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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, Swami Radhanath reached his long hoped for destination: India. After living there for many years as a sadhu or wandering monk, Radhanath 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 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'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 by
HH Radhanath Swami maharaj
Date: 4th October 2009 (Sarat-purnima)
Haribol!
Please forgive me for being late, but I was in another meeting. I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to all of you for so kindly being with us on this very auspicious and special Sunday festival day. The reason this strange looking red curtain is blocking our view of the altar and consuming so much of the space of the temple room is that the pujaris are organizing for the pleasure of Radha Gopinath and all of the assembled devotees, a beautiful extraordinary Darshan tonight. (Haribol!)
If you want to see it, you have to come. I was just back there. And it’s incredible how a spirit of devotional service can empower people with such incredible creativity and enthusiasm. No one gets paid. And nobody gets prestige, because nobody even knows who did what. But for the pleasure of the devotees and the pleasure of the Lord, devotees find a greatest meaning and joy in life.
Introduction
Today is sarat-purnima - the full moon of the Autumn season. In the Krishna book, Srila Prabhupada explains how many people of India consider that this is the most beautiful night of the whole year. What happened 5000 years ago approximately, when Sri Sri Radha Gopinath were performing Their eternal pastimes of the spiritual world on this earth, in Sri Vrindavan Dham as the moon was raising. We will explain something on that subject at the end of today’s discussion.
Glories of Damodar (Kartik) month
We would like to begin by talking something about the month of Kartik. Today, according to the Gaudiya Vaisnava calander, is the first day of the month of Kartik. The 12 months of the calendar, according to the Vedic system, each month is given a name of Krishna. But this particular month – Damodar is also called Kartik. Kartik is a name of Srimati Radharani. In Bhakti rasamrita Sindhu, Srila Rupa Goswami tells that Ojavrat is the spiritual practices that are prescribed during this month. Srimati Radharani is Vrajeswari, which means she is the supreme goddess of all the Lord’s potencies.
Our acaryas and our scriptures teach us that whatever spiritual practices are sincerely performed during this month, especially in Vrindavan are specially blessed by Srimati Radharani. It is the time of the year where in accessing the grace of Sri Radha, accessing the love within our heart is made specially available, if we take the opportunity. Of course, Srila Prabhupada explained that wherever there is a temple setting, where devotees are gathered together in a common spirit of speaking about Radha and Krishna and chanting the glories of Radha and Krishna, and serving in the mood of Vrindavan, that place is also Vrindavan. So, we are in Vrindavan now, by Srila Prabhupada’s grace. And in few days, we are in Mayapur which is non-different from Vrindavan. So many beautiful opportunities are being provided for our spiritual progress. During the month of Kartik several very sacred festivals are honoured, for today’s class I would like to very briefly discuss some of the events that we will observe during this month, with your permission (Devotees chant HARIBOL!!!) Today is the first day of Kartik is Sharad purnima, which we will use as culmination for this class and it is also the day of the disappearance of Murari Gupta, which is quite significant.
Glories of Hanuman
Sri Krishna Caitanya Radha Krishna nahi anya, Radha and Krishna appear as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in this age of Kali. And just as many of Krishna’s eternal associates assisted Lord caitanya in His various pastimes, so did the associates of his many Avatars. Murari Gupta is Hanuman. Hanuman represents selfless service. In fact if you go to Vrindavan, even today you will find in all the different sides of Vrindavan, there are temples of Hanumanji, because he is such an example of Bhakti, he is the protector of the Dham. Infact in Kurukshetra, Krishna’s chariot, who was on the flag of the chariot? (Devotees answer softly - Hanuman) Every one very loudly please. (Devotees reply loudly – HANUMAN!) Hanuman! Thank you! So we can only approach Vrindavan, we can only approach the path of Bhakti through this spirit of servitude. And Hanumna represents the spirit of service, unmotivated uninterrupted service. So absorbed in Sri Ram, that when he saw Sita putting, what is that called, Sindhoor. She was putting that in that line in her hair. And Hanumanji asked “Why are you doing that Sita Devi”, she said “because it makes Ram happy.” So the next day Ram came to visit Hanuman, and his entire body was covered with Sindhoor. He asked “Why have you done this?” “Because Sita told me it makes you happy”, replied Hanuman. His only motive was to make the Lord happy.
Real Spirit of service
One day he was crying in separation from Sri Ram. Someone asked “Why are you crying”, He said “because I want to see Sita & Ram”. Then he said, “Well don’t cry they are in your heart.” “They are in my heart”, monkeys have strong nails. He ripped open his chest, it was like a open heart surgery. Ripped open his chest, ripped open all his ribs and went right to his heart and ripped open his heart. It really was open heart surgery! And he looked there and there were Ram & Sita, personally appeared to give him their Darshan. And then every thing healed immediately, no problem, because he was in his spiritual body anyway. So this is his absorption. When ram needed an herb and Hanuman, he wanted to so much extra service that he brought the whole mountain in which the herb was in. So Hanumanji represents unmotivated uninterrupted service in which no obstacle will ever distract us. So many obstacles came when Hanumanji was trying to cross over the Indian ocean to Lanka to give Sita, Ram’s message. But he proved nothing could distract him. So we begin the month of Kartik by remembering Sri Hanumanji. And this mood of unmotivated uninterrupted service. And he appeared as Murari Gupta.
PASTIMES of Murari Gupta
We can give many classes on Murari Gupta. So much to be said. When Nimai, Lord Caitanya as a child, was playing his pastimes as a student, Murari Gupta was one of his classmates. And Murari Gupta was very much concerned with talking about Lord Rama, Lord Krsna. But Nimai would always be challenging people with grammatical puzzles. And the devotees wanted to run away because they didn’t want to talk about all these materialistic things. But at the same time Nimai was so beautiful and because He was actually Rama Himself, Murari Gupta couldn’t give up his association. Murari Gupta was such a scholar, Lord Caitanya would debate with him, back and forth. Lord Caitanya would defeat him sometimes and He would tell him, “Murari, go home and do your studies and come back and I have more questions for you tomorrow. And then Lord Caitanya touched Murari Gupta and with that touch, his heart literally exploded with ecstatic love. His entire body was thrilled, was trembling in divine ecstasy. Tears were pouring from his eyes, hairs were standing on ends. And he was thinking that this Nimai is not an ordinary child. Just by his touch, such potency to awaken love.
