The Special Contribution of Our Sampradaya
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · London · 2017
Chapters
Mangalacarana and introductory prayers
Vandeham Sri Guru Sri Yudapadakamalam, Sri Guru Vaisnavamcham, Sri Rupam Sagrajadam Saganaragunatamvitam Sadivam, Sadwitam Savadam, Paridjanassahitam Krishna Chaitanya Deva Sri Radha Krishna Padaham, Saganalita Shri Visaka Vitamsha Krishna Karana Sindhina Bandhu Jagatpate gobisham, Gopikakanta, Radakantamost, Rade Vrindavaneshwari Rishabanu Suti Devi Pranamami Harivanchalpataru Vyascha Kripasinduby Vacham Patianampy, Vaishnavy Namotma, Shri Krishna Chaitana, Prabhunitananda, Sri Dvaithara, Srivassadigura Bhakta Brinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Adjanu Lambi Tabujok na Kavada, Sankirtanaya Pitaruka Malai Taksi, Vishwambaru Dvija Ruyu Vidharma Palu, Vandi Jagat Priya Karu Karunavataram. Yun tah pravisi mamavachamam prasubta, Sanji Vayata kila shakti, darah swadamma, anyams chahasta charana Sravanat Bhagadim Pranandamo Bhagavatam Puru Sayatu Byama. Hare Krishna Krishna.
I was given a specific topic for today's discourse. What is the special contribution of Gaudiya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya? And what is the specialty of our line of philosophy and practice? And it's a vast topic.
It's a really big topic and very interesting topic, too. So I can only speak a few things and maybe I will not even speak so long. I'll speak a little bit and maybe I will open for questions.
And incidentally, by some coincidence, I was giving class on the exact same topic yesterday for Russian sangha. Spontaneously without you asking whatever I kind of choose in this.
Surrender as the common religious goal
And of course I'm not so happy the way I presented it because again I didn't say as much as I wanted to say, but let's see what's come out today in this regard.
The starting point of this sort of discussion is that usually religions they talk about the same thing.
Most of the religions, 95, maybe 85, 90% of religion, religious content, so to speak, or the message of religion is more or less the same. And the main topic of religion is to bring you to the point of surrender.
Through different means. And that's exactly what Krishna did in Bhagavad-gītā because that's his finishing point. Sarvān dharmān parityajya mām ekam śaraṇaṁ vraja. Just surrender unto me.
And for most of the religions, it's the highest achievement, highest possible achievement.
If somebody accepts the will of the Lord in his life conscientiously and surrenders to this will and accepts it with gratitude, that's considered to be the greatest achievement.
We are rebels by nature and we want to reject God. And even if we accept Him, we accept Him in some sort of a service position. He should serve me, he should facilitate me and my needs and my desires, fulfill my desires.
So the real surrender is a rare thing, and ultimately all the religions they target this thing as the highest. And whatever religion we will take, we will find this element there.
In Bible, in New Testament, there is this story in when Jesus Christ was praying to God at night before the crucifixion. And he was in complete turmoil because he knew that
something really inauspicious is going to happen tomorrow. And he didn't want it. And it was so intense that it is said that the drops of blood came out from his forehead. He was praying so intensely.
But ultimately he was pacified and said, uh yeah, I accept your will. It's not my will, your will. I accept whatever you want me to do, I will do it, even if I don't want.
That's I mean that's a very drastic example of surrender. It's not an easy thing. You know, okay. I'm ready. I'm ready to go through this very difficult thing.
And if Lord Chaitanya would talk about surrender and only surrender, it would not make this line of thought any special.
And if we take Vaishnava Sampradaya, then Sri Sampradaya, they're really into this into this, into the point of surrender.
But the Saranagati, you know, Ramanuja and Vedanta Desik and all the great Acharyas from Sri Sampradaya, they wrote three thises on this topic about Saranagati. And for them, Saranagati is even higher than Bhakti.
They make quite an interesting distinction, which we don't agree obviously with but they say that there is a bhakti which they think is a pass of rituals or worship in the temple.
And then there is a highest pass which is Saranagati. And they have three charama slokas. One of them is Sarvadharman Parityaja, Mamakam Saranamraja, another one is from Ramayana, Sakriteva, how it is from
when Vibishana surrenders to Ram, and Ram says that I will protect you. Abhayam Sarvada. I will make you completely fearless. And then there is another one from Vara Kadev.
Anyway, they speak and elaborate on this point of surrender. What is surrender? And for them, surrender again is the pinnacle of religious practice or the internal development of the soul.
Beyond surrender in Srimad-Bhagavatam
But as we know, uh, and this is the statement of our Acharya's. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam starts where Bhagavad-gītā ends. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that's the starting point, that's not the final point, that's the starting point.
And the starting point is that Dharma-praṁṣhita-kaitava vo atra. Here there is no other religions. In other words, the point of surrender is behind. Srimad Bhagavatam is the book which
starts or which implies that to understand this book you have to be completely surrendered. Paramunir Matsaranam Satam. You have to relinquish all kinds of envy from your heart and surrender to God.
Irrevocably, then only you will be able to understand what Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is all about. Not before that.
And what Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu did, he actually came to teach us uh all the things which uh are happening after the point of surrendering.
What should take place within our heart and what is the development within our heart after we completely surrender to His will, to Lord's will, and how we should go further.
And he gave a completely new interpretation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Actually, what we have at hand is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's reading of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
He based, of course, all his teachings on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but he read Śrīmad Bhagavatam in a completely different light. Like if we take for example Madhva's
interpretation, Madhava, Bhagavad Tattparya, Nirnaya, his interpretation. It's interesting, but nothing close to what we say.
And basically, for uh Caitanya Mahāprabhu's interpretation, two verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are foundational. And we give a completely different interpretation of these two verses.
Or I would say even one and a half verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One verse is, of course, Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam,
Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam, another one vadanti tat-tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. So these
two verses, from these two verses, the whole Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava siddhānta is basically derived. But a very specific interpretation. Like I this year I gave a seminar comparing
Madhva's interpretation of Kṛṣṇa's tu bhagavān svayaṁ verse and our interpretation. What are the differences between two? It's actually very interesting if we get into details.
But that's the foundation of all our philosophy.
And basically first verse which Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains elaborately in Bhakti-sandarbha, the whole Bhakti-sandarbha and uh yeah, the whole Bhạc-sandarbha and Paramātmā-sandarbha. There's two Sandarbhas, two huge books, very philosophical.
They are basically explaining this one verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In other words, they are explaining the different relationship between Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān.
Distinguishing Paramatma from Bhagavan
And then the next verse, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam indrāri-vyākulaṁ lokaṁ mṛḍayāmāsa madhavataḥ, the entire Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha is the explanation of this verse.
And the point is that first of all is of course we are elaborately proving or explaining that the personal aspect, Bhagavān, is the highest aspect in comparison to Paramātman.
Most of the people, believe it or not, most of the people, most of the Vaiṣṇavas, not of the people, I'm not speaking about general people, I'm not speaking about māyāvādīs.
Most of the Vaiṣṇavas which are there will never be able to explain to you the difference between Paramātmā and Bhagavān. You ask them who is Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is Paramātmā. They don't distinguish between the two.
For them, Paramātmā and Bhagavān is the same. They don't understand the specialty of Bhagavān in
his personality, Bhagavān is God for Himself. Paramātmā is God for this world. It's the controlling feature. It's God who is imminent to this world and who is controlling this world.
But Bhagavān is, you know, has nothing to do with this world basically. He is there enjoying, you know, he's not the God of this world.
So most of the Vaiṣṇavas they don't understand this difference. And basically, they don't, of course, they don't understand the difference between Nārāyaṇa and Kṛṣṇa. So, why what is the progression?
First, if you clearly understand Vadanti Tattattvaveda's verse and the message of this verse, and know how to prove Gaudiya Vaishnava Siddhanta, then from this verse you will have to prove that Krishna is the highest manifestation of God.
With his unlimited immense ability to enter into relationship, personal relationship with everyone. So that's that's how it is. And basically that's what Lord Chaitanya brought.
The whole Gaudiya Vaishnava Siddhanta is based on these two verses, as I said, and in understanding that Krishna is much higher than Nārāyaṇa.
You try to tell this to any Vaishnava and you will be condemned and you will be you will be branded as a heretic and as a dveshi.
It is specifically said, but Madhvacharya, but Madhvacharya, he has in his Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya nine points of dvesha, nine points of offense one can say, which you can create and uh or commit.
And one of the offenses which he lists is specifically to distinguish between the different forms of the Lord.
He says that if you make this distinction, Then you are Dveshi and you you have to be rejected. You are basically nowhere in the spiritual realm. So congratulations, we all belong to this category in one way.
Not in there, of course. We we have our own understanding. We say yes, Narayan is the same.
By tattvatah he is the same as Krishna and everyone else, you know, matsya and kurma and Rāma and everyone else. But from another point of view, from rasavichāra, There is tattva-vichāra and rasa-vichāra, there is a gulf of difference.
We don't know too many beautiful ecstatic bhaktas of Matsya Avatāra. Because Matsya Avatāra doesn't manifest his personality so clearly. It's very difficult. What can you do for Matsya Avatar? You can give him
something for goldfish. There is nothing you can do for him. Kurma avatāra etc. is the same. But we have this outstanding concept, or conception, a startling manifestation of God which is Krishna.
And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as a special creation of Vyāsadeva, the last creation of Vyāsadeva, specifically describing him. I remember I was in Sri Rangam long back. And we came to this sanctum sanctorium of the temple.
And of course, huge you know figure of Mahā-Viṣṇu is laying there on Anantashesh, and Lakshmi is massaging his feet and he's dreaming.
But what is most interesting in the inner chambers of the altar of this Ranganath temple, there's only pictures about Krishna. All Krishna's pastimes are there.
So I asked, how come he's Nārāyaṇa? You know, and uh why why Krishna's picture there? Why only Krishna's picture?
And the answer was oh because he's he's dreaming about his sweet past times when he was a cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana. But our understanding is that this is the highest.
When God manifests his ability completely to relate to others, to relate to other living entities, including us, then this is the highest manifestation.
Lord Chaitanya brought to us this chance or this possibility to enter into this personal relationship with God which is nowhere else.
I mean it's very reduced and reserved in any other tradition to a very rudimentary sort of relationship, awe and reverence.
But Lord Chaitanya came and said that beyond this awe and reverence, beyond this point of surrender, there is a whole realm of spiritual emotions.
So basically, if we from these two philosophical points, this two philosophical verses which are foundational for our Tattva Vichar are the whole new realm being revealed, and this new realm the realm of spiritual emotions.
How from these philosophical points you come to a completely different understanding, and basically it's really amazing what Lord Chaitanya gave.
Without without even without writing books, without uh even too elaborately speaking about this. Of course, he empowered Rupa Gaswami to do this, to explain this.
So basically, again, the special contribution of Lord Chaitanya is that very quickly and very naturally he brings us to the point of complete surrender. Without really making a big deal out of it.
Because everyone else would make a really big deal about the complete surrender and this and that. This is kind of in Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya, it's taken for granted. It's really elementary.
As Prabhupada says, this is just ABC. And it's a fact, it's ABC of the spiritual life. Complete surrender, just give up everything, surrender completely, and then the real thing will start.
Deliverance and love in holy names
And the real thing is your personal relationship with God.
And as I explained yesterday, there are two shaktis which Lord Chaitanya and Jiva Goswami specifically explains this, which Lord Chaitanya invested into the holy name.
And one Shakti is called Taraka Shakti, which means the delivering energy, the energy of salvation. The energy taraka means the Shakti which brings you to another, helps you to cross over the material realm, so to speak.
From the Sanskrit root tar. Tar means to cross over. So and uh specifically the word Rama, the name Rama is the vehicle for this Taraka Shakti. Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram.
And when people call Ram, they basically you know asking Lord to save them, to cross over this insurmountable ocean of material existence. But then there is Parakashakti.
And Parakashakti is the Shakti of special relationship, of personal relationship, or actually, this is the Shakti of love.
So beyond this salvation, or whatever, there is this another realm of love, and Krishna is the manifestation of this Paraka Shakti or the Shakti or energy of special relationship.
And what I want to do, yesterday of course, I went in another route and I explained how the episode, how Rupa Goswami actually discovered what is there in the heart of Lord Chaitanya. And revealed it to the world.
So from historical point of view, what happened, Lord Chaitanya, he underwent this really drastic transformation in Gaya after when he received his initiation from Ishwarapuri and became a completely transformed person and started experiencing something.
But of course, his purpose was not only to experience it for himself, but to share it with everyone else. Which is a very difficult task. Because basically he wanted to share love.
And one characteristic of love, according to again Jiva Goswami in his Priti Sandarbha is that love is not sadya. Sadhya is something which you can create. Like sabji is sadhya. And cooking is sadhana. Sadhana. Yes.
Cooking is a process and the goal is sadhya. You're cooking something, you're doing something, but your goal is sadhya.
So one very important point is that uh we want to get love, but love is not sadhya. It's not something which you can cook. It's not something love is not something which you can achieve
by following certain process, so to speak, in one sense. And therefore, it is said: sadhya kabunoy. It's not sadhya. Nitya sidhasya bhavas. So how you get it? How you get?
And that's exactly what happened back there, 500 years back when Lord Chaitanya started experiencing it, and there is this dilemma or this problem, you know, how to share it with others, how others can understand what's happening within my heart.
Because, first of all, he of course wanted to experience it himself, but second of all, and perhaps even more important, he wanted to share it with others. So, how to give it to others if it's not sadhya?
Love is something which happens. It's not something which you are supposed to achieve by some systematic process. It just happens. It's either there or not.
Just today I was listening to one lecture and it was said there in this lecture very interestingly that you cannot say that really uh uh if if you talk about spiritual love you cannot say uh you cannot say about love uh in
present continuous uh Because it's not something which you're doing, because present continuous, if you use present continuous, it means you're doing something, and then the rest of the time you're not doing this.
So the love is either there or not there. Either you love all the time or you don't love. You can say I'm loving now and I'm hating the next moment. You know, in other words, it's existential state.
So it should happen with you. And Lord Chaitanya, he wanted to share it with us. And he taught Rupa Goswami how to how to achieve something which is not achievable.
What is the process of something which you cannot to achieve something which you cannot achieve by the process. By a process. By any process.
So it's a very, very amazing thing which Lord Caitanya brought, and how he did it, and nobody could understand what's really happening or taking place in the heart of Lord Caitanya.
And the first time, when only one person or two persons, Rāmānanda and Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, they knew. They were privy to what is happening in his heart.
And for the first time, when Rūpa Gosvāmī revealed that he also knows, Lord Caitanya called him a thief.
We know this story from Madhya-līlā when Ratha-yātrā procession was going on, and Lord Caitanya was reciting this verse from Sāhitya Sāhitya Darpaṇa from Viśvanātha, not Viśvanātha Cakravarṭī, but from some, some mundane poetries.
And Lord Caitanya's reciting again and again this verse, yaḥ kaumāra-haraḥ, that when I was young and you my beloved was young, we were meeting under the moonlit nights. Nobody could understand what's going on.
Why sannyāsī is chanting this mundane love poetry all of a sudden. And uh and then when Rūpa Gosvāmī uh wrote uh the verse explaining what is uh happening, uh Lord Caitanya called him a thief.
He said, you know what's happening? How come you understood something which is hidden within my heart?
And when he asked this question from Rūpa Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī became very shy. But Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, who was standing nearby, he said, you know, why you asking this strange question from him? First you invested him with a śakti to understand this, and now you're asking why he understood you.
It's your desire to reveal this to everyone through Rūpa Gosvāmī. And you desire to reveal it, and now you're wondering when you
embraced him in Benares, when you met Rūpa Gosvāmī, through this embrace you invested this śakti in him so that he could understand what's going on in your heart, and he is going to reveal it to everyone.
So, what I want to do, it's very brief thing, I don't want to get into it. What I want to explain, I want to explain this particular topic while
Exegesis of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu opening verse
giving two explanations of the first verse of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, it may be interesting because Sindhu, it may be interesting because
in this in this one verse, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, he revealed the entire philosophy of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas in a very beautiful way, in a unique way, in this one verse of the first verse of Bhakti-rasāmṛta- sindhu.
And you probably know that there are two completely different readings of this verse. One is called Chandrapaksha. Somebody knows this verse by heart? akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti Next. Prasrimara. Prasrimara. Rudara Ruti. Paraka.
Ruddha. Paraka Tali. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. So vidur in this verse the conventional meaning of vidur is moon, chandra.
So the first meaning of this verse, which is important to understand, it's actually poetry, and poetry always have many meanings.
So, the first meaning of this verse: Vidurja tee: the moon is glorious. The moon is actually taking over the whole world. JT, it's in the present tense. So Vidur J, all glory to the moon. The moon is all glorious.
Why the moon is all glorious? akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti. Because all the rasas, all the juices which are there, Prabhupāda often say that all the juices in plants are coming from? From moonlight.
Whatever juice is there, whatever you know prana is there and the vegetables in any vegetation, so whatever it's coming from the moon. It's streaming from the moon.
According to Vedic uh theory, I don't know if it's confirmed or not, but anyway, you know if, there is no moon, if the moon is completely clouded, then you will not get really juicy or organic food, so to speak. You will get some junk.
And uh supposedly some some nectar is is uh is flowing from the moon and entering into this with the moon rays.
Uh it's a very special thing, moon rays, which they bring to the vegetable, therefore, it is said that why we're glorifying the moon, why the moon is so important. First point is that akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti is that all the rasas, all the juices are coming from the moon.
So then the next is prastrimara ruchi ruddha taraka palihi. Prasrimara prastrimara literally means subdue. Rucchi means difulgence. And Ruda sorry, prasrimara means not subdued, prasrimara means to spread.
Rucci means the difulgence. So this, effulgence by the effulgence of the moon, the bright effulgence of the moon at night, Prasrimara Ruchi,
while spreading this ruchi or effulgence, the moon Ruddha subdues Taraka Palihi. Taraka means stars and Palihi means galaxies.
In other words, all the galaxies of the stars, when the moon is shining brightly on the sky, they're completely subdued. Nobody look at these little specks when the moon is there.
The moon is so prominent and so beautiful and everyone is looking at the moon. Therefore, it is said Truchi Ruddha Tarakapalihi. And then uh kalitas shama lalita the moon is accepting night as his own, embracing night.
Kalitas shamalal alita shamala, shamala means night. And you know the moon feels very good at night because during the day nobody sees the moon.
The night is very important for the moon and therefore moon is happy when the night is there. There is some intimate relationship between them.
And then the last line is the most important in both interpretations of the verse. And the last line means Radha Prey in Vidur Jayati. That uh this moon is trying to please Radha Preen.
Most the more is trying to please uh special Nakshatra which is called vishaka nakshatra. You you have to know a little astrology, a little jyotish to understand this meaning
because in there are 27 nakshatras in the zodiac, and the moon within one month goes from one nakshatra to another nakshatra to another nakshatra. And there is one nakshatra which is called anurada.
It's in Scorpio, this Anurada Nakshatra. So if and before Anuradha Nakshatra, there isn't this is Anuradha Nakshatra, it is the 17th nakshatra. And the 16th Nakshatra is called Vishaka Nakshatra.
But if anurda, anurda means what? Something which follows Radha. Yeah. So if 17th nakshatra is Anu Radha, then the 16th Nakshatra another name is what? Radha. Radha.
