Gita Fest. Lecture 1. The Specialty of the Holy Name Given by Lord Caitanya
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Флорида · 2022
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Chanting introductory prayers
Oh Mahyana Timirandasya, Dyanam Janachalaya, Chaksurumi Vitamina, Tasma Shri Guraveinama, Sri Chaitanyama Bistam, Stapitame Bhutale Swamrupa Damayam Dati Swapadantikam Deham Sri Guru Sri Yutapadakamalam, Sri Guru Vaisnavamcham, Sri Rupam, Sagrachatam, Srakram Saganaragunatamitam Sadivam, Sadwitam Sadhutam Parijana Sahitam Krishna Chaitanya Deva Sri Rada Krishna Pada Sahagana Ladita Sri Visakadams, E Krishna Karuna Sindho, Vinabandho Jagatpate, Gopesa Govikanta, radakantamustute Taptakanchanagaurangi, Rade Vrhavaneshwari Vrisabanu Sute Devi Pranamami Haripri, Vanichakalpataruvaschindub yevacha, patitanampavaneby, vaisnavyamonamaham, sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabunitananda Sri Advaithara, Srivassadigora Bhakta Brinda. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Ramahare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Ramahare Hare. Namasrishamanu Mati Sachiputramatraswaru Pam Rupam Tasyagra Jamarupurim Madurim Gostavatim Radakundagirivarama Radikamadavasam Raptoya, Pratitakriya, Sri Gurum Tamna Dosmi. Yontah pravisi, mama vacham, maampraçupam, sandji vaya, takila shakti darah, swadam nanyam, shahsta charana, sravanat vagadim prananda mobhagavate, purusyatu gim. Swasyastu viswas ja kalah prasidatam, vyan to butani shivammit poodia, manashabadramba Jatata Doksajae, Avesya Damnamati Adyahaituki. Hare Krishna. I'm extremely humbled.
To speak in front of all of you, especially in front of so many disciples of Srila Prabhupada. In front of Patrick Prabhu who can uh inspire even a stone. In
front of Mother Urmila, who has been researching for this seminar for five years before coming.
And here I am, some upstart who is trying to speak about Lord Chaitanya's mercy. My only hope is your kindness, your blessings, and well wishes. And of course, Lord Chaitanya's mercy is also my hope.
And I want to say that I very much depend on your enthusiasm. Like while chanting this uh Mangalacharana, I didn't feel so much enthusiasm.
So So please support my feeble attempts to say something by visibly manifesting your enthusiasm because I'm not like Pundrik, I cannot I cannot really I cannot really infuse enthusiasm myself.
So I depend on your uh goodwill. And I also must admit that it feels very awkward to speak in English in front of people who majority of whom mostly speak Russian. But nevertheless I will try.
Overview of the seminar topic
And like Pundrik said, in Rome do what Romans do, so in America you should speak English, so uh that's the that's the rationale behind it.
Anyway so uh I'll try to reproduce a seminar which I gave a few years back in Russian. This seminar is called Sri Nama, the Special gift of Lord Chaitanya.
And in this seminar I'll explain what is so special about the Nam which is given by Lord Chaitanya.
Because the glory of the holy name is everywhere in Vedic literature, starting with Rigveda. Practically every saint in India is speaking about the power of the holy name, is speaking about the mercy of the holy name.
Every scripture mentions about the Holy Name and there are so many different procedures, methods, processes of how to chant the Holy Name. Everywhere. All the great Acharyas were teaching the glories of the Holy Name.
And nevertheless, we not only as the followers of Lord Chaitanya but even as impartial observers can see that there is something special about the holy name given by Lord Chaitanya.
So the topic of my presentation, I don't know how successful it will be, but at least I will sincerely try, will be to attempt to explain the dimensions of the holy name which are only given by Lord Chaitanya, which nobody else gave. The specialty of the holy name received from Him. Like just a couple of days back, I received a letter from some aspiring disciple, and he asked my permission and my blessings to get initiation from some good.
Good friend of mine, a yogi, living in Vṛndāvana. And he writes to me: I met this sādhu, this yogi, and I feel the transcendental ecstasy. Could you please give me the permission to take initiation from him?