HANUMAN & MURARI GUPTA
And when Lord Caitanya returned from Gaya and revealed himself as the greatest of all devotees, Murari Gupta was his constant associate and friend. During the Mahaprakasha Lila Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was fulfilling all the desires of all the devotee, He called Murari Gupta and said, “Murari look and see me and suddenly Lord Caitanya transformed and revealed the darshan. He became Lord Rama with the complexion like Durva grass, holding a golden bow. And on one side was Sita and other aside was Laxman. And there were thousands and thousands of monkey soldiers all with folded palms offering prayers. Then Murari Gupta looked down on himself and happened to see that he had a tail. He had become a monkey. And he fell unconscious. Then Lord Caitanya called out, “Hanumaan, Hanuman! Don’t you see, that Ravana what he has done. Go and give my message to Sita”. Immediately Murari got up in the mood of Hanuman and ready to serve. He said, “Hanuman, don’t you remember who you are? Look at Lakshman for whose sake you carried the entire Gandamadhana mountain and flew 1000’s of miles with it. And look at Sita, seeing her dilemma in the clutches of Ravana, you shed a shore less ocean of tears of love for her. Now I am reminding you, I am Rama and you are Hanuman”. Then he asked Murari Gupta, “I will give you any benediction you like whatever you ask.” In the spirit of Hanuman, Murari Gupta asked for only one benediction, he said “I am very low, I am very fallen, I am very underserving. But if you want to give me a benediction, the only blessing I want is that in every birth I take, allow me to be in the association of your devotees. Whoever considers you their master and themselves your servant, let me be the servant of the servant of yours. That was his only desire to be the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lords devotees.
LORD’S INTIMACY WITH MURARI GUPTA
Today is the disappearance day of Murari Gupta. One day, Murari was thinking of the various incarnations of the Lord. How Lord Rama, towards the end of his lila, it will take too long to discuss those details, but he was thinking that if Lord Caitanya, leaves it will be unbearable to live. I don’t want to see the final pastime of Lord Caitanya. Therefore before he leaves I will end my own life. So he got a really sharp knife, specially for cutting conch shells. He was planning to end his life with it. But Lord Caitanya knows everything. He is the paramatma withing. On that when Murari was going to suicide, he came to Murari Gupta’s house, and asked “Murari, are you my servant. Will you do anything I ask?” Murari said, “I am your servant. Whatever I have is yours.” Lord Caitanya said, “Give me that knife. Murari said “There is no knife.”
Lord Caitanya said, “I know that knife which you are trying to kill yourself with”. Murari said “I can’t bear the idea of you leaving me.” Lord Caitanya said, “I cant bear you living before me.” So Lord Caitanya went right into his house and knew exactly where the knife was hidden and he took it. And Lord Caitanya told him, “I cannot live without my devotees. The pleasure and joy of my life is to be with devotees like.”
Glories of Narottam Das Thakur
This is how the month of kartik begans.In a few days is disappearance day of Narottam Das Thakur, one of the great devotees of the Lord. The last lecture I gave on Narottam Das Thakur was 6 hours.So I will spare you from go through that. Narottam das Thakur was the son of a king, very very wealthy person and he was the heir to everything.But by hearing the pastimes of Lord Caitanya and hearing about the associates of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in his heart grew such a desire to go to Vrindavan and dedicate his whole life to the service of the devotees. Just by hearing about the devotees he had comitted his life to serve them and was willing to give up everything and anything for this blessing. And the more he heard about them the more he was feeling the pains of separation. And knowing his heart Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally appeared to him and gave him his own love. Lord Caitanya invested in Narottam Das Thakur his own love which is Radha's love for Krsna. And ultimately Narottam Das Thakur left everything and went to Vrindavan where he took initiation from Lokanath Goswami became best friend of Srinivas Acharya, Syamananda and a student to student to Jiva Goswami. The history of his humility, his love, compassion, even upon people who hated him, who try to destroy him. His ecstasies. Tens, hundreds and thousands of people from Brahmans scholars to murderers and dacoits were transformed into pure compassionate lovers of God by the influence of Narottam Das Thakur. And his songs, his poems and his examples are one of the deepest, greatest of inspiration for Gaudiya Vaishnavas over the past 450 years. To love God means to love those who love God too. Infact it means to love everyone. When Srinivas Archarya disappeared form this world, Narottam Das Thankur was feeling such separation, such deep friendships that he wrote that beautiful song- "je a nilo prema dhana.." which even today we sing for the disappearance of the vaishnavas. And his very very dear friend RamchandraKaviraj disappeared from the world, Narottam Das Thakur was in the forest. In the highest ecstasies of love in separation from the vaishnavas. And one day Ganga Narayan Chakravati, one other devotee in Mushridabad area I think- Gambila. He went into Ganges and told devotees please take the water of Ganges and pour it over me. And as they did where ever the ganges water touched that part of his body turned into milk and merged into the Ganga. And they were weeping, they did not wanted to put any water on him.He said no no, put put, bathe me. And in this way his body merged into mother Ganga and he returned to the spiritual world to join Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu and all of their associates.
Pastimes of Virchandra
Also this month is, Virchandra the son of Lord Nityananda Prabhu who manifested such compassion. He was the compassionate energy of Lord Nityananda Prabhu. Beautiful story, Once he came to Khetri Gram, in one of the Gaur Poornima festivals and he was dancing and dancing and anyone who glanced upon, their love of god was awakening. There was one blind man who could hear the excitement of everyone watching, Virchandra dancing. And he did not say anything but in heart of heart he was heard about it. He said, “I would give anything even if even for one second I could have the vision to see him dance.” This was the only desire in his heart and Lord reciprocates with our desires. At that moment in front of everybody a person born blind who never saw the light of day suddenly his eyes opened, he had perfect 20-20 vision but more than that he had spiritual vision and he saw the beautiful form of Virchandra glancing upon him smiling and the person begans to dance in ecstasy, his life became perfect. Not only he could see but he could see God where ever he looked from that day on.
Appearance of Shyama kund
During this month is Bahula Ashtami, the day Sri Radha Kund, Sri Shyama Kund appeared with in this world. After killing of the Aristasura demon, Srimati Radharani said to Krishna when He came to Her, that “Now You have killed a bull, a male cow. You are contaminated by this sin, do not touch Me.” Krishna said, “But he was demoniac. He was in the guise of a bull. If I didn’t do that, he would have killed all of you.” She said, “That’s a detail. Whatever, still he was in the form of a bull.” “So, what must I do?” She said, “You should go to all the holy places of whole universe and take Your bath.” So, Krishna, with the heel of His foot, He stumped it in the ground and made an impression. And then, He personally called for all the holy places in the whole universe to personally appear there. And they all came personified with folded hands. And He said, “Please fill this kund with all your waters.” They filled it. That was Syama kunda.
