A Sweet Taste of Bhakti

From the heart of

Srila Prabhupada Premgopal

Goswami

“Krishna is the ocean, the ocean is very calm – but Radharani with
her
glances – She is the waves that agitate the ocean. Krishna is the
 ocean,
and on the surface are so many waves. He is not easy to get – you
have
to go deep, then you can attain Him.”

Srila Prabhupada Premgopal Goswami

Bhakti Books

Contents

Introduction

What is Krishna Prema?

Looking for Happiness

Wonderful Stories about Siddha Mahatmas

The Blessings of Sri Guru
The Power of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra
I Made My Heart Vrindavan
The Secret of Manjari Bhava
Introduction

We are most fortunate to have met and taken shelter of such an amazing
personality as Srila Prabhupada Premgopal Goswami of Radha Madan
Mohan Mandir Nabadwip; the 14th descendent of Lord Nityananda, by
bloodline and uninterrupted diksha line. Prabhupada (the honoury title of
those of this line) is extraordinarily gifted, being steeped in both extensive
knowledge of shastra and deep realization of prema, while at the same time
speaking good English and being skilled in the use of modern technology. He
is a Sadhu who uses WhatsApp! He is also a wonderful storyteller and is a
joy to listen to, in English or his native Bengali. He sings like an angel and is
a gifted musician. We don’t have enough words to glorify him sufficiently,
just to say again how grateful we are for his association and his mercy, and
the chance to do this seva of presenting this first small book of his English
lectures. The book begins with one short tantalizing answer to the question
‘what is Krishna prema?’ given by Prabhu at a Delhi program. Following this
are tasty excerpts from transcriptions of lectures he gave at a very sweet
Bhakti retreat in a village close to Prague (Czech Republic) in September
2014.
This book is an introduction to Premgopal’s unique style of Bhakti
Yoga, the sweet path of love for Radha and Krishna. However it also contains
some great stories and tasty morsels to tempt the more rasika reader. We have
tidied up the language a little to make it suitable for print, but hope we have
kept the sound of his lovely voice in these pages. We are now working on a
volume of nine lectures on Raganuga bhakti given at Radha Kunda during
Kartika 2014.
Please forgive any typing errors. Any mistakes here are all ours and any
nectar is coming entirely from our very much loved Prabhupada Premgopal
Goswami.

Yours very warmly,

Dau Dayal (Dauji) das, Praneswari dasi

Kartika 2014
What is Krishna Prema?
Sri Premgopal Goswami Prabhudpada answers the question ‘What is Krishna
Prema?’
(Delhi, March 2014)
Prema is everything for us. Our life here – our smiling, our crying, our
exchanging of love – everything. Without this prema, we cannot exchange
our love in the material world. The love we exchange with family members,
with friends, with everyone, this love we caught from Him.
Love, prema, is always pure. When it discontinues, or when we mix our
thoughts with it, our desires, our material needs, then it becomes ‘impure’,
mixed, contaminated: Love itself, prema, is always pure, but when it mixes
with our material needs it becomes contaminated – adulterated – like metal, it
can be pure gold or mixed with other metals.
We are pure spirit souls. When we come into contact with the material world,
we get confused; the love gets mixed, but still the love is there. Love is
always pure.
Our material love also we get from Krishna. Because no-one can create love
by himself. No-one can, because it is very pure – it is not from this material
world. That is why we are here. Krishna sent us here to just practice about
this love. We have to exchange this love, the same love, with Him, in these
different moods (friendly, beloved, parental, dasya…). That’s why we have
so many relationships in this life, in this world. But we don’t know, we have
forgotten, where the love came from – that’s why we are using this love in a
wrong way, a separate way. If we get this feeling of where this love comes
from, then our mind will go one way, towards the Supreme Power, to
Krishna. Then our mind will search – towards where we got this. Because
this love, it is also like a trust. When you feel this love, then trust will grow.
Always we are mixing this love with emotion. Sometimes we feel that this
emotion is love – no. It is not the same thing. Emotion can change, affection
can change, but love – not. Love, it is for always. And this same love we can
offer to Krishna. Only we have to purify it. How? By Guru blessing. Guru
transforms our contaminated love to pure love, which we can offer to
Krishna.
Q: So we transfer our love? To Guru?
A: No, not transfer. Just take shelter of Sri Gurudeva. Then she will accept
everything from us. Our good, our bad, everything.
Q: What does it really mean, to take shelter?
A: Taking shelter means to offer everything to him. Now we are like soft
mud, and Guru can mold us, and present us to Krishna after purification.
Because we are like clay, inside the clay are little stones, all need to be
cleaned out so we can be offered. Guru is doing that, that is the duty of Guru.
Then he will present us to Krishna.
Remember how Bilvamangala Thakur loved Cintamani? He had a very deep
love for her. He had this love, and she said, ‘you have this good love and you
are wasting it – if you only loved Krishna like you love me, your life would
be perfect.’ Then Bilvamangala Thakur realized, ‘yes, this is true. If I have
strong love in my heart, I can offer it to Krishna.’ And then he took shelter of
his Gurudeva, but he never forgot his first lesson about love, from Cintamani,
that is why she was his first Guru – she from whom he got the lesson of love.
Because sometimes Shiksha Guru is very important, more than Diksha Guru.
Diksha Guru will give us the mantras, these are the seeds, but Shiksha Guru
will help to grow and develop these seeds.
That is Krishna prema. Everything. When you feel the same love for anyone,
anything, any subject, realize that this is Krishna prema. He gave you this (all
love here in the material world). It is a reflection of the real thing, but love is
love.

Looking for Happiness

Premgopal: What is bhakti yoga? Why are we practicing this?
The goal of our life is to get happiness, pure happiness. That’s why we are
acting and endeavouring for anything in the material world. Somehow or
other we are trying to get happiness. Some try to be happy by getting so
much money. Some by getting so much power. Others by making oneself
very beautiful, still others by accumulating knowledge and becoming wise.
But our ultimate goal is to get happiness in our minds and hearts.
Why are we searching for real happiness? We have never had the experience
of eternal happiness here. If we have no experience of something, we will not
be attracted to it. How come we are looking for something we never had
before? If we have no experience of something, say, tea or juice, we will not
have taste for it, our mind will not be inclined to taste it. Then why are we
trying for happiness? Where did we get this taste for happiness from? This
ananda (bliss)?
We get it from the constitutional elements of our soul (the soul is composed
of three spiritual elements: sat, cit and ananda – eternity, knowledge and
bliss). We are all parts of the Supersoul, paramatma, Bhagavan (The
Supreme Personality of Godhead). Therefore our elements are like his: sat-
cit-ananda. Because we have this ananda inherently, in our ingredient
elements, we are always searching for this happiness. Here in the material
world we only get a tiny taste of this ananda, but by nature we are not
satisfied with such a meager taste of it. Therefore we are always searching for
more and more. Everyone is searching for it, from a newly-born baby to the
person on their death bed, we are all searching for ananda, for real, lasting,
happiness. Because we have it inherently in our constitutional spiritual
nature, we are constantly searching for it. (On the level of the soul we are
hankering for pure love and we know that anything less would not satisfy us).
When we get some happiness it doesn’t last. That’s because our subconscious
rejects it after a while knowing that it is not the ultimate happiness. For
example, we get pleasure from listening to some song or from eating
delicious food. When we get such pleasure, our subconscious mind compares
it with the “supertaste.” Are we getting the same pleasure as this ananda? Is
it the same as that ananda which is inherent in our constitutional elements? Is
it like the spiritual sat-cit-ananda? When our subconscious mind says, “No, it
is not the same. This is not it”, then we reject it. Then it stops being
pleasurable for us. Then we will search further for another, higher taste of
happiness.
Where will we get this eternal bliss from? Where is that ananda, by which we
will become immortal and will never have to take birth again? It exists in the
spiritual dimension, not on the material platform. That’s why we search for it
on the spiritual platform, that’s why we turn to spiritual life and feel the urge
to engage in spiritual practice.
The scriptures describe millions of ways for attaining this ananda. In Srimad
Bhagavatam it says,
bhurini bhuri-karmani srotavyani vibhagasah atah sadho 'tra yat saram
samuddritya manijnaya bruhi bhadraya bhutanam yenatma suprasidati (SB
1.1.11)
The assembled sages asked the topmost sage, maharshi Suta, “We can see
that the scriptures recommend so many different ways to attain happiness.
But every scripture makes claims to be the topmost: ‘This way is perfect.
This way is perfect.’ Therefore we are asking you to clear this confusion and
to tell us which path is the best, what is the essence of all the scriptures. We
are not asking merely for our own benefit, but for the benefit of all
humanity.”
Then maharshi Suta explained that of the millions of paths to perfection,
three are prominent. If one way is the easiest, you will not give any
importance to the others. That is our nature, the nature of the jivas (spirit
souls). If we can get something very easily, we will not give much
importance to other ways. That’s why the ultimate bliss, the ultimate ananda,
is not easy to get. Among the millions of ways, three are the main ways.
Jnana, yoga and bhakti (yoga through knowledge; through mystic powers;
through devotion to Krishna). What is the ultimate goal of these three paths?
By these three ways you will get three different results. By jnana they try to
see the light (effulgence emanating from Krishna) and hear the sound (aum) –
known as Brahman (the impersonal aspect of God). By yoga, the ultimate
goal is to meet paramatma (the Supersoul, the localized aspect of God in the
heart of every being). By bhakti, we will get Bhagavan (the personal aspect,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna).
Why not jnana or yoga? Why do we consider bhakti the supreme path, the
highest? This is because by jnana you can attain the Brahman, merge into the
impersonal light. Shankaracarya, a partial incarnation of lord Siva and the
proponent of the impersonalist (mayavada) conception said, whatever you
see in this world is false, an illusion. Everything is Brahman. brahma satyam
jagan mithya – the only truth is brahma. The jivas are also brahma. Sarvam
kalavidam brahma – all of this material creation is simply an illusion, a
shadow, and we are mistaking this shadow for reality. It is like seeing the
snake in a rope. That was his commentary. But at the very end of his life he
said, “No, I was wrong. My teachings were the opposite of the truth.” That’s
why he wrote this verse: Bhaje govindam bhaje govindam muddha mate.
“Just worship Govinda (Krishna), my foolish mind.”
He said himself, “oh my stupid mind” - we are all like this. First he described
this brahma, this light. Then he explained there is nothing, there is no
qualities there, only you can see the light, and you can hear the sound, but
there is no other qualities because jiva is always searching for happiness in
their heart, in their mind, and there, just by seeing the light and the sound,
they will not get this happiness. That is why this jnana is not the supreme
path.
Then, yoga. In yoga there are two parts; the external part is known as hatha
yoga – asanas, pranayama, etc. The internal part is to meditate on paramatma
(the supersoul). What is the supreme goal in yoga? In the upanishads it is
mentioned that dva suparna sayuja sakhayah - our body is like a tree that has
many branches. On that tree two birds are sitting. One bird is jivatma, one is
paramatma. Jivatma is taking and enjoying all the fruits of the tree.
Paramatma is just observing what the jivatma is doing. He is not taking any
fruits, he is not saying anything to the other bird, you are doing right, or you
are doing wrong. After a long time, jivatma will get sick of it all, because in
this tree there are so many fruits. Some fruits bring happiness, some bring
distress. Jivatma is getting all the fruits – happiness, distress, happiness,
distress, happiness, distress. In this way, one day, he will get fed up, and
when he finally gets fed up he will look towards the other bird. Until that
time he will not be interested in seeing the other bird. Until that time, he
wants to cheat the other bird – I’ll take all the fruits for myself! I will not
even give one to the other bird! But when he gets fed up, he realizes, ‘are, I
was so stupid, I took all these fruits, but now I am sick! But this other bird, he
never took any fruit from this tree, and he is happy! How come? Maybe he
has some special qualities. Maybe he has some special power. That’s why he
is happy!’ when the jivatma bird realizes this paramatma has special qualities
and special powers, and he is the super-bird, this is the ultimate target - to
realize, to feel, and to see this paramatma. But the surprising thing this also
has no taste. Why? Because paramatma will not say anything. Paramatma
will only observe. He will not say good or bad, he will not say do this or
don’t do this. He will just watch like an observer. In yoga you can only go up
to this stage.
And in bhakti yoga by your practice you can get this relationship with
Bhagavan. Shankaracharya, by his realization, gave a very nice example. At
the end of his life, he explained his realization about these three ways like
this: One person is standing very far from you and he is decorated with many
ornaments and jewels, and so many lights are reflecting from him. From a
long distance, you could not recognize that there is a person there – you can
only see the light. That is the realization of jnana; Brahman. Then if we come
nearer that person we will recognize it is not just light, this light is coming
from something, from some figure – the light has a source. That means you
can recognize the forms, the light is coming out from a form. This form,
paramatma, is the target of yoga. When you right in front of that person, then
you can see ‘are! This person is this!’ Then you can talk with this person.
You can be close to that person. You can make a relationship with that
person. This is bhakti yoga. By bhakti yoga, you can meet this Supersoul,
Bhagavan, Brahman.
What is bhakti yoga? All the sadhakas in bhakti yoga, what is their practice?
If you read all the books, all the scriptures, then you will find there are many
strong words in your head. But if you feel this, what all the scriptures say,
you will realize that bhakti yoga is the practice of love. The practice of
exchanging love with someone who is Super – that is why we are here in this
material world. That is why we have so many relationships in our life –
father, mother, brother, sister, friend, lover, beloved: so many relationships.
These relationships are exposing different kinds of love. Love of father is not
the same love that you will get with your mother. Love from your brother,
you’ll see some difference with love from your sister. All these relationships
have special moods and special loves. We are here in this material world to
practice all these kinds of love. And after practicing this love, we have to
offer this love to Svyam Bhagavan (the original Bhagavan, God - meaning
Krishna). Because we have to exchange our love with Bhagavan, He is the
ultimate lover, the highest target for us is to exchange our love with Him.
That is why we have love in our hearts.
How will we exchange our love with Him? By love here in the material
world we are practicing. Yes, this material love we have to offer to Him. The
love for Krishna and the love for your family members are not different. That
is why we can make relationship with Him in many ways. If you are a
Krishna devotee, you can love Him as your son, you can love Him as your
friend, you can love Him as your lover – in any way, you can love Him. This
is explained very nicely by the verse akhila rasamrita murtih: He has all
kinds of love, and we can exchange our love with Him, that is our sadhana
(our spiritual practice). We are exchanging our love with God. That is our
sadhana in bhakti yoga, that is bhakti yoga, and this, once perfected or fully
realized, brings feelings of supreme bliss and unparalleled happiness

Wonderful Stories about Siddha Mahatmas

As well as scriptures, you need to listen to stories about the siddha mahatmas.
These can give the realization, the desire; we have to know their life. This is
very important. First we have to know the siddha mahatmas, how they
performed their bhajan: if we have this knowledge, then we can follow them,
not speculate by own mind. All these stories are about realization.
Radharaman Caran das Babaji Maharaja lived about a hundred and fifty years
ago in Nabadwip. He had this strong attachment to Radha Raman (Radha-
Krishna), and that’s why everyone called him “Radha Raman pagal (mad for
Radha Raman).” He was called “Barha Baba” because he was full of love for
all. He is from the Nityananda tradition. By his bhajan, he got such power; he
used to do Harinam (chanting the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra)) under one
tree, in Nabadwip. After his death, after he passed away, this tree also died,
after some days. And when the bark of this tree fell away from the trunk, then
everyone was surprised to see, the Harinam Maha-mantra as written there. By
his bhajan it happened, by his Harinam bhajan.
Radharaman Caran das Babaji Maharaja had this type of prema in his heart
that everyone, even all the animals, could realize what he is saying.
Sometimes without him even speaking. Every day in his life he used to do
Harinam Sankirtan alone in the early morning in Sri Dham Nabadwip. He did
parikrama there, in the early morning. He went everywhere, and when he saw
some animals there, like in Nabadwip you still see dogs, cows, monkeys,
pigs, roaming on the street, when he would see some animals, he would do
Harinam Sankirtan until they responded with their voices.
In that way, one day Radharaman Caran das Babaji Maharaja at the daytime,
not early morning, maybe about noon time, he was going somewhere with
some of his disciples. And he saw that some dogs were fighting to get some
food that somebody had put out. The prasadam (sacred food offered to the
Lord) was on the street and they were fighting to eat it, and one man was
beating them.
Seeing this Radharaman Caran das Babaji Maharaja felt great pain in his
heart; “What is happening here, here in Gaura Dhama one has to fight only to
get some prasadam? No no no. That’s not possible. There are so many
devotees, so many people here that can do big mahotsava (feast of prasadam)
for the men, but I will do a mahotsava for the animals, for these dogs.”
And he said this to his disciples: “You know, I want to invite all the dogs and
I want to offer them prasadam.” But the disciples, they were surprised to hear
this. They asked, “What are you saying? How one can invite the dogs? How
will they realize that you are inviting them? They are all street dogs; they are
not under the control of anyone, that you can say to their owners, “Bring your
dogs to our temple, I want to offer them prasadam.”
But Babaji Maharaja said: “No, if you invite them from your heart, then they
will realize, then they will know. They will come.” But the disciples just said:
“Baba it is not possible for us, we cannot do this.” And he replied: “You must
invite them very politely. Before saying anything, you have to do pranama
(offer obeisances) to them and then you have to say that you are inviting
them to our temple.” But the disciples said “No Baba, we cannot do this. We
don’t have this ability to invite them.”
“Ok, then I will go,” and he fixed a date to do this big mahotsava. Not a little
one. And he started to invite all the dogs. He would go to the road, all the
streets in Nabadwip, wherever he would see a dog, he invited them: “Please
come!” In that way, with pranama, “Please come. I am inviting you because I
want to offer prasadam on this (particular) day.” But all the other general
people, they were laughing to see this: ‘Hey this man, he has become crazy
now! Before everyone knows him as a mad and now, we can see what he is
doing, he is inviting dogs?’ And it was not just the next day or the same day,
he was inviting them to come. It was long after, maybe one or two weeks
after.
And in that way he invited maybe hundreds of dogs. On the day, they
arranged a big prasadam feast. But his disciples, they were really in a
suspicious mood (skeptical) if the dogs will come or not. They were very
doubtful. There was a strong doubt in their mind that Baba invited all these
dogs, street dogs, would they come or not?
But Radharaman Caran das Babaji Maharaja was fixed on his mind, “They
will definitely come.” And so they arranged the feast. Before offering the
bhoga (food offered to the Deities) to Radha Raman (his Deities), they
arranged all the seats. You see in Nabadwip how they give prasadam to the
invited people? They will give the seats in lines and they will place for each
seat this banana leaf plate and cup for water and they will serve one after one.
The disciples said “Baba, we will mix all of this prasadam, when they will
come we will give one place and all of them will take from there.” Baba said:
“No! If you invite someone can you offer someone prasadam in that way?”
“But Baba! They are all dogs, they are not men. They cannot eat like people,
they cannot sit in that way, in lines, because they are not civilized.”
Baba said: “You know, they are more civilized then all of you! You have no
faith! And the dogs will prove this when the offering will be finished, then
you can see what will happen. Just do what I am saying.”
And so the disciples arranged all this. They arranged the seats (mats on the
ground). And banana leaves, clay pots for water, everything they arranged in
a good way, then they offered the prasadam to Radha Raman. And after the
bhoga arati (the ceremony of offering the food to Radha and Krishna) was
finished, all the people were surprised to see that all the dogs arrived. They
came in a good way, they were not barking, they were not jumping, they were
not running this side and that side. In a very nice way they all came, and then
Radharaman Caran das Babaji Maharaja said, please take your asanas (seats).
When he said that, take your seats, then all of the dogs just sat in a line. Line
after line. They were not fighting with each other (like dogs ordinarily do),
they were not giving problems to others. They just sat on their own asanas.
Then Radharaman Caran Das Babaji Maharaja said to his disciple: “Now
start parivesana” - start serving the prasadam. And one after one, the same
way how you serve all devotees, his disciples served the dogs. First rice, then
dhal, sabji (vegetable stew), one preparation after another and at the end they
served the khir (sweet rice).
And all the dogs, they ate all the prasadam, all the prasadam they took, then
the water, they took it from the pots, and they didn’t spread it everywhere.
And then after they took prasadam, they left in the same way. Not fighting,
not running. And when they were taking prasadam, Radharaman Carn Das
Babaji Maharaja, he offered his pranama (prostrated obeisances) to all of
them, every individual dog, and he prayed “please take prasadam, if you want
more, then please tell me.”
And all the people, all the devotees, they came to see this dog festival, dog
mahotsava (kukkur mahotsava). Still you can see this place in Radha Raman
temple, still this place is there, where he performed this dog mahotsava.
Radharaman Caran das Babaji Maharaja, he would get good knowledge from
everywhere. He was always trying to find realization from everywhere, and
he would never see any bad things. When he was doing his parikrama in the
early morning he would even go to the colony of the prostitutes. Where all
the gentlemen, so called gentlemen, they would not go, but Babaji Maharaja
used to go every day in this colony also, only to give them this Harinam,
knowing that if they would listen to some Harinam, then they will get some
(spiritual) benefit from this. One day, he just passed by this colony and one
prostitute, she was sleeping on her veranda, and her foot was sticking out
from this fence, and it was nicely decorated. And really this foot, this
decorated foot was so beautiful. Babaji Maharaja was passing by this house.
Suddenly he saw this foot. And he got this realization: “Oh if a prostitute has
such a beautiful foot, how beautiful my Radharani´s lotus feet must be?!”
Only to get this realization, he became senseless (lost consciousness).
Suddenly he got this deep attachment for Radharani.
In this way Radharaman Caran das Babaji Maharaja, he preached about
Harinam (the chanting of the Holy Name). And he mainly he preached about
Nitai Chand; “Please take shelter on Him, others will never give anything
(worthwhile) in your life. If you have prema, if you have love and respect for
Nitai Chand then He will do everything for you.”
One of his God brothers, Lalita Sakhi das Babaji, he was also a siddha
mahatma (a great perfected soul). Just two days ago I saw on one website
some bad some comments about Lalita Sakhi and it was very painful, how
one can say such things about siddha mahatmas. Lalita Sakhi was very
absorbed in his manjari bhava sadhana (The internal practice of being
absorbed in one’s eternal spiritual form of a young gopi maidservant of
Srimati Radharani). He was very much absorbed, very deep. And in that way
in his sadhana (spiritual practice), he got completely the moods of a woman
(feminine mood) as a manjari. He always wore dresses like a woman. Still
now, in that temple, they are following this, and with these internal moods, he
was worshipping Radha Raman, both of them. Ram Das Babaji Maharaja had
not this mood, but Lalita Sakhi, by his bhajan, he was so much absorbed in
this manjari bhava bhajan he started to wear the dresses of women. And after
a time it was very surprising how he changed. He was a man but his body
was transformed into that of a woman. He even got these self-manifested
breasts. He did not have them before. At the end of his life, when he was
really deeply absorbed of this bhava, he got his menstruation period also like
a woman. Even the pitch of his voice changed. He would not show his face to
a man, never, and at the same time, he was not attached to other women.
Some people say that maybe he had a crazy mind, or it was only to get some
attachment with women he was imitating this all. No, He was doing bhajan
alone as a woman, as a manjari. Still now they are following this, when they
are doing puja of Radha Raman, the pujaris have to wear a sari. If you will
go to Radha Raman temple in Nabadwip then you can see this. Arati, bhoga,
they are offering wearing a sari. They´ll wear sari and all the dresses of a
woman.
These were the transcendental, and you can say very full of prema, lives of
Ram Das Babaji Maharaja and Lalita Sakhi das Babaji Maharaja. They lived
together at the same time. And both were the disciple of Radharaman Caran
das Babaji Maharaja. That temple is now known as Radha Raman Samajbari
(samaj means Samadhi, and bari means house). Their samadhis (sacred
tombs) are there.
Now, about one other siddha Mahatma from Gaudiya Vaisnava Jivani: (The
Lives of Gaudiya Vaishnavas - also called The Saints of Bengal - a book by
O.B.L. Kapur in two parts: One, all the associates of Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu. The second, siddha mahatmas from 100-150 years ago, like
Ram Krishna das Pandit Baba, Siddha Krishna das Baba, Prabhupada Pran
Gopal Goswami (the great grandfather of Premgopal Goswami),
Madhavananda, and more. O.B.L. Kapur was a contemporary of Swamiji,
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada).
This siddha Mahatma from Vrindavan, Madhavananda, he was not actually
from Vrindavan, he was from Bengal somewhere, but as a small boy he
listened to some katha (talks) about Krishna lila (pastimes) and he heard this
lila of pure friendly mood, that Krishna is going with his friends, with the
cows, they are playing, and how he is playing with them. He was so attached
to this mood of Krishna, the mood of the friends, he got this desire that, “Oh
Krishna is so friendly, I have to play with Him, but where is he staying?
Where is Krishna? Where will I find him?
He was just a little boy, so no one gave any importance to his words. He went
around asking so many people, do you know where Krishna is? He asked so
many people, as well as devotees, “Where is Krishna, do you know?” “Why
do you want Krishna?” … “I want to play with Him.” “No one can do this.”
“Why not? I have heard that some friends they are going with Him, they are
playing with Him, they are fighting with Him. I can do this. I know all this
playing. He plays with His friends. I also know how to play. Maybe He will
get more pleasure to play with me, than with His other friends.” But people
were not giving any attention or any importance to the boy’s words. They just
said, “Go away.”
Then one day, he decided, here no one will tell me. And he got a real pain in
his heart. “Maybe in this life I cannot play with Krishna.” But that time he
found one group going to Vrindavan. They were on the way and he asked,
“Where you are going?” They answered, “We are going to Vrindavan.”
“Vrindavan? Why are you going to Vrindavan?” “You do not know? We
want to see Krishna there.” “Krishna is living there?” “Yes. Krishna is living
there in Vrindavan. Vrindavan is Krishna´s place.”
Then he just joined them. He just left his house to join them at this young
age, maybe 7-8 years, like this. No one realized that one extra boy was in
their group. They went away from their village and then later they found the
boy. “You came with us, you left your house? Why?” “Because I want to see
Krishna.” “No this is not good. Ok, you can join us, and when we will go
back, then we will send you to your house.”
He did not say a word, he just joined them, and one day they reached
Vrindavan. And he just left this group. And he asked all the people he met in
Vrindavan, “Do you know where is Krishna´s house? I want to meet Him.
Because He is a nice boy like me. I want to play with Him.” “Really, you
want to play with Him?” “Yes I want to play with Him.” “Then you can find
Him on the forest.” They were just joking with this boy, you know. But he
took this sentence to heart. He was really searching everywhere, looking for
Krishna. One day, he met a real devotee and he asked this same question to
him “I want to meet Krishna.” “You want to meet Krishna?” “Yes.” “Why?”
“Because I have strong attachment to Him. I have strong love for Him.”
“Really, you love Krishna? Ok. But you know if you want to take darshan of
Krishna, if you want to play with Krishna, then you have to go to someone.
Through him you can attain Krishna.” “Who?” “Guru. You have to accept
one guru.” “Ok, where can I find this guru?” “No problem you can go to this
family, at Sringar Vat.”
This devotee, he was also a disciple of this Sringar Vat Goswamis family,
and he said: “Ok, you go there, from that guru you can get the guidance you
need.” “Ok.” So the boy went to this person, he went to this Goswami and he
asked for his initiation. “I want to meet Krishna.” “From where did you
come?” “I came from far away from here, from a little village in Bengal.”
“Really? And where are you staying here in Vrindavan?” “I have no place
you know. Sometimes I am sleeping under a tree, sometimes somewhere in
the temple.” And this couple, this Goswami and his wife, they got really,
really deep love for this boy, he was a very nice boy so they said, “Ok you
can stay here.”
So he got initiated by that guru. And he was staying there and every day he
used to ask his guru: “Where is Krishna? Because this man said if I accept
you as guru then I can get darshan of Krishna.” “Yes you can have darshan of
Krishna, but not here in this house, you know. He will come in the field.”
“If I will go to the field I can take darshan?” “Yes. Because Krishna likes all
the cowherd boys. All the cowherd boys.” “Krishna likes all the cowherd
boys?” “Yes.” “But I am not a cowherd boy, because I am not taking care of
the cows. I don’t take them to the field. Can I take them?” “Yes, you can take
them.”
Then from next day he started to go every day to the field with his Gurudeva,
who had ten or fifteen cows. Then the boy started to go alone with the cows
to the field. And after he went to the field to graze the cows. They ate the
grass, and every day he used to cry for Krishna –“Oh where are You are?
Please come to me! I am waiting for You here.” Every day, every day he was
doing this.
One day he was seated under one tree, and was crying for Krishna. Suddenly
he saw a big storm of dust, he couldn’t see through it, but like a storm the
dust covered the sky and all the trees. He was curious - what is happening
there? Then he saw so many cows coming towards him, so many, thousands
of cows. And then he saw boys, so many little boys running and playing
among the cows. And among them there were two very nice boys, one very
black, and one very white. Then he was thinking – “Is He Krishna?” Then all
of them came near to him, and the two boys with all these other boys came to
this boy, and this black boy asked him: “You are searching for me? You are
looking for me?” The little boy asked, “Who are you?” “I am Krishna, and
this is my elder brother Balaram, Baladeva. And they are all my friends:
Sridam, Sudam, Dam, Vasudam.”
“Really? You are Krishna?” “Yes. I am Krishna.” Then Krishna accepted him
as His friend, and they started to play. And every day, they were doing this.
And every day Krishna would take some food from him. Because when he
would come to the field all day he will stay here with the cows, that’s why his
Guruma (the wife of his guru), she used to give him some food. Some tiffin.
And Krishna every day He used to take some food from him. “Very beautiful
food you have, who made this?” “My Guruma.” “Ok you know, I like this
food. From tomorrow, from the next day, you must get more! I want to take
this also. I’ll not carry My tiffin from my house. I´ll share your food.” The
boy agreed, “Ok.”
After he came back to his Gurudeva’s house, he said this to his Guruma.
“Guruma! You know Krishna said this, that he will not bring his tiffin from
his house; he will take my food, so you must give more. And sometimes, the
friends of Krishna also they ask for this.” His Guruma she thought that
maybe some boys they are joking with him. But she did not say anything, that
what are you saying, Krishna came to you? No, no words, but she just
allowed this. From the next day she started to give more food to this boy.
Because now she found that this boy is really very happy. Maybe because he
got these friends he is happy. That’s why she started to give more food to this
boy.
It was going on like this, and one day Krishna said this to the boy: “Oh
friend, tomorrow we will do a picnic here, a bhanu puja (a puja to Surya, the
sun god). You know, tomorrow, my elder brother will not come. So I invited
my priya, Radharani, you know Radharani? She is my beloved. You know, I
invited her, she will come with all her sakhis. That’s why you have to bring
more things. So much food, not cooked food, not cooked food, you must
bring all this bhoga. You bring it, and my priya Radharani will cook with all
her sakhis.” “Ok Krishna, then I have to go back to my house early.” “Yes
go, just now.”
And he went back to his house and he told his Guruma. But this was really,
very much a problem to her, because he asked for so much food, so many
things that he would have to take with the cart. Such kinds of food, such kind
of stuff he wants from his Guruma. And then Guruma, she has to tell his
Gurudev. And she explained this, you know maybe this boy, maybe he has
been trapped by some bad boys, because every day they are squeezing for
more food. More food, more food, they are squeezing this boy. Yes. And now
today they asked that they will do some picnic tomorrow and he has to bring
all this stuff. So Gurudev he asked this to this boy: What is happening? Than
the boy explained all this story. “Gurudev, you know Krishna is coming
every day, he is playing with me with all his friends and his elder brother
also, Balaram also.” Gurudev was surprised and a little bit angry also. “What
are you saying, Krishna is coming to play with you?” “Yes Gurudev, it’s
true.” “Can you show me? If you can show me that Krishna is coming then I
will give you. If you promise me that you will show Krishna and all his
friends and Radharani then I will give you.” “Yes Gurudev you can see, you
can see, every day we are playing there and tomorrow Radharani she will
come with all her sakhis.” “Ok, if you cannot show me, then you will get
punishment.” “Ok no problem.”
Then his Gurudev, he gave all this stuff to him and early morning he went to
this forest, saying to Gurudev, “ok, you must come later. We will all be
there” (he said the place). At noon time near about 11.30, Gurudev came to
this place, he went to this place and he saw, that all the cows, his cows, not
any others, his cows were eating grass there on the field, and this boy, this
boy, he was running, here and there and he was chuckling. His Gurudev was
surprised, why he is running like this? And he is laughing sometimes, he is
calling Krishna. What is happening here? Maybe he is making a fool of me?
He is cheating me? Then he asked, “Hey, what you are doing?” “Oh
Gurudev, we are playing!” “We? I can only see you, there are no others,
where is we?” Yes, he could not see anyone, but there was a surprising thing -
he could smell a very good smell of cooking. He could smell this and he was
searching from where it is coming. But there is nothing that he could find as
the source of this smell. And he asked this boy: “what is happening here,
what you are doing, why you are running in that way, why you are
laughing?”
“Oh Gurudev you cannot see? See Krishna, see there Radharani is cooking
with all her sakhis, see, she is looking at you!” “No, I’m not seeing
anything!” “Then Ok, come nearer to us.”
Gurudev was coming near to them, to this boy, and there was one stone, a big
stone. He did not see the stone and his feet just hit this stone and he tripped
and was falling down. Krishna was in front of him and he caught him in his
hands, he did not let him fall down. And suddenly when Krishna touched
him, Gurudev could see all these things; all these thousands of cows, Krishna,
all the friends, there are very near to this boy and they were just cuddling the
boy, and Radharani, she was cooking with all her sakhis, they were doing this
everything, and the place was changed, really changed; so many trees and
flowers and fruits, it was a very nice place. Gurudeva could only see it all for
some moments and he became senseless, only to see this he became
unconscious.
At the end of the day, in the evening, he got his sense back. That time he was
in his house, and he saw that his disciple, this boy serving him with the panka
(fan). He said, “I am subhagya, so fortunate, that because of you I can take
darshan of Krishna, only because of you, otherwise maybe in my life I´ll not
get such darshan. I am proud of you my boy.”
A little boy, by his love, he can take darshan of Krishna, he can play with
Krishna. That is the great point, if you have strong eagerness, if you have
strong desire, then you can get him as your friend, as your relative, like this,
father, mother, lover, because he likes to exchange his love with us. He likes
to accept this pure love from us. What else can we offer to him, everything is
already his, we are all Krishna´s property, we can only offer our love to him,
nothing else.
These siddha mahatmas if you´ll see and read their biography, then you will
find these things. They are not doing so much puja, so much things, but they
have strong love for Krishna. They are doing their bhajan alone in a very
secret way, but they achieve this target, highest prema, by which they took
darshan of Krishna, they exchange their love with Krishna. That does not
matter where you are - in India, or here in Europe.
Just think about Ram Krishna Das Pandit Baba; he used to play marbles with
Krishna as a boy. In Vrindavan Ram Krishna Das Pandit Baba, when he was
so little, like 4 or 5 years old, Krishna would come to this boy every day. And
at noon time they would play the marbles. One day this happened by the
mercy of Krishna for this boy. His father was the pujari of this temple and
after bhoga they would close the temple. They locked the door, you know.
But Krishna every day he used to come to this boy at noon time, after he
would get prasadam, or rather after he would get bhoga and this boy also he
would get his lunch, prasad. Then they would play marbles. One day it
happened that Krishna was defeated by this boy, in this playing, marble
playing, and Krishna had to give all hid marbles to this boy, and he gave his
all marbles to this boy and after some time, you know what he did? He stole
all the marbles by force, Krishna took all the marbles from him and He ran
away!
Yes, Krishna took not only His marbles that the boy had won, but also the
marbles of the boy, He took them all by force, He ran away and He went
inside into the temple. And this boy followed Krishna running, and he came
to the temple crying loudly “Please give my marbles back, give my marbles
back! Please give my marbles back!”
But Krishna was already inside in the temple and it was locked, he cannot go
inside, this boy. And some people saw the boy crying in front of this temple,
in front of the door saying “give my marble back!” They said to his father,
“hey, what your son is doing there, Krishna is sleeping now!” This father
came to his boy, “hey what you are doing? Krishna is sleeping now. You are
crying loudly here, he will wake up.” “No no no! He is not sleeping, he is a
cheater!” “Cheater? You are saying Krishna is a cheater?” “Yes, he took all
my marbles by force.” And his father thought that this boy was doing
something crazy. “You are sure, it was Krishna? You are sure that this boy
was Krishna?” “Yes! He went inside, he just went in, that’s why I am here.
When he will come out from this room, I’ll take him, I´ll catch him.”
Then his father tried to stop him, “do not cry here,” but this boy did not
follow his word. Then all the other people they said, “Ok, just open the
door.” “How it is possible, Krishna is sleeping now, I cannot do this,” “Yes
you have to do because this boy is saying this. We must know if he is right or
wrong. Maybe there is a miracle.”
And his father he opened the door the lock. And they entered the temple, and
Kishna was standing there like this, (tri bhanga lalitam pose, playing the
flute), “Where are the marbles, where are your marbles? Here are no
marbles!” “Yes, you can see here, in his pocket!” And then his father, he
searched that place and he found all the marbles there, all the marbles were
really there.
This is the story of Ram Krishna Das Pandit Baba. Only by feelings, only by
strong eagerness, by love, you can get Krishna. By speculation nothing will
happen. We need greed - lobha. We need this lobha. We need lobha, really
we need lobha for life. Lalasa, strong longing. Without this lalasha, without
this lobha you cannot get to this heart of Krishna bhakti.
Krishna bhakti rasa bhavita matih, kriyatam yadi kuto ‘pi labhyate, Tatra
laulyam api mulyam ekalam, janma koti sukrair na labhyate.
[Padyavali 14, and Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 8.70]
Wherever you find someone, or some place, with Krishna rasa bhakti,
immediately you should get it - you should rush buy it, and the only price is
greed, and this Krishna bhakti rasa you cannot get it any other way, even in
millions of lifetimes.
Ram Krishna Das Pandit Baba´s temple still there with this deity in there:
Bhagavat Nivas (nivas means house). It is very near to the Jiva institute, in
Vrindavan. There are so many, stories of siddha mahatmas. So many millions
of hidden nectarian stories.
A devotee asked ‘is it possible here in Europe, such kind of lila?’ and
Prabhupada Premgopal relied Why not? If you have such kinds of heart, you
can find Krishna here.”
The Blessings of Sri Guru
A devotee asked the question: In your previous talk about Krishna prema you
gave a fabulous explanation of how the guru is molding us. We are like rough
clay and the guru is picking out the sharp stones and making us soft and
smooth. I’d like to hear more about that.
This is a very nice topic; she is asking about Guru Tattva; a very nice
question. Why do we need guru in our life? What and who is real guru? How
will we get the blessings of Sri Guru in our life?
For all the followers of Sriman Mahaprabhu and for us, the most important
book is Prema Bhakti Chandrika (Narottam das Thakur) as well as Chaitanya
Charitamrita, Chaitanya Bhagavatam and others. All these scriptures, if we
look at them, we find they all start with guru pranam ​– offering respects to
Sri Guru. Prema Bhakti Chandrika starts with: sri guru carana padma kevala
bhakati sadma, bando mui savadhana mate, jahara prasade bhai, e bhava
toriya jai, krsna prapti haya jaha hoite – (The lotus feet of Sri Guru are the
treasure house of pure prema bhakti. I worship his lotus feet with great care.
By the mercy of Sri Guru, O brother, one can easily cross over the ocean of
material existence and attain Sri Krishna). Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, first
sloka - vande gurun isa bhaktan isam isavatarakan, tat prakasams ca tac-
chaktih krsna caitanya samjnakam [Cc Adi lila 1.1] – (I offer my respectful
obeisances unto the spiritual masters (initiating and instructing gurus), unto
the pure devotees of the Supreme Lord, unto the incarnations of the Lord,
unto his various manifestations and unto the potencies of the Supreme Lord
Sri Krishna Chaitanya). Our mangala caranam (auspicious invocation) starts
with vande ‘ham sri guru – I offer my prayers of respect to Sri Guru. Srila
Rupa Goswami in his invocation sloka to Sri Radha-Krishna Ganoddesh
Dipika - vande guru pada dvandvam.
Why do we need this? Why do we need someone as guru? Guru will give us
some knowledge, isn’t it? He will give us some direction; you should go this
or that way, you should do like this or like that. Then, why can’t we get this
without guru? Because what guru can tell us, what he says, we can get it all
from the granthas, from books. From the scriptures. All the mantras, all the
instructions, what is good, bad, everything we have to do; all this knowledge
we can read in the scriptures by ourselves.
Then why accept guru? Why surrender to him? How do we surrender to
guru? It is written (that we have to surrender) with (a mood of) sharanagati.
Sharanagati is not a very simple word. There are six limbs in sharanagati:
anukulyasya sankalpa pratikulyasya varjanam, raksisyatiti visvaso goptrtve
varanam tatha, atma-niksepa-karpanye sad-vidha saranagati (The six
divisions of surrender are the acceptance of those things favorable to
devotional service, the rejection of unfavorable things, the conviction that
Krishna will give protection, the acceptance of the Lord as one’s guardian or
maintainer, full self-surrender, and humility).
First, anukulyasya sankalpa, we have to do all our activities in favour of our
guru. We have to take a vow that we will do only such activities that he likes.
Second, pratikulyasya varjanam, we have to leave all activities that go
against him. Yatha guru ninda haya. tatha guru nindukera mukha kabhu na
heribe yatha haya guru-ninda tatha na yaibe. Where we will see that
somebody insults our guru, if we are able to speak against it, we will, if we
can’t, then we will leave this place (at once). We shouldn’t hear this,
otherwise we will do an offense against guru.
Then, raksisyatiti visvaso, we have to keep strong faith in him, one hundred
percent, that he will protect us. I am taking shelter of his lotus feet and he will
take care of me. How will I get this happiness and peace in my mind? He will
give it to me, Sri Gurudev will do this. In Bengal there is one Muslim poet,
he wrote a very nice song. He was a Muslim, very famous, Nazarur Islam,
but he had strong love for Krishna. This song is very famous: hey govinda
rako (raksha) carane - O my beloved, sweet lord Krishna, Govinda, please
give me shelter at your lotus feet. And in this song there is one line: tava
carana dariya tabo – ‘O Prabhu, don’t forget this, if I get any problem in my
life that I’ll just finish my life, after I have taken shelter on your lotus feet, it
does not matter to me, but you know, you will be defamed. Everyone will
say, look! This person took shelter at the lotus feet of Krishna, but now he is
finished. That’s why you must take care of me. It is not for me, but for you!’
This is like a challenge. We have to keep this kind of faith in guru, that he
will protect us, and to know that he is my protector.
goptritve varanam tatha – He is my maintainer and guardian. (I cannot obtain
anything, or even maintain myself, by my own endeavour. I will serve Him to
the best of my ability, and He will take care of me).
Then, atma niksepa, means throw yourself completely at his lotus feet (be
free of independent mood: “Who am I? I am His. My duty is to fulfill His
desire.”) There is one very nice example of how we should throw ourselves.
If you have one ball in your hand, then you can play with it, for how long?
When it is in your hand. If you throw it to someone, then you no longer
control the ball, to whom you throw the ball, he will control it. In that way we
have to throw ourselves at the lotus feet of Sri Guru and Sri Krishna.
The last point, karpanye, means eagerness. Strong eagerness we need, that “O
Prabhu, I need your blessings. Without this, nothing will happen in my life.”
Strong eagerness. (Karpanye also means humility, not having a sense of self-
importance).
With these six qualities we have to take shelter on the lotus feet of Sri
Gurudev. Why? Who is guru? Is Guru an ordinary man? No. Guru appears to
be like a man. He looks like a man – two hands, two legs, arms, two eyes,
ears, same as us. But Guru is not a man, guru is tattva (A spiritual principle).
Guru is a truth, and this tattva we will find in this man (it manifests in him)
whom we accept as guru. In Srimad Bhagavatam, Sri Krishna Himself said to
his friend Sridam: acaryam mam vijaniyam – “O Sridam, you must know
your guru as me, Krishna. Navamanyeta karhicit - never insult him. Don’t
even n think anything bad about him. Na martya-buddhyasuyeta - don’t think
in that way, that he is an (ordinary mortal) man from this world. Yes, he
looks like a man in front of you, but you must know, inside of him there is
guru tattva (he is a manifestation of the guru principle).” That means Sri
Krishna is there (acting through him). (Krishna says:) “Through him I will
bless all these jivas (living entities),” through guru.
Na martya-buddhyasuyeta sarva deva mayo guruh - Don’t compare yourself
with your Guru. That I have this greater quality than him, or that guru doesn’t
know as much as me, like this in that way - sarva deva mayo guruh - you
must know your guru is a form (embodiment) of all the demigods. All 33
million demigods are inside of him.
What will guru do for our life? Gu kara andhakara stho rekado niravastatha.
The word guru is made up from two syllables: gu and ru. Gu means darkness,
ignorance. Ajnana andhakara (The darkness of ignorance). Ru – he who
destroys our ignorance. He is Guru. Very significant word. Guru means, if we
take the whole word, ‘heavy’. Guru is heavy, not lagu – light (weight). We
have to think in that way. What will we get from guru in our lives? First he
will destroy all our andhakara, darkness, ignorance (avidya). How? Through
his blessings.
And then what will we get from him? Wealth? Because we are from this
material world, and we have so many needs in this material world. Money,
power, fame, and so many things we need for our lives. Can guru give us all
these material things as well? Yes, if we have this strong faith in him. If we
have strong faith that by guru’s blessings I can get all things. When we get
these blessings, will Guru say, “Now I am giving blessings to you?” No.
When guru will look at you with a smiling face that means guru is very
pleased with you, that is his blessing. If we don’t have his blessing, if we do
something against him (if you displease him), what can he do for you? We
will just get nothing!
What does Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakurs says in this song? Yasya prasadad
bhagavat-prasado yasya aprasadan na gatih kuto ‘pi (Gurvastakam 8). Only
by the mercy of guru can you attain anything. Without the mercy of guru you
can get nothing and go nowhere. “Go nowhere” means that you cannot even
go to hell… Yes! In the commentary it is written there: When you will go to
hell, than the door of hell will also be closed to you. “No, no, no! You are
against guru! You did guru offense. There is no place for you here also!” This
is a place for all the sinners, but not for guru aparadhis (offenders to guru):
Na gatih kuto pi (there is no destination for such a person).
By his blessing we can get everything. But when if displease him, we won’t
go anywhere, and won’t attain anything. There are so many examples. If we
look at our siddha mahatma’s (great perfected souls) lives you can see these
examples. In Gaudiya Vaishnava Jivani (The lives of Gaudiya Vaishnava
saints) there is one very nice example of a small boy. Even though he was a
little boy of seven or eight years, he got some attachment for Krishna. He
went from Bengal to Vrindavan, and got initiated by one Guru of the Sringar
Vat temple. It was about 150 years ago. They were also Nityananda vamsha.
From their line he got initiation, and he started to serve his guru. Because his
guru had no children, the guru and his wife accepted this boy as their own.
He was helping his Guruma and serving his guru. He had no knowledge, he
never went to school. That means he couldn’t even read. But he was very
pleased to serve his guru. Every day the guru would chat, exchange harikatha
with his friends. He was a very scholarly person, and all his friends were also
scholarly. Every evening they’d do some harikatha about some topics from
scriptures. And when they would do this the boy would serve them all, giving
tambula, water, sometimes some food. The boy would serve the sadhus. One
day it so happened that they couldn’t reach the siddhanta, the conclusion.
They decided to try again the next day. Then the boy asked his guru,
“Gurudev, please give me a chance, I can try.” All the guru’s associates
started laughing – “You cannot even read, you never went to school, and you
will tell us this conclusion?”
All the guru’s friends were laughing, but his Gurudev did not. He said “no,
no, no, that’s not good, we have to give him a chance. Ok, please explain all
the things that you realized.” Then, point by point, this boy explained
everything and reached the conclusion in the proper way. All of them were
surprised to see this. “How do you know all this? Have you read the granthas
(the scriptures)?” “No, because as you know, I cannot read, I never went to
school.” Then his Gurudev said, “OK, bring me one canto of Srimad
Bhagavatam. And he brought this grantha (book) to his Gurudeva. Gurudev
opened one chapter and asked the boy to try to read this. Surprisingly, that
boy could read all the slokas (verses). It is written in devanagari, in Sanskrit
letters. The boy who had no knowledge of written Bengali was reading
Sanskrit. This miracle happened by guru kripa (guru’s mercy) Blessings of
guru.
Ajnana timirandhasya jnanajana salakaya, caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri
gurave namah – (I am blinded by the darkness of ignorance, but my guru has
mercifully opened my eyes, anointing them with the salve of divine
knowledge. I offer my humble obeisances to such a guru).
Sri Guru can destroy all our ignorance. He can open our inner eyes. How? By
gyana anjana. There is a stick-like instrument used to put anjan on sick eyes,
it is an ointment for the eyes, also called kajhal (koliriyum). With this stick
guru will put this kajhal on our eyes, meaning this knowledge by which we
can see everything, all the knowledge in our lives. By his blessings we can
attain this knowledge, pure knowledge in our lives. Then we can get
everything from this material world and spiritual world also.
What will happen, if we just read from a grantha (a book) and we are not
taking shelter in guru? What will happen? And what will happen after taking
Diksha (initiation)? In Narada Pancaratra it is said that in all our activities,
(prapanca), the first and most important activity for our life, is taking
initiation (diksha). That is the first and foremost thing in our life. Samsmarja
jataye samsaya siddhaye. When guru will give the (diksha) mantra in your
ear, all the siddhis (perfections) will come to you. Suddenly they will stand
up in front of you (begging to serve you). Then you can attain all these
siddhis very easily if you will just follow the instructions of your guru. If we
are not taking shelter of guru, and just read the granthas (scriptures), and
chant so many (times the Hare Krishna) mantras, what will happen? Maybe
guru will order us to chant four rounds every day, maybe 108 every day, or
minimum 10 times. But if we are not going to guru (not taking the shelter and
association of guru) and by myself I chant this mantra 100,000 times every
day, can I attain these siddhis? No, never! vrte jaya santo tajapinoti. In this
way you can chant the mantra 100,000 times every day for one year, two
years, not only one yuga, for life after life you can chant, but you will never
get one drop of this siddhis, perfections – never (attaining) the target. This is
because we’ll not get this power of the mantra by reading it in a book. We
can only get the power of the mantra from guru. When guru gives us this
(diksha) mantra, then he infuses this power in us. Through him we can get
this power.
Is this power from this world? Is guru producing this power? No. Guru is not
producing this power. This power is directly coming down from Bhagavan
(Sri Krishna). Why do we need this Diksha initiation tradition? That’s
because this power, first Bhagavan gave it to Brahma. Then Brahma gave it
to Narada, then Narada to Maharshi Vyasadeva. In this way has come down,
guru to guru. All the guru from our tradition are the carrier of this power.
They are not producing this power. They have a duty to keep this power in a
good way. That’s why the guru has to do his bhajan very carefully, otherwise
he loses this power, and he cannot give prema to his disciples. He cannot
spread this prema and this shakti to his disciples.
Then, what are the (necessary) qualities of guru? From whom should we get
this initiation? First we have to feel this cool air in our heart just to look at
him. That is not that he must be very nice, beautiful, no. This does not matter.
No, what matters is, if we are feeling this cool air in our heart or not. He must
be sampana darshan, that means after seeing him we’ll feel that yes, from
him I can get something. I can attain this prema. We have to feel this in our
hearts. That he is (externally) beautiful, that is beside the point.
He should be vipram, that means brahmana (has brahminical qualities). Then
bhakti krisnen krpa kuru - he must be a Krishna devotee, and he must have
the realisation of Krishna bhakti. If he has not this realization about prema,
about bhakti, about the service to Krishna and Srimati Radharani, then he
cannot give it to his disciples. That’s why Guru has to do his bhajan very
carefully. He has to realize this first. If you don’t have this realization you
cannot give it to others.
Then the next point is vidyanam veda sastranam. He must know the
scriptures very well, with explanations. He must have this deeper explanation
of all the scriptural rules. Why does he need this? Why must guru have all
knowledge from Vedas, agamas, shastra (Vedic scriptures)? Because if the
disciple will get some problems with his sadhana, his bhajan, he will ask the
guru. If guru does not have this knowledge, then guru can’t answer. This can
cause a big problem, if it leads to us losing faith in Guru, or feeling critical of
Guru. (When you accept someone as true Guru, then you accept him as a
representative of Krishna. Krishna knows everything and He reveals
everything to the Guru that Guru needs to know, and guru reveals to us
everything we need to know. For our bhajan to prosper, we need to have
complete faith in our guru. If we lose confindence in our Guru and feel
critical of him, this is an aparadha – an offence, that can destroy our bhajan).
It is stated in Narada Pancaratra that guru must know the scriptures, for his
reason, otherwise because of guru’s mistake, the disciple will go to hell! And
guru has this duty to protect his disciples in all ways.
The guru must be from a bona fide line, initiation tradition. Otherwise we
cannot get this power from him. He is the carrier of this power, from this
tradition, this power handed down from one to the next one, he must come in
a pure line otherwise we cannot get this bhakti and pure prema in our heart.
When you will get such a guru in front of you, you will be dhyan sma
pravesato. Narada Muni explained: When you will get such a person, such an
Acharya in front of you, then if you are intelligent, you should take shelter of
him.
Those are the qualities of guru. When you are looking, searching for guru,
you must see if he has all these qualities or not. Then we have the duty to
judge (examine) him. Sanatam Goswamipad, in Hari Bhakti Vilasa, said very
nicely these words that you should judge (examine) your Guru before
initiation, until all your confusion, your doubts, should finish. Until that time
you should judge (test), you have to look at all these things. After initiation
you have no right to judge your guru. But there is also another point; in
Bhakti Sandarbha Jiva Goswami said: After initiation if I found it was my
mistake that I cannot judge my guru (I failed to examine him properly), I
cannot judge completely hundred percent, and I keep strong faith in him, but
after initiation I found something (was wrong); he ordered me (something
that) was against Shastra, all the scriptures – because actually all the rules, all
the advice from Guru it must be from (based on) scripture Otherwise, if we
see that Guru is doing something against scripture, then we have to leave this
guru.
In Bhakti Sandarbha you can see this topic about (a false) guru. There it is
written very clearly. If you see that he is doing some activities not according
to scriptures, or he is giving you instructions that are not according to
scriptures, then you should leave him.
“A Guru who is envious of pure devotees, who blasphemes them, or behaves
maliciously towards them should certainly be abandoned, remembering the
verse ‘guror api avaliptasya’. Such an envious Guru lacks the mood and
qualities of a Vaisnava Guru. The sastras enjoin that one should not accept
initiation from a non-Vaisnava. Knowing these injunctions of the scriptures, a
sincere devotee should abandon a false Guru who is envious of the pure
devotee. After leaving a false Guru, if a devotee is without a spiritual guide,
his only hope is to seek out a maha-bhagavata Vaisnava and serve him. By
constantly rendering service to such a pure devotee, one will certainly attain
the highest goal of life.” (Bhakti-Sandarbha 238 Jiva Gosvami’s commentary
on the verse guror apy avaliptasya (Mahabharata, Udyoga parva 179.25)
At inititiation, the guru takes all bad things from us, and gives us all good. A
guru may (mercifully) accept a disciple, knowing that the disciple is not
acting in a good way, because he knows that by practicing bhakti one day the
disciple will change. That is the mercy of the Guru. Because all the reactions
from what the disciple is doing will come to guru. They have not to offer –
automatically it will happen. Good will not go to guru – all the bad will go to
guru. Guru will give all the good to you, and all the bad things he will take
away from you.
(Devotees all say, ‘Thank you very much!’)
Guru is getting this power from Bhagavan. That is why he has to do his
bhajan very carefully. He has to maintain so many things, otherwise he
cannot digest all these things. Guru has to have the power to digest all these
bad things, even all the sins of his disciples will go to guru. Guru has this
duty to burn all the anarthas (unwanted things in the heart). If he has not this
power, then he will die from all this. He has to digest it all. He cannot reject
this and say to his disciples, “No, I can’t take this.”
Question: So when guru agrees to initiate us, to take us on, he is agreeing to
do all this for us?
Answer: Yes. By initiation, you will get all the good things from your guru,
and at the same time this exchange will happen, all the bad things will go to
your guru.
Question: These principles you have been talking about, is it only related to
Vaishnava gurus?
Answer: No. All gurus, from any tradition. Traditions differ, but guru is guru.
Question: but in Kali yuga, true guru is rare?
Answer: Yes that’s why you can see, many gurus are falling down from their
path. I am not saying any names, but you can see everywhere, many gurus are
falling down from their path.
Question: If you see a guru doing things really wrong, by any standard – then
the best thing is to keep away from them? For example like this guru did
abuse on some children, and others are carrying on treating him like a guru,
make an excuse for this behavior, but it couldn’t be anything other than
wrong, and it is not possible to do anything about this, then the best thing to
do is keep away from the whole group?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Can guru take (away) the karma of even a murderer?
Answer: If he has the power, then guru can take it (away).
Question: Do you feel ill, when you give this initiation?
Answer: Yes, so many times. Suddenly I feel it, then I ask, what did you do
in your life?
I will tell a story about my father. I was also there, at that time. In
Bangladesh. One man came to take initiation, and he was perhaps over
hundred year’s old, maybe 108 years. When he came, he was accepted for
initiation, but all the other disciples (of Premgopal’s father) who arranged the
program, they rejected this – we will not allow Prabhu to give this initiation.
Then one of this man’s great-grandsons went to my father - he first went to
me and I sent him to my father - and he said, my great-grandfather wants to
take initiation but they (your disciples) are not allowing him. And my father
said, “Oh no, I will give him initiation tomorrow.” Then the next day that old
man came, and just after my father gave him initiation, he (my father) fell
down (unconscious) from his asana. Then after a few minutes he woke up,
sat up and asked that man, “What did you do in your life?” I was right there,
because when I saw my father falling down from his asana, I just ran there,
and when my father asked “What did you do in your life?” then the man’s
grandson said that he was a very cruel person. By his own hand, he killed
more than 50 people. He was like a big landlord, and at the same time he was
a dacoit. He did all the bad karmas (sinful activities) in his life. And when he
got initiation, my father had to take all his karma.
Q: So, when somebody like that comes, and he is humble, guru has to accept
him?
A: Yes, yes. Guru has no right to reject. He can prepare him. Ok, I’ll give you
initiation later, until then, you must do this (practice), or he can give initiation
directly.
Q: Your father gave him initiation right away out of compassion, because the
man was so old?
A: Yes. That’s why. And you know, the surprising thing was, soon after that
old man got this initiation, three months later, he died.
Devotee: He got purified, he was ready to go.
A: Yes. This is the reaction, this exchange, and it will happen only with this
tradition (bona fide line), if you get this diksha, then this exchange will
happen. Otherwise this exchange will not happen, and realization will not
come, this prema will not come in your life. That’s why we need Guru in our
lives, because we do not have the ability to digest these all things, all the
karma. In Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Krishna said to Arjuna, a-brahma-
bhuvanal lokah punar avartino ’rjuna mam upetya tu kaunteya punar janma
na vidyate (BG 8.16)]
“Oh Arjuna, everyone has to come back here. Everyone has to run in circles.”
Samsara. But Krishna said, “I will take such person who will come near to
me. I will take such a person out from this cycle, then he will not be reborn
here. Then he will not have to come back.” Who can destroy all his karma?
This karma can only be destroyed by guru’s blessings; no one else can do
this. That’s why we need a guru in our lives. Without guru we cannot get this
perfection, we cannot get all these things (spiritual benefits) in our lives.
Joy Nitai!

The Power of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra

Why do we chant this Mahamantra? What benefit will we get from this in our
lives? What is the power of the Mahamantra?

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,

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

First of all, this Hare Krishna Mahamantra is the mantra for Kali Yuga, (the
age, or era, we are living in). There are four yugas (ages), and each yuga has
one specific mantra. For Kali yuga, the specific mantra is the Hare Krishna
Mahamantra. It is the target, and the means to get there:

Harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam,

kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha [C.C. Adi 17.21]

In Kali yuga, there is no another target, only Mahamantra. If we take shelter

of Mahamantra, then we can get everything: nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva
gatir anyatha ‘There is no other way, there is no other way, there is no other
way.’
And if we compare with the other yugas, then we will find something very
surprising: only here in Kali yuga, this mahamantra is the goal, and also the
means to achieve the goal. Both sadhya and sadhana. It is the goal, sadhya –
(God Himself), and it is the means – the sadhana, (the spiritual practice, by
which we can attain or realize God). You can worship harinama. Harinam,
this mahamantra, is Brahma himself, and by mahamantra you can get
Parabrahma, Sri Krishna. By the power of the Mahamantra you can get Sri
Gauranga and Nityananda. It is very powerful.
If you will chant Harinam Mahamantra without offence you can get anything
in your life:
Niraparadhe nama laile paya prema-dhana [CC Antya 4.71]
(If one chants the holy names without offences one obtains the treasure of
prema).
We need the supreme, highest prema (divine love) in our life, and we can
attain this prema, by performing nirapharad Nam. (Nam without any faults,
any offence). Sriman Mahaprabhu, Sri Krishna Chaitanya, He wrote with His
own hand about the power of Harinam Mahamantra in Siksastakam 1st sloka:
Ceto darpana marjanam bhava maha davagni nirvapanam
Sreyah kairava Candrika vitaranam vidya vadhu jivanam
Anandarabudhi vardhanam prati padam purnamrtasvadanam
Sarvatma snapanam param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam
Ceto darpana marjanam: Harinam has the power to clear, to clean, our
minds. There is a mirror inside us, but this mirror now is contaminated, dirty,
that’s why we cannot see ourselves there. If this mirror will be dirty, we
cannot see anything. So we are proud about this material world. We are not
thinking that we are Krishna das, we are not thinking that we are the little
servant of Sri Gauranga Nityananda. We are always thinking that ‘I am
Premgopal!’ like this. This false ego will clear by Harinam. Harinam will
clear all this dirt from our mirror, and when this contamination will go out
from our heart, then we can realize who we are, what is our eternal duty, why
are we here, what is our ultimate target.
Harinam will first clear this all things from our chitta, our mind. Chitta means
heart, and also subconscious mind. Because this chitta is very important for
us. We are searching for pleasure, and after some time we´ll reject it. Why?
Because of this subconscious mind. We are searching. (See chapter 2
‘Looking for Happiness’). Because our heart always will compare this
happiness, this pleasure, to eternal pleasure, we keep searching. But our
mirror is dirty, that’s why we can’t know that we have to go inside. We are
searching here in this material word. When our ceto darpana, (the mirror of)
our heart, our subconscious mind, will be clear, no longer contaminated or
dirty, then we can see the truth, we can see ourselves, we can see our
svarupa, and know that we are all the servants of Krishna, we are all anucit
(minute parts of God). We are not really separate from Him, we are
connected. The first work (effect) of harinam when we start chanting or doing
harinam kirtan is cleaning the mirror of the heart, this chitta.
Next, he (the holy name) will give ointment for us. Why do we need
ointment? Because we are suffering: bhava maha davagni nirvapanam –
Chanting the holy name extinguishes the blazing forest fire of material
existence. Fire is always burning us - the samsara fire. There are so many
problems from this material world, so much suffering. We are always burning
by this. When we take shelter of the maha-mantra, harinam, then the mantra
will stop this fire. He (Krishna who is non-different from his name) will
sprinkle water, cold water, on the fire. And he will put some ointment, by
which we can be relieved. The maha-mantra, he will stop this forest fire, this
davagni. Why a forest fire? First, they (forest fires) can start by themselves;
no one needs to start the fire. Our sensations, all our activities, they
themselves can create the fire (of suffering). Second, you cannot control this
forest fire. From one corner it will start and it will finish the whole forest. It is
the same in our life when this bhava maha davagni will start, then if we are
not careful we will be finished by this. Harinam maha-mantra, when we take
shelter of him, he will stop this fire.
Then sreyah kairava candrika vitaranam vidya vadhu jivanam (Harinam
spreads the moon rays of good fortune, of bhakti, for the benefit of all living
beings). At night, we need the moon. If we have no light, we cannot walk in a
dark night. We need some light. If the moon is in the sky then we can go
anywhere. In daytime, in the very hot summertime, the sun will not give a
cool sensation. But by moon rays we do not get any burning sensation like
from the sun. If the sun is very strong, then we have to search for some shade,
we have to go there. But in the moonlight we do not have to search for
shelter. Also we will feel some nectar. According to scriptures, some nectar
falls down always in the moon rays. This moon nectar is called sudha. So Sri
harinam mahamantra is like a moon. He will light (illuminate) everywhere
internal and external, both. He will destroy all darkness. And also by this, by
this moon ray of harinam, we can get nectarian feelings of bliss.
Here in this world, the moon has some kalanka (spots). You know kalanka?
If you will look at the moon you can see some spots, dark spots. This moon
has kalanka, that means this spots - but this nama para-bhraman, he is
spotless. By this nama brahma, you can destroy the darkness of your
ignorance. The mantra will destroy, you have not to do anything, you only
have to chant Mahamantra. You have only just to try to chant Mahamantra
with respect, without offence. By this light, by this brahma-moon-rays, the
darkness of our ignorance is destroyed, and then we can get knowledge.
Vidyavadhujivanam - pure knowledge, by which knowledge we can destroy
our false ego.
The knowledge we will get in our life is that we are the servant of Krishna.
We have this duty to serve Him, we have this duty to please Him. When we
will chant Mahamantra, then we will get this knowledge. Otherwise, we can
listen, we can read everything, all this you can find in the granthas also. But
you will not realize (really know) what they are saying. Realization,
knowing, will come after we will take shelter of Mahamantra. By his kripa,
by his mercy. Mahamantra will give us this realization, that we need to chant
and we need to take shelter on Mahamantra.
Anandarabudhi vardhanam: When you chant, you can realize these things
automatically. Maybe you have no respect for Mahamantra, maybe you have
no knowledge about Mahamantra, what is Mahamantra. But if you chant,
suddenly ananda (bliss) will come to you, pure ananda will come to you. And
such kinds of ananda will come to you that sometimes you will cry to feel
them. By Mahamantra you will get this ananda. By chanting, you will get
ananda, and even only by seeing this namabrahma.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Only to see these letters, you can get ananda, bliss. In any language, this not
matter. Maybe it is not in your language, but just if you realize that this is
Mahamantra, you will get this happiness. If you do kirtan, why you are
jumping? Sometimes we are not even dancing, we are jumping! We are
dancing, we are cheering: Hare Krishna! Haribol! Why we are doing this? It
is coming from our heart. But why? Whoever enjoys this kirtan, they will get
this ananda, pure ananda. You have not to think anything. Just do it. Nama
will give you his blessing, his mercy. Harinam will bless you. Then you will
realize everything. After time it will come, for anyone. Anandarabudhi
vardhanam - Anandham amudivardhanam: Amu means ocean. Never ending
ananda – an ocean of bliss. Suddenly you will get in your heart. If you will
connect always with this Mahamantra, then this ocean is yours. Then, all this
realization, all this feeling is yours, it is there for all performers in bhakti.
prati padam purnamrtasvadanam: this is very nice, this poem: every letter,
every word, will give you bliss, all these words, they have thirty-two letters,
sixteen words:
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare (eight
words), Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
(sixteen words).
Sixteen words, thirty-two letters, and from every word, you will get separate,
different ananda (bliss). If you will just chant only Hare Hare Hare Hare
Hare, you will get some ananda. If Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, you
will get ananda, but not like the first one. And this all ananda, it´s 100
percent. Purnamrtasvadanam (relishing or tasting full nectar). You will get
this pleasure, you will get this taste like nectar. Nectarian bliss, you will feel
in your heart. One hundred percent nectarian bliss, nectarian ananda. When
you chant, when you see, when you do kirtan of Mahamantra, then this
Purnamrtasvadanam will come. Every word and every letter, prati padam,
(every part) will give you this 100 percent ananda. It is not that from this
word you will get some little bit, from this word you will get some more; no.
Same percentage but different. Nama is the same quality as Krishna.
Sarvatma snapanam param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam:
Sarva atmasnaparam: by harinam we can take a bath, a bath for our soul.
Externally by taking a bath we can clean ourselves, we can get cooled, we
can feel we are pure now. Mahamantra is the same, he will do some abhishek
(shower) of our soul. By Mahamantra we can purify ourselves internally.
Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam. By Sri Krishna Sankirtan we can defeat all
our senses. Because by chanting the Mahamantra, we can get all the senses as
followers.
Sri Harinama Mahamantra, Sri Nama, and Sri Krishna, both are the same
qualities. Sometimes, Mahamantra is more powerful than Sri Krishna.
Namirtek nam bolo. Nam is more powerful than namir, that means the man -
Krishna. There is a very nice example to illustrate this. It happened with my
great grandfather, Prabhupada Prangopal Goswami. At that time, everyone
knew him by his name. One day it happened that he had to go somewhere by
steamer in East-Bengal. And he has to do some things and he said this to this
controller, the sailor of the steamer, “you should wait some time for me.” But
this sailor, he did not know, he is Prabhu Prangopal. He said, “no no no, I
cannot wait for you.” Then one of Prabhu’s disciple, he said this to the sailor:
“hey what are you doing, Prabhupada Prangopal Goswami is requesting you
to wait, and you are rejecting him?”
The sailor exclaimed, “Prabhupada? Prabhupada! He is Prabhupada
Prangopal Goswami?!”
“Yes!”
“Oh Prabhu, Sorry, sorry Prabhupada, I just made a mistake, Ok? Ok, you
will do your work, I will wait for you.”
When he agreed, Prabhupada turned to his disciple and he said: “See, that is
the proof! Name is more powerful than the man - Namirtek nam bolo.”
Similarly, Harinam Mahamantra is more powerful than Krishna sometimes. If
you will do some offence against Krishna, you can take shelter on Harinam.
Yes! He will destroy your offence. He will do everything for you that time.
But if you will do some aparadha to harinam then if you will go to Krishna,
can he clear this offence? No. Then you have to go to Gurudev! (All the
devotees and Prabhupada laugh!) For an offence against Sri Krishna,
Harinam will give you relief from this offence. Harinam has such power, if
you do harinam without any offence, then you will get prema. If you are not
doing this in that way without offence or without respect, then also you will
get results. Harinam has such power. But how? What is this harinam? Very
nicely it was said that: Madhuram madhuramangala mangalanam. In this
world, if you will search all the beautiful things, harinam is the most
beautiful. Madhuram madhuranam, mangalam, mangalanam. If you will
search about all the auspicious things, then you will find: harinam will also
do something auspicious for all auspicious things.
For example, there are some rules for all pujas, you know? All pujas. If you
are doing Krishna puja, or any demigod’s puja, at the end of the puja, you
have to chant Harinam to pray for forgiveness. Why? Because you will do so
many mistakes in this puja, by ignorance, and you have to pray to Krishna,
not to the Demigod who you were just doing puja for. “Oh Prabhu please take
away all these faults, all these mistakes. Maybe in this puja I did so many
mistakes. I´m chanting your name and by this name, maybe, please, and for
this, you should take away all these faults from here for all this mistakes from
here.” Yadushangam kritam karmajnana tadatva janata tat sharbankriyatan
yatahare ranumanekrita. After all pujas you have to chant this mantra, and
then you have to chant three times harinam. If you will not do this, then this
puja is incomplete. You have to pray for forgiveness, then you have to chant
harinam three times. Then your puja will be finished, and will get a hundred
percent benefit from this. Harinam has such power, to give auspiciousness to
other auspicious things.
Sokolo nigomo bolita sak palam cit svarupam: Nigomo boli means the trees
of scriptures. If you will look at the fruits of these scripture trees, then you
will find the best fruit is Harinam Mahamantra. Taking these fruits can give
you sat falam sad, pure knowledge, eternal knowledge, and after you take
this sat falam, you will get this cit, in your heart. The pure knowledge of
Krishna.
Sak krita piparigitam sraddhaya heloyava: If you will chant only one time
(sak krit), - you have not to chant hundred times, a thousand times. If you
will chant only one time, with respect or without respect.
Naromatram tarayet krishna nama brigavaro naromatram tarayot krishna
nama. Harinam will not search from where you were born, from which
family, you were born. Maybe you are from very high cast, maybe very low
cast, in front of harinam everyone is the same. He will give this mukti
(liberation, freedom): naromatran taraet, he will give us mukti. If you will
chant Harinam only one time, whoever you are, you can get mukti. If you just
chant harinam by the guidance of guru, then you will never go to hell. If you
chant Harinam, it can destroy more sin than you can do in your whole life.
Only by chanting one time harinam! E Krishna name joto pabhore, jiver
sadhonay toto pabkore - One time chanting harinam is capable destroying
more sin than we can commit in one lifetime.
There is a very nice example in Ajamil Bhakan.. In Srimad Bhagavata, sixth
canto, there is a conversation between Yamadhuta and Vishnudhuta.
(Yamadhuta are the servants Dharmaraj and they take you to hell, and the
servants of Sri Vishnu are known as Vishnudhuta – they take you to Vishnu’s
place - heaven).
There was a brahmana called Ajamila who lived in Kamyakubja. Later in his
life he did so many bad things, so many sins. In his early life, he was a very
good devotee of Bhagavan, Sri Hari, but by bad association, he began bad
activities which destroyed all the benefits of his bhajan. (He lost his
sadachara, all the activities that purify you for your sadhana or spiritual
activities) and from this, one after one, he lost all his good qualities.
(Sadachara means literally ‘truthful behavior’). Without living in this way, by
proper sadachara, our consciousness is lowered, meaning that good
consciousness, the desire to do seva, to exchange love with others, all
disappear. And this man started by bad association to lose his sadachara, and
then from this to do all the sins: robbery, stealing, beating others, giving pain
without any cause to others. In this way, he spent his life.
When he was more than eighty years old, then one day he got this causeless
blessing from one devotee, from Narada muni. Narada was passing by his
house and he saw that Ajamila was seated in his courtyard with his little son
seated on his lap. And Narada muni saw that he was really loving this son.
Devarsi Narada remembered that this man had been a very good devotee,
who lost everything by bad association. Narada knew that bhakti was there in
his heart in a hidden way. Bhakti will never be destroyed; when one time
bhakti will get in your heart, it will never leave, only if you will do
unfavourable things, if your all activities will be against bhakti, then bhakti
will hide herself, become covered. Whenever she will get some care, then
again she will manifest. So Narada, he told himself “this man was very nice
devotee, but he lost everything. But bhakti is still there in his heart. I should
try one time, to take him back on bhakti path.” And he went to Ajamila. He
asked, “how are you?” “Yes, I am fine.” “Are Ajamila, I am seeing so many
boys there, they are from the neighbours?” “No no no, they are all my
children.” “And this one? On your lap?” “Yes, this also mine.” “Oh very
nice boy, I never saw such kind of beautiful boy anywhere. You know, I can
go everywhere, I have seen so many children from the Demigods, I have seen
so many children from the Gandharvas, but I never have seen such kind of
beautiful boy anywhere.”
Devarshi Narada, he was searching how he could help this man who had lost
his good consciousness. Because when someone has lost his good
consciousness, he will not accept your good advice. That is the power of
maya. Maya will never give you this consciousness, she will try always to
force you to reject (anything that would free you). So Devarshi Narada, he
was searching, which way can I help this man? And he thought, Ok, maybe
by this boy. And when he started to give some good word for this boy,
Ajamila´s heart was softened towards Devarshi Narada. Devarshi said: “Oh
Ajamila, you know to see the boy, I got some desire in my mind….but no,
just leave it…!” And Ajamila said “no no no, you have to say now what you
were thinking!” and Narada said, “no no no it´s ok, it´s ok.” Then Ajamil said
“no no no, please say this!” So Devarshi Narada said “OK. You know, I have
this desire to give him a name, because I never have seen such a beautiful
boy anywhere.”
“Yes?” said Ajamila. ‘That will be very good for this boy, it would be like a
blessing from you.” But Narada said “no no no, I will give some name but
you will call him by another name. Then it would be like an insult to me.” In
this way drawing Ajamila in. And Ajamil said “no no no, Narada Devarshi, I
´m promising you, whatever name you will choose for this boy, I´ll call him
by this name. Yes, I´m promising you. I´ll call him by your name.”
“Ok, then, I´m giving this boy the name Narayan. You must call him
Narayan.” “Ok Ok. I´ll call him by this name.” The way was clear, and he
gave this name to the boy. Narada Muni saw that Ajamila would chant this
name always - he has true love and strong attachment to this boy, so he will
call always this name: Narayan, Narayan.
Narada Muni disappeared from this place. And Ajamila, whenever he would
go anywhere, he always would chant: Narayana come to me, Narayan come,
we will go outside, Narayan take some water, take your food, Narayan it is
time for sleeping, always Narayana, Narayana. In this way his life was
ending. And at the end of life there is a stage between life and death. There is
one stage, you cannot say anything, but you can listen, you can see
everything, a subconscious stage. Abottadasha subconscious stage. That time,
in the subconscious stage, between life and death, suddenly he saw three men
come to him looking very ugly, fierce and frightening. And to see this three
men (they were yamadhutas), he was really scared in his heart, not for him,
for Narayan. Because he knew that Narayan was playing in the courtyard. He
thought maybe these men will give some problem, maybe they will kill
Narayana, kill my Narayan. And then he shouted: “Narayana, Narayana!” He
was shouting only to call this boy. But this calling entered in the ear of Sri
Hari, Bhagavan, you know. Because this calling was with some love. And
Narayan, Sri Hari, he thought “oh, maybe my devotee, he got some problem
by anyone!” He sent his dhutas, four dhutas “go and see who is giving
problem to my devotee! Do something for him!
So these Vishnudhuta, Narayana dhuta, they just appeared in front of
Ajamila. So now there were three Yamadhuta and four Vishnudhuta. To see
the Vishnudhuta, (they are four handed with weapons, very heavy!), the
Yamadhuta were fearful about this. “Hey, who are you?” the Yamadhuta ask
to the Vishnudhuta, “why you came here?” Vishnudhuta, they ask: “that is
our question, who are you, why you are here? Why you are giving problem to
my Prabhu´s devotee?” The Yamadhuta said: “oh! he is not Prabhu´s
devotee!” “Yes, he is Prabhu´s devotee!” “no no no! we know very well,
because Citragupta, our headclark in Yamaloka he said this! This man, he did
so many sin in his life, always, physically, by speaking, by mind. In this three
ways, he did so many sin in his life, that’s why we three are here. We came
here to take him to Yamaloka and our Prabhu will give him punishment.
Because he did so many things.”
“Oh” said the Vishnudhuta. “Only you just see that he performed all sins?
you have never see that he do so much sadhana to clear all his sins?” “no no
no, he never did anything. We know very well. That’s why Citragupta sent
us.” “You have seen that he did so many sins in his life, but you have not
seen that he did things to clear from his sin, to get relief from this sin? He did
prascitta (Atonement)?” “no no no, he never did any prascitta in his life.”
“You did not see? Just sometime before he chanted Narayana, Narayana!”
“Oh, you made some mistake! He was not calling Prabhu, your Prabhu
Narayana Bhagavan, he was calling his son!” “Oh you are so foolish, you
have not this knowledge about the power of Prabhu´s Name? You have not to
chant his name only to think that you are chanting His name! You know the
Nam has such power. You have not to chant to think about Him, you can
chant anyhow.”
Because you know, even if you will just accidentally hear his name, you will
get relief from all your sin. Maybe not even all His name, shakrit: This total
Nam, maybe you are going somewhere, and somewhere kirtan was going on.
And you are passing by in a car, at very high speed. And Krishna Nama was
there. When you were just passing by this temple, only the ‘Kri,’ it entered in
your ears, but not the ‘sna’. But you will still get this result, the benefits of
the holy name. Maybe you will chant the name with distance (between the
syllables). Even, you are reading one book and the first word of the book
was, maybe ‘Kri’ and the last word of this book maybe ‘sna’, you will get the
result. If you´ll read the total book, you will get the benefit to read the name
of Krishna. Krishna will delete all the middle words, he will accept this ‘Kri’
and ‘sna’. He will give you, send you, the benefits of this name.
Anyhow, if one time you´ll chant Mahamantra, anyhow - with respect, or
without respect, you will get the benefits. Maybe you have not this ability to
speak, you have some problem with your tongue, you cannot chant Krishna,
maybe chanting Kishto, Kishno. (Or in China: Klishna!) Anyhow. We may
not have not the ability to chant properly, but will still get the benefits, the
benefits from Krishna Nam. So when he did his prascitta, to chanting the
Prabhu´s name, namabashe napitoshandabane, namabashe
napitoshandabane. That means, if you´ll chant nam, mahamantra, Harinam,
and you are not thinking about this, it is called abhash - the shadow of the
name. If you´ll chant in that way also then you will get benefits. For example
maybe you are reading the name of one shop: Krishna Stores, Govinda. Here
in Europe you will find so many prasad restaurants called Govinda, Gopala,
here also in Prague also the have Gopal. If you read the name of the
restaurant, also you get benefit. This is namabhas. Even by namabhas you
can please Krishna.
And you know what happened at the end of Ajamila’s life? After the
conversation between the Vishnudhuta and the Yamadhuta, the Vishnudhuta,
they sent back all the Yamadhuta, and they said to Ajamila: “Ajamila, you
got the pure mercy of Prabhu, and he will give you a little more lifetime. A
second chance. Do not misuse this time.” Then Ajamila, he left his house and
immediately went to the forest and started this same sadhana, namasadhana.
(Chanting of harinam, the holy name). And when this little extra lifetime was
ended, then a very nice golden chariot came to him with one Vishnudhuta.
And this Vishnudhuta, he said: “oh Ajamila, now your life is finished, now
Prabhu is waiting for you, and that’s why He sent this golden chariot for
you.”
“Prabhu sent this golden chariot for me?” “Yes, Prabhu loves you! Prabhu
has strong love for you, that´s why he sent this golden chariot.” “Ajamila, he
was just climbing into this chariot, but he got a thought: “oh Vishnudhuta! I
cannot go!” “Why?” “You know, because of all of you, and because of
Devarshi Narada, I got this chance to do some sadhana, because of devotees I
got this chance to do some things for Prabhu. But my forefathers, maybe they
did not get this chance in their life. That means they are not in Prabhu’s
Dhama. So I do not want to go there alone. I will just go back and tell my
payer to my Prabhu, that please send me to the place where my forefathers
are waiting, I want to join them. Without all of them I do not want to go alone
there in Ananda Dham, Vaikuntha.”
Then the Vishnudhuta said: “Ajamila, Prabhu always wants to give to all his
devotees pure happiness. And he knows this, that maybe you will not get
some pleasure there alone in his Ananda Dham, that´s why he is taking all
your forefathers there before you. Look, you can see!” Then Ajamila saw a
big golden chariot going towards Vaikuntha (heaven) and in this golden
chariot were all his forefathers. Then the Vishnudhuta said “Ajamila, Nama
has such power that if you will chant, if you will do this sadhana,
namasadhana, then you will get liberation, He will give liberation to all your
forefathers, all your lineage, all your descendants and all your present
connected persons. By Nama, they will all get benefits by your sadhana, all
of them, because you are a vaisnava.
So even by accidental hearing of the name, all sin is destroyed. But this is just
a general result, and we are not searching for this general result. We want to
attain prema; we are doing all this to attain this seva for Krishna for Yugal,
Radha Govinda. So for us, we have to chant this Mahamantra without
offence. We have to be very respectful about this. We have to always know
that the name we are chanting is not an ordinary name. This name is our goal,
and this name is our medium to achieve our goal at the same time. By the
Name you will get prema, by the Name you will get seva, service of Sri
Krishna. This is why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he gave us this name. In the
other yugas, there are many ways to do sadhana, to achieve prema, realization
of divine love. But, we are really so fortunate, although we have not the
qualities needed to do serious bhajan - Here in Kali yuga, Kalerdoshanidher
ragenmastehi ekamahanguna. We are full of faults, there are no good
qualities, we do not have the ability to give one hundred percent
consciousness to Him. That´s why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he appeared, to
give us this causeless blessing by which we can attain this (prema, Divine
service) very easily, more easily than in all other yugas.
There is in this Kali yuga one very nice quality. This quality is not present in
the other yugas - satya, treta, dvapar. If we just take a vow for doing
something good, we will get some benefit from that, from just taking the
vow, sankalpa. For instance, we are just thinking, deciding, “ok, I´ll do every
day sixteen rounds of harinam.” We are not chanting, we have not started yet,
but only to fix your mind, only to take this vow, “I´ll chant sixteen rounds
every day”, you will get some benefits. Only by thinking. That is a special
mercy in Kali yuga. For all Kali people, and we can use this, it is such a good
opportunity. Maybe in our life we will not get so many chances to do good,
but we can take a vow. It means, even if our intention is there but for some
reason we can´t keep the vow, still the intention will give us some benefits.
To get the full benefit, we have to take care about our bhajan. If we want to
do this in Kali yuga, then we have to fix our mind on Harinam, on the
Mahamantra. . Before taking shelter on Guru, Harinam will giving
purification, he will take all your darkness, he will give you some relief from
this material world, from this burning sensation. And after taking shelter of
the lotus feet of Sri Guru, all the instructions of Sri Gurudev will be
beneficial with Harinam, (not without Harinam). So Harinam will support
your bhajan, and prema, you will achieve after you take shelter on guru.
Service you will get after you will take shelter on guru. That is the power of
Sri Mahamantra, Harinam Mahamantra. That´s why we have no other way, in
this Kali yuga - Harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam, kalau nasty
eva naty eva nasty eva gatir anartha.
We have only one way in front of us, only to take shelter on Harinam.
Haribol!!!

I Made My Heart Vrindavan

You only need strong desire for Krishna in your heart. It does not matter
where you are – you could be in Vrindavan, or here in Europe.
There is a nice verse from Sri Caitanya Caritamrita:
anyera hridaya—mana, mora mana—vrindavana, ‘mane’ ‘vane’ eka kari’
jani, tahan tomara pada-dvaya, karaha yadi udaya, tabe tomara purna
kripa mani [Madhya 13.137]
(Speaking in the mood of Srimati Radharani, Caitanya Mahaprabhu said,
“For most people, the mind and heart are one, but because My mind is never
separated from Vrindavana, I consider My mind and Vrindavana to be one.
My mind is already Vrindavana, and since You like Vrindavana, will You
please place Your lotus feet there? I would deem that Your full mercy.”)
So devotees pray, ‘Oh Prabhu, (God, Lord), I have not such qualities to go to
your holy place, I have not this ability, I am unqualified, asha marta, but you
know Prabhu by your blessings, by your mercy, I made my heart Vrindavan,
I made my heart Vrindavan; please, come here.’
Where there is Krishna katha (talks about Krishna), where there is Gaura
katha, this place is Vrindavan. We are talking about Krishna here, so this
place is Vrindavan now. In Europe, this place (a small village outside Prague)
is Vrindavan; in Europe, this place is Navadwip – you only have to feel it
here, in your heart.
You don’t have to go anywhere. If you go somewhere, to many different
places, then your mind will get so many problems; some will say this, some
will say that, some will say other things, and all this can make you pagal -
puzzled, crazy. You will start to think, what I should do? That’s good, this is
not good, no, that is better. The habit of collecting (too much) knowledge
from so many places, this habit is named vallabha grahita. It is very
dangerous for our life. A person with such a habit will not accept any one
(authority), he will not take anyone’s word, because there are so many kinds
of thinking, so many philosophies, so many realizations. That’s why
Narottam Das Thakur said we should follow our acharya’s, from our
tradition; your guru, your param guru, your paratparam guru, your
parameshti guru, you should follow their footsteps. maha janer ye patha –
Whatever example is set by great personalities, one should follow.
We have to be very careful about our bhajan. How do we do this? You have
to go the way your guru, your param guru, your paratparam guru, your
parameshti guru, they followed. We have to follow them. We have to be very
careful not to miss their footsteps. If we follow this, then we can achieve
prema in our life, otherwise we will get craziness; we will never get prema
and realization, these feelings, in our life.
Yes, we can collect so much knowledge; we can read so many granthas
(books). Grantha reading and collecting knowledge is good, but then you
have to filter, you have to compare. No one has the right to say any things
about any other tradition. We should not criticize other traditions, “Oh you
are doing wrong!” No! You have no right to say this. Why? First of
everything you have to all about know what tradition he is following. And
every tradition has a special mood. You are from one tradition, and you are
talking with someone from another tradition, you have no right to say
something to him and he has no right to say some things to you, that you are
wrong. No! You have no right to say this. Yes, you can say such things which
are non-scriptural. “Hey what are you doing, it is not according to the
scriptures,” But about the mood, you have no right to say anything about this.
You should not think in that way. No! You have to fix your mind on the
words of your own Guru. (Do not waste time criticizing other traditions, other
moods).Then you can get realization, and you can get these feelings in your
life.
We need knowledge for our bhajan, otherwise it will not support us, so many
different conclusions will come – just as a stick can help to support a person
doing parikrama, knowledge can help your bhajan. Collecting knowledge is
good, but we have to know which knowledge we are collecting. We have
very little time in our life; we shouldn’t go with so many things, only we
have to go to the centre. “What will support me in achieving my target?” We
should go with that. In this way knowledge will help us to develop our
bhajan and we can realize everything. In the biographies of siddha
mahatmas, how they followed all these things. They never followed anything
that is against the scriptures, they never did things that are against their Guru
parampara (disciplic line of gurus). We know that if Guru will be against
you, then nothing will happen in your life; we should have respect for this
tradition, the tradition of which you are taking shelter. Then the realizations,
the feelings, the pure prema will come in your life. That is the essence of our
bhajan.
Sometimes you may actually travel to Vrindavan. Why are you going there?
To get some realization, to get some knowledge, to get the association of
sadhus. You are going to get some mercy from the Brijvasis (local residents),
from the dust of Vrindavan. If you do not have the realization, how special
the dust of Vrindavan is, then you will get no benefit from going there. If you
have not got a favorable attitude, then there’s no benefit in going to
Vrindavan.
In Prema Bhakti Candrika, (Prema Bhakti Candrika is an essential book for
all Gaudiya Vaisnavas - all the important principles of bhakti are there)
Narottam das Thakur mentions this very nice poem:
Thirtha jatra parisrama kebala manera bhrama, sarba siddhi gobinda
carana, Drdha biswasa hrde dhari mada matsarjya parihari, sada kara
ananya bhanjana
If you go to the pilgrimages, that is like a waste of your time and waste of
your energy. It’s like an illusion of your mind. Why? Why he said this?
When scriptures said this; if you go to the pilgrimage, to the Tirthas, then you
will get benefits. Then why did Narottam Das Thakur speak in this way?
Because he wanted to mention this point; if you have not this favorable mind
(Abimukhiman) to go there, then you should not go, that would be waste of
your time and waste of your energy.
You are going to Vrindavan, you went to Vrindavan? Why? First you have to
know why you are going to Vrindavan, why you are going to Nabadwip, why
you are going to Puri Dham? Collecting mercy. Collecting feelings and
realizations from there. From this place, from this dust. One has to go there in
serving mood, but not only in a serving mood. You need Abhimukhi. A
favorable mood. Otherwise you will not get any benefits. Someone went to
Vrindavan, and when I asked him, “Have you been to Vrindavan?” He
answered “Yes I have been there.” “Ok, please explain some realizations you
got there.” And he started to say: “Oh all these brajavasis (the local residents
of Vrindavan) you cannot imagine, how many problems they’ll give you.”
That means he wasn’t really there, nothing was there. He got no realizations.
Many pilgrims will maybe go Navadwip then Vrindavan, then Puri. Or
sometimes they go to Vrindavan then Puri then from Puri to Navadvip. When
they come back from this place to Navadwip, I ask them “From where you
are coming now, Vrindavan? Puri?” “Yes Prabhu, I´m coming from
Vrindavan now.” “Oh, then please explain some realization you got out
there.”
“Oh Prabhu,” if they come from Vrindavan; “oh Prabhu the Brajavasis you
cannot imagine, they do not leave you until that time you have no money in
your pocket!” And if they come back from Puri, then “oh Prabhu, the pandas
you cannot imagine, how intolerable!” Then I ask “why you go there? Only
to see the Brijbasis and Pandas?” “Nonono, we go there to take darshan of
Radharani, or take darshan of Jagannatha” “Then what you have seen?”
If you want to take nice the fragrance, nice smell from rose, then you have to
tolerate the thorns. Everywhere you go, everywhere, all this places, also holy
places, you will get problems. If you have a lovely time, that means you got
mercy. But you will get these problems everywhere; everywhere, some
cheating, some arguing. Because if you want to get the lotus, then you have
to clear all these weeds first.
Even the monkeys they can give trouble in Vrindavan. One day I was there in
Vrindavan, and you know my Vrindavan temple, (Laksmi Kanta Kunja), it is
just on the market near Gopinath bazaar, and there are so many monkeys.
One day I was sitting outside and was reading one grantha. Then, I had some
work in my room, I just left this grantha there and I went inside the room, for
only maybe 3 or 4 minutes, when I came back I found all the pages in
separate places. Hahaha – monkeys!”
There is a verse: If Radharani will allow me to take birth as a monkey, as
anything, there in Vraja; Tad bhuri bhagyam iha janma kim apy atavyam…
[Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.34]
Lord Brahma is praying, he was praying to Krishna, “please allow me to take
birth as a stone or as a grass anywhere in Vraja.” Then Krishna asked
Brahma, “oh Brahma what will happen, if I allow you to take birth as a grass
somewhere in Vraja? Where I never go, I never go there, what will happen
with you? You will never see me!”
Brahma said, “No problem, now I have realized this truth, if I need you, then
if I will try to go to you directly, I will never reach you, I´ll never get you. If I
need you, then I have to go to your associates (your devotees). Maybe you
will not go there, but maybe one of the servants of your servants, they will go
nearby, and when they will go nearby, then I will request those patita pavana
(your devotees who are merciful to the fallen), ‘please give me the dust of
His lotus feet and sprinkle it on me.’ In this way I can get your foot dust any
place. I have no need that you are going there or not.” (As long as Your
devotees go there – for example, even this small village near Prague!)
The Secret of Manjari Bhava

There are so many contradictions, conflicts, about this manjari bhava

sadhana. Some say it will manifest by your bhajan; some say, you have to
receive it from Guru; there is a big conflict. Some people even reject this
manjari bhava altogether.
How will we achieve this, attain this stage of manjari bhava? Really, is there
any possibility to achieve this? Can we, by our bhajan, can we attain this
mood? Can we attain this svarupa that Gurudeva will give (reveal to) us? We
will see what the scriptures say.
In Priti Sandarbha, Jiva Goswamipad says:
Vaikunthasya bhagavato jyotir amsa bhuta vaikuntha loka sobha rupa ya
ananta murtayas tatra vartante/ tasam ekaya saha muktasyaikasya murtih
bhagavata ktiyata iti vaikunthasya murtir iva murtir yesam ity uktam (3.15)
What Jiva Goswami said here is how Sri Gurudeva will give us this form, this
manjari bhava. How will it happen? Is Sri Gurudeva speculating this? Is it
like imagination? Jiva Goswami dispels our confusion and doubts, and
explains everything here. He explains how we will attain this manjari bhava.
Scripture says that this manjari bhava is eternal. If we have an eternal svarupa
(spiritual form), then how is it that we are here? Why are we here, and how
will we attain this stage, this eternal svarupa? How will Sri Gurudev give us
this? Is he speculating, saying something by his imagination, or not?
Jiva Goswami explains that there are millions of forms, of svarupas; they are
all like the rays of Sri Krishna’s effulgence, and they are all eternal associates
of Sri Krishna. When one sadhaka, one devotee, achieves his goal, meaning
when he will attain prema, then Sri Krishna will give him his svarupa: one
form amongst the millions of svarupas in Vaikuntha. Krishna will allow us to
get one svarupa there, and this svarupa the disciple will get through Guru.
Guru will see this form in his meditation and he will recognize you.
Q: So who gives the svarupa, God or Guru?
A: Guru cannot give it; he can only tell you what Krishna is giving you. Guru
is only the medium via whom God gives the svarupa.
We are all the servants of Sriman Bhagavan. But we have not realized this
yet. And we all need this svarupa for serving them – for serving Sri Krishna.
So, when we will get this blessing, this prema, by our own performance, our
activities – our spiritual activities, then He will give us this particular form.
First He will send this form to Sri Gurudev, then Sri Gurudev will realize and
see this form and he will know his disciple. In that way we can achieve our
eternal form. Everything is there - we only have to reach our target. We have
our form there. Gurudev will give us this form, reveal this form. Yes, he will
reveal this to us – it is not speculation – it is not coming by his imagination.
He will just reveal this form – that is who you are, there. That form. Gurudev
will give will give some details about who you are, your manjari form. Which
of these will change? - The colour of your dress. By his meditation Gurudev
saw that time a particular dress, that your siddha svarupa wore – like peacock
tails for example. That was that particular time – the colour of dress will
change because every day you will change your dress. Different dress. What
will not change? Your seva, your service, it will not change. It is fixed. Your
body colour. It will not change. And when you are eternal, that means your
age also is fixed. Your age, name, mood – everything is fixed. Gurudeva will
give some things, and then, after, all other details will come by our
meditation, by our performance, by our activities. Because there are so many
things. Gurudev will reveal some points – he can reveal all these details. But
if he will reveal all the details, then the person will not do anything. The
sadhaka has to do something! By his own sadhana, his bhajan, the sadhaka
can see all the other details of his svarupa.
Now, the point is, why do we need this manjari bhava? Why did Sriman
Mahaprabhu give us this manjari bhajan? Was it not there before
Mahaprabhu? Yes. Before Mahaprabhu also it was there, this mood. Because
it is eternal. Mahaprabhu just revealed all these things for us. That is, you can
say, the supreme gift for kali people. For kali yuga people this is the supreme
gift from Sriman Mahaprabhu. This is anarpita carim cirat. (Editor’s note:
this refers to a sloka by Srila Rupa Goswami from Vidagdha-madhava, also
in Chaitanya Charitamrita [Adi 1.4] which explains that the supreme gift of
Mahaprabhu is manjari bhava). You can say, before Mahaprabhu, no one can
give this. Why did he give this? Why not the other moods? Why did
Mahaprabhu never talk about the friendly mood, and the other moods?
Sometimes, someone asks, isn’t it possible, that one would have that friendly
mood, or some parental mood? But in this madhura rati, (the mood of lovers),
are contained all the rasas. The mood will just go up, according to the rasa
stage. There is shanta (neutral mood), dasya, (service mood) sakhya, (friendly
mood), vatsalya, (parental mood) and madhura (lovers’ mood).
We need to get this prema. Just think about this Raya Ramananda samvad
(Mahaprabhu’s conversation with Raya Ramananda, Chaitanya Charitamrita
Madhya lila chapter 8):
From the start, in this Raya Ramananda samvad:
Prabhu kahe, pada sloka sadhyera nirnaya
Raya kahe, svar-dharmacarane vishnu bhakti haya (CC Madhya 8.57)
What Raya said about varnashram-dharma, Mahaprabhu did not reject this,
but he said “Oh Raya, it is external. I want to know more” and Prabhu said
“eho bahya – go further - tell me if you know more.”
Raya said “Krishna karmarpana - Yes, offering all your activities to
Krishna.” Prabhu said “Raya, eho bahya - this is also external. Age kaha ara -
Go further.”
Raya said “svadharma-tyaga, ei sadhya-sara” (to give up all activities in the
varnashram dharma system is the essence of perfection). Again Prabhu said
“Raya, eho bahya - this is also external. Age kaha ara - Go further.”
Raya Ramananda said gyana misra bhakti (bhakti mixed with knowledge)
and gyana sunya bhakti, (bhakti free from the covering of knowledge),
Sriman Mahaprabhu said, up to that stage, it is also external. (Meaning it is
not the purest bhakti. He didn't reject this but he said 'Raya, it is external'.
Eho bahya (go further).
These are all stages. The sadhaka is not allowed to just jump. They have to
follow from the starting point. Without knowledge about varnashram dharma
no one can advance. (Editor’s note: Varnashram dharma is the basic
knowledge about how to live. The social system in which one is engaged
according to one's natural propensity, one's nature. This is the foundation of a
properly functioning society. Without it, people are engaged in things they
are not qualified for, and spiritual advance is not possible.) Varnashram
dharma is the basis, the foundation. Without foundations you cannot build a
big building – you cannot build a thing. Without a good foundation no one
can advance. That's why you need all this.
There are two stages – vaidhi bhakti and raganuga bhakti. We are following
raganuga bhakti, but to achieve these higher stages, to realize something, to
get this prema, we need to practice this vaidhi bhakti (follow the rules) –
putting tilak, kanti mala, chanting, japa mala, all the mantras, meditating;
without doing this, no-one can jump to raganuga bhakti. We need this;
without this, realization will not come.
What is our bhajan? What are we doing in this bhajan? In bhajan, we are
practicing about loving exchange – yes, we are practicing about this, and you
need to be a master at this, otherwise no-one can exchange their love with
Krishna, Svyam Bhagavan. It is the same in the material world. If you want
to learn anything here in this material world, then also you need to practice.
Without practice you cannot sing in a good way, without practice you cannot
play an instrument. You cannot be a master, can you, without practice?
Our bhajan also needs practice. Because it's not speculation. If you think,
there’s no need to do the vaidhi bhakti, and are just meditating about Krishna,
then this realization will not come. That’s why we need to perform this, to
practice this vaidhi bhakti. But once you get the prema, the moods, the
raganuga, then there is no need to follow vaidhi – but then atmarama ca
munayo – (self-satisfied yogis) are also doing: Atmaramas ca munayo,
nirgrantha apy urukrame, Kurvanty ahaitukim bhatkim, ittham-bhuta-guno
harih [Srimad Bhagavatam 1.7.10].
Someone who has already achieved this stage, who has become atmarama,
self-satisfied, they are also doing all this (vaidhi bhakti). They don’t have to
do it. But they do it automatically. It happens spontaneously. apy urukrame
kurvanty ahaitukim bhaktim. They are doing this not by their practice. It is
going on automatically. When sadhaka has achieved this stage of raga marga,
they will realise these moods. When they enter into this eternal mood, that
means up to prema, this gyana sunya bhakti, Mahaprabhu said, this is
external.
Then Ramananda said “prema bhakti sarva sadya sara – (prema bhakti is the
essence of all perfection).” And Mahaprabhu agreed “Yes! This is it. Yes,
now you are at the door, but you have to go inside! Prabhu kahe, eho haya!
Age kaha ara – yes, you are right, but you have to go further, Rai, you have
opened the door, but you are outside. You have to go inside."
Then Ramananda Raya started to discuss shanta, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya,
madhura. Why didn’t he say it in this way: madhura, vatsalya, dasya, sakhya?
Because one after one, like all the gunas (elements), these rasa, these moods,
are also mixed. The moods grow; first there is this neutral mood, then the
serving mood, the dasya, then the friendly, then the parental/vatsalya mood,
then the madhura. At every stage the previous ones are mixed. Some, they
have this shanta mood, this neutral mood. Then there is dasya, the serving
mood. It is higher – in dasya, shanta mood is mixed. When you will go
further, you will find sakhya – friendship mood. In sakhya rasa, these other
two moods (shanta and dasya) are also there. They are mixed into sakhya
rasa. Then vatsalya: it has its own mood, and with its own mood, it has all the
three previous moods (shanta, dasya and sakhya).

If we just think about this material world, then also you find this. A mother,
when she will take care of her child, giving bath, feeding – then that time she
needs the mood of a servant. Without this mood she cannot do this properly.
When the child will grow up, the parents, mother and father, they will be
friends with the child. In this way, vatsalya rasa includes all these other
moods.
When you will go further, there is madhura rasa. In madhura rasa all the other
moods are included. And manjari bhava sadhana is included in madhura rasa.
When you are practicing in madhura rasa, in manjari bhava, all these moods
are there. The manjaris are playing with Krishna and Radhika, that is sakhya.
They are giving advice to Them; sometimes they will say, “O Radharani, it’s
morning, the sun came – now you have to go back to your house.” This is
vatsalya mood, instructing. And when they are serving, they’ll need a special
mood, a mood like a servant. And in madhura rati, the manjaris will joke with
them. When Radha and Govinda are performing their intimate pastimes, the
manjaris will help - not the sakhis. In the place of Their intimate meetings,
only manjaris can enter – not even the sakhis. That is why Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu gave us this mood. With this mood you can taste Krishna in all
the moods: shanta, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhura. And whenever you
will offer any mood to Him, he will reply with the same mood – he will
reciprocate with the same mood -what you offer Krishna, He will offer you
back.
Then there is a question: why not the sakhis, why not become sakhi? What is
the difference between manjaris and sakhya? friendly mood? Manjaris also
they are sakhis. Why they are very special? why we need this mood? because
Sri Chaitanya Mahabrabu, he gave us this special mood, to get Krishna, to
achieve Krishna prema, in a higher stage.
If we just go to Krishna directly, then we will not get Krishna 100%. The
100% of Krishna you cannot get. You can directly go to Krishna, play with
Krishna, but you cannot attain this real prema. If you really want to taste
Krishna prema, then you have to taste Krishna with Srimati Radharani. When
Srimati Radharani is with Krishna, then Krishna will appear. Otherwise not.
Because when Radharani is on His left, then He is Madan Mohan. Without
Radharani, then ‘Madana Mohita. If Radharani is not there then He is known
as Madana Mohita. That means you will be bewildered by Kamadev. When
Radharani is together with Krishna, then he is also Madan Mohan. He can
bewilder the mind of Kama because Radharani is the shakti – the power of
Krishna. If power is not there, then what will we do with one man who has no
power?!! Isn’t it? We always need the powerful. We need power. We need
Krishna 100%, that’s why we need this special mood of manjari.
So what is the special thing about manjari bhava? What is their speciality,
these manjari sakhis? They are also known as sakhis. Why are they known as
manjaris, what is their special quality? The special quality of manjaris is that
all the manjaris are in favour of Radharani. They are serving Krishna also,
but only by the desire of Radharani. By the desire of Radharani, all the
manjaris, they are all under Srimati Radharani. They will not accept Krishna
alone – only with Srimati Radharani. A manjari has love for Krishna, deep
love, yes. But she loves Him when He is with Radharani, not alone.
Krishna, you know, he has this nature lampat shiromani. (The crown jewel of
all debauchees!). He likes to go with the young girls, and He likes to play
with them. And He wants to joke with them, He wants to play, and that’s why
He says to Radharani, Oh, Kisori, your manjaris they are very beautiful. May
I play with them? And Srimati Radharani She says, “Oh Krishna, don’t try to
do this! Otherwise you will lose your all dharma, all your ego, by them.” “No
no no, why are you saying like this?” “Yes. They will not accept you.”
Krishna, He was determined that He could play with them. “Yes, Radhe, I
can – I can bewilder any mind. You know, I am Madan Mohan, I am Krishna.
I can attract anyone.”
“Ok, you can try. You can see if they will do something with you.” And
Krishna, only to show that He can do anything, He went to one manjari and
he started to joke with her. First the manjari did not give any attention to him.
What he was saying, she just ignored Him, and she kept going further. She
was picking flowers, you know, from one tree, one plant to another plant, and
so on. And Krishna, He was following her. “Hey, play with me, come, say
something, I am saying so many things but you are not answering. Why?”
The manjari answered, “Krishna, I am doing something.” “Ok, you can do
later. Now just talk with me” “No no no Krishna. Now is the time Radharani
will go to Surya puja, and that’s why I have to collect all these flowers.
Otherwise She will be late.” “Ok, no problem – some other one will do, just
come to me, come.” But she was not giving any attention to his word. Then
Krishna He just took her hand, saying, “Come!”
Then she showed her anger “Hey Krishna, what are you doing!” “Why, you
have no love for me?” “Yes, Krishna, I love you” “Then why you are
speaking me in this way, why are you angry?” “You know Krishna, I love
you – with Radharani. Not alone. When you are with Radharani, then I love
you – otherwise not. Go to Arjuta Surya, maybe she is waiting for you. Go to
Radharani.”
Krishna went back to Radha. Radharani. She already knew what would
happen. She said, “What’s happened, Krishna? Did she play with you?”
“Noooo!” “What did she do with you?” “Nothing! She did not give any
attention to me. She just behaved like I was not there, you know, I talked so
many things, like I talk with the girls.”
Radharani said “you see! They are all my manjaris. They love me, not you!
Do not do this anymore.”
Manjaris have this mood, this special mood. They love Krishna, they have
very deep love, very deep attachment for Krishna, but with Radharani. Not
without Radharani. They will accept Krishna with Radharani. And they are
all controlled by Srimati Radharani. Radharani will order them, and they will
follow the instruction of Srimati Radharani. How they will serve Sri Krishna,
and what Krishna will want, and when, and how. Radharani will say this to
them, and they will follow all these orders.
Manjaris can go inside the kunja, they can see everything. In padyavali
kirtan, and some slokas, if we just read Raga Vartma Chandrika, very nicely
it was explained there, the manjaris were seeing the pastimes, the eternal
pastimes. They were meeting, and manjaris were seeing this, helping Them.
Later the manjaris were explaining their realisations. One manjari was saying
to others, “Oh sakhi, just see how Srimati Radharani, our Yuteshvari, she
defeats Krishna, and sometimes Krishna defeats Srimati Radharani.” And
they are explaining all these realisations. It is very nicely explained in Raga
Vartma Chandrika, and in Padyavali also. But they do not have any
attachment for meeting with Krishna. They see everything, but they have this
special quality of serving mood, in Madhura rasa. They have this type of
love, like lover and beloved, but they are under Srimati Radharani.
Sometimes, Radharani she will say to one manjari, go to Krishna, play with
him. If Srimati Radharani will say this, go to Krishna, then they will go. They
will play with Krishna with this mood, because Radharani said this, because
they got this order from Srimati Radharani. By themselves they will not go to
Krishna. They have this special mood, that’s why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabu,
he wanted to give us this nice taste of Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna Prema. So he
gave us this manjari bhava sadhana.
When we will do our bhajan, our practice, then when we are able, Gurudeva
will see, Gurudeva will realise, yes he is ready, he is prepared to continue
with this, and he will give this manjari svarupa, this bhava. He will not give –
he will reveal. That is the supreme and highest taste. This is our highest and
supreme goal – our target. We have to do this, we have to achieve all of this.
Question – can you explain this bhavocha mayi and lalasa mayi? You
explained it simply, but can you expand?
Answer – Yes. There are two kinds of moods in manjari bhava: bhavocha
mayi and lalasa mayi. In bhavocha mayi, the mood will come, the manjari
will see that Radha and Govinda, when they are meeting and performing their
pastimes, when they are engaged in their (amorous) pastimes, then Radharani
will not give the manjaris any instructions. But the manjaris will see,
according to the mood, according to the time, according to the need – they
will just know how to serve Radha Krishna Yugal (the Divine Couple). For
instance, if they see that They are sweating, they will fan Them. Cool them
with air. Or wipe this sweat with a cloth. That is this mood. Now is the time
They would like the betel leaves, or some water. So according to the
particular mood, then they will serve. Without being told what They need.
And in lalasa mayi mood, the other kind, the manjaris will go with eagerness
and ask what to do. “Oh Srimati, I want to serve You. What can I do?” When
Radharani sees their eagerness, she will engage them with one particular
seva. “OK, do this.” In Thakura Mahasaya (Narottam das Thakura) Lalasa
mayi (song) it is very clearly written there. How one will engage with this
seva. Thakura Mahasaya explained:
sri Rupa pascata ami rahiba bhita hana
donhe punah kahibena ama pane cana
sadaya hridaya donhe kahibena hasi
kothaya paile rupa ei naba dasi [Prarthana, Lalasa song 19 text 1-4]
I timidly follow behind Sri Rupa manjari. When will she say to me, ‘fetch
some water for the divine couple?’ When will the Divine Couple
compassionately smiling say ‘where did Rupa manjari get this young
maidservant from?’ Hearing these words, Sri Rupa manjari will say,
‘Manjulali gave this maidservant to me.’ At that time I will feel very humble
at heart, and I will diligently engage in the service of the Divine
Couple.
Thakura Mahasaya, he explained his tradition. His guru rupa sakhi, his guru
manjari, is Manjulali manjari, and he explained how he got engaged with this
seva. He said that maybe I’ll go with my Guru manjari to Rupa manjari, and
Guru manjari will put me into the hand of Rupa manjari, and she will take me
to the Yugal. After seeing me, they will ask Rupa manjari, with smiling
faces, “Oh, Rupa, who is this very nice dasi – from where you got this dasi,
this servant.” Then Rupamanjari will give my identity, she will say, “yes,
Manjulali manjari, she gave me this new dasi, and I tested her and found that
she is very soft hearted, sadaya hridaya. When I saw that she is very soft-
hearted, and has a very favourable mood, then I engaged her in Your seva.”
First I saw the qualities, first I examined her, then I saw she is very soft-
hearted, and then I engaged her in Your seva. That is the traditional way.
Narottam das Thakur, he says, how can anyone say that this (manjari
svarupa) is self-manifested? Only by guru rupa sakhi we can engage
ourselves in this seva. Always in anugatya (following). “Self-manifested”
means there is some (false) ego. “I can do it (my way). I am the doer.” No!
This bhajan line is always under guidance, following. I will follow my Guru,
she will follow her Guru, she will follow her Guru, and only ‘she’ - there is
no ‘he’!
Question - Can everyone get this manjari bhava?
Answer - Yes. When Guru will see that the disciple is prepared, then Guru
will deliver all these things to his disciple.

Srila Premgopal Goswami Prabhupada Ki Jaya!

Joy Nitai!
Jaya Jaya Sri Radhe!