How to enter Vrindavana. Class 4

Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Govardhan · 2024

Chapters

Invocation and opening prayers

Oh Mahyana Timirandasya Gyanam Djanama Shalakaya Caksuru Militamy Tasmaishura Vena, Sri Chaitanyama Bistab, Stapitambuta. Swajaamrupa, Dati Sapda, Vandiham, Sri Guru, Sriutapadakamala, Sri Guru Vaisnavamch, Sri Rupam Sagradatam, sadhanahunatam bitam tam sa divam, adva, tam Sadutam Paridana Sahitam, Krishna Chaitanya Deva, Shri Krishna Padaham, Sagana Lita, Shrivishavidamsha Krishna Karunasindho Dinabandu Jagatpat Gopesha Gopikakanta Radakant Thanamastute Taptakanchangi, Rade Vrhavaneswari, Vishabanu su tevi, pranami harripriatar bia, kripasin dubia Pattitanampavaneby, Vaisnavebyamonaha, Sri Krishna Chaitana Prabhityananda, Sriadvaitadara, Srivasadigura Bhaktavrindha.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna. Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama,

Nam Vishnu Padaya, Krishna prestaja butale, Srimate Bhaktivedanta Swami Nitiname, Namaste Saraswati Deve, Gauravani Pracharine Nirvisunyavadi, Paschatyadesarini Yon tahpravish Mamavachami Mam Prasupdom, Sanji Vayatekila Shakti Darakswadhamna, Anyam Shahastacharana Shravanat Vagadim, Prananda Mobhagavate Purushaya dubam.

Swasastu Vishwasi Kalah Prasidatam, Vyantu Bhutani Shivam Mithodia, Manascha Badram Bajata Tadoksaj, Aveschetam Nomatir Advya Hai Yamprava Jantamanapeta Mapeta Krityam Dwaipayanovirahakatara Juhava Putreititammayatayota Ravo Bineduz, Tam Sarva Bhuta Hridayan Muni Manatu. So again, I am very happy to see all of you here.

I am humbled by your presence and with your permission and blessings, I will try to speak something. And today we will plunge into the story. * Hysterical laughing * No,

Distinguishing bhakti from conventional religion

I just say few words. For three lectures, we were trying to understand the principles of the science of bhakti. Bhakti is a science. Śrīla Prabhupāda was very insistent on this point. It's not just religion.

There is a religious aspect in it, in the sense that it connects us with God, but there is a great deal of difference between common people understanding what religion is and bhakti.

Religion is usually adopted to fulfill our desires. It's ritualistic by nature, and it's greatly based on the faith in miracles. That's a very prominent characteristic of any religion.

In fact, miracles are supposed to be the proof of the existence of God. But bhakti is not so much concerned with the miracles. Śrīla Prabhupāda never wanted to prove the validity of bhakti by creating miracles.

He was very much against this approach. Bhakti is an experiential science, science which we should experience.

And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī very beautifully explained how it works, very deeply in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam specifically but in other scriptures as well, but primarily in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it explains what is happening with our consciousness when the consciousness unwillingly is turning towards God.

As Śrīla Prabhupāda says, such a beautiful phrase of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Totally irrational, unwillingness to surrender to God. But this gradual process, not without problems, but uh it's a beautiful process.

And if you understand the science behind it, we will be able to practice bhakti with much more depth and much more success. And Śrīla Prabhupāda, of course, explains this again and again and again.

But please don't take this explanation as something which is unsettling your practice. Take whatever is useful from these explanations and continue with the practices.

Overview of Akrura's five spiritual lessons

And today I will bring a very relieving message that whatever we do in Bhakti is actually worthwhile, and at the end it will be successful, there is no doubt about it.

So we started the story yesterday how Akrrura was called to Kamsa and how Kamsa completely trusting Akrura amazingly he had total hundred percent trust in Akrura and confidence that he is on his side.

Haṁsa asked him to go to Nanda Gokul, to the village of Maharaja Nanda, and bring his two nephews Krishna and Balaram.

And today we will continue with the same line and today's topic of this class is the five lessons of Akrura's life. Five preliminary lessons which made his journey successful.

The whole idea of this seminar which we just started but hardly will finish is that uh bhakti is a journey uh and uh uh the uh finishing strait of this journey

is exemplified by Akrura, but not only all the preliminary practices we can really deduct from Akrura's life.

And how ultimately our vivid meditation on Krishna will bear fruits and Krishna, who is the object of our meditation, will come to us in person and embrace us and say, Yes, yes, I'm here. You have been waiting for me for so long.

So So today we will speak about the five lessons of Akrura's life.

And these five lessons illustrate the points which we discussed yesterday, the points of preliminary practice which prepare our heart for meditation and which make our meditation very deep, profound, and uh in the ultimate and successful.

So let's chant uh a couple of verses from the thirty-sixth uh uh chapter of the tenth cant of Srimad Bhagavatam, where Kamsa is taking shelter of Akrura.

Akrura was so successful in his service to Kamsa that Kamsa is actually asking him a favor and he wants to take shelter of Akrura as foolish as he is. So let's chant together.

Atastvama Sritah Swamya. Atastvama Sritah Swamya. Karya Gora sadham, sadhanam, karya sadhana, sadam, yathendro Vishnu Ma Shritya, Yathendro Vishnu Ma Shritya, Yathendro Vishnu Ma Shritya, Svartam Abbygamatvibu.

Svartam Abbyagamat Vibh. Svartam Habbyagamat Vibhu. Svartam Abbyagamat Vibhu. This is the twenty-ninth verse from the thirty-sixth chapter and let's also uh chant the verse number thirty.

Gachananda vrajam tatra gachanandam gachanandav Sutta fanakadunek, Sutafanakadun dubeh, Asateta Vihane, asateta vihane, rathyananaya machiram, Rathyanayamacharam Rathyana Machiram Ratyan So Kamsa speaks.

Gentle Akrura, Saumya, he calls him Saumya. Somebody who is very uh pleasing like the moon and who is uh pacifying all our anxieties.

So Saumya he says, gentle Akrura, I am depending on you, tvām āśritaḥ I am taking your shelter on you to accomplish this important task just as powerful Indra took shelter of Vishnu to achieve his goals.

And the next verse, gachhat Nanda Vrajam Tatra, please go to Nanda village, Nanda Vrajam to Nanda Vraj where

the two sons of Vasudeva, sutaḥ anakadundubheḥ are living, āsate, and without delay bring them here on this chariot.

Enduring unfavorable environments for spiritual strength

And he's showing him brand new chariot, uh golden chariot, which he specifically prepared as an offering for Kṛṣṇa. So that's the that's the two verses to introduce our talk about Akrura's life and Akrura's achievement.

So yes. The meaning of the preliminary talks which were there yesterday, day before yesterday, and on the first day of our discussions is to try to understand how we can get out from the prison of our ego.

very beautifully described by the ācāryas from Śrī Sampradāya and that ego is our prison keeper and we are prisoners in the prison house of our ego. They say that Ravana is the manifestation of our ego

and the Sītā, Sītā is a manifestation of our poor soul who is suffering in separation from Rāma. And the cruel Kamsa is keeping her there as a prisoner.

So we can also experience this in our life in our practice of bhakti. We are trying to come closer to God, we are trying to remember about Him.

But our ego is always on guard and always brings us back to ourselves. Our ego always concentrates our thoughts, our intentions on ourselves. What I will get from it? What will be there for me?

So we're prisoners of our ego and the process of bhakti is the process of getting free from this by chanting the holy name. But the chanting has to be intense.

It has to uh have certain quality which will ultimately destroy prisoner our ego which is very strong. So that's that's the point.

And what we will see, and the similar metaphor can be used in relationship to this story of Akrura serving Kamsa. He voluntarily put himself in prison.

When uh Akashvani, the voice from the sky, declared loudly, "Come, Sir Fool, you will be killed by the eighth son of Devaki. You are basically driving the chariot, and this chariot is the chariot of your death.

When the Akashvani, the unembodied voice, declared this Kamsa became outraged. He completely got rid of the remnants of decency

and he put his own father Ugrasena in prison, he put Vasudeva and Devaki as prisoners of conscience and he became the ruler of Mathura.

And at that time, all the Yadavas and Vrishnis, all the so-called relatives of Kamsa, they flee away from Mathura knowing that they will also have the same fate as Ugrasena. They will also be put in prison, they will also be tortured, they will also be experiencing all kinds of sufferings.

So all the numerous relatives of Kamsa, relatives of Krishna, descendants of Ugrasena, Maharaja Devaka, and everyone else, they all flee away. And the only one remained, voluntarily remained there, and that was Akrura.

And we have to really appreciate his sacrifice and his courage. I was talking about this uh yesterday and uh we

more or less uh spoke with you uh about this first lesson that especially in the beginning to make our bhakti stronger we need to be in a not very favorable environment because not favorable environment will help us in the initial stages of our journey.

I have seen many times how devotees, neophyte

devotees, beginners on the path of devotion, were trying to find some favorable conditions for practice their bhakti. They were leaving Russia, Soviet Union, going to much more free countries. But as a result, they just gave up bhakti.

The environment was favorable, but there was no impetus for them to practice bhakti because there was no resistance. So external resistance is very, very important in the beginning.

And there are many reasons for this, and I will speak about this reasons today.

So basically, what we see in this situation of Akrura, he was serving Kamsa, and the service of Kamsa helped him to concentrate internally on Krishna.

And the more unfavorable the circumstances were, and we can see actually in the religious history, in the spiritual history of the world, amazing stories.

How people who were seeking God were put under immense tortures and sufferings. But ultimately, they were grateful for people doing this to them because they knew that it's for their ultimate good.

So uh but we have to appreciate the sacrifice of Kamsa... of Akrura, sorry, sacrifice of Kamsa, we should not appreciate so much; we have to appreciate this. Because he voluntarily went into the situation where

he was treated by tragedy. All the yadavas and Vrishnis definitely were talking about Akrura and they were talking among themselves and they were definitely accusing Akrura. They were saying, look at this rascal Akrura.

He's staying with Kamsa. What is he doing there? And uh and of course uh Kamsa and his entourage, they didn't appreciate what he was doing. So

when I was reading about this and thinking about this, I remembered the story which actually gave me a lot of uh courage in the beginning journey, the story which Śrīla Rānāth Mahārāj told me.

It's perhaps one of the most amazing stories. Of course, all his stories are most amazing. And the way how he tells his stories are also very amazing.

But when he was telling this, I could very vividly feel what he was going through because when New Vrindavan community was excommunicated from ISKCON, he preferred to stay in New Vrindavan.

Even though the whole ISKCON, the organization of his Guru Maharaj, was against New Vrindavan. And I remember this time still, I still

somehow or other was participant of this time and I remember how heated discussions were there. I was listening to some lectures from New Vrindavan, which were illegally imported into ISKCON.

And in these lectures of New Vrindavan, they were saying, this, this sannyāsī is a demon, and this is more demon, and we will kill them.

And in ISKCON, of course, we were also saying these are demons, and uh so it it was a very heated situation. But nevertheless voluntarily he decided to stay there.

And when the changes started happening in New Brindavan, when they changed the dress and everything else, he didn't change the dress.

He remained in his dhoti when they started chanting mantras and all the services in English, he didn't do it. And they put Jesus Christ on the altar. So He was there.

And everyone was against him, everyone in their community was against him, and everyone in this con was against him.

So, exactly the same situation we can see here, Akrura he is in the enemy's camp and everyone is against uh among the enemies against him and everyone amongst his relatives is against him. So he is there, but he knows that this is important.

This is the way to retain the purity of my internal meditation. This is the way to become stronger. So that was the first lesson which we spoke about yesterday how to make our devotion stronger.

And one beautiful comparison is there when the little sprouts are there, when the seeds just give rise to the seedlings, to the sprouts, if you take the sprouts out in the sun, what will happen with the sprouts? They will die.

The sprouts have to be kept in dark. If the sprouts are not kept in dark, they will die. So the same thing is with our devotion.

The initial period of our devotion has to be very secret and very internal, otherwise it will not help us. And therefore this verse which uh Caitanya Mahaprabhu wrote to Rupa and Sanatana is very important.

Śrīla Prabhupāda translates by by your letters he wrote just a few lines to Rupa and Sanatana. By your letters I couldn't understand your heart.

Therefore, in order to teach you I sent you one verse which reads as follows Paravyasanini Nari Vyagrapi Griha Karmasu Vyagrapi. Vyagra means tiger. So the lady who has some illicit love, paramur.

She's doing her household duty as a tiger with the intensity of a tiger. Vyagrati Griha Karmasu.

She is completely absorbed in this external duties of her life, but at the same time Tad Eva Asvadayatyantar. But that helps her to relish internally. The more external situations are unfavorable, the more they help us to concentrate internally and relish this internal somewhat illicit connection with our eternal lover who is Krishna.

Navasanga Rasayanam. She is always invigorated. Rasayana means tonic. She is invigorated by this Rasayana of Nava Sangha, of this real love.

So, one more reason is there for hiding, and one more reason why Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has written this verse to Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī is that this illicit mood of our relationship with Krishna is actually the mood of our sampradaya.

We are cultivating illicit relationship with Krishna. Our relationship with Krishna will always be parakīyā. In Vrindavan, everyone is in parakīyā mood with Krishna.

Nanda and Yasoda, you know, they're not real father and mother of Krishna. Of course we know they're real father and mother. But according to the conventional customs. And therefore Krishna is so dear to them.

And the friends uh they know uh deep down that Krishna is a king, he is a prince. And they're just cowherd boys. So it's also illicit relationship. And of course, you know, we should not speak about other relationship

with young girls which are totally, completely parakīyā. So the mood of Vrindavan is parakīyā.

And therefore Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is writing this verse, encapsulating this mood of our sampradaya, and say please cultivate internally this mood while serving Hussain Shah.

And the time will come when the prison of Hussain Shah's service will the doors of this prison will open wide and you will be able to get out from this prison. So this internal period is very important.

Patience and gradual development in spiritual practice

That's the first lesson. The second lesson is even more important. The second lesson is the lesson of patience and growth.

So So, as I said, Akrura was uh in this service for 12 years, and sometimes you can ask, why so long?

Why do we need uh to be in this internal period of cultivation for so long time. And there is an important reason for this long prolonged period of our preliminary cultivation before our practice of bhakti will bear fruit. And the reason I explained yesterday when I quoted this verse from 11th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Etavan Yoga Dishto Machinyach Sanaka Dibih Sanaka for Kumaras.

They were teaching this yoga and the essence of this yoga sarvataha mana krishya, we have to, uh, pull out, tear away our mind from everything else and madvesh and enter into Krishna, go into Krishna very deeply.

So why do we need such a long period, because, or prolonged period of purification, preliminary purification, because our mind is strongly attached to this material world. And, uh, yeah, this is one, uh, reason for this.

And, um, we have to understand that the natural process of detachment is low.

I've seen many times when people were trying to obtain detachment or rise to the level of complete detachment from this world artificially. And inevitably it fails.

You try to jump on this level which is not really achieved by you in a natural way, and all this detachment ultimately becomes artificial.

You practice austerities, you practice, you know, you're fasting, you're not sleeping, you're chanting many rounds, but then all of a sudden somebody who seemed to be so fixed becomes completely fallen. Why?

Because it's artificial. One very important lesson which is uh given to us here is that spiritual life is a long journey. It's not a short journey.

You cannot really through extra endeavors in the beginning get to the end of the journey because it's a long journey.

What will happen if from the beginning you are running and running and running? What will happen with you?

You will just fall down not in the beginning, in the middle. You're lucky if you will fall down in the middle. You will not reach the middle. You will exhaust yourself. We have to prepare ourselves for this long journey,

and therefore, we have to go slow and the, we have to respect the natural process of detachment which is gradually taking place in our life when we understand that, uh, everything else is insignificant. That ultimately love of God is the only real goal.

So that's a slow process, and we have to prepare ourselves for this marathon which is a long thing. We cannot really speed up uh natural processes.

Like Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thakur Prabhupada, he was or uh even Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī, he was, yeah, that was his joke. He was imitating the Sahajis

and he used to say that Sahajis, the attempts of Sahaji to cry and to make a show of laugh, and I'm sure they believe that they have laugh with all these external signs of it.

But Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja says that it's as if a newlywed girl who just got married would go to the labor room and start imitating the labor, trying to bear the child, and she's there, you know.

It's not going to work. There is a natural process. it takes a certain time before it will become successful. You cannot really speed it up.

And moreover, it's also interesting, we are waiting for the fruit of our endeavors, and the fruit will come, there's no doubt about it.

But uh if the fruit, if we try to speed up coming of this fruit, the fruit will become uh—it's not really tasty or sometimes even poisonous. I was in Israel and they told me very interesting thing.

There is in Israel, there is a big thing, there is the whole Ministry of Kashrut and they're proving food according to Jewish traditions. And they told me very interesting thing which struck me.

They said that the fruits from an apple tree, before the apple tree is 10 years old, are considered to be contaminated.

The apple tree uh is bearing fruits even before, after—you can especially nowadays there are all kinds of apple trees who can give you the fruits practically immediately.

But according to Jewish tradition, if the tree is very young and you take the fruits, they are not bona fide, they are not pure, they're not clean. So the same applies to us.

We may get some sort of feelings through our extra endeavors, but because they're not obtained in the natural process and they're not really mature in a real sense, then they will not bring us benefit.

So this is second extremely important lesson, lesson of patience. We should not hurry. Spiritual life is a very important uh process uh and a very natural process.

Let it take its time, and uh we should do very carefully what we're supposed to do, and gradually, gradually, the spirit of renunciation will take place. So Akrura he understood very beautifully this principle.

So it's basically the incubation period of our devotion: we all know that any disease—and we know that bhakti is a contagious disease, isn't it? It's very contagious.

And uh from the point of view of outsiders it's a complete disease. So it's a contagious disease. But any disease, any infectious disease has uh incubation period before it really manifests externally in a proper way.

So the incubation period of bhakti is 12 years. It's my speculation, sorry for. But uh deriving this lesson from Akrura's life we can say that twelve years is a good time, and there are astrological reasons for this too.

Twelve years is a very important period in astrology because twelve years is the time which is needed for Jupiter, which is the spiritual planet or indicator of spiritual life, for Jupiter to make the complete circle or to go the full zodiac.

This is exactly 12 years how Jupiter works, and that has very important implications.

We can see that uh Chinese calendar there are twelve animals according to their uh understanding of zodiac, and that's uh all uh in connection with the movement of Jupiter.

The planet of Jupiter is also in charge of our subconscious mind. So twelve years are necessary to create very deep impressions in our subconscious mind.

And therefore, if we want to learn something very deeply, we require 12 years. Like for learning Sanskrit, you need 12 years to know Sanskrit perfectly.

Pandavas were in their exile And they were in their exile for 12 years.

And they were preparing this 12 years, there were 12 years of preparation for the main battle battle of their life, and they were learning a lot and experiencing a lot. So this 12 years is very important,

and Akrura is also teaching us that 12 years uh is uh good time uh to uh change our subconscious mind and if if the devotee practices devotional service twelve years, he will remain a devotee for the rest of his life.

Usually, neophyte devotees leave devotional service before. The average life of a neophyte devotee, at least in Russia, is seven years. But if they somehow or other try to do it for five more years, they will remain.

No problem. Because there is some very important internal process taking place and your real understanding of spiritual life can only happen within twelve years.

And therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda was preaching in the West only eleven years. He left his disciples just one year before that. And there were problems as we know.

But of course, there were many glorious people who remained and went through this lesson.

Cultivating spiritual eagerness through Shabari's story

So this is the second important lesson, the lesson of passions. The third lesson, extremely important lesson. Which is connected with the second part of this verse.

The first part of this verse about meditation, that we have to pull out our mind—actually, we have to, uh, yeah,

pull out mind from the external attachments the attachments to this world to the values of this world, our dreams, our ambitions which are there, which are very important.

Anyway I will not I will not spoil your meditation by inappropriate example, which came to my mind.

But the third lesson is connected with the second part of this verse where it is said we have to from one side, pull out our mind from external, and from the other side simultaneously we have to put or immerse our mind in Krishna.

So the second lesson, a third lesson is the lesson of cultivating desire. These twelve years are very important because simultaneously, we have to grow internally the desire within us.

The desire which will ultimately bring us closer to Krishna.

And in this connection, I wanted to tell you a beautiful story which you probably heard many times, but nevertheless, please bear with me, because the story is extremely beautiful.

That's the story about Shabari, the hunter woman who has become the disciple of Matanga Rishi. And by becoming disciple of Matanga Ṛṣi she ultimately achieved darśana of the Lord.

That's also very uh uh important for us uh to understand the dynamic because there are many similar traits in the story. So there are different versions of her life before she became disciple of Matanga Rishi.

And one version why she started her spiritual journey: was that her parents wanted to marry her, and because they were hunters, her father brought 100 goats and sheep to kill these gods and sheeps on occasion of her marriage. She is from this hunter tribe and they're definitely not vegetarian. Otherwise, why would they be hunters?

So, Shabari. There is a lot of preparation going on. They're going to this big Indian marriage. And of course, everyone is excited. And Shabari is asking her father, why did you bring so many goats and so many sheep here?

And he said tomorrow we will kill all the thousand goats and sheep to make your marriage life very happy. And the whole night she couldn't sleep.

She was thinking again and again and again, to make me happy we have to kill all these innocent creatures. How is that proper?

How is that my happiness should be based on the foundation of the sufferings of these innocent animals?

And ultimately she couldn't sleep, she couldn't really come in peace with this, and she ran away from home just in the morning of her proposed marriage.

And that's again a very important lesson uh usually in the beginning of our uh spiritual life we understand that uh material life is based on violence.

I don't know if you understand this, but uh it's very clear that in this material world for you to become happy you have to inflict sufferings to others. At least this is the common understanding.

People are they're talking about this. How is it Latin saying uh lufusest homohomini lufusest lufus lupus lupus yeah homohomini lupusest which is of course you know Latin it means that uh a man towards man is like a wolf.

The the relationship between people they're very cruel and uh material life is based on violence and oftentimes uh we become devotees because we want to escape the inevitable violence.

We don't want to have anything to do, we don't have anything to do with this business of inflicting pain for me to become happy. So that happens with Shabari, that was very proper beginning of your spiritual life.

And then there is another very interesting point of your spiritual life. She started. She's a seeker.

She is seeking for spiritual realizations and she's goings in the forest, and at that time in India the forests were inhabited by spiritual people.

And she is knocking on the doors of all these sages and saints who are living in the forest and they open the door and they see a young woman clad uh in a skin of an animal because she's she's a hunter woman. And horrified they would close the door and would say, get out of here.

You are outcast. We don't want to have anything to do. So again, that's an important element of spiritual journey because when we become devotees, we become outcasts. People become scared of us.

And she was knocking and knocking and knocking and nobody wanted to open the doors. And but ultimately she came to the ashram of Matanga Rishi and Matanga Rishi saw her and he didn't see the skin. How you call it skin?

Skin of an animal? There is some other word. The pelt. So he didn't see the skin of an animal, he saw her eyes. He saw the glowing eyes of somebody who is eager to find the truth, and Matanga Muni looked in her heart.

And he appreciated her and he said, please stay in my ashram. Please do some service in my ashram.

And his other disciples, they became totally, completely indignant and, they became agitated and they started blaming their spiritual master. How dare you give shelter to this dirty hunter lady?

First of all, she is a lady. That's sin in itself. I'm really sorry. I don't mean this. I'm just joking uh or sarcastically saying this.

Uh mm second of all, she's just dirty, she's outcast, she's Śabarī. Uh mm there is no place for her. But Matanga Rishi protected her. And this is a very also beautiful story.

That's exactly what Śrīla Prabhupāda did. When he gave shelter to all his disciples, and how vigorously he protected his disciples from all these people, brāhmaṇas, and all this.

Gosvāmīs who were saying you dest you lost your. cast yourself, Swami. Get out of here. Śrīla Prabhupāda was very often by this. Men he He uh encountered this uh attitude even among his uh godbrothers.

His godbrothers didn't want to take prasāda in his temples, because they are cooked by mlechchhas and yavanas. And this is the followers of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī who wanted to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world.

So this is again very important thing. You become the spiritual seeker and then you're not really welcome

into the folds of spiritual seekers because oftentimes the religious organization becomes very orthodox, very rigid and very caste conscious. Unfortunately, we can see it's happening in ISKCON too.

We become more and more intolerant uh to other people and we don't really uh understand their inner motivation and this intolerance is very bad.

So Matanga Rishi gave her the service in his ashram, and for many years she was doing some menial service and ultimately even his disciples kind of became little peaceful.

Still they were despising her but nevertheless they they came in terms with it. But the most important thing happened when Matanga Rishi decided to go back to Godhead.

He and all his disciples said, we are going back to Godhead, we are ready to do this. And the airplanes from Vaikuṇṭha came, vimānas came, and he was ready to board this airplane from the spiritual world.

And Shabari said, What about me? Dear Gurumaharaj, will you take me to the spiritual world? And she said, No. You're not ready yet. Again, the same thing. You're not ready yet. You need more cultivation. You need more time.

She said, what will I do? How will I continue my life? What will I do without you if you leave me?

And at that time he took the garland from his neck and he said, This garland will never fade. And you please place this garland in a very prominent place in your cottage.

And whenever you feel that your faith becomes weak, look at this garland. This garland will remind you that I promise to you before leaving to the spiritual world that you will see God. This is my promise.

And if you don't believe, look at this garland. This garland will remind you. It's still fresh. It's as fresh as my promise to you. This is my solemn promise, you will see God when the time is ripe.

Just expect for Him to come, wait for Him every day of your life. That's the process which He gave to her. He said, please do sadhana every day of your life. And your sadhana will be like this.

Please, every day of your life be ready to receive God in your cottage. And she was doing this. For many many years, for twelve years of how many years? But she was doing this.

She was cleaning her heart, expecting that my Lord will come today.

And she was cleaning the pass and she was taking all the thorns and she was getting some fruits from the forest and she was placing some water, fresh water from Pampa Lake, and she was sprinkling the water in the ground and she was meditating, meditating, meditating.

My Lord is coming, He is coming. And sometimes, for so long time she is doing this and He is not coming. And naturally her face is becoming shaken.

And at that time she again looks in the garland and she says, my Guru Maharaj promised he will come. So she became crippled, she became totally emaciated, she became blind.

But still, every morning she would wake up with this meditation: My Lord is coming. He is ready to give, He will give me darśana today.

And one day, sure enough, Rāma and Lakshman are coming and they see this beautiful ashram and they see this clean pass sprinkled with water and they see the flowers.

And Rāma is saying to Lakshman, why don't we go to see who is living in this ashram? And she's practically blind. She's and Lord Rāma is coming to her and she's asking, Who you are?

He said, I am Rāma. You are waiting for me. And Rāma says, she says, yes, I was waiting for you.

And of course, uh there is a somewhat contested story whether she gave him the fruits which she tried herself or not. Some people say it's not bona fide, so we will not repeat this part of the story. But uh this is not so important. The important part of the story is that she was uh not just patiently waiting, she was cultivating the eagerness, the desire to see the Lord.

And meditating on him every day of her life by doing the sadhana which was given to her by her Guru Maharaj. And ultimately Ram asked her the question.

By sitting in front of her in her cottage, Ram asked her how you doing, and she said, ultimately, did you reap the benefit of your penance and service of your guru?

And Shabari replied, The fruit of my penance is sitting in front of me. It's you. And she said a beautiful thing, beautiful verse to Ram.

Cakshusha Tava Saumya Yena Puta Asmi Raghunandana Gamishyamyakshayam Lokam Tvat Prasada Tvarindama

She said to Lord Ram, she also calls him Somya or Blessed Ones or somebody with or gentle one or somebody who is fulfilling the desires.

So by seeing you, oh my beautiful Lord with moonlike face, all my heart is completely cleansed. Now I'm totally free from all the little traits of sins which were still there, which were still the impediments.

Now I understand why my guru told me that I'm not ready yet.

At that time I didn't understand and that time I I I thought I was ready, but after so many years I understood that there are some extra dirt which I had to clean from my heart.

But now it's all gone, and I am ready to go to Akshayan Lokan to the eternal world, and in a very useful, beautiful spiritual body.

She left this body and Lord Ram saw her and she gave the farewell to Lord Ram and went to Vaikunthaloka.

So why I'm telling this story because we are talking about the third lesson. The third lesson is the lesson of cultivation, the desire. And very important element of this story is the promise of our guru.

When I was reading about this, I of course remembered that Srila Prabhupada promised to us, do this sadhana. This is the sadhana which you should do, but not mechanically.

Do this sadhana by every day expecting that Krishna can come. Krishna may appear in front of you, Krishna may appear in front of you in his own original form, Krishna may come in a form of real spiritual name.

At one point, you will chant the Hare Krishna mantra and it will not be usual Hare Krishna mantra, it will be very special Hare Krishna mantra with Krishna completely manifesting the sounds of the Holy Name.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram, Hare Hare.

So every day we should expect this and at the same time we should look at the fresh garland, uh, which Śrīla Prabhupāda left to us. The fresh garland is the garland of devotees of whatever it is, he gave us the proof that bhakti works.

What is fresh garland? What it symbolizes in this story, the fresh garland, which is unfading garland of Matanga Rishi is the symbol of the eternal life which is there in Bhakti. When we see how Bhakti works.

Did you see how Bhakti works? That bhakti is real. Did you experience it in at least in other people? Please chant Haribol if you did. So this is the fresh garland. Look at the fresh garland.

And if your face is shaken, look at this fresh garland. It works. Some people see Lord. Some people meet him. Some people are completely ecstatic.

Even if it doesn't happen with you, please be patient and every day of your life continue to chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare.

Śrīla Prabhupāda promise to us.

So Krishna will come because Krishna cannot really do anything which is Krishna will fulfill the promise of Śrīla Prabhupāda. He cannot he cannot dare to s do something which Prabhupada would not approve.

So that's definitely his. So this is the third lesson, the lesson of cultivation of desires. This is our sadhana. The sadhana, the essence of sadhana, to cultivate desire every day. He's coming, he's coming.

This is is he the fruit of all my austerities and my service to Guru.

What we're talking about, the preliminary purification of our hearts through surrender, and by doing this sadhana, we're surrendering to the will of our Guru and we have implicit faith into the process which He gave to us.

Morning practice and developing purified vision

The fourth lesson: there are only two lessons left, which Which uh we still have to learn from Akrura's twelve years of exile in Mathurā, uh before he could go directly to uh Vindravan and Sri Krishna.

The fourth lesson is a very important lesson. This is the lesson how to increase desire. Of course, I did already say uh what is uh the method of increasing desire.

The method of increasing desire is of course to do sadhana with this goal that I'm cultivating uh I'm doing this sadhana, I'm practicing the sadhana which is given to me by my spiritual master with this idea to increase my desire, make my desire very strong.

And Akrura very beautifully will say about this in the 14th verse of his meditation on Krishna in this 38th chapter, which we didn't start yet but we will start tomorrow.

Very beautiful Akrura says: tvām vadnāṁ tvām tvad-dhy-anurūpaṁ mahatāṁ gatiṁ guruṁ trailokya-kāntaṁ dṛśyān mahad-divya-sadvapuḥ dadḥānaṁ śrī-īpsitāspadaṁ drakṣyāmy ahaṁ śvaḥ śoṇaḥ śoṇaḥ su-darśanaḥ Dadhana, Sri Ipsitaspadan, Draksy Mamasan, Usasha, Uša Sah, Sudarshanaha.

Please listen what Akrura says.

Today I shall certainly see the Lord who is attainable by great devotees and gives instruction who is the joy of all people having eyes, who is most beautiful in all the worlds, whom even Lakshmi desires as her shelter.

Now all the mornings of my life have become auspicious. What does it mean now all the mornings of my life have become auspicious? Why he speaks about mornings specifically? Because morning is the time for what?

Yeah, yesterday one very clever lady said I will chant kam say kam solomala brahma muhurte. So here uh he specifically says usha shah. Usha saha. Usha means sunrise. Usha means the time before sunrise.

Usha means dawn, right? Dawn, yeah.

So he says now uh all the mornings when we get up early in the morning and it's still dark and still we chant uh very meticulously the holy name, ultimately they will become auspicious. They will bear the fruit all these mornings.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Ram Ram, Hare Hare Ram. So So he is stressing the need.

I was listening to one lecture and uh somebody, the Kathakar in this lecture, he said uh why Brahma Muhurta is called Brahma Muhurta. Why it is called Brahma Muhurta? Because it's muhurta when you can meet with Brahma.

Brahma doesn't mean four-headed Brahma, Brahma means God, Brahma means Brahman. So it's called Brahman Muhurta because it's his muhurta.

It's the time which is specifically dedicated to meditation on him and it's a very important element the meditation should be done in a proper way in early morning ideally while sitting.

I know some people have habit of chanting quite walking. It's okay. It's not prohibited.

But one very devotee with a lot of experience he said when you chant while walking it's just for you remember it's just for you not forgetting God but the real meditation takes place when you sit.

When you have proper posture, and therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda says sit properly in this famous japa tape. So sit properly. ourselves by doing the process meticulously, right?

And Śrīla Prabhupāda in one lecture, there is a beautiful lecture of him where he explains that this cultivation of desire is the most important qualification to see the Lord.

And Prabhupāda gives a very funny example. He says, sometimes so people they sometimes say, can you show me God? Have you seen God? These questions sometimes we meet. So the answer is here. Yes. You can see God.

Everyone can see God. I am also seeing God. Prabhupāda says, I am seeing God. He's using present continuous. I am seeing him now. But there must be qualification.

And then Prabhupāda gives a very beautiful, actually, and little funny example. He says, suppose you have a car, and suppose there is something wrong with your car, and you try to fix the car, you open this upfront in your car, and you look there and you don't understand anything.

You look you see everything but you don't see. And when qualified people, Śrīla Prabhupāda says, when some car mechanic looks there, he immediately sees what is wrong and he fixes it immediately.

He says to see the problem with the car, you need qualifications. So, how much qualification we need to see God? So, he gives this very beautiful example, actually, which is very appropriate to our topic today.

That the practice, the intense practice changes your vision, qualifies you by giving you completely different vision, because whatever topic we take, especially if it is related with some more subtle science,

It very much depends on your vision. We have one astrologer, eminent astrologer here now.

And uh na you you may learn astrology superficially by reading the book, but your vision of the chart of the horoscope will be completely different from the vision of somebody who has a lot of experience.

You will see the same science, but he will see the complete picture and he will see much more depth in it. Which you will never be able to see. And if you don't know astrology at all, you will look the uh so what?

So uh or if you're doctor if you're a good doctor you look at the person and you immediately can diagnose him, you immediately know what's wrong with him by some very subtle signs, signs which are there in his body or whatever.

And if you're a layman, you don't see these signs. So Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this very beautifully. You have to change your vision to see God.

And how to change your vision, to change your vision, you should do proper sadhana with this desire to develop uh very strong desire internally and um and and then uh and then you will be able to see God.

And Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes this explanation. So if for a machine we require so much qualification and we and we want to see God without any qualification, just see the fun.

That's very Prabhupāda, just see the fun. Prabhupāda says. Without any qualification. Rascal. They are so rascal, so full that they want to see God with their nuisance qualification.

They inquire like, Ken Micha can you show me God? What kvalification do you have acquired that you can you see God?

He quotes this verse from the second chapter of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the very beginning of Sūta Gosvāmī explaining that śraddhānvitā munayo yogyayā vairāgya-yuktayā that you can see God through the lens of your faith and your desire because śraddhā doesn't mean just faith. śraddhā means respect to the process, understanding the process, and a very ardent desire or taste for the process.

Understanding how high is the process of bhakti? And then Prabhupada tells this funny story about the thief who is uh who wanted to take the ornaments of Krishna.

And uh because he heard somewhere that Krishna is walking with very valuable ornaments and he came to Vrindavan and uh he was always looking where is Krishna, where is Krishna, and his desire was growing and growing and growing. I want to see Krishna. And Krishna sure enough showed to him and he saw Krishna and he saw the beautiful ornaments. And he asked Krishna, dear boy, can you give me this ornaments?

And Krishna said, No, I cannot give. M m Mother Yasoda will uh will chastise me if I give you the ornaments. And then he looked at Krishna and he said, Okay, I don't need ornaments anymore. My dear child, I saw you.

So Prabhupāda tells this story.

So what what I want to say is that this verse, which is explaining the essence of meditation, the science of meditation, very preliminarily it says that you have to withdraw your mind from external and you have to place your mind in Krishna and this is why you need twelve years, at least twelve years, for this internal cultivation and then you will have Krishna Bhakti Rasa Bhavita Matik, Kriatam Yadi Kutopilabyate, because you will pay the price. Tatraloliam apimulyam ekalam. The price of this mulyam is only lolyam, only very ardent desire.

Serving devotees illustrated by Trilochana's story

And then the last lesson of Akrura's life, uh his preliminary life, is that why what is another reason why he wanted to stay in Mathurā. He definitely was thinking about seeing Krishna.

This is what explained by Sanātana Gosvāmī, who is glorifying Akrura. But there was another very important reason why Akrura thought that he would stay in Mathurā. And not only stay in Mathurā but become.

He was practically like prime minister of Kamsa. He was so trusted and so prominent and so influential. Why do you think he wanted to stay in Mathurā? What is another reason? Yeah. He wanted to help Devakī and Vāsudeva.

He knew that if he will be in the influential position, he will be able to uh soften the terms of prison or he will be able to talk out Kaṁsa from some crazy things which he was doing.

So he was purposefully serving Kamsa to help the devotees. And that's another extremely important lesson for us: that we can only please the Lord if we want to serve the devotees.

When we serve the devotees, the Lord is automatically pleased and He will not be able to resist our desire to serve Him.

So the important preliminary again uh practice to purify our heart is to serve uh the devotees of uh Krishna and of course uh he uh did serve And on many many occasions, uh Devakī and Vāsudeva.

And I wanted to tell you a beautiful story. Your patience is completely now rewarded for three lectures you were listening to philosophy, and today it's just a story class. It's a beautiful story.

This story I'm most sure that you probably haven't heard. Because this is the story from Bhaktamala, a very beautiful story. It's a story about Bhakta who is a disciple of Namadev. Great bhakta from Maharashtra, and the

name of this disciple is Trilochana. Oh, sorry, he is a disciple of Gyanadev, and Nam Dev is a disciple of Gyanadev, and Trilochina is godbrother of Nam Dev. Anyway, so they were.

He was very great devotee of the Lord, but he was from Vaishya background. And he had a wife, but they didn't have children. And his main service was service to the devotees.

He knew how uh dear it is to the Lord to serve the devotees, and he wanted

to please and he was serving the devotees, but they were getting cold and they didn't have any children and uh they didn't have any trusted servants and he started thinking what will I do when I become old and crippled and when I will not be able to serve the devotees?

How will I live my life? And he developed a very strong desire. He started meditating. Desire means meditation on a certain goal.

He was praying to the Lord, please send to me a very good Vaishnava Sevaka, the very good servant of the devotees who will help me. And some people approached him but he always was dissatisfied.

He saw they're lazy, they're uh dirty, something uh he he was not he didn't like uh them, he didn't like their attitude.

And then his lamentation m his desire became even more desperate because it was coupled with lamentation. I'm getting old, my wife is getting old, and the suitable helper is not coming to us.

And what we will do, how we will continue our life, my life is coming to an end. And he was very rich. So ultimately Krishna himself decided to become uh the proper sevaka of the devotees of the Lord.

He thought it's a good idea. He is looking for a good sevaka of vaiṣṇavas and I'm doing this anyway. So let me let me approach him and maybe he will hire me for this service. So he became ah boy of 15 years old.

And he put on a rag in him some clothes of a poor man, and he knocked at the door of this Trilochen. Trilochen opened the door, and this boy said, I know you're looking for a servant of devotees. Uh I'm ready to do this.

I like doing this. And Trilochen looked at him with some suspicion in the eyes and said, Who are you? Where are you coming from? By looking at you I can see that you don't have mother and father.

And Krishna scratched his head and said, yeah, you may say like this so and and he said, So tell me what you need. He said, Well, if you fulfill my requirements, I will do the service which you need.

I'm actually good at this. I believe me. I can do very nice service, but I have one condition, two conditions. Uh uh I like to eat rice. In Jagannatha Puri. I need at least five or six kilos of rice every day.

This is my first condition. And the second condition, you should never complain about me eating so much. I shouldn't hear these complaints in your house. He said, Okay, it's we have enough rice to feed you, it's okay.

So he interviewed him and he actually liked him. And this boy said that people usually get annoyed with me and very upset with me because I eat too much. And they don't want to feed me properly.

Therefore, I'm ready to serve them, but it usually doesn't last long because they don't feed me properly. So now you know how to to serve the Lord. Five to six kilos of rice at least.

It is actually a shastric statement that is said that if you want, if you're serving śālagrāma, for every śālagrāma you need to give one kilo of rice every day to śālagrāma.

And if you don't do this, śālagrāmas are not really happy. I'm trying to institute it on my altar, but it doesn't work. But Krishna is very strong, he's saying, you know.

And Trilochen asked him, What's your name? He said, my name is Antaryami. Okay, so uh Antariami uh started serving uh

uh and uh this Antariami said to him, actually I'm anyway serving this devotees all my life. This is the only thing which I am doing. So I'm ready to become your devotees.

And they started live together, and this Antaryami proved himself to be the ideal servant, and Trilochina was so happy with him. He was extremely happy.

Whoever would come, whatever Vaishnavas would come to Trilochina's house, he would massage their feet, he would serve them so nicely, he would śānta. He would fend them and he would feed them. So everything was very nice.

And for 13 months Krishna was serving in the house of Trilochen to all the Vaishnavas. To prove this point. Krishna is doing this līlā to prove this point, how important it is for him, service of Vaishnavas.

And then after 13 months, one lady neighbor came to the wife of Trilocina, her friend, and she saw the wife of Trilocina little tired and a little sad and, just what happened?

And the wife of Trilocina said: Don't tell anybody. But this new servant of us eats so much and no matter how much I cook him, he always wants more. And I have to cook him again.

And my husband, he's so strict, he told me to cook whatever he likes and give him everything and never complain. And I never complained. You're the first one. I'm trying to complain, but please don't tell anyone.

But he's Antaryami. He's in the heart of everyone. So he heard this complaint and it was his condition. He disappeared from the house of Trilochen without any explanation. And Trilochen became very sad.

And he got attached to the servant of his, to Antariami. And he started lamenting and crying, what will we do? What will we do now? We are alone. He was such a good servant.

And ultimately, his wife seeing him, she confessed to him. This is because of me, stupid woman. I did this. Please forgive me.

He stopped eating and drinking. And for three days he didn't eat, he didn't drink. And then ultimately the voice from the sky told him: Hey Trilochen, please I was your servant. No, how did he say?

He said said uh yes one second. Trilogin became uh uh yeah very morose and he said where where will I find such such an intelligent servant. And the voice from the sky said, take your food and also drink something.

I am very pleased with your service mentality towards the devotees. And that is why I rendered service to the I am actually your servant because I am controlled by your devotion. I eternally reside in your house.

If you want, then I can return and serve while staying in your house. And then Trilochen became even more morose because he thought you know the Lord was with me for 13 months and I didn't recognize him.

And uh he was serving me and I never served him. I considered him my servant and he became very morose and then ultimately he was saying Dick Shame on me, shame on me and uh anyway.

So the the point which I'm trying to make is that this is the best preliminary service which we can make is to serve the devotees because we don't see the Lord.

We are not clean enough, we're not pure enough, we are not really intelligent even enough to see the Lord face to face. But we see the devotees. And we should see their connection.

And if we see the connection of the devotees and serve them as the servants of the Lord, that is the best way to please the Lord and the best way to speed up our spiritual progress.

So what I was telling today actually is the illustration of what I was telling yesterday.

Yesterday I told that Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in Bhakti-sandarbha explains that before you start Smaranam, before your meditation becomes really deep and fruitful, you have to do śaraṇāgati, you have to approach your spiritual master, you have to follow his discipline, you have to become his disciple, you have to serve the devotees, genuine devotees.

You have to hear about the Lord to nourish your meditation, and you have to do kīrtana of the holy names, forms, qualities of Bhagavān. If you do this, then ultimately, you will qualify yourself for real meditation on the Lord, and that's exactly the dynamic which we see in Akrura's life.

It's 12 years of his life when he was serving Kamsa were dedicated to this kind of service, to the service of devotees, to cultivating sadhana, to cultivating internal desire to making his his to making his heart suitable for meditation.

And therefore it's a very interesting thing. I will again chant with you the verse of Sanātana Gosvāmī Gosvāmī dedicated to Akrura.

Akrurai namastasmai, namastasmai, yana kamsa pisevi taha, yana kamsa pisevitaha, gopule gokule gopagopa gopya dyas gokule It's It's very beautifully how Sanātana Gosvāmī glorifies our Akrura.

He says that I'm paying my obeisances to Akrura, although Api, he is the servant of Kamsa. I know he's serving Kamsa, but despite this fact that he is serving Kamsa, I am paying my obeisances to him. Why?

Because he wanted to see Krishna, Krishna, Eka, Drikshaya. He wanted very much to see only Krishna, but not only Krishna. He wanted to see Krishna where? Gokule in Vrindavan. Gopagopyas.

In surrounded, he wanted to see Krishna surrounded by the cowherd boys and cowherd girls and all the cowherds of Vṛndāvana.

So he explains why do we worship Akrura? Because he had this glorious desire not only to see Krishna. Krishna to see is easy. Everyone can see Krishna, no problem.

So many heroes Indra sometimes sees Krishna or they they see Krishna. But Akrura's meditation was very specific. He wanted to see which Krishna? Gokul Krishna. Vrindavan Krishna. Only Gokul Krishna. And not only Lone Krishna.

He wanted to see only Krishna, but only Krishna means surrounded by his loving devotees. So that's the glory of Akrura.

That's the desire which he's cherished and cultivated within his heart for so many uh years and for that he was ready to serve even Kamsa. So there are so many different forms of Krishna. But what is our goal?

Our goal is Nandanandana Krishna. Our goal is uh Radharamana Krishna. So that's that's the uh secret of this Tatha. And that's why Kamsa, who trusted Akrura so much, he approached him and he revealed the whole plan to him.

He took his him by the hand and he was speaking so humbly to him because he said, I totally depend on you. And Akrura answered in a very beautiful way to Kamsa to finish this story of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

When Kamsa revealed his plan to Akrura, Akrura said, very good plan. Very, very good plan. But please remember that no matter how good plan we have, because

uh Kamsa explained to him all the uh whatever could happen wrong uh he had uh solution to this beforehand. He said if if if he will not be killed by Kovalaypida uh the If wrestlers could not kill him, I will kill him.

