Day 2 – May 24, 2012

Location – Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh, India)

H H Lokanath Swami Maharaja  started the class with a Kirtan from Tukarama Maharaja’s  abhanga – Govinda Govinda  mana  lagali acchand. In this he explains that there is no difference between Govinda‘s body and Govinda Himself, Govinda‘s form and Govinda Himself. So Tukarama Maharaja enjoyed taking darsana of the Lord very much.  Did you also felt pleasure by taking darsana of the Lord? He says my heart is full of bliss and it is now overflowing through my eyes in the form of tears. Now, Lord has touched me and I don’t want anything else.

Na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadish kamaye

mam janmani janmani isvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi.

Did all of you perform kirtan whole day today?  Did you do your japa? Today there wasn’t anything else to do except darsana and kirtan. There was no prasadam today.  So did you all observe upavasa (fasting) today?  By mere refraining from food, upavasa is not done. Something else is also to be done, must be done, only then upavasa is observed and upavasa is complete. Without eating food or having only fruits, without taking grains, we sometimes call this as upavasa but only with these upavasa is not complete, upavasa then remains incomplete. What has to be done for complete upavas?  Upavasa means close to the Lord. This is called upavasa . Vasa or Nivasa means place of stay, place to reside, this nivasa, that nivasa, so Nivasa with Krsna is upavasa. Stay close to the Lord. That is the meaning of upavasa. Remember this throughout your life.  Upavasa means to remain close to the Lord. Now, Ekadashi is approaching, that too the toughest one, Nirjala Ekadashi. What will happen that day? Only intake of air is allowed. But, why only intake of air, you can chant as well. The air also will be utilized in breathing and with each breath chant the holy name.  Nirjala Ekadashi. How is the Ekadashi? Nirjala – even without water. Some of you may still be on the way back to your temples or to your homes. Are you missing your home?

Real home is this, where there is the Lord. This Tirupati is our home. I too went for darsana today. After darsana, Tirupati Balaji have their own channel, they came for an interview.  So I said, it feels like, we have come back to our home.  Where there are mother and father would you  call that a home or not?  Initially that is our home, but later when wife comes, it is different. Initially home implies the place where we have our father and mother. That is home.  Our father as well as our mother is here. Lord is our father, our mother and He is our everything? mam sarva deva deva. He is all in all. That is why devotees who go to Vrindavan for Vrajamandal Parikrama, afterwards, wear a T-shirt and move around which says ‘I Lost My Heart in Vrindavan’.  I lost my heart, where? In Vrindavan. Then, let’s go again, where my heart is. My heart is lost. So, Lord, Lord’s (dhama) abode is Vrindavan, is Mayapur, is Jagannath Puri, is Pandharpur, and is Dwarka. Lord’s abode is our hometown too. That is why Tukarama Maharaja also went, where? To his hometown. Where did he go? His hometown was Dehu. Other people were saying, here is your hometown, where are you going? Those with less intelligence – in bodily consciousness, identifying themselves with their body must have thought – ami jato amcha gava, you are saying I am going to my hometown but your hometown is right here. You could go by walk or even by a bullock-cart, but you are taking a flight and saying I am going to my hometown.  Tukarama Maharaja also went to his hometown. Lord’s abode is our abode. Where is our motherland, fatherland?  Vaikuntha is our motherland, fatherland. This is the fact which we have forgotten and under illusion identifying ourselves with several designations. This is my birth place. I am this and these are my own people, these are outsiders or strangers. Aham-mameti, I & mine.

We haven’t recognized ourselves, that we are the spirit souls. We count the elements of this world, but we forget to count our own selves. Once there was a group of travelers, desiring to cross the river and they did cross over to the other side. After reaching the other bank of the river, they wanted to be sure that everyone was has reached. Like today everyone is not here. Some devotees are saying we lost him, don’t know where he is. So when these travelers reached the other bank of the river, they thought let’s count. How many were we? We were 51. Then everybody was made to sit down and one person started counting 1, 2, 3, ….11,……….35,……49, 50. Oh! Only 50 of us are here. Then another one spoke out, Oh! You don’t know how to count, I will count. 1, 2, ……..44, 47, 48, 49, 50. Only 50 persons. Each person took his turn and counted the heads and it came to 50 only. So one is missing.  So we have lost one person. They were thus discussing among themselves and lamenting whom have we left out.  Meanwhile a sage was passing by and saw that troupe lamenting. Para dukkhe dukhi. So he came close and inquired what the matter was? One of them spoke that when we started we were 51 and now we are left with 50 heads only, so we have lost  one member of our troupe. Then the sage began to count 1, 2, ……………..47, 48, 49, 50, 51. Then he told them that while counting each one of you counted everyone else there but failed to count yourself and thus you all always ended up counting only 50. We have forgotten ourselves. So the study of the whole world is going on – cosmology,  geography etc. So external help is required to find out who are we? Ke ami, who am I? My family members, in reality who are they? Who is who? What is our relationship? Do we have any relationship with each other? If we are related to the Lord, then we are also related to each other.

So did you walk up your way up to the hill top? Did you get darsana of the Lord? Now keep that sight (darsana) in your mind, in your heart. Preserve it carefully. Whom we saw, the Lord, we have an eternal relationship with him. Keep hearing about Him, then the darsana will remain fresh. Premanajana cacchurita bhakti vilocanena, santah sadaiva hrdyesu vilokyanti / yam syamsundaram acintya guna svarupam, govindam adi purusam tam aham bhajami. These are the words of Lord Brahma. Now you all got darsana, but how much darsana did you get? As much is the Lord! Lord is 100%. But how much percent darsana could we get? How much percent of His darsana did the Lord give us? Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajami aham. This is Lord’s reciprocation. As much as we surrender mam eva ye prapadyante. Lord Himself says as much as the living entity surrenders that much I manifest, I give darsana. bhajami aham, Lord says I serve the living entity.  I take care of the living entity. Lord Brahma says Govindam adipurusam tam aham bhajami. Same verbal root, bhaj dhatu. bhajami aham, tathaiva. And here the Lord says, I serve the living entity as much as they surrender unto Me. I respect, honor the living entity.  Living entities are very dear to the Lord. You are dear devotees of the Lord. You are very dear to Him. Krishna loves you. Mostly when we say I love you, we are forgetful of Lord Krishna. If we say, I love you Krishna, O Lord, O Krishna, O Govinda, then Krishna also says I love you.  tams tathaiva bhajami aham. There is exchange, give and take. This is yoga (connection), bhava (mood), this rasa (mellow) – in friendship, in servitorship. Lord relishes the mellow and the living entity also relishes. So we all went for darsana but all of us did not get equal darsana. Thousand people went and each one among the thousand got darsana at different levels. Each one had different state of mind, mood was different, and preparation was different from one another. We should prepare ourselves and then proceed for darsana. Not that we go suddenly and get darsana, He (Lord) should also give darsana.  One is giving darsana and another one is taking darsana. Two activities are simultaneously involved. The one whose darsana we are going to take should be ready to give darsana, only then it is possible for us to take darsana. If the giver is not ready, how could we take darsana? Someone might be thinking, Oh! I have come from such far away place; the organizers have also taken so much money, now you are not giving darsana. Come on hurry up, let’s go back. Lord thinks, I was preparing you for darsana, making you eligible to take darsana and you stood up and left in midway.

There is an instance of Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Once there was a lecture going on about Lord’s name, form, qualities and pastimes. In the middle, a disciple stood up and went away, after short while he came back. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur inquired where did you go? The disciple replied Maharaja, I went to take darsana.  Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, Oh really, you went for darsana? How was your darsana?  You went and stood in front of the Lord. The disciple replied yes, yes, exactly that is what I did. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur continued and you closed your eyes and then opened your eyes. So, how was your eye exercise? Our darsana can remain limited to a mere eye exercise. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was trying to impress, I was preparing you for darsana. Trying to make you understand how is Lord. Narada muni also had said this to Dhruva Maharaja. You should prepare. You should prepare and then go for a darsana and see how much darsana you are getting and how much darsana He is giving, how much eligibility you have earned. Without any preparation darsana may not be possible. Now this is homework for darsana. This tirtha yatra – pilgrimage is also homework. Giving up all our other businesses, occupations, engagements, we are running after Lord. 24 hours.  24 hours we are preparing ourselves. We have left in search of Supreme Lord. Pilgrimage means search for Lord. Meeting the devotees first. Before going to see the Lord, meet the devotees of the Lord, yattirtha buddhi salile na karhicit janesu abhijnesu sa eva go kharah. Lord Krishna said this in Kuruksetra, but not to Arjuna. Not during the battle of Kuruksetra , but when Lord Himself went on pilgrimage. Lord Himself went on pilgrimage from Dwarka to Kuruksetra. Not all alone by Himself but accompanied by Balarama, Subhadra, Vasudeva, and Devaki. All queens were there like Rukmini and all ministers were there as well. It was the time of solar eclipse. So many sages, philosophers came to see the Lord.  Many great souls came to see the Lord. That time Lord spoke these words, those who visit places of pilgrimage and whose intelligence, understanding is restricted to the salile, water body – where there is river, lets immerse ourselves into it and then run to the railway station, this is  tirtha buddhi salile. Na janesu, of whom they do not have understanding?jna means knower, abhijnesu means one who has complete knowledge,  jnana vijnana sahitam, unto such devotees, saints, acaryas, they have no respect. They do not approach them. They themselves go for darsana, for bathing, without a guide. Doing this is dhama apradha.  Lord is like this, He performed His pastime here, abhijnesu janesu, those who have knowledge, but such (generally common) people have no faith in them. Straightway go on their own. So Lord said yattirtha buddhi salile Na hi karhicit, those people whose understanding about place of pilgrimages is to just go around like a tourist without any spiritual guidance, such people have been termed by Lord as sa eva go kharah. Who are they? First one is go meaning cow or bull and the second one is kharah, what does that mean? A  donkey, kharah means donkey. We don’t want to say this, but Lord said like that, for those who themselves are going on their own without guidance, without hearing and chanting, without preparation. This is the preparation. Mentally, physically, spiritually, this is the sadhana – practice. Then as a result – go for darsana, meet the Lord, see, how much you could meet, what kind of feelings are invoked. How to offer prayer? Sukha sampatti ghar ave kasta mite tan ka, we have come walking from a long distance, kasta mite tan ka. What to say of sampatti – property. Many come to Tirupati Balaji, invest a little and desire to have lot in return. This sounds like a business deal. Not with such a mood, but with proper mood, with feelings. Not in a business type, give and take mood but devotional mood. If Lord is hungry for something, He is hungry of what? Who says that the Lord does not eat, feel hungry? The Lord is hungry of what? It is because we don’t feed Him like Sabri, He does not eat. If you feed Him like Sabri, then it is not possible that He will not eat. This whole yatra is meant to awaken proper mood. This devotional mood cannot be found in any market place. It is within us. Within the spirit soul, this mood is there. By observing proper practices, rules, this has to be awakened. You may call it as our mood or prema – love, love for the Lord. Lord is hungry for love, feelings. By such awakening only, the soul will be satisfied, brahma bhuta prasannatma, fully satisfied. So by the end of this yatra, in the remaining days, your soul should feel happy. This yatra is meant to turn our souls into great souls (mahatma). Whatever may be the arrangements from morning till evening and evening to morning, these practices are there, japa has to be chanted, some rules and regulations have to be followed. Like in this yatra, there is no tea. Cannot even drink tea, may sound strange. What kind of yatra is this? It is not strange. It is one of our 4 regulative principles. Hopefully you all are practicing this even before commencement of yatra. This is the time for getting used to such practices. Practice with the aim to awaken the right mood from within. This will be the achievement of this yatra. If you attain love, then you have got the worth for what you paid for yatra. Don’t think you have been cheated. Earn something here. Earn Krsna. Deposit everyday by chanting Hare Krishna mahamantra. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Day 7 – May 29

Location – Rameshvaram (Tamilnadu, India)

Ramanujacharya fed mahaprasad to the fish in Chandra pushkarni and although their bodies stayed back but they attained their eternal constitutional form and returned to Vaikuntha. You also can attain your transcendental form.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Namacharya Haridas Thakur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, all the Gaudiya Vaishnava acharyas and Srila Prabhupad are feeding the people of this universe the holy name. Ramanujacharya fed grains to the fishes – Anna para bramha. We have been fed Krishna in the form of His name. We are hearing His name, assimilating it and becoming Krishna conscious. So one day when we shall leave this body, whatever has to happen to this body, people will take care, but we will accept our actual svarupa, constitutional form and return back home, back to god head. This is our prayer.  From one perspective we are leaving the association of this dham but what will go with us is the holy name. You will become old. Then you will not be able to do tirth yatra, yajna, etc. This holy name is simple and till the end of your last breath naam sankirtana is possible. So this is Veda vani – harer naam eva kevalam, so please become strongly established in the holy name. To not have complete faith in the holy name is also one of the 10 offences of the holy name.  In spite of hearing all the glories of the holy name, still maintaining attachment to the material world is an offence against the holy name.

