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At the age of only nineteen, Radhanath Swami left his home in America seeking adventure and spiritual knowledge. After trekking across Europe for months, Radhanath Swami reached his long hoped for destination: India. After living there for many years as a sadhu or wandering monk, Radhanath Swami returned to America in order to share the sacred knowledge and wisdom he had learned from the many holy men and women he had met there. It was an extraordinary choice, given what Radhanath Swami had survived to get there: a journey filled with bizarre characters, mystical experiences, and dangerous adventures. The story is recounted in his recently published memoir The Journey Home - Autobiography of an American Swami. Reviewers have called Radhanath Swami's saga "at once an engaging yarn, a love story, and the evocation of a transcendent paradise in all its savagery, solitude, and splendor.
Radhanath Swami emerged from his years of travel wanting to explain for others the beauty and rewards of a life devoted to God, and therein lay a dilemma. Radhanath Swami's many followers and friends describe him as completely selfless and consequently unwilling to take credit for his work and restless when a spotlight is focused on him. By choosing A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (1896-1977), a Bengali Vaishnava Saint, as his guru (after declining offers of initiation from several tyagis or renunciants in the Himalayas), Radhanath Swami cast his fate to the wind, cut his matted locks, and entered back into the society.
RadhanathMaharaj.net gives us a complete collection of the teaching of Radhanath Swami. Teachings consists of Transcriptions of lectures delivered by Radhanath Swami at various places. This website is to inspire the followers of Radhanath Swami to practice the philosophy of Vaishanavism.
SUNDAY FEAST LECTURE DATED 16-01-2005
BY HIS HOLINESS RADHANATH SWAMI
The Variegatedness of Unconditional Love
I thank you for taking your very precious time to be amongst us this afternoon. Especially, I’d like to offer my gratitude to a few of our very special guests. We have back with us Yadubara Prabhu along with his good wife Vishakha Devi Mataji, very close loving associates of our beloved Guru Maharaja Srila Prabhupada. Yadubara Prabhu was a freelance movie maker making documentaries as well as photos, and he took an assignment to do a photo essay on Hare Krishna devotees at New Vrndavana, New York, Los Angeles, and the association of devotees was so sweet to his heart that he went to India to do a documentary on Srila Prabhupada, and his life was never the same since then. By Prabhupada’s inspiration, he not only gave his life and soul to the loving service of the Lord, but he has presented to the world historical documentaries —documentaries on Vrndavana, New Vrndavana, various philosophical documentaries revealing the science of the soul. He did documentary on the world of all the different centers and projects of the Krishna consciousness movement, and especially “Your Ever Well-Wisher,” the life story of Srila Prabhupada, our Gurudeva, and now Yadubara Prabhu is seriously considering making an eastern branch of his project in Bombay intimately connected to Sri Radha Gopinath temple [Haribol!], so if we’re nice to him and appreciate him nicely, he may actually make that decision. Let us very enthusiastically welcome Yadubara Prabhu. [Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!] We also have Kratu Prabhu. Kratu Prabhu is disciple of Srila Prabhupada, who has been serving for well over 30 years. Very humble, gentle, and dedicated person very learned. He was for years, temple president of New Delhi and has taken immense responsibilities, and he’s a very dear friend. We’re so grateful that you have come. Let us welcome Kratu Prabhu [Haribol, Haribol, Haribol!]. Can you please stand up for a moment? Please? One moment [Haribol!], and we also have our dear friend Vineet Narayana Prabhu who is quite famous throughout the land of India for restoring morality, ethics, and justice even on the highest levels of society through his journalism and his fearless determination, and he’s been very lovingly associated with Srila Prabhupada and his devotees for many years, and now he is very intimately connected with Maan mandir in Barsana, Braja Bhumi, and he’s fearlessly giving his life and soul to preserve and protect the holy places of Sri Vrndavana Dham which is a great challenge. In fact, at the present time the beautiful sacred hills of Kamyavana where Krishna has performed his lila with Sri Radha and gopas and gopis are being destroyed by greedy people with dynamite to sell the rocks, and he’s on a campaign to save these holy places of Kamyavana. It’s not an easy thing. He’s working on the Supreme Court level and sometime later we will inform you how you can participate and help if you so desire. Can you stand up for a moment Vineet Narayan Prabhu, please? Let us very enthusiastically welcome him to Sri Radha Gopinath. [Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!] And of course we have Trnakarta Prabhu, but he’s a resident, so there’s no need for formalities any more but we are grateful to see you. And we have my childhood, lifelong friend Gary who has come for the first time to Radha Gopinath Sunday festival. We’ve known each other since the 1950s for… I’d say we have been very, very close friends for over 40 years. We grew up together. For those of you who were at that nice program a couple weeks ago, we told some little summary of incidents within our relationship, but I can say that to remain such loving friends with someone for so many long years with so much appreciation, gratitude even though somewhat different ways of life is something very special. Gary is always my very affectionate well wisher and today he’s even wearing dhoti and kurta, but it’s not the first time ‘cause in 1971 for one year he lived as a sadhu traveling through the Himalayas living in mountain tops and under trees, and this evening he’s leaving back for America. It’s the first time he’s been to India in 33 years. So we’re very, very grateful that you are here Gary. Please stand up. Everyone… [Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!] Much louder please. [Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!] Thank you very much.
Vrndavana is the land of the most intensified purest unconditional love. Love is the intrinsic fundamental need of every living being, and there are different levels in which one can experience and taste the happiness of love. On the bodily platform of life, forgetting the eternal nature of the soul, there is love amongst family members or love that is based on the passion or the attraction between two human beings or love amongst friends, but this affection is tainted to various degrees with the selfish conception of, “How will I enjoy from this situation.” To the degree the affection between two persons is unconditional, it satisfies the heart. Actual love is on the basis of truth. This body is a temporary vehicle; we are the eternal souls. To recognize our own soul as our true self and to recognize the spirit within others — that interaction of love is true, and it is eternal. In Vaikuntha, there is the recognition of the Almighty Absolute Truth Narayana as God, and various levels of that conception are understood in religions throughout the world. God is the almighty, the creator, maintainer, and destroyer of everything that exists, who is all beautiful, who has all six opulence’s — beauty, knowledge, strength, wealth, fame, and renunciation in full. In the spiritual world the love of the soul for God and for all parts and parcels of God is the eternal reality. The holy scriptures explain to us that there are different platforms of realization even in the spiritual world. The highest platform is Goloka, which is the abode of Sri Krishna. The one Supreme God who manifests in many, many different ways to reciprocate with the affection of his devotees in his original, complete form resides as Govinda, and the nature of the love in Vrndavana is, although people have completely realized the supremacy of Krishna, the intimacy of affection they feel due to his charming personality, his beautiful features, his most enamoring pastimes is that intimacy covers the majestic awareness of His supremacy, and thus they love Krishna as a friend loves a friend but with intimate unconditional desire to serve him and to please him or a parent to a child or a lover to the beloved. So yes, the holy scriptures explain to us that this is the ultimate development of prema or ecstatic spiritual love, which is residing eternally in the hearts of the Braja-vasis and especially the gopis of Vrndavana. When you want nothing for yourself, you get everything. When you want for yourself, ultimately you lose everything. When we have selfish desires, we are bound to this bodily conception of life and ultimately by the power of time we lose everything. But when we want nothing for ourselves, when we want everything for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord and His devotees, then Krishna gives us Himself, He is bhakta vatsala. He surrenders himself to the heart of those who surrender to him that is reciprocation. He is the Almighty.
Kunti devi, she was pondering on this inconceivable reality —even fear personified is afraid of Krishna. Even the greatest warriors, the greatest heroes, the greatest conquerors throughout history are belittled into dust by the power of time, which is just an insignificant energy of Krishna. But Yashoda mayi who’s just a simple lady, she is tying Krishna with rope and Krishna is weeping and crying, begging her for mercy. How is that possible? And Krishna tells gopis, “Because you have forsaken everything, everything just to serve me, to please me, I have no power to repay you.” sarvaloka maheçvaram, Krishna is the proprietor of everything that exists, all material and all spiritual worlds are the property of God. Within this world we can claim proprietorship, but our claim is very shallow because proprietorship really means control and ultimately what do we control? Our own bodies, we get sick, we get old. We don’t want that to happen but its happening and ultimately, we have to give it up at death. So is this my body? This body is the property of material nature. mayädhyakñeëa prakåtiù süyate sa-caräcaram, and Krishna tells in Gita, “I am the controller of material nature and whatever we have.” We see, people like to divide God’s earth up in various ways and it’s always changing. We may think its stable for few 100, maybe 1000 years but it changes. India, how many changes it has gone through as far as people claiming proprietorship. At one time it was the Aryans, then the Mughals came and conquered and said, “This land is ours,” then the British kicked them out and said, “This land is ours,” and then Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose and other such personalities kicked the British out and now we’re saying, “It is ours,” but what tomorrow brings we do not know. United States of America was the property of the Native American Indians and then the Spanish claimed, “This is ours,” and the British kicked them out and claimed that, “This is ours.” We also had that British problem [Laughter]. And then there was a revolutionary war and now it’s ours and it’s only been a couple hundred years, but 10,000 years from now who knows who will claim proprietorship to these places. It’s God’s property, He has created, He is maintaining. So, so many problems in the world when we create so many divisions based on external designations and egoism, but Krishna simply informs us in Gita, sarvaloka maheçvaram, “I am the proprietor of all spiritual and material worlds and everything in it.”
