How to enter Vrindavana. Class 2

Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Govardhan · 2024

Chapters

Invocation prayers and introductory chanting

Sri Radha, Krishna Pada, Sahanalita, Sri Vishakamsha, E Krishna Karunasindh, Dinabandho Jagatpate gokishanta, radakantana mostute, taptakurangi radade Vrindavaneshwari, Vishabanu Sude Pranam Pri, vancha Kalpatarubjas,

pripasin dubia vacha, patitana yp, vaisnavamonama, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabunitananda Sri Advaitha, Srivassadigora Bhaktavrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama

Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Arady Bhagavan Vraje Satanaya Staddham Vrindavam, Ramya

Kachidupasana Vrađavadu Vargenaya Kaupitam. Sri madbhagavatam prama malam pramapumarta mahan, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhor Matamidam Tatradaro na Paraham Yan tahvische machim maampraçam,

sandji vaya taki le shakti darh s vadamna, anjamnat vaga dim, prananda mu Bhagavathi Purushai tubim, Swasastu Visvasalah, Prasidatam, Deyantu Bhutani Shivammi Tudya, Manashabadram Bajatattauksha ja, Veshya

Purpose of meditation in Vrindavan

Gamnou Matir, Abyaituki. Hare Krishna. So I'm very happy to see all of you again.

And uh it's not a coincidence that uh we started basically this retreat uh center from the retreat which is dedicated to meditation on Vrindavan.

The purpose of this place, as I already said several times, is to facilitate going deeper.

Oftentimes we passionate people of Kali Yuga, forget that the ultimate purpose of our practice is to be completely absorbed in spiritual reality.

And we can only do this if we are dedicated to the service of the lotus feet of our spiritual masters, starting with Rupa Goswami. So this place with the hearts of six Goswamis of Vṛndāvana is about this.

It's about trying to surf the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī and the Six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana. To be able to enter really the spiritual realm of Vṛndāvana.

And the only means of entering this spiritual realm is meditation. But we also know unfortunately that nowadays there is so much mockery going on under the name of meditation.

Five minutes meditation after a cup of coffee. You wake you wake up, you're a little drowsy, so you take a cup of coffee and start meditating. So much nonsense is going on uh under this name.

And our Acharyas very painstakingly are teaching us what is the real meditation and how it progresses, through which stages it goes, according to the level of purity of our mind and heart.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī is very emphatic. He says that meditation is not possible when your heart is not pure.

The preliminary purification is necessary, but some sort of meditation we can practice on any stage of our spiritual development, but and we have to practice. We have to involve our mind.

But we should not expect uh the amazing results of meditation described in our scriptures uh from the very beginning. And there is a gradual process which leads us uh to this stage of spiritual development.

And yesterday I gave a few hints about this how How important for meditation it is to come or bring our mind into the harmony with the rhythm of nature.

And how people, especially in the cities, they create artificial rhythms. Their, uh, dinacaryā, the schedule of the time is totally distorted. They get up late, they go to bed late.

They create all this artificial tāmasika and rājasika rhythms, so much so that people completely out of sync with reality, out of sync with this nature.

So it's very important to be in the place where we can feel all these rhythms, and in this way to understand Rita, the essential truths of reality, which is rhythmic. And meditation, as I said, is rhythmic by nature.

Distinguishing Mayavada from Vaishnava meditation

There is a rhythm in the meditation, pulsation in our meditation. And therefore we sing, therefore we chant verses, so on and so forth.

But the most important point which I was trying to make, I don't know if I made it very clear uh yesterday on our first lecture was about the difference between the style of

meditation or the nature of meditation, the impersonal meditation, or Mayavad meditation and Vaishnava meditation. So I will reiterate it from slightly different angles to make it very clear.

Because before we proceed and try to understand the meditation of Akrura, which is the topic of this retreat, and I don't know if we will reach

this topic because we are slowly meditating from this and approaching it with certain level of dignity and uh uh but before we understand

this we have to be very clear about the difference of this so-called mindfulness which is being practiced, or even very severe uh kinds of meditation uh uh uh which they practice how it's called this uh vipassana.

Vipassana, yes, vipassana, and for ten days you just do nothing. So it is essential to understand this difference.

The initial premise of Māyāvāda is that brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ, the jīva, infinitesimal spark of consciousness Paraha, the Jiva, infinitesimal spark of consciousness is not different from Brahman.

So I'm God. Just uh today or yesterday uh YouTube uh very uh politely offered me uh to watch the video. If we are God, why should we worship somebody? Very clear answer given in Advaita Vedanta.

I didn't want to hear this answer because it's ridiculous to start with. So their understanding, the premise is that everything depends on So their understanding, the premise is that everything depends on my meditation.

I can create anything because I anyway created this reality. I created this reality and now I realize that uh something is wrong with the reality which I created. Let me create it better.

So that's that's basically the point of their meditation. Let's create reality with Mercedes current m because it was missing in in my previous creation. So their understanding is that reality is the product of my mind.

And because it's the product of my mind, then if I change my mind I change the reality and I can change it very whimsically.

And therefore I can establish my own rules because I'm God, I can establish my own morality, I can say this is good, this is bad, because everything is according to my mind.

So Vaishnava meditation is completely different in this regard. Śrīla Prabhupāda again and again was fighting with this idea, Brahma-satyam Jagat Mitya, that Jagat is mitya, Jagat is real. World is real. It's Jagat.

It's moving. It's temporary. It's not stable. But nevertheless, because it has the connection with the absolute truth. It's real.

And it's real, but Jagat is not independent on my mind, on my observation, on my attention to it. The naive materialists, they say that matter is independent on my mind on observation.

But Vaishnavas understand how to synthesize these two extreme points of view, yes, Jagat is real, matter is real, reality is there outside of my mind, but my mind, my observation influences it in the process of interaction with this reality.

And meditation is the proper way of interacting with this reality in such a way that we understand the deepest levels of reality, the reality as it is.

And therefore, Vaishnavas also take a great burden of responsibility in the way they interact with this world. So we have to understand that our attitude alters the world. And we know how it happened.

