Vastraharana Lila. Part 2
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Zurich · 2023
Chapters
Katyayani mantra and gopis' prayer
Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, bhagavate, om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, te vāsudevāya, om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ tene brahma hṛdā ya ādikavaye muhyanti yatsūrayaḥ tejovāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mṛṣā dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi, janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ tene brahma hṛdā ya ādikavaye muhyanti yatsūrayaḥ tejovāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mṛṣā dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamaṁ devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet. naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī.
Hare Krishna. So we'll continue reading the 22nd chapter of the 10th canto of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, Krishna steals the gopis' garments. We'll chant together the verse number four, which is the most important prayer.
Katyani Mahamaya! Katyayani mahāmāye, mahāyoginy adhīśvarī, mahāyoginy adhīśvarī, nanda-gopa-sutaṁ devi, nanda-gopa-sutaṁ devi, patiṁ me kuru te namaḥ, patiṁ me kuru te namaḥ, iti mantram japantyas tāḥ, iti mantram japantyas tāḥ, pūjāṁ cakruḥ kumārikāḥ, pūjāṁ cakruḥ kumārikāḥ, Katyayani mahāmāye, mahāyoginy, mahāyoginy adhīśvarī, nanda-gopa-sutaṁ devi, nanda-gopa-sutaṁ devi, patiṁ me kuru te namaḥ, patiṁ me kuru te namaḥ, iti mantram japantyas tāḥ, iti mantram japantyas tāḥ, pūjāṁ cakruḥ kumārikāḥ, pūjāṁ cakruḥ kumārikāḥ.
Katyayani, O Goddess Katyayani, Mahamaye, of great potency. Mahayogini, O possessor of great mystic powers. Almighty controller Nanda Gopa Sutam, the son of Maharaja Nanda,
Devi, O Goddess, patim, the husband, māṁ kuru, please make te unto unto you Namaha Nama my obeisances. It is with these words.
Mantram the hymn Japantia Chanting Taha They Pujam Worship Chakru Perform Kumarikaha the unmarried girls. Each of the young unmarried girls performed her worship while chanting the following mantra.
Distinction between Yoga-maya and Mahamaya
O Goddess Katyani, O great potency of the Lord, O possessor of great mystic power and mighty controller of all, please make the son of Nanda Maharaja my husband. I offer my obeisances unto you.
According to various Acharyas, the goddess Durga mentioned in this verse is not the illusory energy of Krishna called Maya, but rather the internal potency of the Lord known as Yoga Maya.
The distinction between the internal and external or illusory potency of the Lord is described in the Narada Pancharatra, in the conversation between Shruti and Vidya.
Janat Eka Para Kantam Saiva Durga Tadat Mika Yapara Parama Shaktir Mahavishnu Swarupini Please know that there is one Durga who is one with
God who is non-different from God and then she is Parama Shakti Mahavishnu Swarupini, she is she has the same form as the Lord. Yasya Vijana Matrina Pranamam Paramatmanaha Muhurtat Deva Devasya Prattir Bavati Nanyatha
Ekeyam Prema Sarvasva Swabhava Gokuleshwareanya Sulabhugya Adideva Akilesvara Asya Avarikashaktihi Maha Maya Akileshwari Yaya Mugdam Jagatsarvam Sarve Deva Deha Abimana Translation.
The Lord's inferior potency, known as Durga, is dedicated to His loving service. Being the Lord's potency, this inferior energy is known different from Him.
There is another superior potency whose form is on the same spiritual level as that of the Lord, simply by scientifically understanding this supreme potency, one can immediately achieve the supreme soul of all souls, who is the Lord of all lords.
There is no other Gakuleshari, the goddess of Gakula. There is no other process to achieve him.
That supreme potency of the Lord is known as Gokuleshari, the goddess of Gakula. Her nature is to be completely absorbed in love of God and through her one can easily obtain the primeval God, the Lord of all that be.
This internal potency of the Lord has a covering potency known as Mahamaya who rules the material world.
In fact, she bewilders the entire universe and thus everyone within the universe falsely identifies himself with the material body.
From the above, we can understand that the internal and external or superior and inferior potencies of the Supreme Lord are personified as Yoga-maya and Mahamaya, respectively.
The name Durga is sometimes used to refer to the internal superior potency as stated in the Nārada-pañcarātra. In all mantras used to worship Krishna, the presiding deity is known as Durga.
Thus, in the transcendental sound vibration, glorifying and worshipping the absolute truth, Krishna, the presiding deity of the particular mantra or him, is called Durga.
The name Durga therefore refers also to the personality who functions as the internal potency of the Lord and who is thus on the platform of śuddha-sattva, pure transcendental existence.
This internal potency is understood to be Krishna's sister known as Ekanamsa or Subhadra.
This is the Durga who has, who was worshipped by the Gopis in Vrindāvana. Several Ācāryas have pointed out that ordinary people are sometimes bewildered and think that the names Mahamaya and Durga refer exclusively to the external potency of the Lord.
Even if you accept hypothetically that the Gopis were worshipping the external Maya, there is no fault on their part since in their past times of loving Krishna, they were acting as ordinary members of society.
Śrīla Prabhupāda comments in this regard: the Vaiṣṇavas generally do not worship the demigods. Thakura has strictly forbidden all worship of the demigods for any one who wants to advance in pure devotional service.
Yet the gopis, who are beyond compare in their affection for Krishna, They seem to worship Durga. The worshippers of demigods also sometimes mention that the Gopis also worshiped Goddess Durga.
But we must understand the purpose of the Gopis. Generally, people worship Goddess Durga for some material benediction. Here the Gopis could adopt any means to satisfy or serve Krishna.
That was the super excellent characteristic of the Gopis. They worshiped Goddess Durga completely for one month in order to have Krishna as their husband.
Every day they prayed for Krishna, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, to become their husband. The conclusion is that a sincere devotee of Krishna will never imagine any material quality to exist in the transcendental gopis who are the most exalted devotees of the Lord, the only motivation in all their activities was simply to laugh and satisfy Krishna.
And if we foolishly consider their activities to be mundane in any way, it will be impossible for us to understand Krishna consciousness. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya!
We will also read the translation of previous and next two verses, so verses two and
three my dear king after they had bathed in the water of Yamuna just as the sun was rising, the gopīs made an earthen deity of goddess Durga on the riverbank.
