Vasanta Panchami
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Bangalore · 2021
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Welcome and significance of Vasant Panchami
Namah oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaḥ ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhup Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita Gadādhara, Śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Hare.
Naṁ praviśati mad-vākyaṁ prācūryāt saṁjīvayati, śaktiṁ dadāty āśvarīṁ taṁ tvāṁ pranamāmy aham
pu sah, Dudu, Swas to Vishwasi Cala, Prasi Data Tam, Dayan Du Butani, Shiwammit Hoodia, Machabadram Badja Doksache, Aviashi Dumno Ma de Haya Hai Duki I
am very honored and happy to be with you on this day of Vasan Panchami. And as far as I could understand, this is the first day when this temple is open for the public.
So on behalf of all the devotees in this temple, I welcome you all to this temple back after long pandemic. Now it's over. Please come. So today is a very special day.
Vasanta Panchimi, the day when the spring season starts and winter is over. Of course in Bangalore you hardly notice whether winter is over and spring starts. There is not much difference.
In Russia there is quite a difference.
Material knowledge versus transcendental knowledge
Now it's probably minus twenty in Moscow a lot of snow doesn't look like spring started. But according to the Vedi calendar, that's the time when the spring starts, and it's also the time of the day of Saraswati Puja.
Saraswati, as you all know, is the wife of Lord Brahma, and she is the goddess of learning. And of course, all of you, before exams, you do Saraswati Puja, go to her and pray to her for good marks and exam.
But according to the Vedic scriptures, there are two types of knowledge. One is Aparavidya, another one is paravidya. Aparavidya is the lower kind of knowledge, material knowledge.
And Goddess Saraswati, she represents this material knowledge. And what is this material knowledge? Ultimately, material knowledge is how to be attracted to this world.
It's nothing but interaction with the things in this world, understanding how these things in this world are connected, and ultimately to increase the attraction to this world.
And there is paravidya or transcendental knowledge, knowledge which is described in the highest sections of the Vedic literature, of Vedic literature, in Upaniṣads and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And Paravidya is the knowledge which makes you attracted to the Supreme Lord. When our soul is covered by ignorance, we are attracted to the things of this world with the hope to become happy.
We all have this hope, totally useless and empty hope, that ultimately we will become happy by interacting with the things of this world. And for that, we need material knowledge.
Material knowledge is how to become happy in this world. People think that if they figure out what this world is, how this world is constructed, then they will become happy.
So that's why Saraswati is the energy of Lord Brahman and she is revealing how to interact with this world, how to live in this world and be happy.
But Vedas give higher knowledge, paravidya, and paravidya is revealing to us the supremely worshipable and attractive object the Lord Himself, Krishna.
At present moment, because we are covered by this ignorance, we don't feel attraction to Krishna. Or we feel very little attraction to Krishna.
You know if I would ask you what you are more attracted to your smartphone or to Krishna.
And if you are honest you will say, yes, I'm more attracted to my smartphone because I spent more time with smartphone than with Krishna. And even when I spend time with Krishna, I also look in my smartphone.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare. Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma. We are attracted to useless things in this world. And we don't feel genuine attraction to Krishna.
Sometimes when we have some bright moments, we may feel yes Krishna is so nice. We come to the temple, we see Gandharvika Giridhari, dress so nicely,
and we think yes, yes, nice, nice, nice, nice. And then we go home and watch TV or YouTube or whatever it is cricket.
But But again, this is the day, if we utilize the energy of this day properly, we can become attracted to the Supreme Lord. We can obtain paravidya.
Cultivating devotion and spiritual attraction
And it basically means that we will attract the the that we will obtain the attraction to the Supreme Lord and to His holy names. That's the whole point.
We gathered here today to pray to transcendental saraswati, to transcendental energy of the Lord, to make us attracted to Him.
Actually, this transcendental energy of knowledge of the Lord, Samvit Shakti, is his Bhakti Shakti. What is his bhakti shakti?