Recently, someone was telling that an antagonist approached one devotee and said, “Why is Krishna so egoistic?” Why in Gita He is saying, “I am the creator, I am the proprietor, I am the supreme, I am the taste in water, I am the light of the sun and the moon, I am sacred syllable om in the Vedic mantras, of fish I am the shark, of bowmen I am Arjuna, of mountains I am Sumeru.” “Why Krishna talks so high of himself? He should be humble.” [Laughter]. So this devotee asked the gentleman, “Where do you work?” So he told the name, some industrial company. Said, “What is your position?” He said, “I am a CEO, chief executive officer.” He said, “Why don’t you say you’re a peon? Said, “Because if I said I was a peon I would be lying, I’m not…” Said, “Why are you so proud, you’re saying you’re CEO?” He said, No, I’m not proud, I’m just… if I say anything else I’m lying to you, I’m just telling you the truth. He said, “Well, that’s all Krishna is doing [Laughter]. What is He supposed to say? He’s simply explaining the truth. He is the controller, the maintainer of everything, and he’s the ultimate object of everyone’s love, and if he doesn’t reveal that then we won’t have a chance to love Him, which is our true nature.” Forgetful of our relationship with Krishna is like a fish trying to enjoy out of the ocean playing in the sand. So many arrangements could be made but the fish cannot enjoy in an artificial environment, must be put back in the ocean. It is that bhakti rasamrta sindhu, that nectarine ocean of divine love that is our nature, to know God, to love God. But on the sandy ground of illusion, we’re trying to find happiness through so many articles and so many relationships and some little happiness is there, but unless we return to our natural original condition, which is spiritual, it’s temporary and limited. So Krishna is the proprietor of everything that exists forever and He tells gopis that, “Your love for me is so pure. Your selfness willingness to please me is so great; you’ve given up everything without the slightest consideration of your own well-being, of your own needs, of your own wants. You’ve given up everything only for me; therefore, even in an entire lifetime of Brahma—which happens to be 311 trillion years—even in an entire lifetime of Brahma with all that I have and all that I am, I have no power to repay you. Therefore, I remain subordinate to your love. Please be happy with that.” That is the supreme glory of the Absolute Truth: that He is conquered by love, not conquered by power or knowledge because who are gopis? They’re most simple. They’re young girls, teenage girls, that’s who gopis are teenage girls, some of them not even teenage, and they have conquered God, that is Vrndavana, mādhurya dhāma, the land of supreme sweetness. So it is that unconditional loving service that we should strive for. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu prayed:
na dhanaà na janaà na sundarīà kavitāà vā jagadīśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
“My Lord, I do not want wealth, I do not want the association of beautiful ladies, I do not want to become a great famous scholar of poetry and academics, I do not want followers and fame and prestige, I do not even want liberation from suffering, mukti. I have no interest in salvation. I only want to serve you with love birth after birth after birth unconditionally.” That is the only perfect state of consciousness.
nārāyaëa-parāù sarve
na kutaścana bibhyati
svargāpavarga-narakeñv
api tulyārtha-darśinaù
That a great devotee of the Lord — Lord Siva has said this about Citraketu — a great devotee of the Lord is always peaceful because a great devotee of the Lord has unconditional loving service towards the Lord and all living beings, whether he’s in heaven or whether he’s in hell, really makes no difference as long as he could remember Krishna and serve Krishna.
muktänäm api siddhänäà
näräyaëa-paräyaëaù
sudurlabhaù praçäntätmä
koöiñv api mahä-mune [SB 6.14.5]
Even millions of people who have attained mukti or liberation and millions of people who have attained mystic powers or siddhis, mystic perfections of yoga, they cannot find real peace. Only the pure, unalloyed, unconditional devotee of Narayana experiences that peace because they are in their natural position of unconditional love. That is the purpose of human life. Gratitude and determination to carry on is one of the most important qualities required to chant God’s name, to serve the Lord, and actually attain that state. Maharaja Parikshit, what was his condition? He made a small mistake and he was cursed to die in 7 days by a small child. Now, Parikshit Maharaja happened to be the king. He was the emperor of all the land. He had fantastic palace, he had incredible physical strength, he had massive military, he controlled the treasury, he had all power, and little brahmana boy name Srngi curses him to die in 7 days for a small mistake. Now usually big, big people in big, very high positions, they become very intolerant if someone crosses their will. But Parikshit Maharaja, he did not retaliate. He could have crushed that little boy in a second with his military, with his own hands. When he saw kali beating a cow, Parikshit Maharaja put his life on the line with a sword to protect the innocent cow. He would give his life to protect anyone, even an insect from injustice. But when a 7-day notice of death came upon him, he saw it as the will of God. He was grateful to the brahmana boy Srngi. He saw him as an instrument of God’s love and therefore, he went to the bank of the holy river Ganges or Ganga and there he made a vow to fast till death in the association of saintly persons hearing and chanting the Lord’s glories. He had a grateful heart. He wasn’t criticizing anyone; he wasn’t making excuses. What was he doing? “I am very fallen and lowly.” He actually took shelter in a sense of real urgency of the great saints and begged them, “Please tell me what is the essence of all religions?; what is the real purpose of human life, and what is the prime duty of a person who is about to die,” which happens to include everyone, and with tears of affection and a heart full of eagerness he sat and listened to Sukadeva Goswami. And because of his grateful heart, Sukadeva Goswami revealed to Maharaja Parikshit the highest secrets of all knowledge. He spoke Srimad Bhagavatam, which culminated in tenth canto of Krishna and Radharani’s lilas. But that was his qualification.
Within Srimad Bhagavatam there are so many stories, but every story teaches only this one subject—pure unalloyed devotion to the Supreme. Such histories are unparalleled. There is a story of Draupadi. Draupadi was the wife of the Pandavas and she was married to the five Pandavas. Asvatthama, the son of Drona, ruthlessly murdered all her five sons. Now for those of you who are mothers, you will be very sympathetic. She had five teenaged sons and they were all murdered and now she was motherless, she had no children. So Arjuna went and he apprehended Asvatthama after a very, very incredible fight and brought Asvatthama tied up and threw him down at the feet of Draupadi and Bhima, Arjuna’s elder brother, who is a ksatriya ordered Arjuna, “Kill him now, he deserves to die,” ‘cause one of his sons died too. But Draupadi, she said, “No, you should not harm him.” She said, “Let him go, let him be free.” How is this possible? And then she explained why. “Because I’m a mother and I know what terrible suffering it is to have lost all children. Asvatthama has a mother and he is her only child. She is a noble, respectable woman, the wife of your teacher. She should not suffer like me.” Now in the egoistic sense, misery always wants company. Have you ever met anyone like this? Perhaps if you look in the mirror you may find someone [Laughter]. But when we’re suffering, we like to just reveal our mind and make other people miserable. That’s human nature. Sometimes we just don’t like to see other people happy when we are suffering. We have to share the misery with others. That’s our charity [Laughter]. But here Draupadi was suffering worse than anybody can imagine but she did not want anyone to have to suffer. “Krpi is a respectable lady. Asvatthama is a murderer, but his mother should not suffer. Let him go.” So Arjuna was in a very difficult situation. Sometimes this happens. There are two great, great saintly persons, his brother and his wife. His brother; and you know who Bhima is, nobody wants to disagree with Bhima. He is saying, “Kill him! Kill him!” And the wife is saying, “Set him free,” and they’re both right. Bhima’s seeing from the perspective of a military person who has to uphold justice and he deserved it, but Draupadi is seeing from the point of view of a mother.
So even on the transcendental platform there is variegatedness, you cannot expect everyone to be the same. Some people, it is their nature to be learned and discriminating and other people are just heroic and uphold justice (?) and ethics and others, a mother just wants — some people are very simple with motherly hearts, and within a society if we try to make everyone the same, it will be very intimidating and suppressing upon people’s natures. We have to recognize and understand people’s conditionings and how various people of various aptitudes can equally love God and express their love in very, very different ways. The cowherd boys are playing with Krishna. They’re dancing with Krishna and they’re jumping on Krishna’s shoulders, and Hanumanji, he’s club-in-hand following the order of Rama. Can you imagine Hanuman playing like a cowherd boy with Rama? It’s impossible, it’s not his nature, just, “Rama, you tell me what you want done [Laughter] and I will do it,” and he did it. Krishna tells the cowherd boys what to do, the cowherd boys say, “You should do it.” [Laughter]. They’re fighting with Krishna but they would do it out of love. So within the realm of the one Supreme Absolute Truth there is infinite variegatedness. The impersonalist’s conception is that, when you transcend the illusions of material world, you enter into the spiritual light of Brahman and you merge and become one with the impersonal, all-pervading God where there’s no personality, no variegatedness, you simply blissfully exist forever. How many of you would like to be in that state? But beyond that spiritual light, we understand that every living being is—nityo nityānāà cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāà yo vidadhāti kāmān— there is one Supreme Absolute Truth who is eternal and there are unlimited parts and parcels of that one Absolute Truth who are always subordinate and that is the spirit souls, and every single soul is unique and individual. There are no two (identical?) spirit souls, although there are unlimited spirit souls that have exact same relationship with Krishna. There are categories of relationships in principle, but everyone has their own unique, special way of expressing and reciprocating with Krishna’s love and even within this world many devotees can have many different opinions. But what makes it perfect is whatever their opinion maybe, it’s unconditionally, selflessly an expression of real love for the pleasure of God. So here we have Bhima unconditionally saying, “Kill that demon,” and Draupadi unconditionally saying, “Set him free, let his mother be happy.” So Arjuna was… he wanted to please both his brother and wife. For those of you who are married you know what it’s like when you go against the will of your wife. I’ve never had such a fortune [Laughter] but I’ve heard about it and I’ve read about it. So Arjuna told Krishna, who is the ultimate shelter in times of crisis and Krishna indicated to Arjuna, “Just cut his hair in such a way that he is humiliated, because for a warrior humiliation is worse than death. Bhima will be happy that you did more than kill him, you crushed his ego but mothers, they don’t care about egos, they just want to hold their son and embrace him and rub his head and say ‘are you in good health?’ that’s all.” Yes? I remember when I was living in Himalayas I would write to my mother and father sometimes and I would tell them all philosophies that I was learning and it was completely over their head or under their heads, I don’t know where it went but it didn’t go in. So I’m talking about my search for God and my quest for truth and the jungles and the caves and the saints and after so long my mother finally writes back — because there was no place to write to me till I was in Vrndavana — and then she asks, “How is your health? What do you eat? What do you wear (laughs)?” So I wrote back and I explained what I eat and what I wear and what food, but I said it all so philosophically, but she could… didn’t matter to her as long as I was in good health. So that is mother. So in this way, we see the unique special selfless devotion. Draupadi was willing to endure and tolerate so much pain but did not want another spirit soul to have to suffer like that. Why? Because she understood, that spirit soul to be part of Krishna.
Srila Haridas Thakura, we know that wonderful story. Srila Haridas Thakura, he was born in what is according to the Indian caste system, an untouchable family, and in those days 500 years ago to be born in an untouchable family, anyone from the high cast wouldn’t even look at you, you were just degraded. If you walked by someone’s home and your shadow touched their home, they would wash their whole house with cow dung to purify it. Very superstitious! Very strict! Yes? Then he became a devotee and he was constantly chanting Hare Krishna, and because he was constantly chanting he became the very ocean of compassion. Tears were flowing from his eyes, his limbs were trembling, his hairs were standing on end, his voice faltered as he chanted the holy names, and because he had so much love for Krishna he saw every living being as a child who had forgotten their father, forgotten Sri Radharani, their mother and therefore he was just going everywhere and anywhere just inspiring people, “Take the name of Krishna, purify your heart, and realize the great treasure that you have within yourself.” And yes, thousands of people were honoring him even though he wanted no, honor, thousands of peoples’ lives were being transformed by his influence. So there was a Kazi who was very envious of him. He could not tolerate a person from another religion practicing like a Hindu and becoming famous, an untouchable! So he went to the Nawab who happened be the local king and complained, “He must be punished!” So he was brought to the prison and the prisoners who were actually pious people who were imprisoned for no right cause, they took shelter of Haridas and attained the perfection of life. When they saw Haridas coming they were weeping and offering obeisance’s, with folded hands and actually their love of God was awakening just by seeing this great saint, and Haridas turned to them and said, “May you always remain in this condition!” Now what prisoner in a jail wants to hear that blessing, ah? They didn’t say anything but they were very distressed. So Haridas smiled. He said, “What I gave you is a good benediction. Now you are completely immersed in remembering Krishna and honoring Krishna’s devotee. May you always be in this state of consciousness. In a few days you will be released off your prison but don’t fall back into your egoistic, materialistic ways. Keep the association of saintly persons, hear the glories of the Lord, offer all honor and respect to all living beings, do not cause harm to anyone. With humility and devotion constantly chant the holy name.” So they were very happy. And then he was brought before the Kazi and the Nawab. When they saw him, he was so beautiful. Such an ocean of divine qualities! “Why—you were born in a very, very respectable mleccha family like us — why have you resorted to the low - class, disgusting ways of a Hindu? We will not even look at a Hindu’s rice, what to speak of eat it. Why don’t you just follow your own religion?” And Haridas smiled and with a heart full of love, he explained that, “There’s only one God and that one God is the inexhaustible supreme infallible father and mother of every living being. That one God is called by different names in the Vedas and the holy Quran and in other scriptures, but he is the same one supreme who has manifested in different forms at different times. Krishna has attracted my heart. Krishna’s name has awakened within my heart. There’s no possibility of me giving up the chanting of Krishna’s names. Even if you cut my body into thousands of pieces, each one of those pieces will be ecstatically chanting the holy name [Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare]. Now if someone from the Hindu religion converts to your religion, the punishment that person should be given is what you should give to me. They were very upset, so they commended him to die by being tortured and beaten through 22 market places. So they dragged him through those 22 market places and beat him and beat him and beat him and tortured him and kicked him and blasphemed him all day long, and all that while Haridas was just looking upon them with compassion and chanting the names of the Lord. Ultimately the executioners were so exhausted, they said: “Haridas, we don’t know what to do. Now we’re going to be killed because we were ordered to kill you and you’re still alive and we can’t move our arms any more. No one has ever lived past 2 or 3 market places and you lived through all 22 and you never looked unhappy. You’re looking at us as if you’re feeling sorry for us and you’re constantly chanting. What should we do?” Haridas said: “Oh! My being alive is a disturbance to you? Just see what I will do,” and then he lay down and died. There was no breath, no heartbeat, no pulse. Oh! So they were very happy. They picked him up and put him right in front of the king’s door and said: “Haa! We’ve done it. He’s dead. So what to do with him?” The Nawab said: “Bury him.” The Kazi said: “No! He does not deserve burial. If he gets buried he may go to paradise. Just throw him like a piece of garbage in the river so that his soul will never find resting place.” So they threw him in a river and he floated downstream for some time and then he rose from the dead. He came alive, he came out and what did he do? He went right back to the town, and when the Kazi and the Nawab and the executioners saw him they realized, this man is really a saint. They all fell at his feet and begged forgiveness. Haridas forgave them. So humble! Short time after that he was with some brahmanas. They were devotees and they were looking at Haridas and Haridas understood what they were thinking: “Why did such a great devotee have to go through so much tribulation and torture at the hands of such evil people?” And Haridas said: “Because I was so sinful, I listened to people blaspheming the Lord, I deserved much worse than that but by the Lord’s mercy he just gave me a little, little sample,” that was his humility. And years later, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he explained to Haridas and revealed to all the assembled devotees that, “When those executioners were beating viciously Haridas’ body, I took my weapon the sudarsana cakra to sever their heads but my weapon did not move, he was paralyzed.” Why? Because the whole while Haridas was being beaten and condemned, he was praying from the core of his heart, “Dear Lord, please forgive them, please give them your loving mercy. Whatever good things I’ve done, I’ll trade that in if you just give them your mercy and protect them.” And because he was praying like this while he was being beaten from his heart, He said: “His compassion conquered my wrath.” When a great devotee intervenes and prays for us it has great, great potency. This is a universal principle. May I give you a story from another religion? [Haribol!].
In Italy, there’s a small town named Assisi and that is the birth place of one of the Christian saints named Francis. Have you heard of Saint Francis? In Italy he is known as Santa Francesco, and if you go there today all the different places that you read about, the very place where he performed those activities are still there — his house, his samadhi, the place where he was baptized, the place where his father tried — his father was really upset when he wanted to be a monk. His father was a wealthy businessman and he wanted his son to take over his business and he just wanted to dedicate his life and live in a monastery. Does that sound familiar? His father actually locked him in a closet. He was outraged, locked him in a closet and just put food underneath the door to feed him, wouldn’t let him out of his sight. One time when his father went out for some business, he appealed to the sentimental compassion of his mother who let him out and then phish! Gone! So he dedicated his life and he started a whole order of Christianity and became like guru for so many others. So there’s one nice story that I’d like to share with you. One time one of his disciples whose name was Leo, they were walking from Perugia, which is a town close to Assisi to a very, very famous ancient cathedral called St. Mary of the Angels. Have any of you ever been there? So as they were walking — it was a long walk and it was the end of the winter, it was freezing cold, raining, snowing, very difficult. So as they were walking mile after mile, St. Francis told Leo, “Oh brother Leo!” He said: “I want you to write down whatever I speak because it is very important for all of our followers to understand.” He said: “If all of our monks live very perfectly as examples for all human society to follow, I tell you, that is not perfect joy, write that down.” They kept walking. After some time he said, “Oh brother Leo! If one of our monks acquires the power and executes his power and makes the blind people see, makes the crooked people straight, makes the dumb people talk, makes the deaf people hear, and even makes a dead person who has been dead for many days and brings him back to life, I tell you brother Leo, that is not perfect joy, write that down. They walked. “If we have, brother Leo complete mastery of understanding every science on earth, understanding all philosophies, and having complete command of memory, and able to speak every scripture, and above that if we could prophesize everything that’s going to happen in the future and we can understand the inner consciousness of the soul of every living being, I tell you, that is not perfect joy.” After some time, “Oh brother Leo!, if we are able to understand the conscience of every living being, if we understand the movements of every star, the value of every herb, the qualities of every animal, insect, reptile, and fish in the entire creation, I tell you, that is not perfect joy.” After some time, “brother Leo!, if we as Christians become so eloquent in our ability to preach that we convert every single atheist and nonbeliever in the entire world to our religion, I tell you, that is not perfect joy.” So they walked and Brother Leo turned to Saint Francis and said, “Please, Father, please! For God’s sake, what is perfect joy (laughs)? He said, “When we arrive at the cathedral of St. Mary of the Angels and we knock on the door and the person comes to the door and we say, ‘Oh brother! We are your brothers. We are cold and we are hungry. Please give us shelter,’ and that person looks at us with utter hatred in his eyes. He says, “You are liars, you are cheaters, you are rascals! I know who you are. You simply rob poor for your own selfish egoistic motives. Get out of here, you criminals, get out of here,” and slams the door on our face, if we with patience and gratitude meditate that this man actually knows who we really are, and by the love of God he has actually seen who we really are and through these people he has given us proper punishment and with tears of love we thank God for this grace, I tell you, that is perfect joy. And when the night comes and we’re freezing cold and we’re starving and it’s snowing and it’s raining and we’re covered with mud from a long journey, we knock on the door again and he answers, he says, “Get out from here! Get out from here! You are not one of us. You are criminals; you are thieves, you are the most abominable lowly people on earth! Get out, or I will punish you,” and slams the door on our face, if we feel joy and happiness in that state, knowing that we deserve worse and this is the grace of God, to cleanse our hearts, I tell you, that is perfect joy. And then hours after hours, the whole day goes by and it’s the middle of the night and we’re practically on the verge of death due to hunger, thirst, and freezing cold and we’re weeping and wailing in pain and we’re knocking on the door, “Please let us in, save our lives,” and he comes out, “You, again! You vicious, wicked demons, I will give you what you deserve,” and then he picks up a big stick covered with knots and grabs us by the neck and throws us down on the snow and kicks us and rolls us on the snow and then with that stick beats us and beats us and beats us with every knot of the stick till every limb of our body is just beaten severely and in that state we are thinking, “How wonderful! How grateful we are that God is giving me such an opportunity to suffer on his behalf, in remembrance of him. To undergo difficulties and hardships with patience and gratitude, that is perfect joy, write that down, and my conclusion is this — That, the real grace and mercy of the Lord is when we selflessly are able to endure hardships and difficulties on God’s behalf without expecting… all the other glorious things of the world, they belong to God. The fame, the recognition, the opulence’s of the world, they are all God’s property. They’re God’s glory. What is our glory? Simply to remain faithful and grateful for his mercy and unconditionally serve him.”
This is a universal principle. How many Christians understand this, how many Muslims understand this, how many Hindus understand this? This same principle in its most developed state has been taught to the world in Çrémad Bhägavatam.
sa vai puàsäà paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokñaje
ahaituky apratihatä
yayätmä suprasédati
“The supreme occupation for all humanity is loving service to the Lord. Such service must be unconditional and unmotivated to completely satisfy the self.” We are coming back to this principle — to the degree we want to actually give selflessly, we experience ecstasy. To the degree we try to take for ourselves, we are actually cheating ourselves of that ecstasy. Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he prayed that “The sufferings and difficulties that I endure in serving you, Lord Krishna are the greatest pleasures of my heart.”
na dhanaà na janaà na sundarīà kavitāà vā jagadīśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
Now, not all of us could live on the platform of such souls as Prahlad Maharaja or Haridas Thakura or Vasudeva Dutta or the gopis of Vrndavana, but it should be our ideal according to our present particular situation in life to cultivate pure devotion, selfless mood of service, that is the spiritual world, and that can only come when the heart is pure; therefore, the most important need in the world today is for people to pay serious attention to clean the ecology of their hearts of lust, envy, anger, pride, greed, and illusion. It is the egotism of human beings that is creating so much havoc in this world and the reactions are coming through sufferings of the body and mind, sufferings by other living beings, and sufferings of natural disasters, both in small scale and large catastrophic scales, the reactions are coming. Therefore, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has come, jīva jāgo, jīva jāgo, gauracānda bole kota nidrā jāo māyā-piśācīra kole: Wake up, sleeping souls! Wake up! Wake up to who you really are, to your eternal spiritual identity, your real original nature. You are looking for something and someone beautiful. Krishna is residing within your heart, turn within. Rupa Goswami said, “If you are attached to all of these temporary situations in this world, don’t look upon Krishna because Krishna is Hari, he will steal your heart.” That does not mean you do not perform your duties in this world, it means you perform your duties in this world as an expression of your love, your eternal love. So the most accessible and powerful form in which we can cleanse our hearts, ceto-darpaëa-mārjanam, is to invoke the presence of the Lord who is non-different than the name of the Lord, nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis, the Lord’s name possesses all the powers, opulence’s, and sweetness of Krishna Himself. So this chanting of harinama is not just a religious ritual, it is the most powerful means of purifying our heart and awakening this selfless unconditional love that is dormant within us, and it is for this reason that we aspire to take shelter of the saintly persons, of the beautiful form of the Lord, and of his holy names [Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare]. golokera prema-dhana, harināma-saìkīrtana, what is happening in the highest planet of the spiritual world, Goloka? Everyone is eternally chanting God’s names, the names of Radha and Krishna. This maha-mantra, which is invoking the mercy of Radharani and Krishna in a spirit of servitude has descended from the spiritual world and therefore it is prime benediction for all humanity, but to chant the holy names of the Lord in a proper state of mind, we must associate with people who actually help us to develop this selfless spirit of servitude, servant of the servant of the servant of the servant, humble like a blade of grass, tolerant like a tree, eager to offer all respects to others, that means to offer all respect to every living being, even our enemies, and expect no respect for oneself, very difficult to do, but without that state, we can’t really taste the sweetness of Vrndavana, there is no entrance. So we should long and pray and practice for that state of consciousness, and if that is our idea, then yes, the holy name will awaken the true treasure of our eternal nature. Thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada ki jai! Yadubara Prabhu, would you like to speak some words? This is our brand new sound system. [Laughter]
H.G. Yadubara Prabhu: This arrangement was not necessary because the only thing I was going to say is that everything has been said by you. What more can we say? But I would like to say one more thing it is that I am so happy to have come to Chowpatty. It’s been my desire for quite a long time to somehow or other move our operation from Saranagati, which is in the mountains of British Columbia without any outside electricity, so for a technical person like me it becomes very difficult in a situation like that, and I feel that you are all so fortunate to have wonderful leadership. Leadership is all important. We may have all the material facilities at our disposal but without the purity of our leaders, nothing moves forward spiritually. So do not ever take that for granted. It is a very wonderful gift, and please always be enthusiastic. His Holiness Radhanath Swami mentioned the important factors of determination and also patience. We may desire something even in Krishna consciousness but it may take a long time to bear fruit. So patience, determination, and enthusiasm, these are very important qualities for the devotee. So thank you very much. I feel I have already made the decision to try to stay here. It is only a matter of whether you will accept us. So please be merciful.