And this request puzzled me and actually revealed the very important lack in the education which devotees get.
Because even though you know they are all sincere seekers, they want to have some genuine special uh spiritual experience but they don't really understand the differences in the spiritual experiences.
I know very well this particular person whom he wants to take initiation from. He is a he is a very kind-hearted person. He's a he's a beautiful sadhu, but still he's not a follower of Lord Caitanya.
And of course not every follower of Lord Caitanya is true to this name, to this title. But nevertheless, being the followers of Lord Caitanya is a special, very special privilege.
And we should not be so uh how to say this? We should not be so uh uh uh so neglectful or so I don't know inattentive to lose this chance, rare chance to obtain something which Lord Caitanya gave.
Ecstasy we can give. We can get. No problem. You know, even if you go to the discotheque, you probably can feel some sort of ecstasy for some time.
Cultivating sincere prayer and humility
You know, and uh but uh really we have to first theoretically understand uh what What is the ecstasy Lord Caitanya came to give? And then practically start experiencing it and really understand that nowhere else we can get the same.
So that's that's the simple point which I would like to deliberate and to speak about and to maybe ignite some sort of deliberation or licaro thinking in us. And even though Lord Caitanya is giving this gift freely, not everyone is capable of getting it.
Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī in one of his beautiful prayers to Lord Chaitanya says one vañcitosmi, vañcitosmi, vañcitosmi, I am cheated, I am cheated, I am cheated.
Lord Chaitanya came to give freely this wonderful gift of bhakti and his pastimes, he revealed the ocean of this prayer in this material world. But I am cheated because not even a drop touched me.
So he's saying it in his humility. Obviously he has a lot of prema which is given to him by Lord Chaitanya.
He is a descendant of this Tirumala family from which Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī is coming and Lord Chaitanya personally blessed this family by his staying with them for three months in Sri Ranga.
But he's saying this for us. I am cheated, I am cheated, I am cheated. This should be our prayer within our heart. I am cheated.
Lord Chaitanya came. And he is giving this, but still nothing somehow rather touched me, nothing perfected me. This sincere prayer should be within our heart. This sincere regret within our hearts should always be there.
And then maybe if this sincere prayer will be there, Lord Chaitanya will become truly merciful to us and give at least a drop of his mercy.
So my attempt to speak on this topic which obviously much over my head uh is uh is done with the hope that by doing this I will attract mercy of Lord Caitanya and I will somehow rather uh first of all think about this amazing gift which Lord Chaitanya gave to us.
And uh uh perhaps by thinking about this deeply I will obtain some mercy and get something and uh uh you know hopefully I will also apply uh these things in my life. So I want first to chant with you. But please chant with me. Don't sit silently.
Otherwise I will just sit down and ask Bhakti Prabhu to to hit you with his enthusiasm over the head I I I just came from New York and it was so difficult for me to speak in New York because I'm trying to speak something and you know people stare at me.
And uh I really feel that this material energy is very close. She's right there. And the covering is quite thick. Please try to somehow or other forget that she's close and participate
Urgency of spiritual practice today
in Lord Chaitanya's movement. And of course, this is also what I want to say is that we are living in a very difficult and critical time. I don't remember time, you know, which would be so difficult.
Of course there was Caribbean crisis. I was little boy at that time. Probably it was as critical as it is now. But perhaps in certain aspects the time which we are living in is even more difficult.
And that's yet another reason why we should become very serious about the gift of chanting. Not to be cheated at the end of the day, to be really blessed.
You know, the time is critical and God knows how much time do we have. In one lecture, Śrīla Prabhupāda says that uh at least Mahārāja Parīkṣit knew for sure that he will live seven days. None of us can be sure about this.
At least he had this guarantee. We don't have even this guarantee. You know, and with the present situation it's it's really true. Somebody can push a button and that's it. That's the end.
So uh let's try to deliberate on the mercy of Lord Chaitanya because there is no other uh subject matter which is more worthy than this.
So I will chant the famous bhajan of Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Prārthanā, the prayer for uh uh the prayer which is filled with lālasā, which is filled with desire.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda in his purport, which I will briefly tell, explains that in this prayer Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is explaining the stages of spiritual development which we all have to know very well.
