Hare Krishna!

On behalf of his divine grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and on behalf of the devotees of Sri Radha Gopinath temple we welcome you today.

Vande Caitanya devam tam (01:00)

Bhagavantam…….

I offer my respects to the supreme personality of Godhead, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by whose desire I have becoming like a dancing dog and suddenly taken to the writing of Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, although I am a fool. Jai Jai Sri Krishna Caitanya Gaur Candra, Jai Jai Paramananda Jai Nityananda. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu who is known as Gaurasundar. I also offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Nityananda Prabhu who is always very joyful.

Jai Jai Advaita Acarya Kripamoya. Jai Jai Gadadhara Pundit Mahashaya.

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Advaita Acarya who is very merciful and also to that great personality Gadadhara Pundit, the learned Scholar.

Jai Jai Srivasadi yat Bhakta Gan

(02:44) Pranatah……..Bandhun Sab Rakshan. Let me offer my respectful obesances unto Srivasa Thakur and all the other devotees of the Lord, I fall down to offer them respect. I worship their Lotus feet.

Purport by his divine grave A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami teaches us to offer respect first to the Pancatattva, Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, Gadadhara Prabhu and Srivasa Prabhu and the other devotees. We must strictly follow the principle of offering our respects to the Pancatattva as summarized in the mantra Sri Krishna Caitanya…………………………….

At the beginning of every function in preaching especially before chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra, “HARE KRISHNA…………HARE HARE., we must chant the Pancatattva names and offer our respects to them.

In this chapter of Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, we offer Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami very honestly and openly reveals his heart to all of his readers. Krishna Consciousness is about awakening the personal relationship with the supreme personality of Godhead. There are 3 levels of the understanding of the absolute truth according to the Srimad Bhagavatam. Brahman realization which is understanding the all pervading energy of the Lord, Paramatama realization, the lord in the heart who is the witness of everything and Bhagavan, Lila purshottama, that supreme absolute first who is eternally residing in his abode, performing wonderful pastimes. When the lord descends in to this world, the Gita explains, (06:52)Yada yada hi dharmasya, Glanir Bhavatir Bharata…………….Sambhavami yuge yuge, Janma Karma ca me divyam, evam yo vetti tatvattah, tyaktva deham punar Janma naita mameti so’rjuna’. The lord descends out of his causeless mercy to re-establish the principles of religion, to protect the innocent, to annihilate the miscreants, the lord comes again and again and one who understands the transcendental nature of the Lord’s appearance and activities never has to take birth in this material world again, but attains his eternal abode. The Lord’s incarnations are not just temporary manifestations of the all pervading Brahman, rather the all pervading Brahman is an emanation of the rays of the body of the Lord. It is the expansion of the divine eternal energy of the Lord. The avatars that appear in this world have their original abodes beyond the viraja, beyond the limitations of material existence in the realm of Vaikuntha within the Paravyoma, the spiritual Sky. So for a devotee, everything is personal. Even the impersonal Brahman is personal. Even material energy is personal because we see everything in relation to the supreme person. Even when we see wood, wood, when it is separated from the living tree, a stone, which is considered dead matter, but a devotee sees that it is the energy of Krishna, may be the external energy, but still (09.15) Vishawasya nidam sarvam. Krishna is the proprietor of everything and everything is emanating from him, even everything in this world! So when we remember Krishna, then everything becomes personalized. This is Krishna’s house. This is Krishna’s world. This is Krishna’s stone. Personalized! And the so called impersonal brahaman is the personal Brahman, because we see it as the light emanating from the beautiful lustrous body of Krishna. So yes! To the degree we know Krishna, to that degree everything in our life becomes intimately personal in a transcendental way. But that is only possible to the extent that we are detached from our personalistic desires for sense gratification. Thakur Narrotama das prays, when will I see Vrindavan? But he wrote the song living in Vrindavan. He is living in Vrindavan at Radha damodar mandir at the side of rasa mandala. But he is praying when will I see Vrindavan? Only when I have no more desires for material enjoyment. Because the egoistic pursuit of selfish pleasures is like a cataract covering our pure spiritual vision. The soul is part of Krishna. The soul’s nature is to see God, to love God, to serve God. But this false ego, it is not the flesh of the eyes, that is the problem, because factually if the soul is unfettered by false ego, we can see Krishna even through these eyes. Why not? The soul has great powers. The problem is not the eye, the problem is the soul has been covered from time immemorial by our ahankara, false ego. The subtlemost material element, and from that ahankara we start identifying with material intelligence, the always changing, easily disturbed material mind and due to an uncontrolled mind, we start identifying with ether, air, water, fire, the earth, the 8 elements and then we cannot see anything as it is. We see everything in relationship to our selfish desires. We see everything according to our (12:55)………………, our material conditionings and attachments. Yes! One person on one side of the border reads, India defeats Pakistan in Cricket. All very happy! And on the other side of the border, they are about to commit suicide. Same newspaper, same print, same words. We interpret everything according to our conceptions. We drive down the streets of Bombay, there is a hoarding of a good movie with a good movie actress, through a good producer. I do not know the names of anyone of them, I am sorry. Except I know Madhumangal(everyone laughs) who is my favourite and some of his friends also. So, some people say it is so nice looking at the picture, mesmerized. Let’s go and pay money to see this cinema. The devotees look away(everyone laughs). The driver shouldn’t that. There are other people in the car may do that. They are seeing the same signboard with the same names, but we are seeing it in different ways. Because the whole world, we interpret according to the conditioning of our false ego. But when a devotees heart becomes pure, then the false ego transforms in to the real ego. “Jivera svarupa hoya nitya Krishna das’. Yes! The real ego is to identify oneself as the servant of the Lord with love and devotion and therefore we see everything in relation to the lord. We see every situation as an opportunity to serve the lord and everything becomes personal. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami is Mahabhagavat. He is in the highest state of transcendence. But the nature of a real transcendentalist is that the higher you go, the lower you feel. Those who are following lesser paths of spiritual life, the higher they go, they think they are becoming God, but for one who understands God as he is, the higher you go, the more you feel insignificant in the presence of God and in that state, the deeper your love is for God. Sac, cid, Ananda, eternal existence, knowledge with the combination of all is Ananda, spiritual happiness which finds its supreme fulfillment in Prema.

