Hare Krishna!
It’s my great pleasure to be with all of you this evening. We have come together due to the great love that Krishna Chandra Prabhu and Radha Priya Mataji have for their daughter Radha dasi and their future son in law Mukunda Prabhu. In just a few days their marriage will take place but my understanding is in order to create an environment of most auspiciousness they wanted to have this program to serve and to please all the devotees, relatives and friends and the greatest pleasure for the hearts of the pious souls is to come together to hear and chant the glories of the Lord in association of devotees, to take Krishna’s prasad amongst one another. When devotees are pleased Krishna’s blessings come through their hearts. Some people approach sadhu’s asking for blessings but the actual way of getting real blessings is to please the Vaishnavas. When our service and affection please a devotee and their hearts are satisfied by that then Krishna within their hearts reciprocates and bestows blessings upon us. Whereas if we displease a Vaishnava or disturb a Vaishnava in the name of asking a blessing what kind of blessings will we get? There is a well known story, many such stories when materialistic people who literally attacked Srila Prabhupada demanding blessings from him in the name of being very surrendered, submissive and desperate for his mercy, they would approach him, practically stand him in front of him while he was walking and say, “Swamiji please please be merciful to me! And give me your blessings!” Srila Prabhupada would try to walk away. They would say, “No, No Swamiji you cannot go! You must please give me your blessings, give me your blessings!” Srila Prabhupada said to this one man, “I bless you that your material life will be finished!” The man fell to the ground unconscious. When he woke up and said Swamiji, “I didn’t want that kind of blessing.” Then Prabhupada walked away. If you want blessings from someone it’s not that you demand it. You serve them with attention, you hear from them with submissiveness and when they are pleased with you then naturally their blessings will come from the core of their hearts because actually the only person that can give blessings is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. He is the source of all blessings. He is the source of everything. And a devotee when he is pleased he reciprocates with affection towards you and through that affection Krishna bestows His blessings. And those blessings have the power to help us to overcome every possible obstacle in life. And without those blessings real advancement on the spiritual path is simply impossible. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami prayed that, “I am a lame, I am a crippled man. I am practically blind, I am old like an invalid physically and spiritually I am even worse. How will I tread this great path of devotion? The stick of the mercy of the Vaishnavas I am depending upon, that will hold me up and carry me to the end of the road of devotional service.” That is knowledge, that we are specifically depending on the mercy of great souls otherwise we have no strength. We have no capacity to overcome the obstructions that m Maya will put before us.   But how do we get that mercy? That mercy comes through reciprocation. 
 
When we approach the spiritual master we enquire submissively with an eagerness to render service. That submissive desire to serve naturally pleases the spiritual master and then from the core of his heart his blessings and his mercy comes upon us through his words, through his prayers. And in those blessings is all the power of the Supreme Lord himself. Therefore Krishna has said to Uddhava in Bhagawat Purana
 
That to serve My devotee is more pleasing to Me than serving Me. Because that is the nature of love. One’s existence is more identified in the relationship one has with one who loves than one’s identity within one self. Therefore we see so many Names of Krishna that please Him the most indicate His relations with His devotees. We call him Yasodanandana, Devakinandana, Nandanandana, Radha Raman, Radha Nath, Radha Kanta, Gopinath, Parthasarthi. These names of Krishna are most dear to Him because they especially remind Him of the loving affection of His devotees. Thus when we please the devotees, Krishna’s mercy is automatically there. Action is a more powerful statement than words. If we are actually in the spirit of service that activity in Krishna heart will be heard that you are really begging for his mercy. Of course it is very important to pray, Vandanam is on the nine processes in devotional service. We should be praying for mercy we should be begging for mercy but on the path of Bhakti everything’s substance is situated in our service attitude. We may be praying for mercy but if we are not active, eager to serve then that prayer will not be taken seriously. So it is a wonderful example taking place this evening. This is not just an ordinary social event. This is the message that the world most desperately needs to understand. That if you want anything to be truly successful in life you have to be blessed by the mercy of the Supreme Lord Krishna and if you want that mercy honestly and sincerely you have to please the devotees by serving them, by giving them an opportunity to find pleasure in Krishna consciousness. So this wonderful arrangement of prasad, the katha, the kirtan is all simply to give pleasure to all Vaishnavas. It is said by Krishna himself
 
 
When and where My devotees come together to chant My Holy Names I am in that place. That is Krishna favorite place to be! And where Krishna is everything becomes auspicious because Krishna is the source of all auspiciousness. All the invocations of auspiciousness according to the Vedas come by invoking the names and qualities of God. Everything becomes supremely auspicious with the congregational chanting of the Holy Names is taking place by sincere and attentive devotees. In fact Srimad Bbhagawatam explains the Supreme most of all auspicious activities is the sankirtan of the Holy Names of the Lord.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Why when the devotees come together to chant is this the supremely most auspicious activity in the entire universal creature according to the scriptures? It is because Krishna is pleased to make Himself present in that place.  
 
We are reading tonight from Sri Bhagavad Gita where Krishna is describing that those who are always meditating upon Me, His personal form and engaged in worshipping Him in a spirit of devotion and faith, they are considered by Him to be the most perfect. Bhakti is personal. The whole essence of Bhakti is reciprocation of affection, of love, of service. Without that we don’t really understand what is devotional service. Bhakti is not simply rituals for the sake of rituals or yagyas for the sake of yagyas. Bhakti is the reciprocation of love and devotion between the jivatma the spirit soul and the Supreme Soul or Krishna. There is a beautiful example of reciprocation of love in the lila of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Of course there are unlimited such examples. But one comes to mind by the Lord’s grace this evening.
One evening at the time of the sunset Lord Caitanya, who was then a young man living in Nawadwip of the name Viswambhar. He went along with His friends to the banks of the river Ganges. As He was approaching Ganga, Gangadevi saw Him coming, she became ecstatic in love. Her current became exceptionally fast, she began to flood on the both sides of the banks and the sound emanating from her was roaring like thunder. Meanwhile every evening in Nawadwip thousands and thousands of people would come to the river Ganga. The brahmans would come to perform their pujas, the ladies would come with their water pots, the bhattacharyas, mishras, acharyas and pundits would come to offer their obeisances. People were worshipping Mother Ganga with incense, fragrances, flowers, garlands, singing beautiful sweet prayers. Thousands of people were offering dandavats obeisances to Ganga Devi but they could not understand why is Ganga rushing so fast? Why is she over flooding? Why is she roaring so loud? There is no clouds in the sky! It’s not the rainy season. There is no reason for this. They could not understand. Amongst those people there was one Brahman. He was a very very great devotee of Goddess Ganga. And because of his devotion to her she revealed to him the truth. He happened to see Ganga flowing so fast. He was wondering why is this happening? What type of festival is Ganga Devi celebrating today? No one can understand. Then he saw the beautiful golden form of Lord Gauranga. Lord Gauranga offered His obeisances to Ganga Devi. As He was looking upon her His eyes became red like the rising sun and tears of ecstatic love were flowing from His eyes. Upon seeing Ganga Devi His hairs were standing on end, it appeared that His body was in such ecstasy it doubled into two forms. He was trembling seeing His devotee. As He was in his ecstasy seeing Ganga Devi, Ganga Devi’s ecstasy was increasing and she was overflowing more and more and more, rushing to where the Lord was. Although He was far from the bank she overflowed just so that she could wash his Lotus Feet. And upon touching His Lotus Feet she was not satisfied. She wanted to serve Him more and more and more. The lord with His friends with great ecstatic love they entered into Ganga. And as the Lord was in the Ganges in His heart of hearts as He was submerged within her He was embracing her. This brought Him so much ecstasy that tears were flowing, His hairs standing on end, trembling more and more and more and Ganga Devi was embracing Him in ecstatic love and it says that in order to welcome Him with sweet words she sent very very special waves of love to bathe His body. The tears were flowing of her eyes which made streams coming in hundreds of directions all flowing to the ocean. When this Brahman saw that he could understand that Lord Gauranga is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the very source, the master and the lover of the Mother Ganga. He approached Lord Caitanya and offered his prostrated obeisances and said to Lord Gauranga that, “ By the mercy of Mother Ganga I can understand who You are! You are the Supreme Lord, You are the ultimate object of everyone’s devotion and Mother Ganga is performing this miraculous pastime just to serve You and show her love for You.” Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu then smiled at the Brahman and went home.
But people were confused but the Brahman explained. I will tell you what just happened. Sometime back one day Lord Shiva, he was ecstatically engaged in Harinam Sankirtan, loudly chanting Krishna’s Holy Names with such enthusiasm that Narada Muni appeared to accompany him playing his vina. Their kirtan became more and more filled with joy. Then Ganesha appeared and began playing mridanga. Soon the three of them were having this wonderful kirtan chanting the Holy Names of Krishna
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
These three personalities Shiva, Ganapati and Narada Muniji they filled the entire world with Harinam and as Krishna promises He always appears where His sincere devotees are chanting His name with love and devotion. So Krishna in ecstasy hearing this chanting personally descended from Vaikuntha and appeared in their kirtan. Lord Shiva became all the more ecstatic to chant and dance for the pleasure of the Lord. Then Krishna said, “Please stop this chanting, please stop. You do not know what this chanting will do to me! This chanting is so full of love and devotion that My body will become unstable and I will melt in ecstasy. Please stop!” Lord Shiva began to laugh. He said, “Let me see the truth of whether your body actually melts in ecstasy.” The he began to chant even more enthusiastically than ever before.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Right before his eyes Lord Sri Krishna’s transcendental body began to melt. When Lord Shiva saw Krishna melting before his eyes he became extremely fearful. He immediately stopped the kirtan and he became very sober. Only a part of Krishna’s body melted but that part that melted is famous throughout the fourteen worlds as the water which is the very personification of Krishna mercy. Lord Brahma collected that water in his kamandalu and kept it very very very specially knowing it to be very Holy. How did that mercy come? That mercy was the result of the loving reciprocation between Krishna and His devotees and the water that is contained in that kamandalu of Lord Brahma has the power to sanctify and purify anyone’s heart. Why? Because it is the mercy that came through the reciprocation of the love between Krishna and His devotees. Where that reciprocation of love takes place that is where the Lord’s mercy is truly present.   Later on it is said Lord Krishna gave that kamandalu of water to Bali Maharaj. That was the time when Krishna begged for three steps of land from Bali Maharaj. Bali was not only the king of the earth, he was the king of the heavenly worlds. He was so influential with his power that he conquered even the abode of Indra. You know Indra he has his thunderbolt and that thunderbolt could reduce mountains into piles of ashes. Amongst the demons the asuras there is nothing more feared than the thunderbolt of Indra but Bali Maharaj, simply by seeing him Indra became so fearful that he ran away in hiding. So Bali Maharaj conquered the universe but the mother of the demigods Aditi she prayed, she prayed to Lord Vishnu that, please help my children. She is a great devotee. That Aditi prayed with such devotion that to reciprocate her love the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared as her own child in the form of Vamandeva and just to please mother Aditi He went to Bali Maharaj’s arena of sacrifice. This is an important principle to understand that because Aditi prayed and served the Lord with such devotion, therefore the Lord reciprocated to rescue her children. Similarly what is our hope? Can we attract Krishna’s mercy? Do we have the power, do we have the devotion, do we have the purity of the heart? But if great devotees if they pray for us then naturally Krishna’s mercy will be there to protect us. Therefore we find the great acharyas always praying for the mercy and blessings of great Vaishnavas because if they are pleased with us they will pray for us and their prayers will protect us. There instructions, if we follow the instructions of the great soul then Krishna will certainly protect us, not simply because we are following an instruction but because we are reciprocating with the prayers of the great souls. When a Vaishnava is giving you an instruction along with that instruction is his prayer to Krishna to save you. When you accept his instruction by following it you are also reciprocating and therefore you also attain the fruit of his prayer which means Krishna will save you, He will protect you under all circumstances. That is His promise. So Vamanadeva went to Bali Maharaj and begged for three steps. Sukracarya understood that this is the Supreme Personality of Godhead he is trying to cheat my disciple Bali Maharaj. Right now I am in a good position, he is the master of the UNIVERSE I can get the best dakshina from him. Don’t give him anything Bali he is the Supreme Lord Vishnu! Bali Maharaj said, the purpose of Guru is to teach you how to surrender to Vishnu. If you are telling me not to surrender to Vishnu I kick you out! What Guru are you. So he told Vamanadeva that why you are asking only three steps. Your steps are so tiny I can give you so much. Look at what I have. When you ask a big person for something very very little it is practically an insult. Bali Maharaj was a big person. He was the wealthiest man in the universe. Ask for a planet, ask for a kingdom, ask for anything. Three steps of land? Vamanadeva replied that you conquered the universe. I am just a Brahman, I am a beggar. All I have is a little stick and a begging pot. But I am satisfied because I am content within Myself and you and all of your wealth and all of your influence and power you are not happy, you are not satisfied because if a person is not satisfied within his own heart he cannot be satisfied under any condition of life. So I don’t require much, just give me three steps. All right you take these three steps. Right before his eyes Vamanadeva began to expand Himself. So big! With the first step He conquered the lower planetary systems and the earth planet itself. The second step He covered the rest of the Universe up until the very end and His toes they pierced the covering of the universe and the waters from the Causal Ocean came and washed His Lotus Feet. Then He asked Bali Maharaj, where shall I put My third step. You promised Me three steps. You have nothing left to give Me. Bali Maharaj said, I am giving you all my wealth, all my prestige is finished for ever, all my asura assistants, ministers they see now I am in total poverty, I have nothing left. I have only one more thing to give You- My life! Please place Your third step on top of my head. Vamanadeva reciprocated and placed His foot on the top of Bali Maharaja’s head. And from that day Bali Maharaj is famous throughout the scriptures, endless immortal fame as that devotee who represents the nine processes of devotional service in it’s most perfect state- atmanivedanam. One who surrendered everything to the service of the Lord! 
 
Anyways, the river Ganges was flowing from the Lotus Feet of Krishna. And as river Ganges was flowing from the Lotus Feet of Krishna, Lord Brahma came with his Kamandalu to wash the lotus feet of Krishna and that water mixed with the Ganges. The great Brahman explained that when Ganga Devi saw Lord Gauranga she was remembering how her origin is from His Lotus Feet. She was remembering that ecstatic kirtan of Shiva, Narada, Ganesha. And when all these thoughts came to her heart she became so overwhelmed with ecstatic love for Lord Gauranga. And that love manifested through her flooding over, flooding over her banks going way way to wherever Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Lotus Feet were so that she could bathe them and serve them. So this is an example of Bhakti, reciprocation. The Lord loves to please those devotees who give their hearts to Him and the devotees love to please the Lord who gives His heart to them. Throughout the scriptures we find this most beautiful and sweet reciprocation of love. And it is this that is our goal in life but Bhakti or reciprocation of love is a purely personal conception. We must understand that Krishna is a person.
 
He is the Supreme Person. We are all His parts and parcels. Then what satisfies His parts and parcels most in this world, it is reciprocation of love. And similarly why are we all looking for love within this world? Because that is our nature, to love Krishna and to be loved by Krishna. And without that love our life is quite empty and meaningless and modern society creates immense volumes of technology in various forms of entertainment just to somehow or other distract your mind away from the loneliness and emptiness of your heart. Just a generation or two back in India, people were satisfied coming together every evening to hear Ramayana, Mahabharata, Srimad Bhagawat Katha and after hearing the glories of the Lord they would play their harmoniums, their mridangas, their kartals and sing the beautiful names of Krishna in kirtan
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
People were satisfied, they’d sleep dreaming of Krishna’s pastimes, or Lord Ramachandra's pastimes. Their hearts were pure and in that pure state they were generous, compassionate, loving towards each other but because that culture is being forgotten, they have to replace it with something because our lives are empty. So human society is creating so many artificial means to try to forget the loneliness and emptiness of our lives, to try to somehow or other to get our attention away from the utter futility of our existence. We eat, we sleep, we mate, we develop some empire and we die. And in the process there are so many frustrations, so many things that just don’t work out right, so many things that are just not supposed to happen, within our occupation, health, family. We cannot be happy in a place of ‘dukhaalayam ashaashvatam’. Krishna certifies that this material world is a place of suffering. Of course we all want to think that we know better than Krishna, the creator. So therefore we create so much technology, so much modern conveniences, comforts, so many forms of entertainment, just to replace the simple process of hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord. But that satisfies the heart, nothing else will! So reciprocation with the Lord is the real purpose and goal of human existence. Sometimes it is said as a quote from Srimad Bhagawatam that when you put water on the root of the tree every part of the tree is satisfied. 
 
Krishna is the root the source of everything that exists. If you please Krishna your life will be satisfied. Krishna is only pleased by one thing, pure unalloyed devotion. Sometimes we are doing some service for Krishna. Why are we not in ecstasy? Why are we not completely satisfied? Why our mind and our senses are still troubled with so many desires and attachments? Because our devotion is not pure, purifying our heart is a life long process. But only that pure devotion will actually water the root of the tree and satisfy it. But Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said
 
That the perfection of life is to be the servant of the servant of the servant. You cannot approach Krishna directly, you have to approach Krishna through His devotees. If you serve the devotees Krishna is pleased. If you serve the suffering fallen souls Krishna is pleased. This is quite practical because when a tree is in the ground can you directly water the root? Tomorrow at Radha Gopinath temple we are going to have a small ceremony where we are going to have a wonderful historical event hopefully. Nothing is historical without the mercy of Krishna. Man proposes God disposes. But if for the pleasure of Sri Radha Gopinath in that nice little garden where you all take prasad we are planting a kadamba tree. Because a kadamba tree represents Srimati Radha Rani, the complexion of the tree is similar to Sri Radha Rani. It is considered the personification of the mercy of Sri Radha Rani, the kadamba tree and therefore because it is so much dear to Radha Rani the kadamba tree is the tree that is most dear to Krishna. In Vrindavan so many of his wonderful lilas take place under the kadamba trees. At Govardhan during the spring Ras lila he plays his flute to call his Gopis under a kadamba tree. When he went to subdue Kaliya he jumped from a kadamba tree. Many many such stories and the kadamba flowers are very dear to Lord Krishna. So when we water the tree you have to put the water on the soil and if you properly put the water on the soil then it will get to the root. You cannot approach the root directly. So similarly the devotees are like the soil that create an atmosphere around Krishna. And if we serve the devotees, if we please the devotees, if their hearts are satisfied by our humility and our devotion then that service will be accepted by Krishna. When He accepts that is the fulfillment of all the expectations of all our souls. 
 
So tonight we have a wonderful wonderful environment of Vaishnavas together. Mr. Arvind Mafatlal and his good wife, Krishnachandra Prabhu and Radha Priya they have called this wonderful program to give you all satisfaction, the satisfaction of hearing about Krishna, chanting the names of Krishna, being amongst Vaishnavas, taking Krishna’s prasad and when all of your hearts are satisfied and pleased then Srila Prabhupada will be pleased. That is watering the root of the tree. Then Krishna’s unlimited blessings and mercy will be upon you. So for the coming marriage of Radha Devi and Mukunda Prabhu out of their love they want the greatest mercy and blessings upon them because they know that this mercy of the Vaishnava is the greatest wealth. It is something money cannot buy. A dowry of thousands of crores of rupees is not as precious as receiving the mercy of the Vaishnavas. And all that is required to get that mercy is that humble spirit to serve them and to please them. So we are very very happy and very proud of this wonderful family for giving such a nice example, of showing such essential priorities that we should also strive to look for in our lives and at this particular time it is my prayer at the Holy Feet of the assembled devotees that you all kindly invoke the unlimited mercy of Sri Sri Radha Krishna by very very attentively with humble and sincere hearts crying out the Holy Names. Naamsankirtan is the yuga dharma. Krishna is manifested within His names and when a devotee in a congenial spirit of affection for one another loudly call out the Holy Names at that time Krishna most manifests the mercy of His Holy Name and showers it upon all those who participate and that emanates to cleanse the entire universe. Premsankirtan is that kirtan of love. We have to create an environment where Krishna will actually be pleased with our sankirtan.
 
When we are humble like blade of grass tolerant like tree, ready to offer all respects others and expect none in return, that humility creates an congenial environment of servitude, not egoism, not I am better than you, I am greater than you. In the sankirtan of the Holy Name everyone is simply prabhu and I am das! That is sankirtan. That is no question of this caste, that caste, this income bracket, this educational bracket. These are all relative considerations. When everyone sees each other as a servant of Krishna, when everyone gives up their egoism with humility when there is a congenial environment of respect and service, forgiveness for others faults and offences that environment creates such a powerful effect that when we chant the Holy Names together loudly from the heart Krishna descends and creates the supreme most auspicious blessing upon all of us. So it is my very sincere prayer that such type of kirtan we have this evening.  
Thank you very much
Srila Prabhupada ki Jay!