Bhakti Shakti, bhakti, which we are all praying for, is the combination of his knowledge of, his energy of knowledge, Samvi Shakti, and energy of bliss.
When energy of knowledge, samvit shakti and energy of bliss, chladini shakti combine together, they become Bhakti Shakti, the most sublime energy of the Lord.
So in this day if we utilize the again the energy of this day properly and if we pray to the Supreme Lord or to His Supreme Shakti Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, please give us real transcendental knowledge, and she will be pleased with us.
This transcendental attraction to the Supreme Lord will appear spontaneously within our heart. And that will make us happy because we will not be attracted to the dirty things of this world.
Actually, our only problem in life is that we are attracted to the wrong things. Isn't it?
If you suffered in this world and everyone suffered in this world, and if you try to trace down the cause of your suffering, you will ultimately understand that the cause of this suffering is that because you were attracted to the wrong things, to the things which should not be attracted.
And somehow, rather people, due to ignorance, they becoming attracted. So what is durbhhya, durbhagya, misfortune, is to be attracted to the wrong things. What is subhagya, what is the fortune? What is the sign for fortune?
This is this condition when we are not attracted to the wrong things, when we are only attracted to the right things, when we are attracted to right people, when we are attracted to right food, when we are attracted to right kind of literature, and not attracted to the wrong kind of literature.
So on this day we should pray for this.
Let my heart, O my dear Lord, be attracted to you. Let my heart be attracted to your holy name. Let my heart be attracted to your deity form. Let my heart be attracted to And ultimately let
my heart be attracted to prasadam. If nothing else. Therefore, Govindas was open today. Because this is the easiest way to obtain spiritual knowledge by eating prasad.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, when he came to Australia, he said, Australian people are so dull, don't distribute books here, only distribute prasādam. This is the way to get knowledge.
So anyway, this is the day today, and of course we don't have time, we have to finish, right? 20 more minutes. Till it's uh it's already forty-three minutes after seven.
Great personalities appearing on Vasant Panchami
Few more minutes I get. So that's why Vishnu Priya Devi appeared on this day. If you look in Vaishnava calendar, you will see a long list of different personalities who appeared on this day.
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, one of the greatest ācāryas of our sampradāya, who gave so much knowledge, that's his disappearance day.
Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, the greatest prayojana-ācārya of our sampradāya, Acharya who was teaching us the greatest goal of life, the attraction towards the Supreme Lord, he appeared on this day.
Raghunandana dāsa Ṭhākura, inhabitant of Śrīkhaṇḍa, one of the dear devotees of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is according to Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, a manifestation of Pradyumna, Cupid, Kāmadeva, transcendental Kāmadeva, who came together with Caitanya Mahāprabhu to assist him in his līlās, he appeared on this day. Again, to teach us the same thing: to teach us to be attracted to the Supreme Lord.
Because what is Kāmadeva? Kāmadeva is this attractive force which makes us attracted to the things of this world. So he comes as Raghunandana dāsa Ṭhākura to teach us how to be attracted to the Lord and become happy.
Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī appears on this day again to teach us how great force, attractive force is love to God and how one can forget everything if he has love for God in his heart.
Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, the greatest Gosvāmī of all Vṛndāvana Gosvāmīs, one of the greatest Gosvāmīs after Rūpa Gosvāmī, he neglected everything, even though he was the son of the most rich people in this world, he gave everything up because of this attraction which he felt within his heart. He showed by his own example, he neglected his wife, he neglected his wealth, he neglected everything.
Why? Because he got something much more valuable within his heart. He felt love of God, love of Krishna. And ultimately, Viṣṇupriyā, the śakti of Mahāprabhu himself, she appeared on this day.
All these three personalities who appeared on this day, they are teaching us the same lesson. How we should be attracted to the Supreme Lord and how we should neglect everything else.
In the beginning, to feel this attraction to the Supreme Lord, we should little by little force give up other attractions.
