What is Our Goal and How to Reach It
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · New York · 2019
Chapters
Invocation prayers and opening remarks
Namah Vishnu-padaya Krishna-prishthaya bhutale Srimate Bhaktiwedanta Swami-nitinamine Namaste Saraswati Devi Gaura-vani-pracharine nirvisesha-sunyavadi paschatya-desa-tarine pancha-kalpa-tarubhyas
kripa-sindubhyas eva patitanam pawanebhyo Vaishnavebhyo namo namaha Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda Sri Advaita Gadadhara Sivas Gaura-bhakta-vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna
Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Ajanu-lambita-bhujau kanaka-vadatau sankirtanaika-pitarau kamalayatakshau viswambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-palau vande jagat-priya-karau karunavatarau
idam sthanam pravishya mama vacham imam prashuptam sandjīvayati akhila shakti-dharan svanam anyam asta-charana shravanat tvag-adhim pranannam bhagavate purushaya tubhyam svastyastu vishvasya
kalah prasidatam dyantu bhutani shivam mitho dhiyas cha bhadram bhajatata dokshaj avishhetam no matir appya
So first of all, I would like to thank Dhanardharmaharaj for inviting me here for this program and all of you for coming.
In the beginning, I would like to beg forgiveness from you for any uh inconsistency or whatever I may uh say. But I will try in the mood of service to Maharaj to speak something.
And this very elevated topic, which is difficult to speak about, because in order to speak about something, you have to realize this. And I definitely cannot claim myself that I realized the goal.
But for my own purification, it's extremely important for us to be reminded about the goal. We all know and we all use in our cars this GPS system, which is global positioning system.
And in global positioning system, first of all, you have to understand where you are. Right? Before making the route, you have to know where you are. Without knowing where you are, you cannot make the route.
So that's sambandha-jnana. Sambandha-jnana is the knowledge about your nature, where I am, who I am. That's the starting point of our journey.
Why we have to be so firmly established in this sambandha-jnana, because otherwise the goal will be flimsy, it will not be really fixed. And then for global positioning system, you need to go the goal.
Basically, in this global positioning system, you need to go where you are, what is the goal, and then it will show you the route, and it will also show you the obstacles on the route.
It's a common Vedic knowledge that to achieve the goal you need to know who you are, the sambandha-jnana, you need to know the goal, you need to know the process or the route by which you have to go and you need to know the obstacles on the way.
I remember once in Germany we were driving and there was GPS and we were in a hurry to reach to the airport.
And this stupid GPS would always bring us to the place where the road was blocked because some work was going on. And as much as we wanted to go some other route, the GPS says, no, go this way.
So this GPS didn't know the obstacles. So these four things should be known, and that's called GPS, which means Guru Parampara system.
That's so Guru has to really clearly understand who you are, what is the starting point.
Establishing the ultimate goal of life
Where we are starting our journey, where we should reach what is the route to this goal and what are the obstacles on the way. And the second point is prayojana.
Usually we say some banda abhideya prayojana, but uh to really understand what is abhideya or what is the means, what is the root, you have to know the goal first.
Because especially in the modern culture, in the modern culture, this is the culture where people don't know the goal but are very good in establishing the means. They always answer the question: how?
You know, how to reach the moon. Not why to reach the moon, but how to reach the moon. That we can solve. Why? That's a big mystery, you know.
People usually don't really know why they're doing something, but uh they're very good at determining how they do something.
Therefore, it's extremely essential for us to always be reminded again and again and again what is our goal. And goal, uh it's synonymous to the meaning.
You know, if we are to find out the meaning of our life, it means we should know the goal. Because the goal and the meaning is the same. If you don't know the goal, it means that you have no meaning.
And you know there is this funny story in Alice in the Wood Wonderland when she first you know gets there in this Wonderland and she sees this cat, she has Cheshire Cat and she asked her Cheshire Cat and she sees few roads going and she says, which road should I go? And the cat says, you know, depending on what your goal is. And she says, I don't know what my goal is. And then he says, then you can take any road, no problem.
It's common sense, but very often people lacking the common sense is not so common nowadays.
And therefore, these teachings of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu about the means and the goal, sadya and sadhana. The sadya comes first, the goal comes first, then only sadhana.
Therefore, when they met with Ramanander Oichaitani Mahaprabhu asked his question, please quote me this logo about sadhana, not about no, sorry, about sadhya, about the goal of life. What should be the goal of life?
And of course, the goal of life is entirely dependent on who we are, because depending on who we are, of correct understanding of who we are, the goal will be different. So this is the little
introduction to this uh very difficult topic of the goal of life,
Lessons from Raghunatha dasa Goswami's life
but again, uh even though it's difficult, uh we have to be reminded again and again what is the what is the goal of life.
And Ragunath Das Gaswami is our praying acharya in his life is teaching us how to be established in the goal and how ultimately we can reach the goal.
When great liberated souls come to this world to perform their pastimes in this world they do it with a purpose to teach us.
Sometimes of course we glorify them, they are great liberated souls, but even though they are great liberated souls, they still undergo the same process to teach us what we are supposed to do in our life.
And therefore, usually their lives are difficult.
Sometimes you may ask why Prabhupada's life was so difficult. Why Krishna didn't arrange his glorious triumph earlier in life, why he had to undergo so many difficulties to teach us.
And in a similar way, Sanatana Gaswami's life, Rupa Gaswami's life, and especially the life of Ragunat Das Gaswami was full of difficulties.
And the first difficulty was that he was born in a very rich family. That was the first problem which he encountered.
It was uh I mean it was not easy, believe me, to you know to be born in a middle class family it's okay but to be born in a very rich family it's a hell because uh he was so cherished,
you know, his father and his uncle were very rich people, so much so that they had an income, unbelievable income - 2 million gold coins a month. It's not 2 million dollars a month, which would be not bad either.
It's gold coins, it's not this, you know, paper little paper things, which is called dollars. It's two million gold coins. When Ragunad, there is a description, then when Ragunad das Goswami, little boy,
wanted to go out for walking, there were three palanquins waiting for him. Why three palankins?
Because there were three doors in the house, so that each and they didn't know which door he would exit the house. So by each door there was a palanquin waiting for him.
And when he would say I want to walk, they say, no, you cannot. You're a prince. You have to use a palanquin. It's not easy to be an heir of very rich family.
Receiving the blessing of material detachment
He was very restricted in all his activities, but there was one blessing in his life. And that's the first lesson which he is to teach us how to reach the goal.
When he was only he was actually he was some 8 years younger than Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So when he was maybe 6 years old or 5 years old.
Nearby, in the same village, Adi Saptagram, where his parents were living and he lived in a beautiful mansion.
There were two very pious and religious and devoted brāhmaṇas living, Yadunanda Ācārya, who later will become his guru, and Balarāmācārya. Balarāmācārya is a disciple of Haridāsa Ṭhākura.
Even though he is a brāhmaṇa himself, he accepted Haridāsa Ṭhākura as his spiritual master, which in itself speaks something about his level of advancement.
To accept a Muslim in that strict Hindu society at that time as a guru and by a brāhmaṇa that's something unheard of. So and he was living nearby, and he was a good friend with the parents of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī.
And when Haridāsa Ṭhākura came to visit him, he begged him to stay in his house for some time. He built a little cottage for Haridāsa Ṭhākura.
And Haridāsa Ṭhākura, who was a very poor person, only had his loincloths. He was living in this cottage which was big enough to sit. And he was always chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.
And he chanted three hundred thousand names a day, which took all of his time. Three hundred thousand uh names means uh uh one So he was chanting all the time. And he would not eat before he chanted his quota.
Every day he was just first things first. That's the slogan, right? So first he sings first. First, he would chant his 192 rounds, and then he would eat a little bit in the evening. And in this way, he spent his life.
So, Balarāmācārya, please listen, that's very important.
He came to Govardhana Majumadāra, father of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, and he said, There is a very nice saintly person, and he's living nearby, and I want that he would bless your son.
And of course, they are very pious people, and they know very well that the well-being of a person entirely is entirely dependent on the blessings of saintly people. And Govardhan Majumdar he became very excited.
He said, Yes, that's exactly what I want.
I want my little son to be blessed by this saintly person because the saintly person can give you long life, can give you health, can give you by his blessings, can give you wealth, can give you so many things.
So the father of Raghunath das Goswami arranged you know very rich gifts for this saintly person, silken clothes and you know, rice and gold and everything. And he sends his little boy together with these gifts
to the house of Balaramacharya where Haridas Thakur lives.
And then Balaramacharya comes and says, So my dear spiritual master, Guru Maharaj, please come out, see. There are some nice gifts given for you by one nice person, Govardhan Majumdar.
And Haridas Thakur comes out and he sees all these things and he starts laughing. And he starts laughing and laughing. He just couldn't contain himself because he found it so funny. He thought, why do I need this?
What, what will I do with all this stuff? What is the use of all this silken clothes and everything else when I can live without this. And then and then Balaramacharya, he shows this little boy, Raghunath das Goswami.
He points out and he says this is the son of this rich person who sent to you all these gifts. And please bless him.
And Haridas Thakur looks at little Raghunath das Goswami, who is little Raghunath at that time, very cute little boy. He looks at him, he says, Oh yeah, I will bless him. Let him be detached. So that was his blessings.
And that's actually the beginning of his spiritual journey. Because when we are too attached, when we have hope, Ceaseless hope to be happy in this material world. There is no question of having real spiritual journey.
I see this little slogan on the wall. May the bridge, I burn, light the way. So that's exactly what happened at this particular junction in Little boy's life and he was blessed by a great saint. May you be detached.
May you burn all the bridges and the fire of these bridges would light your way.
So and when they came back with Balaramacharya came back with this little boy to Govardhan Majumdar. Govardhan Majumdar asked, And he said, yes, he blessed him. What was his blessing? And he said, his blessing was that your son will own the whole world.
And of course Govardhan Majumdar he looked at his brother and he said, Did you hear this? We only own this little village and our son will own the whole world. And you can only own the whole world if you're detached.
If you're detached, that the whole world belongs to you. So since that time receiving the blessings of Śrīdāsa Ṭhākura, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī his behavior completely changed.
He developed very strong spiritual desires and he started chanting. Because you actually can start chanting only by the blessings of a saint.
This little boy, he started always chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Hare Hare.
First meeting with Caitanya Mahaprabhu
You know, it's uh it's a nice thing to receive a blessing of Haridāsa Ṭhākura. It's it's not an ordinary thing. So, and then what happened when uh when Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was 12 years old. He became a teenager.
And he's you know growing up in a very
And he's you know growing up in a very he wanted uh so much uh you know he was well wisher of the whole family and especially for this heir of the family, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, he again came to Govardhan Majumdar, his father, and he says, you know, there is an amazing saint now staying for a few days in Shantipur. And your son has to go and see him.
And this amazing saint was, of course, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. After receiving sannyāsa, he was tricked by Nityānanda Prabhu. And Nityānanda Prabhu brought him again to Bengal to Śāntipura where he was staying.
And Balarāmācārya, by all means, knowing that the blessings of Haridāsa Ṭhākura there are upon the head of Raghunātha, he wanted him to meet Lord Caitanya himself.
So the palanquins were there ready, the servants were there, the whole procession went to Shantipur from Adi Saptagram, which is maybe one one day journey uh not far away uh upstreams uh no downstreams actually of Ganges Ganga uh so, or maybe upstreams. Yeah, upstreams.
And when they came and when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for the first time saw Ragunat, he became so pleased with him. And he also gave him blessings. He said, May you obtain Lord Krishna.
May Lord Krishna come into your heart and catch your attention. And that was another lesson which Ragunat Das
Gaswami is teaching us. First, you have to get the blessings of the saint, and after getting the blessings of the saint, you will get the blessings of Lord Himself. Lord Chaitanya Himself becomes pleased with you.
What happened with Ragunat? Ragunat became so humble, naturally humble. Usually, when you're born in such a rich environment, you are naturally proud. But Ragunat was painfully, painfully humble.
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu saw his humility, and humility, as
we will see again, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will give him his personal instruction and he will say that humility is the prerequisite condition to be engaged in bhajan.
Because unless you're humble, you cannot really concentrate your mind on your goal. To be fixed in the goal you have to have certain qualities and the main
quality is of course the peacefulness of the mind, but the peacefulness of the mind and humility are inseparable. If you are proud, you're always disturbed. Did you notice?