Then they worshipped her with such aromatic substances as sandalwood pulp along with other items, both opulent and simple, including lamps, fruits, betel nuts, newly grown leaves, and fragrant garlands and incense.
And the next two verses.
Thus for the entire months the girls carried out their vow and properly worshipped the goddess Bhadrakālī, fully absorbing their minds in Krishna and meditating upon the following thought: "May the son of King Nanda become my husband.
Each day they rose at dawn, calling out to one another by name, they all held hands and loudly sang the glories of Krishna while going to the Kalindi to take their baths.
Namaḥ oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe. Vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaḥ ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ.
Jaya Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi- gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
Svasti prajābhyaḥ paripālayantāṁ nyāyeṇa mārgeṇa mahīṁ mahīśāḥ, go-brāhmaṇebhyaḥ śubham astu nityaṁ lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu.
Approaching Srimad-Bhagavatam through meditation
Hare Krishna. So we continue reading this chapter and at the same
time trying to understand the process of meditation, which is recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the very beginning. This is one of the most important topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In fact, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam can only be understood not intellectually but through the process of meditation.
If you try to dissect Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and analyze Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and you know divide it into different parts and imagine that you understood Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you have cheated yourself.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is written in samādhi-bhāṣā, it's a product of creation of Vyāsadeva's samadhi.
He was absorbed completely in the samadhi, and in samadhi he saw everything and he described so the process of understanding of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is again samadhi. Of course, initially we cannot go into Samadhi,
but as I explained yesterday, there are five stages of approaching samadhi. There are four preliminary stages before we can enter samadhi,
and we can in this way greatly understand Srimad Bhagavatam through the absorption into the subject matter without trying to intellectually analyze it.
Because if we try to intellectually analyze him at Bhāgavatam, we will be baffled completely. You know, when we'll try to imagine how nicely Sūrasena Mahārāja was guarded with four quadrillion of guards in a
small city of Dvārakā, we will just be completely bewildered by this. So when we'll try to imagine how you know the body of Pūtanā one yojana long and so many other completely strange statements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Therefore I was told that Gopī Parānandana Prabhu great Sanskrit scholar and the knower of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam when he was explaining the was trying or planning to explain the overview of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
An overview basically means that you look over on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. He said we cannot look over on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It means that we are higher than Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So he called his course underview of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
So you look at Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam being in a lower position and try to accept Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, not dissect Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, not try to analyze Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in your rational capacity because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is beyond your intelligence.
There is no chance for us to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by just mundane intelligence and ordinary linear logic.
So, the meditation is the process, and in the seventh canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Nārada Muni himself explains how this process works. He says, basically, you become, this is also a statement
of I believe Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad, yeah, Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad, which explains that you become what you meditate upon.
You gradually, by the this process of concentration your mind, you change even your physical appearance to a certain extent, and definitely in the next life you become the object of your meditation or you become like the object of your meditation.
The same is explained by Krishna in the eighth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
Of course, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajatyante kalevaram taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ, D Bhava Bhavitaha whatever is the object of your constant meditation uh you become like this.
And Narada Muni gives the example of worm and the Bumblebee and the worm because of the fear of Bumblebee, always meditating on the Bumblebee and ultimately becomes Bumblebee.
So this transformation takes place and this is a real process. You can actually see the some sort of reflection of Krishna's beauty even in the faces of devotees. They become like Krishna to a certain extent.
And this is a very powerful process.
And we have to understand we should not be desperate because we cannot meditate immediately, we have to be content with the level of meditation which we are capable of at this moment of time.
Hoping that the process itself will make us eligible for the better state of meditation. Sometimes people say, oh, my japa is so horrible. Yes. Your japa is definitely horrible. You're also horrible, no problem.
But that's you know there is no trick.
There is not just some magic trick by which you all of a sudden your japa will become you just try, sincerely try, and some changes gradually will take place and your mind will become more concentrated.
So from Smarana to Dharana, you will be able to hold the object of meditation for some for some time.
From dharana to dhyana, the time of your holding the object of meditation will become longer and you will see the object of meditation in more details.
From Dhyana to Dhruvanu Smriti, when your meditation finally becomes continuous. It's actually the reason why continuance means 24 hours.
And that's the reason why Caitanya Mahaprabhu, even though he stresses the power of kīrtana and recommends kīrtana as the best, Taramah, Sarvasres, Tanamasan Kirtan.
Out of all the methods of devotional service, Namasankirtan is the best, is Sarva Shreshta. But at the same time he says we should chant japa. Why should we chant japa? What is the reason behind it?
You know, if kīrtana is the most powerful, if our japa is horrible, why should we chant japa? The reason is that ideally we should chant japa for a longer period of time, and this longer period of serving japa, serving the holy name will help us to enter into another space where our meditation will become continuous.
Therefore, Lord Chaitanya he recommended 64 rounds. 64 rounds means that after 64 rounds, uh you will not be able to think about anything else.
You will be the rest of the day will be thinking about the holy name. So that's that's the idea.
You know, for five uh for five or six consecutive hours you're sitting there chanting Hare Krishna and then you know for the rest of the day you can only chant Hare Krishna, you're good for nothing else.
So in this way your meditation becomes continuous, and when your meditation becomes continuous, you ultimately enter into samadhi
and entering into samadhi means you're entering the līlā, you're entering the spiritual dimension, which is there, which is accessible, which is actually right there.
Andal's meditation on Katyayani vow
We just don't have the eligibility, the qualification to enter it, because our mind is absorbed in the matter.
And there is a very practical example of how it works, very successful and inspirational example, in regard to this particular chapter.
In the south of India of course you must have heard the verse 11 predecessors of Ramanuja Acharya and other acharyas of the Yamunacharya and Nathamuni,
eleven Alvars who lived in the beginning of Kali Yuga, around the time when Krishna passed away, the very first Alvars
were even during Krishna's time, Namalvar who is considered to be the chief of all Alvars, he was born as far as I remember 48 days after the departure of Krishna.
And his whole life he was lamenting that he just missed 48 days. He could have seen Krishna. Andāl, and she has a poem which is called Tiruppāvai, which poem which is called Tiruvapai, which consists of thirty hymns.