And this Radha Nakshatra, the moon, when the moon, the full moon enters Enters this Vishaka Nakshatra during the hottest season, the hottest months of the year. uh this is the Vaishak month Vaisak
this is May so when everyone is really is really really really suffering out of intense heat of the sun. And then the night comes, everyone feels relief.
And especially when there is the full moon, everyone is completely happy. And this full moon uh comes in this Vishaka Nakshatra or Radha Nakshatra.
So it's considered according even to astrology the most powerful manifestation of the moon, when the moon is together with Vishaka Nakshatra. When the full moon is in Vishaka Nakshatra.
So basically, the first reading of this verse is that yeah, this moon is very special because it gives you juices, it subdues all the stars and galaxies of stars, and then it accepts the night.
And then the moon is very happy when it meets with Radha. Radha Preyan Vidur Jayati. So I guess you are totally bewildered what does it have to do with us? And what is the point of this whole thing?
But there is a beautiful point. It's really beautiful how Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī explains this. And of course, we know we know this.
It's it's Chandrapaksha, the interpretation according to the astrological thing in relationship to the moon. But if we take the of course he wants to glorify Krishna and Vidur in other is another name for Krishna.
And we all know, I will not get into details, but briefly I will tell the another meaning of this. Vidurjaiti, all glories to Krishna. Krishna is this moon, which is conquering over everyone, everyone's heart.
Krishna, the highest manifestation of God, is Krishna and He is Vidur Jayati. So why he he is Vidurjaiti the point number one? Because he is Akila Rasamrita Murti.
He's conquering everyone because he is the most capable of entering into loving relationship or giving love giving rasa. There is nobody else as capable of reciprocating with our feelings inside as Krishna.
And there's plenty of descriptions, and actually, the whole poetry of Rūpa Gosvāmī is about these nuances.
How the rasas manifest in the relationship between the devotees and Krishna, and what are the enjoyment of the rasas. So first point is very clear: akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti.
And then of course we know the next line, prasrimararuchi, prastrimara-ruci, ruddha, tārakā-pālihi. So what he does, uh he subdues whom he subdues Tāraka and Pāli.
And Tāraka is the leader of vipakṣa, the rival group of gopis. And Pali is the leader of neutral taṭastha pakṣa, of the neutral group. So he lists four names in this — no, five names.
Kalita, Śyāma, Lalitā — he accepts or embraces as his own Śyāma and Lalitā, who are the leaders of suhṛt pakṣa, and you know there are these four groups of gopis which are there.
And then Rādhā Preyan, Vidūrajaiti, Rādhā Preyan, he just goes out of his way to serve Rādhā or to please Rādhā. So that's basically another thing, another interpretation of this verse.
Highest love of Srimati Radharani
But what he wants to say really — please, listen very carefully — Is that he states, he makes this statement: why Krishna is so special? Because he is rasika.
He is given this taste of personal relationship, and how he gives the taste of personal relationship, how he relates differently. He describes while making these points.
He says, for those who are very reserved, for those people whose love is of this, whose love is mixed with some awe and reverence. He subdues them. He says, prasrimara-ruci-ruddha.
You know, he's so beautiful. He comes with his beauty. Krishna comes with His totally conquering beauty. And all these gopis, they see him, and they completely — their heart melts, and they say, Yeah, you're ours.
This vipakṣa feeling which is there: I'm yours. The Rādhārāṇī's followers say not that I'm yours. They say you are mine. Krishna is mine. And the sa-hṛt gopis, they say he is — we are, he is.
So he comes to this sort of he reciprocates with this sort of feeling and says, Yes, you're mine. And he subdues them.
But then you know he accepts as his own other gopis for followers of Rādhārāṇī — Kalita, Śyāmalā, Lalitā, Śyāmalā and Lalitā, the representatives of these other two groups — and then he serves Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.
But basically, listen, and this is why I wanted to say this: he uh he He values or he measures relationship towards him from the point of view of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī's relationship.
Basically, this verse is not glorifying Krishna. This verse is glorifying Rādhārāṇī. This verse is saying that if you develop similar sort of mood towards Krishna.
If you manage to enter into this similar relationship, this is the most pleasing to him, so much so that he becomes subdued by this love.
Basically this verse what he describes? He describes how Krishna to a different extent being surrendered to the devotees. The special contribution of Lord Chaitanya is that yes, we have to surrender to him.
But when we surrender to him, we can love him in such a way that he will surrender to you. Krishna is specialty, his special characteristic is that he is premādhīna.
Premādhīna means he is subdued or surrendered by the love of devotees.
And this verse describes five types of love or five types of relationship on the whole range spectrum of all this relationship which are there in the first line, Achillera Samrita Murti.
But then he says that there are some special kinds of relationship which are progressively more and more intense. And to the extent the intensity of this relationship are there, Krishna becomes more more and subdued to this relationship.
So this verse is actually glorifying Rādhārāṇī's love, saying that this is the highest. And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he came to explain exactly this. That's his special purpose and special contribution. What does it mean?
How, what should be your mood so that you would be able to enter into this sort of relationship.
Cultivating spiritual emotions through hearing
And he explained the means how to enter into this sort of relationship through this through this rāga-mārga, and you know, Rūpa Gosvāmī explained actually how the experience of rasa can come upon you, can descend upon you and even though it's completely not through the systematic process but still it can descend upon you if you do everything properly if you purify your heart and you add the ingredients of Rasin to that.
Basically, you know, he explained, Lord Chaitanya explained it to Rūpa Gosvāmī, this progressive path, how you first purify your heart and how you come to the point of complete surrender at Nishta platform. You become stable in your relationship with the Lord, but you still don't experience
all the you know the taste. And then from there through reading about Krishna and hearing about Krishna, specifically hearing about Krishna, you will be able to experience some shadow of the feelings which
are there described by Śukadeva Gosvāmī in the 10th Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. When we read 10th Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you know, there is a nice story.
There was Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī once he was giving a discourse on rasa-līlā. And he was there with his followers from Vṛndāvana. And when he was speaking, everyone started crying.
At one point they just couldn't contain themselves. They just felt this flow of emotions which are there described in this poetry of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam on the 10th Canto. They felt what Śukadeva Gosvāmī is trying to convey.
Then they were transported there on the bank of Yamunā into this night of Śarad-pūrṇimā when the rāsa-līlā was taking place. And among this group of people there was one
very pure brāhmaṇa from Dakṣiṇa India, from the south of India. And he came there and he also listened to what Gopal
Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī was saying, but there were no tears in his eyes. He just he he couldn't feel his he his heart was not moved and he was looking around and everyone is crying and everyone is you know and he he felt that
he felt that something is strange, strange is going on. Why am I so cool? So next evening, when the katha was supposed to take place, he came and he brought little pepper with him.
So when the same story started repeated itself when Gopal Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī started explaining this rasa-līlā and everyone was immersed and kind of imbibed this moods which I described there. And everyone started crying.
And again, he was the only one who didn't feel like crying. So he took little pepper and put it into his eyes. And lo and behold, he started crying too, and he felt good.
But Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī noticed this trick. He noticed that there is something fishy going on. So he came after the Katha he came to this uh dakṣiṇātya brāhmaṇa and he asked this brāhmaṇa, you know, why did you do this?
You know, please c could you explain to me? I I saw that you put something and then all of a sudden you started crying.
And this brāhmaṇa, he said a very interesting thing to him. He said, because yesterday I was there in Yokatha and I didn't feel anything. My heart was as hard as a stone.
I was just sitting and I just couldn't feel uh this love. And I saw that everyone else is feeling this. And I felt really bereft of this. So and I started condemning my eyes, that my eyes are as dry as they always are.
So this time I brought this pepper and when my eyes became as dry as they always are. I decided to punish my eyes by putting some pepper there so that they would know what they're supposed to do. They're supposed to cry.
So what I want to say is that Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, he explained in his poetry and especially in his magnum opus, his Bhakti-rasāmṛta- sindhu, in his masterpiece he explained how to get something he he explained this anatomy
or you know the the real uh something how to get to the spiritual emotion and how to make sure that emotions are spiritual. To make sure that emotions are spiritual, you have to go through all these stages.
And so on so forth, you reach Nishta stage. But then at Nishta stage, or even before, actually even Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati said that if you are well established
on anartha-nivṛtti, you should start doing some artha-pravṛtti. Increasing artha. You can't just do anartha-nivṛtti, anartha-nivṛtti, anartha-nivṛtti. At one point, you will have to start your inner cultivation,
cultivation of these emotions. Of course, it has to be done carefully and by going through all the stages of preliminary purifications. But if you don't do this, Lord Chaitanya, you know, he wasted his time by coming here.
He came to give this, and this is a special gift which he gave, all these rasas which he revealed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Nobody else explains Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the way Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī actually Srila Jiva Gosvāmī explained by taking the lead of Rūpa Gosvāmī. Rūpa Gosvāmī didn't explain Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam per se.
He gave the framework or the key: how to explain Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And he revealed all this nuances of the spiritual emotions which are described in the verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and nobody could understand it before.
Nobody. People read the same verses, nothing was happening. They didn't understand all these nuances and basically they remained on this quite
preliminary or elementary platform of complete surrender or śānta-rasa or maximum dāsya-rasa.
But when Rūpa Gosvāmī came and explained all this stuff by the means of poetry, because there is no other way to explain this. You can only explain this through the poetry.
Because there is a poetic experience when you read
the poetry, and if you are uh if your heart is uh is clean enough, is purified enough, then you will then the feelings of the author or the feelings which author wants to convey through this poetry will reflect within your heart and you will understand this.
And Rūpa Gosvāmī he gave the rational explanation of this, but besides that, he gave you know a lot of poetry to this.
And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, coming back to this verse which I explained, the first verse of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, he actually gives in one purport to the 10th Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Rāsa-līlā verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam he gives a very interesting story sort of description why these two means are there in this verse.
As I said, the point which I want to make is that even through this first verse of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Rūpa Gosvāmī is explaining something really amazing.
And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī he says that once there was a story when, not once, during this Rāsa-līlā, when Kṛṣṇa and gopīs, when they reunited, they were walking in the moonlit light,
on the under the moonlight, on the bank of Yamunā, and this and the you know soft sense of humor and they were singing some songs. They were experiencing this amazing feelings of love to each other and they were completely happy.
And at one point, Krishna looked at the moon.
And by looking at the moon, Krishna being overwhelmed, and we all know all the poets they,'re looking at the moon and they're glorifying the moon because the moon is feeding their feelings, their romantic feelings.
So the same thing happened according to Jīva Gosvāmī, during this Rāsa-līlā night, when the gopī with Kṛṣṇa in a completely happy mood, were walking and Krishna looked at the moon and started glorifying the moon. And he pronounced this verse directing it to the moon.
He said, Akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrtiḥ, pra-sṛmara-ruci-rūḍha. And he explained the whole verse, Vidur Jayati, how amazing is the moon.
And gopis, because it was kīrtana. And in kīrtana, the leader he pronounced some verse and then everyone else should repeat this.
And gopis repeat the same verse. But when they repeated this verse, they entered completely different meaning into this.
And they say, Yes, Vidurjaiti, all glories to Krishna, who is so capable of reciprocating with the love of different devotees, who is perfectly reciprocating with the moods of devotees and reflecting these moods and giving so much pleasure by entering into this relationship.
And when they sang it, Krishna understood that they are completely interpreting it in a completely different way. And Krishna became very pleased. So that was the kīrtana.
And that's the point of this first verse of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. How it's going actually that uh the point is that yeah it's all about love. But it's difficult. It's difficult to obtain love.
To purify heart is not difficult. You know, when we only target at this, oh it will be very it will be the the spiritual life will become really miserable. You know, we become miserable. To purify heart is not difficult.
It's not really difficult. Through some associations, through changing of the holy name, it very quickly will take place.
But the main point which Rupa which which Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave to us is this entrance into this realm of spiritual emotions, which can be achieved if we apply ourselves conscientiously to this process.
And it's there in the Holy Name. Why do we chant the Holy Name? Just Just to to get the key to all these spiritual emotions which are there in the holy name.
Parā-śakti is there together with Parā-śakti, but somehow or other we'll tend to to you know we become we really miss the goal.
The real goal is to to get what Lord Chaitanya brought to us, and that's the glory of the most elevated and advanced feelings which are there in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and which we can feel, really can feel,
if we are somewhat purified and tuned in. I guess I should stop. So that's that's how I I don't know if I explained anything or bewildered you completely.
But but I I found it very interesting this whole the whole story, why two meanings are there. It's obviously the two meanings are very obvious in this verse, but it's it's again this reciprocation of love.
Connection to the Madhva line
Anyway you wanted to ask something? Thank you Marjorie wonderful class. Um I probably I was a little late so I don't know if you explained in the beginning, but you know when you explain um
Madhvācārya, Madhvācārya's commentary on the understanding of God and Mahāprabhu's. I've heard often that Madhvācārya's philosophy is actually a lot different from ours in various respects.
And in fact, even compared to other sampradayas, in some way ways actually our siddhānta is more different to Madhvācārya than it is to some of the other sampradāyas. And yet we are connected in Madhvācārya's line.
And let's say they probably don't even maybe some of them might not even accept us as being part of theirs. So what is our validity for claiming that we are part of Madhvācārya's line?
It's a difficult question, quite controversial question. And uh there is a lot of Mādhvas which don't accept Gauḍīyas and Prabhupāda as bona fide. Mādhvas tend to be quite sectarian and it's interesting,
you know that there is a lot of strange things at least in the current practices of Mādhva followers. And many of them they definitely don't accept Gauḍīyas.
But there are some very prominent representatives of Mādhva Sampradāya who do accept us. For example, Pejavara Swami. He's a good friend of Śivarāma Swami Mahārāja, and he always speaks very highly about Prabhupada.
And And of course it's not a universal point of view, not universally accepted, but of course Pejavara Swami is the most respectable sannyāsī, which is there presently existing in Mādhva Sampradāya.
So, one validity is that some of the Swamis they really respect and accept us as such. Uh um uh for us uh in one sense, it's not that important to be recognized, whether they recognize us or not.
Because there is another validity of any sampradaya that's the
ability of sampradaya to convert other people into the folds of sampradaya. And Mādhva Sampradāya, honestly speaking, historically was not very successful in this regard.
They are contained in the Tulu Nadu, in Karnataka, and not even the whole Karnataka, you know. And hardly anyone beyond the borders of Karnataka knows about Madhavas.
And uh it's uh it's not we should not um really underestimate this point because this point is important. Uh like we know some other groups here. I don't want to mention the name.
I don't want actually to say anything bad about anyone. But the validity of any Sampradaya is also judged by the extent the sampradaya can present its teaching
Universal and esoteric aspects of sampradaya
in a universal way so that uh everyone will, so that normally people normal people will uh understand the relevance of these teachings. And unfortunately, quite a few schools
of philosophy, they failed in this, failed this test. You know, it's it's rare that sampradaya
can give, and this is very important actually if we consider this point, sampradaya has two features, two aspects, two very important aspects.
Sampradaya has to have universal approach relevant to basically rank and file people. And sampradaya must convey a very high and esoteric teaching and uh, and some people will take advantage of this.
If sampradaya misses one of these points, uh if if sampradaya misses uh the second point and doesn't give the esoteric sort of truth, then it becomes ultimately mundane religion.
With a very wide scope and very general sort of approach.
But if sampradaya only gives this esoteric meaning and does not really touch the heart of the people in the street and is not capable of conveying the truth which is there contained in Sampradaya, in such a way that any drunkard can understand it, then there is something again very important is missing in this school of Sampradaya.
These two things should be there and any religion is struggling how to contain these two things. The wide approach, universal approach, and very high esoteric things. And Gaudiya sampradaya is amazing in this regard.
And actually, when Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda came, he came and he criticized all the contemporary representatives of Gaudiya sampradaya because they failed exactly in combining these two points.
During Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda's time, Goswamis and Goswamis, they were into into making disciples in thousands without really giving them the truth, really changing their hearts.
Exactly what I was talking about during these two parts: giving some logical śraddhā, some conventional śraddhā, and giving initiations in thousands and leading a luxurious life.
And then there were some Babajis who were only talking about this esoteric secrets of Gaudiya sampradaya. And they couldn't combine these two. And there was a gap. And actually they were wrong in both directions, but that's another thing.
So Chaitanya Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati is real ācārya, he came and he again said these two things have to be there in Sampradaya. And if school, if any school of philosophy, any religious school fails in one of these areas.
It's useless. It becomes ultimately useless. Becar. It becomes useless.
So so what I want to say is that it's not uh we shouldn't really uh underestimate this point that this ability of changing the hearts of people or even people who who don't belong traditionally to this Sampradaya is a very important point or important proof of the validity of Sampradaya.
It may not be important proof of our link with Madhva Sampradaya. But basically talking about the link, there are very severe differences but there are also there is also a progression in one sense. When
we see, when we look in Sampradayas, first Śaṅkarācārya came, and Śaṅkarācārya said, God is impersonal. Then Rāmānujācārya came, and Rāmānujācārya said God is Nārāyaṇa.
Goddess and he established to give this Aishwarya mood. Then Madhvācārya came and the main image of God in Udupi who? Krishna. Krishna.
He somehow rather, even though he said that you shouldn't distinguish between different forms of Krishna, but still he is installed Krishna and only Krishna in Udupi. But still it's Krishna alone.
Krishna without too much relationship, but you can clearly see the progression. You know, from impersonal to personal in a complete Aishwarya mood to personal in his mood of Krishna, but still uh somewhat aloof.
And then Lord Chaitanya came, and that's a very natural progression, and he said, Yes, Krishna, but Krishna with his devotees, not Krishna alone. And uh the foremost of the devotees is Radha.
So if we see the progression, we can also see that there is a clear link or the clear evolution, so to speak, of the teachings. That gradually, gradually you build up.
But otherwise, yes, there is a lot of differences, and some of our acharyas they don't care so much about the link with Madhva Sampradaya, some do, starting with Baladev Vidyabhushan, and of course, Kavi Karnapur, he wrote about this link. So, our proof, which may not be accepted by them, is that this link is recorded by Kavi Karnapur.
That's the earliest in our records mention of this whole Sampradaya and our connection or link with Madhva Sampradaya.
So Kavi Karnapur is one of the greatest poets and acharyas in our line, and he says, yes, we are coming from Madhvacharya,
but there is a significant change in this progression because starting from Madhavendra Puri, the emotional part of bhakti entered into the scene. Which is also understandable because Madhvacharya had a special role.
He was fighting with this, as we know, with Mayavada philosophy, which declared everything is unreal. So he established spiritual realism, Madhvacharya's philosophy is actually radical realism.
That everything is real, God is real. And then Lord Chaitanya came and said, yes, everything is real, but emotions are also real. There are real eternal spiritual emotions. That's the contribution of Lord Chaitanya.
So he accepted Madhva Acharya as a very significant contribution because after Shankaracharya dismantled everything philosophically and Ramanujacharya started reconstructing the reality.
Madhvacharya established on a very firm basis that everything is real. Bhakti is real, Bhagavān is real, relationship is real, Lord Chaitanya said, and he said, one thing is missing still.
You're not really into emotions, but emotion is the most valuable thing. And he came and gave this. So again, it may not be acceptable by the
people from Madhva Sampradaya, but ultimately who cares? Let them first preach in Russia and convert thousands of people into Dvaita Vedanta.
Then we can talk who is valid and who is and again it's uh it's a valid point. and again it's a valid point. It's a valid point. Any other questions? Yes, pray from the first time.