H.H. Radhanath Swami: Do you accept? If you accept, please chant Haribol. [Haribol, Haribol, Haribol!]. Welcome to Mumbai [Laughter]. Thank you very much. Vineet Prabhu, would you like to speak something? Can we give microphone?
H.G. Vineet Narayana Prabhu: Hare Krishna. My throat is terribly bad and Maharaja has already mentioned you about the devastation, which is taking place in the hills of Kamyavana. As Maharaja rightly said, I’m here campaigning for that and I’m planning to campaign all over the country, also abroad, to tell devotees of all sampradayas, that you may follow any sampradaya, but the sacred land of Braja is very dear to all of us, and if demons in the form of modern miners are destroying our sacred hills, we must protest. We must protest in a democratic way by writing to the Indian Prime Minister, to the Chief Justice of India, the President of India that we the devotees feel emotionally hurt that our sacred hills are being destroyed. It must be stopped immediately and they must be restored to their original form. Thank you very much. [Haribol!].
H.H. Radhanath Swami: You are like Arjuna of Vrndavana [Laughter]. And my very, very dear friend Gary has been with us for about two weeks, and he has spoken on several occasions and in doing so, has very much taken residence within all of our hearts. Yudhishthira Prabhu, you had a nice day yesterday? So I am very, very grateful that you have come, Gary. I’ve been inviting him for several decades. We’d like you to speak whatever you would like to speak as your farewell message to all of us. You can speak as long as your heart inspires you to speak.
H.G. Gary Prabhu: Thank you, Swami. Haven’t thought of anything to say but I’m truly moved by all the love in this room for each other and the love that’s been extended to me during my stay here in Mumbai. I know it’s an experience that I’ll never forget and I’ll be grateful for as long as I live. Tonight, I leave and I feel a little bit, I’m reminded of that time 34 or 35 years ago when God spoke to Swami and told him his journey was to go in a different direction than mine on the very next day, I was devastated because to leave my best friend, my moral compass, the only person that was able to keep me on the straight and narrow path in life as a young man was very difficult for me. I pleaded with Swami to please not leave me the next day, but I saw that when God spoke, nothing was going to change his mind, nothing was going to have him deviate from his path. He’d waited his whole life to finally find his calling and his mission. I was upset but my love for him even grew deeper when I saw the depth of his devotion. He was willing to travel 6000 miles without any money through hospitable lands he knew not what lay ahead of him, and in my ignorance, my thoughts were only for my selfish self that I was going to lose my best friend, the person who I loved as much as any human being could love another person on this planet and I was crying, and he said, he told me, even then he had great realizations of God and the power of God and he told me that, “When we walk with God, we’re never alone. God always resides in our heart,” and he said, “So it is with true friends and true love. Even if you leave each other, you haven’t really left, you’re still walking with each other in your heart, and so, tomorrow when I go east towards India and you go south to Israel, we will still be together always, just as strong, maybe even stronger friends as ever.” And I tried to take this comfort with me and it did help, it helped a lot. And as I’m getting ready to leave Mumbai and all the wonderful people that I’ve met here, especially the wonderful family that I’m staying with, it’s with a very, very heavy heart, and I’m focusing on those words that Swami Radhanath told me 35 years ago, and I know that all the people that have given me so much joy while I’m here will always be in my heart, and I hope that a part of me will remain in your hearts as well, and so, there’ll be some tears tonight, but I will carry you with me forever in my heart until I come back to Mumbai and get a chance to meet each and every one of you, I say thank you and Hare Krishna. [Haribol!]
H.H. Radhanath Swami: Hare Krishna! Thank you Gary. We shall have sankirtana. (END)
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