Lord Caitanya told that there are 4 goals described in the Vedas that people strive to achieve Artha, dharma, kama, moksha. People want sense gratification. They want a higher standard of living in this world, better enjoyment and more facilities and they want to go to a higher world where they are providing incredibly more opportunities to enjoy. And they want economic development because money after all does facilitate a lot of opportunities for material happiness. But when they see the frustration and emptiness at the dead end streets of these 2 paths, then they want religiosity, they want to do good, they want to be good, they want to be pious, they want to help others. Yes! That is the mode of goodness. But even, that’s limited. So then people want to annihilate all of these misconceptions, and Moksha, liberation. But Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu takes from the Vedic scriptures and the great acaryas, that there is something above and beyond Moksha. Premkumartha mahaan, the fifth goal of all perfections is Prem, ecstatic love. That ecstatic love can only be experienced in relation to the supreme personality of Godhead. As we know God, we naturally love God. Why? Because God is Krishna! All attractive. So Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, he is writing this literature and he is about to tell us the spirit and mood in which he is writing and why is he writing. But from the very beginning it is very personalized. He is personally revealing his heart to each and everyone of his readers for all time to come and he is not trying to show us how great he is. He is trying to show us what a fool he is. And those who have a little bit of understanding of transcendental science. It melt our hearts when we see that he is calling himself a dancing dog and a fool, we understand what a great person he is. If he called himself a great person, we would understand what a fool he is! Yes.

So the trap when you try to boast your glories in the presence of devotees. Because the more you try to give yourself importance, the more everyone thinks you are a fool and the more you present yourself a fool, the more everyone gives you importance. Of course if you act like a fool(everyone laughs), then everyone will confirm it. We should not act like a fool. We should act according to Krishna’s direction, but understand that it is all coming from the power of Krishna. Whatever little good I can do is only by divine mercy, not by my own. There is no other way to cross beyond the miseries of material bondage. There is no other way to really taste the nectar of love of God, until we give up this very hard knot of Ahankara, the false ego. We stop feeding it and nourishing it with the illusion that it will make us happy, because it has just the opposite effect. So then, Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, he has said that he is offering his obeisances to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by whose desire I have become like a dancing dog. Now in India dog is……., in America that would be false ego. That would be false praise if one says that I am a dancing dog. Dog has a very high social position in the west(everyone laughs). He is usually the favourite member of every family. There is dog beauty contest(everyone laughs). Really! It is very common! People spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars getting hair groomings for dogs. They cut their beards, cut their tails. It is very fashionable. They have Italian style, French style. Really! People make a lot of money. Just like ladies get their hair done, so the dogs……… The dogs are very happy. I have seen some very beautiful woman with one very, very fancy nice dress with a dog unleashed and everyone says that your dog looks very good today(everyone laughs). The lady says, what about me? Oh! Your dog is very beautiful, his lotus eyes are so nice. But in India, especially 500 years ago, a devotee respects dogs. A devotee respects all living beings, but still he says that I am your dancing dog, Lord Caitanya and you have decided to speak through me although I am such a great fool. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami writes that by remembering the lotus feet of the Pancatattva, even a dumb man can speak eloguent poetry. A lame man who is crippled cannot even walk a single step can climb over the peak of the highest mountains and cross over mountain ranges and a blind man who can never the see the light of the days can see the light of the stars in the sky. What is impossible for one who has received the mercy of the Lord. That is reality. Gaur Kishore das babaji Maharaj at the end of his life was practically speaking, blind, but he was seeing Krishna. He was seeing Krishna everywhere. And people with 20:20 vision who didn’t even need spectacles were coming to him for vision. People with eyes were coming to a blind man for vision because he was seeing reality and with our eyes we are only seeing illusion. He is seeing that the source of everything is Krishna within his own heart and we are just seeing the mirages and chasing after the pleasure of these mirages. Yes! These reflections of non-reality!

Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda Prabhu, they appeared within this world at the time of the Kaliyuga to make themselves accessible to everyone. All they asked for was our faith and our willingness to co-operate with the process that they have given. And it is such a simple process. But in the Satayuga, people had to live severe austere lives in total seclusion for tens of thousands of years in solid meditation and that same result is available in the age of Kali by chanting the holy names, “HARE KRISHNA………………….HARE HARE”.