Because unless we give up other attractions, we will never be able to feel the attraction to the Supreme Lord. Our mind will be distracted, our mind will be destroyed by all these other attractions of this world.
So they all come and they teach us the same lesson.
Devotional example of Raghunandana Thakura
Little Raghunandana Ṭhākura, his story is there in Caitanya Caritāmṛta and other vaiṣṇava scriptures. He was a little boy. And while he was a little boy, his father was grown up.
They came to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu during their usual pilgrimage to Jagannātha Purī from Navadvīpa.
In a group of other Bengali devotees, they came and Caitanya Mahāprabhu saw this little Raghunandana Ṭhākura, very beautiful boy, and his grown-up father Mukunda.
And jokingly he asked Mukunda, Mukunda, who is Ragunandan? Is he your father or is he your son? Strange question, isn't it? You know, a grown up uh big man and little boy.
And Mahāprabhu is asking, who among you is the father and who is the son? And Mukunda he answers, as far as I am concerned, he is my father and I'm his son. And Mahaprabhu became very pleased.
He said, You're right. He's your father. And you are his son. And then he asked, Why did you answer this way?
Mukunda, why did you answer this way? He said, because he has more devotion than me. Because he teaches me by his example the devotion. And I'm learning devotion from him. Therefore, he is my father and I am his son.
I am his little disciple. When Mukunda, he was a Vaiṣṇava, he was a physician. He left home for some time for some business. And he told his little son: You please take care of our deity Gopinath.
They had beautiful deity of Gopinat in their home. And little Ragunandan said, Yes, I will take care of Gopinat.
And he came to Gopinat and he put a plate of prasāda in front of Gopinat. And he said to Gopinat, please eat, eat, eat. And Gopinath was standing there. And Gopinad didn't know what to do.
You know, usually he's not used to being a deity, he's not used to physically eat what is there. And Raghunandan with such a devotion in his heart is begging him and said eat, eat, eat.
And ultimately Gopinak looked around, nobody was there. He went down, he took all the prasāda, he ate everything and he said, Are you happy? He said, Yes, I am happy. And he stood back, playing his flute.
And then Mukunda came back and he said, Where is remnants? And Raghunandan said, he didn't leave any remnants. He ate everything. No remnants today. Mukunde didn't believe it.
He said, no, no, you naughty boy, you ate it yourself. He said, no, I didn't eat it. He ate it.
So next day, Mukunda he pretended that he left home and he hid away somewhere and looking in a little you know little hole what is going on.
And again Raghunandan put a plate of prasāda in front of Gopinath and started ordering him, eat, eat, eat, you're supposed to eat. And Gopinath again looked around, nobody was there.
And he took ladoo and he bit this ladoo. And half of the ladoo was in his hand. And at this moment, Mukunda couldn't contain himself. He burst in.
And as soon as he burst in, Gopinat again pretended, as if nothing happened. So if you go to Srikhanda, still this deity of Gopinath is there, and half-eaten ladoo is still there, preserved.
500 years this half-eaten ladoo is there on the altar. And therefore, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked Mukunda, who is who is your father? He said, he's my father.
Because father is supposed to teach us to whom or and to what we should be attracted, and to whom and to what we should not be attracted.
And Ragunandan, by this example, he is teaching us what we are supposed to be attracted for. This is a great lesson for all of us. You know, sometimes I know little children can be much more devotional than their parents.
Of course, when they grow up, something happens with the devotion sometimes. But but actually there is a great lesson in it.
We should be happy to learn this art of bhakti, this not even art of bhakti, but this this sentiment of bhakti from whoever we see this sentiment is there. Because that's the greatest fortune.
If we want to be fortunate, somebody wants to be fortunate. Somebody wants to nobody wants. One mataji, intelligent mataji, she wants to be fortunate. Everyone else wants to be unfortunate, right?
You don't want to be fortunate. You don't want to be happy. If you want to be happy, say Haribol. Haribol. I thought only myself and this Mataji want to be happy.
Appreciating devotion and serving devotees
So, if we want to be happy, we should learn uh how to appreciate this bhakti in other people. Sometimes when we associate with devotees, we see some other things in them. We see some other bad qualities in devotees.
We look at them and we see that he is he has bad character, this and that. But we neglect or sometimes don't notice the most important quality which makes a devotee a devotee. His devotion.
If we learn how to see this quality in other people and appreciate this quality and glorify this quality and beg for this quality to come to us, then this is the real sign of good fortune.
In this way, only we will be able to become fortunate. So, that's this is the secret of association with devotees. When we are associated with devotees, we should try to see only devotion as there.
Yes, material qualities will be there. There will be some material faults, some material deficiencies will be there. That's inconsequential. It doesn't matter. Everyone has some bad qualities.
But who in this world has devotion? Only few people. Very few people. Very few people have genuine devotion to the Lord. Very few people want to become really attracted to the Lord.
Very few people want to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Very few people want to be attracted to the sound vibration of the name of the Supreme Lord.
So if this is there in a person, we should see this quality and become attracted by this quality. And when we associate with people in this way, Krishna will be pleased with us.
When we see the bad qualities in devotees, Krishna will not be pleased. There is nothing glorious in it. Everyone sees bad qualities. Everyone is trained to see bad qualities.
We look at somebody and immediately we start scanning. Scan is going on. It's MRI. The real serious scan is gone. Oh, here is fault and here is fault and here is fault. We all have this fault-finding tendency.
But instead of this, on this day, what we are praying? We are praying for one thing. Let this energy of bhakti be mine. Let this energy of bhakti uh come to me.
I want to learn uh this uh how to be attracted to the Supreme Lord. And how where I can get this energy of bhakti, of course, you can get it from the Supreme Lord, but more easily you can get it from the devotees.
If you see devotee and if you see devotion in him, if you see or in her. If you see that she or he has some devotion, please interact with this devotion. Don't interact with the bad qualities.
Interact with the good qualities. This is what society of devotees is all about. This is why we are coming to the temple. Otherwise, we couldn't sit in front of our Zoom and you know watch this lecture in the Zoom.
But bhakti is not transferred through Zoom. Zoom is not yet developed enough to transfer bhakti to you. Maybe in the future there will be special version of bhakti, Zoom bhakti. Bhakti which can be transmitted by Zoom.
But normal way of getting bhakti is by serving the devotees. When we come together, when we see the devotees, and when we appreciate the devotees, when we become happy, when we smile to a devotee, just see somebody and smile at him.
And part of his bhakti will come to your heart. Because smiling is the service. When we serve other devotees, we get their devotion. So on this day, I'm here to teach you this secret how to get bhakti.
Because this is the day when we are supposed to try to get this highest spiritual knowledge. What is bhakti? Bhakti is the highest spiritual knowledge.
When we are attracted to the Supreme Lord and are not attracted to anything else. And how to get this bhakti? By serving those who have bhakti.
And therefore we, coming here together. Śrīla Prabhupāda, greatest bhakti, Senāpati Bhakta, the greatest commander-in-chief of Lord Chaitanya's army. He came to us. He came to the West. He came to Russia.
He stayed in Russia for a few days. He came to America. He came to England.
He traveled all over the world and he arranged this or established this ISKCON society just for one purpose so that we could serve the devotees so that we could serve each other.
He established these temples for this association, for this purpose. And if coming here, you feel a little more attraction to the Supreme Lord, to his holy name.
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Hare. Then you obtain little particle of this knowledge energy which is called bhakti.
Why this energy appearing on the first day of spring, Vasanta Panchami is the first day of spring. Because spring is the season when our heart becomes naturally attracted. Everyone knows.
Everyone falls in love in the spring season. Because the hormones are there, you know and they're swimming in our blood. And this power of attraction in the material world becomes very strong during the spring season.
But in the same way, if we pray on this day in the beginning of spring season. Oh my dear Lord, please give me some attraction to you, to your holy name. And please give me this understanding that I should serve
the devotees to obtain this bhakti-śakti. And Krishna will be pleased, and Krishna will give us his bhakti, his most cherished energy. So today we will have now, I'm already quite late.
Uh pushpa-abhiṣeka for the Supreme Lord. Okay. So how many minutes so that I have a minimum of five more minutes. They have to open this game that again.
Offering heart through Pushpa-abhisheka ceremony
Okay. Okay, so uh so today we will do this puṣpābhiṣeka to the Supreme Lord that will be our service. And what is the meaning of this puṣpābhiṣeka?
By offering the flowers to the Supreme Lord, we are trying to offer our flower-like heart to the Supreme Lord. We are trying to offer our consciousness to the Supreme Lord. We are trying to offer the best what we have.
So if we meditate in this way, my dear Lord, I'm offering to you my heart. Please make my heart attracted to yourself. Please make me eternally attracted to you.
And in this way make me eternally happy, then the Supreme Lord will definitely fulfill all our desires. Basically again, you know this is a very short time which we have today.
We could spend the whole you know couple of hours talking about Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī, about his glorious life, how gradually, gradually Das Gaswami, about his glorious life, how gradually, gradually this love of God was uh developing in his heart due to association with devotees.
We could spend a few hours talking about Vishnu Priya, how she was attracted to the Supreme Lord. Vishnu Priya, when Lord Chaitanya accepted sannyāsa when he left her.
She was only eating as many grains of rice, as many rounds she chanted. She would chant one round of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and put one grain of rice from a pot to another pot.
And then she chanted another round of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and put another grain of rice. You know, you would probably eat only 16 grains of rice a day. It would be very difficult for you to survive.
She was, of course, chanting much more rounds than 16. But still, it's very little. Just a few grains of rice, she was eating. But still, she was living. She actually lived a very long life.
Very, very long life she lived in this way. Why? Because she was, uh, you know, she was not eating, she was eating only Krishna Bhakti.
She was chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. And by this sound she sustained her life. By the sound of this holy name, she sustained her life.
For the whole day she was sitting behind the curtain, nobody was allowed to see her.
After Caitanya Mahāprabhu left and accepted sannyās, she was always behind the curtain and devotees would only come and could see only her lotus feet and worship her lotus feet she was this living manifestation of the devotion of the Lord.
And this devotion gave her so much energy that she lived such a long life and she inspired so many people.
In the same way, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī by the energy of bhakti, he wo... she was only drinking few cups of, one cup of buttermilk every, every few days, not even, not even every other every day.
Every other day he would take some little buttermilk. And still he was happy. He was writing such beautiful verses that even today, great devotees, they worship these verses, they worship Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. Why?
He's showing to us, what does it mean? How we can be happy by having love, by having attraction to the Supreme Lord.
So on this day we should try to give up this useless pursuit of material happiness through the material knowledge, through acquiring material knowledge. In this way we will never become happy.
On this day, we should try to obtain spiritual knowledge, which is the knowledge of how the Lord is attractive.
The knowledge, understanding that He is the most attractive person, He is the object of my life, He is the goal of my life, He is the goal of my service.
And if this knowledge will come to our heart then we will become happy. Then we will not even notice all the problems of this world. We will not be very much afraid of coronavirus or some other virus,
you know, so many viruses are there. Coronavirus will be finished, some other virus will come, then something else will happen, you know, so many problems are always there, no end.
The only solution to all these problems is to have attraction to the Supreme Lord.
And today we will have this great opportunity to offer our heart to Him, to beg Him, please take this offering in the form of these flower petals. Please take it. And give me something in advance, in exchange.
You know, let's have a fair deal. I'll give you my heart and you give me some bhakti. You give me some transcendental knowledge. So that's the meaning of what we're supposed to do today. Thank you very much.