How going from one stage to another we ultimately can achieve the highest possible goal.
And that's another purpose of this seminar because oftentimes, unfortunately, due to the influence of this beautiful material energy, which we have seen now, we forget about the goal.
And when we forget about the goal, the sadhana which we do stops being a sadhana. It's not sadhana anymore. Because according to the dictionary definition of sadhana,
which uh Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī gives in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, kṛti-sādhyā bhavet sādhyā- bhāvā sā sādhanābhidhā nity-सिद्धस्य भावस्य प्राकट्यं hṛdi sādhyatā. He says that sādhanābhidhā,
abhida literally means the dictionary definition of sadhana. How a dictionary would define sādhanā, he said, kṛti-sādhyā bhavet sādhyā-bhāvā.
Uh the activity of the senses, kṛti- sādhyā, becomes sādhanā only when it is performed with sādhyā-bhāva, only when it is performed with a very clear understanding of what you want to achieve by doing this.
Otherwise the mechanical activity of our senses, kṛti-sādhyā, is not upgraded, is not elevated to the level of sādhanā. It's just a mechanical activity, like any other activity in this material world.
Of course, you know there is a spiritual aspect in it in any case we chant the holy name. But still, the moment we lose this sādhyā-bhāva, the sense that I'm doing this to achieve a very specific goal.
The moment when we lose this sense, this valve within the heart, it becomes just a tedious exercise. And sometimes even meaningless exercise.
So when we sit and chant the holy name, we have to have first and foremost this sādhyā-bhāva. This is what I'm doing. I'm doing it to achieve this, not to you know put a tick at the end. You know, I'm done.
For today I'm done, no problem. You know it it doesn't make any sense, you know. Sādhanā should not be a tick exercise.
I remember once I was uh actually I was preaching the glories of you know making this sadhana chart and you know uh counting all the you know, things which you do.
And I was preaching it and I was doing it very sincerely myself, putting so many ticks uh there and you know being very satisfied with myself. I chanted so many rounds today and I did this today and did that today.
But the result of it was a complete stress. Nothing else. Nothing else.
There wasn't some false satisfaction that yes, I'm doing this, I'm doing that, but in reality, uh you know the the goal of what I was doing uh was to put the tick next to the point which I was doing.
And by doing this I I I was very happy and satisfied but I cheated myself.
So basically you know we should have this sahaja bhāv and until we achieve this very difficult and practically unachievable goal we should not be satisfied by all means.
So to encourage myself first of all and all of you to a certain extent, I will be presenting certain points and stories and yeah and ideas, mostly ideas which are
there in our philosophy in the teachings of Caitanya and what Śrīla Prabhupāda's teaching says. So that's let's chant this bhajan.
Today is just introduction I don't know how much I covered because six o'clock I have to finish right who is in charge here yes okay thank you so
So let's chant this bhajan and again, I'm not a very good singer, I'm not a very good musician, I'm not any a very good anyone. And this microphone doesn't really follow my order.
Even though I pretend to be the Supreme Lord. Okay.
I see the moment I say that I am the superior surrender, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhupāda Nityānanda Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi Gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Somebody
playing harmonium and or sorry, uh, mṛdaṅga. Mṛdaṅgas are here but no players. I can play. Please help me, it's within your interest.
Chanting Gauranga Bolite Habe bhajan
Kara down here. saṁsāra-bāsanā, bhāveku saṁsāra, vaikuṇṭha saṁsāra, bāsanā mora haibe ki tu cāhāra saṁsāra, viṣaya chāḍiyā boindaba, vishayasaria Yo batabur Rupara Bona de Rahomara
Narata Narata Volanga volite, uovak Ale Krishna Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Ale Rama Ramayare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ura volitabe shari
Stages of spiritual awakening
Yeah, well, any movie that I like to do. So I'll speak few words about this part when this time. Narodam Dastakur starts this bhajan uh with this prayer
When by hearing the name of Gauranga or by pronouncing the name of Gauranga. Goranga Bolhi tehabi pulakasharira. The hairs on my uh body will stand on end Hari Hari Bolite Naya Neva Vinira. And uh uh uh I will start uh
speaking Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare and the tears will stream my cheeks and my eyes will be beautified by these streams of tears.
So what he means to say is that when we understand what Lord Chaitanya came to give, when we understand that Gauranga came to give the highest possible gift of prema, and not even ordinary prema, very special prema, which was not given before.
When we realized this, You know, the specialty of Lord Chaitanya and his gifts to us, then just by saying Gauranga, we will feel if not ecstasy but uh the reflection, the abhasa of ecstasy, some bhāva-ābhāsa.
You know, and it very much depends on uh the extent uh in which we understand who is Lord Chaitanya.
If we think that he is just a great saint, if we think that he is, you know, he is just an avatar, and so many avatars came, so many great saints are there.
If we don't understand his really special place in the history of humanity. I mean it's it sounds very how to say this, uh definitely not very humble, you know.
We have few uh you know few dozens of people sitting here and I'm sitting in front of them and saying, you know, Ocean has a very special place in the history of humanity. It may sound exaggerated.
But if we impartially, absolutely impartially. Study what he came to give. We will be amazed. And just by remembering his name, we will experience some sort of ābhāsa, some sort of bhāva, some bhāvas. Really.
Just intellectually understanding who is Lord Chaitanya, how special he is, how he is completely different, how. and what he really gave, we will experience some shadow of an ecstasy.
And then we will start chanting the holy name with the real, real heart. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare. Because that's the point.
We really have to chant the holy name wholeheartedly. When we chant the holy name whole-heartedly, it's not called nāmāparādha.
If we chant the holy name and at the same time we think about something else, if we don't understand that this is the most important thing which uh which is there in the universe, uh if we understand that the holy name is uh engraved within our heart already it is explained in the 12th
canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that uh the Lord by creating every living entity He He based uh He actually included or invested invested the holy name, the sound Ohm at least, as the basis, as the foundation of every living entity. It's already there.
It's just because uh we're so covered by all these layers and layers and layers by material desires and everything else, the layers of māyā. We don't really recognize, and the holy name which is already there within the heart does not resonate with the holy name which we're trying to pronounce externally.
which is covering us, then the miracle happens. which is covering us, then the miracle happened. We will understand that the holy name is already inside us, it's already sounds there. It's already there.
And this amazing effect of the holy name that this is something which I already always knew will come to us.
I have so many stories when people say that when I first heard the sound of Harinam, you know, it sounded so familiar.
You know, when I first heard the sound of Hari Nam, it was in a hostel when my friend uh was chanting the holy name in shower. And it sounded very awkward to me. But still, it touched me. It touched me.
And when he told me, just chant the holy name, I mean I didn't believe in God, I didn't read Bhagavad-gītā at that time. I didn't I didn't know anything, I didn't know who is Krishna, I didn't know who is Rama.
I just believed him and I started chanting this Hare Krishna and I'm still chanting it. And uh I didn't have a clue what it is, but uh I I did.
Uh so but if I understand what is the special specialty of the Holy Name given by Lord Chaitanya? Then we will be able to chant the Holy Name with our whole heart. And uh it will give a very amazing result.
And sometimes it happens. You know, there is a beautiful story which I sometimes tell.
We had Janmāṣṭamī in Moscow, and it was huge celebrations, a few thousand people came, and uh and probably around thousand people uh remained till 12 o'clock for the last arati.
Uh so the last arati, 12 o'clock, the altar is open, you know, the ārati started and the kīrtana is going on. And I'm, you know, being in charge of this, I feel very you know amazing feelings.
So I'm just walking through the devotees and so many guests are there and I'm walking through and watching them and amazing kīrtana is going on with a lot of feelings and emotions and everyone is chanting.
And I'm like a very you know happy patriarch walking around watching everyone, what they're doing. And all of a sudden, somebody is knocking me at the back, is patting me at the back, and I turn my head.
And one young boy said, comes to me, and he says, can you please explain what is happening to me? I'm I'm singing this song and I'm crying all the time.
Can you please explain, something is wrong with me, or what is happening? I am for the first time here. I never heard it. I I am just crying and crying and crying.
