Extending for others welfare is real
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Bombay · 2012
Chapters
Introduction of guest speaker in Russia
Ho Mokyantimidanasya Janjanachalakaya Shaksurumbilitam Jena Tasma Sri Gudavena Maha Rekrish I sincerely welcome you to Sri Dadha Gopinath Temple.
Today we'll begin with hearing from His Holiness Bhaktivigyan Goswami Maharaj. Maharaj is the devotee who has taken the most serious responsibility as a leader of the largest geographical country on the planet, Russia. I think there's about eight time zones or something in.
It is the country that has endured some of the greatest challenges and still is.
Bhaktividyana Goswami Maharaj had a PhD in science, I believe the University of Moscow, and he started taking interest in the science of Bhakti. This was in the days of communism.
The KGB considered the Krishna consciousness movement a great threat that could destabilize the foundation of their atheistic idealism.
When they they had spies everywhere, when they heard that this young boy, young man at the time, was taking interest. They decided with all their powers they had to dissuade him. He just started coming.
He was just curious, they took him into the KGB headquarters, and for a full day they interrogated him.
They bombarded him with misinformation and all sorts of reasons why this is a dangerous cult and you should stay away from it.
And as he was walking out of the headquarters of the KGB, he was thinking if the KGB is taking them so seriously, this movement must be for real. And it was then and there that he dedicated himself.
So indirectly they preached to him in their own way. Of course he had to leave the country for some time because of his prominence.
Early underground Krishna movement in Russia
And after communism went to another place, um he gradually became more and more a leader and they're about to build a beautiful temple with Krishna's grace. Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Moscow. I think it was 1971.
He was just there for a few days. He was under strict surveillance. He was only allowed to give some classes at a university.
But during that time he met one young man, a teenage boy, and for several days he secretly gave him the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā. And from that boy, Bhakti became an underground an underground movement that was spreading to thousands and thousands of people.
One Bhagavad-gītā, Śyāmasundara Prabhu somehow or other accidentally brought in because it was illegal.
And that one Bhagavad-gītā, hundreds of people were hand copying it and reading it and passing it from person to person to person. That's how much they treasured it.
There are tens and thousands of devotees in Russia, and even to this day, very formidable opposition.
And leading leading that great assembly of devotees is this very gentle, humble, learned sage Bhakti Vikyan Goswami Maharaj. We're so honored that you are here with us, Mahārāja. Let us welcome him to Radha Gopinata.
Because we have a few stuff. And little humble speak in front of all of you. And rather than everyone you prefer to listen Raj speaking and because it is ordered. And I tried to say a few words.
Personal experiences with faith in Russia
I spoke about in the beginning for preaching in Russia. And he made a little not mistake. He said that Prabhupada was allowed to speak in the universities. He was not.
He was only allowed to speak with one professor of Indology and this conversation was recorded. Śyāmasundara Prabhu secretly recorded it. Somehow rather he had this secret device recorded it.
This professor of Indology had a hard time when it was published. And that was the only occasion when he was really able to speak about the philosophy.
But as Mahārāja said, he also spoke with this person, Ananda Śānti. Shanti.
And uh I was fortunate enough to uh somehow or other encounter with Krishna consciousness in those days where uh when only a few devotees were around.
And uh it was very exotic, very strange. And honestly speaking, devotees at that time they didn't really know philosophy.
But somehow or other Prabhupada through this one man could instill such deep and profound faith in their hearts that this faith coming from Prabhupada was working like a virus. It was like a contagious disease. Whomever devotees would meet with he would become diseased with this virus of faith in Krishna.
I I am the victim of this disease, so I'm still quite feverish. So it's amazing how it worked. But that's the potency of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Actually this Russian uh page of the development of Krishna consciousness movement is one of the most glorious proofs of the tremendous potency which was invested in Srila Prabhupada by Krishna himself.
Devotees would believe in Krishna or people would believe in Krishna knowing nothing about Krishna. Didn't even know who he was.
I was just told, just chant this Hare Krishna mantra, and I started chanting not knowing who is Krishna, who is Rāma and who is Hare. Somehow or other. And it did work.
So that's glory of Prabhupāda. This first disciple or devotee of Śrīla Prabhupāda in Russia, he told me once when he met with Prabhupāda and heard him speak. He felt as if he came home after a long journey.
And this exact same feeling uh was there in the hearts of many other people who never met Prabhupada but who read his books, who met with the devotees.
Again and again and again I hear this first impression of people who read Prabhupada's books. They say it's amazing.
I always thought something like this, but this man described everything which I thought in a very logical and systematic way. When Prabhupada speaks, everyone has the feeling that it must be like this. It is the truth.
I remember a letter, I think I already quoted this letter once here, one lady wrote to me that when I read Bhagavad-gītā I always cry.
I read Bhagavad-gītā five times. And whenever I read, I cry and I shed my tears at every page of Prabhupāda's Bhagavad-gītā. And you know why?
Because I know when I read the words of Srila Prabhupada that it's truth. And I cannot contain myself because uh I was searching for this truth for so long.
I was searching and searching and searching for this truth in my life journey. And I was trying to find truth and I would find some little drops or little sparks of the truth in different teachings, in different books.
But when I finally found Prabhupāda's books, I found truth in its most complete and perfect form. Whatever I have seen in some other books, a little bit here, a little bit there. I saw it all in this one book.
And therefore when I read it, I cry. I cannot contain myself. When I read this letter I thought, you know, she's very advanced. I don't cry when I read Bhagavad-gītā.
But this is the feeling or this is the potency of Śrīla Prabhupāda's words.
When he speaks, he speaks with such a conviction and with such an understanding, deep, profound understanding of the truth that people whoever reads this they immediately get some kind of revelation in the heart.
Transmitting spiritual faith through parampara
This is the truth itself which is speaking with me or speaking through him. This is called parampara. When you perfectly repeat the message which you deeply realised by your spiritual practice.
When you heard something from your spiritual master and then practice it in your life, day in and day out, again and again.
And by this practice you realize these truths, then you're capable of speaking in such a way that uh whoever listens to you feels that this is truth. This must be it.
And this is how the spiritual master uh plants the bhija, bhakti-latā-bīja, the seed of bhakti, the seed of plant of bhakti in the hearts of people. The seed of bhakti is nothing but, uh, faith.
When the seed grows it turns into big and magnificent uh creeper which brings very beautiful and fragrant flowers and very tasty fruits of bhāva and premā. But the seed in the form of faith you can get from the mouth of a devotee.
And the feeling which you have when you hear a devotee, I came back home. We know this famous phrase of Śrīla Prabhupāda, back home, back to Godhead.
We are all looking for this, we are searching for this, we are wandering in this material world.
We may have some kind of bungalow or little flat or apartment or even some palace. But this feeling that we are homeless here is still there because there is no shelter.
The amazing thing about this material world that no matter how rich you are, cannot find shelter in this material world. It's all temporary. And everyone knows this. Everyone knows this.
Some people are more clear about it, some people are uh not so clear about it. They try to be in illusion about it, but ultimately everyone knows this. There is no shelter in the material world.
But when we even get a little glimpse of spiritual reality, of eternal reality, of the soul and soul's relationship with God, then deep understanding that this is my real home and this is something which will give me shelter comes to our heart.
I wanted to tell you a little story which is one of my favorite stories about Śrīla Prabhupāda. Uh and it's a funny story. Uh which actually goes to prove that what Śrīla Prabhupāda did he came to bring us shelter.
And ultimately his goal is very clear. He came to bring us back home, back to Godhead.
And he brought this home to every one of us this feeling that we are at home, that we finally found something which we have been looking for a long time is there and we can find it in the words of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
This little story which I heard is about one girl from the hippie background, who came to see Śrīla Prabhupāda in the very early days of the movement in San Francisco. And hippies, uh, special people.
They they were all seekers of truth. They wanted to find the truth, they wanted to find God, they wanted to find love. But they were doing it in uh not in a very systematic way.
They had their own ideas and sometimes these ideas were somewhat mixed up or uh so somebody told this little girl that there is some swami and he is teaching about God. And swamis were popular at that time in America.
And she came to the temple, very humble dwelling in San Francisco, on Carl Street. I was there uh some time back.
And now in this uh first temple in San Francisco there is a uh laundry, so they're still cleaning something, you know. Śrīla Prabhupāda started this cleaning business in this storefront. Now it's a laundry. But anyway.
So it's a very humble place. And Śrīla Prabhupāda was there alone with his treasurer, Gargamuni Prabhu. And Śrīla Prabhupāda was going with Gargamuni Prabhu, his treasurer, through the books.
And as you know, Prabhupada was very meticulous and he was very frugal. And they were sitting there and this girl came and she wanted to see Swami. And you know, sometimes people have this image of Swamis.
Swamis, they're just, you know, their heads somewhere in the clouds. And you know and when they look at you you just get electrified.
So Prabhupāda was sitting there with Gargamuni and he was going through the books, and in the books they would record any expenditure which were there, you know few few cents, you know, one dollar thirty cents and Prabhupada would go very meticulously and ask, you know, why it is so much, why is thirty cents? Why not twenty cents?
Why? You know, what is this expense? What is this expense?
And they were talking about money, you know, cents and dollars, you know, and you know this and this girl Prabhupada motioned her and said to her, sit down, wait, I have an important business.
And this girl was sitting there and listening through this conversation, thirty cents, one dollar, five dollars, twenty cents, you know, why this, why this? Can you bring it down Hannah?
And she was becoming more and more agitated inside. She felt what kind of you know what is this?
And I that went on for a long time and uh she was sitting and listening and listening and there was nothing spiritual about it. Absolutely at least it appeared to her like this. So finally she exploded. She just exploded.
She stood up. She raised her hands up in the air and she started yelling. I came here to find God! I came here to find love. Prabhupada looked at her very calmly. She's just yelling and she's angry.
Prabhupada looked at her and said, sit down, you came to the right place. We all came here because we were looking for something.
And this is the place where we can find something most uh precious, something which we have been looking for many, many, many lifetimes.
And this is because of Srila Prabhupada. He uh came to this world uh to bring us the treasure which we have been looking for. And all over the place, all over the world, not only in India.
People when they meet the devotees, when they uh read the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda, they have this feeling finally I found what I have been looking for.
And this feeling of gratitude always has to be very deep in our heart.
And if we have this feeling all the time, then our spiritual journey will be very smooth and successful and ultimately we all come to the place where Krishna is waiting for us back home, back to Godhead.
Thank you, Maharaj. Śrīla Prabhupāda, and nobody else ever taught me how to do accounts or books.
Compassion as core of spiritual life
So all I could do is talk about Krishna. Quite useless. This willingness to extend oneself for the spiritual welfare of others is the very essence of the greatest need within human society.
In nineteen seventy-one one somehow or other went behind the iron curtain about a seventy three year old Swami from Brindavan. Because he wanted to somehow others share this message.
He planted a tiny almost invisible seed in the soil of this former Soviet Union. And that little seed has grown into a tree with the fruits of literally tens and tens and thousands of people
who have found the joys of bhakti. It is still growing. Speaking of trees, I'd like to speak about one devotee who received a similar order.
In Navadvīpa there are nine islands and one of them, Antaradvīp, Lord Krishna, in the yuga-avatāra of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared within this world.
Bhaktivinoda explains that although Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu through his devotees taught an immense body of instructions which was codified by Rūpa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, and thousands and thousands of books on these teachings of Lord Caitanya.
But Bhaktivinoda explains the essence was how we can purify our hearts and awaken ecstatic love for God simply by sincerely chanting the holy names. And by showing compassion to others.
Stories of Saranga Thakura and Murari
This he explained was the essence of Dharma, the essence of religion, the essence of life, to cleanse the heart through the name of God, to awaken our love, and to be an instrument of compassion to other living beings.
And another one of those nine islands is Modadrumadvip. In Modadrumadvip there's a village called Mamgachi. And there lived some very saintly people.
One of them, his name was Śāraṅga Ṭhākura. Śāraṅga Ṭhākura was absorbed in chanting God's names and meditating on the Lord. He would sit on the bank of the Ganga practically day and night, immersed in this way.
And Lord Chaitanya would come to visit him and tell him that you should give this message to others. You should become a guru and make disciples. Śāraṅga Ṭhākura had not the least interest. He said I'm not qualified.
And it will be such a disturbance to my bhajan, my own spiritual practice to have to deal with other people like this. At the time he was sitting under a tree, a bakula tree, very large one.
And this tree was a favorite tree of his. He would sit and chant under it day and night. Recently the tree died. There was not a single leaf or flower or fruit. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally embraced the tree.
And with the embrace of the tree, right in front of Śāraṅga Ṭhākura's eyes. Fruits and flowers and leaves flourished and covered the whole tree. He brought it back to life.
And Lord Chaitanya said, this is the mission of life. When people forget their relationship with God, they are spiritually dead. We must bring them back to life.
On another day when Lord Chaitanya was in Kaldweep he happened to meet with Devananda Pandit and Lord Chaitanya chastised Devānanda Paṇḍita because he was speaking from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but due to his misconceptions and due to his ego, even though he was a fantastic scholar and he had so many disciples, he was not teaching them how to love God.
After chastising Devānanda Paṇḍita, Lord Chaitanya again turned to Śāraṅga Ṭhākura and said, You should be an instrument of my grace. Make disciples.
This was becoming too much. So before he took rest that night, Śāraṅga Ṭhākura decided, the first person I see tomorrow, I am going to give them bhakti and make them my disciple. Whoever it is. And then he went to sleep.
He woke up very early, it was still dark, Brahma-muhurta, and went to the Ganga, the river Ganges to take his bath. And as he was bathing, offering a prayer to Mother Ganga and the Lord.
Something hit his body. So he looked down. It was the dead corpse of a small, he already made a vow. The first person he met he would make his disciple.
So he picked up the little baby and put him on the bank and started in the ear of the baby — not baby, small boy, maybe about nine or ten years old — he began to chant the name of the Lord in the ear of the dead child.
If you want to wake up a dead child you have to chant much louder than that. The child came back to life. And he bowed down to Śaraṅga Ṭhākura and asked him to please instruct him on the purpose of life, which he did.
It was a great miracle. Śaraṅga Ṭhākura initiated him and gave him the name Murari. Now, interestingly, this Murari, he died by getting bit by a snake.
And in those days in Bengal, if someone, a child died of snake bite, you did not cremate them. You just put them in the river. So the word came back to his parents that he was alive. They were overjoyed.
They came running to Mamedghat and said, Son, son, come home, come home. Because Murari was talking about coming home. My boy, come home, the mother, the father, they were so happy, he's alive, he's alive.
And Murari said, I'm home. I'm with my gurudeva. He said the body that you gave me died. That's finished. Now this body belongs to him. He is my mother. He is my father. He has given me life.
And Murari, hundreds and hundreds of people their lives were transformed by his compassion. As was being said, from a spiritual perspective, without love of Krishna, love of God, we are like spiritually dead
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains without awareness of the eternal life of the soul, body is this life is like a dead corpse. Real life? Its origin is the ātmā, the soul.
And the purpose of the ātmā soul is love and compassion. When you water the root of the tree, automatically it extends to every leaf, branch, twig, every part of the tree.
When we love Krishna because all living beings are emanating from Krishna, who is the root of all existence. Naturally, our love extends to every living being.
And when we experience that, we want to share that with everyone. Not in a hateful sectarian way, but out of compassion, out of love. There in Mamgatchi was a Mahārāja Chaitanya. He had such such compassion.
He would sometimes meditate on Krishna underwater. And at other times he would see a tiger. Not a regular tiger. Bengali tiger. And he was so playful and so fearless.
And there were so many eyewitnesses who spoke about it and wrote about it. He would jump on the back of the tiger. The tiger and it's it's like an ego thing for a tiger. Who's who dares to jump on my back?
And Maharaj Chaitanya would tell him chant the names of Krishna. And he would speak the name of Krishna in his ears. If he could be brought to life and the tiger would start instead of roaring, he would chant.
Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Vaikuṇṭha, Vaikuṇṭha. Actually, he did roar, but he roared Krishna's names.
Boundless compassion of Vasudeva Datta
And the next-door neighbour of Śāraṅga Ṭhākura was Vāsudeva Datta. Wouldn't you like to live in that neighborhood? Vāsudeva Datta from Chittagong in Bangladesh settled in Baṁgāchi.
His compassion is explained in Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and has been a primary subject of meditation and discussion by countless people over the centuries.
He would visit Jagannātha Purī every year to meet Lord Chaitanya. And one day Vāsudeva Datta he prayed with tears in his eyes.
My Lord, you are the supreme, all powerful, omnipotent, omniscient, absolute, Lord of all of creation. You are a Vigya Swarat, you are all knowing and independent. And you have the power to give benedictions.
There is one desire that has been burning in my heart for a long time. I beg you, please fulfill this one desire. My heart breaks when I see the suffering of people within this world.
Due to so many careless karmic activities, there are so many sinful reactions that people have to endure.
Please, my Lord, fulfill this one desire. Let all the sins, all the karma of every living entity of every species in this entire universe fall on my head.
Allow me the honor of suffering hellish conditions perpetually. You do have the power to fulfil this desire. And if you do, this is all I ask. It's one thing to say it, but it is another thing to mean it.
Sarvasya Chaham Riddishani Vishto. The Lord is within our heart. He doesn't just see what we do, but he understands the intention in which we do it.
He doesn't just hear what we speak, but he understands what we really mean. Basudevdat meant it from the core of his heart.
He considered it the greatest treasure and the highest honor to endure whatever had to be done so that others could be happy. When Lord Chaitanya heard this, he began to cry. His voice faltered.
He was not even able to speak. He was so moved. Can you imagine? The Lord of the universe to affect him so much that he can't speak, that he's beside himself, so emotional.
And when he did say, the Lord said, This is not surprising that you are speaking like this. Because you are Pralad. That great personality of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He had captured that spirit of compassion.
And the Lord granted his wish.
He said, But why if you are so compassionate, so merciful, you have such love for every living being, why should you have to suffer? I will give them all liberation simply on the basis of your desire. Sudev Dott.
His neighbor, besides Sharangatakur, was a lady named Narayani. Narayani gave birth to a baby, and when the baby was very, very young, her husband died.
So she was a widow. And Vāsudeva Datta in honor and respect for this poor widow took charge to be like the father of her little boy.
With so much compassion he raised that child, helped the mother, let us say, and taught the child everything within his heart. Not only the wisdom and the knowledge, but the spirit of devotion.
And when that child grew up, he became one of the greatest authors. His name was Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. He wrote the Śrī Caitanya Bhāgavata.
And even the greatest self-realized acharyas have said that his work is no less of accomplishment than Veda Vyas himself, the compiler of all Vedas.
Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, Murāri Caitanya, Murāri Ṭhākura, Śāraṅga Ṭhākura, they all lived within two, three minutes of each other on the bank of the river Ganges.
Later on Vāsudeva Datta moved to Kumarahatta, the birthplace of Ishwarapuri. And he had a neighbor there, whose name was Shivananda Sain. They lived very close to each other.
Shivananda Sain, his life, his soul, his everything was to serve.
Shivananda Sena serving pilgrims to Puri
vaiṣṇava-sevā. And vaiṣṇava-sevā, if you're actually serving devotees sincerely, that vaiṣṇava-sevā extends to all living beings without discrimination. And that was shown in a beautiful story.
Every year, three to five hundred devotees would go from Navadweep area to Puri to meet Lord Chaitanya. It takes a couple weeks to walk. This is five hundred years ago. There were no planes or trains or buses.
If you wanted to go somewhere, you walked. And in those days India was not one country. Everything was divided up into little kingdoms.
And all the kingdoms were usually enemies with the kingdom next to them because they were afraid that they were going to try to take their properties.
So there was all sorts of conquering and everything else and there was little armies. And within the kingdoms there was the Zamandars who were big landowners, and they would appoint somebody to take taxes.
So to travel a long distance, you know, every every day or so you'd be coming to another customs stop where you'd have to pay taxes to get into the next district.
Shivananda saying he wasn't a wealthy man. But whatever he would w earn, he was coming from a from a family of simple Ayurvedic doctors. And usually Ayurvedic doctors didn't even charge for their services.
But somehow or other she went on to say he would collect enough to sponsor the entire tour. How far is it about?
Six, seven hundred miles between Navadvīpa andhapuri and they would walk and he would arrange for four hundred people's accommodations. He would arrange three meals a day for them and
he would arrange the boats because there's so many rivers and lakes you have to cross. He would arrange the boats and to pay for the boats and all the taxes. And he considered it the greatest honor of his life to serve.
He never expected any respect from others for what he did. Rather, he respected everyone else for allowing him to do it. This is the consciousness of a devotee. We all have so much to learn.
Sometimes we do something for someone and we expect some honors, respect. But these great souls they respect and honor anyone who allows them to serve.
Such humility. And he saw to each and every person as individually as possible. And so many difficulties and troubles came his way. It was really an organizational feat, can you imagine? In India?
With all its bureaucracies and all its corruptions, to be walking, responsible for 400 people? Sometimes it was double because there were husbands and wives and children. And on one trip a dog joined their party.
He wasn't coming from Navadweep, not a dog of the Dom. Just regular old dog. Didn't have any pedigrees. Most dogs in India are kind of just uh you don't know what breed they are. They're kind of a combination of everything.
See me. So the scrolling little dog just started following them. And she went on to say and considered, he's under my care. He's joined the party. What am I going to feed this dog?
He fed the dog the same prasad that the devotees were eating. But the dog didn't like it. What would you do?
She went on to say, had his cooks make special preparation. But dogs really, if you give them the right prasad, they'll all become vegetarian. I have seen. I have seen. So he was making a special kind of rice for the dog.
The dog wouldn't eat the rice. And one day when they had—he had all these four or five hundred devotees— they uh they had to cross a wide river, very deep.
So he had to re—Śivānanda Sena arranged dozens and dozens of boats to be rowed across with all the devotees. And he had to pay the boatman for each devotee.
And when the dog went to get on, the boatman said, "No dogs allowed on my boats, what dogs do."
So Śivānanda started negotiating with him. And he paid him like double, triple, quadruple he would for a human to take the dog.
And finally, it was, as they say, an offer that could not be refused. So he took the dog on, and Śivānanda Sena gave him a lot of money for that dog. It wasn't that Śivānanda Sena was attached to the dog. He was attached to the soul, the spirit within the dog.
The Bhagavad-gītā tells what was actually happening within his heart. Vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini śuni caiva śvapāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. When we actually awaken wisdom within our heart, knowledge of Krishna, we become learned.
To be a paṇḍita, a learned person, according to Gita, means you see every living being with equal vision. You don't just see the shape of the body and the color of the skin
or the temperament of the ego, you see the ātmā, you see this living force, part of Krishna within everyone. Ahaṁ bījaḥ pradaḥ pitā. Krishna says, every living being I am the mother and father for. They are in me and mine.
So Śivānanda Sena, whoever it was, he was seeing a beloved child of Krishna. And in this way he brought the dog across the river.
One day Śivānanda Sena was being harassed by a very greedy tax collector who wanted to try to extract as much as possible. Shivan Andasin didn't want anybody else to be inconvenienced.
He told the tax collector, I'm the one with the money, let them all pass, let them carry on undisturbed. And so everyone went forward. That took a long time. And finally he negotiated.
Because he didn't have a lot of money either and when he finally came back, everyone had just taken prasāda. And he didn't see the dog. He said, "Where is the dog?"
Doesn't have a name for the dog in the in the book either. Where is the dog? I don't know. Nobody knew. So he asked the cook, did you make the special rice for him? And the cook said, I forgot.
She went on to say, "You forgot? You forgot to make the special rice for the dog, therefore the dog's out looking for food somewhere. We have to find him.
He went on the saying, with his top assistants spent a major portion of the day searching for that dog. This is really devotee care. They couldn't find him. So he felt that he had failed to serve one of Krishna's children.
And eventually days later they came to Puri and there Lord Chaitanya greeted all the devotees and gave them accommodations and gave them prasāda and chanted and danced with them.
And the next morning Shivananda Sain came alone to see Lord Chaitanya. And Lord Chaitanya was sitting in his courtyard near the Gambira. And there was only one person with the Lord. The dog. How did he get there?
Shivananda Sain saw the dog. Shivananda Sain, he's a Mahatma. Great soul, he's a Mahant. Shivananda Sain is a Paramahaṁsa, highest liberated person. With all humility he bowed his head to the lotus like paws of the dog.
And meanwhile he saw Lord Chaitanya. He had some green coconut pulp. And Lord Chaitanya would take a bite out of it. And then he'd say to the dog, "Chant Krishna's names." And the dog would chant. Krishna! see my condition.
Nobody claps for my philosophy.
When my dog when my dog like propensities come out, everybody claps. I guess you can understand it's something real is coming from from this dog. So Lord Chaitanya, after the dog would go, Kush!
Then Lord Chaitanya would take the coconut and take it out of his mouth and throw it. And the dog would go he would jump up and catch it and eat it. Mahaprasad from the Lord. And the Lord would take another bite.
He'd say, Chant Krishna. The dog would go, Krishna. And he'd throw it and the dog will go. She Ananda Sain was thinking, just see how the Lord is just giving so much compassion?
Out of all the billions and billions of living beings, entities in this world, he's all alone with his dog. The next day no one saw the dog. The reason Lord Chaitanya sent the The soul of that dog to Vaikuṇṭha.
To the spiritual world to be his eternal intimate loving associate the perfection of liberation. Why did the dog get that mercy? For one reason only.
Because Shivananda Sain loved Lord Chaitanya, he loved Krishna so much, so deeply.
And because he showed favor, he showed compassion to this dog, the Lord himself felt in honor of Shivananda Sain's love for me, I must deliver whoever he loves.
This is the constant thread that is uniting all the different pearls of the wisdom and the teachings and the stories of the holy scriptures.
Awakening love through the holy name
The Dharmasar, the essence, the thread of love for Krishna and compassion for all beings.
And it was with this spirit that Śrīla Prabhupāda traveled around the world twelve times and it is this spirit that we are all trying to understand and connect to and be an instrument in our own lives.
Lord Chaitanya prayed. Nityasidha Krishna Prema Sadjaka Bhunoi Sarabhanati Sudhithi Kodiya Yodai. That this love for Krishna, this compassion for all beings, is within the heart of everyone. It simply has to be awakened.
Jiv Jago Jiv Jago Goda Chandrabole Kota Nidraja pisachi rakole This was the message of Lord Chaitanya. Wake up, wake up sleeping souls.
Whether you're a man or a woman from the East or the west, whether a human or a dog, wake up and taste the sweetness of your own nature. Prayma bhakti. Mukunda Madhabah And he taught the simple
way in this age of Kali, which is a time of quarrel and hypocrisy, the simple way, the highest benediction of this Kali Yuga is that any of us could awaken that love through the chanting of the Lord's holy name.
Krishna Re Krishna Krishna Krishna Reb Nice echo. And the Lord taught us the simple formula by which this awakening of love of God is activated when we chant the names of the Lord.
Drinadabi Suni Chainaturor Ibasihishnana, Taror Abhi Ifishnana, Amanina Maninaina Kirtaniashi.
To feel oneself more humble than a blade of grass, more tolerant, more forgiving than a tree, to find joy in offering respect to others by not demanding respect for oneself.
If we can simply live by these principles, Krishna manifests himself fully in his names and attracts our hearts forever.
This is a foundational quality of a real Vaishnava never to demand respect, never to expect respect, but to command respect by our compassion, by our love, by our concern, by our morality, by our qualities, we attract the love and respect of others.
And that is what we should all be making the standard that we live for. We don't want positions. We simply want service.
Nadanamna Janamna Sundarim Kavitam Bhadra Gadisha Kamaya, Mama Janmani, Janmani Shwari, Babatad Bhaktirahaita Gitwai.
Lord Chaitanya offer these prayers to teach us the mood in which we should chant Rādhārāṇī and Krishna's names. I do not want wealth. If I have it I will use it. Sometimes we have to work for it.
In that regard, please remind me if I forget about describing this verse,
Practical management in devotional service
but I'd like to say something else about Vāsudeva Datta and Śivananda Sena. They were neighbours in Kumarahata.
Lord Chaitanya, when he went to Kumarahata and he met with Vāsudeva Datta and Śivananda Sena at the house of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. Lord Chaitanya gave a very, very unusual instruction to Shivananda.
He said, Vāsudeva Datta, he's so compassionate. Whatever he gets, as soon as he gets it, he gives it away to people who are in need of it.
But the problem is he has a wife and he has a children, he has family. He has to maintain his family. How is he going to maintain his family? How is he going to maintain himself if he keeps giving everything away.
So Shivananda Sain, you should become the accountant, keep the books and manage the money, the finances for Vāsudēvatta. Could you imagine? Such a compassionate person?
The Lord had to intervene in his life to moderate his compassion. Nobody else could have done it. It's not that he was making him less compassionate, but he was giving him some practical guidelines to be compassionate.
So from that day on, Shivananda Sena was taking charge of the finances for Vāsudēvatta. But then after saying that, Lord Chaitanya said that I am simply Vāsudēvatta's man. I am his property. He has purchased me.
I belong to Vāsudēvatta. And anywhere to anywhere. If he wants me to give me away or sell me, I am sold. Whoever Vāsudēvatta desires to give me to, I am that person's. I say it again, I am simply his property.
Krishna tells in Gita, sarva-loka-maheśvaram. I'm the proprietor of everything that exists. But the love and compassion of a devotee, the Lord becomes the property of his devotee. That is the power of bhakti.
So Lord Chaitanya is praying, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā sakahiṁ jagad-īśe. Yes, if even if we work for wealth, whether we're in business or industry or whatever, we have to work. We have to be practical.
But that's not the aim of life. The aim of life is what we do with it. So the devotee is saying, my goal in life is not to make wealth. I don't want. I don't want beautiful men or beautiful women to enjoy.
I do not want fame. I do not want scholarship. I do not want even liberation from suffering. What is the greatest most valuable treasure in all creation? That's what I want.
To serve you, my Lord unconditionally wherever whenever wherever you may want me.
Na dhanam na janam na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśe kāmaye mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi. Narakeshu, Apitul Yurtadarshina.
A few days ago was Shivaratri this verse from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was spoken by Śaṅkara, Lord Shiva. He was remarking in ecstatic enthusiasm.
Just see the qualities of Chitrake Tu Maharaj. This is the quality of a great devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa. Whether the per whether the devotee is in heaven or hell makes no difference.
Whether he's liberated or unliberated, he's happy, grateful, supremely honored, simply with the opportunity to serve, without ego, with love. This is why we come to this temple.
This is the essential reason why we take the human form of life to acquire that treasure. Premā-dhana, the treasure of spiritual love. But in this world where we are constantly bombarded by weapons of mass distraction.
We start thinking so many other things to be so valuable that take our attention away and even undermine the opportunities we have. That is why sādhu-saṅga, sādhu saṅga Association with saintly persons is so important.
It helps us to focus on what really is meaningful, what really is valuable, what really our purpose of life is. With the spirit we are together to chant the holy names. Thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada.
See you clap when I bark, but not when I I I think I just contradicted my whole lecture by demanding respect. Let us all celebrate by dancing to the holy name of King.