“Lord Baladeva’s Appearance Day.” Sripad B. S. Vaishnav Maharaj. 5 August 2009. Bangkok, Thailand



Lord Baladeva’s Appearance Day.

Discourse by Sripad Vaishnav Maharaj (Srutasrava Prabhu at that time) glorifying the position of Sri Baladev, Nityananda Prabhu, and Sri Guru. A lecture on 5 August 2009 given during Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj’s last visit to Bangkok, Thailand.

“So that Baladev, all of that shakti, all of that energy, is changed into merciful dispensation in the form of Nityananda Prabhu. And then Nityananda Prabhu has come to us as our Gurudev. The position of Guru is the embodiment of Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy dispensation, and in that way it is coming to all of us, without any consideration.”

 

День явления Господа Баладевы.

Выступление Шрипада Вайшнава Махараджа (в ту пору Шруташравы Прабху), прославляющего положение Шри Баладевы, Нитьянанды Прабху и Шри Гуру. Лекция 5 августа 2009 года была дана во время последнего визита Шрилы Бхакти Сундара Говинды Дев-Госвами Махараджа в Бангкок, Таиланд.

«И этот Баладева — вся эта шакти, вся энергия... в измерении милости становится Нитьянандой Прабху. А затем Нитьянанда Прабху приходит к нам как Гурудев. Гуру — олицетворение природы милосердия Нитьянанды Прабху. Так Он приходит к нам, без какого-либо ограничения».



English

Sripad Bhakti Sharan Vaishnav Maharaj
(Sripad Srutashrava Prabhu)

Lord Baladeva’s Appearance Day

(August 5, 2009. Bangkok, Thailand)


Sripad Srutashrava Prabhu:

Ananta-koti Vaishnav-vrinda ki jai!

Sri Rupanuga Guru-varga ki jai!

Namacharya Srila Haridas Thakur ki jai!

Om Vishnupad Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad ki jai!

Sri Harinam-sankirtan ki jai!

Samaveta bhakta-vrinda ki jai!

Nitai-Gaura premanande Haribol!

#00:00:27#

If we were more developed in Bengali, we could just read this: Baladeva-khanda, Garga-samhita. All Sanskrit is developed around the universe. And myself, I have no such ability to manage it well. And one nice pranam-mantra of Sri Baladeva, that our beloved Gurudev has been captured by in that book, in that section.

#00:01:00#

sphurad-amala-kirīṭaṁ kiṅkiṇī-kaṅkaṇārhaṁ
chalad-alaka-kapolaṁ kuṇḍala-śrī-mukhābjam
tuhina-giri-manojñaṁ nīla-meghāmbarāḍhyaṁ
hala-musala-viśālaṁ kāma-pālaṁ samīre

(Sri Garga-samhita: 8.2.13.4)

That sloka is on Gurudev’s wall. It used to be on his wall in Kolkata. I think it stayed in the old veranda where we live. And it’s on his wall in the veranda in Navadwip.

#00:01:32#

So, the very beautiful pranam-mantra of Baladeva. Everything about Him is very splendid and dazzling and shining like a golden mountain. His earrings, His dress, everything about Him. Of course, hala-musala-viśālaṁ—all He has is a plow and a club. So, in this day, we’re very fortunate to remember Sri Baladeva. And Baladeva has a very, very important position for all of us, although we are so far from Krishna-loka and that particular consciousness. But Baladeva is the original Guru and He is the first expansion of Krishna. So, in that way, if we read, which we should read actually, the fifth chapter of Adi-lila [Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita], if we were in the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math [unclear] would read that yesterday the fifth chapter of Adi-lila, Nityananda-tattva. Because Baladeva has come as Nityananda and now He come as Nityananda, right?

#00:02:43#

balarāma haila nitāi

He sang that a few minutes ago. But Nityananda actually removed Baladeva and Krishna. “Your time is over and now is the time for My Gauranga.” So necessarily our Guru is telling us that. That is the position of Guru. Now what is Nityananda Prabhu praying?

#00:03:07#

bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga, laha gaurāṅgera nāma…

That’s Baladeva’s prayer in the form of Nityananda Prabhu. He’s praying to every living entity. Praying. We are not fit to take the name of Gauranga. We are not fit to talk about Gauranga. And we’re not fit to worship Gauranga. But still, Baladeva in the form of Nityananda Prabhu is begging us to do those things. “Take the name of My Gauranga.” That’s the song we just heard.

#00:03:44#

dīnahīna patita pāmara nāhi bāche…

Baladeva has no consideration. Who is dim? Who is poor? Who is bereft? Who is fallen? Who is abominable? Who is disgusting person? Pāma? Means like very low class, disgusting person. Nityananda Prabhu has no consideration of that. So, the Guru has now taken this mood. Baladeva is Adi-Guru. Another Guru taken His mood.

#00:04:21#

dīnahīna patita pāmara nāhi bāche…

No consideration who it is. When Nityananda Prabhu... That’s a very beautiful song, Nitāi guṇamaṇi āmāra. When Nityananda Prabhu made this flood... He took the ocean, as in Baladeva, we sang this morning. Dashavatar-stotram:

#00:04:45#

vahasi vapuṣi viśade vasanaṁ jaladābhaṁ
hala-hati-bhīti-milita jamunābham…

The Jamuna was afraid of Baladeva’s plow. Because He called the Jamuna to aid in His pastime, and the Jamuna didn’t come. Then Baladeva began to take His plow and bring the Jamuna to Himself. Then the Jamuna flowed wherever Baladeva was, fearful of His plow.

#00:05:11#

…hala-hati-bhīti-milita jamunābham…

So, in the same way, it’s described by Lochan Das Thakur, that Nityananda Prabhu, He took the ocean of prema like that, and spread it everywhere.

#00:05:24#

…ghore ghore bule prema-amiyāra bāna

He made a flood of praying in every door.

#00:05:33#

…ghore ghore bule prema…

And the devotees, they were drowning.

#00:05:40#

…ḍubilo bhakata-gaṇa…

And all the devotees, they were drowning in that ocean of praying that was brought by Nityananda Prabhu.

#00:05:49#

…dīnahīna bhāse

And the non-devotees, they were floating. That’s Nityananda Prabhu’s program. The devotees were drowning in that love, of prema, that ocean of love, that ocean of prema. And the non-devotees, they were floating in it. But everybody was welcome. Everyone was welcome. This is the mood of Nityananda Prabhu. And Baladeva now has come in that form. Although we could say sometimes Nityananda Prabhu because we’re Gaudiya Vaishnavas, and our Param Guru Maharaj has answered that question. You can say sometimes Nityananda Prabhu comes as Baladeva. That’s our conception. That’s our Guru’s conception, therefore it’s our conception. Not that we have any right to any conception. We have no right even to any conception of anything. We’re dealing with another people’s property.

#00:06:46#

All these conceptions that we have of who is Baladeva, who is Nitai, who is Mahaprabhu, who is Radha-Krishna. Who is the Guru? Who is the Vaishnava? These are not our conceptions, these are not our property. These are all the conceptions of our Guru. They lend them to us. They try to intoxicate us with these things. They try to make our life joyful and intoxicated with these conceptions. Just as in our previous experience, right, if you had something nice and you want to share it with your friend. Our Gurus are intoxicated with Krishna-prema. And sometimes we come, all of you began at a very young age, we come to Krishna consciousness, and some of us and with our past history and our past religious training. And that past religious training is pious, it’s definitely pious, but it doesn’t fit in the Krishna conception.

#00:07:55#

That in Christianity, like Avadhut Maharaj repeated, Srila Gurudev’s example the other day, “Can you play football with Allah?” But can you can you see that Allah is madly intoxicated? And then, therefore, Mohammed must be madly intoxicated. Can you conceive of that? Like in Christianity, can you conceive of that? Like I was a Catholic boy, I went to Catholic school, I was an altar boy, I did the whole thing. God was very strict. You know, that’s the depiction of God in other religious conceptions. He’s very strict, Himself, and even in His personal life. And God is very strict. Naturally, because He’s the oldest being, then they always depict Him as an old man. Old men don’t party. And so, in my church, there was a mural on the ceiling, like, you know, the Catholic church or some imitation of a Michelangelo thing. And God was sitting on a chair. I always remember, because it was a frightening scene. You know, God’s sitting on a chair, looking very stern, very strict.

#00:09:07#

And I remember when I went to Vrindavan with Srila Gurudev, I hadn’t been to Vrindavan for many, many, many years. Then in 1999, [unclear] wasn’t there. I had the opportunity to go to Vrindavan with Srila Gurudev for the opening of our temple there, the installation of the Rasa-Bihari. And then, you know, hearing from Srila Gurudev at that time, Srila Gurudev is obviously much more mobile than he is now. So, walking around Vrindavan a little bit with him, walking to the Radha-Damodar temple, walking down to the Imlitala temple of Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj, and hearing Srila Gurudev’s description of Vrindavan and Krishna, then it’s like a slap in the face. For someone with my background, with that Christian background, it’s like a big slap in the face. God is not strict at all. Every other conception I have about God, “Old, strict man”, forget about it. That’s not what God is like. He’s madly intoxicated all the time. And we know Baladeva, especially, He likes that varuni-drink. He’s always intoxicated, His eyes are red. And you see an intoxicated man. Not like that. I’m not comparing Baladeva to any mundane thing. But He’s mainly intoxicated, always running around. Anybody gets in His way, He smacks them out of the [unclear]. He’s also very kind and magnanimous. And the most kind and most magnanimous is Nityananda Prabhu, and especially towards the fallen soul.

#00:10:50#

And Srila Gurudev explained, “Why was my Guru Maharaj always taking the name of Nityananda Prabhu?” To show us that in his Vaishnava humility he took himself as a fallen soul and he was showing us how fallen souls get mercy from Nityananda Prabhu. That’s how we get mercy, that’s how the mercy comes to us. That even Raghunath Das Goswami, we can’t imagine how much blessings he had in his life. His father, we were reading, reading somewhere the other day, his father and his uncle, Mazumdar—Govardhan and Hiranya Mazumdar. They were very rich men like the Rockefellers or Bill Gates of that time in West Bengal, but they were very charitably disposed for the Vaishnavas.

#00:11:50#

And they gave a lot of charity to Advaita Acharya, to Nilambar Chakravarti, to Jagannath Mishra, to Haridas Thakur. So, from the time Raghunath Das Goswami was this big, he was being blessed by those particular Vaishnavas. When he was old enough to hear, he was hearing the glory of the holy name of Krishna from Haridas Thakur. And he tried so hard to get connected with Mahaprabhu. I think we heard some description the other day, that after when Krishna was leaving the world, that the separation was too much for everyone. And Srila Gurudev, it never dawned on me before, but Srila Gurudev pointed out to me one time, that all these great devotees, like Rupa, Sanatana and Raghunath Das Goswami, they were all watching Mahaprabhu’s every movement. And when Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, they all became mad. And then they all took sannyasa and went with Him, or went in His service deeply, to feel the connection of Mahaprabhu.

#00:13:07#

So, for the Gaudiya Vaishnava, when Mahaprabhu left Navadwip, it’s like Krishna leaving Vrindavan. Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote that famous sloka. Yes, so Raghunath Das Goswami, he couldn’t get Mahaprabhu’s connection. And every time he was captured, his parents were rich, they hired many security guards, some tall security guards, some regular security guards, like ten, twelve guys always watching him twenty-four hours a day. So many times, he tried to run to Mahaprabhu, and every time he was captured and brought back.

#00:13:46#

Then when he got the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. How did he get the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu? He put on a little festival, some doi, and some cola, some flat rice, made that festival. Nityananda Prabhu was so satisfied with him. Because not only did he feed Nityananda Prabhu, but he fed all the Vaishnavas that were with Nityananda Prabhu and fully respected all of them. And even like gave them some cash when he was leaving for some future expenses. Because he had no interest himself in any of those things. But after getting Nityananda Prabhu’s blessings, Nityananda Prabhu put His feet on the head of Raghunath Das Goswami and blessed him. Then very quickly after that, he spent the rest of his life, his life with Mahaprabhu. Not the rest of his life, but at least the rest of Mahaprabhu’s manifested pastimes. Raghunath Das Goswami was there. After he got the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. So, we need the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. Baladeva, Krishna, like Vrindavan, everything is coming to us through the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, because Nityananda Prabhu is the Adi-Guru. And therefore, our Gurudev is carrying the full potency of Nityananda Prabhu to us. And he is asking us the same thing. But Avadhut Maharaj made that point, “Oh, why are we just worshipping Gauranga?” Because that’s Nityananda Prabhu’s prayer to us. Bhaja gaurāṅga. That’s enough. We don’t need to do anything more. If we worship Gauranga, Nityananda Prabhu will be satisfied. He’s praying like that.

#00:15:35#

bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga, laha gaurāṅgera nāma
ye jana gaurāṅga bhaje se haya āmāra prāṇa

“And if you do that, if you worship My Gauranga, if you talk about My Gauranga, if you take the name of My Gauranga, you will be My life and soul.” And if you become the life and soul of Nityananda Prabhu, you’ll have entrance everywhere. In Vrindavan, Krishna-lila, Baladeva-lila, every lila, you’ll be allowed in. If you become the life and soul of Nityananda Prabhu, you won’t be checked anywhere. Just like if you were a good friend of the king of Thailand. There’s no place where you couldn’t go. But everywhere you went in Thailand, you’d be fully welcome. You could go to the palace, you could go to the governor’s house, you could go anywhere you wanted. If everybody knew you were a good friend of the king. If you were a good friend of Obama, you could go everywhere in America. You could get any dinner at the White House, any big state meetings, everywhere. You’d be welcome. You could go any place you wanted. So, if you have the position of being a life and soul of Nityananda Prabhu every door is open to you in every lila.

#00:17:04#

But our sampradaya, Param Guru Maharaj was explaining, that the Rupanuga-sampradaya is particularly and specifically for madhura-rasa. That’s the purpose of the Rupanuga-sampradaya. We had some discussion a couple of weeks ago with Srila Gurudev that night. [Unclear] Prabhu was there about that point. And Guru was singing some song of Chandidas. In this particular sampradaya, which is Nityananda Prabhu’s sampradaya, the real purpose of the Rupanuga-sampradaya is only madhura-rasa. And everything is targeted towards that. And even that becomes open to you. If you have the grace of Nityananda Prabhu, everything becomes open to you.

#00:18:00#

…nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pabe…

“If Nityananda Prabhu will be merciful to me, then I’ll get entrance into the Radha-Krishna-lila in Vrindavan. Otherwise not.” So how is Nitai’s mercy coming to me? Through Srila Gurudev. That’s the only way anything transcendental and divine can come to me. I can’t go around him. I can’t jump over him. And I can’t like Gurudev is angry with me, then I’m going to go to somebody else. You know, sometimes we try to do that in the world, that we have some job, so our boss is angry with us, we try to go to some other channel.

#00:18:45#

But you can’t do that in a divine world. There’s no going around Gurudev. Of course, sometimes if Gurudev is angry with you for some particular mistake, then Param Guru Maharaj may show you a little special mercy, because that’s what the grandfather does. And if your father is very angry with you, sometimes your grandfather can give you some relief. But otherwise, we can’t get it from any other place. The mercy of Nityananda Prabhu must be given to us by Srila Gurudev. The conception of Baladeva must be given to us by Srila Gurudev. Everything must come from him, otherwise we’ll be cheated. Param Guru Maharaj wrote in his famous song,

#00:19:34#

…gati-vañchita-vañchakāchintya-padaṁ…

Society of the cheaters and the cheated. At his lotus feet of the inconceivable shelter for the cheaters and the cheated. And that’s what’s happening. That the cheaters and the cheated. And we like to be the cheaters, because we all have that propensity. Nobody else tells you that. Like you don’t go to some other religious discourse and they tell you that you have these defects. And one of those defects is cheating propensity. Bhrama, pramāda, karaṇāpāṭava and vipralipsā. Vipralipsā means a ‘cheating propensity.’ So, we all have a cheating propensity. Every living entity, conditioned soul, not liberated soul, but every conditioned soul, has that cheating propensity. So, we all want to be the cheaters. We don’t want to be the cheated. But we know it’s a mundane world, a plane of exploitation.

#00:20:50#

So many people are stronger than us in so many different ways—intellectually stronger, physically stronger, financially stronger, socially stronger. Then we become the cheaters. They become the cheaters. Then we are frustrated, angry, disappointed. And what is happiness? When we are successfully cheating. When we are successfully cheating, then we are happy. After when we come into some cheater more powerful than ourselves and we become the cheater, then we’re disappointed and frustrated. And if we leave at the doorway of Srila Gurudev, that’s all our transactions will be there. Doesn’t mean we can’t take shelter and get guidance and help from another Vaishnav, but that Vaishnav must be loyal to our Gurudev. We’re getting help from everybody. But those people that are helping us are loyal to Gurudev. Otherwise they can’t help us. It doesn’t mean we oust them, disrespect them. It’s not the mood of a Vaishnavism.

#00:22:03#

But we know that ultimately, they can’t help us. If someone has no faith in my Guru, how will they help me? They can’t help me. So, all of this wealth and treasure and these beautiful, madly intoxicating conceptions, that’s what they really are. But because we haven’t really tasted them, we’re sitting around morose, angry, disturbed, so many things, especially everybody knows I’m an angry man. Why? Because I’m not tasting this thing. I’m not tasting this conception. My Gurudev is trying heart and soul, every way possible, to give it to me. Every way possible to make it attractive for me. Without altering the original thing. And when we try to do that, because we’re not on a high level of consciousness, then we alter the thing. But Gurudev can do it without altering the original thing. He’s trying to make it attractive for us. That’s by Mahaprabhu’s program, which was embodied by Nityananda Prabhu. How tolerant was Nityananda Prabhu! And even Haridas Thakur, even Haridas Thakur, you can’t imagine how merciful was Haridas Thakur. Haridas Thakur said, “Maybe we should find somebody else.” Nityananda Prabhu wanted to go to Jagai-Madhai. Haridas Thakur said, “Let’s find some other people, man.” Maybe a little more mellow people than them. No, Nityananda Prabhu wanted to start with Jagai and Madhai.

#00:23:47#

dīna-hīna yata chila hari-nāme uddharila,
              tā’ra sākṣī jagāi-mādhāi

The holy name of Krishna can uplift everyone, no matter how fallen they are. And here is the evidence, right? Jagai and Madhai. So Nityananda Prabhu went to them, not once, repeatedly, and was so abused by them. And sometimes we have some experience, we’ve been on the street, we invited people, you know, chant Hare Krishna and do this. And we’ve been abused by people, but not the way Nityananda Prabhu was abused by Jagai-Madhai. And even to the point of violence, but Nityananda Prabhu didn’t object, even at that stage, and even when He was injured by them. And we know, Nityananda Prabhu, He’s Baladeva, He is very powerful. So, He had no problem to whoop up on Jagai and Madhai. And for Him to, you know, whatever you want to put it, in gentlemanly terms, to give a severe beating to Jagai and Madhai would have been nothing for Him. But He didn’t. He only prayed to them more.

#00:25:01#

And then when Mahaprabhu came to punish them then He prayed to Mahaprabhu more, and Mahaprabhu came to punish them, and Mahaprabhu is the most merciful. And namo mahā-vadānyāya, and Nityananda prayed to Mahaprabhu, “Even to be more merciful to Jagai and Madhai, be more merciful to them, don’t punish them. If You punish them, who will we give this to?” So, this humility, tolerance, and giving honor to others, it makes this thing so beautiful. And Nityananda Prabhu showed the epitome of that. And our Gurudev is carrying that tradition. Why do we all feel so wonderful in his company? If we can slip in his door for a few minutes, and immediately we feel wonderful. Why do we feel so wonderful? Is he not paying us? Is he not giving us anything? Just to sit in his room with him for a couple of minutes. It makes your whole day. You only get that opportunity once, and then you have to go back to your country or go to some other place for your whole year. Or maybe you don’t even see him for two or three years. Two or three years you feel good. You spend twenty minutes in his room. And you remember that for two or three years. And it soothes you and consoles you. Why?

#00:26:35#

Because he’s the embodiment of that mood of Nityananda Prabhu. And that’s the real position of Baladeva. Baladeva is a servant of Krishna. Sometimes He also slaps Krishna in His servant. Gurudev told that beautiful story that. I forgot why He slapped Him. You know, why Krishna slapped Baladeva? He asked Him for something, asked Him to do something, and Baladeva slapped Krishna.

#00:27:15#

Devotee: He’s in loving… Maybe if They’re... I think They’re playing and then Baladeva was cheating and...

Sripad Srutashrava Prabhu: He gave a pretty good slap. And then, Krishna went and complained to mother Jashoda. “Oh, Baladeva slapped Me.” And then Baladeva went there and Jashoda was chastising Him so much. “Why are You abusing Your brother? You have to take care of Him.” Baladeva said, “He’s My whole life and soul. Everything I do, I do for Him, for Him. Like every moment of My day I watch out for Him. I look over Him. I take care of Him. Don’t worry. I’m doing that already.” Then Baladeva went to Krishna and said, “What kind of nonsense is this, man? What kind of brother are You? So many lives, so many incarnations. There’s Lakshman and this way and that. I tolerated so much. I went to the forest. I did so much for You. And You can’t tolerate one slap from Me? What kind of brother are you?” And Gurudev said, “Krishna was very embarrassed.”

#00:28:21#

And for that Baladeva, who couldn’t go near Kurukshetra, because Duryodhana was His favorite student. And so sometimes we think of the Kauravas as demons and stuff. But Duryodhana was Baladeva’s favorite student. And Baladeva taught him club fighting so well that He knew that Bhishma couldn’t defeat Him unless they cheated. And then Balarama would have become too angry. He watched His student die, [unclear] cheating, even though Krishna wanted it. So, He stayed away and He went away near Kurukshetra.

#00:29:07#

That Baladeva, all of that shakti, all of that energy, where it’s changed into merciful dispensation in the form of Nityananda Prabhu. And then Nityananda Prabhu has come to us as our Gurudev. The position of Guru is the embodiment of Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy dispensation. And in that way, it’s coming to all of us, without any consideration.

#00:29:36#

dīna hīna patita pāmara nāhi bāche brahmār

However, fallen, degraded, low-class, abominable we may be, that the prayer comes to us also,

#00:29:52#

bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga, laha gaurāṅgera nāma…

And by the grace of our Guru, we’re getting some conception of that. And they’re teaching us. Srila Gurudev explain, Param Guru Maharaj is teaching us. Unfortunately, no one imitates that. Everything we take, we try to imitate. I’m very happy that nobody imitates that. At least not I haven’t seen so far of to be doing it. Param Guru Maharaj is always saying, “Doyal Nitai, doyal Nitai, doyal Nitai, doyal Nitai.” He said some sloka he would give few minutes explanation of Krishna consciences then twenty-five times, “Doyal Nitai, doyal Nitai, doyal Nitai.” And he was teaching us [unclear]. That what we need do. We need help. We are those kinds of [unclear] well, I am [unclear], I don’t speak for anybody else. I need that kind of help. That’s my condition. I’m in that category of dīna hīna patita pāmara situation. I should be given that. I’m not doing that. Narottam Das Thakur said,

#00:31:13#

ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā…

“Being intoxicated with my own ego I forgot of lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu.”

#00:31:26#

ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā
            asatyere satya kori māni…

And all the things I think are important I’ve taken all the unimportant things to be important. And that way I’m spending my life. And I’m so intoxicated with my own ego. I can’t even see that. Because when we take the unimportant things as important, then we think they’re important. And another way that’s explained is. In Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu Srila Rupa Goswami says,

#00:32:07#

bhukti-mukti-spṛhā yāvat
piśācī hṛdi vartate
tāvad bhakti-sukhasyātra
katham abhyudayo bhavet

(Chaitanya-charitamrita: Madhya-lila, 19.176; Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu: 1.2.22)

And Srila Prabhupada’s translation of that, he says, “As long as one is trying to be more important, either in the material sense or the spiritual sense, no one can never taste the sweetness of Krishna consciousness.” So, bhukti-mukti, mundane enjoyment and spiritual emancipation.

#00:32:44#

bhukti-mukti-spṛhā yāva…

What is part of spiritual emancipation? Everyone will see that, “I’m an advanced person.” “I’m a savi.” No one’s going to see that, isn’t it? And that’s one of the traps pratishtha: bhukti-mukti spriha jāvat piśācī hṛdi vartate. As long as that witch, māyā is in our heart, bewildering us with those things, then we can’t... the sweetness of Krishna praying, of Krishna consciousness, can never awaken.

#00:33:18#

…tāvad bhakti-sukhasyātra
katham abhyudayo bhavet

How can that be awakened? How can that be manifested in our heart? As long as we’re in that other condition. So,

#00:33:32#

…nitāi-pada pāsariyā…

ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā…

Intoxicated with my own ego. The same situation in a simpler, sweeter expression.

#00:33:46#

ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā…

“I forgot of lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu intoxicated with my own ego.” Therefore, I’m not calling out. Because I think I’m somebody, because I think I have something, that I’m not calling out to Nityananda Prabhu. But if I really was honest about my own situation and my own position, then I would be calling out to Nityananda Prabhu. I would be remembering Nityananda Prabhu. Not in an imitative way, I’m not going to, after every point I’m going to doyal Nitai. I’m not like that. At least internally I have to be making that calling. And better internally. And what good is an external show? That’s only going to take me more and more in that direction. For I won’t be able to do it internally. And then it’s just some external show of doing it, taking me further in the wrong direction. Still we should do it. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the name of Nitai. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t chant Hare Krishna. Like Janardan Maharaj had that joke, and people have to understand it’s a joke. We’re better of chanting four rounds of Nama-aparadh than sixteen rounds of Nama-aparadh. People are from other societies, they’re always coming to us, “How many rounds do you chant? How many rounds do you chant?”

#00:35:11#

So, then Janardan Maharaj joked that four rounds of Nama-aparadh are better than sixteen rounds of Nama-aparadh. The one shuddha-nam is what we’re interested in. So why are we chanting? We’re chanting for one shuddha-nam. And the [holy] name is very merciful. All the divine sound is very merciful. All the divine sound is equipped with mercy. Gayatri. Our Param Guru Maharaj wrote, Gāyatrī muralīṣṭa-kīrttana-dhanaṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi. Even Krishna’s flute wants to distribute that. Like Gāyatrī muralīṣṭa. Muralīṣṭa means ‘the desire of the flute.’ The flute itself wants to give us that, wants to push that sound into the heart of the living entity. Like Rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi. The whole [unclear]. Rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi. At that time, when I went to Vrindavan with Srila Gurudev, and so good for the opening. I hadn’t been to Vrindavan in so many years, and it’s different than Navadwip. So, you know, even like the rikshawalas, they don’t like do their horn and stuff, they say, “Jai Radhe!” So, I was, you know, everywhere on the wall, you see written, instead of saying, like, ‘hammer,’ ‘sickle,’ all that stuff, stuff you see like ‘Jai Radhe!’ written on the wall, maha-mantra written on the wall, you see people chanting the maha-mantra.

#00:36:40#

So, I went to Gurudev and I said, “Oh, you know, this Vrindavan is so beautiful, even the rikshawalas, they don’t even sound their horn, they just say, ‘Jai Radhe!’” You know, Gurudev has that look. He just gave me that look, he didn’t say anything to me, but he gave me that look like, “You know, so foolish person.” And you can feel it when he gives you that look. So, I felt that look. I understood I was foolish, but I didn’t clearly understand how I was foolish in that particular context. And then when we were leaving in Vrindavan to go to Kolkata, as we were riding out of Vrindavan in the car, Srila Gurudev said to me, “You know, the residents of Vrindavan, they have their own program. We don’t interfere with that. We don’t abuse them.” I said, “Shukadev Goswami, he didn’t take the name of Srimati Radharani. He was shy to take the name of Srimati Radharani.” Then what should our feeling be? But then when he said that, I understood why I was feeling in that particular... I’m not foolish in a million ways, but in that particular context.

#00:37:53#

And Shukadev Goswami was shy to take the name of Srimati Radharani, but still Krishna’s flute sang to infuse that into the hearts of the living entities.

#00:38:03#

gāyatrī muralīṣṭa-kīrttana-dhanaṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi

You know, we know in our mission, ladies don’t get Brahma-gayatri, but you get that Gayatri. You may not get Brahma-gayatri, but you get Krishna-gayatri, Kama-gayatri, Gaura-gayatri, all the other Gayatris that are so beautiful that, that infusion is coming through those other Gayatris. Rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi. So, everything, every divine sound, that is mercifully disposed, [unclear], through the grace of Nityananda Prabhu. We know which means the grace of Gurudev and all the power of Baladeva is contained in that. So, everything will be mercifully disposed towards us. The holy name of Krishna. The holy name of Krishna, when that question also goes around, how many rounds of [unclear], how many... The name of Krishna is not a punishment. Our Gurudev asked us to name to chant the name of Krishna, not as like some punishment, “Oh, my God, I got to do this.” Like one of my God brothers wrote a book about chanting japa, like some kind of punishment.

