Addressing the Disciples

Invocation and introductory chants

0:00Namamam Vishnu Padaya Krishna Prashtaya Bhutale, Srimati Bhaktividanta Swami Tinamini, Namaste Saraswati Devi, Gauravani Pracharini, Nirvisha Sasunyavadi Paschatyadesari Vanchakalpatarubishakripa sindu bevacha patitanam pavani bynavy namawama sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhunitananda Sjadvaita Gadat Hara sivastati Guru Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna

0:44dear Devotees. I'm very, very happy to be with all of you. It's a very unusual experience for me. Maybe we could meet a little more regularly now because the modern technology allows this.

1:06I will say a few words which inspire me now. It's very interesting, and that our philosophy is called sambandagyan. Sambandha means relationship. What

1:35I wanted to say, a very important thing, is that it is relationship which gives meaning.

1:46If we're talking about the meaning, we cannot really understand the meaning of anything, any phenomena or even any word without relationship with other words.

2:03If we take something in isolation, if we isolate something from its relationship, this thing becomes meaningless.

2:15The meaning comes to a thing, to a world, to a phenomenon, to our life, to everything due to context, due to relationship. Therefore, the philosophy is called sambandha-jñāna.

2:32Our philosophy is the knowledge about relationship.

2:37Because by knowing our relationship, relationship with the world, relationship with other people, relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, relationship with the universe, all these different relationships, only by knowing this will we be able to figure out what is the meaning of my life.

2:59It's amazing people nowadays they try to minimize relationship. If we see the trend in the modern society, they try to cut relationship. Why? Because they just want to enjoy.

3:15That's the only meaning which is left when you cut all relationship. But when you have relationships then the meaning is not to enjoy yourself, but to serve others.

Role of the spiritual master

3:29You know, ultimately, the meaning of a father is to serve his children, the meaning of a husband to serve his wife, the meaning of the wife is to serve the husband and, we actually can find the meaning of our life in relationship only. Without relationship, there is no meaning or there is only one really meager and ridiculous sort of meaning, just enjoy yourself, which is completely senseless, completely useless.

4:02So, what I want to say is that ultimately relationship with the spiritual master with guru is a very essential relationship in our life because in this relationship we find the highest possible meaning of our life of our existence.

4:26Without this relationship, we will find a meaning of our existence with our country, in relationship with our neighbors, in relationship with our close relatives. But ultimately, the highest meaning of life can only be possible in relationship with the spiritual master who connects us with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and brings the broadest possible context to our life.

5:00So, what is sambandha-jñāna? Sambandha-jñāna is basically the context. Our philosophy is giving us the context, very broad context of reality in which we can find the meaning, in

5:15which we can find because first is sambandha-jñāna and then abhidheya. Abhidheya means meaning. But you can only find Abhideya, you can only find or define the meaning if you have sambandha-jñāna, if you have the context.

5:34So basically what we are doing here in this Sangha, this Sangha is a relationship. We are together and we are trying to establish our relationship for what? To find the higher meaning in our life.

5:54My humble meaning is to serve you, to help you to come closer to Krishna, to come closer to other devotees.

6:05This is: you know how you are defining the meaning of my life. I'm very grateful to you because you are helping me to understand what I am supposed to do.

6:18You know, if if it was not for you, I would probably be sitting and eating some dinner now, enjoying my senses. But here I am in front of you talking about Krishna, talking about the higher truths, talking about the meaning.

6:37So what I want to stress here is the need to strengthen the relationship because the stronger the relationship, the more happy we are, because we cannot be happy without meaning in our life. We need to have purpose, we need to have meaning, we need to have ultimate destination.

Spiritual connections across distance

7:03And that is only possible in our spiritual relationship. And Śrīla Prabhupāda, he created this glorious society exactly for this purpose.

7:16He said that the only purpose for which I am creating Iskon is to give you association, association with sadhu devotees. And by association with other devotees, we find the deeper dimension of our existence.

7:36Without this, there is no question, our life would be very superficial, totally, completely useless and superficial without deeper meaning.

7:49So, what I want to say now is that by understanding the importance of relationship, we have to really make the relationship stronger. And of course, you know, due to objective reasons, we are separated now.

8:09I'm sitting here in Govardhana you are in Bangalore in Kerala in Bangalore also in London where else in Malaysia, in so many different places.

8:31But the beauty of spiritual relationship is that it's not dependent on the material circumstances.

8:39We can be spiritually connected even though there is a great distance, even though we may not see each other, like Śrīla Prabhupāda, he exemplified it in his own life.

8:53He hardly saw his Guru Maharaj, but still he was so closely connected to him because he was always meditating, and the connection was becoming stronger and stronger and stronger.

9:05And in the same way, Krishna left Vṛndāvana. Why Krishna left Vṛndāvana? One point why he left Vṛndāvana, one reason why he left Vṛndāvana.

9:16He wanted to show that the spiritual relationship does not depend on the material considerations. They do not depend on the distance. They do not depend on anything else.

9:31They only depend on the meditation upon each other, on the desire to serve.

9:39While Krishna was in Dvārakā, every day he was thinking about the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, every day he was trying to serve them, and every day he was praying to them, dreaming about them.

9:54And in a similar way, the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana they were doing the same to Krishna. Even though they were for so many years, you know, tens, dozens and dozens of years, they were separated. They didn't see each other.

10:10But it's not that their connection was weakened because of this, their connection was becoming stronger and stronger and stronger every day. So that's the beauty of spiritual relationships.

10:25Spiritual relationships help to find the spiritual meaning in our life. And spiritual relationships do not depend on any material considerations. Spiritual relationship is the matter of heart. We can be close to each other.

10:42Like when Prahlad was talking I I was was remembering when he was a very small boy and when Dhruva was just born I also remember it he doesn't remember I remember it how he first was brought to the temple.

11:03So anyway we have relationship and it's our sacred duty, internal duty, to make the relationship stronger. And by making it stronger we become happier.

11:20We become more, our life becomes more meaningful and uh more mm we will we feel more fulfillment within our heart.

Strengthening spiritual relationships through service

11:34So I this is my uh birthday wish to all of you. Try to make your relationship with other devotees stronger. Serve other devotees. Try to make your relationship with Srila Prabhupada very strong.

11:51I remember these days when I was translating or editing Srila Prabhupada's books in Russian, sometimes 10 hours a day.

12:01In the morning I would translate Srila Prabhupada's lecture into Russian, and then the whole day I would sit and meditate on his words. And Prabhupada has become so close to my heart because of this.

12:22Even though I've never seen him in my life. But he is by far probably the most uh important influence in my life. A very powerful influence in my life, even though I didn't see him physically.

12:39So that's another proof that it's within our power to make spiritual relationships very strong. We should just take advantage of this opportunity.

12:52Take advantage of this chance which we have to make our spiritual relationship very strong and very meaningful, very real. Like Prabhupada, he made his relationship with his Guru Maharaj very real. It was not just formal.

13:14It was not just a picture on the altar. It was the real force which molded his life.

13:26So that's little point which I wanted to make that relationships are extremely important because only by entering into this relationship in a very proper manner by reinforcing this relationship again and again and again through hearing, meditating, following instructions, trying to serve.

13:58We will be able to find the higher meaning in our life. Thank you very much. I guess that's that's it.