I'm in a good mood and uh everything is good and everyone is really kind. And then all of a sudden after you know 20 years everyone is so nasty and obnoxious.

Not because everyone is obnoxious, but because everyone is dealing with me according to my mind. And I see this reality.

So and uh definitely we should take the responsibility to make our mind conducive to understand the deepest levels of reality and the utmost deepest level of reality is the spiritual reality which we aspire to achieve by our sadhana.

So the Vaishnava method of meditation is that we become observers. This Sakshitva, the position of a witness, of an observer of reality is actually synonymous to humility.

When we are actively changing this world according to the materialistic conception, when I have my false ego, I am the doer and I can do anything I like. That's one thing.

But when we become absorber and try to absorb from the neutral position what is going on in our mind and investigate this, then ultimately we can enter the deeper levels of reality.

So I brought to you some uh first to understand how it works in practice and uh hopefully we will also practice a little bit today, uh did you bring with you your chanting beads? Yes. Okay.

Analysis of modern manifestation meditation

Those who didn't bring, it's their problem. So uh this is uh uh eight steps of how to use meditation for manifestation. So if you want to manifest your own reality, we'll teach you no problem.

We are broad-minded Vaishnavas, we're not petty-minded. Bhakti-nerves is there. So anyway, just to understand uh the methodology. First, of course, close your eyes and pay attention to your breaths that we can agree with.

Breathe in and out until you're relaxed. That's an important point and it's a correct point. When our mind is stressed and agitated, there is no question of meditation. So first we have to calm the mind.

Even Sanātana Gosvāmī in his Hari-bhakti-vilāsa recommends special type of prāṇāyāma. Sac-cid-ānanda Mahārāja was teaching me this prāṇāyāma and he referred to Hari-pārṣada Prabhu. And I'm here to ask him of the exact reference to this point.

But uh not only Sanātana Gosvāmī in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī in his Satkriya Saradipika. And oftentimes we see this reference on prāṇāyāma.

And prāṇāyāma actually brings our mind into a certain rhythm, as I said.

Instead of this chaotic, agitated, uh running all over the place mind, we bring the mind into a different space into this rhythmic uh space where uh sattva-guṇa uh which is uh lucid translucent uh state of reality can help us.

So this is okay, this is the first step.

The second step: once you are relaxed, focus your attention of what you would like to attract into your life. So here the problem stuff. Instead of you being attracted to Krishna, you want to attract something else.

You become the attractor. You become Krishna. You're trying to attract. And that's basically the game of life. People are trying to attract the attention of other people, so on and so forth.

But uh people are trying to become the center. What is the attractor? Attractor is the center. Uh he is the center of attraction and he attracts everything. So let's uh they're trying to attract whatever they like.

So focus your attention on what you would like to attract. And as you breathe, focus on your desires. See a vivid picture of you doing or having whatever it is that you most desire, make the picture as real and as clear as

you can so that it is impressed upon the subconscious mind with the belief that you have what you desire now. So just try hard.

And if it doesn't work, it's your fault because you couldn't do it as vivid as possible, as it is required. You couldn't really get into this reality.

Anyway, uh then you have to feel love, happiness and satisfaction that will bring you as you had whatever it is you desire now. If any fears in your mind about creating your desire, visualized God. That's very interesting.

Step number five. If any fears come into your mind about creating what you desire, visualize God or your angels or whatever feels good for you. So visualize whatever feels good for you and that will take your fear away.

And then return to visualizing. And that's very interesting. Sit as long as you need until you feel that your desire has been impressed upon the subconscious mind successfully.

I usually feel a swelling in my heart which causes me to breathe really deeply. I know that I'm complete.

Role of emotion and desire

So sit till you start, till your heart starts swelling. And then, yeah, here you all look in your garage, it's there with the plate anyway

so that's uh that's their style. Uh our style is different uh first and foremost about the mood. And actually uh that's one of the most important teachings of Akrura.

I don't know today or maybe tomorrow we will speak about several lessons which are very important from Akrura's life, even previous to his journey to Vrindavan.

His journey to Vrindavan is actually the final strait of his overall journey. For twelve years he was meditating on Krishna before this journey started.

So it's the final run before his fruit of his meditation will come to him in the form of little cowherd boy with a stick and rope and Balaram together. But that's uh let's wait till we come to this point.

So uh there are very important lessons uh about this and um uh uh let's try to examine a few of the points, preliminary points, which are necessary for meditation to become effective.

It's a difficult process and I said it requires a lot of purity in the heart. But besides purity in the heart, one very important preliminary quality which can make our meditation successful is of course desire, greed.

You can never go deep unless you have very strong desire within your heart.

If your desire is lukewarm, if you're not really ardently desiring to achieve the fruit of your meditation, if you don't understand clearly the goal, it's not going to work.

In this point, we agree with the people who teach in personal meditation for manifestation. So what is very important is that we have to involve our emotions into the meditative process.

If we don't have if we are not emotionally involved, if this energy of emotions are not there in our meditation, if the desire is not strong, then there is no chance for meditation to become deep.

We know how emotions easily help us to concentrate our mind, especially negative emotions. If somebody offended you, you enter into the state of samadhi by thinking about this offender.

You cannot think about anything else or anybody else. You just again and again and again. And even if you want to uh think about anything else, you still come back to the same object of your meditation.

Your meditation because of this negative emotion, because it's connected uh with the emotion, combined with the emotions, coupled uh with the emotion, it becomes very very deep.

Or if you uh watch a horror movie, you know. Can you eat popcorn while watching horror movie? No. If it's a good movie, of course. If if it's a bad movie, popcorn helps. To meditate.

But the good movie completely because they invoked certain emotions and the emotions uh stopped your mind. Your mind glued into this.

So the initial emotion which we need, as I said, is desire, is actually coming from śraddhā.

What is very much required in our meditative process, even in the beginning, from the very beginning, is to have very strong śraddhā,

śāstrīya śraddhā of course, not laukika śraddhā, not the conventional faith, which according to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu sindhu brings about ruci.

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu says: alpa-py alpa-rūcy-eva syād bhakti-tattva-vōbodhikā. Bhakti Tattvava Bodhi ka.

If you don't have even little taste in the process of bhakti, you will never be able to understand bhakti tatva.

The taste is required, a little ruci the taste, and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī commenting on this verse, he says this is that could be the taste of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that could be the taste for any aṅga of bhakti. But some taste has to be there because without that bhakti will not happen.

So sometimes we think that taste, ruchi, is the stage which is far away from us. But Ruchi has to be there in the very beginning. Little ruci has to be there.

And this ruci makes our process this ruci actually eliminates everything else if we have ruci to bhakti the taste for bhakti we understand that everything else doesn't have this taste. It's not that important.

And Bhakti definitely contains this taste. And as Jīva Gosvāmī says that ruci produces faith in the supreme position of bhakti. When you enter into this space, when you understand how pleasurable bhakti is.

When you experience this, you understand it's higher than anything else. I'm doing yoga, I'm doing haṭha-yoga, whatever I'm doing actually arjuna-yoga Himalayan Siddha Yoga the style of arjuna anyway so

uh um And it's okay. It's it helps me. But it doesn't have taste.

Cultivating taste through attentive chanting

Only because of his powerful influence I'm still doing it. So taste is extremely important from the very beginning because taste helps us to understand the real position of bhakti. This relish which is there from the beginning.

I remember very clearly when I heard for the first time Hare Krishna mantra. How I felt something special in this sound. It was a very unusual circumstance. I will not describe it in detail, but this

really sometimes when we chant the holy name, when we chant it with calm mind, we can feel this very pleasant taste which is being exuded from the sound of the Hare Krishna mantra.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare, Hare. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare, Hare.

As I said, what is very important for a vaiṣṇava is to have the proper kind of attention. And the attention I'm talking about from the beginning now, for us to enter into this meditative state, is to pay attention to the taste which is there already,

Because sometimes being very busy and very agitated in mind and trying to achieve so many purposes at once and achieve so many goals and bragging to be multitasking superheroes of this Kali Yuga.

Like they say that Elon Musk can do ten things at once, and so everyone is trying to become Elon Musk. So by giving up this, this is the wrong type of attention.

The attention which is required, just try to be attentive to the taste of the holy name. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare, Hare. Hare Hare.

When my friend somehow or other cheated me and told me that I should chant the holy name Hare Krishna, I still don't see the aura, but I'm still probably hoping to see it because I'm still chanting the holy name.

So I at that point I gave a solemn vow that I will give up this stupid process the moment I will be tired of it. I'm still, forty-four years later, I'm still doing it.

So there is something in this sound. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare. So this attention gives us the access to the taste if we are attentive.

If we are not attentive, there is no question of taste.

Even if the most delicious food is in front of you, you will not feel the taste of the food because you're inattentive. The attention is the first requirement, uh, preliminary requirement to get little taste.

And when you are hooked on this taste, when this taste is there, then you will be able to relish and ultimately enter the very deep state of meditation.

And of course, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains this this relish usually comes, the taste about which Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī speaks in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu at the very end of the first wave of the eastern part of the ocean of Bhakti-ras, he

says that Jīva Gosvāmī says it usually comes from the previous saṁskāras.

Spiritual reflection through devotee association

The taste is the nature of the taste is saṁskāras which we have. And Jīva Gosvāmī says usually it comes from our previous lives, previous saṁskāras which are there. But not necessarily.

If it was only the source of our taste, it would be very hopeless for us people who hardly have any good saṁskāras from the previous life.

So, another very important point to enter, preliminary point, to enter into meditation is the of course the association of devotees because while associating with devotees, we can feel their taste.

Their taste is being reflected in our heart when the heart is sufficiently uh clean.

When it's little clean, not entirely clean, but if it's little clean and we enter into the aura or I'm still I'm still dreaming about seeing the aura. When they enter into this space which surrounds them, into the

uh field which is surrounding them and when we feel their bliss which they are exuding and which they experience some fraction of this uh bliss is reflected in our heart. That's how it works.

That's why it is very important uh it's the most essential actually that's the pillar of Vedic culture, sādhu-saṅga, sat-saṅga. It's the foundation of Vedic culture.

No matter what you do, everything else is there in the Vedic culture ultimately to bring you into the association of devotees.

And the great ācāryas, Vaiṣṇavas, they explain that what happens in the association of devotees we are very gross. We cannot really feel very subtle emotions which they experience. No way.

It's not possible for us gross people. But they because of their sadhana, because of their austerities, because of their purity of the heart, even their gross body is completely purified.

That's uh the secret uh why uh the saints even in Christian tradition uh they become completely or in Buddhism there are such people. Uh when they die, their body is not being uh it's completely spiritualized.

And that's why samadhis are there. Because it's spiritualized, even the gross body made of panca-maha-bhuta becomes very pure. And when we come in contact with them, we feel this purity.

Even on the gross level, we feel the purity of their water. We feel uh in in this material world we encounter this panca-maha-bhutas by our senses.

But because it's all contaminated with tamasic and rajasic energies, it doesn't bring us this experience.

But when we come in contact with very pure human beings, very sättvik human beings, we experience the bliss which they experience partially and we experience the uh purification which is coming from them and uh we sometimes could feel

the sweetness of the sound which they are emanating from their lips. It's a special sound. They may say the same words which you have heard, but the effect of this sound

is different because the sound, no matter what they're talking about, They may be talking about very simple and very m even mundane subject matters. It's still very purified.

Like disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda, they explained how they would relish the way he would drink water or do whatever he was doing. Because of this fact that their body is different.

And we experience this and these purified elements they bring some experience which we will not be able to experience otherwise. So the taste is coming, like another example is of course

Gaur Govinda Swami Maharaj. He was just, you know, he was just a bubble of ānanda. He was exuding this emanating ānanda. And no matter whatever he was doing, it's it's it's just relishable to watch uh the

saints like people how they or Vinod Bihari Baba, who is resident of uh Vṛndāvana, can go to him and just experience something special being in his presence.

And he comes after kīrtana and tells you please take some prasāda and it's already one o'clock in the morning and you're not used to take dinner that early in the morning. And you try to politely refuse and you say why?

And he says this with such a p sweetness and innocence that you start taking this prasāda ātman. You cannot refuse.

There is something special so this uh satsanga association with devotees is a very essential element uh of meditation.

Combining humility and hope in devotion

Without this you will not be able to experience the taste and without even preliminary emotions, it's not possible to enter into meditation. But what is most important which I wanted to tell is that uh

when we have faced with uh some emotions, And at the same time we associate with Vaishnavas. Very strange things take place in our heart.

The taste for bhakti, śraddhā, uh, śraddhā into the goal of bhakti, into the process of bhakti, gives you hope.

Especially when we hear Śrīla Prabhupāda, he is instilling this faith, he's saying this process is so simple and so sublime. Please do it, just chant Hare Krishna and be happy.

So it gives us hope and hope is a very emotionally surcharged state, but then we meet with real Vaishnavas and our hopes are shattered because we see them and we think where is he and where can I ever reach this stage?

We become very humbled.

So this combination of hope which is given to us by the faith and at the same time experience of being with the great Vaishnavas and understanding our real position combined together gives us from one side it strengthens our hope, from another side,

it makes us very humble, so this mixture, poisonous mixture, of complete humility, and at the same time Totally baseless hope, hope without any foundation, as Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī says, gives the pain to our heart.

But this pain is the most important feeling which we can have. So that's a very important secret of Vaishnava style of meditation. The impersonal style of meditation I can do anything.

Just remember that you can do anything. You just forgot about this. Just come to your senses. Just come to this condition. You can do anything, you can move the sun. You know, and ultimately you're moving the sun.

Why you think like one disciple of Srila Prabhupada she

was saying that she was doing this uh impersonal this kind of meditation uh while watching the uh sunrise she was thinking I'm making the sunrise Wow, it works! very successful meditation. It rises, really.

So uh uh so the meditation and the taste for meditation is based on the pride. The pride gives you some taste definitely and gives you uh also hope.

But the vaiṣṇava style of meditation is opposite to this. Because our concentration of the meditation is based on humility. Humility is coming from our experience and at

the same time, śraddhā gives us this hope, and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī wrote this beautiful verse which Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī quotes in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.

na prema-śravaṇādi-bhaktir api vā yogo ’tha vaiṣṇaviko jñānaṁ vā su-kṛtaṁ vā kapi yad aho sad-jātir apy asti vā hīnārthaḥ sādhaka tveṣa tāpya-cchid-amūla-satī hṛd-apy asan-niratiḥ hā ha mada-ś-cālas tām

Beautiful verse in the uh Śārdūla-vikrīḍitaṁ meter. Very beautiful verse. And he says, na prema-śravaṇādi-bhakti, I do not have any bhakti starting with śravaṇa.

I I do not have I do not experience any prema by doing bhakti. I do bhakti starting with śravaṇa, but I don't experience prema. Can you relate to this statement? We hear, but there's no prema. There is no response.

There is no emotional connection with this. na prema-śravaṇādi-bhaktir api vā yogo ’tha vaiṣṇaviko. Okay. Maybe you don't have this uh stage of prema-bhakti, fine. Uh but maybe you can meditate.

He says, no, no, I I don't have any vaiṣṇava yoga. I cannot really concentrate my mind on Vishnu. He specifically says there are different kinds of meditations.

So vaiṣṇava yoga means meditation on Viṣṇu on the Supreme Lord.

He says, no, even meditate on the Supreme Lord I cannot. jñānaṁ vā, I do not have fixity in my knowledge. I am not fixed in uh uh the understanding of spiritual reality.

su-kṛtaṁ vā, I'm not really uh doing any good works. uh su-kṛtaṁ vā kiyat even, little bit su-kṛtaṁ I don't do, I don't have anything. aho sad-jātir apy asti vā. And uh of course my birth is very unfortunate.

My birth is not very high, it's not very pure. So I don't have anything of this. Do you agree with Sanātana Gosvāmī? We don't have anything like this.

No prayama Shravanadi Bhaktiv, no Vaishnava Yoga, no gyanam, no Shubakarma, no Sajati. And then he says, Hinartadika Sadake Twaita Tappa Chedya Mulla Sati. By addressing the Lord, uh he calls the Lord, he Nartadi ka sadake.

Oh my Lord who is uh very kind uh to those people who who don't have too much sadana, who are not really proficient who are not really successful in their sadhana.

So those people who are Hina without Adikas uh sadhana sadaka those sadakas who are not really who are a little lazy. Can you can you relate to this? So he says, Oh my Lord, you're very kind uh to these lazy people

and uh nevertheless, Achedya Mula Sati, I have this uh Achedya Mullah, I have this very deep rooted uh the root cannot be cut. I have this uh very strong desire.

Hebhopijanavallah bavyathayate, Vyathayate he says, it creates pain. Very great pain within my heart. I know I don't deserve. I do not deserve. Still, I have uh hope. Mada Shaiva Mam.

I have this strong hope and this hope pains me because I understand this hope is totally baseless. There is no reason for me to be hopeful and still I am hopeful.

Still I am hopeful, still I have the face, still I I want to achieve this. Uh somehow or other this face is there. I I I know that I should achieve this.

At the same time I understand that uh there is nothing uh n in myself which would help me to achieve this. Uh the only thing which uh or the only one who can help me to achieve this is you because you are very kind.

So, and it's very interesting that Jīva Gosvāmī and Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura commenting on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu describe or explain this verse Thakur commenting in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu describe or explain this verse completely differently.

But both explanations are very beautiful. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that it's very interesting and very important for us.

He says that why do we feel such a pain while practicing bhakti? We should feel pain by practicing bhakti. Of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us very. He gave us a lot of advance. Don't worry about anything.

But uh Vaishnavas, other Vaishnava acharyas, they teach us that we should experience pain while practicing bhakti. It's a very sweet pain.

But uh it's important the pain is that uh uh the goal of bhakti is so high and I am so low. The path which separates me from this is so long.

So and the pain, uh Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains, the pain is there. Yes, I want to achieve this goal, but why do I want to achieve this goal? Because again I want to enjoy. Do you want premā? Who wants premā?

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explaining this verse says, yes, I want premā. Why do I want premā? Because it feels good. Because I heard that it's it's a great experience.

Because I heard and Śrīla Prabhupāda said this is stay high forever and it's better than Śrīla Prabhupāda explained.

Uh somebody asked him how how is it uh chanting uh what is the experience, he said it's uh as if you have the room full of LSD. So yeah, we want premā. Why do we want premā? Because it's it's fun.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says, yes, I want premā, but why do I want premā? Uh uh again I'm still selfish. Svarta this selfishness is still there, it's motivating me, and therefore uh I feel pain, but still I want it.

And I hope that Krishna will take away this selfishness which contaminates my practice of bhakti and still I do it. So that's a very important point.

And Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says, no, no, uh, this is not the uh this is not how we should explain this verse.

He says that uh actually uh I want to experience uh premā because I want to attain your personal service and uh uh

and he says uh literally my infinite desire for you who make yourself readily available to the least qualified, give me great disturbance.

It should be understood that the desire expressed in this world is a desire only for

attaining service and the level of premā arising from He basically says that the pain is that is coming to our heart because we feel that it's the goal is still very far away from us, no matter how much we try.

So this is the mixture of hope and at the same time humility. That's the mood which helps us to enter into the meditation.

And I wanted that we would chant for a few minutes, maybe one round or four, five minutes, six minutes, whatever it is. uh with this mood of this verse. Let's repeat this verse again together.

I will uh uh chant and then you please repeat.

Naprema Sravanadi Bhakti Rapiva, Madhi Vashad Bhakti Rapiva, Yogota Vavaishnavo, Yogotha Vavaishnavo, Gyanamva Subhakarma Vaki Yat, Aho, Sajatira Apyastiva, Sajati Rapyastiva. Hina Tadi Kasadaky Twaita Two mula satit, He Gopi Janavala Bhavya Tayate, E Gopi Janavala Bhavataya, Haha Madashaiva Mamam.

He gives this exclamation at the end, ha ha, hi hi, Madashaiva. Still I have this hope which is there, even though I am so undeserving to achieve this hope.

So let's try, let's try this mood expressed so beautifully by Sanatana Goswami in this verse.

Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabh Nityananda Sri Advaita Gadadhara Sivasadi Gaura Bhaktavrinda, Hare Bhaktavrinda Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Srila Sanatana Goswami in Brihat Bhagavatamrita explains that humility and prema mostly dependent.

When the humility becomes deeper, the prema deepens and when the prema deepens, humility becomes even more deep and in this way they are uh uh expanding unlimitedly.

Overview of smaranam and heart purification

And along with this, our meditation becomes deeper and deeper and deeper. So the main point which I wanted to explain today is the five stages of Smaranam according to Bhakti Sandarbha.

I'm sure that you have heard about this, but let's try to understand more deeply what is supposed to happen during meditation.

In this way we will avoid these traps of artificial kind of meditations and understand what real meditation is.

So let's try to closely study what Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has to say about meditation. He says he gives the definition of smaranam.

The definition of smaranam is that tacha manasa anusandhanam the word anusandhanam manasa anusandhanam. The word anusandanam is very important. Anusandanam means close inspection, research, investigation, inquiry.

So, uh, manasānusandhānaṁ means that uh you bring something close to your uh mind and you try to investigate it within your mind. And as I said that why

it is so important to have pure heart for the meditation because Smaranam it it will become very clear actually when we describe the stages of meditation.

But Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmīpāda says that first you have to purify your heart by Sharanagati. By surrendering at the lotus feet of the spiritual master by serving him. Sharanapattayadi bhih.

It starts with Saranapati, with your complete surrender. And surrender means pranipat.

Surrender means you uh surrender to a particular person uh and uh you do what he likes, what is conducive, uh what is good for him, not what is good for you. And by surrendering you hear from him and

and you serve him, continue serving for him, and gradually gradually it makes your heart śuddha antaḥ-karaṇaṁ. Ultimately your antaḥ-karaṇa, your internal sense organ, your mind will become śuddha, will become clear and then you start doing smaranam together with

and then you start doing smaranam together with nāma-kīrtana. You don't give up kīrtana at any stage of your life. You always do Kirtana even if you are on the stage of Smaranam.

So let's try to understand what Smaranam really is.

Practice of ordinary smaranam

Yatkinchita Nusandhanam smaranam. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that the first stage out of five stages of smaranam is simple smaranam or ordinary smaranam

and he says kinchitanusandhanam of course, the object of our Anusandanam of our investigation is the Lord.

His nāma, his, uh, rūpa, his guṇa or his līlā. So yat-kiñcit But little anusandanam, little investigation of his naam, of his form, of his guna.

And basically what it means, it means that when we start meditating on the Lord, let's say we're meditating on the name of the Lord.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Ram. And we don't pronounce it. We only do it mentally.

What we are doing, we are invoking the saṁskāra which is there within our mind. What is remembrance? Remembrance is the invoking saṁskāras the prints, imprints which are there in our consciousness.

If we want to remember something, let's say we want to remember the face of our mother, then immediately our bodhi through our prana there is a very efficient search mechanism there. Search how it's search engine right?

Search engine is there in our mind. It you make the what you call this the request, yeah.

You search request and then it goes through all your samskaras which are there through the memory and then the samskara which you require is there on the screen of your mental computer.

So it's a very good Google Google protocol within our mind. Of course when become when we become a little senile and becomes a little difficult for us to remember something.

But remembrance means invoking or reviving the saṁskāra which is already there. So So when we uh chant the holy name, when we want to invoke the name of the Lord or pastime of the Lord or His form,

uh yes, our mind will say you want it, of course, here you are. But the problem is that you have too many other samskaras in your mind.

If you only had these samskaras that would be okay, but you had so much garbage inside.

And yeah, for a little while you have requested some saṁskāra which is there in your mind, but immediately it's being replaced by something else. Maybe you can do something, maybe maybe you want to do something else.

So it's also very much prominent in our computer life. This is our uh intimate life which we we are spending a lot of time by intimately interacting with computers sometimes illicitly sometimes illicitly

so what happens yes requested saṁskāra appears, but then very quickly it's being overshadowed by some other saṁskāra and by some other saṁskāra and by some other saṁskāra. Because there are so many samskaras and they are quite powerful too.

It's like on your YouTube or whatever, they give you menu according to what you are usually requesting them. They know what you like. And your mind acts exactly the same way.

He says, oh maybe yeah, Hare Krishna is okay, but maybe you want to think about this? And you say, oh, it's a good idea. Let's think about this.

And then something else appears in your mind and something else appears in your mind. So uh does it sound familiar to you? Yes. Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare, Hare.

Therefore, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says, kiṁcin-mātra-sandhānam. Little investigation you invoke the image of the Lord or the name of the Lord or His gunas, and very quickly

it's being overthrown by some other saṁskāras, by some other current which is there because of the passionate energy which is there in the mind.

And therefore it's very important for — therefore Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says it's not possible really to remember anything about the Lord for any substantial amount of time when your mind is not clear.

But smaranam means that you caught yourself that you are thinking about something else and you bring your mind again back to the Holy Name.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare, Hare. Something replaced. But you try to make the samskaras connected with Krishna very deep. vaiṣṇava

So basically, this whole thing is just to make this samskara deep and very powerful and uh to disempower other samskaras which are there in our uh mind in our subconscious uh think and And what is very important,

practically till the last stage of smaranam, which is samadhi, you remain egocentric. Ego, your ego is still in the center, and your ego is actually the organizing force of the samskaras.

The samskaras which we have, they are organized around our ego. Our ego has certain form, and this form you can see in the mirror. In the gross manifestation of this form. This is your understanding of who you are.

So the samskaras they understand in this they they are how to say this structured according to s according to our ego. And because we remain egocentric practically up to the point of samadhi.

According to the description of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, it's very clear only at the level of samadhi you are transported into another uh realm so uh you you you always come back to something which is related to your ego.

You try to go uh outside of your ego, try to meditate upon the Lord, but your memory inevitably comes back to your little tiny proud self. So the second stage very important and second stage is still available to us.

The first stage is definitely available to us. We should just practice it again and again and again. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

Then he says he gave the definition of this simple uh ordinary samanya smaranam. Yoga diṣṭo mac-cittāḥ sarvato-man-kṛṣṇyām adveṣyate yathā. advesyate yatha. It says the smaraṇa required two thing. Smaranam is double.

How you say this? Double double side process. One is Sarvatomana Krishna, you try to tear away your mind from everything else. You try to take away your mind from everything else which is there, which your mind

is trying to uh uh make you think about so a-kṛṣṇya you are taking it away you are pulling it away from uh everything else and mayi adveṣyataḥ... And you try to enter into me.

So this is this double uh side or uh how you say this double H whatever, double H, whatever you understand it's double. So it's the process which is going on.

Development of dharana and fixity

You're trying to pull away from everything else and at the same time to place your stubborn mind back into Krishna. But then he says, what happens next? The next stage, sarvataś cittam akṛṣya, you already done with this.

You're already able, capable of uh pulling away your mind, your chitta from everything else. Sarvataś cittam akṛṣya. Akṛṣya is the participle. So you are done with this. You already know how to do this.

Sāmānya-karaṇa-mano-dhāraṇā dhāraṇā. Second stage is dharana and he says you already know how to pull your mind away from everything else.

You can keep your mind on Krishna, but you're keeping your mind on Krishna in a very generalized form. You don't see the details. You only see very general understanding, very general it's your meditation

is not deep, but still you can comfortably uh keep your mind on one object for twelve seconds. It is explained in Kurma that dharana means your ability to keep your mind in one thing for twelve seconds.

It's not as easy as you think it is. So it's already an achievement. Dharana means that uh you're capable of not thinking about anything else for 12 seconds. Let's try for 12 seconds.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare Something

was trying to intrude into your dharana. Did you successfully drive it away? So dharana is achievable. Dharana is not so uh difficult. But again, depending on the purity of your heart.

And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī will say also very importantly that the experience, the pleasure which you experience from smaranam greatly depends on the purity of your heart.

When the heart is pure, the smaranam of the holy name of the Lord or of his guṇa or his karma of his rūpa will bring you a lot of pleasure.

So it's basically: Dharana means you're there, you're staying. You are you on halt and you don't think about anything else for twelve seconds.

And uh then he says the next stage is called dhyana, Viśeṣataḥ Rūpādi Cintanam. Uh and he says that dhyana means or meditation

proper dhyanam is when you think about rūpa, starting with rūpa, it's interesting, he doesn't say nāma.

Usually we start meditation from nāma because it's the easiest, and this is the proper place where the meditation should start. To start with nāma. But here he says rūpa, which is the second stage.

And he says, why he says rūpa? Because he says, Viśeṣataḥ Rūpādi Cintanam. You think about rūpa of the Lord, viśeṣataḥ, in a very concrete way, in a very detailed way.

It's very difficult to do dhyana on the name because name uh doesn't have so much variety in it.

To do dhyana, you have to go deeper beyond the name, on a nāmī, on the object of the name, with all the beautiful and very tasteful details of his form and so on and his qualities.

Basically, what is the difference between dharana and dhyana is that you see very clear picture in your mind, with so minute details. You see Krishna, not just general form of Krishna.

In Dharana you see something like what I see when I take off my glasses. I see you, but without much details. Some really, really not very clear forms in the front of me. So Dhyana, you zoomed in.

You see Krishna very, very clearly because your mind has become also uh very pure and uh for dhyana you have to hold which is one second uh multiplied by twelve, which is 1 uh 44 seconds.

144 seconds is uh two long minutes, two and a half long minutes. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare.

And you see the form of the Lord with all the decorations, with all the ornaments, everything else. That's Dhyana, you can see all the beautiful details.

And there is a story here, there was a great sādhu mahatma, uh he was living in Manasi Ganga, uh Krishnadas, Siddha Krishna Das, Bapaji Maharaj. And he was teaching his disciples this līlā-smaraṇa.

And once uh his disciples, they would come in the evening and they would tell him their experiences. And one of his disciples he came and he was crying. He was crying and crying and crying.

And uh the Siddha Krishnadas asked, what happened? He said, I I I couldn't meditate on Lila. I couldn't do it. He said, why? What happened?

He said I started I started putting ornaments on the uh on the hand of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and it was so attractive. Uh it took me three hours and I couldn't I couldn't do anything else, so I didn't līlā-smaraṇa today.

He said, now you achieved the success. Because for three hours you were meditating on the beautiful hand of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī while uh embellishing it. So that's dhyanam.

Dhyanam, you see the beautiful, sweetest details, which is again only possible when the heart is very pure.

And what is very important here is that on the stage of dhyana when your meditation becomes very deep, when you are able to concentrate on the name or on the form, on the qualities of the Lord Guna and Karma, his different aspects of his personality, then you can get Spurti.

Sometimes people misunderstand what Spurti is. They think that Spurti is the reality of the spiritual world. No, Spurti is the experience which you have on the stage of dhyana.

Your, uh, seeing the Lord, your saṁskāra becomes so deep and so vivid and so detailed that ultimately you see it outside. That's spurti.

For a short moment of time you are able to see the deep saṁskāra which is inside you outside of yourself. And that's of course it's the mercy of Krishna. Krishna shows himself.

But uh that's uh still on the stage of dhyana. On the stage of samadhi, it's not spurti, it's completely different experience.

So uh while I'm telling this, the reason is that we have to understand the great responsibility and how not easy it is. We have to really work hard to clean our mind to reach this stage.

Continuous absorption in dhruva-anusmriti

So and And uh then he says uh Śrīla, uh, Jīva Gosvāmī, he says that when sm, he says, uh, ṛtā-dravad avicchinnaṁ tat dhruvānusmṛtiḥ. The next stage, the fourth stage of Smarnam is Dhruva Anusmriti.

When you enter into meditation, dhyana, you already feel a lot of taste. You already feel closely connected with the Lord, with his form, and it's uh your mind doesn't want to leave uh this uh form.

So, amṛtā-dravad amṛtā-dravad avicchinnaṁ, when your uh your you're keeping, or how you say this, you're holding amṛtā-dravat, uh when uh the flow of this Amrita, of this nectar, of immortality, this spiritual reality becomes avicchinnaṁ, becomes uninterrupted, this is called dhruvānusmṛtiḥ, this is called uninterrupted smaranam when your flickering mind becomes

very thick, and, of course, uh, this dhruvānusmṛtiḥ is coming from the commentary of Rāmānujācārya on the first sūtra of Vedānta-sūtra, where he explains this stage of spiritual development, dhruvānusmṛtiḥ, when your mind becomes very thick.

Now our mind is not very thick. It's very, it's very thick. There is a problem here. And because it's very sick, it goes here and there, it's very turbulent as Arjuna says.

It's balāvan, it's very strong and it's very stubborn. So when the mind becomes very calm th there is a concentration

process in the mind when the mind is very pure it becomes thick and it becomes like the flow of honey or flow of uh oil.

When you pour out the water, the water is you know going here and there, uh but when you pour out honey, honey doesn't go here and there, it just streams. Uninterrupted, all like Ganga.

Sometimes there's two metaphors I used to explain what it means. Your mind is very slow and it is capable of entering the spiritual reality and you see the flow of spiritual reality in front of your eyes.

Therefore, it's called Amritadharavata Vichinnam Dhruvanus Mr. This is Dhruvanus Priti, uninterrupted remembrance of the Lord, uh yeah, which is compared uh with the flow of the oil. And this very it's very interesting.

Please listen carefully again because I'm trying to explain the science of proper meditation. To help to avoid the cheap imitations of meditation. That's a science, that's a great science, it's a gradual process.

It's achievable, it's doable, but uh it has its own uh rules. How to enter it. So this Dhruvanu Smriti is coming from Chandogya Upanishad verse, very famous verse, Aharashudhu Sattva Shuddhi.

Śrīla Prabhupāda quotes this verse in the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Ahara should of Sattva Shudih, Sattvasud of Druva Smritih, Smriti Labhe, Lambh, Sarvagranthinam Vipramoksha. So this verse says basically stages.

First your ahara should be completely shouddha. Your food should be shuddha. But uh food uh any other word could be used, bhana or Annam for food. Here it's called Ahara.

Ahara basically means not specifically food, but anything which you take inside. Ahara. Which you're taking inside. So basically, it means that sounds which you listen should be pure.

Try to avoid this impure sounds of rock music or politicians speeches. There is a joke. How do you know that politicians is making lies, telling lies?

Just by the movement of his lips. So try to avoid this impure sounds as much as possible. Try to avoid impure scenes by your vision, impure touches, impure, impure smells.

Of course, you know, sometimes it's inevitable because so much sewage is going on here. But as much as possible, try to make every food of your uh of your intake uh of your senses very pure and

then sattva shuddhi, then only your mind will become shuddhi. Then only your mind becomes śuddhi and when sattva śuddheḥ dhruvā smṛtiḥ. Then your smṛti becomes dhruvā, becomes very strong.

And then smṛti-labdhe, when you remember, when you are able to be in this space remembering that I am the servant of God. That this is my eternal constitutional position.

Sarva-granthīnām vipra mokṣaḥ, all the— So it starts with food.

There is a very beautiful story here in Vrindavan how one Vaiṣṇava was doing kathā, and he was engaged in a beautiful kathā. And all of a sudden, and so many people were listening to his kathā, and all of a sudden he stood up from his asana and ran away.

And of course everyone was bewildered and some people ran behind him. And ultimately uh he's running, running, running, and I behind him, and he is jumping into Yamuna. And very frantically washes up himself and

coming out and they looking at him and saying, What happened with you?

And he says, I was telling this beautiful kathā, but when I was doing this, one very inappropriate thought, just one thought entered my mind that I became so horrified. So I ran away into Yamuna to purify myself.

So the moral of this story is very important. When your mind is pure, impure thoughts will not enter into your mind, Never. You will only have very pure mind substance.

It— it will always be this dhruvā smṛti. And then you will be always beyond this world. You will always be with Krishna. So that's that's the thing.

And uh actually our ācāryas, especially Jīva Gosvāmī, his uh masterpiece is of course Gopāla Campū. They explaining on the basis of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they explaining how we should meditate on the līlās of Krishna so that the līlās of Krishna will be like uninterrupted flow of honey.

How they coming one after another. What is the sequence of this and Anyway, There is a beautiful verse from Gopāla Campū, but I will not do this because I still want to finish this lecture before you have to go to bed.

Transcendental perception in samadhi

So we only need to go into one last stage which is very important. Still till this stage your mind becomes pure and pure. The mind changes its quality.

It becomes more and more capable of holding the form of the Lord, the name of the Lord, the qualities of the Lord. But still it's still it's still the material mind.

It's very pure, it's very sāttvik, but it's material mind up to the stage of dhruva-anu-smṛti. It's pure sāttvik mind, which is very conducive for uh uh our meditation, but it's not yet transcendental experience.

Maybe some shadows of transcendental experience you may have, like these little sparks of them, little sporties of them. But the real transcendental experience comes only on the stage of samadhi.

It's very clear when uh you see the definition of samādhi given by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. That final stage of smaranam is that when you're completely not dependent in your smaranam on your mind. You go beyond the mind.

You go totally beyond the mind and the transcendental reality opens itself to you because your mind became so translucent, and you either see it through the mind or you see the reality as it is. It doesn't really matter because it's practically the same experience. It's transcognitive awareness, it's awareness beyond the mind.

You directly see the reality, and this reality is totally non-material, and the proof of this is the illustration which Srila Jiva Goswami gives.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives to all the stages the illustrations from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

and in the last uh uh stage of Smaranam, which is real Smaranam, which is the perfection of Smaranam, uh uh he gives a very interesting verse about Mārkaṇḍeya Rishi.

And the story goes like this: Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi once meditating on the Supreme Lord, and he went deep into the meditation, and at that moment Shiva and Parvati appeared in front of him.

Shiva and Parvati themselves came to him in their persons. What did he do? He didn't notice.

He didn't notice that Shiva and Parvati are there. He was in Samadhi, he was in a different realm. He was not really there. So it's basically, sometimes the impersonalist people or yogis

they say that this is some samprajñāta samādhi. You're meditating on somebody. You have a form. No, it's not samprajñāta samādhi. It's very clear from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that the highest stage of samādhi, of vaiṣṇava samādhi is asamprrajñāta samādhi because you are not dependent on your mind. It's the reality with its form revealing itself to you.

So there is no uh n there is no uh material form which you are dependent on in your samadhi.

You're completely concentrated and you are on the stage when you see the reality as it is without any interaction or without any intermediary functions of the mind.

Even the pure buddhi, the pure mind is not necessary for this.

That's the real spiritual experience and that's coming only on the fifth stage of Smaranam, which requires a lot of work, which requires a lot of purification, a lot of discipline.

But uh the bhaktas uh in our temples they achieve it uh on the second week of their bhakta program. Uh I hear it again and again and again. Yeah I did you see the big toe of the feet of Krishna?

In my meditation he came to me and he showed me his big toe. I heard the sound of Krishna's flute. It's hallucination. It's not sound of Krishna's flute. In Yoga Darśana it's called bhrānti darśana.

It's called it's called some uh in uh in Christian uh tradition it's called prelisty, I don't know how it is in English. It's just little visions which you have. The real meditation is available. It's there.

We have to achieve it. It's possible, no problem. But start uh very carefully with trying to feel the sweet uh taste of the holy name.

Patience and purification through chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hari Ram Hare Ram Ram Ramare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Harey Hare Rama Hare Ram Ram Ramare, it's

basically there is a lot of other things which could have been said, but I I will finish now just by saying that uh uh

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī again explaining this process, he said that we should start with meditating on the name and be very patient. I will tell about this tomorrow when we get into the story of Akrura.

And on the first most important lesson of Akrura is the lesson of patience because Akrura before his final journey to Vrindavan he was waiting for twelve years for twelve years uninterruptedly in the very unfavorable environment of Mathurā, being minister of Kaṁsa, he was meditating on Krishna.

And all these details are very important because unfavorable circumstances in the beginning are very favorable for our meditation. We will explain about this tomorrow. So the first lesson is to be patient.

Yes, we will achieve the spiritual reality. Because Srila Prabhupada promised us this. It's very important. His promise is very important. If we go according to his promise and do what he told us to do.

And But we should understand the science and not turn it into mockery.

And, uh, antaḥ-karaṇa-śuddhy-arthaṁ prathamam nāma-śravaṇam antaḥ-karaṇa-śuddhy-arthaṁ apekṣyam Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that what is necessary in the beginning, prathamam. First of all, uh what is necessary nāma-śravaṇam listening of the name. And that's exactly what Srila Prabhupada said.

First you should listen the name. For what reason? Antaḥ-karaṇa-śuddhy-arthaṁ, to purify our antaḥ-karaṇa, to purify our heart. This is a prerequisite. This is the beginning.

You can start anywhere, anywhere, but the normal process is this. Start with this with this process of purifying, and then ultimately we will achieve this. In twelve years or in hundred twenty years, it doesn't matter.

We will achieve it. If we are serious and if we have faith, we will be able to see Krishna and, uh, then you can talk with the bhakta and compare his experience with yours. Don't hurry because it's not very

conducive for our meditation to be in a hurry. Give up your hurry and blissfully chant the Holy Name. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

So I wanted to say something more, but I will, uh, vācā-vegaṁ sa crawdavedam, I will control my speech, my desire to speak.

And uh now we will uh enter into deep meditation on Dāmodarāṣṭakam and and holy name after that and tomorrow we'll continue our talks on this topic. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna.