Q&A session
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2025
Chapters
Vāñchā-kalpatarubhyas ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ Jaya Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhupā Nityānanda Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi Gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
Jasri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhunitananda siadvaitak dat harasivasadora bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare
Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare R Ramaama Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Yaṁ pravantaṁ Mamava Uh Hare Krishna. Uh so I'm very happy. In the chat box.
Shall we start with it? All right, so today we have third, and for the time being, last session So Radha Pramot told me that we have where is the chat? Oh you joined me so it's okay post it Okay, then we
will start with Ramananda Prabhu. Hare Krishna. Can we please set? Please accept my humble obeisances, Prabhu. I just have one other question. It's about the chat of yuga.
Potencies of Krishna Balarama and Radharani
Okay. Near the end of the Bhagavat Sandarbha, Jiva Goswami writes about the śuddha-sattva, and you gave this amazing lecture for Janmashtami the Shruta Sattva, and you gave this amazing lecture for John Mastami
a few years ago, where you were speaking about this at Lord Balaram. You manifest the material and spiritual world, everything is uh resting on his energy through the Sandhini potency, and that when the Sandini potency
becomes prominent, uh uh in purified consciousness and the Adara Shakti becomes manifest. You gave this amazing example that it's like the glue that holds everything together.
And then that through the Vladini potency, Srimati Radha, she gives prema, which was guru-datta, but then what about the ātma-jñāna, the samvit potency? Uh, nowhere that I've come across have I seen it elaborated.
Who takes charge of uh the Sunvit potency? Krishna himself. Krishna is the predominating deity of samvit potency, Radha is the deity of hlādinī-śakti and Balaram is of sandhinī-śakti. So Krishna himself is in
charge of, you know, he's the source of consciousness, he is the source of knowledge, and he's the source of consciousness. It's like, you know, like in um uh sometimes
when uh prime minister is there and prime minister uh uh
sometimes keeps some important portfolio for himself. He doesn't give it to somebody else. So, like he may play the role of the foreign minister, being the prime minister himself. So Krishna, he is, of course,
the in charge of everything, but he keeps this portfolio of knowledge or consciousness for himself. So he's the uh, adhiṣṭhātṛ deity for saṁvit-śakti.
So it has nothing to do with, you know, Vasudeva is being charged with pure conscious, Sankarṣaṇa, ahaṅkāra, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, it has nothing to do with that. Krishna taking—no, no. No.
You know, uh, all the potencies are coming ultimately from Krishna, but he's specifically in charge of this aspect of his potency. Chaturvyukha is something different.
It's uh, it's, um, more or less the explanation of how uh the original person Krishna expands himself uh, in, um, in different realms and how he manifests himself in different realms and everything else.
But it, uh, it doesn't have anything to do with this particular question. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Maybe you can, uh, turn on your camera. I just want to see you for a second.
Oh, I'm sorry, I don't have a camera on. Oh okay. Okay, no problem. No problem. Okay, okay, no problem. No problem. Okay, now we have Balaram Prabhu, uh, we have a question in the chat, right? From Ānanda Rādhā, right? Yes.
Special feature of Srimad Bhagavatam
You might have already answered this, but mine is a basic question about what is the significance of reading, understanding and applying
the principles of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam other than Rāmāyaṇa or Bhagavad-gītā, how this śuddha-tattva scripture, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, helps mankind to transcend the three modes?
Most of the cantos in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are about the devotees of the Supreme Lord, and how do those stories help us?
What is the purpose of this Vedic scripture, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; what is the right way to honor this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?
Well, the purpose of this Vedic scripture, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is very clearly explained by Sūta Gosvāmī in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the seventh chapter of the first Kanto, where he says that this is the description.
Of course, it's explained in many different ways, but just today I read this particular verse uh which is appropriate. Yasya śrūyamāṇeṣu ca kṛṣṇe in this verse, it is said that uh in the previous verse it
was said that Vyāsadeva composed Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, lokasya ajānataḥ, and in the previous verse it is very clearly said that Vyāsadeva saw
that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, bhakti-yoga, or meditation on the qualities of Kṛṣṇa is sākṣāt the most direct way to overcome anarthas or identification with matter?
And in the next verse it is said, what is the result of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? Yasya śrūyamāṇe ca kṛṣṇaḥ parama-pūruṣe, bhaktir utpadyate puṁsām. So bhakti here in this particular verse means premā.
So, the special feature of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is that by just by hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you may develop premā. Nothing less than this. And Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explaining this verse, he says what to speak
about hearing if just by hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you can develop premā, how much more you will develop if you engage others in hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Then your attachment to the Lord and your relationship with the Lord will enhance even more.
And Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says how much more you will develop if you speak Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, if just hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives you premā, then engaging others in hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives you more premā.
If you speak Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives you even more premā. And he says how much more premā you will develop towards the Lord if you engage others in speaking Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And that's exactly what Śrīla Prabhupāda did.
He heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam himself and he started speaking from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and he engaged others to
speak from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and that's the special feature of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam as opposed to Bhagavad-gītā and Rāmāyaṇa. It is not said anywhere that just by hearing Bhagavad- gītā you will develop premā.
So and why it is explained again in the same section of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Why? Because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam specifically describes the qualities of the Lord.
And while hearing about the qualities of the Lord, or meditating on the qualities of the Lord, in particular two qualities.
As we know from the story from Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa, Śukadeva Śukadeva Gosvāmī got interested in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because first he came in touch with the quality of mercy of the Lord.
Ahobaki Yamstana Kalakutam Jigam Sayapaya Apya Sadvi Lebhegatim Datruchitam Tatunyam Kamvadayalum Sharanamra Jema. First he heard, you know how merciful is the Lord that He gave
even Pūtanā the position of his wet mother or the nurse. And the second quality is his external beauty, his svarūpa. So his svabhāva is svarūpa.
Basically Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam directly describes svabhāva of the Lord or his emotings his emotional quality so to speak and his svarūpa, his external beauty and the sound of his flute, his dress, and the surrounding of the Lord.
So by hearing about these qualities and different devotees, which uh you mentioned in your question, uh, that different devotees they experienced uh differently the Lord.
The stories about uh different devotees of the Lord. They' notre about the devotees. This is about the relationship which these devotees develop with the Lord, with particular aspects of the Lord and particular qualities of the Lord, and how they experienced his qualities.
So by hearing about the qualities of the Lord and by hearing how others experience the Lord, we may develop little glimpse
of the svabhāva of the Lord and His svarūpa. And in this way develop bhakti and ultimately continue hearing
and engaging others in hearing and speaking about Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and engaging others in speaking Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we will develop more and more appreciations of the qualities of the Lord.
So that's the specialty of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And it specifically says again in the same section of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that initially Vyāsadeva composed Bhāgavata Purāṇa. But then what he did, Anu Kramya, he rewrote it in such a way that the qualities of the Lord become very much prominent, very much in the forefront of this scripture.
Before it was the Purana about Bhagawan, about different incarnations, about different pastimes.
But he recomposed this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the form which is available to us now in a very specific way so that the qualities of the Lord would become very much prominent and the qualities of the Lord would affect our relationship with the Lord.
So this is my answer to this very important question. Now Balaram Pran and Lalita want to ask some question and I will try to answer. Yes I'm very happy to see you. Very happy to see you.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity. Three days in a row is me. I mean thank you. Um I was reflecting on a lecture you gave last year, February 2024.
It seems like it was in a college to university students, probably in India.
And it's about the consciousness and pure consciousness and you were explaining this stages or what happens when one has this pure consciousness that we start to perceive reality in a correct way, one experiences the soul, and you mentioned how this experiential journey is actually only happening on that pure stage of consciousness.
Manifestation of humility in pure consciousness
So in connection to that, I have a couple of questions, but mainly two things. How does it really um look like externally this pure consciousness from one individual to the other?
Meaning like what what would be the position then of our false ego and I was thinking about this because yesterday when we had a discussion in our pranama course and one devotee said like I will never be humble.