Dr. Fakir Mohan when he was uh here in this world, he was asked the question
about in the uh Bhakti Sandarbha, there's a verse I think it's the second verse, the first chapter, where it talks about Paramātmā actually also being in the spiritual world in a form, I think it was described as Aniruddha.
And he was asked, well, um, but in the Bhagavad-gītā there seems to be a contradiction that was manifested in this world for the for the uh existence of this universe and for the sustaining of the universe.
But in that he he answered this question in such a way that he said he's looking at everybody's service. He's just there absorbing their service in the form uh uh as a super soul in in the spiritual world.
And uh I don't know if you can maybe comment maybe I can't comment on this. I I do know that there's you know, super soul is not there in the spiritual world.
Super soul is a special feature of the Lord which is controlling the affairs of this world. It's a controlling feature.
Uh and I I I can't say I I have to hear what Fakirma Prabhu said and how he said it and what he really meant by this so I can't comment on this. Sorry for this.
Balancing internal mood and external service
Thank you March. Um Rajah, we see that our deity worship, our sadhana in this in this world as practicing devotees is very much in the mood of law and reverence for purification for uprooting the anarthas in the heart.
And then you also mentioned how the special gift of Mahaprabhu Goswami is to give this very nuanced development of love of Krishna.
I'm just wondering if you can say a bit more about when and how our sadhana should begin to incorporate this nuanced bhakti in a way that is uh not sahajio or not artificial or or is it just an automatic okay no it's not automatic.
I I think it's a big mistake to think that this is automatic. Actually, what happened? Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, he from the very beginning said that there is ajāta-ruci. When the ruchi is not yet there and you
When the ruchi is not yet there and you practice some uh sadhana, he specifically was meaning rāgānuga-sādhana rāgānuga practice, when the ruchi is still not there, it means that the heart is full sadhana raganuga practice, when the ruchi is still not there, it means that the heart is full of anarthas still.
And he said, yes, you may introduce little elements of this here and there, but basically, my answer would be like this: that we should never forget while doing this service, external service, while doing in abundance external service.
While doing a lot of external service, we should not neglect inner cultivation. But we should also be very chaste and should not show off this inner cultivation.
The inner cultivation is an extremely secret thing which is a part of my inner life, and I shouldn't show it too much. Otherwise, it will be disturbance in the society. And that's exactly what Lord Chaitanya advised to Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanatan Gaswamy while writing this enigmatic verse in reply to their request.
You come and see, and we want to give up everything and come to you. And he said, no, no, no. A lady who has a paramour, she's really trying to make sure that nobody knows about this and she externally behaves perfectly.
So I think this verse is the answer to this question. We should be interested in this matter. So we should try to cultivate internally.
But when prematurely it becomes an external practice, it's just it becomes a cause for our pride. I've seen these people.
They just look down at his co-devotees and they say you're just you're just nobody, you are and we are, you know, we are Rasika Vaishnavas.
You know, Rasika Vaishnavas, you can become only after trād api sunīcena toroḥ api sahiṣṇunā. And if you say that everyone is external and you are Rasika. You know where is mānadā? amānī nā mānadāda. Wh Where is it?
If if you're just using it as an excuse or as some, you know, some sort of reason to be proud, and then you are far away from this. So externally we have to train ourselves in into the service.
Prabhupada gave us this amazing mission where we can really practice this service attitude and humility and tolerance. You know, this ISKCON is the great place to develop tolerance. If you didn't notice yet.
It's the best place. So and it's good, it's really good because you have to interact with so many people and they are coming from different things. Uh and it's good.
You you you really develop genuine sort of humility and detachment by this. But at the same time, internally, we should not think that it will happen on its own.
Like yesterday I had a very I mean a very sad episode. Ovan devātikam. His rassen devād det living here in London.
And he told me very openly, very frankly, I have been chanting more than 20 years. And I am telling you very clearly, nothing happened.
And I spoke with a few senior devotees of my generation or age, and they all revealed to me that nothing happened.
And moreover, I see I live with them in one flat, and I know we serve there, but he said, ultimately I don't surf, I just work. And I we come back, and everyone is just into his internet world computer.
And that's it, nothing else. Nothing happens. And it's uh it's a very sad thing. He was very frank and he said, what's wrong? What's going on? Why is this so? And the simple answer is that, you know.
People thought that it's just it will happen automatically.
But automatically means that something is happening, but you have to respond to this and you have to increase your endeavors, you have to increase your sadhana, you have to chant more.
When you know, otherwise you know, Krishna gives you mercy, but then he sees what you're going to do with this mercy. Krishna gives mercy in increments, little by little. And then he sees what you're doing with this mercy.
First, he gives you mercy in the form of śraddhā phase. That's his first installment of the mercy. And if you do it properly, if you cultivate, if you do according to this, then you go to the next stage.
And Krishna gives you a little more mercy, sādhu-saṅga. He gives you more clear understanding. There is the sadhu, you have to accept him as a teacher. And then he sees what you do on the stage.
And then he gives you more mercy, bhajana-kriyā.
And then he says he sees what you do with the with the mercy. If you give somebody something valuable, which you value very much, and then he says it and it looks like this, and then will you give him something more? No.
So Krishna will not give more. If we don't use it properly, don't utilize it properly to the fullest capacity.
Krishna gives mercy in a form of opportunities which we have, in a form of deeper understanding which we may get, in a form of association which is available to us.
He gives this on uh every stage. Whether we take advantage of these opportunities or his mercy or not is up to us. And if we think yeah, right, yeah, I'll chant sixteen rounds and then and then I'll die.
And then I become a beloved of Krishna. No. You will not. Because it's not correct. The attitude is wrong. And that's exactly that slokik Shrada approach which I was talking about.
Just just really floating as a dead fish. Not even flopping, just death. Floating in the fate. So that's it. We have to be conscientious and Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us so much.
But again, if we had uh if we try to show off externally, you know, how great we are, that's sad. And that's that's really ridiculous, that's really disgusting.
You know, when people only talk about these things and at the same time don't develop the real service attitude. So it is both things should be there.
And uh important things which is more visible to everyone and something which is invisible to anyone. Or to a few may be visible, but shouldn't be shown.
And therefore, it is specifically said that vaiṣṇava they should keep three things secret. First thing they should keep beads. They shouldn't show the beads, therefore, it's only in the bead bag.
Nobody should see actually our beads. Second of all, the name of our guru should be kept in secret. Because oftentimes people misuse the name of our guru.
Oh yeah, you know, they use the guru as connection with somebody who is very great, you know, and uh meaning that I am great.