I notice because I'm always proud, so and therefore, I'm always disturbed. If you're proud, you're always very sensitive. Who speaks about you what?
Who, you know, who praises you, who doesn't praise you, who kind of you know diminishes your prestige or whatever it is. But if you're humble, you are peaceful because you don't care. What do they speak?
Do they speak praise or do they condemn you? You don't care really. You know, all their praises and condemnation just miss the target the target because you're so small.
You know, if you're big, it's very easy to hit the target because you're so big. If your ego is big, it's just, and ego is usually when it's big, it's very sensitive, you know.
If you touch the ego, it's explosion is there. You cannot really concentrate your mind if you're proud. No way, no way, no way. You will always be disturbed. And Chaitanya Prabhu saw this.
And moreover, Balaramacharya, through his connections, he arranged remnants of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's food to be given to Ragunat Das Goswami. Little Ragunath who was 12 years old, and when he took the food which was the remnants of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he fainted.
He just he lost his consciousness because the effect was so powerful and so profound upon his heart and his consciousness. So he didn't want to leave Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
He stayed there one day, two days, three days, and then his father became worried. Why he's not coming back? He's sending another, you know, gang of ten people saying, you know, you bring uh you bring my son back.
And they come and they see Caitanya Mahāprabhu and they take part in his kīrtana.
Every night in the house of Advaita Ācārya, the kīrtanas was there. And all these people will take part in the kīrtana and they didn't want to leave.
So this party which was sent to get Ragunat back, they would stay in Shantipur and they didn't come back. So he would send another party and another party and he sent a lot and uh yeah and nobody came back.
He thought what's going on there it's this black hole you know I'm sending somebody nobody comes out so he decides to go himself. He goes uh to Shantipur himself and he sees crowds of
because at that time all the people from Navadvīpa came to see Caitanya Mahāprabhu who received sannyas and everyone is in complete ecstasy.
Everyone is intoxicated out of love of God and they're going, you know, and they're completely mad.
And this Govardhan Majubdar rich person, he goes and he just you know, can you imagine to be in a crowd of completely drunken people drunken with the love of God, you know, and he he becomes really worried, he doesn't know what to expect.
And what happens with his little son? Ultimately he comes and he sees Lord Caitanya and he himself doesn't want to leave. He himself says, okay, you know, I I need to get my son, but I don't want to leave from here.
Anyway, for some time they stayed, and uh that was of course the big mistake on the part of Govardhan Majumdar.
Because from that day on his son, you know, when when the day when they came back to the house from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and he was sleeping with his wife and Ragunath Dasgoswami, young boy, twelve years old, and his room, the Govardhan Majamdar hears a sound at night.
And he doesn't know what to do. He takes his sword and he runs to the sound. And he calls his servants.
And he sees his little son is trying to open the window to run away from home. And since that time, practically every night Ragunat wanted to run from home.
You know, sometimes he would sleep, but most of the nights he wanted to uh escape from home because his longing to see Caitanya Mahāprabhu was so strong. He, he couldn't understand, what am I doing here?
This amazing person who is uh who is in complete bliss of love of God is nearby, somewhere in Jagannātha Purī. What am I doing here? I'm wasting my life. What am I doing here in New York?
You know, he's he's there, I have to run. I really have to run there. What is the use of my life if I'm just—I'm just rotting here?
Internal detachment versus artificial renunciation
So his longing was so strong that ultimately you know the guards were there, twelve guards were there day and night guarding him, and he's still trying to run away.
Of course, even before that he was trying to run away, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu told him, you stay home, you know, you don't be crazy. Time will come. Actually, no, that was the second meeting. So six years passed.
Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī is 18 years old. His mother, because she was so worried that he is completely detached from the world, she decided that let him get married.
And they brought a beautiful wife to him who was beautiful and obedient and you know, she was not American. She wasn't Bengali wife. It's a different species of life. She was very obedient and very nice and knew
how to cook. And still he was running away, still he was running.
Ultimately his mother became so desperate, she—she came to the father and she said, Let's chain our son, Because despite all these guards, he's still running.
And the father, because he knows—the father knows, father himself saw Caitanya Mahāprabhu, so he kind of wants to run himself. He's in the same condition.
He said, uh, you want to chain him? We already brought the best chain.
It is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, mithunīkaraṇa, that the—the best chains in this world is the chain of attachment between men and male and female, between men and women.
You know, we brought the best chain. And he still is not, you know, what what else do you expect? You know, he he's just sick. Uh, and his disease is not going to get better
because he's not going to get better because this is love of God and it's incurable. You know, it's there, it will stay with him. He has seen Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
And when the six years passed and again Caitanya Mahāprabhu returns to Shantipur. Six or seven, seven years passed.
After six years, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was traveling in South and then he came back to Puri, had Rathayatra there, and then he wanted to go to Vrindavan, but he took the route through Bengal and he came back to Māyāpur ultimately.
And when Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī heard that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is nearby, he fell down flat in front of his father and he started crying. He said, Please, please, my father, I want to see him again.
Maybe in my whole life I will never see him again. Please allow me to see him. And the father, because father also has seen Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he says, okay, you go. But he gives him hundred people to guard him and
Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī says I I I swear to you I will not run away I'll just I just need to see Caitanya Mahāprabhu just one more time, only one more time.
And when young Raghunātha, who is 18 years old, 19 years old at that time, comes to Shantipur and sees Lord Caitanya again. Lord Caitanya looks at his face. And he immediately knows everything, what's going on in his heart.
And he points out at him and he says, don't be crazy. Stay at home. Because now you're trying to do it artificially. You're artificially trying to renounce everything. It's not going to work.
When the Lord will be pleased with you, now you're trying to force yourself into spiritual life. But actually you can only receive spiritual life and you obtain the blessings of the Lord.
So then everything you will be released. It's basically this is another very important teachings for us.
You know, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, he considered his house as a prison and his wife as a chain and gold and everything. So he really considered the whole situation as hellish as in the prison,
and we are all in a prison house of māyā. And sometimes we try to escape, right?