And these hymns are still chanted regularly in the months of Marga Srsha, the same months which is described here, Hemante Prathamamase, in this chapter.
And every day there are thirty days in the months and there are thirty hymns and every day the pious Hindu ladies in the south they chant Andal's verses, and these verses is nothing but meditation on this particular chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
She meditates how she is there on the bank of Yamunā and how she's taking bath in the cold waters of Yamunā, completely naked, and how she is praying to Goddess Katyayani. So for one whole month she was meditating and these prayers, these verses which are still there, is a result of her meditation.
In the complete details, she's explaining what is happening there on the bank of Yamuna and how she is fervently praying for the mercy of the Lord and how He ultimately comes and steals the garment and promises, okay, okay, I will take you, no problem. Don't worry, don't be hysterical.
Anyway, but the reason why I'm telling this story is that ultimately that happened with Andal.
For one month, Andal was meditating deeply in these verses of this chapter and rewriting it and writing her own verses and prayers.
And at the end of this, Ranganath, the Supreme Lord who is there in Sri Rangam, sent the whole procession to take her and he said, I want to marry her. I like this girl.
So her father, who was also a great devotee, he was completely shocked. He just couldn't believe it.
But you know, when all the priests came from Sri Rangam temple with all the carts and you know with great pomp, they put Andal on
the cart and they brought her to Sri Rangam temple and her father, of course, was there, he was supposed to be there with the bride in this marriage procession, you know, he still couldn't believe it.
He just thought it's absurd what's going on. You know, my daughter is going to marry Ranganatha. What's happening?
And then when she entered and she was in a marriage dress and she started going towards the altar of Ranganatha and her father was crying, don't do it, don't do it, don't commit this aparādha, this is aparādha.
Then ultimately he fainted and she just entered, you know, the altar of Ranganatha, sat on his lap and entered his body and, you know, disappeared from this world.
So, and uh, and since then they celebrate this marriage of Ranganatha with Andal, and it's still the tradition, and she's one of the wives of Ranganath.
So that's what happened with her, and therefore, you know, all the pious ladies, they uh repeat it uh again; they may not have very strong faith into the process, but still they do it.
But the point is that it works. That's what I want to explain.
Gopis receiving mantra from Vrinda Devi
And Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains what happened there very briefly and out of order. Śukadeva Gosvāmī is quite bewildered. You know, every now and then he completely changes the order.
So first he explains here in the verses which we read, first he explains how they were worshiping Katiani.
And then he explains how in the morning they would get up and go to each other's house, knock at each other's doors and call each other and go to Yamuna.
So first they're already in Yamuna worshipping Kātyāyanī and you know chanting the mantra and then Śukadeva Gosvāmī remembers that he didn't explain what happened before.
So that's Acharya's comment on this and they say he's just in complete ecstasy so he he he's he's drunk, so don't expect from him to be completely hundred percent logical.
And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, while explaining this Lalīta-gopāla-campū, he actually elaborates on this and explains something which was not explained by Śukadeva Gosvāmī himself. And again, this is the result of his meditation.
He's taking this and he's meditating and he's really seeing what was happening. So he explains it's something which was before.
Because Śukadeva Gosvāmī doesn't say where did they get this mantra from? And how did they know that they should chant this mantra?
You know, you cannot just read a book and pick up mantra from the book and start worshiping and hope that you will be successful. You need to have a guru. You need to receive mantra from a guru.
You need to receive not only mantra from a guru, you need to receive the complete detailed process of the worship according to the to your desired goal, otherwise, it will be just a farce.
That's why Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains the details and how it happened. How did they get the mantra? Who was their guru? And what is the dynamic which ultimately brought them together? And how is it possible, you know, did they have some you know social network and then you know through Facebook they arranged it, you know such such and day we meet on the riverbank.
What's the how it happened? What was the process?
So Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that they were worshipping different devas because they were, you know, they're pious Hindu ladies, you know who know that if you want to fulfill your desires you should worship some devotes and according to the family tradition, according to their likings and their understanding of efficacy of the process, they were praying to different devas, but result was zero. And they were completely bewildered.
They were praying, oh please somehow or other make Krishna our husband. They you know Krishna was the hero of the village. He was the you know the first boy in the village and everyone without exception And
this these young girls they were hiding their feelings. They couldn't reveal these feelings to anyone and they thought, I'm the only one like this. And they were suffering like anything. They were very beautiful.
But as Jīva Gosvāmī says, due to this internal sufferings and internal tension, their beauty was waning like the moon.
They were beautiful like the moon, but the moon we know have the tendency of shrinking in the dark half of the months.
So that was happening with these girls, and the desire was becoming stronger and stronger and stronger. And at one point, out of desperation, they decided to go to Yamuna. And to their great surprise, each one
of them, there was no Facebook at that time. Each one of them came at the same time, at the same place, together, and they found and they started asking each other, what are you doing here? How come you are here?
You know, what's what's the reason for you being here? And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains the mechanism of this mechanism of this unanimity, how they became one-minded, how they they their hearts completely merge together.
He said that you know if you have if if you have similar aspirations And if your aspirations are very strong, then by the will of providence, by the arrangement of the providence,
you will find similar people with similar aspirations, and you will find somebody who will help you to fulfill your aspirations.
And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī compares it with contemporary, you know, he illustrates it with contemporary example. He said, like the people who have similar desires to
learn something, they come and automatically without any preliminary agreement, they come to the same teacher. They find the same teacher.
Like people, you know, they know that there is some good, in our case, it's some good university.
And they come to the same university, they enter the same university, and to their surprise, they understand that their aspirations are similar.
So it's the arrangement of uh the providence which helps us to find something.
And actually we can see even in this con, I've seen you know in some cases, in many cases actually, you can recognize the disciples of one particular spiritual master just by their faces.
They look sometimes similar to him. You know, there is some distinct similarity in in this group. They are somehow rather attracted to a particular personality, and this attraction is because they are of similar nature.
And that makes the attraction possible and they come together. That's basically what happened with them. And they came from different villages even.
And if you were in Chirghat in Vrindavan, Chirghat is far away. It's very far away from the village. And they actually didn't want to know anyone what they're doing.
Therefore, they found this secluded place, totally deserted place, far, far away. Even now it's very far away, and hardly any roads are going to this place.