And the third thing, your bhajan, whatever you do, your internal cultivation should be kept secret. It should not be revealed to everyone. That's that's a special verse which is recommending this. And
I some time ago I was giving a seminar and I told a bunch of Russian devotees that we shouldn't we should not reveal our bhajan to anyone.
And at that time in Bhaktivriksha there was a uh kind of uh competition who is chanting more and they were in the groups they were filling up the chart who is chanting how many rounds?
And then they asked me, it was a it was a shock for them. They said, Shall I not say to anyone how many rounds I chant? And I said, if you chant 16 rounds, you may say to anyone, it's no problem.
There is nothing to be proud of if you are chanting 16 rounds. But if you chant more better you keep it secret. Nobody should really know it. Can I ask a question for one of your classes?
You mentioned about certain things as as we develop uh or uh in the process of bhakti or um uh as we try and get closer to Krishna. There's certain things reveal themselves um that that will keep us away from Krishna.
And one of them, you said this this feeling of haughtiness. In other words, that we're slightly superior more than another devotee or or another you know uh follower of God in in in this way.
This is like a a subtle one, it's there, and it it um it it can be an obstacle in in our our practice of this this bhakti-yoga. yoga.
Overcoming subtle pride and faultfinding
Can you make a elaborate more to elaborate on this? If if you have this you know i i i it's basically it's very simple because uh we are trying to enjoy.
Everyone is trying to get some happiness, and the easiest way to get some happiness is to feel oneself superior to others.
And the easiest way to feel oneself superior to others is to drag everyone down or to denigrate or to you know find fault. And you know, this faultfinding mentality is nothing but our desire to enjoy.
And because it's very difficult to enjoy, there is this easy way to enjoy is to look around and say, oh, everyone is so bad. And I'm so good.
There is a very funny, there is a joke in Russian. I don't know if I will be able to convey this joke to you. It's a little gross, but still. One man comes to a director of a circus and says,
My dear sir, I have a wonderful trick. It's a wonderful thing, you know. You please include it into your program. Your circus will become world famous if you put me and include my part in the program of your circus.
And the director becomes very intrigued and he asks, What's what's the trick? He says, Oh, it's so nice. I'll tell you now. He says, tell me what is this? He said, you should take a big, huge bag of stool.
And pull this bag very high up into the ceiling. And then all of a sudden, you should just smash this bag, and then this stool will be all over the place, all over the people who are sitting there.
So the director of circus saying, so what's what's the fun? No, he says, listen, that's not it. Then I enter on the stage and I am in a white suit. That's the trick. Isn't it nice? Everyone is in the stool and here I am.
Believe it or not, we're all doing this thing. Everyone is in this two and here I am. I am the only one who is completely free and pure and innocent and this and that.
So you know remember this joke and if you need some elaboration.
The art of submissive hearing
Anyway You want it first time? Yeah Bharat, in the beginning of the lecture you were saying that love is not something that can be cultivated like pretty nice of something.
Then you also mentioned that it's also not something automatic. And I was just wondering what is the process for. The process is. See, the process is simple. We all know this process, Shravanam and Kirtanam.
But But first of all, the Shravanam should be proper. And it's a science. It's not such an easy thing.
Śrīla Prabhupāda calls it the art of submissive hearing. It's a beautiful phrase which Prabhupāda uses in the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He says it's an art.
How to hear submissively, submissively means doesn't mean to hear blindly. Blindly accept everything.
So you d the mistake when when people hear this submissive, they think, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I become submissive hearer. You know, I just accept everything. No. Submissive, otherwise it would not be art.
Śrīla Prabhupāda specifically says it's there is a special art of submissive hearing. You have to be very conscious and conscientious and you know you have to accept but at the same time you have to question.
You have to really, hearing should remove your doubts.
And for hearing to remove your doubts, you have to question whether what you hear is really, you know, a question of some doubt or whatever, do you agree with this or not? And at the same time you're submissive.
You're not really challenging what you hear. But to develop this attitude, you really have to make sure that the source of what you're hearing from is proper, it's bona fide. So this is the first point.
And when you hear the most important thing is that when you hear somebody speak, You hear more than you really understand rationally. Some process is taking place while you are hearing some subconscious process, if you hear with a proper attitude, then you're preparing your heart for revelation.
It's actually an amazing process because we may hear some things for 100 times and then somebody says it uh hundred and first time, we hear it, and then the whole truth reveals to us.
But what was happening before this the preparation for revelation was taking place, we were hearing and something was building up, and you know, some some things.
And then all of a sudden we said, yeah, right, now I realized it. And something which was just a theoretical truth before from the book becomes the real realization of our heart.
So the hearing is the first point for realization. And the hearing again, why it is so special? Because we are You know the hearing is that something is coming to us from outside.
In other words, we are not cooking something which is from something which is already there within the heart.
It's something new, some mercy or some energy is coming to us through these vibrations which we hear if the mood is proper and correct.
And then the next point is of course kīrtana, and kīrtana again is a very amazing thing.
This is what Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura used to say. He used to say that sometimes I say something which I myself don't understand. If I speak in a proper mood, I basically, led Krishna to speak through me.
And you know, there was this episode when somebody was he was giving lecture and usually he had somebody to stenograph how I say this? Write down, huh?
Transcribe, yeah, transcribe immediately what he says, everything that he says. And then at that lecture which he was giving, nobody was transcribing.
And then he said something, and then he said, yeah, this is this is coming from the higher plane. This is not coming from myself. I don't know it myself. It's some revelation.
Basically, you know why I said that bhakti or prārthanā is not about cooking because it's it's a revelation. It's a descending process. But śravaṇaṁ and kīrtanaṁ and other things is a means to facilitate revelation.
So that the revelation will take place. So it's basically Shravanam and Kirtanam. And at one point, after Shravanam and Kirtanam, Smaranam starts, but again, smaranam, sometimes people totally misunderstand smaranam.
They think that I should now force myself to think of what I hear. It's a material process.
Smaranam is a natural revelation process which comes after lots of sravanam and kirtanam when the stream of otherworldly thoughts or images is coming to our heart.
So the process is simple, shravanam and kirtanam and then smaranam, but again it should be done properly. When you speak, you shouldn't have this attitude: I am speaking. I am delivering everyone. Listen to me.
I will tell you the truth. No, we should be humble, you know, humble, transparent media and let Krishna speak through us. Let the truth be revealed through us.
And that's what Śrīla Prabhupāda was teaching us, you know, how we by the humble attitude as a speaker and listener and thinker about Krishna, we ultimately can uh get this experience of love. I guess it's late.
Thank you very much. Thank you.