And I said to him, There is nothing wrong with you, something is wrong with me, because I'm not crying. That's exactly what uh Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura says here. When we understand we start crying naturally.
You know, this boy is a proof because he was not programmed, he he didn't know what it is, he didn't know anything. He just he just received this gift of Lord Caitanya, and he started crying, spontaneously crying.
But then, you know, when we understand it theoretically, that's one thing, that's not enough. Because it will not stay for a long time.
It will not give us, it may give us a shadow of experience, but it will not give us sustainable experience. It will not give us the experience which will always be with us and which
will be lasting and which will overshadow all other experiences which we had in life. And ultimately, we're chanting the Holy Name for this purpose.
At least initially, we're chanting the Holy Name to experience this amazing thing that all other experiences which we uh which we had either completely erased from our memory or at least completely weakened and not really giving us any troubles anymore.
You know the experience of the holy name must become much more profound and much more vivid uh than all other experiences which we had, uh so that all the Vasanas which are there will not bother us.
Mercy of the spiritual master
And that's exactly what Naratam Dastapur says in the second stanza of this song, where he explains how this can happen.
To have this experience on a permanent basis, not just temporarily for a split moment and then you wonder whether it was just some, you know, some I don't know some illusion which descended upon me from some unknown plane or Or was it something real?
He says to have this experience on a permanent basis, what you should do, ara kabi ni tai chan korona karib, you should get the mercy of Nitay Chand who is the original spiritual master. You should get the mercy of your spiritual master, who is the representative of Nitay Chand.
You can only get this experience really you can only get this real experience and be sure that this experience is real if you develop the service attitude towards your spiritual master.
Unless and until this service attitude, severity within your heart is established very firmly, you know, the experience which you may have will be just shadow and this shadow will not be able to overshadow other experiences.
That's the point.
You know you will have some feeble experience sometimes we may have it but uh to have uh it for real we really need to establish this service attitude the humility towards the spiritual master who is representative of God. Towards the spiritual master as the representative of God in our life.
You know, because God is too far away. We need to have somebody whom we're serving. And this somebody, his presence has to be very force in our life.
It should not be you some faint uh you know, presence, you know, yes I have my Guru Maharaj, he's sitting on my altar, I'm I'm giving him you know some something to eat every day, let him be happy. This is not the point.
The point of having spiritual master is having somebody whom I'm serving, whom I am breathing for, whom I am doing everything for. You know, I'm doing it for him to please him.
So when this attitude is there then the spiritual
must naturally be pleased because he is you know he is he's very merciful and he is he is a simple hearted person so he takes it seriously whatever we tell him or try to do for him. And then samsara basana mora khabitucha habi.
At that moment samsara vasana, the vasanas, the very heavy impressions which we have which actually form our personality. Vasana, there is a difference according to the yoga, yoga teachings, yoga philosophy.
There is samskaras and there is vasanas. Samskaras is just impressions. And this impressions may be may be of different degrees of depths.
Some of the impressions, some of the impressions of memories of our enjoyment of our fear in this material world may be very deep, uh like childhood traumas.
Some of them may be very shallow, you know they are there, they will be gone very soon. This is samskaras. Samskaras is a problem, but it's not such a big problem. Vasana is a problem.
Vasana is the cumulative samskara which is accumulated over not even one lifetime.
It's samskaras which are put the similar samskara, similar impressions, similar experience, material experience, samsara, samsara bhasana. The experiences which we have in this material life, when they are repeated, not even over one time, one lifetime, but uh over several lifetimes they form very deep traits of our personality.
And we came, and these traits of our personality are there written in our chart, in our horoscope, you know, according to the placement of different planets an expert astrologer may say what are these vasanas?
This vasanas is the problem. It's very difficult to eradicate them.
But uh Naratham Dastakur says at that moment when the service attitude will be established within my heart. And the mercy, the flow of mercy of my spiritual master will come who is actually a via media of the Lord. He is just the transparent media through whom the mercy of the Lord is coming to me.
When this waterfall of mercy will come upon us, this waterfall of mercy uh will wash away uh all this vassiness. You know it's like Niagara fall. Niagara? Whatever, nay gala, whatever. I'm from Russia, please forgive me.
I have speak Russian accent. So uh and I hardly speak English anyway. Uh so when this nayagara fall of mercy will wash uh will fall upon us uh it will uh
actually wash away all the saṁskāras that are pressing as there is no way. There is no way that's too deep and uh the strong method, strong method against this to to eradicate, to erase all these vāsanās from this saṁsāra.
Therefore, he says saṁsāra-vāsanā. Saṁsāra-vāsanā means repeated impressions. Like you know, attachment to sex. It's it's uh we have been repeating this experience over too many lifetimes.
And uh it's not easy to uh erase these things.
And he says, saṁsāra vāsanā-māra-kāde tucha hade, at that moment they will become tuccha, tuccha means insignificant, they may still be there, but they will not bother us. They will not really change our course.
and hindrance in our path, but only if the mercy is there of Nitai-Candra or his representative. So, and then you know, this is first we're speaking about some temporary experience.
Then he says the real experience comes when you become serious. By knowing theoretically about Lord Chaitanya and establishing some relationship with him, you get some shadow of experience.
But then if you want to uh make it more profound, then you have to establish a relationship with the spiritual master and serve him very uh how you say honestly without any cheating, without any cheating propensity which is there within our heart.
If we do this, then his mercy will come, and then the impediments will be washed away from our path.
Purifying the mind from material impressions
And then he says, Bishochda Habiman.
And then at that moment this Vishai uh this attachments uh to the sense objects uh our uh very strong uh Aspirations to achieve something in this material world, they will be our mind will be purified.
Our mind, our mind will be purified, Suddha will become Suddha from this Bishaya, Bishaya Charyakadi. Why? And that I will explain in some details.
You know, we know that we sometimes have some material desire, we always have some material desire, but you know, if we fulfill one desire, another desire comes, another desires comes, and there is no end to this.
And these desires somehow or other, you know, will never be satisfied. Why? Because there is Vasana underneath. And this vasana generates desires on the surface. It always produces this is the root of different desires.
So when the root is eradicated, then he said that my mind becomes very clear.
My mind when the root is completely how to say uprooted or taken away from the mind, the mind becomes clear and transparent and he says by this transparent mind I I will see real Vṛndāvana.
This is the next stage of experience. I feel that my mind is very peaceful because all these material desires are not bothering me anymore. They are not really they're not really clouding my mind.
Because again, yogis they compare the mind with the water of a pond and they say deep down on the bottom of But because the water of this pond is so muddy, we don't see this treasure.
We don't really experience that the treasure is there like Patri Prabhu said there are three treasures of Lord Chaitanya.
So the problem is that the that the waters are so muddy, therefore, we cannot really recognize that the treasure is there.
In the same way, when the waters of our mind are muddy, when the mind is always disturbed, why the waters of the pond become so muddy because they're always disturbed by certain external factors or internal factors, whatever is there.
So he says, as soon as the causes for this disturbance are removed from my mind, my mind becomes very peaceful and calm and transparent. And when the mind becomes transparent, I see the treasure.
Perceiving the eternal realm of Vrindavan
What is the treasure? I see Vṛndāvana. I see real Vṛndāvana, which is present right here, by the way. You know, without any custom problems, Vṛndāvana is here. Because the spiritual world is unlimited.
You know, the spiritual world is not somewhere else. The spiritual world is not a place, it's not a geographical place where you have to go and you have to, you know. The spiritual world is right here now.
And Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura, he says this amazing thing here. He says that as soon as my mind becomes clear, I will have real experience of Vṛndāvana. I will really see Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana means Krishna and his devotees.
Vṛndāvana means we will see this beautiful loving exchange, which can only be seen by the clear mind.
At one point when the mind is clear, and I will explain in the seminar when it happens and how it happens gradually, but at one point when the mind becomes clear, first the reflection of Krishna's form comes into mind.
And then the reflection of Krishna's quality also comes to our mind.
And then after reflection of Krishna's form and Krishna's quality comes to our mind, we will see the Parikars, the associates of Krishna who are serving him and we will feel a beautiful flavor of their love.
To see Vrindavan doesn't mean to see even Krishna. Śrīla Prabhupāda says that Krishna is never alone. You cannot really even depict Krishna alone.
He is always with his associates to see Vṛndāvana means to see how the eternal associates of Krishna are serving Krishna and how Krishna is serving them, how Krishna is receiving their service and how Krishna is reciprocating with their service
and to see Vṛndāvana means to feel it. So again at one stage of our spiritual development this reflection must come to our mind. And this is the only stage of spiritual development when we really be
able to do rāgānuga-sādhana because rāgānuga-sādhana means very clear understanding how how we can serve uh Krishna and his devotees and how his devotees are serving Krishna. So that we will speak a little bit during the seminar.
And he says this very clearly, at one point this vision uh will come to you uh but he is longing for this day. And he is telling us we should also be longing for this day.
We should not be satisfied that we are, you know, well situated in uh uh in the US and you know we have our pension guarantee to us or whatever is there. You know, this will not really help you at the end of the day.
So this experience uh he's speaking the next. When the mind becomes clear after we root out the deeply rooted vāsanās from the mind, then we will see real Vṛndāvana. It means that we will see how what the real services.
Rehearsing this service attitude towards our spiritual master,
we will open the door to the real realm of service, to the real uh world of service, spiritual world which is based on neutral service of all the living entities, not like this world, which is based on envy and hatred towards each other.
And then he says even more beautiful thing.
Following the path of Rupanuga
He says that even this is not enough. At the end of the day, and Śrīla Prabhupāda is very emphatic while explaining this bhajan.
He says that when this experience of spiritual Vṛndāvana will come to us, then the real desire to study books of Rupa and Ragunatha of two greatest acharyas of our line.
And of course, Rupa Ragunath means Jīva Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, but primarily Rupa and Ragunat. Why primarily Rupa and Raguna because it's in their teachings they explain the subtleties of the loving service to the Lord.
And without real desire to understand this, we will never be able to enter into this realm of divine service. That's a very high stage, I understand.
It may not be relevant to us now, you know, we have our kids to raise and you know. I don't, but you know, I'm lucky everyone else does. Or at least many.
But still, as I said, the aspiration, our aspiration should be there. This longing should be there. Yes, at one stage, this desire will become relevant to
us because at one stage we should develop this desire to understand the subtleties of these nuances because otherwise we will come to the spiritual world. What we will do there?
How we will deal with Krishna and with his associates, you know, being so gross, we will be like a you know like a bull in a china shop. Krishna doesn't mean another elephant, he already killed Kubalaya Peter.
You know and you know because the loving relationship are so sensitive, so fragile. Even in this world we know it's so easy to offend somebody. Especially when we're so close. When we come to a very close distance.
And real Vṛndāvana means very close distance. Vaikuṇṭha no problem. To Vaikuṇṭha you can go.
You can have my blessings. No problem. There is no problem because the distance is so huge. Between even the living entities, they are so formal. And therefore, you know we can go there.
And therefore, it is said everywhere that liberation is simple. Liberation you can achieve, no problem. If you want liberation, Krishna will give you liberation. Muktir Dadati Karhichit. He says sometimes he gives Mukti.
Mukti he is not greedy to give Mukti. But bhakti yoga he gives very rarely, sparingly. He gives in a very rare occasion because it's so rare and so sensitive, and therefore, uh, Narottam Dasa Ṭhākura here says
when you have this beautiful vision of what real Vrindavan is then the next step, next necessary step, is to study, to develop
this very strong desire to develop to study books of Rupa and Raguna. And of course I know that some people start studying these books of Rupa and Raguna before that.
That's another problem, which I will hopefully also mention in the uh we shouldn't rush there but we should not also uh we should not also uh how to say this take it for granted or neglected, we should clearly see this is my goal.
At one point, I need to read Villa Pushmanjali and I read I need to understand what Ragunat Das Goswami means by writing this last poem of his. We should not artificially say that you know this is never for me.
No, he says yes. At one certain point, Rupara Bunata Padehoi Beakuti Kabihama Buja Bose Juga Viriti.
When this desire will appear in our heart and we sincerely apply our heart in studying the books and writings of Rupa and Ragunat, then we will understand all these subtleties of jugalapiriti, all the subtleties of love.
And again, I will not speak about this, but I will I will speak I will speak not about this, but I will speak about anyway about about it.
Which is which is important and uh at to which stage of our development we really have to uh think about it and uh and how it comes, how gradually it comes, not artificially, but not, you know, again, artificially delaying with this or postponing it. You know, this this I will do when I am when I am eighty-five years old and uh mature enough and I don't have any lust in my heart. Uh there is no need for this attitude either.
And therefore he answers his prayer Rupara Gunata Padera Hum raś. My only goal is to come close to the lotus feet of Rūpa and Raghunātha. It basically means to come close to the feelings which they experienced.
Rūpa Gosvāmī was personally empowered by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who invested his heart with all his feelings. He came here to bring these feelings to us, to share these feelings.
But he also knew that you know it's not so easy to get access to these feelings.
Therefore, he invested these feelings in the heart of Rūpa Gosvāmī, and Rūpa Gosvāmī made the feelings of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu accessible to us. This is why we are called Rūpānugas. We are not called Caitanyānugas.
Because it's very difficult to follow Lord Chaitanya. He's so spontaneous and He's so mysterious. And uh, but Rūpa Gosvāmī specially was empowered and commissioned.
His mission was to recognize what is going on in the heart of Lord Chaitanya and make this feeling accessible to us. And we will be greatest fools if we neglect this opportunity. Lord Chaitanya came.
He made sure that the treasure which he came to give is accessible and he made it through through Rūpa Gosvāmī. Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote it.
And Raghunātha—why, uh, Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura mentions Raghunātha? Because every devotee at that time, every devotee at that time knew that the greatest was Rūpa Gosvāmī. He was worshipable to everyone.
Everyone was amazed by, uh, the genius of Rūpa Gosvāmī.
Because Rūpa Gosvāmī expressed in such a beautiful way all these feelings, nobody else could do it, uh, and everyone who would read, they—they were glorifying Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, but the miracle happened and this is the statement of, uh, contemporaries of Rūpa and Raghunātha.
Every single devotee knew that the highest one is Rūpa Gosvāmī. But then all of a sudden Raghunātha became as high as Rūpa Gosvāmī. He practically achieved the same. And this is again the statements of their associates.
Everyone was amazed how this boy, uh, Raghu, who was not even from brāhmaṇical background, who was from Kāyastha family, from very rich sense enjoyers, how, by the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and by the training which he received from Rūpa Gosvāmī, practically became on the same level as Rupa Gaswami.
And therefore, Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura says, and this is the standard phrase, uh, which, uh, Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī uses—he, uh, ends every chapter of Caitanya-caritāmṛta by uh praying to Rupa and Ragunath because the very fact of Ragunath's existence gives hope to us.
You may say, Lord Chaitanya is very special, he's the Lord Himself. Okay, who am I to experience this?
You may say, Rupa Gaswami is very special because Lord Chaitanya personally invested his heart with all these feelings. Who am I? I will never do this.
But here we have Raghunat, who was following Rupa Gaswani. And we have so many other of course uh illustrious uh devotees who were following them but the point which Naratam Dastakur makes here is that it's possible it's accessible.
Try for it. Don't uh be lazy. Uh, because this is what Lord Chaitanya came to give, and uh don't neglect it and it the choice is yours.
So if you go through this gradual path, which is beautifully depicted in this bhajan, first understanding at least theoretically what Lord Chaitanya gave, then applying yourself wholeheartedly to the service of your spiritual master and solving all the material problems which are there ingrained in our consciousness, and then clarifying the mind and by clear mind seeing what is going on in the spiritual world, and then studying the amazing books of Rupa and Ragunat, we will be able to achieve everything.
And therefore, Naratam Dastakur says at the end that my Pratana, my prayer always is this.
I want to be at the feet of Rup and Ragunath. I want to be at their feet, serving them and trying to follow them in a very humble way and in this way achieve the goal of
human life so that's a little introduction to what I want to say. Well there is this uh silent pause. Uh in Russian they say at this moment the policeman must have been bored.
Because you can only be so silent if some police is small.