So they came and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that like students come to the same spiritual master, and definitely
the example of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, and Śrīnivāsa and Śrīnivāsācārya from different places who came to the same guru and studied under the same guru. So they came there and to their great surprise they
found a huge group of girls of the similar age and immediately they understood that you know every one of us has the same desire. They knew. There is no question of hiding it.
Everyone knew that you know what is there, and they started, you know, talking to each other, and they already felt great relief while revealing their hearts. It's actually the need and the purpose of sadhu sangha.
Sadhu Sangha only becomes complete, you know, sometimes people have very formal understanding of sadhu sangha. Sadhu Sangha is the gathering where you can where you don't have to hide anything within your heart.
Where you can completely reveal what is there in the heart. Then only, you know, this sajātīya, when this sajātīya is there, then you can reveal your heart and you feel actually what's happening.
So they were for some time in complete ecstasy by meeting each other. And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī actually he says that before that sometimes they were quarreling with each other. Does it sound familiar to us?
But when they came and when they realized that they all have the same goal, the same desire, and completely unified, they completely forgot about their previous quarrels and they decided to worship
Kātyāyanī together as commentator says here that or actually Srīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that the worship when we worship together, it's more powerful. It's much more powerful than when we do our individual worship or individual puja.
When we gather together, especially when our hearts are unified and we have the same purpose.
So in Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī then he says that Vṛndādevī, who is the goddess of Vrindavan, who is the goddess of this forest, she knew what is happening
and she heard their desperate cries and desperate prayers, and she decided to come for their rescue to help them.
Vṛndādevī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in Vṛndādevī caritāmṛta explains her appearance. He says that she has the skin of a molten gold and her dress is red, bandhūka pushpa. Ah so this red ascetic, She's an ascetic woman.
Uh she's clad in uh bright red dress and she came out of you know out of the woods out of nowhere and she said, Okay, don't worry.
I know what is there, what is the desire within your heart, and I will help you and I will teach you vidya. Vidya means I'll give you mantra and I'll give you the process how to apply this mantra.
I will explain to you exactly what is the procedure of applying this mantra, and then you will become happy.
And when they heard, you know, they didn't ask her anything. She just came out of the forest and she said, I already know your heart.
And this whole description, this whole scene explained or depicted by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī is actually the explanation how the meeting of a disciple with guru takes place.
You know you become attracted naturally by some personality and somehow or other there is some you feel some resonance between this particular personality and yourself. Anyway, I will not tell the story.
And then when you meet, one very important event sometimes happens. It definitely happened in this particular case.
The Guru just tells you something and you understand. He under and you understand that he knows your heart.
You know, the famous story from Śrīla Prabhupāda's life when Gaura Govinda Mahārāja came and first saw Śrīla Prabhupāda.
He was a mendicant at that time and uh you know when she would probably saw they they had some conversation and then she would probably said uh do you want to take sannyas and Gorgavinmaras said that's exactly what I want.
How do you know? Or he didn't say this but he was searching for somebody who will give him sannyas. He was looking for exactly for this purpose and he said, I I immediately couldn't understand.
This is my guru because he knows what's happening within my heart he's revealing my heart uh so exactly the same happened with this
gopis when they met Vṛndādevī. Vṛndādevī told them, yes, I will explain to you the process by which you will achieve your desired goal. I know your desired goal and you know your desired goal.
And this process will be very easy. Just for one month you will have to perform some austerities.
Rādhāgovinda Mahārāja he gave some lectures on this topic and he says, Dhruva Mahārāja, he was worshiping Krishna for six months and he was performing much more severe austerities and he
said that actually what Vṛndādevī explained to Kumārikās of Vraj the exactly true because only for one month, within one month they achieved their desires. So it's also very important uh
to understand Śrīla Gosvāmī said that she took this mantra like a precious jewel and like a man who is very protective of the you know, like a possessor of precious jewel is very protective, and he wants to keep this precious jewel in a special box.
So, in the same way Vṛndādevī she took mantra from her heart and placed this mantra as the precious jewel
in the hearts of this gopis through the ears. That's the process, that's the process of initiation when guru you know feels very strongly about the mantra.
When he himself realized the potency and the efficacy of the mantra. He takes the mantra from his heart. And what does it mean that he takes the mantra from his heart, not from his lips?
It means that he takes the mantra together with his experience. The mantra is endowed with his spiritual experience.
And when we receive mantra from the Guru, we should not receive only just the empty sound. We should receive his experience. He takes something very precious.
What is more precious in our life than our spiritual experience? There is nothing more precious. This is something which will be kept with us and which we will never lose.
So this is something very precious, but Guru because of his mercy takes this most precious thing from his heart and gives to the disciple. And the disciple says, and doesn't chant. So this is what unfortunately happens.
But you know what another very important point of this is that yes, Guru is the manifestation of mercy. We know this from the first verse of Guru-aṣṭaka, which we chant every day.
It basically means that Guru is ready to give you mercy and he will come to give you mercy at that very moment when you need mercy. If you don't feel that you need mercy, He will not give the mercy.
You know, the Gopis were desperate. They were crying and they were completely because they failed in their attempts to achieve Krishna.
And instead of saying, oh, okay, fine, at least the prasādaṁ is still there, no problem. But instead of you know making this coming to this conclusion, they became completely morose and they started crying.
And that's why Vrindadevi came. She came because she heard their cries. She came because she felt that she is needed.
Morning procession and Katyayani vrata
And that's why she gave the mantra as a result of her mercy, and that's why when they took the mantra, just within one month they became completely successful.
So and mantra, when Guru gives mantra, he also gives the process by which we should meditate upon mantra. And in this particular case, and that's actually the standard case, when Guru gives mantra, he also gives Yaga.
That's two last stages of initiation. Initiation, pañca-saṁskāra starts with tāpa, puṇḍra, nāma and then mantra and yaga. It basically means that mantra goes together with yaga.
Mantra it's the mantra upon which we should meditate, but yaga means the form which we should worship by chanting this mantra. So they received this mantra Katyani Maha Maya Mahayogi Nadishvari.
So they received this mantra from Vrinda Devi together with the process of how to realize the potency of this mantra.
Because the potency of this mantra is realized when we are completely absorbed in the mantra, but the process of puja is helping us to concentrate our mind on the mantra. That's why they go together.
So she explained to them what you should do and how you should do.
And of course, they did everything wrong because of their strong desire but because their desire was so pure then the procedure the exactness of the procedure was not important. Why do I say that the exactness of the procedure was not important?
Anyway, let's go back a little bit. We will come to this point. We are not yet on the bank. We are on the bank when initiation took place.
She explained to them: for one month you should do it. But the auspicious time to start some vrata is Pratipad, the first day of the month.
And therefore this particular part of the story happened in the previous months, which is Kartik month.
At the end of Kartik month they received it, they received mantra, they received procedure and she assured them you will fulfill all your desires. And they became completely happy.
They went back to their houses in a completely joyful mood and on the first day of the month, actually the night before they couldn't really sleep because they were always, you know, looking out of the windows.
Is it already getting little, little bright, the sun is rising or not. So very early they woke up. It's cold.
Let's go there to Vṛndāvana, to this little village, cowherd village, and these little girls, they know, now I know the method. Now I know how I can achieve my goal.
And the whole night they they really couldn't sleep because they always woke up and think maybe it's time.
And so early, early, early they woke up, they came out of their houses and they started knocking to the doors of their friends.
Because already they knew that we will do it together, this will be the Vrath because they were initiated together.
So in this stealthily, all these little girls, they while their parents are still asleep, they coming out from the doors of their houses and they're holding each other by the hands.
He specifically says that they're going and holding each other with the hands. You imagine this huge Sankirtan party where everyone is holding hands of each other.
And Sanātana Gosvāmī is asking, why do they hold hands? And he gives several answers. He says, maybe because it's dark and they're afraid that they will fall or will get lost on the way, therefore they are holding.
It's still very dark. It's still night. He says, no, no. No.
Probably because they're afraid, because when they go and they will meditate on Krishna and they will just, you know fell unconscious somewhere on the way on the road and you know they will be forgotten there the friends will go.
Can you imagine the whole road and every now and then you know some gopi bodies laying down completely in an unconscious state. He says no no.
Actually, they were holding hands of each other because they just liked each other. They came with the best explanation. So they're just together and they're holding hands and they're going with this big procession.
And as Shukadev Gaswami explains, and they're singing the songs on the way. So it's literally a sankirtana party.
You know, probably they wait a little bit till they came out of the village not to wake up anyone, otherwise, you know, it would be quite a sin, you know. Huge procession of little girls.
So and they're holding hands and they're singing songs and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī composes a song or he in his meditation he received the song which they sang, or composes the song, it doesn't really matter.
And it's a very and this is what Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains in the sixth verse, how they're going together, holding hands. And that's exactly why the order is not in order, why the order is backwards.
So Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that again their song is a meditation. And what do they meditate? They meditate on the goal. Actually, that's another very important point of this whole līlā,
because our process can only become successful if during doing this process if during this sadhana we focus on the goal if we just doing sadhana but we forget about the sādhya. We're doing sadhana and we don't know where this sadhana is supposed to bring us and then it's just not sadhana.
It's just some mechanical ritual. So what do they think in the song? In the song they think what will happen after this one month? So, and of course, each and every one of them wants to get Krishna as their husband.
But it would not be polite if they would go and sing, you know, let Krishna be my husband and everyone would repeat this. No.
What they chant and what they sing, deep down in the heart they think oh may Krishna be my husband but they say oh my uh friend oh my sake oh you will become successful at the end of this month.
That's a great point of Vaishnava etiquette. We should never say that I will become successful, my practice will become successful, but we should definitely praise others and say, you know, at the end of this month,
when this Vrata will be finished, you will be successful, Krishna will become your husband. And they describe in complete details, what will happen after that?
Krishna, who is Vanamali, who has this garland of forest flowers, he will become your husband because Nanda Mahārāja, he is it's his cherished desire of his heart to marry his son Krishna to you, my dear Saki.
And Nanda Mahārāja will announce this and Krishna's friends will tease him and will uh will offend him and will say hey hey as we know when when the new
groom is bec about to get married, all his friends become start teasing him and starts saying, ah yeah completely useless. What what are you doing? So uh Subhal and Siddham and all the friends of Krishna,
they will, you know, and Gopisa imagining this and Krishna, he will become angry.
Because, you know, and he will just, you know, he will run after his friends who are teasing him and offending him and and would try to beat them.
So, and and then then astrologers they say, astrologers they announce the auspicious date. They will choose very carefully the most auspicious day. And when this auspicious day will come,
Krishna will be dressed in a very special groom's dress. You know, the very special turban will be there. And they will say that he will have a handkerchief.
Handkerchief to probably to wipe the tears from his eyes or whatever. So perhaps you have seen this Hindu marriages,
you know, the bridegroom, he's like this, you know, and he's sitting like this, he's completely, you know, like a statue.
And And and they describe the whole dress of Krishna, how he has uh beautiful uh pearls, uh necklace, and how he is there and how he's sitting and, he's he doesn't show any emotions, he's just sitting there, completely uncomfortable.
And how Nanda Mahārāja puts him on the bullock cart and how he sits there, and the whole procession, marriage procession, is going to your house. And how you are there in the house.
You are sitting there, and you know Krishna is coming. Krishna is coming to marry you. And when you hear the sounds of
the conches, and when you hear that the bullock cart is coming and when you feel that Krishna's presence is there, you are the young, bright, you completely fall unconscious.
You are in the swoon completely losing your consciousness and your parents become paranoid and hysterical and they try to revive you and in the meantime Krishna arrived to the doors of your house.
And Krishna arrived to the doors of your house and all the ladies from your household they come out and they start also singing marriage songs and these marriage songs usually are quite obscene.
They are you know they insulting Krishna and say, what are you doing here? Get out of here. So all these ladies are coming and trying to chase away the ritual, and in the meantime, your father is trying to revive you and
you are in a complete swoon. And then the fragrance of Krishna's body touches your nose. And because of this aroma of Krishna's body, you become revived from your swoon. And they put Krishna in the special pandal, marriage
pundle, and then your father comes and your father does puja to the groom and to the groom's father and everything. And then and then and then and then they take you by hand.
And by taking you by hand, they bring you to this pandal and they sit you next to Krishna. And all your desires are fulfilled at this moment and you are completely,
you know, and uh anyway they they're describing this and they say, oh sucky, you're so fortunate. Nobody can describe your fortune because all your desires will be soon fulfilled. Yes, it will happen.
So this is what happens early in the morning, they are going with this procession, then they are composing these songs spontaneously, different songs as
Significance of Katyayani deity worship
Sukadeva Gosvāmī says, and they come to this bank of oh Hare Krishna to the bank of Yamuna far away in this secluded place and they they take off their saris and they jump in the river, they take bath very quickly and put on the clothes and
they make from the sand the statue of goddess Kātyāyanī and they invite, according to the tantric process, they invite the goddess within this mūrti.
And actually, Sanātana Gosvāmī commenting on this, he says, why did they worship this deity of Durga made of sand, and he says that actually this is the most efficient form of worship
and but basically what he wants to say is that the deity worship is an efficient form of meditation.
Deity worship is a very powerful form of meditation when you can be completely absorbed in the object of your meditation. And it will bring quickly the desired result. And they would invite God as Katyani.
And the word katyani means katya aini, katya ayani means katya, katya means many many, aini means who is living. Basically, the implication here is that Katyayani is goddess Durga who is all pervading.
She is the potency of the Lord, she is the energy of the Lord, she is the spiritual energy of the Lord, and she is everywhere and therefore it's not difficult for her to enter into the mūrti.
Sometimes people say that this is all idol worship. That we are worshipping idols.
We are not worshipping idols, we are worshipping God who is invited by us into this particular form so that we could manifest our feelings towards him, so that we could personally interact with him.
That's the science behind the deity worship. That's an elaborate elaborate form of meditation.
And then they started meditating on Durga and they were Katyayani and they were offering different subjects according to the procedure. But all these subjects they are completely in a different order in these verses.
In the second and the third verses, it is said that how they worshiped and it's not according to the proper procedure. So, and again, there are two explanations of this.
One explanation is that they completely forgot all this, you know, mechanism of worship, and they knew that we have to worship, we have to offer certain things, but the order they didn't remember.
And another one is that Sukhadev Gaswami completely forgot about the order. He cannot maintain this, and he's just explaining this out of order.
But what is the most important and what is the most interesting in this procedure of their worship is that first of all they're completely focused on the goal.
They perfectly know what they want to achieve by doing this process. They want to enter into very close relationship with Krishna.
And while offering different objects to the deity, they also meditating on what they will get in exchange.
Like first, we know, idam ārghyam idam pādhyam, first is pādhyam, first with worshipping, first with washing the feet of the deity, and then idam ārghyam, we're offering special water which is very fragrant to the to
and then eṣa madhu-parkaḥ, we offer some honey and milk, some very sweetened milk. That's the practically the first item which is offered. So they are offering this item to the deity and
at the same time they s- they meditate inside their heart. Oh dear Katyayani, we are offering to you this honey drink, please take this drink and let us drink the honey of Krishna's lips. Good deal.
So this is this is their meditation. And then they're uh offering her sari and they're offering her flowers
and they say, you know, we're offering you this sandalwood paste and we are smearing this sandalwood paste all over your body and let our body will be smeared with Krishna and let our nostrils will feel his aroma.
We're offering you this incense, but in exchange we want to get something, some other instance of aroma of Krishna's body.
So this is how the whole procedure was going on in the bank of Yamuna and actually Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains and Sanātana Gosvāmī as well that there were after every day's puja, they were becoming more and more enthusiastic. That's the real deity worship, the real puja.
And every day they would bring the new and new items to offer to her. Or the better and better and better items.
They would probably, I don't know, steal from their parents something to offer to Katyāyanī and they were in other words they were upgrading the standards of their worship practically every day, trying to find something pleasing to the goddess Durga so that their desires would be fulfilled.
That was going on for one month, and every day they would bring something.
As Śukadeva Gosvāmī said, some of the offerings which we were doing were ordinary, were very simple and some were very elaborate or very special, very distinguished, some very special items they were bringing.
Constantly meditating how this process according to the promise of their guru, Vṛndādevī will bring about the final success. And obviously, we have to finish soon.
So, the only thing which I still should say about these verses
is the explanation of this mantra Katyāyani Mahāmāye, Mahā-yoginy Adhīśvarī, Nanda-gopa-sutaṁ Devī, Patim Me they say in this mantra, Katyāyanī Mahāmāye, Mahā-yoginy Adhīśvarī, this is all names of goddess Katyāyanī or Yoga- Maya in vocative case.
And then they say, Nanda-gopa-sutaṁ Devī, He Devī, again vocative case uh devī uh and uh nanda-gopa-sutaṁ patim me kuru tenamaha kuru.
So uh uh according to the rules of grammar if we want to understand Sanskrit we, should first find the verb. And the verb here is kuru. Kuru is imperative. Kuru means make. Make the son of Nanda Gopa my husband.
Patim ekurute namah. I'm uh paying obeisances to you, but in exchange you make the son of Nandagopasutam my husband, Patim, me kuru te namah.
So Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, he is explaining the dialogue which is going on between them and the Devi whom they worship. And the Devi says, you know, why you say Kuru? How can I make son of Nandamaraj your husband?
I'm not a matchmaker. Your parents are supposed to make him. I can inspire them. I cannot do this directly. I'm not in a position to do this match directly.
And therefore, they say, uh Mahamay, but no, you're Mahamai, you can do it. You can completely bewilder everyone. You know. Actually, it's the duty of the parents to marry their girl to a particular boy.
So Katajani says that I can only inspire them to do it, but they should do it, but they say no, you do it directly. So uh and then they say how come?
You know, the Katyayani says, how come I should do it directly? Why should I do it directly? And they say, Mahayogini, Mahayogini, the word yoga yogini comes from the root yuj. And yuj means to combine. Yuj means to bind.
And they say mahayogini, because you are mahayogini, you are binding everyone, so why don't you become our matchmaker? You're anyway doing this. You are this, this is your duty.
You are supposed to bring the souls with the Krishna. You are supposed to bind them together with Krishna. So that's your direct duty. That's what they are implying this. And when she says, no, no, I cannot do this.
It's just, you know, he's the Supreme Lord. How can I do this? You know, your your desire is too high. And then they say Adhishwari.
