Lecture on Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur's Disappearance Day
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · 2021
Главы
Oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā | cakṣunmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ || Oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā | cakṣunmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ || Oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā | cakṣunmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ ||
Nama oṁ viṣṇa-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale | śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine || Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracārine | nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tārine ||
Nama oṁ viṣṇa-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale | Nama oṁ viṣṇa-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale | śrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-sarasvatīti nāmine || śrī-vārsabhānavī-devī-dayitāya kṛṣṇābhidhe |
kṛṣṇa-sambandha-vijñāna-dāyine prabhave namaḥ || mādhurya-ujjvala-premāḍhya-śrī-rūpānuga-bhaktidā |śrī-gaura-karuṇā-śakti-vigrahāya namo 'stu te || namaste gurave vāṇī-mūrtaye siddha-tāriṇe |
vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaḥ ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ || mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāyate | kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ ||
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda || Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare / Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Yam-pravrajantam-anupetam-apeta-kṛtyam dvaipāyano viraha-kātara ājuhāva | putreti tanmayatayā taravo 'bhinedus taṁ sarva-bhūta-hṛdayaṁ munim nato 'smi ||
Honor Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura
tad-aśru-saritāṁ pātair daśāntara-gato muniḥ | kṛṣṇa-viśleṣa-santaptaḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-caritaṁ yayau || Hare Krishna, so today we are celebrating the tirobhāva mahotsava of the great Ācārya.
The spiritual master of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda, His Divine Grace Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. And it's appropriate to speak about him on this day, to meditate
on his personality, his achievements, his desires, and ultimately on his mission.
We are followers of Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati in our paramparā and the success of our own life is greatly dependent on how well we understand what the great Ācāryas in our sampradāya want from us.
Because ultimately, what is the success in the life of a devotee? It's how he is able or capable of pleasing his guru and the guru of his guru and the whole guru paramparā.
And in this way, uh, we will be able to please Krishna. There is no other way to please Krishna. We cannot please Krishna directly. We can give Krishna go-va (cows) or banana. And that's good.
But ultimately the desire of every devotee should be: I want to please my guru paramparā. I want to please the pure devotees in this line, and by pleasing them I will achieve the success.
Because by pleasing them I will get the most cherished treasure of their heart. That's the secret how the parampara works. Parampara works, what does it mean, Parampara? Parampara means from heart to heart.
It is specifically stressed many, many times in our literature and by our acharyas that you can only get bhakti from the heart of a devotee. There is no other way of getting bhakti.
Bhakti is not coming just by your practice or whatever. Bhakti is coming from the heart of an elevated Vaishnava who is higher than you and who is pleased with you.
And in this way we can get bhakti and when we get bhakti we get everything. When we don't get bhakti we get nothing. Nothing is there. Our heart will remain empty, and in this empty heart there will
be only rats of material desires living. Like in an abandoned house where nobody lives, it's only cockroaches and rats live and spiders. So all these rats and spiders and cockroaches will live in our heart if it's empty.
But if it's occupied by Bhakti-devi, if it's occupied by Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu, then it's a very beautiful place and we will become very joyful.
So ultimately again the secret of success in our life is somehow rather by hook or by crook, as Prabhupāda used to say, we should please the devotees.
We should please the pure devotees, especially those who are in the position of acharya. And how to please them? By fulfilling their desires.
Prabhupada himself didn't see, he said, I saw my Guru Maharaj only five times during my life. I had a conversation with Guru Maharaj four or five times during my whole life.
He didn't have very extensive association with him. But nevertheless, because he knew what his Guru Maharaj wants and was meditating constantly on his desire, he was able to fulfill his desire.
And by fulfilling his desire he achieved everything which we can only imagine.
And in a similar way, if I understand what is the desire of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda and try to meditate on the desire sincerely within the heart. Krishna will give the facilities for us to do this.
You know, sometimes we may think, who am I? You know, these are all great personalities. I'm just a little cook in this temple or little potwasher here or whatever.
Let me do my little menial service and, somehow or other I will please Prabhupada. Yes, no doubt about it. But at the same time, Prabhupada wanted every one of us to do something great.
Overcoming material limitations through service
And it's possible. Srila Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, he used to quote a very beautiful quote, definition of Maya. Mīyatē 'nāya iti māyā.
And basically, he said, what is Maya? What is the illusory energy of the Lord? He said, Maya, something which is measurable. If you relate to something which is measurable, you are in māyā. Because māyā is measurable.
And something which is limiting. Actually, māyā, one of the manifestations of māyā is that we are limiting ourselves. māyā is the limiter of our abilities, and when we are in māyā, we say, no, I can only do this much.
But if we believe in Krishna, Krishna can do anything. And if we have this desire, I can do something for you, please let me let me know what I can do for you. We can do unlimited things.