Sometimes we think we will escape now, we will give up job, we will go somewhere, we will and do and then Caitanya Mahāprabhu at that point points out at us and says, Don't be crazy. First get the blessings of the Lord, then the prison house of māyā will, the doors of the prison house will open themselves.
It's like when Nanda Mahārāja, when he was in prison, and when Krishna was born, and he took his son, little son Krishna, on his lap, on his arms, and he came to the prison. The prison opened, and all the guards were sleeping.
So and case of Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, exactly the same thing was going on. He was trying to escape, it didn't work.
But Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave him this instruction. He says, it will work when you get the blessings of the Lord. And how you get the blessings of the Lord?
You can only get the blessings of the Lord by getting the blessings of the spiritual master. So, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, but he comes back. He doesn't even want to enter the house. Now he sleeps outside.
All the time when he was still living at home, he didn't want to enter the house. And his mother became hysterical. She didn't know what to do, how to deal with this boy. And his father gave up already. There's no chance.
No chance he will stay at home. So just to please his wife, he was still trying to guard Raghunātha, but he knew that sooner or later it will happen. And what happened one year after?
But when he came back from actually when he came back from Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he stopped running from house, from the home. He was living outside of house, living, but he's trying to develop internal detachment.
The problem is that we uh sometimes when we get this initial detachment, we want immediately to express it externally. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, don't do it.
I remember in the beginning when the Krishna consciousness movement started in Russia, people were doing crazy things.
You know, I very much can relate to this statement of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, don't be crazy, because I've seen so many crazy things.
One boy who became a devotee, next day he comes to his house, he takes his bathtub and he throws the bathtub out of the balcony because this bathtub is his the the you know the bath where you in the bathroom you know he he just throws it out of the balcony because that's his main attachment, his main material attachment.
So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says you develop some internal spirit of detachment.
It's not uh it doesn't have to be expressed externally because when you try to express it externally, uh it will take some crazy shapes and forms.
Try to first develop it and then everything will be arranged accordingly in your external environment. Extiliam the environment we are living in now is the reflection of our inner situation.
If the inner situation changes, the external environment also will change. We shouldn't blame the external environment. External environment is but a reflection of everything which is there internally in our heart.
And Raghunatha dasa Goswami, therefore, he stopped running out of house. And for one year he was living very peacefully, but didn't enter the house, of course, but still.
The Panihati chipped rice festival pastime
And mother was somewhat pacified, and everything was peaceful.
And then, of course, this līlā comes, which Maharaj announced in the beginning, the Panihati līlā, which is an extremely instructive element or the episode of Raghunatha dasa Goswami's life.
He hears that nearby Sri Nityananda Prabhu with his associates are coming. And this is a, you know, madman's party. Nityananda Prabhu's crazy kīrtana.
And Raghunatha dasa Goswami says, My dear father, can I see and visit this Nityananda Prabhu, who is the associate of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu?
And Nityananda Prabhu still the platform where he was sitting is still there. It's in Panihati on the bank of Ganga of the river Ganges. And you know the kīrtana is going on.
Nityananda Prabhu is surrounded with his 12 Gopālas, his associates who are cowherd boys. And they're having picnic there. Nityananda Prabhu said, I'm a cowherd boy and I like to have picnic on the bank of the river.
So the, you know, they're exchanging, the kīrtana was there, they're eating. And then Raghunatha dasa Goswami is coming from afar and standing humbly and looking at Nityananda Prabhu from far away.
And somebody notices him and points out to Nityananda Prabhu, here is Raghunatha there praying to you. He's far away. And Nityananda Prabhu looks at him and says, You're a thief. Come here. Why he calls him thief?
Because who is the thief? Thief is somebody who wants to steal. Something which belongs to another owner.
What Raghunatha does Goswami, not dasa Goswami at that point yet, but just Raghunatha wants to steal, he wants to steal the lotus feet of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Whose lotus feet of Caitanya Mahāprabhu belong to? To Nityananda Prabhu. So he sees him, he points out and says, You're a thief. Because you can only get the treasure of the direct service to the Lord if you get the blessings of the spiritual master.
Nityananda Prabhu is the representative of the spiritual master. He has to give you blessings first and therefore Nityananda Prabhu chastises him jokingly.
And Raghunath das Goswami pays obeisances to him and he says, you should be duly punished. You have to be punished. You have to be sentenced. No, no, he didn't say this. Because he knows he's already sentenced.
He said, you have to feed tomorrow you have to make a feast for all the Vaishnavas and you know there's a lot of Vaishnavas around Nityananda Prabhu. And usually when the feast is there those who are not Vaishnavas they also come, especially in India.
But funny enough, here is the son of the richest man of the time who can afford elaborate feasts. Nityananda Prabhu says, give them just cheap rice in yogurt and milk.
And cheap rice is the cheapest thing which is there. It's the beggar's food.
What he actually wants to say by this pastime is that it's not important what you do. You don't have to impress anyone by your quote-unquote devotion. What is important is the heart with which you are doing it.
He doesn't say make it elaborate arrangements, 12 course feast. He says, give them cheap rice, but to everyone, so that everyone would be pleased.
And they have this funny dahi festival in the bank of Ganga, you know, where the rows and rows and thousands of people come and all the shopkeepers they know that something is going on.
And you know all the banana sellers and yogurt sellers and cheap rice sellers, they're all there. And Raghunath das Goswami says, I'm buying everything. All the supply. Everyone is happy. First, shopkeepers are happy.
They must be happy. They must be pleased first. And then all the Vaishnavas are there. And Nityananda Prabhu is there. And Raghunath das Goswami very humbly is going in rows and he's just serves prasadam to everyone.
Just bananas and yogurt and milk and cheap rice. And everyone is so happy and everyone is blessing
uh Raghunath das Goswami. And ultimately, Nityananda Prabhu who is sitting there, he is begging internally in his heart and praying. And he is invoking the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
And because Nityananda Prabhu is so powerful, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally comes there and sits next to Nityananda Prabhu.
Because when Nityananda Prabhu asked arrangement, he asked, please put eight pots here. Everyone had two pots one pot with yogurt, one pot with condensed milk and chipped rice.
But Nityananda Prabhu asked eight pots because he knew Caitanya Mahāprabhu would come also. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu comes and not many people see him, only
closest associates of Caitanya Mahāprabhu see Caitanya or Nityananda Prabhu see uh Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī sees how Caitanya Mahāprabhu in person comes there and eats.
And when everything is finished uh Nityananda Prabhu calls waves the hand and calls Ragunath and he says here's some remnants and he gives the remnants of Caitanya Mahāprabhu to Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī.
So and then the next day Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī comes to Nityananda Prabhu, falls at his feet and says, please bless me. I need your blessings. I want to be near Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I cannot live without this.
I cannot live without this goal, without the possibility of seeing him, without being near him. He's so uh and he's so sincere and Nityananda Prabhu he blesses him. He says, uh he he looks at the Vaishnaves and he
says, you know, I bless you and you please all bless Raghunātha dāsa.
And of course, the main teaching here is that you can only be released from the prison house of māyā if you get the blessings of the spiritual master and his associates. Spiritual master is never alone.
And if you love spiritual master, it means that you have to love his family, his close disciples and friends and everything. Like Krishna. Krishna is never alone. Krishna is always with his associates.
It's Jīva Gosvāmī's comment on anyābhilāṣitā-śūnya verse where he says that when we say Krishna, it means all his associates, not just Krishna alone. It means Vraja-dhāma and it means everything.
So Nityananda Prabhu he uh you know he blessed him and all the associates of Nityananda Prabhu blessed him. And just a few days after he is released miraculously. But how he is released is also very interesting.
Because his initiating spiritual master, Nityānanda Prabhu, is his śikṣā-guru. His blessings are powerful, but his initiating spiritual master is Yadunanda Nacharya, his priest.
Escaping material attachments for Jagannatha Puri
And his initiating spiritual master is instrumental for his release. What happened in the life of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī when he came back from this meeting with Nityananda Prabhu and started
living as usually at one point his guru Yadunandana Ācārya comes and it's late at night. And he says, I need you. He says, Yes, I'm ready to do something. And he says, I have a problem.
You know, I'm worshipping this deity, and uh the Pujari wants to run away. He doesn't want to listen to me. He doesn't want to do his service. I need you to tell him. It's interesting.
Why Yadunandana Ācārya needs Raghunātha to tell some pujari to do the service? Oh, because Raghunātha is influential, he is rich.
And Yadunandana Ācārya says, yadyad ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tad evetaro janaḥ, whatever big people say, you know, everyone follows. So he comes to Raghunātha and says, you tell him.
And then they're going to this pujari's house and Raghunātha says, you know, you go home. I will you know I will make an arrangement. You don't have to be there.
So Yadunandana Ācārya goes home and Raghunātha does things, that's my chance. And you know nobody saw him in Ādi-saptagrāma since that night. He runs away to Jagannātha Purī.
And usually it takes 20-25 days to walk to Jagannātha Purī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, he's running so quickly that it took him only 12 days to reach Jagannātha Purī from Ādi-saptagrāma. Within 12 days, and it is said that within these 12 days, he ate only three times.
He drank some milk. He's running and running and running. That means how he's fixed in his goal. He just. Everything else is pale. Everything else is lifeless.
You know, it's like this when you when your spirit is awaken and you look around and you see and you see only dead matter around.
You can only feel that you're living when you are in connection with somebody who is living himself, who is not sleeping.
You know, let's say you're s you are somewhere where everyone is sleeping and you are the only one who is awake. And you're going there and everyone is snoring.
And you're going there and you're trying to wake them up, but they're all, you know, practically dead. So you want to be with somebody who is also alive.
You cannot it it's intolerable for you to be in the situation when everyone is practically dead.
So that what happened with Raghunatha dasa Goswami, he's running to Jagannatha Puri and he he's running there because he knows he will meet Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And from Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he gets his goal.
Because to get the goal it's not it's not a question you cannot get the goal from the book. To get the goal, you have to have some experience of the goal.
To be really fixed in the goal, you have to experience how it will be when you reach the goal. Otherwise, the goal will not be firmly established.
You know, you you you will never develop the desire to have a Mercedes car unless, or I don't know what is the car popular here or prestigious here, unless you see somebody who is driving this Mercedes car and you look at him and you kind of identify yourself as him.
So what I want to say is that to really be fixed in the goal, you have to see somebody who is there on the goal, who is already, who already reached the goal.
And you can, by seeing him, you can to a certain extent identify with him.
This process Maharaj mentioned the rasa shastra and the rules of rasa shastra, and actually, the rasa shastra — how the rasa or the experience is being transmitted, this aesthetic experience, how it is transmitted through the media of poetry and drama.
It is transmitted one of the important principles is called
Fixing the goal through sadhu sanga
sadharni-karana. Sadharni-karana means identification with with somebody who is already there.
Like when we watch cinema, when we watch some movie, you know, we actually forget who we are. We literally become the hero of the movie. You know, and we experience to a certain extent, experience what he is experiencing.
So what I want to say is that why Raghunatha dasa Goswami was so fixed in the goal, because he saw the manifestation, the living manifestation of the goal in the person of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
And therefore, he wanted to be there because he knew that when
I go back, you know, I may listen to all these nice lectures and this and that, and I may even get the experience, but then it becomes again uh little hazy and you know, not so strong.
But he says, I'm not yet fixed with the goal. I need to see and to reconfirm that this is my goal again and again and again.
And that's why uh uh in the initial stages of our spiritual development it's very important to associate with people who are more advanced.
Because by associating with them we kind of we understand more uh than just we understand on a logical level.
It's not the logical rational message which we get from their lips when they speak but we get much more and that's why it's so important to see them in person and not just to use the impersonal media of YouTube, you know.
YouTube sādhu-saṅga is not enough. It may not be bad, but still it's not the same. You really have to feel what they feel.
You really have to feel the vibration which is there and then only the goal uh will become relevant to you. If you just read the book you may say yeah it's nice, nice, nice, nice people, cool people.
But it's not your goal. My goal is to have Mercedes car. Because this what I can relate to. I cannot really relate to all this lofty stuff, you know, which is there, love of God, who needs it.
So that's exactly what Raghunatha Dāsa Gosvāmī is teaching us. He is he says, I want to be with Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Even though I cannot speak with him.
He actually he lived you know seventeen or sixteen years near Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He hardly spoke with him few times during this sixteen and seventeen years.
As as Mahārāja was explaining, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was already in his you know last stage he was in Nirjan Bhajan. He hardly saw anyone at that time.
But still he was nearby and he saw people who uh who saw Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He was under the direct guidance of Svarūpa Dāmodara. And actually, every night Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī would spend with Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
And Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was in his āśrama.
Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, he was living in the Saptariṣi Road nearby the temple near Gambira and near the Siddhabaku, little further away towards uh the shore, seashore of uh Jagannath Puri, closer to Svargadvar.
And they were all living Svarūpa Dāmodara. So Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī every night he was waiting for Svarūpa Dāmodara to come back from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And he couldn't sleep.
And uh you know Svarūpa Dāmodara would spend half of the night or bigger portion of the night with Caitanya Mahāprabhu, telling him uh the singing the songs about Krishna and Raghunatha Dāsa Gosvāmī he couldn't sleep, he was meditating on this. What's going on?
And when Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī would come, he would ask him, What was there?
And which mood Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was? What mood he was relishing at that time, which verses he was he was meditating upon and what was the mood.
And in this way he was receiving the same mood as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Therefore he is the prayojanacharya. He is the prayojanācārya because he directly received this mood from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
But Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as I said, a couple of times he met personally
Core spiritual instructions from Caitanya Mahaprabhu
with Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and he gave him personal instructions, which I want to tell you, which is very important for all of us because our topic is the goal, how to reach the goal.
And even though it's only two verses, two short Bengali verses which Caitanya Mahāprabhu told him. But these two verses, they encapsulate the essence of the whole spiritual life.
The essence of the whole spiritual practice and how to reach the goal. Simple thing. Sometimes, you know, we try to make I I don't know how I'm speaking about myself. Sometimes because I have a complicated mind.
I have a scientific background, therefore I need to so sometimes I need to make simple things complicated. But uh but ultimately so therefore I feel so at home here.
Anyway so uh uh when Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was living for some time in Jagannath Puri, he of course met with Chaitanya Prabhu when he came initially after twelve days of running and not eating completely, you know only eyes were burning.
He was skinny, he lost his weight. Caitanya Mahāprabhu very kindly received him and he gave him to Svarūpa Dāmodara, and he said, he will personally instruct you how to reach the goal.
Because actually, to reach the goal uh is very difficult. The goal in yeah, here is difficult part comes.
The goal, according to Gaudiya Vaishnava Siddhanta, is to first of all completely demolish our material identity, which is so strongly established within us. We have so many layers of our identity.
I'm this and that cultural layers, all these layers of karma or layers of conditioning. We're so conditioned. We don't know how much we are conditioned.
You know, so many layers after layers after layers, all these impressions which we accumulated over many, many lifetimes. All the saṁskāras which are there, sometimes deep.
And many times we don't know about the samskaras because they are in subconscious mind. You go to a psychotherapist and he's he starts to undig this. And you know, all of a sudden you remember something which you forgot.
And it's such a strong saṁskāra within your personality. So you have to, and all this is recorded in your brain. Your brain has 80 billion neurons.
And each one of these 80 billion neurons can be connected with 2,000 other neurons. The number of connections which are there in our brain is more than the number of the atoms in this universe.
In every human brain there is more connections, and this all connections is basically the information layer the information which you accumulated over many, many lifetimes. It's all there, it's all memorized.
You think it's simple to be born in New York in you know in 1965 or 86 or whatever it is. No no.
There is a lot of calculation has been going on in the universal computer to bring you in a proper place according to your karma with the proper environment and everything.
So you have first of all you have to erase your material identity. And on the top of it, you have to recreate or create your spiritual identity. How difficult it is. It's not so easy.
And therefore, you need personal association with people and you need so many other conditions. And Ragunadas Gaswami, he starts living there.
And even though Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was directly you go to Svarūpa Dāmodara, and Svarūpa Dāmodara will teach you everything. He still has some doubts. You know, we all know this psychology, human psychology.
I need to be instructed by only by the yeah, by the top guy. You know. If it's some other bhakta you know I know. I don't know. You know, I only Mahabhagavata can instruct me.
And of course nothing else will work, we know because we are so stubborn. But anyway, even Ragunat Das Gaswami to a certain extent had this mentality. So once he approached Swarub Dhamadar Gaswami and he said,
Can you bring me to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? I want to ask him questions. And uh Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī
agrees, and he brings uh Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and uh Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī humbly pays obeisances and then humbly asks, how do I reach the goal? Could you explain to me how to reach the goal?
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he laughs, he smiles, he says, I don't know. I told you to learn everything from Svarūpa Dāmodara. He knows much better than I. But if you want my instructions, then I will give you.
And that's what I wanted to finish the uh the lecture with uh the instructions of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He gives basically uh five-six different instructions, very simple, but at the same time very profound.
First thing he says: Grammy Katha Nasu nibe. Don't hear rumors, don't hear gossip, don't go to the internet because this is where Grammy Katha is now you know found its place.
Because internet is such a rumor mill, it's just, you know, it's so instruction. Why? Because when you hear all the time, and we have special taste for all this Grammy Katha, for all this gossip, what's going on.
And now, of course Grammy Kathau, now they say that the whole world is just one village. Gramya Hatka literally means village talk. And during Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, village was village. Now the whole world is a village.
And the village talk is through this, you know, through this internet, through this net of you know the uh the web of how it's called the the uh so uh and now you get the news from all over the world.
And we somehow rather have special affinity towards this Grammy Katha. We like to hear this, you know. All this bad news, you know, Clinton and Monica Levinsky whatever was there. All this stuff.
And you know how you're going to clean your mind if you always uh fill it up with all this garbage, it's it's a huge it's garbage. There's so much garbage is there. And we have the affinity to this garbage.
We are attracted to this garbage. We like this garbage. And you know, we get it again and again and again. So, how we're supposed to chance 16 rounds, and the rest of the day, we just listen grammy katha.
So, what this 16 rounds of Hare Krishna mantra can do. Therefore, his first instruction, grammy katha nasunibhi. And then the next instruction: Grammy Kathana Kahibe. Don't repeat this.
Which is even more disturbing because this all this news, material news, they disturb our mind but then when we repeat it and we repeat it by adding uh there some spice of our own you know we repeat it with you know we we we add our own garbage to this garbage.
And we reinforce our garbage by by repeating this, you know. We are more or less, we are as I said, the first thing we have to uh layer by layer get rid of all this mm material heritage which we have, karmic heritage.
But how we can hope to do it if if we always do this strange things. Therefore he says Grammy Katana Kahibi, Grammy Katana Sunib, Grammy Katana Nakahibi. Don't don't repeat this thing.
Don't because when re when we repeat and again I don't know about you but I know very well about myself.
When you repeat something about especially some bad news, and uh basically all the news in this world are bad news, there is no good news. There's hardly any good news. It's all it's all bad. It's all n negative.
And then when you repeat this bad news about somebody, uh then i you add the spice of your envy in uh by repeating this. You're adding some envy into the whole thing.
And you're more or less reinforcing the envy in yourself.
And it's the first instruction of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Paramo Nirmatsa Ranam Satam. You can only understand something about Krishna if you are Nirmatsa, if uh if you don't have envy within your heart.
And therefore, it's so important not to speak this because we will never be able to get rid of this envious nature of ours or this competitive nature which is there in us. It will only be again and again reinforced by all this sadhana of repeating the worldly news.
Why do you do we want to speak about this? Because it's so nice, it's such a nectar to speak about this. It's this nindā-kathā. Nindā-kathā means the kathā of blaspheming others. It's uh it's nectar, it's Amrita.
Um of course it's it's a joke. If you didn't understand that and
then she says don't eat very rich food, don't try to show up by uh putting uh nice clothes because again you are kind of you know uh trying to show up your material identity or you blow up your pride by all this stuff and uh you're
getting this courage to do bhajan, you have to be concentrated, the mind should be clear should be clean. He says that the m uh you know to to worship God you have to have clean mind.
To have uh clean mind you have to have clean food. Because food uh is the you know it's uh it
transmits the energy which is there, and if it's tamasik, then it's not you, your mind cannot be concentrated. Your mind will be distracted.
We all know we sit to meditate on Krishna and you know two milliseconds later by meditating on something else. We had this determination: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Ram Ram.
But before we finish one mantra, we're already thinking about something else. Because we have 80 billion neurons. And they all want to talk with each other.
You know, neurons are you know they're chatting with each other's constantly in our head. And uh and therefore, you know, he said, don't be proud. And then then this is the next instruction. Don't be proud. Amanimanada.
And respect everyone. Why? Again, because only in this way you will be peaceful.
If you are proud and if you don't respect other people, if you're always envious about other people and you disrespect them, the mind will always be disturbed. No way. And then only. then two more instructions. Simple.
First don't spread this grāmya-kathā. Don't hear, don't uh don't speak. Don't eat too rich food and you know respect everyone, be peaceful in this way.
And not expect any respect means basically also whatever happens with you, you accept it gratefully. You know, humility and gratitude is the same thing. You cannot be grateful if you're proud.
When you're proud, you cannot really express gratitude. But when you're humble, you're ready to say thank you to everyone and to be grateful. This is all the rules to how to make your mind peaceful.
And then he says, chant Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare. Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Hare.
And if you chant Hare Krishna in this mind, completely concentrated, that immediately you will have an experience.
That Hare Krishna mantra will change your consciousness in itself because you are concentrated on the sound of Hare Krishna mantra. And because it has the power. And when we are distracted, then it loses its power.
And especially when we are offensive, when we are proud and therefore offensive, not respectful to others. And then and then he says, and then the last instruction. Always think about Rādhā and Krishna in your heart. Yeah.
That's the ultimate instruction. That's the goal. And uh but you can only do this if you follow this whole procedure.
You can only really think about Rādhā and Krishna in your heart if you follow all these other instructions and chant the holy name in a humble state of mind.
And then when you chant Hare Krishna, think about Rādhā and Krishna, you will not be in this world, you will be in the spiritual world. By the means of this līlā, you will be transported there.
Meditation on Radha and Krishna
And of course, you know this is a little pastime which I will uh tell Tell and finished the whole thing.
You know, this this pastime happened when Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī already went to Vṛndāvana and he was meditating on Rādhā and Krishna, and once he became really sick. And he was eating little buttermilk every second day.
And he became sick.
And Vithalnath Tivari, very influential Vaishnava of the day, son of Vallabhacharya, who was a very good friend with Raghunatha dasa Goswami. Raghunatha dasa Goswami sometimes he would stay in his home. And they were good friends.
He was nearby, and all the Vaishnavas became concerned because Raghunatha dasa Goswami became very sick, he's already elderly. And they called Vithalnath. And Vithalnath also saw his condition, that he's, you know, he's breathing heavily. They thought maybe he's dying.
So he called a very good kaviraja, Ayurvedic doctor. And when the Ayurvedic doctor came and started taking pulse of Raghunatha dasa Goswami, he said, Yeah, everything is clear.
He ate too much sweet rice. He's completely bloated. Uh and that's why it's heavy, you know, I'll give him some medicine, it will be gone.
You know, just take this medicine, little ginger, this and that, you know, and it you will digest it easily. And everyone says it's not possible. He eats only little buttermilk every second day.
No, no, he said he's just, he completely bloated. He's just, you know, it's it's not good to overeat. And then they asked Raghunatha dasa Goswami himself, he says, yes, that's true.
In my meditation I ate too much sweet rice because it was the remnants of Radha and Krishna. And ginger helped, you know. Somehow or other it digested sweet rice which he ate in meditation. I don't know how it works.
But the point here is that you can only meditate on Radha and Krishna completely in reality. Not meditate, but be there, serve there, be present there. Which is the goal? If your mind is clean.
And to have a clean mind, it's not an easy job in this day and age. But we have to try. We have to try our best. The rest Krishna will do by his mercy.
But we really have to understand that this is our goal, and we will be the happiest people in the world, if we even come a little closer to this goal.
Even if the heart will become a little more clean, we will already become much more happier than we are now. Thank you.
Questions on practical devotional practice
We can take uh a couple of questions and then um Rana. I don't mind. You go first. Thank you. Thank you so much for us and and thank you both. Thank you both for the time.
Um so this this term this grāmya-kathā is that grāmya-kathā? Yes grāmya is just Bengali language? Because like my question is is is it the same thing as Prajalpa?