Advis, Adhishwari means no, no, he is the Supreme Lord, but you are the Supreme goddess, you are, uh, you can do anything, you are the supreme controller, everything is under your control, uh, including himself, uh, and then uh when when she says, when she answers to them, no,
no, I cannot do this because I'm afraid of Lakshmi, what will Lakshmi say? How you will, uh, and then they again say, no, you are this, very, you know, you will manage it.
You will, you will, you are Mahāmāyā and you are this, very, you will be builder and ultimately you are Devi therefore you can do it.
Anyway, the implication here is that while when Ācāryas they're trying to explain the meaning of this prayer, they are revealing the emotional content of the heart so that it's not just a mechanical repetition.
Kātyāyani Mahāmāyā Mahāyogīndhīśvari, you know every word is laden by the deep meaning and the deep desire to achieve the goal. So that's what's going on in this month of
Margashira or Dhanurmasa. Dhanurmasa is the month's, Margashira is the month where sun is in Sagittarius which is in
Sanskrit, Dhanus. So this is called māsa and they are uh doing this uh uh worship for the whole month and what happened at the last day of this month we will tell next time.
Questions on pure love and yoga-maya
Thank you very much, Hare Krishna. I guess there's no questions. Unless you want to repeat the same vowel and actually, this is what Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says. Why?
Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains these details. He said, in case somebody wants to do the same, so Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives the details. Thank you very much, mātājī. I have two short questions if you could please allow.
One is relating to um you described how the young gopis when they initially they were quarrelling but then when they got together at the bank of the river they felt relief and not anxiety that they were all in love with Krishna.
Which is so beautiful and interesting. But at the same time it's very bewildering for my mind that they each of them loved Krishna and they had the same love interest, but there was no anxiety, but there was relief.
If you could please address. m mm jealousy is uh an inevitable companion of mundane love.
But it doesn't exist in a spiritual relationship because they just uh w when they understood each other's heart uh they become became so charmed uh by uh this and they understood, oh, this little girl, this little friend of mine, uh has the same aspiration as I and that makes somebody closer.
So that's the distinction and the difference between the mundane love and spiritual love. They they just there is no jealousy there.
Otherwise, you know, Gopi when they ran to Krishna while Krishna was playing the flute in Vamsiva, they would probably you know uh put some obstacles to other gopis uh on the way they would run and put some you know some trunk of the tree behind them.
So there there's no jealousy there. They just uh they're in complete harmony and of course they know that Krishna can fulfill everyone's desire And
then my second question was how uh you explained how uh we should not take the empty sound from the spiritual master but also the spiritual experience. And it's just something I was reflecting about a few days ago.
For example, when I recalled when I received the Gāyatrī Mantra and I was chanting it at the beginning, it was such a powerful experience.
And I I know that my sincerity also maybe faded but the experience is not the same. Somehow it faded. So how could I improve that?
There is this story of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Gadādhara Paṇḍit and Gadādhara Paṇḍit in Jagannātha Purī Mahaprabhu and Gadathra Pandit and Gadathar Pandit in Jagannathpuri Gadādhara Paṇḍit at one point he revealed his mind and he admitted to Caitanya Mahaprabhu, you know, my mind is not steady anymore while I am chanting mantra. Can you give me mantra again to make my mind steady?
And Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he became angry. He said, no, no, I cannot I cannot do this. You should wait till Pundarik Vidanidi comes here and then you can ask him to give you mantra again to make it steady.
So that's the that's the procedure. You can ask your spiritual master to reinforce mantra by giving it again. That's possible, that's bona fide, that's according to this to this story.
But you cannot get it from somebody else. Gurma Raj just uh technical detail that you once mentioned in uh in another lecture, not in this session, which I don't know if you will mention tomorrow.
But uh it seems like there are two types of cookies, one who are the sidhas and the sādhakas or sādhakas. So what's the significance of this exactly and since they both have the same prayojana like you said?
Uh Sudhana Siddhagopi, uh which are not yet sadhana siddha gopi, they they have to achieve a certain stage. And actually some Acharyas say that those particular Kumarikas
they were uh Sages of Nandakāraṇya Forest from Padma Purāṇa. They reveal or they describe their identity in this way. They wanted to get married with Krishna and with Rāma,
and Rāma said, in this lifetime I cannot fulfill your desire, but your desire will be fulfilled in the next life. And therefore, in this life, they they were born with this desire.
And this desire quickly manifested within their heart and they continued the process through chanting the mantra and doing the particular kind of worship. So Nitya Siddhas, they are already perfect.
And this is not even yet sādhana siddhas, they are the sādhakas who are doing particular sadhana to achieve the goal.
I wanted to ask a question about this effect of Yoga-māyā and Mahāmāyā, how it works, um maybe you can um expand on uh
what happens with the devotees or non-devotees when the yoga-māyā influences them and what happens to the person when Mahāmāyā and what's the difference between
this the difference is exactly in the name Yoga-māyā is the illusory or bewildering potency of the Lord which by her bewilderment or illusions facilitates yoga or the connection between the soul and the Lord.
So her main function is to establish this connection between the soul and the Lord.
And you know, sometimes to push you in this direction or even to push Krishna in this direction, you know, you need to be like like in the beginning when we met with the devotees, we were so enthusiastic because we thought okay I got it, very soon I will be with Krishna.
So that's Yoga-māyā. This is exactly the influence of Yoga-māyā because you think, oh very soon it will happen for me. Then after some time you come out from this māyā.
But if you prefer to remain in this yoga-māyā, then very soon it will happen.
In any case, so Mahāmāyā is this bewildering potency which separates you from the Lord, which creates you know different illusions or different perceptions or different understandings of fantasies in your mind which bring you further away from the Lord.
And the uh it's basically the same energy which functions in two different ways because ultimately there is only one energy of the Lord. And therefore the names of this energy is interchangeable.
Sometimes Mahāmāyā is called Durgā, and we hear from this purāṇa that sometimes yogamāyā is also called Durgā. And in the mantras Durgā is the adhiśvarī, she is the presiding deity of these mantras, Krishna's mantra.
So that's the proof that it's Yoga-māyā, it's not Mahāmāyā. So it's the same energy, which functions differently, like Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that electricity can create heat and electricity can create cold.
So, in a similar way, the same energy of the Lord can facilitate your meeting with the Lord or your connection with the Lord provided you really want it.