We can do absolutely amazing things. This is how it works. You know, we ourselves may be very little. We are very little. No doubt about it. We are very limited in our capacity. But He, Krishna, can use us. That's His glory.
He can use us in His service. It's only a question of having sincere desire. I want to be your instrument. I want to do something which you want, and then the sky is the limit. There is no limit.
Otherwise, we will always say, you know, no, I can only, you know, do some sweeping floor and cooking a little bit here, a little bit there. But we are not meant for this. We are meant for doing something.
And what is this mission which is there?
This mission is definitely a preaching mission. And there is a dire mood, dire need for preaching at this moment of time, probably even more than in the moment when Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda lived.
So, first I will uh very shortly tell uh what was the situation when Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda lived and why the need for very radical reformation was there.
Because Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda he definitely reformed Gaudiya Vaishnavism in a very significant and radical way.
The traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism, even if it was a pure Gaudiya Vaishnavism, not to speak what to speak about all these different Apa Siddhantas and Apa Sampradayas, was different before Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. Once
I heard a very nice classification of spiritual leaders. That there are four types of spiritual leaders. The first type of spiritual leader is the leader who is God sent.
God Himself sends this particular leader, whether it is Jesus Christ or Srila Prabhupada or Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, with a special mission. According to His plan, according to his desire.
He sends special souls who have a very special type of service.
And this type of service is Sakalineha Mahatha Yoga Nashta Parantapa to more or less reform the religion which has been destroyed by the time, by the powerful force of time. Sakaleneha Mahatha, Yoga Nashta.
Religion is meant to connect the human soul with God. And therefore it's called yoga. Yoga means connection. And the very word religion from Latin re ligare. Ligari means to connect. Religare to re-establish the connection.
So basically the word religion literally means yoga.
And Krishna says that the powerful influence of time is such that from now every now and then this connection or this ability to connect the souls with God is being destroyed by the powerful force of time.
You know, so many great religions were there, great people, great saints would come, do something and we all know there is uh for some time there is great enthusiasm, people feel connected and then gradually, gradually it diminishes, and then people come only on Sundays and then once a month and then only on Janmashtamis and then once every ten years on Janmashtamy.
And this is how it goes on, it's just you know, it's just the way of life. This is this is the material life because we are forgetful human beings.
And therefore, every now and then Krishna sends great ācāryas or great religious leaders who remind in a very powerful way to us, what is our duty in life? What is our mission?
Otherwise, we will just forget, we will just drink our tea, you know, chai chai, chai, they say in the trains. And be happy by drinking tea as if this is the meaning of life.
So this is the first type of religious leaders, and what they do, they usually destroy the remnants of the old religious institutions and they build new religious institutions by introducing new traditions, by introducing new principles even. Because they know that the religion which was there before doesn't work anymore.
It's just somehow or other lost the power and they feel the urge, the need to change or to reform the religious practices according to the time, place, and circumstances, and they have full right to do it.
They are empowered to do it, and you know nobody can say to them uh and uh they don't need to prove it, the proof uh is their achievement.
They don't need to prove I have the right, you know, listen to me, I have the right. No. They just do it because of the empowerment of the Lord.
The second type of religious leaders, those religious leaders who are appointed by this great or who are coming in the succession of these great religious reformers. And their duty is the contrary.
Their duty is not to change anything, their duty is to maintain very carefully what has been done by their predecessors.
Their predecessors made all the necessary changes and arrangements, and their sacred duty is to continue the same line. Like Prabhupāda said to his disciples, please don't change anything.
Of course, don't change anything, you know, should not be taken too literally, because otherwise it will be just very stale. But you know, he meant that we should not change the principles.
He didn't appoint anyone, you and anyway, you know, revolutionary can be appointed. It's It's between the revolutionary and God, it's his empowerment.
Of course, there could be some uh you know anointment of them, but uh nevertheless, so there is a
difference in duties of those bona fide religious leaders who are just loyal and very faithful followers and those who are there to change the uh or radically change the tradition.
And then of course there is self-appointed religious leaders who say yes, you know, listen to me. And then there are some totally bogus religious leaders. Anyway, let's not talk about them.
We're concerned with two types of bona fide leaders, and Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī for sure was or belonged to the first type of religious leaders. And he felt a very important need to change
Gaudiya Vaishnavism because Gaudiya Vaishnavism, even the bona fide Gaudiya Vaishnavism, again not just, you know, apasiddhantas, which were also flourishing at that time.
But he felt the need to change the traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism because Gaudiya Vaishnavism lost this power of connecting ordinary people, rank and file people, people who may not be so spiritually inclined with God.
What happened at that time when Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī and Bhaktivinoda were preaching?
Historical context of the spiritual movement
At that time, Hinduism was actually in some rival there was some Hindu Renaissance. And this Hindu Renaissance was arranged by basically three powerful leaders.