And Akrura is listening. Akrura is sitting and Kamsa is very emotional. He's sitting there, Akrura just in front of him, and Akrura is listening to him and he says, yes, Kamsa. Very good plan. Very detailed plan.

Strategic plan. Strategic plan. But you know sometimes even good plans are not fulfilled. Even the good plans sometimes fail. Are you prepared for this?

He said actually you should be prepared that even the good plan will not be fulfilled and it may fail. And you should uh be prepared for this and uh be composed, whatever will happen.

So basically Akrura says, yes, yes, very good plan, but it's not going to be fulfilled. Kamsa, please be prepared for this.

So uh he says one make uh make a very great plan uh with his fertile brain uh but he must know that uh he will be subjected to the fruits, misery and unhappiness.

But I have nothing to do I have nothing to say against your proposal. Very good proposal. So I will go tomorrow to Vṛndāvana and bring Krishna and Balaram here. So that's the beginning of our story of Akrura's journey.

He was very pleased with the order received from uh uh from Kamsa. And tomorrow we'll start the story and our seminar will culminate with this.

So anyway, I uh I thought it was important to uh for us to try to understand uh what we should do to be able to meditate uninterruptedly, to be able to uh concentrate completely on the holy name and then

uh gradually gradually on the rūpa of the Lord, on the guṇas of the Lord, on Parikaras, his associates, and ultimately on the līlās of the Lord. That's the process.

Questions on spiritual intensity and relationships

And today in this five lessons we learned the five preliminary practices necessary to achieve this to qualify ourselves to uh ultimately do this. So thank you very much, Hare Krishna. Okay, Namadhar Priya.

Uh there are some questions which were sent to me. Uh I don't have it with me if you have it. Where? Oh. In uh okay. Yes please or the day before yesterday you were speaking about left brain and right brain.

And uh today also you said that if in the beginning you just run and run, uh then uh you won't actually achieve uh spiritual result.

At the same time what I see in practice that often administrative leaders inspire devotees, beginning devotees to organize such a running competition kind of maybe not competition but uh to run in the very beginning of their spiritual life and to achieve some tangible results uh in pursuit of some projects.

So how do you see the solution of this situation? I told this I don't remember because my mind is by the end of kartic it's usually not very clear.

Everything is mixed in my mind, but I definitely said it in one occasion that it's important uh also even in the beginning to give people the taste of surrender.

It may not necessarily be bad practice because this unforgettable taste of surrender is important.

We have to understand that it's not possible to sustain this complete surrender, but to experience this taste of complete surrender is good.

So if the environment and Śrīla Prabhupāda was very expert in this, he would inspire the devotees to really surrender completely and get this amazing this story about Caitanya Caritāmṛta printing or finishing Caitanya Caritāmṛta within two months. Those people who were part of this marathon, they still couldn't forget this unbelievable taste which they experienced.

And I heard the Bhakti Vikasa Swami who was a part of this marathon, he says that uh at the end uh when um they ultimately within two months they they brought these volumes of Caitanya-caritāmṛta which was practically unbelievable.

They came to Vrindavan, they offered this to Srila Prabhupada. Śrīla Prabhupāda looked at this as if nothing happened. So uh because again uh uh he wanted to give the taste of this complete surrender.

So it's not necessarily bad practice. If uh you in constant marathon uh then it's mismanagement. But sometimes marathons are good and therefore this place was prepared for this retreat

in a very completely surrendered way by all the people and some of them couldn't even stay there so burnt after they left. They're coming back, but they need some break. So it's it's not necessarily bad.

But uh if they're good managers they can understand that there are some limits of this, and uh different people have different uh capacities and uh they have to understand also the natural way of developing devotion.

But having some extreme situations is not bad. Regarding being attracted to Krishna versus attracting Krishna to us, please comment on. Do not try to see God. Act in such a way that God will want to see you.

And Bhāgavatam gradually even the mind which is used as the means to attract the Lord, as one attracts a fish to a hook, withdraws from material activity. He said this is the quote from the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam where the process of yoga is explained. Bhagavatam where the process of yoga is explained. And it is explained not in a positive way.

Yoga, yogi is trying to attract the Lord and he is using his mind as the hook to attract the Lord. But that's not the proper way.

The proper way is explained in the first quote, which is Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī's quote: We are not trying to see God, we hope to see God. We aspire to see God, but we know that ultimately it will only happen if God will want to see us.

So, yeah, these two quotes are what I basically told that we should not um try to attract something artificially or even God we should not try to attract him. But we should behave in such a way that he would be pleased to see us.

So I don't see any contradiction. Yeah. And when we clean our heart, then the natural attraction towards the Lord will grow, and this attraction will bring us in the vicinity of the Lord.

Because ultimately that's the greatest force. What is love? Love is attraction.

Attraction between two hearts, attraction between consciousness and, yeah, we want to experience attraction, and he is the attractor, and we are attracted.

In the development of stages of smaraṇa, is it, uh, vaidhi-bhakti, or is it uh, rāsa, or a mixture of both, rāgānuga, rāgānuga-sādhanā?

Ah, in the songs, Gauraṅga books, Narottama dāsa, "Gauraṅga bolite" Narottama prays, turu panta rāg. So dāsa Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. What is the significance of this?

Why not Sanātana, uh, Gosvāmī or, uh, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Goswami? Okay, there are two questions here.

Uh, smaraṇa, uh, can be smaraṇa is the life of rāgānuga. Rāgānuga is not possible without smaraṇa, uh, but, uh, smaraṇa can also be a part of, uh, vaidhi-sādhana-bhakti. It is, as I said, it is sādhana, so it can be both, because, uh, all the processes of bhakti uh, are there in vaidhi-sādhana and in rāgānuga-sādhana. The difference, uh, is only in motivation and mood and in qualification. But, uh, it's especially important in, uh, this practice of smaraṇa in, uh, rāgānuga-sādhana, uh, but, uh, in vaidhi sādhana, as well as in the beginning I said, without, uh, smaraṇa, uh, our practice becomes very mechanical and not satisfying

to the heart, so smaraṇa should be there. So, why does, uh, Raghunātha, Rūpa, and Raghunātha, and not somebody else?

No, first of all, because Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī was the disciple of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. And because Rūpa Gosvāmī is the founder of all our sampradāya and everyone else, every other Gosvāmī of Vṛndāvana. So Rūpa is there because he is the founder. Raghunātha is the direct spiritual master of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī.

Of course, it's not clear, there was this philosophical question, somebody's, but uh it's accepted by many that Raghunath das Goswami is his spiritual master. At least he is śikṣā-guru for sure, because he was listening to his discourses on Caitanya Mahāprabhu's life in Rādhā-kuṇḍa.

But the more important reason is that because uh Rūpa Goswami is uh the foundation, he fulfilled and revealed the desire of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and explained the path of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Raghunath das Goswami is the best example of somebody who followed this path and achieved the greatest success.

It is said that in in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa no not in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa in Bhakti-ratnākara.

In Bhakti-ratnākara it is said that the devotees were thinking that uh you cannot become you cannot achieve anything more than Rūpa Goswami.

Rūpa Goswami is such a great bhakta and he has such deep deep, deep, deep realizations. But then to their surprise, they realized that ultimately at the end Raghunath das Goswami achieved the same height.

So Rūpa and Raghunath they are absolutely the greatest Vaishnavas in our lineage and one is uh abhidheya-cāryā another one is prayojana-ācārya therefore Narottama dasa Thakura specifically and all other Goswamis they are included into this Rūpa and Raghunath they are there they are servants of Rūpa and Raghunath because uh the Rūpa and Raghunath are two main pillars of uh uh sampradāya.

Yes whatever, Tadas, Radha Pramod and uh Acintya Krishna. You didn't ask yet questions. You can give microphone to Radha Pramod.

I'm not hundred percent sure that tomorrow Bhakti Caitanya Swami will explain us gap between uh this uh Kaṁsa and uh uh Narada uh Oh yeah we will explain tomorrow.

But tomorrow Bhakti Caitanya Maharaj Bhakti Caitanya Maharaj will give class from four thirty to five thirty approximately and then from five thirty till the next morning I will explain the rest of the story.

No no don't don't be scared. No, I will I will speak a little bit. I will definitely explain to you the point which you are asking. I will explain to them.

Maharaj, you are telling that in the initial stage there is some resistance needed for devotees to grow them and become more stronger.

Now but when people come we try to tell them to be in a favorable situation. They have to be in some favorable situation like stay in the association of devotees, come to temple regularly and now like sometimes they are in a situation they are very far and other things.

So how to say that okay, this is this is good for you? Because there is a risk that they may not continue if they stay in such situation. Well, if there is a risk that they will not continue in an unfavorable situation, it basically means that they're not serious.

If they are serious from the beginning, if they do have faith, they will continue and uh uh you don't need to uh invent unfavorable situations because this life is very much unfavorable for devotional service in any case.

Then favorable situations will come. You don't need to pray like Queen Kunti. She definitely didn't need to pray for this because it was coming. The unfavorable situation will come in one way or another.

Krishna knows which unfavorable situations you need. He knows particular problems which uh which are needed uh or areas of your growth.

So Kali Yuga is very unfavorable in general. And sometimes ISKCON temples are very unfavorable for practice of devotional service.

So I know some preachers they do not send their uh counsees or people to the ISKCON temples. So sometimes by sending people uh into ISKCON temples you are sending them in very unfavorable situation too.

So what I mean to say is that uh unfavorable situations will come, don't worry about this. One way or another, No, endeavors may be there. We should be reasonable.

We should uh we should use our common sense which is not so common.

But uh uh uh but at the same time we should not that the unfavorable situations are good. They are good in many many regards, yes, as as much as possible we should try to change.

many regards yes, as as much as possible we should try to change. But not necessarily. What we should not do, we should not make the condition.

I will only practice bhakti if everything will become favorable. When when I don't have to work, when I don't have family responsibility, when everyone is just so nice to me and everything is good, then only I can practice bhakti.

That's wrong. That's false. But as much as possible, according to our understanding, we should make our circumstances favorable, but at the same time we should not be scared or afraid of uh unfavorable situations.

Or why for authority? They are not very No, they they don't read, so then they come victim mentality. So these things they underwers our situation, so we should suggest things and if uh

It's oftentimes, but I've seen if uh a devotee is mature and if the people around him see that uh he is really changing in a very positive way, they ultimately become very It's oftentimes, but I've seen if, uh, a devotee is mature

I've seen it again and again and again. How initial enmity towards practice of bhakti becomes very encouraging attitude.

But of course for that maturity is required and to avoid uh victim mentality as you said or this uh lamentation or whatever which is, of course, we're all prone to. You need to have good association.

So, besides unfavorable— I never said that only unfavorable situation will make your bhakti strong. It's an element which is important.

But if at the same time you have good association, then the good association of mature people will help you to overcome all this problems in a very mature way, and by overcoming these problems you will you will grow in a very positive way.

So we need uh we definitely need help from other devotees. That's for sure. Uh, Guru Maharaj. Thank you for the lesson.

I wanted to ask you uh because we are in the in this auspicious place where the presence of Giriraj is here and what is more, he is wearing that fresh garland which is said, which is of devotees who are doing constant parikrama.

Parikrama. Constant parikrama. What is clear, you know, like what we are witnessing every day?

How should we use this to to reach what you said at the at the end of the lecture to reach uh Radharaman or Nanda-nandana Krishna.

Like, what is the linkage between Giriraj, which is here, you know, and gopi-bhava? Radharaman? Yeah, Radharaman lifts up Giriraj, that's the link between them. He likes to do it.

Giriraj, the famous verse which is glorifying Giriraj in Gopi-gita and which, according to Raghunatha dasa Goswami, Radhika herself pronounced: hanta ayam adri-sura-bhavala-riddhi-kama- sevarya. What is this?

Yadrama Krishna Charanas Parasha Pramoda Manamta Nauti Sahagoga Nayosta Yoryat Pani Ya Suya Vasakandarakandamulam. This verse glorifies Giriraj as Haridasa-varya, as the best servant.

So Giriraj as Haridasa is teaching us how to serve and his teaching to serve us uh contains many uh important elements. One is that Girirachi is serving and he is very happy by serving. Yadrama Sprish Yadrama Krishna Charanas Parasha Pramoda.

He becomes Pramoda. He becomes very very happy by feeling the touch of the lotus feet of Krishna and Balaram.

Another lesson is that Manam Tanauti Sahagogga Nayosta Yor Yat he is not only serving Krishna and Balaram he is also expanding or extending his respect, manam tanoti, to go to the cows to Krishna's friends and to gopis.

So he's doing this. So that's the second lesson. The second lesson is that we should respect not only Krishna but all his devotees. And the third lesson is that—well, he is serving by all means.

He's providing the grass, he's providing the uh caves, he's providing fruits, he's providing uh uh waterfalls fresh water everything else. So he's trying to do whatever he likes.

So your question is how Giriraja is connected with Radharamana, he shows how to please Radharamana by pleasing all his associates, by being very happy in devotional service, and by trying to serve Krishna by all means.

So that's the answer to this question. Yes, you wanted to ask? Hare Krishna.

My question is regarding Vaishnava etiquette. Is it appropriate to ask senior Vaishnavas about the level of devotion they're in or their very intimate experiences with Krishna? Because I don't want to offend anybody.

Uh perhaps they wouldn't sound uh they don't they want to be humble and sure No no it's not appropriate to ask this question. If they like they will tell you yourself about their experience, but it's not proper to ask.

You can ask somebody else, their god brothers or whatever, to uh to chant their glories but it's not appropriate to ask them.

You know, please tell me, you are on the level of Brahma or on the level of bhāva, but be honest with me. Yeah, and we anyway are not in the level to understand this completely.

I remember Prahladananda Swami tells a very funny story. He says that his first letter which he wrote to Śrīla Prabhupāda being bhakta for a few months, he said, Dear Srila Prabhupada, thank you very much.

Devotional service is very clear. I understand the philosophy of devotional service very nicely.

The only problem which I don't understand, the only thing which I don't understand. How is that—how the process of changing from bhāva to prema takes place? That's the only thing which I still don't understand.

And Prabhupada wrote an answer. Thank you very much for your kind donations. Regarding changing from bhāva to premā, you will understand it in the due course of time. Okay, so last question please Thank you.

My question was you were saying that um uh uh uh this bhakti is a marathon and that we shouldn't have like false detachment and ultimately then burn ourselves out.

But then the other thing that we always talk about is that bhakti has to be intense and we have to really put our determination. So what's the fine line between that? It should be as intense uh as to not to burn you out.

That's the fine line. It is explained very beautifully by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that it's a human psychology to find a zone of comfort.

If you are practicing bhakti and you find yourself in a comfort zone, something is wrong with you. Because comfort zone basically means that you're doing whatever is convenient to you.

So you have to go a little bit out of comfort zone where you exert yourself to a certain extent, but not too much.

You don't try to artificially reach the level of practice which is appropriate to people with different qualifications.

But at the same time, you should try your best to practice it in such a way that you feel certain exertion.

You feel uh that there is some some tension should be there, some uh yeah some you're you're doing uh whatever you can and little bit more than you can. Then it's good.

If you're only doing whatever I can, the tendency will be you you will be able to do less and less and less. But if you do whatever you can and little more than this, then your ability to do will be more.

So if you can chant 16 rounds, please try to chant 17 rounds, it's good. I wouldn't recommend you to chant two laks a day if you are only comfortable with 16 rounds. But 17 or even I dare to say twenty is is okay.

Okay, so thank you very much. That was our fourth lecture, and tomorrow we start our seminar finally and finish it as well. So thank you very much, Hare Krishna.