So and there are I heard this statements I also think sometimes like this that when I see a certain devotee so humble I think okay let's admit it in this lifetime I will never be in like this but but assuming that different individuals reach that pure consciousness so that does mean does that mean that they will all be externally at the same level of humility?
No. Humility may manifest in many different ways, and the qualities of devotees may manifest in many different ways. And that's why we have Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or descriptions of the lives of great devotees.
You know, there is everyone is unique.
Again, I was answering this question about uh the mistake of uh Western universalism when we hear that you know everyone is a spirit soul and everyone is the same and everyone has the same quality, such ananda.
We may have a very distorted vision that everyone is just, you know, the same. It's like tomatoes in a supermarket, you know they try to make them look exactly the same.
But even in supermarket, every tomato is still individual despite the very strict control. So every devotee is unique. Srila Prabhupada manifested his humility in a very unique way.
There is this very famous picture of Srila Prabhupada when he's like this, you know, this very you know, head raised and chadar, you know there.
So and he said this is this is my humility. This is how the humility manifests. His humility manifested that he preached all over the world and and spoke with royal persons and Beatles and everyone else.
So don't worry, you will become humble, but you may not notice it. Others may not notice it.
But if you develop the pure consciousness, it's a natural feature of pure consciousness because you always feel naturally very humble in front of the Lord.
You know, pure consciousness means you feel His presence and you feel His greatness and you feel his, you know, amazing qualities.
So internally you always feel humble, but you know sometimes you need to manifest externally something being being an ambassador of a particular country, you may be humble yourself, but you're representative of a great country, so that's why it may manifest differently.
So don't worry. If you keep in association with devotees and purify your consciousness in a very natural and spontaneous way, qualities of pure consciousness will manifest in you.
We don't try to develop the qualities separately. We stress more the purification of consciousness in in a proper environment, proper association and then the natural qualities of the soul will transpire.
Um may I ask can we connect this to any of the stages of uh spiritual development this pure consciousness?
Stages and gradations of purified consciousness
Well, um many times I uh describe my chemical experience when when you have different you know bottles and it is written pure chemically pure or extremely pure. The purity has different gradations, grades.
And if it's just simply pure, you know You. know, as a chemist, I may say if on a bottle it is written that this is something pure, it means that there is a lot of mixture of other things.
When it is written that it is especially pure, then it's uh then it means that mixtures are very, very minute. So the same with consciousness.
You know, Prabhupāda said, you know, all my disciples are pure devotees. There's no doubt about it, because we all follow the path of pure bhakti, because we all understand that this is the path to follow that that we should strive for the purity of consciousness.
But then, you know, on the on the level of niṣṭhā, most of your anarthas are gone. Most, uh, but still you identify very much with material body. And so, level of niṣṭhā is like the standard purity.
It means that you are dedicated, you have firm faith, that there is a Lord, and that ultimately you have to enter into this pure relationship of service with the Lord.
But then after that basic stage of purity, because Anartas are already most of the gross anartas gross manifestations of our identification with the body.
On the level of niṣṭhā, it's a very tricky stage because we still identify with the body, but uh all the gross uh manifestations of our identification with the body are already gone.
So we don't have so much anger, we don't have so much lust, we don't have so much greed, but still we identify with the body.
Even though there is nothing to I there is no fun of identifying with it, you know, because you cannot manifest lust and anger and greed and all these beautiful qualities of material identification.
So that's that's like basic level of purity.
There is no gross manifestation of impurity but still it's not completely pure and then ruchi comes and then after that śakti comes and then bhāva comes and then so many other manifestations of pure consciousness.
So That's Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu is all about.
Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu is a science of um consciousness and uh how consciousness is uh being purified and how the pure consciousness manifests itself in different ways, in different forms and shapes.
So that's the subject matter of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Therefore, it's our main Abhideya Shastra. Thank you so much, Guru Maharaj, and we are looking forward to have your association whenever desires.
I missed I missed my retreat in uh in Germany, I wanted to come. I really wanted to come. And many times I was determined to come, but somehow or other Krishna didn't want me to come.
Didn't allow me, I didn't have Sukriti to get the darśana of Prahlāda Nṛsiṁhadeva. We hope you are we hope you are happy and healthy wherever you are, Guru Maharaj. Thank you. Thank you.
My computer always says that my internet connection is unstable, so we change the internet. No okay. Okay has another question. Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances.
It is very nice to see you again and we are very grateful for these sessions of you. Now you're frozen. Also okay. Um and the lectures were fantastic. Uh okay. Uh my question is about uh preaching.
Direct and indirect methods of preaching
I uh I teach English and Hindi online, and my students are from all around the world.
Uh so sometimes I like talking about Krishna and the philosophy. I understand there are two ways of preaching, a direct way and an indirect way.
So I want to know, should we preach Krishna consciousness through vegetarianism, peace, love and philanthropy, or should we stick to the essence of Krishna consciousness?
Which actually I really like to just cut to the chase, but I realize people, yeah, should we stick to you are an eternal spirit soul, human life is made for God realization. Yeah, which one is better? Which one is simple?
It really depends on a preacher. You know, the preacher only sounds convincing when he realized what he is talking about.
And those who hear him they immediately can recognize that he is speaking from the heart or he's just speaking because because he has to do it or because of some other reason because he m wants to manipulate me.
So it really depends on what you're comfortable with. If you're comfortable, more comfortable with speaking directly and you feel pleasure, it's a very safe way because people will be uh it will be contagious.
People will feel that you are very much convinced and they will be happy to hear you speaking directly about Krishna.
There is no need to speak about vegetarianism if you're if you you know feel that this is something you know if you're bored by speaking about vegetarianism. In some circumstances it may be appropriate, yes.
But only if you feel very strongly about the subject matter you should speak about this.
I remember, you know, I I was the first one in Russian language, in Russian-speaking Iskone and Russian-speaking world, so to speak, who gave the seminar on Ayurveda.
And I was very much fascinated by the science of Ayurveda, probably because of my scientific background, when I encountered this manifestation of the science, Vedic science, I was very fascinated and I decided to give this seminar on Ayurveda.
But I uh by the uh by the end of the first lecture I I felt so bored by speaking about this. And uh but after that I gave some other lectures on Ayurveda.
And it was much more enlightening because at that point that was many l uh years later. I I kind of I knew how to connect Krishna consciousness with this indirect so to speak presentation of Krishna consciousness.
But at that point I realized that speaking about Krishna is much more fun than speaking about uh Vata, Pita and Kaffa. So uh or vegetarianism or peace and love, you know, it's it's good.
Uh and some people are very good uh at this and um you know and they feel strongly about this. Let them speak about this. There will be many grateful listeners.
But if you feel very strongly about Krishna, speak about Krishna. People will be grateful. Is it also okay to bring it through consciousness? Because people respond to that more easily than Krishna directly about
Yeah, but we we we should not necessarily cater to the interest of people because we know that the highest interest of any soul is to know about God.
We may start with something which is of their direct interest, but if we know how to connect it with the their highest interest, even though they may not be conscious or may not realize that this is their interest,
then you know if we feel strongly about it, people will be touched.
I remember this beautiful story which Mukunda Maharaja uh describes, he he he was you know just in the very beginning of his devotional path and he liked Swamiji and he before he wanted to go to India.
So he said, let me ask Swamiji to teach me Sanskrit. And he asked, Śrīla Prabhupāda, can you teach me Sanskrit? And Śrīla Prabhupāda says, Yes, of course, you can come. Come to me.
And Michael Grant at that time, Mukunda Maharaja came to Śrīla Prabhupāda's loft and he said that Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote to him in Sanskrit, this Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ / anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. And he spoke something two two sentences about Sanskrit
and then the rest about... Mukunda Maharaja writes in his beautiful book, Miracle on the Second Avenue, that Maharaj writes in his beautiful book, Miracle on the Second Avenue, that he said for for one and a half hours Sri Prabhupada non-stop speaking about Krishna.
And Mukunda Maharaja was leaving the room and was thinking, you know, this swamiji seems to be really into Krishna and he was really touched by Śrīla Prabhupāda's enthusiasm.
Even though he came with different purpose and he wanted to hear something different, still he he was uh it was very contagious when Prabhupada spoke about Krishna.
So you may start from vegetarianism, peace and love, and psychology and uh psychoanalysis or whatever you like, Vastu Shastra or I don't know. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Yes, Amritalila, we can hear your question and then Nicola. Yes. Hare Krishna. Thank you for this opportunity. I have my main question, but I also had one tiny question following from ananda
So uh we know that uh Krishna himself is in charge of samvit, but isn't uh like Shakti always female, so should have some kind of female personification. Not necessarily for Sandhini Shakti.
Like Sandhini Shakti is Balarama. This is Shakti, yes, Shakti is female, but the deity of this particular Shakti can be male, you know, doesn't have to be female.
Like Balarama is uh in charge of this uh Sandhini Shakti and Krishna is in charge of samvit. He's in charge, samvit means consciousness, knowledge, a knowledge of oneself or Ātma-jñāna, the knowledge of the soul. So this is all this is all uh directly, you know, Krishna is in Krishna is in charge of this.
And that's why he's speaking Bhagavad-gītā, and that's why he's um you know different aspects of uh self-knowledge is is under his portfolio.
Proper attitude towards sadhana and chanting
You can hear a noise. Or if anyone can read anyway, uh so my main question was uh we just had uh online uh bhakti rickshaw meeting and um it seems like everyone is uh really struggling in every aspect of life.
Like family life is difficult, health, uh work, everything. Uh and sadhana too.
So of course um like the the the danger is that people will start uh hating their sadhana like joke because it's so difficult and uh the mind is uh protesting a lot. Um and I feel very inadequate to help because I'm also struggling in many ways.
So would you recommend something in such cases? Because the best thing I can say is like just uh yeah it will be better, just focus on the things that really inspire you.
No, I think the very approach is wrong. It starts with the approach. If if you approach sadhana with this idea that this is something
which I am forced to do, that this is something which, you know, my life is so difficult, I'm so burdened by all these responsibilities and now on the top of this uh I have to do this, you know, spiritual activities which is, you know which, don't bring me any satisfaction, but you know, I'm stressed out, and now I'm even more stressed out.
So if this is the initial attitude, then of course better you don't do it even. So suddenly, something different: sadhana should not be just yet another burden which we have.
We have so many responsibilities, so many difficult things, so many
struggles which we have to go through and now yet another struggle to struggle with my sixteen rounds, and sometimes I defeat my rounds and sometimes my rounds defeat me.
So uh no, we we have to. When it comes to sadhana, the attitude should be different. Here is a few minutes, whatever few minutes from your busy life you can dedicate, this is my time when I can think about the Lord.
Think about my relationship with the Lord. Think about the most important essential questions of the Lord. And this is not a burden. This is this is something which I need very much.
And you know, the sadhana, especially chanting, should be done in a relaxed way, not as any other stressful activities, because if you do sadhana and you feel even more stress than before, it basically means that you are doing it through your false ego.
Your ahankara is there. You just added something to your ahankara. I am a family man, I am this, I am that, I am this, and I am member of Bhaktivriksha,
and I am member of ISKCON, and I am devotee. But this is all part of false identity. And therefore, I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to do this.
When it comes to sadhana, you're not the doer. That's the beauty of the sadhana. You know, you don't have to be stressed. You you just you relax and you try to you know to facilitate
the you know the holy name coming to you or coming upon you and or you you this is your deity and you are interacting with it. It's not a part of your ahaṅkāra, my identity, therefore I have to do it.
No, it's just it's a part it's a completely different approach. And therefore, if you do it properly, you feel more rejuvenated and more fresh and more energetic to do all other duties. All other duties you have to do.
But this is something which which which you should learn how to like to do it because this is not yet another duty but this is something different I don't know how to how to express it, but I think
anyone who knows it, you know, the first thing which we should do, people, I I I saw it many times, especially when you chant in the temple, you know, people write they try to concentrate on this, but this is the false approach to Sadhana. You know, you you just you relax and then the holy name in the relaxed way it comes through you, it comes on your tongue and you are you you experience a lot of pleasure by you know being with the holy name, by being in the presence of the holy name.
You are not forcing the holy name, you are not forcing your consciousness to concentrate. You are in the presence of the Holy Name. And you stay in the presence in a very natural and relaxed way.
You are in the presence of God, in a form of holy name. And that's that's different. I don't know if I explained it in a in an under Yeah, please try to relax. Okay.
Dealing with offences and seeking forgiveness
Yes, Nicola. Hare Krishna Maharaj, please accept my humble obeisance. Hare Krishna, yes. Thank you for this uh blissful, blissful three-day opportunity.
I have a question about uh vaiṣṇava-aparādha and about asking for forgiveness because I found myself in a situation where I make a lot of aparādhas and uh I'm not sure what to do with one special devotees with one special devotee.
I was involved involved in one fun community attempt, you know, to build farm community with devotees.
I were I was there full years, fully four years full time with my wife and then the children came and then we realized it uh it is not developing how we want to develop and then we leave.
We were speaking with devotees about half half a year that we are planning to go and we have a full support, but when we go, we didn't have support. It was uh it was really badly experienced for us
uh so we lost everything even material and spiritual. I I lost my best friend from devotee. So that is before two and a half years.
I was very angry on that devotee and on the main devotee who is you know, like taking this project. So as I started your Pranam program, I realized how to be respectful and how to have a proper respect for them.
So I uh changed the things in my heart.
I'm now peaceful with that situation and with the devotee with who I was like you know four years every day and uh every night almost uh I meet with him, I apologize to him and it was uh really nice because he got tears in his eyes and uh I get a big relief from my heart.
But the other devotee who was my mentor at the time, when everything finished, he just wrote me, you don't contact me anymore, you don't ask me anymore, we are finished and we always have a some kind of impersonal uh relationship, you know, like master and servant. Uh not not much love included.
But I want to like uh really take care for that uh part of my life you know to finish uh with that because I taste the the fruit of aparādhas and uh I really want to clean everything like I should clean.
So my question is: how to approach this devotee? Could I just send him like a letter, like email, or should I call him, or it's enough that I uh peace myself with him in my heart and that I have respect for him, or what to do?
You know, if he is adamant, if he's if he really doesn't want to have anything to do with you, and you know what can we do? It may only provoke more More negative reaction if you approach him at this moment of time.
So there is no need to force yourself. You know, if you feel that you will be able to somehow or other change his heart by your humble letter, that's fine.
If you don't feel that it will have an effect, just be satisfied with uh with the fact that uh uh you begged forgiveness from him in the heart and try to chant more uh of the holy name.
It's not always not always we will be able to you know gain the forgiveness of all the devotees.
In this case we just you know humbly in our heart we beg their forgiveness we and you know if if we're peaceful uh and if we feel that uh Krishna reciprocates within our heart and our chanting is good, that uh it's okay. Uh after some time you may approach him and uh you may, you know, because uh after some time it may become little easier for him to accept your apology.
So don't be in a hurry if you feel that the time is not ripe, and if you feel that you know you said that always your relationship were a little formal.
So just take the respectful distance from this particular devotee and you know always manifest and uh externally, you know, respect him and internally respect him. But take the distance. The proper distance is good.
No, that's actually the science of relationship to know which distance we should take in which in this particular case. So don't don't be too anxious. It will never happen that everyone will love you.
Be happy with that that you have close relationship with some devotees and that Krishna loves you and and that's enough. Thank you very much. Yes, Dina Bandhu.
Protecting consciousness while counselling others
Yes. Maharaj, my question is like Maharaj uh my service is preaching to the different students.
So when I travel and preach to the students, so generally we meet with the students and they have a lot of problems and when they they share the problem with us so Maharaj it's uh sometimes it's very difficult to remain um our consciousness can be like in a pure good state and uh in the last like the dhama treat you have mentioned that our meditation should be very uh pure and the constant mention of Krishna's should be there in our consciousness.
So Maharaj uh like uh sometimes it's like traveling, meeting so many people, and specifically listening, pulse and our sometimes the problems and counseling the students.
So how to maharaj as a preacher, how to protect oneself and not only protect uh how to increase our standard in Krishna consciousness but I really we can help to others rather than being infected by both that by the same problem.
I recently spoke with one friend of mine who is an Ayurvedic doctor.
And he told me that his teacher who was teaching him, he said that when you are consulting others, taking pulse of other people, you will take some of their karma.
And it's an art to help them and at the same time not to be affected by their problems and their karma. And this particular teacher taught my friend, he said that uh you know after uh it's a must after the day of consultations when you uh uh you know deal with so many people and their problems, their physical problems, their illnesses and everything else, their karma, so to speak.
It's a must for you to go to the shower when you finished with this.
And while you're taking shower, you know, meditate how the shower is, you know, washing away all the problems and and you know forget about their problems uh and you know start reading or chanting or whatever doing whatever you need for your own purification.
So I don't, you know, by repeating these words, I don't recommend specifically this method, but the principle is the same.
Uh it's like this we have to be m you know to be able to help uh others we also have to develop the ability not to be affected or not to be too much affected by their problems.
You should always you you should try to help them but at the same time you should have some mantra within your heart. It's not my problem. You know, and in this way you will be able to help them better.
It's not that you remain careless and who is asking to start me AI companion? Somebody participant has asked. Okay. So uh it's not that uh you will become uh careless or indifferent to their problems.
Yes, be there with them but at the same time you know try to meditate on Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa is doing it through you. You're not the doer.
At this moment when you're counseling, when you're you know trying to help other people, just meditate that Kṛṣṇa is doing it through you. And Kṛṣṇa will give you some ideas, Kṛṣṇa will protect you.
And you know, taking a shower is also a good idea after a long day of counseling and you know just you know wash away and Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa and come to the devotees with pure heart and listen some lecture or give some lecture or whatever. Do something which is blissful.
And that will help you to be protected. I hope it helps.
I really have to finish so since Damadara Priya already asked her question I will Huh? Deepti and Deepti and Vrajaraj Gopal, this two questions I will answer, and Damadara Priya.
She has unlimited questions, so we'll have some other time to answer her questions. So we'll start with Rajaraj Gopal and then Deepti, and then we'll finish. Is there also? He was he has been trying to ask his questions.
So three questions. Okay, Rajaraj Gopal Prabhu from San Diego. From another part from another end of the world. Okay. Uh it it's uh blissful to hear from you three consecutive days.
Worship of Yogamaya in Vaishnava tradition
Uh thank you so much for your time. Maharaj, um recently I had asked a question through Radha Pramod Prabhu about the deity of Yogamaya Devi. And you had given a response.
Um I was um in that you mentioned something about how um Krishna helped Rupa Goswami find uh uh Yoga Maya Devi in this form. Uh uh could you maybe elaborate a little more on that pastime?
Because I'm not able to find a reference for it. I need to do more research.
As far as I remember, when Govindaji was found or manifested himself in this hill where when they did excavation, also Yogamaya deity was also there. But I I need to do more research. I'm not 100% sure.
Let me do it and then I will uh I will answer in this conference where where you asked the question. Okay. Yes, Maharaj. And uh then in connection to that, like this form of Yogamaya Devi looks like Guru Devi.
Do uh should we as Vaishnavas prefer to worship uh Yogamaya Devi in her expansion of expansion as Tulsi Devi? Or yes should we worship? Absolutely, no.
We as Vaishnavas, especially as followers of Chaitanya Prabhu, we worship uh Yogamaya in form of Brinda Devi or Tulasi Devi. Yes, that's that's our main relationship and main manifestation of Yoga Maya.