The leader of Brahmo Samaj, the leader of Arya Samaj, and Vivekananda as the leader of Ramakrishna mission. Because British colonizers, British rulers of India at that time, they were not only ruling India,
they were trying to deprive India of its heart, of its spiritual culture. They were sincerely thinking that we were saving these pagan people, these people who don't have proper spiritual culture.
And as a response, the Hinduism to this spiritual aggression which was there, the problem of British rule was not only you know the authoritarian rule or whatever, but it was a spiritual aggression.
The desire to destroy the spiritual culture, the spiritual inheritance of India.
So as a reaction of this, this Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj and Vivekananda Ramakrishna Mission they all appeared and they were powerfully resisting to this.
But their technique was actually worse than than British rule in one sense. Because Vivekananda was famous, he said that it's better to play football than to read Bhagavad-gītā. You get more benefit by playing football.
That was his re you know. That was his response to the spiritual aggression of British. He basically adopted the customs of British. He said it's better to water bigum uh the uh what's how you call brinjal brinjal.
Uh then tulisi, you know. Why do you need Tulisi? You know, brinjal you can at least eat and Tulisi I don't know what you need it for. That's, that was his idea.
And therefore, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, especially Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, they felt the urge and the need to re-establish the proper genuine spiritual culture
of India, which was given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, but which was practically forgotten by the time when they were preaching. So much so that Vaishnava was a bad name.
You know, if you call somebody Vaishnava, it's just as if you are blaspheming him. Vaishnava was a synonym of a beggar of somebody who is useless who is who doesn't have any dignity and ability to live the proper life.
So and on the top of it there was there was a lot of problems and on the top of it the main problem was that those Gaudiya Vaishnavas who were following or so-called following of Gaudya Vaishnavism or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they were completely immersed or completely adopted this hereditary sort of succession.
When the proper spiritual life and the energy which comes with the spiritual life, if you have the spiritual connection, you feel immense influx of energy, spiritual energy. And you want to do something.
This is how connection works. If you have the connection with the electricity, you know then it manifests in some way. You know either it's a electric bomb which is working or the fan which is rotating, or something.
You know, so you cannot say that I have spiritual connection and then don't do nothing. So what how you're connected?
If you are connected with the spiritual realm, with this realm of spiritual energy, it will manifest in you will feel the urge, the need to do something because you have so much energy.
Otherwise, you will be just blown up, blown up by this influx of spiritual energy.
Opposition to hereditary rights in Vaishnavism
So but when the people, when the religion becomes in decline, dharmasya glāniḥ, as Krishna says in Bhagavad-gītā, when this decline of religion takes place, then the connection becomes very weak and it's become a traditional religion. And traditional religion basically means you don't do anything. You just don't do anything. You just you're just traditionally religious.
That's it. You just call yourself Christian, you call yourself Muslim, you call yourself Vaishnava, whoever you want to call yourself, it doesn't matter.
And in case somebody will doubt that you're this, you will always show, you know. See, I am a Vaishṇava. I have a proof. Here it is.
So what happened with Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism at that time, the hereditary Goswamis, the uh descendants, uh the you know the material descendants of great followers of Caitanya Mahāprabhu who were all great preachers and great devotees, they more or less usurped the right to preach or to practice Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism. And they all had their followers and disciples, so-called disciples, so-called gurus had their so-called disciples. And it's very nice.
You know, you are so-called guru, you get the benefits, and here is a so-called disciple, and he says, okay, I'm I'm saved.
I'm liberated because I have such an elevated guru who is sitting on a big seat and he's preaching and he is direct descendant of Nityānanda Prabhu or direct descendant of I don't know Advaitācārya or somebody else.
But it all became a mockery because people didn't really get the connection. They were not doing anything. It was just a formality, for formality's sake.
And the first thing which Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda did, he started the war against this hereditary Vaiṣṇavism. He said, no hereditary customs.
You're not a brāhmaṇa by hereditary right. Like, you know, we know that varṇāśrama was on a hereditary right. If you're born in a family of brāhmaṇa, you're brāhmaṇa, if you're not born.
And he said, first thing he said, no hereditary spiritual designations from now on. And that created a lot of uproar.
Because all of a sudden, somebody who is not even brāhmaṇa by birth, he is giving brāhmaṇa thread to his disciples, making disciples from different backgrounds, making them brāhmaṇas, and saying that everyone else is bogus.
You know, that created such an uproar, such a resistance. Several times Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda was threatened to be killed. One time he almost was killed because the whole
Parikrama Party in Navadvīpa was stoned by the instigated the Kaz Gaswamis uh who were uh you know the usurpers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu they instigated the crowds of people to stone Parikrama party of Bhaktisiddhānta
Sarasvatī, and they were specifically targeting at Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. They wanted to kill him because he was the enemy number one. So this is the first thing which he did. He said, no hereditary right.
If you want to claim that, you know, if you want to claim that you are a devotee, if you want to claim that you are a brāhmaṇa, you have to prove your spiritual qualification. No formal thing. This is the first thing.
