Lecture by His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaja.
 
I am especially grateful to be here this evening. My special gratitude to Yash, Avanti, Vedanta, Nirvana, and Sloka for making these extraordinary arrangements for about two thousand five hundred pilgrims to come to their auspicious home to hear and chant about Krishna. Let us sincerely offer our gratitude to arrange a program like this. In this case it takes a tremendous amount of love and affection and hard work also. Let us express our appreciation by loudly chanting Haribol.
 
I am also grateful to all of you for coming this evening and to my very old life long friend, who I just met for the first about a year and half ago Shyamdasji prabhu. How do I call a person a life long friend, one of my oldest friends, when I just met him about a year ago? Should I explain?
 
For those of you may have read the book the Journey Home about my travels in India and especially my time in Vrindavana due to my visa expiring, I left Vrindavana in around the spring of 1972 and just a few months later, Shyamdasji came to Vrindavana in 1972. When I was there Ashimkrishna prabhu and myself were the only white people in all of Vrajabhumi and after I left Ashimkrishna prabhu and Shymdasji were only white people in all of Vrajabhumi. He was very closed with Nimkaroli Baba, Sripada Baba, Dugansan Baba. He was very close with Ramesh baba, Anandamai ma and practically all the people that Srila Prabhupada. So we all know the same people and I was always hearing about him from some distance away. Perhaps he may have heard something about me.
 
When we asked Shyamdasji took dikshya in the line of Sri Balabhacharya in the pusti marga and he became a very renewed Sanskrit scholar. Schorlar in the brajavasi language, is one of the most highly esteemed scholars and practitioners in his sampradaya loved by vrajavasis. He lived in Gokula in Jatipur from 1972 to till today. In the west among vaisnavas he is the most famous kirtan singer to the general public into the Yoga community. So when we met it was almost like we lived our lives together all those years, although we had just met. Almost like we have one heart and two bodies. So it is really my special honor to have him with us today. Let us very enthusiastically and tumultuously loudly welcome him by saying Haribol.
 
“tatra tistami narada, yatra gayanti mad bhakti”. Where devotees gather together to hear and chant and to share devotional service according to the higher principles of pleasing Krishna. Krishna manifests Himself there, especially relationships are the great source of happiness within Brahma’s creation but there could also be the greatest cause of pain and suffering within Brahma’s creation. “nitya-siddha kåñëa-prema ‘sädhya’ kabhu naya çravaëädi-çuddha-citte karaye udaya” because love for Krishna is dormant within the heart of every living being, it is our nature and it is our essence. These material bodies “väsäàsi jérëäni yathä vihäya” they are like sets of cloths that we wear for sometime and very soon in relation to eternity, very soon we have to give up this dress. But we are the atma the eternal soul and the soul is seeking pleasure “Änandamayo 'bhyäsät”. We are looking for it in people in physical and mental experiences in things but it is never enough and it never last. We have all these in common because it is our nature to love god. In the principle of bhakti is based on a personal relationship with the absolute truth. There are different spiritual paths which approached different aspects of the absolute truth. For the some the goal is to free ourselves from the sorrow of material suffering and enter into a state of ever lasting peace. For others to attain siddhis or super natural powers by which we can control material energy to some extent. But in the pure path of bhakti, prema is the goal to have an active dynamic relationship with the absolute truth with Krishna. That is the ultimate fulfillment of the hearts, greatest need. When that is established and we learn to harmonize our relationships with things experiences and especially people, then those relationships become intimate and beyond the vulnerability of the ever changing mind and the senses of the world around us because we are looking for love. We can only find love in this world with people. You cannot really have a relationship of love with a thing. People reciprocate and therefore those relationships, when frustrated that can cause the greatest of all sufferings.
 
Music in the west is mostly about frustrated relationships of love. Probably for every song about happy love, there are 50 songs about pain in love, frustrated love. Did you agree? He said, “Too much”. Thank you. We do not have many songs about how I crash my car. I have the blues. I lost my insurance policy. But it does not go so deep in the heart. But when there is loving relationship and that is frustrated that goes so deep in the heart, it pain so much and what to do about it. There is more suicide based on that than any other reasons.
 
