How to enter Vrindavana. Class 1.
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Говардхан · 2024
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Opening prayers and auspicious invocations
Sri Chaita, Bishta, Stopi tamein, Bhutale, Swaamrupa, Damacham, da dati skam Vandeham Sri Guru Sriupadakam, Sri Guru Vaishnavams Shreu Pam Sagrajat Sahanaraguna Tam saevam, sadvaitam, savadutam,
paridana sahetam krishnachaitania Deva. Sri Rada Krishna Pada, Sahanalita, Srivish Damsha, Krishna Karuna Sindho, Deenabandho Jagatopikanta, Radakanta, Taktakanchangi, Radevraneshwari, Prisabanu su de pranamari panchakłpa,
běš, kripa sind du beva, patitana pa nebio, vaishave bionama. Sri Krishna Chaitanya, prabunity, Sri Dvaitha Srivasadigura Bhta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama rama hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Ramahare Hare Yantah Pravishamamachima Prasuptam Sanji Vaya takila shakti Darah Swadamna, Anjaam, Shiahsta, Cherna, Shrahna Twagarde,
Pranana, Bhagawa Teurushy Tubia, Swastu Vishwasia Calah, Prasidaam, Viaan to B butuddha I, shivam me to Are
Appreciation for Sri Rupa Seva Kunj
you Krishna? I am very grateful to be here at Sri Giriraj Gobardhan with His Holiness Bhaktivigyan Goswami Maharaj and all of you.
I would like to congratulate you and extend my deepest appreciation and gratitude for everything you and your whole community has done to inspire a true manifestation of Brachphumi here at Goverd.
Seva to the holy dham is the true way of entering into the holy tongue.
And this wonderful Rupa Seva Kunj, Sri Rupa Seva Kunj is truly an offering where devotees can enter into the real spirit and supreme grace of Radharani and Sri Krishna's mercy and Vrindavan by creating such a place of seva His beautiful name, Sri Rupa Seva. That is the very basis of our whole Parampara is to serve Sri Rupa Goswami I
will not interfere with Maharaja's class, but I want to publicly express my appreciation for you and for all the devotees who are working so hard and struggling in so many ways to manifest this holy place.
Thank you from Panchakapatarubyas Chakripasantubyvacha Pati danaam pa banibyoga na moon arakish Today, His Holiness Śrīla Raddhanāth Swami Maharaj gave me a beautiful lesson of meditation.
We're supposed to talk about meditation during this retreat.
And basically meditation means slowing down the uh constantly rotating mind and And by ultimately stopping the disturbances in the mind to enable us to see the reality. The reality is hidden from us.
And the factor which hides away reality is our disturbed and constantly distracted mind. And of course, especially now in this day and age, the destruction of the mind has become has reached an unbearable level.
It basically means that we are going away from reality. We are entering deeper and deeper into the illusion.
Understanding Narottama Dasa Thakura songs
And the purpose of this retreat and topic of this retreat to go away from the unfortunate reality of the material world, especially at this day and age, and trying to enter real reality.
So I will I would like to speak little few words first about the the bhajan which we sang because Śrīla Prabhupāda on a number of occasions explained that this is the bhajan which teaches us how to enter Vrindavan.
Therefore we will chant this bhajan every day before our lectures, trying to meditate on the meaning of the words of this song by Narotam Das Thakur. He is the resident of real Vrindavan.
He is the second generation devotee who achieved uh unbelievable heights of spiritual realization and uh left for us his realizations and his bhajans and songs.
Srila Prabhupada said that even though his songs are written in a simple Bengali language, and it's really simple. Practically everyone can understand this with rudimentary knowledge of Bengali or even Hindi.
His songs are not different from the Vedas. That's Prabhupāda's own words. So it doesn't matter what is the language? What matters is the condition of the heart from which the words are coming.
And that's exactly the topic of our seminar. And when the realization is coming to the pure heart, then whatever one speaks becomes the revelation of spiritual reality.
Disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda often explain this experience which they had during Prabhupāda's personal presence. When he would just say something very simple, but this just a few words.
But this few words would allow his listeners to enter into such a depth of realization. Why?
Because these words are coming from this place in the heart, from the pure heart, the heart purified by austerities, by sadhana, by service to the spiritual master.
And therefore every word which is spoken in this condition is saturated with deepest possible meaning. And uh uh I explain the words of this uh song, Gauranga Bowlitihabed No no no I don't need this.
Password to enter Vrindavan
I only need Bengali. It's a very systematic uh explanation of how to enter Vṛndāvana and he starts this song with the word Goranga. Goranga Bolite Habay Pulakashari He says when we will chant
the word Goranga, first of all, that's our entrance, that's our password. Yesterday, uh Sachinand Maharaj was explaining about the guardians of the holy Dham.
But we know to pass the guardians you have to know the password. So the password is Goranga. But not just Goranga. Naratam Dastakur from the very beginning says that Goranga Boletehabhulakasarira.
When you will chant Goranga with such a feeling that your hairs will stand on end, then only you will enter Vṛndāvana.
And how when you will be able to chant Gauranga with such a feeling when you understand who is Gaanurga. When deep in your heart you will understand that Goranga is none other than Krishna himself.
And he came in this Kali Yuga.
He came in this Kali Yuga to experience the highest possible manifestations of love and not only to experience himself but to give access to the same manifestations of love to us, fallen people of Kali Yuga.
When we understand this, and sometimes this truth which we have heard so many times, but it doesn't matter how many times we heard about this, it doesn't mean that we know about this.
But when this understanding really comes to our heart, then naturally the hairs will stand on end. The remaining hairs. Whatever is still there. So, but but uh again, uh and that's the password.
The understanding of what Gaurāṅga Mahaprabhu Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has come to give us, the understanding of who he is and what he gave and the extent of his generosity,
the extent of his uh how you say this, magnanimity or whatever. The extent of his mercy, the depth of his mercy. When you understand this, then you will chant Gaurāṅga and the hairs will stand on end.
And then only, then only, then only you will be able to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra with the tears in the eyes. That's the perfection of our chanting, and we know that this perfection uh
rarely comes, sometimes it comes, but it can only come to us uh if we really understand uh how precious this name is which Gaurāṅga himself gave to us. And it's not a simple name.
The name of Hari, the name of Govinda, is chanted in any Kali Yuga. This process of self-realization is the standard process of realization in any Kali
Yuga, but when Caitanya Mahāprabhu is coming and giving this name, instead of ordinary avatāra who comes Kali Yuga avatāra who comes in this age, but when Gaurāṅga Mahaprabhu comes, he imbues this name, he saturates this name with his experience.
And then when we repeat the same name, understanding what is this name, how precious this name is.
Then uh Hari Hari bolite nayane bābi nīra, then uh while chanting this uh hari-nām, we will not be able to hold the tears. Now we're not able to bring the tears. But if we understand what is it in
Purification from material desires
reality, what how great is this gift of Gaurāṅga Mahaprabhu then we will not be able to hold the tears. But for that he explains the preliminary stages to
come to the stage of complete realization: āmā-kāri nitāi-cāndera karuṇā hoibī, saṁsāra-vāsanā mora kabhu tu' chāribī. koronahoibi samsarabasana mora kabitu chahabi. He says that uh preliminarily you have to purify
your heart from saṁsāra-vāsanā. What is saṁsāra-vāsanā? Uh vasana means desires not, this not just simply desires. There are different kinds of desires. There are incidental desires. Desires which are just coming.
We we see something in the showroom or whatever we see is something which is attractive to us and the desires come, desires come and go. But vasana means very deep desire.
The desire with which we came to this world to realize this desire, to fulfill this desire. Vasana is the repeated desires which are coming again and again into our mind and keeping us in this samsara.
And therefore he says, saṁsāra-vāsanā mora kabe tu chāhābe, when, uh, Nitai Chandra, and basically here, by, uh, mentioning the name of Nitai, uh, he means the spiritual master, because we know that Nitai Chandra is the original spiritual master.
And the spiritual master helps us to understand this philosophy and helps us to understand the dire need of purifying our heart.
And when the mercy of the spiritual master is coming to us, when we really deserve the mercy of the spiritual Master by our sincere and steady service to Him, then the miraculous result of this service or of the mercy
of Karuna of the spiritual master is that saṁsāra-vāsanā, the very Very uh how you say it, uh very uh insistent or very uh uh sticky. Yeah, that's a good word. Very sticky desires. Will become insignificant.
We will feel that these desires which were really keeping us in this world, which were really creating the fun because uh desires is that what m makes this material life so funny Or full of fun, I don't know.
And funny too.
So when uh when the desires these desires which would excite us, which would give us this excitation necessary for us to remain in this material world and to feel so-called happiness of this material world, then these desires will become insignificant.
They will stop bothering us. Yeah, they will still be there. He doesn't say that they will go away immediately. He says they will become very insignificant so that you can neglect them. You can ignore them.
You don't have to pay attention to them. And that's that's the preliminary stage. And then he says, Vishuda habeman kabi hamahera ho śrī Vṛndāvana. This is the secret of entering Vṛndāvan.
So what happened next when these desires which keep us in this saṁsāra, this saṁsāra vāsanā becomes insignificant, as much so much so that we will be able not to pay attention to them.
What happens in the normal quote unquote life? All our attention, all our energy goes into the fulfillment of these desires. But when they become insignificant so that we could easily neglect these
desires, then uh vishayachary should man uh the man the mind will become clean uh and uh we will be able to relinquish all these desires. Vishariya.
We will completely relinquish desires, understanding that desires will not bring us happiness. That desires don't make us happy. It's really an illusion. But it's a very persistent illusion.
But when the mercy of the spiritual master comes upon us, then we understand the real position of the desires, and then the man the mind becomes clean, and with the clean mind we will be able to see Vṛndāvan.
I will explain in more details in this lecture depending on how much time I have, but I'll try at least to say something.
Distinguishing Vaishnava from Mayavadi meditation
That our ability to see very much depends on the condition of our mind. And that's Vaiṣṇava meditation.
One very important lesson which I am uh will try to explain today, and I would like you to take this lesson with you together. Very important lesson.
What is the difference between the meditation, Buddhist meditation, Maya meditation? Meditation is a very prominent word in this world at this moment of time. Everyone is doing meditation.
So one of one very important understanding which should should come today and uh Sachinand Mara started uh describing this yesterday. Uh but I will uh say the same thing from slightly different angle.
Uh uh What is the difference between our meditation and meditation of Mayavadis? Because unfortunately, what I can see that sometimes
immature devotees, they come to Vṛndāvan and they start meditating on Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa līlā. But in reality, it's Māyāvādī meditation. It's 108% Māyāvāda. They imagine themselves in their mind that they already achieved this Kṛṣṇa-prema or this that, but in reality it's 10% Māyāvādi meditation.
And we have to very clearly distinguish between these two types of meditation. Because oftentimes when we hear meditation uh we have in mind wrong idea.
So he says: "āmi ha-ibe herabo śrī-vṛndāvana", only I will see Vṛndāvana, uh, real Vṛndāvana, only when my mind is purified. But then he says: "rūpera guṇā-pāde ha-ibe", it's not enough to see Vrindavan.
You can see real Vrindavan, but still will not be able to see Krishna.
And therefore, he says: "rūpera guṇā-pāde ha-ibe ākūti" — when the real akuti the uh ardent desire will awaken in my heart uh to serve the lotus feet of Rūpa and Raghunātha.
And we are here in this Śrī Rūpa Sevā Kuñja, where we are dedicating our energy to this service of Rūpa-Raghunātha, following the footsteps of Śrīla Prabhupāda, when the desire will awaken in our heart.
Desire to serve Rupa and Raghunatha
Akuti means very strong desire, then only I will be able to see and remember yugala-prīti and understand, then only I will be able to understand the dealings of Radha and Krishna. It's the most difficult subject matter.
And sometimes it is described in such a light way that it brings pain to the heart of any serious devotee. Sometimes we hear s ridiculous story, some some uh folklore story. I was told.
Can I tell the story, little story about Yeah. So there were two girls. They were studying in uh Bhaktivedanta Guru Kul. Uh and they had a game.
They were here in Vrindavan and they had so many stories about this and that what happened. And they invented a game.
One girl would run to a tree, and in a very loud voice, she would tell some completely fictitious story what happened near this tree about Radha and Krishna.
And of course pil,grims would go after that and they heard the story and started retelling the story. And the next day already that has become the established tradition in Vraja.
So now they are planning after 30 years planning to come back to hear the stories which they invented.
So anyway, there are so many stories and sometimes they are told in such a light and even uh I I don't know how to express the pain which I feel.
Uh, Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura says that you only will be able to understand the dealings between Rādhā and Krishna in a real way. If you develop very strong desire to serve the lotus feet of Rūpa and Raghunātha.
This is the entrance into this esoteric truth. Otherwise, you will not be able to understand anything.
And therefore, he concludes this beautiful bhajan by saying, Rūpa Raghunātha Pade, Rāhu Mora Āśa. I have only one desire. I already gave up all other desires. I don't need other desires.
But one desire still remains within my heart. Rāhu Mor Āśa. Only one hope is there.
Prārthanā karoye sadā Narottama dāsa. The only desire which I have is that Rūpa Raghunātha-pade, that the lotus feet of Rūpa and Raghunātha would always be within my heart.
And therefore, prārthanā karoye sadā Narottama dāsa. I am Narottama Dāsa, somebody who was called Narottam, which means the best of human beings.
My only prārthanā, my only uh prayer is uh to have the lotus feet of Rūpa Raghunātha firmly established within my heart.
Then only I will understand Gaurāṅga, then only I will be able to chant the holy name, then only I will be able to purify my heart and see real Vṛndāvana and I understand and understand what's happening here.
So that's uh that's the song uh which serves as a uh introduction to our retreat. And uh I will try to explain some very important things about meditation. Today we will not start our story, Akrura story.
We will only touch uh it slightly,
Three realms of Vrindavan
but we will have some important introduction to the whole topic. So, first, I would like to say that there are śrī Vṛndāvanas. Recently, Sachinandana Swami gave a lecture and he explained this concept of śrī Vṛndāvanas.
And one Vṛndāvana you have already entered. This Vṛndāvana is called adhidaivika Vṛndāvana. This is the material Vṛndāvana, which we can see by our material eyes. And we can see so many things in this adhidaivika Vṛndāvana.
This triple scheme is very important. Adhibhautika, adhidaivika and adhyātmika. We usually think that it's only Adibotka Klesha, Adi Davika Klesha and Adjat Mika Klesh. But in reality these three planes of existence.
Adibautika, Adi Daivika, and Adiatmika are everywhere. Not only in the sufferings which we experience, miseries which we experience in this world. So Adibhautik Vṛndāvana is accessible.
To Adibhautik Vṛndāvana, you can buy a ticket. You can reach this Vṛndāvana by conventional means, by ticket, by train, by plane, by taxi, by riksha, uh whatever it is.
You can come to this uh Adibhautik Vṛndāvana with your big suitcase, no problem. Other two kinds of Vṛndāvana don't allow big suitcases. This is the first thing which you have to give up.
But to Adibhautik Vṛndāvana, no problem. As many suitcases as you need you can bring here. So, but then Ādi-daivika Vṛndāvana.
Ādhi-daivika means uh which is related to Devas and it's also related to the mind. It's related to the subtle plane. Adibhautik is the gross plane of existence. Ādhi-daivika is the subtle plane of existence.
The plane where different energies are displaying different activities. So the playground of the energies is our mind.
And Ādhi-daivika Vṛndāvana is the Vṛndāvana where the spiritual energy of the acclaimed saints is still kept.
The Ādhi-daivika Vṛndāvana is the subtle form of Vṛndāvana which we sometimes, if we are lucky, have access to when we are a little careful and we can feel the energy of the place. It's a very amazing place.
Ādhi-daivika Vṛndāvana is an amazing place. Because so many great saints were doing bhajan here. So many great saints left the saṁskāras of their spiritual realization here. They're accessible.
If you're a little careful, and if you're not so gross, if you're not so grossly engrossed, or how you say this, uh grossly absorbed in your in the material plane of existence, then you will be able to feel this subtle energy which is still there.
These great saints, they're still living here. There are quite a few of them who are doing two Govardhana parikramās every day, sometimes three Govardhana parikramās every day.
There are so many saints who chant one lakh, two lakhs, three lakhs, five lakhs every day. Just nearby, uh there is uh uh Govinda Kund and uh
in Govinda Kund uh today in the morning you went to Govindakund and you were sitting actually in the ashram where Manohardas Babaji started his spiritual journey here.
Not he started actually in Kusum Sarovar, but then uh Shrimati Radharani herself in his dream came to him and said to him that your place of bhajan where you will achieve the perfection is Govindakund.
He went to Govindakund, and in Govinda Kund he was chanting six laks every day. Six laks of Hare Krishna Mahā-mantra every day.
So these vibrations, these subtle vibrations, very pure vibrations of their heart, their spiritual experience are still here. And you can feel them.
Not maybe very distinctly, but still you will be able to feel them if you're a little careful and if the cacophony of your mind is little down if it's not so loud within your mind. Then you will be able to feel.
And of course when you sit here you also feel some strange feeling. It's nice, isn't it? And the mind is calm.
So this is uh where the mind becomes naturally peaceful and uh naturally receptive to this uh subtle influences which are prominent in the holy Dham. So this Vrindavan is sometimes accessible to our experience.
But then, of course the most important Vrindavan which we all have to enter ultimately is Adyatmic Vrindavan, the spiritual Vrindavan, purely spiritual Vrindavan. And uh this is the most difficult Vrindavan to enter.
This is the Vrindavan where Krishna is still playing his games, his his līlās. Krishna is still here, he is in Govardhan. He never goes away from Vrindavan. He plays his flute and he is herding cows
today, Śrutakīrti Prabhu told a beautiful story when Prabhupāda. He was massaging Prabhupada in Los Angeles. And Prabhupada all of a sudden started saying that.
And Vrindavan he saw the picture of Krishna and Balaram coming back from the pasturing grounds and so many cows and uh cowshed boys behind them.
Prabhupāda says, Oh, I would like to be there, I would like to to to be the cowherd boy.
And then he started saying that uh the all the cowherd boys when they go to pasturing grounds they have their uh breakfast prepared by their mothers. And the best breakfast is of course in Krishna's basket.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda said that we cowherd boys snatch it from Krishna and eat nice kachoris and uh things which prepared by Mother Yaśodā and give Kr̥ṣṇa what other mothers prepared.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda said, I would like to eat again, eat this. Something like this. So anyways, so uh entering this Vṛndāvana, not not in imagination, but in reality seeing this, experiencing
this is the most difficult task and the most important goal which we have to very clearly establish within our mind. So I can congratulate you, you are here in Ādi-bhautika Vṛndāvana in your gross body.
Now we have to tune and purify our mind to feel the Ādi-daivika Vṛndāvana. And then ultimately the Ādhyātmika Vṛndāvana will reveal itself to us. So that's the stages which we have to go.
Lessons from Akrura journey
And Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the stages of revelation of real Vrindavan. It's called a journey. And he explains that Akrura's journey. I will read an excerpt from Kr̥ṣṇa book of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
He says that Akrūra's journey to Vṛndāvana is exemplary. One who intends to visit Vṛndāvana should follow the ideal footsteps of Akrūra and always think of the pastimes and activities of the Lord as soon as
one reaches the boundary of Vṛndāvana, he should immediately smear the dust of Vṛndāvana over his body without thinking of his material position and prestige. That's a very important instruction.
Immediately when you enter Vṛndāvana, you have to take the dust and smear it all over the body, forgetting about your position and prestige.
Śrīla Rādhanātha Mahārāja told the beautiful story when he first brought his father from America to Vṛndāvana. And father was not so much attuned to Vṛndāvana and Vṛndāvana's custom.
So when he opened the door of the taxi and stepped down,
he immediately stepped down in a big pile of cow dung. And you know, the expression of his face explained more than the words which emanated from his mouth at this point.
And Rādhanātha Mahārāja said, this is the best way to enter Vṛndāvana. You are perfect. To step on the big pile of cow dung. So
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this. Forget about your position. You're nobody in Vṛndāvana. You're lucky if you are as good as the grain of sand in Brindavan. So this is how our understanding should be.
And then he says, he quotes this song which we just sang. Srila Narotam Das Thakur has sung a celebrated song.
Viṣaya-cāpalaṁ. When my mind will be purified after leaving the contamination of material sense enjoyment. I shall be able to visit Vrindavan.
Actually, one cannot go to Vrindavan by purchasing a ticket, that Srila Prabhupada says. The process of going to Vrindavana is shown by Akrura.
So Srila Prabhupada exactly explains to us that's the process of uh going to Vrindavan, how Akrura uh came to Vrindavan.
And we will try to understand deeply the lessons which Akrura gives to us and Śukadeva Gosvāmī while explaining this. And Śrīla Prabhupāda says that Akrura's journey to Vrindavan is exemplary, not Akrura himself.
I was a little hesitant to speak on this topic because in Vrindavan, if you say Akrura, especially in a positive connotation you will be excommunicated from here for good. Akrura is not very popular hero in Vrindavan.
But for us neophyte devotees who are aspiring to enter Vrindavan, the example of Akrura is very important because he was the only Yadava who saw Krishna in Vrindavan.
He had an amazing good fortune to see Krishna and Vrindavan and Krishna Vrindavan's pastimes. Nobody else was able to do this. Uddhava much later came to Vrindavan, but Uddhava didn't see Krishna.
Uddhava saw Vrindavan desolated, completely immersed into the mood of separation, gopis in tears, Mother Yashoda completely emaciated and breathing heavily.
Nanda Mahārāja, he saw beautiful Vrindavan, but without Krishna. But Akrura was lucky, was fortunate enough to see Vrindavan with Krishna.
Of course, he did an unforgivable mistake by taking Krishna away from Vrindavan without permission of the residents of Vrindavan. But that's another story which we may touch during this talk.
But his journey to Vrindavan is exemplary, and we will try to learn from him what it means to follow his footsteps because that's the only, as Prabhupada says, that's the only way to enter Vrindavan.
And when Akrura is traveling to Vrindavan, simultaneously two travels are going on. His Ratha knew very illustrious, brilliant uh golden chariot uh given to him by Kamsa
is going on, and he is in this Ratha, going on the way from Mathura to Vrindavan, sometimes completely forgetting, sometimes losing the way.
But at the same time, there is another journey, journey of his thoughts, of his meditation. This golden Ratha, which is given to him by Kamsa, and then manoratha, the chariot of his mind, they're going simultaneously
Meditation as foundation of devotional service
to Vrindavan, and we of course mostly concentrate on this journey in his Manoratha, in the chariot of his mind. So, and it basically means meditation.
It's interesting that Rūpa Gosvāmī, when he explains different devotees who achieved perfection by following one process of devotional service. He says that the perfection of Akrura is in his prayers.
But in Srimad Bhagavatam we hardly see his prayers. In Srimad Bhagavatam we only see his meditation. And the reason is very important for us to understand. This particular verse is very important.
śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣid abhavat vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane So uh parikshit achieved the perfection by listening about Sri Vishnu, śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe, Parīkṣid abhavat, vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Vaiyāsaki, the son of Vyāsadeva, he achieved perfection by kīrtana, by telling about Krishna.
prahlādaḥ smaraṇe tad-aṅghri-bhajane lakṣmīḥ pṛthuḥ pūjane Prahlāda achieved his perfection by meditating on the lotus feet of the Lord.
tad-aṅghri-bhajane lakṣmīḥ: Lakṣmī achieved her meditation, her perfection by serving the lotus feet of the Lord, pāda-sevanā, tad-aṅghri-bhajane, pṛthuḥ pūjane: Pṛthu achieved his perfection by worshipping the deity. pūjā.
So in this vandanam or abhivandanam, complete vandanam, immersion in the prayers, the example is Akrūra. kapir dāsyed and then Hanumān. How say this ātma-nivedanam? abhūd dāśarathir me 'stu.
They all achieved uh this by different means. But why it is said that Akrura achieved perfection by prayers, whereas in reality in Srimad Bhagavatam only his meditation is explained, or mostly his meditation is explained.
And the answer to this question is very important because ultimately all these processes of devotional service involve meditation. You cannot really pray if you didn't meditate.
You cannot really achieve perfection by hearing, if you don't meditate. Hearing is a meditation. Talking is a meditation. Of course, smaranam is the meditation.
But pujanam is meditation. When we serve the deity, it's meditation. It's a very special uh very special fashion of meditating upon the Lord by offering him whatever we have.
And all other processes of devotional service, the meditation is the background. It's the foundation.
And without meditation, you may hear without meditation, and basically it means inattentive hearing, something you hear and conveniently God gave you two ears.
So in one ear it enters, from another ear it exits your mind, and you're very happy I heard. What did you hear? It doesn't matter. You can make the tick, you know. I heard. Sravanam is the most important process. No.
Sravanam will only work if there is meditation. If you hear with attention and then you meditate on what you heard.
Then you really think on what you heard and really recollect and uh As Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains, when you give when you heard this and aloud uh the words or the sounds which you heard to grab with in your heart all them to to turn into thought process.
That's the meditation. That's how Shravanam is meditation. You hear and then you meditate again and again and again on this. And then when you speak, of course, this is meditation, this is a very deep kind of meditation.
And everything else is a meditation. And therefore, meditation in one sense, it is most important process which is not easy. It is a difficult process.
It is a very difficult process, and the reason for this is very clear because our heart, our mind is not clean.
Meditation, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī very clearly says this: meditation is only possible, only possible when the heart is clean, the real meditation.
But still, uh very generously, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains that uh some sorts of meditation are uh possible even for those people whose heart is not completely clean, but we have to really understand what it means.
So and meditation is Meditation is a very special kind of activity. I hope it will become more clear when we talk about this and think about this more.
Meditation is not just recollection. Meditation is not just thinking. Meditation is something different.
Role of rhythm and poetry in meditation
It's switching our brain activity or our mind activity in another gear. That's why there are some important means which help us to meditate, and one of the most important means to help meditate is actually music.
Meditation means you slow down your mind uh and not only slow down your mind because if you only slow down your mind you will uh very peacefully uh fall asleep. And we all know this kind of meditation.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda was uh was mocking this kind of meditation. He said, yes, they am meditating here. Right, uh I heard them snoring while meditating.
No, it's a calming of the mind, slowing down of the mind, but the mind remains very peaceful and very rhythmic. Actually, rhythm is the sign of sattva-guṇa.
What is the difference between slowing down the mind in tamas and slowing down the mind in sattva-guṇa. In tamas, when you're just crushed, it's called laya.
Laya means finish, you finish, your consciousness completely finished. There is no rhythm there. It's just that's the only rhythm which is there. You are just crushed.
Completely your mind is totally uh dull and dysfunctional. So that's not meditation, but meditation you bring your mind into a rhythmic state. And therefore, uh the music uh is very helpful for meditation.
Therefore, kīrtana is such a powerful way of meditation because kīrtana implies rhythm, kīrtana implies complete concentration.
And uh one other very important uh means of meditation or bringing uh mind into the uh very clear and lucid and transparent light meditative state in sattva-guṇa. Where sattva-guṇa is predominant, is of course poetry.
Why Krishna is called Uttamaśloka? This is one of his most famous names in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Again and again and again he is called Uttamaśloka.
Because Uttamaśloka, when he who is glorified in the uh in in the best of the poetry ah that the poetry is the poetry for the poet is the way to express his realisation and to help us to enter into the same state.
And the poetry is rhythmic. And of course Sanskrit language is the language of the which greatly helps meditation. So this all kinds of activity they completely switch the gears of our mind.
I said today that Srila Radhanat Maharaj gave me a very good lesson of meditation because meditation means to be in present.
And usually we are in the future, and because we are always running for the future, there is always this passion
in the mind, and we uh by running in the future we cannot stay in the present and we want to do everything quickly and we always feel this pressure. I have to do it, I have to do it, I have to do it, I have to do it.
But if somebody has very calm, and this is one thing which is. You know, I love Śrīla Radhanath Maharaja, but it's very difficult. He's so slow. He's not in a hurry. But that's the lesson. That's the lesson for all of us.
We are all in a hurry. And the more the further away we are from Krishna, the more we are in a hurry. In a hurry we are to hell, obviously. Very quickly going there.
I remember once and of course this is our passionate life in in the cities very you know fast and and people they forget how to live in a natural life at present.
How to bring again and again and again ourselves into the present and uh feeling the beauty of the present without running to the future or lamenting about the past.
I remember when I for the first time I came to Moscow, I couldn't understand why these people are so running.
And then I came to Moscow myself and started studying this and I also started running because that's the mood of the place. It's a big city with with a lot of passions involved. Oh London and New York, oh my goodness.
New York is the epicenter of — I'm sorry for all the New Yorkers who are here.
But so and, uh, when Śrīla Radhanath Maharaja was going here and you know discussing something or sitting just and sitting, and you "Let's go further," you know. We have something else to show.
So that's that's the difference. But by rhythm and of course not the passionate rhythm, but by very slow rhythm.
And therefore uh uh this very beautiful uh word in Sanskrit Rita, which means that Rita means the harmony, Rita means the law upon which this whole world is based.
Sarva-mṛtaṁ ṛtam manye, Arjuna says in Bhagavad-gītā to Krishna. When he heard Krishna speaking, he says, Sarva-mṛtaṁ ṛtam manye. I consider whatever you say this is Rita.
Basically means that's the law, that's the uh that's the truth, that's the original truth which is there. So Rita is a very important word and the English word rhythm is coming from this word rita.
And Rita basically means that you have to bring your mind, synchronize your mind with the rhythm of this world. Or not of this world.
Everyone is synchronizing his mind with the rhythm of this world, but uh the deeper rhythm which is there, the rhythm of spiritual reality.
And that's why all our ācāryas and Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he explains very beautifully in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. By explaining Krishna, he explains the yearly cycle of Krishna's pastimes.
This is what he is do in Vasantriitu, this is what he's doing is in Grismaritu in Samar. This is what he's doing in varshat in this uh uh rainy season this is his sharat.
So he's explaining this rhythm, yearly rhythm, and then uh our acharyas uhy explain this daily rhythm of Krishna's pastimes. And there this is nitya-līlā of Krishna, something which he is doing every day.
Oh, depending on the season, there are some seasonal changes. So there are different cycles and different rhythms.
But ultimately, what they're explaining to us how to enter into the eternal present of the spiritual reality. By leaving behind us the material reality with its tamasik and rajasik rhythm and everything else.
So meditation means to enter into this rhythm. And when you enter this rhythm, you will not fall asleep. It's a completely different stage of uh or condition of the mind.
So So uh and therefore the poetry is so important, therefore chanting shlokas are so important, therefore learning shlokas are so important because they help us, they help to bring our mind in a proper condition by chanting them and by uh meditating on them.
And they are the main object of our meditation. Our meditation on Krishna is the meditation on the shlokas of Srimad Bhagavatam. And of course, shlokas, poetry of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī.
These two greatest meditators who explained to us how to enter into the realm showed by Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu. Gauranga Mahaprabhu exposed it, showed it to the world.
This is the highest possible stage of development of consciousness which everyone can reach. But then Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī showed us the way how to how to reach this. And for that, chanting shlokas are very important.
Singing bhajans are very important.
Comparing materialistic and Vaishnava worldviews
So now what I want to explain, I I already said that it's one important thing which I wanted to say or to bring to you.
What is the difference between Vaishnava meditation or style of meditation and uh the meditation which is famous in this world, especially in the West, nirv- nirviśeṣa śūnyavādi paścātyadeśa tāriṇe. Yeah.
Like once there are so many different now Bhakti Vaibhav, Bhakti Lata, Bhakti Shastri, Bhakti Sarvabhama, Bhakti Praveśa, and then there is Bhakti Nirviśeṣa. So this is another program, Bhakti News.
So Śrīla Prabhupāda was very proud that he brought in this world uh completely different understanding and sometimes this understanding escapes us because we use the same words and inadvertently we uh are using them uh uh by uh attributing to them different meaning or not the original meaning which should be there.
So uh let's uh try to understand this difference.
Uh and first we know that this Śūnyavāda or Māyāvāda or Buddhism or different kinds of philosophies which are there, which are very prominent nowadays and very popular nowadays. It's one extreme of this material reality.
The material understanding the understanding of material reality starts with materialism, is the thesis, and the antithesis of it is this Māyāvāda. And bhakti is the synthesis. So the thesis, the something
which we all know, which is very familiar to us. And which is very prominent and which is also very familiar and very deeply rooted within our heart is the materialistic understanding. And materialistic understanding is actually if we formulate it very succinctly, it basically means that material world is real, the only reality is matter, and this matter is totally unchanged, it's independent, it's the fundamental reality of this world, and it is not dependent on our mind.
That's the premise of scientific understanding of reality. The matter is totally not dependent on our mind.
We can try to study this matter, understand, investigate this matter by different means, uh dissect this matter, dig uh into this matter, but ultimately it doesn't matter. Because matter remains the matter.
Our mind is just good for nothing, but got to understand this matter, but mind is not a significant factor. That's a materialistic understanding, scientific understanding, that is naive materialism.
The opposite to this, again, alternative this two possibilities are very familiar to us. One is very familiar to us.
And very we can relate to it. We sometimes think that yes, this is the reality, and I have nothing to do with it, and it it doesn't depend on me.
The alternative to this is this is naive realism and there is naive idealism or postmodernism? Naive idealism goes into another extreme and says,
very importantly, says that actually reality is the creation of your mind. In the extreme position, everything is just created by your mind.
Everything is just the creation of your mind, and therefore the meditation, and therefore meditation is very prominent in for those people who follow this path because for them everything is created by the mind, and if everything is created by the mind, let's create something else. And that means meditation.
And therefore, the favorite pastime of these people, you know, just visualize. And by visualizing, you will achieve everything. Everything is just depends on your mind.
If you visualize Mercedes car, sooner or later Mercedes car will somehow appear in your garage.
How uh well just give it little time and and if it doesn't work, it probably because you're not concentrated enough on this Mercedes car and you're not visualizing it properly. But that's that's their crazy idea.
There was this big book, The Secret, the main secret. Just just sit down, visualize and yeah. Why?
Because again, because uh of this uh underlying understanding or the concept, uh very important concept behind this that ultimately everything is unreal, everything is just my mind. And who am I? I am God.
Because everything is the creation of my mind. Right? Right? You know, I I created this very nice crowd of people in my mind. Yeah.
And if I just close my eyes, y you will disappear somehow if I sit long enough. And meditate on your disappearance. So this this second option which uh Śrīla Prabhupāda was so much against it.
This crazy option, people believe it. There are so many people who completely show that everything is just the creation of their mind, and because everything is the creation of the mind,
there is a very uh important consequence of this understanding because everything is the creation of my mind, I can establish the rules which I like. The rules of morality, whatever I think is moral, it's moral.
I can change everything because everything is the creation of my mind. I can change my gender because everything is within my power. Yeah. Today I'm male, tomorrow I'm female.
And then of course there are 50 varieties of genders now. Anything. That's the same mentality. That's exactly the same mentality. Mentality of people who think that everything is just the creation of their mind.
As the uh opposition of this naive materialism, they go to this naive idealism or uh postmodernistic ideas. You can do whatever you like, you can you you have to respect everything. Everybody has to choose morality.
Uh is totally relative according to your whims uh and I And ideas. And what I mean to say, when the devotees come to Vṛndāvana and think that just by imagining some Kṛṣṇa's līlā, they can enter into Kṛṣṇa līlā.
They are in which position? Postmodernistic. Yeah. Postmodernistic. They think I will create the spiritual world within my mind because I am who Yeah.
Devotees may not think that they are God. But uh uh the underlying principle is the same.
You if you think that you just you have to visualize. Sometimes you hear this from uh from people, just visualize, visualize, visualize. No. This is not a Vaishnava style of meditation.
What is the real concept behind this? The naive materialism says nothing depends on you, the matter will remain no matter what you think about this.
Mayavadis or Buddhists, they think everything depends on you, whatever you will create in your mind will ultimately become the reality. Vaishnava says no, no.
Neither of these positions is correct, neither of these positions is completely incorrect either. They're somewhat correct. Yes, there is reality outside of me. There is no doubt about it.
But this reality depends, the picture of this reality, this reality, the uh the vision of this reality, my understanding of this reality very much depends on my attitude.
And by changing the attitude, I change the reality.
Cultivating proper attitude for divine revelation
The reality can turn to me by its different faces and angles and if I want to see the complete reality I have to change my attitude to make it conducive for the understanding of this complete reality.
Vaishnava meditation means please listen very carefully. That's a very important thing which I would like us to understand myself included, that Vaishnava meditation does not mean whimsical meditation on Krishna.
Vaishnava meditation means that I take responsibility on myself, on how I reciprocate with this reality.
And by taking the right attitude by reciprocating with this reality which is outside of myself, it's not completely the creation of my mind.
It's real, it's there, the world is real, but by changing my attitude towards this reality, I can deepen my understanding of reality and ultimately in the ultimate issue in the ultimate end, this fullest manifestation of reality will reveal itself to me.
So Vaishnava meditation means I am trying to live in such a way that my thoughts are conducive for meditation, my understanding is conducive of this world of this reality so that ultimately the highest reality which is Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, would reveal himself to me.
Not that in the ultimate issue, he has to be pleased by my attitude, by my attitude to the holy dham, by my attitude to matter, by my attitude to the devotees, to other living entities.
It is said, Krishna says very clearly in the 11th cant of Srimad Bhagavatam, he says that I explained everything about this reality,
about the times, about the places and about the vastus, the things of these substances which surround us.
How you should relate to them which uh the places the times and the vastus vis uh which we have to come into close contact, and what are the times, places, and substances which we should by all means avoid.
And by doing this, you will purify your mind. By doing this, you will please Krishna. Krishna himself says you follow the rules.
And the following the rules, avoiding inappropriate times, avoiding inappropriate places, avoiding inappropriate association and the substances which are not conducive for meditation, you ultimately uh purify your mind, you will be able
to enter into deep state of meditation and in the deepest state of meditation ultimately as a reward to your endeavors, Krishna will reveal himself to you. That's Vaishnava style of meditation. That's what it is.
It includes complete lifestyle, not just sitting here. I I uh you know sometimes people they are they're smoking ganja and uh and say it's very conducive for meditation because it's yeah.
Or sometimes they they they take this LSD and they say LSD is the greatest aid for meditation. Maybe I I never tried but uh but this is not the way. The way is explained uh like this. You follow uh the Krishna's will.
You follow Krishna's desire. You take responsibility upon yourself. Responsibility is the word from materialistic kind of vocabulary because responsibility means I am the doer.
No, I am the doer in a sense that I know what I should do and what I should not do. And I take responsibility in reciprocating with this reality properly.
And then in the ultimate end, as a reward for this, the reality will open up to me in a very amazing and profound way. So So that's that's the difference.
And therefore this very—therefore Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and Śrīla Prabhupāda were very much disgusted with this Sahaja style of meditations.
And they called sahajiyās māyāvādīs. Māyāvādīs disguised as Vaiṣṇavas. And that's my lot. Because you think that by meditating you will open the you that will be the key.
By imagining something you will open the door of spiritual reality. No, it's not. So let's try to understand it more deeply. Of course we don't have so much time now.
I probably will not be able to explain everything, which I won't. I'll probably finish soon because I don't want to go into inappropriate time when the tamas-guṇa becomes very prominent.
So just a few verses from Narottama Dāsa Thakura and from Upaniṣads and from Upadeśāmṛta about the importance of meditation and why meditation is ultimately so important for us.
Importance of constant remembrance
Narottama Dāsa Thakura says in—this is a famous verse, 55th verse from Prema-bhakti-candrikā. Sadhani Bhavibi Yaha, Siddha Dehi Pabitaha, Raga Margi, E Seyupai.
Whatever you think of during your sadhana, you will attain in your siddha body those are the ways of Raga Marga. So, yes, there is room for this kind of meditation, but let's be very careful about this.
And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in Bhakti-sandarbha he quotes the verse from Garuda Purana, very important verse, which should remind us about the importance of meditation.
Muhurte dhyana varjite, dasubir Mushitena Yuktam Akranditam Brisham. He says even if you lose one muhurta, muhurta of course 22 minutes, but uh muhurta may also mean one moment.
If you didn't meditate on Krishna even one muhūrta or even one moment. What you should do, you should think that you were robbed by the thieves, by the rogues.
You were robbed completely, daśyubhir muṣiteneva yuktamākranditaṃ and start crying very bitterly.
I was robbed because I spent uh one moment of my life which could be spent in this very important process of meditating on Krishna. I spend it uselessly.
And that's the cause of very serious lamentation for us should be the cause. So Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī is explaining to us what is the process of bhakti? The process of bhakti is to enter into this uh flow of meditation.
And to live in this flow of meditation, beautiful flow of meditation, and uh it's very fulfilling and it's very pleasant to be in this flow.
And of course we will try to do it uh during this retreat or uh actually that's the purpose why we build this place, to help people to enter into this flow, to understand the subtle reality, and to enter into the flow and to meditate on the words of previous Acharyas.
And of course, Chāndogya Upaniṣad says the same thing: Yayakratura Smill Loke Purusho Bhavati, Tateha, Tathe tahityabhavati,
Sakrat Whatever mentality a jīva maintains in the world, he will be endowed with that mentality also when he goes from this place meaning when he leaves from this current body
let therefore be aspirant uh let there for the aspirant take shelter of this mentality. So the Upaniṣads explain this process to us. We have to be very careful. We have to be the engineers of our own mind.
We have to bring our mind into this state where the higher reality will open, will be open to us, will be revealed to us.
And Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad says, Yat ha, Sayyatha Kamobhavati, tat kratur bhavati, tat karma k The jīva's according to his desires, completeness of these actions and consequently completes his actions and completes and consequently reaps their fruits.
So again we have to be very careful. And that's our responsibility. And the responsibility of Krishna is to reveal address to us, and He will do it no problem when we take responsibility on this.
And the Vaishnava was saying very important. Yadrish Bhavana Yasya. Please repeat, Yadrishi Bhavana Yasya. Yadrish Bhana Yasya. Sidir Bhavati Tadrishi. Siddhir Bhavati Tadrishi. Sidir Bhavati Tadris.
Yadrishi Bhavana Yasya Sidir Bhavati Tadris. Yadrishi as how you what is your bhavana? What is your meditation? What is your mood, uh Sidir Bhavati Tadrisi, uh the same you will uh achieve when you achieve the perfection.
So and of course that's probably the last thing which yeah, maybe a few more things I will say.
Essence of Upadesamrita on absorption
Yeah. So and uh the famous verse from Upadeśāmṛta, Tanamarupacharitadhi S,ukirtananus, Mr Kramen, Rasanama, Nasini Yodja, Tishan Vrajeta Nannuragi Jananugami Kalamnay, Takila meat Upadesha Saram.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says, this is Upadeśāmṛta, the essence of all advice. This is the essence of all advice. Tank Krishna Tank Nama Rupacharitadi Sukirtananu Smityor, Anu Smityor. Tan Nama rupa n charita mints lila.
First you start with Sukirton. Sukirtan means sushtuirtan means complete kirten means kirten with complete absorption.
We all know when we chant kirten it's very easy to absorb our mind in a kirten again because it's rhythmic, it's beautiful, it's music, and especially if the person who is leading the kirten himself is totally absorbed in it it becomes very uh easy way to absorb.
And uh this kirton can be Namakirten can, be Rupakirten, can be Lilakirten or can be Gunakirten. We can glorify the name of God. And this is the most important kirten, because Nam includes everything else.
When we chant the Nam, the holy name, everything else is included. Rupa is there and charity is there. And if you do Sukirtana, then Anus mrityh. Anus pritioch means after that you remember about this. Anu.
Or Anus Mrityog means constant remembrance. Tan namarupacharitadisu Kirta Nanus Mr Kramena rasana nasiniyodja. Gradually, gradually you engage first your tongue and then your mind.
You start talking about this, you start explaining to other people about this, and ultimately your mind will be engaged, manasini yoga.
And then Tishkan Braja, then you will uh come with your mind, Duvraj, tada nuragi jananugami, you will follow the footsteps of great devotees who live here, you will become his anugami, his follower. Kalamnayat.
And this is again very important. Kalamnayet, we should dedicate all our time to this. Śrīla Prabhupāda translates this verse, he said, 24 hours a day we have to do it.
So again, that means entering into this space. That means bringing our mind into this condition where the meditation becomes the most natural. And for that, everything else is important. The food is extremely important.
Everything starts with the food. If you take too many pizzas I don't think it's very satvik, even if it's totally vegetarian because the n natural outcome of pizza is complete So the food should be satvik.
Everything in our life should be conducive to meditation. And ultimately we we enter into this flow of meditation, this flow of meditation in a very natural way bring us to Krishna. We don't need to do anything else.
But that's the whole science of uh this thing. And anu-smaraṇa again and again and again, Rūpa Gosvāmī stresses, emphasizes this point that meditations should be constant. Anu-smaraṇa.
You should utilize all the time which is there in this process of meditation. And uh, of course, we have so many other important topics to meditate upon. Now, Trump is there. And it's a very intense meditation.
But in reality we should try to follow the essence of all advice that is: remember tad-ekāṁ rūpa-caritādibhiḥ kīrtanīyaḥ, starting with kīrtana.
Brain hemispheres and spiritual perception
And perhaps the last thing which I will say today because it's already late, uh that uh I kind of intimated on this. I will elaborate a little bit on this.
Perhaps you know that there is asymmetry in our brain, there is left brain and there is right brain. And there is a great difference in functioning of these two brains. And left brain I explained this yesterday.
This is the uh the difference in functioning of these two parts of the brain is not what uh what was thought originally and not what is very popular in the popular science.
The difference is the attitude towards the reality. The left brain attitude is this exploitive attitude when you try to focus on something and forget about the context.
When you dissect the reality and concentrate your mind on some very narrow portion of reality which you want to exploit. And sometimes we call this meditation
When our mind is completely focused on something which is actually self-serving when we want to do something for ourselves. And that's called exploitation.
And uh when we look into the reality from this left brain perspective with the attitude of left brain. We forget about the context and we only see what we need to see.
And ultimately everything loses meaning because the meaning is not in the things themselves. The very important characteristic of this left brain attitude is self-righteousness. I'm right. I know the reality.
You're completely convinced, "I'm right, this is like this", uh it's not it it cannot be otherwise. Why?
Because you see only very narrow dimension of reality and by concentrating on this, you imagine yourself that you know everything. Like we know scientists, every now and then, science is a very much left brain production, especially modern science. Every now and then they announce we know everything now.
Like in the uh in the beginning of the twentieth century, end of nineteenth century they saw physicists said oh well you know just few points after the comma, uh maybe we can just a little bit understand here, we know the reality uh almost but maybe you know some zero zero zero zero point zero zero zero zero. And then quantum physics was uh discovered and they understood.
We don't understand anything. So that's uh that's the attitude. Uh you have the illusion that you know everything, and therefore you're completely convinced I know the truth. I know the truth.
And everyone else who does not agree with me, he is wrong, and uh and therefore she should be condemned and uh this kind of stuff.
So and uh right brain uh sees the bigger picture, sees the context, sees the connection between the things.
For the right brain, it's important to see the connection and to see the the the bigger picture it is the the better it is. We were talking with him and I started talking a little bit about this.
He said yes, yes. I will tell you a joke. He said once a very practical man came to Philharmonia to the concert hall where they were performing music and it was long three hours performance, and they were playing this.
And after that, he said, Okay, I will explain to you what you should do now. First of all, there are too many instruments.
You have to, you know, you're paying too much money to all these people. You know, there are some people who just play a few notes. Just get rid of them.
Then they repeat the same theme five times or six times, one is enough. Don't repeat it again and again and again. Then there are so many pauses, you can play much faster. No problem.
Ultimately, you can just play this stupid piece of music within half an hour, and then the rest you can just open your restaurant and get a lot of money.
So that's exactly the explanation of somebody with the left brain who sees this and doesn't understand what the right brain is uh is talking about. The right brain is about the relationship.
Not about the things, about the relationship between the things and how beautiful
it is, how everything is interconnected, and how everything has the bigger picture and how by understanding this bigger picture you can understand the meaning.
Because without this, relinquishing the context, you will not be able to see the meaning. And that's exactly what uh happens.
They see this reality, they dissect this reality, uh take a little pieces of this reality, understand them and say uh uh ultimately there's no meaning in this. Of course there's no meaning.
Because your approach already deprived the meaning. Because meaning is only possible when you see the bigger picture.
So primarily it's the right brain function uh but of course with uh oh uh I should say with the synthesis of uh the left brain uh understanding. As I said there are this polarity, this duality of this world,
uh and bhakti is the way to harmonize everything, to synthesize everything.
So bhakti style of meditation uh helps us to, from one sense, to be very real and grounded in this world and in this reality, but at the same time not to be of this reality and ultimately to belong to the higher uh uh spiritual reality.
And um uh bhakti meditation means to become the absorbers and we will speak about this uh at length uh when the time comes.
We'll take the position of observer, we become sakhi, and by absorbing in a proper way the reality we will understand the reality. So that's um that's probably all uh I should say today because it's already late.
So that's what I wanted to tell to start to introduce the topic of our journey.
Questions on spiritual practice and mindset
Thank you very much, Harik. Some questions. Questions. I if there is one or two we can do. Yes. Um I'm just trying to understand the difference between I will repeat the question.
Uh Adi Atmika and Adidas, or maybe better to understand the connection, because like Adidas when we you said we get these impressions from the energy
is the subtle plane adhibhautika is the gross plane, it's made of bhutas, mahabhutas, something which is made of these five gross material elements which are accessible by our senses. That's Adhibika.
Adi Daivika is the subtle plane, the plane of the mind.
And in the mind we mind when the mind is purified, it uh it's attuned, it's uh uh it's capable of uh feeling uh more subtle vibrations and people who have more purified mind they can read other thoughts and everything else.
So that's uh more or less the attitude which helps us to feel the spiritual energy which is here or vibrations by our mind, but it's still not the And the mind becomes peaceful, the mind becomes happy. But it's still on the level of the mind.
That's Adidaivika. And Adhyatmika is uh when we get the access to spiritual reality. That's a completely different realm. So it seems Adiatmika is dependent on our purity? Oh yeah. Adiatmika doesn't depend on anything else.
Uh adiatmika is self-dependent. Uh uh it can be revealed to anyone uh no matter how pure only pure you are but uh uh normal ways that you purify your heart and then the spiritual plane reveals itself to you.
Because you will not be able to to um to to really understand if your heart is not pure. But i i it's technically it's not dependent. So it's not dependent on the purity of the heart.
But uh generally speaking, in the normal circumstances, you have to purify uh your heart to get access to the spiritual reality.
Go back home and exit Grin-Davan and the Adi-Bhautika. Do we do we aim or do we try to enter Grin-Davan on the Adi-Bhautika or Adi-Daivika? No, where our highest goal and aspiration is adhyātmika level.
Therefore, to facilitate this, we are coming to adhibhautika Vṛndāvana, material Vṛndāvana. We're still it's easy for us to absorb our mind when the mind naturally becomes m clean and pure.
Like one brahmacārī told me, it's amazing, you know, I'm in Vṛndāvana and I don't have any lust. when I go back, you know, immediately all these things come.
So uh we come to the material Vṛndāvana, to adhibhautika Vṛndāvana, uh, to feel to get the experience of adhidaivika Vṛndāvana to ultimately and when when we get the real experience of uh adhidaivika uh adhyātmika Vṛndāvana uh Then it will always remain with us.
It will completely change our life. But initially we come here and uh we get the access or try to get the access into the uh adhidaivika plane. Yes,
Your ma your name actually is very appropriate to our seminar. So Maharaj said that um recollecting and thinking is not meditation. Meditation is tuning in. Or the process of śravaṇam. How does one enter into meditation?
See, yes, uh the thinking and recollecting is the entrance into meditation. But we should not think that that's the only meditation, that's the meditation. That's the entry point of meditation.
When we start recollecting this is actually what I'm going to explain tomorrow. I I was planning to do it today but there was no time. So it's entry point. It's important entry point.
Right Krishna Gurumaraj, thank you so much uh for your time.
Or uh you know as you're sort of uh uh tuning into the rhythm of
How do you kind of like uh balance this uh duality or dichotomy uh there is very famous Hungarian psychologist uh Chiksent Mihai uh who wrote a book which is called Flow.
And in this book, he studied many, many cases of very successful people in this world: sportsmen, businessmen, writers, and explained that and they all, and he interviewed them all, and they all explained their
experience and they say that my best performance is when I don't think rationally, but I enter into some flow. And this whole book is called flow.
And he's describing this as a certain condition of our mind when we are very successful in everything which we are doing because we're totally uh focused and concentrated on this.
But it's not uh this left brain concentration when your body is shaking and you're trying to not to distract your mind. It's a different state. You're relaxed, you're in a flow and uh you're flowing with the flow.
So uh this uh meditation
Fight means do whatever you're supposed to do.
But Mama Nusmara, by almost always remembering about me, uh you fight how to do this, mayy arpitamano-buddhir. For that, you have to to offer me your mind and your intelligence. And that's exactly what we will try to do.
So you can still remain in this very serene uh and uh uh peaceful state of mind and uh do your duty. It's possible. It's difficult.
Especially because the environment is not very conducive, it's passionate and everything else and if your chief yells at you know your meditation most probably will be s slightly disturbed Yes, Talas.
Um is it possible while you are in Holy Dham to see and feel something for which you are not ready yet and if it is possible um and if it scares you, what to do then? Run away if it scares you. What else can you do?
If you can't run away No you you may have some experience which you may be not ready to this but just be grateful and keep the company with devotees. If you are in a company of loving devotees then you will not be scared.
Don't worry. The ultimate reality is extremely kind and merciful. And when you experience love, there are two experiences which are not compatible with each other, love and fear.
When you experience the fear, it means there is no love in your heart. But when you experience love, it means there is no fear. So don't worry, mashucha. Yes, Radha Pramot Prabhu. That will be the last question for today.
Um I wanted uh you want to give me the mic anyway. I I really I really uh was so grateful I'm so grateful for your talk about uh rhythm and and going into the rhythm. Thank you so much.
Would you be willing to speak just slightly at least later about the brāhmaṇa nectar devotion who um was doing that imagination and how it became reality? Yeah, I'll I'll I'll do it tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the only day I can't come. Then for sure I'll do it tomorrow. I guess my own manifesting abilities are not very developed. We'll talk about this. We can always talk with you about this. Thank you very much.
I actually wanted in the beginning, somehow or rather, because Shivaradhan Maharaj came, I didn't say this, but I'm very grateful to all the uh Prabhupada's disciples who are here. I'm very humbled by their presence.
I don't feel myself worthy of speaking in front of them, but somehow or other I am in this position. I would rather invite them to sit here and and uh tell and maybe we will have chance to do it by the end or something.
Yes, Radha Prabhu. You are telling about Bhakti Nirvishesh. So I wonder to know but they are working very hard, they are meditating. Uh what will they are going to achieve?
They are staying in Raja, they are doing they are working hard. What exactly they did. And they have good intention, they are they desire it too. If it's really good intention, Krishna will help them.
There no's doubt about it. Sometimes of course it's not always the case. I don't want to make a blanket statement. But sometimes the intention is that I already deserve it, I already I'm already ready to this.
And there is an element of pride, the real meditation or entering into the flow is only possible when you are humbled by the feeling of the presence of the truths which are much greater than you and the influences.
So when Neophi devotees are trying to do this there is always a prominent element of pride which pushes them to do it. Again I don't say that it's in all the cases, maybe there are some other
cases, but ultimately, we have to by maturing in our spiritual practice to get rid of this mentality that I deserve it, I have to do it, I have to do it as soon as possible.
They're trying to conquer over spiritual reality, and you cannot conquer over spiritual reality. Spiritual reality has to descend upon you. What will be their destination?
I'm sure their destination will be very very beautiful. Krishna will help them. And there are different kinds of uh mercy which can be manifested. Once uh one uh lady devotee told me a story.
She felt so proud that she's here in Vrindavan, and she's so pure, and she chants, and she was so—she felt very good about herself.
And then she, at that time, there were these bicycle rickshaws uh—you hardly see them anymore, but at that time there was a lot of them.
And she was sitting on this rickshaw, and she was sitting high and looking down, and she saw some, you know, hogs in the dirt of Vrindavan and this and that, and she became disgusted with this.
And she said, you know, and she was thinking, "I'm—I'm such an elevated soul, and this stupid hog's there enjoying the dust."
And in this moment this bicycle rickshaw, she turned away, and she found herself in the same dirt as the pigs and hogs, and she remembered what she was thinking the moment before, and, yes, and she realized Krishna gave her very amazing mercy.
mercy, putting her in a proper position. So we're not judges. Uh the purpose of my talk is not to judge anyone. We should not be judgmental. We shouldn't look down at other people. We should respect whatever they are doing.
But for ourselves we should understand. Maybe these people are you know they're great meditators. Maybe we don't say anything.
Śrīla Prabhupāda wasn't in the position to say very strong words about this, to warn his disciples against it. We should be respectful, uh, whatever they're doing. But for myself, I'm not so elevated.
Like I remember once, Radhanath Swami—somebody asked him, he was speaking about gossiping, and somebody asked him what to do if somebody is gossiping in front of you and you can't really stop him.
him, he said, "You just tell him, Prabhu, I'm not so elevated. I cannot really take part in it. You please continue it yourself. So basically, whatever they're doing, let them do.
But Śrīla Prabhupāda was very clear, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī was very clear, and that's the science. And we will understand how the science works.
If we understand how the science works, there will be no need for us to rush into this.
Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that the fools, they rush where the angels are scared to step. So it's a very delicate subject matter. We cannot claim ourselves to be deserving to be part of Krishna's intimate Leela unless he himself says this.
You can't say that I deserve it. He has to recognize it and he does it uh upon the recommendation of other devotees, especially elevated devotees. That's that's the way to enter Vṛndāvana.
Not just by imagining ourselves great. Which is of course an easy way to achieve perfection.