Appearnce of Radha kund
Govindaji took His bath and then came out. And He said to Radharani, “You took the side of a demon. Why don’t You purify Yourself by taking bath in My kund?” And She said, “I will not take bath in your kund. Because the sin of killing cows is in Your kund. I will make My own kund.” So, She found one of the hoof prints of Aristasura. And Her and the sakhis and the gopis – they took off their bracelets, and broke them into little shovels and they were digging. And She made a chain of Gopis that went all the way to Mansi ganga. They were handing buckets of water. Seeing Radharani and gopis working so hard, Krishna was not happy. So, He turned to the personification representing all the holy places in the universe. And that person came out of Syamakunda and approached Srimati Radharani, with folded palms, bowed at Her lotus feet and prayed, “Please, I am the very embodiment of all the holy places of the universe. The only desire we have in our lives is if You bestow the supreme fortune and blessing upon us. We beg a benediction from You.” Because he was so sincere, with such love, Sri Radhika replied, “What is that benediction?” He said, “Allow us to fill your kund also.” So, She smiled and looked at Krishna and said, “So be it.” And the water from Syama kund over flooded and filled Sri Radha kund.
Glories of Radha kund
And Krishna told Srimati Radharani, “As You are most dear to Me, similarly, Radhakund is equally dear to Me.” And everyday in the afternoon, Radha and Krishna, with their most intimate associates, performed Rasalila and other such pastimes on the bank of Sri Radha kind. Rupa Goswami quating from the scriptures, had declared to us that Radhakund is the holiest of all holy places. Of all the planets within this universe, the Earth is most holy. Because so many of the avatars of the Lord come. Of all places on Earth, Bharata varsha, India is very sacred. Because so many of the pastimes the Lord has performed in so many incarnations here. And within India, the holiest place is the area of Mathura, where the source of all avatars, the avatari, took His birth. And in all of Mathura, the holiest place is the forest of Vrindavan where Krishna performed His most intimate pastimes. And in the forest of Vrindavan, the holiest place is Govardhan. And in the area of Govardhan, the most sacred of all sacred places in the entire creation is Radha kunda. The water of radha kunda is the liquid love of Srimati Radha Rani. And just by seeing that water, touching that water and what to speak of bathing in that water. And if we have the proper consciousness to access that blessing, Radha’s love fills our hearts and perfects our lives. On Bahulastami at midnight hundreds and thousands of Vrajvasis and pilgrims will be there taking their bath at Sri Radha Kund.
KRISHNA TASTES DEVOTEES’ LOVE
Dipavali or Diwali, it is the day in Ramlila, when after 14yrs of exile in the forest, Ram Sita and Lakshman returned to Ayodhya. And every one welcomes them with the lamps of their love. For this festival Yashoda Mai woke up very early in the morning, because she wanted into churn special yogurt into butter for the pleasure of Krishna, Gopal, who is sleeping in his bed. As she was churning, churning, churning and churning making butter she would sing songs about Krishna’s pastimes. Vrindavan where Krishna was out herding the cows during the day he would perform so many lilas, this is later on ofcourse, and the gopas would tell all the other Vrajavasis. And all next day they would just be remembering and composing beautiful songs about those pastimes. When Krishna would just be a small child, Yashoda Mai was with Him, all day and all night. And practically everything He did, everything He said was so absolutely charmingly that it was imprinted in Yashoda Mai’s heart. And her and the other gopis would compose beautiful poems, just to help each other remember Krishna 24hrs a day. So she would be singing about Krishna. Not exactly to help them remember more accurately it was just an expression of their spontaneous love that composed these songs. And as she was singing about Krishna’s beauty, Krishnas pastimes, immersed in rembering about Him, milk began to flow from her breasts. Now God is atma rama, He is self satisfied. God is not in need of anything, but his nature is He is always hungry for the love of His devotees. As that milk was flowing from Yashoda Mai, it was her motherly love for Krishna manifesting. Now as has been explained so many times before, Krishna does not accept what you offer, but the intention in which it is offered. So many ladies through out history, milk comes out of them. But it doesn’t wake Krishna up. But Yashoda Mai, it was her love, that milk was her love and Krishna was so thirsty for that milk that that He woke up. He came out of His bed, walked right up to Yashoda Ma and put one hand on the churning rod to stop her and demanded her to stop all that other business and give Him milk. And her heart melted. Krishna climbed up on her lap and she began to feed Him her milk. And oh how he was enjoying that Love! So beautiful! This is God, who in some religions appears as a very very strong father who throws thunder bolts and destroys universes. Maha Vishnu, Karanodakshayi Vishnu is only an expansion of an expansion of an expansion of an expansion of Gopal. And what happenes when he sucks? Gopal was suking mother Yashoda’s milk with all his might. He was really sucking enthusiastically. Maha Vishnu, when he sucks, the entire goes into His belly. Not the universe, the entire cosmic manifestation, all the unlimited universes. This is Krishna. Conquered by the love of his devotees. Who is more lovable, Maha Vishnu devouring manifestations or Krishna crying for the milk of his mother? Should we take a vote. Maha Vishnu? Say Haribol if Krishna is your vote (Devotees chant loudly – HARIBOL!!!) Yes you are Gaudia vaishnavas. So Krishna was enjoying His mother’s love.
AMUSING PASTIMES OF LITTLE KRISHNA
But in the next pot, she had milk cooking, that was the very very special Padma Gandha milk, that was sweet like lotus nectar, from the choicest of the cows of all of Nanda Maharaja’s herds. And that milk was so sacred, so fragrant so nutritious, that she was making a special preparation just for Krishna on divali. So she put Krishna down, so she could save that milk, so she can offer something so delicious to Krishna. Its all for Krishna. But Krishna wanted to attract the whole world for all time to come. So he was thinking, “why she has left?” Krishna wanted to teach the world that exclusive devotional service for the pleasure of Krishna is the highest perfection. So he appeared to be angry and He took a stone and broke the pot that she was churning. Then He went to the next room and he saw grinding mortar. And broke the pot which she was churning. And he went to the next room and saw the grinding mortar. He climbed up the grinding mortar, and there was some butter in a clay pot hanging from ropes in a ceiling. So he broke it open and reached up and started to eat it. He called the local monkeys. And so many monkeys came into the house in the courtyard of Yasodamayi. He started feeding these monkeys. In his heart of hearts he was thinking, in my past life as Lord Ramacandra you served me so nicely risking your life by fighting that battle against Ravana and at time I was living in the forest and I had nothing to give in return and so now come and take this butter. So the monkeys were enjoying and Krsna was enjoying. And Yasoda Mayi came back after saving the milk and Krsna was gone. The pots broken. Where is He? Then she saw little tiny butter footprints on the floor, she followed them and there Krsna was on the grinding mortar and enjoying himself. In the meanwhile many of his friends were watching. And he was looking very nervously in all directions to see if his mother was coming. She picked up a stick, not to hit him, she would never hit him, but she had to teach him a lesson, she wanted to show him that stick. Srila Prabhupada in gurukul said, “Never hit children, but you can show them the stick if they disobey.” So mother Yasoda picked up a stick and she was very quietly sneaking up to Krsna. And the monkeys saw her and they were so scared, they all started diving through the windows, and diving away and running away and Krsna looked around and he saw his cowherd friends were all running away.
SUPREME LORD GETS FEARFUL
Then he saw Yasoda Mayi approaching him with a stick. He jumped down from the mortar and ran. Yasoda Mayi ran after him. He was running and she was running. Flowers were falling from her hair. Some of the flowers were on Krsna’s side and some were on Yasoda’s side. The ones on Yasoda’s side, they said “She is having such difficulty catching Krsna, may be our access weight, is slowing her down. so they dove to the floor to make her lighter.” Those on Krsna’s side were thinking “She is going to catch Krsna and punish him, we don’t want to be a part of this and they jumped off.” Ultimately no one can catch Krsna. But by Krsna’s own will He was captured by His mother’s love. And Krsna was actually crying and the Kajal were mixing with His tears and were making streaks down his cheeks and chest. And His lips were quivering. His limbs were trembling and His eyes were restlessly moving in different directions. He couldn’t even look at his mother. And he cried our “Mother, Mother, please put down that stick.” I am sorry, I promise I will never do it again, just give another chance.” Queen Kunti remembered this scene in great love. And she was glorifying Krsna that “He who is feared by fear personified, was afraid of His mother.” Now in Bhagavad Gita, 11th chapter, we read about the Universal form. Even Arjuna the most fearless warrior of the entire world was afraid of this darshan. He is the original source of all incarnations, the original source of all existence, his personification in this world, is the all-devouring time. Was he really afraid of his mother? Was he just pretending to make the pastime interesting? Was it just like a show? No he really was afraid. Acintya shakti, Krsna’s inconceivable potencies. By the power of his mother’s love, he was actually exhibiting these feelings. This is the sweetness and beauty of Krsna. He who is beyond all fear, exhibits these emotions in reciprocation to the pure unalloyed love of his mother.
MOTHER YASHODA’S DILEMMA
Yasoda Mayi didn’t like to see Krsna like this so she threw the stick away. “Krsna you should not be so naughty.” She had other chores to perform that day, it was a holy day. She wanted to protect Krsna from doing other mischief. Because he was very mischievous that day. After all there were monkeys with claws and there were bulls with horns, and there were insects, so many ways that he could hurt himself. So while she was performing her duties so she took a silk rope. The same rope that is used to tie the calves and she was going to bind Krsna around the waist and tie Him to the grinding mortar. As she put the silk rope around Krsna’s weight. The rope was two inches too short. What to do, she picked up another piece of rope, tied a tight knot, put the two ropes together, put it around Krsna's waist. It was exactly two fingers too short. Another rope, tied that with the other two ropes. Once she put it around Krsna's waist it was again two fingers too short. She picked up every rope in the entire house and soon other gopis found out about this and they all came from their houses with their ropes. There were mountains of ropes and Yasoda mayi's house and all the Gopis together were helping Yasoda mayi to tie them together. And even though there was enormous proportions of ropes all tied together, when she went to put it around Krsna's waist it was exactly two fingers too short. This is God. Krsna didn't grow, its not that Krsna became fatter and fatter and fatter. He was the same. His waist was probably this big and ropes could have circumambulate Bombay. But it was always two fingers too short. Now if you ask a mathematician to try to figure out how that possible- the only solution is surrender to Krsna to understand it.
DETERMINATION & ENTHUSIASM TO SERVE KRISHNA
Krsna is inconceivable. Krsna can put banyan tree into a banyan seed. For Krsna, he is unlimited. One time Yasoda mayi looked in Krsna's mouth to see if he ate dirt and she saw the entire universe within his belly, within his mouth but his mouth didn't grow. She saw all the planets, all the devtas and all the human beings and all the 84,00,000 species of life, she saw herself, everything in a mouth this big. That is Krsna. Yasoda mayi, she was perspiring, her sari was loosening, she kept tying more and more ropes and Gopis were saying "don’t you see Krsna is not going to let you tie him up". Some were saying that god must be in favour of Krsna, he doesn't want him to be tied off after all there is no way. But Yasoda mayi was so motherly, she was thinking "No No i will tie him". In her mind she was thinking "I have to protect him no matter what". Then she was also thinking “I will just find out how much rope its going to take to bind my son". And seeing the determination of her love, Krsna allowed himself to be bound by a tight knot.Those two fingures, Vishwanath Chakravati Thakur explains they are representative to bind Krsna two things are important. One is our enthusiasm and determination to serve under all circumstances. But thats not enough, the other is Krsna's mercy.Unless Krsna allows himself to be tied no matter what we do we cannot do. Our enthusiasm is just an expression of sincerity to attract Krsna's mercy. There is a verse in the Gita "Raga dvesh vimukta ...." , that one who follows the regulative principles of freedom, who follows the path of bhakti sincerely, can attain the mercy of the Lord and by that mercy we become free from all the attachments and aversions of this world.
LESSONS FROM Damodar lila
Krsna wanted to show the world for all time to come that he is conquered by the love of his devotee.He wanted to show the world forever that bhakti,love and devotion is the supreme power becuase it is the power of Srimati Radharani, Krsna's supreme pleasure potency. All devotion is her power. Even a drop of her love that manifests through any of our hearts can conquer Krsna. When we are totally conquered by love for Krishna, Krishna is conquered by that love. That is the deepest mystery and highest secrets of all wisdom cultures and all scriptures. Krishna was bound by the rope of Yasoda’s affection. But then Krishna, when Yasoda mayi went back to do her duties, Krishna wanted to do more mischief, apparently. He saw two Arjuna trees in the courtyard, and then crawled and pulled that grinding mortar between the trees and then crawled a little more and both the trees crashed down to the ground. And Nalakuvera and Manigriva came out of those trees – two great demigods - sons of Kuvera who are extremely arrogant. And because of that arrogance, they were extremely selfish and disrespectful and they offended the great rishi Narada. Out of his mercy, he understood that nothing less than making them into trees will curb their pride. Let them become Krishna’s associates. They became trees in Krishna’s courtyard. They were trees for a long time. But it culminated – they got to watch Krishna’s lilas. And ultimately Krishna delivered them and gave them pure devotional service.
Description of Govardhan lila
A few days later this month, is Govardhan puja – perhaps the favorite most of all the Lord’s lilas. Nanda maharaj was performing his annual traditional family worship of Indra with a great amount of food and other types of paraphernalia. And little Gopal was only 7 years old. He said, “Father, what are you doing? What is this sacrifice? Who is it for? What is the purpose of it? What you hope to gain from it? I am your son. So, you should not keep any secrets from me.” So, Nanda maharaj explained that, “My father, and his father and his father, for generations we are doing this. Because we are cowherd men. We require grains, we require crops. Because if we have not grass, the cows have nothing to eat and they will die. And if we don’t have food, we will not survive. We are farmers. We absolutely depend on rain. And rain is the gift of Indra. So, every year we make this puja to offer our gratitude to Indra and also to satisfy Indra, so that he will provide rains.” Krishna replied. First He spoke the karma mimamsa philosophy. Which is quite technical actually. But in essence, He said, “If you do good, you get good karma. If you do bad, you get bad karma. And demigods, all they can do is supply you the reactions to your karma. So, if are good people, then Indra has to give us rain. And if we are not good people, he doesn’t have to give us rain. So, what do we need this Indra for. Actually our cows are depending on the grass that grows on Govardhan hill. And if we please the brahmanas, they are so, close to God, then God is pleased and then the demigods have to give you whatever you want. So, lets take all this paraphernalia for Indra and worship the brahmanas, the cows, and Govardhan hill.
And Nanda maharaj said, “Well, lets first worship Indra. And then we will do this.” And Krishna said, “ No, no, no. Let us do this immediately.” And Krishna gave very elaborate instructions of how to do. So, they cooked huge feast. Gigantic feast! Prabhupada describes and Srimad bhagavatam describes so many of the preparations. They made mountains and mountains and mountains of bhoga. They offered it to Govardhan hill. And then, Giriraj, Govardhan personified Himself as a gigantic Supreme divine person. And Krishna, who is the same person as Giriraj Himself was on the ground and bowed down and all the brajavasis bowed down. And then Giriraj took all the offerings with His hands and ate them instantly – mountains, lakes and kunds of different types of Bhoga. And after He finished all of it, He wanted more, and very loudly He cried out, “aniyor… Give Me more.” And there was nothing left. And then by Krishna’s arrangement, He offered a Tulsi leaf. And Giriraj said, “Now I am satisfied.” Then, Krishna led all the Vrajavasis to circambulate. They did full parikrama of Sri Giriraj. And then they did so many pujas. And meanwhile, Giriraj, whatever He ate, He returned it all. He manifested all those mountains and mountains and mountains of bhoga – now it is Mahaprasad. Krishna, under His instructions, Nanda maharaj and the others distributed it to everyone without discrimination; everyone had feasts of Prasad. The brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaisyas, sudhras, the animals, the monkeys, the cows, the peacocks, the deers, everyone was fed Prasad. It was a wonderful, joyous festival. Everyone was so happy, except Indra.
Indra was not happy. He was a devotee. He is a great devotee – Indra. Please don’t offend Indra, unless you really have a connection to Krishna. And if you have a connection to Krishna, you don’t offend Indra. Indra was so angry. He called the samvartaka clouds. These are the clouds of devastation of the universe. You may be inconvenienced by the rain today – nothing, its just a little cloud from the Arabian sea. But these clouds – Samvartaka clouds, within a matter of hours, they make the whole world into one ocean, one ocean. Indra said, “This talkative child Krishna, due to His influence, Nanda maharaj and the Brajavasis took all that is meant fro ame and offered t to this mountain. Destroy them.” Torrents of rain started pouring down. Now, for us, rain comes in drops. They were no drops, they were pillars, pillars of water; massive pillars of water were pouring down from the sky. And the Vrajvasis saw this; it was dark, lightening, thunder, like we have never seen. And every one came running for Krishna, the Vrajvasis and the cows came in front of them and they said, “Krishna its very cold and it’s raining very hard and Indra is very angry look your cows are cold.” And the poor cows they were trying to cover their calves and they were mooing in great pity. And the bulls they were looking at the sky. And Krishna smiled and said “follow Me, I’ll protect you.”
And Krishna went to Govardhan hill and as effortlessly as a little child lifts a mushroom from the ground He lifted Govardhan hill. It made a tumultuous sound. Now that time Govardhan hill was so high, and big that it’s peaking were piercing the clouds. It’s like Himalayas in those days. Now for internal confidential reasons it’s been getting smaller. And as he lifted it, he uprooted it from the earth and effortlessly brought it over his head and balanced with the little finger of His left hand. And still smiling. And to all the Vrajvasis he said, “Come, bring all your family members and your calves and every one else. Now look at Giriraj, He looks so pleased by your offerings to Him that He is becoming umbrella.” And everyone came under Govardhan hill. Seven days and Seven nights they all remained under Govardhan, with Krishna in this beautiful darshan as Giridhari, 3 fold bending form holding the hill. Every now and then he would play His flute. The cowherd boys were very afraid by His playing the flute, because they were thinking, “we have seen the effects of Krishna’s flute. When He plays His flute solid matter melts, and liquid becomes solid. So if He is playing His flute so sweetly Govardhan hill may melt in ecstasy and drown all of us. So some of them were saying, “Krishna please stop playing your flute”, and other gopas were saying, “No No Govardhna is a very sober person; He will not melt, He will protect us.” With all the different residents of Vrindavan, Krishna just by his glances and smiles, was fully reciprocating with every one’s love 24 hrs a day for 7 days. No one had to sleep; everyone was fully nourished fully enthused just seeing that beautiful form of Giridhari. And his smiles and glances conquered their hearts with ecstatic love. They never wanted that rain to stop.
Meanwhile while they were in ecstasy under the hill, not a drop of water came in. Indra was over there and he was just screaming at the samvartaka clouds harder and harder and harder. And after some days, those clouds were totally defeated and exhausted. They came to Indra and said we give up. And Indra himself personally on his elephant started shooting thunder bolts and brought in the highest possible winds, cyclones, hurricanes, tornadoes, everything, dashing against Govardhan Hill. And after 7 days of all that, Indra did not have the power to remove one leaf form a single tree of Govardhan Hill. He could not move even one centimeter one grain of sand from Govardhan hill. Nothing. And even the animals that were on top of Govardhan Hill were having a nice time. He couldn’t even disturb them. the reason. The little finger of Krsna was touching the body of that massive hill. And just from tip of His finger, Krsna was energizing, surcharging Giriraj with so much pleasure that nothing could affect him. Indra was humiliated because everyone watching. For 7 days. All of his powers, all of his most powerful representatives and servants, they couldn’t uproot a single blade of grass from Giriraj. So he gave up and he left and the sun came out. Krsna was still smiling and said, “Now the rains have ended and now you can go home. No one wanted to go home, but Krsna said go home, you have duties to perform. So everyone left. The cowherd boys brought the cows. But then the cows looked back and ran back and surrounded Krsna, they couldn’t leave Him. With His glance He was hurting them out. And then He placed the hill exactly as it was before the storms.
Krsna was inspecting to see how everything was around Vrajabhumi. And Indra realized that he had made a massive offense. He went to his guru Brihaspati and said, “What should I do, I tried to destroy Vrindavan. Now I understand that Gopal is God, He is Supreme Absolute Truth, He is the Personality of Godhead. Because of my false ego I forgot. I was so caught up with anger.” Brihaspati said, “You are a fool. You cannot approach Krsna directly. You tried to destroy Him. Only if a devotee approaches Him on your behalf will He forgive you. So go to His cows, so Indra went to Surabhi, the mother of the Surachi cows and she took pity on him. So at Surabhi Kunda, she went to Krsna. Krsna completely ignored Indra. Then Surabhi said, “Indra is genuinely repentant for what he has done. Please forgive him.” On the strength of Surabhis love and compassion, Krsna forgave Indra. And he fell at Krsna’s lotus feet to beg forgiveness, showing that we have all made so may offenses in our lives and in previous lives. But if someone who Krsna loves and someone who loves Krsna. A dear devotee, prays on our behalf, then Krsna will hear our prayers, forgive us and uplift us. And Indra after condemning his own false pride and ego thinking that he was the controller. He said to Krsna, “From now on, You are our Indra. And Krsna was given the name Govinda”.
GOPASTAMI
Another festival during the month of Kartik is Gopastami. This is the first day that Krsna is given the charge of the cows. During the Kumar lila he was in charge of calves, when he entered in to his pauganda lila, from 6 to 10 years old, he was given in charge of the cows, 900,000 cows. On this day of gopastami, Yasoda mayi made nice shoes for Krsna, because taking care of cows, you have to take them long distance into the forest, into the pastures. But Krsna told Yasoda mayi that “I am the servant of the cows, unless you make the same quality shoes for all my cows, then I will not wear shoes. Now what’s 900,0000 X 4, you could calculate it later.” But that’s how many shoes, so Krsna went bare foot and he would herd cows throughout the day. And with His gopa friends he would play so many beautiful games. All games which are simply actions and words to exchange love, that’s all. Originally every word, every movement, every action is simply a way to express our pure unalloyed love for God and to each other. That’s what the spiritual world is. Even moving a finger. Now we are moving a finger, we are not even aware of what we are doing. But in the Spiritual World, every single movement of the slightest detail is a conscious expression of pure ecstatic love. Every sound that comes from us is an expression of our pure ecstatic love. Sometimes so many strange sounds come out of us whether it is intentional or unintentional. But origin of sound, the origin of all movement, the origin of every particular function of the senses, the mind, the heart is to exchange love. And for what purpose do we exchange love, to give each other the highest pleasure. That’s the spiritual world.
So when Krishna would play these games with the cowherd boys we can’t imagine what type of ecstasy that is. Every movement of every cowherd boy is an offering of ecstatic love to Krishna. In every movement of Krishna was for the purpose of reciprocating with evry single cowherd boy. They would play; can you imagine how enjoyable these games were? Because they were so enjoyable there was no possibility of them ending. So Krishna’s lila shakti yoga maya potency, she every day just before lunch would facilitate one of Kamsas Auras to come to Vrindavan, to interrupt the games. All of the sudden there is Kesi, or there is Aghasura and then they had to end their games because Krishna had to do his beautiful lilas of liberating the demons and watching. Since Krishna would do it with such exciting suspenseful dramatic ways everybody would increase their appetites watching. And Krishna’s appetite in doing. And why was that, because Yashoda mayi and the mothers of different gopas had cooked lunch for them, they had their lunch containers. Prabhupada said they had their Tiffin’s. They’d packed lunches and because lila shakti wanted to enjoy their lunches as much as possible by Krishna’s grace they had huge appetites. Some time they’d go to the bank of Yamuna and they’d make circles around Krishna and like lotus whorl and the gopas as the different circles of petals around Krishna. There would be thousands and thousands and thousands of gopas, they would all be around Krishna. And each one of them would be looking around to see what yashoda mayi made for Krishna. That was very important. And Krishna would be looking the same way, what did your mother cook for you. And then one of the boys would take a bite and say “This is very good Krishna, would you like to taste it?” And Krishna would say, “Yes, Yes, let me taste it”, and the boys would take a bite and Krishna would take a bite and they were all sharing their prasadam with each other, trying to make each other happy. And in this way Krishna was enjoying with his friends and one great miracle, is every single cowherd boy is thinking Krishna is only looking at me, he is only smiling at me. And they were sitting in a circle around Krishna and Krishna didn’t have four heads to look in all four directions. He was only looking in one direction and apparently he had only one head and two eyes in this form. But every gopa was thinking he was only looking at me. This is Krishna’s unlimited capacity to exchange love so perfectly with all living entities simultaneously. In the spiritual world no one is envious, because Krishna is fully satisfying every one. At the end of the day of Gopastami, it was around gopastami time that Krishna delivered Dhenukasura. And at the day of Gopastami Krishna would climb the tera kadam tree and He would call all of His cows individually and all collectively. Now can you imagine calling 900,000 names? Haridas thakur chanted 300,000 names a day, that’s a 192 rounds, multiplied by 3, that’s about 576 rounds. How long would it take you to take 576 rounds? Now Krishna called all 900,000 names with one name. This is the difference between you, me and God. Krishna would say Shyamali, but another cow would hear Dhavali and another cow would hear Surabhi and this way every cow would personally hear her name through Krishna’s voice. And every one of them when they heard and each one was thinking Krishna is only calling for me. Of all the cows He is calling just my name, and that cow would be filled with love that tears would flow from the eyes and she would respond to Krishna. They would come running back to tera kadam tree and Krishna would count each one of them as they came back. And if any didn’t come back Krishna would jump off the tree and go and get them. They would come back into the village of Nandagaon, and for the gopis a moment is like 12 years or more they were gone throughout the whole day intensely feeling separation from Krishna. Yashoda mayi would be there running towards Him, Nanda Maharaj would be coming, big big feasts prepared for him. All the gopis would be standing and Krishna would glance upon them and they would glance back and in this exchange of glances completely satisfied the hearts of every little gopi.
Gopastami is also the day we celebrate Gadhardas and Srinivas Acarya and there is uttama ekadasi, which is also the dissaperance day of Gaur Kishore das babaji maharaj, but there is another day in Kartik which is very very special to us. A day that makes all the other day’s of Kartik accessible to us. It’s the disappearance day of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada. On Nov 14th 1977, Srila Prabhupada he left vrindavan in 1965 with Rs40, boarded the cargo ship jaladuta sailed across the Arabian sea across the middle east asia Europe and crossed over the atlantic ocean took almost 40 days, I think it was 38 days he was on jaladuta. Sea sickness heartattaks so many difficulties and he wrote in his diary that I am feeling such deep separation from my Lords Sri Govinda, Sri Gopinath and Radha Damodar. I am feeling such deep separation from Sri Vrindavan Dham, but I am on this mission on the order of my Gurudev Sri Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur in pursuance ofthe instruction of Lord Caitanya. I am very unqualified, completely depending on their mercy, so far away from Vrindavan. Prabhupada went to new York city and as Jananivas was so beautifully explaining in that magnificent class this morning prabhupada circled the world 14 times. Taking great risks in old age to teach people the Love of vrindavan. And when by the arrangement of Sri Radha Rani and shyam sundar it was time for him to leave this world they brought him back to Sri vrindavan dham where in Krishna Balaram mandir with loving devotees all around him chanting the holynames and with loving devotees all around the world chanting and praying, he returned into the eternal lila of Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar in the spiritual world of goloka vrindavan. In Srila prabhupada’s life, in his departure and in his eternal grace through his books, through his devotees, through his love he is giving us entrance into vrindavan dham. Srimad Bhagavatam has 12 cantos, its culmination is the 10th canto, where it describes beautiful pastimes of Krishna in vrindavan and the very culmination the essence of the 10th canto, is th e5 chapters describing the rasas lila. Our acaryas explain that we have to approach rasa lila properly if we want to actually understand it, with realization. Viswanath chakravarti thakur explains unless we understand how Krishna creates and His various incarnations And his relations with devotees like Dhruva, Prahlad and Ambrish and the Pandavas, we cannot approach Vrindavana Lila. Srimad Bhagvatam is consisdered the litrary body of Krishna. The primary cantos are like his lotus feet, we must carefully start from the beginning and gradually under the guidance of a proper guru and the association of devotees we must try to deeply understand, assimilate and apply these teachings to our lives. And when we do that with genuine honesty, eventually we are prepared to approach the tenth canto which considered the face of Lord Krishna. And ultimately through pure surrender, total detachment from materialistic selfishness, we can approach the five chapters of Rasa Lila, Rasa Panchayat which is the Lord's beautiful smile. Tonight we are celebrating the Rasa Lila. We understand that the love between the gopis and Krishna is the highest expression of pure ecstatic, spiritual realization in the entire spiritual or material worlds. Krishna tells in Gita
yoginäm api sarveñäà mad-gatenäntar-ätmanä
çraddhävän bhajate yo mäà sa me yuktatamo mataù
He describes the greatness of yogis, that of all yogis one who loves me with great devotion and faith, his most intimately united with me in yoga and he is the highest of all.
bhaktyä mäm abhijänäti yävän yaç cäsmi tattvataù
Only by pure unalloyed devotion can I be understood and can one attain My abode.
bhaktyä tv ananyayä çakya aham evaà-vidho 'rjuna
Only by such uninterrupted and devoted love and devotion can I be understood as I am.
bhakto 'si me sakhä ceti rahasyaà hy etad uttamam
Arjuna, you can understand this because of your love, because of your bhakti and because you are my friend.
Glories of the Gopis’ love for Krishna
bahünäà janmanäm ante jïänavän mäà prapadyate
väsudevaù sarvam iti sa mahätmä su-durlabhaù
After many many births and deaths, of cultivation knowledge, when one comes to the point of real knowledge, the highest knowledge, one surrenders to Vasudeva, knowing Me to be the cause of al causes and all that is.
Sarva dharman parityajya – abandon all kinds of religion and surrender unto Me. I will protect you from all sinful reactions.
And the culmination of Gita…
man-manä bhava mad-bhakto mad-yäjé mäà namaskuru
mäm evaiñyasi satyaà te pratijäne priyo 'si me
Always think of Me. Become My devotee. Worship Me. Offer your homage unto Me. In this way you will come to Me without fail. I promise. We see this quality in the pandavas, in Hanuman, in Ambarish, in Prahlad, in Dhruva, in the pracetas. And ultimately we see it in its purest highest form in the residents of vrindavan. And among all the residents of Vrindavan, in its most intimate inclusive and sweetest form in the gopis. We read in Sri Caitanya Caritamrita that the gopis didnot know or conceive anything except Krishna’s pleasure. Going to hell was not even a question of thinking about, if it was for Krishna’s pleasure. Their love is spotless, pure, unselfish. This is love. If there is selfishness, it is not love, it is kama – lust. People say love in this world. But it’s a corruption. Love is selfless. Love is – “I am only concerned with the welfare of my beloved even if it causes me pain. That was gopis.
Description of Rasalila on the day of Sarat-purnima
Krishna wanted to reciprocate with their love – their pure unalloyed love. The perfection of the perfected liberated souls’ love for God – That is what Rasalila is. No romance of this world, no lust of this world. No selfishness. It is the highest perfection of the pure liberated souls’ love for God exclusively.
Krishna stood under the Vamsi-vat tree, as He saw the beautiful moon rising on the horizon of Vrindavan. There was the breeze of Yamuna and the beautiful song of her current. There was the peacocks going and the sweet birds chirping, warbling, trilling, and singing. There was a wonderful fragrance of blooming Mallika, Malati and various other Moghra flowers. And all of the trees and the sky were displaying the most extraordinary beauty for the pleasure of Krishna. And river Yamuna was pushing forward magnificent fragrant lotus flowers. Experiencing this atmosphere, Krishna was feeling in His heart, this is the perfect time and place to give pleasure to the gopis. He played the fifth note of His flute, Vamsi. It was not like you and me playing the flute. We just, some air from our lungs makes the sound. Yes! May be good sound. But this is transcendental. It was the intimate full ecstatic love of Krishna of each of His gopis that emerged from His heart of hearts and came through His mouth as His breath and filled the whole of the flute. And when that sound came out, it was the sweetest of all music, the original cause of all music. It was the innermost love of Krishna’s heart in sound vibration soaring through the air, the atmosphere of Vrindavan. And He personally directed it into the ears of Gopis. Lord Caitanya described when that flute sound entered into the ears of the gopis, it went into their hearts, and it was like a bird made a nest in the ears so that no other sound could possibly be heard by them. And when it entered into their hearts, Hari, He stole their hearts, stole their consciousness. They felt Him calling. And whatever they may have been doing was irrelevant. They left their duties; they left their relationships, in the middle of the night and ran out to meet Krishna under the Vamsivat tree. And there they came before Gopinath, the Lord of the gopis. Seeing Him standing in His beautiful threefold bending form, they all came near. He said, “You’ve risked everything for coming here. I am very happy with you and now that you’ve seen the beauty of Vrindavan forest and this elegant moon light and that we’ve met, now you can go home.” But the gopis were crying and drawing curved lines with their toes on the ground. They wanted to stay. It was beautiful discussion. And eternally the gopis conquered Krishna, and they stayed. But then Krishna left.
THE SUPREME POSITION OF SRI RADHA
As they were having beautiful lila together, Krishna left And the gopis they were searching all over the forest, asking the moon and the stars asking the trees and river and the flowers, “where is the son of Nanda, where is Shyamasundar” Searching and searching and searching and ultimately they found two pairs of foot prints. They understood that there is one gopi who loves Krishna more than any of the rest of us. This gopi here worship and the love for Krishna is supreme. He left everyone only for her. And then they saw there was only one set of foot prints. SO this gopi must have been tired, so Krishna is carrying her. Then they saw only half a foot print, Krishna must have gone on His tip toes to pick some flowers for her. This section of Srimad Bhagavatam reveals, more than any other scripture the supremacy of Sri Radha’s love. Krishna left all the other gopis to show the world, that the source of all love the highest love is the love of Sri Radharani. This is the ultimate culmination of the Bhagavatam, the ultimate culmination of all of Vyasadev’s vedic scriptures, the love between Radha and Krishna. And then Krishna left Radharani and the gopis they heard crying. And they were all crying with her. In this section of Bhagavatam, we find the beauty and sweetness of love in separation. They were all crying, together Radharani and the gopis they were recited the Gopi-gita, beautiful songs of love for Krishna, in separation. And Krishna manifested before them. Krishna revealed to them that, “I only left you to increase the quality of your love, to increase the bliss of your love for Me. For no other reason. And your love for Me is so great that I have no power to repay you. Even if everything that I am and everything I have in all the material and spiritual worlds, in an entire life time of Brahma, I can’t repay you for your love for me. Krishna revealed He is conqured by the love of the Gopis. So please be satisfied with that love. It was after revealing these qualities, then Krishna performed his Rasa dance with Srimati Radharani and the gopis. The dance of pure spiritual love, on the bank of the Yamuna in the forest of Vrindavan. And sometimes they would refresh themselves by bathing in the Jamuna and performing water sports amongst all the lotus flowers. And then they would dance and dance. Do you know how long did they danced? An entire night time of Brahma, that’s four yuga cycles multiplied by 1000 times, about 4.3 billion years. That’s how long He danced with them. And they never even had to go to sleep. That was the nature of their Love.But Krishna could do anything, he could compress that 4.3 billion years into one night. Krishna, He revealed to the world that Prema or pure love is the only thing that really satisfies his heart.
Sukadev goswami was such a that he was so fixed in his total absorbstion into the supreme that he did n’t recognize the difference between male and female. Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, Raghunath Das Goswami, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the crest jewel of all sannyasis, the greatest renunciates, who had nothing to do with sex life, who had nothing to do with material possessions, nothing to do with any type of ego or enjoyment of the senses. They all unanimously agree that the love of the gopis is the highest and purest spiritual state of renunciation and detachment. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He taught His sannyasis that the perfection of renunciation is the Gopis love. And Srimad Bhagvatam shows that of all the gopis, Sri Radha is supreme. And if anyone gets the mercy of Sri Radha, then Krsna is obliged to accept that person. Srila Prabhupada tell that in Vrindavan people say “Jay Radhe” more than “Jay Krsna”, because they call Radharani’s name, if they please Radharani, then Krsna has to accept him. So this supreme method of yoga is to somehow connect ourselves to Radharani’s mercy, the divine feminine potency.
KRISHNA’S APPEARANCE AS LORD CAITANYA
Radharani’s love is so deep and intimate that Krsna Himself, who knows everything past, present and future, who knows everyone’s heart, inside and out. He is thinking what is the glory of Radharani’s love. What is it in Me that Radharani sees that invokes such happiness. What is it that she tastes that her bliss is greater than mine. By millions and millions of times, I want to taste it.
rädhä-bhäva-dyuti-suvalitaà naumi kåñëa-svarüpam
The one Absolute truth is divided into two parts as Radha and Krsna to enjoy love. Now the two have become one again as Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Krsna who wants to taste the sweetness of Radha’s love. And He comes to do this in this material world so that he could distribute that same love to anyone and everyone without discrimination where they are coming from what they have done who they are, all we have to do is to chant the holy names according to His directions.
tåëäd api sunécena taror iva sahiñëunä
amäninä mänadena kértanéyaù sadä hariù"
"One who thinks himself lower than grass, who is more tolerant tha a tree, and who does not expect personal honor but is always prepared to give respect to others, can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord."
In this spirit of being the servant of the servant of the servant, Krsna will reveal all of his opulences within the name. Krsna’s form, qualities, Krsna’s abode, Vrindavan, goloka, Krsna’s associates, pastimes, Krsna’s love, are all within the name if we can chant in this spirit. Krsna reveals our eternal relationship with Krsna and reveals Himself, to one who chants in this spirit. This is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission, to give the highest revelation of Radha’s love to us through the congregational chanting of the holy names. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. And through our connection to Caitanya Mahaprabhu, if we serve one another, with humility and sincerity and if we act as instruments of Srila Prabhupada and the acaryas compassion towards everyone in this world. And if we sincerely chant the holy names we can gain entrance into the rasa lila. déna-héna jata chilo, hari-näme uddhärilo, tära çäkñé jagäi mädhäi. Narottama das is saying this with conviction, realization and experience. By Lord Caitanya’s mercy the holy names have descended with such grace that even Jaigai and Madhai attained Goloka Vrindavan through chanting, the two most abominable criminals.
SRILA PRABHUPADA’S GIFT
This is the gift that Srila Prabhupada has given to the world. Srila Prabhupada was staying at the Radha Damodara temple. There is a beautiful lila in Vrindavan, where Krsna and Radharani, were having Rasa lila, and Krsna came late. And Radharani bound Krsna around the waist with some flower bedecked creepers and tied him to a Kadamba tree. And this is Radha Damodara. Srila Prabhupada lived there in Radha Damodara temple. Rupa Goswami’s Samadhi, Jiva Goswami’s Samadhi, this is right in the heart of Krsna’s eternal rasa lila. Beyond the veneer of the earthly perception, Krsna’s pastimes are eternally taking place in Vrindavan dham. When Krsna by his mercy gives us the eyes to feel it and see it. Srila Prabhupada was living all those years right at Seva Kunda, in the heart of Krsna’s rasa lila. He never left there. He brought the grace of Radha and Krsna and the grace of Sri Vrindavan and rasa stali in His heart, to share it with whoever he met with the whole world. And he gave that gift through every word of his books.
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Tags: Unedited lectures
Tags: Unedited lectures