishna devotees. You can go to the temple or even on pilgrimage and then they open our eyes and this is called Sabda Praman. There are different evidences, different ways to know the truth.

So there’s a Pratyaksha Praman and this is where seeing is believing. So we try to see with our eyes but you cannot see Sac Cid Ananda Vigraha, the spiritual existence and spiritual personalities with your eyes. You can’t perceive that spirituality with your blunt material senses which are imperfect. This material world has so much faith in the power of their senses so to acquire knowledge they use their senses called Prayaksha, prati and aksha-Right in front of you is whatever you perceive, whatever you can smell- but there is an existence of not only pratakshya but parokshya, something that is transcendental above or beyond this material reality and to understand that we need sastra praman, sadhu, Sastra and Acarya’s. If you hear from them and if you hear Krishna in Bhagavad-gita then you will know so much more.

And true reality is a science; it is a science of self realization. Srila Prabhupada was a scientist or even Tukaram Maharaj was a scientist. Ramanujacharya was a scientist, not just Galileo or Newton – what do they know? They don’t know much, they don’t know much but these spiritual scientists they know so much more. So after we come in touch with these great personalities and often they make the Gita syllabus, textbooks and they become teachers and professors they teach us, teach you.

So this has to be done in this human form of life which is a very, very rare gift which we have been gifted by the Lord, this human form of life and we have to make the best use of it by approaching devotees and making an enquiry from them.

athato brahma jijnasa
It is said and they will reveal the truth unto you, ‘oh youths of India wake up.’ I mean you have woken up so now wake up others. The rest of the youths, also your friends and neighbours or other youths.

Now Prabhupada wanted youths. Youths wanted! When he was contemplating or planning the propagation of Krishna consciousness worldwide, at one point he was in Jhansi. You know where Jhansi is. At one point Srila Prabhupada was advertising in newspapers, advertising for what? Youths wanted! He wanted youths to come forward, get trained and propagate Krishna consciousness, God consciousness and India’s culture all over the world.

The gift of India – India has beenWgifted; I would not even say India. Bharat Varsa has been gifted, and why? This Krishna consciousness gifted along with Krishna- ‘we have Krishna, we have Sri Rama!’ Jai Sri Ram! So this is our wealth. Ramayana is our wealth, Mahabarata, Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam is our wealth. The ancient culture of India, not the modern culture of India is India’s culture.

So Srila Prabhupada wanted this to be shared with the rest of the world. Prior to that while the Lord was on the planet, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai! Some five hundred years ago Sambhavami yuge yuge happened and the Lord appeared in the form of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu became a preacher.

The Lord took sannyasa and he was travelling all over India and sharing the wealth of the holy name.

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

This is the wealth of India, Bharat Varsa. So Mahaprabhu was sharing this all around and while he was doing this, as in Chaitanya Charitamrta He says ‘I am the only malakara. I am the only gardener and oh! How many fruits can I pick up alone? And fill the baskets and share them, distribute the fruits of love of Godhead? I’m the only one! Distributors wanted! Distributors wanted! Please come forward and fill up the baskets with the fruits of love of Godhead and distribute them freely everywhere!’

And he wanted the distribution to take place not just in Mumbai or not just in Maharashtra or Bengal, Orissa or India but all over the world. The Lord cares right? The Lord cares for every single person and every single entity because they are his people wherever they are.
So the Lord said:

prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama (Chaitanya Bhagavat)

My name will be chanted and shared in every town and every village of this world. So Mahaprabhu was appealing ‘please join me please join me.’ So then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s representative Saksad Hari, Srila Prabhupada also had the same mood and he was also welcoming and inviting, ‘youths wanted youths wanted’ because he wanted to make Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction come true!

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted everybody and youths also, Srila Prabhupada wanted youths and in that parampara now we also want youths. We want all of you to come, join Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement. You may join the temple or you may practice this Krishna consciousness at home.

grihe thako, vane thako, sada ‘hari’ bole’ dako
sukhe duhkhe bhulo na’ko,
vadane hari-nam koro re (Gitavali 2)

So this is also an appeal, everyone please chant the holy name of the Lord wherever you are. Grihe thako householder, Grihastha, make your home into an ashram or a mandir. Dil ek Mandir hai, Ghar ek Mandir hai. Every home could be a temple and the temples are already temples and brahmacari’s reside there. So wherever you are you could practice and relish Krishna consciousness. So we want or Krishna wants, our founder acarya wanted and we also want youths to come and join this effort of sharing this Krishna consciousness all over the world.

Or you could share that in big circle as possible within your home town or your home state or your home land, your motherland. Or you could go overseas. So when Srila Prabhupada once was in London one newspaper reporter asked him, ‘Swamiji, why have you come to our country?’ And Prabhupada possibly said ‘oh you also came, you Bristishers, you also came to our country so now I have come to your country.’

‘But why have you come?’ So Prabhupada was explaining that ‘I have come sir to give the gift of India, India’s gift. I have come to do the home delivery. You had come and whatever was valuable you thought, you took that away and you looted our country. But whilst doing that you left behind the most valuable asset, the gift of India. So now I have come to share that with you.’

When asked ‘Oh what is that gift? Is it a Rolls Royce during british Raj that may have been left behind?’ Then Prabhupada said ‘Krishna consciousness.’ Or then Prabhupada said ‘This Vedic literature from India or the holy name of the Lord. This is the gift.’ And then Prabhupada also used to say ‘You know I have come to your country or ‘I have come to America.’ Prabhupada very proudly used to proclaim ‘I haven’t come to take anything from you. I have come to give.’

And Prabhupada was the first Indian to go to the west to give and not to take. And because we are going, Indians are going, politicians are going or even youths are going for higher education – it’s not higher education (laughs). So they are going ‘Give us education, give us loan, give us super computers, give us give us give us!’ As a result we have become very popular in the west at least.

You know forty years ago when I went for the first time, seventy eight was the first time I went to America and they were asking me ‘oh where are you from?’ And I would say ‘from India.’ ‘Oh that India? The beggar’s country?’ That India what? Beggar’s country. Because we had been going and begging ‘give us give us.’ So Srila Prabhupada was that Bharat Ratna, the jewel of India.

He knew the wealth of India, the importance of India. Bharat desh mahan. In fact India is great but that greatness of India was in true sense realized by Prabhupada and he wanted to share that with the rest of the world and he did that. To do so he wanted.. In fact the youths of America, the first ones to join Srila Prabhupada, the American boys and girls, became his disciples.

America is suffering like anything, you know that? All that glitters is not gold, friends. So America and not only America but the whole world is suffering. England is suffering and not because of Covid 19, that’s yet another reason for suffering. This world is full of suffering and it’s meant to be like that. This world is duhkhalayam asasvatam (BG 8.15). There’s no way we can change the nature of this world, God has made it that way and this is no place for a gentleman, Prabhupada used to say.

So one time I was in America and read- I’m sure some youth had written something on a wall and he had written -listen to this. American youth writes like this on the wall, his realization and his thoughts. ‘Life is tough and then you die.’ Did you hear that? He says ‘life is tough and then you die.’ There was a pause and then he writes ‘You’re born again and as you are born again what is going to happen? Life is tough.’

That life is going to be tough so life is tough and then you die and you are born again and so this goes on and on. And this is what India could do. India has to take leadership in propagation. Yes let the western world propagate materialism, the mundane sciences and technology and this and that and then let India share it’s culture Krishna consciousness, knowledge of Bhagavad Gita with the rest of the world. They are badly in need of it!

Then Prabhupada used to say ‘andha pangu nyaya.’ The west is blind and India is a little bit lame. Then he used to talk andha pangu nyaya. East and west could combine, you don’t have to condemn and discard the progress made by technology and science. That could be utilized, or this blind man and lame man could get together, the east and west could get together. So when this blind man and lame man are together, what could they do and how could they help each other?

If they wish to go someplace certainly they could help each other. The blind man could walk and the lame man sitting on the shoulder of the blind man could show the way. So the world is blind and India has torchlight of knowledge. So our culture teaches simple living and high thinking. So simple living high thinking, simple living high thinking but the propagation, Prachar is high living and no thinking, you understand?

The Prachar, propagation the breaking news and all that happens through internet, the propagation, the Prerna will give inspiration to high living and no thinking. Our Srila Prabhupada used to say that they want the kingdom of God, opulent kingdom, country like God’s but country without God. Kingdom of God without God. ‘What do I need God for? I am God! I am Bhokta. Aham isvaro.

aham bhogi aham balavan aham sukhi’ (BG 16.13-15)

Krishna has said this in Bhagavad Gita. The demoniac nature is like that so simple living high thinking. So again I was in America and some team, some gentlemen they approached me and they said, ‘Swamiji Swamiji we have one formula that we are practicing these days.’ I said ‘what is that formula?’ They said ‘kiss formula.’ I said ‘I’m a sannyasi and I have nothing to do with kiss. No no kissing.’

They said ‘Swamiji not that kissing.’ I said ‘What kiss are you talking about?’ And he said – listen to this what he said. He said ‘Keep it simple, stupid.’ Did you get that? The kiss formula is ‘keep it simple oh stupid.’ So this is also a message? Keep it simple stupid world or mad mad mad world. Or this bad bad bad world is they have to keep themselves simple. On the contrary I was again talking about simple living and high thinking, lots of people or this is again a propaganda. The youths you see sometimes wearing t-shirts and what do they write on the back? Just do it! Have you read that? Just do it! Just do it! Meaning if you feel good, kuch kuch hota hai. Then if you feel good, do it! Do not even think or think later on but just do it! So this is high living no thinking. Not even simple thinking but no thinking. Just do it! So this is how the youths are being misled all over the world, all over India. Just do it. If you feel good just do it!

I was in Bombay many years ago and we were going for some function downtown and I saw a big board, a sign board billboard and when I looked at it there was a young man, some Mumbai wala (from Mumbai) and he had opened his chest (Maharaja makes swooosh sound) like Hanuman. But when I took a closer look at it what was in his heart? It was a Limca bottle. There was no Jai Sri Ram or there was no Sita Ram, the young man had a Limca bottle in his heart. So this shows what is their thinking, what are they contemplating, what are they planning to enjoy. So whatever you do, these things in your youthful days, that makes an impression upon you and that governs your thinking, feeling, willing.

That is the function of the mind thinking, feeling, willing and that stays with you even to the last breath of your life. There was an old man dying and his family had gathered around him and the children were saying ‘daddy daddy, you have only have one or two breaths to go before you leave. Could you say Bhola Bhola?’ They were followers, worshippers of Bhole Nath Shankar so they said ‘please say Bhola.’

But did father say ‘Bhola?’ What did he say? The father said ‘Cola Cola.’ And this was the last thing he said and he was out of there. So possibly he went to Coca Cola Loka? By thinking of Coca Cola

Yam yam vapi smaran bhavam
tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6)

Krishna says this right? Whatever you remember at the time of death that’s your destination. So be aware, be aware young men and ladies and gentlemen. We need good company. We need Hare Krishna devotee company, association of saintly persons to become like them. Men of character.

So the present day education is, I keep saying, it’s money making education. Education so that you can make money and then spend money but we would like to see the education that will make you man-making. Making Danavas into Manavas. There is so much Danavi, Rakshashi Pravritti all over the world and so this Hare Krishna movement is busy day and night revolutionizing the consciousness of people globally and there is a tremendous response.

From all over the world people are stepping forward, youths are stepping forward. Somehow everywhere the youths are the first ones to come and join. Youths come, so I was thinking that our Krishna is a youth. Our God is always youthful and so he is attracting youths from all over the world. Young boys and girls are joining- not just in India but in America. In Australia, in Africa, everywhere. And youths like singing and dancing so they chant

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

So they are becoming men of character. Money is lost, nothing much is lost. You know the saying it is very popular. ‘Money is lost nothing much is lost. Health is lost then something is lost however if you lose your character, Charitrahina (characterless) then everything is lost. So this Hare Krishna movement would like to see the men of character, youths building their character- character building.

So we pray and as we pray we propagate this,

sarve sukhinah bhavantu
sarve santu niramayah
sarve bhadrani pasyantu
ma kashchit duhkha bhagbhavet

This is high thinking. This is high thinking. Thinking of the welfare of the world. Sarve sukhinah bhavantu. Let everyone be happy, let everyone be happy. Others may also think that everybody be happy but the speciality of Hare Krishna devotees or the Hare Krishna movement is that not only do we wish that let everyone be happy, or we say ‘happy birthday to you’ or ‘happy new year’ but we tell the world how to be happy.

And that is chant Hare Krishna and what?
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy. So we wish happiness to everybody in this world and we know how they could be happier. How can we know? The Lord has told us how to be happy. So we are sharing that news, that formula with the rest of the world. So the same prayer

Sarve sukhinah bhavantu
Sarve santu niramayah

Let everyone be free from sickness and no more disease. Let everyone be free from disease. This is the prayer, Sarve santu niramayah. So I was reminded that many years ago one of my friends, he became a doctor and then he was opening his hospital and I was invited for the inauguration of the hospital.

At that time I said this prayer, Sarve sukhinah bhavantu sarve santu niramayah. Let everyone be free from diseases and free from sickness and my friend said ‘Maharaja, if that happens, if everyone becomes free from sickness- no more sick people no more disease, then what will happen to my hospital?! You are just now about to open my hospital and cut the ribbon right now and I have a fifty bed hospital and you are praying that let everyone be free from the sickness and disease.’

So that’s not very high thinking, my friend was thinking differently and that is how the rest of the world also thinks that way. ‘Let the world go to hell and let me be healthy and happy. I don’t care.’ So part of the high thinking is that we are- all the people on this planet are part of our family. As Krishna enters your heart then your thinking becomes big thinking or high thinking and you are no more low, low minded, narrow minded. As Krishna enters your heart and you are thinking of Krishna then what is your heart? Our scriptures say

ayam nijah paroveti ganana laghuchetasam
udaracharitanantuvasudhaiva kutumbaka.

Ayam nijah, ‘these people are my people. Paroveti, but these people are outsiders.’ Thinking like this is ganana Laghuchetasam. Laghu, one thing is Laghu and the other thing is Guru. Laghu is narrow, small minded and Guru heavy and broad minded. So Laghuchetasam, those who are small minded, narrow minded, low minded, they always think ‘oh these are some outsiders and they are my people’ but those who are udaracharitanam tu, magnanimous, broad minded, high thinkers, what is their though?

Vasudhaiva kutumbaka

Vasudha means the earthly planet and ‘everybody on this planet is part of my family. That big is my family and the head of that family is Sri Krishna or Sri Rama.’ And if you want to say Allah go ahead or Jehovah, these are different names of God. ‘He is the head of our family and we are all children of that one God. ‘This is right thinking and this is high thinking. The world needs this kind of thinking very badly otherwise so much fighting and quarrelling.

What not is going on all over the world. Again when I was a child I was reminded. In my village I think it was early sixties, sixty two or in the sixties that China and India were getting ready to battle, fight so India is a peace loving country and so children all over the home villages were shouting the sloka ‘Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai, Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai.’

So I was a little, small boy in the village, so small that I did not know what I was shouting or what I was saying ‘Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai.’ So I was thinking that Hindi is the language and Chini is what? Sugar. And Hindi language and the sugar that you eat were Bhai, Bhai. They were supposed to be brothers. So only when I grew up I realized that Hindi referred to people of Hindustan and Chini referred to the people of China.

So all people of China and all people of India are Bhai Bhai, they are brothers. At least I understood the meaning or some kind of word meaning of what slogans were shouted, but only when I became spiritual and was brought in contact with devotees of Krishna, Srila Prabhupada and his Bhagavad Gita and when I read that Bhagavad Gita especially, then I realized. Two persons if they are brothers, what does that mean? They have a common father, they have one father and that’s why they are brothers. So I was wondering that who is the common father of all people in China and all people in India. Who is their father? Is it Mr Modi or the president of China, is he the common father? No!

aham bija pradah pita (BG 14.4)

Krishna says ‘I am the seed giving father of all living entities.’ So God is father of all people of China, of all people of India and in fact of all people everywhere. Krishna, God is the father and so this understanding is the right understanding and this kind of thinking, this understanding will make us men of character. Then we will live happily and peacefully on this planet otherwise this world is becoming unliveable. Unliveable, you cannot live on this planet, you better leave. Don’t live here, leave!

So thank you once again for giving me this opportunity to address you all today, all the youths. And I’m very happy to see you all and I’m happy to talk to you and see you some time again in the future. We are same family right? The same family and please keep chanting

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

And stay in the association of the devotees of Krishna or Hare Krishna devotees and study Bhagavd Gita and honour Krishna prasadam only. For the rest of your life do not eat anything else but Krishna prasad. Okay so any questions or comments or what else are we supposed to be doing?

Question: Maharaja, how do we handle failures in our life and still remain undeviated in our devotion?

Answer: Failure is the pillar of success, we hear that saying. Krishna’s advice is

sukha duhkhe same krmitva labhalabhau jayajayau (BG 2.38)

Sometimes happiness, sometimes distress. Transcend it and go beyond. Sometimes gain, sometimes loss. Sometimes success, sometimes failure. Yes, this is the world, this is the nature of this world. Krishna also says dvandvatito vimatsaraha (BG 4.22)

Dvandvatito, go beyond this dvandva of success and failure, gain and loss, youth and old age. Like that this world is full of this dual nature dvandva. That’s the meaning also of being transcendental or transcend, I would say just be successful at the time of death and do not ask for Coca Cola. Go for Bhola or go for Rama or Krishna. And if you do that you go back to Krishna. You re-join Krishna and there is no success like that. That is real success. Otherwise you may have so many gains and so many trophies and this and that but it’s no good.

ante narayana smrtih- that’s our goal.

itna to karna swami Jab pran tan se nikle govinda naam leke

Then you are victorious. So shoot for that and make that a goal. Other successes they come and go. You could learn from failure or you could do a review and you could reform or improve or learn from your mistakes. You can consult your councilor, your spiritual advisor or spiritual scientist and don’t repeat the same mistakes again. So making mistakes or even to err is human but not to learn from the mistakes and not to improve them..

There’s a difference between wise man and the fool number one. The wise man learns from his mistakes, from his failures and he is always improving, trying to rectify, plan to be better. Prevention is better than cure so try to prevent as much as possible learning from failure or some setbacks so that you will not repeat that failure again. The best thing is to get out of here and that’s param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam.

That’s the supreme victory and all these other successes and failures are not much important.

Question: Maharaja, we are chanting the holy names, we are doing seva but still we are attracted to the material world and our mind is still thinking about worldly affairs.

Answer: Yes, so? That’s not new. We have been thinking of worldly affairs for such a long, long time and all the affairs that we were thinking of were only material. All this time. So don’t expect that those material thoughts are just going to disappear just like that. That they are going to leave you alone instantly. No, it will take time and you have to practice.

man mana bhava mad bhakto
mad yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo ‘si me (BG 18.65)

‘Remember me’ Krishna says. Or chant Hare Krishna and become Krishna’s devotee and attempt to become Krishna’s devotees. Endeavour to remember Krishna, practice to remember Krishna and as you remember Krishna more and more, you’ll forget the material world and worldly affairs more and more. So ‘Ye yatha mam prapadyante’ Krishna says.

The more you remember Me, the more you surrender unto the Lord to that degree the Lord reveals himself unto us and to that degree we get free from Maya.

mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te.(BG 7.14)

Otherwise Maya is very strong. Krishna the owner of Maya says ‘mama maya duratyaya’ (BG 7.14). ‘Mama Maya, my Maya is very difficult to overcome’ so giving up the worldly thinking is not an easy thing but it could become easy by mam eva ye prapadyante, by surrendering unto Krishna. Call out for help, ‘help, help Krishna help.’ And that is

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

That is our call out to Krishna. ‘Help help, Krishna help!’ And you could get Maya out of your way and the path is clear and you could proceed. Yes? So this process of Krishna consciousness is to achieve that goal. We want to get rid of these mundane thoughts, worldly thoughts.

dhyayato visayan pumsah
sangas tesupajayate
sangat sanjayate kamah
kamat krodho ‘bhijayate (BG 2.62)

As soon as you contemplate on the objects of the senses what happens? Sangas tesupajayate. You develop attachment and then sangat sanjayate kamah, lust. And when that lust is not fulfilled you become angry. This is the cycle, the vicious cycle. Dhyayato visayan pumsah. Instead of thinking of Visayas, the sense objects, if you are thinking of Krishna, if you think of Krishna’s form, think of Krishna’s qualities and pastimes, think of Krishna’s devotees then what will happen?

Sangas tesupajayate You will also develop attachment for Krishna. Krishna’s name, Krishna’s abode, Krishna’s name, Krishna’s pastimes, Krishna’s devotees. And what will be the outcome? Earlier there was sangas tesupajayate sangat sanjayate kamah and here in this case you have contemplated on Krishna, Krishna’s form, Krishna’s qualities, Krishna’s devotees and then instead of developing Kama you will develop Prema, you will develop love for the Lord.

So this is how you transform lust into love or thinking of worldly affairs into thinking of Krishna by changing your contemplation, what you are thinking about. And we are thinking day and night so Krishna says ‘think of me’ and then you don’t have to think of Maya if you think of Krishna. Hari Hari.

Question: Preaching is becoming more and more difficult with the advancement of modern civilisation. How can we maintain patience and perseverance in spite of lack of interest from the youths?

Answer: I thought it was becoming easier in the sense that now a lot of preaching goes on online and with virtual programs happening. And it is also so easy now I am preaching to you right now, I am talking to you. The Covid-19 situation I think has compelled us to the modern means of communication and so that way through the Internet and through these virtual- online communication programs and preaching, things are becoming also very easy or economical and faster.

So in some sense it is becoming easier due to what the world has gone through. The kick of the Corona Virus has given us a kick, a big kick! Those super powers, America bow down, China bow down, bow down Russia. You could tell them this is what happens, from Bhoga comes Roga.

So the world had been in this enjoying spirit Bhoga enjoyment, and that results in Roga. And as this Roga, this Covid-19 has beaten off the human race, I hope they are coming to their senses and turning to God. So hope that they become more submissive and receptive to the message of Krishna consciousness. Now you could tell them ‘you better change your diet.’ Wuhan right? That was a city in China where that market place where all sorts of meat and this and that, a big kind of mix up- that’s where this virus was born and spread and was exported all over.

So yes, better go for this patram pushpam phalam toyam. No more muttonam chikanam this and that. So you could point out and bring this to the attention of the people of this world so that they can change their lifestyle and diet and the whole value system, their attitude. So I think that we have an opportunity to preach. This Covid-19 is providing us with a great opportunity and great forum, channel also. So don’t get discouraged and face the challenges if there are any.

Srila Prabhupada’s desire to establish Vedic farms

November 23rd 1997
Maharashtra Tour,
Chamorshi, India

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Krishna who is the source of all incarnations. So let’s hurry up a little bit as we have to go to Nagpur yet. On the way back to Godhead we have to go past Nagpur which is on the way. From Nagpur we can go back to Godhead and Pandharpur is going back to Godhead right? Going there means going back to Godhead where on the way is Nagpur.

na casya kascin nipunena dhatur
avaiti jantuh kumanisa utih
namani rupani mano vacobhih
santanvato nata caryam ivajnah [SB 1.3.37]

Translation

The foolish with a poor fund of knowledge cannot know the transcendental nature of Krishna’s forms, names and qualities of the Lord, who is playing like an actor in a drama.

In a drama sometimes you do not know who is acting, who is Vitthal, who is Rukmini. We do not know his real name so who can understand the Lord who acts like a nata caryam ivajnah. So this sort of foolish person through his words or speech contemplation cannot express the understanding of the Lord through their contemplation or speech.

Purport
No one can properly describe the transcendental nature of the Absolute Truth. Therefore it is said that He is beyond the expression of mind and speech. And yet there are some men, with a poor fund of knowledge, who desire to understand the Absolute Truth by imperfect mental speculation and faulty description of His activities. To the layman His activities, appearance and disappearance, His names, His forms, His paraphernalia, His personalities and all things in relation with Him are mysterious. There are two classes of materialists, namely the fruitive workers and the empiric philosophers. The fruitive workers have practically no information of the Absolute Truth, and the mental speculators, after being frustrated in fruitive activities, turn their faces towards the Absolute Truth and try to know Him by mental speculation. And for all these men, the Absolute Truth is a mystery, as the jugglery of the magician is a mystery to children. Being deceived by the jugglery of the Supreme Being, the nondevotees, who may be very dexterous in fruitive work and mental speculation, are always in ignorance. With such limited knowledge, they are unable to penetrate into the mysterious region of transcendence. The mental speculators are a little more progressive than the gross materialists or the fruitive workers, but because they are also within the grip of illusion, they take it for granted that anything which has form, a name and activities is but a product of material energy. For them the Supreme Spirit is formless, nameless and inactive. And because such mental speculators equalize the transcendental name and form of the Lord with mundane names and form, they are in fact in ignorance. With such a poor fund of knowledge, there is no access to the real nature of the Supreme Being. As stated in ,Bhagavad-gita the Lord is always in a transcendental position, even when He is within the material world. But ignorant men consider the Lord one of the great personalities of the world, and thus they are misled by the illusory energy.

When you in the midst of disturbances that disturbance enters your head and heart. People cannot even compare the peaceful time with the disturbed moments because throughout their lives all they have experienced is disturbance, noise and so when you come to a place like this you understand then what you were missing. Here you have to struggle hard to see whether there is any sound of anywhere in the creation.

On the contrary, in the modern cities we have to look for a place where we can find some peace and some quiet. By the grace of the Lord there are a few places left in the world where you could still go to for preaching and achieve to peace. Of course one time what we experience here now, this peace used to be all pervading. It used to be all over and now it’s a different situation.All glories to somebody, someone who has worked very hard and disturbed that peaceful situation- Jai ho! Someone has worked very systematically, bringing us to the worst state of affairs.

So it was the desire and the endeavour of Srila Prabhupada to establish and identify peace. This is the reason we got this idea with a farm and also cows, we could have a small temple and grow vegetables. Prabhupada inspired us to do this.

So what Prabhupada did was he endeavored to uphold these Vedic principles. Prabhupada started emphasizing the farm communities and the cow protection. Prabhupada personally went to New Vrndavan and sat there under a tree. We had lots of land but we had no development, no buildings and no temple facilities. So Srila Prabhupada just stayed in a very simple dwelling in West Virgina, New Vrndavan and he went there several times. He spent days and weeks each time and I was feeling very bad that I also come to Chamorshi but I do not spend as much time as Prabhupada used to spend time in New Vrindavan.

Some other farms also in the west, Prabhupada used to go and stay there. Even in Hyderabad we had a big centre in the city and Prabhupada used to go and stay on the Hyderabad farm. It is shown in photographs and is in conversations also Gita Nagari farm in America Prabhupada would go and stay there. So all that we are doing here, our founder Acarya Srila Prabhupada has encouraged us to do these things.

This is right here is the International Society for Krishna Consciousnesses. Around here we have 40 kilometres of land and we are trying to utilize this land as per wishes, desires and direction of Srila Prabhupada. We are not like other farmers in the region or in this part of Maharashtra, we also grow useful grains and vegetable, flowers and fruits.

All these flowers are grown in our own garden and Prabhupada used to say also that there are lots of farmers and they go for the crop that brings cash and they try to commercialize the farming. So they grow tea and coffee and tobacco and all those kind of stuff. So that’s again the part of the age of Kali, the mentality of the age of Kali. There are two kinds of economies in the world – one is called agrarian economic development depending on the land and agriculture and the other one is industrial economy.

So there’s a competition between the two and somehow industrial economy is a predominant force and agrarian economy in the background is being ignored and being forgotten. These days intelligent, those who think that they have some brain, that they are intelligent, they rush to the cities. They think this work of agriculture is for low class, unintelligent persons and this is a widespread misunderstanding in the world including India.

Doing farming, taking care of the cows and doing trading, if you have some extra grains you could sell them or do bartering. This is part of the Lord’s Varnasrama Dharma system.

krsi go raksya vanijyam (B.G 18.44)

This is Vaisya, even Nanda Maharaja was a Vaisya. And Krishna was the son of a Vaisya. What was Krishna doing? Herding cows all day, he did not go to some factory. He lived in Vrndavan, he did not go to Delhi to find some job. Haribol! But we are running. So we were talking how there’s lots of disturbance in the world, there is no peace and so much disturbance, so much noise and running around.

This is all caused by the industrial economy. As soon as you come to the villages or go to the farms, the other disturbance is finished, it’s over. There are so many side effects, bad effects of the industrial economy and the body is getting a bad deal, the mind is getting a bad deal from this industrial economy. The soul is completely covered over and there is not even talk of the existence of the soul.

So many doctors and medicines and hospitals why? 80 % of the population of India is still in the villages but twenty percent of the population that live in the city have more doctors and more hospitals and more medicines for that twenty percent population compared to the rest of the eighty percent.

In Dehli, in Nagpur, every lane has a signboard of this doctor or that surgeon or this specialist. But in the villages they don’t have any doctors, there’s no need because there’s nice fresh air, the fragrance.

punyo gandhah prthivyam ca

The sweet smell that you get there is directly coming from the earth and ‘that is me’ the Lord says. This is the tenth canto. So when you work in the farm especially, after a few months of summer season when it rains for the first time. I mean you have no experience, but as village boys we have experience. That smell, the first time it rains, that kind of smell that you get it’s amazing. That kind of smell is Krishna. Hare Krishna!

Also the flowers add to the beauty and the fragrance, so there is no comparison between industrial and agrarian economy and the simple villages and the big complex cities. They are hellish. Prabhupada also said about London or England ‘you don’t have to go to hell. Just by going there you can have firsthand experience of what hell is like.’

So this has to be changed. As a scientist and the materialist and so many other staunch followers of the age of Kali, they have worked very, very hard and systematically to bring the situation to the present day levels. And now someone else, the other party, Krishna conscious party, the Vedic team will have to work equally or even harder to reverse the situation and bring people back to the nature, back to the villages, the land and the cow.

So as we are so much spoiled as we always prefer big cities and towns- even Iskcon devotees, they always run to the cities. You could see the devotees of Iskcon Chamorshi, they are such dedicated servants of Srila Prabhupada. They are very much here staying on the property and serving mother earth and the cow. So we appreciate their dedication and we can’t say how much appreciation they deserve.

We can’t say just a few words for a few minutes, they are working – what we said, that someone has to start working. So they have started working on establishing this farm so they are upholding the principles of Vedic culture.

Haribol! Iskcon Chamorshi ki jai!

So we wish that there will be more and more devotees who will join this team here. They are also capable of organizing a grand festival and reception as we have seen, as they have done for us. This is the best program of the tour, right? Gauranga, Gauranga!

Nowhere else have we had so many people or public and according to Subhag Maharaja, not only was there a large number but they were also listening attentively. We had speeches in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and English also. And no-one left until the end but were increasing till the end. And you know after the drama, people sat down, they wanted to stay. So they were attracted by Vitthal Rukmini and by the devotees.

We could see that sincere efforts were being made here. Otherwise we had nothing to offer, we were not offering any other kind of money or support. Temporarily they had forgotten their homes so there was no desire of going back. It was a very, very successful program and the credit actually goes to Parameshwar Prabhu and of course his team.

They are not here as they are still winding up the show and I am very happy. Are you all visiting devotees happy also? So sometimes you could come and stay here and you could do your Sadhana, some reading and work in the field. There is a field right outside here so you can work in the field right here. You don’t have to drive, Prabhupada said they drive literally, as you know, a hundred kilometres. Some people everyday go from Pune to Bombay everyday in the morning on the train called Deccan Queen, you don’t even know how.

Everyday for three, four hours on the train one way and those many hours on returning in the evening and it is like that in many cities around the world. They are wasting their time where here it takes half a minute to go in the field and you can work. So this is a mad world with crazy people and so let us not join those crazy people.

Stay wise and make best use of your time and energy and here you could do Sadhana and peacefully you could chant. When you chant Hare Krishna there is nothing else.

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

There’s nothing else that mixes other sounds in it. You can only hear Hare Krishna Hare Krishna and the soul can hear this. It is so very hard in the cities to do this and even if you don’t want to hear there are so many other sounds to disturb you. In Hong Kong we were just there a few months ago, Giridhari Maharaja said there’s a point high up so all the sounds of the cities all go up into the air in this place.

All the sounds, vibration, talks and honking of the horn- everything goes in the air and you can go to this one point to hear it (Maharaja makes a funny sound of all these sounds mixing). This is what you hear because each sound is trying to collide with the vibrations and it neutralizes to nothing really and ultimately this kind of sound is so much surcharged with so many vibrations that there is no room for additional sound effects there.

So when you put your mind in the midst of all this, you go crazy. So I feel times are hard but we have Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with us. Gauranga Mahaprabhu is very much on our side and so we already have succeeded and more success is now awaiting us. We can see so many people, all those who are assembled agreeing with what we are talking here and following it to different degrees. Ten, twenty, thirty years ago even we did not -we were part of that other crowd.

This is just a few devotees, there are hundreds and thousands times more bigger devotees on this planet with this conviction. And this is all in the last thirty years, in 1965,1966 there was one person with this philosophy and by association of Prabhupada, he has converted us, he has entered our hearts and his contagious association has transformed us and certainly if you have started listening to what he has said.

We have a lot to learn and he is the source of all knowledge, we have these books which are Prabhupada’s thoughts and we have Krishna, of whom he has spoken about and so Prabhupada always emphasised book distribution. We must always go on distributing books. Even our Iskcon Chamorshi now is distributing books, Jai!

They got this vehicle Jeep donated and immediately they made that into a Sankirtan vehicle. Same thing also in Nagpur, we had few scooters but when we got our first vehicle of four wheels- a Jeep, we immediately put that into action distributing books. So now these two centres, one in Nagpur and one in Chamorshi -they are reviving the five thousand year old culture by distributing Prabhupada’s books and also we have Antaryami and Dakshina Mataji’s home village. Soon they are going to be giving up everything American and be giving a big kick to America and that will give a big boost. So they will big a big kick and then come and they will land in India. Haribol!

Like that, that region also they will take care. So please leave becoming more enthusiastic and stay that way too. So we will come back maybe next time but there is always shortage of time but we should stay here for a few days. Some devotees were not very happy that we were coming and quickly going back in one day. But by some arrangement we at least got to spend one morning program here.
Jai Radha Shamsundara ki jai!

Otherwise having to get up at 5.30 and just take off. Yesterday’s book score?

Devotee: Four thousand nine hundred

Maharaja: Almost five thousand rupees worth of books were distributed yesterday. Hari Haribol! Five thousand rupees in Krishna’s pocket, huh? Now that five thousand has to be used to glorify Radha Shamsundara and has to be used in buying more books. So thank you, all the devotees, Parameshwar Prabhu and his team for a wonderful reception, nice prasadam Even I sat down and took a whole plate of prasadam after the drama at ten o clock.

It was nice prasadam with not too much spices and so we will stop here. Any questions?

Devotee: Maharaja can you tell us something about these self manifested deities?

Maharaja: So these are the personal deities of Parameshwar Prabhu and they appeared to him and he found them in Bangladesh, how many years ago? When he was eight years old. He is forty years now so when he was eight years he came in contact with these deities.

(Devotee speaks of how the deities came to him in a dream and then they came into his house in self manifested form and he started to speak for first time as he was born without speech prior to this and had never spoken as a child).

Maharaja: you should write about all this. His parents are not here now so he could just write the history. So these are really special deities.

Devotee: So many wonderful devotees have come here but due to the situation here we were not able to properly receive them nicely and this is a mistake and inconvenience on my part and so I beg for the forgiveness of all Vaishanavas. The district authorities would like us to make a tourist spot here and many devotees can come so please give blessings and pray that we may be able to do this. We want a beautiful farm here and a small temple.

In Sastra it is written that the Mother or Father’s favour on us can never be returned and nor can the spiritual master’s favour be returned as he takes us back home, back to Godhead. So I would like everyone’s blessings so I may be able to do like this and be able to make a small temple to dedicate to Prabhupada no matter how hard it may be and no matter how many difficulties I may have to face. I am ready to do this.

Your strength and good wishes will be my greatest strength so that’s why I pray that you all may pray to the Lord so this may come to pass. Hare Krishna.

Maharaja: we have at least someone who is very committed. You could see that his commitment is very deep and you can see that this is his life and soul. This is the meaning of following the instruction of the spiritual master or doing something, no matter what, you would like to do it. This is very..

So I wish that we can also all take some impression from the example of Parameshwar Prabhu and stick to some instruction which is important and given to us by our authorities, our spiritual master so we could also dedicate our life like that. In every way our tour of Chamorshi has become successful and inspirational. So we will stop here and take rest. During prasadam Hari Kirtan Prabhu will make an announcement about when we have to be gradually leaving for Nagpur. We are not going by train there which is clear. We will be going by bus.

These are the kind of hardships to spend in Krishna consciousness

Walking around iskcon Chamorshi land

Maharastra tour

November 22, 1997
Chamorshi, India

In India we own a few farms and out of those half a dozen farms there are only a few farms growing vegetables. And chilli is also growing here and other vegetables. Rice also, rice paddy. There are tomatoes to our left here, not this one but that one there.

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

For part of the year there’s water here in the canal. Five or six days ago there was water coming in here and now it has stopped. Is this connected with a river dam? Yes a river, so this is agriculture for the irrigation? Oh,I want to bring to your attention that this is for the brick factory, you see the bricks? This is Radha Shyamsubdara brick factory.

Shouts of Haribol! So this is the first brick factory in Iskcon.

Devotee: There is one is Vrindavan

Maharaja: Okay, number two factory and so devotees are trying to be self sufficient by doing different things. We can go sometimes..

Oh, we didn’t look there by the temple and the Prabhupada memorial. These are the brinjals here in front of you and to your left are the chilies. So they have been planted only some time ago so in a few months time there will be plenty of brinjals and tons of chilies. That’s for you.?

So this is the main source of water for farming. This well is now like 25 feet deep and they have done the boring in the middle which is very deep, about 25 feet deep. So in the belly of mother earth there is lots of water so they get water out like this and with a pump it goes to the fields. Near the temple also they did some digging and there is some water and some small fish you see?

The water is quite clear and about a 100 fish, small family. Some mango trees and some guava? Lots of guavas, you see the fruits? Papayas are there, mangoes, coconut. All these trees are now growing. They are not stopping when I’m not talking? They are very smart you see? Oh this is from Bangladesh? This is a special fruit tree from Bangladesh we brought from Bangladesh to here. These are devotees from Bangladesh, in fact.

Anyone can speak Bengali here? The previous kitchen was here last year when we came. Tomatoes for the soup on the left. Is the Goshala clean? You should have cleaned it up more. These bulls are from Vrndavan, they were in Vrndavan Goshala one time.

Go mata ki jai!
Gopal Krishna Bhagavan ki jai!
Gvalbalo ki jai!
Vrindavan dham li jai!
Gokul dham ki jai!

Let everyone take darsana of the cows. There are some twenty five calves and cows. You see how peaceful they are? They give more manure for fertilizing than they give milk. Do you have the main crop and how much milk do you get? Two to three hundred quintals. You understand quintals? One hundred kg is a quintal so three hundred quintals.

So soon they will get those cows and bulls to walk all over, round and round and then this is the separated- and then this has to be husked further, there is rice inside. So this is all rice also. This is to be husked. Local people please come forward.

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

He is teacher in high school, which school? He is initiated disciple and he chants sixteen rounds since how long?

Devotee: since 1987

Maharaja: Since ‘87 he is chanting 16 rounds and he has been initiated for some
time now. His wife was initiated and Parikrama devi dasi is her name. We did one Parikrama here. Big padayatra in these Bengali villages. There are how many villages? There are around two hundred villages where the residents are mostly from Bengal, Bangladesh. Between Pakistan and Bangladesh, a lot of people from Bangladesh, they became refugees in India. So they were given shelter, residence, accommodation and different parts of land in India so this is one area where lots of people migrated from Bangladesh to this part. This deity of Radha Shyamsundar was in Bangladesh also at one time and Parameshwar Prabhu, he was born in Bangladesh and he came with the deity from Bangladesh. There’s a village called Krishnanagar just two kilometres from here and the deities were in the village for many, many years and this was all forest.

And the devotees, they cut the trees and leveled the land and then dug the wells and then levelled the land so it’s a lot of labour, a lot of hard labour and sweating that has gone into making this. A few years ago there were trees here. Only two years ago right here there were trees and rocks. You could see trees like this, there are only two trees now but there were trees like this everywhere.

So now put a small temple. So someone is working hard and growing rice and vegetables. We are not used to it, in Iskcon we think- we have been spoilt by this so called modern style, scientific age and electronic ways of doing things. We are not into making our hands dirty although when it comes to eating we have to eat rice only..And wheat. We cannot eat nuts and bolts, we can’t fry them for our breakfast or fry them for petrol.

We have to eat rice and grains and vegetables, it doesn’t matter whether we are going to the moon or living in New York where they eat flesh which is another foolish idea instead of eating..cows eat fresh grass and they eat rotten meat so who is wiser? The cow is taking lush, green fresh grass and she has a good appetite and so we should be drinking her milk but instead we prefer meat. This is the age of Kali.

They will have a Narsimha temple in the future here, we don’t have the deities now. A Narsimha temple here for the protection of all the devotees on the farm, we will have Narsimhadeva. Prabhupada’s Pushpa Samadhi is here.

Devotee: I hear that the deities of Radha Shyamasundara are self manifested. Maybe we could hear that story? Is now a good time?

Maharaja: So Mukunda you are struggling! Some flowers from when Prabhupada departed, Parameshwar Prabhu managed to get some of those flowers. So he brought some of those flowers and they have been placed here. So he is also thinking that this is a little Pushpa Samadhi but this is just the beginning. In the future this will all be developed further.

This Murti was made locally by a local devotee, Srila Prabhupada ki jai! So everything is by the grace of Guru and Gauranga so we pray to Srila Prabhupada for his mercy and direction for further success here, and your prayers. So you can come and stay here and we are showing you around so you can pick and choose one of the places some of the time sooner or later.

Let’s show everyone the milk taken from the cows. They give three times, how old is this cow? Just one old month old? Vatsa means calf and the cow’s feelings, the way she feels and cares for the calf, this is Vatsalya bhava.

What is inside the Goshala? Like in Parikrama you can just sit down and eat, so you wash your hands and feet and come in here and take Prasadam.

Super excellence of Gaudiya Vaisnavism

27 Nov 2020

Online class for Middle East Sanga

Few years before during ILS ISKCON Leadership Sangha I made one presentation, which was appreciated and then after that I have shared this presentation with few other groups and now it is your turn. And the topic is ‘super excellence of Gaudiya Vaisnavism’. ‘Understanding the Super excellence of Gaudiya Vaisnavism’, so we are Gaudiya vaisnavas, ISKCON devotees, followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. There are so many other religions and sampradayas, paraparas and dharmas. Amongst all those this is the top notch practice of God consciousness, we call that Krishna consciousness. And it is super excellent. So this is the point I want to get across to you.

So, these are some of the topics, all these topics, I am going to talking about. As you see them listed and I wish to add in some more topics in future, but for now this is what we have. ‘Acintya Bhedabheda Tattva’ we will be talking about that philosophical conclusions and how Acintya Bhedabheda tattva, Gaudiya vaisnavism is super excellent, the top most. Many sampradayas and Gaudiya sampradaya’s excellence; Raganuga sadhana bhakti, as there are so many types of bhakti and sadhana and practices and Raganuga sadhana, as Gaudiya vaisanavas’ sadhana and that is super excellent. And there are so many abodes, holy places and destinations and Goloka is the topmost.

goloka eva namni nija dhamni taleca tasya

That is the super excellent, the top most. Then Rasa-vicar, different rasas are there. You know that 12 rasas are secondary and 5 primary, and amongst those which rasa is the top most, which Caitanya Mahaprabhu has delivered, that we will be talking about. And then so many scriptures, types of scriptures, globally and amongst them Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrita are super excellent. And there are so many objects of worship or religionists have understanding of this god that god, this name that name, demigod or long list. Then Krsna and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that point we will make. Then there are many mantras and Hare Krsna mantra is Maha mantra. Others are mantras, but this is Maha mantra, the best in all the mantras. In conclusion Gaudiya Vaisnavism is Krsna consciousness. We will just conclude by making that point. So, we will start one by one.

Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai!
aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa –tanayas tad dhama vrndavanam
ramya kacid upasana vrajavadhu vargena ya kalpita
srimad bhagavatam pramanam amalam prema pumartho mahan
sri caitanya mahaprabhur matam idam tatradaro nah parah

This mantra is from ‘Sri Caitanya-mata-manjusa’, the foundation of what I am presenting here. This is Caitanya Mahaprabhus’s mata-midam, at the end it is said, this is the opinion of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and He is the one who is saying, ‘when it comes to aradhana or worship, then worship of Vrajesa tanaya, Sri Krsna, is the top most.’ And the same time tad-dham vrndavanam and worship of Vrndavan abode is the top most amongst all the abodes or dhams. And the mode of worship ‘vraja vadhu vargena ya kalpita’, the mode of worship adopted by the Gopis, that is the topmost. ‘Srimad Bhagavatam pramanam amalam’, so amongst all the scriptures, Srimad Bagavatam is the top most and spotless Purana. And ‘prema pumarto mahan’, and pancham purusartha, everyone else is busy with the four purusarthas, dharma, artha, kama and moksa and we have one additional purusartha, called prema pumarto mahan, that is ‘Love of Godhead’. Sri-caitanya-mahaprabhor matam idam, this is the opinion of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And ‘tatra daro nah parah’, we honor that and we respect that opinion of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Sad-Goswami vrinda ki jai!
These are our acaryas. Besides the Lord, these are the associates of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Goswami’s of Vrndavan. They have also done ‘nana sastra vicaranaika’, scrutinizingly studying of all the sastras and essence of that is Krsna consciousness, Gaudiya Vaisnavism, which they have established.

Acintya Bhedabheda Tattva is the specialty of the Gaudiya Vaisnavism. Going back into the history, or we will cover half the way of history. 2500 years ago, Buddha appeared and He presented Sunyavada which is voidism we call it, sunya everything is zero. What we have to attain? Our goal is zero, void. Then appeared Sankaracarya, he appeared some 1100 or 1200 years ago. First vada was sunyavada and this one is Mayavada or Advaitavada. Before his appearance, he (Sivaji) had said this to Parvati that, I am going appear as Brahman.

kalau brahmana rupina

I am going to appear in Kerala and I would be propagating Mayavada, which is asat sastram, falsehood, I am going to talk some speculation. So, that siddhanta or philosophy he propagated is known as Nirvisesavada, impersonalism. First one was voidism and this is impersonalism, also known as Advaitvada. There are so many other vada-vivada, that had taken place in the world, but we are mainly going to deal with this Sunyavada and Nirvisesavada or Advaitavada. Also Nirvisesavada, as you could see the finger, ‘one’, there is no difference between Lord and ourselves. We are one. Ultimately we will merge into that Brahman and become one with the Lord. So that’s the kind of understanding, which is misunderstanding, which was propagated by Sankaracarya.

Then comes, first was everything is zero or we have to attain Zero, become zero, that is Sunyavada and then Advaitavada, become one with the Lord, advaitavada by Sankaracarya and then comes our whole batch, battalion of our acaryas, the four sampradaya acaryas and they talked about Dvaitvada. Especially Madhvacarya emphasized and whenever we see his portrait, he is showing two, two, not zero, not one, two. So there is a living entity, that is one and other one is Supreme Lord, that is two, they are two simultaneously and eternally they exist as two entities.

So here are the four sampradayas.
1.Brahma sampradaya
2. Rudra sampradaya
3. Kumar sampradaya
4. Sri sampradaya

Four acaryas appeared in those sampradayas. What they have presented, their philosophies are known as Dvaita siddhanta, Visista advaita siddhanta of Ramanujacarya, Suddhadvaita siddhanta of Vinsuswami and Dvaitadvaita siddhanta of Nimbarkacarya. So basically they are talking about the advaitvada with some variant degree but bottom line is adavita siddhant, the living entity and Supreme Lord are anu atma and vibhu atma, that is Paramatma, they are two and they eternally and simultaneously exist. This was a concluding philosophy or siddhanta of all the four sampradaya acaryas.

And then comes Gaudiya Vaisnava siddhanta, presented by Baladeva Vidyabhusana, which he is presented in Jaipur; some 300 years ago he wrote a commentary on Vedanta sutra, which is known as Govinda bhasya and that is known as Acintya Bhedabheda tattva. As you could see here, the fingers are or you could read also, simultaneously one and different. So the four sampradaya acaryas emphasized the two, we are two. Our contribution is or amendment made by Gaudiya Vaisnava acarya, Baladeva Vidyabhusana is Acintya Bhedabheda tattva, living entity and Lord are two and one simultaneously. So, quantitatively we are two or different, and qualitatively we are one, non-different. So while emphasizing, these four sampradaya acaryas, they were emphasizing dualism or this dvaitavada, as a result living entity and the Lord are separated, stay away living entity, stay away, but the Gaudiya Vaisnava siddhanta brings that living entity closer to the Lord also and right in the lap of the Lord or sometimes climbing up on the shoulder of the Lord and like that. So Gaudiya vaisnava siddhanta of acintya bhedabheda tattva, is bringing closer to the Lord and even mixing and mingling and dealing with the Lord like that and not just maintaining the owe and reverence of God and He is great and stay away or stay at the feet only, like that.

So that is a long journey, have taken two thousand years, so Buddha to Sankara and to others also, four sampradayas and Caitantya Mahaprabhu, this is 2000 years period; so from zero to one to two to simultaneously one and two siddhanta of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His parampara.

‘namaste saraswate deve gaur vani pracarine nirvisesa sunyavadi pascatya desa tarine’

We chant this pranam mantra everyday at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada, and there in we say, Srila Prabhupada propagated Gaura vani, the message of Gauranga Mahaprabhu and what was the outcome or what was the result? Nirvisesa sunyavada, then sunyavada, advaitvada was defeated and the western world or the whole world was saved, we are saved from this sunyavada andnirvisesavada as Gaura vani pracar, gaur vani message was propagated by Srila Prabhupada and his Hare Krsna movement.

Gaudiya sampradaya, that is our next title, the relationship between Gaudiya Vaisnavism and four sampradayas! We already talked about this. Just one more point that we will be making here. So, even before 500 years, before Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s manifested lila, all these sampradaya acaryas, whenever they were on the planet, like Ramanujacarya was on the planet thousand years ago and Madhvacarya 800 years ago and like that, all the four acaryas appeared before Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s advent and whenever they were on the planet they were visiting Mayapur dham. And they all had encounter with Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu or darsana of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So what I am about to present, just short presentation, it is from Navadvipa dham mahatmya, parikrama khanda of Bhakti Vinod Thakur.

So, here what you see is Nityanada Prabhu is taking Jiva Goswami on parikrama of Navadvipa dham. And there is a dialogue, they are talking, basically Nityananda Prabhu is going to be mentioning, there is a statement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu wherein He says that, ‘I am going to accept two qualities from all these four sampradayas. Two of their best qualities I will accept in my sampradaya.

From Sri Sampradaya I will accept these two qualities: ananya bhakti and bhaktajana seva, serving devotees and unalloyed devotional service, these two qualities from Sri sampradaya, Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted these qualities from Ramanuja sampradaya.

From Madhvacarya sampradaya, keval advaita nirasana, that the way he defeated Advaitvada, Madhvacarya did, there is a whole presentation. So I accept that within My sampradaya and also nitya krsna murti sevana and the way Madhavacarya served the Deities, his Krsna, Udupi Krsna, so that I will accept in My sampradaya. This is all stated in that Bengali prayer from Navadvipa dham mahatmya.It is stated there at the top.

And from Rudra sampradaya, tadiya sarvasva bhava, fully surrender unto the Lord and Raga marga, following ragamarga, these two principles from Rudra sampradaya. Okay, moving on, Kumar sampradaya, Ekanta Radhikasraya and Gopibhava. I think you could understand what is talked here of these two principles from Kumar sampradaya. So, this way Caitanya Mahaprabhu made His sampradaya, parampara wholesome and complete. We have our own philosophy and siddhanta and bhava and bhakti and all these additional dimensions were added by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to Gaudiya Vaisanava parampara, making this as a super excellent Gaudia Vaisnavism.

Next Raganuga sadhana, this we will be talking about, next. As you could see, sadhana bhakti has vaidhi sadhana bhakti and raganuga sadhana bhakti. We do practice Vaidhi sadhana bhakti, but soon we evolve or rise and get on the path of Raganuga sadhana bhakti, that is Gaudiya Vaisnavism. This is Krsna. He isstill in Goloka. Krsna’s contemplation before His advent in this world as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Krsna is thinking, contemplating, preparing His strategy, ‘now I appeared, what I am going to do’. This is from Caitanya Caritamrita

‘premarasa niryasa karite asvadana ragamarga bhakti loke karite pracarana’ (Cc Adi 4.15)

Here it is like two pronged strategy, one is to do premarasa asvadan, He would like to relish premarasa and do the pracar, propagation of that Raga marga. So relishing and propagating, sharingthat prema rasa or love of godhead.
More of the same thing,

‘aisvarya jnanete saba jagat misrita aisvarya sithila preme nahi mora prita’(Cc Adi 4.17),

The love weakened by the sense of majesty does not satisfy Me. I do not become subservient to such love. And then He says ‘If one thinks of Me as his son, his friend, his beloved, his equal or inferior, then I am satisfied with him.’ (Cc Adi 4.18)

Rupanuga is Raganuga. Rupanuga sadhana was given by Rupa Goswami. Here we could see at Radha Damodar temple and at the courtyard there is a samadhi of Rupa Goswami and bhajan kutir also, of Rupa Goswami. Srila Prabhupada is contemplating and imbibing all that raganuga bhajan sadhana bhakti and pouring that into his purports and he is relishing himself, Srila Prabhupada is propagating same all over the world as he would be founding International society for Krsna consciousness.

Goloka dham ki jai!

So the famous statement we know from Bramha Samhita,

‘Goloka namni nijadhamni tale ca tasya devi mahesaharidhamasu tesu tesu’

Goloka is at the top and underneath is Devidhama and that is middle east, where you are, we all are and there is Mahesh dham, and there is Hari dhama, Vaikuntha dham and there is Sanket dhama. I think it is all shown here also. We could see Brahma and his creation underneath, there is Devi dhama underneath Viraja river and you cross and you get into Mahesh dhama, which is Lord Siva’s dhama. Half of Siva’s dham is part of Devi dhama, material existence and upper half is part of Vaikuntha dhama. That is very special feature of Mahesa dhama. And then, Saketa, it is Rama’s abode, Ayodhya, up there in spiritual sky. And at the top there is Radha and Krsna residing and performing Their pastimes. It is Goloka dham.

Further details are there, as you could see 1/4th Brahmanda, cross section, 14 planetary systems and Brahma’s planet on the top and we could see so many other planets floating in the universes.

Sadasiva, He stays in the upper half of Mahesh dhama which is part of Vaikuntha. And Rudra and other forms of Siva, they are in lower part. They are the party that destroys the world, and there are other Rudras, 11 Rudras. And this is Vaikuntha and this is finally Goloka. Gaudiya Vaishnavas, their goal is Goloka. They do not stop not in svarga, not here and there, not in Vaikuntha. And the topmost abode is Goloka and that is super excellent and that is the destination of Gaudiya Vaisnavas. So, karmis go only upto heaven and jnanis they merge into Brahmajyoti and vaidhi bhaktiwalas they go to Vaikuntha and Raganuga bhaktas they go to Goloka, the supreme destination.

So moving on, rasa vicar. It is a very vast and deep topic, rasa vicar. Considering, contemplating and understanding the rasas, mellows. As I said earlier, there are seven rasas which are gaun or secondary rasas and this is all described in the Nectar of Devotion purports. Five principle, pradhan rasas are displayed here. So, santa rasa – Krsna nista, they are attached to Krsna and trisna tyaga, they are detached from worldly affairs. So that is their specialty or character of the Santa rasa is this, Krsna nista and trisna tyaga.

Then Dasya bhava, dasya bhakti, dasya rasa, so they have previous two characteristics and additional one is sevana, they become active and they act, they serve. The other party santa, they may just appreciate sitting around. But in dasya, they jump into the action. Going higher, sakhya rasa, you could see all those three characteristics are there and additional is visrambha. Visrambha means this is where the acintya bheda bheda, this is abheda, this comes into the picture. Bheda is there but abheda that is visrambha. We are closer to the Lord. We have similar qualities of the Lord or we are around the Lord or devotees are around the Lord, and even equal to the Lord, sakhya rasa, that is called visrambha. Sakhas will say to the Lord sometimes,

‘oh tuni ami sama tum kaun badalog’

Who do you think you are? We are equals. Let’s play! Vatsalya rasa, so all previous four and additional is palaka jnana. Palaka jnana, this is parenthood and the parents of the Lord, some devotees become parents of the Lord and they think I have to take care, I have to look after my child, my son Krsna or Rama or whatever name They have. So, this palaka jnana. They take care of Krsna, Lord.

Then Madhurya rasa, this is conjugal dealings and additional thing is nijanga dana, and here is full surrender and full evolution in Krsna consciousness and they surrender everything including nijanga dana, even their bodies at disposal by Lord. So, no reservation, no holding back, nothing; everything is for Your pleasure my dear Lord. So that bhava or that rasa, that kind of bhakti is called Nijanga dana, dana is giving, offering. That is madhurya rasa. And this is, Caitanya Mahapabhu has spoken (CC Madhya 19.215-235) or taught these things to Sanatan Goswami, this is Sanatan siksha inCaitanya Caritamrta Madhya lila chapter 19. You could read further details also.

So these are examples of santa rasa bhaktas. One time of course, they were santa rasa or brahmavadis. Later on they progressed and one time, these four Kumaras, they came into the category of santa rasa bhaktas, jnani bhaktas. And this one is dasya rasa, the whole Vaikuntha world is filled with dasas or servants. Every Vaikuntha planet have their masters, different incarnations or avatars of the Lord, They reside in different Vaikunthas. They are all great and reverence exhibited between Lord and devotes. So there servitude is all pervading, predominating in Vaikuntha lokas.

And then sakhya rasa, but now we are going to be very briefly talking or presenting sakhya rasa, vatsalya rasa and Madhurya rasa and they, all three of them are of two different kinds. Sakhya rasa- aisvarya misrita sakhya rasa, the friendship is there but it is mixed with aisvarya, God being great and that understanding is also there at the back of their mind. And then they relate with Lord as sakhas, but understanding God is great. Here this is also sakhya rasa but this is Visrambha sakhya rasa. This is abheda, abheda part is exhibited here. No difference! So, these are also sakhas, Arjuna is also sakha but these are the cowherd boys, His friends in Vrindavan. This is Visrambha sakhya rasa.

And then aisvarya misrita vatsalya rasa, this is in the prison house of Kamsa, and Lord has just taken birth. And He is showing His four handed form and this is Vasudeva and Devaki. So this relationship is that of vatsalya, but there is aisvarya misran or they are even offering prayers, you could see. Prakrutepurusam param, there is a whole prayer. They are offering prayers to their son. So this is Aisvarya misrita vatsalya rasa in Mathura.

And then, this is also vatsalya, jai Damodar! This is visrambha vatsalya rasa, which we have been experiencing throughout this month of Damodar. There is no aisvarya, not even a drop of aisvarya, or it is only visrambha vatsalya here.

And here is a madhurya rasa, in Vaikuntha, there is madhurya rasa, sringar rasa. Laxmi Narayan or Laxmi Narsimha or Laxmi Varaha like that every Lord of Vaikuntha has His consort, Laxmi with Them and that rasa They experience is aisvarya misrita madhurya or sringar rasa. And this one is Visrambha madhurya rasa, super excellent rasa and it in Goloka, and in Radha and Krsna or Gopi and Krsna. There is nothing like this and this is the top most rasa,
‘parakiya bhave jaha vrajete pracar’

This is the propagated, practiced in Braja, Goloka and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu He appeared in fact to relish this and to propagate this.

The super excellence of Srimad Bhagavatam, Caitanya Caritamrta and the whole Gaudiya literature- you see Brahma, he is four headed and from each of his mouth one Veda has emanated, but he is not compiler or he is just repeating. The Vedas are coming from the Lord, but we are getting them from the mouth of Brahma.

Vedic knowledge again has two branches-Sruti and Smrti. I think I will not now define this, I expect you understand smrti and what is sruti. Yeah you will understand here also, there is Sruti, Vedas have four divisions, first of all four Vedas, Rg, Yajur, Sama and Athava. And in each Veda you will find there are four divisions called samhita, Brahmana, upanisad, and Aranyaka. Just take a note that Upanisad, they are part of Vedas. They are not additional scriptures, they are part of Vedas, one division of Vedas. Other three divisions are there, Upanisad is one of those divisions of each of the four Vedas.Okay, Smrti, there are 18 puranas, itihasas, Mahabharat, Ramayana this is all itihasa, part of Smrti. And Sad darsana, as listed here, you could see sankhya, yoga, Vaisesika, Nyaya, Purva mimamsa and the top most is Vedanta. So this Sad darsana, they are popularly known as sad darsana, six different philosophical presentations and they basically, each one states what is the origin of this world, where the world originating from, what is the source of the world, or universe? One of these sad darsan will say, atom is the source and another one will say, no the combination of atom is the source, another one would say that nature is the source, another would say that consciousness is the source, another one will say mimasa it’s all governed by our activities and finally Srila Vyasdeva is going to say ‘No, janmadyasya yatah’, Lord Himself is the source of everything. So that makes the Vedant of Vyasdeva as the top most. And then take note of this, this is mentioned in Garuda puran and some other puranas also, quoted in Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya lila (25.143-144) ‘artho yam brahma sutranam’, Srimad Bhagavatam is the commentary of Vedanta sutra or Vyasa sutra, they are different names. Srila Prabhupada always writes, the natural commentary of Vedant sutra is Srimad Bhagavatam. Amongst these sad darsana the Vedant sutra is topmost and then Srimad Bhagavatam is natural commentary of that Vedant sutra, so that makes Srimad Bhagavatam super excellent.

So these are the scriptures that we go for; Prabhupada have presented these scriptures Bhagavad gita, Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrita and they are all super excellent, complementing each other or one leading the other. Bhagavad Gita is preliminary study and Bhagavatam is graduate study and Caitanya Caritamrta is post graduate study. And what is described in Caitanya Caritamrta and Caitanya Bhagavat which is post graduate course is further elaborated by our Gaudiya Vaisnava acaryas and the vast literature that they have left behind and complied and presented and this is just a matchless gift. There is nothing like in the creation. So this is at the level of Caitanya Caritamrta, post-graduation and excellent scripture and pure, eternal truth in, whether it is Vrndavan mahimamrta or Caitanya Bhagavat or Brhad Bhagatamrta, or Manah siksa or Bhakti Rasamrita sindhu or hundreds and hundreds of these whole granthas and the whole treasure is available, ISKCON is making this available for the world.

This is our specialty also, Krsna and Sri Krsna Caitanya are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Godhead They have exhibited, that is of the topmost order and excellence.

‘ete camsa kala pumsahkrsnas tu bhagavan svayam’

All these are kalas and asas, amsasa, plenary portion, portion of plenary portion, but, tu kintu, there is kintu, and that is Krsna is Supreme Personality of Godhead which Srila Prabhupada presented, that Krsna and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Brahma samhita says that, paribhasa sutra in fact, Srimad Bhagavatam, this is foundational statement of Srimad Bhagavatam, I just said, ete camsa kalah pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam. So, whole Bhagavatam is based on this paribhasa sutra, krsnastu bhagavan svayam.

Then Krsna’s 64 qualities, of which 50 are found in living entities, 5 additional qualities are found in Brahma and Siva. Five additional qualities are found in different incarnations, and there are only 4 qualities or there are qualities four of them are found only in Sri Krsna. What are those four qualities? They are listed here. This is from Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu. Lila madhurya, venu madhurya, prema madhurya and rupa madhurya, this is specialty of Krsna. These are found in no one else, not even in Rama or Varaha or Narasimha or Parasurama. So that makes Krsna the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Then this is the famous statement, sri krsna caitanya radha krsna nahe anya, Radha and Krsna combine, this is Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Namo mahavadanyaya.. you know that one. And then Hare Krsna Mahamantra.. so this is in Kali

santarana Upanisad, famous statement that,
iti sodasakam namnam kali-kalmasa nasanam,
natah parataropayah sarva vedesu drsyate

When Brahma was approached by Narada muni and he inquired, ‘O! This age of Kali is here. What process they should be following now to become God conscious, Krsna conscious?’ and this is Brahma’s statement in fact, Brahma says, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, iti all these, sodasakam, these 16 names, this will destroy all the bad qualities of this age of Kali and I do not see anything that is better than this. Natah paratara upaya, other upaya, solution does not exist in entire Vedic literature.’
So you will find in Brahmanda Purana, in Laghu Bhagavatamrta statement, glorifying, ‘thousand names of Visnu is equal to one name of Rama and three names of Rama equal to one name of Krsna.’ And in Caitanya Bhagavat, we find this statement, Caitanya Mahaprabhu said this, this is rare statement, where Mahaprabhu said Mahamantra and said,
‘iha haite sarva-siddhi haibe sabar, sarva-ksana bala ithe vidhi nahi ara’ (CB Madhya lila 23.74-75)

‘By chanting of Hare Krsna Mahamantra, Lord said you will attain perfection and other than this process of chanting, there is no other vidhi, so go for this chanting of Hare Krsna’ this is Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Anantasamhita talks about Mahamantra, jivatarane, for liberating living entities, this Mahamantra of 32 syllables, dvatrinsad varnakani hi kalau yuge mahamantrah sammato jivatarane.

Nama sadhana-> mantra siddhi, as we chant Hare Krsna we end up in perfection of chanting and every mantra has mantra devata. Hare Krsna Mahamantra’s mantra devata is Radha Krsna and wherever that Devata resides, that is where the chanter of that mantra ends up or he achieves that abode. Hare Krsna chanting brings you to Goloka. Tukarama by chanting ‘Jaya jaya Rama Krsna Hari’ similar to Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, you could see him on the way to Goloka here. This is Dehu, near Pune, Dehu goan of Tukarama and as he was chanting, Lord sent plane, Garuda Vahana and he is on his way back.

Param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam, all those who chant Hare Krsna, victory is guaranteed for them and what is the victory? No more birth, no more death, that is the victory. Again and again dyeing is the defeat. Victory is you are heading back home by chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna. Victory flag, Jaya-pataka is here.
Okay there is more, but we could stop here.

Question: Maharaja, you talked about various rasas and bhava, those who have all connection of devotees with Krsna, is there any rasa or bhava between sisya and guru? Which type of rasa-bhava sisya follow for his guru?

Ans: Brahmacari gurukule vasan danto guror hitam, that is what we hear from Narada muni in Bhagavatam. Brahmacari, he resides in the asram of guru. Some sisyas may be residing at home, at their residence. So what do they do, guror hitam? They serve or they exist in fact for the benefit or service unto their spiritual master. And Narada Muni also said, nicam, they take humble position in front of guru and they serve. Also the word used is suhrdam, there could also be some friendship as we talk of the visrambha, either awe and reverence is there for guru or there may be in some cases, there is visrambha, friendship, relationship with the spiritual master. And basically spiritual master is trying to establish his disciple’s eternal relationship with the Lord. He is the transparent via media. He doesn’t become a stumbling block and just him and disciples, no! There is Krsna also; Krsna is in the center of that relationship. And not that, ‘Okay, I am swami and you are dasa’ and then one fine morning he declares that, ‘O! No, I used to be Swami, but now I am Narayana, Swami Narayana!’ Not like that, this is cheating. There could be also the different relationship, that guru bhogi, guru tyagi, guru drohi and then guru sevi. There are four kinds of relationships. So the best of all and the appropriate one is guru-sevi, the disciple serves the guru and not exploits guru or guru’s property or doesn’t try to take over, being envious of guru or abandon guru means no relationship. So there is something right thing and other wrong relationships.

Question: Maharaja you said from each sampradaya Mahaprabhu took best of each vaisnava school and formed the acintyabhedabheda tattva. So are we also the part of Madhva line or are we completely separate line from Madhva line?

Ans: Srila Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Thakur established the temple of his Caitanya Gaudiya matha in Mayapur. And if you go around the parikrama of the temple then you find four sampradaya acaryas, they are there. So making the connection, Srila Bhakti Siddhant Sarasvati Thakur is honoring and respecting and accepting all the four sampradaya acharyas. In our sampradaya also, we call it Brahma Narada Madhva sampradaya, and Srila Vyasadeva is on the list there, so Brahma is the one who had the darasan of Vyasadeva and he accepted Vyasadeva into that parampara. That is another reason that we connect with Brahma very closely because he is connected with Vyasa and Narada. In fact he took inspiration from Vyasadeva for his writings or Vyasadeva is dictating and he is writing. I recently read somewhere, one reason why Caitanya Mahaprabhu or gaudiya sampradaya is aligned with Madhvacarya, we are connected with Madhvacarya more closely is because of the Madhvacarya’s staunch preaching against the mayavada and Advaitavada and if anyone has emphasized the dvaita, he is the one, very distinctly and obviously dvaita has been emphasized and then the mayavada is being defeated by Madhvacarya. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu is impressed with that and He has aligned and connected His parampara with Madhvacarya.

Mayavada bhasya sunile hoila sarva nasa

Caitanya Mahaprabhu, all the time, ‘don’t listen this Mayavada philosophy.’ Where from it is coming? I think He has taken that from Madhvacarya. So like that Laxmipati Tirtha, one of the acaryas in Madhva line, he became the spiritual master of Madhavendra Puri and from there we are branched out. We became like a fifth sampradaya, officially four sampradayas, but Gaudiya vaisnavism became one additional, not counted in sampradayas which are mentioned in sastras, but we are there, connected with the Madhvacarya sampradaya through Laxmipati Tirtha.

Also where I am sitting, Pandharapur Dham ki Jai! When Nityananda Prabhu visited Pandharpur, He also took initiation from Laxmipati Tirtha, who was acarya in Madhva line. So there are two understandings, Nityananda Prabhu took initiation from Madhavendra Puri is the one and the other one also, He took initiation from Laxmipati Tirtha, which is mentioned in Caitanya Bhagavat. And that Laxmipati Tirtha is from Madhva line. So our connection is made like that.

Talk on world Gita day
25th December 2020
Sri Krsna Arjuna ki Jai!

So when I just heard the blowing of conch shell as part of the yajna that is happening there, that reminded me of the blowing of conch shell that took place on this day during early morning hours and that too transported me to Kuruksetra, as I was hearing the blowing of conch shell. Of course otherwise also for past several days and almost month, we are kind of making trips between wherever we are and Kuruksetra. As we are in the mood of this Gita marathon, we are studying and distributing Bhagavad Gita As It Is ki Jai! So what a day? Gita Jayanti Day! Every word I said or sentence I said, that reminds me so much and I wished to talk, but I have only one mouth and I have only few minutes. So how much could I talk?

So today, this morning in fact, this is Moksada ekadashi day, the armies had assembled at Kuruksetra dham, dharmaksetre kuruksetre, and

tatah svetair hayair yukte
mahati syandane sthitau
madhavah pandavas caiva
divyau sankhah pradadhmatuh [BG 1.14]

And there, you see, I mean this is a lila; Krsna is performing His lila in Kuruksetra today and 17 more days He would be in Kuruksetra. But today’s lila is of a prime importance. He is speaking Bhagavad Gita. So He has come. He is riding the chariot. Mahabharat, Bhagavad Gita is part of Mahabharat, Bhisma Parva. So, the chariot is driven by the white horses and mahati syandane sthitau, it’s amazing, beautiful, adbhuta chariot and there are two personalities sited on that chariot, Madhava and Pandava. Madhava is Krsna and Pandava is Arjuna. And they have divyo sankho, they have blown their transcendental conch shells. And then Arjuna is fired up, he wants to battle, fight; his blood is boiling and he said please could you bring my chariot forward.
senayor ubhayor madhye ratham sthapaya me ‘cyuta (BG 1.21)

Bring my chariot in between two armies, so that I could see, who is here, who wishes to fight with me? And so that is what Krsna did. He brought the chariot forward and then,

pasyaitan samavetan kurun iti (BG 1.25)

Oh you wanted to fight and you wanted to see who has assembled here to fight with you, so samavetan kurun, Kurus have assembled. So, Arjuna is seeing and also hearing, Oh, Kauravas have assembled to fight with the Kauravas. I am also Kaurava, Kuru-vamsi. And that has made all the big difference as Krsna has Yogamaya into action. And Arjuna is no more Arjuna. And he says mukham ca parisusyati (BG 1.28), my mouth is drying up; sidanti mama gatrani (BG 1.28), my body is trembling, gandivam sramsate hastat (BG 1.29), and Gandiva bow is slipping right out of my hands. Oh, how could I fight? No, I can’t fight. And he is crying and so many things are happening to him and he sat down, not willing to fight.

Well, to such Arjuna, now He is going to begin His speech in second chapter of Bhagavad Gita.
Sri bhagavan uvaca kutas tva kasmalam idam (BG 2.2)

Where has this dirt come that you are talking about and the speech continues and those are the 17 chapters of Bhagavad Gita ki Jai!

ya svayam padmanabhasya mukha-padmad vinihsrta (Gita Mahatmya 4)

ya svayam padmanabhasya, ya gita, that Gita, svayam Padmanabhasya, that Padmanabha, Parthasarathi, from His mouth emanated Bhagavad Gita on this day. So Gita took birth today from the mouth of the Lord. It has originated from the Lord. So Bhagavad Gita is non different from the Lord, it is part of the Lord. Bhagavad Gita is the Lord.
So Lord Krsna, krsnam vande jagat gurum, He has taken the position. Well, that is His eternal position. He is the guru, original instructor and guide and friend and philosopher of the entire human race for generation after generation. And wherever they are He is there. Well there are so many relations, master and friend and lover and certainly He is a guru of the whole world. So He and Arjuna are taking position on behalf of all the living entities.

sisyas te ‘ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam (BG 2.7)

Now I am soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me! So the Lord has spoken this Bhagavad Gita, well Arjuna is just nimitta matram, instrument, but we have to understand the purpose, the intension of the speaker, Sri Krsna, the speaker of Bhagavad Gita, His intention is what I am speaking now, and Prabhupada this is going to be, I am talking about dharma.

dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge (BG 4.8)

I appear to establish the principles of dharma. Srila Prabhupada says (what is dharma?) ‘laws of the Lord’ and he is going to be talking about law during Bhagavad Gita.

So what Lord is doing, by speaking Bhagavad Gita, He is establishing dharma on this planet and His word is a law, governing the whole world and living entities’ life and that is His intension that for all the time that will come, people everywhere should listen to this, read this, hear this. I know there are sufferings and why not? They must suffer, because they have come to the wrong location, duhkhalayam. I tell you in Bhagavad Gita, this is duhkhalayam, don’t try to be sukhi, happy here in this place of sufferings. But there is another place.
yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama (BG 15.6)

So Lord in fact, by talking this Bhagavad Gita, He is extending invitation to all His living entities, all His parts and parcels. They are His, we are His, not Indians only or Hindus only, He is addressing everybody. And for that benefit, please come back to Me and live eternally happy life. Otherwise you will continue here. And He is instructing Arjuna, that yogi bhava, yogi bhava. And as we know, in this world, the world leaders are propagating, what is the propagation or what is the message? ‘Bhogi bhava!’ So this is anti-Gita propaganda, anti-Krsna propaganda. And then you will suffer and that we are seeing.

Lord is saying, ‘patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayascati (BG 9.26), this is diet, you offer these items to Me and then enjoy the remnants, prasadam, but if you don’t become yogi, and will go for bhogi and matanam chickenam and etc and that is what happened right in Wuhan in China in that big meat market, all sorts of meat mixed and corona was the product of that business of selling meat, fish, egg. And as the result the whole world is suffering. So isn’t Gita the solution? Patram pushpam phalam toyam, be happy! Matanam, chickenam, and suffer! And that is what happening. Gita is the solution to all the problems of this world. World leaders should take note of this.

Krsna said, what I am speaking to you Arjuna, rajarsayo viduh (BG 4.2), the saintly kings, they do and they should listen to this and accordingly they should be governing the governments. They could have astra, weapon in one hand, but they have sastra, scriptures in other hand. Your astra should by guided by the sastra and that is Bhagavad Gita, spoken by the Lord on this occasion. And Lord has said, this should be propagated, spoken and understood, evam parampara praptam (BG 4.2), and that does not happen, the disciplic succession is not followed and anyone, any Tom Dick and Harry wants to comment and speak on Bhagavad Gita and mislead and that is what going on. We are celebrating Gita Jayanti, the day Krsna was there on the battlefield Kuruksetra.

But now for them, Kuruksetra means the body and the five Pandavas are the virtuous, good qualities and the Kauravas are the bad qualities, this is not the talking of, not that Krsna was personally there and the battle happened. Lot of people do not believe in this. Even Mahatma Gandhi had no faith in the fact that Krsna on Gita Jayanti day was in Kuruksetra and He personally spoke this Bhagavad Gita. And like that, all those talks and comments and hundred and thousands of versions in the market but as Arjuna became devotee finally after hearing Bhagavad Gita, are those listeners and readers of different editions, are they become devotees? No! But we know, since the Bhagavad Gita As It Is has been published and is being propagated and distributed widely, now we have hundreds and thousands of devotees on the planet and we are organizing this Gita yajna in Kuruksetra and celebrating World Gita Day on this day in Kuruksetra.

Well, I may not get time to say that but that has come to my mind, I think we should be celebrating this day every year in Kuruksetra dham, year after year after year. The BBT should organize this celebration in Kuruksetra ‘World Gita Day’. That is my humble suggestion and I wish we could celebrate every year, why not? And that’s where the Krsna Arjuna temple is also being built. Srila Prabhupada wanted that temple, Krsna Arjuna temple. This concept also of Krsna Arjuna temple in Kuruksetra is Prabhupada’s our founder acarya’s wish and will and if Saksi Gopal and Gopal Krsna Maharaja, if they could also complete the construction, well, it is taking time. From several years they are working and I just heard, in couple of years, but why not in two years from now? If we could also open Krsna Arjuna temple on Gita Jayanti day, that would be wonderful.

So, we have assembled here, well, not many, but on behalf of us, we have Saksi Gopal and we understand that Gopal Krsna Maharaja and others have assembled in Kuruksetra and I think we are there also to announce the book distribution scores for the pleasure, like everyday in the temple, ISKCON temple, we, the temple president or sankirtana leader announces, ‘for the pleasure of Lordships, Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi and for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada, today’s book distribution scores’, so like that, today we here in Kuruksetra making announcement for the pleasure of Krsna Arjuna and Srila Prabhupada that we have made this target, of course the theme is ‘live to give’ otherwise you are dead. If you are not living for giving purpose, you are not living, you are dead. So you live to give and if you keep giving, you may live longer, or you will live forever Krsna conscious life. So we are here to announce and to take further blessings and empowerment from the Lord from Kuruksetra dham.

The target is two millions Bhagavad Gitas this year and as we heard from Vaisasika Prabhu, I will like to thank Vaisasika Prabhu for his words of inspiration not just now but all the time he is a big inspiration. Of course Gopal Krsna Maharaja is a very big inspiration behind the book distribution and the governing body commissioners are inspiring the world to distribute books and Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Krsna appeared as Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu; He said, I order you, yare dakho tare kaho krsna upadesa, amara ajnaya guru haya tara ei desa (Cc. Madhya 7.128)

You preach the message of Bhagavad Gita, share Bhagavad Gita, Krsna upadesa. So I am thankful for this opportunity to, well almost being there in Kuruksetra I am talking, and to say few words about Srimad Bhagavad Gita Ki Jai!
Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!

The Lord is very near and dear
November 14th, 1994
New Delhi, India

na hy asyasti priyah kascin
napriyah svah paro pi va
atmatvat sarva-bhutanam
sarva-bhuta-priyo harih [SB 6.17.33]

Translation and purport by Srila Prabhupada, Jai Srila Prabhupada!
Translation: He holds no one as very dear and no one as inimical. He has no one for His own relative, and no one is alien to Him. He is actually the soul of the soul of all living entities. Thus He is the auspicious friend of all living beings and is very near and dear to all of them.
Purport: ‘The Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His second feature, is the Supersoul of all living entities. As one’s self is extremely dear, the Superself of the self is still more dear. No one can be the enemy of the friendly Superself, who is equal to everyone. Relationships of dearness or enmity between the Supreme Lord and the living beings are due to the intervention of the illusory energy. Because the three modes of material nature intervene between the Lord and the living beings, these different relationships appear. Actually, the living entity in his pure condition is always very near and dear to the Lord, and the Lord is dear to him. There is no question of partiality or enmity.’

na hy asyasti priyah kascin
napriyah svah paro pi va
atmatvat sarva-bhutanam
sarva-bhuta-priyo harih

This is the statement of Sri Rudra uvaca, Lord Siva is speaking. Yesterday we saw, because Lord Siva is humble, he said, no I don’t know the Lord. Not only me but others also, na kumara naradau na brahma putra munayah na suresah, no one knows.
na surasura-gana devaya tasmai namah, na viduh surasura-gana,
No one knows. The suras- the demigods don’t know, asuras also, no one knows. So point was made, that these exalted personalities talk in this language out of humility. They say they do not know the Lord, that is also all right; if they say they know the Lord, that is also all right. Sometimes they may say, ‘Where is Krsna? Where is Krsna?’ Six Gosvamis may say as if they have not seen where is Krsna, they may say so. Some other devotees will say, He is always with me. I am always seeing Him. As we saw yesterday, Prabhupada said, I am always seeing. So some contradictory, as Lord also has described in Isopanisad, He is very near and He is very far as well. So these contradictions could be reconciled. Both things are possible and this is how He is Purnam. So devotees also take two different stands, I know and I don’t know the Lord. He is with me and He is not with me.

Lord when He is with them, like in case of Radharani, one time He was sitting next to Radharani, but she started crying thinking that He has gone away. And Madhumangal had come and he came with the stick; Madhumangal the friend of Lord Krsna. He is very humorous friend, very jolly and joking and keeps Lord Krsna in humorous mood. He came with the stick because of the bumble bee and Madhumangal thought, this bumble bee is disturbing the mood of Radha and Krsna. He came with the stick to drive away this little honey bee, Madhu. And He said, ‘Oh, I drove him away. I got rid of Madhu’. As soon as Radharani heard this, what was Her conclusion? She thought ‘This Madhumangal is fool. He got rid of, I had been waiting for ages to meet Krsna—They had just met last night and now They were meeting again this morning, but Radharani thinks, She is meeting Krsna after long-long time.– After long-long time, I had met, but this Madhumangal, what did he do? He drove away my Madhusudan.’ Thinking like this, what She did? Started crying, tears were gliding down her chicks, down Her body and to the ground and into the nearby lake.

When Krsna saw Radharani crying, He was wondering why She is crying? He also couldn’t control seeing Her crying, and He also started crying. And the tears from the eyes of this divine couple, they flow in a big stream and this made a big lake. Between Barasana and Nandagrama, there is lake called Prema sarovar and this lake is made up of tears of the divine couple. So this Radharani, the supreme devotee and She is thinking, Krsna is not with me, even if He is there. Somehow someone got rid of Him and He is not with me. So Krsna is with the devotee and He is not with the devotee. Devotee is scared of loosing Him and when He is away, he is trying to gain Him, again take Him back, get Him back, so these both moods are found in the devotees and they express their mood.

Now as we read this statement of Lord Siva, Rudra uvaca, we can only say that Lord Siva knows the Lord, knows the Supreme Lord. We always talk of knowing God. So with the help of someone like Lord Siva, vaisnavanam yatha sambhu, we could know the Lord. We could take help of other devotees. And Siva is one of those devotees, Mahajana. If anyone knows the Lord, Mahajana must know the Lord.

Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah

First of all follow in the footsteps of Mahajana and svayambhu naradah sambhu these are the Mahajanas. There are more, we are mentioning these three. Naradah Kapilau Manu, Prahlad, Janaka, Bhisma, including Yamaraja, the twelve personalities. So when they speak, then that is all knowledge. Lord is what? na hy asyasti, for the Lord there is no one who is priya or apriya, someone is dear, someone is not dear. Jai Radha Parthasarthi ki jai.

The same case is with Radha Parthasarathi. We are just trying to know Radha Parthasarathi. So for Radha Parthasarathi, no one is priya, apriya, this person is dear and this person is not dear; this is not applicable to the Lord Radha Parthasarathi. Then svaparo api va, someone is sva, His own party, Lord’s party, this party is parah, outsiders, others. This is also not the case with the Lord, na svaparo api va.

ayam nijah paro veti ganana laghuchetasam

ayam nijah-These people are my people and paro veti- one who thinks these people are outsiders, ganana laghu cetasam- as soon as you begin to think like this, you become person of laghu cetasam, whose cetana, consciousness is laghu, he always thinks- ayam nijah, these are my people, these are paro veti, veti means to know, veti tattvatah. So when one thinks like this, he is laghu, laghu cetasam. One who is guru, he doesn’t think like this; laghu and guru. Laghu means small minded and guru means heavy minded. Laghu also means light and small minded and guru means heavy and broad minded. So this heaviness and broad mindedness where does it come from? It has to come from Krsna. This is standard answer, very easy answer. Where anything comes from? You can close your eyes and say Krsna. You don’t even have to think. This is very easy answer. Everything comes from Krsna including this one. Lord is heavier than heaviest, but He is Purnam so He is lighter than lightest also. So the guru, spiritual master, he is very close to God, very close to Krsna. So Krsna’s quality he is exhibiting.

So Krsna is broad minded, sarva bhuta priyo harih, devotees are very dear to the Lord and Hari is sarva bhuta priya, very dear to all the living entities. The reason why all the living entities are very dear to the Lord is atmatvat sarva bhutanam, and the Lord is their soul. We already have a soul. The body has a soul. Body is there because of the soul, but the soul is because of Supersoul. So that Supersoul is the soul of all souls. This is how Prabhupada translated, soul of all souls, due to being the soul of all souls. And in purport Prabhupada is explaining, what is dear to all of us? Ourselves! Of course, lot of time we don’t know what is our self. So we think the body is our self and we try to love and serve the body; that is big mistake. But because we think we are bodies, we love, serve the bodies. But in fact love for the body, we are supposed to serve, love our soul. We love our soul and one who is loving the body, his target is the soul, love the soul itself. So if we love our soul so much then Prabhupada is making the point, what then about the soul of the soul. We would love that soul of the soul more than we love our soul. We love our soul so much that how much love the soul must have for the soul of the soul, who is Supersoul, atmatvat sarva bhutanam.

So the verse is talking of sarva bhuta priyah hari, the Lord is very-very dear, sarva bhuta priyah hari, who is dear to who? Living entity is dear to Hari or Hari is dear to the living entity? Of course both! But in purport, Prabhupada is talking, to the living entity the Lord is very-very dear’.

Question 1: Lord is very dear to the living entity, living entity is very dear to the Lord; they are so intimately connected. The living entity is part and parcel and the Supersoul is described here as the soul of all souls. Then why there are no feeling of being dear to the Lord and why so many people do not exhibit that love for the Lord.
Answer: From Lord’s side He is always loving, all the living entities, whether that devotee is demon, Lord is not seeing that. na me dvesyosti na priyah, Krsna says in Bhagavad Gita. So what comes in between this love of both parties? Why there is no reciprocation. Love is reciprocal. Love means two parties. There can not be just one party loving. You love somebody. There is always object of love, otherwise love has no meaning. So from Lord came all the living entities and don’t ask from when. And this expansion, Lord wanted the plural number around Him. What for? To enjoy, love them, the dealings, reciprocation. But we do not see that. In this world we do not see the people on the road, we do not see them loving. They are not rushing, running, the gate is wide open for darsana, but how many of them are rushing in for darsana? Instead they are rushing running to a cinema house, or Kapil comes in the town, Kapil, the captain of cricket team or the miss universe, they stay in Delhi. People are rushing, running, that shows their love, they are loving someone else. They are not loving the Lord. So the question is why is that? Lord is talking that He has love for everybody. Living entity is also supposed to be loving the Lord. Lord is soul of all the souls. But why there are such things? Where is that reciprocation of love, we don’t see that’s happening. This is the question. Very common question!

And the reply is there in the purport. Prabhupada is explaining. What is the explanation? Standard answer is Maya. In technical term, daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya, gunamayi maya means trigunamayi maya. Tri-guna- sattva guna, rajo guna and tamo guna; gunamayi maya. Duratyaya, means very difficult, this tri-gunamayi maya makes it very difficult. So who is in between? The living entity and the Lord, they both have such intimate relationship and love for reach other, but that love has now transferred into lust. Living entity is seems to be lusty and not loving. And what is the relationship between love and lust? Perverted reflection, one is reality and other one is reflection. Like a moon and it has a reflection in the water or milk is transformed into yogurt. There is relationship, but that is a different thing. Love is divine and it is there, so as soon living entity is pure, he takes that Maya away, this three modes of material nature out and then immediately there is reciprocation of love, pure love.

So from Lord’s side, He has no problem. Not that He loves somebody and He hates somebody. Like parents, they love their children. Someone has five ten children, sometimes they have. They love all their children. It is choice of some child to disobey the parents, or to go away from the family. They do so many things, try to beat, kill parents sometimes. Like this conditioned soul is trying to blaspheme the Lord, offend the Lord. Family and children are doing same things. We are also children, of whose family? Krsna’s family! He is head of the family. He is father, He is mother, He is Bandhu, mama sarva deva devah, He is all in all and the living entities, as they are in illusion, as children when they are young, they get carried away, they get constipated, not just like drinking, but they misuse their power, and whatever. Youth makes you pramatta, half mad, crazy. Then you don’t behave properly, shistachar, etiquette you forget. And you do so many things against the parents. Same thing is happening here in the world. The parents are nothing against the children, but children take that stand somehow, the misunderstanding, why parents why not me. How long he is going to hold on to the key of the treasury. Why does not he giving the charge to me? Same thing! Why Krsna why not me? There is no God. I don’t care for the parents; I don’t care for the Lord. I don’t care for anybody. I care for myself.

So Lord’s view point is all children He loves and He is waiting and everyone, they are all children of the Lord, not only human beings but other beings are also Lord’s children. Lord was in Jharkhand forest, Caitanya Mahaprabhu was walking through the forest and then what happened? Everyone joined the Sankirtana party, there was Maha-harinam party, joined by lions, tigers, elephants, deer, snakes, birds, peacocks, in other words everybody joined kirtan. Everyone was so joyous. They were all happy. Some were walking, some were crawling on the ground, some were flying in the air just above Mahaprabhu. There is a big crowd. In the painting which we see, the painter just chose one or two lions, three elephants, ten birds, few snakes. But do you think there were so many, if you look at their painting? How many do you see? There are thirty creatures. Do you think, thirty, grand total of residents of forest joined Mahaprabhu? Everybody, all of those who were residing in that forest, they were all influenced. There was no blood shade. Not drinking of blood. They were embracing each other as brothers and sisters do, as loving members of family do that; that is how they did for this period. They have these different bodies. Elephants, tigers, they are enemies. Elephants, tigers, they are not friends. The deer and the lion, are they friends? Do they sit together to take lunch? One party is lunch of another party. But when Caitanya Mahaprabhu was there, they did not think that this is some enemy or something that I should eat this bird, this animal. They were like a pure spirit soul. They are dancing in ecstasy in the presence of the Lord.

Lord, sarva bhuta priya harih, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited His love for all the living entities. He proved and please don’t think this is some fiction. This is not mythology. This is a history. Krsnadas Kaviraj is not imagining something happened in the forest. There is no exaggeration, no cheating. He is not that kind of authority, not that kind of writer. Free from all this! So this happened just 500 years ago when Caitanya Mahaprabhu was there. Lord’s love is not limited only to the human beings. But as soon as we become conditioned, we begin acting as a crazy; we love only ourselves, and in that self, we love only our body. And in fact we forget the soul, the interest of the soul and what to speak of the interest of the Supersoul. We forget all this. We begin making groups. Divide the society; divide the family. Broadmindedness is finished with this maya. Maya divides and who unites? Krsna unites. Krsna unites, maya divides. If you are a follower of Maya, mayar chela, disciple of Maya, close follower, then you will be agent to divide. You will divide, country, family, society.. Your job will be how to divide, if you are into maya. So acting on behalf of maya! But if you are Krsna conscious, you will think everybody is Krsna’s family, part of Krsna’s family and you will try to unite. So world needs unity and the party that unites the world, who is that party? Krsna conscious, then you are that person who could unite, they are qualified to unite the world.

So, not that these qualities are found only in the Lord, but these qualities of the Lord are also found in the devotees of the Lord.. Bheda abheda, simultaneously we are one and different from the Lord. Qualitatively we are one with the Lord, all qualities of the Lord are found in living entities also , but the quantity is different. Quantity of that quality is different, but all qualities of the Lord are found in the living entities.

The parents, they want their children united, right? Similarly, the Supreme father, Lord Krsna also likes to see all His children to stay together and we are dividing things. Oh these are Hindus, these are Muslims. Does Lord Krsna love only Hindus and He hates Muslims? If He would do that then He is not the Lord. Does Allah, He loves Muslims, He hates Hindus? No! He doesn’t even hate the lower species, non humans. What to speak of Lord hating Muslims. If we hate muslins, if we hate Sikhas, this hatrated is not pleasing to the Lord. Try to understand! Even in Bible it is given that, one hates the sin and not the sinner.

Yadrccha labha santusto dvandvatito vimatsarah, Lord Krsna says, My devotee is yadrccha labha santusto, whatever comes naturally, he is happy, santusta with that and dvandva ati, he is above dvandava, duality, Hindu, Muslim, eastern, western, man, woman, all these, my people, other people, my disciples, all these. Dvandvatit, free from dvandva; so this is expected or these qualities are found in the devotees, then what to speak of the Lord. Lord is dvandvatit, free form these dualities. Sva, same thing, someone is priya, someone is apriya, same thing. Someone is sva, his own, someone is parah, outsider, this is dvandva. Dvandvatito vimatsarah, no matsar, no envy is found in the devotee of the Lord and no duality is found.

Prabhupada always says that, there is so much only the talk of Lord, but who knows the Lord? Few things they say like God is great, God is love, but they can’t describe more. So here is the way to know the Lord, who Lord is, how are His qualities, His love for the Living entities.

Q 2:
Answer: So advice is asat sang tyagat eyi vaisnava acar, avoid those persons who are asat sanga. Stay away from asat sangies. First of all become Krsna conscious. This advice is for those who are in our possession. We are kanistha adhikaries, and we are madhyama adhikari. This advice is not for uttam adhikari. Uttam adhikari is paramahamsa. So he is transcendental. Sinners cannot influence him, change him. He is now nistha, his sraddha is irrevocable. So he could be anywhere, like Namacarya Haridas Thakur converted prostitute, so it works. But that is not advice for us. So, depending on your level! This advice is not for everyone. Those who are uttam adhikari, they see everybody is serving Krsna. So for our protection, ourselves we are asat, just recently, few months, few years ago, so if we will associate with them then our bad qualities will get revived, will get remembered. So better to stay at a distance and develop good qualities. And once you are fixed up in the good qualities then you could be anywhere.

Q 3: Why Lord Siva says he does not understand Lord Krsna?
Answer: Sometimes Lord Siva, sometimes he does not understand Lord, but we never understand. To make us realize, how difficult it is to know the Lord, Lord Siva exhibits this ignorance. Some of his activities looks like he is bewildered in the presence of Mohini murti, but there are some lessons for us to learn from that. By those activities of Lord Siva, no knowledge or ignorance of Siva or bewilderment of Siva, we should not think of offending Siva. We should not think that he is like us. Looks like Lord Siva has fallen down. Spread the news. Call the press conference. Lord Siva has fallen down. No! We should not offensively think like this. We could explain that Lord Krsna is using Lord Siva and Brahma, Lord is using His dear devotees to teach us. Lord Krsna put Arjuna in illusion, and immediately brought him out of the illusion. So Krsna may put His devotees in so called illusion, to create some history, some example, for whole world to learn from it. So, this happens, Siva, Brahma, Indra, there are so many big-big personalities, they seem to be doing something wrong. But their doing wrong is different from our doing wrong.
Q. —
Answer: You are mother yourself. Are you envious of your daughter? When there is talk of topmost love in this world, then the best example is mother’s love for the children. Abortion, they are killing their children. They are not even allowing them to take birth. Is this their love towards their children? It is killing, killing helpless children in the womb. In general, the point is they don’t know what the best interest of their children is, but they have the sentiments. They are the well wishers of the children. We say wishing well is not enough, we have to do something right. Like, if someone’s family member is sick, you wish that he get cured, but that wishing is not enough, what is necessary is to bring the right doctor who will diagnose and do the right prescription. So parents have the sentiments, they wish well, but these days these parents are not well trained, not guided by superior authority, guided by three modes of material nature. Na te viduh svartha gatim hi visnum, the best interest is to attain Lord Visnu, na te viduh, this is Prahlad Maharaja talking to his friends. No one knows the destination is Visnu. So what I said is not absolutely correct example, but could be understood that, at least they could wish their children to be happy. They don’t know how to make them happy. Like we say, happy new year! On the 1st January, few months from now, phones will be ringing, billions of people they call their family, friends and what do they say? I wish you happy new year, but as soon as the phone conversation is over, something unhappy, something that gives them distress happens. So it is wishing, they wish them to be happy. I wish you to have nice time. ‘Oh thank you for flying American airline. We wish you happy journey to your destination. Please enjoy weekend!’ Whole weekend, there is no sun, all cloudy. For all year people are waiting to go to the beach and during Christmas they go and there is no sun. All cold breeze, and they are waiting for the sun. They can’t enjoy the holidays. Someone may wish, ‘I wish you happy journey, happy weekend’, but at least wishing is there. But they have no control on so many things and they don’t know the real way to become happy. When people are healthy, doctors are not happy. And when they get sick, doctors are in bliss. Not devotee doctors!

Prabhupada memories with Lokanath Maharaja
Interview
August 29, 2020

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Hare Krsna everyone and welcome to another session of Prabhupada memories and we’re so fortunate that today we’ll be speaking to His Holiness Lokanath Swami, who is a direct disciple of Srila Prabhupada. This is your opportunity to hear directly from the disciples of Srila Prabhupada and to get that inspiration and that connection to get directly closer to our divine Grace. So we really want to welcome Maharaja today, thank you so much His Holiness Lokanath Maharaja for joining us and how are you today Maharaja?

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : (laughing) I am happy!

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : It’s so nice to have you and those who don’t know Maharaja, I think majority everyone knows Maharaja but just a little background about Maharaja. He became an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada in 1972 and then he received sannyasa initiation from His Divine Grace in 1975 and then at the age of 26 years old Srila Prabhupada ordered him to preach Lord Chaitanya’s message by organizing padayatra, the walking festival worldwide and the first leg of the journey was from Vrndavan to Mayapur. In the course of his padayatra service His Holiness traveled by foot to many of these major tirthas and sacred sites of India and also in 1989 he inaugurated the service in America and then for the centennial service, which is the hundred years of Srila Prabhupada and marking that celebration, him as the minister. He also created a celebration for this amazing event and it was unprecedented success. If I am correct Maharaja you organized a hundred padayatra around the world in 1996.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Not correct, more than a hundred they were Hundred and eleven.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Wow! Hundred and eleven and on top of that I think on that centennial festival there was like record-breaking number of books that were distributed, plates of prasada were served and like you said, festivals coordinated worldwide. Also, you’re the zonal secretary for Maharashtra and Noida and the Bureau member for all of India and in addition to his preaching in Maharashtra His Holiness has traveled the globe and is well known for his inspiring lectures, kirtans and his also amazing books. We’ll be talking about his books a bit later. He is also an initiating guru in our ISKCON today and has disciples all over the world. So it’s an absolute pleasure to be speaking to you today Maharaja and thank you for agreeing to come on. I just wanted to start with Maharaja, in 1971, I believe it was your first interaction with the Hare Krsna movement and in 1972 you got your first initiation. When you first met Srila Prabhupada, what were your feelings or recollections at that time?

Lokanath Swami Maharaja: In 1971, I attended the Hare Krsna festival in Bombay. I did not meet him then, I met him in 1972 and of course Srila Prabhupada was there and there were big advertisements all over Bombay saying,

“The Americans sadhus are here! The European sadhus are in the town!.”

So this was mind-boggling or catching our imaginations. So, we all rushed, ran through thousands of people, I was in the audience. The devotees on the stage, their performance of their kirtans was out of this world, I had never experienced anything like this. With all their heart, with all their strength, they were doing kirtan. That was it. I was wondering how Americans could be, European be sadhus. But when I saw their kirtana performance I was like, they are sadhus, they must be sadhus, otherwise this kind of ecstasy and you know! And I heard Prabhupada talking everyday. So what impressed me, the one take-away would say from that festival or Prabhupada’s talk was, from my very childhood I had an inclination and thoughts of serving people, serving society, serving humanity, I had this but I did not know what to do, where to start, what are the resources.

So, Prabhupada quoted Bhagavatam one day and he gave that example, how by watering the water on the roots of the tree or by putting fertilizer on the roots of the tree and that’s it, the trunk of the tree, the branches, the flowers, the fruit, everything is nourished. So Krishna is the source of all of us and so, if we serve Krishna, everyone is served. So, that was it. I was looking for it and I got it. So I would say, that was my meeting or Prabhupada really met me and he caused a stir in my heart. I was sold out and I became his.

Like that and I bought some small books of Srila Prabhupada, I did not have much money, so I bought small books and then I started singing and chanting myself. I was studying in college and was sharing a room with my roommates so whenever they were all out, I would close the doors and windows and curtains, latch the door by myself and I would jump remembering the devotees, dancing on that stage. So the kirtana influenced me the most and then later on there was another festival in 1972 at Hare Krsna land, Juhu. I ran back, I got my life back again and then at the end of that festival I decided to join. I wrote a letter addressed to the temple president saying I liked your dazzling arati and ecstatic kirtanas and sumptuous prasadam, I did not know the meaning of what is sumptuous, that word was not in my dictionary before and dazzling arati. I had a flyer from their festivals, I copied some of the things I liked and I agreed to follow the four regulative principles, please accept me.

So I went to the Juhu temple and found out the president and he read my letter on the spot and he was so delighted because those days you know, Indians or Indian youths, coming forward to become full time devotees, this was a rare occurrence. So immediately, that was Giriraj Prabhu then, he was a brahmachari, announced to the brahmacharis, “Hey! We have a new bhakta here! We have a new bhakta here!”. Soon after a while they brought me behind the asram and I did not know where they were bringing me to and the barbar was waiting for me and I was shaved up. Same evening there was a program in a school, Garga Muni Swami Maharaja was heading up, so I accompanied him and the boys in the school did not know English, so I was handed the microphone and I became the translator of Garga Muni Maharaja’s talk of preaching. So I became a preacher the very first day.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Oh wow!

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Hari bol! And then later on, at the time of Kartik Giriraj Maharaja Prabhu wrote the letter of recommendation and I traveled along with many other devotees from Bombay. In Vrndavan, Kartik at Radha Damodar temple, I was initiated. My encounters and talks and meetings started from that time onwards.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa: Thank you so much for that information and it’s amazing to see how so quickly you transitioned to become a speaker on your first day. That’s just phenomenal. I wanna show everybody your lovely poster behind, Padayatra Worldwide! Srila Prabhupada from early 70’s was talking about starting padayatra and of course you took on this mission and there are so many little pastimes about Mercedes-Benz turning into a bullock-cart using those as going forward. But can I start with why was Srila Prabhupada so close to this idea of padayatra, what was his feeling towards that because you had correspondence with him. Would you share?

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Yes, Srila Prabhupada was Senapati bhakta, Chaitanya Mahparabhu’s Senapati bhakta, commander in chief of sankirtana’s army of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He is representing Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, so what is he going to do? The prediction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu has to be made true, My holy name will reach every town, every village of the world. So this is on the mind of Srila Prabhupada. We had 100 temples or 5200 temple devotees going out and from those temples doing nagar sankirtana, spreading the holy name around. But that was not enough for Prabhupada. Prabhupada wanted to go faster and bring the holy name to even those towns and villages where there is no presence of ISKCON. So we were thinking how to spread the holy name, how to make Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction come true.

So there was one gentleman, Parmananda Punjabi, and he had written to Prabhupada proposing why don’t you start padayatra and go to Indian villages. I think that clicked Prabhupada and Prabhupada was willing to do so. But he said my followers are westerns, they don’t speak the local language, if you come up with some local Indians then I could provide some Westerners.

And then on the day of Radhastami, in 1976 as we were visiting New Delhi because we knew Srila Prabhupada was going to be there. So we were travelling with German Mercedes. I was enjoying travelling North India all over, Panchabhuta Swami that time and myself were co-leaders. As we have comeback, Prabhupada on Radhashtami day, I was with Srila Prabhupada myself and Atmatattva, he said, “bullock cart”. That was it, we did not protest, no argument, although we had good time travelling with western, German buses but Prabhupada has bullock cart, so I was surprised and delighted and I was also amazed how Prabhupada found out. My cultural background, I come from Maharashtra and we are worshippers of the Lord Panduranga Vitthal, Sri Krsna in Pandharpur and all the pilgrims coming to Pandharpur, they come walking, they do padayatra. Even my Father have been walking 100 kms for coming to Pandharpur dham for darshan and walking 100 kms back. So, Prabhupada picked the right person at the right time. From there we went to Vrndavan and started, prepared and Prabhupada did the inauguration for our Bullock cart sankirtan party. Vrndavan to Mayapur, Mayapur was our destination. We were on the road with the a mission, with Prabhupada’s instructions and empowerment.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Maharaja, there are some lovely pictures which I want to share so that everyone can see. This picture is here “Welcome to the Padayatra”.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : This is just outside of Dwarka in 1984-85. We started another padayatra, major padayatra from Dwarka to Kanyakumari to Mayapur. 8000 kms to be completed in 18 months. We arrived in Mayapur to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Chaitanya Mahparbhu’s appearance day in 1986. So this is the group we started with, this group then came bigger, bigger and bigger as we marched from one state of India to another state. This is just the beginning.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Then you could see the group getting larger here.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Yes, yes we had more than 20-30 country devotees. Lots of Gujaratis, Bengalis and Indians.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Maharaja, just coming back because kirtana is very close to your heart and there is one lovely picture that I want to show everybody. We can see you are in ecstasy, chanting with Srila Prabhupada. Can you give us a little hint about this story here right now.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Yes. So when we started padayatra or bullock cart sankirtana from Vrndavan and we were getting towards Mayapur. On the way to Mayapur, we arrived here at Prayag (Allahabad) on Kumbha Mela. This is the month of January, 1977 and Srila Prabhupada also has come from Mumbai on a train to Kumbha Mela. This is within our camp you could see the tent also in the background and this is in open. Prabhupada is sitting outside this tent and there is little audience sitting in front of Srila Prabhupada, this has become a little stage, we are singing there, this is in Allahabad. The Padayatra party has arrived also, so I’m with the padayatra party.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : One thing that we are aware of is, you had a lot of communication with Srila Prabhupada through letters about padayatra, instruction through that means. Could you share? I would love to hear, if possible for you. How it felt to do this service number one and number two is there any specific instructions that Srila Prabhupada mentioned in letters to you regarding Padayatra.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Besides the letters, the day we started Padayatra, I think it was 10 September, 1976 in Vrndavan in Prabhupada’s quarter. He addressed us, we sat with Prabhupada for over one hour. He gave a lot of instructions and inspiration, including what kind of cart we should have, our cart should have tire wheels. When we go to the village where we should park, next to the well, because that’s where all the villagers come to fetch the water so you will be right there. We should have 2 blankets for each one of us because it was winter time. So lots of those instructions, Prabhupada as a caring father gave and very practical. So many letters exchanged.

As we have arrived in Kanpur from Vrndavan to Kanpur, before Allahabad, we had written to Srila Prabhupada, “Prabhupada send us some men and we need some money for maintenance”. So Srila Prabhupada said, “do not depend on outside havoc” and Prabhupada hadn’t closed sankirtana newsletter i.e., ISKCON book distribution course were there and he said, “Our institution is maintained by sales of our publications, so you have to distribute books in vernacular language and raise funds and maintain. So we took that seriously and gradually now we are distributing more and more books. Wherever we went and we became more than self-sufficient and the additional funds were now being donated to different projects including recently for Padayatra India, we contributed happily and rupees for TOVP.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Wow, Jai! Hari bol !!!

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : So like that our program was going on successfully within India and then he wrote another letter not to me but one Nityanand Prabhu at NewTall, America. Prabhupada wrote that, “Lokanath Swami’s Bullock cart Sankirtan party is doing well, or very successfully they are doing Padayatra”, and he said, “we could have millions of such carts all over the world”. So I don’t know whether that’s an instruction or Pabhupada’s wish, our prediction of future of padayatra and that is a big thinking of Prabhupada, millions of carts all over the world. He wasn’t thinking that the Bullock cart or padayatra program is just a service that he had given to me and is limited to me or my life time, Prabhupada was thinking beyond me and for the next 10,000 years this Padayatra should go on with millions of carts. May be in the future or when there is no more petrol, then our bullock cart could be in business and our bullock cart could pull the cars, passengers may be sitting in the cars, we would pull their cars with bullock carts.

Prabhupada one time, when we invited Prabhupada, he was so very happy with what we are doing with this subject. So whenever we met, he inquired about the welfare and how padayatras are going on and like that. When it was 1996, in our centennial time, every leader within ISKCON was thinking, what kind of offerings they would make for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. So I was also thinking, what I could do, of course I was made centennial minister, Prabhupada centennial minister. I was doing lots of planning and organizations with the help of all of the leaders together, GBCs, sannyasis. But as my personal offering I was thinking, what I could do? So we came up with this strategy of organizing padayatra in 100 countries at the 100th Birth Anniversary. So we expanded from one padayatra in India to 100 padayatras all over the world. So it is doable and it is happening, going on till this day.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : On this part of this Padayatra because this is very close to your heart and like you said, this is meant to go on for, carry on even after everybody passes. We want to carry on this, something close to Srila Prabhupada’s heart.

So those that want to know more, please go to www.lokanathswami.com/ and there you will be able to find how you will get involved with this padayatra service and also find out much more, and also find out about Lokanath Swami Maharaja. Padayatra is one area but for you is kirtan, we all know, we all love your kirtan. You came to Birmingham 24 hours kirtan a few years ago and we were so grateful you came. So how did the kirtan aspect become prominent to you Maharaja. What is that because your kirtans are heard everywhere, we love them, but for yourself, what was that connection to kirtan?

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Kirtana got me when I was just a young boy in a village and a kind of culture in our family, that practice, that culture and I came from, our family did kirtana, our village did kirtan and in our Maharashtra kirtanas are very very popular because of Sant Tukaram Maharaja. Pandharpur is known for kirtanas. So when I was just a little boy and especially used to do on Ekadasi, today is Ekadasai.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Yes

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : On ekadasi, all night long they do kirtana, sleepless nights and they stay up and do kirtanas. So I was a little boy, also sitting with them, watching them, hearing them, picking up notes. So this was imbibed, the kirtan spirit from when I was little in the village. And then as I said that triggered at my very encounter with the Hare Krishna Movement was that kirtan on stage. So that stirred up and then has become my life, my second nature. I know Srila Prabhupada kind of liked me singing.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : That’s so nice. So you became the minister for the Harinam Sankirtan Ministry for ISKCON because of that. We’ll be talking about that later as well, if that’s okay. I just want to bring regards to Srila Prabhupada because of course the Padayatra has started, but is there any intimate pastime you can share with us of you and Srila Prabhupada, that is still resonating in your heart right now?

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : That’s a difficult one.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : I am so sorry.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : (laughing) There are several one!

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Please, please!!! We are happy to hear.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Which one to take. When I was in the time of my sannyas initiation I think Srila Prabhupada was so personal and so considerate and a fatherly figure as I approached Prabhupada for giving me sannyas. In those days there was no sanyas ministry and you don’t have to get approved by GBC centres and waiting periods, those things came later on. Those days, our days, Prabhupada days, it was mostly the transaction that would be made between Prabhupada and the candidate. I had approached Srila Prabhupada earlier, so when I was 2 and half years devotee, I had approached Srila Prabhupada, “give me sanyas” and Prabhupada said, “wait”, and then I waited for 1 year.

One day I walked in Prabhupada’s quarters, this is in Bombay and I approached him and paid obeisance and sat across in front of him and a table in between. Then I again reminded Srila Prabhupada that I want sanyasa. Another reason why I was demanding sanyasa then was, there was Sridhar Swami, not Sridhar Swami Maharaja, my God brother from Canada. We were buddies, we were brahmacharis, we were preaching partners, we were together in Mumbai. His sanyasa was approved by Srila Prabhupada a few days earlier, so I was like me too, me too, like in a family, parents give toys or something to one son then the other one is also like mummy me too, daddy me too. So I approached Srila Prabhupada and then with a dialogue Prabhupada was trying to preach to me or taking me out of it. But then I kind of persisted, begging and bugging, so Prabhupada already said, “Oh you are already a sanyasi”. So I did not buy into that, I kept on saying no no Prabhupada. Then Prabhupada said go with Sridhar to Vrndavan, travel together. You take sanyasa in Vrndavan. So I thought it was very very personal and Prabhupada was so personal in those circumstances.

So, in 1977, Prabhupada was not well, everybody knows Prabhupada was in Hrishikesh with Bhakti Charu Maharaja and Tamal Krishna Maharaja. Anyway, I should just make the long story short, I will not start all the way from Hrishikesh. So you know Prabhupada comes to Vrndavan thinking he is going to leave the world, he wanted to go to America and stop in London. He was there for Janmastami and Vyasa Puja in London 1977. Again his health got worse and back to India and He was in Mumbai for sometime and I was there, serving intimately. Bombay is my office Prabhupada said and we were brahmacari, Bombay brahmacari, we were rightly stationed because as the office expands a lot of time is spent in office. Srila Prabhupada also used to spend a lot of time in Bombay, he travelled to USA back to Bombay, he would go to Australia back to Bombay, he would go to Moscow back to Bombay, so we were rightly situated. So I have this book called Bombay is my office and there I have shared many intimate movements with Srila Prabhupada. But then Prabhupada was not well, back to Bombay from London and then onto Vrndavan still not well. One thing is that I was traveling with a little bus, padayatra was going on, some other devotees were taking care. So then, we were travelling and we returned because we did not know Prabhupada’s health status.

So Prabhupada had kindly allowed us to have his darshan in his quarters and Prabhupada was lying on the bed. Still Prabhupada was enquiring, as we were distributing books, he asked, “Which book is selling the most?”. So you could see, Prabhupada has said that he would never die, he would be in the form of his books. So then a lot of long lengthy dialogue and a lot of things happened. Towards the end our party men were walking out of the room and I was the last one to walk out. Prabhupada signed me and said come back. I went back and I sat next to Prabhupada. We have to sit very close to Prabhupada, very close to his mouth because Prabhupada kind of whispered not even talk. Then Prabhupada said I would like to meet you, I would like to see you and he also said what time suits you? he asked a question. It was amazing, Prabhupada is asking me what time suits you? Then I said no question of my suitability, whatever time. Prabhupada said, “Is 4 o’clock okay?”. We settled for 4 o’clock. Then all day I was wondering, what is that Prabhupada wanted to say because Prabhupada was very serious and grave when he had said to me, I want to talk to you. The whole day I was wondering and not able to come to any conclusion on what Prabhupada wanted to talk about.

So at 4 o’clock I went back to Prabhupada’s quarter but then his secretaries directed me to Krishna Balarama temple at the guest house reception and there lots of Prabhupada’s servants and secretaries and busy men were sitting. As I entered they told me what Prabhupada wanted to talk to me at 4 o’clock, Prabhupada could not contain also, so he told what he wanted to talk to me about. So they told me that Prabhupada wanted to travel with the Bullock cart. So then we arranged myself, Trivikram Maharaja and Panchadravida Maharaja, three of us went to Mathura to arrange the bullock cart. So the bullock cart had come and parked in front of the Krishna Balarama temple and we were delighted in a sense. In those days when Prabhupada wanted to travel, that meant Prabhupada was not leaving us, so this used to be our conclusion. So Prabhupada wants to travel means he is staying longer, welcome.

So we were happy to travel the next day with the bullock cart, but of course then during the night some devotees, Tamal Krishna Maharaja, Bhakti Charu Mataraj, Bhavanand Prabhu approached and expressed their concern about the bunky road and this and that. So Prabhupada then dropped that program of travelling with the bullock cart.

Next day, although Prabhupada gave up the idea of travelling with bullock cart but there in mind that Prabhupada wanted to travel to all the holy tirthas all over India, as a trial run he said let us try within Vrajamandal with the Bullock cart. So this was Prabhupada’s mind traveling. He is so busy with ISKCON’s activities and preaching, so he had no time for himself or for pilgrimage. So he wanted to go to the holy tirthas.

So next day again we were in Prabhupada’s quarter, Prabhupada was lying on the bed and we all were around Prabhupada. Prabhupada said, “I want to travel with the busses, you replace the bullock cart with the buses”. So he did not give up the idea of travelling because he used to say that he wants to leave the world fighting with maya and preaching is fighting. So while fighting he wanted to leave. Now the plan was to travel with the buses and everyone was on board now. All those who were assembled around him were taking turns, appealing, asking for permission for them to travel with Prabhupada. Giriraj Prabhu said, “I am good at making life members, fundraising. So wherever we go I could make members, so could I travel with you Prabhupada”. Prabhupada said, ”Yes, you can”. Then Bhakti Swarupa Damodar said, “Wherever we go there are so many scientific minded people, I could organize some scientific preaching or some interview with you. Could I go with you”. Prabhupada said, ”Yes, you could go”. There was Bhakti Chaitanya, he was from Punjab, India, he was a sannyasi. He said, ”I am a good driver, Srila Prabhupada, Could I come”. Prabhupada said, ”Yes, you could come”. And then me too, I also in a humorous way, although I knew I had to go because a lot of discussion had taken place about the bus travelling and towards the end, could I come, could I come, this was at the end. I knew I had to go but still humorously I said, “Could I come, Srila Prabhupada”. Prabhupada said, ”You will be our leader”.

Then we got busy, we bought a big India map and we were deciding which route to take and where to get busses. Myself, Tamal Krishna Maharaja, Bhavananda and some others, we were putting our heads together and making plans. So travelling with the busses idea from the bullock cart idea, this was only 4-5 days before Prabhupada’s departure, on 14th he departed. So neither bullock card travelling nor bus travelling happened. Then, when we had to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance, the governing body commission (GBC) of ISKCON they were considering how we could celebrate. I think I was one of them to propose. Jayapataka Maharaja also proposed that let us have padayatra, bullock cart sankirtana party, let us start from Dwaraka and visit all the places of Chaitanya Maharprabhu’s pastimes in South India. And this way we will be celebrating Chaitanya Maharprabhu’s 500th anniversary as well as we will fulfill Prabhupada’s desire or you can call it the last will of Srila Prabhupada. He wanted to go on pilgrimage, so we will have Gaura Nitai in the chariot or in the cart and Srila Prabhupada also on the chariot, as if Srila Prabhupada is taking Gauranga all over India and sankirtana party in the front. So this was proposed and this was resolved, so this is what we did.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Maharaja these are the pictures. You can see yourself [display].

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Yes, Yes. I think this is when we arrived in Orissa or Bengal, this may be Bengal because we passed through 8 states of India. And again this programme started on Radhastami, I was given instructions to do bullock cart preaching on Radhastami in 1976 and in 1984 Radhastami we started from Dwaraka and Jayapataka Maharaja and so many leaders were there. So this photo with Bhakti Charu Maharaja and Bhakti Raghav Maharaja, this is in Bengal.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Thank you so much for sharing. You know one session with you Maharaja will not be sufficient, will not be enough. Everybody if you want to know more about the pastimes, the conversations that Maharaja had with Srila Prabhupada then there are few books. There is a specific book which you can see in the corner, “In conversation with Srila Prabhupada.” I will put it on the top so that everyone can see it a bit clearer. You can get this in Amazon. As you were saying ‘Bombay is my office’, you can see that in the bottom corner as well and of course you have, The Mayapur Vrndavan Festivals. So there are all these festival books.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : You see this backdrop, this is the front and back cover of a book called Padayatra Worldwide, this is a book.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Very interesting. Is this book released, is it going to be released?

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Yeah, this is a trailer, this is just the first volume, two more to come.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Fantastic. So if anybody wants to now get hold of the Padayatra Worldwide book or any other books, Amazon is the best way to connect for those books. What we can do is we can also send links to everybody, we will try getting them on different networks but please do check Amazon. There is Amazon India, Amazon UK, do check and type Padayatra Worldwide, you will find this book. Thank you Maharaja, also we will be talking hopefully, that we will specifically focus on our session at some points on the In Conversation with Srila Prabhupada, the book has so many memories on that and it will be a nice way to speak on that as well. Thank you Maharaja for sharing such intimate pastimes with Srila Prabhupada and going forward we know right now there is a lot of work that is happening with Padayatra. So if anybody wants to get involved please check out the website, www.lokanathswami.com/

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : We have parikramas, kartik parikrama, Vrndavan parikrama, Mayapur parikrama. Not only should they read, they should come out, walk, experience, have firsthand experience.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : So please everybody read and also action, these are the two points. Also right now we have got some other festivals going on, because of COVID we cannot get out but we are trying to do something. Our festival that is the world holy name festival, Maharaja which of course you are leading us in, so padayatra is one thing but also with the kirtana aspect and these festivals you are also leading. Can I just bring up the poster that I have got right now and I will just show it on the screen of the world holy name festival. Just wondering if you could just, please let us know the significance of this festival and how people can get involved.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : This is the 24th time we are doing this festival. We started in 1996 as a world holy name day and this is to commemorate Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in America, you remember on 17th September, 1965 Prabhupada arrived in America and he arrived as ambassador of holy name. He gave the gift of the holy name to the world. So each year around 17th september as you could note this year also we are doing on 17th and goes on till 23. So from one day, holy name day then a few days and then gradually it is now a 7 days long festival. It is a global festival with lots of kirtanas. So this poster, the flyer you are seeing, everyday for 7 days from 4 to 5‘oclock we will have different presentations on the holy name. ISKCON’s sankirtana ministry’s different planning and strategies, how to spread the holy name, how to get ISKCON devotees involved and get them to propagate holy names.

So that is 4-5 and 5-6 we will have japa retreat. You know japa retreat, we would like that we reform, we do our chanting better, more attentively, so we have selected 7 best chanters and they are all leading leaders, Prabhupada disciples. So each day they will make a presentation, japa retreat interactive for 1 hour. Then 6-7, we have seven Bhagavatam classes, one day each and we have selected seven verses from Bhagavatam which glorify the holy name. So they’ll be Bhagavatam class given again by Ravindra Svarup Prabhu, Vaisesika Prabhu and you name it, all big names, big guns are going to be giving these Bhagavatam classes. Then 7-8 every day this is IST, Indian standard time you have to convert that into your time, your country’s time. 7-8 we have kirtans by Bhakti Bhringa Govinda Maharaja and there are so many Maharajas and Prabhus and even matajis are going to be singing for one hour. This will be globally broadcasted and then each day we’ll conclude in 8-9 session and we have picked up seven topics which again glorify the holy name and we have Jayapataka Maharaja and many other Maharaja like Anuttama Prabhu, Rukmani Mataji. Then there are special events, all day we’ll be doing a japathon. Devotees from around the world will be following in the footsteps of namacarya Srila Haridasa Thakur and chant, chant chant.

Then there’s one day 20th global connect, 24-hour kirtan in 24 zones, so that is scheduled. This is the day to do public chanting, go into the streets, go into the parks and there are many other events and we also have partnered with a fortunate team that is headed by Shaktavesh Avatar Prabhu. So that is also part of the campaign and we want you all to identify those prabhus or those fellow brothers, sisters, they had never ever chanted before or they did not even know what Hare Krsna maha-mantra is. Teach them and get them to chant Hare Krsna maha-mantra one time and do the recording. Are you going to show something?

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Yes I’m going to show that right now.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Okay so like that, you will get to hear more about this festival.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : So i’ll bring this up now because since it’s one of the ways that people can get involved with the world holy name festival. It’s a short video only two minutes long, so I really request everyone to see it.

In Video message by Lokanath Swami Maharaja:
Dear devotees, Hare Krsna. Our ISKCON Harinam Sankirtana has partnered with ISKCON online to promote the campaign, fortunate people. I invite you to participate in this outreach campaign; the goal of this fortunate people is to bring love and peace to the whole world. Because real love is love of godhead and once you have love of godhead then you become peaceful. Mahaprabhu brought the holy name. It is simple, open the whatsapp link below, say your name and location, say this chant is dedicated for love and peace. Chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare one time. Click send, all these instructions are given below. Your chanting will become part of the united offering to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Encourage the people around the world to become fortunate, start with yourself and become familiar with how it works and look around for those who do not chant. Encourage others to do this and also become fortunate. Maybe some of your family members are not chanting, maybe some colleagues in your office are not chanting, make yourself fortunate and then make others fortunate also.
Click the link and send your video today.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Wow, so this is the actual link. Thank you so much for that Maharaja that video is so enlivening. You could see right now we’ve a short version of the link www.bit.ly/chantnow ,if you put that into your browser or on your mobile device it will take you to the actual whatsapp number that is connected where you will be given instructions of what to do next. Really we request all of you to check this out, I can see we’ve had over 200 people on live, so if all of you can also spread this message that’ll be really appreciated. Become part of this world holy name festivals and let’s break some records.

So Maharaja, thank you so much, you’ve been an absolute inspiration to all of us and I know that we’ll be speaking to you more often with your blessings. Is there any final message before we unfortunately have to close, is there any final message that you would like to give to the viewers right now.

Lokanath Swami Maharaja : Yeah, the world holy name festival is just around the corner, we just mentioned that to you. So you all get ready, prepare, spread the word around and be a part of it and make the unfortunate world fortunate by you chanting and getting others to chant also.

Jagannatha Kirtanananda Dasa : Thank you so much Maharaja, thank you everybody for joining and finally please do click the link www.bit.ly/chantnow and please make the world fortunate as Maharaja said. So Hare Krsna and thank you Maharaja for all your time and we really appreciate you sharing these Prabhupada memoirs with us. Hare Krsna.

Krishna’s nama, rupa, guna, lila, dham
Radhadesh, Belgium
July 3, 1997

Are you all attracted to Krishna? Basically we are a soul and all the souls are Prakrti, female, women- they’re all female in relationship to the only one Purusha. You know that story of Mirabai? She wanted to meet Jiva Goswami and Jiva Goswami said ‘Oh I don’t meet any women, ladies I don’t meet.’ So Mirabai’s response was ‘Oh what is this? I thought there was only one male in Vrndavan and that is Krishna. So this Jiva Goswami is also thinking I’m a Purusha, I’m a man, I’m a male- I don’t meet any woman.’ So only Krishna is Purusha and everyone else is attracted to him.

He is all worship-able, all opulent and all honourable. He is the Supreme controller. And with this we can try to establish the supremacy of Krishna. Krishna has sixty four qualities. All the Siva-bhaktas you can also tell them. Okay fifty qualities in living entities. Living entities possess them in minute quantities- this is our achintya bheda abheda tattva.

yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana
sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah

If you are a devotee of Krishna, what kind of devotee?

yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana

Akinchana, niskinchana- Not attracted by anything or doesn’t care for possessions, his only possession is Krishna or Krishna consciousness. Those devotees in them you will find these fifty qualities in minute quantity. Or potentially all these souls have these qualities, we do not go around looking for these qualities. Do we go to buy some of these qualities? No they are in us and by chanting and the whole process of Krishna consciousness we revive these qualities, so as soon as all the dirt is off, cleansing is done then all the fifty qualities are found in living entities.

Brahma and Siva have five more and Narayana is yet higher and also in Vaikuntha even higher and Krishna has additional four qualities which are not even found in Narayana. This is again the difference between Vishnu or Narayana and Krishna, our congregational Hindus, they do not understand this, they try to equalize- well they try to put Siva also on the platform of Krishna and they have no problem of course to put Narayan and Vishnu on the same platform as Krishna but we know the difference.
This difference you know as you learn the science, this is called the science of God- This book is described as the science of bhakti yoga or the science of god so those who are not spiritual scientists they do not know the spiritual hierarchy that Narayan is superior to Siva and Brahma and Krishna is superior to Narayan. So with this chart of the gunas, if you ever had an opportunity you could use this argument or this explanation to probe Krishna’s-

Krishna says mattah parataram nanyat, this is also remaining so I just wanted to briefly highlight these four qualities found only in Krishna and they are Prema Madhurya, these terms are used, these are sanskrit terms from Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu -this we have an English translation here, but there Rupa Goswami, when he wrote four qualities he said Krishna has,

1.Prema madhurya as the additional quality.
2. Lila madhurya
3. Venu madhurya
4. Rupa madhurya.

No-one comes near Krishna, anywhere near Krishna when you talk of Prema, love if God. No god loves you as much as Krishna does, He has love and affection for His devotees and that Krishna when He appears as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu He even becomes more lovely and sweet. And lila madhurya, of all Krishna’s pastimes, it is said here especially childhood pastimes are very sweet. God becoming this little baby, this is not ordinary and of course all His pastimes are so enchanting. Madhurya lila that is also considered to all Gaudiya vaishnavas sugarcane juice that you boil down then it becomes from molasses to sugar to sugar candy and then you add some camphor to that and it becomes extraordinarily sweet.

So these are Madhurya lila pastimes which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared to experience as he was trying to experience Radharani’s mood. These pastimes are excellent but there’s no parallel, there’s so many incarnations but no-one could perform pastimes as Krishna does. Also Krishna’s pastimes in Mathura are not as sweet as His Vrndavan pastimes and as soon as Krishna goes to Dwaraka He becomes already less attractive, less appealing and even Krishna is very anxious to back to Vrndavan in fact.

He’s not happy in Mathura, He’s not happy in Dwaraka, one time as He was studying with Sandipani Muni in central India, this is where He learnt the sixty four arts, He was with Balaram and Sudama also was there. You know Krishna was remembering Vrndavan all the time and He was remembering all those pastimes He had with His parents, the cowherd boys and especially with the gopis! And every night he used to go out rasa dancing and when that time would come and it was not possible (for him to go) it used to become very difficult for Him to go to sleep.

He was in Brahamacari ashram staying with other Brahmacaris, Sudama Brahmacari, Balaram Brahmacari like that and when He used to have a hard time sleeping He used to wake up Balaram and tell Balaram and Balaram used to take notice ‘look He’s not sleeping’ and Krishna used to … ‘How could I sleep? I’m thinking of gopis.’

What do you think Balaram’s response used to be? ‘No, no, no – you are Brahmacari! Thinking of young girls of Vrndavan, how could you do such a thing? You are Brahmacari, you are in ashram now, Brahmacari ashram!’ So while He was awake He was attracted to His Vrindavan. Even he’s attracted- there’s also statement in nectar of devotion that the Lord is attracted to His own form, the rupa that we’re talking about, it is so appealing, so beautiful- well that was yesterday’s topic but Lord is attracted to His own form.

So that’s Krishna in Vrndavan, especially His love for His devotees, His lilas and His flute playing, we talked about this yesterday. The cows and then there are trees called Kadamba trees in Vamsi vata, there’s some trees in Vrndavan and Krishna has to climb up these trees to play his flute then all the cows are coming and they all come and sit, listening to Krishna’s flute playing and chewing the grass. They only gobble up in the beginning then they listen to some music, Krishna’s playing music and they are chewing the grass.

So this flute playing is enjoyed even by the cows of Vrndavana and also Jamuna gets bewildered as she listens to the flute playing of Krishna. She stops flowing sometimes just to listen to – when she is in rapt attention she’s not moving and the otherwise moving Jamuna stops or she goes in ecstasy and whirls round and round. Sometimes she goes reverse and flows in the other direction, all by the flute playing of Krishna.

Finally Rupa madhurya, we talked about that yesterday, it was the whole topic, Krishna’s beauty is not skin deep. Our beauty is- how deep is our beauty, what is the depth of our beauty? As deep as the skin. You just scratch this, take the skin off the most beautiful person that you know. You could imagine- you don’t have to do real thing, you only have to take the skin off and you’ll only be scared to be in presence of that person.

So all this skin disease, attachment to the skin which is a bag containing other nasty things, but Krishna’s beauty is not like that- superficial. So that is Rupa madhurya. So by these qualities Vishnu or Narayan become Krishna and then He’s Narayan, like that. So this International society for Krishna Consciousness as we say, that means our stress is on this especially. Prema pumartho mahan, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s followers. Not just Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha but Prema- love of godhead. So this quality again kind of stands out, prema, love of God, love for the Lord, love of godhead.

Already lamentation is there like in Vrajamandal when you feel ‘oh I wish there was another months parikrama’ and only one more day to go and you don’t feel very good like when finishing rounds and when you’re finishing you wished they never finished. Hare Krishna.

Next day
sri krishna chaitanya?prabhu nityananda?sri advaita, gadadhara?srivasadi gaura bhakta vrinda

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

So welcome to fourth day of our seminar on the topic of Krishna’s lila, pastimes of Krishna. We are making some progress from naam to rupa to guna to lila. These are getting more complex now as we get to lila Because we will not be dealing with Krishna alone and it cannot be lila if Krishna is just by himself so different personalities will be interacting with Krishna in different varieties of relationships and Krishna will be also- as he grows in age he is interacting with more and more persons and making his lila even more pleasing for himself to begin with and then those who he is dealing with, they also find immense pleasure.

Not only those but those who hear about this like ourselves also would be finding pleasure just by hearing about these pastimes. For all these pastimes a place is required so dham also comes into the picture. This is tomorrow’s topic so we can’t separate dham from the lila, we cannot separate other persons from the lila or from lila of the Lord and our connection is that we are able to read and hear about these pastimes.

And of course the result is that we become qualified to enter these pastimes one day, one of these days. I’m just making introduction to a little exhibition here and we will talk of the asta kaliya lila of the Lord. The kaliya here has nothing to do with kaliya snake, what this has to do is with kaal. Kaal means time, period and asta means eight. You could see one period here and two, three, four and five, six, seven, eight. So eight periods, the day has been divided into eight, not equal size.

Some parts of the day and the night are larger than the rest so we will talk of asta kaliya lila of the Lord. In other words scheduling of Lord Krishna’s day if you want to find him or where you would find him in the different times or in the nights and those times. Knowing God also means that you can also tell what is your God doing right now or if you want to contact him where would you find him? If it is dusk time where would you find him? Or if it is midday where to go find him? That’s knowing god, Prabhupada said that we can give complete address including telephone number of god and also whereabouts of god at all different times, so this is getting to know God more.

Knowing his name is something but you need to know his form – how he looks like and this is knowing him more and to know his qualities, that is getting to know him more and his activities, his friends and parents and the diet, this is getting to know a lot of things but many more things. As we said for the performance of the pastimes you need a dham, we have a Vrajamandal here. Giri Govardhan ki jai! Radha kunda ki jai! This is now.. This is European time (laughter). In Vrindavan it’s another time.