That's why we're chanting on Tulasi beads and that's why we're worshipping Tulasi plant and that's why it is a part of our sadhana and that's why Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī himself mentions it in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu that this is should be our worship of Yogamaya through Tulasi Devi. Devī.
Okay. Sinks you're muted. Thank you. Okay. So Deepti. Hare Krishna Bhakti. Thank you so much for giving this opportunity. Um, my question is uh regarding free will. I've been trying to understand that for some time.
And before asking, I actually went through a couple of your lectures, especially the one from 2016
in Israel, and there you have mentioned that free will was in the context of surrendering to Krishna as well, or some kind of an irrational resistance at some very deep level of the soul.
So my question is that is that the only choice, or do we also have micro choices during our day to day activities? No, no. Of course. Of course, of course. We we do have uh you know everyone of us has free will.
Uh there is I I don't remember the name of the scientist who wrote the whole book: that there is no free will, that it's all predetermined, that it's all just activities of our neurons, and it's just an illusion of free will.
But then he says: yes, I know it, but still, when it comes for me to choose which movie I want to see tonight with my family, or which ice cream I want to taste, I still think that I have free will.
So people, even those people who are adamant and who say that there is no free will, still they exercise their free will. People exercise their free will constantly.
And you know what is the point of writing the whole book that there is no free will uh if there is no free will so why do you have to write a book about it it's already predetermined. It's completely ridiculous.
Every one of us feels that there is free will. And we do free will.
Like during this lecture several times I wanted to drink this uh coconut water but then I looked in the in my watch and uh I realized that it's too late to drink this and I didn't drink. So it was my conscious choice and it has nothing to do with surrendering to Krishna.
It's just common sense. Okay. Ramabadra Priya, you you have been trying to ask your question since the first session. You are always late.
Understanding sadhana bhakti without discouragement
Yes. I just wanted to get a little clear understanding when Rūpa Gosvāmī defines pure devotion: anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam. There is a term which is called as nirupādhi and sopādhi bhakti.
Sopādhi is more of a miśra bhakti, but nirupādhi is śuddha bhakti. And based on my understanding, Mahārāja, even sādhana-bhakti is a-hetukī, it is causeless. Sādhana-bhakti also means bhakti-devī manifests.
So I've been trying to figure out, Mahārāja, it looks like you know, even sādhana-bhakti is a very, very, very exalted stage where bhakti-devī actually manifests, and ultimately by that sādhana we can attain sādhya.
So I feel myself at least that I'm far, far away even from the practice of śuddha-sādhana-bhakti, and you know, it's years of practice, and we seem nowhere near where, you know, the sādhana-bhakti stage, we reach for it. So can you just give us some insight into this one?
This kind of thinking is not favorable to bhakti. So therefore it should be discarded. It's not ānukūlya. Yes, if we analyze it very minutely, we may say that Sadhana is out of our reach because it has to descend.
But you know, we never hear Śrīla Prabhupāda saying this, or he is encouraging us, and he calls our chanting sādhana, and it is sādhana.
Yes, it may be not sādhana in the proper sense of the word, it may be some sort of a bhāsa. But um if we have intention, and intention is to approach Krishna, to come closer to Krishna
and ultimately develop bhāva, according to the definition of sādhana-bhakti given in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, if we are doing this sadhana with the goal,
with a clear goal to develop bhāvas and feeling, that is sādhana. That is definitely sadhana.
And you know, don't, don't, it it's very depressing, you know, when we start thinking, you know, "I didn't even start my sādhana." And this is all, you are doing your sādhana. Don't worry about this.
And be happy with doing whatever you can.
If you're doing it with the devotees, according to, you know, with the studying śāstras and in the association of devotees, you know, it's offensive, don't, don't offend your sādhana by saying that this is not sādhana. So just just do your sadhana and try to be happy with the sadhana which you can do and uh definitely you can increase your sadhana.
And um with this I I should finish it because some other pressing engagements are there. But I'm very grateful and sometimes in the future we will have some other uh sessions.