Sanatana Dharma teaches us to focus on the higher principle. The higher principle essentially is para dukhe dukhi. That another person’s suffering is my suffering and another person’s happiness is my happiness. The principle of real compassion is “Ahaituki apratihatä”. It is without selfish motives. It is without the ahankar, the ego. Where there is selfish egoistic motivation, I become the center of the universe. What pleases me is good and what does not please me is not good. But the problem with that situation is there will be so many conditions what confronted that are just beyond our control. We can neither control people nor could we control destiny, nor can we control the weather, the economy. We have just the little bit of control. But where there is no selfishness there is nothing that could possibly break the inner joy and the happiness of our relationship with god and when their higher principle is established we cannot be just disturb our relationships with each other. Real spiritual relationships “mac-cittä mad-gata-präëä bodhayantaù parasparam”. When we are harmonized our differences in our lives on a higher principle, the principle of dharma, the principle of prema. What should we do for god’s pleasure, not what we should do for my pleasure?
 
The apparent contradiction, this is explain in Srimad Bhagavatam, “When we relinquish our desire for personal pleasure, we spontaneously automatically experience the highest pleasure”. It is explained in Caitanya-caritamrita, “The Gopis in Vrindavana, their lives, their souls, their bodies, their minds, their words and everything is “How to make Krishna happy?” If Krishna has a headache, they are willing to give the dust of their feet, even it means they suffer a hellish consequences for billions and billions of years. If we relief Krishna’s headache for one moment, it is their greatest pleasure.
 
Suffering is a relative conception. Everything is based on our perceptions. Sometime a mother loves a child, even if the mother is going through great difficulties to care for the child, it may be strenuous in the mind, body and bothersome to the senses. She feels happy because she is making the child happy. That happiness is greater than enjoying the child. It is the happiness of the heart. So for gopis, “It does not matter what happens, my life is for Krishna”. They experience the mahabhava, the highest love and highest ananda or ecstasy paramananda because their love is completely selfless with Krishna in the center. In this world today, there is so much conflict among individuals, among races, among communities, among nations, and among religions and among different interpretations of the same religion, among different interpretations of devotees of people of the same religion with same interpretations.
 
Just last night Shyamdasji and I were talking and we were expressing and when there is secular politics, it is just based on superficial ego, it is very relative. But when there is politics within religion it is the most dangerous thing because our differences are now no longer just relative differences that we may have ideologies. By they take on an absolute prospective. Our ego considers my way is right. I am representing the divine the absolute. There is another opinion that it is antagonistic is a confrontation to god the absolute. So what extremes in the name of religion can people hate each other, can people disagree with each other, can people even kill each other. So some people, who really care about society they said, “We have to do with the way with religion, if we want to have any hope of peace among human beings”. There is some inside in that. But unfortunately it defeats the very purpose of life and brings everything to a completely superficial level where there is no possibility of inner happiness or love. Because Yoga, it means to reunite, to reconnect with our own spiritual essence. “säragrähé” a truly spiritual person, is not a person who is a Hindu, a Jain, or a Parsi, or a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Jew or a Buddhist, or an atheist, or an agnostic or anything else. A truly spiritual person is one who is seeking the essence, not just caught off in the external rituals without understanding that those external rituals, the traditions, the languages, and everything else were doing in our spiritual path is only meant to bring us to reconnect with the essence. What is the essence?
“vidyä-vinaya-sampanne
brähmaëe gavi hastini
çuni caiva çva-päke ca
paëòitäù sama-darçinaù”
Bhagavad-Gita 5.18
An actual learned person, who has experienced that sara, that essence, he sees a part of god in every living being whether they are brahmanas, Kshetriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras, Mlechas, or Javanas, whether they are elephants, cows, dogs, or insects.
 