Like it's the same thing as prajalpa. But it's more it's more specific because there are so many kinds of prajalpa, but uh grāmya-kathā is specifically village talk which is gossip.
He said this and she said this and they did this and then you know all this, you know.
You know wherever we go, we always you know hear you know I I sometimes hear such an such an interesting facts about myself that I I'm always intrigued And I'm sure you all know what I mean. Um I get just one, right? Okay.
Okay.
Um one um thing is, you know, when Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī approached Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu the second time and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Goswami approached Lojai Tanya the second time and Pojitanya sends him back because he's a artificial yeah mark at the one right.
Yeah, but much you know then What Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu could see uh he could see the still the gap or some at least some difference between the his internal state of mind and his conscious awareness.
Because sometimes we have something which is there on the surface of our mind, conscious mind, but much deeper things are there in subconscious mind.
And ideally, whatever we have in the conscious mind have to be congruent or you know in harmony with whatever is there in the subconscious mind.
So when he says you develop something internally, some internal thing, it basically means that still there is some work which has to be done to bring it on par, to bring it on the same level.
You know, consciously we believe in something. But subconsciously, uh what actually matters is what is there in our subconsciousness.
And yeah, and to bring this to to m to you know to recreate the integrity between our conscious mind and subconscious mind is the internal job which we have to do. This is a very important thing.
And that's exactly what is the meaning because otherwise you will do something artificially for the show's sake.
You know, because we will always we already have this tendency to project something about us, uh, to the external world without having this in reality because we just want to present ourselves in such a way or this and that.
So it's very important to have to have this inner integrity. And that's that that is the essence of course it's not really this
part, right? But when, um, Raghunātha Swami went to Lord Caitanya for, um, instruction because he wanted to go to the top guy. You know, he he was passing over sorts from this, right?
So I'm surprised that that for the sake of instructing
us, that Lord Caitanya actually kind of completed and did, because Lord Caitanya or Krishna, he wants us to understand that, you know, you come to me through my devotee.
So I'm surprised that he actually accommodated his desire and for for, you know, for the sake of our instruction, didn't make him go through. So wonderful, You know that generally psychology which is behind this uh idea.
I want to go to somebody who, who will teach me very esoteric things, is that he will say to me some secret which others don't know. And he goes to Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, don't listen to gossip, Which is a very simple instruction. So, you know, he, and if I I don't know the intention, but that's at least mm one possible way to answer this
question is that Caitanya Mahāprabhu still teaches, even if you go to whoever you know high up you go, he will teach you the same thing which you have to follow on your level of advancement. He will not open to you some esoteric secrets which you are not ready to uh receive anyway.
So and he will tell you the same thing. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, yeah, I will tell you the same thing which Svarūpa Dāmodara would tell you anyway. Okay, okay. Yeah. Um then um I didn't think I'd go in some Oh yeah yeah.
Um, you know, Lord Caitanya came here as his devotee, as his own devotee.
So, you know, getting, getting, when, when Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī saw that he was writing the Kadaca, you know, he, you know, he got the association of somebody who had achieved the goal. So does that mean that his his perception of Lord Chaitanya was as a devotee of Krishna, not as Krishna himself. What was his perception actually?
Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī very interestingly says he actually says something on behalf of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, even though Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī didn't say it, but he says within his heart Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī thought.
So when they met with Caitanya Mahāprabhu third time in Jagannātha Purī when Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī ran away from home and came to Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu said Kṛṣṇa has released you from this prison of māyā. It's because of the mercy of Kṛṣṇa you're here with us.
And Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī in Caitanya-caritāmṛta writes, at that time Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī thought within his heart. He didn't speak it out loud.
He said, I don't know Kṛṣṇa, but I know you, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You released me from the prison. So his understanding was of course, you know, he knew because it was
Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī who revealed the identity of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to the world and his kaḍācās.
And definitely Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī would study his diary from where Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī got his whole concept of uh the identity of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But at the same time, whoever you are, you release me.
You know, uh you say it's Kṛṣṇa, but I know it's you. If you are Kṛṣṇa or not, I I I don't know Kṛṣṇa, but I know you. That was his attitude, at least in the beginning. That's how it is expressed in Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Okay. One more question. Okay. Um yeah, go ahead. Uh In our day-to-day lives we so often have to uh hear, pajapa, this or that type of talk, um, for various reasons, for various lengths of time, etc. etc.
even in our oftentimes even in what we call our devotional practice or you know sādhana whatever um bhajana uh how can we know or avoid material contaminations or material coverings of our saṅga?
Yeah, it's almost inevitable every now and then to uh hear this stuff. But uh perhaps one an advice in this regard is
just don't take it so seriously because usually uh usually when we hear especially some negative things we really uh believe it and we take it deep into our heart and we start repeating it without you know rehearsing it and then speaking it.
So even if you hear just, you know, just you have two ears. Just put it in one ear and let it out from the other one, you know. That's conveniently, two ears are given to you. Just for you for your convenience, you know.
So uh try not to. Because it's one thing to hear, another thing is to meditate about it, uh on it, uh to dwell on it and you know think about it. So a it's sometimes difficult, especially when uh because
again we have this envy in the heart and uh this rumors sometimes ignite this spark of envy which is there and therefore, you know, we tend to think about it.
But if we uh notice this phenomenon, at least be conscious about this and try to get rid of it as much as possible. Chant some little you know, Hare Kṛṣṇa to get rid of this contamination. Or at least look at the sun.
They say it helps because sun is purifying. So whatever is there. Of course in New York sometimes it's difficult to see sun because of skyscrapers. I'd like to finish with a poem. Okay. It's called Enter Not. Enter not.
Enter not, rather than Internet. It's by the way dot-coms everywhere invasion on a grand scale too much information too quick check your head when you check your email. They come disguised as friends and well-wishers.
You've never had less time to think. The fruit of man's progress looks good on the surface, but inside it's toxic and stinks. If I give in and I hope that I don't, I'll log on to forgive me.com.
But until then, you'll find me on the run from the fallout of the dot-com bombs. Is that what I've done because we got a little bit
of a while they're setting up uh, Mitchell lead another kīrtana for about five minutes and tote you can play the kīrtana. Thank you so much.