You are all chanting and dancing in the kirtana, then all your sins are getting destroyed. This body is called a tree and there are the birds of sin on this tree. If you want to chase away birds on a tree, you clap your hands. Of course someone can throw a stone and fire a bullet, but easiest way is to just clap hands. Then we give up some hesitation and start dancing. When love increases for the holy name, for Krishna, then we give up hesitation. Then all the sins on the tree of this body start leaving us. Till we have less love, we hide and chant and do not bring our beads in public. Srila Prabhupada asked one lady in Delhi, do you chant? She said, I chant in my mind. Srila Prabhupada asked her, do you also eat in the mind?

The result of this yatra is the attainment of the holy name, or the taste for chanting and the taste for hearing Krishna katha. When there is chanting and dancing going on, we do not fall asleep.  This is Yuga dharma. But during katha, we may fall asleep. Of course katha is also dharma.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has distributed the pearls and diamonds of the holy name. For the Vishvarup darshan (Mangla Arati darshan of Lord Ranganath) only 80 devotees can take darshan so all were running to grab the opportunity to see the form of the lord. Some were standing since morning 1:30 am. But as soon as the doors opened even the late comers stormed in ahead of them. There were no rules and regulations being followed. Everyone was just running and jumping over from the barricades to take darshan.

So there was day 1 of the yatra and then there is the last day of the yatra. So today is the concluding day of the yatra and some of you will be leaving toady evening itself, whereas some will leave tomorrow morning and some tomorrow night. Have you stayed in such a big family even? It is said, ‘One kitchen one family.’ So this was a very big family. Not just this but everyone on this planet is our family. They all belong to Krishna and I belong to Krishna so they also belong to me.

Sadhu sannyasis leave behind a small family but then we get a bigger family, he vishva chi majhe ghar, vasudhaiva kutumbakam. When we will go back to the dham, then all the dham vasis will become our family members. Our narrow vision broadens and we become more accommodative in yatra.

Today on our All India Padayatra is in Badrinath dham, while we are in Rameshvaram. Iskcon padayatra is active since last 27 years. So some members of our family are in Badrikashram.

Every Hindu wants that in this lifetime I must complete the four dham yatra. One of this is Rameshvaram. Three years ago we went to Badrinath and there Kedarnath is the jyotirlinga. Last year we went to Dwarka and there Somnath is the jyotirlinga, and here Rameshvaram is a jyotirlinga.

For Rameshvaram, some can say Ramasya ishvarah – the Lord of Rama is Shiva. Some can say ramah ishvar yasya sah. Ram is the Ishvar of Siva. So in two ways you can understand this word. Like Haridwar is also understood as Haradwar.

Lord Rama came to Chitrakut, Ramtek, and Nasik on the banks of Godavari. Then He went to Kishkindha, he was walking as a Vanvasi. On the banks of Godavari, Sita was kidnapped. And searching for Sita, Rama and Lakshman came to the banks of Pampa Sarovar and met Shabari. They saw Jatayu and performed his last rites. Then they met Hanuman at the same place. He took them on his shoulders, to the peak of Rishyamukh Parvat where Sugriva used to reside and Hanuman was his minister. Rama and Sugriva had the same problems. Their wives had been kidnapped. Both of them did friendship in the presence of Fire.

So first Lord Rama helped Sugriva and killed Bali. Then the army of monkey which belonged to Sugriva, helped lord Rama. Someone from the army found a bag of ornaments. There are some ornaments here that fell down from the sky and a lady was shouting Rama…Rama. She threw this bag here. When Rama heard this, he felt very strongly that this must be Sita. With this thought His throat became choked and His eyes were full of tears. Thus He was not able to see the ornaments. So he called Lakshman and asked, do you recognise if these are Sita’s earrings. Na ham janami kundale, no I cannot say, I have never seen her face. But when he held the ankle bells he immediately recognised, yes these are certainly the ankle bells of Mother Sita. I used to see them whenever I offered my obeisances. So they started searching.

Hanuman came here to Rameshvaram and Jatayu’s brother Sampatti showed him the direction in which Raavan had taken Sita. So Hanuman took a flight from Gandhamadan Parvat with so much speed that some trees, stones etc. Flied along with him. Rama was very happy when Hanuman returned and with great pleasure He embraced Hanuman. This was the best gift. Would you also like to have the embrace of the Lord? You will have to serve him like Hanuman. It is not so cheap. Who says Rama will not embrace. We don’t do service like Hanuman. Rama is ready to embrace.  Then Rama proceeded towards Lanka with a huge army, mostly of monkeys and a few bears. Their commander was Jambavan.

With all his army the Lord came to Rameshvaram. Lanka is 800 miles or 100 yojanas from here. How to cross? Some said we can swim across, or go by boats. Then Vibhishan came and proposed let us make a bridge. When Hanuman had reached Lanka, he had heard the chanting of the name of Sri Rama. He was shocked to hear this chanting of Sri Rama in Lanka but then he came to know this is the house of Vibhishan. Vibhishan helped Hanuman and gave him the address of Sita in Ashoka van.  Vibhishan was always giving good advice to his brother. Sri Rama is unconquerable. He is the King of Ayodhya, the place who’s king can never be defeated.  Please forget about fighting with Him.

Ravana became upset with him and told him, you are my enemy therefore you do not want to support me in my war, you go away from here. So Vibhishan left Lanka and came to Rameshvaram with Hanuman and with him also came four ministers. He was received by Lord Rama in the place called Kodanda Rama .There the whole army of Lord was sitting and discussing about how to proceed. When they saw Vibhishan coming, they became ready to fight with him. But Vibhishan said, I have come to take shelter of you, please accept me. And lord Rama gave him shelter. And on today’s day the temple is closed because today is Pattabhisheka (Coronation ceremony) of Visbhishan. Lord Rama did coroneted Vibhishan even before Ravans’ death.

Lord Rama sat on the peak of Gandhamadan Shikhar and fasted for three days, requesting the sea god, but there was no reply. So He became angry and He took his bow and aimed towards the sea. The whole Indian Ocean started getting distracted as if tsunami waves are coming. The aquatics were getting disturbed, so the sea god came forward and apologised. Then Rama put forward his proposal of making a bridge.

Then all the monkeys and bears started making a bridge. These monkeys were not ordinary; they were all demigods and great devotees. They would stamp the stone with the name of Sri Rama, by the touch of His name, all the stones started floating. What happened to the law of gravitation? The stones were nirjiva (dead matter) and by associating with the holy name, they started floating as if they got life in them.  If we get associated with the name of Rama, we will be liberated as well. Everything outside the dham is bhava sagar. Keep chanting constantly and then when you go back to Mumbai, you will not drown in the ocean of ignorance or else you will drown.

The bridge made by the Lord was 800 miles long and 80 miles broad. Once they reached there, both the armies fought with great valour and it are described in detail in Ramayana. Ravan was killed on the day of Dassehra.

Because Ravana was a Brahman Lord Rama had to atone for Brahman hatya (the sin of killing a Brahman). Before he left for Lanka lord Rama offered flowers and water to Shivlinga and said, I am going to kill your devotee, so please forgive me. When the lord offers respect to His devotees, then his position increases even more.

First they sent hanuman to get a Shivalinga, but it was getting late, so Sita made a linga and by the time Hanuman came back, till then the Puja was done. He became disappointed that I brought Shivalinga from so much distance but the worship is already done.  So he was pacified that the one you brought will be served first and then the one made by Sita will be worshipped. In this temple both the Shivlinga’s are worshipped.

As long as we chant and hear Krishna katha, we are in the present tense. We are not affected by the kaal (Time). Hearing is not the end, it is just the beginning, now remember the katha and assimilate in your heart. And the yatra also does not get over here, it begins now.

Day 6 – May 28

Location – Sri Rangam (Tamilnadu, India)

Lord Shri Rama stayed on this planet for 11,000 years and we find the whole description in Ramayana. Shri Krishna stayed on this planet for 125 years. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu performed Lila for 48 years.

Here Sri Ranganath is performing pastimes daily in the form of deity with the Acharyas. Tirupati, Kanchipuram. Rameshvaram they all have become dham due to the presence of the Lord’s form as archa vigraha.  Tirupati Vaikuntha, Kanchipuram Vaikuntha, Sri Rangam Vaikuntha and Rameshvaram are Ayodhya. Yad gatva na nivartante. – Krishna says in Bhagvad Gita that one who comes to my dham, except you all, he does not want to go back.

There is Vaikuntha dwar (the Vaikuntha door) and whoever enters that on Vaikuntha Ekadashi gets transferred to Vaikuntha. From Vaikuntha you may go to Goloka, but do not go to Devi dham. Become Vaikuntha vasi. Become strong and then go ahead in life. Take the mood of Vaikuntha wherever you go. Do not degrade.

Srila Prabhupada left Vrindavan to preach in the western world, but his mind was always absorbed in remembering Vrindavan and Sri Sri Radha Damodar. Out of all the dham, most dear is Vrindavan. It is very unique. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also did South India yatra and he came here to Ramesvaram, Kanchipuram, Adi Kesava, Trivandrum, Kolhapur, and Pandharpur and moved ahead. Although he was going to these dham, His main objective was to establish naam sankirtana. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Sri Krishna Himself. Sri Krishna chaitanya radha Krishna nahe anya. He is Krishna so where would he stay. Thus His mind would always run towards Vrindavan. He accepted initiation from Ishvara Puri in Gaya. That time He wanted to go to Vrindavan. But could not go. Then he took sannyaas at the age of 24.

We are entangled in Maya – I and mine. In these four syllables there is whole Maya – aham and mama. My house, my wealth, my family, if nothing then – my dog.

But our kartavya (only duty) is Hari Kirtanam. Kartavyam hari kirtanam. What should I be doing – chanting. This is one important lesson of this yatra. Once you go back- do not forget this lesson. What is the use of running around in the yatra if you did not learn kartavyam hari kirtanam? If you have duties towards family etc. then do them also with this kartavyam hari kirtanam. If you cannot do this, then

gurur na sa syat sva-jano na sa syat pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat

daivana tat syn na pati ca sa syan na mocayed yau samupeta-martyum

One who cannot deliver his dependents from the path of repeated birth and death should never become a spiritual master, a father, a husband, a mother or a worship able demigod. (SB 5.5.18)

If you have become guru, mata, pitas, then you have to liberate your dependents. You have to remove them from the jaws of death of this lifetime as well as future deaths. This is actual kartvya or duty towards your near and dear ones. If you do not do this then whatever you do, even animals do. Food, clothing shelter is provided by parents in every species.  Only human species can liberate their dependents. Dharmena hina pashubhir samanam without Krishna consciousness human being is equivalent to animal.

So keep these memories of yatra fresh by hearing, remembering, reminding each other of the yatra, tell others, kathyanatas ca maam nityam tushyanti ca ramanti ca.

Saints and acharyas have worshipped the arca vigraha of the dham and they have done many other works of preaching. This is the responsibility of Acharya. They are the representatives of the lord. Thus they advertise about the lord. Here is the lord so they advertise and then they write books, their realisations, they print. So in this dham Ramanujacharya preached almost 1000 years ago. After 5 years in 2017 is Ramanujacharya’s  1000 birth anniversary.  In 1017 Ad Ramanujacharya was born. So 2017 is 1000 th Birthday.

Acharya has vani and vapu. Even if they leave the body, they still remain amongst us in the form of their instructions, their messages. So Ramanujacharya’s body is still here. No other acharya has such darshan in the world. Tukaram does not even have a Samadhi. There are samadhis of so many acharyas. But Ramanujacharya is sitting right here smeared with saffron, sandal paste, camphor, sitting in lotus position. He is a very dear acharya. Very dear to the lord. When he was in Kanchipuiram, he was very dear to Varadaraja.

At that time the Acharya of Sri Rangam was Yamunacharya. He was the spiritual master of Yamunacharya. Of course he had many gurus – Shailapurna, Mahapurna, Goshthipurna many such saints. He took shiksha from Yamunacharya. When Yaminacharya left, there was no acharya in Sri Rangam. So the devotees and the other priests were thinking who will be the acharya after Yamunacharya. Ranganath thought if Varadaraj’s acharya could come here and take up the responsibility, it will be very nice. So this was the thought of devotees as well as the Lord Himself.

So the lord wrote a letter to Varadaraj Swami, please send Ramanujacharya to Sri Rangam. The letter was taken by the devotees. Varadraja read the letter but refused to send Ramanujacharya. He is dearer to us than our life and breath. So Varadaraj replied, sorry we cannot send him. So Ranganath devised a plan to bring Him here. He sent some devotees who are good singers and they performed for Vradaraja Swami by singing beautiful compositions and glorifications and dance. So they performed dance and singing in front of Varadaraj and he became very pleased.  He said ask from me whatever benediction you want,   I will give. The performers asked, are you sure you will fulfil your promise? Vradaraj said yes, why not, sure.

Please send Ramanujacharya to Sri Rangam. Varadaraj had not even thought that they would ask for Ramanujacharya. You can take Sridevi, Bhudevi or my crown, etc. But they did not want anything else. So although he did not want to agree, but to keep up to His name He had to agree.

So those devotees brought Ramanujacharya to Sri Rangam. In the evening it was time for the Lord to take rest. But Sri Ranganath immediately ran towards Ramanujacharya to welcome Him. But the utsav vigraha moves out only when there is palanquin. At night there were no preparations for a procession.  But the Lord insisted and the pujari had to carry him on his shoulders and the lord came out to greet Ramanujacharya. For 20-30 years he remained as the Acharya here.

We also visited the Jagannath Mutt during harinaam sankirtana. Murali Bhatta was telling that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu carved the deity of Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra, which are now present in Jagannath Mutt. Sometimes we feel that there are so many topics that with just one mouth we cannot speak all these topics. Thus there are prayers by devotees, praying for thousands of mouths. Ananta shesha has thousands of mouths and He is glorifying Krishna with all those mouths. Near every mouth of Ananta Shesha there is a crowd to hear the glorification of the Lord. Every mouth is chanting a different topic – Krishna’s name, form, qualities, pastimes, abode,  then Ram Lila, description of Ayodhya, Vaikuntha, Goloka, so on and so forth. Advaitam achyuta anadi annat rupam.

Reading from CC-ML- 9.110

One time Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was discussing Krishna katha with Venkat Bhatt

Being a Vaisnava in the Ramanuja-sampradaya, Venkata Bhatta worshiped the Deities of Lakshmi and Narayana. Seeing his pure devotion, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very satisfied. Constantly associating with each other, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Venkata Bhatta gradually developed a friendly relationship. Indeed, sometimes they laughed and joked together. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told the Bhattacarya, “Your worship able goddess of fortune, Lakñmé, always remains on the chest of Narayana, and she is certainly the chastest woman in the creation. “However, my Lord is Lord Sré Krishna, a cowherd boy who is engaged in tending cows. Why is it that Lakshmi, being such a chaste wife, wants to associate with My Lord? (CC ML 9.109-112)

Venkat Bhatt might not be aware but Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu knew that there is a forest called Belvan or Srivana in Vrindavan, where Lakshmi Devi is performing austerities to get the association of Krishna. Or wants entry in the rasa dance. She felt, can I also sometime play with the lord like the Gopis do.

“Just to associate with Krishna, Lakshmi abandoned all transcendental happiness in Vaikuntha and for a long time accepted vows and regulative principles and performed unlimited austerities.”(CC ML 9.113)

Still she could not get Krishna. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told him what the wives of Kaliya said.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then said, “‘O Lord, we do not know how the serpent Kaliya attained such an opportunity to be touched by the dust of your lotus feet. Even the goddess of fortune, for this end, performed austerities for centuries, giving up all other desires and observing austere vows. Indeed, we do not know how the serpent Kaliya got such an opportunity.’”  (CC ML 9.114)

So they felt great happiness that glories to our husband on whom Krishna has stepped. But although Lakshmi is performing austerities in Srivana since so many years, she could not receive this favour. The srutis personified also attained Krishna and they became Gopis. But Lakshmi could not attain. So Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked Venkat Bhatt right here in Sri Rangam, what is the reason for this.

Venkat Bhatt could not give any answer to this so Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told some reasons. She is supposed to accept the dressing of the Gopis. Her opulent dressing will not work in this case. Gopis are not so bothered about their appearance. Once they hear the sound of Krishna’s flute, they just run towards Krishna as soon as possible. But Lakshmi is always dressing up very opulently and if flute vibrates, she will say keep playing, but I am not ready yet. So there is a difference between Gopi bhava and Lakshmi bhava. With Lakshmi bhava Narayan is attained, but to attain Krishna, much higher bhava is needed. So Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was making him understand that she does not accept Gopis bhava, and not just that, she also needs to follow in the footsteps of Gopis. Ei nivedana dhara sakhir anugata kara seva adhikar diye kara nija dasi -make me the follower of Gopis and Radharani  and give me the adhikar to do service.

Lalita vishakha adi jata sakhi vrinda, ajnanya koribo seva charanarvinda—when shall I go to serve Radha and Krsihna.  Whatever instructions they will give me I will do that service. So Lakshmi is finding it difficult to accept this anugatya – following in the foot steps of Gopis. Gopis are very innocent and simple by nature. But Lakshmi is sometimes strict. We know that from many pastimes.

In Chandrapushkarni, Lakshmi goes every day to pick flowers but because they are too high, lord Narayana steps on the branch and she can pick them. With these same flowers Lord Narayan decorates Lakshmi’s hair.

Near that Chandrapushkarni King Dharma Varma also performed austerities. It is here only that when the fish of Chandrapushkarni ate the remnants of Ramanujacharya, they left the fish body and attained their original four handed form and went back to Vaikuntha.

One should pray intensely at all these places. All prayers are fulfilled here. But we do not even know what to pray for. We must see how the pure devotee of the Lord prayed.

Kulashekhar alavar wrote the prayer krsna tvadiya pada pankaja. He was a king and then he gave up everything. His prayers are found in his book called Mukunda mala stotra. Srila Prabhupada wrote his commentary on this.  It is a famous work. Whoever will read this mukunda mala, they will obtain the topmost designation i.e. the dust of the lotus feet of the lord.

When Prahalda Maharaj was told to ask for a benediction, he said I am your servant and not a merchant.  If at all you want to give me something, then please take away all material desires from my heart.

Day 5 – May 27

Location – Sri Rangam (Tamilnadu, India)

(Reading from C.C. ML 9.82 –108)

A Vaishnava known as Venkata Bhatta then invited SriCaitanyaMahaprabhu to his home with great respect. Sri Venkata Bhatta took Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to his home. After he washed the Lord’s feet, all the members of his family drank the water.  After offering lunch to the Lord, Venkata Bhatta submitted that the period of Chaturmasya had already arrived. Venkata Bhatta said, “Please be merciful to me and stay at my house during Chaturmasya. Speak about Lord Krishna’s pastimes and kindly deliver me by Your mercy.” Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu remained at the house of Venkata Bhatta for four continuous months. The Lord passed His days in great happiness, enjoying the transcendental mellow of discussing Lord Krishna’s pastimes. While there, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu took His bath in the river Kaveri and visited the temple of SriRaìga. Every day the Lord also danced in ecstasy. (Cc.ml.9.82-87)

The lord would take bath in the same place where we took bath today at Kolidam. And across the bridge is the area where Ramanujacharya would take bath.  Under the bridge is the area where Yamunacharya, the spiritual master of Ramanujacharya would take bath. So Ramanujacharya chose a spot so that he would get the mahaprasad water from Yamunacharya’s bathing. We should also have taken bath much further.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would see Lord Ranganath every day. We are also doing so as long as we are her for three days. We were doing twice a day, morning and evening. Today the Lord came out in a beautiful procession accompanied by Sridevi and Bhudevi.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would chant and dance and He would not even realise that He is dancing; he would just dance so spontaneously out of prema avesa. Prema or Love would make Him dance.

The beauty of Lord Chaitanya’s body and His ecstatic love of God were witnessed by everyone. Many people used to come and see Him, and as soon as they saw Him, all their unhappiness and distress vanished. (cc.ml.9.88)

During those times in this dham two lords were residing simultaneously. One is lord Ranganatha and the other is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So people would take darshan of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Ranganath. Those who would see their beauty, their sorrow would go away.

Many hundreds of thousands of people from various countries came to see the Lord, and after seeing Him they all chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. When they would see Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do kirtana they would also do kirtana. Indeed, they did not chant anything but the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and all of them became Lord Krishna’s devotees. Thus the general populace was astonished. (cc.ml.9.90)

Whenever they would open their mouth it was only for glorifying Krishna. Sevonmukhe hi jivhadau.

All the Vaishnava brahamanas residing in Sri Ranga-ksetra invited the Lord to their homes. Indeed, He had an invitation every day. Each day the Lord was invited by a different brahmana, but some of the brahmanas did not get the opportunity to offer Him lunch because the period of Chaturmasya came to an end. In the holy place of SriRanga-ksetra, a brahmana Vaishnava used to visit the temple daily and recite the entire text of the Bhagavad-gita. (cc.ml.9.94)

Vaishnava is superior to a brahmana.

The brahmana regularly read the eighteen chapters of the Bhagavad-gita in great transcendental ecstasy, but because he could not pronounce the words correctly, people used to joke about him. Due to his incorrect pronunciation, people sometimes criticized him and laughed at him, but he did not care. He was full of ecstasy due to reading the Bhagavad-gita and was personally very happy. (cc.ml.9.95)

He never cared for this. He used to be happy in his study.

While reading the book, the brahmana experienced transcendental bodily transformations. The hairs on his body stood on end, tears welled up in his eyes, and his body trembled and perspired as he read. Seeing this, SriCaitanyaMahaprabhu became very happy. (cc.ml.9.96)

He would sweat not out of heat but due to his ecstasy. Tear pearls from eyes and sweat pearls from the body.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked the brahmana, “My dear sir, why are you in such ecstatic love? Which portion of the Bhagavad-Gita gives you such transcendental pleasure?” (cc.ml.9.97)

What do you understand that makes you so ecstatic, the Lord asked.

The brahmana replied, “I am illiterate and therefore do not know the meaning of the words. Sometimes I read the Bhagavad-gita correctly and sometimes incorrectly, but in any case I am doing this in compliance with the orders of my spiritual master.” The brahmana continued, “Actually I only see Lord Krishna sitting on a chariot as Arjuna’s charioteer. Taking the reins in His hands, He appears very beautiful and blackish. (cc.ml.9.98)

The brahmana said, when I read Gita I get transferred to Kurukshetra and Kurukshetra appears in Sri Rangam and I see in front of my eyes the Lord with ropes and whip. I keep seeing Him as long as I read.

“While seeing Lord Krishna sitting in a chariot and instructing Arjuna, I am filled with ecstatic happiness. As long as I read the Bhagavad-gita, I simply see the Lord’s beautiful features. It is for this reason that I am reading the Bhagavad-gita, and my mind cannot be distracted from this.”

(cc.ml.9.101)

Therefore I do not feel like stopping the reading of Bhagvad Gita because I can see the Lord.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu told the brahmana, “Indeed, you are an authority in the reading of the Bhagavad-gita. Whatever you know constitutes the real purport of the Bhagavad-gita.” (cc.ml.9.102)

You are the actual adhikari to understand Gita and this darshan that you get of the Lord is the essence of Bhagvad Gita. Bhagvad Gita study is for bhagvad darshan.

After saying this, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu embraced the brahmana, and the brahmana, catching the lotus feet of the Lord, began to cry. (cc.ml.9.103)

He was very humble and was thinking that I am not qualified to be in His embrace. He just fell at His lotus feet and started crying. He was crying out of love.

The brahmana said, “Upon seeing You, my happiness is doubled. I take it that You are the same Lord Krishna.” (cc.ml.9.104)

Every day I used to experience immense bliss during Gita study, but today my bliss has multiplied. You are that same Rajjo dhar (One who holds the reins of horses) and You have come in front of me today.

The mind of the brahmana was purified by the revelation of Lord Krishna, and therefore he could understand the truth of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in all details. (cc.ml.9.105)

His mind had become purified by the recitation of Bhagvad Gita and thus he could understand Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu then taught the brahmana very thoroughly and requested him not to disclose the fact that He was Lord Krishna Himself. (cc.ml.9.106)

Do not disclose that you have realised me. Do not preach this in Srirangam. Please do not go to Venkat Bhatt’s house and tell them who I am. The Lord is trying to hide his greatness, His supremacy. But those who are not supreme are trying to show that they are supreme. Now days there are many Kalka incarnations. But they do not even know when to appear. They are supposed to take birth at the end of Kali yoga but they are appearing now.

That Brahman became a great devotee of Sri CaitanyaMahaprabhu, and for four continuous months he did not give up the Lord’s company. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu remained at the house of Venkata Bhatta and constantly talked with him about Lord Krishna. In this way He was very happy. (cc.ml.9.108)

He not only stayed and ate Prasad, but took pleasure in Krishna katha. And at that time Gopal Bhatt, the son of Venkat Bhatt, was 5- 6years old. Venkat Bhatt’s brother was Tirumal Bhatta.

Then in future he went to Vrndavan from Sri Rangam and became a great Acharya in Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya. Tirumal Bhatta became Prabodhananda Sarasvati

Today we are very fortunate to have with us the 22^nd generation of Venkat Bhatt, Sriman Murli Bhatta. The name of his sons is Sri Rama Bhatt and Harish Bhatt and his wife is Ramaa Bhatt. It is a great glory that he has come amidst us and today he will be giving his association to us.

Day 5 – May 27, 2012
Location – Sri Rangam (Tamilnadu, India)

To chant attentively we must follow yam and niyama. Yam – that which will take you to Yamaraja. We are not ashtanga yogis but these things apply to us as well. Yama, Niyama, Asana – place where we sit and chant, Pranayam, Pratyahara- it is also a very important rule for those who chant. Objects of the senses are like food for the senses. Pratyahara means closing the doors of our senses. Keep a guard so that the sense objects cannot reach inside. Our intelligence will become guard. If we are intelligent then we can chant attentively. Chanting is not the task of a fool. Not that you use your intelligence only to earn money. In relation to yogi, Krishna says – nivatastha – a yogi should meditate internally. If you light a lamp in this room and all the windows are open, due to the wind the dipshikha will keep moving. Yogi has to make his inner chambers of the heart nirvata – free from all disturbances. There are nine gates in the body. Close all the door. Inside it is only you and your lord. Do not allow anyone inside and those who have entered they are also being defeated by shoes and brooms. Like our mind. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati would say every morning you must beat your useless thoughts with brooms and in the evening kick them out with the shoes. So this is pratyahara. No intake of unwanted things.

Chanting has to be done attentively. You have not been asked to do anything else in kaliyuga. Harer naameva kevalam. So this is the teaching of the Lord. These are not our own concoction rather the instructions of our parampara. Kaliyuga kevala naam adhara. There is only one prominent activity we are expected to do – and that activity we must bring to perfection – Mantra siddhi. Forget all other siddhis and miracles. Everything other than this is misleading.

Bhukti mukti siddhi kami sakale ashant Krishna Bhakta Nishkam at eva shant. So people go to siddha baba, no prema for the Lord. Mostly religion means bhukti, mukti. 1/3 karma kanda, 1/ 3 jnana kanda and they are all ashanta- disturbed. But Krishna bhakta is shanta. We have to become free from lust, means we have to establish love in the heart. Kick out mukti dharma, bhukti dharma, siddhi dharma. This is not pure bhagavat dharma, this is kaitava dharma.

In Srimad bhagvatam kaitava dharma is kicked out. No place for it. To save us from this cheating Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given us harinaam sankirtana- pure love for Krishna. But is we chant faithfully but then also commit offences then we don’t get the result of chanting – attaining Krishna.

Srila Prabodhanand Sarasvati says-Vanchitosmi  vanchitosmi vanchitosmi na samsayah /vishvam gaura rase magnam sprasham api na adbhavat. Venkat Bhatt’s brother- Prabodhanand Sarasvati Thakur says before going to Vrindavan he did all prescribed rituals and duties. But without a doubt he feels cheated by them because they failed to award him any bliss. But Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Sri Rangam, and in his association the Gaura rasa that I received, Krishna prema pradayate, I woke up- jiva jago and plunged into the ocean of prema.

The world of Gaudiya Vaishnavas plunges in the rasa given by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – madhurya rasa- samarpayitum unnata ujjaval rasa. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to give that ujjawala rasa, namamrita rasa. While the world of Gaudiya Vaishnavas was bathing in this rasa and becoming snataka snatakottara (graduating in the subject matter of Krishna Prema) that time we were in primary schools and were not moving ahead in life. I did not even get a touch of that rasa, says Prabodhanand Sarasvati.

This is movement is of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.  This is the Yuga of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. It started 526 years ago when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared. He came to south India 511 years ago. He took sannyasa. In 2010 we celebrated 500 th anniversary of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu‘s sannyasa. He came to south after accepting sannyasa. He came to Srirangam also. Since then sankirtana movement started.

The paramapara of this dham is in the line of Ramanujacharya. One must always be connected with the sampradaya. Diksha and shiksha has to be from a bonafide sampradaya. Then Vaikuntha prapti (attainment of Vaikuntha) is possible. People outside sampradaya, at the most can reach heaven but, not beyond. Then there are seven layers of covering to the Bramhanda. So they can keep circulating up and down in the bramhanda. Those who are not connected to these paramparas and have not accepted mantras in these schools of bhakti and accepted the dos and the don’ts, for them there is no deliverance. Either they can go to heaven or at the most enter Bramhajyoti. The Karma kandis will go to heaven while jnana kandis will go to Bramhajyoti.

The Mayavadis believe-  Sarva kahlu idam brahma- all that exists is Bramha. Their knowledge is incomplete- there is Bramha, Parmatama and Bhagvan, half knowledge is very dangerous. For example, Abhimanyu knew how to enter the chakravyuh but did not know how to come out of it. Mayavadi and advaitvadi – they have half knowledge of the Absolute.

The tattva jnana of Shankaracharya is very dangerous. In our nation there are many who bend down to advaitavad including our Warkaris, and some saints like Jnaneshwar. But Ramanuja challenged advaitavad by his powerful preaching. Mayavadi Krishna aparadhi. They offend Krishna. Ramanujacharya preached vishishtha advaita.  So our 4 sampradaya acharyas have defeated Mayavad and fifth is Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya.

Sampradaya can be authorised only if you have commentary on Vedanta sutra. So Sripad Ramanujacharya wrote vishishtha advaita. And offered it to Mother Sarasvati.  She in return stamped it that this commentary will be famous as Sri Bhasya. The sum and substance of this was to prove that Vaishnava and Vishnu exist individually and eternally. Vaishnava never becomes Vishnu.

Mayavad was spread as per the Lord’s desire. Kalau brahmana rupina –Lord Shankar himself became Shankaracharya, because he wanted to defeat Buddhism which is even more dangerous- Voidism. Shankaracharya’s village is in Kerala.

Vaishnava siddhant teaches that we and Krishna exist individually and eternally. To be in Bramhajyoti means to just exist, no variety, no eating, no smelling, no talking to anyone. The way Ramanujacharya defeated Mayavad, all the Vaishnava acharyas had to fight with advaitavad.

Lord Buddha preached ultimately you have to attain zero. Shankaracharya said well not 0 but 1, we are all 1. If we are different then we are in Maya. We have to be 1.  When we will be free from Maya we will become bramha that’s all. Vaishnava’s kick out this liberation. They place their feet on the head of mukti and move ahead. With mukti, bhakti begins. Not that it is the conclusion of anything. Mayavadis oppose deity worship. Rupa or form of the Lord means Maya to them. Mayavadis do not know about Vaikuntha, Sachet, and Krishna’s abode. Goloka namni nija dhamni.

Beyond Kailas is Viraja River, beyond that is Bramhajyoti, it is nothing but the effulgence of the body of the lord. Some advaitavadi see the light and become Bramhaleena, emerged in the light.  But vaishnav go beyond heaven as well as Bramhajyoti.

So complete knowledge is in Gita and Bhagavatam, of course mayavadis also read Bhagvad Gita and Srimad Bhagvatam but they add their personal interpretations. Had there not been Sripad Ramanujacharya, how would have the deity worship started.

Gaudiya Vaishnava Parampara has taken lots of teachings from Sripad Ramanujacharya. There is lot of preaching of Mayavad. Nirguna. No qualities mayavadi do not know about the qualities of Srimati Radharani, Laxmi Devi. They do not know that the Lord is full of 6 opulences. Srila Rupa Goswami mentions 64 qualities of the Lord.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said mayavadi  bhasya sunile haila sarvanash. Your bhakti will be destroyed if you hear the commentaries of the Mayavadis because they oppose bhakti and want to become god themselves. This is a limitless false ego and envy, envy towards the Lord. All over there the world there is mayavad. The whole Islam is this Mayavad philosophy. Even within our Hindu dharma there are Mayavadis.  Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also said karmakanda janankanda kevala visera bhanda.

Tuka mhane advaitachi vani naka majha kani–  Tukaram Maharaj says I don’t want to hear the advaita philosophy. We must understand who is who in this world.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu became acharya himself and spread the Vaishnava siddhant. Then Srila Prabhupada came to spread Gauravani. He saved the western world from voidism and impersonlism. So Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu movement is spreading all over and all – Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya and Vishnuswami are very happy to see this philosophy spreading.

One time on padayatra, we met Shankaracharya who was very old and his speciality was he had never been on a vehicle. We were also padayatris and they also. He welcomed us very nicely, and although he was meeting so many people, as soon as he came to know that the Hare Krishna padaytaris have come he gave us preference. He spoke of New Vrindavan, about the goshala, the temple, etc. He asked us what you do during padayatra? We said we chant Hare Krishna maha mantra. Then he said ‘Let the holy name shine all over the world.’ Nowadays there is neither pure Mayavad nor pure Vaishnavism. In kumbha mela the Mayavadi tents show Rasa Lila dance from Vrindavana.

Sripad Ramanujacharya lived for 120 years. Out of those 80 years he stayed in Srirangam. Rest of the time in Kanchipuram, sometime in Tirupti and sometime in Melkote. He was not preaching alone. He had 700 sannyasi disciples. In our Hare Krishna movement we have 100 sannyasis all over the world. He had 12000 bramhacaries. He had many grihastha disciples also. We saw the pastime if Dhanurdasa in the drama performed the other day. He had many kings and aristocratic people as his disciples.

One time he was going to Tirupati and he sent message to one of his rich disciples about his arrival. As soon as he got the message he started preparations – stage loudspeaker, etc. But the one who had brought the message of Ramanujacharya, he did not even talk to him much. When this messenger returned Ramanujacharya asked were you welcomed nicely. The disciple replied that I was not even given a seat to sit nor was I offered water and food. Upon hearing this Sripad Ramanujacharya said I will not go there he cancelled that visit. Servant of the servants – this is the higher position. Our bhakti should reach Krishna’s servant.

Ramanujacharya, when he reached Sheshadri, he did not keep his foot on him. This is not Ordinary Mountain, this is Anantashesha himself. So he was not ready to climb the hill. So the devotees said if you will not come no one will come to Tirupati and we will have to close the worship and come down. Then who will serve the lord. Ramanujacharya went walking not by feet but crawling. Supported by his elbows and knees he climbed. Not just respecting balaji but respecting the mountain as well. All the process of worship in Tirupati, Kanchi, Srirangam and the 74 mathas is from Sri Vaishnava sampradaya. All this was established by Sripad Ramanujacharya. He was head priest for 20 years, settling the standards and process of deity worship.

One time a disciple in Tirupati said I have so many questions and we do not stay close to you, so who will answer my questions. Sripad Ramanujacharya made a deity of him, embraced it and gave it to him and said this deity will answer the questions. This deity is still in Tirupati.

One time there was a devotees named Shailapurna under whom Sripad Ramanujacharya studied Ramayan, he accepted him also as his spiritual master. He had many shikha gurus. One time Shailpurna, sent some prasadam for Ramanujacharya. Ramanujacharya became very humble, why you are bringing, you could have sent through someone junior. Yes I thought of doing so but, I did not find a person lower than me, so I thought let me deliver it myself.  Please accept this. Our consciousness is opposite. Being a devotee of the devotee. Vaishnava seva.

There was one Kanchipurna Acharya, who was such an exalted devotee that Varadaraj would talk to him. If someone would ask him for some advice or guidance, he would go to Varadaraj Swami and get the reply from Him. One devotee asked Kanchipurna Acharya please ask Varadaraj Swami, when will I attain the Lords’s lots feet. Kanchipurna said, I will ask and let you know. When he asked to Varadaraja Swami he asked who he is. He replied, he is my assistant. Varadaraja Swami said, and then he will attain me at the end of this life itself. Then he thought when I will get Vaikuntha prapti. Then kanchipurna asked about his own future so lord began to think and he side – not sure. So Kanchipurna thought to the devotee of devotee  he is ready to give place in Vaikuntha. But to me he is not sure.

We cannot have direct connection with the lord. Kanchipurna thought that I will have to serve a servant of Varadaraj. He relaxed his service  of Vardaraj and  went to Mahapurna  disguided as an ordinary person and asked if he can get some service in goshala. He started serving in the goshala and he could also get association of Mahapurna. One time it rained heavily and all his clothes got wet so he had to wear his sannyasa dress and he was caught.

So this mood of servant of the servant – trnad api sunicena give respect to the others. We may not get respect but give all respect to others. The contribution of Sripad Ramanujacharya we cannot even understand. We are not even aware of his activities, pastimes and mood.

Day 4 – May 26, 2012
Location – Sri Rangam(Tamilnadu, India)

(Maharaja began the lecture by the recitation of Madhurashtakam by Vallabhacharya.)
The lords’ gait is very sweet. During the procession of Lord Ranganath sometimes he walks like a swan, sometimes like an elephant, sometimes like a lion and eighteen such forms. It looks like Lord Ranganath Himself is making his palanquin carriers walk in His desired sweet way. It is said that Lord Rama also learnt to walk from Ranganath when Ranganath was in Ayodhya.  Onetime I saw a Rama Lila in Delhi organised by Sri Rama Kala Kendra they were walking just like Rama used to walk. 10 years ago I saw this Ram Lila and I can still remember because I never saw any human being walk in this way.

Lord’s sleeping is also sweet. Therefore, we have all come from far and wide to see the lord who is lying down on the bed of Ananta Shesh  as Sri Ranganath. His form is sweet and His heart is sweet as well.

Vallabhacharya is giving a unique realisation of his experience of Krishna. His flute is sweet as well as the dust of His lotus feet is sweet. His hands that are holding Venu (flute) are also sweet. The beautiful feet of the lord are also beautiful. Everything is sweet about the Emperor of sweetness.

Yesterday as our vehicle stopped in Sri Rangam, the first thing that we saw was a sign board that read ‘the footprints of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed in Sri Rangam for four days. This most pure dham – Sri Rangam is very rarely achieved. To reach here is not an ordinary achievement. We cannot reach here simply by buying a bus or train ticket. It’s not that cheap. This is a special favour of the Lord on all of us. This deity is here since the beginning of creation. Varadaraj also is the first deity in the creation, of course he is in sitting posture and Sri Ranganath is lying. This Dham is in the centre of river Kaveri that envelops the Dham from all sides.

So we are in Vaikuntha. Yad gatva na nivartante. One, who reaches my abode, does not return back to the material world. So please cancel all your bookings and your return tickets and you can manage to survive for a few days with that refund money. The lord has descended here from his Dham and this river is compared to Viraja River. Actually Viraja River flows between Vaikuntha and the covering of this material universe. One who reaches here, gets freed from reactions of sinful as well as pious activities. But Vaikuntha is beyond heavenly planets and earthly planet. This heaven and hell are duality. Vaikuntha is beyond duality. Some sample experience of heaven and hell is present on earth also. If someone goes to America he thinks he has reached heaven, thus there is always a long queue in front of American embassy. There are people with this mood – mor ei abhilasa America dese diyo vaas.

Most of the rituals of Hindu religion are processes to uplift ourselves to heavenly abodes. Devan deva yajo yanti. But we have come to that abode where the Lord resides. We have come to Vaikuntha. It is beyond earth and heaven. Here the lord reached in Treta Yuga. Before coming here He was in Ayodhya. He was brought to Sri Rangam from Ayodhya while Sri Rama was present in Ayodhya. This was some 10 lakh years ago. Since that time this town is here and the deity is here as well. Such exalted towns are present in this country.

One time I was in LA and they were celebrating the anniversary of LA. It was a very huge celebration. So I asked some assembled guests, how old LA is? They said it is very old city – 200 years old. Like a frog in a well. Can you compare a well and sea. Thus there can never be comparison between LA and Sri Rangam. Since thousands of years daily pilgrims are coming here and are getting benefitted by this Vaikuntha Dham and the glory and importance of this Dham.

Lord Brahma who is also our guru and Acharya wanted that lord may appear in his abode Brahmaloka or Satyaloka. Such lord if He comes to my abode it will be so nice. Lord agreed to his prayers and resided as a deity in Satyaloka and worship began. He is not only chief engineer of this creation but also a great Acharya. We belong to the parampara which begins with bramha- bramha madhva gaudiya sampradaya.

We are going to south Indian temples and we are seeing such huge temples, these are remnants of Dvapara Yuga. Such temples were also in north India but they were all destroyed by the Muslims. The Muslims were stopped from coming to south India, thus there is more culture, rituals, elaborate worship that have been protected. Those who have protected this culture, we are very grateful to them.

Ramanujacharya made 74 such places to establish dharma. Religion is established by Krishna as well as Acharyas like Ramanujacharya. One time Ramanujacharya was begging to the Lord you are the sarnagat vatsal, please accept me. The Lord said, alright I accept you. The Ramanujacharya said, can you also please accept all the living beings.  Earlier the Lord had immediately replied, but later he thoughtfully spoke thus – whoever Oh Ramanujacharya will be grateful for all the work you have done to establish religion, if they will understand your work and admire it, to such people I will accept. Not directly.

So lord came to Bramhaloka from Kshirsagar in the form of Sri Ranganath. Lord Brahma worshipped Him. Also Suryadeva – Vivaswan did the worship of Sri Ranganath in Satyaloka. King Ikshvaku while ruling Ayodhya also wanted to worship Sri Ranganath in his kingdom of Ayodhya. He did austerities, so severe that Indra thought that he might take away my position and kingdom of heaven. Indra became worried and sent bramhastra. But Ikshvaku was meditating on Sri Ranganath, so Lord’s Sudarshan Chakra came and defeated the bramhastra. The lord became please with King Ikshvaku and agreed to descend to Ayodhya. After Ikshvaku many great kings appeared in his dynasty. King Dashratha was one of them. He did many Yajna’s including putreshthi Yajna. At the conclusion of the Yajna king Dasharath gave darshan of Sri Ranganath to all the assembled dignitaries.

King Dharma Varma, who was also present at the yajna, saw the opulent worship of Sri Ranganath by Dasharath. He also became inspired to serve the Lord and thought, ‘could the lord also come to my kingdom and accept my worship’. So the lord noted this desire of the king. The deity form is not just stone. He is lying down but he eats, sleeps, and accepts worships. Every day there is some festival going on and the lord participates in these festivals.  This archa vigraha is incarnation of Krishna, He is Krishna Himself. So the Lord has noted that you have come to see him.

When we do dhyana – the senses are accepting food in the form of sense objects. Eyes drink the various forms of this world; ears keep drinking the words of this world. We keep feeding sabda, rupa, sparsha, rasa, gandha (sound, form, touch, smell, taste) to our senses.

Aashtanga yoga’s one limb is pratyahara – means not to see the form, hear the sound, touch the objects, take the smell and taste of this samsara. After pratyahara starts dhyana, and then dharana – retention of that dhyana of naam, rupa, guna, Lila of Krishna.  Then Samadhi when this mediation becomes solidified. If we have done pratyahara, the yatra is best time to do it. Of course a sadhaka who has made attaining God his goal, without praytahara you cannot move ahead in life.  Naam kirtana, rupa kirtana, Lila Kirtana, guna kirtana is possible only when we do pratyahara.

Lord knows our thoughts as well. He just doesn’t note that we have come and visited him with folded hands. He also notices the thoughts of your mind.

So Dharma Varma king‘s desire was noted by the Lord and the lord said so be it. The Lord made up His mind; I will come to your kingdom. After Yajna, king Dasharath gave sweet rice to his wives and eventually four sons were born. When Rama grew and was about to be coroneted as the King of Ayodhya, by Kaikeyi’s request he was sent to 14 years of exile.  After returning from exile, Rama reached Ayodhya. Before that He also went to Rameshvaram, Lanka, when he returned in Pushpaka Viman with Sita, Laxman, Hanuma, and Vibhishan. His coronation ceremony was performed. Then Lord Rama asked Vibhishana to return to Lanka to rule over and take care for the kingdom as it was now his responsibility.

But Vibhishan said, I do not want anything else, but you alone. Rama thought, I have to stay here in Ayodhya, I cannot go. But he wants me, so let me give him Ranganath. You take Sri Ranganath. There is no difference between me and Sri Ranganath. You may carry Him to Lanka. The only thing you must bear in mind is that the annual festival for Sri Ranganath will occur at the time while you will be taking Him along. So you must stop on the way when the appropriate time for that festival arrives and organize it with great enthusiasm.Vibhishan agreed and left for Lanka. While he was passing by Sri Rangam, it was time for the festival.

King Dharma Varma was ruling Sri Rangam at that time and he came to know that Lord Ranganath has arrived. He was very happy to receive and to help in organising the festival. So there was a huge celebration for 7 to 9 days. After the festival was over, King Visbhishan thought I should proceed towards Lanka. When Vibhishan tried to lift the Lord, he did not even move an inch. After lots of endeavours, he realised that the lord wants to stay here. King Dharma Varma became overjoyed at this.  Sri Ranganath told Vibhishan, I will not come ahead of this place but from here I will keep looking South, towards Lanka. Usually the deity should face east; but here Sri Ranganath is lying with his face towards south. From here he kept giving blessings and mercy to Vibhishan.

This temple of Sri Ranganath is spread over 156 acres. This is a thousand year old construction and there are thousands of pillars all over, which are monolithic structures.

Ramanujacharya –

Ramanujacharya is not ordinary human being. He is Ram Anuja or Laxman. Laxman appeared, or we can say, Balaram appeared. Balaram represents guru tattva. In sastra it is said- sesa, laxman, balaram will appear. Someone will appear in some form kaschit- that kaschit is Ramanuja. He appeared again asVaravarm muni. His speciality was that when he would recite the Katha of the lord, people would forget the samsara completely as if it does not exist. The soul would hear his katha in dhayna avashta (deep meditation).  One time he was doing katha which went on for a year. Sri Ranganath himself would come to hear his katha. Katha is Sri Ranganath himself.  So for 1 year the archana stopped and all would just hear katha. Everyone was experiencing the presence of Sri Ranganath in the Katha so no one was missing the darshan.

On Tula sankranti, once a year all the holy rivers appear in Sri Rangam. If you take bath in Kaveri that day, there is no need for taking bath anywhere else. Yamuna also came and one time there was a conversation between Yamuna and kaveri. Kaveri questioned Yamuna that in your waters the Lord played the wonderful pastime of dancing on the hoods of Kaliya, but he never performed any such pastime in my waters.

So Sri Ranganath thought I will also do the Lila in Viraja or Kaveri. So lord danced on Anantashesha. The river water rose very high and entire town was flooded with water and sand. After the flood, people forgot that here was ever a pilgrim place here. After many years, a king came hunting in this area. He was tired and was sitting under a tree. All of a sudden he heard a parrot- named Killi. This parrot told the king, right in this place Sri Ranganath is residing underneath.  Then they unearthed the deity and began the worship.

One time one Muslim king became attracted by Sri Ranganath. He took Him to Delhi  and installed Him in Lal Quila. The daughter of king started worshipping the Lord very nicely. So here in the memory of that Muslim king and his daughter, Lord Ranganath is worshipped in the morning in Muslim style. He also stayed in Tirupati for 40 years in Sri Ranga Mandapa.

One time one king came to attack the temple. All the Vaishnavas stood up to protect the deity, but that Muslim king beheaded thousands of devotes. Then a well-dressed woman said I can tell you where Sri Ranganath is please come behind me.  Captured by the beauty and words of the woman he climbed the white Gopurama following the lady and she showed him the golden Vimana (golden tower made of 25 tonne gold). That tower contains 4 kalash (water pots). They are the 4 Veda. There is a lotus made of 18 petals which represent the puranas. There are 108 circular symbols which represent the Upanishads. If someone circumambulates the vimana twice, he gets the result of 1000 horse sacrifices.

So the lady brought the Muslim king on the top of a Gopuram and pushed him from the top and the king died. The woman started thinking I have done a great offence so I must also commit suicide. But as she jumped, Ranganath caught her and protected her. There are many such incidences in the history of this Dham.

Day 3 – May 25, 2012
Location – Kanchipuram (Tamilnadu, India)
Venue – Varadharaja Temple

The places which we are visiting in Kanchipuram, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also visited. Whether it is Shiva Kanchi or Vishnu Kanchi, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would visit both the temples. Lord Shiva also likes the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra. Parvati came here from Varanasi in search of Lord Shiva, who at that time was meditating beneath a mango tree. It was a huge and special tree whose branches reached out of the city limits. Thus one name of Lord Shiva is Ekambeshvar.

Few days ago in Mayapur we installed a deity of Simantinidevi – a deity of Parvati holding beads in her hand and chanting. One time when both Lord Shiva and Parvati were in Mount Kailasha, Lord Shiva started his Tandava dance and simultaneously chanting Gaura, Gaura, Gaura! At that time Parvati inquired, who is this Gaura? Shiva said let me take you to Gaura Dham. Both of them reached Navadvipa. Particularly they came to Simantdvipa (Before this pastime this island was known by some other name). Here they did kirtana and Gauranga Mahaprabhu appeared. Parvati took the dust of Lord Gaurangas’ lotus feet and decorated her hair parting. Therefore this place is called Simantadvipa.

In Vrindavan and Navadvipa, all over you will get darshan of Lord Shiva as Kshetrapal or Digpal. Srimad Bhagvatam also describes Lord Shiva as the topmost Vaishnava- Vaishnavanam Yatha Shambho. When Lord Gauranga’s arati is performed, Lord Shiva also appears along with Bramha and other demigods.
During Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama we also visit Hari Hara Kshetra. The deity with half Vishnu form and half Shiva. From one perspective both Hari and Hara are same tattva, but still they are not the same. Shiva is not jiva tattva. There is jiva tattva – the living entities and then there is Vishnu tattva – the incarnations of the Lord. Shiva is neither Jiva tattva nor Vishnu tattva. Kshiram yatha dadhi vikara vishesh yogat. Milk is transformed into curd, but curd cannot be transformed into milk. The Lord becomes Shiva tattva. Sometimes there is fight between Vaishnavas and Shaivas. But there is no such competition between Vishnu and Shiva.
Kanchipuram is moksha puri. Shiva tells Parvati that Lord Vishnu is the giver of liberation, there is no doubt about it. He also says aradhananam sarvesham Vishnu aradhyate param. Here in Kanchi both Shiva and Vishnu are worshipped. From sastras we understand who the Supreme is.

In Vrindavan there is temple of Gopishvara Mahadeva. Lord Shiva is such an exalted devotee that he gets entry in the Raasa Dance pastime. In Krishna’s Rasa Lila, entry is very rarely achieved. One time Shiva wanted to enter Raasa Krida. He was entering with garland of skulls around his neck and snakes & scorpions all over him. Thus he was denied entry and was asked to take a dip is Manasarovar lake. Then he appeared in Gopi form and was allowed to enter the Raasa dance arena.
In Nanda gram, Nandishwar Mahadeva resides eternally and he is the first personality to honour Prasadam which was offered to Krishna. We all know the pastime, when lord Shiva came to see Kanhaiya and seeing his scary form, mother Yasoda did not let him see Krishna. As soon as Lord Shiva left with great reluctance, Krishna started crying and would just not stop. He was inconsolable. Lord Shiva was sitting with a strong hope that he will get the darshan of Krishna one day. There is a temple in this place where Shiva was hopefully waiting. This deity is called Aseshvar mahadev. There in Nandabhavan no one could understand why Krishna was crying so much. Everyone started asking mother Yasoda if something happened, someone came. Then she told them about a Baba who desired to see Krishna and she denied him darshan. Kanhaiyaa was crying since the Baba left. SO they all went in search of Lord Shiva and he was brought back to Nandabhavan. Krishna saw Shiva and Shiva saw Krishna and Krishna immediately stopped crying. These are very confidential pastimes that display the Bhava and Bhakti of Lord Shiva.
Lord Shiva is also Ashutosh – he fulfils the desires of his devotees. You must have seen picture of Lord Shiva holding chanting beads in his hands. Bramha bole chatur mukhe Krishna Krishna hare hare Mahadeva Pancha mukhe Rama Rama hare hare. This is the glory of the holy name. Bramha with his four heads and Shiva with his five heads chant Hare Krishna Maha Mantra. Lord Shiva’s followers are very rich. He himself is Avadhoot- very detached. He is personification of detachment. On the contrary the devotees of Lord Vishnu are sometimes poverty stricken although Lord Vishnu is always very opulent. His lifestyle, his dressing, and his house – everything is very opulent and lavish. But Krishna’s devotees like Sudama are very poor. Shiva’s devotees like Ravan are very opulent. Sometimes it is discussed why is it so. Reason is clear – for material opulence people go to Shiva and other demigods. They give them the desired benedictions so that they may spare them to chant and meditate on the lord.

Varadharaja Swami –
This is the first deity of the universe installed by Lord Brahma. With a desire to get darshan of Lord Vishnu, Lord Bramha did yajna in Pushkar but was not successful. Then he did yajna in naimisharanya and still remained unsuccessful. Then he was asked to perform 100 horse sacrifices, but because he was too eager to see the Lord, he did not want to wait for the time that will be spent in 100 sacrifices. So he was told to go to Kanchipuram and perform one horse sacrifice and he would get the benefit of 100 sacrifices. Then from the agnikunda Lord Varadraja’s utsav deity appeared and is still being worshipped here. A thousand years ago, Ramanujacharya worshipped Varadaraja Bhagvan. Varadaraja is giver of benedictions to all devotees. There is also Nrsimhadeva deity in this temple.

The shrine of lizards in Varadharaja temple –
One time the King of this place was visited by a Shamik Muni. The king and his wife offered him a pot of water with two lizards in it. This was very offensive on their part and the Muni did get offended. He cursed them to become lizards. The King became a golden lizard and the queen became a silver lizard. They became very anxious and asked how would they get liberated? The Muni said, the devotees of Vradaraj swami who will come to see the Lord will touch your forms as well and by their touch you will become purified and get liberated. Offences against Vaishnavas, criticism of Sadhus are very severe offences. One must be very careful.

Vedantadeshika Acharya-
Vedantadeshika, who is also a very famous and prominent acharya in the line of Ramanujacharya, was born in this kshetra. The parents of Vedantadeshika had one time gone to Tirupati and after darshan of Balaji they spent night in Tirumala. His mother dreamt of the Bell used in the service of Balaji. She saw the bell and she swallowed it in her dream. It entered her stomach and she conceived. This bell of Balaji appeared in the form of Vedantadeshika. Even now in balaji temple they do not use a bell during deity worship. Vedantadeshika was a great Acharya and wrote many literatures and commentaries.

Kanchipuram is one of the seven moksha puris or places that award liberation. The other six being Ayodhya, Naimisharanya, Mathura, Haridwar, Dwarka and Ujjain. The number seven has some prominence. The number of sages, the holy rivers, the swaras in music, the colours in rainbow, days in week, the horses of sun god, the coverings of universe, number of gates in Vaikuntha and Srirangam, etc. are all seven in number!

Ramanujacharya-
Between Kanchipuram and Chennai, there is a place where Ramanujacharya was born. He got married at the age of 15 and took sannyasa at 30 years of age. His mother had expired and wife was little unpleasant. Sastra says, such a person should renounce. Yasya mata grihe nasty bharya ca apriya vadini.
There was one Kanchipurna acharya under whom Ramanujacharya studied many sastras and considered him his shikhsa guru. One time he wanted to invite him for lunch and he wished to honour his remnants. He asked his wife to cook for Kanchipurna Acharya while he went out briefly for some service. Kanchipurna Acharya somehow came earlier than the expected time and insisted her to serve him as he was in a hurry. When Ramanujacharya returned he saw that Kanchipurna had already left and his wife fed his remnants to the shudras considering them to be unfit to be honoured by Ramanujacharya. She did not understand the exalted glories of Kanchipurna Acharya. This angered Ramanujacharya very much.

In yet another incidence one brahmana came to beg alms but Ramahujacharya’s wife refused to offer him anything and he was returning empty handed. Ramanujacharya was returning from the temple and saw the Brahmana on the way. He found out that he was denied any offering from his house and this was enough for him to tolerate. Ramanujacharya asked the Brahman to visit his house again, but this time disguised as a messenger of Ramanuja’s father in law. Ramanujacharya wrote the letter himself, addressed to himself inviting him and his wife to the marriage of his sister in law. He also wrote that if Ramanujacharya cannot come, he must at least send his wife. When the brahmana reached with the letter and introduced him, he was received with great kindness. He handed over the letter, accepted the offerings and left. After sometime Ramanujacharya came home and when he came to know that a letter has come from his father in law he showed great eagerness to read it. He was happy to read but apologised to his wife that he will not be able to accompany her to the marriage, but he would arrange for her to go. Once his wife left, Ramanujacharya took sannyasa and thus he got liberated from the bonds of samsara in Kanchipuram.

Welcome to day 1 of South India Yatra. We also have Iskcon Tirupati devotees sitting here for the class today. All you visitors who have come from all over, Iskcon Tirupati devotees are your hosts and you are their guests.  So guests and hosts are sitting together. This is one family.

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

This is the solution of all problems. If there is electircty failure, we take shelter of the holy name and depend on Krishna.

So although this is the time for Srimad-Bhagavatam class,  we shall be discussing katha of Balaji. Anything related to the katha of Bhagvan is bhagvat. The devotees of the Lord are also called bhagvatas. There is bhagavat dharma also. All this has a relation with Krishna. aham sarvasya prabhavah. And our relation is also with Krishna. We belong to Bhagavan. Please accept this. It is not just a matter of your acceptance; this is the actual absolute fact. Sri Sri Radha Govinda is actual Bhagvan. Is your heart happy to see the form? This darshan is worth all the austerities.

It was such a transcendental and grand darshan. Did something move in your heart to see the Lord? Or was it just an ordinary scene. This is feast for the eyes. Festival for the eyes. Netrotsava. This is not just feast for eyes; this is also feast for the soul. This is nourishment for the soul. This darshan is food and water for the soul. You drink the Lord through your eyes when you see the Lord.

Our dear sri sri Radha Govinda. They are OUR dear. So one who is very dear, we are very fond of him and we feel like seeing him again and again. Our heart is eager to see such a beloved person. We want to see, meet and talk to such a beloved. We call by phone again and again to our beloved.

So this chanting Hare Krishna mantra is communication with the Lord. It is like having a dialogue with the Lord. If we are sleeping can we have a dialogue with the Lord? So please wake up, jiva jago. And do what . Call out for Krishna, talk to him. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

When we make this call in the dham then it becomes local call. Lord is already residing here. So it’s going to be cheap, and also clear. If a person is calling from New Zealand, you cannot hear clearly. But if you are locally residing here and if you call Balaji, Varadraaj, Govindaraj, Ranganath, Sri Rama , Lord Siva then it will be much easier . Let the Lord notice that you have reached here.

So we were discussing that darshan of the Lord is feast for the eyes. Eyes are just instruments to see, but the person who sees is the soul. In a dead body also there are eyes, but it cannot see, cannot talk. So actual seer and talker is the soul. So let the soul see. Soul is not at all interested in the forms of the material world. But we are showing him the forms of the material world. Therefore the soul is sad. It is vomiting. Because the forms that you are showing to the soul are not spiritual whereas the soul is spiritual.

The soul hears the sound of spirituality. The soul and the Lord are very strongly related. Thus the soul vomits  at the sound, form, touch, smell of this material world. For many many lifetimes the soul has not eaten anything, nor has he drunk anything. Therefore it is sad. In order  to make this sad soul a happy soul, we have come to this tirtha yatra. And now we will do a lot of nourishment of this soul and make it healthy and strong and by the end of the yatra we will make this atma – a  mahatama. Or will you make it Parmatma? That is not possible. Parmatama is one, souls are many. This is never possible that someone becomes god.  god can never become god. He is always God. Not that once there was a soul who did lot of yatra, gave charity  and he became Parmatma. So those who do not know that the Lord is full of 6 opulences they get cheated.

This is free time for you; you are free for 24 hours. Such moments are very rare in our lives. Such moments or such days. This is a special mercy of the Lord that he pushed us out of our houses and brought us to the yatra. Are you lamenting for this deed of the Lord? Are you planning to go back? So this vairagya is good. Of course you might have come with your family also. But still lot of wordly things you have left behind. That which is not yours and you have been thinking it to be yours that is Maya. Srila Prabhupada explains this. So the Lord has liberated you from Maya.

Of course you have left Maya behind and you keep checking whether it is still there or not. Reduce these phone calls. Better to be less informed about Maya. No news is good news. It is better if you are not receiving any news.  You have brought your body; let your mind also be here. As much as you are present in the yatra, that much it will be favourable for us. Jnana and bhakti increases when vairagya in our life increases. So as much vairagyavaan we shall become, that much jananvaaan and bhaktivaan we will become.

If you want to measure how much progress one has made in bhakti, we have to see how detached he is. You might not have voluntarily thought that we are going to apply so much vairagya. But this situation in yatra is favourable to increase our vairagya and bhakti. This jnana and viaragya is to increase our bhakti. To push our bhakti.

So here our body has reached Tirupati. Let us keep our soul here as well. We will also need our intelligence. This yatra is not the task of a fool. So mostly in the yatra there will be sravanam kritanam vishnoh smaranam and within this is darshan also. Shravana is more important than darshan. There might be places which we will not be able to visit, but at least we can hear about them.

Recently in Mayapur HH Bhakti Vikas Swami had brought 1000 devotees for yatra and the theme of their yatra was sravanam kirtanam. So we have officially not thought over a theme for this yatra but srvanam kirtanam is most important. This hearing and chanting is the basis of our yatra. Simply by seeing we will not be able to understand anything. To progress in spiritual life and move ahead the strongest process is sravan bhakti and the basis of sravanam is harer naam eve kevalam.

Today and tomorrow you will be taking darshan in many temples. You have already taken darshan of Radha Govinda. Yesterday was arrival day, and this morning we wanted to take Mangla darshan of Radha Govinda. Charity begins at home. Of course Balaji is not a stranger, but there is more familiarity towards our temple deities.

One time one person asked Srila Prabhupada- We have so many temples why do we need more temples. Srila Prabhupada asked who is this  lady with you? He replied, my wife. And this boy – Srila Prabhupada asked. He replied, my son. Srila Prabhupada said, there are so many sons in this world why did you need one more son. To have my own son. Similarly I want  have my own temple.

So from here our yatra has begun this morning. Today and tomorrow also you will go and see other deities. Before darshan comes sravanam. What are we seeing, what is the glory of this place and deity?

I am also just a guest like you here. Actually Revati Raman prabhu, who is dham guru of Tirupati, he should have been narrating these pastimes to us. But he told me a few pastimes which I would like to share with you.

So the mountain you see opposite the temple is not an ordinary mountain. There are 7 different mountains here called Saptagiri. These hills are considered a part of Meru Parvat. Garudji brought these mountains here and this is also called Sheshadri – Shesh is Ananta Shesh and adri means mountain.  This is Anant Shesh on whose hoods Lord Balaji is residing.

One of these mountains is Vyenkat. And because the Lord is the master of this mountain, therefore he is called Vyenkateshwar. Vyenka means sin, and kata means cutting or burning the sins. So those who come here to Tirupati and take darshan all their sins are destroyed. But then do not commit sins again thinking that I will come again. Then it will become like kunjara shauchavat – bathing of an elephant. Do not misuse the potency of the dham.

At some distance there is a place call Kalahasthi temple of Lord Shiva. There was a man who was born in a Brahman family but he did not remain Brahman by activities. He did many sinful activities in his lifetime. One day by the grace of the Lord, he decided to go on yatra to Tirumala. When he climbed the hill and saw Balaji, he felt a burning sensation in his body. So his realisation was this burn is because my sins are getting burnt. The Lord liberated him from all sins. This is the first hand example of this cripple minded Brahman who did not remain cripple minded any more.

This is very ancient dhama and it is difficult to estimate how old this place is. Once upon a time there was a yajna that had to be performed.  Narada muni was also involved. Many Rsis were assembled and they were all discussing whom should we offer the results of the yajna to. Or rather they discussed that we should offer the results to the one who is the supreme of all. So many talks and discussions were going on but could not reach any conclusion. So they appointed Bhrigu muni. This pastime was narrated by Sukadeva Goswami to Maharaj Parikshit at the end of canto 10.

Bhrigu Muni first of all went to Kailash.  Shiva and Bhrigu are brothers. Shiva was born out of Brahma’s forehead- Rudra and Bhrigu is also Manas putra of Bramha. So when Shiva  saw Bhrigu, he stepped ahead to embrace his brother. But Bhrigu said stay away, go and take a bath, because there were ashes all over Shiva’s body. Shiva is vairagya murti so he does not pay attention to so much cleanliness. Shiva became angry and took his trident and ran behind Bhrigu. Mother Parvati had to come to protect him.  Bhrigu left but noted the behaviour.

So what was the yardstick to measure who is supreme? The tolerance level will be seen. He came to satya loka. Bhrigu did not offer obeisance to Bramha, rather he went and sat with his back towards Brahma and he became very angry. But he tried to tolerate his anger and did not let it come out.

Then Bhrigu went ahead to Svetadvipa where Laxmi was serving the feet of Narayana. He just entered without any prior notice. He entered and kicked the chest of Narayana. Laxmi had never experienced this before. She could not tolerate it. Bhrigu muni just kept standing there. Lord Vishnu started apologising; ‘my chest is so hard I hope I did not hurt you.’ Lord took the feet of Bhrigu and began massaging him.

Bhrigu Muni became satisfied with Lord Vishnu. He returned and narrated the pastime and declared that Lord Vishnu is the Supreme. Sri Sri Laxmi Narayana ki jay! Vishnu Bhagvan ki jay! vishvnu tattva ki jaya!

But Laxmi became very angry. She thought Lord Vishnu should have kicked him out, on the contrary he started massaging his feet. So much tolerance was inconceivable even for Laxmi. So Laxmi just left Narayana on svetadvipa, without giving any prior notice. She left very angrily just like Rukmini had left Dwarka and Dwarkadhish had to come looking for her to Pandharpur. She came down to find a place where she can just stay in seclusion. She came down to earth, in Maharashtra, in Kolhapur and is residing there since then. So this is the history of Kolhapur Laxmi. Just like Dwarkadhish had come to see Rukmini, lord Vishnu came to see Laxmi. He saw all over and finally came to Tirupati, losing all hopes, I have lost her forever.  He started residing in the peak of Vyenkat Parvat  in an ant hill. Mahalaxmi came to know about all this in Kolhapur. She realised there is no on to serve Him. I will not go there but I will send someone to serve Him.  So she arranged for a cow and a calf. With cow there will be milk and milk products and there can be lots of offerings for the Lord. So she asked Shiva to become calf and Bramha became cow. She sold this pair of cow and calf to one person who had thousands of cows. Mahalaxmi did a deal with the owner of these cows.

So with other cows and calves, Laxmi’s sold cow and calf were also grazing. She instructed them you should shed all your milk above that ant hill where the Lord is residing. And my prabhuji would get it.

So when all the cows would return to goshala, one particular cow would not give milk. The cowherd man thought -why she is not giving milk to us. The owner asked him to keep an eye on the cow, watching where she goes, to whom she is giving the milk. He saw that she is going to an ant hill and showering her milk there. The gaurd became very angry and threw his axe towards the cow. But suddenly Lord Vishnu came out to protect the cow. He got badly injured. The guard understood this is Bhagavan and I have harmed him.

So the guard brought his owner to the spot. The Lord became angry and cursed the owner to become a demon. He begged for forgiveness. The lord said, I have cursed you so it cannot change but after the birth as a demon you will be born as a king and you will have a girl child and I shall marry her.

So he became a demon and then became a king named Akashraja. He had a brother but none of them had a child. So both were worried. They thought of doing a Yajna and please the Lord. Before the yajna they were preparing the field by ploughing it.  When he was ploughing, his plough got stuck. He dug in that area and found a lotus flower with 1000 petals and in the middle of that lotus he found a girl child, her name was Padmavati. He brought her home. This is my daughter, he thought to himself.

She began to grow and soon grew up to a marriageable age. One time Padmavati was sitting with her friends in a park. That time Lord Vishnu went out hunting and was chasing an elephant. The elephant ran in the same garden where Padmavati was sitting with her friends. The elephant got lost, but Lord’s attention was caught by Padmavati. She was beautiful, she was not an ordinary lady. She is the alhadini shakti- pleasure giving potency of the Lord. We have also been created to give pleasure to the Lord. But we are very small potencies. But Mahalaxmi or Radharani or Sitadevi, they look like ordinary women, wearing sari etc. But they are not ordinary.  Rukmini is not an ordinary Maharashtrian lady. She was not like ladies from Nagpur or Amravati. Lord does not marry anyone from the mortal world. This is a different tattva. Laxmi, Sita devi, Radharani is not ordinary jiva atma. From Radharani, gopis are manifested and from them the queens of Dwarka and then Laxmi.

So when he returned home he started telling his mother about the beauty of Padmavati and she understood immediately. Bakula devi had told him that you married 16,108 times but I did not see even one of your marriages. I remained in Vrindavan. Vasudev and Devaki were with you. But I being your mother did not get the opportunity to witness your marriage. And he had also promised Akashraja that he will marry his daughter and this was Padmavati. Then they met formally and they liked each other.

Lord Srinivas said to his mother,  do you know that when Ravan came to kidnap Sita she had to stay in Lanka for 10 months. Then she had to undergo Agni pariksha so the Sita that stayed in the Lanka, was Chaya Sita.  So one time Sita told Rama, that Vedavati took so much trouble, remembered you so much, as if you were her husband.  She had no one in her mind, she was totally Rama conscious. What about her, what will happen to her. So here Lord Vishnu is telling to Bakula devi this Padmavati is Vedavati herself.

Bakula devi agreed and the preparations of marriage began. The Lord wanted to do such a wedding for her mother which was never performed in the past, nor will it be performed in the future. For this lot of money was needed. But here the Lord was roaming in a jungle and Laxmi was also not with Him. So he was asked to take marriage loan from Kuvera. Kuvera is the treasurer of demigods. But there has to be a guarantor and Bramha became the guarantor. There should be someone answerable. So one day this pastime happens here when Brahma is brought in front of Kuvera and Kuvera chastises him –‘ Why is it that still the debt has not been paid. Even the interest has not been paid.’

In Narayana Vanam, about 40 km from here, Lord Vishnu married Padmavati devi, in the presence of His mother. All the demigods attended this grand marriage ceremony. Now Lord started staying with Padmavati on Vyenkat Parvat. And he is still residing here.  Hare Krishna!

Arrival Day – May 22, 2012
Location – Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh, India)
Venue – Iskcon Tirupati  Auditorium

Today we have come here in Tirupati for Bälajé darçana. But, although we have come for Bälajé darçana, the place where we are sitting now is not Vaikunth. This is Våndävana. Våndävana dhäma ké jaya!Did all of you take darçana of Çré Çré Rädhä Govinda and Ashta sakhés.dévyad-våndäraëya-kalpa-drumädhaùçrémad-ratnägära-siàhäsana-sthauçrémad-rädhä-çréla-govinda-devaupreñöhälébhiù sevyamänau smarämi

That Våndävana, våndäraëya-kalpa-drumädhaù is full of desire trees –  kalpavriksha. There are no ordinary trees. Våndävana kalpa-drumädhaù. Underneath one such kalpavriksha is a golden throne bedecked with jewel and upon that Çré Çré Rädhä Govinda are seated.Here the darçana that we are taking at Iskcon Tirupati, here the name of this Kåñëa is Govinda. Rädhä Govinda Ki Jay!preñöhälébhiù sevyamänau smarämiAnd in the service of Çré  Rädhä Govinda, eight sakhés are present. In most of the temples there are only Rädhä and Kåñëa. In some temples like Juhu (Mumbai), there are also Lalitä and Viçäkhä along with Rädhä Räsabihäré.
But here there are Lalitä , Viçäkhä and who else?  Südevé, Raìgadevé, Indürekhä. The fourth one, next to Rädhärani is Viçäkä. The one on the right of Govinda is Lalitä, then Champakalatä, Süciträ and last sakhé is Tuìgavidyä. In this way there is a beautiful and special jhänki (darçana) of Kåñëa here. We might be wondering have we come to Bälajé  Darçana or to Våndävana.With this kértana that we did in the beginning, our yäträ has auspiciously begun. Before this you did mostly  train yäträ or bus yäträ or some might have come by flight. There are many kinds of discomforts in the yäträ. There is no yäträ without discomforts. But those discomforts, that tapasya, that suffering purifies us.  We have left home, thus our comfort zone is finished. We have made our home a comfort zone, the zone where we try to remain happy, but where is  no comfort there either. We try but we are never successful there also.I welcome all of you to this South India yäträ. Two years ago we had gone for Badrinath yäträ and also Haridwar, Hrishikesh, Gangotri and on the way it was Ekadashi.  Last year we went for Dwarka yäträ. This year we are going to Bälajé, Käïcépuram, Rämeçvaram. So what remains now? We are going anticlockwise. Badrikashram, Dwarka, rameshvara. What remains is Jagannätha Puré. May be we could go to Puri next year. And also to Mayapur. Nrsimha chaturdashi festival is very huge in mayapur.Are here any new comers in this yäträ? For our first yäträ we had gone  to Jagannätha Puré, long ago, almost ancient time, In 2004 we went to Jagannätha Puré,Gangasagar. This life is also a yäträ. It is like a yäträ. One day we all have to go from here. There are no horses, no elephants.  We have to go walking. A plane might come from vaikuntha. This yäträ is to stop the yäträ of samsara, enough of it. Punar api jannam punar api maranam Punar api janani jathare shayanam Iha samsare khalu dustare  Kripaya pare pahi murare
Shankracharya, a very intelligent acharya, is praying, “ please protect.” Kripaya pahi. Oh Murari you have killed the demon named Mura. So you please kill my death as well. Please kill my death, pahi murare. Therefore he is remembering Murari.kåñëa tvadéya-pada-paìkaja-païjaräntamadyaiva me viçatu mänasa-räja-haàsaùpräëa-prayäëa-samaye kapha-väta-pittaiùkaëöhävarodhana-vidhau smaraëaà kutas teThere is an Alavara named Kulaçekhara. He is prayin , ‘this is a very good time.’ For what? kåñëa tvadéya-pada-paìkaja-païjaräntam. Your feet are like lotus. adyaiva me viçatu mänasa-räja-haàsaù and my mind in like a swan. Viçatu, please let my mind enter into Your lotus feet, Now itself. Better now! Why he does not want to postpone, see you late. präëa-prayäëa-samaye kapha-väta-pittaiù .When the death time will come  kaëöhävarodhana-vidhau. My throat will be choked with cough. Just like in Çrémad-Bhägvatam it is said – kaëöhe ghura-ghuräyate (SB 3.30.16) In that situation, smaraëaà kutas te .Your remembrance can become difficult my Lord! But now the time is good, I am in good mood. So please accept me. So the mood is not that you kill me now. No. But please accept me now in Your service and give me shelter of Your lotus feet.Itna to karna swami.. Now that we are sitting in the temple of Govind, we can sing this bhajan. Itna to karna swami We have done so much for you; at least you do this much.  How much? Itna to karna swami jab prana tan se nikale Govind naam lekar tab prana tan se nikale.What do we want?  Govind naam lekar tab prana tan se nikale. So this yäträ is the preparation of that moment. Art of dying. There is lot of preaching about art of living. What about art of dying? Dying is also an art. This is what our religion teaches us. It does not teach us to die, But it teaches us  how to die? Even a dog dies, but a human being should not die like a dog. präëa-prayäëa-samaye It will be very difficult. So please let me right now go to the yäträ, in the association of devotees. Let me take darshan of Your pastime places. So these moments will be useful in our life, these impressions that we are getting during the yatra will be in our mind. And we will be successful in our final examination.yaà yaà väpi smaran bhävaà tyajaty ante kalevaramtaà tam evaiti kaunteya sadä tad-bhäva-bhävitaù
At the time of death whatever kind of bhava or mood we will have, that kind of rebirth we shall get. Whether we shall get rebirth or no birth, all this depends on our mood at the time of death. One time one gold merchant, was on his death bed. He had very high fever. The Doctor checked his temperature. It was 106 deg F. The merchant started shouting, “sell it, sell it.  I purchased it  @ Rs. 80 now it is 160 so sell it.” As he said this he left his body. So the kind of mood we shall have that kind of body we shall get yaà yaà väpi smaran bhävaà tyajaty ante kalevaram
Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa , Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare. So in this yäträ you please remain in the company of the Lord. So what should you do and how shall you BE with Lord. Staying in the place where the Lord resides is like staying with the Lord. SO how will you live with the Lord? Chant his holy name. Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa , Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare.
Do not move ahead without the company of the Supremae Lord. Be with him in each and every step you move. Be in satsang all the time. This is not a professional tour, this is a devotional tour. Tirth yäträ should always be done with saints and devotees only. They will show youthe form of the Lord, they are His devotees. There is a lot of usage of your ears in this yäträ and with faith whatever is being said you follow, chant the holy name. Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu came to south India yäträ; he came to Tirupati 501 years ago. Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu took sannyas and then began South India Yatra. He came to Jagannätha Puré and then came to South India Yatra. What did he do in South India Yatra. Hotel booking? He simply kept chanting constantly. Kirtniya sada hari. What was the need of Him to chant constantly. He is Hari Himself, but still chanting constantly. Kåñëam  vande jagatgurum. Kåñëa Himself became guru, and by his example preached constant chanting of the holy name. He kept chanting constantly. And in the assembly of some special devotees he would also do katha. He would also go begging for alms to the houses of some brahmanas who are lakshapati (one who chants more than one lakh names of Kåñëa per day)So where ever  Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu would go, lots of devotees would gather around Him, when he reached Tirupati, thousands of devotees from nearby villages would gather near Him. How would the villagers know that Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu has arrived in the nearby village? (Answers from the audience – Sound of kirtna, inspiration from the heart)sarvasya cähaà hådi sanniviñöo, The Lord says I am in the heart of all. He is going from one place to another, he wants that more and more people should know the holy name. So he was communicating through the heart. That’s easy for Him. So the Lord would inspire them and thus they would all assemble.Then he would be in the middle of the crowd. äjänu-lambita-bhujau kanakävadatau His arms would reach His knees. Golden complexioned Lord, the preacher of sakértana movement, best amongst Brahmans,  vande jagat priya-karau karunävatärau. The one who appeared for the benefit of the entire world, I offer my obesiances unto Him. He is very tall, you must have seen in Mayapur temple, Panchatattva, very tall, very beautiful. When he would do kértana, all assembled people would do kértana.Just few minutes ago when kirtan was going on, no one knows who asked you all to stand up and dance, it is Lord Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu who inspired you to dance. Hari bol. We are like puppets in his hands and he is making us dance. He is Natraj, he is best of all dancers. Gauranga,. When he does udaëòa nåtya, what to say, they can only keep seeing him, they also start dancing and they would fill the heart of the Lord with Kåñëa premaa. So may the Lord also fill your heart with Krsna Premaa. Keep chanting and hearing with full capacity and then the Lord will fill your heart with premaa. He will replace the lust in our heart, our mind, our senses with Krsna pream. In this yäträ we can chase away that lust and let krsna premaa sit there, then “Paisa Wasool” (In Mumbai slang language), the fare of yatra was worth it.Once upon a time Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu  was doing Kirtana and it was summer time, like now. He was leading the chanting and his party was following at a distance. He was passing by a market and suddenly stopped by the dairy shop. He was thirsty and wanted to drink something. The shop keeper had a big pitcher full of buttermilk and he offered one bowl of buttermilk, but Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu was not looking at the bowl rather the pitcher. The shopkeeper understood and gestured that the Lord may drink it. Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu lifted it and drank the whole buttermilk.He is Jagannath, He is also Srinivas. The whole creation is inside him. When Yasoda said open your mouth, there was the entire universe in His mouth.  So there is nothing astonishing if He drank the big pot full of buttermilk.So after drinking when the Lord was proceeding, the shopkeeper said, what about the money?? Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu was empty pocket; rather there was no pocket in the kind of clothes He wears. Mahaprabhu replied ‘You can take from my kértana party following me.’ So the shopkeeper stopped the kirtana party and asked them to pay. They checked their pockets but had nothing as well. Then he thought for a while ‘ what will I reply to my wife.’ Thinking thus He was lifting the pot with his left hand, but he could not even move it. It was full with jewels and ornaments. He immediately understood that this miracle has been done by that kértana leader. He ran towards Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu. He offered obeisances to the Lord and Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu lifted him up and embraced him tightly just like Sri Rama embraced Hanuman, when Hanumanhad returned from Lanka after locating Sita. Sri Rama had said ‘thank you Hanuman.’ Sri Ram further said, ‘if I were in Ayodhya I would have given wonderful gifts to you. But now I am a Vanvasi so can I just offer you my embrace? Do you think Hanuman might have said, ‘No sorry sir.’ No. Hanuman was obviously jubilant at this offer.  This is all what Hanuman wanted. What more gifts could he pray for?So similarly when Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu  embraced the shopkeeper, his heart became filled with love and he was so much loaded with love that he could not stand, and he exhibited the ashta sattvic vikara,  all the symptoms of ecstasy. He somehow managed to walk and reach his shop. When the kirtna party saw him returning, (they had also seen him going towards Mahaprabhu ) they understood that Mahaprabhu has given him His mercy. They started shouting loudly, ‘ you have become very fortunate and wealthy – golokera premaa dhana hari naam sankirtana. So the Lord filled his heart with prema, so may the Lord fill your heart also with love, service and thoughts of bhagvad bhakti (devotional service to the Supremae). Hare Krishna.

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