Srila Haridas Thakur was living in a cave and people were coming to his cave to have his darshan. He was speaking about the glories of Krishna’s holy names. But their skin was burning, they were coughing, it is seemed like so toxic in that cave in the middle of the forest in the bank of Ganga. So they did for investigation and they found out that there was a terrible venomous serpent living in that cave. So they told Haridas Thakur “You should move out and find another cave because this is very dangerous for you to live here that that snake may bite you and we are just in the cave for few minutes everyday soaking and dying and you are living here twenty four hours a day. So you should move”.
 
Haridas Thakur, he saw god within the heart of the snake. He said, “Personally I love every living being. Where there is spiritual love there cannot be any fear. Fear is due to a lack of substance within our own hearts and our mind, because of lack of satisfaction and lack of love. When we understand the principle of love on the basis of the soul the atma, we understand our relationship with god, our relationship with other souls is forever. So what is there for fear? So Haridas Thaku he smiled. He said, “If it is disturbing you, out of compassion for you, I’ll leave if the snake does not leave by tomorrow”. Right when he said that the gigantic snake came out of the whole and out of respect and honor of Haridas Thakur he left the cave and never came back. Now it is not the snake understood the Bengali language of what he just heard but the paramatma, the lord within the heart of that snake and directed him to leave out of love for Haridas Thakur.
 
To see every living being with equal vision is only possible when we understand who we are? “mamaiväàço jéva-loke jéva-bhütaù sanätanaù” and understand that I am the part of Krishna and every living being is a part of Krishna and I cannot love Krishna without loving every living being who are His children, who are His parts, and who are so dear to Him. “yadä yadä hi dharmasya glänir bhavati bhärata” the lord descends in this world again and again in so many ways because He loves us because He cares about us. He is inviting us to comeback. All of our suffering is due to the consequences of our own karmas. Krishna is trying to “sarva-dharmän parityajya mäm ekaà çaraëaà vraja” just offer your heart with the affection, with the love to Krishna and all karma will be gone. This world becomes the spiritual world. We see every leaf, every tree, every human being, every animal, every insect, every star in the sky, and with every breath. We understand it is Krishna’s energy. “oà pürëam adaù pürëam idaà”. We see every situation and everything in a way that it is any opportunity to reciprocate with Krishna’s love.
 
When Krishna descendents into this world He revealed the Lilas, the pastimes of the spiritual world with the highest sweetest most intimate exchanges of divine love are manifested. Now why does he bring his devotees to this world? “golokera prema dhana hari nama sankirtana”. He comes in the form of His name to reconnect us. But reconnect us to what? Krishna comes to this world to show His pastimes in order to convince us. This is our real home. This is our heart’s real aspiration.
 
Shyamdasji prabhu, he resides in Jati Pur. He also resides in Gokula. I would like to share briefly one beautiful story from the Srimad Bhagavatam taking place in Gokula. There is a place called Brahmanda Ghata on the bank of Yamuna. One day Sukadeva Goswami tells, Krishna was playing with His friends, the children of the gops and the gopis along with Balaramji. After they are play for sometime all these gopas along with Balaram, they approached Yashoda Mai to lodge a complaint, “Today, we witnessed that Gopal eating dirt”. Now what could be more painful to a mother’s heart than her child eating dirt? She was filled with anxiety. She took Krishna by the hand. Why did she take Krishna by the hand? Because she felt if she did not He would run away. She put Krishna, lifted Him up and with voice faltering, “Gopal, why did You eat dirt? In Your house, am I not giving You, butter, ghee, sweetmeats with ghee and sugar. I am preparing throughout the day wonderful sweets and wonderful bhoga for You to eat. Why are You eating dirt? You cannot deny that You eaten dirt because all Your friends are complaining and even Balaram, who is Your best friend and Your own brother. He would never speak a lie against You. Gopal said, “Mother, I never ate dirt. They are liars”. Yashoda Mai said, “Why will they lie”? As Balaram says, I am convinced that You must have eaten dirt.
 