And then we have Krishna with the cows and then we have santa rasa. We have Sakhya rasa here and Vatsalya rasa. Santa, Vatsalya, order is- I’m not saying in right order. Sakhya and Madhurya and there’s some Dasya, not much in Vraja. In Mathura you will find some servants and lots of servants in Dwaraka. In Vrindavana he is one amongst many, he doesn’t become anything distinguished. Everyone is running after him to..

So they all serve him but not as his servants, they serve him as his parents or they serve him as his friends or something like that. So this is a big topic, lila is a big topic and we have forty five minutes more to talk about and let’s see after I am finished with the talk you may also feel inspired to talk about Krishna as you did yesterday. Little bit you talked about Krishna’s form, name and qualities. So not that much but if we could do a few minutes join in groups of two- not twenty, and say something to your next door neighbour about Krishna.

We couldn’t have a thousand discussions like that going like Sahasra vadan Ananta Sesa, we could have twenty groups- very pleasing, we could take charge of this room with Krishnas pastimes and drive all illusion out of at least this room then we could go out and get rid of illusion out from wherever we go, become capable of doing. All right so, I can stand right? Not for dancing. Can you see this? Before we talk of the pastimes let’s make ourselves familiar with- these are the twelve forests of Vrindavan.

Of course he was born with his clothes on, no tailor from Loi Bazaar stitched some
clothes. So there are some differences, when he appeared in Mathura he appeared with four hands and by seeing this Vasudeva and Devaki were really scared. ‘If Kamsa see’s him with four arms he’s going to be convinced that god has appeared!’ So they requested ‘please drop these two hands, there are too many hands.’ So Lord obliged and he manifested two hands. So that baby was taken across and so he is in Gokul and that baby was gradually- and of course when he was six days old, who comes first? Putana comes and he was three months old and Shaktasura comes and he was one year old and Trinavarta demon comes.

And like that there’s a whole queue all demons and they’re all waiting to be killed. But he’s spending time predominantly with his parents, so Gokul lila is Vatsalya lila. This is time for Yashoda and Nanda Maharaj to get a lot of association of Krishna. Then as he is crawling and first time he struggled to stand with the help
of some chair or some furniture and the first steps, he’s falling and then ‘okay get my shoes’ then Krishna is helping, he’s carrying the shoes.

I mean carrying the shoes is a big thing, there’s a big load on his head and he’s hardly managing carrying the shoes of his father and then he’s managing so he’s smiling and enjoying. So now he’s a little bigger and he not only walks but can run also. So now he goes door to door and now he meets some friends. Towards the end of the gokul lila from Vatsalya he’s entering into the friendship but now he’s leaving most of the pastimes in Gokula. They’re basically in Nanda Bhavan indoor, in Nanda’s palace.

And he has a huge courtyard and this whole set up is in the bank of Jamuna and eating dirt ‘open your mouth’ and there’s Gokuka right there and Raman Ghat here and then he’s going in Gokul and playing with his friends in the courtyard and stealing butter with the friends, this is one of the favourite pastimes of Krishna. So this goes on and then finally this is damodara lila. You know the whole damodara lila where Yashoda is running after him and then he’s tied to a mortar, Krishna and mortar, both are getting punished we metioned. Because the mortar had helped Krishna to reach the butter which was hanging from the ceiling. So it is the fault also of the mortar so both parties are being punished and that is why both are being tied and then Krishna pulls that mortar outside through the back door and into the courtyard.

The trees are standing and Krishna passes not through but this is too big, this mortar and Krishna is doing this, pulling and pushing trying to get this mortar also to his side but in this process the trees collapse and then a big bang and dust storm and everyone’s scared and then they reach the spot and then the conclusion was ‘we cant stay any longer here, we must get out of here.’

So Upananda who is the Brother of Nanda Maharaj he proposed as all this time he had been going all over Vrindavana because he was in anxiety and he was trying to identify a safer location and from his homework or inspections of the different regions of the different Vrindavan forests his proposal that ‘now we have to get out of here and cross Jamuna’ so that is what they do. Anyway, long -so many detailed pastimes are there, so they cross, everybody -they leave everything behind and they cross Jamuna.

Do you see Chatikara, right here this black spot, this is Chatikara. this is Vrindavan, Krishna Balaram temple and this is Chatikara and in fact they had loaded their belongings into the carts and they had travelled like that and spent the night on the same bank and then they crossed. They had parked their carts – and this is Govardhan. Govardhan and Jamuna, this whole area was filled with the carts so this is Shaktavartha. The other name is Shaktavartha. shakat means cart and in fact the carts were acting as a fence- Shakta means the circle of carts, and all the residents they stayed there for several years.

You see this Basanti, even Radharani’s family they stayed here in Basanti, according to Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati’s Vraja Mandal Parikrama diary. Okay so what happens here as Krishna comes- now he has come to Vrindavan, this is Vrindavan- Vrindavan forest and this whole thing is Vrindavan we call. Of the twelve forests one forest is Vrindavan forest so he is anxious to go on some outdoor activities, he doesn’t want to just stay in the house all the time and with the mother only all the time.

So this is where Krishna’s pastime of herding the calves- you know, little cows, calves, and Krishna becomes Vatsapal. Because he is small size only four years old so he cannot handle big cows so he is given calves to handle. And he is told ‘dont go far with the calves, go some nearby forests and also come back early- dont stay out there till late in the evening.’

Like this instructions and Nanda Maharaj and Yashoda they even walk with Krishna and Balaram and their friends through the village and they are trying how to train how to tend to the calves and they are carrying the ropes and little stick also. So they go on taking care of the calves, this happens for several years and in meantime there’s some trouble.

You see the cows are not happy, the little calves are happy but the cows are not happy because they are not getting association of Krishna and Krishna has also grown up so then in Kartik every year there’s a festival called ‘gopastami’ on that day Krishna is promoted, he is no more Vatsapal but he is promoted as Gopal. He is now taking care of the cows, he is now cowherd boy full fledged. So during all this time he is still with, well in the morning he is still with his parents, his friends, boyfriends but as he is growing he is going to be coming across another party and that is the cowherd girls.

Okay so from Gokul they had gone to this region and Krishna was going first with the little calves some distance and with the cows he was going all over herding the cows so Krishna is here three years four months and then they shift to Nandagram and this is where Krishna and the whole family shift, this was just a temporary situation and once this part was located they all shift there and Varsana, this is where Vrishabhanu and Radharani reside here.

You see the place called Sanket? Can you see? So this is a meeting place, this is one of the first meeting places of Radha and Krishna. krishna is in Vrindavana and Radharani is staying here in Varsana and they meet here and gradually they keep meeting and then they keep meeting in different forests of Vrindavan and whole Madhurya lila is into place. So like this as Krishna goes from Bala and then Pauganda then Kishore. He’s going through first Vatsalya then Sakhya, the cows are there, Santa rasa is on going and then this is the whole Madhurya lila so this is one presentation.

So talking in the context of the Asta Kaliya little more detailed and systematic description of how when Krishna is – now he is in Nandagram. We are talking about how he is Nandagram, Radharani is in Varsana and he is – according to Vishvanath Chakravarti, Krishna was ten years when he comes back to Mathura with Akrura. From Nandagram Akrura brings Krishna and Balaram back to Mathura. So that means three years four months in Gokul, three years four
months in this Shaktavartha and three years four months in Nandagram.

So when Krishna is here this is when we could talk of Asta kaliya lila because now Krishna he has Santa, Dasya, Vatsalya, Sakhya, Madhurya – all lilas. He is in full bloom, he’s not just a kid on the lap of mother or he’s not just playing with some cowherd boys. He’s matured now and he’s got some girlfriends and he’s full, complete person and that’s when we could talk of his Asta Kaliya. Because while here at midnight, Krishna is doing his rasa dance so this is not there while Krishna is a minor, just a little boy a baby, he’s not rasa dancing and like that so..

As Madhurya lila is in place then all his twenty four hours are full. Okay so let us see where to start this – Pastimes at the end of the night. Well part of this is the day and some part of the night is also there but most of this is the day. This part is not night, it’s leading to the night, preparing for night here, so what Is happening, how are they preparing let’s go briefly. Somewhere Krishna is getting ready to return. He is with the cowherd boys all day and they re looking at their watches or seeing the movement of the sun and it is going down so they are having pastime in the forest, gathering all the cows.

Krishna is playing on his flute and also gathering different cows, Krishna knows each cow has a name, not impersonal. ‘Oh you all cows’ no- he knows the name and characteristics of each cow, the likes and dislikes of each cow, he knows their moods. So cows also- so Krishna is associating here with the cowherd boys and the cows. The cows are not only enjoying the grazing of the grass but they are enjoying Krishna’s association. This is what they enjoy more than anything else.

So they are all coming back now, they are all returning to Nandagram okay? So Nanda and Yashoda receive them and they are all anxious ‘oh when are Krishna and Balaram going to come?’ They just see – there’s a cloud of dust and when they see the cloud of dust what does that mean? Dust because of what? The cows- as the cows walk you know the Braja Raj, the dust in Vrindavana is very very
fine particle, as soon as you put foot there’s a whole thing that rises and covers your body and face and makes you look more beautiful.

So here Krishna is returning with how many cowherd boys and how many cows? Unlimited. And they’re all walking and as they walk there’s a whole- from the hooves of the cows and as the boys walk there’s a white dust that is forming a cloud and from a distance, long distance that could be seen. So this is how Nanda and Yashoda know, ‘yes, yes, yes he’s here! He’s getting very close.’ And as mother Yashoda is measuring ‘oh now he only must be four miles and now only two miles!’

And she begins giving orders to – ‘is hot water ready? What about the clothes, are they pressed?’ She’s kind of like the temple commander, making sure that when he comes there’s a garland and the whole thing has to be- there’s a whole grand reception as Krishna is returning. Nanda and Yashoda and they all drop all their assignments and in mean time while gopis had also spent some time with Krishna, they also return and they are also standing on the rooftops and the balconies.

They know which way Krishna is going to be returning, just to have a glance, a little glance at him. And if you could also have little side glances going – Nayanera kone.’ There’s Nayan and there’s kone, so they could see. They are very anxious to get some glances. So here he comes and you see the dust and so you could read the timings, six to eight twenty four- this is Sandhya Kaal, dusk. As Krishna returns, whole bathing, shower, change of clothes, all this takes place including taking the dinner all that happens during this period and then late in the evening when things are more relaxed, this is entertainment time.

There’s a whole auditorium and every night there are different performances -some musical performances, dancing, some jokes and whatever would be pleasing to Krishna according to his mood, Nanda Maharaj brings him holding his little finger, ‘yes come come.’ He’s made to sit and everyone else also has come, more to see Krishna than to see the performance and so Nanda Maharaj brings him back and mother Yashoda takes charge of Krishna and now’s the time to sleep.

So his bed is ready and before he sleeps, is put to rest, what does he have to do? Drink some hot milk and then mother Yashoda has to spend a lot of time in fact, he doesn’t just drink, he takes a little and then he’s refusing, ‘no no I am full, I don’t want’ and mother Yashoda is concerned and is trying to persuade him, ‘okay I can tell you a story.’

‘Okay then I can drink.’ And then she begins telling a story. ‘Once upon a time there was a king called Rama! And he had a consort called Sita and one time what happened? One demon came as they were residing in the forest and he stole Sita.’ And as Krishna heard this he jumped out of his bed as he was lying on his bed trying to drink the milk and he was furious screaming ‘yes! Where is Ravana?!’ And he wants to find him and wants to kill him.

As he hears his pastimes while he was Rama, he’s into the mood of Rama and he’s- ‘wheres that Ravana?!’ Okay finally she manages- glass of milk is finished, he’s finally asleep, he’s put to rest and then she- lights are off and she goes also to go take rest. So as everyone else is now fast asleep then making sure that everyone is sleeping, only few dogs are barking somewhere and he closes door from behind or he’s out from window or somewhere.

And then he’s playing his flute and in one of these forests whenever he wishes to have his pastimes that night there are very famous spots, very famous rasa dance pastimes places of Krishna all over Vraja so he chooses to be in Bhandirvan here or even Manasarovar, this is one of the very large rasa dance area. Also here is Varsana, between Varsana and Kamavana- even in Kamavana there are many rasa dance places. Famous one is here also, Unchagaon, the other side of Unchagaon, so Krishna goes here and he plays his flute.

They are hearing his playing flute all over, wherever the gopis are, they are hearing his flute. He is playing flute here and then they all rush, everyone is rushing to that spot. So then they are there with Krishna for a long period of time you could see this is the longest period, almost twice as long. So this is where Radha Madhava kunja bihari, gopi jana vallabha girivara dhari (maharaj sings). So kunja bihari, all these kunjas, these are kunjas all the forested gardens and radha madhava, various pastimes, just taking a stroll, taking a walk around and enjoying the beauty of the forests.

The forests which have been maintained by Vrinda devi herself, this is the service of Vrinda devi, she has a big chunk of service. Preparing for Krishna’s pastimes and preparing scenes and sets and platforms and including making sure that all these nice trees are planted and making sure different kinds of birds are there at different times singing different kinds of songs. cuckoo is there, peacock is there. She also has her messenger birds, they bring messages and some spying also goes on. The highlight of these midnight pastimes is of course, what? Rasa dance! There’s nothing as divine, as exalted as rasa dance pastimes and when they dance, gopis dance, they also make Krishna dance.

One gopi one Krishna going in one circle, that happens or sometimes all the gopis just make a circle and say ‘Krishna you now, it’s your turn.’ Like in our kirtans, okay now you Sacinandan Maharaj and he’s going round and round – who’s doing like that? Prahladananda Maharaj and Trivrikram Maharaj, so we do the swami step. So we – gopis do these simple steps and gopis dance and when Krishna dances he is a Natavara. And when the dancing goes on it is all accompanied by the music which is best, excellent music.

All the gopis, many gopis on the side there playing vinas and mrdangas and kartals and all sorts of instruments and all different tunes and all different songs and glories of Krishna they’re singing and while all this is happening in the middle of the night there’s a moon. Although there is a – it is said that every night is a full moon night because even when he’s a half moon he becomes a full moon just by seeing the ecstatic things happening he just begins smiling and he becomes regular moon.

Okay so this happens and they just begin dancing, they’re tired and they enter Jamuna and this gives relief because the dancing is causing fatigue and dust all over their bodies so middle of the night they enter the river and are bathing and then they come back. By this time the gopis prepare some fruits for the divine couple to eat and then it’s time for a nap. This is towards the end of the midnight pastimes so around here say they are going to take a nap and the bed is prepared, a flower bed and there some tree will grow.

The divine couple is lying there but they have to get up before this time is up, after midnight is what? Okay end of the night so this is night there so before this period is over- okay this is wake up so where should Krishna be? He shouldn’t be lying in the bed, he should be in Nandagram and Radharani should be where? In Varsana. So some rest and some naps, they don’t sleep for ten hours there.

So Vrinda devi, Vrinda devi is making arrangements so Krishna and Radha they wake up, there’s no alarm clock they use or they dont throw a bucket of water. What arrangements she makes is she gets birds to come and then they’re all on the trees and the branches and they begin singing and chirping and so when Radha and Krishna they hear the sweet songs, the sounds of singing birds they get up (Maharaj clicks fingers).

And then they realise ‘hey we are still here’ (laughter). And then one monkey also comes, old monkey and that monkey also has some role, some message and then quickly they get out of their beds and they are here and this is all waking up and all that – it takes place here, bathing, new dresses are prepared and then sunrise is there and by that time the cowherd boys are very, very anxious.

They have been missing Krishna and when they returned in the afternoon they were with Krishna after that time- maybe some had association, a little bit. They might have even also come for the evening program. But most of them – well they also come from different villages so all of them were not with Krishna all this time. All this time- a lot of time so during this period they’re all arriving and they are knocking on the door and through the holes of the door they are seeing ‘what is he doing? Hey look through the door.’ They are showing all the boys also.

So they spend some time here milking of the cows also, Krishna does some milking of the cows and they all sit down and take breakfast and then its time to go. They go into the forest herding cows and playing, they play so many games and demons come and few demons are killed and then Krishna realises ‘oh no, no, no this is – Radharani must be waiting for me.’ While he’s playing with the boys he remembers so somehow he’s so expert so he disappears from the scene, expertly sneaks out.

So midday, especially he spends his time at Radha kunda, midday pastimes you’ll find Krishna meetings at Kusum Sarovar which is near Radha kunda and this is where gopis are also picking up flowers and garland making, all these preparations are going on. We are talking of Krishna whole amount but Radharani movements are also there – she’s at different places at different times and sometimes she is with Krishna, here also with Krishna, midnight also with Krishna and midday also with Krishna. And she also comes early morning hours to prepare a breakfast for Krishna and she also comes late afternoon, towards evening here to Nandagram to prepare dinner for Krishna.

She doesn’t stay very far from m Nandagram, Nandagram is here- are you seeing these points, the ones I point out, yes? This is Yavat, so she was married to Abhimanya and Jatila and Kutila the mother-in-law and sister-in-law, so very close and especially Yashoda makes sure that Radharani does come and cook for Krishna. Because Radharani had a special benediction that anyone who eats her cooking, he will never get sick, and of course such delicious cooking.

So Yashoda would always insist that Radharani comes and cook for Krishna so Radharani’s also here cooking so cooking going on here and then all these midday pastimes, different kunjas are there of all the asta- sakhis and they could have the experience of all the six seasons, every two months there’s different season. Different gardens are with different seasons, as Krishna walks from one grove of one sakhi, as he goes from Lalita’s to Vishakha’s garden, there’s summer there. From Vishakha he goes to Champakalata’s place there’s rainy season and then he goes to Indulekha’s place and there is autumn there.

So Krishna within this period he could enjoy periods but the seasons are again different environments for different pastimes. In rainy season you could a have one kind of pastime in summer you could have another one and like that. So it is not all stereotyped, everyday doing the same thing, it is ever changing, everyday becomes a different pastime, a different set up. And then Radharani she returns, she also goes on the surya puja- Radharani is doing surya puja, this is just giving them opportunity to meet and for Puja you need a priest and then there comes a priest and who is that priest? Krishna.

And then Jatila and Kutila they come looking for – ‘let’s see, where is our daughter-in-law today?’ And so like this briefly this asta kaliya lila explains and you could see what Braja vasi’s are going through and they are going through basically two types of emotions. There’s a union and separation, separation and union all the time. Mother Yashoda, when Krishna is ready to go into the forest with the cowherd boys, she is anxious to let Krishna go, she is always finding some excuse or another to keep Krishna a little longer, ‘hey hey lunch packet just now coming, few minutes only.’ And ‘come here, come here, this is not fixed, oh your hair. Come here, come here.’ He’s ready and he’s trying to go out and ‘come here come here.’

She’s trying to keep him as long as he could stay at home, she would rather not let him go into the forest at all but the cowherd boys – ‘hey come on! Let’s go, we are here for so many hours, you are in maya, you’re attached to your mother, let’s go!’ And they’re trying to drag him out so the cowherd boys are trying to drag him out and mother Yashoda is trying to keep him at home and the same thing again. The cowherd boys want him to stay with them longer but he’s thinking of other pastimes and then they want to keep him.

As Krishna is with the gopis and Radharani they want to keep him there and they wish that midday would never end, ‘why is this midday pastime coming to an end? Why should there be afternoon, why not just midday all the time?’ And they are suffering.