#00:39:24#

And on this day, we have to do more, this [unclear] struggle, to chant the name of Krishna more. It’s not a punishment. Chanting the name of Krishna is not a punishment. It is not punishing us by giving us the name of Krishna. And that name of Krishna itself, right, is so mercifully disposed towards us. If we’re fortunate to be up early in the morning, then in the morning we hear that song, Udilo aruṇa. And in the last standard of Udilo aruṇa, it says. What does it say?

#00:40:01#

jīvera kalyāṇa-sādhana-kām…

“This name of Krishna has such an intense desire to do good for the living entity.”

#00:40:12#

…jagate āsi’ e madhura nām…

“That reason, the sweet [holy] name has come to this world.” And with an intense desire, so strong desire, it’s called kām. And when a desire is very strong, then it’s called kām.

jīvera kalyāṇa-sādhana-kām,
jagate āsi’ e madhura nām…

“Even the name of Krishna, that sweet name of Krishna, came to the world, enters the world for that purpose, to do good for that.”

#00:40:46#

…avidyā-timira-tapana-rūpe…

“Like the sun that is rising in our heart and getting rid of all the darkness.”

#00:40:56#

…hṛd-gagane birāje

“In the sky of our heart, there is the sun.” So Mahaprabhu told Nityananda Prabhu, “Go around and preach that.” And Nityananda did not do that. He wants to preach His conception.

#00:41:11#

bhaja gaurāṅga…

I have forgot Mahaprabhu what He said.

#00:41:16#

…‘bala kṛṣṇa, bhaja kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa kara śikṣā’

Nityananda Prabhu did not do that Nityananda Prabhu made His own pilgrim bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga, laha gaurāṅgera nāma. Even more merciful even better than Krishna. “Take the name of My Gauranga.” That’s Baladeva’s gift to us. And I could say that Baladeva is the gift to us from Nityananda Prabhu. Everything was coming like that. Param Guru Maharaj said that if we ask, we have to say what is original. Who is more original Mahaprabhu? What came first Mahaprabhu or Radha-Krishna? We have to say Mahaprabhu. That’s the Param Guru Maharaj said. [Unclear] no business giving any opinion on that particular subject matter, but Guru Maharaj’s opinion is that. Then we think, “Who is first—Nityananda Prabhu or Baladeva?” Then we say, “Nityananda Prabhu.” And through Nityananda Prabhu we’ll get Baladeva, we’ll get everything.

#00:42:35#

And without Him we won’t. We’ll run around, we may try in so many ways, even with blessings and so many things, but without the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu… Is that other expression? I forgot the…

#00:42:54#

āra kabe nitāi-chāṇdera karuṇā haibe
saṁsāra-vāsanā mora kabe tuchchha ha’be

(Prarthana: 1.2)

“The whole material gain will be something very, very insignificant for me, if Nityananda Prabhu will be merciful to me.” I had to do Maharaj with explaining the other day, very beautifully, that we always have this two-fold thing going on within us. We like Hari-katha, we like to hear these things, we like these things, and then all of a sudden, my mind wants to go to the mall, my mind wants to go to the ice cream store, my mind wants to go check out motorcycles and new cars and this and that, so many things. There’s struggle going on inside. But when Nityananda Prabhu be more merciful to us.

#00:43:48#

āra kabe nitāi-chāṇdera karuṇā haibe
saṁsāra-vāsanā mora kabe tuchchha ha’be

(Prarthana: 1.2)

Then that whole game will be over. They will try to see, “[Unclear] Well, here’s a brand-new Mercedes, you know, S600. It won’t have any attraction for me. You know, brand-new, whatever, BMW motorcycle, no attraction for me. None of those things.” [Unclear] Nothing, the whole any attraction for me when Nityananda Prabhu will be merciful. Nothing except Krishna. And everything connecting with Him. And everything is coming to us through Gurudev. And Gurudev is very pleased Param Guru Maharaj tirobhav when I said that one thing that

#00:44:35#

nāma-śreṣṭhaṁ manum api śachī-putram atra svarūpaṁ…

Everything is coming to us through Gurudev.

#00:44:48#

…rūpaṁ tasyāgrajam…

How do we even know these things? How do we know the name of Srila Rupa Goswami? We don’t deserve it. Sorry, I don’t want to put everybody in the same class, but we don’t deserve. We want to know the name of Srila Rupa Goswami.

#00:45:04#

…tasyāgrajam…

Sanatana Goswami.

…uru-purīṁ māthurīṁ goṣṭavāṭīm…

We know the difference by the grace of our Gurus. We know the difference between Mathura and Vrindavan, and then how much more special. When Srila Gurudev came to Soquel and installed the deities, Guru-Gauranga Gandharvika-Giridhari, in Soquel. Then he had us write on the wall Saraswati Thakur’s Bengali translation, one part of it. If you read Prapanna-jivanamritam, anytime Saraswati Thakur wrote some Bengali translation, especially of the Upadeshamrita verses. Then Param Guru Maharaj gave that as the translation to the verse. So, in that verse, from Upadeshamrita.

#00:45:58#

vaikuṇṭhāj janito varā madhu-purī tatrāpi rāsotsavād-
vṛndāraṇyam udāra-pāṇi-ramaṇāt tatrāpi govardhanaḥ
rādhā-kuṇḍam ihāpi gokula-pateḥ premāmṛtāplāvanāt
kuryād asya virājato giri-taṭe sevāṁ vivekī na kaḥ

So, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, he wrote beautiful Bengali poetic translation of that sloka. And one pada says,

#00:46:30#

vṛndāvana haite śreṣṭha govarddhana-śaila
gāndharvvikā-giridhārī yathā krīḍā kaila

Better than Vrindavan is Govardhan, where Gandharvika and Giridhari are always playing. So, we know that.

#00:46:51#

                              …uru-purīṁ māthurīṁ goṣṭavāṭīm
rādhā-kuṇḍaṁ giri-varam aho rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ
prāpto yasya prathita-kṛpayā śrī guruṁ taṁ nato ’smi

Everything is coming from Gurudev. Everything we need, we will get from him. Everything we need for our service life, even our food and lodging. Now previously that was the system in the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, when it was smaller. And even when I joined in ISKCON, it wasn’t like we went to Srila Prabhupada to get something, but the temple president. Whatever you needed, you went to the temple president. And you needed a dhoti, you went to the temple president. You needed a kurta, you know, a t-shirt or whatever, some flip-flops, you went to the temple president. But that was the system. And in the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math for many, many, many years, until the Westerners came and spoiled everything. Whatever you needed, you got from Param Guru Maharaj. You needed a shirt, you needed a dhoti, you needed some medicine, you needed some shoes. Whatever you needed, you had to go to Param Guru and he gave it to you. That’s a whole other subject. This is already a long time.

#00:48:12#

[sloka]

Uddhava told Krishna, “By taking all Your remnants, I’m going to conquer Your mind.” So, if we live our life like that, everything that we need is coming from Gurudev. Even if I need some clothes, or even if I need some foodstuff, which of course is coming in the form of prasadam, everything I need, I can get from Gurudev. And every spiritual necessity, but all the external things as well. If I’m a servant, everything will be taken care of. And in Prapanna-jivanamrita, Param Guru Maharaj gives that sloka, evidential sloka, as a sold animal. It doesn’t have to worry about its own maintenance. So, the servants of the Lord also have nothing to think about and worry about. If we’re really servants. So Gurudev is giving us everything, top to bottom, and everything in the middle, and everything that we need. Every conception, every understanding of everything, we’re getting from him. Sometimes directly, sometimes through inspiration.

#00:49:34#

So Baladeva, Baladeva, Nityananda Prabhu, everything is coming to us through Gurudev. He’s the source of that. Baladeva is the original Guru. And of course, Nityananda Prabhu has shown that actually, “You get off the throne.” That’s what Nityananda Prabhu told Baladeva, “Your time is over.” In other words, “You only get a little time, but really the time is Our time. That’s why Mahaprabhu’s time. Nityananda Prabhu’s time.” So, then the Adi-Guru is also Nityananda Prabhu. And that power is held by our Gurudev. And if we understand that, everything that we need, we can see, is contained in his lotus feet. And do we think that his physical capacity, his physical condition is relevant in this regard? Srila Gurudev lost his potency to give us all the divine things that we need, because his body can’t function like it used to? But we have to consider these things. Like Srila Prabhupada has his own meditation. And he would like to spend the rest of his days in that meditation, no doubt.

#00:51:11#

So, he is not so eager to do the external work of the Acharya in this time of his life. Neither was Param Guru Maharaj neither was Srila Prabhupada, neither was Saraswati Thakur at that time of their lives. And maybe it happened at different ages. As you know, Saraswati Thakur was only sixty-six years old when he left the world. So, it might have happened at different ages, but at this particular time of their lives. But has that diminished his spiritual capacity? And has Gurudev’s external condition in any way diminished? His spiritual potency. And he’s still carrying the whole thing, including the power transmission of the Rupanuga-sampradaya. Still in his hands. And he hasn’t put it in anybody else’s. Still in his hands.

#00:52:11#

And Saraswati Thakur gave it to Param Guru Maharaj and Param Guru Maharaj gave it to him, along with everything else that he had. Spiritually, materially, in terms of buildings, in terms of property, in terms of spiritual wealth, everything that Param Guru Maharaj had, he gave to our Gurudev. And Gurudev is still holding that. As they say, as Gurudev says very seriously, still holding the chair of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Then [he] has his, even an ordinary man, whatever spirituality he has, is not lost by some material situation. An ordinary man says, “What about Gurudev?” Some external physical condition has anything to do with his spiritual potency?

Captured by Ananta Krishna Das
Edited by Tradish Das




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Lord Baladeva’s Appearance Day.

Discourse by Sripad Vaishnav Maharaj (Srutasrava Prabhu at that time) glorifying the position of Sri Baladev, Nityananda Prabhu, and Sri Guru. A lecture on 5 August 2009 given during Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj’s last visit to Bangkok, Thailand.

“So that Baladev, all of that shakti, all of that energy, is changed into merciful dispensation in the form of Nityananda Prabhu. And then Nityananda Prabhu has come to us as our Gurudev. The position of Guru is the embodiment of Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy dispensation, and in that way it is coming to all of us, without any consideration.”

 

День явления Господа Баладевы.

Выступление Шрипада Вайшнава Махараджа (в ту пору Шруташравы Прабху), прославляющего положение Шри Баладевы, Нитьянанды Прабху и Шри Гуру. Лекция 5 августа 2009 года была дана во время последнего визита Шрилы Бхакти Сундара Говинды Дев-Госвами Махараджа в Бангкок, Таиланд.

«И этот Баладева — вся эта шакти, вся энергия... в измерении милости становится Нитьянандой Прабху. А затем Нитьянанда Прабху приходит к нам как Гурудев. Гуру — олицетворение природы милосердия Нитьянанды Прабху. Так Он приходит к нам, без какого-либо ограничения».



English

Sripad Bhakti Sharan Vaishnav Maharaj
(Sripad Srutashrava Prabhu)

Lord Baladeva’s Appearance Day

(August 5, 2009. Bangkok, Thailand)


Sripad Srutashrava Prabhu:

Ananta-koti Vaishnav-vrinda ki jai!

Sri Rupanuga Guru-varga ki jai!

Namacharya Srila Haridas Thakur ki jai!

Om Vishnupad Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad ki jai!

Sri Harinam-sankirtan ki jai!

Samaveta bhakta-vrinda ki jai!

Nitai-Gaura premanande Haribol!

#00:00:27#

If we were more developed in Bengali, we could just read this: Baladeva-khanda, Garga-samhita. All Sanskrit is developed around the universe. And myself, I have no such ability to manage it well. And one nice pranam-mantra of Sri Baladeva, that our beloved Gurudev has been captured by in that book, in that section.

#00:01:00#

sphurad-amala-kirīṭaṁ kiṅkiṇī-kaṅkaṇārhaṁ
chalad-alaka-kapolaṁ kuṇḍala-śrī-mukhābjam
tuhina-giri-manojñaṁ nīla-meghāmbarāḍhyaṁ
hala-musala-viśālaṁ kāma-pālaṁ samīre

(Sri Garga-samhita: 8.2.13.4)

That sloka is on Gurudev’s wall. It used to be on his wall in Kolkata. I think it stayed in the old veranda where we live. And it’s on his wall in the veranda in Navadwip.

#00:01:32#

So, the very beautiful pranam-mantra of Baladeva. Everything about Him is very splendid and dazzling and shining like a golden mountain. His earrings, His dress, everything about Him. Of course, hala-musala-viśālaṁ—all He has is a plow and a club. So, in this day, we’re very fortunate to remember Sri Baladeva. And Baladeva has a very, very important position for all of us, although we are so far from Krishna-loka and that particular consciousness. But Baladeva is the original Guru and He is the first expansion of Krishna. So, in that way, if we read, which we should read actually, the fifth chapter of Adi-lila [Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita], if we were in the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math [unclear] would read that yesterday the fifth chapter of Adi-lila, Nityananda-tattva. Because Baladeva has come as Nityananda and now He come as Nityananda, right?

#00:02:43#

balarāma haila nitāi

He sang that a few minutes ago. But Nityananda actually removed Baladeva and Krishna. “Your time is over and now is the time for My Gauranga.” So necessarily our Guru is telling us that. That is the position of Guru. Now what is Nityananda Prabhu praying?

#00:03:07#

bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga, laha gaurāṅgera nāma…

That’s Baladeva’s prayer in the form of Nityananda Prabhu. He’s praying to every living entity. Praying. We are not fit to take the name of Gauranga. We are not fit to talk about Gauranga. And we’re not fit to worship Gauranga. But still, Baladeva in the form of Nityananda Prabhu is begging us to do those things. “Take the name of My Gauranga.” That’s the song we just heard.

#00:03:44#

dīnahīna patita pāmara nāhi bāche…

Baladeva has no consideration. Who is dim? Who is poor? Who is bereft? Who is fallen? Who is abominable? Who is disgusting person? Pāma? Means like very low class, disgusting person. Nityananda Prabhu has no consideration of that. So, the Guru has now taken this mood. Baladeva is Adi-Guru. Another Guru taken His mood.

#00:04:21#

dīnahīna patita pāmara nāhi bāche…

No consideration who it is. When Nityananda Prabhu... That’s a very beautiful song, Nitāi guṇamaṇi āmāra. When Nityananda Prabhu made this flood... He took the ocean, as in Baladeva, we sang this morning. Dashavatar-stotram:

#00:04:45#

vahasi vapuṣi viśade vasanaṁ jaladābhaṁ
hala-hati-bhīti-milita jamunābham…

The Jamuna was afraid of Baladeva’s plow. Because He called the Jamuna to aid in His pastime, and the Jamuna didn’t come. Then Baladeva began to take His plow and bring the Jamuna to Himself. Then the Jamuna flowed wherever Baladeva was, fearful of His plow.

#00:05:11#

…hala-hati-bhīti-milita jamunābham…

So, in the same way, it’s described by Lochan Das Thakur, that Nityananda Prabhu, He took the ocean of prema like that, and spread it everywhere.

#00:05:24#

…ghore ghore bule prema-amiyāra bāna

He made a flood of praying in every door.

#00:05:33#

…ghore ghore bule prema…

And the devotees, they were drowning.

#00:05:40#

…ḍubilo bhakata-gaṇa…

And all the devotees, they were drowning in that ocean of praying that was brought by Nityananda Prabhu.

#00:05:49#

…dīnahīna bhāse

And the non-devotees, they were floating. That’s Nityananda Prabhu’s program. The devotees were drowning in that love, of prema, that ocean of love, that ocean of prema. And the non-devotees, they were floating in it. But everybody was welcome. Everyone was welcome. This is the mood of Nityananda Prabhu. And Baladeva now has come in that form. Although we could say sometimes Nityananda Prabhu because we’re Gaudiya Vaishnavas, and our Param Guru Maharaj has answered that question. You can say sometimes Nityananda Prabhu comes as Baladeva. That’s our conception. That’s our Guru’s conception, therefore it’s our conception. Not that we have any right to any conception. We have no right even to any conception of anything. We’re dealing with another people’s property.

#00:06:46#

All these conceptions that we have of who is Baladeva, who is Nitai, who is Mahaprabhu, who is Radha-Krishna. Who is the Guru? Who is the Vaishnava? These are not our conceptions, these are not our property. These are all the conceptions of our Guru. They lend them to us. They try to intoxicate us with these things. They try to make our life joyful and intoxicated with these conceptions. Just as in our previous experience, right, if you had something nice and you want to share it with your friend. Our Gurus are intoxicated with Krishna-prema. And sometimes we come, all of you began at a very young age, we come to Krishna consciousness, and some of us and with our past history and our past religious training. And that past religious training is pious, it’s definitely pious, but it doesn’t fit in the Krishna conception.

#00:07:55#

That in Christianity, like Avadhut Maharaj repeated, Srila Gurudev’s example the other day, “Can you play football with Allah?” But can you can you see that Allah is madly intoxicated? And then, therefore, Mohammed must be madly intoxicated. Can you conceive of that? Like in Christianity, can you conceive of that? Like I was a Catholic boy, I went to Catholic school, I was an altar boy, I did the whole thing. God was very strict. You know, that’s the depiction of God in other religious conceptions. He’s very strict, Himself, and even in His personal life. And God is very strict. Naturally, because He’s the oldest being, then they always depict Him as an old man. Old men don’t party. And so, in my church, there was a mural on the ceiling, like, you know, the Catholic church or some imitation of a Michelangelo thing. And God was sitting on a chair. I always remember, because it was a frightening scene. You know, God’s sitting on a chair, looking very stern, very strict.

#00:09:07#

And I remember when I went to Vrindavan with Srila Gurudev, I hadn’t been to Vrindavan for many, many, many years. Then in 1999, [unclear] wasn’t there. I had the opportunity to go to Vrindavan with Srila Gurudev for the opening of our temple there, the installation of the Rasa-Bihari. And then, you know, hearing from Srila Gurudev at that time, Srila Gurudev is obviously much more mobile than he is now. So, walking around Vrindavan a little bit with him, walking to the Radha-Damodar temple, walking down to the Imlitala temple of Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj, and hearing Srila Gurudev’s description of Vrindavan and Krishna, then it’s like a slap in the face. For someone with my background, with that Christian background, it’s like a big slap in the face. God is not strict at all. Every other conception I have about God, “Old, strict man”, forget about it. That’s not what God is like. He’s madly intoxicated all the time. And we know Baladeva, especially, He likes that varuni-drink. He’s always intoxicated, His eyes are red. And you see an intoxicated man. Not like that. I’m not comparing Baladeva to any mundane thing. But He’s mainly intoxicated, always running around. Anybody gets in His way, He smacks them out of the [unclear]. He’s also very kind and magnanimous. And the most kind and most magnanimous is Nityananda Prabhu, and especially towards the fallen soul.

#00:10:50#

And Srila Gurudev explained, “Why was my Guru Maharaj always taking the name of Nityananda Prabhu?” To show us that in his Vaishnava humility he took himself as a fallen soul and he was showing us how fallen souls get mercy from Nityananda Prabhu. That’s how we get mercy, that’s how the mercy comes to us. That even Raghunath Das Goswami, we can’t imagine how much blessings he had in his life. His father, we were reading, reading somewhere the other day, his father and his uncle, Mazumdar—Govardhan and Hiranya Mazumdar. They were very rich men like the Rockefellers or Bill Gates of that time in West Bengal, but they were very charitably disposed for the Vaishnavas.

#00:11:50#

And they gave a lot of charity to Advaita Acharya, to Nilambar Chakravarti, to Jagannath Mishra, to Haridas Thakur. So, from the time Raghunath Das Goswami was this big, he was being blessed by those particular Vaishnavas. When he was old enough to hear, he was hearing the glory of the holy name of Krishna from Haridas Thakur. And he tried so hard to get connected with Mahaprabhu. I think we heard some description the other day, that after when Krishna was leaving the world, that the separation was too much for everyone. And Srila Gurudev, it never dawned on me before, but Srila Gurudev pointed out to me one time, that all these great devotees, like Rupa, Sanatana and Raghunath Das Goswami, they were all watching Mahaprabhu’s every movement. And when Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, they all became mad. And then they all took sannyasa and went with Him, or went in His service deeply, to feel the connection of Mahaprabhu.

#00:13:07#

So, for the Gaudiya Vaishnava, when Mahaprabhu left Navadwip, it’s like Krishna leaving Vrindavan. Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote that famous sloka. Yes, so Raghunath Das Goswami, he couldn’t get Mahaprabhu’s connection. And every time he was captured, his parents were rich, they hired many security guards, some tall security guards, some regular security guards, like ten, twelve guys always watching him twenty-four hours a day. So many times, he tried to run to Mahaprabhu, and every time he was captured and brought back.

#00:13:46#

Then when he got the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. How did he get the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu? He put on a little festival, some doi, and some cola, some flat rice, made that festival. Nityananda Prabhu was so satisfied with him. Because not only did he feed Nityananda Prabhu, but he fed all the Vaishnavas that were with Nityananda Prabhu and fully respected all of them. And even like gave them some cash when he was leaving for some future expenses. Because he had no interest himself in any of those things. But after getting Nityananda Prabhu’s blessings, Nityananda Prabhu put His feet on the head of Raghunath Das Goswami and blessed him. Then very quickly after that, he spent the rest of his life, his life with Mahaprabhu. Not the rest of his life, but at least the rest of Mahaprabhu’s manifested pastimes. Raghunath Das Goswami was there. After he got the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. So, we need the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. Baladeva, Krishna, like Vrindavan, everything is coming to us through the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, because Nityananda Prabhu is the Adi-Guru. And therefore, our Gurudev is carrying the full potency of Nityananda Prabhu to us. And he is asking us the same thing. But Avadhut Maharaj made that point, “Oh, why are we just worshipping Gauranga?” Because that’s Nityananda Prabhu’s prayer to us. Bhaja gaurāṅga. That’s enough. We don’t need to do anything more. If we worship Gauranga, Nityananda Prabhu will be satisfied. He’s praying like that.

#00:15:35#

bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga, laha gaurāṅgera nāma
ye jana gaurāṅga bhaje se haya āmāra prāṇa

“And if you do that, if you worship My Gauranga, if you talk about My Gauranga, if you take the name of My Gauranga, you will be My life and soul.” And if you become the life and soul of Nityananda Prabhu, you’ll have entrance everywhere. In Vrindavan, Krishna-lila, Baladeva-lila, every lila, you’ll be allowed in. If you become the life and soul of Nityananda Prabhu, you won’t be checked anywhere. Just like if you were a good friend of the king of Thailand. There’s no place where you couldn’t go. But everywhere you went in Thailand, you’d be fully welcome. You could go to the palace, you could go to the governor’s house, you could go anywhere you wanted. If everybody knew you were a good friend of the king. If you were a good friend of Obama, you could go everywhere in America. You could get any dinner at the White House, any big state meetings, everywhere. You’d be welcome. You could go any place you wanted. So, if you have the position of being a life and soul of Nityananda Prabhu every door is open to you in every lila.

#00:17:04#

But our sampradaya, Param Guru Maharaj was explaining, that the Rupanuga-sampradaya is particularly and specifically for madhura-rasa. That’s the purpose of the Rupanuga-sampradaya. We had some discussion a couple of weeks ago with Srila Gurudev that night. [Unclear] Prabhu was there about that point. And Guru was singing some song of Chandidas. In this particular sampradaya, which is Nityananda Prabhu’s sampradaya, the real purpose of the Rupanuga-sampradaya is only madhura-rasa. And everything is targeted towards that. And even that becomes open to you. If you have the grace of Nityananda Prabhu, everything becomes open to you.

#00:18:00#

…nitāiyer koruṇā habe, braje rādhā-kṛṣṇa pabe…

“If Nityananda Prabhu will be merciful to me, then I’ll get entrance into the Radha-Krishna-lila in Vrindavan. Otherwise not.” So how is Nitai’s mercy coming to me? Through Srila Gurudev. That’s the only way anything transcendental and divine can come to me. I can’t go around him. I can’t jump over him. And I can’t like Gurudev is angry with me, then I’m going to go to somebody else. You know, sometimes we try to do that in the world, that we have some job, so our boss is angry with us, we try to go to some other channel.

#00:18:45#

But you can’t do that in a divine world. There’s no going around Gurudev. Of course, sometimes if Gurudev is angry with you for some particular mistake, then Param Guru Maharaj may show you a little special mercy, because that’s what the grandfather does. And if your father is very angry with you, sometimes your grandfather can give you some relief. But otherwise, we can’t get it from any other place. The mercy of Nityananda Prabhu must be given to us by Srila Gurudev. The conception of Baladeva must be given to us by Srila Gurudev. Everything must come from him, otherwise we’ll be cheated. Param Guru Maharaj wrote in his famous song,

#00:19:34#

…gati-vañchita-vañchakāchintya-padaṁ…

Society of the cheaters and the cheated. At his lotus feet of the inconceivable shelter for the cheaters and the cheated. And that’s what’s happening. That the cheaters and the cheated. And we like to be the cheaters, because we all have that propensity. Nobody else tells you that. Like you don’t go to some other religious discourse and they tell you that you have these defects. And one of those defects is cheating propensity. Bhrama, pramāda, karaṇāpāṭava and vipralipsā. Vipralipsā means a ‘cheating propensity.’ So, we all have a cheating propensity. Every living entity, conditioned soul, not liberated soul, but every conditioned soul, has that cheating propensity. So, we all want to be the cheaters. We don’t want to be the cheated. But we know it’s a mundane world, a plane of exploitation.

#00:20:50#

So many people are stronger than us in so many different ways—intellectually stronger, physically stronger, financially stronger, socially stronger. Then we become the cheaters. They become the cheaters. Then we are frustrated, angry, disappointed. And what is happiness? When we are successfully cheating. When we are successfully cheating, then we are happy. After when we come into some cheater more powerful than ourselves and we become the cheater, then we’re disappointed and frustrated. And if we leave at the doorway of Srila Gurudev, that’s all our transactions will be there. Doesn’t mean we can’t take shelter and get guidance and help from another Vaishnav, but that Vaishnav must be loyal to our Gurudev. We’re getting help from everybody. But those people that are helping us are loyal to Gurudev. Otherwise they can’t help us. It doesn’t mean we oust them, disrespect them. It’s not the mood of a Vaishnavism.

#00:22:03#

But we know that ultimately, they can’t help us. If someone has no faith in my Guru, how will they help me? They can’t help me. So, all of this wealth and treasure and these beautiful, madly intoxicating conceptions, that’s what they really are. But because we haven’t really tasted them, we’re sitting around morose, angry, disturbed, so many things, especially everybody knows I’m an angry man. Why? Because I’m not tasting this thing. I’m not tasting this conception. My Gurudev is trying heart and soul, every way possible, to give it to me. Every way possible to make it attractive for me. Without altering the original thing. And when we try to do that, because we’re not on a high level of consciousness, then we alter the thing. But Gurudev can do it without altering the original thing. He’s trying to make it attractive for us. That’s by Mahaprabhu’s program, which was embodied by Nityananda Prabhu. How tolerant was Nityananda Prabhu! And even Haridas Thakur, even Haridas Thakur, you can’t imagine how merciful was Haridas Thakur. Haridas Thakur said, “Maybe we should find somebody else.” Nityananda Prabhu wanted to go to Jagai-Madhai. Haridas Thakur said, “Let’s find some other people, man.” Maybe a little more mellow people than them. No, Nityananda Prabhu wanted to start with Jagai and Madhai.

#00:23:47#

dīna-hīna yata chila hari-nāme uddharila,
              tā’ra sākṣī jagāi-mādhāi

The holy name of Krishna can uplift everyone, no matter how fallen they are. And here is the evidence, right? Jagai and Madhai. So Nityananda Prabhu went to them, not once, repeatedly, and was so abused by them. And sometimes we have some experience, we’ve been on the street, we invited people, you know, chant Hare Krishna and do this. And we’ve been abused by people, but not the way Nityananda Prabhu was abused by Jagai-Madhai. And even to the point of violence, but Nityananda Prabhu didn’t object, even at that stage, and even when He was injured by them. And we know, Nityananda Prabhu, He’s Baladeva, He is very powerful. So, He had no problem to whoop up on Jagai and Madhai. And for Him to, you know, whatever you want to put it, in gentlemanly terms, to give a severe beating to Jagai and Madhai would have been nothing for Him. But He didn’t. He only prayed to them more.

#00:25:01#

And then when Mahaprabhu came to punish them then He prayed to Mahaprabhu more, and Mahaprabhu came to punish them, and Mahaprabhu is the most merciful. And namo mahā-vadānyāya, and Nityananda prayed to Mahaprabhu, “Even to be more merciful to Jagai and Madhai, be more merciful to them, don’t punish them. If You punish them, who will we give this to?” So, this humility, tolerance, and giving honor to others, it makes this thing so beautiful. And Nityananda Prabhu showed the epitome of that. And our Gurudev is carrying that tradition. Why do we all feel so wonderful in his company? If we can slip in his door for a few minutes, and immediately we feel wonderful. Why do we feel so wonderful? Is he not paying us? Is he not giving us anything? Just to sit in his room with him for a couple of minutes. It makes your whole day. You only get that opportunity once, and then you have to go back to your country or go to some other place for your whole year. Or maybe you don’t even see him for two or three years. Two or three years you feel good. You spend twenty minutes in his room. And you remember that for two or three years. And it soothes you and consoles you. Why?

#00:26:35#

Because he’s the embodiment of that mood of Nityananda Prabhu. And that’s the real position of Baladeva. Baladeva is a servant of Krishna. Sometimes He also slaps Krishna in His servant. Gurudev told that beautiful story that. I forgot why He slapped Him. You know, why Krishna slapped Baladeva? He asked Him for something, asked Him to do something, and Baladeva slapped Krishna.

#00:27:15#

Devotee: He’s in loving… Maybe if They’re... I think They’re playing and then Baladeva was cheating and...

Sripad Srutashrava Prabhu: He gave a pretty good slap. And then, Krishna went and complained to mother Jashoda. “Oh, Baladeva slapped Me.” And then Baladeva went there and Jashoda was chastising Him so much. “Why are You abusing Your brother? You have to take care of Him.” Baladeva said, “He’s My whole life and soul. Everything I do, I do for Him, for Him. Like every moment of My day I watch out for Him. I look over Him. I take care of Him. Don’t worry. I’m doing that already.” Then Baladeva went to Krishna and said, “What kind of nonsense is this, man? What kind of brother are You? So many lives, so many incarnations. There’s Lakshman and this way and that. I tolerated so much. I went to the forest. I did so much for You. And You can’t tolerate one slap from Me? What kind of brother are you?” And Gurudev said, “Krishna was very embarrassed.”

#00:28:21#

And for that Baladeva, who couldn’t go near Kurukshetra, because Duryodhana was His favorite student. And so sometimes we think of the Kauravas as demons and stuff. But Duryodhana was Baladeva’s favorite student. And Baladeva taught him club fighting so well that He knew that Bhishma couldn’t defeat Him unless they cheated. And then Balarama would have become too angry. He watched His student die, [unclear] cheating, even though Krishna wanted it. So, He stayed away and He went away near Kurukshetra.

#00:29:07#

That Baladeva, all of that shakti, all of that energy, where it’s changed into merciful dispensation in the form of Nityananda Prabhu. And then Nityananda Prabhu has come to us as our Gurudev. The position of Guru is the embodiment of Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy dispensation. And in that way, it’s coming to all of us, without any consideration.

#00:29:36#

dīna hīna patita pāmara nāhi bāche brahmār

However, fallen, degraded, low-class, abominable we may be, that the prayer comes to us also,

#00:29:52#

bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga, laha gaurāṅgera nāma…

And by the grace of our Guru, we’re getting some conception of that. And they’re teaching us. Srila Gurudev explain, Param Guru Maharaj is teaching us. Unfortunately, no one imitates that. Everything we take, we try to imitate. I’m very happy that nobody imitates that. At least not I haven’t seen so far of to be doing it. Param Guru Maharaj is always saying, “Doyal Nitai, doyal Nitai, doyal Nitai, doyal Nitai.” He said some sloka he would give few minutes explanation of Krishna consciences then twenty-five times, “Doyal Nitai, doyal Nitai, doyal Nitai.” And he was teaching us [unclear]. That what we need do. We need help. We are those kinds of [unclear] well, I am [unclear], I don’t speak for anybody else. I need that kind of help. That’s my condition. I’m in that category of dīna hīna patita pāmara situation. I should be given that. I’m not doing that. Narottam Das Thakur said,

#00:31:13#

ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā…

“Being intoxicated with my own ego I forgot of lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu.”

#00:31:26#

ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā
            asatyere satya kori māni…

And all the things I think are important I’ve taken all the unimportant things to be important. And that way I’m spending my life. And I’m so intoxicated with my own ego. I can’t even see that. Because when we take the unimportant things as important, then we think they’re important. And another way that’s explained is. In Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu Srila Rupa Goswami says,

#00:32:07#

bhukti-mukti-spṛhā yāvat
piśācī hṛdi vartate
tāvad bhakti-sukhasyātra
katham abhyudayo bhavet

(Chaitanya-charitamrita: Madhya-lila, 19.176; Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu: 1.2.22)

And Srila Prabhupada’s translation of that, he says, “As long as one is trying to be more important, either in the material sense or the spiritual sense, no one can never taste the sweetness of Krishna consciousness.” So, bhukti-mukti, mundane enjoyment and spiritual emancipation.

#00:32:44#

bhukti-mukti-spṛhā yāva…

What is part of spiritual emancipation? Everyone will see that, “I’m an advanced person.” “I’m a savi.” No one’s going to see that, isn’t it? And that’s one of the traps pratishtha: bhukti-mukti spriha jāvat piśācī hṛdi vartate. As long as that witch, māyā is in our heart, bewildering us with those things, then we can’t... the sweetness of Krishna praying, of Krishna consciousness, can never awaken.

#00:33:18#

…tāvad bhakti-sukhasyātra
katham abhyudayo bhavet

How can that be awakened? How can that be manifested in our heart? As long as we’re in that other condition. So,

#00:33:32#

…nitāi-pada pāsariyā…

ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā…

Intoxicated with my own ego. The same situation in a simpler, sweeter expression.

#00:33:46#

ahaṅkāre matta hoiyā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā…

“I forgot of lotus feet of Nityananda Prabhu intoxicated with my own ego.” Therefore, I’m not calling out. Because I think I’m somebody, because I think I have something, that I’m not calling out to Nityananda Prabhu. But if I really was honest about my own situation and my own position, then I would be calling out to Nityananda Prabhu. I would be remembering Nityananda Prabhu. Not in an imitative way, I’m not going to, after every point I’m going to doyal Nitai. I’m not like that. At least internally I have to be making that calling. And better internally. And what good is an external show? That’s only going to take me more and more in that direction. For I won’t be able to do it internally. And then it’s just some external show of doing it, taking me further in the wrong direction. Still we should do it. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the name of Nitai. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t chant Hare Krishna. Like Janardan Maharaj had that joke, and people have to understand it’s a joke. We’re better of chanting four rounds of Nama-aparadh than sixteen rounds of Nama-aparadh. People are from other societies, they’re always coming to us, “How many rounds do you chant? How many rounds do you chant?”

#00:35:11#

So, then Janardan Maharaj joked that four rounds of Nama-aparadh are better than sixteen rounds of Nama-aparadh. The one shuddha-nam is what we’re interested in. So why are we chanting? We’re chanting for one shuddha-nam. And the [holy] name is very merciful. All the divine sound is very merciful. All the divine sound is equipped with mercy. Gayatri. Our Param Guru Maharaj wrote, Gāyatrī muralīṣṭa-kīrttana-dhanaṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi. Even Krishna’s flute wants to distribute that. Like Gāyatrī muralīṣṭa. Muralīṣṭa means ‘the desire of the flute.’ The flute itself wants to give us that, wants to push that sound into the heart of the living entity. Like Rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi. The whole [unclear]. Rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi. At that time, when I went to Vrindavan with Srila Gurudev, and so good for the opening. I hadn’t been to Vrindavan in so many years, and it’s different than Navadwip. So, you know, even like the rikshawalas, they don’t like do their horn and stuff, they say, “Jai Radhe!” So, I was, you know, everywhere on the wall, you see written, instead of saying, like, ‘hammer,’ ‘sickle,’ all that stuff, stuff you see like ‘Jai Radhe!’ written on the wall, maha-mantra written on the wall, you see people chanting the maha-mantra.

#00:36:40#

So, I went to Gurudev and I said, “Oh, you know, this Vrindavan is so beautiful, even the rikshawalas, they don’t even sound their horn, they just say, ‘Jai Radhe!’” You know, Gurudev has that look. He just gave me that look, he didn’t say anything to me, but he gave me that look like, “You know, so foolish person.” And you can feel it when he gives you that look. So, I felt that look. I understood I was foolish, but I didn’t clearly understand how I was foolish in that particular context. And then when we were leaving in Vrindavan to go to Kolkata, as we were riding out of Vrindavan in the car, Srila Gurudev said to me, “You know, the residents of Vrindavan, they have their own program. We don’t interfere with that. We don’t abuse them.” I said, “Shukadev Goswami, he didn’t take the name of Srimati Radharani. He was shy to take the name of Srimati Radharani.” Then what should our feeling be? But then when he said that, I understood why I was feeling in that particular... I’m not foolish in a million ways, but in that particular context.

#00:37:53#

And Shukadev Goswami was shy to take the name of Srimati Radharani, but still Krishna’s flute sang to infuse that into the hearts of the living entities.

#00:38:03#

gāyatrī muralīṣṭa-kīrttana-dhanaṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi

You know, we know in our mission, ladies don’t get Brahma-gayatri, but you get that Gayatri. You may not get Brahma-gayatri, but you get Krishna-gayatri, Kama-gayatri, Gaura-gayatri, all the other Gayatris that are so beautiful that, that infusion is coming through those other Gayatris. Rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi. So, everything, every divine sound, that is mercifully disposed, [unclear], through the grace of Nityananda Prabhu. We know which means the grace of Gurudev and all the power of Baladeva is contained in that. So, everything will be mercifully disposed towards us. The holy name of Krishna. The holy name of Krishna, when that question also goes around, how many rounds of [unclear], how many... The name of Krishna is not a punishment. Our Gurudev asked us to name to chant the name of Krishna, not as like some punishment, “Oh, my God, I got to do this.” Like one of my God brothers wrote a book about chanting japa, like some kind of punishment.

#00:39:24#

And on this day, we have to do more, this [unclear] struggle, to chant the name of Krishna more. It’s not a punishment. Chanting the name of Krishna is not a punishment. It is not punishing us by giving us the name of Krishna. And that name of Krishna itself, right, is so mercifully disposed towards us. If we’re fortunate to be up early in the morning, then in the morning we hear that song, Udilo aruṇa. And in the last standard of Udilo aruṇa, it says. What does it say?

#00:40:01#

jīvera kalyāṇa-sādhana-kām…

“This name of Krishna has such an intense desire to do good for the living entity.”

#00:40:12#

…jagate āsi’ e madhura nām…

“That reason, the sweet [holy] name has come to this world.” And with an intense desire, so strong desire, it’s called kām. And when a desire is very strong, then it’s called kām.

jīvera kalyāṇa-sādhana-kām,
jagate āsi’ e madhura nām…

“Even the name of Krishna, that sweet name of Krishna, came to the world, enters the world for that purpose, to do good for that.”

#00:40:46#

…avidyā-timira-tapana-rūpe…

“Like the sun that is rising in our heart and getting rid of all the darkness.”

#00:40:56#

…hṛd-gagane birāje

“In the sky of our heart, there is the sun.” So Mahaprabhu told Nityananda Prabhu, “Go around and preach that.” And Nityananda did not do that. He wants to preach His conception.

#00:41:11#

bhaja gaurāṅga…

I have forgot Mahaprabhu what He said.

#00:41:16#

…‘bala kṛṣṇa, bhaja kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa kara śikṣā’

Nityananda Prabhu did not do that Nityananda Prabhu made His own pilgrim bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga, laha gaurāṅgera nāma. Even more merciful even better than Krishna. “Take the name of My Gauranga.” That’s Baladeva’s gift to us. And I could say that Baladeva is the gift to us from Nityananda Prabhu. Everything was coming like that. Param Guru Maharaj said that if we ask, we have to say what is original. Who is more original Mahaprabhu? What came first Mahaprabhu or Radha-Krishna? We have to say Mahaprabhu. That’s the Param Guru Maharaj said. [Unclear] no business giving any opinion on that particular subject matter, but Guru Maharaj’s opinion is that. Then we think, “Who is first—Nityananda Prabhu or Baladeva?” Then we say, “Nityananda Prabhu.” And through Nityananda Prabhu we’ll get Baladeva, we’ll get everything.

#00:42:35#

And without Him we won’t. We’ll run around, we may try in so many ways, even with blessings and so many things, but without the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu… Is that other expression? I forgot the…

#00:42:54#

āra kabe nitāi-chāṇdera karuṇā haibe
saṁsāra-vāsanā mora kabe tuchchha ha’be

(Prarthana: 1.2)

“The whole material gain will be something very, very insignificant for me, if Nityananda Prabhu will be merciful to me.” I had to do Maharaj with explaining the other day, very beautifully, that we always have this two-fold thing going on within us. We like Hari-katha, we like to hear these things, we like these things, and then all of a sudden, my mind wants to go to the mall, my mind wants to go to the ice cream store, my mind wants to go check out motorcycles and new cars and this and that, so many things. There’s struggle going on inside. But when Nityananda Prabhu be more merciful to us.

#00:43:48#

āra kabe nitāi-chāṇdera karuṇā haibe
saṁsāra-vāsanā mora kabe tuchchha ha’be

(Prarthana: 1.2)

Then that whole game will be over. They will try to see, “[Unclear] Well, here’s a brand-new Mercedes, you know, S600. It won’t have any attraction for me. You know, brand-new, whatever, BMW motorcycle, no attraction for me. None of those things.” [Unclear] Nothing, the whole any attraction for me when Nityananda Prabhu will be merciful. Nothing except Krishna. And everything connecting with Him. And everything is coming to us through Gurudev. And Gurudev is very pleased Param Guru Maharaj tirobhav when I said that one thing that

#00:44:35#

nāma-śreṣṭhaṁ manum api śachī-putram atra svarūpaṁ…

Everything is coming to us through Gurudev.

#00:44:48#

…rūpaṁ tasyāgrajam…

How do we even know these things? How do we know the name of Srila Rupa Goswami? We don’t deserve it. Sorry, I don’t want to put everybody in the same class, but we don’t deserve. We want to know the name of Srila Rupa Goswami.

#00:45:04#

…tasyāgrajam…

Sanatana Goswami.

…uru-purīṁ māthurīṁ goṣṭavāṭīm…

We know the difference by the grace of our Gurus. We know the difference between Mathura and Vrindavan, and then how much more special. When Srila Gurudev came to Soquel and installed the deities, Guru-Gauranga Gandharvika-Giridhari, in Soquel. Then he had us write on the wall Saraswati Thakur’s Bengali translation, one part of it. If you read Prapanna-jivanamritam, anytime Saraswati Thakur wrote some Bengali translation, especially of the Upadeshamrita verses. Then Param Guru Maharaj gave that as the translation to the verse. So, in that verse, from Upadeshamrita.

#00:45:58#

vaikuṇṭhāj janito varā madhu-purī tatrāpi rāsotsavād-
vṛndāraṇyam udāra-pāṇi-ramaṇāt tatrāpi govardhanaḥ
rādhā-kuṇḍam ihāpi gokula-pateḥ premāmṛtāplāvanāt
kuryād asya virājato giri-taṭe sevāṁ vivekī na kaḥ

So, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, he wrote beautiful Bengali poetic translation of that sloka. And one pada says,

#00:46:30#

vṛndāvana haite śreṣṭha govarddhana-śaila
gāndharvvikā-giridhārī yathā krīḍā kaila

Better than Vrindavan is Govardhan, where Gandharvika and Giridhari are always playing. So, we know that.

#00:46:51#

                              …uru-purīṁ māthurīṁ goṣṭavāṭīm
rādhā-kuṇḍaṁ giri-varam aho rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ
prāpto yasya prathita-kṛpayā śrī guruṁ taṁ nato ’smi

Everything is coming from Gurudev. Everything we need, we will get from him. Everything we need for our service life, even our food and lodging. Now previously that was the system in the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, when it was smaller. And even when I joined in ISKCON, it wasn’t like we went to Srila Prabhupada to get something, but the temple president. Whatever you needed, you went to the temple president. And you needed a dhoti, you went to the temple president. You needed a kurta, you know, a t-shirt or whatever, some flip-flops, you went to the temple president. But that was the system. And in the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math for many, many, many years, until the Westerners came and spoiled everything. Whatever you needed, you got from Param Guru Maharaj. You needed a shirt, you needed a dhoti, you needed some medicine, you needed some shoes. Whatever you needed, you had to go to Param Guru and he gave it to you. That’s a whole other subject. This is already a long time.

#00:48:12#

[sloka]

Uddhava told Krishna, “By taking all Your remnants, I’m going to conquer Your mind.” So, if we live our life like that, everything that we need is coming from Gurudev. Even if I need some clothes, or even if I need some foodstuff, which of course is coming in the form of prasadam, everything I need, I can get from Gurudev. And every spiritual necessity, but all the external things as well. If I’m a servant, everything will be taken care of. And in Prapanna-jivanamrita, Param Guru Maharaj gives that sloka, evidential sloka, as a sold animal. It doesn’t have to worry about its own maintenance. So, the servants of the Lord also have nothing to think about and worry about. If we’re really servants. So Gurudev is giving us everything, top to bottom, and everything in the middle, and everything that we need. Every conception, every understanding of everything, we’re getting from him. Sometimes directly, sometimes through inspiration.

#00:49:34#

So Baladeva, Baladeva, Nityananda Prabhu, everything is coming to us through Gurudev. He’s the source of that. Baladeva is the original Guru. And of course, Nityananda Prabhu has shown that actually, “You get off the throne.” That’s what Nityananda Prabhu told Baladeva, “Your time is over.” In other words, “You only get a little time, but really the time is Our time. That’s why Mahaprabhu’s time. Nityananda Prabhu’s time.” So, then the Adi-Guru is also Nityananda Prabhu. And that power is held by our Gurudev. And if we understand that, everything that we need, we can see, is contained in his lotus feet. And do we think that his physical capacity, his physical condition is relevant in this regard? Srila Gurudev lost his potency to give us all the divine things that we need, because his body can’t function like it used to? But we have to consider these things. Like Srila Prabhupada has his own meditation. And he would like to spend the rest of his days in that meditation, no doubt.

#00:51:11#

So, he is not so eager to do the external work of the Acharya in this time of his life. Neither was Param Guru Maharaj neither was Srila Prabhupada, neither was Saraswati Thakur at that time of their lives. And maybe it happened at different ages. As you know, Saraswati Thakur was only sixty-six years old when he left the world. So, it might have happened at different ages, but at this particular time of their lives. But has that diminished his spiritual capacity? And has Gurudev’s external condition in any way diminished? His spiritual potency. And he’s still carrying the whole thing, including the power transmission of the Rupanuga-sampradaya. Still in his hands. And he hasn’t put it in anybody else’s. Still in his hands.

#00:52:11#

And Saraswati Thakur gave it to Param Guru Maharaj and Param Guru Maharaj gave it to him, along with everything else that he had. Spiritually, materially, in terms of buildings, in terms of property, in terms of spiritual wealth, everything that Param Guru Maharaj had, he gave to our Gurudev. And Gurudev is still holding that. As they say, as Gurudev says very seriously, still holding the chair of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Then [he] has his, even an ordinary man, whatever spirituality he has, is not lost by some material situation. An ordinary man says, “What about Gurudev?” Some external physical condition has anything to do with his spiritual potency?

Captured by Ananta Krishna Das
Edited by Tradish Das


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