According to Gopal Champu and Jiva Goswami, Krishna responds, “Because today all of these gopas including Balaram they stole sweetmeats from their houses and proudly brought them to the bank of Yamuna and was telling how they stole them and they were showing to each other and laughing and eating. I told them, you should not steal from anybody’s house. This is not right. If you stole these sweetmeats, I am not going to eat them and I am going to tell on you. So because they want to protect themselves, they are making this lie against Me before I tell on them. Yashoda Mai said, “I do not believe that. Balaram would never do that to you”. Krishna said, “They are lying. If you do not believe Me, you look at My mouth”. Mother Yashoda said, “Then you open Your mouth”.
 
Our Acarya’s explain “Why Krishna lies? How is it possible? Krishna tells in Bhagavad-Gita “ahaà sarvasya prabhavo mattaù sarvaà pravartate” He is the source of all material and spiritual world. There is not truths superior to Him. “paraà brahma paraà dhäma” He is the supreme brahmana. He is the absolute truth. How could the absolute truth tell a lie? Does not it make sense? The absolute truth in it’s full-fledged manifestation is the lord’s reciprocation of lover or prema with his devotees. So first of all children in order to not getting in trouble, it is there nature to speak the needful. Krishna was in the role of little child and He was hiding His aiswarya, His opulence to facilitate and increase the relationship of intimacy with the love of His mother, father, friends, especially the gopis, and Sri Radhika. So by Krishna speaking this, it increases the parental love of His mother “vatsalyarasa”. Vstsalyaras springs from prema. Prema is the unadulterated intimate love of a devotee. That prema always resides within the heart of a devotee. But it arises due to the intrinsic affection of Krishna. Therefore Krishna is the bhaktavastala. So by Krishna saying, “I did not eat the dirt”. It was increasing mother Yashoda’s love. Therefore it is the highest spiritual truth. Mother Yashoda said, “Open Your mouth, I’ll see”.
 
Now this was a very very philosophically complex situation for Krishna. Because Krishna is playing the part of an ordinary child. He does not want to disturb His mother’s love for Him. But at the same time He is so conquered by the love His mother that He is afraid of her. If opens His mouth, she is going to see dirt inside of His mouth and He has to open His mouth”. So when He opened His mouth, she did not notice the dirt. Krishna is Yoga Maya potency manifested the entire universe in His belly. Yashoda Mai looked into the mouth, which is very small. She saw the planets of the universe, the entire solar system, all the mountains, all the oceans, all the demigods, all the human beings, and all living entities. She saw the three modes of material nature. She saw the all devouring power of time. She saw that the three gunas. She saw everything. She even saw the whole of Gokula Vrindavana with all the cows, all the gopas, and all the gopis. She saw Nanda Maharaja. She also saw herself, looking in Krishan’s mouth inside His mouth. She was thinking everything outside of Him and everything is existing inside of Him. Now how big is the Universe?
 
Bamanadeva, when he wanted to cover the universe, He grew and in such a gigantic size to two steps. But Krishna’s mouth remained the same. Yet it contained everything within our universe. That is Krishna’s achintya shakti, inconceivable potencies. If some one does not believe that just look around and see what Krishna has created, His inconceivable potencies. Krishna can do anything. He can put elephants through eyes of needles; He can put entire universes within His mouth without even stretching His mouth. That is our Gopal.
 
Yashoda Mai, was seeing this. But she could not conceive her child is anything but her child. She was perplexed. She thought I am dreaming. No, because my eyes are open. I am not dreaming. Or, are the demigods creating some illusion over me? It is not possible. Why will the demigods put in the illusion over an insignificant little gopi like me? Is my son endowed with mystic siddhis. Because Garga Muni he said, “My son is powerful and he was equal to lord Narayan. Is this the reason?” Then she was thinking but when He was hungry, He cries until I feed Him. When He was thirsty, He cries until I give Him something to drink milk from my breast. He is very naughty. He is very innocent. He cannot be a super natural person. So then she was confused that how to figure out what she was seeing in Krishna’s mouth. That ultimately she just began to pray to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, lord Narayana. She was not talking Krishna, she was praying to the lord of Vaikuntha. “Oh, lord Narayana, You are the creator of everything that exists. Everything is inside of You, everything is outside of You. Please protect my child, Gopal”.
 
In this way, she was in the very reverential mood. Then she started to reflect, “How I am such an illusion? I am thinking Nanda maharaja is my husband. I am thinking that all the cows and all the calves and all the bulls and all the Vrajabhumies are mine because I am the queen of Vrindavana. I am thinking Krishna is my son. “sarva loka mahesvaram”. Everything is property of Krishna. I am not taking care of Krishna. I am just an instrument of god to take care of Krishna”. Krishna saw His mother in such a philosophical state. He began to think, “If she has all these gyan, all these knowledge about the absolute truth and god and the creation, then who is going to embrace Me, who is going to cover Me with her motherly kisses. I want this intimate love for My mother. Not all these philosophic sastrik realizations”. Thinking like this with the gentle little smile, He increased Yashoda Mai’s motherly love to such an extent that she completely forgot about what she saw on His mouth. She put Krishna on her lap and embraced and kissed Him as her ordinary little child. Krishna was happy.
 
Sukadeva Goswami explains herein that the supreme absolute truth the lord of all existence is glorified in three Vedas as yagya purusa. The Upanisadas as the purusa. The sankshya philosophy as the paramatma. In the Pancharatna, He is glorified as Bhagavan. That same absolute truth, “Yashoda Mai, is thinking is just an ordinary innocent helpless child”. A great vaisnava poet wrote that some people worship the Mahabharat, Upanishada, the Vedas, and the itihas but I worship Nanda maharaja and yashoda. Because the absolute truth the param brahman is crawling in their courtyard like an ordinary child, conquered by their love and conquering them with His love. This is the revelation of Sri Vrindavana.
 
Shyamdasji was singing that beautiful song. We actually learned it from the same person. Vrindavana is not just a place of sentimental people, who just jai Radhe, Radhe. This calling out of the names of Radha and Krishna according to our sashtras. It is the culmination of all spiritual practices.
“bahünäà janmanäm ante
jïänavän mäà prapadyate
väsudevaù sarvam iti
sa mahätmä su-durlabhaù”
After many many births of cultivating knowledge, ultimately we surrender our hearts with love and in doing so, Krishna reciprocates by drowning us in a bottomless, shoreless ocean of His love, of Sri Radha His pleasure potency or hladini shakti’s love.
“kaler doña-nidhe räjann
asti hy eko mahän guëaù
kértanäd eva kåñëasya
mukta-saìgaù paraà vrajet”
This age of Kali, where it is so difficult for anybody to get a long. Because the predominating influence of Kali Yuga is quarrel and hypocrisy. We have so much to quarrel about. Factually within Kali Yuga, the illusory energy Maya at any given moment can give us unlimited reasons to disagree, unlimited reasons to have conflict. But there is one reason that is more powerful than us. That is, what will please Krishna? It is the higher principle of dharma. Following the principles of Dharma through bhakti, is the means of accessing that transcendental love within our heart for Krishna and all living beings. In this age of Kali which is full of all source of reasons to suffer and to fight. There is one benediction; Krishna has descended in His holy names. “kali-käle näma-rüpe kåñëa-avatära” and by actually focusing and pleasing Krishna through sankirtan, through the congregational chanting of the holy names and cultivating this devotional spirit of humility, forgiveness, and in a real service attitude. We cannot really chant the names from our heart unless we have humility and the genuine desire for a service attitude toward others.
 
By our great acaryas, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Ballabh Acarya who they also called Mahaprabhu, these great personalities they have come to this world to teach us the higher principle, which is accessed so easily by anyone and everyone by chanting the holy names of the lord. “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”.
 
 
Tnank you very much.