And And this first change, radical change, which Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thakur Prabhupada introduced, apparently it's against varṇāśrama. Because varṇāśrama, this is the tradition how varṇāśrama goes,
how it is, you know, reproducing itself, you know, you you follow the tradition of your family. If your family is a brāhmaṇa family, you're brāhmaṇa, and you do the duty of a brāhmaṇa. And first thing he said, no.
Re-establishing Daivi Varnashrama for discipline
And the second thing he said, he reintroduced varṇāśrama. Which seems to be very contradictory. You know, first thing you destroy the foundation of varṇāśrama by denying people of these hereditary traditions.
And then he said, you need varṇāśrama. But different kind of varṇāśrama. And that was also a very radical change because according to even writing of Rupa Gosvāmī Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas they don't follow varṇāśrama.
Rūpa Gosvāmī in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu says that you know varṇāśrama and renunciation and all this stuff, it doesn't belong to the realm of pure devotional service.
And here we have an Acharya who is preaching the pure devotional service, and he said, we need varṇāśrama. But a different kind of varṇāśrama, not the outdated varṇāśrama of
the old age, which doesn't work anyway, which is also only an instrument of exploitation of people, of the false, of the increasing the false prestige. We need a different kind of varṇāśrama.
And therefore he himself, he took sannyāsa. Before that, and Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas there was no sannyāsīs. The last one was Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī probably during Mahaprabhu's time.
There was no sannyāsīs as such. There was no orange cloth.
Still to this date, you know, if you go to Vrindavan and you meet some Babaji, he will just, you know, he will he will not appreciate your orange cloth. Because orange clothes means you're māyāvādī for the traditional followers of Gaudi Vaishnavism.
And then here he is, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, all of a sudden he takes the orange cloth and he's awarding himself a sannyas. On the top of it.
He's putting the picture of his Gurudev, meditating on it, taking the tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa, putting this clothes and saying, you know, varṇāśrama-dharma. Because why did he take varṇāśrama?
He said yes, bāhya-veśa is a very highly elevated, this is paramahaṁsa-veśa. You know, but we are not paramahaṁsas. He humbly himself adopted this position in varṇāśrama because he wanted to re-establish varṇāśrama.
Why varṇāśrama is necessary? Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura beautifully explains this in Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta. He says.
Ah, for bhakti there is no need for varṇāśrama. Because you can practice bhakti, it doesn't matter whether you belong to varṇāśrama or not.
He quotes the verse from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu where Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says that as much as anyone can take bath in Gaṅgā during the months of māgha when it is very cold. So you can practice bhakti.
Anyone can practice bhakti. Basically, it's a very interesting implication on this verse. Yes, anyone can take bath in Gaṅgā in the months of māgha, but not many people will do it. Because it's so cold at this month.
It's very cold, especially in, uh, Allahābād, uh, in Prayāga at that time. So you can take bath, but not many people will do. And Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī...
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he says: yes, even though everyone has a right to practice bhakti, but not everyone has the ability to practice bhakti. And what is the meaning, what is the significance of varṇāśrama?
Varṇāśrama trains you, gives you proper qualities of humility, respect, and discipline. This is the essence of varṇāśrama. Varṇāśrama does not have spiritual significance in itself.
But it prepares people to practice bhakti because you need discipline, you need respect, you need certain qualities. That's why it is so difficult for Western people to practice bhakti.
You know, here still some remnants of culture, of our national culture is there. You're coming, you know, and at least sannyāsīs are respected, you know, I feel it every moment of time.
You know, you go to America and you know they say, Oh, Haribo. Help yourself, no problem. So Bhaktivinoda says that's the achievement, that's why, and that was his, uh, actually his, one of his Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati.
You re-establish Daivi varṇāśrama. Because by establishing the culture of Daivi varṇāśrama, you more or less prepare you prepare the conveyor belt for bhakti.
People who are trained in the culture of varṇāśrama are much more receptive and they are much more successful in practicing bhakti because they have certain qualities.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says in Caitanya-sikṣāmṛta that people from the mleccha hutswards they can also practice bhakti, but as a result of it, is that their life is shortened.
You know, because they encounter so much obstacles. And he quotes he quotes Haridāsa Ṭhākura and he quotes Jesus Christ and he quotes I think the Paul, Saint Paul. He said that you know that ultimately the mundane
culture as opposed to varṇāśrama culture is very much antagonistic to the culture of bhakti. Whereas varṇāśrama culture and the culture of bhakti they are harmoniously in sync with each other.
And you can more or less smoothly transfer yourself from the varṇāśrama traditions to Gaudya Vaishnavism, to the pure bhakti cult. And that's his second achievement. First achievement, and he established it very firmly.
First achievement: to stop any hereditary rules. Second achievement is to try to re-establish varṇāśrama. Of course it's a difficult part. Even Prabhupada said I couldn't do it. It's a difficult part. How to do it?
What does it really mean? It's a very difficult question. But nevertheless that was uh the point which Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda made. And for that he created Gaudi Mat and for that he reintroduced
certain varṇāśrama rules in his organization. And the third very important and very significant change which
Vaidi sadhana as pathway to raganuga
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda introduced into our line.
And it's it's tricky, and of course, he was following Bhaktivinoda Thakur in this regard, and still he is severely being criticized by so-called traditional Gaudi Vaishnavas.
He kind of when we read Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu,
it's very clearly said in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu that there is a path of vaidī sādhana-bhakti and there is a path of rāgānuga-sādhana-bhakti. And it's two completely distinct ways of practice bhakti, very distinct paths, which bring about distinct results.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda said no. He said it's not two different paths, it's the stages of one path. You start with Vaidi Sadhana Bhakti and then gradually you prepare yourself to practice Raganuga.
And still, to this date, he is being criticized for this introduction because they say, you know how how you can say this?
The śāstrakāra-ācārya of Gauḍīya sampradāya, Rūpa Gosvāmī, very clearly says in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, it's different paths. With different rules, different mood even and uh the achievement is different.
You can only uh go to Vaikuṇṭha or to Dvārakā at best if you follow vaidī sādhana-bhakti. You will never get to Vraja if you don't practice rāgānugā bhakti.
But of course, you know there is a very solid explanation and it's also based in the teachings of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī who said that there is uh you know jāta-rati rāgānugā sādhana.
But basically it can be very solidly confirmed by the teachings of our Acharyas of our predecessor Acharyas.
But his idea, the main idea, was if you from the very beginning, the path of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, no doubt about it, is rāgānugā sādhana.
But if from the very beginning you say to, you know, bhakta John from London, you know, you are a mañjarī and you should practice mañjarī-bhāva. Bhakta John will say, yes, I will practice mañjarī-bhāva.
Or you will maybe a little inspired, but you know that uh that that actually created complete havoc uh in the line
of Caitanya Mahāprabhu when uh you know Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī said uh all those people who were uh initiated uh or introduced into this practice of elevated esoteric practice of rāgānugā sādhana, they they couldn't even go to toilet properly. You know that was the extent of their qualification.
They didn't know that they should use water while going in the toilet. But at the same time they were practicing some meditation on mañjarī-bhāva.
So he said: first you reform yourself, first you follow very strictly the rules, but when you're accustomed to follow the rules and regulations, first you adopt the mood of vaidī sādhana.
From the very beginning, we are practicing rāgānugā because we are attracted to this line of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, not because of the rules and regulations, we are attracted because there is attraction.
We want to chant the holy name and we like to serve the deities but we do it according to rules and regulations very strictly and gradually, gradually, this spontaneous urge to serve the Lord in a specific mood will appear, no doubt about it.
Just because of the power of the Holy Name. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sri Aswati was very very firmly believing in the power of the holy name.
Where the previous practices and even present-day practices, if you go to Radhakund, uh they will say yes, uh you know, start meditate on Yogapit, and they will give you some uh you know yantra and say this is you know this is your service in Yogapit.
Reconnecting souls through the holy name
But this is actually the distortion of the original teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The original teaching of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, everything is coming from the Holy Name. The Holy Name will give you everything.
You don't have to artificially meditate on your service. The only thing which you should do is to chant sincerely the holy name.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare Hare. And this is Nāma-cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ. This is the chintamani.
This is the touchstone which can give to you everything. And Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati, while revolutionizing Gaudiya Sampradaya, actually is bringing it back to the original roots from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
He is re-establishing the original roots of the of this of the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And while doing this, he was reconnecting so many people again with the spiritual world.
And the proof is that you know thousands of people would join him. Thousands of people, not just you know, would join him sincerely and would actually change their lives. What is the proof of the actual living religion.
The living religion, the proof of living religion is that it is capable of changing your life in a very significant way. You're not living the same, you know You're not living the same life which you would live.
You radically change your karma. You radically change your engagement. You know, here I am, I'm sitting in front of you, and I'm also living proof of it. I was a scientist and I was doing my PhD and I was okay with it.
I was not so excited by it, but it was okay. But here I am, you know, 40 years later, I'm sitting in front of you and preaching Varnashama Dharma to you in India. Or something like this. Why?
That's the proof that the change is there, the radical change, something, the change of the heart is there. Srila Prabhupada calls the second chapter of the second canto of Srimad Bhagavatam the change of heart.
The Krishna consciousness has to bring about this change of heart. And Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī while preaching this Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism all over India, he was converting.
People call it condescendingly conversion, but it's not conversion, it's the change of the heart.
You know, people started following in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava religion in Madras, in uh you know all these places in Bangalore, uh where Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī opened his uh places. Why?
Because he was in touch with the truth, and while speaking, he was capable of bringing people also in touch with the truth. This is this is what happens. This is this is actually the miracle which happens.