If your desire is consistent, if you're not flip-flopping with your desire, if you're not, if you're steady and consistent with this desire, then she will arrange your life in such a way, even though it may seem to be a little bewildering, but you will go through certain tests and certain uh obstacles, but ultimately it will facilitate your meeting with the Lord.
But uh if she feels that you're not really you externally or consciously you say, yes, I want to be with the Lord, but deep down you don't want. She will also facilitate this.
She will give you some opportunities for to be frustrated in this desire and but ultimately you know help you to come closer to him. Maharaj wants to ask a question.
I think it will be nice on Kirtan when I say to a group of devotees, you will receive Ba in this letter. And everybody answered you will. So it's kind of trick. Yeah. Yeah.
You bless everyone and in exchange you get everyone's blessings for the same. Okay, you want to task descriptions about the go peace or um love which is so pure and so innocent they pray and have no um they
just want want to have have so many desires, they want to have that back, it's so innocent of love, right? They just desire and they have demands on Krishna. They want it back in so many ways.
But on the other hand, which is not on the other hand, but I understand it's a different moon or display of love we have Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī praying, please, Krishna.
You can trap me or you can do whatever you like. You will always be my my Lord of the Heart.
So I found that very beautiful in here There are different expressions of love and they are corresponding to different levels of the spiritual advancement and spiritual development.
So you know here we see gopis in their pūrva-rāga and their sprouting little you know uh emotions towards Krishna and there we
can see full-fledged emotions of Śrīmatī Rādhārānī and the actually it's it's difficult to understand.
In Prema Samput, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says when people start talking about love and explaining what is love and telling about love, it means they don't understand anything about love.
That's the very clear sign that they have no clue because love cannot be explained. It can only be experienced. But in any case we can just—thank you, Mārchinā.
You mentioned that the guru is always ready to give mercy but you wants to see that we are desperate. And in my experience, sometimes I am desperate and many times I'm not.
What's the secret of an advanced devotee to always maintain the level of desperation? It's uh you know when we become complacent, when we think, you know, oh I already know, I'm already there, I'm already almost perfect.
Not yet, but you know it's in comparison with this other guys. Then of course, you know, the complacency is the enemy. Uh, and humility is the friend.
You know, if we always feel that you know I'm trying and trying and trying and still I'm so far away and you become humble and you
know like in in in their desperation the gopis they ask everyone where is Krishna you know or Gosvāmī Śrī-vṛndāvane hara-tad-devīke he-devīte he-lalīte he-dāsa-vṛnda-kutaha. Kutaha.
So, you know it's just understanding that understanding how high and beautiful the goal is. If this understanding is very clear, then it helps us to understand that we are too far away.
And sometimes Guru helps us with this.
There is a beautiful story from Prabhupada's life and they were in somewhere in Madras I believe group of devotees with Prabhupada and they were staying in one house, rich person's house
somebody, and there was this little girl Sarasvatī, the daughter of Śyāmasundara and Mālati. And somebody gave her little mūrti of Krishna, silver mūrti of Krishna, and she loved him.
And then Śrīla Prabhupāda somehow or rather took it and hid it behind his back.
And Malati became mad and she started running all over the place and asking where is Krishna? Where is Krishna? She was coming to everyone and saying where is Krishna? Where is my Krishna? Please give me Krishna.
And Prabhupāda smiled and said, she's like Goswami softening down. Running everywhere. Asking, give me Krishna, give me Krishna. And then somebody told Sarasvati, Sarasvati, who has Krishna?
And Sarasvati, she thought for a moment, she said, oh, Śrīla Prabhupāda has Krishna. And she ran to him and she said, give me Krishna, give me Krishna, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave you Krishna. So sometimes guru makes a trick.
Just based on what you were saying now in the end that the mood is I I don't have Krishna and I'm looking for in coming from the material world where we have to pretend that I know everything and I'm strong and it's quite difficult I find.
It is. Yeah, it's a completely different way of functioning in the society of devotees because all the values which are here uh they are not really the values in the material world, and they don't help.
And that's why it's so difficult for us, uh because all the things which we learned in the material world are not helpful in the spiritual life, and vice versa, all the things which we learned here, helpful there. So that's uh that's a problem.
So how to unlearn some things and learn other things. And that's where the society of devotees is necessary
because the society of devotees in the society when it's when the society of devotees is protective when the devotees are very supportive of your pursuits and when they appreciate when they're appreciative of your humility and they don't take advantage of your humility, then you can develop this.
So we need a supportive society to unlearn the old habits and to develop the new habits and to really understand how they work, how they are beneficial and not detrimental.
Uh, I I guess Magaris, you mentioned that deity worship is a very powerful um, uh form of meditation. For example, if a devotee is attached to preaching, can preaching facilitate meditation?
Oh yeah of course. Preaching means constant meditation. Whatever we do is is meditation, it helps, facilitates meditation, definitely. So one more question.
Hi Krishna Guru Maharaj and thank you so much for the beautiful class. Uh I have a question uh for uh yesterday's uh class. May I uh say uh if I understand it correctly, um we were explaining uh like our um position uh
position that our heart is very like contaminated uh therefore our heart cannot generate like these uh pure emotions towards Krishna and we cannot like force ourselves to do that because it's like meaningless.
Um and I was thinking about that and after lecture these um like um like phrase of what uh came to my mind uh from the Maharaj who was uh maybe saying to his disciples like put Krishna on the platform of love.
Um maybe I did not understand uh correctly what really he was um like addressing and who he was addressing but I find like uh how can I um how can we uh understand this uh together that we can uh we need to put Krishna on the platform of love but at the same time we're unable to be
if you can please um clarify. See there is love and there is love.
There is love which is not a you know which is difficult to achieve and which is not you know just still far away. When Gurudeva Vindhya Maharaj is speaking about love he's speaking about very preliminary stages of love, which some sort of attachment which we already have. Every one of us has some attachment. Otherwise we wouldn't stay here.
What would we do here? So it it basically means that he is the object of our love and worship and we cherish this object of our love and worship and we don't want to lose this.
Whatever we are capable now, you know we we do have some capability, some sort of ability to experience some emotions that maybe not the you know highest possible emotions, but something we can do.
Something is accessible to us. Okay, thank you very much, Hare Krishna. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya!