Gaudiya Vaisnavas are specialized in Radha Krishna
Venue: Russia, Sadhu sanga
Dated: September 13, 2017
Second session

We continue to our talk about the Gaudiya Vaisnavaism. The subject is very vast and deep. We did say that Krishna consciousness is Gaudiya Vaisnavaism. When we say that, then everything about Krishna consciousness is also about Gaudiya Vaisnavaism. All the talks have direct or indirect relationship with Gaudiya Vaisnavaism.

sri radhika m?dhav yor apaar madhurya lila gun Rupa namnam
pratikshana aswadan lolupasya vande guroh sri charnarvindam

So what do our Acaryas do? We offer our obeisance to such special masters, to such acaryas. What do they do? Every kshan –kshan is moment.

lava matra sadhu sange

That lava is also one measurement of time. Lava or kshan means moment.

nimishen chakshusa pravrishayitam

nimishen-nimish is another measurement of time, it means fraction of a second-lava, nimish or kshan.

pratikshana aswadan lolupasya

So our acaryas, there is addiction. They are addicted to talk about Sri radhika madhav yor apaar. We have Radha Madhav or Radha Krishna here. Our acaryas are busy addicted to talk, discuss, hear about Radha Madhav- Madhurya lila guna rupa namnam. Different names of Radha Madhav, their guna –qualities, lila-past times.

Sri radhika madhav yor apaar Madhurya- lila

Past times of Radha Madhav, dhama of Radha Madhav. So they talk about Radha Madhav , their names, their qualities, past times their abode, their associates, their emotions , their bhava and their bhaktas .

All these are Gaudiya Vaisnavaism topics and discussions. These are Gaudiya Vaisnavaism subject matter. If it is Radha Madhav then there is Gaudiya Vaisnavaism. Where there is Lakshmi Narayan there is Sri Sampradaya, where Ramanuja- Ramanujaism. So we are Gaudiya Vaisnava specialized in or with Radha Krishna. So when we talk of Gaudiya Vaisnava, of course Vishnu comes in the picture. But for us, Gaudiyas –Vishnu is Krishna. For some Vishnu is Vishnu, for some Vishnu is Ram, for some Vishnu is Dwarkadhish but for Gaudiya Vaisnava, Vishnu is Krishna.

“Vrindayai tulsidevyai priyayai keshwasya cha”

There what do we say,

“vishnu bhakti prade devi satyavatyai namo namah”

We do say Vishnu bhakti but we mean Krishna bhakti. For us Vishnu is Krishna, Krishna is Vishnu.

“tulsi krishna preyasi namo namah
radha krishna seva paba aei abhilasi”
Immediately we pray to Tulsi- radha krishna seva paba
“sri radha govind preme sada yena bhasi
tulsi krishna preyasi namo namah”

We pray at your feet, Tulsi Maharani give us Radha Govinda prema. So for Gaudiya Vaisnava’s, of course Vishnu is in the centre, Vishnu is in the focus and that Vishnu is Krishna. When we say Gaudiya Vaisnava certainly Vishnu is in the picture also. Vishnu and the Vaisnava go together. Now who is Vaisnava?

“bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvamiti sa mahatma sudurlabhah”

After many, many births who has come to understand vasudevah sarvam-vaasudev is all in all, is a Vaisnava. Until now we were saying Vishnu. Vishnu -now another name came up Vasudev. For us Vishnu is Krishna, Vaasudev is Krishna, son of Vasudev. Father is Vasudev and mother Devki and son is Vaasudev. This is how it works in Sanskrit. Son of Vasudev becomes Vaasudev, son of Kunti becomes Kaunteya like that. One, who has come to realize that Vaasudev is all in all, Krishna is all in all, is a Vaisnava .Krishna is the Supreme.

There are 4 sampradayas and acaryas. For them Vishnu is Supreme or Ram is Supreme, Varah is Supreme or Lakshmi Narayan is Supreme. But for Gaudiya Vaisnava Radha Krishna are Supreme. We are Vaisnava and there are other 3 Vaisnavas. They are Sri Vaisnavas, Nimbark Vaisnavas etc. but we are Gaudiya Vaisnava.

Yesterday we talked about Krishna making His appearance at the end of Dwapara yuga and then soon after Krishna’s appearance Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared. He appeared with His associates.

“krsnavarnam tvisakrsnam sangopastra-parsadam
yajnaih sankirtana prayair yajanti su-medhasah”

Bhagavatam says this is one verse that talks about Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance mentioned in 11th canto, chapter 5, text 31.

“krsnavarnam krsnavarnam tvisakrsnam”

That Lord appeared and He was doing varnam-varnam means also varnan- description. He remained busy in describing Krishna or He chanted.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare

And then He talked also krsnavarnam –varnam are also syllables like ka, kha, ga, gha, ta, tha, da, dha, pa, pha, ba, bha etc. These are varnmala. By using these varnas, aksharas Lord described the Lord, Caitanya Mahaprabhu described Lord-Krshnavarnam. Now sangopastra prasadam. He was associated with His angas and upangas – different associates. Vishnu, Krishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and all His associates put together are part of Gaudiya Vaisnavaism discussion.

Yesterday we mentioned Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. What is His Name, Guna, Rupa, Lila.
“namo mahavadanyay” prayer. What is the quality of Caitanya Mahaprabhu mentioned in that pranam mantra? What is He known for? What does He do? Ok He is Patit pavan.

“krishna prem pradayte” is His lila- His past time. Then He is mahavadanyaya. So what is mahavadanyaya-magnanimous? Lord is charitable. He shared Krishna consciousness with the world. He shared Krishna with the world. He gave Krishna in the form of Krishna’s name. He described Krishna. That is why Lord was known as Mahavadanyaya-magnanimous. He is doing this activity, magnanimity, charity, giving Krishna to everybody with the help of His associates.

During Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His associate’s time, Bengal was called Gaudadesh. India was divided into North India and South India. North India was known as Pancha Gauda .There were 5 parts of North India. We have Pancha Gauda Prabhu as the temple President of Vrindavan. South India was divided into 5 provinces during ancient days known as Pancha Dravid, so Pancha Gauda and Pancha Dravid. I also had a god brother. He is still there, Prabhupada named him Pancha Dravid Swami. When I received my first initiation, he received his sannyasa initiation. My name was Raghunath, Prabhupada made me Lokanath and he received the name Pancha Dravid Swami. Gauda is a state, region in the country-Bengal, Orissa. Especially Bengal is Gauda. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in Bengal and His whole sampradaya is called as Gaudeshwara sampradaya, another name. We are Gaudiya Vaisnava or Gaudeshwara Sampradaya connected with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and all His associates together are magnanimous. They shared Krishna, they gave Krishna in the form of past times of Krishna.

“ami to kangala ,krishna krishna boli, dhai tava pache pache”

This is the prayer of Narottam Das Thakur where he says `O Vaisnava` I am running after you.

“krishna se tomara, krishna dite paro, tomara sakti ache”

You are very much competent to give Krishna to me. You have Krishna, you have Krishna and you are competent to give that Krishna to me. `O Vaisnava`, I am running after you. I am poor, I am bankrupt. Please give me Krishna. Please, please give me Krishna.

Chaitanyan Mahaprabhu and all His associates, a big team –they gave Krishna to the whole world. Not to the Indians, not to the Hindus only. What they were giving was meant for the whole world. That is why Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that He had brought with Him

“goloker premdhan hari naam sankirtan”

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu described this Hari-nama as the wealth. Is anyone interested here to become wealthy? I am not surprised, not everybody interested. So

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare

So you have become wealthy now. Hari Bol. In order to be happy, you need wealth, right .In general if I need to make money, I want to become wealthy so that I could be happy, I could enjoy. So anyone is interested in being happy? Now everyone is interested .So Prabhupada said, Chant Hare Krishna and be Happy. You need wealth to be happy and Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna is the wealth. If you acquire this wealth more and more, and more and more you become enriched. You become wealthy, richer in consciousness. Your emotions become purified and solidified and the outcome is happiness.

So, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and company, associates gathered and gave the wealth to this world in the form of Holy Name. Especially the talks about the Lord, in other words the literature of Gaudiya Vaisnavaism is amazing. The contribution of Gauranga and company His associates, what they left behind the wealth in the form of their writings, granthas, scriptures, commentaries and bhasyas are amazing. This is their charity and their magnanimity. They are such high grade literature-the top class with so many minute details. You cannot find nothing in the world of literature whether Russian literature, German literature, American or in India- this literature, that literature or in any scriptures, the Quran, the Bible. But the scriptures the granthas given by Gauranga and Gauranga associates are top notch.

When Prabodhananda Saraswati “Prabodhanada saraswati Thakur ki jai”. He joined Krishna consciousness movement, he got a kind of converted as he was part of another sampradaya, then he became Gaudiya Vaisnava. He was already a part of another sampradaya, but after joining Krishna consciousness or Gaudiya Vaisnavaism then he was comparing what he had received, heard or read before with Gaudiya Vaisnava literature. He was in Sri Rangam. He was the uncle of Gopal Bhatt Swami. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited Sri Rangam, He stayed there for 4 months during chaturmasya once one year. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed with this particular family of Venkata Bhatt and Gopal Bhatt. The family came in contact with Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Then they were all attracted to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His teachings, Krishna Conciousness, Gaudiya Vaisnavaism. At least two members of the family Prabodhanand Saraswati and Gopal Bhatta, his nephew left Sri Rangam and migrated to Vrindavan. Prabodhananda Saraswati Thakur was a big name, acarya. He wrote several scriptures, granthas like Vrindavan Mahimamrita, Glories of Vrindavan and Chaitanya Chandramrita, is the another one. Anyway in these scriptures, he wrote his realizations.
“vanchitosmi vanchitosmi vanchitosmi asansayah”

I was very badly cheated, `O` I was very badly cheated.

“vancito smi vancito smi vancito smi na samsayah

Visvam gaura rase magnam sparso pi mama nabhavat” (The Nectar moon of Lord Caitanya by Srila Prabhodananda Saraswati) Gaudiya Vaisnavas were absorbed in Gaura rasa, the juice or nectar given by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Gaudiya Vaisnavas were drinking that nectar and absorbed in the nectar and were swimming in the ocean of nectar. “sparso pi mama nabhavat” not even a single drop has touched me. I was cheated, very badly cheated.

Anyone who comes in contact to Krishna consciousness with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement, receives the benefit and the nectar and will say similar to what Prabodhananda Saraswati Thakur said-I was cheated, I was cheated-anyone here feels like that? Compare with what you had received before as part of this religion, that religion, this `ism`, that `ism etc. Since now you have received Gaudiya Vaisnavaism can you see the difference? Yes or no? No comparison, we can’t compare.

Then same Prabodhananda Saraswati Thakur made another statement.

“avatirne gaurachandre vistirne prema sagare, en majyanti majyanti te maha anartha sagare”
He says Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made His appearance, “avatirne gaurachandre”
Gaurachandra appeared and what did He do? “vistirne prema sagare”.He expanded the ocean of nectar-expanded, expanded. Maybe it was Mayapur Vrindavan limited, India limited. But soon then, “Srila Prabhupadaa ki jai”, Srila Prabhupadaa cut the canal. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had predicted this or expected this to happen.

“prithivite ache yata nagar gram, sarvatra prachara more naam”

These are the words of Chaitanya Mahaprabh. He said prithvi-prithvi, could you say prithvi” What is prithvi?” Earth is prithvi. “prithivite ache yata nagar gram” as many towns and villages are there on prithvi, on planet earth,-“my name will be chanted in every town, every village all over the planet”. Srila Prabhupada did that on behalf of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Prabhupadaa by founding the International society for Krishna Consciousness, he made Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction true, the Lord’s prediction. Lord was thinking of the world. Why would He think of only Hindus or only Indians? Why would God think like this? Even Vaisnavas do not think like this then why would Vishnu, Krishna, Chaitanya think like this? You may also call it as Gaudiya Vaisnava’s world’s view. They think `vasudhaiva`-vasudha is another word for prithvi. I said prithvi some minutes ago prithvi is planet. Vasudha is also the name for earth .From vasudha-vasudhaiv kutumbkam. You have heard the word` kutumba`. Some of you know, kutumba. Kutumba means family. So vasudhaiv kutumbkam, all the people on this planet are part of my family. How big is your family? Everybody on this planet especially humans are part of my family. This is how Vishnu thinks, Vaisnavaas think.

“ayam nijah paro veti ganana laghu chetsam”

To think these people are my people and these people are outside people. To think like this is laghu chetsam, laghu is opposite of guru. You know guru, guru means heavy, broad or big is guru. Light or low is laghu. Laghu chetsa, chetsa means consciousness or thoughts. Those who are low thinkers, small minded, they think these are my people and these are outside people. But the Gaudiya Vaisnavas thought is, everybody is part of my family because who is the head of the family, Krishna, Krishna’s family, Krishna’s children.

“aham bija pradah pita”

He did say I am the father of all the living entities. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did predict that His holy name will reach every town, every village not just the Holy Name but Gaudiya Vaisnavaism will spread everywhere, and this Gaudiya Vaisnavaism , the Krishna Consciousness is for the benefit or for the upliftment of all the living entities. Ok, we could quickly say, Prabhupada said Gita is the primary text book, Bhagavatam is for graduation study and what he said about Chaitanya Charitamrita-post graduation. Chaitanya and His associates have given us the syllabus for post- graduation study. Rest of the world has Bhagwatam but Gaudiya Vaisnava has Chaitanya Bhagavat. Srila Vyasdev compiled Srimad Bhagavat and when he found that Krishna has appeared again, Srila Vyasdev appeared again. Then he wrote another Bhagavatam and that Bhagavat is Chaitanya Bhagavat. Author of Srimad Bhagavaat and Chaitanya bhagavat is same, Srila Vyasdev. Chaitanya Bhagavat is for post-graduation study, higher study. Then we have Chaitanya Charitamrita, Chaitanya Mangal, Chaitanyacharita. There are several scriptures which talk about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu His appearance, His past times. Then Gaudiya Vaisnava’s literature is there. Chaitanya Charitamrita, Chaitanya Bhagavat as well as Gaudiya Vaisnava literatures reveal Krishna more and more-revelations, revelations. The writers of the Gaudiya Vaisnava literatures are the associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu like the six Goswamis of Vrindavan Rupa Goswam Prabhupada ki jai”.

“Sri caitanyo mano-bhistam sthapitam yena bhu-tale
Swayam Rupaah kada mahyam dadati swa-padantikam”

What is the speciality of personality like Rupa Goswami. He has access to the mind of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. “chaitanya manah”-manah is mind. Sri Chaitanya manah abhisthah, whatever Mahaprabhu is thinking, Rupa Goswami gets to know. So, that kind of personality is writing. Who is Rupa Goswami in Chaitanya’s eternal lila? He is Rupa manjari .He is the leader of all the manjaris. Manjaris are in some sense better and purer, innocent and very close to Radha Krishna. So, is there anything hidden from the vision of Rupa manjari? She is always with Radha Krishna, day and night. So that Rupa Manjari appears as one of the six Goswami’s of Vrindavan. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has instructed the six Goswamis to discover, uncover the past times places of Krishna, worship Radha Krishna in Vrindavan and specially to write books. Srila Rupa Goswami writes about,

“radha-krsna-padaravinda-bhajananandena mattalikau”

He is absorbed in Radha Krishna bhajan Himself. He has written so many, many scriptures. Most popular is which Srila Prabhupada also translated from Sanskrit into English, the summary study of Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu is the Nectar of Devotion in English and the subtitle, the science of bhakti yoga. And you could study the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu-Nectar of devotion, rasa. The topic is also rasa. When there is lot of ras then it is called raas. From ras comes raas- raas dance, raas krida ,raas lila. There is shanta rasa, sakhya rasa, dasya rasa, vatsalya rasa and madhurya rasa. He describes each of these rasas. There is nothing in the world that could be compared to Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu of Rupa Goswami that talks about emotions, devotion to the Lord. You have studied Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu? Not many. Is it available in Russia? You will be amazed when you read it. So everything is, as it is, as experienced by Rupa Manjari, he has revealed that. The revelations, the Christianity, the Islamic are revelations, when those revelations come, they become shastras or scriptures. What is revealed in those scriptures or unto those personalities is very preliminary, very basic.

The Moses and the Lord they were having dialogue and the Moses says, Lord reveal something more. Who are you Lord, who are you? Something like that .The response was, I am what I am. Ok, Lord spoke everything, I am what I am, full stop. Did He say much? He said everything , I am what I am. Why are you bothering me? I am what I am. So, not much revelations but from Gaudiya Vaisnava Acaryas there is nothing hidden from them. So Rupa Goswami not only writes Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu, he continues Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu writing. He writes Ujjwal Neelmani which is like continuation of Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu, Nectar of Devotion. The details He talks about, writes about are out of this world. Of course they are out of this world because he is writing about another world, the gopis and kinds of gopis, their bhava, their emotions.

I think that was Vishwanath Chakravarti in Aishwarya Kadambini and Madhurya Kadimbini, there he talks about shraddha to prema. Adau shraddha, we start from shraddha and we go up to prema. Prema prayojan.

“prema pumarto mahan”

Prema as the destination or finally to achieve something is prema. But then in Gaudiya Vaisnava literature, Rupa Goswami adds, there are more levels of prem. He says when Prema become condensed, it is called Sneha. When Sneha is solidified, more condensed, then it is known as Mana. When Mana becomes more condensed, becomes Pranaya and then like that. There is Raga and Anuraga, Bhava and Mahabhava, Madana, Modana. He defines each one of them and illustrated them with examples, how it works in spiritual sky, how it works in Golok, how it works in Vrindavan, how Krishna’s deals with Radha and Gopis. This whole rasa sastras, the science of rasa- the mellows all were explained. All of them contributed Sanatana Goswami has his scriptures, a big list, Rupa Goswami so many and Jiva Goswami too. They say the world has not seen such scholar like Jiva Goswami. He could be compared with Srila Vyasdev. His contribution was Bhagavad Sandarbha. He has written six granthas. They all talk about Bhagavatam, how to understand Bhagavatam, the position of Bhagavatam, Parmatma sandarbha and Priti sandarbha amazing. Like that I am just pointing out few drops. Then there were six Goswamis.

“nana – sastra-vicaranaika-nippunau sad dharma-samsthapakau
lokanam hita-karinau tribhuvane manyaou saranyakarau
radha-krsna-padarvinda-bhajananandena mattalikau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri –jiva-gopalakau”

We will talk talk more about Gaudiya Vaisnava vangmaya or literature. I could say only one thing before we end today. This is what Jaidev Goswami said, so there is no scripture like Geet Govinda. Geet Govinda is nectarian and the nectar of this world is nothing (feels like spitting). The nectarian nature of Geet Govinda and the other scriptures which I just mentioned the Gaudiya literature, Gaudiya Vaisnavas writings are of same calibre as Jaidev Goswami’s Geet Govinda. What Jaidev Goswami has said about Geet Govinda could be easily applied to other writings of other Vaisnava Acaryas. He says “you sugar in front of my Geet Govinda, you have become karkasha.” Sugar in Sanskrit is called sarkara and salt is called karkasha. He is playing with the words.

“You are just like the sand. The world glorifies you. Sugar is glorified, sugar has big name, sweet sugar but in front of my Geet Govinda, you are just like sand on the beach of black sea. Everyone kicks you, you are just sand`O sugar.”

Then he says, drakshe-draksha is grapes. Grapes are called draksha in Sanskrit. He is addressing those grapes, `O grapes`-grapes also have big name –grape fruits, grape juice. People make wine out of it. But he says, drakshanti-draksha means to see and there is this another verb. “O draksha who will see you now”? drakshe ke drakshanti-O draksha, O grapes who will see you now? Nobody will care to look at you in the presence of my Geet Govinda.”

Then he turns to amrita-amrita, you know amrita- this amrita that amrita. When the asuras did the churning and what did they obtained amrita. There was Amrita mahotsav and they were battling for the amrita, Mohini Murti, amrita kalash. So everyone fights for amrita. Amrita is in big demand but Jaidev Goswami says, “amritam mritam asi”
“You die now” Amrita means eternal or immortal but “In front of my nectarian geet govinda, you just die now. You are supposed to be eternal but now you die. Your death is here.”

Then he turns to ksheer not kheer. Ksheer is different from kheer, ksheer chor Gopinath. Condensed milk with no rice is ksheer and when there is rice, it is kheer. So condensed milk preparation is ksheer. He says,
“ksheer neeram rasate”

ksheer is milk and neer is water. Now your value “O ksheer, O milk preparation your value is as good as water, you are just water.”

Then he says,
“makande kranda”

Makanda is mango juice, mango the king of all fruits and now the juice a big potful of mango juice. “makand kranda” kranda means cry. “O mango juice now in the presence of my Geet Govinda nectar you do kranda, you cry now” (imitates to cry). You could only cry, makanda kranda “O mango juice, now you cry, you can only cry”.
The last item he says,

“kanta adhar dhara tula gacha”

He has put at the end of this list, kanta adhar, the lips of woman. The whole world is aspiring for the nectar of the lips the kiss of a woman. The topmost nectar relished is the adhar, the lips of woman. Now what he has to say about this nectar, You go down now, you go to hell. Only place you will find now is hell. You go to hell, no buyers for you, no takers for you. Those who relish the nectar of my Geet Govinda, they would spit at the nectar of the adhar, lips of woman. So all Gaudiya Vaisnava literatures are like that.

“param dristwa nivartate”

As soon as you get the higher taste, you are ready to kick the lower nature, lower thinking, lower status and then stay high for ever.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare: Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare.
We will talk more about the Gaudiya literature in the following presentation.
Thank you