When Prabhupāda was asked, Swamiji, can you show us the miracle? He said, This is my miracle. And he would point out to his disciples why it is a miracle. It is a miracle.
Because uh, you know, while he is speaking, he is bringing people in touch with the truth. And because this is such a powerful experience.
When you're in touch with the truth, you're ready to change your life in a very significant way. You feel this is the truth. And if this is the truth, I cannot leave this false way of life which I lived before.
My life before was false, and now I'm in touch with the truth. Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda himself, he said about his Guru Maharaj.
He said that when I just was in his presence, I felt the truth emanating from him.
And then he said, very interesting and very significantly how his initiation ceremony was conducted in a very unusual way, in very unorthodox way.
When he came ultimately to Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī to get his initiation, for a long time Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī was resisting to give him initiation. He didn't want.
So the Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī, he took the dust from his lotus feet and smeared this dust from his lotus feet on the head of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī.
And Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, he said, the moment that dust from his lotus feet touched my head, I felt completely disconnected with the gross and subtle bodies.
And basically, what he intimates in this, he immediately felt his spiritual identity.
He immediately felt at this moment of time when the dust of the lotus feet of Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī touched his head, he immediately got the spiritual realization, the significant or very essential spiritual realization.
So I'm a little chaotic in my
presentation, but the point which I'm trying to make is that Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, the great revolutionary, he introduced so many changes for the sake of connecting us to to Krishna.
And He provided all the conditions which is necessary for us to be connected with Krishna. He like Maharaja Bhagirat, he was instrumental in bringing Ganga to this earth. Ganga is a purely spiritual river.
It's the water, it's actually the spirit, Brahman in the form of water. And Maharaja Bhagirat, he brought down Ganga to this earth so that we could take advantage of it and purify ourselves.
In the similar way, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, both of them they brought this Ganga spiritual energy connection with Supreme Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu to us and here we are so many years later, taking advantage of their spiritual feat, spiritual achievement.
They brought this flow of of uh the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu back to this world so that we could uh get benefit of it and purify
The birth and mission of Bimala Prasada
ourselves and chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rāma And perhaps
because I have to rush little bit, I wanted to tell a little bit the biography of Chaitanya Mahra of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, but I'm sure you all know and you all heard about this many times. So maybe there is no need to repeat it.
It's just maybe one significant detail of it that Bhaktivinoda called him Bimala Prasad when he was born.
And why he was called Bimala Prasad, because at that time, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura being the magistrate of Puri and superintendent of Lord Jagannath's temple in Jagannath Puri, he was praying very intensely to Lord Jagannath.
He knew that he will need a helper, assistant, and his mission to bring this Krishna consciousness to the whole world, not only to India.
At that time, while he was in Jagannath Puri, he started writing all these prophecies.
We all heard these prophecies of Bhaktivinoda Thakur that there will be a day when the people from Germany and from America and from England will join with their Indian brothers and they will chant together the Harinam and they
will glorify Sachinandan Goro Hare, Sacīnandana Gaura Hari together and they will join in Sankirtan and at that time it was virtually it just was a fantasy.
And old or not all, but you know, some elderly man is sitting in Jagannath Puri and fantasizing about this. But he was not fantasizing. He was praying very intensely. Oh my Lord, nothing is impossible for you.
Although Lord Jagannātha, you can do anything. If you want, you will be able to fulfill this prediction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And he was praying to the Lord Jagannātha, please send me an assistant.
And when Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura Prabhupāda was born, he knew that this is the response of Lord Jagannātha. That this is not just an ordinary son; Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had 10 children.
But he knew that this is a very special son, and therefore he called him Bimala Prasāda. Who is Bimala? Bimala is the personal energy of Lord Jagannātha. In Jagannātha Purī, Bimala occupies a very special position.
She is the energy of Lord Jagannātha. And he knew that Lord Jagannātha sent his very special companion and associate to this material world in the form of his son, and therefore he called his son Bimala Prasāda.
And we all know that when a few months later, when Jagannātha Rathayātrā was there, then the wife of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura placed the little baby of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī in the cart of Lord Jagannātha because the cart stopped just in front of the house.
And at that moment the garland of Lord Jagannātha fell from Lord Jagannātha on a little baby. And this is called Agya Mala. Agy Mala means when the deity somehow or
other gives you your gar gives his garland, it means that with this garland the mission is given. It's actually a very significant sign that a special mission was given
to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura knew it. And you know, we all know that Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī brilliantly fulfilled his mission despite of so many obstacles.
He did virtually impossible things, turning all the India into into the place where Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and his teaching is known. And in this way he was fulfilling the prediction which was there before in
Padma Purāṇa because in Padma Purāṇa very significantly it is said that all the fourth sampradāyas will come to Jagannātha Purī and in Jagannātha Purī they will all merge and there will be one sampradāya which will spread all over India.
So this prediction was there, and it was definitely Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī who fulfilled this significant prediction from Padma Purāṇa. But he wanted the whole movement to be spread all over the world.
And that didn't work.
He sent his emissaries, ambassadors; he sent his sannyāsīs, he sent, you know, he sent significant amount of money to the West for the Western preaching, but nothing worked. He was actually very, very sad about this.
And but because that was his desire, his ardent desire. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission should spread all over the world.
He told to uh one of his Bhaktisaranga Goswami Mahārāja, who was actually blood descendant of Nityānanda Prabhu, who became his disciple and later took sannyās. He sent him to the West.
Mahāprabhu's mission and he told him if you need to feed these Mahaprabhu's mission and he told him if you need to feed these people with meat because they are accustomed to it, give them meat, no problem. I give you the permission.
And he told him specifically he he actually, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī himself, he initiated this student preaching. He said you open the hostel in the campus for the students.
And if need is there you feed this students with the meat, no problem. But let them chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rāma re Hare.
It doesn't mean that you should start eating meat now and chant Hare Krishna. But he gave this license to his followers. Why? Because this desire was so strong. He knew that this is the desire of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
And this is the point from which I started our discussion is and try to fulfill the desire. What is the desire of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī? and try to fulfill the desire. What is the desire of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī?
His desire was to preach everywhere to basically anyone so that people would be connected with Caitanya Mahaprabhu and his mission. And especially he wanted to preach in the West.
Prediction of spreading the mission worldwide
And there is a beautiful story, which will be the last story which I tell.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda arranged the big parikramā in Navadvīpa. And on the last day of Parikramā, the Parikramā lasted for 10 days. And there was a huge camp.
Thousands of people came for this parikramā. Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī was conducting the parikramā. I don't know how they were speaking without the microphones and loudspeakers at that time.
There must be some miraculous something. But you know there was um uh you know that on the last day they were in Champahati. Champahati is a beautiful place of Jayadeva Gosvāmī. And there was a big crowd of people and in
front there were sitting Brahmachāris and sannyāsīs the renunciates and a lot of simple people were there taking part in this parikrama.
And on this last day of parikramā, one of the emissaries of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī came from the West. He achieved some success, but not really successful, not really significant success.
And you know it was celebrated that he came from he was preaching the message of Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the West. But Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī was not really happy with him. Not at all happy.
And in front of everyone, on the last meeting of this last day of Parikrama, he started speaking that this is the desire of his mother. His mother's name was Bhagavati Devi, and she said she was a pure devotee.
And she blessed me. She blessed me that I uh should spread this teaching of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. And because she is a pure devotee, her desire must be fulfilled.
And he was going on talking about the significance how it is important to preach to the people in the West.
And then he was looking front, and then the front sannyāsīs and brahmachārīs were sitting, he was intensely intensely looking in different people, different personalities. And all of a sudden he turned left.
And on the left, there were some other people. Some gṛhasthas were sitting, his disciples. And all of a sudden he started looking at somebody.
And then he says: because my mother said that this movement should spread all over the world, it will happen for sure. And I predict that somebody who is here now will do it.
And he was looking at somebody at that moment, having the eye contact. And the disciple of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda said, I was really intrigued at whom he is looking by saying these words.
And I looked back and I saw Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Bābū, who was a gṛhastha at that time, and Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī was looking at him and making this prediction.
No matter how long it will take, it will take place for sure. And so we are the results of this whole history.
Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati had this desire, this desire he got from the Parampara, from his father Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. And he gave, he invested the same desire in the heart of Srila Prabhupada.
And Srila Prabhupada invested this desire in the hearts of his followers, Jaipatak Maharaj and Radhanat Maharaj, and so many other followers who
are continuing this and they're trying to invest the same desire within our heart. And if we fulfill this desire which is Śrī Caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭam sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale, which Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself had.
Mano-bhīṣṭa, his, his very strong desire. So if we fulfill this desire our life will be successful.
If we don't, if we become complacent, if we say yes, yes, yes, yes, very nice, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Balmaraj, Hare Bow, then it's uh it's unfortunate. We have a chance.
We have a chance to please, uh, this powerful, uh, line of spiritual teachers who was sent directly by God. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati, there is no doubt about it. He was sent by God to fulfill certain mission.
And now we have a very amazing chance to take part in his mission, in his preaching mission, preaching this movement. And we should not be satisfied with doing a little bit what we're doing. We should do more.
And that's the main lesson which we should derive from this life of Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati. And that will be the real celebration of his tirobhāva mahotsava. If we want to really celebrate him, we should glorify him by
spreading this mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And that will that will be very glorious. So thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda kī jaya! Gaura-premānande!
Overcoming complacency and answering questions
Uh, about a couple of questions, I can, if there is. If somebody has any questions, I think that's a good... Scanning one of the questions about the last point you made is complacency. How to overcome that?
Definitely, because our present nature, it's very difficult to get out of complacency, because so much of... Yeah, that's the human nature. The human nature is to arrange a comfort zone and stay within the comfort zone.
But we really have to understand that as long as we stay in a comfort zone, nothing good will happen to us. You cannot really achieve anything while staying in a comfort zone except being comfortable.
So, but that's not a big achievement of being comfortable.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura himself said that you know he was doing some some preaching work and there was so many obstacles and he became so enthusiastic and ecstatic about it he said so many obstacles we must be doing something right.
That's the sign that we are doing right. If there's no obstacles, it means that you know well you know we're doing something wrong. If there is some obstacles, it means that we're doing something right.
So you have some you know task in front of you, there is this unfinished building which you're supposed to do.
But anyway, the you know if if if we're intelligent enough, we should be willingly going out of the comfort zone. We should understand that comfort zone is actually not what we need.
Even though the part of us will always say, you know, this, you know, such a comfortable sofa and TV is there and YouTube is there, you know just get comfortable. No, but we should do something.
And that will give us much more happiness. Comfort zone doesn't give you happiness. Comfort zone gives you some boredom. That's what comfort zone is. If you want to be bored, remain in the comfort zone.
If you want to become heavy, get out of the comfort zone. Maybe the goal is to practice Panji. Yes. And uh you said Panashama is uh very much resistant with this thing.
Many girls have uh uh came up in India and uh their main goal of these was also to achieve uh to practice bhakti and
they have achieved uh to some extent also my question is is it so much inevitable for us so much inevitable to chat is from the Uh thank you very much for this very thoughtful question.
Varṇāśrama is not uh inevitable. Varṇāśrama is not really necessary to practice bhakti. But varṇāśrama uh is an indirect way of achieving uh bhakti or coming in contact with devotees.
It's basically the point of the seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is describing ūti. What is ūti? Ūti is the inspiration from inside or impetus from inside to act in a certain way.
We can see that people have different natures. And some people are more saintly, they are more inclined for some pious work, and some people are outright impious, and they don't want to become pious.
So if you look at this situation, you will ask how is it possible? God is impartial, why He created these different natures? Why some people are of this nature, other people are of that nature?
And uh the seventh canto explains that ultimately this uh nature which we have, acquired nature which we have, depends on our previous karma and especially upon our association.
In fact, if we look very carefully and sincerely we will see that whoever I am now, I am created by my association. Either in this life or in the previous life.
So, therefore, in the first part of the seventh canto, the story of Prahlāda is being described in Hiraṇyakaśipu, and Hiraṇyakaśipu, he is a result of the curse of Kumāras and Prahlāda is a result of blessing.
So if you get the blessing of saintly people, you will acquire saintly nature. If you get the curse of saintly people, you will acquire demoniac nature.
Still, it doesn't solve the problem because what to do if you already have demoniac nature. And that's true for basically every one of us.
We have demonic nature, we have demonic inclinations, we have demonic desires and everything.
And therefore the second part of the seventh canto, all of a sudden without visible or apparent connection with the previous part, Sukadev
Gosvāmī or Nārada Muni starts describing varṇāśrama. What's the connection between these two? And he starts describing varṇāśrama, saying that there are general rules for varṇāśrama which you should follow.
And he ends his description of varṇāśrama with guru-bhakti. So the idea which is behind this description is that if you don't have the suitable nature to acquire the blessings of a pure devotee. And not everyone has.
So what is the alternative way still nevertheless to acquire the suitable nature and become saintly and become a devotee, it's go through the system of varṇāśrama, purify gradually because varṇāśrama is the you know it's the instrument which helps you to purify gradually your heart.
And when your heart is purified, you will surrender to your guru. Guru-bhakti is there. And when you surrender to your guru, then you will get blessings of vaiṣṇavas and then you will practice bhakti.
So for those who are already receptive to the blessings of devotees, there is no need for varṇāśrama. For those who are not so receptive, they can go through this roundabout way, gradual, indirect way,
and by going through this, they will gradually purify their heart from demonic desires. This is what Varnashima is all about.
This Varnashima is about how to purify the heart from demonic desires, how to rectify the demonic nature which we all have, unfortunately. Especially in this Kali-yuga. So it's quite, quite strong.
So it's not necessary, but it's if the powerful blessings are there like
Prabhupāda, he's very powerful, he comes to America and he sees some hippie and he says, "Such a nice boy," and this hippie, he just, you know, he just took some drugs and he's totally stoned.
And Prabhupāda says, "Very nice boy, let him become a devotee." He will become a devotee, no problem. Because of the power of Prabhupāda's blessings. But there is also a more general way of doing it.
Just purify your heart and then you will meet a devotee and you will be receptive to his blessings. Okay? Okay, I guess I should go. Thank you very much.
Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda kī jaya! Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭirābhāva Mahotsava kī jaya! Premanandānī!