Such mercy(26.48)………….. even if you are a sinner, even to the extent of Jagai and Madhai, they were murderers and thieves and robbers, they attained the perfection of love of God simply by chanting God’s names properly. It is the prime benediction for humanity, the sankirtan movement. (27.27)…………….This age of Kali is an ocean of faults, but there is a benediction, that by simply chanting the holy names of Krishna one can attain the very perfection of liberation. In fact we have Naradiya Purana and it emphasizes, very strong, ‘Harer nama, harer nama harer name kaivalam, kalau nasty, eva nasty, eva nasty, eva gatir anyatha’. To achieve love of God in this age of Kali in this fully developed state is only possible by chanting the holy names of Lord Hari.’ Naam Naam akari bahuda, nija sarva saktis’. The lord is so kind, he has appeared within the name. He has appeared as the holy name, with all of his pastimes, all of his associates, all of his energies and all his powers within the names and especially his sweetness and his love. Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami quoting from the scriptures tells us that there are 10 offenses to the chanting of the holy names and if one is infested with offenses against the holy name, then even if that person chants the Hare Krishna Mahamantra birth after birth after birth after birth after birth, one will still not experience the awakening of the love of God within the heart. Srimad Bhagavatam describes if a person chants Krishna’s holy names and that chanting does not cause tears to pour from the eyes, the limbs to tremble, hair standing on end and voice getting choked up, then it is to be understood that that person has a steel framed heart. If by chanting Krishna’s names one’s heart does not melt, then one’s heart is made of steel and what causes that steel framed heart. Offenses to the holy names! Hare Krishna! But how? But how to overcome these offenses, when we are conditioned from time immemorial to be offensive. We know the offenses, we try to guard against the offenses, but how can we actually do it. Krishna, he spoke in the Bhagavad Gita. All the instructions are there but when that same Krishna came 4500 years later in the age of Kali in his most munificent incarnation of Lord Caitanya to teach us practically. Therefore Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami and all the acaryas declare that if we take shelter of Lord Caitanya and his associates, the Pancatattva, then we will be free from offenses. Then if we chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, the heart begins to melt and we free ourselves of offenses. Because Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda Prabhu are so merciful, they do not take offenses. Therefore these names Guar Nitai are so powerful in this age of Kali and the acaryas have taught that the Mahamantra, the greatest of all mantras, if we want to chant it properly then we should take shelter of Lord Caitanya and his associates to remove our offensive mentality by chanting ‘Sri Krishna Caitantya Prabhu Nityananda Sri Advaita Gadadhara Srivasadi Gaur Bhakta Vrinda’.

However we find in one purport, this chapter, Srila Prabhupada is quoting Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Now please listen carefully the essence of the secret as to how to chant the holy name of the Lord offenselessly is about to be revealed to all of us. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur explains that before chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra which is non-different than Radha and Krishna and Vrindavan Dham, one must take shelter of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda by following the simple principle of being more humble than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree. This is why Kaviraj Goswami tells take the name of Krishna. Take this verse on a string of the name of Krishna and wear it always. ‘Trinad api sunicena, Taror iva sahisnuna, amaannina maanadena, kirtaniya sada hari’. You should be more tolerant than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree, eager to offer all respects to others without any sense of prestige ourselves. In this way, we must chant Krishna’s holy name. To take shelter of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda is inseperable from following this instruction of humiity like the straw on the street and tolerance like a tree. When we do this, then when we approach the holy name of Radha and Krishna through the Mahamantra, our heart melts and ecstacy of love begins to awaken within our hearts. That is the secret of success. Without aspiring and making it a priority to live by this principle Trinad api sunicena, Taror iva sahisnuna, amaannina maanadena, kirtaniya sada hari’, it doesn’t matter who you are and what people say about you, the mahamantra will always be chanted in a way that is from our side superficial and till we become Trinad api sunicena taror iva sahisnuna, we have to keep chanting this mahamantra birth after birth after birth, because we will still be chanting with offense. This is an essential principle and this is not a detail and it must be taken very seriously by all, because in this age of Kali, the holy name is the only way to achieve love of God. If you go to another path, you may get something else but not love of God and it is so easy. And after explaining in this way, Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami tells how Vrindavandas Thakur, the son of Narayani, he is supremely, mercifully benedicted the whole world with the most beautiful description of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda’s life and teachings. There are 2 goals of chanting the holy name. One is to cut our material bondage and give us liberation and 2 is the awakening the love of God. The more we understand the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, the more we can actually make progress on this path to Radha and Krishna in Vrindavan. Thakur Narottama, he prayed in this way, that without the mercy of Lord Nityananda one cannot get the mercy of Lord Caitanya and without that mercy to approach Radha and Krishna in Vrindavan is very difficult, because our hearts are offensive. They remove our offenses and Srila Vrindavandas Thakur, he has written his Caitanya Bhagavat which was at that time known as Caitanya Mangala. And Kaviraj Goswami, such a humble gentleman, he is not advertising his book, he is advertising Vrindavandas Thakur’s book. Everyone read Caitanya Bhagavat by Vrindavandas Thakur. He is the Vyasdev of Lord Caitanya’s Lila. Just as Srila Vedvyas had written the Srimad Bhagavatam to glorify the pastimes of Krishna, that same Vedvyas has incarnated in this world, in this Kaliyuga as Vrindavandas Thakur to write Caitanya Bhagavat for the welfare of all living beings. Yes! By simply reading this Caitanya Bhagavat with an open and faithful heart, it removes our sins and awakens our love of God. Because by reading this wonderful book, the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda comes in to our lives. And after glorifying with great devotion this Vaishnav, he explains how Vrindavandas Thakur, as he was writing, his book was becoming bigger and bigger and bigger. Although he described in great details the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda in the early lila, he did not write very elaborately about the final pastimes of the Lord after he took sanyaas. Yes! But in Vrindavan where Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami was residing, many great devotees, they wanted to hear the later pastimes of Lord Caitanya. They wanted a book for the whole world to understand authoritatively the later pastimes of the Lord and his devotees. The Kaviraj goswami continues. In Sri Vrindavan Dham in a forest of Kadamba trees, under the desire trees is a golden throne, ornamented with the most precious, divine jewels. Sitting on that bejeweled throne is Brajendra Nandana, the son of Nanda Maharaja in his form of Govinda Dev who was more beautiful than millions and millions and millions of cupids or kandarpas. It was being worshipped in his temple of Vrindavan with the most devotional paraphernalia, garments, ornaments and so many other facilities which are all completely transcendental and in this temple of Radha Govind Dev, in Vrindavan, there are thousands and thousands of Servitors who are worshipping the Lord in pure unalloyed devotion, expecting nothing in return. Then all of these servitors, they are of such quality, that they cannot be properly glorified even if we had thousands and thousands and thousands of mouths , but the chief servitor, the chief servitor of Radha Govind Dev, his name is Haridas Pundit. His name, his fame and his glories are known throughout all the world amongst devotees. Haridas Pundit was a disciple of Ananta Acarya. Ananta Acarya was a personal disciple and associate of Gadadhara Pundit, who is Srimati Radharani in Lord Caitanya’s lila. We know that at Gopinath temple, Gadadhara Pundit would everyday read Srimad Bhagavatam. Gadadhara Pundit was a constant associate of Lord Caitanya. When Lord Caitanya was a boy, Gadadhara Pundit was his friend, his classmate. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu returned from Gaya and manifested his ecstacies as Srimati Radharani and began to promote the Sankirtan movement, Gadadhara Pundit was constantly at his side. Sacidevi, the Lord’s mother, requested Gadadhara, always be with my son, because you are so intelligent and you such dear love for him. Always be with him. When Lord Caitanya took sanyaas, Gadadhara pundit was one of the few people Lord Caitanya told in advance. He brought him to Katwa to help him with the ceremony. Gadadhara Pundit was so dear to the Lord and when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to Puri, then to South India, when he returned, he announced to the devotees of Bengal and Gadadhara Pundit came along with Sivananda Sen’s party. When he came, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he sent almost everyone else back to Bengal after the 4 months of Caturmasya, but he could not live without Gadadhara Pundit. Lord Caitanya personally took Gadadhara Pundit near the sea called Yameshwar tota. Very ancient deity of Yameshwar Mahadev and besides that famous temple was an ancient deity call Tota Gopinath. It is said that Tota Gopinath was worshipped by Lord Brahma at the beginning of creation. In fact some people believe and there is evidence in this way, that when Lord Brahma recited Brahma Samhita, he worshipped Tota Gopinath. Lord Caitanya entrusted that deity to Gadadhara Pundit who made its worship his life and soul. He never left that deity’s service in his whole life. He took C…..(45.39) and never left Puri. But Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would come everyday and spend 2 or 3 hours discussing Srimad Bhagavatam from Gadadhara Pundit. Ananta Acarya was his disciple. He was an ocean of good qualities. He has such deep faith in Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. His body was always ornamented with ecstatic love of God. Infact according to Gaur Gannodesa Dipika, Ananta Acarya was in Krishna’s lila, was 1 of the 8 sakhis, Sudevi Gopi. The disciple of Ananta Acarya was Haridas Pundit who was so dearly loved by everyone. He was gentle, tolerant, humble, peaceful, magnanimous, very grave, sweet in his words and sober in all of his endeavours. Haridas Pundit was respectful to everyone and all of his work was for the benefit of all living beings. Diplomacy, envy, jealousy were unknown to his pure heart. Haridas Pundit accepted only the good qualities in other devotees and never found faults in them. In this regard, Srila Prabhupada explains from the scripture that every human being has virtues and faults. A real vaishnav, the quality of that person, is that a vaishnav accepts the glories and good qualities of a person and does not consider or concern him or herself with the faults. Just like a fly is very eager to taste sores, but a honeybee is very eager to taste honey. In the same way, a devotee is always looking for the good qualities of every vaishnav and Haridas Pundit, he had this quality called Adosha Darshi, which means does not look for the faults and does not accept the faults, only looks for the good. To the degree we have this quality we are actually vaishnavas. This is the foundational quality of a Vaishnav. In a very crude sense, a vaishnav is one who believes in Vishnu. That is also there. But in our own personal evaluation of ourselves, we are taught that a Vaishnav is Adosha Darshi. One who likes to speak, meditate on and act in such a way, to glorify the good qualities of another and does not concern ourselves with the faults of others. It is difficult, but Haridas pundit, he personified these qualities. And Haridas Pundit had great faith in Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. In the temple of Radha Govinda, he arranged for Sri Caitanya Bhagavat to be always recited and discussed and when he himself would preach the glories of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, he illuminated the entire assembly of devotees. He conquered everyone’s hearts. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami tells us that it was this Haridas Pundit who order him to write Sri Caitanya Caritamrita and the head Pujari of Radha Govind Temple, his name was Govind Goshai. Govind Goshai was the disciple of Kashishwar Pundit. Kashishwar Pundit was one of the 2 servants of Lord Caitanya, Govinda and Kashishwar. Previously they were the servants of Lord Caitanya’s Guru. Personal servants, Ishwara Puri. Kashishwar Pundit, one of the most greatest and most exalted acaryas. In Krishna’s Lila, in Goloka Vrindavan, he is a cowherd boy name Bringara, who was the personal servant of Krishna and he appeared in this world as Kashishwara Pundit to perform his service. And there was another devotee serving Govind dev named Yadavacarya who was a very dear disciple and associate of Srila Rupa Goswami. And there was a great devotee and his name was Bhugarbha Goswami, best friend of Loknath Goswami. He came to Vrindavan when practically no one was there in the forest. He was a disciple of Gadadhara Pundit. All of these devotees and their associates unanimously agreed that Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami was the perfect person to write on the later pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. All of these devotees individually and collectively orders Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami to write this book. But he was so much ashamed because he felt that why are they asking me. I am least qualified of everyone. I am a fool. Besides that at the time, his age was in the nineties. This is going to be a great literature for all time. He was a very, very old man with many, many physical ailments, old age and he considered himself so humble. In Caitanya Caritamrta he reveals his heart. He said that I am most sinful, most low, lower than Jagai and Madhai. If anyone speaks my name, he becomes sinful. If anyone hears my name, they lose their piety. He said that I am lower than a worm in stool. This is his heart. So when all these great vaishnavas are requesting him to write Lord Caitanya’s biography in the later part of his life, he didn’t feel proud. He felt ashamed. I am not qualified. I do not deserve it. One of the greatest qualifications of a Vaishnav is their feeling of being disqualified. If you feel qualified, then you disqualify. If you feel disqualified, then you are on the path of being qualified. Material life is a perverted reflection of spiritual life. So Yes! Kaviraj Goswami was in anxiety for what they were asking him to do. But how do you refuse the word of the Vaishnavas. But he wanted their order to be confirmed by Sri Madan Mohan. So he went to the temple of Madan Mohan, the worshippable deity of Sri Sanatana Goswami and there, he stood before Madan Mohan. He was being worshipped by the Pujari, Goshaidas. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami offered his prayer and begged for the blessings and permission of Madan Mohan for him to fulfill the order of the Vaishnavas. Just as he was offering his prayer begging for permission, the garland from Madan Mohan slipped off from his neck in to the Pujari’s hands and the Pujari picked it up and put it around the neck of Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. All the assembled vaishanavas and Gosais, when they saw this, they understood exactly Madan Mohan’s statement and they loudly cried out Haribol! Haribol!(everyone shouts Haribol 3 times)

Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami tells that at that moment he began writing Sri Caitanya Caritamrta. But first, he wanted to get the blessing of Srila Vrindavandas Thakur who was his predecessor in this field. Vrindavandas Thakur was not present in Vrindavan. So Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami prayed from the core of his heart for the blessings of Sri Vyasdev, Vrindavandas Thakur and within the core of his heart, Vrindavandas Thakur appeared and gave his permission and blessings. It was then that he began his great literature. Now Srila Prabhupada explains that in Vaishanav life, on the path of the highest truth of devotion, we never consider ourselves to be the doers. Krishna tells us in the Gita, Prakrteh Kriyamanani, gunaih karmani sarvasah, ahankar vimudhatma, kartaham iti manyate. A bewildered soul considers himself to be the doer of their activities, when all the activities of this world are simply being carried out by nature. If you go to our ………(0.59.01) museum upstairs, you will see a very wonderful display of the 3 modes of material nature. Maya, Mayadevi, the illusory energy has everyone on the strings of these 3 modes like puppets. She is the pupetteer. She pulls the mode of passion and we just run to fulfill our passion and desires and she pulls the mode of ignorance and we run in that way. Now we have our free will. We can choose by our free will to respond. Now these pullings are coming due to our previous karmas because everything we do, everything we speak, we are influencing ourselves by the mode on nature that is predominating over that and we become more conditioned by it. Everytime we engage in an activity in the mode of passion or lust, we become more subjected to that power. We become more conditioned and bound by that string, by that rope. Now we can see this practically. The more you take intoxication, the more you become addicted to intoxication and it becomes an inseperable part of your identity and you can’t live without it. If you never take intoxications, it is no big deal. But if you drinking alcohol for 20 years, you go mad without it. It is controlling your life. If people are too much sexually active, then they can’t do without it. It is controlling their life. Yes! This is the way the modes of nature work. We make our own decisions and we become more bound by the decision and condition and maya is just pulling the strings and she knows which ones are for us. We are just like puppets. The only way to overcome that is by our free will. ‘Sarva dharman parityajya. Daivi hy esa guna mayi, mama maya duratyaya, mama eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te. This material nature, it is working by the powers of these 3 modes which are very difficult to overcome. But if we take shelter of Krishna and if we experience that higher taste of Krishna consciousness, then it is possible. Then by Krishna’s grace we can be free from these 3 modes of material nature. There is no other way. So a devotee is very conscious of this reality. Materialistic people, their idea of being happy is inflating their false egoes. I am beautiful, I am wealthy, I am intelligent, I am influential. I am very skillful in whatever I do. I am the center of my life and I am trying to be the center of more and more people’s lives. But a devotee wants to put Krishna in the center and the more you put Krishna in the center the more you take yourself away from the center. It is really proportionate. The more you keep yourself in the center , Krishna is away. The more you keep Krishna in the center, the more you have to go away and it is really a miserable situation to be in the center, because you can’t do it.(Maharaj laughs). You cannot live up to everyone’s expectations because everyone wants you to be something else. Materially, everyone wants you to be what they want you to be. Material life is not a life where people accept you for what who you are. People accept you for what they want of you. Yes! That is material life. So what kind of friendship is that? What kind of love is that? Love is selfless to the degree there is no ego, to the degree it is selfless it is love. So yes, Ahankara, false ego, is a very, very powerful force that keeps us in this world, but a devotee understands, that whatever I can do, is only because of the mercy and blessings of Krishna, Guru and the Vaishnavas. Otherwise I am nothing. Even if we are skillful, if we don’t have the blessings of Krishna, Guru and the vaishnavas, then whatever great things we do, we are empowered by material energy, but when we are humble, when we are actually humble and we take the blessings of Guru and Vaishnavas and just try to be their instrument, then we can become empowered by the spiritual energy of the lord. Just because we put on tilak and we shave our heads and wear sarees and wear neck beads, that itself does not put ourselves under the control of the spiritual energy. It is our attitude. If we want to put ourselves in the centers, if we are not working with the blessings, the permission and the love of the Lord and his devotees, then material nature is empowering us, Krishna through material nature, but to be instruments of his mercy means, Trinad api sunicena, Taror iva sahisnuna, amaanina maanadena, kirtaniya sada hari. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, he is professing very loudly that I am a fool. I am a dog. I am suffering from the material disease of attachments. I am suffering from boils due to envy. In this condition, I am taking shelter of the great physician, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and how wonderful, Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami in this chapter, he is saying, I am not writing Caitanya Caritamrta. By the blessings of all the vaishnavas, who I worship and honour as my gurus, by their mercy, Madan Mohan is speaking through me, he is the author. I am just a puppet, a wooden puppet, dancing according to his desire and he is giving all credit, that Madan Mohan is using him as this type of puppet, he is giving all that credit to the devotees. Because he is following their order and he has received their blessings. There is nothing more sacred and glorious than the blessings of the vaishnavas, because it is the only means by which we can be empowered by Krishna. (1.07.05)…………..That who, where, anyone has become a real devotee and pleased Krishna without serving the great Vaishnavas. That is the secret of success. To be an instrument. That was Srila Prabhupada concluding prayer on Jaladuta. I am not qualified to do this, My lord. You are sending me to a strange country without any facilities and I don’t even know that they will understand my language. Only if you speak through me and only if you in their heart give them the power to understand, can your message be transmitted. Let me just be your puppet and make me dance the way you want me to dance, My Lord. Make me dance. That is love. Love is based on selfless service. To the degree that our service is selfless without our own agenda, without our interior, selfish motivations, to that degree we can find spiritual satisfaction in our hearts. To the degree we are selfish, to the degree we are motivated, our service is contaminated by material consciousness. Srimad Bhagavatam deals with only 1 subject(1.09.11)…………… This supreme occupation for all humanity is loving devotional service to the supreme Lord, Krishna. Such service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to satisfy the heart. Ahaituky Apratihata…….This is Lord Caitanya’s message. From the beginning to the end of our whole Sampradaya, it is only about this. Ahaituky Apratihata….Bhakti without any motivation, selfishly or without interruption. Srila Prabhupada writes that Krishna sees the purpose in which everything is offered. He doesn’t just see what you do, he sees the purpose. Are we doing it for his pleasure or are we doing it for our own pleasure. To the degree we do anything for our own pleasure, we suffer and to the degree we do it for Krishna, without our own pleasure considered, we enjoy. This is another one of those contradictions that we have been speaking about. It is a wonderful thing. Caitanya Caritamrta describes from Srimad Bhagavatam the nature of the Gopis. They have no desire ever for themselves. Their only desire is to make Krishna happy and to the degree we make Krishna happy, to that degree Krishna reciprocates and makes us happy. But we don’t want that happiness, we want only Krishna’s happiness, but Krishna reciprocates and gives us happiness. That is the spiritual world. Therefore Mahaprabhu prayed, Na dhanam na janam na sundarim, kavitam va jagdish kamaye, mama janmani janmanishvare, bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi. We do not want wealth, I do not want the pleasure of the opposite sex. I do not want fame and prestige. I do not want even liberation from suffering. My prayer is my lord that I may be your unconditional servant, birth after birth after birth after birth……..Ayi Nand tanuja kinkaram, patitam maam visame bhavam budhau, krpaya tava pada pankaja, sthita dhuli sadrsam vicintaya. Oh! Nand Tanuja, son on Nanda Maharaj. I surrender to you. I am your servant under all conditions. I am praying that just let me be a single, speck of atomic dust at your lotus feet and I will be happy forever. He doesn’t want to be God, He doesn’t want to have mystic powers. He doesn’t want fame and presitige. He just wants to be one of those billions and trillions of particles of dust of the lotus feet of the lord. That consciousness gives Krishna so much pleasure Aslisya va pada ratam pinastu mam, adarsanan va marma hatam karotu va, yatha tatha va vidhadhatu lampato, mat praan nathas tu sa eva naparah. This is the culmination of the ultimate perfection of life which is unconditional selfless service. We all want to be recognized or embraced by the person we adore. Lord Caitanya says to Krishna, in the mood of the Gopis, my dear lord, if you want, you may embrace me or if you like, you may trample upon me and if it pleases you my lord, you may make me broken hearted by not being present before me. You have every way to deal with me in any way you please because I am your servant unconditionally. How many are happy being totally ignored and neglected by the person we are giving our life and our soul to. Can you imagine? We are giving everything, our whole life force, our every minute to satisfy someone and they totally neglect us. Don’t even show that we even exist. Is that painful? When Krishna left Vrindavan, that’s the way the Gopis felt. He left them. Does he ever think about us? Of course, he doesn’t remember us. Now even Mathura, so many high class people are there, why will he think of us? We gave our lives to him and he left. That was their mood. We are trampled or embraced, whatever pleases you Krishna, that is my happiness, that is my life. Who was Srimati Radharani? Kaviraj Goswami explains that Srimati Radharani, she is willing to go through any type of heart break even to bring somebody else to Krishna to be with, if it pleases him. Her concern is never herself, it is only Krishna and that is the state in which Krishna reciprocates and manifests himself. Sometimes in Vipralamba and sometimes in Sambhoga, but in either case he gives us the greatest spiritual happiness. So sometimes on the path of Bhakti, we hear this philosophy, but it doesn’t really sink in, because we are still so selfishly motivated. We are still thinking of myself. Now of course, just to survive we have to think of ourself to some extent. If we have families we have to think about earning a living and all of that, but we have to very careful to cultivate the motivation of unconditional service to the lord. Real devotional service means expecting nothing in return, that is bhakti. Kapildev describes Bhakti in the mode of passion, ignorance and goodness and transcendental. Lord Caitanya kicked out everything except transcendental. Daivi Varnasrama may be to elevate people, but ultimately Lord Caitanya, na dhanam na janam na sundarim………..I only want to please you Krishna. That must be our aspiration. That is why we come to this temple. We come to this temple to learn the process of selfless service. The other night I was telling some of our devotees about our recent trip to Amritsar. Guru Charan Prabhu, Raghunath Prabhu, they took us on a visit to the Golden temple also known as Pari Mandir. It is a beautiful temple. Actually it is quiet unbelievable. The gold and jewels and everything. When I saw that temple, I was thinking that the RadhaGopinath is a very, very simple place.(everyone laughs). It is very simple. It is like a straw hut, compared to the Golden temple and where is all that Gold coming from? All the devotees there, they just donated their bangles, watches and their earings and their noserings and whatever else they had and so much, they just counted it all in to Gold and melted it. Hare Krishna! And an amazing thing! It is a huge area. You know, the temple is in the middle of a lake. The lake is crystal clear. You can even see fish way out in the middle. The water is so clean. But it is not clean automatically. At all times, there are people who are just cleaning the water, cleaning the water, cleaning the water. They constantly, day and night and this big area around the lake, it is all marble and stone, immaculately clean. It is a big area. I don’t think we ever walked more than 20 feet without somebody sweeping and somebody washing and as far as Prasad, there are so many people. How they cook Prasad? They have Prasad distribution 24 hours a day, as much as you can eat. Hare Krishna! Chapatti and dal and Subjis. Yes! For everyone, anyone who just comes in. It is open 24 hours, round the clock. Free! And they had about 75 people rolling chapattis, but that wasn’t enough, they had a chapatti machine. This is the machine of all machines(everyone laughs). I have seen many machines, but this is the first machine that really touched my heart. Amazing! It is in the whole room, this machine! And you just take some dough and you throw it down and the machine does everything else. It cut. It kneads the dough, it cuts the dough, it roles it in to a perfect thing and it goes in to this tunnel with flames in it and the rotis after being thoroughly roled, perfectly, they just are going down this conveyer belt, zoom!! And everyone puffs up, perfectly. This roti machine cooks no less than 6000 chapattis per hour. Hare Krishna! Very nice. It stacks them too. So I was very happy. Very nice technology. No pollution. Just Prasadam. And they are serving. So many people are serving so many people who are coming and keeping it clean. And there is a shoe stall. It is like we have our shoe stall. They have so many people at the shoe stall. Multimillionaires from Toronto sitting next to peasant villagers from Punjab. They are sitting and just doing menial service. With their hands, they are just taking people’s shoes. They not only take it, but when you give them the shoes and then they polish it. They wash it and polish it. Whether you have leather shoes or plastic sandals and when you come back for your shoes, they give you the shoes very reverentially and humbly. And there are people leading Kirtans. It is 24 hours a day.(someone speaks) Maharaj says, “what did he say? It is 20 hours a day, they have Kirtan, non-stop, 3 people each time, 2 hour shifts and there is never a gap. 20 hours of Kirtan a day, 3 people each chanting and hundreds of people cleaning, cleaning, everywhere you go. I tell you anywhere you go in that complex and you throw anything on the ground, within 2 minutes it is going to be picked up, no question and washed. But what impressed me the most is that not one single person gets paid 1 paisa. It is all voluntary. All voluntary. It is all selfless. People come and amongst the gurudwarams this is the basic policy throughout the world. But especially in the Golden temple, people come from all over the world and they come to do selfless service. They come to do service without getting anything material in return. That’s the greatest honour and fortune. They come to the temple not to enjoy, but to serve. They come thousands of miles to do menial service. They come and besides doing chanting and reading scriptures, they are all day sweeping and washing and cleaning shoes. I was inspired. I was thinking, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the basis of Srimad Bhagavatam took this principle of selfless service and developed it to the highest and most perfect level of perfection. Now even in this world, to the degree I was service to another, ahaituki apratihata, without motivation and uninterrupted, it is satisfying to be loved, must mean we have our own personal pleasure and interst. Love means selfless. The souls service to God. Srila Prabhupada explained the closest thing to Pure love in this world is the love of a Mother for a baby child. Because what does the mother get from the baby child. Sometimes I happen to see, what does the mother get from the baby child, kicked in the face. How many mothers have been kicked in the face by her child. Every mother. Yes! I do not remember me kicking my mother’s face, but I know I did.(everyone laughs). The tradition of all babies, kicked in the face, crying. Babies love to cry. I do not know whether they love to cry, but they cry anyway (everyone laughs) and how they cry? Ooooooohhhawwwww! Sometimes all night long and there are useless mothers too who just lock the door and let it cry. But a loving mother will, stop crying please! Ooooooohhhawwwww Please! Please! Please! Ooooooohhhawwwww! Service! And what else does the baby give the mother? Stool! Babies passing stool all the time and babies passing urine all the time! And the mother has to change. The loving mother does it herself. Changing, touching, smelling. That’s what the baby gives. Everynow and then the baby won’t smile like this. But even when they smile, the mother has to give so much to give that little bit of smile. So a mother’s selfless service to the child. Getting nothing in return. The mother’s happiness is in seeing the child happy. Nothing else. If the child is happy and protected, that is the child’s satisfaction. Not what the child is giving to me. But if the child, that’s love! My happiness is the object of my loves happiness. If this child is blissful and smiling with eyes tinkling and ma! Ma! Ma! Ma! Then I am happy. Because the child is happy. Selfless! But when that selfless attitude of service is directed towards God, then it becomes transcendental. It enters in to the spiritual platform and that is the perfection of life. Unmotivated, uninterrupted service to the Lord. And Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he took this principle and developed it to the highest spiritual perfection. The love of the Gopis in Vrindavan, the most perfect, complete spiritual love and he taught all of his followers to follow in the footsteps of the Vraj Gopis. How much are we really following? We may have to earn a living outside. Brahmacaris, they simply must be sold out. Nothing in return. Just let me serve. In the previous ages if the Guru did not throw a chapatti to the disciple, the disciple would fast. Gurus are not so good at throwing chapattis so they just have certain times to eat Prasad. That is the principle. The principle has to be applied according to time, place and circumstance. The brahmacaris are simply for the service of Guru, vaishnavas and Krishna. There is nothing else in their life. Grhastas, they have husbands, they have wives and they may have children. And if you have husband and wife and children, then you have to have a place to live and then you have to have food and then you may have to pay for medical expenses and then you may have to pay for educational expenses and to do all that you have to work. So many considerations that cannot be avoided, but as far as possible, we should be always be praying for and searching with great enthusiasm for the opportunities of selfless service without asking for anything in return.

Srila Prabhupada was an example. He taught his little son, Abhay in this way. He would be out working. He was a cloth merchant. But what type of selfless service he rendered. He loved his child. He wanted Abhay to get the impression of loving God from his earliest childhood and throughout his life. That’s love. Every single morning, Abhay, little boy, he would wake up to the aarti bell and he would see his father offering aarti and his mother singing. They would both be singing kirtan together to their deities of Radha Govinda. Every morning, that’s how he woke up. He saw his mother and father chanting japa, performing aarti for the deities, making offerings of bhoga to the deities. That was his impression. He did not wake up seeing his family watching television or reading newspapers. He didn’t wake up seeing his family drinking a cup of coffee and running off to work. He woke up seeing his family performing pooja and sewa of the lord. Everyday, aarti, kirtan, japa and then in the evening, father went to work. That’s part of life. In Grhasta aashram, you have to go to work and he worked hard. But when he came home, what did he do? He and wife would make wonderful preparations and they would invite sadhus. Every night they invited sadhus and they served the sadhus. And what do sadhus give you in return. Sometimes, they give you a hard time. They were just serving, serving, serving, nothing material coming back and the only thing, Gaur Mohan De ever asked from those sadhus was that bless my son so that he might be become a pure loving devotee of Srimati Radharani. That is the only thing that he asked in return. That is selfless service. So you see that Srila Prabhupada taught us in this way. A grhasta may have to work, but so much of their life as much as possible should be selfless service, without desire for prestige, without desire for fame, without desire for promotion or benefits of this world. Simply the desire to satisfy the desires of Guru, Krishna and the Vaishnavas. Haridas Pundit, that was his special feature. His life and soul was simply to satisfy the Vaishnavas. So when we come to temple, if we really want to get most benefit, we must come to the temple to render menial, selfless service. Then we really access divine mercy. We are not sectarian. In this sense of the Golden temple, we can take Gold from a Golden place. What I saw there was very much inaction on a certain level. What we should be doing? Not what If I do this, then what will I get from it? But I will do this because I will get purified through the process. There is nothing greater than purification. I will do this because it gives satisfaction to Krishna. It gives satisfaction to Krishna when we please his devotees. Infact Krishna does not accept anything except unconditional love. That is why, unless we have unconditional love, we must serve Krishna through the spiritual master and the Vaishnavas, through parampara, because by their blessings, by their mercy, by their orders, Krishna will accept the service that we are rendering, even though it is not perfect. But it pleases Krishna to that extent. This is the essence of real religion. Selfless love is the essence of every great spiritual path. To love God and the Srimad Bhagavatam culture has given the most full, rich, complete comprehension of love of God, in the most intimate rasas of Vrindavan, santya rasa, dasya rasa, sakhya rasa, vatsalya rasa and madhurya rasa. But we can’t imitate, we cannot enter any of these spiritual rasas until in this world we learn the spirit of selfless service to the lord. And what a wonderful all attractive temple, all of our temple would be, if people in the temple and people of the whole congregation were coming as much as possible just to render service with nothing accepted except the blessings of the Guru and the Vaishnavas. How beautiful life would be. How happy, how ecstatically happy Krishna consciousness life would be, if we can all strive for that mood. Selfless service automatically means no politics, no envy, no diplomacy. We have all time to push each other up and stay down. Let everyone else be glorified and let me serve them. That’s the spiritual world. Unless we develop that attitude in this world, we are not fit to go back to Godhead. That is why Caitanya Mahaprabhu made it so clear and precise ‘Trinad api sunicena, Taror iva sahisnuna, amaannina maanadena, kirtaniya sada hari’ to be more humble than a blade of grass, to be more tolerant than a tree, ready to offer all respects to others and to expect none in return and in this spirit to chant Krishna’s holy name, and when we live by this principle, then, then we can go to the next stage, Na dhanam na janam na sundarim, kavitam va jagdish kamaye, mama janmani janmanishvare, bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi. You can’t jump over Trinad api sunicena and go to Na dhanam na janam. As we realize Trinad api sunicena, we can enter in to unmotivated service to the Lord and then from that point of total humility and unmotivated service, then the ecstatic symptoms of love of God begin to manifest in our hearts and our bodies as well. It is in this spirit that we want to cultivate, taking shelter of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda and then approaching Sri Vrindavan Dham as we chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, ‘HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE, HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Srila Prabhupada ki jai.

Thank you very much.

Now with your permission we will perform Harinaam Sankirtan