Approximately the first third of the 1982 transcripts

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81.12.31.C_82.01.01.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: As much as possible we shall try towards Her satisfaction because our own hankering that is not a negligible factor. And also the advice given by the sādhus and the Guru and scriptures, and I am the person who is the, who is responsible after all for accepting anything and everything. I have accepted the Ācārya also on my own risk, and here also I’m to adjust according to myself. But we shall have to consider that my consideration may not be prejudiced by any mal object. That my selection may be genuine, may be sincere, and not to satisfy some ulterior motive, I’m to do that. I’m responsible ultimately for my own fortune.

Devotee: __________________________ a new person, his selection [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: The disciple is responsible, he’s asking, Your Grace is speaking about the disciple is responsible for his selection.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course, ultimately he’s responsible. Why you have joined, how you have joined? On your own responsibility you have joined ISKCON. You have left Christianity, or Mohammedism, or Hinduism, you have joined ISKCON, on your responsibility. Ultimate responsibility is with the person who selects, who has got the right of selection, it is there only. We have jumped to Gauḍīya Mission, why? Taking the risk of anything else we have jumped, we have cast our fate. We are so much captured with the ideal, the beauty of the idea, that we jumped, left our previous environment and jumped to accept the new. Everyone is such, case is such.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Kṛṣṇa Saran Prabhu is here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh! __________ Hare Kṛṣṇa _____________________ [?]

Devotee: A new man he accepts, he chooses a Guru, and he sees him as Absolute. But the God-brother of the Guru he may not see that he’s absolute in the same way.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Then how to adjust?

Devotee: Yes. How to adjust?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s not requested also to see he’s absolute, he’s not requested, he’s brotherly position, but some outward respect he should show of a special character to help the new recruits. Whether the new recruits they have come to see him as absolute their sentiment may not be disturbed. This sort of consideration one should have. But internally he’s not bound to accept his God-brother as his own Guru. Am I clear?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You are not compelled, you are not bound, to see him as Swāmī Mahārāja, you are seeing your Guru, not in that light. But you should have some consideration that the new persons that are recruited by him and who are expected to see him as Guru Absolute, you may not disturb their sentiment or feeling. With such caution you are to behave.

Devotee: The confusion in my mind is that the conception is only relative to ones own position, that it’s only absolute from your own position. If I, if a disciple sees his Guru as Absolute then it’s difficult to say who is actually Absolute. It’s very confusing to me.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The Guru is Absolute, the two Absolute, God is Absolute, then Guru is Absolute.

Devotee: But the Guru is Absolute according to ones position.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now we are to think one thing. The God has also got different Avatāra, reverent attitude. You are to understand this mathematical, fundamental truth, that from zero if you add the zero it becomes zero. Zero into zero is zero. Zero minus zero is zero. So Infinite minus Infinite that is Infinite. Can you follow?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So God may express Himself in different Avatāra, different type, still They’re Infinite. His every posing is Infinite, but still there is also gradation, according to rasa, classification, a posing. He’s One but different posing and there are differences in the posing. A King sometimes, a King as a general, a King as law maker, the King as husband and father, one man, but the question of superiority may be traced there also, what is the highest attitude of the King. He’s one. So there is differentiated character in the Absolute but still He’s one, in this way. He’s got potency. You are approaching the son of a King, you can consider that if I capture the son the King will be captured. And that is not false, wholly. So God’s favourite is also having some power of God. In this way we are to distribute. The Guru is favourite, Guru is not outside God. His own particular potency to deliver the fallen is there, enjoying maximum power, maximum power from Kṛṣṇa, Guru from Kṛṣṇa, in the department of delivering the fallen souls. We are to take in that way. But in Infinity that may not be divided like mundane things: quite separately. So we are to adjust in that way.

On the whole we want to say, and I have repeatedly said it, the Bhāgavata asks not to make much in the enquiry, that is to approach through knowledge, to know. That I’ll be able to finish by my knowledge, I’ll be able to satisfy my knowing faculty. I’ll be able to measure the whole thing with my tiny brain. In a particular cell of my head I shall put the Infinite as a prisoner. Give up this position.

jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām

[sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir, ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām]

[“Oh Lord, Oh Unconquerable One, those devotees who, completely giving up all attempts on the path of jñāna of attaining the non-differentiated platform known as Brahma by hearing the transcendental narratives of Your pastimes (kathā), which emanates from the lotus mouths of the mahā-bhāgavat sādhus and pass their lives by engaging their body, mind and words in pure devotion, easily conquer You (they easily get Your transcendental association), although You are the most difficult to attain in the three worlds.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.3]

This is the speciality Bhāgavata School, by surrender you’ll be able to know, because He’s super-subjective. He won’t come to be the object of your tiny brain. If you work that way you will be disappointed. No tiny brain can finish, to know the whole thing by its power. So by surrendering, namanta eva, jīvanti.

When Mahāprabhu asking questions and Rāmānanda answering, then “Eho bahya, this is superficial. Our searching through jñāna, through knowledge, but that is superficial thing. That is not the real path.” Then he came, “Give up the vanity of thinking you can know anything and everything.” When he comes to surrender he comes to accept the real path to know Him, because if He makes Himself known to him he can know, and as much he can know that much.

Once I was asked, “If finite can know Infinite,” one Ārya Samāj leader, “He’s no Infinite.” His statement is, “If finite can know Infinite then He’s no Infinite.”

And my answer was, if Infinite cannot make Himself known to finite then He’s no Infinite. Infinite can make Himself known to finite according to its sweet will. But finite cannot force the Infinite to make Himself known to him. Do you follow?

Devotee: Hmm.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So it has been recommended that jñāne prayāsa, leaving, dismissing your vanity that you’ll be able to know the Infinite. Dismiss that idea, that tendency, and surrender to Him, and accept the attitude of the negative to draw the positive. Positive cannot encroach out of itself, but in the negative. The positive can encroach and may be aggressive. And negative should put himself at the disposal of positive. Predominating Moiety and Predominated Moiety. Predominated Moiety is the potency, and Predominating Moiety is the possessor of the potency. Kṛṣṇa is the possessor of the potency, śaktimān, and śakti the potency at His disposal. So we are a part of potency, so we shall try with preparedness to receive Him. And when, according to His sweet will He comes to me I shall be able to get His touch. This is the path. No other path. So:

bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ [śraddhayātmā priyaḥ satām

bhaktiḥ punāti man-niṣṭhā śvapākān api sambhavāt]

[“I, the Supreme Lord and the most Beloved, am attainable by the pure saints, by virtue of the potency of their exclusive devotion born of faith (śraddhā). Exclusive devotion in Me purifies even the lowest outcastes known as caṇḍālas. Śva means dog. Even the dog-eaters, that is, the lower section, can also be purified from their lower birth.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.14.21]

Only through devotion, dedication, their preparedness to put at His disposal, to be dealt by Him, with this attitude, this is the negative characteristic so as to invite the positive. To invite the positive, that should be the characteristic of the negative, and that by humility, modesty, self- abnegation to the extreme, self-sacrifice. These are the qualifications of a devotee, should be, to improve his negative characteristic, to draw. The super subject, I’m subject, I’m experiencing the objective world, and who is super subject I’m object to Him. When He will care to come down in my plane I will have some sort of feeling, sentiment, experience, that one has come. Very finer thing has come in my gross consciousness, come down. I find so much ecstatic joy. “Oh, how subtle a thing has descended into my plane of consciousness, how wonderful it is, never experienced before. A very sweet, fine consciousness has come down in my gross area of consciousness.” I’ll be benumbed, astonished, wondered, astounded.

māraḥ svayaṁ nu madhura-dyuti-maṇḍalaṁ nu, mādhuryam eva nu mano-nayanāmṛtaṁ nu

venī-mṛjo nu mama jīvita-vallabho nu, kṛṣṇo 'yam abhyudayate mama locanāya

[“My dear friends, where is Kṛṣṇa, who is Cupid personified, brilliant as a kadamba flower? Where is Kṛṣṇa, sweetness Himself, the sweetest nectar for my eyes and mind? Where is Kṛṣṇa, who loosens the hair of the gopīs? He is the supreme source of divine bliss. He is my life and soul. Has He come before my eyes again?”] [Kṛṣṇa-Karṇāmṛtam, 68]

The finest conception of the sweet knowledge coming down to a heart of a devotee and his gradual experience is in this way, represented by Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura. First approach he felt, “Oh, Divine Cupid has come down in my plane of consciousness, māraḥ svayaṁ nu madhura-dyuti. Oh, this is infinite ray of sweetness has come, madhura-dyuti. Mādhurya, the very gist of sweetness I find, it can never be otherwise conceived, madhura-dyuti-maṇḍalaṁ. Nayanām, Oh, it is capturing my eyes also with beauty and other experiences. Other channels of experience all captured by that finer and finest consciousness, captured, whole pervaded. Nayanāmṛtaṁ nu, my eyes also are feeling that exceptional sweetness. Venī-mṛjo nu, Oh, He has accepted me as His sweetheart and He’s rubbing softly my venī, my hair, in mādhurya rasa He has accepted me. I’m now His. No other independent existence I have got. I am now fully, wholesale accepted by Him.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. No more, here I finish today. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: New year’s day, nineteen thirty seven, this early morning Guru Mahārāja passed away. That also was Friday, first of January thirty seven, that was Friday, early morning. I attended his bed, sick bed, from two to four, and then another turn came to attend. I went to bed. Two of us were attending him...

[Unclear recording for about ten and a half minutes]

Then next day that was Saturday. Then at Calcutta Maṭha there is engagement, some gentlemen, perhaps some European gentlemen should come there, it was appointed so some of us must go there. And among the list my name was also. I was so much tired, can’t move my body, still, what to do, must go. Must go, no disobedience is possible just after the demise of Guru Mahārāja. The general secretary he wants me to go. I remember I felt inability but anyhow dragged myself to Calcutta.

And when I’m in Rāma-ghāṭa station junction I found that Lalitā Prasād is walking on the platform. Some told that Lalitā Bābū is there. From the railway carriage we had a look on him. That is the first time I saw him. Afterwards, once more I saw him. Twice I have seen him, Lalitā Prasād. He was a bachelor. He had service in the writers [?] building, government clan. Then retiring he opened an āśrama. In the beginning he was living with Prabhupāda in Yoga-pīṭha, but after Kuñja Bābu came, became general secretary and began to start the propaganda work, Lalitā Prasād had some difference with Kuñja Bābu, and he went away gradually, cutting connection with brother, our Guru Mahārāja. And established an āśrama there in the birth place of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, that is the maternal uncle’s house of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, that Udar [?]

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura comes from Calcutta Dutta family, renowned, and from the same family Vivekananda also came, that Datta family of Hat Cola [?] a renowned family in Calcutta, Datta family, Hat Cola [?] Datta. Vivekananda also came out of that family, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura also. But Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s mother’s birthplace was Ula [?] and he was born in maternal uncle’s house. They’re also zamīndārs, mustafi ______ [?] they’re zamīndārs, big zamīndārs of the time. But there he was born so that place has been taken up by Lalitā Prasād and made an āśrama and he lived there.

After little long time Prabhupāda passed away sixty three, and Lalitā Prasād over hundred, one or two, hundred one or two he lived after that.

He appreciated my poem about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, I came to know through his sister. His sister came here some twenty years back perhaps or more. She told that, ‘he has appreciated your poem about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura very much.’ And sometimes the disciples also come here now and then. I give some five rupees, ten rupees, in this way. Looking of course in taking the name of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura anyhow going on. Not to such accuracy and intensity as our Guru Mahārāja did, but to certain extent some connection or other. Hare Kṛṣṇa. According to our Guru Mahārāja he had some connection with Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura but that is contaminated with the flesh connection, more, than spiritual. Ha, ha. Baba, bada. He was son, and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was his father, he can’t forget that. Independent of that connection, of course he has got some idea but that is not very bona fide, we are told, and nearing towards sahajiyā vāda. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Madhvācārya has written a poem, Māyāvādā-Śata-Dūṣaṇī, a hundred poems against Māyāvādā. And our Guru Mahārāja, Prākṛta-rasa Śata-Dūṣaṇī, a hundred lines devoted to expose sahajiyāism, that is imitation of prema bhakti. What is lust, what is sense pleasure, to conceive that, to take that, in the place of divine love. This human love is conceived in a colour to be the divine love. What is so rare that even Brahmā and Śiva they cannot expect to possess that thing, that high thing. And they think they have already got, by, through imagination, imagining himself as a girl. And also, so much so that they imagine some gentleman, bābājī to be Kṛṣṇa. And they began to practice their relationship in that way, thinking that will be conducive, that will assist them to raise up their standard of life to that high creation, only by thinking, and in that way. A nasty thing, going on in the name. So the society looks down upon them as the pests of the society. So Prabhupāda gave a new line, the goswāmīns, you look at the śāstra and will find what is that.

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu, kaścid yatati siddhaye

yatatām api siddhānāṁ, kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ

[“Out of countless souls, some may have reached the human form of life, and among many thousands of human beings, some endeavour to attain direct perception of the individual soul and the Supersoul; and among many thousands of such aspirants who have attained to seeing the soul and the Supersoul, only a few receive actual perception of Me, Śyāmasundara.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.3]

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ

[“After many, many births and deaths, one who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.19]

tapasvibhyo ‘dhiko yogī, jñanibhyo ‘pi mato ‘dhikaḥ

karmibhyaś cādhiko yogī, tasmād yogī bhavārjuna

[“A yogī is greater than an ascetic, a philosopher jñānī, or a fruitive working karmī. Therefore, O Arjuna, always be a yogī.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.46]

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ, mad-gatenāntarātmanā

śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ, sa me yuktatamo mataḥ

[“In My opinion, of all types of yogīs, the most elevated of all is he who surrenders his heart to Me and serves Me in devotion with sincere, internal faith.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.47]

In Bhāgavatam [6.14.5],

muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa

sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune

[“O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.”] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.150]

brāhmaṇānāṁ sahasrebhyaḥ satra-yājī viśiṣyate

satra-yāji-sahasrebhyaḥ sarvva-vedānta-pāragaḥ

sarvva-vedānta-vit-koṭ yā viṣṇubhakto viśiṣyate

vaiṣṇavānāṁ sahasrebhyaḥ ekāntyeko viśiṣyate

[“Among many thousands of brāhmaṇas, a yajñika brāhmaṇa is best. Among thousands of yajñika brāhmaṇas, one who fully knows Vedānta is best. Among millions of knowers of Vedānta, one who is a devotee of Viṣṇu is best. And among thousands of devotees of Viṣṇu, one who is an unalloyed Vaiṣṇava is best.”] [Hari-Bhakti-Vilāsa, 10.117] & [Bhakti-Sandarbha, 117]

In this way the steps are clearly shown, by climbing up by these steps then you are to go to that, you can go up to that place of wonderful dream. But that is more wonderful than dream, the Lord’s harem. Ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

We could feel also how it is possible imitating such a filthy plane. Sense pleasure and the sense pleasure of the Adhokṣaja, of the Divinity, just two opposites. South pole and north pole. Sense pleasure, that is the lowest conception of pleasure. And to seek the pleasure of the senses of the highest conception of the Deity, which generally seems to be impossible, to reach to that standard, how much sacrifice and self abnegation and self surrendering is required. It is infinitely intensified stage in which we can hope to come to such a position and to find the personal characteristic of the Lord in full. And then again to approach Him, and not only to touch His holy feet which is also impossible to the consciousness at large that we can touch His feet. What to speak of to raise one’s self in a loving position and the love of the unreserved and of the highest type. This is dream of a dream.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. One may think of that very rarely, but to achieve that, that is almost impossible. It is such. It is such. By his personal touch one can’t grasp it, but when they grasp, ‘Yes, it can be conceived, His such behaviour, such loving behaviour with the highest type of loving devotees,’ that may be thought out, but never with one’s own achievement. We can come up to such height as to think that Lord is very affectionately playing with His most favourite group so much. And never any selfish touch that will brush you aside, down, if you go to approach direct with your conception of ego.

Guru janma sitay bhumay sitay paya sata guṇa [?] That is of such nature that on the head of my Gurudeva that looks very beautiful. This is of such type, thing of such type that on the head of my Gurudeva it looks very well, very beautiful. By nature it is such, that in the highest position of my imagination I may guess to have His, to see His position. It’s so rarely seen and conceived that thing is to our society, our level, thinkers of our level.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

So first January, Friday, in nineteen thirty seven also such concurrence. In the middle also several times such concurrence must have been, must have happened, but I don’t remember. But this time I remembered that. This Friday, first January, and this occurred, same with that, thirty seven. Perhaps after seven years or so it may come, but the leap year also to be taken into consideration. Hare Kṛṣṇa. One day increased in every four days in a year...

End of 81.12.31.C_82.01.01.A

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Start of 82.00.00.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “The result has got no relation with your duty. You go on with doing your duty. Don’t leave it. And the result is in My hand. Don’t worry about the result. Only fully attend, concentrate only in discharging your duty. Whole attention devote only to discharge your duty, perfectly, and don’t look after the consequence. It is in My hand, not in yours. It is in the hand the resultant of the whole forces.”

“And that is the special characteristic of the advice in Bhagavad-gītā, and nowhere.” One German scholar told, “When I was a college student I came to this _____________ [?]”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

And Hitler’s dictation was very favourite to me. He asked the ladies, “Go home, leave the office work. And give good sons. I shall reward you. You all go home and give me well trained children. And I shall reward you all.”

This is Indian culture, nearer to Indian culture.

And Goering told, “A man who is afraid of the battlefield, and a woman who is afraid of childbirth, they are the worst kind of men and women. Women must not be afraid of the pain of childbirth. And a man must not be afraid of dying in the battlefield.” Goering told like that.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Hari.

And that Willhelm Kaiser, in the first great war, about him we are told his mother was British and he was German. The German, generally, they hate the British. Once when he was young, he was playing with his mother’s brother’s son, maternal cousin, he was playing, and anyhow some strike came on the nose and blood oozing. Then he was very much enraged and told, “Let the British blood flow away from my body.” The mother came from the British. So he was very much proud of that German blood. In that first war we are told of, ‘Free nation and free ocean.’ Kaiser fought for free nation and free ocean. “Why the British will have control over the whole of the ocean?” British was in full glory of its power at that time. _________________ [?] “The Sun never sets on the British Empire.” British held such power at that time.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

__________________________________________________________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Badrinārāyaṇa: Mahārāja, the first time the Bṛhat-Bhāgavatāmṛta was spoken, was it Uttara from Parīkṣit Mahārāja?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The beginning is such.

Badrinārāyaṇa: He had that much realization?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Very small time left between the hearing of Parīkṣit and his death. Śukadeva parted away after. There is another book where it is mentioned that Śukadeva went away and Parīkṣit had little time to be bitten by the snake.

And just at that time Uttara, Parīkṣit’s mother came, approached him and told, “What you have heard, speak it, give darśana to me.”

And in a small span of life, Parīkṣit he gave the summary, the substance of what he heard from Śukadeva. And that is the basis of Bṛhat-Bhāgavatāmṛta. Sanātana Goswāmī has mentioned. And there is a book, where it is mentioned. I forgot the name. It is mentioned there. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Sambandha jñāna, where we are, what is our environment, for this Bṛhat-Bhāgavatāmṛta is very helping, different stages of life, progress, step by step. _________________________ [?] The peep of spiritual knowledge, and the highest attainment, in gradual process. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. The map we may have of the spiritual kingdom. Which country is where, which country is where. We have a conception of that. Then any anomaly we can correct immediately. Ke?

Badrinārāyaṇa: Dāsarātha Sūta Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Once Kṛṣṇa He became Dāsarātha Sūta, do you know? In Dvārakā Kṛṣṇa was sitting with Rukmiṇī, Satyabhāmā. And with some purpose he sent Garuḍa to bring some blue lotus. And Garuḍa went to bring lotus and that was under the jurisdiction of Hanumān. Hanumānji knew it and Kṛṣṇa wanted to check the pride, or something like that, of Garuḍa, Sudarśana and Satyabhāmā. These three He wanted to check their audacity.

Badrinārāyaṇa: In previous, in Rāmacandra līlā, Garuḍa...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _____________________________________ [?] Hanumān’s pride was checked, no, Garuḍa’s pride was crushed by Hanumān. Ke?

Badrinārāyaṇa: Anurādhā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, Anurādhā come, taking so much risk.

And then Sudarśana was also, he was just on the outside, gate keeper, his pride was also checked. Hanumān coming, “Jai Rāma Jai Rāma.” He’s chanting the Name of “Rāma Rāma.” He does not know his object of worship Rāmacandra, none but Rāma.

Then Kṛṣṇa, He asked Satyabhāmā, “Oh, Hanumān is coming. I must take the figure of Rāmacandra and you take the figure Sītā.”

Satyabhāmā could not do that. So she had to go under the throne.

And He asked Rukmiṇī Devī, “You try to get the figure of Sītā.”

Then Rukmiṇī managed that and she sat on His left side and Kṛṣṇa became Rāma.

Then Hanumān came and with those blue lotus worshipped Rāmacandra. And then after some time, then Satyabhāmā, she insulted rather, and her pride that she holds the highest position of all the queens, that was quenched.

And Sudarśana he was moving on the gateway. And Hanumān told him, “I have to go.”

“Where do you go? I shall go and take permission and then I shall allow.”

Hanumān threw his finger within that round thing and suddenly swelled his finger and it became like a ring on the finger of Hanumān. And Garuḍa, he took him in his armpit.

Then Kṛṣṇa gradually released them. “Sudarśana, you are here. Oh: Garuḍa under the armpit.”

“Yes, they came to disturb me.”

In this way He wanted to check their pride.

This is the līlā of the Lord. Everything is there but the standpoint is just the opposite. That is līlā, all surrender to the centre. Everything is just like this. It is perverted reflection. And that is original movement. So all similar, only the standpoint is just opposite, one fullest sacrifice and one fullest aggrandising principle. A question of the principle of adjustment, nothing more is necessary. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Inner internal adjustment, the question, the rub is there, adjustment.

Our Guru Mahārāja, every now and then he used this word. “Religion is proper adjustment.” We are improperly adjusted. Adjusting the whole, and the conception of the whole also varies according to different stages of understanding. The highest adjustment is beauty, adjustment with the love. That is the highest. So no complaint there can be necessarily only. If there is something else then that is defect in the adjustment, nothing less, adjustment; adjustment.

Poison becomes medicine and medicine becomes poison. What is medicine of Māyāvādī that is poison to the devotee. Liberation, the question of non differentiated liberation, that is the highest goal. That is their nectar. That is their highest form of medicine, diet. And that is poison to a Vaiṣṇava.

And none wants slavery. Everyone hates slavery. But slavery to the government, to Kṛṣṇa, that is the highest attainment according to Vaiṣṇava, most highly valued. But as much as, according to the degree of slavery, we get our position dignified. Slavery is not so cheap to that highest entity. Slavery means unconditioned surrender, wholesale surrender. It requires the greatest fortune to be so much self abnegated. Selfishness means aggression, exploitation. And to dissolve the so called selfishness of aggressive nature, leave it all, whole, and whole represented in its cause and that cause is love divine, and to have connection direct with Him.

Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Vasu Gosh says that:

yadi gaura nā hoita, tabe ki hoita, kemone dharitām de

[rādhāra mahimā, prema-rasa-sīmā jagate jānāta ke

madhura vṛndā vipina mādhurī praveśa cāturī sāra

baraja yuvatī bhāvera bhakati śakati hoita kāra]

“If Gaurāṅga did not come then how could I live? Through Gaurāṅga I have got the taste of such a high type of nectar. If Gaurāṅga did not come, we could not have any taste of such highest thing. Then how it would be possible for me to live? It is so life sustaining, such nectar. So much high degree of sustenance I find from this nectar brought by Gaurāṅga that I can’t imagine if He did not come, how could I live. Without my such highest prospect of life. I could not know myself my own fulfilment. I was just a foreigner to my own self. He came and showed myself how beautiful I am, how high I am. So much dignity of mine He has shown to me. I was devoid of that, I was living so long, long ages. Gaurāṅga took the key of my own home, sweet home. He has given me the key of my own home, my sweet home. How could I live before if Gaurāṅga did not come? So much wealth I have got within me I could not know.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. “How indebtedness to Gaurāṅga, kemone dharitām de, rādhāra mahimā, prema-rasa-sīmā jagate jānāta ke. My whole property _____________________ [?]

take it to be the secret of my life, secret success of my life.” ________________________________ [?]

“But what sort of gratitude I can show to Gaurāṅga? Nothing. He has given so much but I have to give Him nothing. So I am a stone. This heart is a stony heart. I cannot show my proper thankfulness to that Gaurāṅga who has given me so much.” ____________________________________________ [?] “O cruel creator, what stony heart you have given to me that I cannot show my proper respect to that Gaurāṅga who has given me so much, this cannot be overestimated.”

These are the feelings of the devotees eternal of Gaurāṅga. They are impressed with so much of the magnanimity of Gaurāṅga ______________ [?] the land of Gaurāṅga. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi.

How you are feeling?

Devotee: _____________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I gave the examples of Hitler in my religions lectures. Hitler classified the general public into four classes: clever lazy, clever industrious, stupid lazy, stupid industrious. He told that, “Generally I fear the working people who are clever and industrious. But clever and lazy I put them at the head of the department, a peculiar thing, clever and lazy. Because they are clever, they can manage and because lazy, at the time of need, they can come with fresh energy. And those that are clever and industrious, they are always labouring and labouring and they are finished, and at the time of need, no fresh energy can come from them. And those that are stupid and lazy, I try to give some sort of engagement, but I am always keeping myself far off from the stupid and industrious. They will do always wrong and some other hands will be necessary to do away with their wrong.”

So the karmīs, the exploitationists, they are stupid and industrious. And the stupid and lazy are renunciationists, Buddhists and Śaṅkara, the mukti karmī. And clever and industrious are the devotional group, clever and industrious. And clever and lazy is Kṛṣṇa. In this way I used to qualify to the public. The whole staff is clever and industrious. They are always engaged in service and cleverly, not misusing their energy. And the opposite is the karmī school, the exploitationists. They are digging their own grave. They are prey to the reaction. For every action there is equal and opposite. Or taking loan and thinking that I am making progress. Stupid and lazy, the Māyāvādī. Māyāvādī they only go to the abscissa and, “No; that is nothing, no more, no more land to go up.” They dig their own grave and enter there and finishes there, the stupid and lazy. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, you said that the goal of the Buddhists is the Virajā. What is that?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Virajā prakṛti nirvana, in the verge, the last extremity of the exploiting energy, energy of exploitation, coming in no contact with their permanent soul within. And the Śaṅkara brahma nirvana, that comes to touch their own self, soul, and not towards upper connection of the souls.

apareyam itas tv anyāṁ, prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām

[jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho, yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat]

[“O mighty hero, Arjuna, this worldly nature known as external, is inferior. But distinct from this nature, you should know My marginal potency, comprised of the individual souls, to be superior. This world is accepted by this superior conscious potency as an object of exploitation for sense enjoyment, by the agency of each individuals fruit-hunting actions and reactions. The divine world emanates from My internal potency and the mundane world from My external potency. The potency of the living beings is known as marginal, on account of their medial adaptability - they may choose to reside either in the mundane plane or the divine.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.5]

Para-prakṛti, and the internal potency, unknown to them, to para-prakṛti, brahma nirvana: to come anyhow to the consciousness that I am a particle of consciousness, and no more. In the world of consciousness, there are so many things, but they do not care to know that, or to enter there. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ, patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ.

[ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas, tvayi asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ

āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ, patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ]

[“O lotus-eyed Lord, although non devotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. Although they may rise to the level of impersonal Brahman realisation, they fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they neglect to worship Your lotus feet.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.2.32]

Go up to abscissa with the passport, go to the limit of the country, but without visa, have to come back. No other alternative. ___________ [?] told that, “Your visa example has given a very clear conception of the svarūpa śakti land.” The visa. Passport is not everything. That is mukti, to go to the verge of the land. Last extremity you can go, passport. Passport of two kinds, one within the country and another to have a glance of the other country, standing only here, so this is that land and this is ours. Hare Kṛṣṇa. 'Virajā,' 'brahmaloka,' bhedi' 'paravyoma' pāya.

[upajiyā bāḍe latā 'brahmāṇḍa' bhedi' yāya, 'virajā,' 'brahmaloka,' bhedi' 'paravyoma' pāya

tabe yāya tad upari 'goloka-vṛndāvana', 'kṛṣṇa-caraṇa'-kalpavṛkṣe kare ārohana]

[“The creeper of devotion is born, and grows to pierce the wall of the universe. It crosses the Virajā River and the Brahman plane, and reaches to the Vaikuṇṭha plane. Then it grows further up to Goloka Vṛndāvana, finally reaching to embrace the wish-yielding tree of Kṛṣṇa’s Lotus Feet.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.153-4]

Bhakti-latā, one who gets the seed of devotion, their progress goes and it crosses the area of Virajā and then that of Brahmaloka and then enters into Vaikuṇṭha, the spiritual cosmos. 'Virajā,' 'brahmaloka,' bhedi' 'paravyoma' pāya, the serving cosmos, they enter. And the lower part is calculative cosmos and the highest part is un calculative, spontaneous, automatic. Service is automatic, you do not know. Just as reflexive action, digestion and so many other things within our system is going on unknown of our consciousness, we do not know. Involuntary, automatic, that has got a technical name. The whole system of digestion we do not know anything. Without our knowledge they are doing, and that has got some technical name. So it is like that. Unconsciously they are engaged in service. They cannot but do that, this is Vraja, Vraja-bhumi. Brajabumi is taken by mother Manjuali to ISKCON is it not?

Devotee: ________________________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Let us try to think it is all for the best. It is all for the best. We may or may not know. What is that?

Devotee: That is a video, Dāsarātha Sūta...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, he’s come this side?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________________ [?]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, our God-brothers were not successful in their preaching in Germany. They have tried for some years but they have not been successful there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But I heard, it is in Back To Godhead, Haṁsadūta Mahārāja went there, the German people they have banned any kīrtana and preaching in the public places. Only they can do within the room. And some broke the law and preached in the street, so they were put into prison. And Haṁsadūta Mahārāja went there and the case in the court and he pleaded himself and he impressed the solicitor of the opposite party as well as the judge that what they are doing it is for the service of the Lord. They have no right to stop it. Still they take the room, the judge also have an oath in the name of the Lord and justice in the court they take the name of the Lord, they take the oath in the name of the Lord. So it is over the government system. The law of God they admit that it is over the man made government, so they should not do this. And since they loosened their, slacked their control. I was told like that. Is it not true?

Why the German people they are apathetic, because the source is from America, they have got that apprehension. They are still suffering from the phobia. That Eisenhower who was the general of the opposite party, he was a German. Einstein he lived in Germany, who invented that atom bomb which concluded the war in; against Germany. So Germany is mainly afraid of the opposite camp. So much so that they do not like that something from America will come. In what colour it is coming and how, what colour it will take in the last time and what disaster they will come in our country: apprehension still lingering there.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Eisenhower was of German blood, and Einstein. They are the two main causes of the defeat of Germany. In both the great wars America came in the last time and crushed German people.

Clever and industrious, this is the very nature of German people.

Even Churchill, when it happened, came in such a position, war, that Germany will jump on the shore of England, it was apprehended. And France was captured. And Germany now must jump over England. At that time Churchill is giving warning to the people, “Don’t think that our navy will be able to protect them, even any time they may land some land force to the shore. The land soldiers you also be very much attentive, alert.” At that time he told, “They are working with German thoroughness.” That came from the mouth of Churchill, the worst enemy of Germany. German thoroughness, an idiomatic word, “What they do, they can do thoroughly. So much thoroughness in activity is never found elsewhere.” It came from the mouth of Churchill himself. “With German thoroughness. That is their national characteristic. What they do, they do well.”

Industrious and clever, and cheap. In British India the German mercantiles used to come to India, efficient, also the cheapest ____ [?] none could compete with them. Then Japan came to compete with Germany, more cheap, but not good things. But Germans peculiarity, things are good and also cheap, so none could cope with them in this affair. A nation blessed with much exceptional quality. Their appreciation for India is solid.

So Rabindranatha, when our Guru Mahārāja wanted to send preachers to England, he sent his followers Bon Mahārāja and others to Rabindranatha, “Take his advice what he says.”

Rabindranatha told, “Oh, you want to go to England, but they are proud of their rulers, and we are ruled, so they won’t care to hear your words. And if you go to France, France also it can take easily, and also shake off easily. And America, the field has been wasted, exploited. So many yogīs and others went there to preach something, and they especially mixed with the ladies, with some yoga system and purchased bad name for India. So rather go to Germany. They have got real understanding. They do not take anything easily, but when they appreciate they take it rightly and hold it, accept it, a solid nation.” Rabindranatha told like that.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.00.00.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.00.00.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...theistic, naturally, generally they are theistic people. And also Huns, Huns means haṁsa. I told little before, I read in an English paper ____________________ [?] Furious Frank and fiery Huns. Fiery Huns means German, and furious Frank perhaps at the time of Napoleon. The fight was a very strict fight. Huns means haṁsa. And haṁsa and paramahaṁsa, the two ancient sections, it is written in Bhāgavatam. The paramahaṁsa that are selected group given to religious life out and out, and haṁsa that was under them. Ke?

Devotee: ____________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...told that they migrated from Malaysia to Germany and these places at some time, from when the attack came, Paraśurāma perhaps, in ancient, Paraśurāma.

Devotee: Paraśurāma, yes, and also King Yayati, Sarmistha and Devayani and King Yayati.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, Yayati. Yes, they migrated to those places. It is mentioned that the River Saravati, they crossed then the River Saravati and cast them on the other side. Saravati. What is that River Saravati I don’t – it is mentioned there. They are banished on the other banks of Saravati. Maybe Volga or Rhine, Rhine is on the other side. Volga also passing from Germany, no? The greatest river in Europe coming from Russia is going, Volga. There’s a book written by someone called Gaṅgā and Volga, a civilization on the banks of Gaṅgā and Volga. The Caspian Sea, the Kasya and Caspian, Kaśyapa is the father of the gods and demons. Perhaps his place, ancient abode was near Caspian Sea. And this varṣa, nava-varṣa, Bhārata-varṣa, Hari-varṣa, Kimpuruṣa-varṣa, Ilāvṛta-varsa, the nine divisions in the globe; mentioned in Bhāgavatam. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Bali was sent to the Pātāla. Bali, raja, was sent by Vāmana Deva to the Pātāla. Pātāla means the urda, urda is the northern and south is the subterranean region. So in South America Bolivia is there, Bali-via, Bali lived there for some time, Bali-via.

But after all, the world of our sense experience is floating in our consciousness. This is the distinction, floating in the ocean of consciousness. Not that mind in the world, but world is in the mind. Mental sphere is more spacious than the world of experience of senses, the colour and the sound all superficial things floating on the ocean of consciousness. Consciousness is more deeper and more spacious than this mind. And the plane of intelligence, buddhi, that is more spacious and more deeper. In this way, the part of our sense experience is very small, very small, and floating in a part of, in a corner of our mental experience for births together. What we see, what we feel, that is a part of our consciousness. That is the real conception of things. Consciousness presupposes its experience, presupposed by the world of experience.

The cause is within and not in any external place. Then we can get out of it very quickly, if we can think so. It is difficult. We are accustomed to complain against our suffering, complain against others, that they are responsible, the environment responsible for my misery. But that is misunderstanding. When we will be able to realize the misery comes from within, sometimes individually, sometimes collectively. It comes from within, not from outside. Then, we’ll get relief very soon. The experts they are of such opinion.

In Bhāgavatam it is one step further. When the misery will come to visit you, it is the result of your own action previous. Not only tolerate but if you can think that it is the grace of the Lord, not only the negative side, to tolerate, that my misery I am experiencing, I am undergoing the past actions, my results of my own bad action. Not only that, but with some positive tinge of nectar. It is the grace of the Lord, His sanction. His sanction is connected with this particular incident. And He is all good, unquestionable good. So there must be some good object in it.

tat te 'nukampāṁ [susamīkṣamāṇo, bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam

hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidhadhan namas te, jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya bhāk]

[Lord Brahmā said: “One who, in the hope of achieving Your grace, goes on enduring the inauspicious fruit of his own karma, and passes his days practising devotion unto You in every thought, word, and deed - such a person is heir to the land of freedom: he attains to the plane of positive immortality.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8]

It is His grace. He wants me to purify as soon as possible, to release me as quickly as possible from my own action. That is His Grace. If we can feel that, very easily and very quickly we shall get out of this misery. That has been recommended by Bhāgavatam, to get out of the misery that comes from within. Nothing can occur, nothing can come without His sanction. And when His sanction is there, He is connected there. And His connection means His grace, all gracious. And we are to look to that. We are to invite that element of the great world above. And thereby we can promote our fortune, our fate, to be connected with that domain divine. No chaos, everything is cosmos. Cosmos connected with all good, we are to look like that.

Queen Kuntī Devī invited such adverse conditions. “Always keep me within adverse circumstance so that my heart can dive deep with a prayer to You for my welfare. If I am engaged by the apparent pleasing environment, thereby I lose Your memory and that is the great loss comparatively.”

These are the spiritual instructions of Bhāgavatam. In Gītā outwardly, man apaman jaya para jaya [?] Both sides, gain, loss, both transient, deal them with equal spirit. Stand direct and meet them, both sides. Success or failure, both equal, because the very plane is a concoction. Like a dream, to become a king in a dream, that is also false, and to become a beggar in the street in a dream, that is also false, of equal value. So here loss and gain in this plane all false. Don’t allow yourself to be disturbed by the loss and gain, by the victory or by the failure. And prepare yourself for the greater harmony neglecting these adverse apparent nearer environment. Prepare yourself as a student of the higher study, neglecting all these troubles coming to you.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Be a little more ambitious, more ambitious, not to confine your ambition to this mortal area.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

I feel tired. I disperse talking now.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Swāmī Mahārāja met Indira [Gandhi], he reminded her, “That Indu, do you recognize me? I was there, the shop keeper, the agent of Bengal Chemical in _______ [?] Road in Allahabad. You used to come with your father who was a regular purchaser of mine, medicines from my shop.”

Then she could recognize. “Oh, you need not come to me any longer. You will send your assistants to me and I shall consider this.” She told like that I heard.

I told that Indira name was given by Rabindranatha [Tagore] to Indira. Indira in European pronunciation, India, Indira, representing India. So Indira name was given by Rabindranatha. When she came to study for some time in Bharpur, university, Rabindranatha. ________ [?] she received her education from perhaps ______ [?] Jawaharlal [Nehru] was a student of _______ [?] College and Indira was also student for some time in _____ [?] And ______ [?] he took training in Vṛṣabhānu [?] College. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: What is the meaning of the name Indira?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ind means resourcefulness, prosperity, aiśvarya. Indra the king of the heaven is Indra. Indra means master of property. And Indira means Lakṣmī from Ind who can give prosperity. Ra means to give, rati-dadati, rati-laxati, who can protect and who can give the prosperity. She is Indira, Lakṣmī Devī. Lakṣmī’s name is Indira. Lakṣmī padalaya padma kamala sri haripriya indira lokamata ma hrabdhi tomaya rama [?] These are the names of Lakṣmī Devī. Lakṣmī, Padalaya, Padma, Kamala, Śrī, Haripriya, Indira, Lokamata, Ma, Hrabdhi tomaya, Rama. These are the synonyms for the name of Lakṣmī, in dictionary we find, Amara-Kośa, all synonymous ______ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Indra the king of heaven, the master of all resources, fine resources, Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Ultimately all goes to the Absolute. That is all relative position. The king, who is the king, that is relative, ultimately, that the king is not master of his own body, what to be master of the whole country. So the absolute, Indra means the absolute. The possessor of all resources is Kṛṣṇa. Everything goes to Kṛṣṇa when the rein is taken off, mukta pragraha [?] When the rein is taken off the horse the horse may run _____ [?] and goes to the Absolute. Every word goes to the Absolute in its fullest meaning. And partially, relatively, it stands here and there.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So cure yourself quickly. The place was waiting for you, partially at least. Gaura Hari. Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute but He says:

ahaṁ bhakta-parārdhīno, [hy asvatantra iva dvija

sādhubhir grasta-hṛdayo, bhaktair bhakta-jana-priyaḥ]

[The Lord tells Durvāsā: “I am the slave of My devotees; I have no freedom apart from their will. Because they are completely pure and devoted to Me, My heart is controlled by them, and I reside always in their hearts. I am dependent not only on My devotees, but even on the servants of My devotees. Even the servants of My devotees are dear to Me.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 9.4.63]

“I am controlled by My devotees. What can I do? I am not independent. I have got My partiality. I can’t avoid the request of My devotees. That is My weakness. What to do? Who have left everything and come to depend on Me, how can I discourage them? You say Durvāsā, how it is possible for Me, who has left everything for Me, and don’t want anything for Me, but if any request comes from their side, ________________ [?] how can I deny that? Is it possible? Ahaṁ bhakta-parārdhīno, hy asvatantra. Though I am Absolute, but still I have to come of My own accord to a relative position. A father, a husband, a son, all these relative positions I shall have to observe, of My own accord, though I am Absolute. I am assistant, they are all depending on Me and I shall have to look after them. The Absolute does not mean that He is all cruel: must be sympathetic also. What can I do? You say in the case of Ambarīṣa and yourself, you demand you are a brāhmaṇa, you demand you are a sannyāsī, but you fled for fear of your life. But Ambarīṣa is standing there. He is not going to step back when your created fire wanted to burn him. No padar padena cacala naiva [?] He did not get back, only one step back, no, he stood firmly.”

“If I am culprit, let punishment go on with me.” He did not back out.

But you, when Sudarśana came to charge you, you were flying from this to that, from the four corners of the world, running after for fear of your life. Who is more dignified position, Ambarīṣa or you? You are a brāhmaṇa, he’s a kṣatriya. But you yourself observed the Ekādaśī day, Dvādaśī, and time of pāraṇa you showed respect that Ekādaśī vrata for Me. And he also did that. He showed respect to Me by observing properly Ekādaśī vrata. And you thought he has dishonoured you. You were his guest. And before feeding you he has taken a drop of water to observe the Ekādaśī day and with concerns to Me. You yourself did that vrata and he also did that only for Me, not for self feeding, self gratification. You could not tolerate, you thought he has dishonoured you. So you say that you are a brāhmaṇa, very near to Me, and he’s a kṣatriya, he’s a little far off. He’s gṛhastha, he’s farther. You are sannyāsī, you are nearer to Me, brāhmaṇa. But this is only a fashion. But practically he’s nearer to Me. He’s not afraid of getting any punishment. And still he’s waiting for you. He’s fasting.”

“That my guest I have not fed, Durvāsā. He’s running hither, thither, restless, how can I feed myself?”

“He’s still standing, waiting, and when you will go he will feed you and then he will take prasādam. What do you say?” ______________________ [?] Left everything and surrendered wholly to Me, should I not protect them? Little gratitude I must not have, only I am slave of your formality and not the spirit. Spirit I shall ignore and only formality I shall make much of? What do you say, Durvāsā? Go to him, you will have to go to him. And to see how magnanimous he is, he’s still unfed, standing waiting for you. Go and see.”

And Durvāsā had to come and then appreciate. Ambarīṣa came like a criminal. “What I have done? All these troubles to you brāhmaṇa, my guest, only for my fault. I am culprit, offender. Please be propitiated with me.”

And Durvāsā fell flat. “Yes, so magnanimous. It is possible only for the devotees of Nārāyaṇa. You are so great. We think, we boast of our brāhmaṇa birth and our yogīc attempt, but in fact you are real magnanimous people and we are far below.” In this way Durvāsā began to:

aho ananta-dāsānāṁ, mahattvaṁ [dṛṣṭam adya me / kṛtāgaso 'pi yad rājan, mangalāni samīhase]

[“I have seen the greatness of the servitors of the Anantadeva, Śrī Nārāyaṇa. You are so magnanimous that although I am an offender you have prayed for me. You hold an unparalleled position in the whole universe.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 9.5.14]

“The greatness of the servitors of the Anantadeva, Nārāyaṇa, you all people hear how great, how magnanimous they are. Unparalleled position they hold in the whole universe.”

In this way he began to preach, that Durvāsā, whose very nature is always to find fault with others and to give them punishment by his yogīc power. That is his nature. But he began to sing the song in praise of the devotees like Ambarīṣa.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Have you taken anything?

Devotee: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. The diet is everything now in this stage of your disease. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. But the God sent friends you have got, that is a good sign. Nitāi Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Hari. Badrinārāyaṇa Prabhu, he has gone?

Devotee: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Left. Untimely he has come, could catch the train. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Optimism, cent percent optimistic we shall have to become, cent percent optimistic, and no place, no room of pessimism. Kṛṣṇa bhakta, he will apprehend that I may not commit any offence, especially against Vaiṣṇavas. Very alert, they should have to become. So gracious, so valuable fortune we are aspiring after, so I must be very, very careful. It will raise, arouse envy, jealousy on different parts, that we are connected with such a great fortune. So as much as possible we must be very cautious, careful that no disturbance may come outside to do away with our motive, or our pure aspiration. Gaura Haribol. So Mahāprabhu told:

tṛṇād api sunīcena, taror api sahiṣṇunā, amāninā mānadena, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

[“One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 3]

In one word you must be conscious that you are living in a place which is worthless, no value. Tṛṇād api sunīcena, don’t go to oppose anyone. No meaning of giving any opposition. It is all fictitious. Why should I lose my energy to give opposition to something, all fictitious? Taror api sahiṣṇunā, if any opposition comes to you, don’t care for that. It is also unreal. Their motive is only superficial. That may not affect your inner train of, trend of thought. So don’t be very careful about any opposition coming to you. Don’t create any opposition to others, and still if any opposition comes to you, try not to care. It is all futile. Amāninā, and don’t hanker after any appreciation from the ordinary public, any name and fame, appreciation, because they do not know. Their appreciation has got no value at all. They are all like madmen, they’re besides themselves. Their own good they do not know. So their appreciation has got no value. Depreciation has also no value. So don’t hanker after any appreciation from the public. Mānadena, and still you must be alert to give their due respect, otherwise they will come to disturb you. Like bribe, to show some, offer some respect to them, and go on with your own campaign. As much as undisturbed, try to make progress as rapidly as possible, because circumstance may cut off this opportunity and connection. So as much as the present circumstance you will be able to utilize, you try to do that. Live, live in the acting present.

Trust no future however pleasant! Let the dead past bury its dead!

Act, act, in the living present! Heart within, and God overhead!

[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-82, U.S. poet]

With this policy, go on. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Now let us fall flat on the bed.

...

Infinite minus infinite is infinite. Zero minus zero is zero, zero plus zero is zero, zero into zero is zero. So is the question of infinite. Infinite plus infinite is infinite, infinite into infinite is infinite, infinite minus infinite is infinite. Beyond the reach of calculation, so adhokṣaja, beyond our jurisdiction of understanding. But He can connect us. He can connect us, we can’t. Then, how we can have His connection? Only drawing His attention to connect with us, so that is by increasing our negative characteristic.

“I’m so helpless. My position is the worst position. I desire the best attention.”

Sincerely by such prayer we can draw His attention. So try to increase the negative aspect of our, to draw His attention, that He may come down to us. We can’t go up to His level, never, but He can come down. And how to attract Him to come down to my lower level, that is devotion. That is the very nature of devotion, to increase ones negative prospect, that “I am the lowest of the low. I am the most needy.” Not the mere statement but such sincere feeling in one’s own heart. That can draw. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. He’s positive, the owner, possessor, He can exercise right by his power. We are dependent, relative position, potency. Master is He. He can utilize us. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyaḥ. No qualification is sufficient to draw His attention, these mundane qualities here, the knowledge of the scriptures, and sharp memory, intelligence, energy, all failure.

nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo, na medhayā na bahunā śrutena

[yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas, tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛnute tanūṁ svām]

[“One cannot understand the substance of the Paramātmā, the Super-soul residing within everyone’s heart, by means of expertise in logic, intelligence or learning. When the living entity begs the Lord for His mercy, being desirous of His transcendental loving service, then the Supreme Lord reveals His self-manifest form directly before him.”] [Kaṭha-Upaniṣad, 1.2.23] & [Muṇḍaka-Upaniṣad, 2.3.2]

Never, by no means, yam evaiṣa vṛnute, whomever He wants to speak with comes to connect. He can have a touch of Him. He can come, so subtle, so efficient, so powerful in all respects, holding higher position. So He can connect, but we cannot connect, going up. We’re gross. Gross thing cannot enter, subtle thing can enter into gross. Ether can enter everywhere, but earth, stone cannot enter into ether. It can float on the ethereal ocean. So our position is gross. Consciousness, fine consciousness, very sharp intellect, that is also gross in comparison with His nature, energy, whole circle so fine.

So āroha-panthā, ascending method is a failure. Descending method, that after He descends to my level, by my earnest prayer, heartfelt prayer, that is bhakti, devotion, śaraṇāgati, surrender. “No other alternative, my Lord, without Your attention or Your grace, no other alternative.” Such sincere wave can touch Him and attract Him. Dainyam, humility is the beginning of śaraṇāgati, dainyam, humility. And not any show of humility, but most heartfelt sincere humility. Then, one helpless, humble, necessarily he will search for some support, then ātma-nivedanam, dainyam, ātma-nivedanam. When one feels himself quite helpless, then naturally he seeks for some support, so ātma-nivedanam. “Where to throw myself for any existence of improvement, or maintenance: where to? I have nothing. I am no entity, so some entity is necessary to depend on, to respond is necessary, direct desire. Goptṛtve varaṇ, and then to accept, You are my protector, You are my guardian, You are all in all. I throw myself in Your grace, sweet will. I have no other alternative, goptṛtve varaṇaṁ. Rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāso. From the first of the idea, He is great, He is my mania, He must protect me. He must give me shelter, to foster such idea. bhakti anukul matra ______ [?]

And what is favourable, such life, to accept that, and what is unfavourable, to reject that. This is śaraṇāgati. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. This is the basis of spiritual life, devotional life. Without this, no devotion can stand, can stay, can be considered theistic.

End of 82.00.00.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.01.A.rr

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...nineteen thirty seven, this early morning Guru Mahārāja passed away. That also was Friday, first January, thirty seven, that was Friday, early morning. I attended his bed, sick bed, from two to four, and then another’s turn came to attend. I went to bed. Two of us were attending him in a pair, two. Went to bed, and then suddenly, who cooked for him, that gentleman, generally we called him Mahārāja, Sajjan-mani [?] Mahārāja, came to rouse me.

“Come quickly. Prabhupāda perhaps he’s going away. Come quickly.”

At once we, in the morning I came to his bed but sweat was with my body. At once I jumped out and went, but saw, could not see him any longer.

Just twenty four hours back he called me, the same, through Mahārāja, Sajjanānanda and asked me to sing śrī-rūpa-mañjarī, twenty four hours back; that is Thursday, early morning.

But this day we heard, after twelve o clock new year’s day began according to the English custom, so after twelve the whistles from different steamers and other places were pleased to show new year come.

Then also Prabhupāda was there, but perhaps at five o clock, at five am he passed away. Then a special train was arranged from Salda Calcutta to Kṛṣṇaga: special train. We all came with him to Kṛṣṇaga. Then a bus was reserved – but could not be taken in the bus, so on the roof of the bus some of us climbed up, because he was lying in some temporarily arranged plank or something like that. Then when we with the bus we came to the Svarūpa-Ganga ghat, already dark. And we are all fasting, not even a drop of water. Then anyhow after crossing the Saraswatī River, other side, and we carried him on our shoulders to Māyāpur. There in some place, the vicinity where he lived before, from the beginning, before his sannyāsa, nearby that a place was dug.

But Kuñja Bābu [Śrīpād Bhakti Vilās] Tīrtha Mahārāja rejected that. “No, must have a Mandeer and a Nat Mandeer before that so this place will not suit.”

So it was removed to its present place, position, and there we began to dig ourselves, almost the whole night, by dark. And then his Śrī Mūrti was placed on āsana in a sitting posture with spectacles and what he used to wear every day. And such elegant and beautifully decorated he showed the posture which charmed me. I never saw him in such great Ācārya there, most dignified way I could see him there. And as usual the salts were given around his figure, and then earth. Earth could not touch his body, only salt, and then earth.

In this way when it came up to the neck I came out from the samādhi. I could not tolerate to see his face to be covered with salt. I came out.

And Keśava Mahārāja he was there, and others also ________ [?] Then after the pit was filled up a Tulasī bidi was temporarily built there and the barrier around. Then we went to sing songs, suiting the time, viraha-saṅkīrtana from different places was sung, then some summary talk about him. One Bhāratī Mahārāja he was chanting. I asked him to chant that __________ [?]

the conclusion of the poem composed by Guru Mahārāja in conclusion of Caitanya-caritāmṛta Anubhāṣya there where he’s mentioning about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura after his departure.

Yar samanya keha dari ayi nara deha nahi koila krsna bhakti dhan [?] “Never any man came in human figure who could spread the news of the Supreme so much for the benefit of the world.”

That was awakened in my mind, and at that time felt that he has moved his every nath to spread the cult given by Mahāprabhu. He strained his every nath to the finish to spread the advices or instructions of Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa bhakti, the devotion of Kṛṣṇa. We never experience such personality before.

Then in the conclusion Vāsudeva Prabhu asked me to chant śrī-rūpa-mañjarī-pada, and I did so, because only two days ago he wanted to hear from my lips that song. Then the function was closed. Then of course so many men began to cry, some embracing another man and crying.

“How shall we live now? Only, we all came and joined here for the attraction of his holy feet. Now he has disappeared. How we are to live? The centre is removed, centre of interest of all of us suddenly removed. How can we live, and how to live hereafter, in what way?”

Perplexed for the time being. Anyhow his Mission is there, and what he has done we shall try our best to go on with that. That is a general faith. With that trend we are to go on in future life, in this way.

Then next day that was Saturday. Then at Calcutta Maṭha there is engagement, some gentlemen, perhaps some European gentlemen should come there, it was appointed so some of us must go there. And among the list my name was also. I was so much tired, can’t move my body, still, what to do, must go. Must go, no disobedience is possible just after the demise of Guru Mahārāja. The general secretary he wants me to go. I remember I felt inability but anyhow dragged myself to Calcutta.

And when I’m in Rāma-ghāṭa station junction I found that Lalitā Prasād is walking on the platform. Some told that Lalitā Bābū is there. From the railway carriage we had a look on him. That is the first time I saw him. Afterwards, once more I saw him. Twice I have seen him, Lalitā Prasād. He was a bachelor. He had service in the writers [?] building, government clan. Then retiring he opened an āśrama. In the beginning he was living with Prabhupāda in Yoga-pīṭha, but after Kuñja Bābu came, became general secretary and began to start the propaganda work, Lalitā Prasād had some difference with Kuñja Bābu, and he went away gradually, cutting connection with brother, our Guru Mahārāja. And established an āśrama there in the birth place of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, that is the maternal uncle’s house of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, that Ula.

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura comes from Calcutta Datta family, renowned, and from the same family Vivekananda also came, that Datta family of Hat Cola [?] a renowned family in Calcutta, Datta family, Hat Cola [?] Datta. Vivekananda also came out of that family, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura also. But Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s mother’s birthplace was Ula, and he was born in maternal uncle’s house. They’re also zamīndārs, Mustafi Datta family, they’re zamīndārs, big zamīndārs of that time. But there he was born, so that place has been taken up by Lalitā Prasād and made an āśrama and he lived there.

After, he lived long time, Prabhupāda passed away sixty three, and Lalitā Prasād over hundred, one or two, hundred one or two, he lived after that.

He appreciated my poem about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, I came to know through his sister. His sister came here some twenty years back perhaps or more. She told that, ‘he has appreciated your poem about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura very much.’

And sometimes the disciples also come here now and then. I give some five rupees, ten rupees, this way looking. Of course taking the name of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura anyhow going on, not to such accuracy and intensity as our Guru Mahārāja did, but to certain extent some connection or other. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

According to our Guru Mahārāja he had some connection with Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura but that is contaminated with the flesh connection, more, than spiritual. Ha, ha. Baba, bada. He was son, and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was his father, he can’t forget that. Independent of that connection – of course he has got some idea but that is not very bona fide, we are told, and nearing towards sahajiyā vāda. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Madhvācārya has written a poem, Māyāvādā-Śata-Dūṣaṇī, a hundred poems against Māyāvādā. And our Guru Mahārāja has written Prākṛta-rasa Śata-Dūṣaṇī, a hundred lines devoted to expose sahajiyāism; that is imitation of prema bhakti. What is lust, what is sense pleasure, to conceive that, to take that in the place of divine love. This human love is conceived in a colour to be the divine love. What is so rare that even Brahmā and Śiva they cannot expect to possess that thing, that high thing. And they think they have already got, by, through imagination, imagining himself as a girl. And also, so much so that they imagine some gentleman, bābājī to be Kṛṣṇa. And they began to practice their relationship in that way, thinking that will be conducive, that will assist them to raise up their standard of life to that high creation, only by thinking, and in that way. A nasty thing, going on in the name, so the society looks down upon them as the pests of the society, society outside.

So Prabhupāda gave a new line, that, “Goswāmīns, you look at the śāstra, you will find what is that.”

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu, kaścid yatati siddhaye

yatatām api siddhānāṁ, kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ

[“Out of countless souls, some may have reached the human form of life, and among many thousands of human beings, some endeavour to attain direct perception of the individual soul and the Supersoul; and among many thousands of such aspirants who have attained to seeing the soul and the Supersoul, only a few receive actual perception of Me, Śyāmasundara.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.3]

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ

[“After many, many births and deaths, one who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.19]

tapasvibhyo ‘dhiko yogī, jñanibhyo ‘pi mato ‘dhikaḥ

karmibhyaś cādhiko yogī, tasmād yogī bhavārjuna

[“A yogī is greater than an ascetic, a philosopher jñānī, or a fruitive working karmī. Therefore, O Arjuna, always be a yogī.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.46]

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ, mad-gatenāntarātmanā

śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ, sa me yuktatamo mataḥ

[“In My opinion, of all types of yogīs, the most elevated of all is he who surrenders his heart to Me and serves Me in devotion with sincere, internal faith.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.47]

In Bhāgavatam [6.14.5],

muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa

sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune

[“O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.”] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.150]

brāhmaṇānāṁ sahasrebhyaḥ satra-yājī viśiṣyate

satra-yāji-sahasrebhyaḥ sarvva-vedānta-pāragaḥ

sarvva-vedānta-vit-koṭ yā viṣṇubhakto viśiṣyate

vaiṣṇavānāṁ sahasrebhyaḥ ekāntyeko viśiṣyate

[“Among many thousands of brāhmaṇas, a yajñika brāhmaṇa is best. Among thousands of yajñika brāhmaṇas, one who fully knows Vedānta is best. Among millions of knowers of Vedānta, one who is a devotee of Viṣṇu is best. And among thousands of devotees of Viṣṇu, one who is an unalloyed Vaiṣṇava is best.”] [Hari-Bhakti-Vilāsa, 10.117] & [Bhakti-Sandarbha, 117]

In this way the steps are clearly shown, by climbing up by these steps then you are to go to that. You can go up to that place of wonderful dream. But that is more wonderful than dream, the Lord’s harem. Ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

We could feel also how it is possible to imitate in such a filthy plane. Sense pleasure and the sense pleasure of the Adhokṣaja, of the Divinity, just two opposites. South pole and north pole. Sense pleasure, that is the lowest conception of pleasure. And to seek the pleasure of the senses of the highest conception of the Deity, which generally seems to be impossible, to reach to that standard, how much sacrifice and self abnegation and self surrendering is required. It is infinitely intensified stage in which we can hope to come to such a position and to find the personal characteristic of the Lord in full. And then again to approach Him and not only to touch His holy feet which is also impossible to the consciousness at large that we can touch His feet. What to speak of to raise one’s self in a loving position and love of the unreserved and of the highest type. This is dream of a dream.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. One may think of that very rarely, but to achieve that, that is almost impossible. It is such. It is such. By his personal touch one can’t grasp it, but when they grasp, ‘Yes, it can be conceived, His such behaviour, such loving behaviour with the highest type of loving devotees,’ that may be thought out, but never with one’s own achievement. We can come up to such height as to think that Lord is very affectionately playing with His most favourite group so much. And never any selfish touch that will brush you aside, down, if you go to approach direct with your conception of ego.

Guru janma sitay bhumay sitay paya sata guṇa [?] That is of such nature that on the head of my Gurudeva that looks very beautiful. This is of such type, thing of such type, that on the head of my Gurudeva it looks very well, very beautiful. By nature it is such, that in the highest position of my imagination I may guess to have His, to see His position. It’s so rarely seen and conceived that thing is to our society, our level, thinkers of our level.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

So first January, Friday, in nineteen thirty seven also such concurrence. In the middle also several times such concurrence must have been, must have happened, but I don’t remember. But this time I remembered that. This Friday, first January, and this occurred, same with that, thirty seven. Perhaps after seven years or so it may come, but the leap year also to be taken into consideration. Hare Kṛṣṇa. One day increased in every four days in a year.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

After his separation I composed a poem. The beginning stanza is this.

nīte yasmin niśante nayana-jala-bharaiḥ snāta-gātrārbudānāṁ

ucchair utkrośatāṁ śrī-vṛṣa-kapi-sutayā-dhīrayā svīya-goṣṭhīm

pṛthvī gāḍhāndhakārair-hṛta-nayana-maṇīvāvṛtā yena hīnā

yatrāsau tatra śīghraṁ kṛpaṇa-nayana he nīyatāṁ kiṅkaro ‘yam

[At the close of night, early morn, there were crores of devotees fleshly bathed, loudly wailing, their eyes overflowing with sorrowful tears of hopelessness. Śrīmatī Rādhikā, that radiantly beautiful queen of Vraja and daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, had summoned Her intimate servant Śrī Dayita dāsa to return to Her divine camp, their personal family. Now in the absence of Nayana-maṇi mañjari, the Earth planet has been vacuumed into the deepest, vacant darkness. O! With no further delay, kindly accept this fallen soul as your servant. O Dayita dāsa, I am hoping against hope to be embraced within the fold of your divine company.] [Śrī-Śrī Dayita-dāsa-daśakam, 1]

Nīte yasmin niśante, at the last moment of the night he was taken in by Śrī Rādhārāṇī as if She was very much impatient to tolerate his separation, svīya-goṣṭhīm. Nayana-jala-bharaiḥ snāta-gātrārbudānāṁ, amongst hundreds, thousands of people who were weeping, weeping profusely so that they’re taking bath in their own tears, snāta-gātrārbudānāṁ, neglecting that, Rādhārāṇī took impatiently at once, drew him in Her camp, very impatiently. Yasmin niśante nayana-jala-bharaiḥ snāta-gātrārbudānāṁ ucchair utkrośatāṁ, and someone is crying aloud for the separation. But without caring for that Rādhārāṇī impatiently took him because She could not tolerate his separation any longer ______ [?] Now, what was the condition of the Earth at that time? Pṛthvī gāḍhāndhakārair-hṛta-nayana-maṇī. Our Guru Mahārāja’s secret name was Nayana-maṇi mañjari. Nayana-maṇi means this eyeball. If eyeball is taken out then the whole Earth is dark to that gentleman. The Nayana-maṇi was taken suddenly and the whole world was covered with darkness to the people, hṛta-nayana-maṇīvā, pṛthvī gāḍhāndhakārair, deep darkness came down as if the eyeball has been taken out of them, yena hīnā, by his separation. Yatrāsau tatra śīghraṁ kṛpaṇa-nayana, addressing as if to ones own eye. “You are so miser. Where he’s going, please take me hurriedly there towards that direction which way he’s going. O my dear eye, take me in that side hurriedly, yatrāsau tatra śīghraṁ kṛpaṇa-nayana he nīyatāṁ kiṅkaro ‘yam. Take this servant. Why you are so miser my eye? Take me hurriedly towards that direction which way he is going. And another internal meaning is kṛpaṇa-nayana he, he’s Nayana-maṇi mañjari, his name. ____________ [?] you are so cruel to me Nayana.” Nayana means Gurudeva. “You please take me where you are going along with you. Why you are so cruel to me?” Nayana he nīyatāṁ. “Take this servant along with you, and very hurriedly.”

In this way, this is the beginning in this way. There are perhaps eleven or twelve stanzas.

[Ten prayers, stanzas, offered in the mood of separation on the disappearance day of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, known as Śrī-Śrī Dayita-dāsa-daśakam]

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

And another śloka:

gaurendor asta-śaile kimu kanakaghano hema-hṛj-jambu-nadyā

āvirbhūtaḥ pravarṣair nikhila-jana-padaṁ plāvayan dāva-dagdham

gaurāvirbhāva-bhūmau rajasi ca sahasā saṁjugopa-svayaṁ svaṁ

yatrāsau tatra śīghraṁ kṛpaṇa-nayana he nīyatāṁ kiṅkaro ‘yam

[You appeared like a massive golden cloud above the horizon of the blue hills of Nīlācala, precisely where that golden moon Śrīman Mahāprabhu set. From your golden heart a golden shower has inundated suffering humanity, extinguishing the scorching blaze of worldly life. Suddenly disappearing, you have hidden yourself within the holy dust of the holy abode of Navadwīpa, where Śrī Caitanydeva appeared. O! With no further delay, kindly accept this fallen soul as your servant. O Dayita dāsa, I am hoping against hope to be embraced within the fold of your divine company.] [Śrī-Śrī Dayita-dāsa-daśakam, 5]

Where Mahāprabhu came down, Gaurendu, the moon Gaurāṅga was set down where, this He was from, came out from that very place. And where Mahāprabhu came out he set down there, Navadwīpa. Mahāprabhu was born in Nadia and disappeared in Purī. And our Guru Mahārāja appeared from Purī and disappeared here in his birthplace. So gaurendor asta-śaile, where he, moon of Gaurāṅga was set down he took his birth, how? Kimu kanakaghano hema-hṛj-jambu-nadyā, a golden cloud, taking, drawing his lustre from that wonderful imaginary gold that comes from ________________ [?] he did such, a golden cloud, taking birth from the Purī there ________________________________ [?]

End of 82.01.01.A.rr

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.01.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. After his separation I composed a poem. The beginning stanza is this.

nīte yasmin niśante nayana-jala-bharaiḥ snāta-gātrārbudānāṁ

ucchair utkrośatāṁ śrī-vṛṣa-kapi-sutayā-dhīrayā svīya-goṣṭhīm

pṛthvī gāḍhāndhakārair-hṛta-nayana-maṇīvāvṛtā yena hīnā

yatrāsau tatra śīghraṁ kṛpaṇa-nayana he nīyatāṁ kiṅkaro ‘yam

[At the close of night, early morn, there were crores of devotees fleshly bathed, loudly wailing, their eyes overflowing with sorrowful tears of hopelessness. Śrīmatī Rādhikā, that radiantly beautiful queen of Vraja and daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, had summoned Her intimate servant Śrī Dayita dāsa to return to Her divine camp, their personal family. Now in the absence of Nayana-maṇi mañjari, the Earth planet has been vacuumed into the deepest, vacant darkness. O! With no further delay, kindly accept this fallen soul as your servant. O Dayita dāsa, I am hoping against hope to be embraced within the fold of your divine company.] [Śrī-Śrī Dayita-dāsa-daśakam, 1]

Nīte yasmin niśante, at the last moment of the night he was taken in by Śrī Rādhārāṇī as if She was very much impatient to tolerate his separation, svīya-goṣṭhīm. Nayana-jala-bharaiḥ snāta-gātrārbudānāṁ, amongst hundreds, thousands of people who were weeping, weeping profusely: so that they’re taking bath in their own tears, snāta-gātrārbudānāṁ, neglecting that Rādhārāṇī took impatiently, entrance, drew him in Her camp, very impatiently. Yasmin niśante nayana-jala-bharaiḥ snāta-gātrārbudānāṁ ucchair utkrośatāṁ, and someone is crying aloud for the separation. But without caring for that Rādhārāṇī impatiently took him because She could not tolerate his separation any longer. Now, what was the condition of the Earth at that time? Pṛthvī gāḍhāndhakārair-hṛta-nayana-maṇī. Our Guru Mahārāja’s secret name was Nayana-maṇi mañjari. Nayana-maṇi means this eyeball. If eyeball is taken out, then the whole Earth is dark to that gentleman. The Nayana-maṇi was taken suddenly and the whole world was covered with darkness to the people, hṛta-nayana-maṇīvā, pṛthvī gāḍhāndhakārair, deep darkness came down as if the eyeball has been taken out of them, yena hīnā, by his separation. Yatrāsau tatra śīghraṁ kṛpaṇa-nayana, addressing as if to ones own eye. “You are so miser. Where he’s going, please take me hurriedly towards that direction, which way he’s going O my miser eye take me that side hurriedly. Yatrāsau tatra śīghraṁ kṛpaṇa-nayana he nīyatāṁ kiṅkaro ‘yam. Take this servant. Why you are so miser my eye? Take me hurriedly towards that direction which way he is going. And another internal meaning is kṛpaṇa-nayana he, he’s Nayana-maṇi mañjari, his name. Addressing him, “You are so cruel to me Nayana.” Nayana means Gurudeva. “You please take me where you are going along with you. Why you are so cruel to me?” Nayana he nīyatāṁ. “Take this servant along with you, and very hurriedly.”

In this way, this is the beginning in this way. There are perhaps eleven or twelve stanzas.

[Ten prayers, stanzas, offered in the mood of separation on the disappearance day of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, known as Śrī-Śrī Dayita-dāsa-daśakam]

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. He took, he was born in Purī, there is one śloka:

gaurendor asta-śaile kimu kanakaghano hema-hṛj-jambu-nadyā

āvirbhūtaḥ pravarṣair nikhila-jana-padaṁ plāvayan dāva-dagdham

gaurāvirbhāva-bhūmau rajasi ca sahasā saṁjugopa-svayaṁ svaṁ

yatrāsau tatra śīghraṁ kṛpaṇa-nayana he nīyatāṁ kiṅkaro ‘yam

[You appeared like a massive golden cloud above the horizon of the blue hills of Nīlācala, precisely where that golden moon Śrīman Mahāprabhu set. From your golden heart a golden shower has inundated suffering humanity, extinguishing the scorching blaze of worldly life. Suddenly disappearing, you have hidden yourself within the holy dust of the holy abode of Navadwīpa, where Śrī Caitanydeva appeared. O! With no further delay, kindly accept this fallen soul as your servant. O Dayita dāsa, I am hoping against hope to be embraced within the fold of your divine company.] [Śrī-Śrī Dayita-dāsa-daśakam, 5]

Where Mahāprabhu set down, Gaurendu, the moon Gaurāṅga set down where, this He was, sprang, came out from that very place. And where Mahāprabhu came out, he set down there, Navadwīpa. Mahāprabhu was born in Nadiyā and disappeared in Purī. And our Guru Mahārāja appeared from Purī and disappeared here in His birthplace. So gaurendor asta-śaile, where the moon of Gaurāṅga was set down, he took his birth how? Kimu kanakaghano hema- hṛj-jambu-nadyā, a golden cloud, taking, drawing its lustre from that wonderful imaginary gold that comes out in Jambūdvīpa, sprung up in Jambūdvīpa, that special quality gold, is it such, such a golden cloud, taking birth from the Purī there? Jambu-nadyā, āvirbhūtaḥ pravarṣair nikhila- jana-padaṁ plāvayan dāva-dagdham. The whole country has been burned by the severe sun, and the famine, drought, and that cloud raining profusely the whole country, then came and suddenly disappeared in the place of appearance of Gaurāṅga. Is it so? In this way.

yā vāṇī kaṇṭha-lagnā vilasati satataṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-candre

karṇa-kroḍāj janānāṁ kimu nayana-gatāṁ saiva mūrtiṁ prakāśya

[nilādrīśasya netrārpaṇa-bhavana-gatā netra-tārābhidheyā

yatrāsau tatra śīghraṁ kṛpaṇa-nayana he nīyatāṁ kiṅkaro ‘yam]

[Through your voice, the wonderful explanations concerning Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu eternally resound with great joy. And how did those topics enter into the ears of the people at large and reveal before their very eyes the beautiful figure of Śrī Caitanyadeva? Once, by His glance, Lord Jagannātha, the universal master of Śrī Nilācala, arranged for you to appear in the holy place of Jagannātha Purī to spread the glories of Mahāprabhu everywhere. There you remain as the very pupil of His eyes. O! With no further delay, kindly accept this fallen soul as your servant. O Dayita dāsa, I am hoping against hope to be embraced within the fold of your divine company.] [Śrī-Śrī Dayita-dāsa-daśakam, 4]

The voice of Gaurāṅga, Saraswatī, our Guru Mahārāja’s name was Saraswatī. Saraswatī means vāṇī, words. Yā vāṇī kaṇṭha-lagnā vilasati satataṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-candre. The voice what lived in connection with the throat of Śrī Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu, is that, has that come out again from the ears, karṇa-kroḍ, the lap of the ear of so many devotees who attended the talk of Gaurāṅga? From that ear, from that cave, has it come out again? Then, janānāṁ kimu nayana- gatāṁ saiva mūrtiṁ. Is it that that very, the words now have appeared in the form of a visionary type, that sound has been transformed into vision, mūrtiṁ prakāśya, visible, visibility? And when the Jagannātha He starts in the chariot, Prabhupāda was born just on the side of that way where that Jagannātha Ratha, the chariot of Jagannātha passes on the road, and just on the side Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he hired a house and in that house Prabhupāda was born. So where Jagannātha cast His glance, from there it has got the Nayana-maṇi name. The Nayana-maṇi that is, the eyeball of Jagannātha was cast in that house, and from there it has taken a visible form who was originally in the voice of Gaurāṅga, Gaura-Saraswatī, Gaura vāṇī. Has that taken such form from the place where Jagannātha cast His glance on that house? Karṇa-kroḍāj janānāṁ kimu nayana-gatāṁ saiva mūrtiṁ prakāśya, and so one of his names was nayanatara, the eyeball. Is it for that one of his names was eyeball, Nayana-maṇi? Netra-tārābhidheyā, anyhow whatever it may be, my miser eye, take me hurriedly towards that direction in which way he’s going away.”

In this way some eleven or twelve stanzas I... Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, when did he get that name Nayana-maṇi?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He himself has expressed that in one place. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is Kamala-maṇi Mañjarī. Guṇa-maṇi Mañjarī is Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja, Guṇa Mañjarī. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is Kamala Mañjarī. And our Guru Mahārāja expressed his name, privately, Nayana-maṇi Mañjarī, to some people, we heard from him Nayana-maṇi Mañjarī. It is written in some place. Gaura Haribol.

Once in Rādhā-kuṇḍa, some of us were living with him for a month. At that time the aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā he was hearing, making to sing by some of the persons who were his devotees there. I followed him very closely, trying for a mental attitude to be very closer to his Vṛndāvana personality. In the daytime he used to live in a new built building. The month was this October perhaps, a little cold. The daytime in a new built building and at night time the new built building that was a little cold, so at night he used to stay in a tent spread just on a fallow land in the front of that building. He lived inside, and I took my position just on the gate of that tent, outside. At night I used to take my bedding just outside his gate, passed night.

One day, in morning time, he’s coming to the pukha house, the building, I’m following him closely. There was no other man. He put his sleeper just before entering the room, and he thought that after entering the room he will take the sleeper with his hand and put it in a proper place, under the bedstead, and then he will. But whenever he left the sleeper and entered the room I took it, I took the sleeper. And after turning he came to take the sleeper he found that it is in my hand.

Then he told a simple sentence, ami sariye nitche [?] “That I am taking it away, this is the word.”

But it came with so sweetness and softness that I had to think, ‘Where from this voice is coming? It is not a voice, not a sound of this plane, this land. It is coming from some other land, some other plane, so soft and so sweet the voice came. Only the word is this, ami sariye nitche, that I am thinking it, only this much, nothing more. But it rang in my ear, that this is not a sound of this plane. This comes from some other world, some other world, so soft, so sweet, so heart capturing. Is this the way in which the conduct may behaviour occurs and so harmoniously there so sweet?

Kathā gānaṁ [Brahma-saṁhitā, 56] every speech, every word is like a song. A movement, gamanam nāṭyaṁ, movement means it is dancing. Every movement is like dancing, sweet, and every word coming out, it is song, singing. It has been described, everything modified with high degree of duty. In the land of duty everything is beautiful; everything is beautiful, everything having the touch of the beauty divine, charming. Charming, the prime cause is charming, attracting, charming, snatching the heart, soft. There is a land of such sort of existence. And our aspiration is after that sort of life, we aspire after. Rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ. We can sincerely foster that sort of idea to feel attraction, a life of such a plane where everything is music, where everything is music character. The flute of Kṛṣṇa: that is guiding everything. That can draw out even the life from the body. The sound is so charming that as if the very feeling, sentiment, is as if it is coming out, wants to come out of the body, of the bodily existence. Whatever part of our body is touched with any sort of dealing, that seems to disconnect with other parts, and that party runs to move, to join, if it is possible to think. If the colour the eye wants to feed it: as if separating himself with other parts of the body. If ear hears the sound, ear wants to run towards that sound, even neglecting his connections with other parts of the body. Competition. ‘I don’t want your connection, this body. I want to run towards that direction. There is call from there, the ear will say, the eye will say, the touch will say, that competition. Whatever touch that wants to run away from the other friendly companions.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Once when Prabhupāda conducted the whole Braja maṇḍala parikramā, after that is finished he asked his disciples, “What positions have attracted you most? What position in Vṛndāvana has attracted you most?”

When it was asked to me I told that, ‘Kadamkandi, the birthplace of Rūpa Goswāmī Prabhu’s Bhajan sthali, between Nandagram Kṛṣṇa and Yavat Rādhārāṇī. Midway there was an āśrama were Rūpa Goswāmī settled and used to write the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu _________ [?] from there, generally. I told, ‘That place attracted me most.’

Then after a year or two again when we had gone to Rādhā-kuṇḍa in his company, suddenly he told, “Your place,” that very place, “Your place.”

I’m astounded, ‘What is this, where is my place?’

“Your place, that Kadamkandi, Rūpa Goswāmī.”

I thought, O, two or three years ago he enquired which was very attractive to whom, and that is with some purpose, and he has kept it in his mind, and accordingly today he’s saying that, ‘Your place.’ ‘Your place.’

‘Where is my place?’ So he was so much particular about that, that is ruci parīkṣa, to test the, to examine the taste of a particular person to a particular līlā, for particular group of service. These are necessary in the Ācārya to test his disciples, which is the place where he’s to be located, where his taste stands. And accordingly in harmony with that innate taste he’s to help him in his march towards that land of glamour.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ, that our hoping against hope, that the highest hope, we are pinned down: our fate is pinned down there. The goal, the destination has been settled, and how to reach there, and when to reach there, and who, others will come to my help to reach there. The master, śikṣā Guru, dīkṣā Guru, whoever will help me to go there he’s my Guru. He’s my guide who will help me to go to my destination, which is located in this way: the hankering, the hankering, the station of my hankering, innate, innermost hankering, the station, the destination. Gaura Haribol. Rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ prāpto yasya prathitaḥ kṛpayā śrī-guruṁ taṁ nato 'smi.

[nāma-śreṣṭhaṁ manum api śacī-putram atra svarūpaṁ

rūpaṁ tasyāgrajam uru-purīṁ māthurīṁ goṣṭavāṭīm

rādhā-kuṇḍaṁ giri-varam aho rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ

prāpto yasya prathita-kṛpayā śrī guruṁ taṁ nato 'smi]

[Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Goswāmī prays: “I only aspire after one thing. I cherish the hope that one day I may be welcomed into the plane where Rādhikā and Mādhava are in Their glory, sitting and playing.”]

And who has helped me to locate my place of destination, rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ prāpto, he has given, he has educated me how to aspire after, what to aspire after, and how we can go to Their aspired shelter: highest. All these I have got from whom, who is my all in all in life, the master of my life. This is a boat and he’s the helmsman. I have surrendered to him. I have accepted, I have put myself in his boat and he’s taking me towards the goal, the end of my life. Guru-karṇadhāram, helmsman, nṛ-deham has been compared with a boat. By utilising my resources in this body and mind my Gurudeva is rowing me towards the goal as helmsman, guru-karṇadhāram. One who has come in human species if he does not take this advantage he commits suicide. He commits suicide after coming in this human birth if he loses to take this advantage of crossing the ocean of life and death, life and death, birth and death, birth and death, birth and death. The ocean, the very nature is waves of birth and death, birth and death, to cross this ocean of birth and death. The helmsman is Gurudeva. And if one misses the chance he’s committing suicide – in Bhāgavatam [11.20.17].

nṛ-deham ādyaṁ sulabhaṁ sudurllabhaṁ, plavaṁ sukalpaṁ guru-karṇadhāram

mayānukūlena nabhasvateritaṁ, pumān bhavābdhiṁ na taret sa ātmahā

“Committer of suicide he is. And I’m helping so many boats,” Lord says, “So many boats are passing and I’m helping like a favourable wind. Helmsman is Guru and I am favourable wind. The boat is this human body. And you all should take the advantage of crossing this ocean of birth and death. It is compared to the infinite, this world, something like infinite. It is very difficult to cross this ocean of birth and death, birth and death. If you want to get away from these troubles, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bhagavad-gītā, 13.9] you must take the chance. You must take the chance, otherwise you’ll lose so much that it amounts to suicide.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Gaura Haribol.

Mahāprabhu’s grace presupposes some sort of selection, but Nityānanda Prabhu’s grace no selection. Whoever He comes across he gets the grace. He’s so magnanimous, Nityānanda Prabhu, He’s so much magnanimous whoever He comes across on his way he gets benefit, he’s saved. So raw, indiscriminate, and so spacious His mercy. Most benevolent, generous, magnanimous: Nityānanda. But Mahāprabhu has a sort of discrimination. But Nityānanda Prabhu does not care for any discrimination, whether he’s fit or unfit; so worthy His mercy. Nitāi. Nitāi. So, heno nitāi vine bhāi rādhā kṛṣṇa pāite nāi [Manaḥ-śikṣā] Overlooking the grace of Nityānanda Prabhu, overlooking Him, never be courageous to go to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa neglecting the grace of Nityānanda. So Swāmī Mahārāja has laid stress on Nityānanda, Balarāma. Nityānanda is Balarāma. Laid stress for the fallen, Nityānanda Prabhu’s grace is wealth, is real wealth, because discrimination has not got much place there. But in the grace, in the mercy of Gaurāṅga, magnanimity of Gaurāṅga, some sort of discrimination is there. Still not so much, but still we find a sort of discrimination. But Nityānanda Prabhu is more generous, so first go to Nityānanda. And by grace you will go to Mahāprabhu. And by the grace of Mahāprabhu you will easily reach the Rādhā-Govinda, Vṛndāvana. That is the way shown to us. Go to Nityānanda, from there to Śrī Gaurāṅga.

yathā yathā gaura padāravinde, vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta puṇya rāśiḥ

tathā tathot sarpati hṛdy akasmāt, rādhā padāmbhoja sudhāmbhu-rāśiḥ

[Prabodhānanda Saraswatī Ṭhākura says: “As much as we devote ourselves to the lotus feet of Śrī Gaurāṅga, we will automatically achieve the nectarine service of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in Vṛndāvana. An investment in Navadwīpa Dhāma will automatically take one to Vṛndāvana. How one will be carried there will be unknown to him. But those who have good fortune invest everything in the service of Gaurāṅga. If they do that, they will find that everything has automatically been offered to the divine feet of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. She will accept them in Her confidential service and give them engagement, saying: “Oh, you have a good recommendation from Navadwīpa; I immediately appoint you to this service.”] [Caitanya-candrāmṛta, 88]

Percolated by the mercy of Gaurāṅga, try to approach Rādhārāṇī, then no possibility of any dirt to enter and disturb you there in that plane. That will be percolated here by Gaurāṅga. You have got Gaurāṅga you are sure that you will very safely, smoothly, easily, and very intimately you will have the service of Rādhārāṇī. Otherwise it is very dangerous and sometimes suicidal, and reactionary, if you do not go through Gaurāṅga. If you want to approach direct to Vṛndāvana towards Rādhārāṇī it is very dangerous. You must go recommended by Śrī Gaurāṅga. That is, if you can appreciate the life of Gaurāṅga, the ideal of Gaurāṅga, the kāma and other things will be exhaustively eliminated. You’ll be really purified to be acceptable to that domain of that highest līlā, or pastimes. This is the fact.

Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara.

Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gurudeva. Śrī Gurudeva. Śrī Gurudeva. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Mahārāja, there’s a temple they say, some devotees they say there is the place where Lord Nityānanda and Lord Gaurāṅga met for the first time. There’s a temple on New Māyāpur side. Is that true?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: There’s a mandira...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Near Māyāpur, and it’s told that Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu met there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. That is Goswāmī Mahārāja, the Gauḍīya Saṅga. I myself gave the name there, Nandan Ācārya Bhavan.

When Nityānanda Prabhu first visited Navadwīpa then He took His shelter in the Nandan Ācārya Bhavan, in a particular house in the town. Then Mahāprabhu told to His devotees that, “One great person has come here. Try to find out Him. I’m feeling in My heart that a great personage has come to visit the town, last night. I found that in a chariot, whose sign is that of Baladeva, kalajanga [?], came and enquiring here, ‘Where is Nimāi Paṇḍita’s house? Will you say, will you guide Me to where Nimāi Paṇḍita lives? Where does He live?’ I saw in a dream of that type.” Mahāprabhu, Nimāi Paṇḍita told to His friends. “So one great man must have come here to enquire about Him.” This was the advice of Mahāprabhu towards His paraphernalia.

And they tried to search for Him, such a big, great man, great person, but they came out in despair, disappointed. “No such person we could find.”

Then Mahāprabhu told, “Yes, let Me try. Come along with Me.” And He came at once to that Nandan Ācārya’s house and there found Nityānanda Prabhu is sitting on the veranda. And there meeting Nityānanda Prabhu lost His senses finding Nimāi Paṇḍita. And so many shedding tears and all these things, and Nityānanda Prabhu was introduced to the devotees and as the first acquaintance.

Now, in another time when some disturbance from Advaita Prabhu’s remark, Mahāprabhu left His place and at once He jumped in the Ganges. And Nityānanda Prabhu and Haridāsa Ṭhākura also jumped in the water of the Ganges and took Nimāi Paṇḍita out.

And after that Nimāi Paṇḍita told: “I am hiding Myself in the house of Nandana Ācārya. And you say to Advaita Ācārya that Nimāi Paṇḍita jumped into the Ganges, we could not find Him. And let us see what he will do.”

Advaita Prabhu remarked...

Ke?

Devotee: _________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Hari. Then, in another time also, Mahāprabhu hid Him in Nandana Ācārya’s house, some other time; these two times. Another time also, He went to Śāntipura or somewhere else and from there He came to Nandana Ācārya’s house; that was on the Śāntipura side near Ganges and on the side of Śāntipura His devotee’s house was Nandana Ācārya’s. And generally when He used to hide Himself, playfully, from the devotees, for some reason or other, He used to take His shelter in that house, Nandana Ācārya’s house. First met with Nityānanda there, and in another two times also He used to hide Himself there.

And our Guru Mahārāja he sometimes repeated the founder of that Maṭha, that Bhakti Saranga Goswāmī, Aprākṛta Prabhu, who was afterwards Goswāmī Mahārāja, that is Nityānanda’s connection, he has written something in his praise. He traced some sort of sentiment of Nityānanda in him. So following that when he established his Maṭha, and that Maṭha I – he did not want to establish his Maṭha there. He purchased a house nearby Yoga-pitha, and that was dispossessed by Kuñja Bābu. So out of that sentiment he did not want to have any centre here.

But my interest was that everyone who has come out of the main Maṭha they should have their own centre in that area. I tried my best, first I purchased some portion which I have given now to Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja, purchased that land and gradually Mādhava Mahārāja and me, I helped many to purchase land and to establish centre there. Because that was akin, it seemed to me, that any pilgrim when he likes to go to Māyāpur, the place was such that he may be looted there on the banks of that river. It was such a dangerous place. Now, after partition, so many Hindu residents from East Bengal have come so we find that influx of population. Otherwise it was a very solitary place. When I came here it was all jungle and even the leopards and jackals, so many hyenas and all to be found here.

So that place I, – he told that, “I won’t have any, I purchased a house and that is out of possession now, forcibly possessed a portion, I won’t make any centre here.”

But I requested him, ‘It is not possible. You are a remarkable follower of our Guru Mahārāja. You visited England also. And here in India you did so much important service to Guru Mahārāja. And you should have one centre there, at least only to show that Guru Mahārāja had disciples of such dignity. You must have.’ So anyhow I purchased the land with my money and I took the deed to him to Calcutta, ‘I have purchased in your name this land and you must have a centre there.’

And then he paid up the money to me.

And then I told that, ‘We heard that you have some connection with Nityānanda and this place Nityānanda first stayed and Mahāprabhu met Him here. So I think, and this also in the southern extremity of Māyāpur, this side. The centre is somewhere near the bridge and this has been the southern extremity of Māyāpur, and you have connection with Nityānanda, this must be the place of Nityānanda’s first visit, first shelter. So you may give it the name of Nandana Ācārya Bhavan.’

And he did so. There he has placed, installed, that Gaura-Nityānanda.

This is the history underlying. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.01.01.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.02.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Goswāmī Mahārāja, Gauḍīya Saṅga. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, I always thought our Gurudeva had some special treasure, but he was not revealing that, but I think he has kept that treasure with you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is that?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Just what you tell us, it confirms exactly as he has preached. But he has also kept something, and I feel that he has kept it with you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Maybe! So he might have repeatedly requested me, “I am taking them, please look after.” He told me, and I am going on according to my capacity and my realization. I cannot do outside that. What am I, and what he knew me to be, anyhow he requested me, it is true, several times. And he has gone, I am left, and I feel some sort of obligation as a student of Gauḍīya Mission to do some sort of duty for the sampradāya. I am doing as much as possible, and if sometimes reluctantly, you are pressing out from me some sort of service it may be got.

What I feel almost always that Guru Mahārāja wanted me to do some sort of service, and many of our mission stalwarts recommended me to preach, to be a preacher for the West, recommended that, “He is the fittest man to preach in the West.” But anyhow, it could not happen. And now I see that anyhow it is being effected to certain extent, I am doing. I am a slothful person by nature, I do not move, of reserved nature, of idle nature.

Our Guru Mahārāja remarked, “A comfort seeker. You are ease-lover.” His word was ease-lover. “You are ease-lover.” He told.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Of reserved type, of reserved mood, generally speak less, and think more. A man of more thinking and less speaking, that type I am. And sometimes childish mood also with me sometimes, very simple and open speaking. That is budugraha [?], the planet Budha [?] he has got much influence on me, in the horoscope. And he’s of childish temperament, and a little poetic, and fond of little industry, and very childish in temperament. That Budha has got much influence and the Bṛhaspati. Budha, Bṛhaspati and Śani, these are the guiding stars in my horoscope. Bṛhaspati means ontological knowledge. Bud means the poetic and childishness and poetic habit. And the Śani, Saturn means strong abnegation and connection with the caste outside Hindu. Śani means that. This stern abnegation, indifference, as well as touch with the persons outside varṇāśrama. That is Śani, and Bud, and Bṛhaspati, these three are the guiding stars they are at their highest position. Gaura Hari. So, ontological reasoning comes from Bṛhaspati, indifference to the worldly pleasure from Śani, and poetry and childish temperament from Bud, three things. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol.

Sometimes the stalwarts in our mission used to say, used to express their grievance that “We serious persons of highest age and position eagerly try to mix with him. How is it that you mix with those children type persons?”

But I have got a nature to mix with the children. And they could not tolerate this.

“You are so sober, serious, and so endowed with high levelled philosophical talk, that we eagerly want to mix with you and talk with you, and we can’t tolerate that you mix with the children, of the lower type.”

They had some sort of complaint against me like that. That is my nature, a childish nature, temperament.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: So, here we are so many children of a lower type, and you are so kindly mixing with us.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You are all serious talkers, not childish, serious talkers. You are engaging me in serious talk.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

My centre of interest is Mahāprabhu anyhow. And Mahāprabhu has taken me to my Guru Mahārāja. In selection of my Gurudeva, Mahāprabhu’s part is almost cent percent. I have got some affection for Kṛṣṇa of Gītā, Gītā Kṛṣṇa, not so much for Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa, though in my childhood I had some mystic, transcendental regard for Vṛndāvana, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. In my childhood I visited several times a respectable temple of Rādhā-Govinda near our village, where my father, grandfather used to read Bhāgavatam every Kārtika month, one month in a year, they had to read Bhāgavatam there for a month. And in my childhood even when I was six perhaps, I visited that temple. And I remember that I saw with some mystic reverence in the temple, the Śrī Mūrti, and I still remember that how a mystic conception I got about Rādhā-Govinda there.

But consciously, perhaps some moral consideration, by predominating moral consideration I could not adjust with Kṛṣṇa līlā in Vṛndāvana, what Mahāprabhu has given to me. My regard for Mahāprabhu has taken me to Rādhārāṇī. And at present my highest centre in future is Rādhārāṇī, but present centre is Mahāprabhu. And from Mahāprabhu I have come to Gurudeva, to find out who will be the fittest preacher, fittest speaker about, giver of Mahāprabhu, and then I have come across to my Guru Mahārāja. The first centre was Mahāprabhu and that I came suddenly when I was reading in the fourth year class, age about twenty three. Mahāprabhu suddenly appeared in my heart, and captured, almost captured myself.

Otherwise, I was born in a smārta family, they’re nyāyaic of the high type, logicians, the Indian logic, nyāya and smṛti, there was this Purāṇic and pūjā etc, and Bhāgavatam. Smṛti, Purāṇa and nyāya, three things predominated there.

But I had some sort of previous life’s acquisition, because I had a tendency to become a sādhu, more than to become a householder in my future life. I felt it from my childhood, much attraction for the life of a sādhu, inner sannyāsī, but not of any particular shape. But Mahāprabhu gave me the real shape. He’s my captor, Mahāprabhu, and through Him only I could come to Vṛndāvana.

So necessarily, my ideas of Vṛndāvana cannot go to the level of sahajiyāism. We are born haters of sahajiyāism, sahajiyā, born haters. They have got no place. But anyhow, when I got first connection with Mahāprabhu, these sahajiyās also seemed to me very close friends. Anyhow they are continuing the Name of Caitanyadeva, that was my point: whatever they may be, they may be pests of the society, but still they take the Name of Caitanyadeva Who is so near and dear to me. From that point even I could look after them with some regard, with some nearness. It was so much so to me. But coming to Gauḍīya Maṭha, I began to hate them once more, that they are misrepresenting Gaurāṅga, taking the Name of Gaurāṅga, but misrepresenting Him. Not doing any service, but doing a disservice to Gaurāṅga. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. What’s the time?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Ten.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ten. Gaura Haribol. So, today, less question and more answer.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: More answers than questions, we are capable of not so many questions, as the answers you give.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It came in connection of my Guru Mahārāja because this is the day, this Friday and first January were combined and reminded me of him, that day, so I had to begin speaking without your enquiry. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: It is our great fortune.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The new friends, they have nothing to say, any urgent question?

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. What I speak to you in English, that is out of necessity. I have got no fine knowledge in English, I can’t understand also, and also cannot speak, not habituated to speak. But anyhow, for some necessity, I try my best to express myself, and whatever comes, in a mutilated form.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Rather, we find your speech very eloquent.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But what I search, I’m guided by the thought, and not by the language. And it seems there are some who are carried by the language and not by the thought. But my temperament is to live and move in the thought and try to give vent to that.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: But we find your speaking masterful.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not masterful, but less philosophical type.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: We find full command, absolute command.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I can’t find accurate words always, does not come, especially now memory is being faded day by day, so I search after accurate words, but sometimes cannot find it, so I have to anyhow move in a curved way. I have to express my thoughts many times in a curved way because I do not find the accurate word in the front. Otherwise my way of speaking is very straight. But I can’t be effective without accurate words, so I have to take some curved way sometimes. This is the instance with me. Gaura Haribol. But perhaps it carries weight. Thought is deep and nearer to the truth. As much as I have got my capacity, that is the nature, style of my speech, hitting the centre, and not on the outskirts. That is the aim of my, the general style of my speaking, hitting the centre. Things synthetical, not so much analytical, but synthetical, always touching the centre. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Capturing the centre, that is the way of my thinking. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. I’m not satisfied with anything, with any outskirts, any dress, but only the central reality. That is my nature. I want to understand the inner point. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

When Prabhupāda was living and he was giving discourses, so many others, even senior sannyāsīs and devotees they attended, then after that, some senior sannyāsīs, preachers, they also invited me, they asked, “What Prabhupāda told, repeat it to us.” And I did, and they were satisfied. Prabhupāda’s discourses were also very deep. The general public could not understand, deep philosophy, so I was requested to repeat his lecture by the respectable circle of our Guru Mahārāja’s disciples. I could repeat it, at least to their satisfaction.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Even Madhusudhan Mahārāja and others always were of a very sceptic nature, not prepared to rely on any man, but they also speak that when they attend my lecture that we almost feel that it is in the line of Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda is delivering the discourse. So, my type of delivery is very akin to that of my Guru Mahārāja, by his grace. They say like that. Repeatedly they have told like that. That is the ontological colour, the ontological representation. Our Guru Mahārāja’s lecture had this peculiarity, ontological nature. And my tendency is also towards that, the ontological understanding of the thing. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Caitanya. So, we may...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: We’ll take your leave. Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi ca śaṁ tanoti

sattvasya śuddhiṁ paramātma-bhaktiṁ, jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāgya-yuktam

[“For one who remembers the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, all inauspiciousness soon disappears, and one’s good fortune expands. In other words, one becomes free from all material contamination, one attains liberation from repeated birth and death, and one’s real spiritual life begins. As one’s heart becomes gradually purified, one’s devotion for the Lord within the heart awakens, and one realises the Paramātmā. Thus one gradually develops knowledge (jñāna), realisation (vijñāna), and renunciation (vairāgya).”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.12.55]

In Bhāgavata, avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi, the undesirable elements that are within us, that will be diminished by the continuation of the remembrance of Kṛṣṇa. The undesirable elements will gradually vanish away. Padāravindayoḥ, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi ca śaṁ tanoti, and some positive conception of real _____ [?] maṅgalam, of good, that will spread within us, śaṁ tanoti. Sattvasya śuddhiṁ, and our very existence will be purified. All other elements, non Kṛṣṇa elements will be purged out. Paramātma-bhaktiṁ, jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāgya-yuktam. At the same time sambandha jñāna, unnecessary abnegation or indifference to non Kṛṣṇa will increase more and more. Smṛtiḥ, continued remembrance of Kṛṣṇa, to be merged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to remain merged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, what is Kṛṣṇa, Who is Kṛṣṇa. Who am I to Him? What is my duty towards Him? Gradually all these things will come out from the foundation underground as much as the smṛtiḥ will be dense. ________________ [?] Nitāi. Nitāi. Any come from Māyāpur?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Not yet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not yet.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: That gentleman Satyānanda said he will come, but as yet not come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But I see you five are here.

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: _________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Any question, from any quarter?

Devotee: Yes Mahārāja, can you explain to me how Gāyatrī initiation helps the chanting of Hari-Nāma ?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It helps to consolidate the foundation of Hari and His Name and everything, of course when the Vaiṣṇava interpretation we get from there. The Śaṅkara School interpretation they will conclude from Gāyatrī that everything ultimately is non differentiated and non specified, heavy mass. But the Vaiṣṇava understanding of Gāyatrī is different. Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam [1.1.1] begins, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. Gāyatrī, Bhāgavatam, Purāṇa, it is mentioned:

artho 'yaṁ brahma sūtrānāṁ, bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ

gāyatrī bhāṣya rūpo 'sau, vedārthaḥ paribriṁhitaḥ

[“Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam represents the real purport of Vedānta-sūtra. And although it is very difficult to draw out the real purpose of the one hundred thousand verse epic Mahābhārata, the great history of the world, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam has come to give its real meaning. The mother of all Vedic knowledge is the Gāyatrī mantra. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the gist of Gāyatrī in a very full-fledged way. And the supplementary truths of the Vedas are also found within Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam.”] [Garuḍa-Purāṇa]

This is said about Bhāgavatam in Purāṇa, what is Bhāgavatam. In Bhāgavatam itself it is said:

nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ, [śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam

pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayaṁ, muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ]

[“O expert and thoughtful men, relish Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.1.3]

The ripe fruit of the tree of Veda, but in another place it is said about Gāyatrī, artho 'yaṁ brahma sūtrānāṁ, this gives the real meaning of Vedānta-sūtra compiled by Vedavyāsa collecting principal portions from the Upaniṣads, Vedānta. Artho 'yaṁ brahma sūtrānāṁ, bhāratārtha- vinirṇayaḥ. The very gist of the whole of the Mahābhārata is represented here in Bhāgavatam, vinirṇayaḥ, all the meanings must come through this channel, bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ. Gāyatrī bhāṣya rūpo 'sau, and this is the expansion of the proper meaning of Gāyatrī. Vedārthaḥ paribriṁhitaḥ, and the whole meaning of the Veda has been reserved here in a nutshell. Veda-mātā-gāyatrī, Gāyatrī is considered the mother of Veda. In a nutshell the whole purport of the Veda is here.

Devotees: _________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________________________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: ________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh. I heard that Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu has given an explanation of the Gāyatrī, Brahma-Gāyatrī, but I did not come across that explanation. Myself I have evolved a sort of meaning leading it towards the end of, the conclusion of Bhāgavatam. Gāyatrī bhāṣya rūpo 'sau, the Bhāgavata is the bhāṣya, like the expansion of Gāyatrī so Gāyatrī’s meaning must go to support the conclusion what Bhāgavata has given to us from the Vedas. And this is in this way.

Bhūr, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, Bhūr means the world of sense experience, bhuvaḥ, the mental sphere, svaḥ, the plane that can be understood, caught by intelligence only, not by feeling, neither by physical senses, buddhi-loka. In this way finer and finer, higher and higher planes there are in the strata, in this mundane sphere also, gross, subtle, subtler, subtlest, in this way it is progressing, different planes, fourteen planes of living here, human in the beginning and seven others. Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ, Svaḥ, Mahā, Jana, Tapa, Satyaloka: seven strata, or planes, from gross to fine. In this way it is developed.

Then Virajā, Virajā means the last limit of the material consciousness. Then Brahmaloka, where jīva soul is, that is the beginning of Vaikuṇṭhaloka, the marginal position, Virajā and Brahmaloka. Then the Vaikuṇṭha and Goloka: the land of service. The land of exploitation and the land of dedication, between the two, meeting place, this side Virajā, this is no man’s land, buffer state, this side approaching towards exploiting world of Virajā, and that side Brahmaloka. Then Vaikuṇṭha begins.

So bhūr, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, tat, savitur, varenyaṁ. Tat is the sum total of the world of exploitation, tat, savitur. Now a new thing which shows this mundane, savitur, means Surya, Sun, savitur, meaning who expresses things, from whom everything is emerging, savitur, _________________________ [?]

Just as a lady gives birth to a child _______ [?] from her womb a child is coming. So this experience of the material world is coming from a particular light, like the Sun is showing the planets. The Sun is the savitur, savitur means _____________ [?] That from whom all is emerging, the conception, and all sorts of conceptions of the material type they’re coming only from the Sun. If Sun is withdrawn, no conception.

So savitur means: in Bhagavad-gītā [13.34] also it is mentioned, “What is ātmā? As Sun is expressing the world, so your ātmā is expressing the world, that light, that spark, that knowledge. If that ātmā is withdrawn everything is dark. Your body, mind, everything gone, but the ātmā is there, the unit of knowledge is there, so to you everything is in consciousness. So savitur, varenyaṁ, which is giving birth, as if, to this whole world of your experience from the gross to the subtle, that savitur, that consciousness, savitur, varenyaṁ, which is respectful to that savitur, to that sort of consciousness which is giving birth to all this knowledge of variety. He’s varenyaṁ, he’s venerable plane, he’s worshippable plane. That is Vaikuṇṭhaloka, made of higher knowledge, svarūpa-śakti, that bhargo. He’s venerable bhargo. Bhargo means svarūpa-śakti and the very gist of svarūpa-śakti is the effulgence of this particular centre. And that is Śrī Rādhā.

Dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi: Bhāgavata [1.1.1] says. By His Dhāma, by His plane, by His light, all the misgivings and misunderstandings are cleared, a particular type of light, by the ray of which, all our ignorance disappears. That is the Dhāma, the very abode of the Lord is such that by the strength of its light all sorts of ignorance and misconception vanishes, that bhargo. Whose bhargo? It belongs to Deva. Who is Deva? Deva means, two meanings, Deva means ____________ [?] ‘One whose a playful entity, and very beautiful, beauty and play, līlā and saundaryya, Devata, and He’s bhargo, He’s the proprietor of that Dhāma, and that beautiful sweet ray by which everything has been evolved.

Dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt, and dhī, dhīmahi, by the help of our pure consciousness we shall attend Him, serve Him, conscious service, dhīmahi, dhī means buddhi, jñāna, ānuśilanam, cultivation. We shall get this conscious cultivation, dhīmahi. One day through our consciousness we can approach and render service to Him, dhīmahi. And what will be the result? Dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt. And He will, as remuneration, He will give us dhiyo, and the capacity of serving Him, of cultivating Him more and more. That is prema. He will give me prema as remuneration. Prema means the more capability of serving. So we shall serve Him and He will give more eligibility, more capacity, efficiency to serve more and more. This is the underlying meaning.

And the bhargo means the whole svarūpa-śakti represented by the ray that is the vaibhava of Śrī Rādhikā which is the mukhya-rasa combined. Mādhurya-rasa is the principal rasa and the most expansive which contains all the services of other rasa in Him. If mādhurya-rasa is there then vātsalya, sākhya, dāsya, and śanta, everything is there, so the whole is the representation of Her, of Rādhikā. That is the meaning of Gāyatrī, going so deep as to make us understand.

So my Sanskrit poem is there. It is perhaps in the Kīrtana Mañjuṣā. I forget.

bhvādes tat savitur vareṇya-vihitaṁ kṣetra-jña sevyārthakaṁ

bhargo vai vṛṣabhānu-jātma-vibhavaikārādhanā śrī puram

bhargo jyotir acintya līlana sudhaikārādhanā śrī puram

(bhargo dhāma-taraṅga khelana sudhaikārādhanā śrī puram)

(bhargo dhāma sadā-nirasta kuhakaṁ prajñāna-līlā-puram)

devasyāmṛta-rūpa-līla-rasadherārādha-dhīḥ preriṇaḥ

(devasyāmṛta-rūpa-līla puruṣasyārādha-dhīḥ preṣiṇaḥ

(devasya dyuti-sundaraika-puruṣasyārādhya-dhīḥ preṣiṇaḥ)

gāyatrī-muralīṣṭa-kīrtana-dhanaṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi

(gāyatrī-gaditaṁ mahāprabhu-mataṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi)

(dhīr ārādhanam eva nānyad iti tad rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi)

gāyatrī-muralīṣṭa-kīrtana-dhanaṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi

By step by step I have given the meaning, the very purport in this way, the meaning of Gāyatrī. Veda-mātā-gāyatrī, the mother of the Veda, and that must be the highest thing we are to detect how it is accommodated and placed there. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. We are to discuss, follow, and only through the serving, by devotion, that is the serving attitude, we can enter into the depth of the subtle, spiritual plane, and we can realise more and more about the truth of the same.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Caitanya.

So none have come from Māyāpur today?

Devotee: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Today the Calcutta people may come there, in a weekly bus service? Today is Saturday. And Sarvabhavan Prabhu also may come? You don’t know.

Devotee: I don’t know.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, can you tell us the story of the appearance of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, how She appeared.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: How She appeared, She’s eternal, that is what we’re to understand first. She’s eternal, but She’s coming down to this plane that is how She’s born, Kṛṣṇa is born, just like the Sun is born, something like that. After the night the Sun is being born, that is coming into our eye, it is there, nitya-līlā. In Goloka, in nitya-līlā They’re always there. Only by Their grace sometimes we are given the chance of experiencing Their līlā in particular. That is something like exhibition ________________ [?]

Suppose the atom bomb is being manufactured in somewhere, and how it is done, it is shown in exhibition in India. What is going on in a big scale in some place that is being shown to a particular place in an exhibition, ‘that these things are made in such a way.’

So in prapañca it is eternally going on, but is shown to us like exhibition in prapañca-līlā. You get the specimen is extending to you for your taste and then you try to enter for recruitment for customers. Just as the industrial arrangement is shown, exhibited in a place, what for, only to capture customers for business. So the prapañca-līlā comes to draw our attention to that, and then gradually we will enlist our name that we shall, we want these things and we shall get admission and gradually we shall try to have that. It is already there, nitya-līlā, but sometimes it is extended here like exhibition, or to recruit us, to capture us, to take us there.

In this way sometimes She comes. First Her father found Her in a tank on the lotus, a small, beautiful girl on the lotus, floating. And Vṛṣabhānu had no son, he took that beautiful...

End of 82.01.02.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.02.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...child, so one day when going to take bath in the tank found that on the lotus a very beautiful baby. So he took Her to his house and nurtured, and that was Rādhārāṇī. That we are told.

Devotee: Is it true that She never opened Her eyes until...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Sītā Devī also came in that way, when Janaka Rāja is ploughing in the field then suddenly a girl he found, she came out. So She’s told to be the daughter of _________________ [?]

What is that?

Devotee: I heard that She never opened Her eyes until She would see Kṛṣṇa first, until Kṛṣṇa was in front of Her.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: There’s a story...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No. There’s a story that She did not open Her eyes until seeing Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. She was very beautiful but the eyes were closed. Then anyhow it was arranged that the Nanda Rāja and Vṛṣabhānu Rāja were friends and anyhow Yaśodā went to visit the famous girl picked up from the lotus, Yaśodā went to see that girl and along with Kṛṣṇa. And when Kṛṣṇa as a child also, and He approached towards Her and touched, Rādhārāṇī opened Her eyes and found Kṛṣṇa. It is mentioned in Purāṇa, that maybe. But this is not much. The divine arrangement may be such. Both of Them are very intimate, They know each other, They know one another, and They’re also conscious that They have come here to show some drama like thing. They’re fully conscious of that. Not only of Their personality, but Their father, mother, Their friends, everything They’re fully conscious of, They were. They came to show a drama, something like that, nitya-līlā from nitya-līlā, just as in drama it is shown so They have come here to show some drama.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Who are you?

Devotee: Kamalāsana.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And he’s Kṛṣṇasūta dāsa. He?

Devotee: Bhakta Pete.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And you?

Devotee: Dāsarātha Sūta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi.

Devotee: Mahārāja, I was wondering, being a neophyte devotee, I was wondering what questions must be answered in one’s mind or heart to know who your Guru is?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: How should one know in his heart who is his Guru?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________________ [?] Who is his Guru?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Śravaṇa-daśā, first is śravaṇa-daśā, you are to attend the lectures, advices, instructions, of so many probable Gurus. And then after that is finished you can come in conclusion by the suggestion of your inner spiritual conscience, that where do you find that which can satisfy, whose instructions, impressions, can satisfy the inner most demand of your heart. Then you are to select there, that such news, and such spacious wave, instructive waves are coming from a particular place and that will be wholesome for me. You are to decide that.

And the general is you will seek for the śāstra, left by the mahājanas, what should be the qualification of the Guru, and what should be the qualification of the disciple. With a particular proper mood you will approach the Guru, guided by the śāstra, that whose position is unquestionable, such śāstra. The śāstra, that is the opinion that comes from unquestionable spiritual masters, spiritual persons. You are to consult them, and also to consult your friends, and then to approach the person from which some average spiritual life may come, approach them personally one by one, the all possible instructors. And then you are to decide that your inner approval and accepting tendency select whom to be your eternal, who can appeal most to the deepest sentiment of your heart, the deepest earnestness of your heart can be satisfied, and you are to accept there your guide.

There are so many guides. You want to visit a place, suppose Africa. There are so many guides and you are to make acquaintance with them, then when found that this will be the most safe guide who can take me to the – to show me there, you are to accept that. Ultimately you will be the judge in the selection of your guide.

And the advices necessary from my own experience I am giving suggestion to you. The śāstra and sādhu consultation and then personal approach, and then to select whose association touches you deepest, you are to finally decide. That the approximate suggestion may be given in that way, the selection must come from you and in this way that will be safer. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, is it possible to spend too much time looking for a Guru?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course as long as we are not satisfied, with maximum satisfaction we should not surrender anywhere and everywhere, should take some time. And at the same time must be earnest and we must try as soon as it is possible because human life is not a permanent thing. Any time it is vulnerable. Any time we may lose it. So we must be earnest, and at the same time, all possible forces you must tackle and satisfy yourself.

...

...the Ācāryas there, that eleven Ācāryas, you must come in touch with them direct, direct personally, or even through their writings, in any way you are to, if it may be said, to examine, to have a test about their instructions. And then you are to select that which is suiting you best, you can trust best, your best that ‘I must throw myself here, whatever my future fate is.’ With this idea you are to throw yourself down at the feet of such a great mahājana. But before throwing you finally, surrendering yourself finally, you’ll try your best and in the shortest time possible to save you, so that the most undesirable disaster is to leave one’s Guru, that is the greatest curse in one’s life if one has to become separated from his selected Guru. So we shall try our best that we may not have to meet such disaster.

And always you’ll pray to the Lord Who’s transcendental, “Please help me to select my guide. Please send to me my guide.” That will be your prayerful mood to the All Omniscient Almighty. “Please send me, show me my guide.” With that prayerful mood you should examine. As much as possible, of course it is not possible for the disciple to know the Guru, as much as possible.

We also did such, wander and wander, here, there and tried to test as much as possible within our jurisdiction, but dissatisfied. Then finally were I was satisfied fully I threw myself there. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Five years, more than five or six years I ran hither thither to different directions for finding, searching after Gurudeva. At last, after six years, the seventh year I came to his feet.

Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

More or less you were all attracted by Swāmī Mahārāja, so your general line will be to try with his appointed Ācāryas. But I don’t say that there you will finalise. But if anything comes beyond from any other quarter beyond that, if it comes to you then you will try that also. Anyhow, their instructions, advices, and their discourse, or any books. Anyhow coming in their connection you are to select that where you find the thread of future union, of same taste, same liking, same aspiration, of the same cord that can come, that can bring harmony with the cord that is within your heart. As fast as possible it is necessary, and at the same time you must be considerate, not injudicious, impartial. Sincere, judicious, searching with earnestness you do.

Just as marriage, according to Hindu law, once married no separation is possible, according to Hindu law, selected for life. No divorce system here. Now it is introduced. When I was student of law then I read in a book, of course about Hindu laws this is a sacred thing, marriage. And Muslim and Christian marriage they’re rather, they say, it is like some contract, marriage means contract, Christian. But Hindu marriage that is a life together, that is a sacred thing, a part of the sacred duty never to be separated, especially for the women. Now they’re fighting for the equality of the women with men. But I’m not of that opinion. Because, the ideal of surrender, śakti, potency, ideal of surrendering. Surrender should be considerate and must be durable. Surrendering today in one place and next day in another place, this is foolish surrender, the name is impure, that surrender. Surrender is surrender. No withdraw is possible. That must be very unhappy. If we’re to retreat after surrender that’s most unhappy thing, that is no surrender, and especially in the case of the Omniscient and Almighty, very disastrous reaction to come back. Mahāprabhu:

āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām, adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā

yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo, mat-prāna-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ

[“Kṛṣṇa may embrace me in love or trample me under His feet. He may break my heart by hiding Himself from me. Let that debauchee do whatever He likes, but He will always be the only Lord of my life.”] [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 8]

The purity of surrendering must be of this type. “Āśliṣya vā, He may embrace me with much adoration or, pāda-ratāṁ, or I am holding fast the feet, and casts me, and throw me from there, pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām, casts me or places me by His foot, trample down under the foot, pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu. Adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu, He may be totally indifferent towards me. That is more intolerable. Rather He may punish me, it is tolerable, but if He becomes indifferent that is more severe, adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu. More so, yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo, showing me He’s adoring another. My quota is given to another person; that is more intolerable. But whatever He may do I have no other alternative but to remain wholly under His guidance.” That should be the type of quality of our surrender. Under no circumstances I shall have to go away from my Lord. This quality of surrender is recommended to be the highest for us to serve our purpose. In another place Rūpa Goswāmī Prabhu says:

viracaya mayi daṇḍaṁ dīnabandho dayāṁ vā, gatir iha na bhavattaḥ kācid anyā mamāsti

[nipatatu śata-koṭir nirbharaṁ vā navāmbhas, tad api kila payodaḥ stūyate cātakena]

[“O friend of the needy, whether You chastise me or reward me, in the whole wide world I have no other shelter but You. Whether the thunderbolt strikes or torrents of fresh waters shower down, the Cātaka bird (who drinks only the falling rainwater) perpetually goes on singing the glories of the rain cloud.”] [Śrī-Rūpapādānāṁ]

“Viracaya mayi daṇḍaṁ dīnabandho dayāṁ vā. O Lord of the ________ [?] of the dīnabandho, who are humble, the Master of the humble, of the poor, of the mean, O Master of the mean, dīnabandho, the friend of the mean, dīnabandho, viracaya mayi daṇḍaṁ, You may punish me or You may show Your kindness to me. You can do anything and everything. You are at liberty to do anything and everything with me, dīnabandho dayāṁ vā. Gatir iha na bhavattaḥ, but in no case, in any case, I have no other alternative but to stick strictly, sincerely and strictly to Your divine feet. I have no other alternative. So You may punish me or You may adore me. Viracaya mayi daṇḍaṁ dīnabandho dayāṁ vā, gatir iha na bhavattaḥ kācid anyā mamāsti. How? Nipatatu śata-koṭir nirbharaṁ vā navāmbhas, tad api kila payodaḥ stūyate cātakena. There is a kind of bird who only drinks from the rainwater and never from the water which is touching the ground: either river, or a fountain, or the ocean, or any, no water but the rainwater drinks. This is cātaka by name, in Sanskrit, cātaka, a kind of bird. They’re all with their face up. Patit-jal, “A drop of water,” it is said in this way. Patit-jal, Patit-jal. Their sound is like this. Patit-jal, Patit-jal, pure water, pure water. And this is the nature of their sound. Nipatatu śata-koṭir nirbharaṁ. The sky may grant sufficient rainwater to them, or sometimes the thunder may come and he will be finished, nowhere. But still, they’re always with their head up, “Water, water, water. Pure water, pure water.” But instead of pure water thunder may come and finish him, but still no other, he’ll never come to take water anywhere else.

That should be the attitude of a surrendered soul. To surrender to get Guru is such a great thing. Such gravity and purity and sincerity we must begin: well begun half done. Is it not? To get a real Guru, a bona fide Guru, that means a great thing, a great achievement in one’s life ________ [?] he will surely guide me to the proper destination.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Sundara.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

You come from New York?

Devotee: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And whose zone is it? Who is the Ācārya of that zone, where you come from?

Devotee: There are five at present.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Five in the whole New York, but in the particular portion of New York where you reside, who’s the Ācārya of that portion?

Devotee: There are five. It’s been a new GBC ruling that the five Ācāryas are Gurus for New York.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. The Ācārya is Hridayānanda, or Rāmeśvara, who is he?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Who are they?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Or Bhaktipāda Kīrtanānanda?

Devotee: Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja, Bhāvānanda Mahārāja, Rāmeśvara...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All joint Ācārya?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, five in New York City.

Devotee: Harikeśa Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not zone division?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: The zone of New York, they have a new decision and five Ācārya men will be there, may be selected.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, anyone, just as in Māyāpur, Bhāvānanda and Jayapataka.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: They have two, yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Two, so five there?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I also did not know that. So there’s Rāmeśvara Mahārāja, Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja, Bhāvānanda Mahārāja, Harikeśa Mahārāja, one more.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hridayānanda.

Devotee: No ___________ [?] he’s not initiating Guru.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Satsvarūpa?

Devotee: No.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Not sure of the last one.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:Hare Kṛṣṇa. __________________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

How are you attracted in this path, through books, first connection with ISKCON?

Devotee: I saw a Hari-Nāma party many years ago in California and I was thinking about it, but it’s through a friend actually, through a devotee friend that brought me to the temple.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who are they?

Devotee: He is, I don’t believe he’s initiated. He’s in California at the present time. This is about seven years ago he brought me to the early New York temple, and where I first saw Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda. Then attraction developed over the years.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Did you see Swāmī Mahārāja?

Devotee: No, I wasn’t able. I had a chance at one time but I was not able to see him.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Could not. Have you met any of the Ācāryas?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Whom have you met?

Devotee: I’ve spoken with Śrīla Bhāvānanda Mahārāja and Śrīla Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhāvānanda Mahārāja, Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja. Jayapataka no?

Devotee: I haven’t spoken with him personally. I’ve listened to him lecture.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Lecture of Jayapataka Mahārāja?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, then lectures in papers or?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: In person?

Devotee: In person, yes.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: In person he heard the lecture.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So you have seen him.

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But you are not attracted by their speech, their lecture, or their books or anything, their instructions?

Devotee: I am attracted...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not impressed?

Devotee: I am attracted but not a hundred per cent. My heart has not directed me.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Not one hundred per cent, not cent per cent.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Partially, partial appreciation. Then you try, the highest appreciation of your heart, that is hṛdaye nābhya nujñāto, the last decision will come from your own heart, core of your heart. More of heart than of brain. You are going, you are trying, you like to go to the land of heart, crossing the land of brain, plane of brain. Yes? The heart has got more valuation there, the land of heart, hṛdaye. Without brain an animal may live, but heart is indispensable. Is it not?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Brainless animals may be there, no? Heart, the palpitation; that is the very heart. Heart represents love, and brain represents knowledge. And hands and legs represent labour, karma.

mukha-bāhūru-pādebhyaḥ, puruṣa-[syāśramaiḥ saha

catvāro jajñire varṇā, guṇair viprādayaḥ pṛthak]

[“From the mouth of Brahmā, the brahminical order has come into existence. Similarly, from his arms, the kṣatriyas have come, from his waist the vaiśyas have come and from his legs the śūdras have come. These four orders and their spiritual counterparts (brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsa) combine to make society complete.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.2]

The heart good everywhere, brain represents brāhmaṇa section, the hand kṣatriya, the sword and the gun, that is kṣatriya, organiser, leader. And the thigh that is vaiśya, money, finance. And the leg that is śūdra, general labour, this varṇāśrama. General labour lowest portion, then finance, then this military, and the brāhmaṇas guide. Heart friend to all. If heart is paralysed, blood circulation stopped everywhere, everyone. So bhakti is like that, devotion, love is like that. As friend to all he lives, all living, the heart, he’s friendly to all.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

[About eighty seconds of Bengali conversation?]

...

...took his shelter in some hotel, in some hostel, or where?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is mentioned in his life?

Devotee: _____________________ Pennsylvania [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: When he entered New York where did he first stay, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Devotee: _________________________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: _____________________ Oh, one āśrama, there was one Māyāvādī.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Āśrama, Ramakrishna Mission, no?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Not Ramakrishna Mission, but what was his name?

Devotee: _________________________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mishra, Dr. Mishra, he was a Doctor and also somewhat some kind of preaching, some kind of āśrama he also had. So our Gurudeva stayed with him for some time.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s still living?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Still living? I can’t say.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But he did not come this side? Was he converted, no?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No. They used to quarrel because he was attached to the Śaṅkarācārya School. They would quarrel but always remain as friends, in spite of that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: And that Mishra used to give lectures and our Gurudeva would attend that, and he would ask our Gurudeva to sing saṅkīrtana. And then one day he asked our Gurudeva to speak something. So he spoke telling that, “What your Dr. Mishra is telling is all nonsense.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. “Then to whom have I given shelter?”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Yes. Then after that he never asked him to speak again. But somehow or other they remained friends.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gradually Mishra will have to be attracted.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, must be.

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Dayadhara’s last letter has been replied, no?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So both Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Prabhu and Dayadhara, both of them...

...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Oh.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Do you know?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes. He tells...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He says sexual pleasure is the be all and end all of life.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Sambhoga Se Samādhi. He has written one book Sambhoga Se Samādhi, from sex then we get samādhi. That’s his philosophy.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sex indicates samādhi?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Gives, sambhoga se, from sex we’ll get samādhi.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Through?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Through sexual experience he will attain samādhi?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Samādhi means that is Māyāvāda Śaṅkara samādhi?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To be nowhere?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Somewhat, something like that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So life is undesirable, anyhow to finish it?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And that is Cārvāka, the most atheistic...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Cārvāka, yes. He’s another Cārvāka.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The English philosopher Epicurus or some gentleman, like Cārvāka.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yeah, he’s like that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: java jive sukham jive [?] Cārvāka says, “As long as you live, live happily.” Java jive ________________ [?] “Yes, get loan and eat well.”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “Get loan and that won’t be cleared.”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Won’t be paid.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “No necessity of clearing your debt. Anyhow secure let, that is, cheat others and live happily.”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________ [?] “If one’s body is reduced to ashes then no question of coming back.” Is this a philosophy of a gentleman? Can that satisfy a gentleman?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: But that Rajneesh has disappeared now.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not only demonic, demons are also moralist, but piśāci, piśāci means...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Witch.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Witch? There’s another, the treader on – piśāci means the lowest type of nasty people, nasty section. Demons are a little civilised and they also have some respect for some gods, Śiva, Brahmā, etc, and moral also. But the piśāci they’re fond of eating stools and drinking urine.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: The bāula is something perhaps?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bāula is in India...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I was told that they...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: A particular Indian section, tending to that, but piśāci, bhūta, bhoti, a sort of the lowest order of spirit.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Black magic.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Black, not magic, black...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Witchcraft.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Piśāci, the meanest section of the ghost, they’re fond of very filthy things, very nasty things. Their dealings, their habits, their houses, everything, they’re very fond of very nasty things.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: That Rajneesh, we told in the newspaper, “He is number one rākṣasa.” And they have published that widely. And he has disappeared now. No one knows where he’s gone.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One facsimile on his behalf is, one second of Rajneesh is working there?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: That has been said, but at the moment I’m told there is no, he’s gone somewhere, to America and nobody knows what is his present whereabouts. That we are told.

Devotee: I heard recently he bought a huge farm in Oregon.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I was in Bombay, thirty three or so, then one high police officer told me, “There is one gentleman in the garb of a sādhu in some mountain there.” And he also was preaching something like that, “I am Kṛṣṇa, I am Kṛṣṇa.” And many ladies are going there and offering them to him and he’s enjoying one lady and other ladies are clapping their hands and saying, “How fortunate she is. She is being enjoyed by Kṛṣṇa Himself. And we are poor fated persons.” In this way that gentleman told me, he was a higher officer in the police, he said. But at that time that was not very widely spread. What will be the age of that gentleman, that Rajneesh, approximately?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Fifties.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eighties?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No, no, fifties.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Fifties, then that is not that man.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: When I was preaching...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In Gujrat there are many of the Vallabhi sampradāya. I hear that the Vallabhi sampradāya they’re not strictly moralist, so there they get indulgence of these nasty things.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: When we was preaching in Maharasthra, at that time many people they would see us saffron clad, because the Rajneesh they would wear some red cloth...

End of 82.01.02.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.03.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No new faces today, we’re the same.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No new faces. ______________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

This is Bhakta Keith?

Devotee: Jaya Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And here is Sitisuddha? And Dāsarātha Sūta?

Devotee: Kamalāśana.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kamalāśana. Dāsarātha Sūta gone to Māyāpur?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No, not feeling well.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not doing well, stomach trouble?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No. Previously he had some jaundice.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jaundice?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yeah, and occasionally now just weakness strikes now and then. So on account of that he took some rest. He said, “I’m going to try and come. I may be late. I’ll try and come now.” Weakness.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Any question?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, Yesterday you said, you were mentioning to me that in the case of some advanced devotees, for some time they were eating less, for purpose of defeating Māyāvādīs. Who was that? What was that example?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is of two kinds. What I told, that is for the preaching staff. And there is another section that are not meant to preach for the time being, still, to show that to control the force of the mundane senses, some sort of abstention is necessary. While not engaged in any work, any sevā culture, service, only living a secluded life, austerity is necessary at that time. In the case of Raghunātha Dāsa, he was at that time not in a preaching mood, ostentatiously, but he showed his abnegation to the highest degree. And what I told, that was in the case of Rūpa Sanātana. They had to compete there with the Māyāvādī section, that though they recommend the yukta-vairāgya, but not for their enjoying purpose. To establish yukta-vairāgya and the Vraja bhajan, they had to practice more indifference in the abnegation, vairāgya to the highest degree in competition with the Māyāvādīs that they may not blame them that they are encouraging the sense pleasure.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Amazing.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Even, so much so, that they did not take shelter under one tree for some long time. Every day under a separate tree they took shelter.

[“aniketa duṅhe, vane yata vṛkṣa-gaṇa,] eka eka vṛkṣera tale eka eka rātri śayana

[“The brothers actually have no fixed residence. They reside beneath trees — one night under one tree and the next night under another.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.127]

One day under one tree, another day under the shade of another tree, in this way they wandered in Vṛndāvana, and spent their time in quest of the holy pastimes. They were conscious they were going to establish Vraja līlā, even mādhurya-līlā, very similar to the mundane life. So, when they’re to establish that, that is over and above the plane of renunciation, just as Śukadeva Goswāmī says,

pariniṣṭhito 'pi nairguṇye, uttamaḥ-śloka-līlayā

gṛhīta-cetā rājarṣe, ākhyānaṁ yad adhītavān

[“O saintly King, I was certainly situated perfectly in transcendence, yet I was still attracted by the delineation of the pastimes of the Lord, who is described by enlightened verses.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.1.9]

“Don’t think that the līlā in Vṛndāvana, that has got any relationship with that of this mundane world. I am well established in the mood of renunciation for a long time, and what captured my attention, that is from the higher side. You are to conjecture that this dynamic character, that is of serving mood, not similar to this mundane mood. That is nothing to do with this world of enjoyment. That is world of service dedication.”

To distinguish that, they had to strictly follow the life of highly renounced persons, which even these fellows cannot imitate. That was necessary, “That we are above nirguṇa, not any enjoying mood to be traced within us.” It was necessary. Dāsa Goswāmī he played the part of a beginner, and a beginner, they should not enjoy in the name of bhajan, ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ, yukta-vairāgya, in the name of yukta-vairāgya, they should not pass on the enjoying temperament, won’t indulge in the name of yukta-vairāgya. They should not indulge in taking, in satisfying their senses. So, he showed that portion, yukta-vairāgya. Mahāprabhu also told,

grāmya-kathā nā śunibe, grāmya-vārtā nā kahibe, bhāla nā khāibe āra bhāla nā paribe

[“Do not talk like people in general or hear what they say. You should not eat very palatable food, nor should you dress very nicely.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 6.236]

“Don’t attempt, don’t mix with the people engaged in this mundane life. And don’t eat what is tasteful to your tongue. And also don’t use garments which are pleasing to dress, bhāla nā khāibe āra bhāla nā paribe, bhāla means to use the garments, the good garments.”

But those who take to the service in a missionary organization, it is a separate thing. They should use that yukta-vairāgya. Whatever is necessary to render maximum service, they should take that. Even sometimes milk, brain work, one who is engaged in brain work, some milk diet may be necessary for him. Or ordinary bodily, this physical labour, one should accept some dāl. That is cheap and nutritious. Of course, if he can digest that. Anyhow, maximum energy should be utilized in the service of the Vaiṣṇava and the sampradāya. In that case they may not mark much to accept the show of abnegation in the public. We do not want that they should be less fed and weak and won’t be able to render expected service. That is not.

And especially Rūpa Sanātana, by their life of abnegation, they established the theory. In the beginning it was difficult. The competition with the Māyāvādīns was very high, so he had to take that position, “That we are not less, we are not afraid of the life of renunciation in this body. Still, we recommend that this is not the be-all and end-all of life, the renunciation. The positive life is there. Yukta-vairāgya is necessary. We recommend yukta-vairāgya, but not for us. We are not inferior to you, but on principle we say that yukta-vairāgya is the most effective, in this way. Because we are to prepare for the service and not for the ultimate renunciation, to accept that is our goal. The abnegation is our goal, or renunciation is our goal, we don’t admit that. There is a positive thing, there is a dynamic thing, there is a life of service, and we must,... but still that is not mundane, we support that, but not for the weakness which is required for renunciation, not for that purpose, but it is for the sake of the truth, we say.”

So much so that when anyone visiting from Vṛndāvana used to come to see Mahāprabhu, then Mahāprabhu asked them, “How Rūpa Sanātana is doing there, how are they behaving, how living?”

They used to say, “Oh, their self abnegation, their renunciation is incomparable, unparalleled. Living one night under the shade of one tree, and the next day under another tree, not under the same tree, same shade, but some arrangement is ready there, every day meeting with new accommodation.” [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.127]

No attachment, ‘that this is my pet place, this is very suitable, I shall live under this tree.’ Not that. Every day aniketa, aniketaḥ sthira-matir, in Bhagavad-gita [12.19], no fixed living room or place, aniketa, no living place, no fixed living place. Today here, next day there, no attachment of a few of ears land, ‘that here I must stay, I must cleanse.’ Not like that. Akasa viti. Not fixed diet, whatever comes in whatever time, whatever day, and living on that, no, aniketa. Akasa viti means whatever comes out of its own accord, they are to take that. Not any fixed diet, of any definite diet, whatever comes each day, to be satisfied with that, akasa viti bhojan. And aniketa, no fixed place to lay down the body, aniketa, that is Vaikuṇṭha.

“Whatever, being accustomed to space and time and food, whatever by the will of the Lord is coming, that is my prasāda. He is making arrangements, whatever time, whatever day. I must not allow my time and energy to use for my comfort. I won’t. No food, all right: one, two days without food.”

[‘vipra-gṛhe’ sthūla-bhikṣā, kāhāṅ mādhu-karī]

śuṣka ruṭī-cānā civāya [bhoga parihari’]

[“Śrīla Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī beg a little food from the houses of brāhmaṇas. Giving up all kinds of material enjoyment, they take only some dry bread and fried chickpeas.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.128]

Śuṣka ruṭī-cānā civāya. Getting whatever by begging little, this fried gram [chickpeas] and also this dry bread that is stale, not fresh, cannot buy bhoga for them. But their previous habit was like respectable family members. They were the high officers of the king, so comfortable life they were accustomed with, but then they came out to take sannyāsa. But if we imitate that we will die. We will be finished. Because they are parṣada-bhakta, their body was not material. They could show such high standard, and still lived up to eighty, ninety years, and did so many works, produced so many writings, and established temples, discovery of holy places, collection of books. They did hard labour, and uncertain, minimum food, and uncertain minimum residence, only to lay down the body, where-so-ever. In this way, they have given such wealth. So many books, and that is collection from all sorts of scriptures, of very high rank, the comparative study. If we say brain work, then very high order brain work they produced in that poorly styled living. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

And Dāsa Goswāmī, the prasāda of Jagannātha, stale, two three days after, cannot, that is given to the cows of Jagannātha, they also could not, due to bad odour could not take, he took that rice, and washed it with much water, again and again, and the little whatever was found, a little hard substance within that rotten rice with applying some salt he used to take that.

It came to Mahāprabhu that Raghunātha Dāsa, his father’s income was twenty lākhs at that time. Twelve lākhs rent to give to the Nawab, and eight lākhs net income, only one son in the family. His position is such that the rotten rice whatever little hard substance in the middle, washing, eliminating the outskirts, with some salt he used to take that.

Mahāprabhu heard this, and one day He went to visit. “Raghunātha, you are taking such prasādam. Just now I want to take a morsel.” He took. “Oh! So sweet! Raghunātha, you eat nectar prasādam, so sweet. I have taken much prasādam of many sorts, but so sweet prasādam I have never taken. Raghunātha, you don’t give it to Me?”

Svarūpa Dāmodara caught hold of the hand of Mahāprabhu. “No, never, one, two, three, no more, it is not for you my Lord. It is for us.”

Because,

[amānī mānada hañā kṛṣṇa-nāma sadā la’be] vraje rādhā-kṛṣṇa-sevā mānase karibe

[“Do not expect honour, but offer all respects to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and within your mind render service to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 6.237]

Because within, there Kṛṣṇa with Yaśodā, much eating, the butter, the other good things they are eating. Kṛṣṇa is meeting with the gopīs, talking with pleasure, all these things, and within encouraging all these sorts of enjoying substance, and outwardly, so much strict, for His own personal livelihood.

Otherwise people will say, “Oh, these fellows they are of the clan of Rajneesh. They’re all servants of Rajneesh. In ideal also they are debauch, the debauch idea of the Lord is very favourite to them and they themselves also go on in the name of God, they are passing so many adulteries, the Rajaneesh clan.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

But it is not for us to imitate. Only by physical imitation, that won’t give our, the object of fulfilment. So our mundane life, whatever is necessary to keep up this body we take that. The discomfort, the home comfort, the food comfort, we accept as much as necessary to keep up the energy. And then your body is vulnerable. No big imitation body is not vulnerable, we have to admit that. And according to take advantage from the physical world to keep up our standard energy and as much as possible to engage ourselves for the service which is already established by our masters with great penance and abnegation. Kṛṣṇa.

Mano bhaja samit keney sutrey siva smi evati [?] Kalidāsa says in Raghuvaṁśa, “That I have come with a great ambition to write about Raghuvaṁśa, such a renowned dynasty, and what capacity have I got to relate, to describe about their great heroism and magnanimity, all these things? But still, I may consider that so many other big poets have already described all their high ways, and mine will be only to follow them, just as, mano bhaja samit keney sutrey siva smi evati [?] The garland of gems, jewels, the first hole within the jewel is done by the some machinery, drill, the jewel is holed and the hole is created within the jewel, and then the thread passes through the jewel. The jewel garland, the thread passes through the hole. Holes are already made by some instrument, hard instrument, a steel needle or something like that, drilling machine. It creates a hole, and the thread can pass only through that.

So Rūpa and Sanātana, with the drilling machine, they have made the way and like threads we are passing through that easily, easily we are going. But they had to make the hole. Strict morality, abnegation, all these things, so that it will be possible for the people at large to think that though they have regard for the high sort of vilas, the pastimes of the Lord, but not for their sense satisfaction. That has been shown by their own example, ideal. And ours, like thread we are passing through that, quoting their words and sentences. They have established the ideal with the śāstra and we only refer to them and go on easily to the outset. They are not wanting in vairāgya, what you give such importance to. They are also more than that. Still, they have recommended that the sweet pastimes of the Lord, we must partake there, that is our highest fulfilment of life. And what you think, it is not that. It is all dedication and no exploitation. That is not sense exploitation of the insensible being Lord. Adhoksaja. Who has not got these mundane things there, all service. Service also can take such a shape. Such a sweet shape, that is the real, and this is the perverted reflection. The real happiness is there, because that is the highest stage of surrender to the Autocrat Enjoying Entity. It is of this form, the highest form of surrendering is in this way. That is the form in which the highest surrender is having its full play. And here it is shown, the reflection, and perverted, and that is original. That is good, this is bad, it is worst, and that is best, because of self abnegation, because of serving, dedication.

In fact, we are to understand the difference between dedication and exploitation. Dedication and exploitation. Dedication is pure, exploitation is filthy. We are to understand this plain thing, this primary thing, to differentiate between the two, exploitation and dedication. And exploitation to the highest and dedication to the highest, we have to conjecture in that way. Exploitation in the highest, that is the lowest form of living, and dedication to the highest, that is the highest form of life, purest form. We are to differentiate between the two principals of life, dedication. Here, wholesale dedication is not possible. In sattva-guṇa to a certain extent. Hare Kṛṣṇa. We can really feel the nobility, nobleness of dedication. It is above liberation. Liberation from exploitation, and after that begins dedication. This plenary thing we are to understand, the basis of bhakti, śuddha-bhakti. Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā, na śocati na kāṅkṣati

[samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām]

[“The spotlessly pure-hearted and self-satisfied soul who has attained to his conscious divine nature neither grieves nor craves for anything. Seeing all beings equally (in the conception of My supreme energy), he gradually achieves supreme devotion (prema-bhakti) unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.54]

When we attain our brahma-bhūtaḥ, our conscious identification purely, then we have got no affinity for this mundane achievement. We neither mourn if we lose anything here, neither we are joyful if we gain anything here. All loss and gain is equal for this mundane life. Then we can begin our life of dedication upwards. In Bhagavad-gītā it is mentioned, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. Then only is it possible to enter into the domain of high devotion, parām bhaktiṁ labhate. After you have been fully relieved from your all sorts of attachment for this mundane world, name, fame, money, women, then delicious food, then all charms finished. Then only is it possible for you to enter into that land.

“To search after what is delicious to Me, what food is delicious to Me, with exemption of your interest. What is soft and touchable to Me, what is beautiful to Me, what is beautiful to My ear, you are to acquire those and apply for My satisfaction. Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām.”

Mahāprabhu says, “Eho bahya, this is also superficial, go deeper.” [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.59]

Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. Now he’s eligible to enter, but he has not yet entered. He’s eligible. He has acquired his eligibility when he has got no charm for this mundane acquisition. He has acquired his eligibility. Now he has to begin his life. When? Jñāne prayāsa, only through śraddhā. He has to enter, the śraddhā is the visa, with śraddhā he will negotiate to enter.

“He will find, he will relish My tidings. Whatever statement or relation comes to him about Me, he will very earnestly attend those things from the real, from the genuine source. ‘That what charming thoughts are coming from the mystic world, and there lies my real fortune.’ With such eagerness, they will very ardently hear when it is coming from the lips of the genuine persons, agents.”

Gaura Hari.

...

Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Vidagdha did not come yesterday?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He came last night. In the evening he came.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He came, from Calcutta?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Māyāpur.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And this morning went to Calcutta?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No. He went back the same evening, in the night.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Why? Why did he come and immediately leave?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Some commitment there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But still, why? He stayed here one hour at least?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He came and what Your Grace was speaking yesterday he heard the tape. Just to hear the tape and then ran.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He has invented a world, ‘that not two hours is necessary, only in five minutes I can finish the two hours work.’ Ha, ha, ha, ha. He did not take anything also, no food, no prasādam?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No new news from him?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, the flute of Kṛṣṇa, veṇu, is that in...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of different types, veṇu, mūralī and vaṁśī, of three types; in the length, also perhaps in volume or sweetness of the tune, there are different types, some very small, to keep always with Him, and some, mūralī perhaps the longest, vaṁśī, veṇu, mūralī. That is given in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, maybe.

gāyatrī muralīṣṭa-kīrttana-dhanaṁ rādhāpadaṁ dhīmahi

What is mūralī? The tune, the sound of mūralī attracts to one’s highest duty; “Engage yourself, the chance has come. Come to serve Me.”

_____________________________________________________ [?] The sound of mūralī, the sweet sound of mūralī attracts us to engage, offers the chance of engaging ourselves in His service, confidential service, mūralī. That is the highest fulfilment of life, the highest fulfilment of life. And Gāyatrī, what is the meaning? That singing which we can get liberation: and liberation in the positive sense, to be engaged in service. Liberation, the negative side only to get out of the negative side, but that is not liberation of the positive conception. The positive conception of liberation is self determination, svarūpa-siddhi, to be located in one’s highest duty, service function, in the organic whole. So, by the singing this song which gives us liberation proper, and the mūralī sound, that is also song. Gāyatrī means song, the song of the Vedas which gives us the highest form of liberation. So, Gāyatrī leading towards mūralī: that is also sweet sound which attracts and engages us in the highest form of service. So, mūralī, the beginning is Gāyatrī syama gan, veda gan [?] and the highest object, the mūralī attracting, “Engage yourself in the service of similar thing.” Do you find, follow?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So Gāyatrī and mūralī, mūralī in its highest form, and Gayatri in the beginner form. Gānat trāyate, the song which gives us liberation, emancipation. And there also mūralī attracts, “Come to serve Me here.” So similar things, and the kīrtana of Mahāprabhu is also, Nāma kīrtana, in the middle, leading, combining the two. Gāyatrī muralīṣṭa- kīrtana- dhanaṁ. Ista mana wipeta [?] What is the real object, the real purpose, what is the purpose of mūralī, that is the muralīṣṭa, kīrtana: that is the wealth of Gāyatrī. And what is that? Mūralī is connected with whom? The highest pleasure of Kṛṣṇa is in the company of Rādhārāṇī, so the Gāyatrī is guiding us really, if we can follow, towards that Rādhā Dāsyam. That meaning has been drawn from Gāyatrī by myself, by the grace of my Guru Mahārāja.

And I heard that Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu has also given such sort of meaning to Gāyatrī, but I did not come across. He has also given a positive meaning of Gāyatrī. I don’t know; it might be something like this, because, vedaiś ca sarvvair aham eva vedyaḥ [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.15], śrutibhir vimṛgyām [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.47.61] That is the leading instruction which will guide us everywhere, whenever we shall read anything, our seeking tendency, characteristic, must be of such order to have its fulfilment.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaurāṅga Sundara.

Rūpa and Sanātana were above eighty. Raghunātha Dāsa. And we heard that Jīva Goswāmī went up to ninety. And he began also from a very young age. Longest period engaged in service, from perhaps twenty to ninety. So when he first came to Navadwīpa he met Nityānanda Prabhu. He wandered along with him in the Dhāma and then asked him, “Go direct to Vṛndāvana.”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: So, the vaṁśī and mūralī and veṇu, they are servitors...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________________________ [?]

End of 82.01.03.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.03.B_82.01.04.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ____________________________________________________ [?]

Vidagdha-Mādhava: ...a pastime about Gauri dāsa Paṇḍita. Gauri dāsa Paṇḍita, a devotee of Lord Caitanya, to do with his Deities. I was told these Gaura Nitāi Deities were made in the presence of Lord Caitanya. Do you know anything about that?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. It is told that both Nityānanda Prabhu and Mahāprabhu went to Kalna where Gauri dāsa Paṇḍita had his quarters, by swimming over the Ganges, and suddenly They presented Themselves in his quarters.

Gauri dāsa Paṇḍita is in sākhya-rasa, he was Subal perhaps, Subal sakhā. And he also could anyhow intuitively recognize Them, and They lived there a day or two. And when They wanted to come away, then Gauri dāsa Paṇḍita was so much disturbed for Their separation, so much pained, that, “I can’t stand Your separation, Your going away. I won’t live if You leave me and go away now.”

They said, “No no, We shall not go.” Then, “We shall remain with you.”

“How?”

“You construct two Mūrtis according to Our figures.”

And he did so, then, exactly similar Mūrtis were made from wood.

“And here you place Them, now you go on worshipping.”

“No no, that won’t do.”

“Then what do you want? This is Mūrti. We and Mūrtis are one and same.”

“No, no, no. I won’t accept that.”

“Then what do you like?”

“If You say that the Mūrtis are the same, then I shall place You and the Mūrtis may go.”

It was done, “Yes you do.” Then Nityānanda Prabhu and Mahāprabhu were placed on the throne and the two Mūrtis were going away.

“What is this? You are going? You say You are kept?”

“No, no, no, in anyhow, We have escaped.”

“You are very cunning. You have escaped anyhow.”

“No, no, open the lock and see whether We are there or not.”

“Yes it is there, and they’re Mūrti, and You are going, leaving.”

“Then, whatever you like, either take both of Us or take both of Them. Whatever you like you put there.”

“I want to put Them there.”

In this way again changed. Then again began to walk, the Mūrtis, in this way, once or twice it was verified, and what to do? They went off and those Mūrtis remained there. It has been told.

Subal sakhā, the most intimate among the friendly group of Kṛṣṇa, Subal, who had some connection with mādhurya-rasa. Sometimes Subal he played proxy for Rādhārāṇī. Subal was closely connected, and his figure and face something like Rādhārāṇī, colour, all these things. So Subal milan, there is a particular pastime of Kṛṣṇa named Subal milan.

Subal was sent to Rādhārāṇī’s house and he took the dress of Rādhārāṇī, and remained in the home, and Rādhārāṇī, taking the dress of Subal with a calf on her breast, She went to see Kṛṣṇa in the daytime in the forest. And Kṛṣṇa could not recognize Her.

“O Subal, you came back! You couldn’t manage to bring Her here? I can’t tolerate, I can’t endure.”

Rādhārāṇī, in the garb of Subal said, “No no, it is not very easy to take Her in the daytime here.”

Then Kṛṣṇa fell and lost consciousness.

Then Rādhārāṇī said, “My Lord? You could not feel, You could not know, You could not recognize Your maidservant? So little liking for Me in You that You could not recognize Me, Your maidservant I am? I have come.”

Then He regained His consciousness.

The high talks, very high talks, these things are there.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

So Subal, the bhāva, sneha, mana, praṇaya, raga, anurāga, bhāva, the stage of prema, the height, then next mahābhāva is only reserved for Rādhārāṇī. And the bhāva not found, that is found in vātsalya-rasa, and only one in sākhya-rasa, Subal. Subal can attain to the intensity of prema, to the degree of bhāva, only Subal, no other friends of Kṛṣṇa. Subal can have bhāva-daśā. So, love is so intense that he _______ [?] leaves everything but unmindful, lost himself in the intensity of love, bhāva. And mahābhāva, complete forgetfulness of Herself, that is only found in Rādhārāṇī, total forgetfulness. Movements are automatic, but forgetfulness of Her own self, mahābhāva, but the pastimes are being done regular. And bhāva in vātsalya-rasa, Yaśodā: and in sākhya-rasa Subal, bhāva-daśā, perplexed, half-conscious, sober degree of ecstasy. That individual consciousness half mad, that stage, overpowered by ecstatic love, duties are done rightly, but half-forgetfulness of their own self, bhāva, mahābhāva. Then the last śloka by Rāya Rāmānanda:

pahilehi rāga nayana-bhaṅge bhela, anudina bāḍhala, avadhi nā gela

nā so ramaṇa, nā hāma ramaṇī, duṅhu-mana manobhava peṣala jāni’

e sakhi, se-saba prema-kāhinī, kānu-ṭhāme kahabi vichurala jāni’

[nā khoṅjaluṅ dūtī, nā khoṅjaluṅ ān, duṅhukeri milane madhya ta pāṅca-bāṇa

ab sohi virāga, tuṅhu bheli dūtī, su-purukha-premaki aichana rīti]

[“‘Alas, before We met there was an initial attachment between Us brought about by an exchange of glances. In this way attachment evolved. That attachment has gradually begun to grow, and there is no limit to it. Now, that attachment has become a natural sequence between Ourselves. It is not that it is due to Kṛṣṇa, the enjoyer, nor is it due to Me, for I am the enjoyed. It is not like that. This attachment was made possible by mutual meeting. This mutual exchange of attraction is known as manobhava, or Cupid. Kṛṣṇa’s mind and My mind have merged together. Now, during this time of separation, it is very difficult to explain these loving affairs. My dear friend, Kṛṣṇa might have forgotten all these things. However, you can understand and bring this message to Him, but during Our first meeting there was no messenger between Us, nor did I request anyone to see Him. Indeed, Cupid’s five arrows were our via media. Now, during this separation, that attraction has increased to another ecstatic state. My dear friend, please act as a messenger on My behalf because if one is in love with a beautiful person, this is the consequence.’] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.194]

That leads to the, to produce Mahāprabhu – not to produce, it is eternal, the parallel, Mahāprabhu. Ke?

Devotee: _________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. _______________________________ [?]

Devotee: ____________ [?]

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Vidagdha-Mādhava: So these Deities of Caitanya, Gaurāṅga...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is Subal sakhā in Kalna.

Vidagdha-Mādhava: ...and Nityānanda, They are very much looking like the original Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Those Vigrahas, as well as here established by Viṣṇu Prīya Devī, that was originally prepared by some carpenter. And it is told Viṣṇu Prīya Devī rejected, “That this is not after the likeness.” Then the last production was so enlivening and so perfect that Viṣṇu Prīya Devī she suddenly brought her cloth down to hide her face, bashfully.

Generally, the ladies, the wife, they do not show in daytime their face to the husband, husband and other superior male persons. They hide their face, the young wives, young girls, hide their face with the shade of the cloth.

It was so accurately presented, the Mūrti, that suddenly she hid her face, she drew the head dress, because it was, but in gradual process that might have been otherwise.

Anyhow, the Mūrtis are very similar to that of Mahāprabhu. That was, those Mūrtis only when Mahāprabhu living, Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu living, at that time those Mūrtis of Kalna were prepared.

Here also it may be, then Mahāprabhu was a sannyāsī in Nīlācala, it might have been prepared at that time, then other Mūrtis afterwards Mahāprabhu’s departure. One we find engraved in the outside of the temple of Jagannātha on high level, sannyāsa Mūrti of Mahāprabhu engraved there in the Jagannātha temple.

And another, Mahāprabhu, Rāmacandra and Kṛṣṇa, three combined Vigraha established in Jagannātha compound and daily worshipping there. Daruvan, vaṁśī, and daṇḍa kamaṇḍalu, in this way. The colour of Mahāprabhu, and the posture of Kṛṣṇa with veṇu, the two hands in the middle, and colour and sannyāsa daṇḍa kamaṇḍalu in the lower side, and the upper Rāmacandra daruvan in this way. It is found in the Jagannātha temple in the compound. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Murārī Gupta, we find in Murārī Gupta’s poems in praise of Mahāprabhu such figure that was shown to Murārī Gupta. He was, Murārī Gupta was a devotee of Rāmacandra. So Mahāprabhu showed that Rāmacandra combined with Kṛṣṇa and then Mahāprabhu.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. ______________________ [?] ...return when?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: After darśana.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: After taking prasādam?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: After darśana Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Just now?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: In some time.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You have got busy engagement there? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi.

Here is Dāsarātha Prabhu? Oh___________ [?] Both, ailing not only in sight but also in memory. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Vidagdha-Mādhava: In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class, the verse explains that the mind is a combination of the mode of goodness and ego, egoism in the mode of sattva-guṇa, whereas the intelligence is egoism and passion. As I understand in Bhagavad-gītā intelligence is over the mind, mind over senses, intelligence over mind. So how is it that the intelligence – this is a complicated question.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He says, according to Bhāgavata the mind is a mixture of sattva-guṇa and ahaṅkāra, and the buddhi is a mixture of raja-guṇa and ahaṅkāra, ego, and mind is sattva-guṇa mixed with ego. Then why, if buddhi is above mind...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where do you find it?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Where do you find it? Where’s the verse?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: This is not mind, that is called citta, citta is over buddhi according to Bhāgavatam, not mind. Sanka vikalpa mana [?] But in Bhāgavatam, citta, that is given superior place to buddhi and ātmā. Cit means caitan, that aspect of caitan, that the first stage. Citta __________ [?] Vāsudeva, and ahaṅkāra is Pradyumna, buddhi is Aniruddha. Pradyumna is mind. Saṅkarṣaṇa is ahaṅkāra. Vāsudeva citta, and Saṅkarṣaṇa is mind, no, ahaṅkāra. And mind is Pradyumna and buddhi is Aniruddha. In this way it has been classified there. Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. Pradyumna more sentiment, feeling is predominating in Pradyumna. Aniruddha, that is fine decisive faculty is connected with Aniruddha. And ahaṅkāra, the asserting tendency, that is Saṅkarṣaṇa. And citta, the higher conscious plane, that is citta, that represents Vāsudeva. Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, in this way.

Where do you find this, what you say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Where is the verse?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: It’s in the third canto. I’ll get the verse next time I come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Next time you come with reference where it is mentioned. Gaura Hari. Prakṛtermahān ahaṅkara pancatran mahatrāni. In this way it is developing, prakṛtermahān, mahat-tattva has been called citta, the first stage. The development which can be traced in the first stage, negative side: that is citta. Then ahaṅkāra means Saṅkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Balarāma. Vāsudeva representing Kṛṣṇa and then Saṅkarṣaṇa Balarāma, ahaṅkara pancatran mahatrāni, and again in lower stage that Pradyumna and Aniruddha. In this way it has been described there.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

Pradyumna is Garbhodakaśāyī, and Aniruddha is Kṣīrodakaśāyī representative, and Saṅkarṣaṇa Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Śrī Purusa, and Vāsudeva is above. In the wholesale creation Their position is such. And individual cases are also in this way. The first transformation is mahat-tattva, or citta. Then next developed condition is Saṅkarṣaṇa, ahaṅkara. Then comes mental impulse, Pradyumna. And then judgement begins with Aniruddha, buddhi. Decision begins, discrimination begins.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. _______________________________ [?]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

Any question from the newcomers?

Devotee: I’d like to know why in our mandeers we worship Gaura-Nitāi? Prabhupāda has instructed us to worship Gaura-Nitāi. But I see mostly in Gauḍīya Maṭha temples only Caitanya Mahāprabhu is there. Did Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Mahārāja, did he...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I understand. It is only your question, or supported by any other of you? What do you say? He has put a question, he has got some doubt, and any other of you have got that same suspicion? Why Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura he installed Rādhā-Govinda and Mahāprabhu in all places of his temple? And Swāmī Mahārāja he has given some special stress on Gaura-Nityānanda, Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, what is the reason? This sort of deviation or modification, what should there be any meaning, or only chance, or on principle? Following some principle or only chance coincidence? What do you think?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Must be a principle.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And I ask other friends also. Are they interested to hear this?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Would you like to hear that Prabhu?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mahāprabhu is called mahā-vadanyāya, magnanimous, more merciful than Kṛṣṇa. And Nityānanda Prabhu is little more than Mahāprabhu. Whom Mahāprabhu rejected, Nityānanda Prabhu accepted them. He had got such position and power, more magnanimous. The extension of His magnanimity was greater towards the fallen.

So Swāmī Mahārāja has taken that chance because he was approaching to the fallen people who had got least regard for the Indian theistic conception, who was supposed to have. Exceptional cases may be there, but in general they may have got less regard towards the Vedic truths, and the special Vedic conception of the Godhead as Kṛṣṇa. So he sought the help of Nityānanda Prabhu, the most magnanimous amongst the Gauḍīya sampradāya, Gauḍīya Ācārya. That is one thing.

And another thing comes in my mind that Nityānanda Prabhu had some special affinity towards the race, towards the caste from which Swāmī Mahārāja had come out, this suvarṇa-vaṇik, the golden tradesmen, he comes from that section. And Nityānanda Prabhu had some special favour to that caste. They’re little civilised, still because they’re in trade of gold which is generally discouraged in Bhāgavatam.

Kali, we find in Bhāgavatam, when he came to take possession of India, the karma-kṣetra, the selected place where according to karma one will get the chance of his future, can modify his future prospect. Then Parīkṣit Mahārāja met him in Kurukṣetra and challenged and Kali submitted to him and there was a truce. Kali wanted, Kali asked him for a few places where he may have his full control, dyūtaṁ, pānaṁ, striyaḥ, sūnā. Where these sorts of transactions will be in vogue, there the Kali will remain with his full freedom. In other places he won’t have any entry, admission. A contract was formed there. First these four places, dyūtaṁ, gambling: pānaṁ, intoxication: striyaḥ, unlicensed visiting women: and sūnā means this butchering. These four places Parīkṣit Mahārāja granted. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.17.38] Then another place he specially sought permission for, and that is this, exchange market or something, that is suvarṇa.

punaś ca yācamānāya, jāta-rūpam adāt prabhuḥ

[tato ‘nṛtaṁ madaṁ kāmaṁ, rajo vairaṁ ca pañcamam]

[The personality of Kali asked for something more, and because of his begging, the King gave him permission to live where there is gold, because wherever there is gold there is also falsity, intoxication, lust, envy, and enmity.] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.17.39]

Then again he prayed for another place and that is jātam and suvarṇam, where the trade of gold exists, jāta-rūpam, trading in golden things. And Parīkṣit Mahārāja gave his consent to that also. So suvarṇa-vaṇik, that are specially meant to trade in gold, they were generally condemned for their trade. And he came from that school. But their conduct was gentle. But because they’re trading in gold so they’re considered to be of lower caste among the Hindus.

But Nityānanda Prabhu when He came to preach about Mahāprabhu here in Bengal, requested by Caitanyadeva when He was in Purī, He was not of very scholarly type outwardly, Nityānanda Prabhu. He appealed to the masses generally, and these civilised and neglected persons, the golden traders who were not considered to be holding a higher position in the society, they generally came under His feet, under His direction.

So much so that one Uddhāraṇa Daṭṭa, the leader amongst the suvarṇa-vaṇik, gold merchants, he was very closely intimate to Nityānanda Prabhu. And Nityānanda Prabhu took prasādam from him; he used to cook for Nityānanda Prabhu.

So Nityānanda Prabhu’s special grace to that particular generation and Nityānanda Prabhu’s most magnanimous characteristic for the fallen, both combined had got some influence over Swāmī Mahārāja. And he, with the, with his capital of Nityānanda, that mood, the mood of Nityānanda Prabhu, he approached the western people who are considered to be the mleccha, outcasts, who were very difficult to convince them about Vedic truth. So Nityānanda Prabhu’s grace would be most effective in their recruitment, in the process of their recruitment. With this idea the most gracious, Mahāprabhu is gracious, and more gracious Nityānanda Prabhu has been taken to, His care. His mercy was especially appealed for by him. This is my conviction. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Anything more? Am I clear? What do you think? What I’ve told, is it clear to you?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then, if any question on that, you may put. Any other question on that issue from anyone?

So, once in Madras, when we were working there, then one boy when we were in Elor [?] in Andhra Pradesh, in some dharmaśālā, myself and Mādhava Mahārāja, then Hayagrīva Brahmacārī, were preaching there and collecting funds. One boy was with us and he suddenly connected with a girl there. And he was caught by the local people, and we drove him from our party, rather, sent him to Madras. And Guru Mahārāja was expected to come here soon. Anyhow we sent him to the headquarters Madras. And there was old Tīrtha Mahārāja who went to England, he gave him a good beating, and the brahmacārī fled from the Maṭha. Then, after six months we also returned to Madras centre and Guru Mahārāja also came for the opening function of the lecture hall there.

In the meantime that boy he reconnected with us again and used to come and offering, “I have done once, I have done wrong. I may be pardoned. Please accept me.”

We told him, ‘Guru Mahārāja is coming very shortly and you come at that time.’ And when Guru Mahārāja went there then he also came. Then we put his question, ‘this is the fact, now he’s repentant. Six months he’s waiting here and there, and he wants to join us again. He’s repentant.’

Then Guru Mahārāja told, our Prabhupāda told a peculiar thing. “When he has got connection with another’s woman, paradar, another’s wife, I can’t accept him because Mahāprabhu did not, that Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa. But Nityānanda Prabhu gave him shelter: who was rejected by Mahāprabhu. So it will be your duty to keep him.”

We were perplexed. ‘Then are we outside you? You can’t accept and we are your servants, how can we accept then?’ A peculiar thing.

But he told, “Nityānanda Prabhu did so.”

Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa he connected with some lady in Malava [?] and Mahāprabhu took him from that place, and reaching Purī He dismissed him from the party. “Now you go home.”

But Nityānanda Prabhu He gave some engagement. “Now go, but go to Śacī Devī and inform her that Mahāprabhu has reached Purī safely from His two year tour program, He has reached there safely.” So gave some engagement to him.

So it is possible, Mahāprabhu, sometimes apparently going against, the direction of Mahāprabhu, this Nityānanda Prabhu He extended His mercy more we find. And that could not be ignored by Mahāprabhu, what He did. His relationship with Mahāprabhu so intimate, if disobeying Him Nityānanda Prabhu showed more extension in His mercy, Mahāprabhu had no other alternative but to accept that. That was Their relation, we find.

So the most extended boundary of magnanimity we find in Nityānanda Prabhu. And that weapon was used by Swāmī Mahārāja in his approach in his battle in the west, that weapon of magnanimity of the greatest strength from Nityānanda Prabhu. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Hari. The most extensive magnanimity, with the backing of that, and the duty, his gratitude, thankfulness to Nityānanda Prabhu he has specially installed Nityānanda Prabhu in his temples.

“Only by the most extensive grace of Nityānanda Prabhu I’m indebted to Him, to His grace. So I should be a traitor if I do not give such honour to Him, special honour to Him.”

So he has done so. And also, general recruitment towards, Nityānanda Prabhu belongs to sākhya-rasa, so general recruitment he has got that side and he has expressed his free function also of that type. At the same time he admitted that his Guru was representation of Rādhārāṇī. That is also written by himself in the very poem, “That my Gurudeva who represents Rādhārāṇī, he has ordered me to do this service. And You Kṛṣṇa if You come to my help then he will be pleased.”

End of 82.01.03.B_82.01.04.A

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Start of 82.01.04.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...Mahāprabhu and our Ācārya paramparā, Guru paramparā, we find all the Gurus they’re all of mādhurya-rasa not sākhya-rasa. Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanya then Svarūpa, Rūpa, Sanātana, Raghunātha, Kavirāja, Narottama, Viśvanātha Cakravartī, all the, Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja, our Prabhupāda, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, all of mādhurya-rasa Ācārya. And Prabhupāda our Guru Mahārāja also followed the same path, Rādhā-Govinda and Both of Them combined, Mahāprabhu, not Baladeva. Where Rādhārāṇī is Baladeva cannot stay there by the side of Kṛṣṇa because there will be a clash in the service of rasa. Baladeva is the elder brother of Kṛṣṇa and He, Kṛṣṇa is with His elder brother Rādhārāṇī cannot approach Kṛṣṇa at that time, so when Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are there, Baladeva can’t come there. There is a clash in vātsalya and sākhya-rasa and mādhurya-rasa. And Prabhupāda closely followed this line, that Mahāprabhu can stay, both Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa combined, nothing else, so where Rādhā-Govinda is, then Mahāprabhu can stay in the same place. Both combined, but no other rasa, representation, to be there. Only the sakhīs of Rādhārāṇī, the girl friends of Rādhārāṇī, they can stay there. They are also of the same tendency of mādhurya-rasa service to Kṛṣṇa, so they may stay with Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.

So when I heard that Swāmī Mahārāja had installed Rādhā-Govinda, and there some sakhīs also in Their side, but where Kṛṣṇa Baladeva, separately, no other. Some cow boys maybe Śrīdam, Sudam may be installed there, and Gaura-Nityānanda They are also, this Advaita, Gadādhara they may be place there, but not Rādhārāṇī. Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, mādhurya-rasa service, only sakhīs, the she friends of Rādhārāṇī, they can be installed in the same place, in the same room, same place. This is by the analysis of the rasa, the ontology of love. If it is analogy, the psychology, the emotional aspect, purity: to be considered finely, then we are to follow these things. We have to understand in their line. So, it is general recruitment in sākhya-rasa, and by the grace of Nityānanda Prabhu and Baladeva, that was effected, and he achieved a great success by following that path. So, to show his real gratitude to Baladeva, Nityānanda, he installed Them specially. Gaura Haribol. That I can see, to harmonize his ways and our Guru Mahārāja, from whom he got his spiritual beginning. At least what is shown in this life.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Caitanya.

Where is Vidagdha Prabhu, has he come, no?

Devotee: Vidagdha, he will be coming a little later.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Last evening, did he come, no?

Devotee: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So after two or three days he will come and hear the tape, is it?

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Have you seen that portrait of Swāmī Mahārāja came here different times, and the photo is there?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: O Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And the newcomers, have they seen?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Several times he visited here and some sort of photo has been kept. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. And in that room on the other side, when he came last, he took his rest there for two hours in the noon, last time. And when he came first, he lived nearly a month at that house where you are living, with two, Acyutānanda, Rāmānuja. And Pisima, Madan’s mother, she also came and lived there, and I gave one cook there. She was living in that house. And civic address was given to him from the town, at that time, first time, it was arranged. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, which room was Swāmī Mahārāja staying in?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I know that place. He’s asking which room, which place?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In that place, only two hours he took rest at noon, and generally he used to sit here, myself here and he was here. And he lived nearly a month in that building, where they are living now.

The Caitanya Candrodaya Maṭha had not appeared at that time. I asked Acyutānanda to try for land in that position, where it is now located, that between Gauḍīya Saṅga Āśrama and Dāmodara Mahārāja there is a long gap; you try to find a place, purchase a place there, and that was done, Acyutānanda. At that time Jayapataka Mahārāja first came.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. I am more than forty years here. Ha, ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa. From [nineteen] forty two, continuously staying here, but it was purchased in forty one, in the beginning of forty one. And by the end of forty I reached here and lived in a rented house. In forty two, I began my living here, in a hut, thatched hut. I of course did not try for any propaganda, out of my nature.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. The peculiarity of this place is this; aparādha-bhañjan-pāṭ. The greatest sinners also get their offences pardoned in this place by Mahāprabhu.

When after five years of His sannyāsa, travelling over the whole southern places of pilgrimage, Mahāprabhu came to visit His birthplace according to the custom of the sannyāsīs, and this side He will go to Vṛndāvana He thought. He came, and when He reached here, the whole Southern India conquered by Him. The only independent Hindu king, Pratāparudra, near Bengal, the whole Bengal captured by Mohammedans and the Hindu independent emperor was Pratāparudra. And his very scholarly minister Sārvabhauma, they fell on the holy feet of Mahāprabhu. And the people of Bengal heard all these things after that when He came back, about age thirty. Mostly the whole of Bengal fell on His feet, with repentance.

“That I could not understand or appreciate You, Your greatness. Please forgive us.”

And the stalwarts of them, they also came to beg forgiveness and Mahāprabhu absolved them, pardoned, general pardon. “Yes, I absolve you of any offence committed against Me.”

And this is the place.

kuliyā-grāmete āsi' śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya, hena nāhi, yā 're prabhu nā karilā dhanya

[“At Koladvīpa - the Govarddhana Hill of Vṛndāvana, concealed in Śrī Navadvīpa Dhāma - the Most Generous Absolute expressed Himself in His maximum generosity. Without considering any crime, He absolved whoever He found. He accepted them all.”] [Caitanya-Bhāgavat: Antya, 3.541]

Everyone got his fulfilment, whoever asked favour from Him. All satisfied. All the heinous persons, they were given admission in the holy life. Aparādha, this is Govardhana, Gupta Govardhana, Navadwīpa Gupta Vṛndāvana, more magnanimous than Vṛndāvana, the Dhāma for the fallen. And the Govardhana is here and the Rādhā-Kuṇḍa on the other side; the most holy place for the fallen. I selected this to be my eternal home. And this is Govinda-Kuṇḍa.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Caitanya. Nitāi Caitanya.

And in my last days you are coming in numbers here and I think it’s ornamentation, your visit is ornamenting. Ornament you know, decoration, ornament? By your presence, this place is being ornamented. What do you think? So many bright faces are coming here to attain the advices of the great master. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. You are attracted to the advice of the great master, great messiah who gave entrance, according to us, to the highest prospect of human kind.

One lady, an American lady perhaps, when she delivered lecture in this hall she told, “I can’t forget that we have come to this fate of Kṛṣṇa consciousness because we felt much encouragement in the idea that we can live as a family member of Godhead. It is inconceivable that we can live with God as a family member. This idea captured our heart and we have left everything and joined the holy feet of Swāmī Mahārāja. So intimate connection with God is possible? It is impossible. God is high and higher and far, far away from a tiny soul. We may not have any nearer approach. Only from far away we shall have some recollection we must satisfy us with that only. But what is this? The devotees can come, embrace, even ride on His shoulder, the sākhya-rasa, and in mādhurya-rasa the what-not, Yaśodā in vātsalya-rasa whipping Him. So much thick and thin relationship, is it possible with God? And if anyone gives such hope we can do anything and everything for him, such prospect.” And not fervently as I say, but she told like that, “That this has drawn us to this, why we want to live, the prospect that we can live as family members with God. God is so gracious, so close and intimate friend of us? If it’s a dream, still it’s better to die in such dream.”

Devotees: [Group laughter]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi.

Ha, ha, ha. Dayādhara Prabhu, Svarūpa Dāmodara, this Mādhavānanda, who have got the charge of crushing the Darwin theory of the fossil beginning of the world, they should be given to understand especially this expression of Śukadeva Goswāmī.

tvaṁ tu rājan mariṣyeti, paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi

[na jātaḥ prāg abhūto 'dya, deha-vat tvaṁ na naṅkṣyasi]

[“O King, give up the animalistic mentality of thinking: ‘I am going to die.’ Unlike the body, you have not taken birth. There was not a time in the past when you did not exist, and you are not about to be destroyed.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.5.2]

“You are flesh and blood, your identification with the gross that is animal consciousness. Do away with that and then you will have your real life, your real existence, and real identification, independent of this fossil conception, the flesh conception, the material conception. You are there, you are a child of that soil. This is the truth. Anyhow you have connected with this fossil consciousness, flesh consciousness, material consciousness. That is your danger, the real danger in you there, your connection. And that has forcibly taken you down in the world of life and death, living and dying, birth and death. Only this misconception has engraved you, buried you in the material world. But really you are not a child of this sphere. That is not concoction, this is concoction.”

So Swāmī Mahārāja meant you this that crush the fossil-ism, the fossil is the parent. Fossil father-ism, crush it. Establish a spiritual infinite. It’s all spiritual. The fossil is also a part of this spiritual stage, a stage of consciousness. The fossil conception is a part of so many conceptions in the spiritual plane. The original substance is spirit, is soul, is consciousness, and fossil forms a part of that conscious portion, conscious substance. Not that fossil produced consciousness, is in one part. Consciousness is infinite and everything in the ocean, somewhere some ice, somewhere moss, somewhere some iron, all in the ocean, the different conceptions. The fossil, that the consciousness is all in all, everything forming a part, having a shelter there. Tvaṁ tu rājan mariṣyeti, paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi.

yathā nabhasi meghaugho, reṇur vā pārthivo 'nile

evaṁ draṣṭari dṛsyatvam, āropitam abuddhibhiḥ

[“The unintelligent equate the sky with the clouds, the air with the dust particles floating in it, and think that the sky is cloudy or that the air is dirty.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.3.31]

Another approaching towards that same fact. Just as you find the patches of cloud in the sky, or so many dusts in the air, so the material conception, dṛsyatva, is there. That in a conscious sky and somewhere these patches of cloud and the dust in the air. You can’t see the air because dust is in the air. You can’t see the sky because of clouds in the sky. The background is consciousness and there we find somewhere dust, somewhere cloud, and you say it is in the sky but you can’t see the sky. So draṣṭari, the subjective, consciousness is in the background and whatever you experience this is, that is floating there in the conscious ocean. Do you follow?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So consciousness is the background and there is developed position in consciousness, Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janar, from Brahmaloka. And service is added and it is enhanced. A sweet structure begins from there when service is added to consciousness. Service can construct a beautiful capitol, country, all these things. It is there, only you are to feel and enter and join your service, your appointed service. You will think, ‘This is my home. This appointment seems to be very friendly to me. Again I have come here.’ This means the innate capacity or nature, svarūpa, which is covered now by ignorance, of misconception of things.

Just like a mad man leaving his own sweet home he’s wandering in the street and he thinks it is imperative to collect the pieces of paper or cloth: that is his business, which is absurd. His brain is focused in such a direction that he thinks that, ‘It is my duty to collect the pieces of paper and cloth and some pebble,’ in this way. But what is his real, innate wealth of heart, if he can remember his home, his father, mother, wife, his home, home sweet home. He’s banished, the consciousness is forcibly focused to some mal engagement.

So the position of so many, including so many philosophers, scientists, political leaders and all focused towards external direction. They’re collecting, some collecting more pebble, some collecting more pieces of cloth, or pieces of paper, in this way.

Swāmī Mahārāja told, League of Nations, and, what is this?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: UNESCO.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: UNESCO. That is the world committee?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Barking, the dogs barking, and both equal. Rather that is more dangerous, capturing the brainy people, but of equal value, of same value, casting their attention towards material substance which is illusion, misconception. And they’re with big posing they’re giving so much importance to that thing and that thing, just as so many dogs they also bark to have possession of a particular thing.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: United Nations.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not more than that. With this courage he refuted, wanted to kick that League of Nations.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: United Nations.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: This sort of conception is waiting for our prospect.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu-Nityānanda.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu.

Gurudeva. Gurudeva. Gurudeva. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara.

__________________________________________________________________ [?] Who is there?

Devotee: Dāsarātha sūta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Dāsarātha sūta. How you are doing?

Dāsarātha sūta: OK.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Feeling better?

Dāsarātha sūta: A little.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You were sick?

Dāsarātha sūta: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Any other question, from any quarter?

Parvat Mahārāja: What is the meaning, or rather the utility behind the sannyāsa order in our sampradāya when Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that it was forbidden, sannyāsa in this age?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: That same question, how that we’re accepting sannyāsa in our sampradāya that sannyāsa has been forbidden, that Lord Caitanya quoted one verse.

aśvamedhaṁ gavālambhaṁ, sannyāsaṁ pala-paitṛkam

[devareṇa sutotpattiṁ, kalau pañca vivarjayet]

[“In this age of Kali, the five acts known as karma-kaṇḍa are forbidden: the offering of a horse in sacrifice, the offering of a cow in sacrifice, the acceptance of the order of sannyāsa, the offering of oblations of flesh to the forefathers, and a man’s begetting children in his brother’s wife.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 9.6.7] [Malamāsatatva-dhṛta Brahma-Vaivarta Purāṇa, Kṛṣṇa-janma-khaṇḍa, 185.180]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is explained there because it is a general question, not only of Gauḍīya sampradāya, but Rāmānuja, Madhvācārya, even Śaṅkara, Buddha. Buddha they may not care for such direction of Purāṇa, but Śaṅkara School, and other Vaiṣṇava School they all accept. Śaṅkara was a sannyāsī and his successors were all sannyāsīns mostly, then Rāmānuja also, Madhvācārya also, and Viṣṇuswāmī sampradāya also.

The meaning is this, their interpretation is this. In Kali-yuga sannyāsa of the strict sense, that karma-sannyāsa is meant karma-sannyāsa, that you leave everything. That sannyāsa is not possible in Kali-yuga. In Satya-yuga it is told, as long as the bones will exist a man will live. According to the durability of the bone the life will be there. In Treta perhaps the nervous system or something like that. And in Kali it is told, Kala vamna gata prana [?]

Their longevity depends on food. So sannyāsa in the strict sense is not possible in Kali, this is karma-sannyāsa, to leave all possible activities and to go on. Like Vālmīki, years after he’s engaged tapasya. Even the white ants have capture his whole body and reduced the flesh into earth, still he’s there with the help of the bones, Vālmīki is there. Then again by the help of some spiritual miracle the whole body was evolved.

So in Kali-yuga without food, in all other penances also they’re specially arranged for Kali-yuga. Only continued twenty four hours fasting is allowed in Kali-yuga, not more than that. But in other ages at least twelve days fasting, that was general rule, twelve days, praja putra [?] If he has done anything wrong, in the smṛti śāstra that so many praja putra, one praja putra means twelve days fasting, that was the principal of punishment for any commitment of sin. But in Kali-yuga only twenty four hours fasting is the maximum because without food the man or the animal cannot live. So karma-sannyāsa, extremely connecting you with the material giving and taking, you won’t stand. So the Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍī-sannyāsa which is not very extreme, take prasādam, do service, this sort of modified that:

yuktāhāra-vihārasya, [yukta-ceṣṭasya karmasu / yukta-svapnāvabodhasya, yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā]

[“For a person who eats, relaxes, and exerts himself in all duties in a regulated way, and who keeps regular hours in proper measure, the practice of yoga gradually becomes the source of dispelling all worldly suffering.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.17]

When living on this principal you can take sannyāsa. Mahāprabhu took sannyāsa. Śaṅkarācārya and Rāmānuja, all the pioneers of different sampradāyas they took sannyāsa. But it has been interpreted as karma-sannyāsa. Sannyāsa is of several kinds. What is this? Vidvata. Narottama sannyāsa, vidvat sannyāsa is considered in the section of the salvationist to be the highest. Their idea is when one has fully realised that his connection with the material world is a negative one, he will perish, he will finish his material case, encasement, and he enters into the spiritual sky, spiritual sphere. When one fully established in this firm consciousness that my connection with material world is only injurious to me, he will kill his own body and go away to the sky, vidvat sannyāsa. And narottama,

[yaḥ svakāt parato veha, jāta-nirveda ātmavān] / hṛdi kṛtvā hariṁ gehāt, pravrajet sa narottamaḥ

[“A narottama, or first class human being, is one who awakens and understands, either by himself or from others, the falsity and misery of this material world and thus leaves home and depends fully on the Personality of Godhead residing within the heart.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.13.27]

The narottama system of sannyāsa that he realised the presence, the existence of God within his heart. And thinking of Him he leaves his present engagement and duties of the household and he goes outside, anywhere and everywhere, under a tree, or under, in the cave, anyhow wherever he gets, careless of his physical. But whatever he gets he does not immediately cleanse his body, but whatever he gets he takes, not getting, fasting, in this way. Hṛdi kṛtvā hariṁ, pravrajet, comes out of the household for, finally coming out, pravrajet, this is narottama sannyāsa.

And there are also different stages in sannyāsa. It is also mentioned. But tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa, when they engage themselves in the service of Godhead by spreading His news and doing some good to the public, that characteristic is different. It is categorically different. They’re not leaving, they’re not disgusted with the temptation of this world, the engagement of this world. But they have engaged themselves in the higher duty of the upper world, through agent. So their body has got utility. From remaining here, having, maintaining connection here, indenting higher things from above and distributing that to the environment. So that is another conception of sannyāsa. This has got some positive value.

Just as incarnation of God coming down, and His favourite parṣada, friends, servitors also, sent by Him to come down to do some service to help of this. They’re also sub-agents who are getting some engagement from the higher agent, and as sub-agents they’re moving and there they can earn more wealth than those who are very eager to disconnect from this material campaign. But these people they try to utilise their connection with this mundane and from here they want to earn something substantial, a wealth of the upper house. They’re engaged as God’s agent, they work as God’s agent, that sannyāsa. They will take prasādam and do duty, as in Vaikuṇṭha. They’re also engaged, service intake is also somewhat that. Vaikuṇṭha in this extension of the Vaikuṇṭha here, their life.

Sannyāsa means some wholesale truce, armistice, when both the fighting parties they’re ordered by the general to leave their weapons, what is that? Armistice or something? First class they want to imitate that, but these they try to utilise their present position in the service of the Lord. Not only armistice, not only stopping, leaving the weapon, but with those weapons that are already wounded in the battlefield and jackals and tigers and wolves are coming to devour the half dead persons, with the weapon they go and relieve them. Something like that. Not to leave the arms, but with the arms they want to save the half wounded persons, injured persons, driving away the wolves and the jackals that are trying to feed on their flesh, when they’re helplessly falling on the battlefield. Something like that.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Vidvat sannyāsa, vidvat vivitsya, narottama.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Vidagdha Prabhu came.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What’s the news?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: I have a question about something you said yesterday about this Deity of Lord Caitanya that Viṣṇu Prīya Devī she moved her cloth: is that a different Deity from Gauridāsa Paṇḍita, his Deity?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: When mother Śacī covered her head, you told...

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Viṣṇu Prīya.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Viṣṇu Prīya Devī.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Sorry, Viṣṇu Prīya Devī...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Viṣṇu Prīya Devī. She covered her head when she looked at the Mūrti of Mahāprabhu. It was so similar to Mahāprabhu Himself.

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Is that the same Deity as Gauridāsa Paṇḍita’s Deity?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Is that Gauridāsa Paṇḍita’s Deity, the same Deity? He’s asking.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That was given first, the Gauridāsa Paṇḍita, that was installed first, and this later on. But posture may be different.

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Where is this Deity? Can we find this other Deity? We know Gauridāsa Paṇḍita’s Deity is in...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Is there.

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Yes but is this Deity also there?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But so many installations have taken place in the middle, here also like that. As the advice, instructions, when They come here by the influence of time They become...

End of 82.01.04.B

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Start of 82.01.04.C_82.01.05.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...the position of a Gauḍīya student is not very particular for the Deities. They’re more concerned with the eye to see the Deity. This fleshy eye cannot have real conception of the Deity. The eye is necessary, and eye is got from, eye we get from the Guru, ajñāna-timirāndhasya. Dīkṣā,

divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt, kuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayam

[tasmād dīkṣeti sā proktā, deśikais tattva-kovidaiḥ]

[“The process by which divine knowledge (divyaṁ jñānaṁ) is given and sins are destroyed is called dīkṣā by the highly learned scholars who are expert in spiritual affairs.”] [Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, 27 - from Viṣṇu-Yamala]

That cannot, that is, the Deity proper not to be experienced by our fleshy senses, atīndriya. The real figure, the real personification of the Lord, not to be got through the eyes, or ears, or anything, but inner eye, inner ear, and that we get from Guru, and Vaiṣṇava, sādhu. So we are more concerned with sādhu-saṅga to get real eye and to look to the Deity. We cannot see the Deity because it is made of higher stuff than we see with our eye. We are subject and that is made of super subjective element. So, that I can see Him, that is imagination, that is a false notion. I can’t see Him. If I approach the Deity to see in the external sense I shall stand there and pray, “Let Him see me. His glance may be cast upon me then I’ll be purified.” With this idea we shall stand before the Deity. I can’t see Him but He can see me. He’s there. I can see with the fleshy eye as stone, or wood, or something else, or some mineral substance I can see. So I can’t see. He’s adhokṣaja, but He can see me. “Let Him cast His glance, His graceful glance towards me and I may be cleansed from the anomaly, from different prejudices of this mundane world, may be purified.” With this idea, God is always on the subjective line and never in the objective. Still He comes with some object it’s said, only for the most fallen, of very lower śraddhā. Then they may think, ‘O, God is here. I am doing that thing, that thing,’ to give engagement in the lowest strata. But real sight, real seeing of the God... Ke?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Govinda Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...is not there. He’s adhokṣaja. And we must try to clear the dirt from our eyes, and we must feel that He can see me. And when Dhruva and other devotees see Him, what is the position? He comes down, captures the heart, the consciousness, and it overflows. The overflowing emotions or sentiments coming out, and I can see Him there, but not any material body. It comes down from the layer of Paramātmā to the layer of jīvātmā, and controlling the soul He comes to control the mind. He can come everywhere, mind, and then controlling the eyes and ears, and so overflowing emotions that when I spread my eye flows I see He’s there, He’s really there. And He can make us see, and He can speak. This eye may think that I’m hearing His voice. It is possible, but that must be effected from higher to lower. My senses cannot approach Him. He’s adhokṣaja always. He can come down but I can’t go up. But with the sādhu when we soar from this sort of material consideration, then gradually through the help of serving attitude we can go against the current. After crossing the world of exploitation and that of renunciation, and with the help of the visa we can enter into that land, and there we can have. And that is with sevonmukhe hi jihvādau, that my whole inner body is made of serving nature: that can contact, permanently. That can contact with Him permanently, that eye, that ear, in order to mind of the service, and to make that possible from permanent grant we find from the Yogamāyā there. And independent visa I can go here and there or everywhere, we can get that sort of license. Then we can see Him. Always we shall think, He’s all independent, adhokṣaja, above the plane of our experience, beyond the land of our experience, buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.21]. Anyhow with our spiritual reasoning we can contact with Him, somewhat, from here, atīndriyam, not in the realm of sense experience but higher. In the higher plane we are to enquire about Him, buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam, not within the jurisdiction of our senses, transcendental. So we are to try to take up our existence to the transcendental world to have any connection about Him. That is all-important.

tīrtha-yātrā pariśrama sakal manera bhrama sarva siddhi govinda caran [Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura]

One who has got that clue, that sort of suggestion within him, then he will avoid to thrive by visiting the material places of Him, tīrtha-yātrā pariśrama. They will try to make much, to engage his whole energy to pierce through the different planes in the consciousness, to enter permanently in that domain. The whole energy should be used, utilised to pierce the cloud, the cloudy atmosphere, and to go up, and there I shall be able to find, by the help of svarūpa-śakti. This is only for the beginners.

Just as a child has been supplied some dolls for his play and for also his primary education, but when little grown up he’ll be given pen and paper, but in the beginning some gross like chalk and on the earth, ‘you practice ABC.’ When little grown up, ‘take pen and paper and try to practice some sort of writing.’ More grown up, ‘utilise it for some purpose, write this document, write this book, or something what is useful and necessary, not mere practising,’ in this way.

arcayam eva haraye, pūjām yaḥ śraddhāyehate / na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu, sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ

[“A devotee who faithfully worships the Deity, but does not properly respect the Vaiṣṇavas or the people in general is called a materialistic devotee, and is considered to be in the lowest position of devotional service.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.47]

Of the lowest type of devotee, he will be very eager to see the material connection of the Supreme. But more conscious and higher connection of the Supreme Lord in madhyama-adhikāra, they will try to enquire there, in the plane of knowledge and consciousness. In the plane of consciousness he’ll enquire about God and His men, and not in the material mundane representation.

So, when Parvat Mahārāja as a sannyāsī went to visit Badrinārāyaṇa he was punished by Guru Mahārāja. That leaving away any service entrusted by Guru Mahārāja, neglecting that service he went to satisfy his lower whims connected with some holy idea to go to visit the tīrtha, the Deity. I was a beginner and that gave us a great impression, that to engage under the direction of Guru Mahārāja that is so high, that leaving that if I go to visit the holy places that is a punishable crime. Then, to remain in service under the direction of a sādhu, how higher position. I could understand that I have to abstain and strictly I observed that. So much so that, I’m fond of Bhagavad-gītā, from the beginning, but I remained in Kurukṣetra for three years but I did not go to visit the place where Kṛṣṇa is said to have delivered Bhagavad-gītā there. I did not go, because I heard of that impression that without his opinion, I’m with him, I’m carrying his order. I’m with him. If I go to visit some place according to my whim, I’m disconnecting me from him, from Vaikuṇṭha, and going, wandering in the mundane sphere. Can’t you follow, do you follow that?

Devotees: Yes.

...

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Mahārāja, sometimes our Swāmī Mahārāja would distribute prasādam by his own hand. And I’ve brought some pieces of prasādam here, I was wondering if you might distribute this to the devotees.

Devotees: [Group laughter]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________________ [?] And other persons are coming...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: So we’ll take your leave now.

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

tṛṇād api sunīcena, taror api sahiṣṇunā, [amāninā mānadena, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ]

[“One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 3]

As you talked yesterday, when walking in the town, so many push, and abusive language. Mahāprabhu is seeing all these things, Nityānanda Prabhu also.

Nityānanda Prabhu Himself was treated like, so heinously, even... Ke?

Devotee: _________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The earthen pot was thrown on His face, the face of Nityānanda Prabhu, by them, the townsmen of Navadwīpa.

Of course He approached them, “Take the Name of Kṛṣṇa.” That was His offence. And the earthen pot was thrown down on Him, and the blood oozing.

News reached to Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu came with furious attitude. “The blood oozing from Nityānanda, blood shed of Nityānanda? I shall finish them in Navadwīpa.” With so much rage He came out, with cakra.

Nityānanda Prabhu pacified Him, “Do You forget Yourself? You are no longer that Kṛṣṇa of Dvārakā, cakradhari. Now, You have come for some other purpose. You don’t forget Yourself.”

Mahāprabhu composed Himself. “I can’t tolerate bloodshed of Nityānanda Prabhu.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa.

“Two rogues. One of them came to beat Me, then another gentleman he stopped him.”

“O! You stopped him?” Mahāprabhu embraced him. “You helped Nityānanda?”

Then the other man’s heart melted. “We two are one and the same, and he is graced?” He began to cry aloud with ‘Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa.’ The other gentleman, he was bewildered, and perplexed, and fell on the feet. “I have committed a wrong to Nityānanda Prabhu.”

“If Nityānanda Prabhu accepts you, pardons you, then you will be pardoned.”

Nityānanda Prabhu: “The two fruits on the same branch, one is delivered, why the other will remain? Please accept him also.”

Then both of them: immediate conversion of the both of the roguest of the rogues, Jagāi Mādhāi.

[mahā-kṛpā-pātra prabhura jagāi, mādhāi,] ‘patita-pāvana’ nāmera sākṣī dui bhāi

[Jagāi and Mādhāi, the eighty-ninth and ninetieth branches of the tree, were the greatest recipients of Lord Caitanya’s mercy. These two brothers were the witnesses who proved that Lord Caitanya was rightly named Patita-pāvana, “the deliverer of the fallen souls.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 10.120]

From the vision of eternity they came to magnify the position of Gaura-Nityānanda. Their sacrifice, Jagāi Mādhāi, their example was sacrifice. And that enhanced the dignity and the magnanimity of Gaura-Nityānanda.

Just as Judas. I think when Jesus carrying the cross on his shoulder, he’s going to the place where he will be crucified. And both sides crowd of innumerable men and women, and he’s going, hanging his head. Suddenly, he looked, he cast a glance, and there was Judas. He’s going, hanging head, crowds both sides, with the cross on his shoulder he’s approaching towards the crucifying land. Suddenly he cast his glance on the face of Judas. Judas saw something in his eye; ran away from there half mad, threw off the bribe to the persons. “What have I done?” In this way he began to repent. Converted Judas. I think what Judas saw in the eye of Christ, and Christ also suddenly, hanging head he’s going, suddenly he saw Judas’ face. And Judas, in the manner of ju-jitsu he fell down.

I think that in the eye of Christ it was such that, “Judas, your sacrifice for my name and fame is immensely great. I am indebted to you. I am indebted to you. In the history I am taking the advantage of your name. That you have betrayed me, that is a great sacrifice in you, to uplift my name. I am indebted, eternally indebted to you Judas. You are going down, and raising me up. Your eternal fame is lost to increase my fame in the world, and activity, in that way. So, you forgive me. Judas, you forgive me. I am using your life to purchase my fame. It is necessary for the good of the world, and I have taken you.”

In Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kavirāja Goswāmī says, patita-pāvana’ nāmera sākṣī dui bhāi, mahā-kṛpā-pātra prabhura jagāi, mādhāi, ‘patita-pāvana’ nāmera sākṣī dui bhāi.

“We must not estimate them to be of a very lowly order. They are the evidences which made the Name of our Lord so great. So heinous they were, and they were converted in a second. Such power Mahāprabhu had in Him. They are standing witness to the magnanimity and mystic strength of Mahāprabhu. They stand witness, so we must bow down to them. Their life from the consideration of eternal standpoint: great sacrifice.”

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, ekhon je brahmakule caitanyer ari, ta'ke jani caitanyer lila-pustikari. [I know that these enemies of Lord Caitanya, coming from brāhmaṇa background, are actually assistants for giving nourishment to Lord Caitanya’s pastime.] [From Prathana Lalasamayi (Prayer of eager longing), Song Four, The Secret of Lord Caitanya’s Enemies, 11]

“Even in these days, when we find so many enemies to Śrī Caitanyadeva, we are to look at them as they’re enhancing the magnanimity of Śrī Caitanyadeva, from the indirect side.”

Direct and indirect, indirectly they are contrast to the generosity of Śrī Caitanyadeva, encouraging us from the negative side. And Śrī Caitanyadeva selected the place of His activity or His līlā, such place He selected, just as the kāla-kali, the time and the space, both most unfavourable. Kali-kāla is unfavourable at this factor of time and also the place, the Bengal, the Tantric. Tantric means, “We are masters, the prakṛti, we are Śiva and we are masters of the world. Bhavani bhatta, we are lords of all potencies. We only want to realize that fact, that we are lord of the worldly forces. Śivo ham, I am the highest.” The field is for that. So Kali is the most unfavourable time and unfavourable space, where Mahāprabhu appeared. They are to remind us of the fact, ekhon je brahmakule caitanyer ari, ari means enemy, foe. Whom we find in the brāhmaṇa section here, caitanyer lila-pustikari, they are to enhance, they are also contributors in the līlā of Śrī Caitanya, from the negative side. We have to adjust in this way. Śrī Caitanyadeva came in such atmosphere to preach.

Once, just before freedom came to India, the Muslim section under the leadership of [Muhammad Ali] Jinnah began to torture the Hindu section very much. Then both the Bengals under one province, and one Mohammedan, Sula Badi [?] he was the chief minister here; and Jinnah, he recommended the Muslims direct action; attack the Hindus. That was his direct action. And in East Bengal where they had the majority of the Mohammedans, especially Noah Kali [?] district, rowdyism went to its extreme. The ladies and the properties were looted, killed; so much so that all madly flying towards West Bengal from East Bengal. And they were butchered on the way, so much anarchy. All were cowed down.

Then Gandhi came out, this I saw in newspaper, suddenly he came to Calcutta. And he was an apostle of ahiṁsā. Then Gandhi told that, “I think my burial place will be in Noah Kali [?] I am going to sacrifice my life there. Otherwise, like so many cowards, the Hindus are all flying away from the place. I can’t tolerate this. I am going there to be killed.”

And he went. But his personality was world personality. So many reporters from the different parts of the world, and Sula Badi [?] also no other alternative but to make a special arrangement for his protection, he had to make, so a special group of police was given to protect him. But he anyhow, he went there; dismissed the police protection. In the beginning they remained for some time in the room, then next, “No.” He began to walk. “I want to be killed.” Of course, empty handed, he went to walk, sometimes by the boat, he went to take, to go hither thither in this way. The Muslims, they disturbed him from far off, throwing stools etc., and other insulting arrangements.

But then at that time [Lord Louis] Mountbatten came and the British already decided to give independence, the [Clement] Attlee, the head of the Labour Party. After Churchill, the Labour Party came in power and Attlee was the leader. And he was broad minded enough to order that, “Now India should be given independence.” And Lord Mountbatten, he was selected, “You please arrange.”

Previously, before that, Mr. Warble [?], a military general, he was in charge of India, but he was not very efficient.

But Mountbatten was a very efficient man. He did not talk much, very sober and silent, but very grave and powerful, and well decisive man. He controlled Jinnah.

Jawaharlal [Pandit Nehru] ran to Noah Kali [?] to see, to consult Gandhi there, in that position, that dangerous position, anyhow, by the help of helicopter or something.

But Gandhi, I saw, could not tolerate so much cowardice. This dangerous spot is most acute, and he was bold enough to face that, very courageous.

And when leaving India, the general in charge of the Eastern force, Achinlay [?] perhaps, or someone, he told plainly that, “We are retiring from India only for the boldness of one man, and he is Mr. Gandhi. He infused so much boldness to the whole nation that we have to retire from here. We did not fear any military organization or intimidation of the anarchists. Not for intimidation from the anarchists are we leaving, but we are leaving for Gandhi.”

Though this fellow claimed that Netaji Subash Bose had much contribution, because from the side of Japan he attacked India, but he was repulsed by the British.

So, Gandhi was a very brave man.

Then in Calcutta, when India was getting independence, then Suda Badi’s [?] life was in danger in Calcutta, there also the rioting; Hindus and Muslims were rioting. Many a time in Calcutta it happened, Hindu, Muslim rioting, severe rioting. And at that time, the Hindus, they wanted to take retaliation of the West Bengal, wanted to kill Suda Badi, chief minister of that time.

And Gandhi gave him shelter. “No. Such cowardly assassination I can’t allow.” He took Suda Badi in his own house where he lived, Elagata [?] He gave shelter to Suda Badi.

Infuriated West Bengal people charged Gandhi. “You go away! We shall kill him.”

“Never! You may take out my dead body, but not my living body can you take out from here. You may kill. I won’t go to harm you. You may kill me. I am at your disposal. And then you may take my dead body out of this house. As long as I live I shall protect my friend Suda Badi.” That was the place.

And there is a picture, photo of Gandhi. Raja Gopalachari he got charge of West Bengal, he was the Governor here, power already transferred. Hindu Muslim riots were going on, very acute, in Chitpur and Harrison Road, at that junction. And Gandhi came there, and with folded palms he was praying to the mob, “Don’t!” And his eyes like bullets coming out from the body, red and very open and excited eyes, and with folded hands in this way, “Don’t do it.” In this way, he’s appealing to the mob engaged in such a riot. The photo is there of that man.

But from the standard of Gauḍīya Maṭha we do not care for him. This is misused. This sort of moral powers has been misused only for material aims and objects, and rather drawing a screen to the spiritual one.

When he was in Purī, he won’t enter the temple, because the untouchables are not allowed to enter there. He’s espousing the cause of the untouchable section. But his wife, without his notice, she went to have a darśana of Jagannātha. And when it came to his notice, he was very much enraged with his wife, “Why have you gone?”

Too much, Jagannātha is not the master of his wife, and his wife is cent per cent under, is his property, he thinks, and Jagannātha is none, that thing.

He was invited once, beforehand, to see Gauḍīya Maṭha. He told, “Is there any cherka, that sewing machine?”

“No no, there is Deity, Rādhā-Govinda, Mahāprabhu.”

“No! Cherka is my God!”

He told, Cherka is his God, he has got that sort of idea, that narrow idea.

At the same time, that Teelok [?], before him, he was also a patriot, a notable renowned patriot Maharastra, Teelok, brahmin. He told, “I can sacrifice truth to country.”

And Gandhi told, “I can sacrifice country to truth.”

But this is his conception of truth. Gauḍīya Maṭha hates it, the conception of his truth. His truth only limited, to the limited standard of, conception of ahiṁsā. But Gītā has rejected that.

Arjuna also wanted a sort of non martial attitude. “I shall rather live on begging, than to kill my superiors, my teachers, my grandfathers, my relatives. Only for the greed of kingdom, no, rather, I shall beg and live. I won’t.”

But Kṛṣṇa discouraged it, “What do you say? This is sheer cowardice. This is tamo guṇa, your affinity towards material things. But religion is meant for some higher purpose of life, where no consideration, death and living, and dying are very non important factors there, in our eternal realization, in the realization of our eternal good in life. To sacrifice the body, body has no, it is a negative existence, it is not so important. The dharma, the duty is connected with higher purpose of life. It has got a relation in the eternal benefit of our life. And what you say, that is only this temporary and the mundane life, good or bad, you are labouring there. So give up this neutered temperament, a mean temperament in the garb of magnanimity.”

So, Mahāprabhu came in the most adverse circumstances, and adverse position to time and space, both unfavourable, and there Mahāprabhu had to come and to face the environment of challenge, and He began, to begin His work. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

__________________________________ [?]

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ

kīrttanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet

[Śukadeva Goswāmī tells Parīkṣit Mahārāja: “O King, the age of Kali, the repository of all evils, has but one glorious characteristic: in this age, those who simply chant the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa are liberated and reach the Supreme Lord.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.3.51]

When you have got a particular seed, which, without manure, in the barren land also that will produce fruit, something like that. Mahāprabhu came with a seed to sow in a most unfavourable land. But: then why the question of offences, ten offences, etc? But we should consider it with the idea that how lofty is the goal, the destination of this Name. We must keep it in our mind, that these troubles, these unfavourable space and time, and that is not much, and the offences not much in consideration with the most lofty destination that has been promised as our prospect.

End of 82.01.04.C_82.01.05.A

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Start of 82.01.05.B_82.01.07.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... pumān viriñcatām eti tataḥ paraṁ hi mām.

[svadharmma-niṣṭhaḥ śata-janmabhiḥ pumān, viriñcatām eti tataḥ paraṁ hi mām

avyākṛtaṁ bhāgavato 'tha vaiṣṇavaṁ, padaṁ yathāhaṁ vibudhāḥ kalātyaye]

[“A person who executes his occupational duty properly for one hundred births becomes qualified to occupy the post of Brahmā, and if he becomes more qualified, he can approach Lord Śiva. A person who is directly surrendered to Lord Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu in unalloyed devotional service is immediately promoted to the spiritual planets. Lord Śiva and other demigods attain these planets after the destruction of this material world.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 4.24.29]

After hundreds of lives the dutiful religious life takes us to the post, makes us eligible for the post of a Brahmā, the administrator of the whole globe, whole, so many solar systems, brahmāṇḍas. Tataḥ paraṁ hi mām. Then Mahādeva says, “I’m beyond all material creation, the world of exploitation. I’m above that. Avyākṛtaṁ. Not very easily intelligible am I, some things renunciation, some things devotion, some things connecting with the exploiting world. I’m a peculiar type of entity.” Mahādeva: and devotee, vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.13.16] “I’m fighting with the Lord, sometimes going against, with weapon I’m going to fight with my Lord. I’m master who controls the whole, the force who controls the whole of the world of exploitation; I’m master of that, leader of the opposition party, advaya-jñāna. I’m the first revolt against the harmony, īśāvāsyam, that all is one. No. I’m not along with You. I have separate existence.”

...

“Avyākṛtaṁ, not very plainly understood, my position. It is hazy, it is unintelligible, it is perplexing, avyākṛtaṁ. Tataḥ paraṁ hi mām, avyākṛtaṁ bhāgavato 'tha vaiṣṇavaṁ. But there is another section above me, after me, vaiṣṇavaṁ, padaṁ. They are living in a place known as the land of the Vaiṣṇavas. Yathāhaṁ vibudhāḥ kalātyaye. And I aspire to occupy that position. I aspire to get a visa of that land in any good future time. Yathāhaṁ vibudhāḥ. O gods, kalātyaye, and the wholesale dissolution of the whole exploitation land will be withdrawn into the subtle-most existence. At that time I hope that I will enter that higher region. Bhāgavato 'tha vaiṣṇavaṁ, padaṁ yathāhaṁ vibudhāḥ kalātyaye. O gods, I aspire after, I’m waiting for the time.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: _________________________ [?]

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... Saraswatī Ṭhākura. Almost always he’s in speaking mood in praise of Mahāprabhu. So much so, in his hymn I mentioned:

kṛpayā hari-kīrtana-mūrti-dharaṁ, [dharaṇī-bhara-hāraka-gaura-janam

janakādhika-vatsala-snigdha-padaṁ, praṇamāmi sadā prabhupāda-padam]

[Bestowing his grace upon all souls, he is Hari kīrtana incarnate. As the associate of Śrī Gaura, he relieves Mother Earth of the burden of offences committed upon her. And he is so gracious that his endearance of all beings excels that of even a father. I make my obeisance unto him - the mine of all these qualities; perpetually do I bow down to the effulgence emanating from the toenails of the holy feet of my Divine Master.] [Śrī Śrī Prabhupāda-padma-stavakaḥ, 8]

Just, the kīrtana has been personified in his figure when he came here, always chanting. And sometimes he told, as if in a repentant mood, “We are not speaking in these days about the greatness, nobleness of Nāma, Nāma-bhajan.” Yet all his attempt only to mean that the Name of the Lord, the Holy Name, that is the most great aspect, noble aspect of the Lord, especially in the case to save the fallen souls. That was the only purpose of his life. Still, sometimes he showed that, “I’m not speaking about the nobility of the Name. What I am doing?” In this way.

Sanātana Goswāmī has written:

jayati jayati nāmānanda rūpam murarer, viramita nija dharma dhyāna pujyadhi yatna

katham api sakṛdāttam muktidaṁ prānināṁ yat, paramāmṛtam ekaṁ jīvanaṁ bhuṣanaṁ me

[“Let ecstasy in the service of the Divine Name be victorious. If somehow we can come in contact with that sound, nāma rupaṁ murāreḥ, then all our other activities will be paralysed; we will have no necessity of performing any other activity. Our many variegated duties will have no importance to us at all if we can achieve the service of the Divine Name of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Bṛhat-Bhāgavatāmṛta, 1.1.9]

Sanātana Goswāmī: “Let the ecstasy coming from taking the Holy Name may be victorious. Nāmānanda rūpam murarer, ānanda, ecstasy, nāmānanda, it is coming out from the service of the Name. That may be victorious all over tendencies that are found in the world, it may prevail, crowned with success, may have the greatest influence over everything. Viramita nija dharma dhyāna pujyadhi, which can paralyse all our holy tendencies, not only ordinary tendencies, all other holy tendencies, attempts, may be stopped. It is so powerful. Nija dharma, duty, in every phase of life, when the ecstasy coming out of the Holy Name may paralyse all other duties has come I think, dharma, duty. Dhyāna, our conscious movement of meditation, meditating attempt: that also is paralysed. Nija, dharma, dhyāna, pūjā, and the attempt, this arcana, the pūjā, the serving temperament, becomes so much intense that all other attempts are for the moment we forget, make us forget. Viramita nija dharma dhyāna pujyadhi yatna, nija dharma, in discharging our duties that is what is in the nature of karma, holy pious karma. Then dhyāna means in the area of pure consciousness, conscious attempt. And pūjā our reverent offering to the Lord, that is also. Dhyāna pujyadhi yatna, katham api sakṛdāttam muktidaṁ prānināṁ yat. It’s so powerful, in any way if we can come to have a holy touch of that Holy Name, katham api, anyhow, if we can, if we’re blessed with the slight connection of that Holy Name, katham api sakṛdāttam muktidaṁ prānināṁ yat, the liberation from all undesirable things at once effected. So disinfecting in character. Katham api sakṛdāttam muktidaṁ prānināṁ yat, paramāmṛtam ekaṁ jīvanaṁ bhuṣanaṁ me. And one can feel it is sustaining the very life, life’s sustainer, life giving, enlivening. Jīvanaṁ bhuṣanaṁ, and also decoration, not only life but the decoration also, the vilasa, is also we find from that sound, Vaikuṇṭha Nāma, the Name.”

Rūpa Goswāmī says:

nikhila-śruti-mauli ratna mālā, dyuti nīrājita-pāda-paṅkajānta

ayi mukta-kulair upāsyamānaṁ, paritas tvām hari-nām saṁśrayāmi

[“The acme of all the Vedas, the Upaniṣads, are like a string of transcendental jewels. The tips of the toes of Your lotus feet, O Holy Name, are eternally worshipped by the radiance emanating from those jewels. You are constantly worshipped by the great liberated souls (headed by Nārada and Śuka, whose hearts are reposed in complete absence of worldly aspirations). Therefore, O Name Divine, I surrender unto You in every time, place, and circumstance.”] [Nāmāṣṭakam, 1]

Rūpa Goswāmī Prabhu’s approach towards the greatness of the Name, holiness, highly holy nature of the Name is such. Nikhila-śruti-mauli ratna mālā, dyuti. We cannot find in ordinary śruti the mention and the praise of the Holy Name. But those that are finest and highest expressive in the thought of śruti, Veda, the highest, Veda means revealed truth, the finest and highest revelation we find that they’re meant in the praise of the Holy Name, the holy sound aspect of the Lord. And they’re considered to be the highest amongst the revealed truth. The highest quality of revealed truth only is seen as if, nīrājita, as if with its light, nīrājita means āratīka, trying to show the holy figure of the Lord, the light, nīrājita-pāda-paṅkajānta. And what is the highest type of revealed truth is only trying to show us the pāda-paṅkajānta, the lowest: the highest revealed truth is trying to show us, connect us with the lowest portion of the holy figure, pāda-paṅkajānta. Ayi mukta-kulair upāsya. Where we should begin? Our proper beginning will be with the holy feet. If we try to focus on other parts of the Lord that will be something like misguidance. The proper beginning must be to the lowest position, and then gradually we shall go up. That will be the healthy progress, line of progress, pāda-paṅkajānta. Ayi mukta-kulair upāsyamānaṁ. O Name, the ordinary men that are in bondage can’t approach You. Your real realisation and Your proper dealings, service, is only possible by those who are really masters of all the illusory tendencies. Only they can be liberated. The highly liberated souls can only approach You. Ayi mukta-kulair upāsyamānaṁ, paritas. And they’re all around You, in a crowd as if, the liberated souls are trying to give their obeisance to You. Paritas tvām hari-nām saṁśrayāmi. And I am praying to get a shelter on Your holy feet.”

This is spoken by Rūpa Goswāmī, in Padma-Purāṇa we find, nāmānanda rūpam, in Padma-Purāṇa. What is the poem?

nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś, caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ

pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto, 'bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ

[“The Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa is full of transcendental bliss. It blesses the devotee with all fulfilment, for it is non-different from Kṛṣṇa, the fountain source of all pleasure. Therefore it is also by nature the embodiment of all transcendental mellows. It is complete, pure, eternal and ever liberated from all material conditioning because the Name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself are identical.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, Pūrva-vibhāga, 2.233] & [Padma-Purāṇa]

Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś, caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ. The Name of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa, is just like cintāmaṇi. Cintāmaṇi is a kind of jewel, the possessor of which, whatever He will think it will automatically come to Him, cintāmaṇi, like kalpa-vṛkṣa, whatever is wanted... _____________________________________ [?]

Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś, a particular kind of jewel, the possessor, whatever He thinks, at once that comes to Him. That is cintāmaṇi. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś, Kṛṣṇa Nāma is cintāmaṇi. Any holy benefit we may get from, out of it, we can expect to get. It can supply all the necessary demands of our inner heart in the holiest transaction. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś, Kṛṣṇa’s Name is such, and caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ, we shall try to think it that ecstasy personified and purely of spiritual play. Caitanya-rasa, the rasa, ecstasy, and that is purely spiritual. Spiritual means that is of serving attitude, serving tendency: no least trace there could be made of exploitation, or renunciation or negligence, indifferent. It commands our active sympathy, draws our attention in a natural way. That is the nature of service, our submission, subjugation can be produced by its charming presence, caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ. Nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś, caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ. Rasa, our innate, the element which can, the fine element, the fine and the pious element, that can attract our inner-most attention and interest towards it, rasa. Caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ, and that is conscious, that is pure consciousness, that is serving wave, serving, sympathetic wave towards the aim, destination, that current. The rasa-vigrahaḥ, and that is personified, rasa-vigrahaḥ. Nitya, that is eternal, never ending. Mukta, it is free, having no obligation to any other entity, nitya, mukta. Then śuddho, pūrṇaḥ, that is absolute in nature. And purity, śuddha means purity. Purity we are to understand what is purity, always our aim will be that only service is purity.

na hi jñānena sadṛśaṁ, pavitram iha vidyate / [tat svayaṁ yoga-saṁsiddhaḥ, kālenātmani vindati]

[“Among the aforementioned practices of sacrifice, austerity, and yoga, there is nothing as pure as divine knowledge. After a long time, a person who has achieved perfection in his practice on the path of selfless action realises such knowledge spontaneously within his heart.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.38]

It is written in Bhagavad-gītā, pavitra, work can never be, our energising in this plane can never be pure. It is inevitable it must be impure, filthy. No energy can move here without creating some disturbance in the environment, so no purity, normal, is possible to locate here in this plane of exploitation, gross or subtle. But exploitation is inevitably connected with this mundane life. Then, renunciation is said, comparatively, to be pure, na hi jñānena sadṛśaṁ, pavitram, that is it withdraws from the plane of exploitation and retains to be its own internal selfish condition. But that gradually equates to zero. Still, comparatively it is considered to be pure, than the meditation, the knowledge.

As Kant, the German philosopher says, “Good will only can be pure, but no action can be pure.”

But we say, ‘Even good will can never be pure if it is in the relativity of the mundane world.’ So na hi jñānena sadṛśaṁ, pavitram iha vidyate, it is comparatively, the jñāna. But Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam says,

naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ, na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam

kutaḥ punaḥ śaśvad abhadram īśvare, na cārpitaṁ karma yad apy akāraṇam

[“Knowledge of self-realisation, even though free from all material affinity, does not look well if devoid of a conception of the Infallible (God). What, then, is the use of fruitive activities, which are naturally painful from the very beginning and transient by nature, if they are not utilised for the devotional service of the Lord?”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.5.12]

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that even that renowned knowledge, naiṣkarmya, naiṣkarmya- paramāṁ-siddhiṁ [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.49]. In Bhāgavatam [12.13.18] also naiṣkarmyam āviṣkṛtaṁ, but jñāna vairāgya bhakti sahitaṁ naiṣkarmyam āviṣkṛtaṁ.

[śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ purāṇam amalaṁ yad vaiṣṇavānāṁ priyaṁ

yasmin pāramahaṁsyam ekam amalaṁ jñānaṁ paraṁ gīyate

tatra jñāna-virāga-bhakti-sahitaṁ naiṣkarmyam āviṣkṛtaṁ

tac chṛṇvan su-paṭhan vicāraṇa paro bhaktyā vimucyen naraḥ]

[“Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the spotless Purāṇa. It is especially dear to the Vaiṣṇavas; it has knowledge that is especially appreciated by the paramahaṁsas. When carefully studied, heard, and understood again and again, it opens the door to pure devotion through which one never returns to the bondage of illusion.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.13.18]

Naiṣkarmya, that is absent of assertion. Karma means to assert, self-assertion, that is karma. Absence of self-assertion, that is naiṣkarmya. But Bhāgavatam says, “No. That is not the real criterion of purity. That naiṣkarmya, comparatively it is admitted by some to be pure, but real purity can never be without the connection of the service of Kṛṣṇa.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ, na śobhate, acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ, who has no connection with Acyuta, with Kṛṣṇa, that sort of strike, the stage of strike in the worldly transaction cannot be considered as the standard purity, na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam. So śuddha, what is śuddha? As much as it is producing the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa the calculation of the purity will depend on it. As much as surrender and surrendered service for the centre, for the Absolute Good, it will be considered so much pure. Nitya śuddha, always who takes the Name of the Lord, satisfied only with the sound aspect, or engaged in the service of the sound aspect of God, he’s always pure. He has no ambition in this world of elevation, neither elevationist nor he has any quest for the perfect rest in the renounced stage, but he’s self-dedicating soul. Who is taking the Name of the Lord and is fascinated by the charm of the sound aspect of the Lord, he’s considered to be above the plane of exploitation as well as renunciation. He’s deeply engaged in the service. So much that he does not want anything, only the connection of the sound aspect is satisfying him highly. He’s so much niṣkiñcana, he does not want anything, only the Name is suffice, the Name of Kṛṣṇa is sufficient for him. He’s so easily satisfied; no demand.

Nitya-śuddha, nitya-mukta, pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto, 'bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ. And why it is so? Because the sound is inseparably represented with the subject itself, or Himself, there cannot be any sound where the whole representation of the Absolute is not present. Bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ. It is, deho dehi vibagha guhyam. In the mundane conception we find that the name, the figure, the colour, different aspects they have got their separate existence, they can be separately conceived. But it is not the way, not the nature about the things which is divine. Every part is present everywhere. Here the eye can see, the hand can touch and catch. But in the case of the Vaikuṇṭha, divinity, especially of the Lord, the eye can see, eye can hear, eye can touch. Feet can see, feet can touch, feet can smell. In this way, just as in our mind, mind can see, mind can hear, mind can touch, mind can smell: central position, but I cannot do so.

So He’s the most central thing that can act in any way. The part and the whole cannot be differentiated, in general. But still, when He likes He’s got that capacity also. To a particular class of devotee He’s found with His full fledged figurative characteristic. The eye’s so beautiful in different way, the nose beauty is another way. So all-pervading omniscience, omnipotence, these are servants of His will of Him. We may take it like that. On the basis of that, all sorts of knowledge, all sorts of energies are only in a serving attitude, waiting His order. Though He has got figure, but not with the limitation of the figure. Though in figure, still He’s infinite in His character.

So pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto, 'bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ, the Name, the sound representation is not quite different from the original existence, the original conception by different ways, the colour can have, our eyes can have a particular aspect of Him, our ear can have another. The ear, the sound, the tongue, our touch, they may hanker for different aspects of Him. But still there is unity and it is inconceivable. But the Name, the sound aspect is the most gracious and it is far reaching, especially meant for the fallen souls to take them up. That is the peculiarity in – by His free will it has been endowed with, 'bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ.

tuṇḍe tāṇḍavinī ratiṁ vitanute tuṇḍāvalī-labdhaye

[karṇa-kroḍa-kaḍambinī ghaṭayate karṇārbudebhyaḥ spṛhām

cetaḥ-prāṅgaṇa-saṅginī vijayate sarvendriyāṅāṁ kṛtiṁ

no jāne janitā kiyadbhir amṛtaiḥ kṛṣṇeti varṇa-dvayī]

[“When the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa appears on the lips of a devotee, it begins madly dancing. Then the Name takes over and handles him as if the person to whom the lips belong loses all control over his lips, and the devotee says: ‘With one mouth, how much can I gather the ecstasy of the Holy Name? I need millions of mouths to taste its unlimited sweetness. I’ll never feel any satisfaction by chanting with only one mouth.’”] [Vidagdha-Mādhava, 1.15]

In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu another:

tuṇḍe tāṇḍavinī ratiṁ vitanute tuṇḍāvalī-labdhaye

karṇa-kroḍa-kaḍambinī ghaṭayate karṇārbudebhyaḥ spṛhām

We are finite and we are going to venture to talk about infinite. So only dig-darśana, śrutibhir vimṛgyām [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.47.61], only showing that this side the partial aspect, this side we can. Tuṇḍe tāṇḍavinī ratiṁ vitanute tuṇḍāvalī-labdhaye. It is seen sometimes when one is taking the Name he’s so charmingly engaged, tuṇḍāvalī-labdhaye, ratiṁ vitanute tuṇḍāvalī. Only one lip or one tongue, it cannot satisfy me by taking the Name. Hundreds and thousands of tongues are necessary. Such sort of mystic feeling arises in ones heart if one can come to have to such a position to take the Name of the Lord. ‘One tongue, what one tongue can do?’

Just as the gopīs wanted: “Why not thousands of eyes; the creator has given to us?” Jedi jedi krsna _______ [?] “The Brahmā, the creator, he does not know, he cannot do justice in creation.” They’re blaming him. “He does not know what is proper creation. One who will have the opportunity of looking at the face of Kṛṣṇa, he has given only two eyes, the creator, he does not know how to create.” ______________________________________ [?] “There only two eyes have been attached to him who’ll get the opportunity of looking at the beauty of the face of Kṛṣṇa. What is this? This is sheer injustice, intolerable.”

So tuṇḍe tāṇḍavinī ratiṁ vitanute, when the Name comes down in the heart, from there the wave is coming towards the tongue. The inspiration coming from above, from the plane of Paramātmā in the plane of jīvātmā enters the heart. And there, and from the heart, the inspiration comes to the tongue and the tongue begins to dance, engaged in a mad dance taking the Name of Kṛṣṇa. Tuṇḍe tāṇḍavinī ratiṁ vitanute tuṇḍāvalī. And he feels, the heart feels only one tongue is very, very insufficient. Thousands of tongues are necessary. The current from the heart is passing, is rushing in such a big magnitude that one tongue cannot pass the sound. Thousands of tongues necessary. The current is coming and rushing towards the tongue to produce sound in the atmosphere.

Karṇa-kroḍa-kaḍambinī ghaṭayate karṇārbudebhyaḥ spṛhām. Again when that sound enters the ears he feels ‘one or two ears can’t receive, thousands of ears necessary to receive the sound,’ karṇārbudebhyaḥ spṛhām. Such sort of hankering, earnestness, arises within the heart.

Cetaḥ-prāṅgaṇa-saṅginī vijayate sarvendriyāṅāṁ kṛtiṁ. And sometimes when perplexed by these thoughts – unconscious. By the clash of these coming and going and the meagre supply, sometimes the rush of the current is so much that it seems that the whole thing is going to be paralysed. Effacement, no movement is possible at all, so much raja has come. Prāṅgaṇa-saṅginī vijayate sarvendriyāṅāṁ kṛtiṁ. And the whole function of all the senses are going to be at a standstill, so much rush. Prāṅgaṇa-saṅginī vijayate sarvendriyāṅāṁ kṛtiṁ. All the functions of all the senses, all movements are going to be blocked.

No jāne janitā kiyadbhir amṛtaiḥ kṛṣṇeti varṇa-dvayī. I fail to understand that how much magnitude of ecstasy has been allotted in the Name of the Lord, kiyadbhir amṛtaiḥ. How much nectar of what sort of degree, it is with the Holy Name, I can’t assert.”

This is the sayings of the devotees, the Name is such, within, nāmānanda.

In the desert the presence of water by glass or pipe it is meagre, but when the water comes from the cloud it may inundate the whole thing in a moment. So we’re tiny persons concerned with tiny things. But His position, His grant is so much, so deep. Ānanda-śukha, we can’t be happy with this thing, that thing, and you, if we secure something that vanishes immediately. But the infinite happiness, its characteristic and its purity, that cannot be conceived by us. But still it is there, and we are also here, it is also true. We want rasa, the infinite rasa is there, and still we are hankering for a drop of nectar. That is also true. And how we are to be joined with that ocean of ānandam, rasam, ecstasy, happiness, everything, joy is there. It is true and we are also so many beggars for a drop; it is also true. And there are so many agents that are to connect us with their departments. And our demand may be satisfied, our hankering, our thirst may be quenched, and more than enough. We can get so much that we can’t store it within us, we are to give away to others. We can come nearer to such ocean of joy or ecstasy, and by His agents, through His agents it is possible.

Ke? ___________________________________ [?]

In Name, there may be aparādha, ābhāsa, all these things to be considered. It is also mentioned in Padma-Purāṇa, the ten kinds of offences against the Name. The beginner should be careful about that, know and be careful to avoid them. Padma-Purāṇa, there are eighteen Purāṇas. Purāṇa means, vedartha purāṇath purāṇam, two characteristics of Purāṇa, Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu has mentioned in his Bhāgavata Sandarbha, purāṇath purāṇam, fulfilling, that is supplementary to Veda. In this sense it is known as Purāṇa. Vedartha purāṇath. What is not plain, expressive in the Veda, the Purāṇa has come as to do supplementary work for that, vedartha purāṇath, and also purāṇam, which is not found in the Veda that we can find in the Purāṇa. That even ancient Purāṇa, Purāṇa means ancient. Veda nigadhi padam.

It is in Veda and we find in the Purāṇa also Vāmana Avatāra, because Veda also comes after every creation. After the wholesale dissolution then when creation begins Veda comes from Nārāyaṇa to Brahmā. So Purāṇa, there are so many seers, ṛṣis, that can collect and keep the occurrences that took place in the previous creation, kalpa. In the time of previous, the wholesale dissolution and even before that there world and there was history and that history has been retained here in Purāṇa, which is not in the Veda. So Purāṇa is not to be neglected as the Brahman School or the Ārya Samāj, they neglect Purāṇa. But Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu has lifted high the position of Purāṇa. Bhāgavata is also Purāṇa, Mahā Purāṇa. Because Purāṇa should not be neglected that it has not got the dignity with the same rank with the Veda, but not so. Even previous to Veda, so many incidents we can find in Purāṇa. It can record this time Veda, precedent to that, so purāṇam.

So Purāṇa, there are eighteen Purāṇas and they’re classified tamasik, rajasik, sattvik. Padma-Purāṇa is one of the sattvika Purāṇas, and there we find mentioned which, favour of, protection of the devotional school, especially. Sattvika Purāṇa deals with Nārāyaṇa...

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Start of 82.01.07.B_82.01.08.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...things, promoting the devotion of Kṛṣṇa, Hari, Nārāyaṇa, is found there. So in Padma-Purāṇa we find ten offences against the Name. One who will take the path of the Name, by the use of the Holy Name of the Lord when one wants to enter into that domain they will be careful about these ten offences. What are they? I’m enumerating one by one, the first and most important, sādhu-nindā, they will avoid, sādhu:

satam ninda namnah paramam aparadham vitanute [Padma-Purāṇa, Brahmā-khanda, 25.15-18, 22-23]

[Gauḍīya Kanthahara, 17.69-75]

The great offence is committed when we give blame to the sādhus, to the real agents of the Lord. Satam ninda namnah paramam aparadham vitanute. Sādhu-nindā. Who are the sādhus? Sat, what is eternal, connecting with that. Who are trying to distribute the eternal aspect of the whole; they’re considered as sādhus. And those that are in the garment of sādhu but dealing with material things, “O, take this, it will save you from disease. It will give some help in your business.” All these mundane things, who are dealing with these in the garb of sādhu they’re not real sādhu. Or, who are trying to take us to other demigods. Demigods means they’re departmental helps, they can give this thing, that thing, so many things of mundane type. So to lead us to the particular mundane god, that means to fulfil some aspiration of the mundane nature. So such agents of demigods are not to be considered as sādhu. Who are dealing with reality, that is Nārāyaṇa or Kṛṣṇa, Vaikuṇṭha vastu, the infinite, they’re real sādhus. And we must be careful not to speak anything against them, very careful, sata-nindā.

And also śāstra-nindā, in that case also it is such that those śāstra, there are many kinds of scripture, but those śāstra, scriptures that tell about Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, that is the eternal aspect of the Lord, līlā of the Lord, those śāstras must not be blamed. That will be suicidal, because, yatah khyatim kathamu, they have come to help us, and I’m blaming him, that is, I’m losing the chance of getting the help from them. So Name, He does not like that, “My agents should be insulted, abused, blamed.” So Name is not satisfied. “That I’m sending My messenger to help you and you are blaming him, you are dealing badly with him.” Then He becomes dissatisfied, śāstra-nindā.

Then, guroravajna, to undermine the Guru, in the general sense when we come to the Guru by the result of my own previous sukṛti I have come to Guru. And there is a time when both of them should have a chance of test, not suddenly one should accept, but he must satisfy himself to the possible satisfaction, to the possible judgement, what is possible in that stage. And then he will surrender. And once surrendering he should not very easily retire them, retire from him, from his shelter. He’s the most valuable.

Even everywhere it may be applied. Suppose I may continue a business, I’m approaching a capitalist, I must not connect with him very easily, must not put any trust in him very easily. I must satisfy myself that I may have connection and he will help me. But once after satisfying me from, by all points I have connected with him and making transactions, giving and taking, giving and taking, suddenly we should not disconnect with him. There may be disturbance or loss in my business life.

So in the spiritual matter also we shall try our utmost to study as much as possible by the help of the scriptures, by the help of the reliable other sādhus, I shall have to select where I shall surrender my life, I can rely that he will be able to remove my difficulties wholesale, as much as possible. The most serious connection in our spiritual eternal life, so there, before establishing that connection we shall try to satisfy myself in all possible ways that I have come to the real party where from I may get my best benefit. So with such clear and pure faith we should try to establish the holy relationship as if as pure as with much purity I’m approaching to the holiest Lord. With that sort of sincerity and unprejudiced purity we shall approach. And also invoking the highest help of the Supreme Entity, that, “Please help me to have a choice in my master of this life, of life eternal.” So it is a very serious thing, the most serious in our life. And what should be our dealing? We should try our best not to find fault there, not to find fault there. Once I have accepted I must not be very frivolous to play with such sort of dignified relationship. We must be very serious, serious and very careful to maintain that sort of holy relationship as much as I can accord I’ll try. I must not believe myself always to the fullest.

Just as it has been told that in the Ganges water, martyāsad-dhīḥ [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.15.26] Gurudeva he’s also seen to eat, to sleep, and also to pass the stools, pass urine, sometimes suffering from disease. All these things may disturb our mind, may say, “He’s an ordinary person, ordinary man. So why should I try to have my highest respect and highest regard for him?” These things may come in our mind, martyāsad-dhīḥ, the signs, the symptoms of mortal world is sometimes seen in him, in sādhus also, in Vaiṣṇavas also. Vaiṣṇavas may come in different sections. Haridāsa Ṭhākura came in the Mohammedan section. So many parṣada came in the lower sections, not in the brāhmaṇas. In Ganges water as we find that it may be filthy, from material consideration, but the purifying attitude of it is independent of this material aspect. We are to see like that. This is another thing. The purification capacity that is beyond the conception of our material capacity, material good or bad, we are to distinguish there.

The Śrī Mūrti outwardly if we exercise our physical senses it may be of stone, or wood, or any mineral substance, or earthen Mūrti. But are we to look to that? That is martya buddhi. We shall try that, “The Lord is here, attracted by the affection, by the love of the sādhu. He is there.” As in the purifying tendency in Ganges water, so the purifying tendency is in the Śrī Vigraha, in the form, in every connection of Him. Independent of our physical senses and physical calculative mind, transcending all the stage of knowledge which is collected from the sense experience, beyond that there is something, and that is to be tested only by śāstra-cakṣuḥ, veda-cakṣuḥ, sādhu-cakṣuḥ, only by the opinion of the sādhu and by the advice which is mentioned in the śāstra.

It is said that, paśu pasyati gandhena [?] Generally the animals they see things by their nose, scent.

Veda pasyanti paṇḍita [?] The paṇḍita, the scholars, they see things not through their eye experience, but by the advice of the Veda. They should try to see things what is mentioned in the Veda, in the scriptures.

And, raja pasyanti garna bhang [?] And the King ______________ the King sees through the eye, that is through the spies. Raja sees the country only through his ear; that is through the spy.

Cakṣuḥ varma [?] Ordinary people they see things with their fleshy eye.

But, vede pasyanti paṇḍita, paṇḍita sees not by his eye, but śāstra-cakṣuḥ.

Srute kita vasa [?] The śruti, the Veda, the truth coming from a pure channel enters the ear and it will guide the eye to see, how to see. That is the way to see things divine. So the ordinary eye experience, or mind experience, won’t be able to make me judge right and wrong what is with the sādhu and Guru. So very carefully we shall: so when we shall accept Guru our guidance will be of that nature, and so that it may not be disconnected in any way, in any time. It will be very much deplorable if things happen like that. So we’ll be very careful in our selection of Guru. That is the most valuable judgement, and most serious and valuable judgement in our life to select our master of eternal life, master of my divine prospect. It is not possible to know about him wholly from this plane. Still, as much as possible, with the help of the sādhu, and with the help of the scriptures, we shall come to select. And when we have surrendered, not so easily we shall withdraw from there. But that does not mean that the blind faith should be encouraged, blind shade. Our spiritual consciousness with the spiritual purity and hankering that I must be wakeful that I’m under his guidance, I’m doing.

bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir, anyatra [caiṣa trika eka-kālaḥ

prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus, tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣudapāyo 'nughāsam]

[“As with every mouthful an eater feels the threefold effects of his satisfaction, his stomach being filled, and his hunger being dispelled, in the same way when a surrendered soul serves the Lord he realises devotion of three natures simultaneously: devotion in love, the personal appearance of the Lord who is the abode of love, and detachment from all other things.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.42]

These things when we are hungry, we are weak, hungry, we have some tendency earnestness for eating, weak and dissatisfied. By our bhajan, after surrender the transaction that will go on, that will give me these three things. Bhakti, my tendency to serve, tendency for divine service will increase with accelerated motion: with acceleration. Pareśānubhavo. I must have some conception of what is reality. What is reality, proper? Some sort, what is Brahman, what is Paramātmā, what is Nārāyaṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa, what is sat, what is cit, what is ānandam – all these principles we shall have some sort of conception and that I’m advancing, we must feel. Pareśānubhavo anyatra viraktir. And my indifference, or my, for other things than what is holy, that will increase. That is my withdrawal from mundane world, what is opposite to affection, to love, my hatred for non God and non holy things; that will also increase. So these things, just as when we take food our hankering for eating also decreases, and when hungry I’m weak, the weakness also removed by every morsel. And tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣudapāyo, the hunger removed, tuṣṭiḥ, satisfaction, and kṣudapāyo, and the tendency to eat, these three things by every morsel we experience. So also we shall experience in our heart our progress towards the realisation of the holy object.

So – and fourth, that is to imagine various types of meanings in the Name of the Lord, from dictionary and other places. Hari means to snatch away. Hari means lion. Hari means serpent. Hari means lotus. So many meanings the Hari word has got. So we must not indulge us to analyse and think of different meanings of that word. Hari means who can attract everything of us.

[prabhu kahe,] -- “kṛṣṇa-nāmera bahu artha nā māni

“śyāma-sundara’ ‘yaśodā-nandana,’ – [ei-mātra jāni]

[Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “I do not accept many different meanings for the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa. I know only that Lord Kṛṣṇa is Śyāmasundara and Yaśodānandana. That’s all I know.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 7.85]

Kṛṣṇa who can draw and who can give some pleasure: many things we may have to find there, but no, the central thing. All the meanings must be carried to the central force, or degree, to the centre, to the prime cause.

So - and the fifth, the fourth is to think that Kṛṣṇa is of course Nārāyaṇa, They’re Supreme God, but there are other gods also, the Kali, the Śiva, the Indra, the Surya the Sun, there are others. To think that they’re equal to Kṛṣṇa, any demigod is equal to Him, to indulge in thinking this way that is also aparādha.

Then the sixth, to think, “Yes, Kṛṣṇa Nāma, to take the Name, that is a good thing no doubt, but there are other names also. To make donations, the penances, then so many other things, sacrifice for the country, for others, all these things. They’re also not to be blamed. They’re all equal.” If we think like that then also we commit offences to the Absolute realisation.

Then, to give Name, to distribute Name to anyone and everyone, without being inspired, to begin the action like a trade: the Goswāmīns, the Yati Goswāmīns, they are doing. By their generation, the son of a Guru is Guru, whether he may be qualified or not, he’s Guru. So without being in a proper position of distributing the Name, if you once take up that position of a Guru then he’ll be, he will fall. That will commence aparādha. Taking the Name, he did not find any inspiration within to give it to others, but for his fame and name he wants, he takes up the position of a Guru and begins to make disciples. That is also offence to the Name.

And there is another: too much, namno balad papa-buddhir. The Holy Name can remove all sorts of impurities, sins, offences, so let me go on with committing so many sins, and so many crimes, and I shall take Name and everything will be purified. If with this spirit we take the Name, that the Name is to serve, to clean my sins and impurity in me, with this spirit if we approach to take the Name it will not be real service of the Name but it will be offences.

Then another, if I make too much of my material achievement, then as if the anchor is there and the boat is rowing it will go round the anchor the boat will move. So when we have a particular attachment to a particular mundane matter and I’m taking Name, then I shall wander about that anchor, that thing of my highest attachment. So the anchor should be taken in and boat should be allowed to go to the destination where the Guru will take me. There will be much change, transformation in the mind by taking the Name, and the soul will be taken to another direction and we must be a party to that. We must not be reluctant and to try to stay fixed in ones present position with much attachment. That attachment should be severed and we should allow ourselves the transformation. We must make cooperation with the necessary transformation of our mental system, with progress.

And another, we must not think that we’re going to a foreign land, but that is my home, sweet, sweet home. He’s my best friend. With this consciousness that the Lord whose Name I’m taking He’s my best friend. I’m going to my highest friend, the centre of the highest love and attraction for me. I’m going home, not to a foreign land. So these things should be observed and we must be careful about all these things.

And the nāmābhāsa of four kinds: sānketyaṁ, parihāsya, stobha, helanam, nāmābhāsa. Not the pure Name, nor for any attraction for this mundane, but only liberation. We want only freedom. We’re afraid of serving life. The serving, that is also to give my own interest to others. I shall live only for him. I shall not have any separate interest of my own. All these things may not disturb. That is healthy, that is holy, and that is my inner life giving sweetness, or ecstasy. In this way, my own of my own, in this way we shall try, so the confidence should be created. So with the object of serving Vaiṣṇava and Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa and His paraphernalia, with this object we shall take the Holy Name. So the exploitation as well as renunciation: nāmābhāsa, due to affinity towards renunciation, the result of renunciation. So bhoga, tyāga, we must eliminate and we shall try to have in our object the service of the Lord and His devotees. With this aim in us we shall go on taking the Name.

So it is late, now I dissolve. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Rāma. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsa Ādi Gaura Bhakta Vṛnda.

...

Where is Vidagdha Prabhu, Calcutta or Māyāpur?

Devotee: Calcutta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Calcutta. Vanu asked questions?

Devotee: Yes. He’s asking about Oṁ, the Oṁkāra, he’s saying it’s a representation Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā and the jīva. So if you chant Oṁ then can you achieve Kṛṣṇa prema? Or what platform does one reach by chanting Oṁ?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That may be that I want to hear something more, then I can take up that question. But the answer of Oṁkāra in the primary stage it is meant Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, a-u-ma, a, u, and ma. Ma-kara, Mahādeva: u-kara, Viṣṇu palan [?]: and a-kara, sisti [?] Brahmā, a-u-ma. A Viṣṇu, u Brahmā, sattya, raja, tama, akṣaram asmy, [Bhagavad-gītā, 10.25], sattya, raja, tama, from this side. And the highest conception of that, three tattva, it may come to jñāna, bala, krīya, ca. Jñāna means Vāsudeva, Baladeva, and krīya śakti, represented by Rādhārāṇī, three tattva. And Baladeva here is thought to be the source of jīva, Baladeva, the source of general jīva in different rasa is Baladeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, source of all different ahaṅkāra representation. The most primitive representation of the jīva is Baladeva, and Vāsudeva leading to Kṛṣṇa conception, and Rādhārāṇī the source of the highest quality ecstasy. And She’s the source of all servitors in Her group of mādhurya-rasa. Mādhurya-rasa concerns that is included in Rādhārāṇī’s group, Her aṅga-jyoti. They’re considered within constructing the atom in the halo of Her divine body, figure, Her existence. And jīva in general their source is represented by Baladeva, jñāna, bala, krīya, ca. A-u-ma, that is reflected here in this, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, sattya, raja, tama, Brahmā raja, Viṣṇu sattya, and tama Mahādeva. In a nutshell this much can be said. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

The Vanu is a beginner and he’s discussing or thinking of all these matters. He should rather be particular in the lower steps, strata. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: He’s asking if the same result can be achieved through chanting Oṁ as through chanting...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: If we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and chant Oṁ, can we get the same result, he’s asking?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That depends upon the realised stage of the person. Dāsa Goswāmī says that, “The ordinary talk in this Vṛndāvana is higher than so many Vedic sādhana in other places.” That depends upon the angle of vision. Mahāprabhu, He’s chanting an ordinary śloka and finding there the meaning of the highest type corresponding.

yaḥ kaumāra-haraḥ [sa eva hi varas tā eva caitra-kṣapās

te conmīlita-mālatī-surabhayaḥ prauḍhāḥ kadambānilāḥ

sā caivāsmi tathāpi tatra surata-vyāpāra-līlā-vidhau

revā-rodhasi vetasī-taru-tale cetaḥ samutkaṇṭhate]

[“That very Personality Who stole My heart during My youth is now again My Master. These are the same moonlit nights of the month of Caitra. The same fragrance of mālatī flowers is there, and the same sweet breezes are blowing from the kadamba forest. In Our intimate relationship, I am also the same lover, yet My mind is not happy here. I am eager to go back to that place on the bank of the Revā under the Vetasī tree. That is My desire.”] [Kāvya-prakāśa] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.78]

An ordinary śloka, in the worldly sense it is a nasty one, but in His vision it is showing, when I see, suppose in a glass looking down but we may trace the luminary bodies on the sky. We’re looking down in a glass but we see the reflection of the highest place, in that way. So Mahāprabhu and devotees of that layer, wherever they’re casting their glance cannot see but that. According to ones stage he’s directed to see things around. What was his question?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: If we chant Kṛṣṇa Nāma and Oṁkāra...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah! So Nāma, one who commits nāmāparādha that is something, and a paramahaṁsa he may call any other thing, but that is giving him encouragement there, the uddīpana, the excitement: showing according to their stages. Just as your instance, Oṁ, a-u-ma, generally it is known Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, but everything can be traced in its highest point to Kṛṣṇa līlā, everything.

Mahāprabhu when He began, after coming from Gaya, to teach grammar; and in every point He’s taking Kṛṣṇa.

The students were astounded. “What’s this?”

He’s teaching grammar, vyākaraṇa, and there is the verb, the adjective, the noun, all these things, but He’s explaining them connecting with Kṛṣṇa, everywhere.

The students were perplexed. Then they went to the former teacher of Mahāprabhu, Gaṅgādāsa Paṇḍita. “We are students of Nimāi Paṇḍita and He used to teach us in such a way that we can’t get that sort of life elsewhere. But know after coming from Gaya He’s not teaching properly. Everywhere He’s trying to trace the existence and the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa līlā. So for which we have come to be taught by Him, our objects are not being fulfilled. You please ask Him to teach us in a proper way, in a normal way.”

“Yes. You ask Him to come to me. I shall instruct Him to do so.”

They informed Mahāprabhu, Nimāi Paṇḍita, that, “Gaṅgādāsa Paṇḍita has asked You to see him, Your former teacher.”

“Yes, I shall see him.” He went to see him, to pay His respect to His former teacher Gaṅgādāsa Paṇḍita.

“Oh, You went to Gaya, You have done Your duty as a son to Your parents. You are fortunate enough in all these things I’m talking. Your students came to me that after returning from Gaya You are not teaching them properly. Please do that. I request You. Of course You have got devotion. It is a very fortunate thing. But that does not matter that You will leave the proper instruction of the grammar and other books,” he cried.

Then Mahāprabhu told: “By the grace of your feet dust, what I teach I don’t think that anyone can come and to challenge that. I shall go, and I shall begin to teach, and I invite all the scholars, let them come and challenge My explanations if they have got some...

Devotee: _______________________ [?]

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Every word, in the meaning of its fullest extent comes to Kṛṣṇa. Everything has its connection with the Absolute Centre.

Madhvācārya has mentioned this: Jahat sata aja sata mukta pragraha vrti [?] Ugra [?] means lagan [?] the rein. If the rein is taken off from the mouth of the horse it gets its fullest speed. So every meaning of every word if it is allowed to take its fullest speed it shows that it has got, it runs to Kṛṣṇa the Absolute Centre, anyhow, everything. As in taking the word Indra: Indra means aiśvarya, the majesty. Madhvācārya says that, “To an ordinary person if you call Indra, he will say, ‘Oh, Indra is my neighbour.’ He’ll think that name is meaning ‘man.’ Then some will think Indra is the King of the Heaven, ‘He’s Indra.’ Indra means ‘who has got aiśvarya, power, or majesty.’ And in the absolute sense the source of all majesty is only Kṛṣṇa. It is the outcome from everything emanating from Him. So every word has got its meaning, everything, has got its furthest connection of origin in the Absolute Cause. So, but there is adjustment, there are stages, according to the realisation of the estimator, the seer, the conceiver, the meaning will come to him to such extent, such quality, such magnitude. So, the point of adjustment, and according to that sometimes no further: that is also divine limitation.

[prabhu kahe,] -- “kṛṣṇa-nāmera bahu artha nā māni

“śyāma-sundara’ ‘yaśodā-nandana,’ – ei-mātra jāni

[Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “I do not accept many different meanings for the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa. I know only that Lord Kṛṣṇa is Śyāmasundara and Yaśodānandana. That’s all I know.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 7.85]

Kṛṣṇa: who can attract He’s Kṛṣṇa, and give some pleasure, from the lowest stage to the highest. But the higher realised soul won’t care for these little Kṛṣṇas. Kṛṣṇa is He, Kṛṣṇa is my Lord.

The āsuras say, “Oh, Kṛṣṇa is a great general.” Some say, “He’s a most cunning fellow.” The friends, “No, He’s equal to one of us.”

When Kṛṣṇa lifted up the Govardhana the sakhās told, “You did not, You could not carry it singly, we also helped You so it was possible for You.”

This jñāna-sunya-bhakti, they also fix the Absolute in a particular position. But that is holding highest position, of a type.

Yaśodā, “He’s my son, no, He can’t be Infinite, He can’t be Absolute, He’s my son, my child: I shall look after His welfare otherwise He’ll be spoiled.” She’s taking the feet dust of a sādhu and putting on the head of her son.

So this is also jñāna-sunya-bhakti, very beautiful, very tasteful. And only through the knowledge if we go in every step with the measuring standard: “How much He’s big, how...

End of 82.01.07.B_82.01.08.A

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Start of 82.01.08.C_82.01.09.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In my Premadhāma-stotra I have also written something. The highest conception of Absolute cannot but be the highest form of ānandam, rasam, rasa. And that is conscious rasa. And Mahāprabhu’s dancing, that indicates that is full of rasa, and kīrtana that is distribution of that rasa. His dancing means He has got the acme of rasa, or feeling, and His kīrtana means He’s eager to distribute that to others. So, scientifically if we come to search who is Mahāprabhu, we cannot but find that He’s the Ultimate Reality. He’s mad in feeling His own internal nectar, and dancing is the outcome, result of that. And He’s chanting, that is, He’s distributing that to others. And that should be the real character of the Absolute rasa. Progressive giving, dynamic rasa, not static rasa, dynamic rasa, must try to extend itself to the outside, to extend Himself outside. And rasa, He Himself, His position is almost mad in drinking His own inner nectar, sokam, martya, nrtya and kīrtana. So, following quite closely and surely follow the character of Mahāprabhu, we cannot but think that He is the Absolute representation. By following this thread, if we approach towards Him? Yes.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

If infinite cannot make Himself known to finite, He’s no infinite. The basis of all this: Infinite can make Himself known to the finite, and that is the basis of all our knowledge, and achievement, everything. It is all His sweet will. It is His sweet will, His nature, natural sweet will that we can talk, we can move, we can aspire about Him. Otherwise, we cannot have any connection with Him. His good will is at the back. To have His connection in any way, however meagre it may be, His cooperation, His good will, at the bottom, at the foundation, otherwise it is impossible. If that is withdrawn, we are atheists. Our nature will be that of an atheist, of the pure type. Just like Māyāvādī, that innocent atheist.

But Yāmunācārya says, tesam ajnana eva aparādha na tu isa ta dosa [?] “Their ignorance is their offence. Let them live without any hindrance in their life. May they live long. And they are not to be blamed. But their ignorance is to be blamed.” Yāmunācārya. “Let them live happily, but they are not to be blamed, I am not going to blame them, but their ignorance is the root of all their misfortune. Not that they are to be blamed.” With this gesture, Yāmunācārya has discarded them generously, tesam ajanam eva aparadhyate na tu isata dosa [?] “Let them live so long, I can’t put blame on them. That, what is to be blamed that is their ignorance.” A piteous remark: a pitiful remark.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara.

Parvat Mahārāja: Mahārāja, you are giving so much mercy to us, and we feel so much attraction to you, just like to our Guru Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. We may come from the same plane, similar plane, but he has got more power, magnitude. With his power he has inundated the whole of the world. And I am a tiny soul, sitting in a corner of the place, and praying for some, “water, water” to quench my thirst. But he has inundated the world with water, the sweet water. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Parvat Mahārāja: You’re helping us along the same path.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. But our source is one and the same. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Where is it found that he proposed to make me President of ISKCON?

Aranya Mahārāja: In the third volume of the Līlāmṛta.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Our Satsvarūpa Mahārāja has written that in the biography of our Gurudeva.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: From Acyutānanda?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, from Acyutānanda.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now I can remember when he gave that proposal. I remember. I forgot.

Parvat Mahārāja: What is written?

Aranya Mahārāja: It is written that Śrīla Prabhupāda asked Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja to become President of ISKCON Society, in nineteen seventy three I think.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And as my nature is to come backwards I refused, always to come backwards. And so Prabhupāda remarked, “You are ease-lover,” he remarked on me, “You are ease-lover.” I am ease-lover person, ease-loving person. I am afraid of assertion, asserting myself. Not an asserting agent or medium. To collect more, that is my nature. Hearing is very appreciable by all, our God-brothers appreciated much for my acute listening, acute and accurate listening.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Aranya Mahārāja: Maybe it is meant by that statement that, “With ease, everyone can love you.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is their goodness. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Or easily you have taken love of Kṛṣṇa, ease-lover, so easily you have got love.

Parvat Mahārāja: And easily you’re giving.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And very recently I am approaching towards that, I think I am approaching. I have more attraction for Mahāprabhu and Rādhārāṇī, and Rāmacandra. I am fond of generosity, self-giving. But Kṛṣṇa seems to me absorbing energy. But I am fond of giving, distributing away, ātma-nivedanam, self-sacrifice attracts me most. So when I think about Rādhārāṇī I lose my existence. I think of Mahāprabhu and my connection to Kṛṣṇa has been given by Mahāprabhu only. Because Mahāprabhu recommends Kṛṣṇa, I have come to Kṛṣṇa. I have got some independent attraction towards Kṛṣṇa through Gītā. But Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa, Mahāprabhu has given me, and Rādhārāṇī. I am more attracted by Their personality, than that of Kṛṣṇa. That is my inner nature, I say to you, that is my nature. I am more impressed by sacrifice, magnanimity, ātma-nivedanam, self-giving.

But recently, very recently, I have got some special attraction towards Kṛṣṇa, because, without that, I can’t enter into the camp of Rādhārāṇī. We must have His mercy first, then we can enter that camp, otherwise it is impossible. So, the necessity of that sort of feeling is drawing me towards Kṛṣṇa, in a natural, and wide, and comprehensive way, the kiśora Kṛṣṇa of Vṛndāvana. And a general charm, not extraordinary, always present, but the inner drawing wave; that is in such stage. More attracted, captured by self-giving. Where there is self-giving, that attracts me most, than taking.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

What do you say? So, here we may stop today. What’s the time?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Five to ten.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Five to ten, almost ten o’clock. Going to high degree of confession, nothing, it is nothing, it is depending on Him, so we have got nothing. The wholesale dependence, the acquisition by dependence: another way of capturing. No formal right, but a new way of conquering things, new way of capturing, not ordinary way of capturing which is known to the world, new way of capturing. No external right could be established, but always without possession to get the facility of the wholesale possession. That is potency, that is negative, negative, but negative has got also its demand, its existence to keep out, to keep out, to maintain, to make its assertion for the positive, in that way, not assertive, but drawing nature. Predominated and Predominating Moiety, in our Prabhupāda’s expression: Predominating Moiety and Predominated Moiety, Two halves. To Kṛṣṇa, the Predominated Moiety is indispensable. We, belonging to Predominated Moiety, our necessity is for the Predominating. But, for the Predominating Moiety, the Predominated Moiety is absolutely necessary. It has been dealt with in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, perhaps in the first part, fourth chapter. And for which Kṛṣṇa has to come as Śrī Caitanya Deva, Mahāprabhu, to appreciate the position of the Predominated Moiety. The comparison has been drawn. How much necessity of the Predominating Moiety towards the Predominated? And what is the corresponding feeling of the Predominated Moiety towards the Predominating? That is dealt there, weighed almost, to a certain extent. And Kavirāja Goswāmī says that the side of Rādhārāṇī is hanging down more and Kṛṣṇa going that way. What is that?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Scales.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Because the ecstasy which we find in Kṛṣṇa when He has got the association of Rādhārāṇī, the intensity of ecstasy, and Rādhārāṇī when She’s getting the closer association of Kṛṣṇa and Her intensive ecstasy has being weighed down. And he proved that Rādhārāṇī when She feels Kṛṣṇa’s union, Her ecstasy is much more than that of Kṛṣṇa, so She’s the gainer. She’s the gainer, though She’s completely dependent on Kṛṣṇa, without Kṛṣṇa, She cannot think of anything, but Kṛṣṇa can think anything and everything without Her, externally. But here, neither externally nor internally, to maintain Her life is possible without Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī only in the case of mana, that is a necessary stage of love, only can dismiss Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa finally dismissed Her. Not within, but without, and joined the Dvārakā campaign, and so many others. So sacrifice, self-giving, self-offering is much more here than that side. So the gain is also weighed and shown that this Rādhārāṇī’s side has got greater weight.

Gaura Haribol. High talks, mad talks: so, high talks mean mad talks.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: There’s one, suchanda-vacanaṁ, devaṁ divya-tanuṁ suchanda- vacanaṁ. [From a prayer to Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja, composed by Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja] Describing you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi. Pralap vakra [?] Mahāprabhu says that is pralap vakra, anadhikāra, where we have got no right we are talking. No right, no right, we are talking, these are all useless talking. Gaura Haribol. Pralarp, a madman’s delirium, it is a sort of delirium to us, madman’s delirium.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So, we stop here today. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...in his own address, in Caitanya Candrodaya Maṭha he told, “Yes, I look after Govinda Mahārāja as my affectionate child.” Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Your Divine Grace, I’d like to offer this to you. Yesterday I got so much inspiration from your lecture that I wanted to write a little something, so I put some of my thoughts down there for you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is this?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He wrote, Kṛṣṇa Smrti Sudar Prabhu has written a prayer to you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is therein?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He can read to you?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He can read.

Kṛṣṇa Smrti Sudar dāsa: The six opulences of our spiritual master. As we have aspired for wealth, of house, family, and position, we discovered through our spiritual master the supreme wealth, the Holy Name. Sometimes we try to renounce this world and then become like stone. After some time we find a diamond, the supreme renouncer, who is our spiritual master. We are always looking at different ways to become famous, but the supreme fame is to serve the dust of the lotus feet of our spiritual master. We all have enthusiasm to desire knowledge, but the supreme knowledge is bhakta sevā given by our spiritual master. At times we are so much involved with our physical strength, our own health, that we forget the supreme strength of our spiritual master’s glance. How much beauty can the living entity have without the supreme beauty of the spiritual master’s love? Your worthless servant, Kṛṣṇa Smrti Sudar dāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You please read it again. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

Of course, really we can see the Supreme Entity on the head of our Guru Mahārāja. That has been said by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. A hundred times bright we see the object of our Supreme love just over the head of our Guru Mahārāja. That is the key to have a real sight of the Supreme Entity.

But the conception of Guru is dynamic. It is not static. As far as we shall go, approach nearer to some, new things will appear to us. Some will come in newer and newer colour, but it is the same, so the position of the Guru is also like that. Not that he’s changing his colour or his view. But that my ignorance is being removed more and more, and a clear sight I am having of him: a dynamic, not static. This we shall try to understand, the position of Guru, God, everything. As much as the cover will be removed, the vision will be deeper and deeper, clearer and clearer. Deeper and deeper we shall have ever new aspect in our conception about the whole, not only of Guru, Guru, Lord, everything.

A dynamic we shall always try to remember this that he’s dynamic in his characteristic and of variegated nature at the same time. I am seeing him in one way, another is seeing him in another colour, it is possible, according to His will. He’s to command, control. So the whole experience coming from the subjective, controlled by the subjective world, and not by the objective world. The super-subject is controlling the subject, to have experience of the environment, and not that the environment is exciting the senses, and through that it is trying to establish itself in the subjective realm. We don’t admit that sort of Darwin theory, ‘the object is all in all, he’s the master hand,’ no. The subject is all in all, and in a negligible part of this subjective whole, the objective conception is floating. Just as a piece of ice is floating in the ocean, so the objective world of experience is floating in a negligible part of the world. Just as prison house in a particular negligible place of the whole normal country. The country is normal we may think, then the prison house located in a particular place, and not very desirable: desirability only to educate the criminals. That is the optimistic or positive side. And negative, the undesirable punishment. Undesirable punishment of the criminals: that is the negative side, and the positive to remove their offences and to purify them. That is the positive, and that is located in a particular place and not to be comparable with the normal lives, and positions, freedom, all these comforts of the ordinary people who are not in the prison. So the conception of this māyāic world is negligible, perverted reflection, chāyeva durgā [Brahma-saṁhitā, 44] Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: The normal condition of the living entity is that with the Supreme, our eternal relationship. There are different philosophies coming in America, different swāmīs are preaching ultimately different conclusions. One conclusion is that the highest relationship we’ve ever got, that the living entity has gotten to is the brahmajyoti, Brahman realisation. And the other philosophy is that ultimately we have a - the highest form is conjugal love. So if the living entity has fallen from the spiritual world, what was our position originally? I don’t know if that’s clear or not.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Ah! Is your question, ‘how did we fall here?’

Devotee: If one time we were in the spiritual world full of bliss and knowledge and happiness...

...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Old question.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: We are not to think that we were in the spiritual world. We are to think that we were in the taṭasthā loka, in the marginal position.

[jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa'] kṛṣṇera 'taṭasthā-śakti' bhedābheda-prakāśa'

[Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 20.108]

The marginal potency, who has come out of the marginal potency, not the dedicating internal potency of Kṛṣṇa, nor the external potency of self seeking tendency, separate consciousness, consciousness of separate interest. That is the world, when the separate interest consciousness is prevailing, that is this world. And the Kṛṣṇa interest consciousness prevailing, that is the svarūpa śakti internal world. And the margin between the two is taṭasthā, that is the marginal potency, a peculiar position, inconceivable peculiar position, the margin between the two. The meeting place of two opposite forces, one in-carrying to the centre, and one out-carrying from the centre, and the margin, Virajā. And that is also conceived in two different ways, nearing this side is Virajā, and nearing the upper side is Brahmaloka. Generally jīva comes from Brahmaloka. And he comes to this side and some going that side, in this way the beginning we are to conceive.

But we have got adopt-ability within us for either of the worlds, the adopt-ability. That is not clear, vague, in germinal form, undetectable. And that by the influence of the environment it takes its way to this side, that side, in this way: and that depends on something that is also inconceivably a peculiar thing, free will. That is responsible, neither the God nor the māyā. The ultimate responsibility however subtle and small it may be in quantity and quality, still it is free will. The responsibility is with free will, however meagre, helpless, and vulnerable it may be. It has been traced finally that because he’s conscious unit, consciousness devoid of freedom it cannot be. It is unthinkable, inconceivable and un exist-able. Consciousness means free, and devoid of consciousness means matter. So because jīva is a unit of consciousness it is free, but it is very small, and the freedom is also very, very weak. Anyhow the first action began with his consent, that free will, and then the environment came. Just as in the case of a buffer state, inclination, cooperation, some sort of meagre consent, passive consent also, then the power from the next place comes to help him, and captures him. Just as Russia came to capture Afghanistan, with little consciousness, something, some consent, and taking advantage of that consent he entered and captured, in this way. The buffer state is in danger in this way.

So marginal potency we are to see. No blame to be put on the shoulder of Kṛṣṇa, neither māyā. But you are responsible for your own. You are weak, your thinking, your capacity, your everything is weak, but only with the help of the friendly big you can become big. And that is also always dependent big.

And that is the development in the negative side. As much dedication: you have nothing in calculation, but you are becoming master, that is the most inconceivable and wonderful magnanimity of what is called bhakti or love. Even the Absolute can be controlled by His negative potency. The potency in the eye of law has no position, but only position by the dint of the positive. Ostentatiously power is in the hand of the positive, but negative has got its own power to attract the positive in the law of relativity. Positive cannot stand without the negative, so He’s also dependent on the negative. Aggressing and aggressed, predominating and predominated. Guru is on the side of predominated.

In continuance to yesterday’s lecture I should say something more about Gurudeva.

Once, when I came in the beginning I found that Professor Nisikanta Sanyal he has written an address during the Vyāsa pūjā day, the day of advent of our Guru Mahārāja, in English.

And he mentioned there, “Because I do not know Kṛṣṇa, because you say that I have got some relation with Kṛṣṇa, so I go to seek my relationship with Kṛṣṇa, otherwise not.”

I could not understand this, in the beginning.

“I know you. You say that my duty is to serve Kṛṣṇa, so I consider it is my duty to serve Kṛṣṇa, otherwise not.”

I failed to understand this meaning of this passage in the beginning. Then after some years when in Rādhā-kuṇḍa our Guru Mahārāja he lived for a month and took some of his, several disciples there, in the month of Kārtika, urja-vrata.

Then one day, Paramānanda Prabhu was his pet disciple, and he came at the age of thirteen, perhaps he was the first or second disciple of him, child. He suddenly came from his morning walk, and put questions, told Prabhupāda that “dowei, that is the dewan, Chief Minister of Bharatpur State, he’s circumambulating Rādhā-kuṇḍa, and his wife and others, some other men and women, by lying and measuring, lie down and then mark, and again here lie down, then mark, in this way: the whole of Rādhā-kuṇḍa.”

Then Paramānanda Prabhu came and told Prabhupāda, “They also have great respect for Rādhārāṇī.”

Then Prabhupāda came out with his remark. “Yes, they have got real respect for Kṛṣṇa, and because Rādhārāṇī is favourite to Kṛṣṇa so they have got some concern with Rādhārāṇī. But ours is the opposite. This is to be remarked. We want Rādhārāṇī as our own, and because Rādhārāṇī wants Kṛṣṇa, so we have got our duty towards Kṛṣṇa. This is to be followed. Our main concern is with Rādhārāṇī and because She wants Kṛṣṇa, so we have got also some necessity in Kṛṣṇa.”

Then more clearly, there are so many jīva that comes out of the personal halo of particular great types of service. And Rādhārāṇī’s service is considered to be the most comprehensive, and in quality of the highest. So those that have got their resemblance, or some remote connection with Her lustre, units in the lustre of Her spiritual body, they know their immediate Mistress is Rādhārāṇī, direct contact with Her. And whatever Rādhārāṇī does they follow. Inseparably connected with Her. That is a particular group. So also so many souls, unit of souls around: within the halo of Baladeva, and different main servitors, moiety.

So Prabhupāda told, “We are really śakta, we are worshipper of śakti, potency, but not vidha-śakta but śuddha-śakta. We are, our, we’re also more concerned with the original potential half, potential half, in different aspects.”

And also we find: balav puspa pata [?] She’s named, as just in a lata, in a creeper, so many branches, so many leaves, so many flowers, all these things, and so the whole is a creeper, so in the śakti of different types also. The main is someone, and other constituent parts, ornamental parts there, in this way. They never want Kṛṣṇa in direct connection; that is their innate nature, want direct connection. But Rādhārāṇī sometimes, She in any plea, under some plea, She allows some private contact of them with Kṛṣṇa. That is Her...

End of 82.01.08.C_82.01.09.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.09.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...we lose our taste, our taste is lost there when we go to measure things with a rod, with a standard in our heart, so jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.3]. Locate yourself in a sort of infinite limitation. Infinite limitation is jñāna-sunya-bhakti, crossing the stage where we hanker after the infinite characteristic of the Supreme. That is not very tasteful. This is the statement of the devotees and Mahāprabhu, to go to measure the huge, the aiśvarya, the majesty, the magnanimity. All these things are great attributes they may be, they are, but that won’t serve our purpose to its highest interest.

We tiny fellow, we should be adjusted in such a position that with the seeming finite environment, apparent finite environment, and the infinite characteristic must be left below. That we find in jñāna-sunya-bhakti, in Bhāgavatam. That is most suiting and most beneficial to us, we find as grace, we can thrive there most. That is the conclusion. Don’t go to tackle the infinite characteristic of the Absolute. There you’ll lose. The attempt of measurement, you’ll be lost there. You can’t get anything in return as any benefit. So jñāna-sunya-bhakti. Tackle the plane of affection and love. There you’ll be more – you’ll be gainer, more gainer there. That is the be all and end all of the teachings of Bhāgavatam and Mahāprabhu, jñāna-sunya-bhakti.

But sometimes it is necessary for the preacher to prove, show to the public what status the jñāna-sunya-bhakti has got in its ontological comparison in discussion. But ultimately we accept that only to bury it underground and there to put up a plant of Tulasī. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. But that is indirect aspect of our attainment, not direct. Without taking to the knowing or understanding element within us, eliminating from the beginning, we can achieve the highest point.

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has said that kaniṣṭha adhikārī if fortunately he comes in contact with uttama adhikārī, the madhyama adhikārī that is the ocean of science, knowledge, he can easily, unconsciously he can cross over and go to jñāna-sunya-bhakti, prema-bhakti. Jñāne parisamāpyate, karmākhilaṁ, jñāne parisamāpyate.

[śreyān dravyamayād yajñāj, jñāna-yajñaḥ parantapa

sarvaṁ karmākhilaṁ pārtha, jñāne parisamāpyate]

[“O Arjuna, subduer of the enemy, of those various sacrifices, the sacrifice of knowledge as mentioned, brahmāgnāv apare [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.25] is far superior to the sacrifice of various articles, indicated by brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma haviḥ [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.24], because all action ultimately culminates in knowledge.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.33]

And jñāna takes us to prema and disappears. But the kaniṣṭha adhikārī if he comes in connection from the beginning, fortunately, with an uttama adhikārī, then unconsciously he can cross over the ocean of knowledge and he may have got his settlement in the devotional space, stage. And the madhyama adhikāra, this jñāna bhakti, that is a little dangerous. Sometimes we may be lost while in the midst of calculation. There is possibility if we have no bona fide connection with the higher devotional school. That is dangerous, ‘that we are subject and everything is object of my calculation, of my measurement.’ That attitude is dangerous, ‘that there cannot be super-subject.’ I must be conscious always that the higher realm that has got subjective character and not objective. If we can have that sort of consciousness then there is possibility of commitment of error very small.

Just like the Māyāvādī, they consider Brahman but they cannot consider Para-Brahman. ‘Brahmāsmi, brahma-bhūta, the status of jīva is that of Brahman.’ But then the Para-Brahman aspect is there, the Puruṣottama aspect is there, Vāsudeva aspect.

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ

[“After many, many births and deaths, one who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.19]

Such a jñānī is very rarely to be found who can, vāsudevaḥ sarvam, who can see Para-Brahman, Puruṣottama. So jñāna is very dangerous, jñāna, this knowing, ‘I shall know everything. I am subject and everything will be my object. What cannot be within the jurisdiction of my objective sensation, experience, I won’t admit that. I won’t admit that to be existent at all.’ There we eliminate the adhokṣaja realm. The Rāmānuja, Madhvācārya, all the Ācārya are eliminated there, ‘that I am the subject, and everything must be the object of my knowledge. Then I shall stand guarantee for their existence, otherwise not.’ That is a dangerous way of thinking and the Māyāvādīns they vanish here.

And those that can really accept the existence of Super-subjective realm, ‘I’m subject and these things are object: then there’s super existence to which I’m object, and He’s subject.’ In this way it is gone to the infinite. And only by sevāya we can pass those places, pierce through that land. By walking I cannot go over the sea, and by walking I cannot go to the moon, in this way. So only by the acceptance of our serving nature we can go through, we can walk through the ways of the higher region. That is to be reckoned. That is all-important factor that is the basis of the real devotion, that there are domains which is made of higher things than we are made of.

vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy ādi sakala cinmaya, [māyika bhūtera tathi janma nāhi haya]

[“The earth, water, fire, air and ether of Vaikuṇṭha are all spiritual. Material elements are not found there.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 5.53]

The earth, the water, the air, everything is consciousness, and of higher quality than we, our subjective existence are of. This idea we must try to foster, understand and follow. Then we can have some sort of conception that which side the God lives, where the God lives, what is the domain of the God. And it is not imagination, or speculation, or hallucination. That is concrete. We can have that sort of faith within us, higher subjective, higher, higher subjective characteristic of things. Just in the lower also objective, this mud, then the dry earth, then the stone, then the iron, in this way developing in grossness. The water, then the grossness is also increasing, so subtly also increasing in the subjective character there. This we are to realise primarily, then our religious life will be genuine. Otherwise imagination, we can’t depend on that. Now our speculation, emotion, I’m thinking that I have achieved anything and everything like Nadiyānanda and his brothers. And then I shall find I’m nowhere. This is not imagination, this is reality, and what sort of reality, that we are to understand very firmly. That will be the basis of our religious life, that sort of conception will be basis. And then we’ll be able to know about our progress, whether it is genuine or it is concoction. Imagination of a thing is not is not that thing. And it will come inevitably.

This Bābājī Mahārāja told, Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja he was living in a hut on the banks of the Ganges. Another gentleman he also taking such robe of a bābājī constructed another hut nearby. And he began to imitate Bābājī Mahārāja, physically, his dress, his taking food, and any other process also he began to imitate. Then someone came and placed this to Bābājī Mahārāja, perhaps one of his, one who had some respect for him.

Then Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja remarked, “Only if a lady enters into a labour room and imitates the sounds of another lady who is producing, giving birth to a child – generally when ladies they give birth to a child they feel some sort of pain and some sort of sound also perhaps they may produce or something like that. But the lady who has got no child in the womb and if she enters into the room of labour and imitates that sound no child will come out.”

So only physical imitation of a sādhu that won’t do, that won’t do. Śuddha-sattva, the sattva-guṇa, sattva, raja, tama, and there is viśuddha-sattva. Mahādeva says in Bhāgavatam,

sattvam viśuddham vasudeva śabditam, [yad īyate tatra pumān apāvṛtaḥ

sattve ca tasmin bhagavān vāsudevo, hy adhokṣajo me namasā vidhīyate]

[“I am always engaged in offering obeisances to Lord Vāsudeva in pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is always pure consciousness, in which the Supreme Personality of Godhead, known as Vāsudeva, is revealed without any covering.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 4.3.23]

It is there, a concrete thing, sattvam viśuddham. Just as the knowledge, the consciousness is a finer substance than the iron and earth. It is a wonderful thing this consciousness this is easily understood, wonderful thing in comparison with the earthen pot and other, the iron. So also, this is sattva-guṇa, which is in the relativity of this material world, and viśuddha-sattva, who has got no connection with material conception. It can conceive itself, viśuddha-sattva, sattvam viśuddham vasudeva śabditam. The world there is made of all consciousness, not of any material substance, sattvam viśuddham vasudeva śabditam. It is continued. The knowing aspect of this world is continued to be finer and finer and finest in this way, and merges in prema, in love. So sattvam viśuddham vasudeva śabditam, what is Vāsudeva in proper? Vāsudeva means viśuddha-sattva, the finest substance, finest substance, vasudeva śabditam.

Yad īyate tatra pumān apāvṛtaḥ. And if we can find the pumān, pumān means Puruṣa, that is the Predominating aspect, the personal conception there in that plane, in the finest conception of spiritual substance, when we can by close connection we can detect that that is personal existence, then that is Vāsudeva. That is no longer a substance of objective existence, but subjective existence we can trace Para-Brahman Vāsudeva.

Mahādeva says that, “My head is always bowing on that, showing reverence to that existence, that viśuddha-sattva. Sattvam viśuddham vasudeva śabditam, that is known as Vasudeva, the father of Kṛṣṇa, and there Vāsudeva which grows higher from that foundation, Vasudeva is a foundation and Vāsudeva again springing up higher. That is Vāsudeva. Vāsudeva who is seen, who could be seen through Vasudeva that as if He’s coming from Vasudeva, the higher existence, that is Vāsudeva. And my head is always connected that I’m always conscious of the fact and my head is drawn incessantly connected, tied with that consciousness. So it was not possible to take my head from that layer and to bow down to my so-called father-in-law Dakṣa.”

This is when Durgā Devī asked Śiva when that – the thing is that Dakṣa, the father of Satī, he arranged for a sacrifice and invited all the gods and they came. And Śiva he also joined, he was invited and joined. But Brahmā, the father of Dakṣa, he did not show any respect to Dakṣa. Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa He also did not, and all other gods showed some respect to Dakṣa, but Śiva did not.

Though Dakṣa was enraged, “I’m his father-in-law. Why he should not show respect to me?” So he announced another sacrifice, a great utsava, and invited all the gods, and did not invite Mahādeva. It is to insult him he began a bigger sacrificial ceremony and did not send any invitation to Śiva.

Then all are going to attend the ceremony, and because Śiva is not invited, so Dakṣa’s daughter, Śiva’s wife, Satī, she can’t go because her husband is not invited. Then she could not control her, she asked permission from Śiva that, “Allow me to attend the function.”

Mahādeva told, “He has purposely eliminated us to insult, so if you go there the situation won’t be happy, so it is better not to go there.”

But she did not mind it. “No, my father’s house, so many sisters and others as kinsmen are attending and I won’t go, that cannot be.” In this way.

Then Śiva: “If you like you may go, but I don’t voluntarily allow you to go. You may go.”

Then Satī went there. Ah! Then Satī asked, “Then why did you not show obeisance to Dakṣa? He has eliminated you what for? Because you did not show any respect. After all he’s your wife’s father, that is father-in-law, so you should have shown some respect to him.”

Then in answer to that Śiva says this śloka in Bhāgavatam.

sattvam viśuddham vasudeva śabditam, yad īyate tatra pumān apāvṛtaḥ

sattve ca tasmin bhagavān vāsudevo, hy adhokṣajo me namasā vidhīyate

[“I am always engaged in offering obeisances to Lord Vāsudeva in pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is always pure consciousness, in which the Supreme Personality of Godhead, known as Vāsudeva, is revealed without any covering.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 4.3.23]

“Devī, to speak you really, my heart, my head is always connected with Vāsudeva. Where is that Vāsudeva? Sattvam viśuddham, viśuddha-sattva is Vāsudeva, and who is supposed to be seen on that plane, in the plane Vāsudeva who is playing. The playing, the higher substance, that on the basis of Vāsudeva, that foundation He’s living and doing His pastimes, His movement there. There my head is always connected, and to take it from there and to put it to any other lower position, it is impossible for me. So I could not. My exclusive and final respect is connected with Vāsudeva always. So to withdraw from that position and to show some respect to any other place that was not possible for me. This is the – not to insult him, but the fact is such. It has got some positive meaning.”

So there this śloka, viśuddha-sattva, the sattva means higher substance, that is the knowing substance, and then viśuddha-sattva, it is produced to the higher direction, viśuddha-sattva. And there we find that original conception, and this world is only a perverted reflection of that. We come to understand like this.

So the meaning of everything when the rein is taken off it runs towards the – to connect it with the highest cause. So meanings of different stages we find, in Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, everywhere, in every mantra of Veda, everywhere. The meaning from the superficial to the internal, and inner, innermost, in this way the meaning of everything will connect with Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Good, the Autocrat, the Loving Substance. In this way meanings will vary according to different stages.

The conception of the Sun: a child he may have some sort of conception of the Sun or Moon, the grown persons they will some greater. In this way, the scientific they will have more, closer conception. In this way everything goes to the infinite position in connection with Him. He’s everything, He’s infinite. Everything is infinite. Soul’s prospect is also infinite and goes to that jñāna-sunya-bhakti and takes some shape of finite characteristic there, jñāna-sunya. And when we’re in the stage of calculation everything becomes infinite. And when it comes again in the position of tastefulness it has to locate, the journey is finished and there some hut is built and begins to stay and enjoy his life in a particular duty being fixed.

So Mahāprabhu has asked, “Come to this stage and leave your horse, or your conveyance, and construct a hut and live here and no further.”

The jñāna is like a horse on which we can ride and go, make progress, jñāna proper. And generally it comes and stops in the Virajā Brahmaloka. Buddhists stop their chariot in Virajā. And Śaṅkara he stops his chariot, the horses, in the Brahmaloka. Then comes Rāmānuja. With the help of the devotees, take the service. Visa, to accept a visa you must prove some interest there on that land, someone is there, some person, some interest, real interest, and they’ll be satisfied, then they’ll issue visa. Show some interest there. So if you want to enter that land you must have some interest there, and then the visa will be allowed. Not your interest, but the interest to be located there, then you’ll be taken in. So your ruci, you are going to serve, not to rob that land, but you are to contribute something to the land, some interest, then you’ll be allowed to enter.

Parvat Mahārāja: Haribol.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, why is it that we’re accepting the name Kṛṣṇa, rather there are so many names of Kṛṣṇa, Gopāla, Govinda, Vāsudeva, why especially the name Kṛṣṇa we are chanting?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: According to the position of ones realisation Kṛṣṇa is also in a Vaikuṇṭha name. There is in Veda the Kṛṣṇa name is mentioned as that of āsura, demon. And in Vaikuṇṭha also the Nārāyaṇa is in the centre, and twenty four delegated figures around Him, and there is also one whose name is Kṛṣṇa. And then that Svayaṁ Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, then Dvārakā Kṛṣṇa, Mathurā Kṛṣṇa, there is also differentiation. So according to the quality of differentiation the name Kṛṣṇa will have its importance.

The Māyāvādī they also have some sort of faith in Kṛṣṇa, but that is this side, in māyā. They also have respect for Kṛṣṇa, but Brahman is above Kṛṣṇa, in that way.

According to the nature of realisation, the meaning, the purpose of Kṛṣṇa differs. And from, the source from which the first impression is coming and guiding us, it will depend on that. And we’ll find that the highest is Kṛṣ-ṇa, Who can attract everyone. Kṛṣ-ṇa, akāṛṣaṇ, the centre of gravitation can give, the attraction can give the – create the cosmos, attraction.

The Sun, Moon, so many planets, they’re all depending on the force of attraction. So many molecules and atoms by attraction they’re producing things. Different shapes, different colours, everything is combination of attraction. It depends on attraction in its differentiative character, otherwise all would be dissolved, no figure, nothing, this attraction. So attraction and when the attraction when endowed with life that is love. And the centre of love that is two-fold, positive, negative, and They’re attracted by one another, each other. Everyone, even the jīva has got some attraction; it can attract something around him. The attraction Absolute that is Kṛṣṇa and when that is living that is love, the centre of love, centre of prema is Kṛṣṇa. And nothing else is necessary. Everyone’s dire necessity in his existence is attraction. So Kṛṣṇa, He attracts, wholesale attractor of us, wholesale attractor.

I feel that when we take the name Kṛṣṇa every nerve is attracted. The very existence is channelled outside Him, His interest, the attraction, wholesale attraction of everything comes from that centre, Kṛṣṇa. And we must be conscious of the fact of our existence, that the basic principle of our life is almost solved. Where we take our stand, that is attraction, there we stand. The earth, everything stands on that plane, moves by the attraction.

On the higher zone there is no attraction so they cannot walk. After coming down from this sputnik they cannot walk as they do here, is it not? Have you not found in paper, that they cannot walk coming out of that – sputnik, they cannot walk as on the earth. They have to do something like swim.

Parvat Mahārāja: Gravity is different.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No gravity, no gravitation. So the attraction is our foundation. No attraction we cannot move, inert, attraction helps us in all phases of our life. We cannot eliminate its utility and necessity from our existence, but we must be conscious of that. And there our satisfaction can stay safe. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Attraction, and that sort of attraction attracts me, safe, the love also attracts in the living, the physical attraction and the living attraction is love, affection. That is very happy thing, pleasing, no doubt, attraction. So we say that the point of attraction is loving, not – and the loving in the charming camp banish our enquiry. If we’re satisfied with love, then our imagination and our aspiration for further enquiry and discovery is finished.

‘I have got my desired end, the taste of love. That seems to be the highest thing of our aspiration. We can stop, our journey’s stopped there if we can land in a loving land, in the land of love.’

That is explicitly given in Bhāgavatam and especially inaugurated by Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanya Deva, prema, bhāgavat-prema, that mystic realisation of charm and beauty. That is our innate enquiry, we are to detect that. In the heart of our heart the space and the enquiry is only for such things which can quench our thirst, and nothing else. Knowledge is only making enquiry, why. Why enquiry? To find inner satisfaction, his enquiry is to satisfy the inner interest, inner enquiry. And when he finds it he’s finished.

‘No more enquiry necessary. I’ve got my desired thing for which I was in searching mood life after life. I have got that.’

And this is prema, affection, love, beauty, charm, which can stop our progress with guarantee.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

[śreyān dravyamayād yajñāj, jñāna-yajñaḥ parantapa]

sarvaṁ karmākhilaṁ pārtha, jñāne parisamāpyate

[“O Arjuna, subduer of the enemy, of those various sacrifices, the sacrifice of knowledge as mentioned, brahmāgnāv apare [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.25] is far superior to the sacrifice of various articles, indicated by brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma haviḥ [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.24], because all action ultimately culminates in knowledge.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.33]

Karma is finished where knowledge begins, and when knowledge,

tapasvibhyo ‘dhiko yogī, jñānibhyo ‘pi mato ‘dhikaḥ

karmibhyaś cādhiko yogī, tasmād yogī bhavārjuna

[“The yogī who is a worshipper of the Supersoul is superior to persons engrossed in severe austerities such as the cāndrāyaṇa, superior to the worshippers of Brahman, and superior to the fruitive workers. Know this certainly to be My conclusion. Therefore, O Arjuna, be a yogī.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.46]

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ, mad-gatenāntarātmanā

śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ, sa me yuktatamo mataḥ

[“Among all types of yogīs, the most elevated of all is the devotee who has full faith in the authoritative pure devotional scriptures, and who adores Me with all their heart by hearing and singing My divine glories, rendering all services unto Me. Certainly this is My opinion.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.47]

“When he has got My service, My sevā, then everything finished, all eliminated, everything dismissed. He has engaged in My service. Mad-gatenāntarātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ. He’s the highest of all the yogīs, all the jñānīs, all the tapasvis, all the karmīs, who has come to Me and who has got full engagement, cent per cent engagement in Me. I consider him to be the highest. Otherwise there are tapasvis, yogīs, jñānīs, etc, so many, siddhas, attempting students. But when he has got the service in Me, the student life finished, enquiry finished. He will be busy then how to satisfy Me. He’s engaged all his talents only that nitya-sevā. And that is also of infinite character, not finite. Different departments of service and evolving different type of – the garland, the bed, the food, so many departments, diplomatic section: so many sections there. And he’s engaged there and he’s fully engrossed in his duty. Everyone’s duty is infinite. You may use your talent to its best limit to show how improved service you can render. The scope is there. But mainly it is service, not enquiry for any other fortune. You’re not a fortune seeker any longer. Fortune is fixed, and there you are showing your genius in that limitation. And you find that you are thriving there most.”

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi.

Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Mahāprabhu.

Mahāprabhu. Gaurāṅga Sundar. Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Any other query? Mahāprabhu. Gaurāṅga Sundar. Gaurāṅga Sundar bada nitya neha nama bhir [?] Prabhodananda Sarasvati. Gauranga nagara bara nitya neha nama bhir [?] The nagara means citizen, the ideal citizen, Gaurāṅga. Nimāi. He’s dancing with His own name, gauranga nagara bara. Nagara means not only ordinary citizen, but a standard citizen who has got, resourceful citizen. And also whose smart and having some leading talent and resources, this nagara. He’s dancing, drawing the nectar from His own name. He’s drinking the nectar from within and dancing. That is the representation of Gaurāṅga, by Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, the Guru, the spiritual guide of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa. Brother of Veṅkata Bhaṭṭa, who has written Rādhā-rasa-sudhānidhi, and also Vṛndāvana-sataka, Navadwīpa-sataka, and very fervent style of writing, very high, deep, and comprehensive, impressive, and also symbols accommodating variegated sentiments, forceful style.

And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s translation of that Sanskrit poem into Bengali that seems to be most beautiful and original. Just like it cannot be thought as translation, it seems to be of original characteristic, the translation. At least I have found there that quality. The translation, that seems to be original: such colour is to be found there in the translation.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gauranga nagara bara nitya neha nama bhir [?]

Jīva Goswāmī: sva-bhajana vibhajana prayojan avatari. Whose own attitude, whose business is to distribute His own attitude to the public, that is His nature. What is the necessity of His life...

End of 82.01.09.B

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Start of 82.01.09.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...subsidiary friends to come in direct contact with Kṛṣṇa. But the very nature of the sakhīs, she friends of Her, they never want any contact, direct contact with Kṛṣṇa. Always the very nature of serving tendency is such that they seek the best satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa and they are fully conscious that Rādhārāṇī alone can supply that happiness to Him.

‘And we shall all help Her so that She being helped by our services approaches to satisfy the desires of Kṛṣṇa. And thereby we will be more – will shall derive more benefit. If we approach direct we will be loser. But if we approach Kṛṣṇa through Rādhārāṇī, in every way we shall derive more benefit.’

So Rādhā-kaiṅkaryyaṁ, Rādhā-dāsya, that has been told for us to be our highest, the summon bonum of our life, highest end, Rādhā-kaiṅkaryya ______________________ [?] kaiṅkaryya of Kṛṣṇa in a general sense, but in a particular, we are servitors in different ______ [?]

This is in mādhurya-rasa, in vātsalya-rasa, in sākhya-rasa, and the Guru represents the highest position. In its highest conception he holds the position in every rasa the direct servitor of Kṛṣṇa. It reaches gradually there, in its highest conception. But relatively, again we are required to come down a little more. From Rādhārāṇī there is Lalitā group sakhī, and there are so many groups of sakhī, and the Rūpa Mañjarī, the principal of the girl servitors. And so on in the vātsalya-rasa, sākhya-rasa, dāsya-rasa, everywhere, in this way.

But we are more concerned with the mādhurya-rasa, as in our mantra, the Rūpānuga sampradāya, and in the mantra, and in the Guru paramparā we find that all within mādhurya-rasa. That mādhurya-rasa is the combination of all rasa. Ādi-rasa, one of its names and _______ [?] is Ādi-rasa. That is the most original rasa is this rasa and it is the combination of all rasa, the sākhya, the vātsalya, dāsya, śanta, all the essence of all other rasa is present in mādhurya-rasa. Or the mukhya-rasa, that is principal rasa in the service of Kṛṣṇa, kiśora Kṛṣṇa.

And our highest approach should be the service of Rādhārāṇī in the hierarchy, and it is Her business to look after the real satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, and none else can do so. Only She’s the fittest to render real service to Kṛṣṇa. And we should be accordingly adjusted under Her serving hierarchy in a proper place. Then we’ll be best beneficiary. Otherwise if we’re located here and there wrongly then we’re gone. We can’t hope what will be our normal position and normal gain. Only properly located we’ll be able to draw our most, our salary, our remuneration, in the term of love. Love, attraction towards Kṛṣṇa, that will be more and more, and that is the coin by which we are paid, the coin of love, more attraction towards Kṛṣṇa if properly located. And then our service, our remuneration will be more. Otherwise we shall have to labour on some anomaly. And to the fine adjustment we shall have to come anyhow.

That is the, and the nearest leader we shall see through whom the order for the necessary service is reaching me, and who is taking my service and passing it through the proper channel to Kṛṣṇa. And they’re not hindrances, not opaque, but transparent. Not only transparent but they’re helping more. Our capacity will be enhanced. When it is passing through that it will be purer, purer. Any anomaly, that will be purified and it will be taken to Kṛṣṇa in its purest quality.

So they’re all guardians, they’re all well-wishers, and though they’re mediator, standing in the middle, not hampering but improving my fortune, in this way we are to reckon. So we are seeing always: dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsatvam, this is the clue they’re giving.

Mahāprabhu says, so many devotees say that, “Only the direct servant, I can’t tolerate that teja [?] that who are in power by direct.”

Just as we can get best benefit of the Sun if we’re adjusted in a particular distance. If we’re put in the nearer we’ll be burned to ashes. So adjustment is a very precious thing, proper adjustment. There we get our best benefit, adjustment. So in the question of adjustment and our innate value, valuation of calculation we are posted, quality, quantity, we are posted in a particular place, position, where we can get most. That is wanted.

Our Guru Mahārāja used in his last days, often he used: “Religion is proper adjustment, proper adjustment.”

So we shall try to adjust to realise to understand this maxim: that is the Hegel’s, as I always say, “Die to live.” Die to live. This is Vaikuṇṭha. Death is finished in this world. But in the eternal world where death is absent, there ‘die to live’ means by sacrifice we can become great. Here also partially, one may give up the money, he gets the fame, the life of a fame. So ‘Die to live,’ and, ‘Everything is for Himself.’ We are to adjust with this, that He’s the enjoyer, and we’re supplier of His enjoyment. That is our natural position and we can thrive only in that plane, in that attitude. By giving we can thrive, to Him, we are to accommodate ourselves with this tendency. Through service we live, and through renunciation, exploitation, we die.

That is our innate nature. We must adjust ourselves with that principle. Then we are invincible. We are invincible. None, nothing in the world can take away from this principle of life, if we can adjust properly what is service, what is dedication, what is surrender, and how helpful that is to us. Especially when we’re in the midst of gross exploitation, and if not so, renunciation of any type. The renunciation and exploitation, these are the two general enemies of the devotees. And if we can cross these two enemy lands then of course then there is Vaikuṇṭha, and the highest position is that of automatic, spontaneous surrendering love of Kṛṣṇaloka. Mainly, these few planes we are to be acquainted with, what is what. Then we can maintain our consciousness, ourselves in the plane of Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka Vṛndāvana. What is Vṛndāvana? In the ontological conception we must have such idea. And if we can adjust with this we can be invincible. And we’ll be bold enough to announce to the world, so many, all the souls we find:

yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa, āmāra ājñāya [guru hañā tāra ei deśa

kabhu nā vādhibe tomāra viṣaya-taraṅga, punarapi ei ṭhāñi pābe mora saṅga]

[“Instruct whoever you meet in the science of Kṛṣṇa. Teach them the instructions of Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā, and the teachings about Kṛṣṇa in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way, on My order, become a Guru and liberate everyone in the land. If you follow this instruction, the waves of materialism within this world will not affect you. Indeed, if you follow My order, you will soon attain My association.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 7.128-9]

Quite confident, strongly established in such position, anyone I see I shall say, “Oh, what are you doing? Save yourself. Come in contact with Kṛṣṇaloka. You’ll be saved and prosper beyond your conception. Why do you lose your capital, investing them in this mundane and filthy world of exploitation? Everyone is trying to exploit the vitiated world. Why do you put your energy, capital, in this filthy and mundane world? Go. Come. And put your investment, whatever you have got, little, on such bank, invulnerable bank you deposit. It will come to you in time of need and immensely beyond your expectation you’ll have profit there.” In this way we are to approach one and all whatever he be.

Swāmī Mahārāja told, “So many dogs in the UNO they’re talking about Russia and America and this Iran, this oil problem is the greatest problem for the civilisation nowadays. And because the Arabian countries they’re in possession of that oil everyone is looking with a greedy eye, and talking and gesturing, posturing. All these things to that oil centre.”

America, two or three years ago declared that, ‘Oil is indispensable to keep up our civilisation. So without oil we shall die, we shall have to die. It is better that we shall fight. We shall fight and die. Why should we die for want of oil? Our civilisation will be finished if we don’t get the oil. So why should we be finished in that way? Rather, we shall give a fight, and then if we can’t attain victory we shall die. We won’t allow our civilisation to die fasting, but rather in a battlefield.’ That was declared two or three years ago. I remember I saw it in a paper.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

None come today from Māyāpur?

Devotee: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. I passed last night with some apprehension after hearing from Ambujaka Prabhu about the present position of ISKCON, I’m very much troubled at heart. The great ISKCON of Swāmī Mahārāja. They’re keeping something else, can’t keep the standard of his purity of purpose, engaged in self-seeking, or materialistic grandeur, formality. They’re at stake, the present position. It is very deplorable to me. We feel proud, infinitely proud we feel for his great success to carry out the message of Mahāprabhu so far and wide, capturing the whole of the world. And so soon if that structure be slackened it is a very deplorable thing. Where is Ambujaka Prabhu?

Aranya Mahārāja: He’s in Calcutta. He’s getting his things to come here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s gone to Calcutta?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, to bring some things, belongings.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But what he told, as he presented, that very soon it will be dismembered. It’s very difficult to conceive things in that way. How to keep it up to standard? That is our great pride.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

I don’t know whether it is too much candid, they say even Jayapataka Mahārāja he will also leave. His apprehension is like that he will also leave. He’s so energetically moving on all sides to keep up the dignity of – he says that he will also come and leave the administration and will come, because he’s simple and he’s plain thinking man. He can’t remain in that diplomatic circle for long. That is his opinion. I don’t think so much, but still whatever shadow he cast in my mind I passed last night, an unpleasant night I passed herein. Let Kṛṣṇa save, Guru Mahārāja save, let Swāmī Mahārāja help such great child, great child the ISKCON, the pride of us all. Gaura Haribol. Kṛṣṇa knows well than we are, nothing is, it is not so favourite to us than His. He’s most favourite. He knows everything and well, more than us. But from our position we deplore. Let God save, let Kṛṣṇa save, Guru Mahārāja, Mahāprabhu save from such dismemberment, disruption.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

I had the conception of Madhyadwīpa project, that if they remained and wants to take you all again, the Madhyadwīpa will also enter into the ISKCON. That idea I fostered within. It will remain intact, Swāmī Mahārāja’s glory.

It is true I now remember that Swāmī Mahārāja requested me, I now remember clearly, to take the post of President in the ISKCON. I remember that.

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I forgot, but now when reminded I can recollect that yes, he proposed me to be the President of ISKCON. But he has gone. So early he has finished his duty. Kṛṣṇa has called him.

Mahāprabhu. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi. Mahāprabhu Gaurāṅga Sundara.

Gaurāṅga sundara bara nitya nira nama bhir [?]

Acyutānanda once told, he was sent by my advice to stay with Dāmodara Mahārāja and to find some land there for purchasing. And he went and lived there for few days. And Dāmodara Mahārāja a little crack vent somewhat. Leaving him in his house he went for collection, and few days food only in store, and finishing that Acyutānanda he’s fasting. After one days fast he came away to me.

Then what’s the matter?

“Dāmodara Mahārāja gone out and the food he kept for me that is finished in two days. And I’m fasting the last day wholesale, and today also I have to fast I have come here.”

Yes you did. Then Govinda Mahārāja or someone he, “Why did you not come yesterday?”

“He told that he will come back.”

“Unnecessarily you are observing fast one day and a half without anything.”

He told, “Kṛṣṇa dancing.” That was his very charming reply he made, “Kṛṣṇa dancing. He has no time to think of others. And we are cast aside by the wave of His dancing, hither and thither, and some falling, some breaking his legs, and some losing consciousness. But He’s engaged in His dancing.” Something like that, I’m elaborating, he told, “Kṛṣṇa dancing, He has no time to think about us. And we are suffering, we are cast aside by the wave of His joyful dancing, and we are thrown this side, that side, no care, no caretaker of us.”

The Kṛṣṇa dancing: the līlā of the Lord. And this is of course our desirable thing that He will dance. And we shall rather fall at His feet, “Dance over my chest my Lord. Why do You dance on the earth?”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Sarvabhavana Prabhu is expected this morning.

Devotee: You told us an example of Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī, about the pregnant woman and a woman who’s not really pregnant, just imitating.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Imitation is not realisation. We are to know it as a general thing that imitation is not proper realisation, the outward imitation. The taking the dress of a sannyāsī is not real sannyāsī, but mockery. That is rather offensive: without realising a particular position you take. If I take the dress of a king or a police officer I’ll be punished, If I take the police officer’s dress or anyone to deceive the public I should be punished. So in the spiritual world no such punishment is seen from this plane, but punishment it attacks there on the higher plane. But now there are agents who make us careful about the imitationists. ‘Don’t mix with them. Try to understand what is the real symptom of a real thing. Don’t approach the sham, the adulterated goods. Don’t approach to buy or purchase the adulterated things. All that glitters is not gold. Glittering is not the only qualification of gold, there’s something more.’ Something like that. Do you follow?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is a general thing, but it is very difficult to understand the highly valued things. There is every possibility of being imitation. Imitation comes in the market why: to get more money. So highly valued things will have most, greater imitation, they’re more dangerous than the ordinary exploitationist.

You see, you know the Rāma Rāvaṇa Jeda [?] Mahi Rāvaṇa [?] have you heard, anyone of you? When Rāma is engaged in fighting with Rāvaṇa in Laṅkā, Śrī Laṅkā, many of the heroes of the Rāvaṇa group had been killed, then Rāvaṇa disappointed remembered that one of his sons is living underground in the lower world, subterranean.

Perhaps as I was told the atomic war there creating town underground: is it not, to save persons from atomic attack.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Fallout shelter, bomb shelter they call that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is the technical name of that?

Aranya Mahārāja: Bomb shelter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bomb shelter? No, some other.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Fallout shelter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And that will be controlled by the machine man, robot. The robot controls the subterranean town.

Anyhow that Mahi Rāvaṇa [?], Rāvaṇa’s one son, he lived in the subterranean town of his own, and he was informed and he came to see Rāvaṇa and told, heard, ‘So many things have happened. Almost all the stalwarts are killed in the battle with Rāma.’

After hearing, the Mahi Rāvaṇa also as went to advise Rāvaṇa that, “Why in this unfortunate battle you have engaged yourself? Still there is time. You may be saved if you respectfully return Sītā Devī, His beloved wife, only wife He has got. Generally the kings they have got any number of wives. He has got only one wife. How beloved She is to Him, and you have taken Her. It is very deplorable father. You give Her back to Rāma and get a truce, a peace.”

But Rāvaṇa enraged, “What do you know? I have called you only to help me, not to instruct me.”

“Then of course if you wish, desire so, I’m ready to sacrifice my life.”

So he was a highly qualified magician. He anyhow managed, Rāma-Lakṣmaṇa, he wanted: he planned to carry Rāma-Lakṣmaṇa to his subterranean palace.

And Vibhiṣana, the brother who had sided Rāmacandra, he cautioned Rāma. “The most dangerous mystic hypnotist, magician, son of Rāvaṇa has come, and something inconceivable is going to happen. You, Hanumān, Sugriva, keep Rāma-Lakṣmaṇa in a very guarded position. I suppose he will try his best to steal Rāma-Lakṣmaṇa from our midst. I think if his plan will be such, so guard Them in any way, especially in the night when They will sleep.”

Then Hanumān, they constructed a temporary room and Hanumān is guarding: night guard always. And Vibhiṣana he’s giving a view, surveying the whole battle position of the army and he’s patrolling, and now and then coming: “Hanumān, are you ready, none have entered?”

“Yes. Some came to enter. One came in the form of Kausalya, Rāma’s mother.”

“I can’t see Rāmacandra. I can’t keep my life any more. Please show my affectionate son, Rāma.”

“In this way I have dismissed her. No. Where Kausalya for so long, and only today you have come? I don’t believe in you. Then came as Rāmacandra’s father-in-law, Janaka, in this, that, in so many forms.”

“Very careful, if your father comes don’t allow him to enter within. Guard very strictly.”

In this way his appealing, warning, and he’s patrolling the whole position.

Then, when so many attempts failed, that Mahi Rāvaṇa he had some new play, plan. He took the figure of Vibhiṣana himself, and came. “Hanumān, are you very careful? Very careful you should remain. If your father himself comes don’t allow him to enter.”

“No, no.”

“But are They safe? Are you sure?”

“Yes, They are safe.”

“Let me go, enter and see whether They’re in safe order or not.”

Hanumān thought, ‘the Vibhiṣana he’s my guide. He told about this mischievous plan and he’s the most interested person.’ He allowed him to enter.

Then Vibhiṣana again came in his patrol, “Hanumān, are you alert?”

“What is this? Just a minute ago you entered the room and you told – oh,” finished, Hanumān finished, went, no Rāma-Lakṣmaṇa there. “What can I do? Then a demon has taken away those sleeping masters of ours. What to do?”

“But there is the door, there is a hole, and if you can go there, there is a subterranean town.”

And Hanumān also went, and anyhow there is a story how he killed that demon and took out Rāma-Lakṣmaṇa on his shoulders ________________ [?] that Vibhiṣana’s imitation.

So the highest thing we want to aspire after, and if imitation is there how loss can be effected on us, on our fortune. So we must be careful about the imitation. And Bābājī Mahārāja has warned in a plain way that śuddha life is very rare, it is not very cheap. What we have come after by our inconceivable great fortune, it is not cheap. We must try to follow, to be acquainted with the steps. Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Maha, Jana, Tapa, Satya, Virajā, Brahmaloka, then Vaikuṇṭha, Paravyoma, then Goloka, in this way. The steps we must not omit, and try to know something about the nature of those steps.

When the sound is coming, ‘Oh, it must have come from that plane: it is sound which can be produced, the vibration, it is only from that plane.’ In this way we must acquaint ourselves. The sound, the Name, why mantram, the Name, it may be everywhere, even in a book you can find, but why the sound comes from a Guru? Who is living in that plane the sound of that plane, that will come within us and awaken us. Just as homoeopathic globule, externally it is all one and the same, but, nāmākṣara bahiraya batu nāma kabu naya. But the meaning must have such depth which when it will exert, it will show, take me to Goloka.

brahmāṇḍa brhamite kona bhāgyavān jīva, guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

[“Wandering throughout the material universe, the very fortunate living entity who receives the grace of Guru and Kṛṣṇa receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.151]

mālī hañā kare sei bīja āropaṇa, śravaṇa-kīrttana-jale karaye secana

[“When a person receives the seed of devotional service, he should take care of it by becoming a gardener and sowing the seed in his heart. If he waters the seed gradually by the process of śravaṇa and kīrtana, the seed will begin to sprout.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.152]

upajiyā bāḍe latā 'brahmāṇḍa' bhedi' yāya, [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.153]

Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janar, Tapar, Satyaloka, brahmāṇḍa.

Virajā,' 'brahmaloka,' bhedi' 'paravyoma' pāya [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.153]

Vaikuṇṭha Paravyoma, Nārāyaṇa’s domain.

tabe yāya tad upari 'goloka-vṛndāvana', 'kṛṣṇa-caraṇa'-kalpavṛkṣe kare ārohana

[Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.154]

[“The creeper of devotion is born, and grows to pierce the wall of the universe. It crosses the Virajā River and the Brahman plane, and reaches to the Vaikuṇṭha plane. Then it grows further up to Goloka Vṛndāvana, finally reaching to embrace the wish-yielding tree of Kṛṣṇa’s Lotus Feet.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.153-4]

The creeper of devotion will grow and pierce through the different planes, atmosphere, and go direct to Kṛṣṇa pāda, Kṛṣṇa conception of Godhead, and there it will take its place and that will surround him. His holy feet, generally, at His feet means His own paraphernalia. And gradually Kṛṣṇa will located himself in a proper serving school and then give him engagement fully in His holy service.

Sambandha jñāna, that is sambandha jñāna, sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana, in three groups we are to understand the thing. Sambandha, place, purpose, position, all these things: and destination, prayojana, and abhidheya means the means to attain the goal. That is in three heads we are to understand, under three heads. Sambandha jñāna and prayojana and abhidheya, under these three classifications we are to understand, or to realise the nature of the whole thing which we aspire after.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Advaita Prabhu. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara Prabhu. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara Prabhu. Gaura Advaita Prabhu. Gaura Śrīnivāsa Prabhu. Tada Gaura Bhakta Vṛnda Prabhu. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Aranya Mahārāja: Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja, when you first came here you were worshipping Śālagrāma-śilā?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. We came with Giridhari. We came here with Govardhana-śilā. Mahāprabhu gave Govardhana-śilā to Raghunātha dāsa Goswāmī. So in Vṛndāvana His followers generally they begin the worship, go on with Govardhana-śilā. Here the, that is in rāga-mārga, Goloka process. But Śālagrāma-śilā is a system of Vaikuṇṭha, it is in Vaikuṇṭha.

So our Guru Mahārāja he wanted to show that Goloka is above Vaikuṇṭha. So one who has climbed up to Goloka, necessarily he has passed the Vaikuṇṭha, that is Śālagrāma worshipping. But that is not our end. That is probationary, something. Mahāprabhu gave Giridhari, and Prabhupāda also, generally he used to give Giridhari, Govardhana-śilā to his devotees, especially the householders, Govardhana-śilā. He told, “You worship, as He’s Kṛṣṇa. Worship Him.”

And Raghunātha dāsa Goswāmī also he, the other half he has supplied. It is mentioned that Tulasī Mañjarī, this gunja, the kind of beautiful seeds to be had somewhere that is known as gunja-phal. A favourite of Kṛṣṇa also in the garland made of all that beautiful red and little black and almost the whole body is red. Gunja-phal, a garland of that putting on the Govardhana and that is conceived as Rādhārāṇī, the small garland. It is in Caitanya-caritāmṛta we find. This Govardhana-śilā, that is meaning Kṛṣṇa, and that small garland of gunja-phal, that is Rādhārāṇī. With this idea Rādhā-Govinda worshipping continued by Dāsa Goswāmī Prabhu, who is supposed, who is accepted the Ācārya of our highest goal, destination, prayojana Ācārya. And whose famous poem,

āśābharair-amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ kathañcit, [kālo mayātigamitaḥ kila sāmprataṁ hi

tvaṁ cet kṛpaṁ mayi vidhāsyasi naiva kiṁ me, prānair vrajema ca varoru bakārināpi?]

[“O Varoru my beautiful, most magnanimous Goddess, my heart is flooded with an ocean of nectarean hopes. I have somehow been passing time until now eagerly longing for Your grace, which is an ocean of ever cherished nectar. If still You do not bestow Your mercy on me then of what use to me are my life, the land of Vraja, or even Śrī Kṛṣṇa who without You, is simply a mighty hero, the destroyer of demoniac forces like Baka.”] [Vilāpa-Kusumāñjali, 102] [From Śrī Bhakti Rakṣaka Bhajana Madhuri, p 39]

When Prabhupāda used to chant this śloka, we found him most excited and sometimes shedding tears. This is Rādhā-dāsya. This is the basis of Rādhā-dāsya, to be our highest realisation. Āśābharair-amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ kathañcit, kālo mayātigamitaḥ. Dāsa Goswāmī he’s addressing Rādhārāṇī in this way. “O my Mistress, or my Lady, so long a time I’m passing my days with a great hope, a great, great hope, amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ kathañcit. I can’t, now it is surpassing my forbearance, toleration, I can’t continue more. What for? Āśābharair. Āśābharair. The forceful, or the heavy hope, and surcharged, weighty hope, āśābharair...

End of 82.01.09.C

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Start of 82.01.09.D

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...something like that. Amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ. And You are, if it is made of nectar, and also nectarine ocean, infinite. His character is infinite sweetness.

Āśābharair-amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ kathañcit, kālo mayātigamitaḥ. Anyhow I have dragged myself to such extent, to such position anyhow. Now my forbearance is almost finished, my toleration finished, I can’t move any more. My whole energy is always going to be finished, just now.

Āśābharair-amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ kathañcit, kālo mayātigamitaḥ kila sāmprataṁ hi, tvaṁ cet kṛpaṁ mayi. Now, immediately, if You don’t grant Your gracious look towards me, cast Your gracious and pitiful look towards this humble soul, kālo mayātigamitaḥ kila sāmprataṁ hi, tvaṁ cet kṛpaṁ mayi vidhāsyasi, if You do not extend a drop of nectar of Your grace at this time, the last moment, sāmprataṁ hi. Āśābharair-amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ kathañcit, kālo mayātigamitaḥ kila sāmprataṁ hi, tvaṁ cet kṛpaṁ mayi vidhāsyasi naiva kiṁ me, prānair. I do not like to continue to live any longer. I can’t live. I have come to the last point. I won’t be able to live any longer, prānair. And I do not like also to live. I don’t like to live, kiṁ me, prānair.

Vrajema ca, and what is the necessity of this Vraja? It is a farce to me. The real achievement of Vraja is absent. What is the necessity of this paraphernalia, vrajema ca?

Varoru bakārināpi? If You say Kṛṣṇa is there, no, forgive me, I don’t have any direct contact with Kṛṣṇa I don’t want, if I may not get Your grace. Kṛṣṇa is Yours. Without You none can give Kṛṣṇa. He’s the play-doll to You. I have at least understood that thing. I may be unfit otherwise, but I’m sure that I have come to realise this point, that Kṛṣṇa is totally a play-doll in Your hands. You are so big. So I don’t want Kṛṣṇa. I want Your grace. I want Your grace, and without You nothing is palatable to me.”

And this is the highest aim of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, Rādhā-kaiṅkaryya. Do you follow? Hare Kṛṣṇa.

And Mahāprabhu gave him this Giridhari and that guñja-mālā, “And go on, that is the emblem in this plane and you approach.”

And this is all show, certificate, a sort of certificate, this Nārāyaṇa-śilā and the Vaikuṇṭha characteristic, this upa-ved-saṁskāra, the red cloth, there are so many lākhs certificate granted. ‘Yes, you can, you are to pass. You pass this stage and go there.’ The check in station, something like, ‘Yes, you pass. Otherwise the imitation, or the exploiting imitationist will capture you, and will deceive you, so pass by this way.’

Pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge. That was the tenor of the whole preaching of our Guru Mahārāja. “Rāgapaṭha, that is over our head. We’re not fit to climb to that higher plane from here. We are to aspire after. Only we shall aspire after such higher thing. That is the place of my Guru Mahārāja. I won’t venture to approach that plane. Of course I shall have to go there only for the service of my Guru Mahārāja, but I shall come back and remain here in the lower plane.”

So that was the tenor of the whole for preaching movement of our Guru Mahārāja, pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge. First acclimatise you with this plane, and then you’ll be called for the service in that higher, inconceivable plane, of inconceivable fortune, or achievement. So that was to make your position strong in this plane. Be habituated with the acquaintance of the proper plane of Vaikuṇṭha, then above Vaikuṇṭha. Don’t go over-lapping without coming through this plane you’ll go direct there and, duṣṭa phala karibe arjjana. You’ll get something instead of that thing, real thing. You’ll be misguided by the sham agents. Gradually you are to understand, to be acquainted with different layers. In this way after crossing you will go to the safe – don’t try to get that very high – you consolidate your position here, the camp, keep, and from here you’ll go to negotiate that. And have your base here. And that is your land of achievement, that is of dream. A dreamy land of achievement you foster in this way. And if you don’t go to swallow it just now and it will be missed, don’t think like that. You consolidate your position such, and your aspiration there. Maintain your position in this plane, and your aspiration for that plane. That will be safe. And the time will come when you feel that irresistibly you are taken up. Up till now you wait in this position. Don’t go unwanted. Don’t try to enter the plane unwanted. And don’t think that they’ve not got proper eye on you. They’re seeing everything and when the time will come you will feel irresistible attraction is taking you there forcibly. Don’t think that only with imagination you will achieve that thing. It is reality, and it is all conscious. And it has got its guardian’s eye, the watching eye, the loving eye, of justice, mercy, over you all. You are not missed in that eye, in His calculation. Don’t think like that. They’re all love, they’re all accommodating, their loving, affectionate eye over us all. So you don’t try to hurriedly try to approach the realm, should not be a trespasser. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. That has been taught by our Guru Mahārāja. Try to increase your efficiency, and don’t be greedy to occupy the post. ___________________________________________ [?]

...

Aranya Mahārāja: ...because one boy he brought from Vṛndāvana two Govardhana-śilās, Daśaratha sūta, so we were wondering...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________ [?] ... attempt, preaching. This is arcana. But we should not neglect the arcana. But, the preacher they have no time, not in a settled station they live. A life unsettled, today here, the next time there, in this way moving. So they’re meant to do anything and everything mentally, manasic. They’re supposed to be madhyama-adhikārī, the middle class. And the primary section, they should be given more facilities in the arcana, worship. And those that are considered to be preachers, they’re expected to do everything mentally: and prasāda also in that way. The kaniṣṭha-adhikārī he will take the things and offer to the Deity and then he’ll think it is prasādam, with mantram, then he takes. But a sannyāsī whatever comes to him he offers mentally, not any physical arrangement, mentally he offers, and then takes his prasādam. And uttama-adhikārī he does not feel the necessity of offering. Whatever is coming, “He’s sending, Kṛṣṇa’s sending this to me.” With this conception he takes. No mantram, nothing, no offering function, neither mentally nor physically. So the sannyāsīns, the preachers, they’re generally meant to go here, there, everywhere, so where the purity of the arcana may not be possible to be maintained. So it is not very imperative to them. But still if he does so it is no harm, rather it may improve another nature within. Giridhari. So no any hard and fast rules: wherever and whenever possible he may keep in the box and if possible he may offer something and then take, in this way not any hard and fast rule there. If you begin in that way, otherwise It is kept in the box. You may think of Him and whenever you’ll find it useful you may put Him there and make arrangement for regular worship and bhoga.

Aranya Mahārāja: We were thinking that maybe we would establish Them in Madhyadwīpa, put Them there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. And then keep It intact and when some shelter will be there, you may put there.

When I came here, I came with three pieces of śilā, and whatever in the daytime after cooking I offered śilā and once, and chanting bhoga-āratī. Not much worshipping, but whatever I took I offered Him with bhoga-āratī. And engaged myself in daytime in reading, and after night taking, counting the beads. And in day, because no money, so light was utilised in reading, and at night no light but counting, in this way. And I had to eat something, I offered in the noon time and took that by bhoga-āratī shutting the door outside chanting the bhoga-āratī. I cooked for myself, and took Ganges water, went to take bath in the Ganges. From nineteen forty one, the last part of forty, December, I came here. And only two rupees rent, I got a house there. Two rupees monthly rent. Then that was taken by another. I went to the Manipur side on the banks of the Ganges, there for almost one year and a half, and four rupees rent. A complete house surrounded by the wall. Two rooms, one veranda and that, one covered veranda, another the platform, and another cooking room, and the well, and the latrine, and compound wall, four katta [?] or so, only four rupees a month.

Then Sakhī Bābu, who was a multi millionaire, constructed Guru Mahārāja’s house and the big temple in Mahāprabhu’s birthplace, he purchased this land for me, when I came here in a cottage to live, in [nineteen] forty two, the ratha-yātrā day, the ratha-yātrā of Jagannātha. That day I entered the cottage here, forty two: from that time living here.

And that year came a flood, within one month and a half, as if I was living in a boat. The current is passing from all sides and I’m living in a boat. And one serpent, one snake on the thatch, and in the mosquito I’m under the serpent; one month and a half I lived there.

And another gentleman was with me. We put Prabhupāda’s photograph and that Giridhari also in place. And the floor, that was transformed into mud by the flood. Then I took some bricks and some sand there, and then put some mat, that āsana, and there taking my seat I used to do arcana in a general way, Guru’s photograph, Param Guru’s photograph, and the Giridhari.

Then after the temple had been constructed the Vigraha’s came. Then one gentleman he presented the Śālagrāma. The Śālagrāma is a very strict one in Its nature. So many Śālagrāma’s they have Their natures also are explained in the scripture, Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. It is Varāha Nṛsiṁhadeva or something like. Śālagrāma is very strict. If any person, not quite fit, he begins the worship, then for the offence he will be punished. This is His nature. But that man he was a great paṇḍita, aṣṭa-tīrtha, eight examinations in the Sanskrit Department he passed, and he was Professor in Molvaria [?] College and also in Navadwīpa College: a brāhmaṇa of Midnapore. He could not keep it. Anyhow he managed to send it to me, and I have taken Him and He’s being worshipped here, good or bad. Today I stop here. Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.01.09.D

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.11.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... that was modified by Nityānanda in Bengal, yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'gaura'-upadeśa, transformed.

bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga laha gauranger nāma,

yei jana gaurāṅga bhaje sei amāra prāna

[“Worship Gaurāṅga, speak of Gaurāṅga, chant Gaurāṅga’s Name. Whoever worships Śrī Gaurāṅga is My life and soul. Come straight to the campaign of Śrī Caitanya and you will safely attain Vṛndāvana.”]

___________________________________________________ [?] Kṛṣṇa bhajan, that is rather little difficult, come through Gaura bhajan and that will automatically come to you within with Gaura bhajan, Gaurāṅga. And automatically you’ll find you are in the midst of Vṛndāvana without any special attempt, endeavour.

It will be, just take your seat in a particular plane of New York and you’ll find ‘I am in New York.’

A particular plane to accept Gaurāṅga, most benevolent Kṛṣṇa, because Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī combined, Both are combined, the most desirable, highest, mightiest, present in one place. You find the last śloka of Rāya Rāmānanda: when Mahāprabhu enquired, “It was all right what you have told, I accept it as the zenith of our destination, of our prospect. But still, can you conceive anything else more than that?”

When this question was put to Rāmānanda Rāya he was little perplexed. “Above this is there anyone in the world to enquire? Sometimes I feel in the inner most portion of my heart, and I have composed also one poem accordingly. But does He mean, does He hit that point?” So he came, “I do not know that there is anyone in the world who can search after that thing. I don’t find it anywhere in the scriptures of the great predecessors. But still something peeps in my mind at times, and that, I think it is my whim when He enquires something more, further, I take out to You. Whether You like it or not I don’t know because it is beyond the record hitherto come to this world. But sometimes it’s peeping in my mind. And let me try.” He came with the representation.

And Mahāprabhu after hearing some portion He put His hand on his mouth. “No more.”

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: What was that actually Mahārāja? What was Rāmānanda Rāya going to say?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The Māyāvādīns say, they take, ‘Oh, here we have got our point, the both combined, the Rādhā-Govinda combined.’ They say that, ‘I belong to You,’ in the bhakti step, the first is ‘I belong to You,’ that sakhīya, as a, no tadīya, ‘I am Yours.’ First stage of devotion is ‘I belong to You.’ And the highest is, ‘You belong to me.’ Rādhārāṇī madīya. Tadīya Chandravālī etc, in the highest stage, ‘we belong to You.’ And higher than that, ‘You belong to me.’ Tadīya, madīya, then ‘tad aham.’ ‘I am Him.’ They come to that. But that māyāvāda has been eliminated totally in the beginning.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā, [na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām]

[“The spotlessly pure-hearted and self-satisfied soul who has attained to his conscious divine nature neither grieves nor craves for anything. Seeing all beings equally (in the conception of My supreme energy), he gradually achieves supreme devotion (prema-bhakti) unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.54]

Wrong, so what should it be? And Mahāprabhu going to cover his mouth, “Don’t.” It may not be, it’s hitting Mahāprabhu; it hits Śrī Caitanya Deva. Rasa-rāja mahābhāva dui eka rūpa [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.282] If Both of Them combined then the transformation produces that Rādhārāṇī’s mood captures that of Kṛṣṇa and, sva-bhajana-vibhajana-prayojan- avatari. Searching after Himself, as I described in Gadādhara Prabhu’s śloka.

nīlāmbhodhi-taṭe sadā sva-virahā-kṣepanvitaṁ bāndhavaṁ

[śrīmad-bhāgavatī kathā madirayā sañjīvayan bhāti yaḥ

śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ sadā sva-nayanāśru-pāyanaiḥ pūjayan

gosvāmi-prabaro gadādhara-vibhūr-bhūyāt mad-ekā-gatiḥ]

[“On the shore of the broad blue ocean, Gadādhara Paṇḍita used to read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who was suffering from the great internal pain of separation from Himself (Kṛṣṇa). Gadādhara Paṇḍita supplied the wine of Kṛṣṇa līlā to intoxicate his afflicted friend and give Him relief. As he read, tears would fall from his eyes like flower offerings onto the pages of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. May the pleasure of that brilliant personality, Gadādhara Paṇḍita, the best of the Goswāmīs, be my only object in writing this book.”]

What is, I conceived a shortest book from the gist of Bhāgavatam. There in the praṇāma of Gadādhara Goswāmī I put this śloka. That nīlāmbhodhi-taṭe, on the banks of the infinite ocean, sadā sva-virahā-kṣepanvitaṁ bāndhavaṁ, his friend who is always madly engaged in separation of His own self, and deeply merged in grief. __________ [?] Who? Sva-virahā-kṣepa, _____________ [?] by the separation of His own self He’s feeling a great grief thereby, that madly grief, bhāgavatī madirayā. Gadādhara Goswāmī is helping Him to listen to Bhāgavatam, reading Bhāgavatam. And that serves as some intoxication to Him, to relieve Him from His own pain. Just as in the world if the patient feels severe pain then morphine injection or something, or the wine is administered to save him from the pain. So Gadādhara Prabhu Goswāmī he’s only reading Bhāgavatam to his friend. And what is the condition of the friend; that He’s suffering severely. And what is the cause of His suffering; virahā, separation. And what is – ātmā-virahā, kṛṣṇānusandhāna, Kṛṣṇa is searching after Him in the mood of Rādhārāṇī.

So that is mentioned in the last śloka of Rāmānanda Rāya, and he says, “I don’t know whether it will help You, will be tasteful to You, I don’t know. We don’t find it anywhere, but sometimes it peeps in my mind and I have composed a song and I am reciting it to You.”

pahilehi rāga nayana-bhaṅge bhela, anudina bāḍhala, avadhi nā gela

nā so ramaṇa, nā hāma ramaṇī, duṅhu-mana manobhava peṣala jāni’

e sakhi, se-saba prema-kāhinī, kānu-ṭhāme kahabi vichurala jāni’

nā khoṅjaluṅ dūtī, nā khoṅjaluṅ ān, duṅhukeri milane madhya ta pāṅca-bāṇa

ab sohi virāga, tuṅhu bheli dūtī, su-purukha-premaki aichana rīti

[“‘Alas, before We met there was an initial attachment between Us brought about by an exchange of glances. In this way attachment evolved. That attachment has gradually begun to grow, and there is no limit to it. Now, that attachment has become a natural sequence between Ourselves. It is not that it is due to Kṛṣṇa, the enjoyer, nor is it due to Me, for I am the enjoyed. It is not like that. This attachment was made possible by mutual meeting. This mutual exchange of attraction is known as manobhava, or Cupid. Kṛṣṇa’s mind and My mind have merged together. Now, during this time of separation, it is very difficult to explain these loving affairs. My dear friend, Kṛṣṇa might have forgotten all these things. However, you can understand and bring this message to Him, but during Our first meeting there was no messenger between Us, nor did I request anyone to see Him. Indeed, Cupid’s five arrows were our via media. Now, during this separation, that attraction has increased to another ecstatic state. My dear friend, please act as a messenger on My behalf because if one is in love with a beautiful person, this is the consequence.’”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.194]

That represents the principle on which Mahāprabhu represented Himself here and so Mahāprabhu went to shut his mouth. “Don’t come out with that.” Just as when He showed His own līlā, Avatāra, rasa-rāja mahābhāva dui eka rūpa [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.282] it was also like that.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, to whom did He show the combined form of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa? Did He show it...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To Rāmānanda Rāya, there only we find this: and of course Svarūpa Dāmodara new it because he has given that conception of Mahāprabhu, rādhā-bhāva-dyuti- suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa svarūpam.

[rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmād

ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau

caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptaṁ

rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa svarūpam]

[“I worship Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Kṛṣṇa Himself, enriched with the emotions and radiance of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. As the Predominating and Predominated Moieties, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are eternally one, with separate individual identities. Now They have again united as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. This inconceivable transformation of the Lord’s internal pleasure-giving potency has arisen from the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.5]

Svarūpa knew everything of Mahāprabhu and he supplied this steel frame on which the whole Caitanya līlā is based, the fourteen ślokas we find in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. And Sanātana Goswāmī, Rūpa Goswāmī, their basis is also supplied by Svarūpa Dāmodara. Saksad mahaprabhu dvitiya svarup [?] Whatever Mahāprabhu did Svarūpa Dāmodara knew everything.

Sei slokera artha jane ekala svarupa [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 9-16, 133, ?] Only one single person, Svarūpa Dāmodara, he knew the śloka Mahāprabhu pronounced just before the chariot, yaḥ kaumāra-haraḥ. [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.78] And __________________________ [?] by chance Rūpa Goswāmī was present in that particular year there, and Rūpa Goswāmī of course heard and taking out the meaning, or the real purpose of the śloka he composed another śloka.

priyaḥ so 'yaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ sahacari kuru-kṣetra-militas

[tathāhaṁ sā rādhā tad idam ubhayoḥ saṅgama-sukham

tathāpy antaḥ-khelan-madhura-muralī-pañcama-juṣe

mano me kālindī-pulina-vipināya spṛhayati]

[Upon arriving in Kurukṣetra, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī said: “O My dear friend, now I am at last reunited with My most beloved Kṛṣṇa in Kurukṣetra. I am the same Rādhārāṇī, and He is the same Kṛṣṇa. We are enjoying Our meeting, but still I wish to return to the banks of the Kālindī, where I could hear the sweet melody of His flute sounding the fifth note beneath the trees of the Vṛndāvana forest.”] [Padyāvalī, 383]

The substance he took out and he gave understandable to us what is the purpose for which Mahāprabhu is singing that śloka which is outwardly not very well. But what is His purpose, internal purpose, taking out and composing a śloka, priyaḥ so 'yaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ sahacari kuru-kṣetra. That Kurukṣetra, so Jagannātha, the Subhadrā is there, Balarāma is there, so it represents the characteristic of Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā. And sometimes eager to go to the bhuvan, Vṛndāvana and Mahāprabhu just taking, Sei sloka suni radha kunjela sakala badha krsna prapti prakrti haila [?]

That Bhāgavata śloka,

āhuś ca te nalina-nābha [padāravindaṁ, yogeśvarair hṛdi vicintyam agādha-bodhaiḥ

saṁsāra-kūpa-patitottaraṇāvalambaṁ, gehaṁ juṣām api manasy udiyāt sadā naḥ]

[“The gopīs spoke thus: ‘Dear Lord, whose navel is just like a lotus flower, Your lotus feet are the only shelter for those who have fallen into the deep well of material existence. Your feet are worshipped and meditated upon by great mystic yogīs and highly learned philosophers. We wish that these lotus feet may also be awakened within our hearts, although we are only ordinary persons engaged in household affairs.’”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.82.49] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 13.136]

And the reply,

mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām, amṛtatvāya kalpate

diṣtyā yad āsīn mat sneho, bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ

[“My dear gopīs, everyone considers themselves fortunate if they possess devotion for Me, and by that they achieve an eternal life of nectar. But I must admit that I consider Myself most fortunate because I have come in touch with the wonderful affection found in your hearts.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.42.44]

“The whole world if they have some devotion towards Me they are saved, they are saved from mortality. But I am so that I myself think, considers, that I am fortunate to have your company. The whole world may think, ‘If they get Me their highest fortune,’ and that Myself I think that I have fortunately come by chance, I have got your affection. So your affection is so valuable. So that stands guarantee that I am yours. I consider that I have fortunately come in contact with your affection and your affection is so valuable. So you may think, may clearly take it for granted, for sure, you may remain assured that I am always yours.”

Raso 'py asya, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate.

[viṣayā vinivartante, nirāhārasya dehinaḥ

rasa-varjaṁ raso 'py asya, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate]

[“Although the person of gross corporeal consciousness may avoid sense objects by external renunciation, his eagerness for sense enjoyment remains within. However, inner attachment to sense objects is spontaneously denounced by the person of properly adjusted intelligence, due to his having had a glimpse of the all-attractive beauty of the Supreme Truth.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.59]

“I have got so much ecstasy of tastefulness in your company that I cannot but be yours.”

Sei sloka suni radha kunjela sakala bhada krsna prapti prakrti haila [?] And after hearing, listening to this sort of confession from Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī was fully satisfied. “Yes, He is Mine.” And with this confidence Rādhārāṇī came back to Vṛndāvana. “Wherever He may be in plea of discharging other duties He may have perhaps, but still wherever He’ll be He’s Mine.” With this proud feeling in Her heart Rādhārāṇī came back to Vṛndāvana. So Mahāprabhu says,

yaḥ kaumāra-haraḥ sa eva hi varas tā eva caitra-kṣapās

te conmīlita-mālatī-surabhayaḥ prauḍhāḥ kadambānilāḥ

sā caivāsmi tathāpi tatra surata-vyāpāra-līlā-vidhau

revā-rodhasi vetasī-taru-tale cetaḥ samutkaṇṭhate

[“That very Personality Who stole My heart during My youth is now again My Master. These are the same moonlit nights of the month of Caitra. The same fragrance of mālatī flowers is there, and the same sweet breezes are blowing from the kadamba forest. In Our intimate relationship, I am also the same lover, yet My mind is not happy here. I am eager to go back to that place on the bank of the Revā under the Vetasī tree. That is My desire.”] [Padyāvalī] & [Kāvya-prakāśa] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.78]

An ordinary śloka and ordinary nayika, nayaka, hero and heroine, and only in plea of that Mahāprabhu is tasting the highest ecstasy divine in His heart. And Svarūpa Goswāmī took it out to write, for our, to persons like us, ordinary calibre. This is the purpose of Mahāprabhu’s song.

And so it is for the highest satisfaction of Rādhārāṇī that, “He’s Mine.”

So this is the highest prospect of all those that are in the group of Rādhārāṇī. “Kṛṣṇa, He’s always exclusively attached to our camp, to our Mistress.” With that pride they can move. And that is the highest; the acme of our achievement or realisation, that Kṛṣṇa belongs to Rādhārāṇī.

We are proud, the whole Gauḍīya sampradāya is proud of that. The Absolute will, the Autocrat, He’s no longer Autocrat. He’s only the caught, caught hold in a cage, and we must approach that cage. The Autocrat is caught in a cage. He’s imprisoned. Gaura Haribol. Now the despot, none can control Him, but He’s controlled, just like the royal Bengal tiger in the cage. Gaura Haribol. And this is the clue, āśraya-vigraha, it is impossible, but only in one place it has been possible. And we belong to that group, so our pride knows no bounds. Our Gurudeva, we should think we may not be audacious enough to declare that, but our Guru and the paramparā they’re proud of that, they’re proud. And anyhow we have come to that camp and our prospect may lie on that way. What do you think Akṣayānanda Mahārāja? That should be our way of thinking.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi.

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he thought that he will construct a cottage just near Dvaipayan Road and pass his whole life there.

But Mahāprabhu requested him, “What do you think, where to go, no. You are to discover My birthplace here. I want you to do this service.”

Then he could not do so, engaged himself in the discovery and there to place Mahāprabhu Vigraha, and to propagate His benevolence, His preaching, all these things.

And our Guru Mahārāja, from childhood he was given, life given to this idea, but he was in a... Eh?

Devotee: ____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...preparatory stage on reading scriptures, and taking the Name, in this way.

When Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura saw that, ‘I am, very soon I have to go away from this world,’ he requested our Guru Mahārāja to take the charge.

But Guru Mahārāja he modestly refused, ‘That I don’t like to accept all these troubles, some things. I’m engaged in a secluded life in taking Hari Nāma and given to the study of the śāstra. But what you want to place on my head that means the connection with the public and that is very disturbing. I do not like that.’

Then Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura told, ‘Then what do you mean? You don’t like to accept the service of Mahāprabhu, and you say that will be troublesome to you. Do you like to be a māyāvādī, nirviśeṣa, is that your aim, free from all troubles? You don’t like to take troubles for Mahāprabhu’s service?’

Then he had a shock in his mind, as he told. Then he was preparing himself, and somehow Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura disappeared. Necessarily some sort of burden came to him and still he was thinking what to do. ‘What to do? I’m not very, I don’t think myself fit to deal with the public. Naturally I’m of secluded nature. I shall go through the scripture and take Hari Nāma, in this way I shall pass my life, but what to do. What to do?’

Then he suddenly found that, he was also fond of publishing books from the beginning, Caitanya-caritāmṛta and other Journals also, but suddenly found when he’s deeply engaged in thinking what to do, he found a piece of paper, by the wave of the wind, suddenly came on his front. And he collected it and read that Mahāprabhu gave four directions to Sanātana Goswāmī on His behalf to do those things in Vṛndāvana.

Śrī Vigraha prakash, lupta tīrtha udhav, Vaiṣṇava sadācāra ______ [?] and something other, these four things Mahāprabhu ordered Sanātana Goswāmī to do on His behalf.

[Mahāprabhu gave Sanātana four responsibilities: (1) to preach pure devotional service by establishing the doctrines of pure devotion; (2) to discover and make known the various places where Kṛṣṇa had His pastimes; (3) to establish the service of the Deity of Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana; and (4), to establish proper Vaiṣṇava behaviour through compiling a Vaiṣṇava rule book or smṛti, and in this way make the foundations of a Vaiṣṇava society.

“O Sanātana, you should broadcast the revealed scriptures on devotional service and excavate the lost places of pilgrimage in the district of Mathurā. Establish the Deity service of Lord Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana. You should also compile a scripture containing the rules of devotional practice and preach these practices.” Caitanya-caritāmṛta, 2.23.97-8]

[From Swāmī Bhakti Ballabha Tīrtha’s Śrī Chaitanya: His Life and Associates, page 171]

And suddenly that paper he found and took it that it is the desire of Mahāprabhu. “Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Mahāprabhu, they want these four things from me.” Then he was thinking, “How it can be effected? I’m not prepared constitutionally for mixing with the public at large.”

Then Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja disappeared. And that very day Sakhī Bābu and Kuñja Bābu they came to visit Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja. I heard from Sakhī Bābu direct that, “We came to see him but we came and heard that last night he disappeared.”

And there was a quarrel between the particular sections who had much adherence of Bābājī Mahārāja, and the sahajiyā camp on the other side their large number. Both parties say that, “We should bury his body within our compound.”

And this party, the Gaura Kiśora Mahārāja’s special party, they found themselves weak, so they wanted to inform that, “The only disciple, and he’s respectable, we must inform him.” They sent a messenger to Prabhupāda, to bring him to help about the proper burial for Gaura Kiśora Bābājī’s holy body. And the messenger was Kuṣja Bābu. He passed matrics by the time perhaps and joined some postal service in Calcutta, but anyhow he also came along with Sakhī Bābu. I heard it direct from the mouth of Sakhī Bābu.

And also it is mentioned, it is published also in paper. Professor Sanyal wrote a book, in vyāsa-pūjā there it is mentioned in English.

Then Prabhupāda he somehow or other he heard that Bābājī Mahārāja had left the world last night. He was coming to attend. And on the Ganges ghāṭa both met, he met Kuñja Bābu on the other side. And both of them came and Prabhupāda had to come to Police Station ____ to plead on behalf of the direct disciples of Gaura Kiśora Bābājī, not disciples but followers, disciple was perhaps only one and that is our Guru Mahārāja: the followers.

And then, of course there was a hot discussion, I’m not going into details, the bābājī’s they were discouraged on the front of the officer and they went away. And the bona fide followers they buried the holy body of Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja. Prabhupāda was present there.

And then Sakhī Bābu and Kuñja Bābu went to meet Prabhupāda in Māyāpur where he was living at the time, Caitanya Maṭha at present. And then there Prabhupāda began to talk about Mahāprabhu and His grace.

Sakhī Bābu told, “We can’t understand his speech very much, can’t appreciate. But only we could detect this much that he’s trying to – as if to devour us something with utmost. Sometimes he’s putting his clap on the table, slapping his hand on the table, and face is red, and highly excited as if he wants to bring some nectar towards us. He’s trying to bring us some nectar but he fails. He had not much impression on us, much reaction on us, and so desperately he’s slapping and trying to push something within us. That we could find, we can remember.” Sakhī Bābu told.

“But anyhow we came back and gradually we began to go there, connect with him. And Kuñja Bābu he had some knack of mixing with the public, and that was when he could understand. In the beginning he was of that Vivekānanda minded, and it took some time to convert him. And then when he came and realised a bit, then he wanted to make propaganda of such thing. That Ramakrishna Mission they’re spreading such a broad view thing, and they’re all rubbish. Then such a valuable thing Mahāprabhu has given to us, and that is being misused and misrepresented. This valuable thing must be taken before the public and we must go to Calcutta, the cosmopolitan town, and there we shall be able to meet persons of various nationality and caste and all these things, educated society. It must be taken there.”

So by his special wish the Calcutta centre was established in a rented house near Parisnath [?] temple. And from there the present propaganda began there. And Swāmī Mahārāja met him, our Guru Mahārāja, first there. One Mr. Noreen Malik [?], his class friend, I heard from Swāmī Mahārāja himself, “Noreen Malik took me one night, one evening to meet Prabhupāda. But there is one brahmacārī; that is grown up, unmarried person dedicated his life to the cause, for the preaching of Mahāprabhu’s śikṣā and will you go to see him?”

“Yes. Let us go. We went to him. And when he heard that we are just come out from the College perhaps, Scottish Church College, then he, with little more interest talked with us. And what I heard from him I found that so long Mahāprabhu’s teachings have come to be delivered in a proper hand. Before, the Goswāmīns and others in the name of Mahāprabhu they twisted His things, but here,” as he told me, “A proper hand, Mahāprabhu’s śikṣā has come and it will gradually develop in time properly, and will be spread to its desirable manner. In this way I had conception and came back.”

And then next he met in Allahabad after long time, Prabhupāda, and gradually came to accept Prabhupāda’s grace. In this way Prabhupāda began.

So Kuñja Bābu’s contribution, but at the same time it is also mentioned, we are to mention that Kuñja Bābu had some ulterior motive also, along with this sort of help. His sons and his brother they also went there with him, they all took, especially his brother Samvit, he did some personal service to Prabhupāda in his young age. But when grown up, the education and all their necessities they’re supplied from the Maṭha fund. So some of the Maṭha members did not look at it with good idea, ‘that why so many sannyāsīns they’re collecting funds and that is being utilised for family maintenance of Kuñja Bābu? Why should it be?’ Still, Kuñja Bābu did many things.

Once, I also, as a representative of the sannyāsīns put this matter to Prabhupāda.

And Prabhupāda said, “Why do you bother with all these things? This is not good for you. For the service of Kṛṣṇa if it is necessary to draw, to pour the money into the water, that also should be done by us.”

And when going to Madras, nineteen thirty, December thirtieth, suddenly he came with Bhāgavatam, “Here is your answer, reply, sva-pāda-mūlam bhajataḥ.”

I was surprised, ‘what is my answer?’ Then when I found the śloka, ‘Oh, I questioned about Kuñja Bābu and he gives the reply here from Bhāgavatam.

sva-pāda-mūlam bhajataḥ priyasya, tyaktānya-bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ

vikarma yac cotpatitaṁ kathañcid, dhunoti sarvaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ

[“One who has thus given up all other engagements and has taken full shelter at the lotus feet of Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is very dear to the Lord. Indeed, if such a surrendered soul accidentally commits some sinful activity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is seated within everyone’s heart, immediately takes away the reaction to such sin.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.42]

It is mentioned there. Then hearing that I could remember, ‘Oh, this is the answer of my previous question what I put in Mangalgiri [?] Dagmangala [?] In Mangalgiri we were going to that pada pitha temple. There in Dagmangala Prabhupāda was staying and I put this question on behalf of so many there. And answer was given a few weeks after in Madras. Then I could understand, that one who has come in touch of a śuddha bhakti campaign, pure devotional campaign, that who has come in connection with Kṛṣṇa, no penances is necessary for him. Because the penance, the daṇḍa, the punishment for his misdeed – punishment has been recommended in the karma-kāṇḍa, and jñāna-kāṇḍa also, repentance etc. But who has got connection with śuddha bhakti no provision of any sort of penances or punishment. Only whatever he’s doing that is the most efficient thing, engagement. That is the highest engagement, purest engagement, and that can purify very shortly all the discrepancies that are in the devotion.

Sva-pāda-mūlam bhajataḥ, who has come to serve Him, priyasya, tyaktānya-bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ, whose ultimate aim is exhaustively eliminated, he does not want anything but Kṛṣṇa. But so many previous tendencies are always in his mental system, for his case, priyasya, tyaktānya- bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ, vikarma yac cotpatitaṁ kathañcid. Anyhow his previous mental impulses of different type may remain, for that, no punishment, no, nothing of the character is necessary.

Priyasya, tyaktānya-bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ, vikarma yac cotpatitaṁ kathañcid, dhunoti sarvaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ. Because by his serving attitude, Hari is coming nearer to him. He’s extending Himself to him. So automatically every inauspicious, ominous things will have to retire forever. That is the principle, it is there. So no other prāyaścitta, no other punishment is necessary, only for those who are connected, must have real connection with śuddha bhakti, the purest devotion; dedication, so undesirable things will be driven away automatically in no time. The Hari’s service is the most effective to drive away the inauspicious things. That is there. So anyone who has joined this mission they may have their previous tendencies in the mind, but if he’s true to his own, not in a trading, or with ulterior motive he has come, but he wants at heart, if it is so then all the discrepancies they must vanish gradually and forever. And no other method is necessary. That was shown to me. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura.

Devotee: ___________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________________________________ [?]

Devotee: ___________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And there is another śloka also parallel.

devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṝṇāṁ, na kiṅkaro nāyam ṛṇī ca rājan

sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ, gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartam

[“Anyone who has taken shelter at the lotus feet of Mukunda, the giver of liberation, giving up all kinds of obligation, and has taken to the path in all seriousness, owes neither duties nor obligations to the demigods, sages, general living entities, family members, humankind or forefathers.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.41]

Devaṛṣi, all these doing, we are indebted, born indebted we are with loan, to ṛṣi, devata, pitṝi, society, but if we...

sarva-dharmān parityajya, [mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ]

[“Totally abandoning all kinds of religion, surrender exclusively unto Me. I will liberate you from all kinds of sins, so do not despair.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66]

...as śaraṇāgata, then these debts we are not to clear. These two ślokas, this what we should do, if I do not do that. And what is desirable as our duty, if we take to exclusive Hari bhajan then if we neglect our duty we are not responsible for that. Kṛṣṇa will adjust that on our account. One thing, we neglect our duty: another thing, what is objectionable, if that comes within us, that also, both our positive duty and our obligation for our previous action, or any filthy connection, anything. One who is śaraṇāgata, one who is surrendered to the feet of Kṛṣṇa and if that is genuine character, not a sham one, then we should not waste our least energy to any other direction. Then we’ll be loser. Pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt, in this way, and, gurur na sa syāt sva jano na sa syāt.

[gurur na sa syāt sva jano na sa syāt, pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt

daivaṁ na tat syān na patiś ca sa syān, na mocayed yaḥ samupeta mṛtyum]

[Ṛṣabhadeva says: “Even a spiritual master, relative, parent, husband, or demigod who cannot save us from repeated birth and death should be abandoned at once.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 5.5.18]

No obligation to anyone if we enter into Kṛṣṇa, of course when we enter Kṛṣṇa conception the Guru and the servitors of Kṛṣṇa, that is included within Kṛṣṇa, that is not outside. Gurur na sa syāt, that Guru if goes anti direction, that Guru will be given up: but only to concentrate all our energy at the disposal of the real Guru. In this way it will be mentioned. Gurur na sa syāt sva jano na sa syāt. Gurur na sa syāt example with Bali Mahārāja. Sva jano na sa syāt example of Vibhiṣana, he left Rāvaṇa and his clans. Pitā na sa syāj, Prahlāda is example. Jananī na sā syāt, the example with Bharata, the son of Kaikeyi, he neglected his mother. Daivaṁ na tat syān, the example with Khaṭvāṅga Raja, who gave up instantaneously the sympathy of the devata and went and surrendered himself to Nārāyaṇa. Na patiś ca sa syān, the yajṣa patnis, the wives of the brāhmaṇas, engaged in sacrifice on the verge, outskirts of Mathurā: they’re the proof. Disobeying their husbands they went to meet Kṛṣṇa. Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta mṛtyum, only the extreme external gain has been dealt with here, that one who cannot save me from my highest danger, what interest I may have for him? I’m always plodding in the difficulties of mortality, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bhagavad-gītā, 13.9], and who can’t save me from that general and the real trouble of mine, what adoration I may have for him? So it is mentioned there, na mocayed yaḥ samupeta mṛtyum. But in the positive sense it may be explained in another way. Without Kṛṣṇa bhajan the life is considered to be that of a dead man. Life is only there in its self determined stage, svarūpa-siddhi, there we are.

End of 82.01.11.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.11.C_82.01.12.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “I remain eternally indebted to you. I have nothing with which I can clear out your debt. Your service is of so higher quality.” His defeat: Kṛṣṇa’s defeat.

ye yathā māṁ prapadyante, tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham

[mama vartmānuvartante, manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ]

[Śrī Kṛṣṇa says: “As a person takes refuge in Me and surrenders unto Me, I respond and reward accordingly. Being the ultimate goal of all philosophies and doctrines, I am the objective to be attained by all. Certainly, O Pārtha, everyone follows My various paths in all respects.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.11]

But that is broken here. “I can’t, I fail, I can’t.”

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bhagavad-gītā, 5.29] has become bankrupt.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bankrupt. Ha, ha, ha.

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo, mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate

[iti matvā bhajante māṁ, budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ]

[“I am Kṛṣṇa, the Sweet Absolute, I am the root cause of the all-comprehensive aspect of the Absolute, the all-permeating aspect of the Absolute, and also the personal aspect of the Absolute - the Master of all potencies, who commands the respect of everyone - Lord Nārāyaṇa of Vaikuṇṭha. The universe of mundane and divine flow, every attempt and movement, the Vedas and allied scriptures which guide everyone’s worship - all are initiated by Me alone. Realising this hidden treasure, the virtuous souls who are blessed with fine theistic intellect surpass the standards of duty and non-duty, and embrace the paramount path of love divine, rāga-mārga, and adore Me forever.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 10.8]

“In other words, I have given, seeing your yogyatā, fitness, the whole I have given to you. Under your consideration I have nothing more that with which I shall go clear your debt. Already the whole store is finished. Though I’m the storehouse, infinite storehouse, but that is all given to you already. Nothing more left that I can give it to you, that sort of thing.”

Devotee: Mahābhāva.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mahābhāva.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s been plundered.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And in order for that, He had to become Mahāprabhu. “That I shall dedicate My life in praise of you all, the gopī-bhajan, the vraja-bhajan. I shall do the work of your canvasser, and then I must get some remuneration, and thereby, I shall try My best to clear your debt.”

So _______________ [?] Kṛṣṇa came, and Rādhārāṇī also told, “Oh, do You think that I shall leave You free? I shall surround You. Your body I won’t allow to touch the ground. You will roll on the earth. My body will be there. You can’t go beyond Me.”

Devotee: ________________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _______________ [?] Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

_______________________________________________________ [?]

Devotee: __________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Panantheism, viśiṣṭādvaita-vāda ___________________ [?]

Ontologically, it is almost the same as that of Rāmānuja.

Devotee: __________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ideal Realism. It is real. Matter, material existence is real. Ideal realism, that consciousness is real. Reality is trying to alert to the consciousness. The consciousness is real.

Devotee: __________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________ abstract line. The basis for the Vaiṣṇava conception.

Devotee: _________________________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Secret trap, a wolf in the lamb’s skin, Mahusudhan Sarasvati __________ a wolf in the lamb’s skin. _______________________________ [?]

Devotee: __________________________________________________ [?]

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...I chanted this śloka we find in Caitanya Bhāgavat.

_______________________________________________________ [?] “I prepared the greatest medicine, named pipalikanda, which is the highest remedy of any kind of catching cold. But I see the cough, the coldness is increased, is increasingly attacking, and that is the fated to be, cannot be, it is beyond treatment, it seems to be beyond treatment. It will take its own course towards the doom.”

That was the utterance of Mahāprabhu. Pipalikanda, pipal means that chill, a small fruit like this, very helpful for cold treatment. Just as pipali is also a little biter or pungent, so pipali, that is also a little pungent. And according to Ayurveda that is the best medicine for the cold, pipalikanda, a preparation of that particular shrub, pipali. I forgot the English name.

But Mahāprabhu says, “I came with pipalikanda, the best medicine for the Kali-yuga, I came with that. But I find that they are making intrigue against Me, so they are fated to be doomed.”

That was His decision. And then He went to take sannyāsa at Katwa. He left His household life and straight went to Katwa within a few days, and the day is coming tomorrow. Tomorrow night, about three o’clock, that is day after tomorrow, He reached, He crossed the Ganges by swimming and with wet cloth He went to Katwa, straight. By nine or ten o’clock He reached there a distance of twenty five miles, from Māyāpur to Katwa almost twenty five miles. With the wet cloth, swimming the Ganges personally, He went there.

And Keśava Bhāratī with his paraphernalia he was sitting. Suddenly he found as if the Sun is rising, is coming, in such a glorious mood he feels that Sun coming to him. Then he offered, he could not accept that. “We are charmed by Your beauty, Your personality, and You are so young, only twenty four or something, or more younger. What about Your mother, Your wife, Your guardians? Without consulting them I can’t venture to give You the robe of renunciation.” Keśava Bhāratī told.

And there was so many, that was a holy time, makara-saṅkrāntī, a famous tithi, and many came to take bath in the Ganges, that occasion. And they also came to see the āśrama of the sannyāsī. And many persons crowded there, a big throng. And they all opposed, “If Keśava Bhāratī you give sannyāsa to this young, charming, beautiful boy, then we will break down your āśrama immediately. It can’t be.” They were opposed.

Then Keśava Bhāratī asked Mahāprabhu, Nimāi Paṇḍita, “So, You are that Nimāi Paṇḍita about whom we have heard so much? Many big scholars that came to conquer in Navadwīpa, the renowned place for the scholars of nyāya and You have defeated them, that Digvijayī and others, You are that Nimāi Paṇḍita?”

“Yes.”

“I can give You sannyāsa, but You must take the permission of Your guardians to me.”

Mahāprabhu at once suddenly went, and going to get permission.

Then again, He was stopped. “The extraordinary personality which You possess, You can do anything and everything. You will go, You will charm Your guardians and get permission and You will come. Nothing is impossible for You. You’ve got such a look, that commanding look, commanding appearance. You can do anything and everything. So, consider Yourself, and we are also considering.”

The movement, the whole day, crores of the ordinary public are very much enraged. “We can’t allow you sannyāsī, to give sannyāsa to this boy, this young boy, impossible. What do you think? We shall smash your āśrama.”

Then kīrtana was begun. The whole day, whole night passed in saṅkīrtana and that convulsion movement, and the next day also. His will is prevailing. Gradually the mob, they were prepared for what is inevitable, that gradually controlled. And all began to cry.

Nimāi Paṇḍita put the mantram to Keśava Bhāratī: “Is this the mantram you will offer, I got in dream?”

“Yes, yes, this is mantram, the Name also.”

In this way, the next day, afternoon, the sannyāsa function began. By that time the maternal uncle of Mahāprabhu, Candraśekhara Ācārya reached there. He was there, and he was asked to do the function on behalf of Caitanyadeva, Nimāi Paṇḍita. He began to chant and dance, and all the audience influenced by Him.

The barber was asked to shave. He can’t venture to touch His body. “I can’t touch.” Anyhow, ordered repeatedly, at last he had to do the service. The shaving the beautiful curling hair of the beautiful face of the twenty four years genius boy, shaved. The barber promised, “I won’t touch with this hand anyone else for my occupation. I shall rather eat begging. This is my last service. This hand I won’t touch anybodies body from today.” So he began the occupation of a sweetmeat-maker, the barber, became sweetmeat-maker.

Then after sannyāsa, began to dance mad, began to chant the śloka of Bhāgavatam:

etāṁ sa āsthāya parātma-niṣṭhām, adhyāsitāṁ pūrvatamair mahaṛṣibhiḥ

ahaṁ tariṣyāmi duranta-pāraṁ, tamo mukundāṇghri-niṣevayaiva

[(As a brāhmaṇa from Avantī-deśa said:) “I shall cross over the insurmountable ocean of nescience by being firmly fixed in the service of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. This was approved by the previous ācāryas, who were fixed in firm devotion to the Lord, Paramātmā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.23.57] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya,3.6]

Tridaṇḍī-bhikṣu ________ [?] eleventh canto [chapter seven]. Kṛṣṇa Himself is giving description of this sannyāsa to Uddhava. It is mentioned there, tridaṇḍī-bhikṣu. And what was sung by tridaṇḍī-bhikṣu, that passage was sung by Mahāprabhu.

“I have accepted this garb. This is favourable to My life of bhajan. None have any claim in the society over Me, and exclusively I shall be able to devote Myself for the service of Kṛṣṇa. I am going to Vṛndāvana, no other engagement, no other connection with anybody, anything I have after this sannyāsa.”

In this way, with ecstatic madness He began to dance and chant. Bhāratī also came to embrace Him, and both the Guru and the disciple clutching at their hands began to dance, and so many also began to chant and dance, in this way.

Then suddenly His whim came, “I shall go to Vṛndāvana immediately, during the evening time.” And He ran towards near the jungle, He entered into the jungle.”

And Nityānanda Prabhu, Candraśekhara Ācārya, Mukunda and Jagadānanda, these four followed Him.

He’s in trance, running sometimes, and crying sometimes, “I am going to Vṛndāvana. Exclusively I am devoted to serve Kṛṣṇa. I see no other duty I have got.” He’s running.

And they were also trying to follow Him as much; but He surpassed them. Night came; they were perplexed, lost His connection, all these, three, four. Then after some time, the winter night sometime they could hear that a very piteous tone, crying, coming to touch their ears, from a particular direction. Then in the dense darkness of the night, following that voice, they went that side.

And as He’s falling on the earth, on the ground, crying in a very piteous tone, “Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa.”

kāhāṅ mora prāna nātha muralī-vadana, kāhāṅ karoṅ kāhāṅ pāṅ vrajendra-nandana

[“Where is my beloved Kṛṣṇa? I can’t tolerate His separation. Where is the Lord of My life, who is playing His flute? What shall I do now? Where should I go to find the son of Mahārāja Nanda?”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 2.15]

“Where is My beloved Kṛṣṇa? I can’t tolerate His separation. Where should I go, where shall I find Him?”

In this way, in piteous tone, heart-rending tone, He’s crying. And then they went near and managed to put some water on the eye and on the face, and then again He came out of the swoon.

“Who are you? I am going to Vṛndāvana. You are disturbing Me. Why?”

Again He got up and began His charge running towards that way. But in a bewildered stage, no consciousness of any particular direction: running, going to Vṛndāvana. But the great attraction of the devotees in Navadwīpa, Śāntipura, did not allow Him to go towards the west. But anyhow, the attraction came; He is going, and the attraction this side. In this way He came gradually to the way of Śāntipura. From Nadia He went and He went that side, and the attraction of the devotees, gradually they took to this course, and He came towards Kalna, Dubrarājpura.

And the trance also passing away; Nityānanda Prabhu came in His front. He found a sannyāsī. “I am going to Vṛndāvana. A sannyāsī is in My front. Who are you sannyāsī Śrīpād? Where do you go?”

“I’m going to Vṛndāvana with You.”

“Oh, you are going to Vṛndāvana? Yes, yes, very good. How far Vṛndāvana is from here?”

“No, no, We are come very near. Just You see the Yamunā.” Nityananda Prabhu showed Ganges there near Kalna. “You have come to the Yamunā, and after crossing, we shall get Vṛndāvana. Come, I am going to Vṛndāvana with You.”

...

So tomorrow we observe Mahāprabhu in His own house, from the hands of Śacī Devī, Mahāprabhu took food. In Bengal, generally, that day inauguration of Lakṣmī pūjā, some _____ [?] some sort of cakes are prepared. So tomorrow that cake will be prepared.

And at night, dugda lag lagi [?] When Mahāprabhu thought that next morning, or in the later part of the night He will leave Navadwīpa, so He attracted His devotees in such a way that almost every leading devotee came to see Him in the evening. And those that are coming they’re taking a flower garland. And so many garlands and He’s putting again that garland to the neck of other devotees. And the devotees do not know: only four of the devotees knew that He will go, but ordinary devotees they don’t know that this is the last night of His stay in Nadiyā. And whoever is coming to see Him, He’s giving the advice.

āpana galāra mālā sabākāre diyā, ajña kareṇa gaura-hari kṛṣṇa kaha giyā

[ki bhojane ki śayane kibā jāgaraṇe, aharniśa cinta kṛṣṇa balaha badane

yadi āmāra prati sneha thāke sabākara, kṛṣṇa binā keha kichu na balibe āra

jagatera pitā kṛṣṇa ye na bhaje bāpa, pitṛ-drohī pātakīra janme janme tāpa]

[“Blessing everyone with affection and placing His own flower garlands around their necks, Śrī Gaura Hari instructed them to return to their homes and fully engage in the service and worship of Kṛṣṇa with all devotion. He said: “Always engage in thinking, remembering, hearing and speaking about Kṛṣṇa in all situations, whether awake or sleeping, eating or resting. If you have affection for Me, please promise that you will never cultivate anything other than Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the benevolent father and supreme cause of the whole universe and all beings. One who deliberately avoids worshipping his own transcendental father, is considered most fallen and suffers birth after birth.”] [Caitanya-Bhāgavat, Madhya, 28, 25-28]

& [Śrī Bhakti Rakṣaka Bhajana Madhuri, p 16]

From His own neck, He is putting the garlands on the other devotees, and says: “Under any condition, don’t leave this Kṛṣṇa Nāma. Wherever, while eating, staying, sleeping, waking, always take the Name of Kṛṣṇa. Sabākāre diyā, ajña kareṇa gaura-hari. This is My last request to you all My friends. Kṛṣṇa kaha giyā, always talk about Kṛṣṇa, nothing else. Ki bhojane, while eating, ki śayane, sleeping, kibā jāgaraṇe, or waking, aharniśa cinta kṛṣṇa, day and night think of Kṛṣṇa, balaha badane, and pronounce on your tongue.

Yadi āmāra prati sneha thāke sabākara. If you have got real attraction, affection for Me, kṛṣṇa binā keha kichu na balibe āra, then without, taking the Name of Kṛṣṇa, do nothing, nothing else. If really you have got any attraction for Me, then only go on with Kṛṣṇa cultivation.

Jagatera pitā kṛṣṇa ye na bhaje bāpa, He’s the origin of us all, He’s our father. We have come from Him. Pitṛ-drohī pātakīra janme janme tāpa, and the son who has no gratitude towards the father, he’s sure to be punished birth after birth. Jagatera pitā kṛṣṇa ye na bhaje bāpa, pitṛ-drohī pātakīra janme janme tāpa.

Then, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Uttering this particular Name, sabākara, kṛṣṇa binā keha kichu na balibe āra, always take this Name and no other rules and regulations to be followed on this. Take the Name; go on chanting the Name of Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Hari-Nāma mahā-mantra, this is not ordinary mantra, but this is mahā-mantra. Sarva mantra sara, this is the great among the great mantra, sarva mantra sara, and the very essence of all the mantras ever known to the world, sarva mantra sara. Sarvaka balite nahi ara [?] Only take to this, always, always. No other restriction to be followed on this account.”

He was telling in this way. And they were all coming; some intuitively because that was the last night, so almost all coming. Then late at night, that Śrīdhara Kholaveca, who used to make trade on the plantain tree, the fruit, ripe or green, and that inner stem in the plantain, and then leaves also on which to take food, he had a trade on these things. And Mahāprabhu used to snatch it from him every day. Giving less price He used to collect the good things snatching from him. And that Śrīdhara came to see Him late at night with a green gourd, or what is that big fruit? Laow [?]

Devotees: Mellon? Jackfruit?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not jackfruit; this is a vegetable thing.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Squash.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Mahāprabhu asked, Mahāprabhu thought that Śrīdhara, “I took almost the whole life snatching from him so many vegetables snatching from him, and in this last night, he has taken this vegetable and I can’t leave it.” So asked His mother, “Mother, Śrīdhara has presented this vegetable...

Parvat Mahārāja: Squash?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not squash, but a big size, you will see it here.

“And so, think how it may be prepared.” And at that very time, one came with some milk. Then Mahāprabhu asked, “Mother, with this milk and this lauw [?], prepare some sort of sweet food, paramānna.”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Sweet-rice.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Dugha laga lagi [?] its name. That vegetable boiled in the milk with some sugar. That was prepared and Mahāprabhu took it.

Then almost about three o’clock or so, or even before, He came away. Śacī Devī knew, she had got some clue, she was staying, guarding at the door. Mahāprabhu bowed down to her, and like a stone figure, statue, Śacī Devī, mother, sat there.

Then the early morning, the devotees are coming to see Him, they found that Śacī Devī is like a statue, she is sitting at the door, door opened, everything empty. “What’s the matter Śacī Devī?”

“Oh, I was waiting for you, you devotees. You take possession of the house. I am waiting for you. I can’t enter into the house any more, any longer. I shall go anywhere and everywhere. You take possession. You are His devotees. You are real heir of His property, you take possession. I am going.” In this way.

They began to throng around her and to console her. “You will go? What about that girl, wife, He left, only fourteen years old? Who will protect her? You can’t shun the responsibility given to you. It is on your shoulders.” In this way, they came and they consoled her and took her again into the home, and wailing began there.

And in Katwa also, that thing was being done. Then after three days fasting and running, Mahāprabhu was taken to Śāntipura, Advaita-bhavan by Nityānanda. Nityānanda, when He found that He’s sure to guide Him towards Śāntipura, He sent other followers, “Go ask Advaita Prabhu to come with a boat here in this ghāṭa, bathing place, and run to Navadwīpa to inform Śacī Devī that we have taken Him again in this side, Śāntipura, and take her in palanquin here in Śāntipura.” Managed by Nityānanda Prabhu.

Then Nityānanda Prabhu took Him to Ganges, “Yes, yes, this is Yamunā.”

Mahāprabhu jumped into the river after three days fasting. Yamunā darśana, Mahāprabhu took His bath. Taking His bath, suddenly found that one boat came by Him and some old man with beard rising from the boat with some red cloth etc. Then Mahāprabhu, finishing His bath He’s on the bank and then he came, the old man came and bowed down to Him.

And Mahāprabhu marked his face, “Oh! I think you are Advaita Ācārya.”

“Yes, I am him.”

“Oh! How do you know that I’m in Vṛndāvana? How could you find? How could you know?”

“No, no, I’m not in Vṛndāvana. Wherever You are present that is Vṛndāvana. And by my fortune, You have come to the banks of the Ganges.”

Then whole thing turned within the mind of Mahāprabhu. “Oh, then that sannyāsī is Nityānanda.” He finds, He’s finding the face of, prabhu kahe nityananda amila kanail ganga ke ami jamuna koila.

“Oh, Nityānanda had Me enticed, led Me to the banks of the Ganges and plainly told that this is Yamunā and He has taken Me to the Yamunā.”

The whole trance disappeared.

Advaita Ācārya told, “Yes, Nityānanda did not speak wrong. In scriptures it is mentioned that Yamunā falls in Ganges near Allahabad and generally it is in the western side of the Bhagavati, the Yamunā. And on the other side, the eastern side, there is the Ganges. So You have now taken Your bath in Yamunā proper according to scripture. Now, give up Your wet clothing, and I have taken this dry ________ [?] for sannyāsī, kaupīna, You please accept. This is my ________ [?] And today after three days of fasting, You are to get something in my, I pray to be a guest in my house to take something, as Your begging diet. Your begging diet must, should take place in my home today. Please be kind with me.”

What to do? They all took Him in the boat, and took to Śāntipura. And the next day morning Śacī Devī was taken there. And about ten days or twelve days, Mahāprabhu remained in Śāntipura, met Śacī Devī, so many chanting and singing, dancing, all these things. After that He took His way to Nīlācala, Jagannātha Purī, it was arranged with them.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Then Vidagdha Prabhu will be in difficulty. He won’t be able to come here. I have ordered him to go on with the service there to Swāmī Mahārāja. It does not matter. He may stay, and go on with the service, all right. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

In an ordinary way if we think that they are justified to do so to keep up their position as they think. To keep up the constitution, the institution to save, that those that are going there, they are hearing something, and thinking that we are below the standard, so it will be difficult for them to keep regard of us. So to save us, we must construct some wall between the two, that that influence may not come and lose the confidence of the general newcomers, especially on us, so non-cooperation in the beginning. I apprehended that they may not stop there only, but take some aggressive measure also they may take. God save them. Hare Kṛṣṇa. But what to do? I’m very slowly and cautiously going on with my own considered opinion, going ahead, as far as possible, with much restraint. I don’t feel any enthusiasm or encouragement going against them. That is the creation of Swāmī Mahārāja who has done such a big work for Mahāprabhu and my Gurudeva. So much so almost impossible thing has been done by him. And his created institute that should be saved at any cost: a great thing, inconceivably great thing that should be saved. Only that the standard may not be lowered, at the same time, that is whatever we have understood and we have realized to be the truth. Only to a particular section, we want to keep it intact, that this is the standard of the estimation of the consideration of the realization of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Mahāprabhu and our Gurudeva and Swāmī Mahārāja also. The standard of the culture is of this type.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Parvat Mahārāja: It seems like we are on the platform of friends and enemies.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The yesterday perhaps for the first time I heard, I can’t trust it even, that Bhāvānanda Mahārāja, he trampled down his foot on a book named the Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, the very gist of all the Vaiṣṇava scriptures prepared by our Guru Mahārāja, Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra. I can’t trust such heinous work being done by him. I can’t follow, can’t conceive that that scripture containing the very gist of Bhāgavatam, Gītā, and all other Vaiṣṇava scriptures, including the Goswāmīns, the pramāṇa, that is the most useful weapon of the preachers, sannyāsīns. It was prepared to that line. And that has been trampled down under foot. I can’t conceive. So much so that I...

End of 82.01.11.C_82.01.12.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.12.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...happy if I can hear again, “No, no, this is false information.” I’ll be happy then, because I thought him to be very simple, a candid person, and trying his utmost to follow the line of Mahāprabhu. Hare Kṛṣṇa. This horrible thing: anyhow, we may have to be converted into stone if we are to hear these things from the Ācāryas of Swāmī Mahārāja, appointed by direct appointment. I shudder to think it. Hare Kṛṣṇa. It may be false. I would like to hear that it is false news.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So Mahāprabhu is leaving His gṛhastha līlā and preparing for His sannyāsa. From the only tomorrow at dead of night He will leave His home and go for the public.

Devotee: ___________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________________________________________ [?]

Parvat Mahārāja: Mahāprabhu swims across the Ganges at what time?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: By three o’clock or so.

Parvat Mahārāja: In the morning?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: At night, yes.

Parvat Mahārāja: Tomorrow. Would it be auspicious if we do that?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hmm?

Aranya Mahārāja: To swim across the Ganges? I don’t think so.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is a very painful story for us to think, that Mahāprabhu is doing in this way. The devotees of Mahāprabhu, they are not very happy to see Him in His sannyāsa līlā. You see wherever His Śrī Mūrti has been installed, none is in sannyāsa. The devotees don’t like to see Him in sannyāsa. Just as the gopīs don’t like to see Kṛṣṇa of Dvārakā, Kṛṣṇa of Gītā, they don’t like. Dvārakā, Mathurā Kṛṣṇa, they want to avoid. “Kṛṣṇa of Vṛndāvana we want.” They don’t allow to trespass that Dvārakā conception. With much grief they are forced to look at, as it occurred in Kurukṣetra and Prabhasa Tīrtha. They are none, who was master of Kṛṣṇa, now they are none, can’t see. So in that position, their followers cannot tolerate. These are fine things of divine sentiments, sentimental truth.

That Satadanya Mahārāja, he is in charge of Caitanya Candrodaya Maṭha now, is it not? Satadanya?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Under Bhāvānanda and Jayapataka.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________ [?] Disconnected, non-cooperate.

Devotees: Martial law, dictatorship, just like in Poland.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No, not martial, but they’re not happy to do that. But on policy they are to, for the time being, they are to test what effect it can have. They also have some affection for me. But still, to save their institution from the present crisis, what they think like that, it is a crisis, temporarily they are giving trial to this particular injunction.

Devotee: Temporary injunction.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I think like that. I think like that.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: You are very merciful.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But they cannot forget me totally. The newcomers may think like that, but the old that have seen me along with Swāmī Mahārāja there, it will be very difficult for them to bar, to put such a rigid law between the two, for those old men that have said how intimately Swāmī Mahārāja dealt with me. It will be very difficult for them. But still they, as a policy to take, in the check, the flow is coming this side.

Devotee: ___________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So...

Devotee: With Caru Swāmī?

Devotee: No, alone, I will meet them there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So [To Kṛṣṇa Smrti Sudha re: Tīrtha Yatra] you may begin with Katwa...

Devotee: __________ [?]

Aranya Mahārāja: No, he’s saying you should begin with Katwa.

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And then two days after.

Devotee: The day after tomorrow Caitanya Mahāprabhu taken sannyāsa, in Katwa.

Aranya Mahārāja: That’s twenty five miles from here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Twenty five miles, Katwa station.

Devotee: One hour journey.

Aranya Mahārāja: By train?

Devotee: By train, bus also.

Aranya Mahārāja: So maybe we can go, today, and visit.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You may do one thing in the meantime, you may go to Śāntipura and come back, and then day after tomorrow go to Katwa, come back, and then you start via Calcutta towards Purī, and then to the South.

Devotee: Ok. Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _____________________________ [?]

Devotee: Śāntipura Advaita Ācārya’s house.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mahāprabhu often He went to Śāntipura and stayed a few days there chanting and dancing and so many līlās performed in Śāntipura, the home of Advaita Ācārya.

Aranya Mahārāja: Cross the river, take rikshaw?

Devotee: Yes, or you go by bus ______________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Direct train also, from Svarūpa Ganja the narrow gauge train that is via Krishnanaga direct goes to Śāntipura. If you take the train in Krishnanaga...

Devotee: Bus also always.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Always bus also. Go to Krishnanaga and from there to Śāntipura.

Devotee: ___________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The town Śāntipura, just at the extremity of the Śāntipura town, there is one temple known as Babla [?] that is conceived to be the old home of Advaita Ācārya. The town is a little off. And there is one, that is Kulia, Haridāsa Ṭhākura’s bhajan-kuṭīra is there, nearby in Kulia, these two, this Advaita Prabhu’s home and Haridāsa Ṭhākura’s bhajan-kuṭīra, two things to see there. And when you go to Kalna, the Gauridāsa Paṇḍita, Gaura-Nityānanda that was installed during the lifetime of Gaura-Nityānanda there in Kalna. You can go see and come back, and also go to Śāntipura come back, and go to Katwa come back. And then you via Calcutta go to Purī, and you may take halt in Remuṇā also, the Kṣīra-corā-Gopīnātha.

Aranya Mahārāja: How many hours to Katwa?

Devotee: Katwa is one hour journey.

Aranya Mahārāja: And Śāntipura?

Devotee: You go here, go to Kalna, Gauridāsa Paṇḍita, then go to Śāntipura.

Aranya Mahārāja: How?

Devotee: Over the Ganges and then rikshaw.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________ taxi available, direct, but that will be costly. If five or six of you go...

Devotee: Over the Ganges, Svarūpa Ganj there is many cars also, direct.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So if you like to go in a group...

Aranya Mahārāja: Cheaper to go with taxi.

Parvat Mahārāja: Gaura-Nitāi came and became the Deity?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Became the Deity, yes, it is told like that. And then he said, “No, no, I don’t believe. You have managed anyhow to escape from the room.” Then put Them again, and “You go.” And the Deities were taken out and he under lock and key. Then the Deities began to walk. And he found, entered and found that They are petrified, Gaura-Nityānanda, like Deity. There this has been told.

It is all hypnotism, the highest hypnotism, satya-saṅkalpa. Let there be water, there was water, let there be light, there was light. Such willpower is at the back of all this creation what we see, satya-saṅkalpa. His will is all. We are to prepare ourselves to come to such a conception about the creation. His will. So, subjective causality, the cause is subjective.

Consciousness is the original substance, not the fossil. Fossil is floating in a negligent part of consciousness: the consciousness is the ocean and some iceberg is floating on it. So all these are floating on the ocean of consciousness in different gradation, satya-saṅkalpa.

The lower things, more or less perverted reflection of the higher; and lower cannot create higher. It is common sense. In higher things we may find here and there according to the degree of our misconception, something unnecessary, un-useful, undesirable, and hard and soft; all these, for our own misguided subjective feeling.

In the fullest length of our vision everything is good, serving Kṛṣṇa from their different positions, serving Kṛṣṇa. The transformation is according to the transformation within our consciousness, the seer. The seer is the responsible for different kinds of sight, the deviation in the seer from the standpoint of the Absolute interest, these differences.

There is difference in so many things. Māyāvādīs say that these are all false. The Vaiṣṇavas do not say false. Neho namast akincana [?] “There is no variegated-ness.”

But variegated-ness is there. Otherwise why it is mentioned? It is a disease, but disease is a real thing. So, medicine, doctor, all these are necessary to cure the disease. We can’t say that disease is false. Then what is the necessity of curing?

So world is real, for the bondage, otherwise why the necessity of the Vedas, the Avatāras, the sādhus and to canvass, ‘That don’t, this is not the normal place, it is abnormal. Go to be reinstated in your normal place, go to home, back to God.’ What is the necessity of uttering all these advices if it is not there? That is the contradiction between the Vaiṣṇava and the Māyāvāda. This is also here. It is also real. The error is real, the disease is real. This is one point. Another point, and that is the highest, cause is a differentiated one, not a static non-differentiated thing. There is hierarchy, everything is there. What we find here, this is the reflection, but perverted, but it is the reflection of the original. Otherwise how can it come here? If it is not in the cause, it cannot come in the effect. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

It is deplorable, but it seems to be true that the whole ISKCON administration is tottering. It is a very deplorable thing. But we see as a fact. And generally such things happen because the Ācārya can, they, there is a tendency to depend on their own disciples more. With their help, they like to go on with their work according to their free will. But the God-brothers, they may not rely much, because almost of equal status. They cannot order them forcefully to take up some duty and to carry out that. The difference comes from there. And there is some scientific basis of that. The vātsalya-rasa and the sākhya-rasa: sākhya-rasa is with God-brothers, and the vātsalya-rasa with the disciples. And vātsalya-rasa is stronger than sākhya-rasa, so the vātsalya-rasa asserts itself, and the sākhya-rasa is slackened: then scientific basis. But it depends on the Ācārya to be very careful that not so soon they should not go to depend on their disciples more. But in the beginning at least, they should rely more on the friends, these brothers, God-brothers. Very soon, if very soon, they go to depend on their disciples and the relationship with the friendly circle will be slackened. They will be, they cannot but be indifferent, so some elimination is possible, is likely.

And I told that so many good souls that came through Swāmī Mahārāja to throng under the flag of Mahāprabhu, Gauḍīya Maṭha, they will fast and die. So, some relief work should be done. That was my intention, and not, avoiding all possible clashes with the main institution, no clash with the main institution. No competition but only relief work. That was my – the big souls, the great souls, they are going, being aloof, and going away and becoming indifferent to Swāmī Mahārāja and Mahāprabhu, our Guru Mahārāja, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Kṛṣṇa. And I shall stand and tolerate all these things seeing I shall feel that I won’t see. That is difficult for me. So I ask my friends, “Start a relief work, to save those old friends that may not be encouraged by the present organizers.”

But it is obvious that they will rely more on the sons than the brothers. It is a general thing. And we had a sad experience in our own institution like that. So I could conjecture that such things may come, may occur. And indifferently we shall try to help them somewhat, otherwise we’ll be responsible to Mahāprabhu.

Though personally I’m not fit to carry on the responsibility of many devotees, and so and especially in this old age, it is not possible. So I ask you to create a separate institution nearby and sometimes possible help from me, and you go in your own way. In that way I can help you. That was my intention. So from the beginning I told, close to me, “Get one institution, independent, and go on working from that centre, and come now and then and consult with me. And I shall give my help as much as possible, from my present position, whatever is possible. That is my intention. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

The living man is going to die, to tolerate this view and this is not very easy for another living man. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Die to live. The constitution is not everything, but still it has got some efficacy to help the people. Organisation to help the people is necessary, but a bogus organisation is not desirable. A bankrupt organisation; the capital must be there.

Once in Kulna, when talking with an important follower of Ramakrishna Mission, I had to give some analogy. “The big signboards are there, Ramakrishna Mission, Bharata Sevā Āśrama, Congress Sevā, all these, but the auditor goes, they will find all bankrupt. Only signboards there, but the real position is that of a bankrupt. No capital. So mere signboard won’t do, and a business practice and capacity, that won’t do. The capital must be there, should be there. What is the capital? The capital is necessary. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. _____________ [?] The cottage industry may also be encouraged if the capital is there, in small ways, but must be a substantial and a living thing. And dead man’s gesticulation that is convulsion. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Aranya Mahārāja: You are our capital.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not myself. Yes, Swāmī Mahārāja, Guru Mahārāja, Mahāprabhu, Bhāgavata, Kṛṣṇa, there are so many things. Swāmī Mahārāja passed away, the other day I will pass away. But you may, everyone will have to stand on his leg, that means must have some considerable position, considerable conception, considerable realization of for what we have come. That will be our safe position.

That gentleman, it is very deplorable that Pradyumna he has turned to be atheist. He came so far and now suddenly bankrupt? No faith in Kṛṣṇa? All was just a show, mere show? Or so hurried depression, degradation, how it is possible? How he could commit Vaiṣṇava aparādha or so hurried degradation, almost atheist? Maybe some despair, dejection may come, may suffer from dejection, despair, but atheist? I can’t consider that what, his śraddhā bankrupt, and his śraddhā was only a show, only an imitative play; a dramatic show? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. He may not have unity with the institution as a whole, but separately he must go on in his own way. How can he leave the idea and become an atheist? It is all inconceivable to me.

Gaura Haribol, Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Ha, ha, ha, ha, their __________________ [?] this rule, that none from here will go to see Śrīdhara Mahārāja. This has been banned. The curiosity of the people in general: that will be increased; “What for?”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: “There must be something great over there. Let me see what’s there.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Such a big Mission, they feel endangered?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes. Actually they are in danger Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They’re all in danger from that man, and “Who is that man? We hear of something that he was an intimate friend to our Guru Mahārāja, our Founder, and now he’s a danger to this Mission, what’s the matter? We must have to have a look, have a peep of it before going, some idea of the dangerous spot from whom we shall be very careful. What is that thing?”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: The safest place has become the most dangerous.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “What are those Nāma-aparādhas from which we shall sit tight to save ourselves? We have some conception of Nāma-aparādhas, offences against the Holy Name, then we shall try to avoid them. What is that matter?” Gaura Haribol.

But I do not aspire after anything, but I’m going on, only giving response and attending the immediate call of duty. No plan, no speculation, nothing of the kind. Only the immediate call of duty I am doing and I am answering and attending. That is my idea. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

When I mildly refused conditionally to my Guru Mahārāja to go the west for preaching, I told, “I don’t think myself so fit.” I avoided, and Guru Mahārāja left me.

Then one of the ancient sannyāsīns, he told me in Bombay, “Swāmīji, I feel within my mind that I shall fall at your feet. You have checked such an ambitious chance. If you went to the west, a big name you could acquire easily as a western preacher, but you left it so easily.”

I simply told, “Yes, Mahārāja. You please bless me that no other ambition may enter into my heart, but to become a servant of Mahāprabhu. I crave for such benediction from you all. I don’t feel, of becoming, no temptation for big name I have got I think, and may not enter it again into my heart, but Mahāprabhu may capture the whole of my heart. That I pray for your blessings.”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: And we are praying for your blessings.

Aranya Mahārāja: That that may happen to us.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: The same thing.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That should be the prayer of all others, I feel, everyone, that Kṛṣṇa may capture every nook and corner of our heart, we’ll be blessed, we’ll be fortunate, there cannot be any other fortunate to be thought out. Let Him capture every point, every atom of our existence. That should be our summon bonum of our life. The wholesale capturing by Him and His devotees, and nothing remains. That should be our prayer. What more? We have come out for that, the truth, the highest conception of the truth; that will transform me into its own part and parcel. Nirguṇa, and not anything left with separate interest in the saguṇa world. There is our aim of life. And let it continue with... Mahāprabhu. Gaurāṅga Sundara. Live in the eternity, member of the eternity, only in relativity of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, nothing else.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi-Gaura-Gadādhara. Gaura-Gadādhara. Gaura-Gadādhara.

Nitāi-Gaura. Nitāi-Gaura-Gadādhara. Gaura Haribol, Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

So, Kamalāsana Prabhu has not come today?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s here? But every day he comes from Māyāpur?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He has one good friend of his there, Kanva Prabhu. He does garden work and Kamalāsana also likes garden work, and all that where we lived there, he cleaned all the outside.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That’s Kṛṣṇa Kiṅkara?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: And also Kamalāsana, the whole outside section...

Kamalāsana: I got permission to take as many flowers as I wanted and plant them...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then, you are not to return there today? Generally after the class he goes to Māyāpur, and again before evening he comes here, I am told.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But he can’t go to Māyāpur today?

Kamalāsana: I’m going to prepare the flower beds today.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No. He’s not going. He’s working on a garden, here.

Aranya Mahārāja: The point is, are you allowed to go and come to and from Māyāpur?

Kamalāsana: Well, it’s because no one knows where I really live.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And what about that Haripāda?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He left this morning to go to Vṛndāvana.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: At the departure of Swāmī Mahārāja, perhaps from Māyāpur, I came to ISKCON and Jayapataka Mahārāja, he very heartily requested me, that I explain there that śloka of Kurukṣetra, āhuś ca te nalina-nābha [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.82.49] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 13.136]. Perhaps that was very striking to Jayapataka Mahārāja. He came to request me, “Please go with us to America. This beautiful śloka of Bhāgavatam you are to explain there.” He requested.

‘It is impossible for me in this old age to go there. In general I’m very idle type man. Again, in this old age, to take the trouble of going so far to take such risk is not possible for me. Forgive me.’

But very earnestly he requested me, “You go to explain the śloka of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there. That is necessary.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Organizations there are innumerable, but what for? That is in question, the organization. Organization is good of course, if it is prepared to render service cent per cent to the real principle. That we should remember, everywhere, otherwise it is a burden.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: They say that, “Śrīdhara Mahārāja is all right, but those devotees who go to hear him, they are poison. Mahārāja is all right, but the devotees going, they have got separate interest.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is the symptom of a thing of all rightness. A good thing he poisons everything. That is the logic: “Śrīdhara Mahārāja is all right, but anyone coming in contact with him, they are poison, poisoned by him!” They’re committing suicide.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: What else?

Parvat Mahārāja: They say we are poison, but we are coming here to become free from the poison that we were eating there.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: But this is the most valuable poison we have ever found in our life.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You also approach there, and with your heart, then you will also be poisoned. That is Kṛṣṇa poisoning.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: This poisoning here is very sweet. It is killing all anarthas this poison here. We are very anxious for this poison, like cataka bird.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Visasya visamud daran [?] Poison also medicine in some disease: yes, poison, poison to māyā. It has also been described in Kṛṣṇa līlā, we find in the song, they say, the gopīs, perhaps Rādhārāṇī, is bitten by the black snake, so no hope of Her being cured. The black snake has bitten Her. The Kṛṣṇa conception has poisoned. Sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66]. He leaves all phases of duties, and if that sort of poison enters your body, he leaves all sorts of normal, so called normal life here, normal duties all left. Govinda Mahārāja _________________ [?] ...institution here, and that whole worldwide organization they are giving so much importance to me? _____________________ [?]

Devotee: __________________________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Sudurlabha bhagavata hi loke, only recognizing your real position, actual position being recognized.

[aksnoh phalam tvadrsa-darsanam hi, tanoh phalam tvadrsa-gatrasangah

jihva phalam tvadrsa-kirtanam hi, sudurlabha bhagavata hi loke]

[“O Vaisnava! To see you is the perfection of the eyes. To touch your holy feet is the perfection of the body. To vibrate your holy qualities is the perfection of the tongue, for it is very rare to find a pure devotee within this world.”] [Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, 13.2] & [Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, 3.47]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sudurlabha bhagavata hi loke, it is the opinion of a particular orthodox section.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Koṭiṣv api mahā-mune.

muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa

sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune

[“O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6.14.5] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.150]

Devotee: _______________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________ [?] He says that, what did you answer to him?

Parvat Mahārāja: He didn’t tell me, these other devotees. I went to get my suitcase out of there to bring here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _______________________ [?] He (Satadhanya Mahārāja) addressed to other servitors of the [Māyāpur] Maṭha, when he was getting away with his own baggage.

Parvat Mahārāja: Renouncing. Deeper realizations, very high realizations, he is keeping them for himself, but now you are giving them.

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...Ācārya, present Ācārya, “That if you can collect such articles for your paper, your paper standard will be raised up.” And saying that he repeatedly requested me, wherever, in Madras, Bombay: “Send articles please. Prabhupāda remarked about your articles is such: it will raise the standard of the paper.” That was one thing.

Then the Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, that poem produced very good influence in his heart. He remarked in different way and expressed that, “There is someone left to say my say in future.” That was his remark. “That what I want to say, in future it is remaining, I’m going satisfied.”

That is the development in the conception of the Gauḍīya ontological representation, how from Brahman, Paramātmā, Nārāyaṇa is higher, and from Nārāyaṇa how Kṛṣṇa conception is higher. And in Kṛṣṇa conception how mādhurya-rasa, Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa is higher. And then how Rādhā-dāsyam, Rādhā-kaiṅkaryya is the highest. It is shown there by gradual process. The real bhajan of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava it climbs...

End of 82.01.12.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.12.C_82.01.16.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...may be affectionate, but even Lalitā Prasād who was anti Guru Mahārāja. He also appreciated because it is written in the name of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, common interest, so he also expressed her appreciation for this śloka, this Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. What is Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura? In comparison with other Ācāryas, spiritual preceptors, what is his position? It was depicted there by gradual development. The gradual development of the theism, of the theistic realisation, that was shown there and Prabhupāda appreciated that very much. The comparative study of the real theism, how it grows, very logically.

That Rāmānanda Rāya, the topics of Mahāprabhu and Rāmānanda Rāya that is very, very sweet in my heart, and my heart follows that very closely as if making it one with me. So much so that the development in the theistic conception of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, the Bhāgavata School, as it was expressed in the discourse of Mahāprabhu and Rāya Rāmānanda. Mahāprabhu is asking and Rāmānanda replying, in this process how step by step it climbed up to the highest.

I closely followed that and that is the key to all my talk. There in one place it is found in the varṇāśrama how gradually it is developing step by step. We are to follow that strictly. Strictly and sincerely we are to follow, then everything we can have a conception of, what is Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, what is Bhāgavata Dharma, what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is there. And any true student of that discourse divine he may have the real conception, entrance into the very private, into the secret of the whole Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theology. It is there. And then of course in Sanātana śikṣā, Rūpa śikṣā: there elaborately. But in a nut shell the whole system is to be found there, from top to bottom there. Hare Kṛṣṇa. And that is within my heart always.

Gaura-Nityānanda. Gaura-Nityānanda. Nitāi-Gaura-Gadādhara. Nitāi-Gaura-Gadādhara.

I like and I feel that I’m at their feet. I want to secure my position near the feet of Rāya Rāmānanda and Mahāprabhu, Svarūpa Dāmodara. No other wealth has any charm in my life here in the world, or in Vaikuṇṭha, anywhere else. What the ISKCON will do, harm to me? I want to take my position there, firm, eternal position under the feet of my master.

Ratna-cintāmaṇi, Kavirāja Goswāmī has mentioned there the talk is discovering valuable after valuable, more and more valuable gems and gems in gradual process. Go deeper, go deeper, to get more valuable gems. Go deeper in this way. It has been given by instalment.

Sciata [?], sona, ratna-cintāmaṇi [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8, 294] In this process the valuable, more valuable, more valuable things have been distributed there in that talk. “It is a public thing. It is there. Go and take and loot. It is open to all. It is open to all. Go and drink to the fullest extent of your capacity. Quench your all hankering, thirst. It is there.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja:

kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta-sara, tāra śata śata dhara, daśa-dike vahe yāhā haite,

se caitanya-līlā haya, sarovara akṣaya, mano-haṁsa carāha’ tahate

[“There is no doubt that we find the highest nectarine taste of rasa in Kṛṣṇa-līlā. But what is Gaura-līlā? In Gaura-līlā, the nectar of Kṛṣṇa-līlā is not confined to a limited circle, but is being distributed on all sides. It is just as if from all ten sides of the nectarine lake of Kṛṣṇa-līlā hundreds of streams are flowing.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 25.271]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhakta-gana, suna mora sadenya bhajan [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 25.272?] Śrī Govinda Mahārāja has appreciation for this very much. It is written in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. What is Mahāprabhu? Kavirāja Goswāmī is giving description about Mahāprabhu. Who is He? Just from a divine infinite lake so many hundreds of currents are coming out of nectar. Nectarine currents are in thousands coming out from a particular divine lake. And all those currents are kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta, and coming out from the lake who is Mahāprabhu. Who is Mahāprabhu: from whom in thousand ways the variegated nature of Kṛṣṇa-līlā coming out. Kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta-sara, tāra śata śata dhara. Hundreds of streams are coming out of a particular inconceivable divine lake, and the current of kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta, the nectarine pastimes of Kṛṣṇa is coming out. And the lake has been compared with Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanyadeva, oozing out from Him in every movement, His glance, His appearance, His talk, His dancing, His kīrtana, His ordinary discourse with His devotees. In different variegated nature and a beautiful way only kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta and the streams are oozing in different place, of different taste, peculiar. Unthinkable sweetness there coming out from Him from every posture, gesture, look, movement, Kṛṣṇa coming out; that is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When if one can understand Him that, raso 'py asya, paraṁ dṛṣṭva nivartate...

[“However, inner attachment to sense objects is spontaneously denounced by the person of a properly adjusted intelligence, due to his having had a glimpse of the all-attractive beauty of the Supreme Truth.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.59]

...no other ambition he can cherish in his heart any longer. That may be the blessing of the divinity towards me, and towards everyone. No other wealth is ever calculated to be better than this. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

yadi gaura nā hoita, tabe ki hoita, kemone dharitām de

rādhāra mahimā, prema-rasa-sīmā jagate jānāta ke

[madhura vṛndā vipina mādhurī praveśa cāturī sāra

baraja yuvatī bhāvera bhakati śakati hoita kāra]

[Vāsudeva Ghosa]

[“What great insurmountable, unsurpassable loss would we have faced in our life, if Śrī Gaurāṅga had not appeared before us on this earth? How could we bear our unfulfilled, empty life without Him? Who in this world would have described the super excellent transcendental glory of Śrī Rādhikā, Who is the last limit of divine love and devotion for the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa? Without His grace, who would be able to know the super excellent devotional path that gives entrance into the transcendental realm of the ambrosial ecstasy of Vṛndāvana? Who would be able to attain the mood and taste of the topmost devotional ecstasy of the young damsels of Vraja?”] [Śrī Bhakti Rakṣaka Bhajana Madhuri, p 32]

Gaura Hari. Ke ar kori vedar patita dekhi ar patita dekhi ar ruci kandiya [?] Mahāprabhu gone: who else again will cry aloud seeing the fallen condition of the souls? He could not tolerate this stage of the souls disconnected from Kṛṣṇa under so deplorable conditions. Haridas hari nahi pai [?] It is a very strange thing that who is really by His existence He is the servitor of Kṛṣṇa and He’s devoid of Kṛṣṇa, separated from Kṛṣṇa. What is this? It is quite unnatural. It cannot be tolerated. Kṛṣṇa is His own master and He’s separated from His own Lord of heart: very wonderful. A normal thinking man can’t tolerate this. This is His birthright, home, out of home. Their feeling is like that.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

______________________ Govinda Mahārāja.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: __________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________ [?]

Nitāi Dayal. Nitāi Dayal. Nitāi Dayal. Nitāi Dayal. Mahāprabhu Govinda Sundara hey. Gaurangera nagara baddha nityayet namabhi [?] The beloved citizen of Navadwīpa beautifully dancing and singing His own Name and own līlā. Singing and dancing and feeling His own self, that ideal citizen of Navadwīpa, that famous citizen, Gaurāṅga. Dancing, feeling His own beauty, especially that of Name, tasting His own Name and beauty and dancing: that was seen in the streets of Nadiyā that time. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, the Guru, the guide of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Goswāmī, his poem: Gaurangera nagara badbha nityayet namabhi [?] How beautiful, taking His own Name in a way, and by His own charm He’s charmed in dancing and singing.

Sva-bhajana vibhajana prayojana avatari.

Sva virakhi vivam bandham milana nanda ksepan nitya madhuram madhuri [?]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara.

Devotee: ____________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So we may stop here today.

...

...by direct, by instalment according to the capability of those for whom I give. But one who will have such fine understanding, as to understand, as to know, as to feel this is also His order but to a particular group. But more intelligent and higher minded persons they may cross those rulings and advance further. So many scriptures to be ignored, many sādhu’s of that level to be ignored: and even the society and well-wishers, well-wishers of different interest. Everything should be ignored if you want Me as Kṛṣṇa, Svayaṁ-Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, especially in Vṛndāvana, Vraja. I can’t tolerate any partner of any shade in My dealings of everyone, no partner. I am the Absolute Enjoyer. No partnership I can tolerate. Even to whom you should have obligation, the Guru section, pita, mātā, the relatives, the parents, so-called superiors, none I can tolerate. Then I’m not there cent per cent. If you want Me then I want to have cent per cent in quality. You may have to attend those duties but outwardly, a show. But the inner most heart I want wholesale. There I am. I am there. Otherwise you will have to come to My outer expression. So many other forms I have got to engage you in that holy life. But brajendra-nandan, if you want brajendra-kiśora, no other path.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Svajanam ārya-pathaṁ ca hitvā, bhejur mukunda-padavīṁ śrutibhir vimṛgyām.

[āsā maho caraṇa-renu-juṣām aham syām, vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnām

yā dustyajaṁ svajanam ārya-pathaṁ ca hitvā, bhejur mukunda-padavīṁ śrutibhir vimṛgyām]

[“The gopīs of Vṛndāvana have given up the association of their husbands, sons and other family members, who are very difficult to renounce, and they have sacrificed even their religious principles to take shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, which are sought after by even the Vedas. O grant me the fortune to be born as a blade of grass in Vṛndāvana, so that I may take the dust of those great souls upon my head.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.47.61]

“Because, the rulings, law books, religious law books also, they can’t express what they’re aiming at, such a thing, śrutibhir vimṛgyām. All the revealed truths, revealed expressions, they’re also aiming towards this, but can’t express fully. That is, My nature is such, and most selfish in that respect. So selfish even the scriptures cannot measure it, they fail to measure and express that I’m so selfish. But, you will try to understand that is your absolute good. Absolute good, absolute cannot be, cannot admit any secondary position. He can’t tolerate that He’ll be second to someone, because He’s Absolute, not second to anyone. So no partnership is conceivable there. I’m such.”

But, connotation increases denotation decreases, denotation increases connotation decreases, in logic we read. Connotation increases denotation decreases, in this way. This conception is there everywhere.

muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa

[sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune]

[“O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6.14. 5] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.150]

Karmibhyaś cādhiko yogī, jñānibhyo [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.46]

Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ, mad-gatena, śraddhā [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.47]

[tapasvibhyo ‘dhiko yogī, jñānibhyo ‘pi mato ‘dhikaḥ

karmibhyaś cādhiko yogī, tasmād yogī bhavārjuna

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ, mad-gatenāntarātmanā

śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ, sa me yuktatamo mataḥ]

[“The yogī who is a worshipper of the Supersoul is superior to persons engrossed in severe austerities such as the cāndrāyaṇa, superior to the worshippers of Brahman, and superior to the fruitive workers. Know this certainly to be My conclusion. Therefore, O Arjuna, be a yogī.”] [“Among all types of yogīs, the most elevated of all is the devotee who has full faith in the authoritative pure devotional scriptures, and who adores Me with all their heart by hearing and singing My divine glories, rendering all services unto Me. Certainly this is My opinion.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.46-7]

The gradual process, elimination and improvement: improvement means elimination. So those that are very particular about quality, they cannot mix with the mass, hankering for mass qualification or capacity. They’re always trying to go up, in eliminative nature. They’re ruthlessly progressing of eliminating nature.

Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja in his mahāprasthāna when he’s making advance, the Draupadī, Sahadeva, Nakula, all, falling down and asking, “Why it is so? We are so keenly or so intimately connected with you Mahārāja, you are going away, you are going up, and we fall down.”

Carelessly Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja going up, “Oh, you had such defects so you fell down one by one, Draupadī, Sahadeva, Nakula, Arjuna, Bhīma – “Why I am falling down?” – you had some such defect of this nature so you fall down.” Without caring he’s marching onward.

Then should we mark that this is a type of selfishness? No. To advance towards truth it cannot be so. Truth is distributed by Himself. Truth, not only wholesome, distributive also, self distributing in nature, so I’m going only to enhance that. By serving Him I’m going to help Him to self distribution. It is universal. Apparently it may be thought to be very narrowed in the worldly sense, in the external sense, but it is more universal from the qualitative difference.

Eliminating stone, earth, water, we are going to ether, but ether is more extensive than the earth. Water is more extensive than the earth; then the air is more extensive, spacious, than the water, in this way. The sukṣma, the gross is being eliminated and we’re going to approach towards sukṣma, subtle, from subtler to subtlest. But in one sense that is more accommodating.

Truth: so Svayaṁ-Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, whimsical, Absolute Good whimsical; that is at the back of every form of truth. So outwardly eliminating but inwardly it is accommodating.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura. So quality is valuable, it is precious. Quantity is available, it is very cheap, quantity here we find. But here in this mundane plane the nature of quality is very rarely found.

Different nature we find, even in the Ācārya, goṣṭhy-ānandī, whatever they have in a collective way they want get it, enjoy. And there are some who very eager to improve their qualitative realisation, do not care much for the environment, but more careful towards inner realisation. But when anyone is used by the Absolute to do any work he will have to do that. He’ll be given such nature. Arurakta [?] The stage when just he’s going to climb the stage, that āpana-daśā, that in his own plane: amongst them two kinds, goṣṭhyānandī and viviktānandī [aka bhajanānandī].

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Mahārāja, in the Hari-Nāma-cintāmaṇi it describes about the āpana-daśā and those different stages. And Bhaktivinoda says that there are persons who have arcana-pravṛtti and those have saṅkīrtana-pravṛtti.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hmm?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Arcana-pravṛtti...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Arcana-pravṛtti in āpana-daśā ?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yes, no, not in that but generally sādhakas may have arcana-pravṛtti or saṅkīrtana-pravṛtti. So are these comparisons...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Arcana temperament in the highest stage it is to be found in Rāmānuja sampradāya, in Vaikuṇṭha, the arcana may attain final stage. But in Goloka arcana is secondary, and the rāga service that is primary. Arcana, not arcana proper but takes the shape of arcana we find in Nimbarka sampradāya, something like arcana. And opposite, rāga sevā we find in Vallabha sampradāya, Viṣṇuswāmī, Vallabha sampradāya, sevā. They even do not like to pronounce the name arcana, but ‘sevā I’m doing.’

And kīrtana is in Gauḍīya sampradāya and what seems to be arcana is not real arcana. It is what Rūpa, Sanātana did themselves, Goswāmīns: that is a kind of sevā, not much of arcana. Arcana is there when scripture plays the part, important play. But heart within, the satisfaction of the inner heart, that plays the important part in bhajan, sevā.

In Vraja-maṇḍala about Kṛṣṇa, Gopāla, all these things, the rāga-mārga, the inner inclination, tendency, that is more valuable, is considered to be more valuable than what is recommended in the scriptures in arcana-mārga.

Once, in Gauḍīya you may find, one such question was put to our Guru Mahārāja. “That Rūpa, Sanātana, their Govinda Mandira, all these temples have been established by them, Deities installed, so they also did arcanam.”

Then Guru Mahārāja told, “No. What they did that is bhajan. Arcana is indirect, through the scripture, bhajan from heart to heart, direct approach. So apparently people may think that they’re making arcana but it is not so. Bhajan means direct service, and arcana through the scriptural rules. So Rūpa, Sanātana were not followers of, or the Goswāmīns, were not followers of arcana though they installed Deities, temples, etc. More concerned with inner sentiment, that is bhajan. And more care taken to the rules regulations of the śāstra that is arcana.”

That will help gradually to arouse our internal feeling, sentiment, so arcana is not to be condemned but if any distinction to be thought out it is like that. The bhajan more hearty and the arcana more scriptural.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Arcana is more jñāna-miśrā?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Śāstra-niṣṭha. Śāstra-niṣṭha. Śrutibhir vimṛgyām [from the verse beginning āsā maho caraṇa-renu-juṣām [Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, 10.47.61]

Bhāratī Mahārāja: So this platform of āpana is extremely advanced, very advanced, āpana-daśā is very advanced stage.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course. Svarūpa-siddhi, advanced stage.

...

... general maintain, consolidate your position where you are, that you may not have to go back. Then you must march and that is the object of your consolidated position.

sarva-dharmān parityajya, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

[ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ]

[“Totally abandoning all kinds of religion, surrender exclusively unto Me. I will liberate you from all kinds of sins, so do not despair.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66]

So relative things to be attended because we may go down, but the object is to go onward absolute, absolute consideration, it is not a static one. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise it will be a stagnant, rotten thing. Progressing nature there always should be, and the same time to maintain ones advanced position also. So relative only to maintain the present position, and absolute consideration to go up, further, onward. So that is our aim and this is our position that we may not go down.

But the nature of government whether democratic or autocratic, what sort of government should be, utilise, administer to the people through them, that is all important.

Rāmeśvara Mahārāja’s tone that when he has got recognition from Swāmī Mahārāja to do the function of the Ācārya, then necessarily he’s in absolute position.

But I do not recognise his position to be so. Still he’s a student, madhyama-adhikārī, at most, at best. Then there’s Ādikeśa, he was an Ācārya?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No, only GBC.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Only GBC.

Parvat Mahārāja: He was trying to be an Ācārya.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He desires of becoming an Ācārya, we’re told.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And I was told that one Ācārya he has married his own disciple?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No, he didn’t do it, he had some desire to do that, and then he checked that desire.

Parvat Mahārāja: He asked the GBC’s permission.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He requested it.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is he?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Harikeśa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Harikeśa is more afraid, Harikeśa is more afraid of me that he wants to keep the standard of the Ācārya. He’s there to criticise the standard of Ācārya.

“We are all perfect, we are supposed to be perfect.”

But that gentleman he does not recognise that position in us...

...

... He’s the son of our aunt Śacī Devī. Śacī Devī is our aunt and He’s born of her, so what greater position He may hold than us? _________________________________ [?] Then of course we are to admit that He’s over-intelligent and endowed with some great prospect. That does not mean that He will say that we are nothing, and He’s all perfect.”

...

You may go through that tridaṇḍī-bhikṣu _________ [?] Kṛṣṇa Himself is chanting that how he was disturbed by the public, that brāhmaṇa of Avantīpur, that tridaṇḍī-bhikṣu, how the public disturbed him. Collecting some food he’s placing on the bank of a river and eating. Some came and passed urine there, so much it is mentioned. And of course it is coming from the mouth of Kṛṣṇa Himself. The public is, may be so boisterous, so rude, so cruel, so beastly in their temperament. That collecting some food by begging and he’s taking that, and one came and began to pass urine. What more can take? Then they will put so many questions. He’s tired of answering them, he’s keeping silence. Then giving some slap. “You don’t say anything, you must be a thief, or dacoit.” In this way this is __________ [?] And this passes through the notice of Kṛṣṇa Himself. But it is necessary for the improvement of the sādhu’s condition. So He does not interfere. It helps them indirectly. That may be hateful to the world at large that they may not have any charm in future for such life, mystery life.

...

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Jyoti Vasu, he recently died in Jaipur.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s the chief minister.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, Jyoti Mai Vasu [?]

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Any reaction in Bengal?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Reaction that one of the strong members of the Communist Party went away, not much. He has a big majority still. Mai Vasu [?] he was an assembly member only, but fighting member, man of learning, he was somewhat a learned man, in law.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: He was favourable to some degree towards ISKCON.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Favourable?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yeah, he had some connection with Bhāvānanda and Jayapataka. He carried some influence for ISKCON.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So natural, his father – was going to commit suicide: action reaction, ā-virincyād amaṅgalam, karmaṇāṁ pariṇāmitvād, ā-virincyād amaṅ...

[karmaṇāṁ pariṇāmitvād, ā-virincyād amaṅgalam

vipścin naśvaram paśyed, adṛṣṭam api dṛṣṭa-vat]

[“An intelligent person should see that any material activity is subject to constant transformation and that even on the planet of Lord Brahmā there is thus simply unhappiness. Indeed, a wise man can understand that just as all that he has seen is temporary, similarly, all things within the universe have a beginning and an end.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.19.18]

End of 82.01.12.C_82.01.16.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.13.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... Rādhārāṇī’s brother, not direct, Rādhārāṇī’s brother is Śrīdam. Śrīdam is Rādhārāṇī’s brother, elder brother. And Subal he has also intimate connection with Rādhārāṇī’s father-in-law’s house. He had free access there when very young, and almost similar to She, as Rādhārāṇī. He was very beautiful and he could give proxy of Rādhārāṇī. Subal milan.

Once, Subal at noontime, when Kṛṣṇa hankered after Rādhārāṇī’s company so much, Subal was sent to fetch Her, in noontime. And Subal went there and took the garments of Rādhārāṇī and stayed in the harem. And Rādhārāṇī took the garments – She was dressed by the garment like Subal. And anyhow She managed to get out of the house, and with a young calf on Her breast She approached to Kṛṣṇa.

So much so imitation, Kṛṣṇa could not detect, “Oh, Subal you come back. You can’t manage to take Her here?”

“Yes.” Rādhārāṇī in the garb of Subal answered, “Yes, it is very difficult. I could not manage to take Her.”

Then Kṛṣṇa going to faint, in half fainted form fell down.

Then Rādhārāṇī fell on His feet. “Eh, can’t recognise Your eternal maidservant, You My Lord? You fail to recognise Me. I’m Your eternal servitor maidservant and You can’t recognise Me My Lord. I have come.”

No. Rādhārāṇī put in merry joke. “I could not take Her, but if you ask I can bring Candra. Should I make any attempt for that?”

“No, no, no. You don’t understand My heart. I don’t want Candra now. My hankering to the extreme for Rādhārāṇī.”

Then Rādhārāṇī could not be taken. What to do? Then He was going to faint. Then She came out, “I’m Your eternal maidservant. You could not recognise Me My master, this is Myself.” With such things.

And Subal was very similar and very intimate to the friend of Rādhārāṇī’s father-in-law, Subal. Among all the friends he was very reliable, especially in the case of this mādhurya-rasa connection. So Subal, though in friendly rasa he can reach up to bhāva intensity. No other friends can attain up to bhāva-daśā, sneha, mana, pranaya, rāga, anurāga, bhāva, so intensified prema that it comes, reaches to the condition of bhāva, then mahābhāva. That is only in mādhurya-rasa and with Rādhārāṇī. Subal means sākhya-rasa, but because of his connection with mādhurya-rasa, the friends rasa could reach up to bhāva, bhāva-daśā. So much intensity he could reach, he could acquire.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So, I like if possible you can go to see Ekacākrā, Nityānanda Prabhu’s birthplace. He’s all in all of Gaura-maṇḍala. Mahāprabhu left the whole responsibility of Gaura-maṇḍala to Nityānanda. And He did his best inconceivably preaching the Name of Śrī Gaurāṅga here. You can look how advanced the position is here, you can experience yourself. If you go out the people will come like dog to bite you. In such position Nityānanda Prabhu He could capture so many on the side of Mahāprabhu.

Mahāprabhu when He sent Nityānanda Prabhu, “No other person is eligible to manage in Bengal, in Gaura-maṇḍala, but You Śrīpāda. Only You can manage there.”

He had the knack to appeal to the masses. The scholar section eliminated and the mass conversion was made by Nityānanda, and very few scholars, but mass conversion that was led by Nityānanda Prabhu here in Bengal. So Nityānanda Prabhu’s birthplace is Ekacākrā, Bīrbhum District.

I went there while coming from Vṛndāvana via Dhambad [?], Bholpur [?], Malapur [?] station, and from Malapur of course now bus, I hired a bullock cart and deposited my beddings there and I walked behind that bullock cart. And then I stayed there one night, and there was a gentleman in charge, one Bidu Visanca Padar [?], he was M.A., B.L., he also read from Baharampur College and he could understand me. And he welcomed me there very much, and when I come began to shed tears, that Bidu Visanca Padar. Secluded educated man in that village, he slept almost alone, no one to talk of his level. So anyhow he began to shed tears, Bidu Visanca Padar. Only once I went there. That is in nineteen forty, December, I visited the place. Now much improvement must have been made there.

Devotee: _____________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________ [?] Gaura Sundara. So many places are shown as the līlā-sthāna, the places of pastimes in His early days, where did He do what things, that is also mentioned. Garbhavas [?], is a place.

And there is another place where Bhīma, Bhīmasen, one of the Pāṇḍavas, he killed one Baka-rākṣasa there, Ekacākrā. When they were in disguise, moving in different places, they came to Ekacākrā, Pāṇḍavas with Kuntī. And there that Baka-rākṣasa was a big demon and he was killed by Bhīma. That is also shown a little far, few furlongs, under the tree that deed was done, Ekacākrā. The Pāṇḍavas living with a brāhmaṇa family in secrecy, and the Baka-rākṣasa the demon, they would eat human bodies also, so he was devastating the locality.

So the king, or the chief of that locality had a contract with him that, “Every day I shall send in a cart some paramānna, that boiled milk-rice, to some huge quantity, and two bullocks, and the man who will guide the bullocks, and large quantity of that milk-rice, will reach you every day timely. You don’t devastate my land, don’t disturb my subjects.”

And that was done, that one man must go, human body, and two bullocks, and that huge quantity of milk-rice, he used to devour, that Baka. Now, he managed that every family should give a man who will guide that bullock cart and be food of that demon.

So in the house Kuntī took her shelter with five sons, the turn came to their family one day. And in the family there was a mourning picture, “Who is to go to be devoured by the demon, to be his food today?”

Then hearing about the wailing in the family Kuntī came to ask, “What’s the matter? Why do you mourn so much? What’s the matter?”

Then they gave the description that such is the matter.

“Oh, it does not matter. You have only son, you should not. The son says, ‘I shall go.’ The father says, ‘No, I shall go.’ The daughter says, ‘I shall go.’ In this way. Then Kuntī told, “We are living here very comfortably for so long a time, so you need not, I have got five sons, I shall send one. We are very much satisfied with your dealings. As guest we are living very happily. I shall give one son. You don’t bother.”

“No, no, no. You are our guest. Guests should be treated like Nārāyaṇa, it is in the scripture. How can I do? We can’t accept that, your offer.”

Then Kuntī came out, “I have got such a son I think he will go and kill the demon and relieve your locality forever.”

Anyhow hearing that, that was managed, Kuntī Devī asked Bhīmasen. Bhīma was very much pleased. He can’t eat to his full belly there by collection. So much paramānna, that is milk-rice, this large quantity, “Yes, very nice thing, engagement.” Bhīma went there and no sooner he reached there he took down that paramānna there in the big pot and began to eat, himself, to drink it there.

And that demon, enraged, he came, “What’s the matter? That man’s so bold. I shall eat him for he’s eating my food.”

Bhīma does not care, he has got sweet preparation of paramānna, he’s taking carelessly.

Then he’s coming with tree branches, broken branches of trees and began, and in one hand Bhīma he’s protecting himself and with the right hand he’s going on taking. Then when it’s finished he came out and there was a fight and the demon Bak was killed there, Bakaśura. Ekacākrā Bakarākṣasa ________ [?]

And nearby, a few furlongs southern, to the south, southern position, the garbhavas [?] where Hadāi Paṇḍita had his small cottage where Nityānanda Prabhu came. And up to twelve years He lived here, then one sannyāsī came and begged the child for him, for his servant. For that was the custom of the day, he could not deny their beautiful son of twelve years only, so brisk and smart and very beautiful. But the parents had no other alternative but to give it in the beggar’s pot. He was taken when twelve years. And then He wandered with that sādhu almost all the places of pilgrimage in India in His boyhood. Then when He was about twenty years He wandered to different tīrthas with the sannyāsī. And when He was about thirty two then Mahāprabhu came out with His saṅkīrtana-līlā, and Nityānanda Prabhu gradually joined.

Devotee: ________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________________________ [?] Then Mahāprabhu - Nityānanda Prabhu has come here and He hid Himself in the house of Nandan Ācārya. Mahāprabhu had a dream at night that one sādhu He has come in a chariot, and the chariot is Haladhara’s, just like that of Balarāma. And He’s making enquiry here, “Where is the house located of Nimāi Paṇḍita? Where is Nimāi Paṇḍita? Where does He live?” He had that dream.

And in the morning He asked His friends, “That a great personage has visited Navadwīpa, has come to visit Navadwīpa. You please try to find out Him, where He’s putting up.”

Then they went around the town, and as much as much as possible they searched but did not have any clue. “No great person has come here. We have searched all possible localities but no such person.”

Then Mahāprabhu told, “Let Me try. Come along with Me.”

And He came direct to Nandan Ācārya’s bhavan, and there when entered the compound found a big, very grown up, beautiful body, just sitting on the veranda. And Mahāprabhu went there and offering His respect to His Nityānanda Prabhu He eyed Himself, looked at Him very deeply. Then perhaps They embraced and fainted. “I have got My Lord.”

Before that He expressed, “Kṛṣṇa has come here. Where is He? I went to Vṛndāvana, I found the throne is empty, vacant. Kṛṣṇa is not there now. He has come here I’m told.”

In this way, intuitively He’s saying like that, it appears like that, “That I searched Kṛṣṇa but could not find there in Vṛndāvana. Wherever I went the throne is empty. And I was told that Kṛṣṇa has come recently to Navadwīpa. So I ran here.”

In this way He was talking. Then finding Mahāprabhu, embraced Him, fainted.

The other devotees they can’t make out what’s the matter. “A newcomer, a stranger, and so close intimation: what’s the matter? Who are They, so deep connection, inconceivably deep? We are so long with Nimāi Paṇḍita but we are far off, and this newcomer so deeply connected that after embracing fainted.”

Then gradually when They arose Nityānanda Prabhu joined the saṅkīrtana campaign and became the leader of the party.

In Jagāi, Mādhāi case He offered Himself to be the opponent, or offered Himself as their food. And He was wounded, blood oozing, Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanya, He, Śrī Gaurāṅga, lost His temper, invited cakram to destroy the whole atheist section. Nityānanda Prabhu checked Him, cautioned Him, “What are You doing? Don’t You forget in this līlā not to use any force, but only love is the weapon to conquer the heart of the fallen, and no use of force.” He cautioned Mahāprabhu.

But He lost His temper, Mahāprabhu, “Blood oozing from Nityānanda’s body,” could not: this is the Godhead in the God, He can’t tolerate His own promise.

Just as Kṛṣṇa did in the case of Bhīṣma, when Bhīṣma with folded palms fell on the gate, “Oh, an insignificant person I am and to keep up my promise You break Your promise.”

Kṛṣṇa promised that He won’t catch any weapon in Kurukṣetra war, Kurukṣetra battle. And Bhīṣma he also promised that, “I shall force Kṛṣṇa to catch weapon in today’s battle.” And he so vehemently, desperately Bhīṣma fought that day that Arjuna could not protect him. And when Arjuna was, his activities almost stopped, he began to throw weapon to Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa seeing Arjuna helpless He jumped out of the chariot and with the cakram in His hand He went to attack Bhīṣma, walking.

Then Arjuna also jumped, got his consciousness back, jumped and cried, “No, no, my friend, why You are going? You are breaking Your promise.”

“No. You Dhanañjaya, do you think that without you the battle of Kurukṣetra cannot be won? Do you think like that? I alone attain the victory in this battle and make Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira – I shall install him on the throne. Who can oppose this I shall see.”

On the other side Bhīṣma’s wish has been fulfilled, “He has taken that weapon,” and he with folded palms, “How great You are. A tiny soul like myself, to keep up my promise You have broken Your promise. How high minded, how noble You are my Lord.”

So that is the nature of God. For His own servant He does not hesitate to put Himself in the lower position, to keep up the dignity of the position of the devotees. That is His nature.

Here also when Mahāprabhu saw that blood oozing from Nityānanda’s head He could not contain Himself and He came out with – from within, unconscious of His Gaura līlā to give a good lesson to the rogues of Nadiyā.

But Nityānanda Prabhu pacified Him, “No, don’t do so. You forget Your promise that You have come to take up the fallen souls, to deliver them, and this is not the way in this time.”

Then Mahāprabhu was stopped. And anyhow, Nityānanda Prabhu in the front, He came to forgive them, and necessarily Mahāprabhu also had to come to forgive them. Their heart was transformed totally. This Jagāi Mādhāi was converted fully and surrendered themselves under the feet of Gaura-Nitāi.

And when the two notorious rogues, guṇḍās, were converted, then the enemy party they became afraid. “What’s the matter? Those great rogues, notorious, now they’re on that side, then no longer I could attack Them in any way I like.” In this way: by Nityānanda Prabhu’s favour.

And Haridāsa Ṭhākura was also with Nityānanda at that time. The first batch of preaching party, Haridāsa and Nityānanda, Mahāprabhu sent Them both. He’s sitting in the home and sent these two, “Go from door to door and ask them, ‘What are you doing? Take the Name of Kṛṣṇa.’” This Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana propaganda, the first party was composed of Nityānanda and Haridāsa, went from door to door, wherever:

yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa, [āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa

kabhu nā vādhibe tomāra viṣaya-taraṅga, punarapi ei ṭhāñi pābe mora saṅga]

[“Instruct whoever you meet in the science of Kṛṣṇa. Teach them the instructions of Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā, and the teachings about Kṛṣṇa in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way, on My order, become a Guru and liberate everyone in the land. If you follow this instruction, the waves of materialism within this world will not affect you. Indeed, if you follow My order, you will soon attain My association.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 7.128-9]

Whomever They’re meeting, “Oh, take the Name of Kṛṣṇa.” In this way They began the propaganda.

And now you are spreading lākhs or crores of books as the consequence of that small beginning from door to door preaching of Nityānanda and Haridāsa.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi.

Back to home, back to God; back to home. What is the necessity of visiting door to door, door to door, and to ask them to take the Name of Kṛṣṇa? The necessity is, ‘You come home. Why you are wandering in the troublesome foreign places, foreign countries, and undergoing so much misery unnecessarily? Why? Come home, come home, sweet, sweet home. Everything is there.’ It is the general question to answer the suppressed pain of every animal, every animation; every life. Wherever there is life within that some innate tendency, feeling of misery, uneasiness, this is a general question. If the creeper, stone, [demi-]god, man, tigers, elephants, everywhere this is a general demand to get out of the uneasiness in the midst of which we are. So only one medicine: Kṛṣṇa Nāma. So it is the most general demand of the whole animation and not any sectarian or any partial dealings. The most general dealing, not only to human beings but to all creation, the whole creation here, the only inner demand, expressed or unexpressed but the demand is there. The removal of all discomfort, this attempt, ‘Come home, everything there. To take the Name of Kṛṣṇa that is the means, most easiest means to take you, to guide you to your home. Come to homeland.’ Homeland: that is the general nature of our preaching to one and all, including the beasts, the vegetable kingdom, the stones; everywhere. Where there is life some inconceivable uneasiness is there. And to give that perfect happiness, to call them towards home, come home. All, in other words, all more or less mad crack, crack brained. Just as that is in the civilised language, what will it be?

Devotees: Crazy, insane.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Insane, all are insane, and to remind him of his home. He forgot his own, his guardian, his son, his father, his wife, children. You may think whatever is wanted for our fullest comfort, everything is there, only he’s forgetful of that and wandering here and there. Endlessly wandering and being pained in different order of experience. To be reinstated in his former consciousness, previous consciousness that you are a family member and your family is doing very well and you come there.

So the call with Kṛṣṇa Nāma, through Kṛṣṇa Nāma; call everyone to his home, so it is the most general duty we are asked to do. We are asked to do, general need, not to give the food, or clothing, or medicine, or this or that. These all only go to the outer coating and not the inner person. The inner persons demand is this, and the outer cases, the garments, the coat, the cloth, the, this and that. This food only to the fleshy garment and we are eating one another. To maintain our outer coating we are eating one another. We are living at the cost of others: our environment we are eating. Just as a mad man he bites his own hand, and he tears his own hair. So we are eating the environment creating disturbance to one another. This is our position here, most abnormal. To relieve us from such abnormal life and to take us to a normal life proper, that is our campaign, our duty, through Kṛṣṇa Nāma.

Proper adjustment: mal- adjusted you are, you are eating each other. Adjust yourself properly. Don’t be cruel to the environment and at the same time to you, your own self. That is the news we’re carrying from our Guru and Gaurāṅga, Bhāgavata, Gītā, all these things. Our holy duty we have accepted fortunately to be that only. We are soldiers of that war which from disharmony, discord, wants to take everything towards harmony. Relief work, we’re soldiers to do relief work. They’re sufferers, not bodily but the deeper suffering, suffering in the deepest plane where the real person exists, in that plane.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So you try to visit if possible the birthplace of Nityānanda. This Hadāi and Padmāvatī, there they gave their son Nityānanda as alms to the sannyāsī. And some say that sannyāsī was no other than Mādhavendra Purī. And Nityānanda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, as well as Īśvara Purī Guru of Mahāprabhu, They are three disciples of Mādhavendra Purī. Advaita Prabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu and Īśvara Purī who was accepted as Guru by Mahāprabhu: these three they’re all disciples of Mādhavendra Purī. So Mādhavendra Purī might have taken Nityānanda from His father, from His parents. And they, giving the loving child to the sannyāsī became almost mad.

Loke bala hadai oja haila padal [?] The local people began to say that the Hadāi Gosai has become mad. Loke bala hadai oja haila padal [?] (We are the title?) He has become mad. Giving away such an affection child like Nityānanda to the sannyāsī he became mad. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

And the place of Kavirāja Goswāmī’s birthplace also very near to Katwa, that Jamapur [?]

There is a sahajiyā Maṭha there, I visited once. Kavirāja Goswāmī who gave the best scripture in the world, according to me, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Rāya Rāmānanda, Rūpa śikṣā, Sanātana śikṣā, and Mahāprabhu’s samādhi pastimes. When Mahāprabhu had samādhi and He used to see Kṛṣṇa līlā in Govardhana sometimes, in Yamunā sometimes, and that has been described in such a way by Kavirāja Goswāmī, that even your little sincerity who have got in the ordinary scholars, they can also say, many of them has said, that how Kṛṣṇa līlā is aprākṛta, if we go through Caitanya-caritāmṛta we can have some idea. Kavirāja Goswāmī has described the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs. Generally that excites the feeling of lust in ordinary minds, but some of the scholars have already remarked that is not the pastimes of the lust of our level, but it is of some higher level, though similar to this kāma kriya but it is not so. The description of Kavirāja Goswāmī has been successful to give that idea to the public. The Kṛṣṇa līlā is not like ordinary human pastimes. Kavirāja.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

This day in the year Mahāprabhu stayed the last day of His family stay. This afternoon He’ll meet many of His friends and will appeal to them fervently to take to Kṛṣṇa Nāma.

“Whatever you do, in every engagement, you try to take Kṛṣṇa always with you. Whatever, eating, sleeping, walking, whatever you are physically engaged in, but go on with the consciousness of Kṛṣṇa. Don’t...

End of 82.01.13.A

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Start of 82.01.13.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...friends and relations in His birthplace, if we are to say so in this Navadwīpa. And then by the end of this night He left Navadwīpa for all. Then after five years He came, and of course here and there, but not entered His home, only approached to the front of His house and cast a glance towards His house through the door.

And we are told Viṣṇupriyā Devī she, with a very dirty, wrapping her body with a very dirty cover, fell flat in the front of His feet. Mahāprabhu Caitanyadeva could understand that it must be she, and He put His, took off His sandals there. “Try to remove your pain of separation with the help of these two sandals.” And He went away. And those sandals we are told are still on the throne of Viṣṇupriyā here, left by Mahāprabhu, the wooden sandals that were left. They say that those sandals, very old wooden sandals are still shown there, left by Mahāprabhu. And Viṣṇupriyā Devī used to worship them, those wooden sandals, after five years of His sannyāsa.

Then He moved towards Vṛndāvana via Rāmakeli, and after accepting Rūpa, Sanātana, from there He came back again to Śāntipura, and then from there to Purī. And from Purī He went straight via Benares to Vṛndāvana. And full month of this Pauṣa [Dec-Jan], this month, the extreme cold, passed in Vṛndāvana visiting different places of the Kṛṣṇa līlā. And then came in the beginning of the Māgha [Jan-Feb], this time, finishing Pauṣa He came to take bath in Prayāga, His attendant Balabha, and there Rūpa met Him in Prayāga. And for nearly a fortnight He stopped there and educated Śrī Rūpa in rāga-bhakti. And then Rūpa was asked to go to Vṛndāvana, and entrusted with some duties, then came to Benares and there met Sanātana. And two months He lived there in Benares and there instructed Sanātana in a little elaborate way.

And also that was the capital of the māyāvādīs, this Benares. And He met the leader anyhow and he was converted.

Then He went back to Purī, Mahāprabhu, for six years. Twenty four years, the half of His life He was in Navadwīpa, another six years He had toured in different parts of India. And the other eighteen years left, first six years of them He used to meet with so many devotees. And the last twelve years almost cut off His connection with the public and engaged Himself deeply in the cultivation of the separation pains, if we’re to say so, of Śrī Rādhikā, vipralambha. Full twelve years He engaged Himself how Rādhārāṇī did, or what was Her different mental stages, that deep and fiery, ostentatiously, outwardly, that fiery separation has been depicted for twelve years more.

And Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara they were very close assistants, attendants and especially Svarūpa Dāmodara always, day and night attended Him, with several other friends. Sometimes rubbing His face on the wall, “I can’t tolerate the separation.” In this way sometimes running into the sea, sometimes jumping into the thorny plane, in this way intense restlessness, mad restlessness in the separation for Kṛṣṇa. That was depicted by Him, half mad, most intense pains of separation of Kṛṣṇa.

So our union with Kṛṣṇa that can produce what intensity of ecstasy: we may try to measure the intensity of ecstasy in union by the hankering. By measuring the degree of hankering for Kṛṣṇa’s union we can measure what sort of intense pleasure one can have when he’ll be in union with Kṛṣṇa. Negatively the measurement is there. As much as hunger so much is the pleasure in taking the food.

[nānopacāra-kṛta-pūjanam ārta-bandhoḥ, premṇaiva bhakta-hṛdayaṁ sukha-vidrutaṁ syāt]

yāvat kṣud asti jaṭhare jaraṭhā pipāsā, tāvat sukhāya bhavato nanu bhakṣya-peye

[Rāmānanda Rāya continued, “ ‘As long as there is hunger and thirst within the stomach, varieties of food and drink make one feel very happy. Similarly, when the Lord is worshipped with pure love, the various activities performed in the course of that worship awaken transcendental bliss in the heart of the devotee.’] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.69]

According to the degree of hunger the pleasure of eating comes. Yāvat kṣud asti, food and hunger. As much hunger we have got in our belly, so much I shall feel the pleasure when taking the food, tāvat sukhāya bhavato nanu bhakṣya-peye, food and drink. So the fire of separation can give us some evidence that what is the pleasure of union with Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Ke?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Kamalāsana Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kamalāsana. So not only Kṛṣṇa is necessary for us, but the degree of necessity is so much, so urgent, so imminent, so – inner necessity. Not only that we shall leave this adverse circumstance and come to Kṛṣṇa, that is only in śanta-rasa, but dāsya, sākhya, vātsalya, mādhurya, to enter into the deepest part. Without Kṛṣṇa how we suffer, and by attaining Him how we can enjoy. What necessity we have with Him in the deepest self of us, the deepest self, the necessity for Kṛṣṇa is so intense and so great, so inviting, so urgent, as is shown.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is a general, not a sectarian thing. It is never sectarian, the most general of all generals. Our relation with Kṛṣṇa is the general of all generals. Universal of all universal of our conception: universal of our conception, that is also provincial. But Kṛṣṇa consciousness we need the universal of the universal. There’s no question of sectarianism coming here, most wide.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Just law of gravitation, law of attraction, this is a general thing, and the basis of which so many inventions, discoveries are being made. So the attraction, the love, that is the object, that is the object of every existence, to acquire love, satisfaction, pleasure, happiness. We can’t eliminate us from that. When we say apparently that die to live, apparently we may think that one giving his life for his country that is he’s embracing pain, suffering, apparently. And that is very much praised. But that has got its far-fetched object of getting pleasure, joy, happiness, in subtle plane. So our attraction for joy, for happiness, that is the most basic and general thing, but we are to pay for that. For higher class of happiness we are to pay, we are to sacrifice lower class of pleasure.

Gaura Haribol. Rāma. Rāma. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

...

Aranya Mahārāja: How long did Lord Nityānanda live for? How long did He stay on the planet for?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: We don’t know. After Mahāprabhu disappeared also He stayed for some time and then He disappeared. Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura was the last disciple of Him.

He’s deploring that, “I have got that birth, but not few days back I could see all the līlā of Caitanyadeva in Navadwīpa. Those places I see with my own eyes, His house, His tol, the market, the Śrīdhara, the Jagāi Mādhāi udar, His bedding place. All left only few days ago I could have my bath. I could see that līlā with my own eyes.”

Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura’s mourning. And he was the last disciple of Nityānanda Prabhu it is mentioned. Not long time, when Mahāprabhu departed, very soon, within few years, Nityānanda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, the paraphernalia was withdrawn. Only the Goswāmīns they live for long time in Vṛndāvana. And this Bengal came under Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Narottama, Śyāmānanda, and His Jāhnavā Devī, and Advaita Prabhu’s son Acyutānanda, and some of Narahari Sarakara’s family, two or three. These were moving in Bengal as representatives of Śrī Caitanyadeva, and also the sons of Śivānanda, Kavi Karṇapūra, etc, they were there. If you go through Bhakti-ratnākara then you can have some idea about after the withdrawal of Mahāprabhu and His own paraphernalia, what was the position here.

Parvat Mahārāja: Mahārāja, how does the concept of good and evil appear?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Whenever we enter into the attempt of separate interest we deviate from common interest and enter into separate interest. Master of our own and we should live on our own earning, this idea.

bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād, īśād apetasya viparyyayo 'smṛtiḥ

tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ, bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā

[“Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is effected by the potency for illusion, called māyā. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshippable deity and as his very life and soul.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.37]

Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād, īśād apetasya, dvitīyābhiniveśa, consciousness of separate interest, not within. Of course the ground of such possibility has been given to us to understand as taṭasthā-śakti, the marginal potency. That is a peculiar thing with adopt-ability of both forms of life. In kūṭa-sthaḥ, undetectable, selfish acquaintance, kūṭa-sthaḥ.

Dvau bhūta-sargau loke ‘smin [Bhagavad-gītā, 16.6]

Kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.16]

[dvau bhūta-sargau loke ‘smin, daiva āsura eva ca

daivo vistaraśaḥ prokta, āsuraṁ pārtha me śṛṇu]

[“O Pārtha, the living beings in this world are seen to be of two natures - godly and demoniac. I have already elaborately described the godly nature to you, so now hear from Me about the demoniac nature.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 16.6]

[dvāv imau puruṣau loke, kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca

kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni, kūṭastho 'kṣara ucyate]

[uttamaḥ puruṣas tv anyaḥ, paramātmety udāhṛtaḥ

yo loka-trayam āviśya, bibharty avyaya īśvaraḥ]

[“In this world, there are two kinds of souls: the fallible and the infallible. All beings from Lord Brahmā down to the lowest stationary life-forms are known a fallible (as they have deviated from their intrinsic nature). But the personalities who are eternally situated in their divine nature are known as infallible (personal associates of the Lord.”] [“But totally distinct from both these types of souls, there is a Supreme Person who is known as Paramātmā, the Supersoul. He is the Supreme Lord. Entering into the three worlds in His eternal form, He maintains all beings in the universe.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.16-17]

In Bhagavad-gītā it is mentioned, the two kinds of creation we find here, one dynamic one static, non-differentiated, and one dynamic or expressive. Kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni. Kṣaraḥ, all we see belongs to the area of kṣaraḥ. And kūṭastho 'kṣara ucyate, what is undetectable, un- differentiable to us, a plane thing, plane sheet, what is there we can’t find, we can’t understand. That background is ākṣara.

“And I am above these two.”

[yasmāt] kṣaram atīto ‘ham, akṣarād api cottamaḥ

ato ‘smi loke vede ca, prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ

[“Because I am transcendental to the fallible souls and also superior to My infallible eternal associates, My glories are sung in the world and in the scriptures as Puruṣottama, the Supreme Person.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.18]

So above Brahmaloka, the Brahman, Virajā, Brahmaloka, that has been told as ākṣara area. And this is kṣaraḥ, changing and transformation. And that is, no influence of transformation is seen there, static, the marginal potency.

“And above that is My domain, akṣarād api cottamaḥ, better is My position, My domain. There I live, and if you can come enter that domain, yad gatvā na nivartante, tad dhāma paramaṁ mama, he can live there happily.”

[na tad bhāsayate sūryo, na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ

yad gatvā na nivartante, tad dhāma paramaṁ mama]

[“My supreme holy abode is that place which the surrendered souls reach, never to return again to this deathly plane. Upon going there, one never returns to this material world. Neither sun, nor moon, nor fire - nothing can illuminate that all-illuminating supreme abode.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.6]

That is the land of dedication and land of service, and here a land of self aggrandisement, here. And that of self surrendering to the prime cause, to the harmony, the harmonious waves, to come with the harmony of the waves that are coming from the centre of all good, all love. To tune ourselves to dance with the waves of that loving world, that is what is necessary we are told for us.

Parvat Mahārāja: In Christian theology they have a personalised controller of evil, the Devil, or Satan. In our understanding is there a personal controller of evil?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is temptation personified to take us out from that universal harmony of God. Adam and Eve, they were living happily, as if in the verge of the level of śaraṇāgati, self surrendered stage. And just over the same, in the beginning of the self surrendered area they were living, and it was possible so to entice them. The tree of knowledge, that is, “You look after your own self. Why do you depend on God, His will? You exercise your free will and come to live happily.” And that sort of enticement induced them. They’re in the lowest verge and they were enticed and came to eat the fruit of the knowledge, take to their own responsibility of their livelihood and their improvement in life, everything. In one word they took the responsibility of their life in their own hands. That is to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, knowledge means this. ‘Know yourself and assert yourself. Your own good you try to understand yourself. Don’t depend on God.’ So śaraṇāgati deviated this and then they began to earn bread with the sweat of their brow. ‘Live on your own responsibility.’ That’s the idea, no difficulty, only this difficulty that when they were already in that plane how they could fall down, just like Jaya, Vijaya? Jaya, Vijaya they were just in the verge. That is not very sure. The no-man’s land in the middle, buffer state, and the people living nearby the buffer state they have to undergo some sort of trouble now and then: something like that.

Parvat Mahārāja: So the personality of Kali, he would be...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kali, something like Satan, the māyā. Kali’s a little different of course; on the whole māyā, the enticing principle, attracting against the dispensation of the Lord, God. The anti God principle: that is apparently māyā. But Satan is also within the jurisdiction of God but still he’s allowed his existence, to entice. That is also in that point of view in the help to the positive existence of the domain of the Lord. Opposition party is necessary for the good administration; something like that.

Parvat Mahārāja: So in a play of Kavi Karṇapūra, Caitanya-candrodaya, we see that Kali, adharma, amita, they appear as personalities. Do they have subtle bodies?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kali we find what is the position, that the jīva soul śiva under her foot and she’s in a demonic posture continuing her devastating killing, butchering of the jīva soul. But ultimately it is meant that it is dealing this sort of punishment only to the demonic persons, not to the devotees. But the demons are victims of her ruthless repression and wholesale murder. They’re all demons. This is suicidal area. We call her mother and the mother is punishing us ruthlessly because we are fallen at her feet. And by punishment she wants to purify us in the first stage. In Bhāgavatam it is said,

nunam nanam agad nadya santim nitya ca sarva [?]

tesam esa prasamor danda pasu nanglago yata [?]

Baladeva says that for the animals this advice cannot be effective, so only the stick; the rod is used to guide the animals. So those that have got animalistic impulse, such āsura, the demons, they’re to be punished ruthlessly. They’re to be dealt with ruthless punishment, the āsura, then some sort of enquiry will awake in them, then the plane of advice will come. Otherwise they won’t care to hear. Only by punishment their bad propensities will be controlled to certain extent, then he will care to hear your advice, give attention to your advice and then your preaching will begin. But in the crude form of criminal tendency this physical punishment is necessary.

So Kali is the type of potency here who is in charge of that ruthless punishment to the lower section of jīva who are endowed with demonic energy to devastate the whole area. That is the idea. And the jīva helplessly under, the soul minor, and the manager, the mind, the intelligence, the ego, they’re asserting on behalf of the soul. The soul is under the feet, like minor, he’s the proprietor. If he’s withdrawn these managers, this ego, bad reason, the impulse, can’t do anything. They’re not the party, but like the administration, mal- administration, not the proprietor. And the proprietor under her feet, and she’s punishing those managers and workers doing mischief in the name of doing good to the proprietor: some such idea.

Parvat Mahārāja: My question is now that these are subtle entities which exist on the subtle plane just like demigods have subtle bodies, ghosts have subtle bodies? Now these personalities like the personality of Kali whose ruling Kali-yuga, adharma, mita, lust, greed, are they subtle entities with subtle bodies affecting people in a subtle mind?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He says that Kali and the different personalities, are they actually in sukṣma-deha, they’ve got subtle bodies, sukṣma-deha? They’re existing in personality form?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. In subtle bodies they’re always eternally existing, and in gross bodies sometimes come out. Just as the Sun coming sometimes but at night we don’t see the Sun but it is there. So whenever necessary she comes. Just as a military, when the ordinary administration fails the military is called, not always, but military is there: something like that. They come when the position is very intense they come to work, otherwise they’re in the background. And this brahmāṇḍa or may be necessary in another brahmāṇḍa. In another brahmāṇḍa they may be expressively doing their duty, in this way. Generally if you take that then sometimes in the back and sometimes coming in the front, when the position is very acute they come on the surface, otherwise the principle is there. They’re also nitya, this māyā nitya, the world is nitya, as much as, that is also the necessity is eternal because if the world is eternal then necessity of this sort of tendency in the ordinary public to revolt, to come to demonic activity. That is also eternal and to face with that rebel the government force is also eternal to control the situation. Just as,

yadā yadā hi dharmasya, glānir bhavati bhārata

[abhyutthānam adharmasya, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham]

[“O Bhārata, whenever there is a decline of religion and an uprising of irreligion, I personally appear, like a being born in this world.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.7]

Sometimes He Himself comes to establish peace. So also sometimes the police, the military is sent to quench the dacoit character of the people, to save the ordinary subjects from the great disturbance.

When Bhagavān comes to relieve the people that is a civil attempt, and when Kali is sent to pacify the situation that is some military, or police, in that way. But Kṛṣṇa’s coming to pacify, to clear the disturbance here, or by sādhu, that is like some civil attempt. And that is military and police attempt by Kali and others, to control the wicked persons.

Parvat Mahārāja: Now when Mahārāja Parīkṣit was here the personality of Kali appeared...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kali and Kali are two different.

Parvat Mahārāja: Yeah. I’m speaking about the Kali that appeared to Mahārāja Parīkṣit.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, that Kali. Yes. Kali, he’s also there. He, you may suppose him to be the collective – his basis, his origin, from the collective bad deeds of ordinary people, and that is not individual but collectively acquired bad fortune by the so many people. That brings, draws Kali here.

Just as a man has, sometimes he may feel his health a little wholesome and sometimes feels his body with discomfort. So the Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, Kali, in ones own individual life also one can feel sometimes favourable, sometimes unfavourable. So in the life of the mass people sometimes good and sometimes bad, as the result of their own karma, collectively. Then bad times come, Kali comes. And again Kali vanishes after giving his punishment to the people in different ways, he vanishes. The sin, the bad result of the sin when punishment is given then Kali disappears. And then again Satya-yuga comes, Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, Kali, in this way it is moving in a circle. Just as after winter the summer, the rainy season, again winter, autumn, in this way it is passing through.

The good time and bad time in the individual person, and so in a national position also sometimes good sometimes bad. And the whole creation also earned by the collective karma. The resultant of that is calculated and given the circumstance favourable, unfavourable for the work: favourable circumstance for the work and unfavourable circumstance. Kali is unfavourable and it is earned by the collective action of so many people. And he’s not a separate person jealously or out of envy he has come to punish the jīva. It is not. It is acquired by their own karma, a mass effect, the result of karma by the masses, a resultant. So many forces have brought down here unfavourable circumstances to them. That is Kali kāla, that is unfavourable time, and favourable time is considered as Satya, and gradually deviated Tretā, Dvāpara, and then Kali, and viewed the most unfavourable time for us.

Devotee: ______________________ [?]

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is only the result of our own karma, and collective, not personal, one individual. That is acquired by the bad circumstances, unfavourable circumstance which we earn by our own karma, not individually but a mass collective effect. That is Kali.

Devotee: ___________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Any more question? Is that clear, no, Kali, the conception of Kali?

Parvat Mahārāja: But he becomes a person.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Time and space is acquired by our karma, individual as well as collective. Time also acquired by our karma. The environment we acquire by our karma. And that is in time, in space, in different characters. So Kali, our mass fortune, mass fate, acquired such unfavourable time. That is the result, consequence of our own karma. The bad time, or the bad place, even the bad body, all here acquired by our karma, evil karma, the gradation is there. The consequence of karma is bad and there is gradation. Do you follow?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, is the personality of Kali a jīva or a person like that?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Everything is seen in the Vedic culture as jīva, person. Even the grahan sugah grahan [?], the chaya, the Rahu, they are all conception of jīva, because it is the part of the subjective conception in the universe. The objective thing is the product of subjective consciousness, so even the shade has been considered as jīva. The whole conception of whole thing comes from the plane of consciousness, so degree of consciousness, but they’re all considered as jīva. More or less everything is conscious. This is a basic conception of the Vedic truth. You can approach anything and everything only through the view of consciousness. That is...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Presupposed?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Just recommendation, yes. Eh? Not presupposed, but that has got at least preference. Everything we must see as consciousness, as a person. Consciousness means person. We shall try to view, to count everything as with personality. Even the fossilism also, because everything is a part of consciousness. A diseased part, a paralysed part, there is also some sort of sensation, otherwise it can’t stay. The moving body, some part is paralysed, but there is the degree, vitality is less but it is there, otherwise it can’t stand. So whatever we see that is a part of consciousness. Consciousness can have experience of consciousness. That is its own soil, own element, and the attribution of the fossilism or the materialism, that is a foreign thing.

Swāmī Mahārāja told that, “You try to crush the fossil theory.”

So if you understand this you’ll be able to eliminate fossilism forever. Do you see? The first hand you are to accept anything as conscious. Then according to degree what is of its variety whether it is less fossil or intense fossil. But that is consciousness as a paralysed part of a body. The feeling is there still, otherwise it will have been rotten and vanished. The vitality is still there though apparently paralysed. Do you follow?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Can you understand?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then we can do away with fossilism. First approach of everything will be with the idea of consciousness because we’re in the plane of consciousness. And consciousness is its own plane, own player. We can only approach everything through consciousness. Whatever is seen, the object, subject, the transaction, it will be done, the seeing, the hearing, that is also all living, all consciousness. My sight means the object of my sight: the seer and the seeing transaction all conscious. Can’t you follow?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then you are above.

tvaṁ tu rājan mariṣyeti, paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi

[na jātaḥ prāg abhūto 'dya, deha-vat tvaṁ na naṅkṣyasi]

[“O King, give up the animalistic mentality of thinking: “I am going to die.” Unlike the body, you have not taken birth. There was not a time in the past when you did not exist, and you are not about to be destroyed.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.5.2]

After the whole Bhāgavata is chanted Śukadeva Goswāmī appealing to his disciple...

End of 82.01.13.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.13.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Such is the case with us at present, but just the opposite we are to understand. We have no right from consciousness to come to fossil and then to conceive everything in the terms of fossil, matter. Do you follow?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You? This will be the basic conception to have estimate of anything and everything around us. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. That is foreign, matter is foreign to us, but consciousness is our home, and what we live, and move, and see, and hear, everything is made of consciousness. That is our home understanding. And to indent matter from foreign land, from the land of māyā, measurement, not in Vaikuṇṭha, immeasurable world. That is foreign things to indent, matter. We are a child of that soil. And this is, I want to mean a guest, matter is an evil guest, trespasser to our home. We are a child of that soil. Our home is there. We can think and do everything in terms of consciousness. That is the reality with us. This is a foreign, artificial conception of the world. There is Satan. Satan’s business is to take us to calculate in the terms of fossil. ‘You are master. You are to enjoy.’

No. We are all one, there our revered things around, so a diabolical change, wholesale change, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Only the matter consciousness, only floating in the ocean of consciousness in one part, the fossil conception, matter conception, and that has got its gradation. And that also seems to us infinite. We feel we are in the midst of infinite matter, material consciousness. But if we go home and take view from that plane then we’ll see that this is a very negligent part. My home is more, more spacious and more real and more near to me, that home plane. So we shall try to go to our home plane. That is Vaikuṇṭha, the plane of service, where there’s not exploitation, not taking but giving, the plane of service. That is pure, where we dedicate. The plane of dedication is pure, and exploitation, however apparently it may be good, ultimately it is all wrong and all injurious. It cannot be good to any person, any living thing.

So wholesale the Kṛṣṇa consciousness means – you see the Unesco, the scientists, they’re seeing this, this, chemical thing will create atom bomb, that is all dog barking Swāmī Mahārāja told. The scholars with the material interest they’re talking this thing, that thing, this will be utilised by the human senses, human being, all meaningless like dog barking. If both the talk of the diplomats, as well as the scientists, both who deal with matter, all dog barking. Can’t you understand?

Devotees: Yes, first class.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: From such a level you are to fight. You must take your stand in such a plane and fight. You can blow, push them out. It’s not clear?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, first class.

Parvat Mahārāja: Super clear.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Parvat Mahārāja: It seems like the Devil is doing so much propaganda to get the innocent people to their side.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No innocent people here.

Devotees: [Group laughter]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All culprits. Not only culprits, but we may go further, they’re all traitors. We betrayed our loving Lord. Why you have come this side, this world? Everything belongs to Him. And instead of rendering service to Him, we have come to exploit His own things. We are traitors. We should be punished severely and we will understand this punishment is not sufficient. ‘Punish me more.’ Then the day of liberation will come very near. ‘Oh, his character, correction has come in him. No punishment any longer.’

tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo, bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam

hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidhadhan namas te, jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya bhāk

[“One who, in the hope of achieving Your grace, goes on enduring the inauspicious fruit of his own karma, and passes his days practising devotion unto You in every thought, word, and deed – such a person is heir to the land of freedom: he attains to the plane of positive immortality.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8]

He’ll be fit to get total liberation whenever, the moment when he’ll understand that, ‘I’m a criminal of the first order and more punishment should be dealt on me.’ The punishment is not meant with the idea of envy, but only to cure. So when our heart is cured the very moment the punishment will be stopped by the Lord. The omniscient, He’s all looking, all searching eye overhead always. No longer punishment is necessary. He has fully realised his own position and absolved him. Only we are to feel sincerely, ‘More punishment I should have been given. I’m a traitor. I’ve betrayed my Lord by so many actions, by my bad example.’ In this way some repentance will come in us in whatever position we’re in. Then our promotion is ensured very soon. He’ll take us, give us, our duty will be entrusted.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. A radical change, not only mortification, repairment won’t do, to repair, a radical change. Up to Brahmā, ā-viriñcyād amaṅgalam.

[karmaṇāṁ pariṇāṁitvād, ā-viriñcyād amaṅgalam

vipaścin naśvaraṁ paśyed, adṛṣṭam api dṛṣṭa-vat]

[“An intelligent person should see that any material activity is subject to constant transformation and that even on the planet of Lord Brahmā there is thus simply unhappiness. Indeed, a wise man can understand that just as all he has seen is temporary, similarly, all things within the universe have a beginning and an end.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.19.18]

The creator is also within prison, is within the jurisdiction of the law, the creator of this brahmāṇḍa, what to speak of us, ā-viriñcyād, viriñci means Brahmā the creator of this world. He’s also __________ [?] of course he’s with the Supreme, who can produce law. And we are His own, that is our solace. No cruelty but necessity.

...

Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Who is here____________ [?]

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. And where is Kamalāsana?

Devotees: Here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All white clad, hmm?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: A little faded cloth, half white, white shirt. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: White means truth, and black means false, sin. So black is the emblem of sin, and white is the emblem of sattya-guṇa, that is goodness, white. So red represents raja-guṇa _________ [?]

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Dayal Nitāi.

In Madras, with one of the chief Ācāryas of Madhva School, Satyavan Tīrtha, with biggest followers in that sampradāya he commands. We went to see him, myself, Bon Mahārāja, and Mādhava Mahārāja then Brahmacārī Hayagrīva, see him and to collect some funds from him for our installation of the Deities there in Madras Maṭha. So many, Barristers, Advocates, educated persons are all around him, many of them his disciples, followers. Then the talk about the Arcā-Mūrti came in.

He told that, “Within Arcā-Mūrti there is God. The Lord is within that Mūrti, that Vigraha.”

We told, no, the Arcā-Mūrti wholesale is the Lord, He is all conscious.

Then, unfortunately, the expression came from his mouth, “If I hit with a club the Śālagrāma, Viṣṇu śilā, it is crushed, it is broken to pieces.”

Then we put our hands over the ears, that it is un-hearable.

All were astonished, the whole party. “What is this, that our Ācārya has spoken something and they put their hand on the ear? That is beneath hearing? What is this?” He came out with his argument.

I had already heard one śloka in Bhāgavatam from our Guru Mahārāja, and there I got some mystic basis, as I told you today.

sarva-vedānta-sāraṁ yad, brahmātmaikatva-lakṣaṇam

vastv advitīyaṁ tan-niṣṭhaṁ, kaivalyaika-prayojanam

[ādi-madhyāvasāneṣu, vairāgyākhyāna-saṁyutam

hari-līlā-kathā-vrātā-,mṛtānandita-sat-suram

sarva-vedānta-sāraṁ yad, brahmātmaikatva-lakṣaṇam

vastv advitīyaṁ tan-niṣṭhaṁ, kaivalyaika-prayojanam]

[“From beginning to end, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is full of narrations that encourage renunciation of material life, as well as nectarine accounts of Lord Hari’s transcendental pastimes, which give ecstasy to the saintly devotees and demigods. This Bhāgavatam is the essence of all Vedānta philosophy because its subject matter is the Absolute Truth, which, while non-different from the spirit soul, is the ultimate reality, one without a second. The goal of this literature is exclusive devotional service unto that Supreme Truth.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.13.11-12]

I heard, at that time I was a beginner, newcomer, but still my hearing capacity is a little acute. What I heard, this came to my mind to refute him. I just pronounced this śloka, on the basis of that I advanced. Here we are to notice that kaivalya. Kaivalya means oneness. Sarva-vedānta- sāraṁ yad, brahmādi, that Brahman, Paramātmā, Bhagavān, this representation is all in all. It is proved in Vedānta. And Bhāgavat also in the same line of thinking with Vedānta, will be given. Sarva-vedānta-sāraṁ yad, brahmātmaikatva-lakṣaṇam. Generally ordinary scholars they mistake Brahman, ātmā means Brahman and ātmā, tat tvam asi, ‘I am Brahman.’ But Jīva Goswāmī has explained in a very different and very natural way. He quoted that in the beginning Bhāgavatam promised, brahmeti paramātmeti, bhagavān iti śabdyate.

[vadanti tat tattva-vidas, tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam

brahmeti paramātmeti, bhagavān iti śabdyate]

[“Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this non-dual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.2.11]

Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān, three conceptions of the Godhead, with little difference, They’re one and same. Here also, brahmātmaikatva-lakṣaṇam, not that Brahman and jīva, but Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān of similar nature They are. But according to different sections They are viewed in different ways, but one and same thing, brahmātmaikatva-lakṣaṇam. And that is vastv advitīyaṁ, this is the conception of the Absolute. The conception of the Absolute is such, advitīyaṁ tan-niṣṭhaṁ, pertaining to that, kaivalyaika-prayojanam, our necessity is kaivalya. Kaivalya, that is oneness _______ [?] without any participation here. Here and there, by misconception. It is an eternal flow of comprehensive knowledge. No other material and other conceptions will be allowed to enter into it. Then the kaivalya, this oneness is disturbed. Kaivalyaika-prayojanam, we must not allow us within our spiritual transaction some eye experience, or ear experience of the material world to enter into and spoil our whole conception. Am I clear, no?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So, very careful: I was going to put that kaivalyaika-prayojanam, what is, what the scripture wants us to understand, we shall take something of it and then mix this material experience with it and jumble and spoil the whole thing. But we must retain wholesale that śrauta; that revealed truth. Our material experience may stand evidence or witness or may not. But we won’t allow us to deviate from the conception what was given by the revealed truth, Veda. Do you follow?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kaivalyaika-prayojanam, that taken to practical things, I put this question to him. When Kṛṣṇa He was hit by arrow by Jarā’s arrow, the blood oozing, was it?

“Yes, bloodshed was there.”

Is that material blood?

“No.”

Why? We are seeing with our eye the material blood is oozing from His body.

“No, no, His body is not material. That is only a show to the deluded. That is māyā.”

This also, if you hit the Śālagrāma it is broken, this is also māyā. We deviate from that position, just as blood oozing from the body of the Lord; that is māyā. Because we can’t think that Kṛṣṇa had any material body: all spiritual body, and why the blood coming and seems similar to our blood. We won’t recognise that as material blood. So also what we say that is deceived, our senses are being deceived by the material existence. We won’t allow us to come away from what is recommended in the Vedas that all conscious.

So what I told today, we have no right to come out of the conscious plane to have some material conception and enter and mix with them and to prepare a khichari. Khichari you know?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All hodgepodge; so material experience must not be allowed to trespass into the plane of consciousness. We are a child of consciousness. We live, move, we eat, everything is conscious, the food, whatever we do there, they’re all conscious. We are child of that soil. And this conception is foreign to us. But now we have finished us, we have misidentified and come to identify with this base nature and think everything in the terms, even if I go to think about soul or God, some sort of material conception I carry from here and try to make it with this material.

Nigay bhogay goray laghi gauranga [?] Our Prabhupāda remarked against the Śiśir [Kumār] Ghose, the writer of Lord Gaurāṅga and Amiya Nimai Charit, “You have constructed your Gaurāṅga with the elements of your own enjoyment, whims of this world. You have constructed a Gaurāṅga of your own, not Gaurāṅga as He is. You don’t want to take Him.”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Who was that?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Prabhupāda told about Śiśir Ghose, the Amṛta Bāzzār Patrikā’s Founder, and writer of Lord Gaurāṅga, and Amiya Nimai Charit, and others, a pseudo Vaiṣṇava. A good scholar and political man also he was. Nigay bhogay goray laghi gauranga [?] “You have constructed your Gaurāṅga fitting your own whim.” Nigay bhogay. So our conception of God is also constructed by some material things carried there, so:

tad viddhi praṇipātena, paripraśnena sevayā

[upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ, jñāninas tattva darśinaḥ]

[“You will be able to attain all this knowledge by satisfying the enlightened spiritual master with prostrate obeisances, relevant enquiry, and sincere service. Great souls who are most expert in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will teach you that divine knowledge.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.34]

Praṇipāta means complete non-cooperation with this material world, praṇipāta. The surrender: that I have finished with this material enterprise. I have nothing to enquire here. That means praṇipāta, surrender. Paripraśna, and to eager, honest enquiry about, and then sevā, all in all, I want to dedicate, surrender to that truth. Not that to fetch that truth and to put in my pocket, or my iron chest, and to use it for the satisfaction of my base ego, not that. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: _____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then, I may stop here today.

Devotee: _____________________ [?]

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...has no meaning ______________ [?] Gaura Haribol.

Aranya Mahārāja: The spiritual master is forcing open the eyes of the disciple.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Forcibly opening.

oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā / cakṣur unmilitaṁ yena, tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ

[“I was blind in the darkness of ignorance but my Spiritual Master applied the ointment of proper spiritual knowledge and thus opened my eyes. Unto him I offer my respectful obeisances.”]

The cataract is removed from the eyes, then,

divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt, [kuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayam

tasmād dīkṣeti sā proktā, deśikais tattva-kovidaiḥ]

[“The process by which divine knowledge (divyaṁ jñānaṁ) is given and sins are destroyed is called dīkṣā by the highly learned scholars who are expert in spiritual affairs.”] [Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, 27]

Dīkṣā means divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt, transcendental knowledge is imparted in a process and that is dīkṣā proper, divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato. That centre standpoint calculated knowledge, not part interest calculated knowledge.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.01.13.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.16.B_82.01.17.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...the law is not respecter of any person. The law of nature, the law of exploitation has such reaction, reaction of such quality that even the creator of this world he won’t be spared, cannot get scot free, ā-viriñcyād amaṅgalam.

[karmaṇāṁ pariṇāṁitvād, ā-viriñcyād amaṅgalam

vipaścin naśvaraṁ paśyed, adṛṣṭam api dṛṣṭa-vat]

[“An intelligent person should see that any material activity is subject to constant transformation and that even on the planet of Lord Brahmā there is thus simply unhappiness. Indeed, a wise man can understand that just as all he has seen is temporary, similarly, all things within the universe have a beginning and an end.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.19.18]

So take care of yourself. Don’t measure your improved stage in this relative position, men, money, intelligence, knowledge of this world, etc, all reactionary. So you try,

evaṁ lokaṁ param vidyān, naśvaraṁ karma-nirmitam

sa-tulyātiśaya-dhvaṁsaṁ, yathā maṇḍala-vartinām

[“One cannot find permanent happiness even on the heavenly planets, which one can attain in the next life by ritualistic ceremonies and sacrifices. Even in material heaven the living entity is disturbed by rivalry with his equals and envy of those superior to him. And since one’s residence in heaven is finished with the exhaustion of pious fruitive activities, the denizens of heaven are afflicted by fear, anticipating the destruction of their heavenly life. Thus they resemble kings who, though enviously admired by ordinary citizens, are constantly harassed by enemy kings and who therefore never attain actual happiness.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.3.20]

With the basis of such conception try to find out your ways what you select. This is permanent plane, in the beginner’s life in a permanent plane. Or to become heir of a royal family or government, the successor of a mundane king, or to begin a life of a beggar in a higher plane which is above all these reactions. Select.

And to do that the Buddha, the Śaṅkara they come to recommend the eternal sleep, the dissolution of the ego. But that is negative.

Now the question of positive came, positive life, whether it is possible. Rāmānujācārya he brought very strongly opposing Śaṅkara. “There is a positive life and that is in Vaikuṇṭha. You cannot be master, but as a servant if you want to live there is a plane where you can live. And the service is not mean, service is noble, free service, accept the life of free service in a fair land. That is nobility, and that is not slavery as you think here.”

Already in the scripture, but Rāmānuja in his philosophical discussions from Vedānta he strongly advocated this, after Śaṅkara, the renunciationist school, then of course Madhvācārya, Nimbarka, Viṣṇuswāmī. It was there in the Veda, in Upaniṣad, in Purāṇa, but the scholars misunderstood and finalised the fate in inconceivable infinite slumber.

But adhokṣaja, we can retain our identity and live a noble life, but that is of service of the higher, not of the lower. In the lower area in the name of master we rather begin practically servant. But there the servants in character, in name, but they really enjoy a master’s life because all fair. No appreciation of unfairness there. Such a high position. It is better to serve in heaven than to reign in hell. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Adhokṣaja. And Mahāprabhu took it to the standard of Bhāgavatam, that in a loving place, the service in its highest form is that of really affection and loving sphere. The competition is there of dedicating, of dedication, in the noble plane, all from nobility.

Here, in summer, we may in a richly decorated air conditioned room we may find some sort of comfort. But in the society if the poorest man he also gets the facility of air conditioned position. The poorest man in the society he enjoys the air conditioned position, but here it is very costly. So the soil is such the poorest man is not ill-fed there, highly fed in all ways, the plane is such, kathā gānaṁ, gamanam, nāṭyaṁ, kalpa-taru.

[śriyaḥ kāntāḥ kāntaḥ parama-puruṣaḥ kalpataravo

drumā bhūmiś cintāmaṇigaṇamayī toyam amṛtam

kathā gānaṁ nāṭyaṁ gamanam api vaṁśī priyasakhī

cid ānandaṁ jyotiḥ param api tad āsvādyam api ca

sa yatra kṣīrābdhiḥ sravati surabhībhyaś ca sumahān

nimeṣārddhākhyo vā vrajati na hi yatrāpi samayaḥ

bhaje śvetadvīpaṁ tam aham iha golokam iti yaṁ

vidantas te santaḥ kṣiti-virala-cārāḥ katipaye]

[“That place where the Divine Goddesses of Fortune are the Beloved, and Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Male, is the only Lover; all the trees are Divine wish-fulfilling trees, the soil is made of Transcendental Gems and the water is nectar; where every word is a song, every movement is dancing, the flute is the dear-most companion, sunlight and moonlight are Divine Ecstasy, and all that be is Divine, and enjoyable; where a great ocean of milk eternally flows from the udders of billions of surabhī cows and the Divine time is eternally present, never suffering the estrangement of past and future for even a split second . . .that Supreme Transcendental Abode of Śvetadvīpa do I adore. Practically no one in this world knows that place but for only a few pure devotees - and they know it as Goloka.”] [Brahma-saṁhitā, 56]

That is, all their words are music. All walking is dancing. Some sort of conception has been given here, that the harmony is in such a degree there that everything is sweet there. There is a song in Bengali, Se moran saroga saman [?] There may be such a death which one may aspire after like heaven. Se moran saroga saman. That kind of death is compared with heaven, a happy death. So the plane is such that everyone, the giver, taker, everyone becomes happy hearted, within their heart. We can guess that is built by self sacrifice and service, not with the idea of exploitation, so it cannot but be a happy one we can conjecture. Here we cannot live without exploiting the environment, and there the opposite, so cannot but be happy. All are, everyone giving, none taking. Everyone is eager to give. To take, that is crime there, so there everyone becomes happy. And here everyone is busy to take, not to give. What is given that is also got with interest in future, sarga. So no giving practically in the true sense it is available here, is possible here, such a vitiated plane it is. Pure giving, pure gift is not possible here, all false, black marketing. Everything is black marketing here, whose thing, who gives, all on false basis, ownership of false basis. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: _______________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

Today He will reach to Śāntipura by two o’clock to the Ganges near Śāntipura, two o’clock or so: one or two o’clock. He’s wandering in the meadow, in the paddy fields of this Radhadeśa in Birban District side. It is very astonishing to mark that in the worldly sense also the extraordinary great scholar, He is in such a consciousness of an infant. Such simplicity when He’s coming down from His trance. Transcendental world, when He’s coming down to this world of sense experience, so to say.

Then Nityānanda Prabhu was so familiar and known, He’s just on the front. Nityānanda Prabhu could conceive so He managed anyhow so that Mahāprabhu’s trance is coming down, and He suddenly – there is a big lake and thousands of cows and buffaloes from the surrounding villages graze there, and so many cow boys also.

Seeing the cows Mahāprabhu says, “Gokula go braja go.”

The cows are their main trade, milkmen, gopa, the keeper of cows.

So He came to a cow boy, “Oh, so many cows together, thousands of cows here, this must be Vṛndāvana, then I’m already come to Vṛndāvana. I have come. So many cows.”

Then one cow boy He asked – when they saw Mahāprabhu they began to chant ‘Haribol’ the cow boys, ‘Haribol.’

“Oh, Haribol and so many cows, cow boys, then I have reached Vṛndāvana. I have reached Vṛndāvana, at least nearby.”

And Nityānanda Prabhu could trace this sort of coming down from the trance to this world of conception. He asked the cow boys, privately, He taught the cow boys privately, “If Mahāprabhu, if this sannyāsī asks you, ‘Which way I should go to Vṛndāvana?’ you show this road.” He managed anyhow.

And then Mahāprabhu necessarily asked one, “What way I shall go to Vṛndāvana?”

Nityānanda Prabhu already advised so they told, ‘This is the way You go to Vṛndāvana.”

And Mahāprabhu is going. And Nityānanda Prabhu in the meantime He managed to just come before Him. Then gradually Mahāprabhu saw that a man is going in front of Him and He’s in red robe, a sannyāsī.

Then Mahāprabhu asked, “Śrīpād, Gosai, where do you go, you Śrīpād?”

The Śrīpād that is a respectable title for the sannyāsīns, generally they’re addressed by that Śrīpād.

“Śrīpād, where are you going?”

“Yes, I’m going to Vṛndāvana along with You.”

“Oh, is it, you’re going to Vṛndāvana, all right, let Me...”

Like an infant, this childish simplicity. Then when Nityānanda Prabhu guided Him to Ganges, the Ganges bank, “You see the Yamunā.”

Then Mahāprabhu thought, “I have come to Yamunā.”

aho bhāgya, yamunāre pāiluṅ daraśana, [eta bali' yamunāra karena stavana]

[The Lord said: “Oh, what good fortune! Now I have seen the River Yamunā.” Thus thinking the Ganges to be the River Yamunā, Caitanya Mahāprabhu began to offer prayers to it.] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 3.27]

“What a great fortune I have that I have got the sight of the Yamunā herself.”

Then He jumped in the water of the Ganges with a śloka chanting stol [?] this Kṛṣṇa-Karṇāmṛta, son of Śivānanda who wrote Caitanya-candrodaya: a good scholar, a good poet also.

cid-ānanda-bhanoḥ sadā nanda-sunoḥ, para-prema-pātri drava-brahma-gātrī

aghānāṁ lavitrī jagat-kṣema-dhātrī, pavitrī-kriyān no vapur mitra-putrī

[“O daughter of the sun: although you have appeared in the form of water, you are most dear to the son of Nanda, who is the spiritual sun. You dispel the sins of all sinners. Please purify this mortal body.”] [Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭakam, 5.13]

This śloka, what Mahāprabhu told, Kavi Karṇapūra has expressed His idea in this Sanskrit verse. Cid-ānanda-bhanoḥ sadā nanda-sunoḥ, cid-ānanda-bhanoḥ, bhanoḥ means Sūrya, sun. Cid-ānanda, jñāna moi ānanda, the conscious ecstasy, the son of conscious ecstasy, He’s Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa the son of conscious son of ecstasy. Cid-ānanda-bhanoḥ sadā nanda-sunoḥ, the son of Nanda, He’s represented. Who is He? Son of conscious ecstasy. Cid-ānanda-bhanoḥ sadā nanda-sunoḥ, para-prema-pātri. You are much beloved of Him, you Yamunā. Yamunā the person pervading the river.

In Vedic culture one is accustomed to see everything in its personal conception, the water, the Ganges, the watery body but there is personality behind. The Yamunā, the watery body personal really Sindhu.

Rāmacandra when He wanted to construct a bridge to Laṅkā He made penances fasting and worshipping the ocean, the sea god. The sea god, the person representing the sea, sea did not care. Then Rāmacandra was enraged and asked Lakṣmaṇa, “My brother Lakṣmaṇa, give Me a bow and arrow. I’m observing whole day fast, worshipping the sea, and ask, pray to him to come to Me to help to construct a bridge over him, if he may kindly allow. But he does not care to come to Me. I’m approaching him so respectfully. But I can’t tolerate this audacity, impertinence. Bring Me, I shall make it dry, the whole sea I shall make it dry. The whole water I shall absorb, My arrows will absorb.”

Then at this the sea god was very much afraid and came hurriedly to Him. “What do You say my Lord? I could not understand You. You are Nārāyaṇa.”

“I want to construct a bridge over you. You please don’t mind it. It is My urgent necessity.”

“Yes, I shall help You in all respects.”

So in Vedic conception of the truth, everything, the Earth has got its personality, personal representation, body, the hills, the river, everything. Because, the other day as I told that,

tvaṁ tu rājan mariṣyeti, paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi

[na jātaḥ prāg abhūto 'dya, deha-vat tvaṁ na naṅkṣyasi]

[“O King, give up the animalistic mentality of thinking: “I am going to die.” Unlike the body, you have not taken birth. There was not a time in the past when you did not exist, and you are not about to be destroyed.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.5.2]

We must do away with our animal consciousness, our identification with the material substance. Independent of material conception we can live and move; every one of us. So really in our proper existence we think about not in material terms but in spiritual terms. What I see, I see a tree, but when mentally I see a tree, suppose in a dream I’m seeing a tree, what did I see at that time? No connection with material eye, but I see the colour. I hear the sound in dream. So really we are in contact with that conscious objectiveness. That is our direct, we detect, we miss that and come at once to this material conception that is the physical sense perception. But in the middle some non material conception as we find dream that is intercepting. We ignore that. So really, before coming to sense perception we are to pass through mental conception. That is cid-ābhasa. And more accurately that is cetana, that is consciousness. The objective we leave when we can live in the conscious world. Both the subject and the object is of almost equal substance.

So Mahāprabhu jumps into Yamunā. He’s addressing her so, “You are favourite to Kṛṣṇa, para-prema-pātri drava-brahma-gātrī, but your body is liquid. Your body is liquid but you are within, the person is there. Para-prema-pātri, and you are very favourite to nanda-sūta, the son of Nanda. Cid-ānanda-bhanoḥ sadā nanda-sunoḥ, para-prema-pātri drava-brahma-gātrī, drava- brahma, the liquefied consciousness: brahma, jāla-brahma, śabda-brahma. Śabda-brahma means the sound -ised consciousness. Just as liquefied, so sound, which is transformed into sound, the brahma, the cetana, the consciousness; that has been transformed into a form of sound, śabda-brahma. Śabda-brahma, jāla-brahma.

Mahāprabhu says, “Sārvabhauma, you are worshipping Dāru-brahma [the apparent wooden Lord Jagannātha]. In the consciousness that brahma in the conception of Dāru, He’s transformed as if it’s in a Dāru. And jāla-brahma, and Vācaspati your brother, he’s near jāla-brahma, that brahma, that consciousness appeared in the form of water.”

So para-prema-pātri drava-brahma-gātrī, aghānāṁ lavitrī. You can do away with all the sins of the people. Aghānāṁ, aghā means pāpa, sin. You can wash away the sins of the persons sinful, aghānāṁ lavitrī. Cid-ānanda-bhanoḥ sadā nanda-sunoḥ, para-prema-pātri drava- brahma-gātrī, aghānāṁ lavitrī jagat-kṣema-dhātrī. And you can endow the world with kalyāṇa, good, auspicious, maṅgalam. You can extend goodness to the world. Jagat-kṣema-dhātrī, pavitrī- kriyān no vapur mitra-putrī. Mitra-putrī means you are daughter of the Sun. Pavitrī-kriyā, you please purify My body.”

With this prayer Mahāprabhu jumped into Ganges, thinking that, “I have come to Vṛndāvana and this is Yamunā and I’m taking My bath there.” With this idea, this day in the year it happened like that, after some time. Mahāprabhu’s every līlā is nitya. All His pastimes are eternal, coexisting; coexistent in space and time, not only coexistence.

When I was a student of philosophy I was told that, “Coexistent is the criterion by which we can find, we can feel the idea of space, we can know. Space means coexistence. Space is that form of thought which can accommodate coexistence: and time, succession. Time, there cannot be coexistence in time.” That was the opinion.

But later on another philosopher came and told, “No, in time also coexistence is possible. How? I’m uttering a sentence, and the first word is kept in mind and when the last word finished then joining them I find the meaning. So that is there, the first words meaning is there and that last words meaning when finished then I understand the meaning of the whole. So coexistence is possible in time also.”

So nitya-līlā means all His līlā coexistent in time also, nitya-līlā. So, what I was going to say? Aghānāṁ lavitrī jagat-kṣema-dhātrī, pavitrī-kriyān no vapur mitra-putrī. “You purify Me.” Oh, then today also we can conceive that Mahāprabhu after His sannyāsa He passed by this way and then after mid day He will reach the Ganges, where these friends the other day via Kalna they went to Śāntipura. They crossed the banks of the Ganges. Somewhere there He will cross this afternoon and reach Śāntipura, Advaita-bhavan. And there, after three days fasting He will take some prasādam which was cooked very ardently by Sītā Ṭhākurāṇī, Advaita Prabhu’s wife. Very affectionate she was to Mahāprabhu from the beginning. In the birth day of Mahāprabhu we find that Sītā Ṭhākurāṇī is going with many ornaments to decorate Mahāprabhu, Nimāi, at that time. So today is the day we may think that Mahāprabhu will pass this side and there He’ll take bath and go to Advaita-bhavan, and after almost fasting three days He’ll take prasādam. And in the evening He will begin chanting. And Mukunda Daṭṭa he will sing. Advaita Prabhu also sings.

ki kahiba re sakhi ājuka ānanda ora, cira-dine mādhava mandire mora

[Advaita Ācārya said: “‘My dear friends, what shall I say? Today I have received the highest transcendental pleasure. After many, many days, Lord Kṛṣṇa is in My house.”’] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 3.114]

“I am so joyful today. What I shall say to you my friend? After long separation the Mādhava has come to my cottage.”

And Mukunda also sang another song. Mukunda was following these three days with Mahāprabhu, four days, sānkrantī, four days fasting. They are also fasting with Prabhu.

[rātri-dine poḍe mana soyāsti nā pāṅ], yāhāṅ gele kānu pāṅ, tāhāṅ uḍi’ yāṅ

[“‘My feeling is like this: My mind burns day and night, and I can get no rest. If there were some place I could go to meet Kṛṣṇa, I would immediately fly there.’”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 3.125]

Mukunda, anyhow Mukunda sang and the meaning, “That if I get those two pakhi dana, two wings, then wherever Kānu is, my friend Kanhaiyā, I like to fly there.” This sort of song was sung by Mukunda.

Then Mahāprabhu fainted. And encouraged by the spirit of this song He rose and began to dance and chant, in the evening. Yāhāṅ gele kānu pāṅ, tāhāṅ uḍi’ yāṅ.

And there was Acyutānanda, a five year young boy almost, or little more, youngest son of Advaita Ācārya.

One gentleman came and asked, “Who is the sannyāsa Guru of Caitanyadeva?”

Then Advaita Prabhu told, “Keśava Bhāratī, he’s His sannyāsa Guru.” He was speaking like that.

Then the boy Acyutānanda protested. “What do you say father? Jagat Guru Caitanya Gosāṣi, He’s the Guru of all. Caitanyadeva is the Guru of all, the whole world, of three worlds, of fourteen worlds. You say that He has also Guru. You will ruin the whole world I see.” In this way in a chastising mood the boy is saying to his father. “You say He has Guru. He’s the Guru of all Gurus. He’s the Guru of all Gurus. And you say He has His Guru, someone or other one. You will mar the whole thing.” That is Acyutānanda.

And Mahāprabhu after sannyāsa He had so much affection with Acyutānanda. He took him, embraced him, took him on His lap. “Acyutānanda, Ācārya is My father so you are My brother, ācārya more pita, so you are My young brother.”

That Acyutānanda. When grown up Acyutānanda took initiation from Gadādhara Paṇḍita. He came in the Gadādhara line. Six sons Advaita Prabhu had. The elder three they went to smārta sampradāya, but the younger three came this side, Kṛṣṇa Miśra, Acyutānanda, and Gopāla, three came to Vaiṣṇavism. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Divided into two, Advaita’s family, latter on.

In Narottama Ṭhākura’s poem [Manaḥ-śikṣā], aiming at the so-called scholars amongst the sons of Advaita, sei paśu baḍa durācāra, they did not have any recognition for Nityānanda Prabhu, scholarly ego. And Nityānanda Prabhu generally He mixed and converted amongst, and moved with the masses. And they were in vanity of scholarship, these Advaita sons. So Narottama Ṭhākura had to say in a song, vidyā-kule ki karibe tāra.

nitāi-pada-kamala koṭi candra-suśītala, ye chāyāya jagat juḍāya

hena nitāi vine bhāi rādhā-kṛṣṇa pāite nāi, dṛdha kari' dhara nitāir pāy

Nitāi nā bālila mukhe majila saṁsāra-sukhe, vidyā-kule ki karibe tāra. What value has the scholarship he may have or expect from? Nitāi nā bālila mukhe majila saṁsāra-sukhe, sei paśu baḍa durācāra. He’s still in contamination with animal consciousness, paśu, baḍa durācāra. And whatever type of Vedānta he may culture, cultivate, but still he’s in the midst of bad practices, malpractices. Ke?

Devotee: ____________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kule ki karibe tāra. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Mahāprabhu the next day, that is tomorrow morning, Śacī Devī will come from Śāntipura. And about ten days Mahāprabhu will live there, and then He will, after satisfying His mother and other friends here He went towards Purī. And four followed Him.

Here we find some difference in number, Caitanya-Bhāgavata and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Caitanya-caritāmṛta says that four, these Nityānanda, Mukunda, Jagadānanda, and Dāmodara Paṇḍita, these four followed Him. But in Caitanya-Bhāgavata we find another two, Gadādhara and Brahmānanda. And it is told that Brahmānanda and Dāmodara Paṇḍit were one and same, then Gadādhara. But in Caitanya-caritāmṛta we find Gadādhara went there afterwards. So some sort of differences. But generally we accept in the case of difference Caitanya-caritāmṛta to be the highest authority, because it is written afterwards and considering all possible alternative questions. The adjustment there may be considered to be the final.

Prabhupāda also has written in his letter to, perhaps addressed to Sambidānanda when he was reading in London, there is a letter. “The wholesale of Caitanya-caritāmṛta we accept as perfect evidence. And other books, Caitanya-Bhāgavata and Caitanya-mangala, or Bhakti- ratnākara, partially: some siddhānta from somewhere, geographical description from somewhere, and historical from somewhere. But what Caitanya-caritāmṛta has given, that we accept wholesale.”

To the atheist one is one Bhimam [?] mundane scholar, one Bhimam Majumdar, he has written a thesis on Caitanya līlā perhaps. I’m told he tried his best to find out the anomalies in Caitanya līlā. And that man, he’s very afraid of Gauḍīya Maṭha. And very cleverly he has avoided that and now and then tried to pinch the Gauḍīya Maṭha palm at respectable distance. He wrote that, “Prema-vivarta is a book where we find, it is published by Gauḍīya Maṭha in the name of Paṇḍita Jagadānanda. But we do not find in any other place that such book was written by Jagadānanda, no reference. And especially all the siddhāntas what the Gauḍīya Maṭha at present preach, that is to be found in that book.”

In other words he wants to say that Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he has made forgery. In the name of Jagadānanda Paṇḍita he...

End of 82.01.16.B_82.01.17.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.17.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...make it go to the public. It may go in the name of Jagadānanda to the public. That was his aim, but cleverly he is putting such language. “Only the Gauḍīya Maṭha siddhāntas they are found wholesale. And this book is told to come from Jagadānanda, but we do find any trace in any place about that.”

So he, as here also in Caitanya-caritāmṛta we find four followed Mahāprabhu from Bengal to Orissa. But Caitanya-Bhāgavata says there are six in number. Then what we are to accept? You see the anomaly, they are not omniscient. The Vaiṣṇavas, Vṛndāvana, parṣada, Kavirāja Goswāmī, they are all parṣada bhakta, they are all omniscient, but you judge how omniscient they are. One omniscient is differing from another omniscient. In this way he’s trying his best to discredit Mahāprabhu and His teachings to the public. He was a Professor of Padnai [?] University and he wrote a thesis on Caitanya.

But if he comes to me I shall say, I shall say that that is a grand idea of hypnotism. Mahāprabhu how disappeared? Some say in the Jagannātha, some say in the Gopīnātha, Tota Gopīnātha, some say He passed over the sea. But I assert that everything is true. Everything is possible. Try to refute it. As He willed to show His passing to any group He could show like that. He had that ability. Even the yogīs can do such feats, what to mention about Mahāprabhu, Lord Himself? If so many yogīs they may attain such siddhi that they can show himself in different bodies aṇimā, laghimā, vyāpti, kāmāvasāyitā, all these siddhis. A yogī, he’s here, he can show that he’s there also, kāyavyūha, it is possible. So what do you say you materialist fool? What do you know about the ways and the laws of the spiritual world? P.C. Raya, that magician, P.C. Raya, can befool you. You are a fodder of an ordinary worldly magician and you venture to make your remark on a plane you don’t know what it is of nature? You want to: what is air you want to, the quality of earth to thrust on the quality of the air or either.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

mallānām aśanir nṛṇāṁ naravaraḥ strīṇāṁ smaro mūrttimān

gopānāṁ svajano 'satāṁ kṣitibhujāṁ śāstā svapitro śiśuḥ

mṛtyur bhojapater virāḍ aviduṣāṁ tattvaṁ paraṁ yogināṁ

vṛṣṇīnāṁ paradevateti vidito raṅgaṁ gataḥ sāgrajaḥ

[“O King, Śrī Kṛṣṇa then appeared as a thunderbolt to the wrestlers, as the supreme male to the men, as Cupid incarnate to the ladies, as a friend to the cow herdsmen; as an emperor to the wicked kings, as a child to His father and mother, as death to Kaṁsa, as the universal form of the world to the ignorant; as the Supreme Truth to the yogīs, as the Supreme Worshipful Lord to the Vṛṣṇis - and along with Baladeva He entered the arena.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.43.17]

When Kṛṣṇa is entering into the arena of Kaṁsa then so many different sections are having different view about Him. In the same place they are. But a particular section there, “Oh, the great unknown is coming.” Some say, “Oh, my son approaching, He is the real ruler, fittest ruler of us.” In this way some see He is according to their realization, stage of realization. It is possible.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra could see Him, could see Him without his blindness being removed.

“Temporarily please remove my blindness, I can have a darśana of You.”

“No. Physical blindness need not be removed. I say you see Me.”

Then he could see Him, but he was blind.

What is this? So it is His will. Not only He controls His own, Himself, but He controls all the subject that will attempt to feel Him. All other subsidiary subjective existence: super-subjective, supreme subjective existence can control all the subsidiary, so many subjective units. It is not non-scientific. Just as Sun can control by attraction so many planets. The bigger mass can control the movements of the smaller mass. So the supreme subjective existence should control the all minor subordinate, subjective existence, and that is not non-scientific. It is quite understandable.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

The laws and rules of the material world we want to thrust on the spiritual substance. There are separate law. Separate nature and separate law, everything is separate there. This law cannot work there. To take everything under this law that is stupidity, foolishness. Hare Kṛṣṇa. They have got their own law. And we are to understand, we are to read and understand the nature of the law of things of the higher level.

tad viddhi praṇipātena, paripraśnena sevayā / [upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ, jñāninas tattva darśinaḥ]

[“You will be able to attain all this knowledge by satisfying the enlightened spiritual master with prostrate obeisances, relevant enquiry, and sincere service. Great souls who are most expert in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will teach you that divine knowledge.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.34]

The sevā: that has put the hammer on our heads. We mundane creatures, we want to think in our term. We want to get some benefit, some exploitation. No exploitation, no relation. We are sons of exploiting soil. No exploitation, no relation. But there is another land, just the opposite. If you don’t like to be exploited, no entrance is possible in that holy land. You may thank your stars if you offer yourself for dedication. Still if you are accepted you will thank your stars. That your offering of self dedication how far it will be genuine, that is to be considered. Only lip deep dedication is no dedication. Dedication proper has its criterion. And those that are experts of that land they can measure it. They can recognise what is dedication. Only to pronounce in the mouth that I am dedicated soul.

Just as one man, one headmaster in Purī, when he met us when we are going towards Madras; Bon Maharaja, myself, then Mādhava Mahārāja, then Hayagrīva Brahmacārī, and another Sad Mahārāja: constructing the footprints of Mahāprabhu. A party was sent by Guru Mahārāja and we reached Purī and in a hired house the Maṭha was established there, Para Kuti [?], by name.

Then one Paraśurāma Patanayaka, a Brahmo type man, senior teacher, head master perhaps of some school. Anyhow he knew that the Gauḍīya Maṭha people they were out and out spiritualists, they do not care for anyone, even the scholars of India. “They are very bigoted and they only accept Bhāgavatam and Mahāprabhu or Goswāmīs and don’t care for anything and everything. And they say they are master, they are dealing with God and they can only give God and none else. Such vanity they have got.”

So he came to approach and proposed, “Do you think that God exists really?”

And one of us: “Yes we believe so, we think so. And our own lives you can take it as witness to that evidence. Because we believe and so we have come out to search Him.”

Then, “Can we get Him?”

“We think yes, we can get Him.”

“Can you show Him?”

“Yes, if you come in our way we hope you will be able to see Him.”

“How we can see Him?”

Then someone of us told, “Śaraṇāgati, by surrendering to Him we can come nearer and nearer to Him and we can see Him.”

“Yes, I am śaraṇāgata. I am śaraṇāgata. I have surrendered myself. If you test it, if you ask me to jump into the ocean I shall do at once.”

Then our party was little perplexed when he put this, he says, “I am already surrendered soul. You test me, you ask me to jump and I shall at once jump.” He told.

Then anyhow it came from my mind that what you say that is just the opposite of śaraṇāgati. A surrendered soul, we find in the scriptures, that his sincere feeling will be such, ‘I can’t become śaraṇāgata, I can’t surrender.’ As much as he will be able to surrender, so much he will feel I cannot surrender myself. The opposite what you say. Then he was nonplussed, and our party also got some relief.

So śaraṇāgata: from what point I came to this? That is surrendering, sevayā, paripraśnena sevayā, our fitness, our certificate. My certificate for my fitness won’t do. That certificate must come from a bona-fide circle. Hare Kṛṣṇa. What is surrender, what is dedication, but something like this is there we can hope. We have nothing to aspire after, this is all stale. The material, the world of material conception is finished. Nothing, no charm here to attract me, then praṇipāt is possible. Now the search, Vedānta, athāto brahma-jijñāsā, then this plane where I am living this is unsatisfactory. I have no charm here. Then I am to inquire, sincere inquiring, paripraśna then sevā.

You will be ordered, your search should be in such a way that you won’t be, retain your master-ship on that plane. You will have to become a servant, a slave of that higher plane. If you like to serve, the wholesale serving attitude of self-giving, not getting anything in return, are you ready to be so selfless? Then you can come in contact with some higher realm. But before that you are to know that you can’t, you won’t be able to assert there in any way. That is merging. The exploiting agent that will vanish, that will have to vanish for eternity. Your exploiting ego is to be dissolved finally, so you as you are can’t be traced any longer. A wholesale conversion, are you ready?

That is recruitment of the coolies of the charvagan [?] on the oil mines. We are told they are black marketing so many men, purchasing, and taking them and use them to be coolie in their; so many capitalist have such sort of bad name. So you are, you will be asked to be lost, as in the calculation of your loss and gain as you are in the present, you’ll be lost. And some other golden figure from you, that will merge and he will claim that, ‘Yes I am within you.’ Now I have got the chance I shall enter and live here. Die to live. He is for Himself. But if we accept this then we will be astonished to find that He’s not for Himself but He’s for all.

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, [sarva-loka-maheśvaram

suhṛdaṁ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ, jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati]

[“I am the enjoyer of the results of sacrifice performed by the fruit-hunter, as well as the results of austerity performed by the liberation-seeker - I am their only worshippable object; I am Nārāyaṇa, the indwelling monitor of all planes of life, and the Supreme Worshippable Personality who awards liberation. And I am the well-wisher of all - I am Kṛṣṇa, the devotee’s most adorable friend. The soul who thus knows My true identity attains the ecstasy of knowing his own original divine identity.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 5.29]

“Apparently I enjoy everything. I am the enjoyer of everything apparently, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ. Sarva-loka-maheśvaram, controller of everything: autocrat. Suhṛdaṁ sarvva- bhūtānāṁ, the next, I am your friend. I am your friend. Then only you can have conception of real peace of mind. This is the adjustment. I am everything. And you have no position. But I am your friend at the same time. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, everything meant for Me. Sarva-loka- maheśvaram, it is a fact. And I control everything; that is also a fact. But suhṛdaṁ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ, My temperament, My nature is that I represent the interest of all of you in a friendly way. If you can adjust yourself with this position you are all right, you will get peace, otherwise your case is hopeless. You must try to adjust yourself in such a way with the centre and not keeping the power within your hand, within your fist. That is not the key; that is not the clue to success, to the highest success.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Ke?

Devotee: Daśaratha sūta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Sundara. Prema, love and lust, lust and love, love divine, life divine, transcendental. Atīndriya, buddhi-grāhyam atīndriyam [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.21]. Avāṅ-manaso gocaraḥ [the mind is full of misconception]. Buddher yaḥ paratas tu saḥ [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.42]. Buddhi, citta, mahat-tattva. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu.

prema-dhāma-divya-dīrgha-deha-deva-nanditaṁ

hema-kañja-puñja-nindi-kānti-candra-vanditam

nāma-gāna-nṛtya-navya-divya-bhāva-mandiraṁ

prema-dhāma-devam eva naumi gaura-sundaram

[The tall divine figure of Śrī Gaurāṅgadeva enhances the joy of the universal gods as He is the charming embodiment of pure love. The radiant aura emanating from His beautiful form insults millions of golden lotuses while winning the respect of that effulgent personality Candradeva. Śrī Gaurāṅga is the background stage of all spiritual pastimes as exhibited in the ever-fresh dynamic moods of sattvika-bhāva as seen in His joyful dancing when congregationally chanting Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Holy Names. I offer my obeisances to that beautiful Golden Lord, Gaurāṅga Sundar, the divine form of Kṛṣṇa prema.] [Śrī Śrī Prema Dhāma deva stotram, 21]

Gaurāṅga sundara bara nitya nija nama bir [?]

...

kṛṣṇa-prema, nṛloke nā haya, yadi haya tāra yoga,

nā haya tabe viyoga, viyoga haile keha nā jiyaya.

[akaitava kṛṣṇa-prema, yena jāmbū-nada-hema, sei premā nṛloke nā haya

yadi haya tāra yoga, nā haya tabe viyoga, viyoga haile keha nā jīyaya]

[“Pure love for Kṛṣṇa, just like gold from the Jāmbū River, does not exist in human society. If it existed, there could not be separation. If separation were there, one could not live.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 2.43]

“Kṛṣṇa prema is not meant for this mundane world. Sanātana, to speak plainly, the Kṛṣṇa prema, the divine love, is not a thing of this world, nṛloke nā haya, it is not meant for this world. How can we aspire after? If anyhow anyone fortunately has its connection then he, nā haya viyoga, not disconnected any time, there is permanent connection. If by chance that is severed, that connection, he can’t tolerate the pain of separation and die at once, viyoga haile keha nā jīyaya. The generally sane man cannot talk about Kṛṣṇa prema. Only the insane persons in the sense of the worldly judgement, they can spare their life for such thing, which has got no value in this mundane world. They’re considered to be mad, generally. The sane, the sanity of this world cannot accommodate them. One who deals about that thing, he’s considered to be mad. And who accepts, who listens to that, he’s also taken as mad, abnormal thinking, not normal of this world.”

Kulivar krpa pati jaya [?] Who will come to believe this?

āmi - eka bātula, tumi - dvitīya bātula, [ataeva tomāya āmāya ha-i sama-tula]

[Mahāprabhu said: “I am insane, mad, bāula - pāgala - eccentric. I am one eccentric, and you are another. Therefore, we two are of the same class.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.291]

“I am insane of the first order, and you may also consider yourself to be so, dvitīya bātula. Then we both of us are abnormal so let us go on with this unnatural transaction.”

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ, tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī / yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni, sā niśā paśyato muneḥ

[“While spiritual awareness is like night for the living beings enchanted by materialism, the self-realised soul remains awake, directly relishing the divine ecstasy of his uninterrupted spiritual intelligence. On the contrary, the wakefulness of materialistic persons addicted to sense enjoyment is night for the self-realised person who is completely indifferent to such pursuits. The realised souls, indifferent to the mundane, are ever joyful in the divine ecstatic plane, while the general mass is infatuated by fleeting mundane fancies devoid of spiritual joy.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.69]

One party can see at night. To the owls, day is night. And to us night is night. But the owl’s night is day. Yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ, tasyāṁ jāgarti.

dhīrāḥ paśyanti nārāyaṇam ayaṁ jagad

lubdhāḥ paśyanti dhanamayaṁ jagad

kāmukāḥ smṛti kāminīmayam jagad

[Found in the BBT Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.7.55, purport]

According to the nature one lives in a particular phase of life. Someone is conscious of money, some hunt for mundane sense pleasure. And some they are always trying to see the transcendental truth at the back of everything in the general, most accommodating spacious cause, want to search after the root.

yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante, [yena jātāni jīvanti

yat prayanty abhiṣamviśanti, tad brahma tad vijijñāsa]

[“The Supreme Brahman is the origin and shelter of all living beings. When there is creation, He brings them forth from their original state, and at the time of annihilation, He devours them. After creation, everything rests in His omnipotence, and after annihilation, everything again returns to rest in Him.] [Taittirīya Upaniṣad, 3.1]

Where from what we see everything has sprung up. Yena jātāni jīvanti, what is maintaining the whole. Yat prayanty, again entering into that prime, non-differentiated cause. Abhiṣamviśanti, sometimes seems to lose its own existence totally like suṣupti, sound sleep. Tad vijijñāsa, try to enter after Him, after that cause. Tad eva brahma, and He is the most spacious, all accommodating substance. If you can know that you may know everything.

One doctor, I met him for some purpose; consult some disease or so. I told to him that brahma-jñāna is all accommodating. One who knows Him can know everything.

He told, “I don’t believe that. You are trying to inquire after Brahman?”

“Yes. We are trying.”

“Do you know everything?”

I could not answer.

He told “Why have you come to me? I am examining the chest of that patient. Do you know what is there, in the chest of that patient?”

“I don’t know. I am trying to go that side.”

“Then why do you say by knowing one thing you can know everything?”

I did not try to continue the questioning and we there stopped. But afterwards I thought that what he told that, ‘What is the anomaly in the body of this patient, can’t you say?’ I can’t say that. Then what should have been my answer? Now I have come to some explanation, explanatory answer.

It is possible when we come to this resolution that anything and everything depends on His sweet will. In that way we can think that I know everything. The first plane is the result of his own karma, and the last plane that His will, His sweet will, that is the cause of everything. Every detail can be explained only by one answer, it is His will. Kṛṣṇe ca, krsne rca, krsne līlā [?] In one word the answer of all the questions. And that is real. He can control, He can withdraw, He can make it otherwise. Even the dead son of His Guru He took him back. It is possible. The laws of this world, laws, rules, all these: all futile. Then at the very bottom His will and to know that to know everything. His will, it is His will. And we are told, sometimes we hear also from some sort of people, whatever occurs, Kṛṣṇe rca, govinda rca [?] It is His will, His līlā. Practically, really it is so. But the intermediate stages we may not know. And the very call, the starting call, everything known. It depends on Him. To know that is to know everything. That is, go to Him, offer to Him, no other duty. No other remedy, all remedy of all anomaly is in Him. To know this is to know everything, to know everything, in some way, not only some, but in a real way. That is the central truth. The one controller, He is the cause of everything. That is to become sārvajñā, to know all, in one sense, in the real sense. Otherwise how much may be the extensive character of our knowledge? That is limited: to infinite that has no place at all. The wide experience has got no value when it is compared with the infinite, only a speck, and that also relative. Now it is, little after, that will be nowhere, no certainty. But to know this, that it is His will. That is to know everything, in a form, in the real form. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

sarva-dharmān parityajya, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ [vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ]

[“Totally abandoning all kinds of religion, surrender exclusively unto Me. I will liberate you from all kinds of sins, so do not despair.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66]

The justification of this saying of Kṛṣṇa: “Leave every duty, give up all your duties, come to My feet. No reaction, no repentance you will have to undergo. I assure you. I assure you, give up all your duties when coming towards Me. All your duties are on one side and I am another side. I am more weighty; I am bigger. Whatever you can conceive to stand against Me, all futile. I am so. In this way try to understand Me. You will get peace. Otherwise no peace is possible. What you are searching innately, to have it – impossible.” Tad vijijñāsa tad eva brahma.

[yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante, yena jātāni jīvanti

yat prayanty abhiṣamviśanti, tad brahma tad vijijñāsa]

[“The Supreme Brahman is the origin and shelter of all living beings. When there is creation, He brings them forth from their original state, and at the time of annihilation, He devours them. After creation, everything rests in His omnipotence, and after annihilation, everything again returns to rest in Him.”] [Taittirīya Upaniṣad, 3.1]

Searching this and that, A.B.C.D, in infinite character; drop all these engagements. Search Him with the fine comb: that is proper engagement, other attempts all futile, useless, foolish.

na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ, durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ

[andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās, te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ]

[Prahlāda Mahārāja says: “Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or Guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labour, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.5.31]

You are making much of a mole hill. You are on the surface and the superficial things you are after. But that is nothing at all. That is a product of my whims. Dive deep, learn what to be searched. What to search, learn that. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ, our internal search is after Viṣṇu, not for the superficial, so many glamour. We can’t understand so we are aimlessly wandering and being tired. Durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ, making much of the superficial, the cover, leaving away the substance within, of the fruit. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās, just as one blind is guiding another blind. The transaction is like that. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās, one blind man is guiding another blind man, both of them blind about their object of search. Such is the condition. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. So all wild goose chasing: very busy about nothing. In Bhāgavatam, Śukadeva Goswāmī in his beginning says:

śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ

[apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām]

[Śukadeva Goswāmī said to King Parīkṣit: “Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.1.2]

Thousands of engagements are awaiting us. No want there, śrotavyādīni, what is to be attained by ear, what is to be attained by eye ___________________ [?] there are thousands, limitless, no want of that, for whom? Apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ. No diagnosis: who does not know himself, who does not have recognition about his inner existence, nature, for him thousands of engagements. But one who knows himself, what is necessity, only one. Śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ, apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ. Not examined, the inner nature is not examined, what is its necessity, only running here, thither, thither. Gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām, and the false centre of their life they have created and running after phantasmagoria. That is the case with us all here. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

The government of the land, the government of the people: for the people, and by the people. Government of the people, yes, it is all right. For the people, it is also all right, but not by the people. By the experts; by the experts, not by masses, mass is ignorant. What do they know of their own benefit and welfare, these fallible creatures? Abraham Lincoln, or who is that gentleman that gave the basis of democracy? This is conceived to be the democratic government; of the people, by the people, and for the people. Government of the people, for the people, and by the people, the basis of democratic government, and they all dance in the name of democracy. Vox populi is not vox dei. But vox dei should be vox populi, should be.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi caitanya candre daya kavi havi jal nija kari deji hari mat kal [?] If you have the opportunity to consider, to judge about the magnanimity of Śrī Caitanyadeva, you will be simply astounded. “What sort of dignified things He has discovered for us. What sort of high prospect He has taken to our door?” You will be charmed; if you can trace you will be charmed, simply. “What prospect He has discovered for us? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Our goal, destination, self determination leads where, self determination.

nṛ-deham ādyaṁ sulabhaṁ sudurllabhaṁ, plavaṁ sukalpaṁ guru-karṇadhāram

mayānukūlena nabhasvateritaṁ, pumān bhavābdhiṁ na taret sa ātmahā

[“The human body, which can award all benefit in life, is automatically obtained by the laws of nature, although it is a very rare achievement. This human body can be compared to a perfectly constructed boat having the spiritual master as the captain and the instructions of the Personality of Godhead as favourable winds impelling it on its course. Considering all these advantages, a human being who does not utilize his human life to cross the ocean of material existence must be considered the killer of his own soul.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.20.17]

Getting the advantage of a human birth, and after meeting the spiritual guide if one does not take the advantage of...

End of 82.01.17.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.17.C_82.01.18.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...birth and death, then he commits suicide. He loses such a chance, a great and most valuable chance that it amounts to suicide. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. No question came today.

...

Parvat Mahārāja: ...then where it fits, our independent will, our free will, where does it fit?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Your free will is a part of the Absolute free will.

Parvat Mahārāja: So one can say therefore I do whatever I want and that’s the Supreme will?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. But the nature of spiritual substance is such that every atomic existence is free, but free is limited. He’s limited and everything belonging to him is limited. And with Absolute the whole thing is Absolute. This is to be applied in all things, not only freedom. In magnitude, in intelligence, in freedom, in every way in a system there is part and there is whole, the relation between the part and the whole. Every cell of your body has some sort of freedom, and still it is within the organisation, everything. Everything, suppose in a family when it is in harmony, there is the guardian, and there is hierarchy of the guardian, and free submission of all of the family to the guardian. Is it not possible? That obedience to the higher guardian: does it mean self effacement completely if free service is not possible? What do you think? Free service, loving service, loving offering: if one loves another does it mean that he loses his existence? Eh?

Parvat Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Even you may die for him, but does it mean that you have no freedom? If through love you want to sacrifice wholesale for the object of your love, you do so much submission, but does it mean that you have no existence at all? If you like to efface yourself, your unitary, your specific existence cannot be maintained thereby, it is gone? Free offering means all forced? One may offer something being enforced and freely. Is it not possible? To offer means by compulsion: free cooperation is not possible? What do you conceive about that? Retaining your freedom you cannot surrender to your superior? If coerced, forced, no happiness, happiness vanishes, de-materialised. And when free you can enjoy what is known as free will, love. Love means free sacrifice. Love presupposes free sacrifice. Sacrifice, but when it is free sacrifice, that is prema. Attraction, free attraction existing between the free entities: that is called prema. Force, but not force of the meanest nature, but the highest natured force that is, and that force even can take down the Absolute to the finite. Infinite can be subservient to finite. It is such a force. So sacrifice and freedom can go together. Sacrifice does not mean that losing ones freedom, free identity. What do you think?

Parvat Mahārāja: It seems that the supreme free will of the Infinite is sanctioning the free will of the minute part.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: When you are aiming at that, then in that case you will aim everything in a similar angle of vision. Then the Absolute is enjoying, He’s continuing His līlā. When the freedom in the absolute sense you consider, then the whole thing within Him, in His body, is as one; and it is His līlā, līlā vāda. In one sense you will give wholesale to Him, and in another sense you will take something out of Him: that cannot be. When in every way you are thinking, your form of thought, you attribute whole thing to Him, then in that sense He’s one, advaya-jñāna, He’s going on with His līlā.

And no one to be aggrieved existing outside, none is aggrieved existing outside, all within Him. He’s going on with His līlā. No separate entity to be aggrieved. He’s all in all, the wholesale in one, the whole system, it is He only. The absolute freedom, absolute existence, absolute nature, in all phases if you come to that oneness, then no one to grudge, none left to grudge. He’s within Him. It is His līlā. He’s going on with His own play. None to say against that, and if you with partial representation you got to give some importance then it is divided there. But it’s not divided equally: proportionately, superior, inferior.

In a hierarchy in official circle, the higher, higher officer he’s prevailing through the clerks and other lower. Whatever he’ll say they have to obey. That does not mean that they do not exist. The officer’s position, his power, can be supposed to work through everyone, his direction. And whatever anomaly he’s coming to correct. He’s already there, pervading. So, so many gods, but Kṛṣṇa pervading everywhere, whenever necessary He can control. So such, go to the higher plane there.

yathā mahānti bhūtāni, bhūteṣūccāvaceṣv anu / praviṣṭāny apraviṣṭāni, tathā teṣu na teṣv aham

[“O Brahmā, please know that the universal elements enter into the cosmos and at the same time do not enter into the cosmos; similarly, I also exist within everything and at the same time I am outside everything.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.9.35]

In Bhāgavatam, in Bhagavad-gītā,

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ, jagad avyakta-mūrtinā

mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni, na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ.

na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni, paśya me yogam aiśvaram

[bhūta-bhṛn na ca bhūta-stho, mamātmā bhūta-bhāvanaḥ]

[“In an un-manifest manner, I pervade this entire universe, and everything conceivable is situated within Me - and yet, I am not situated within that total entity.”] [“And again, that is also not situated in Me. Just behold My inconceivable simultaneous one and different (acintya-bhedābheda) nature as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and Lord of the universe! Although My very Self is the mainstay and guardian of all beings, I am not implicated by them.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.4-5]

“I am everywhere, everything in Me. I am nowhere, nothing in Me. Note the peculiar mystic position of Mine in relation to all.”

In Bhāgavatam, yathā mahānti bhūtāni, bhūteṣūccāvaceṣv anu, praviṣṭāny apraviṣṭāni, the great created masses, water, air, fire, heat, ether, how they exist intermingled. One is within everything and also not there always. The ether is within the earth, within the water, within the fire, heat, everywhere, and still there is somewhere He’s not there. If necessary He can assert.

Just as relative positions, the paramount power here, the central authority of India, but still I’m considered to be the possessor of this land. But within twenty four hours notice, or even a minute’s notice if necessary for battle they can occupy this position, their right is enshrined. In this way adjusted, the powers, the figures, everything adjusted in this way. Not assert, always, everyone does not assert. God does not assert, everywhere, it is His will.

“I am everywhere, I am nowhere. Everything in Me, nothing in Me. Paśya me yogam aiśvaram. Try to understand the peculiar position that I have got.”

So in everything you are to follow this dictum. Whether we exist or we do not exist, God exists. I do not exist, only God exists, we can’t take that. And we also cannot take what the Śaṅkara, “That this is mal existence, in proper existence we and God one and same thing.” And that is sāyujya mukti, brahman, that is non-specified, non-dynamic some substance, non- differentiated substance, nirviśeṣa.

But we follow according to the Vaiṣṇava Ācārya this bhedābheda can be maintained all through in the true organisation, not only in the mundane, in the true aspect of the whole. That is also, this is the perverted reflection, one and many, adjust in this way, one and many is always there. The kāṣṭhā-kalā, one and many, the foundation and the – the container and the contained, the relationship is always there, everywhere, and both of them are true. But the power, the lord-ship, that is adjusted in different ways, small or big. Space, time, power, in every way some adjusted position between the two, finite and infinite. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Ha, ha, so, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.3], so finite cannot know Infinite, but Infinite can make Himself known to finite. So through sevā, service, we are to get His will in our favour, then as much as He will be known to me, He makes Himself known to me I’ll have to be satisfied with that knowledge. I cannot think that the Infinite will be imprisoned in one cell of the finite brain. That is futile, that is foolishness. To know and finish all the characteristics of Infinite, for a finite being, it is sheer foolishness. So knowledge, this enquiry, has been discarded, to some certain extent. What is necessary for my real benefit to be reinstated in a proper adjusted position, sevā. Without knowing the whole I can be placed in my highest position where I can draw my best benefit, sevā.

The gopīs were not big scholars. They did not care to know anything, but they were particular for service. And they could draw the best benefit from the Absolute. Not through scholarship but by sacrifice and service at another plane. Don’t apply yourself in the plane of force, nor indifference and knowledge, but try to apply to be utilised. Utility, you try to live in the plane of utility, as a whole, utility as a whole, try to achieve. Seek your achievement in that plane of utility. Neither karma energising: foolish energising has no value: so foolish enquiry also has no value. But utility, try to find out your small quota in the Infinite utility; that is service, that is plane of love. You can be best benefited in that plane. So try to find a short cut to enter into the plane of utility, and give service, be utilised, and then you will be most benefited. That is the line. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Do you follow, to certain extent?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So, that utility, usefulness, and usefulness which is decided by the highest quarter. Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is service.

Devotee: ___________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Jñāna-sunya-bhakti, I repeatedly told that I came to that plane where Mahāprabhu is recommending jñāna-sunya-bhakti. Jñāna-miśrā-bhakti, karma-miśrā, rejected, jñāna-miśrā rejected: jñāna-sunya-bhakti – a hammer came on my head. Jñāna-sunya-bhakti, jñāna is to be eliminated? Searching, that means surrender is greater than searching, with self interest. Surrender to the Absolute decision is better than searching for self interest. That is done in terms of finite. By surrendering we can utilise the intelligence and justice of the Absolute, so that is infinitely higher. The Divinity has its peculiar character of this type. By surrendering we come to such a higher plane, we are allowed to live with such a high order of people that cannot be conceivable from our mundane self searching plane. Cannot accommodate what sort of generous dealing we may have by surrendering, by coming, taking ourselves to the foot of the noble. Their line of thinking is noble, and ours more or less satanic, self searching. Self searching means to create disturbance in the environment. And by sacrifice we come in the plane of the noble where one can thrive by sacrifice, service. So diabolical change, die to live, die to live, if you want to live an honourable life you’ll have to die wholesale, of this mundane, everything to be banished, good or bad.

‘dvaite bhadrābhadra-jñāna, saba-‘manodharma’, [‘ei bhāla, ei manda’,-ei saba ‘bhrama’]

[“In the material world, conceptions of good and bad are all mental concoctions. Therefore, saying, ‘This is good, this is bad,’ is a mistake.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 4.176]

Good and bad, calculated from this reasoning, this side of thinking, and that is all false.

So Hegel’s idea is very sweet, ‘Die to live.’ A very general word, ‘die to live.’ Learn to die, and you won’t die, you will see that you are immortal. Die in body consideration, but if you ignore your body consideration with body interest you will find yourself in soul plane, it is immortal.

Like Socrates: and he could reject all the favourable proposals to save him, “No, give me the poison glass.” And unhesitatingly he took it. “I know sure that I’m immortal. To prove that I’m immortal I’m hatefully rejecting this material prospect, to take, I’m dying.” Die to live. “I’m immortal. The connection with the mortality it is injurious to me. I prove it by dying.”

Devotee: ______________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Hari. All right, a request coming from some quarter.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

...in order to pacify the āsura these things have been adopted. In this way Mahāprabhu has given explanation. Gaura Haribol.

The Vasudeva’s son Vāsudeva, that is also eternal, and Nandanandan that also eternal. Svayaṁ-Bhagavān is Nandanandan, and Vāsudeva is kāyavyūha of Nandanandan. Svayaṁ- Bhagavān: Svayaṁ-prakāśa, Svayaṁ-prakāśa-vilāsa. Prakāśa: prābhava-prakāśa, vaibhava- prakāśa. Vilāsa: prābhava-vilāsa, vaibhava-vilāsa. In this way, from Svayaṁ-Bhagavān it is deviating, different conceptions in intensity, prakāśa, vaibhava, outcome incarnation. But Svayaṁ-Bhagavān Nandanandan, that has been told to be original Absolute in prema-loka.

You are to go through Caitanya-caritāmṛta there when this prakāśa, vilāsa, and also it has been in Laghu-Bhāgavatāmrta by Rūpa Goswāmī. Before dealing the whole thing you are to go through Laghu-Bhāgavatāmrta, original, and at least Caitanya-caritāmṛta, is explained there, and the tika also by our Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura tika. Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya, and this Anubhāṣya, Caitanya-caritāmṛta you are to contact with them, very closely, and then you take the pen, how to refute. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

You take to the notice of the ISKCON who has especially published those books, whether it has got real connection with the manuscripts. First read it, and find difference, and then refer to the original quarter, whether they have published in this way. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: This is definitely the book. The book he’s referring to, we’re certain that this is the book.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Who is the responsible officer of the publication? Satsvarūpa?

Aranya Mahārāja: Rāmeśvara Mahārāja in Los Angeles, but Jayadwaita Mahārāja does all the editing. Jayadwaita Mahārāja in Philadelphia is the chief editor, and Rāmeśvara Mahārāja is the publisher.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So you may refer to them, ‘That this we find, then what’s the matter? I bring to your notice it has been done, and what to do against that, you think and do.’

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: And this man has another article coming again next month, in the same, he’s written at the end, ‘To be continued.’ So next month he’s going to make more points.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. It’ll be very sad.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s made a dedicated effort. He’s fault finding very meticulously, very technical manner.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They went to get that Bhakti Kuṭīra in Purī and in that auction they’re defeated. So they have got some complain and lapse. And perhaps from there he has got the insinuation, and starting against.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: We had another idea is that we think that Satsvarūpa has criticised Bhakti Vilās Tīrtha Mahārāja in the biography; and that will also cause it.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh. That may be, yes. The other day that Rūpa Vilās, means that Bhāgavata Mahārāja from Bagh Bazaar Maṭha, he also came, “That in the books of the ISKCON are drastic criticisms against us is published. So they want to discredit us all.” He asked me, “We are told that they have some affectionate connection with you, so you try to pacify them so they may not do so. Otherwise we shall be also forced to take the opposition movement.” That Bhāgavata Mahārāja came the other day, at night, met me here. Hare Kṛṣṇa. His grievance is also like that. “Only Keśava Mahārāja and yourself exempted and all others including us are drastically criticised. And thousands and lākhs of books are with such criticism against us is being spread throughout the world. So for our self protection we are to oppose.” This was his remark. So when he will see that in a paper the criticism has been out, they have also got paper, they will also...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Counter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, attempt, it will be difficult thing. Anyhow you inform it to the central authority. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: This statement is here Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You first go through Caitanya-caritāmṛta and the commentary.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Regarding that Nandanandana.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. All these things are there, then you will, and in Bhāgavata’s Tipani of Sanātana Goswāmī, that is the authority. Jīva Goswāmī’s also there, Rūpa Goswāmī’s Laghu-Bhāgavatāmṛta, and Dashami-Tipani of Sanātana Goswāmī. And also Viśvanātha Cakravartī, all these authorities you are to consult. And in the beginning you go through Caitanya-caritāmṛta and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s commentary and Prabhupāda’s [Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī] commentary; then prepare yourself what should be the ground of protest. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Parvat Mahārāja: In Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says in the verse:

traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā, nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna

[nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho, niryoga-kṣema ātmavān]

[“O Arjuna, when defining non-devotional paths based on action and knowledge, the Vedas deal with the three modes of material nature. Foolish men, whose intelligence is covered by exploitation and renunciation, engage themselves in the cultivation of action and knowledge. Thus, they remain in ignorance of the principal object aimed at by the Vedas, which is transcendence beyond the three modes of material nature. But Arjuna, you be free from duality, live in the association of My eternal devotees, and give up all pursuits for gain and preservation. Then by buddhi-yoga, dedicating your intelligence to Me, reach that plane which is free from material qualities, and situate yourself in that transcendence which is the object of the Vedas. In other words, withdrawing yourself from the cultivation of action and knowledge, engage exclusively in the path of devotion as commanded by the Vedas.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.45]

At the end he says, niryoga-kṣema ātmavān. Śrīla Prabhupāda says that, in the translation, “Be transcendental to all the modes, be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the Self.” And this Self here is with capital letter. Now, my question is...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Self means ātmā.

Parvat Mahārāja: Ātmā, the soul.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Denounce your relationship and cooperation with the mental and physical plane, and concentrate in the plane of your self, ātmā. And the ātmās function, the natural function of ātmā is with Paramātmā, and not with the material world, you will find. Ātmā tuṣṭaḥ [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.55], to withdraw from the different planes where we move and live: in this way. Amnamay kosh, prāṇamaya kosh, manomay kosh, vijñānamaya kosh and ānandamay kosh. Different planes of life.

The first stage, the most gross plane is the physical body, amnamay. Amnamay that is by feeding we are compelled to maintain. Food is necessary to keep up a particular plane, that is amnamay, amna means food. If you give up the food, that plane will die. That is amnamay kosh, one state, the outward state, outward encasement. And then next, subtle case, is prāṇamaya kosh, vitality. That is said to be a particular encasement, finer, to this physical encasement. Then manomay kosh, then the mental system within that: a third, finer plane, encasement of ātmā. And then vijñānamaya kosh, there lives ātmā, the taṭasthā-śakti. And ānandamay kosh, that is the plane where svarūpa-śakti Bhagavān lives. Where the Godhead with His own paraphernalia lives in ānandamay kosh, the most fine plane.

So differentiation from gross to subtle, so differentiation stage. So self means withdraw to your soul leaving aside your attachment and your connection with these three gross encasements outside. That is amnamay kosh, prāṇamaya kosh, and manomay kosh, and concentrate, withdraw in the ātmā kosh, then you’ll find that self determination, that svarūpa-siddhi, ātmā tuṣṭaḥ. Then you will find you will feel a natural attraction from the Paramātmā and you will be asked to cooperate with that inner centre within you. That is the meaning: the self.

uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ, nātmānam avasādayet

ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur, ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ

[“The living being must be delivered from the dark well of material life by means of the mind detached from sense objects, and he must never in any way be flung down into the material world by the mind enchanted by sense objects - because the mind is sometimes his friend, and in another situation the very same mind is rather the enemy.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.5]

This is improper self that I’m human being, I’m a beast, I’m a [demi-]god, all improper, that is identification with improper self conception. Your proper self conception if you attain that you will find that your relationship with Paramātmā. You will feel the attraction there for Paramātmā, not any attraction for this filthy gross atmosphere. Withdraw to the self conception. Your self is within a particular system in God conception. And now your contact with the so many gross elements have forcibly taken you away from your internal and proper vision towards outside, bahirmukha, and forced you to come and connect with the outer world. We try to withdraw, neti, neti, neti, this is not, this is not, this is not. Tanma, tanma, tanma, that is not, that is not, in this way eliminate everything and go to your self.

indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur, indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ

manasas tu parā buddhir, buddher yaḥ paratas tu saḥ

[“The learned proclaim that the senses are superior to inert objects, the mind is superior to the senses, and the faculty of resolute intelligence is superior to the mind. And he who is superior to the intelligence is the soul himself.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.42]

Buddhir ātmā mahan para [?] So withdrawal from the external coatings and to retire in ātmā sakhatka [?] And from there to Paramātmā sakhatka [?] Deep, deeper and inner quest, enquiry to be promoted, that is meant here. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura. __________________________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Parvat Mahārāja: Satyavak just came from Māyāpur.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. Any knew news, any newcomer there?

Satyavak: No newcomers Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Veṅkaṭa Prabhu?

Satyavak: Veṅkaṭa and Parisevana they’re just coming after one hour maybe.

...

Parvat Mahārāja: Paramātmā realisation is also realisation of the Personality of Godhead as Paramātmā also seems to be person.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In deeper vision, Paramātmā is seen as Vāsudeva. It is above Brahman, that Kṣīrodakaśāyī, Kṣīrodakaśāyī as Antaryāmī within ātmā, jīvātmā, and with watchful attention we can understand His dictation also from within, inner voice. And sometimes the yogīs they feel them in the _____________ [?] they imagine Him here. It is mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā. So Brahman conception, Paramātmā conception, then that becomes Vāsudeva conception. When clear, more clear, Paramātmā conception leads to Vāsudeva conception. General yogīs are concerned with that. That all comprehensive aspect is Brahman, and all permeating aspect is Paramātmā. And everywhere with more deeper vision it is seen to be personal. Superficial vision it is hazy, impersonal. Nothing is impersonal in this world. Every molecule, atom, if completely viewed, there must be person. That is, person means consciousness, all consciousness.

Māyā is illusion. Māyā is also personal, Māyā as a whole is person. She’s repenting, “Oh Kṛṣṇa, You have created me, or I’m with You, but the people say,” we find in Dhāma Parikramā, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s writing, “Where is Kṛṣṇa, I’m not there. I’m eternally created only to be aloof of You. What is this? You must accept me as Your maidservant.”

Kṛṣṇa will say, “Yes, yes, you are also serving Me but indirect way, so that is service, be satisfied, don’t repent.” In that way His solace. So with the farthest vision everything is conscious.

End of 82.01.17.C_82.01.18.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.18.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In Braja līlā, the extension in Braja līlā, there we find as the point has arisen, Kātyānanī pūjā, gopīs are rendering respect to – gopīs were supposed to hold the highest position, they’re rendering respect to Kātyānanī Devī who is entrusted with the management of this ordinary world. She’s also given some petition, “Help me so that we can be united with Kṛṣṇa easily. Don’t give any opposition Devī. Be pleased with us.”

The farthest extremity is also harmonised there, the stealing, the lying, to speak lie, to steal things. Kṛṣṇa is so perfect that even these filthy things are also harmonised in His character it is seen, the debauchery, all harmonised. He’s so good, so pure, that everything coming in connection with Him receives its highest realisation, appreciation. Nothing is filthy; only aggrandisement. Exploitation is filthy and renunciation also filthy. The highest conception of harmony can harmonise everything. He’s so good. Nothing is wrong from that angle of vision; that has got a place and position in the adjustment of the whole, the final adjustment. The Absolute Good is so good, anything coming in His connection it is harmonised ________ [?] that we find in Kṛṣṇa līlā, in Braja līlā. His immorality is more than our conceived moral standard. Like the touchstone, whatever comes in its touch it is gold, the harmony in its highest sense, Absolute Good. Murdering, stealing, debauchery in the ordinary sense: that has no question, no place there, so universal in character. And the ownership is also indisputable. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Unity, still it is dynamic. The Pantheistic School they can’t keep the dynamic. When they have conception of oneness, all merged in non-differentiated thing. But the Vaiṣṇava School, all one, but it is dynamic, the difference there. Līlāmaya, līlā, it is His līlā, it is His play, sweet play. And you are all surrounded there, you are being fostered from there, you get your everything from there. Amṛtam, the nectarine food is supplied to you from there. And He’s of such. You are not of separate existence. You also do not like to maintain common interest. His interest is your interest, but He’s Absolute Good. Absolute Good means good for all, no enemy. But the enemy that is in līlā playing, just as in play also there are two parties, enemy, but enemy of play is not ordinary enemy. So if in human play there may not be any enemy, a seeming enemy, so in Him the enemy is also something like friend.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu. Gaurāṅga Sundara.

Parvat Mahārāja: I have a doubt about a point that our Gurudeva has made, and that is that when Lord Rāmacandra was present the sages actually prayed to be closer associates to Him, and in their next life they appeared as gopīs. So how is it that the gopīs in their previous lives they were sages, jñānīs?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sages, yes. The cause is to be traced from the sukṛti, the innate nature, that is connection with the nirguṇa plane, so,

ātmārāmāś ca munayo, [nirgranthā apy urukrame

kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim, ittham-bhūta guṇo hariḥ]

[“Those sages who, being merged in the bliss of the spirit soul, are totally free from the binding knot of mental images - they too engage in the unmotivated service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the performer of marvellous deeds. This is but one of the qualities of the Supreme Lord Hari, who charms the entire world.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.7.10]

All sages are not of equal temperament. Some sages,

prāyeṇa munayo rājan, nivṛttā vidhi-ṣedhataḥ

nairguṇya-sthā ramante sma, guṇānukathane hareḥ

[“O King Parīkṣit, mainly the topmost transcendentalists, who are above the regulative principles and restrictions, take pleasure in describing the glories of the Lord.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.1.7]

There are so many sages who are fated to go towards nirguṇa. Due to their ajñāta and jñāta sukṛti that will guide them towards that unconsciously. That is the case everywhere, the sukṛti is our guide. Gradually it comes to assert in favourable connection and then we can select the way of our work in life.

So the muni, their mental tendency was like a masculine temperament in the mind, and some sort of renunciation and these penances, all those mixed in the mind. But anyhow their inner sukṛti when they come to see Rāmacandra, there awakened some attraction for that. Not to enjoy but to serve, this very close connection service of Rāmacandra. Rāmacandra was also, though Kṛṣṇa within, but outwardly He’s Rāmacandra. And outwardly they’re moaning, but internal awakening to come in close connection, very intense connection; family connection with the Lord.

Then they, there are so many ladies also may be when they see Rāmacandra their heart attracted towards Him as to serve like a wife. But Rāmacandra’s was promise was priti suta vadi, that only one wife He will take. Rāmacandra’s father had thousands of wives, but Rāmacandra took only one wife. That was His disposition.

So Rāmacandra told them that, “Yes, you have got some attraction in connection of My spiritual body, not enjoyment but service, but it is not possible. I’m avowed in this Avatāra in a particular way I’m couched. You will get it in Kṛṣṇa Avatāra. There it is possible. The Svayaṁ-Bhagavān He comes promised for such service giving attitude. So you will have your fulfilment when I shall come as Kṛṣṇa. At that time your prayer will be fulfilled.”

That was the arrangement, no anomaly. No anomaly because Kṛṣṇa the Svayaṁ-Rūpa that is the most original and that is the very gist of all Avatāra; the most accommodating plane, most subtle and most accommodating. In all other Incarnations a partial duty attached, but the most universal duty to attract all and to react accordingly, that is possible in the Svayaṁ-Bhagavān cases. They’re grouped in different ways and one; there’s no overlapping. The vātsalya-rasa, the mother rank, the father rank, the friend rank, in their own rank, in their own rasa they want to serve Him, to love Him. But the most accommodating, and most original, and most subtle, and the most liberal, as you say, is Svayaṁ-Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. Even crossing the limit of our conceived morality does not stand here. He’s Absolute, He’s over law. He’s so good, so affectionate, that no consideration of any law is necessary there. He’s able to accommodate everyone beyond law, beyond question.

Only to understand and adjust for ourselves we go and venture to put some law on Him, ‘He’s of such nature, such nature,’ but it is very futile. How much can we know about the Infinite? But dig-darśana, only we can say, ‘somewhat like this,’ to give consolation to our understanding we utter, ‘somewhat like that, somewhat like that.’ But that is ocean, so explanation by knowledge is not possible. Still, to satisfy our suspicious mind, everything is possible in Him. He’s infinite. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

So Rāmacandra He was not satisfied, and also it is seen in exceptional case, when Rāmacandra had the necessity of the help of Garuḍa who was connected with Kṛṣṇa more than Hanumān: Hanumān and Rāmacandra, and Garuḍa with Kṛṣṇa. When it was necessity in Laṅkā He had to remember Garuḍa when He was tied by nagapasa, was tied by the serpents.

Then Brahmā informed Him, “Oh, You remember Your servant Garuḍa. As soon as he’ll approach the snakes will disappear.”

And when Garuḍa came and snakes disappeared, They were free, then Garuḍa wanted one boon from Rāmacandra. “I want to see, I know You are my Master but You are in the figure of Rāmacandra. And that is monopoly of Your servant Hanumān. But if You are propitiated with me, please show me once that Dvāpara-yuga Kṛṣṇa Avatāra.”

Rāmacandra answered, “Yes, it may be managed privately only.”

“Yes, I’m arranging.” By his _______ [?] Garuḍa constructed a temporary room by his wings. And Rāmacandra within that He showed His Kṛṣṇa Rūpa to Garuḍa.

So the confidential arrangement is there within, and the court arrangement is something. Hanumān is there, he won’t like that ‘my Lord Rāmacandra,’ and Hanumān also got a chance in Dvāpara-yuga. When Garuḍa went fetch some blue lotus he met, that was only in the jurisdiction of Hanumān. When there Hanumān also opposed him in a playful way, and Garuḍa did not care about Hanumān. Hanumān playfully managed, tested the power of Garuḍa.

And very shortly I’m going.

Then Garuḍa was defeated in fight with Hanumān, and Hanumān took Garuḍa in his armpit, and took the blue lotus and went to Dvārakā, Kṛṣṇa.

And Kṛṣṇa went, “Jai Rāma, Jai Rāma.”

Hanumān is always loudly taking the Name of Rāma, “Jai, all victory to Rāma,” in this way approaching.

Kṛṣṇa knew that Hanumān wants to see Rāmacandra, not Kṛṣṇa, so He asked His queens, “Take the shape of Sītā and just take your position on My left side. I’m taking the shape of Rāmacandra. Hanumān is approaching with ‘Jai Rāma’ and he should be pleased.”

We are told that Satyabhāmā could not: Rukmiṇī took the shape, the bodily appearance of Sītā. And Hanumān came and with the blue lotus he worshipped Kṛṣṇa, this Rukmiṇī Kṛṣṇa, no, Rāma-Sītā he saw.

And Sudarśana was guarding the gate, and Hanumān came and Sudarśana won’t allow him to enter the compound. Hanumān put his finger within and suddenly made it so big that like a ring on the finger Sudarśana, and Garuḍa there under the armpit. And Satyabhāmā she could not take the appearance of Sītā, she had to take shelter under the throne. Then these three they had some sort of pride, so Kṛṣṇa in this particular līlā He checked these three, their vanity. And Hanumān came and worshipped.

Then, “Who is your, what is on your finger?”

“Oh, some circular cakra, some disc, he was wandering, roaming there and did not allow me to enter, so I put him there.”

Then, “Who is in your armpit?”

“Yes, one bird, from him I heard that You want these blue lotus, and he could not do it, I have collected. I have desired to see You my God.”

“Release him, release him.”

Then Hanumān says, “Who is there under the throne? There is a lady.”

Then Satyabhāmā came out.

So the pride, the vanity of these three was checked by the will of Kṛṣṇa. In this way: all līlā. So Hanumān got chance in the Kṛṣṇa līlā to see his heart’s God, Rāmacandra. And Garuḍa also took the advantage in Rāma līlā to have his darśana with Kṛṣṇa in Laṅkā.

...

...is utilised by Mahāprabhu in the south in His argument. The muni, Daṇḍakaranya vāsī-ṛṣis, and the śruti, they got the chance of the participation in the mādhurya-rasa-līlā of Kṛṣṇa. Whereas Lakṣmī Devī herself she did not get admission. What is the cause?”

And then he was nonplussed, that Vyeṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa, father of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Goswāmī. “I could not think that there was so much in the underground, in siddhānta, in understanding. Simply we know Lakṣmī Devī is above, all Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, and Kṛṣṇa comes out, incarnation of Nārāyaṇa.”

But Mahāprabhu told, “No. Kṛṣṇa is above Nārāyaṇa. Otherwise Lakṣmī Devī, she had got privilege of full service of Nārāyaṇa, why she’s hankering after rasa-līlā? So something wanting in Nārāyaṇa and that is existing in Kṛṣṇa. So aspiration of Lakṣmī Devī for rasa, but Lakṣmī Devī does not get entrance. On the other hand the muni ṛṣis they’re getting, because they wanted to approach through the gopīs, under the guidance of the gopīs and taking the attitude of gopī. But Lakṣmī Devī keeping up her divine character she wanted to approach rasa, but that is not possible. That is not possible. She did, took penances, tried her best to have access, but barred from that opportunity, Lakṣmī Devī herself. But on the other hand, the gopīs when they come to meet Nārāyaṇa they give some honour and praise for their attraction for Kṛṣṇa, not connection with Nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa has got no internal charm for them. But Lakṣmī Devī had her charm for Kṛṣṇa’s līlā, mādhurya-rasa. So we are to decide hereby Who is where, whether Kṛṣṇa or Nārāyaṇa, Who is holding the supreme position.”

Mahāprabhu’s argument was always with common sense, accepting common sense. He also put to the sannyāsīns of Benares, ‘that Śiva is the absolute.’ Mahāprabhu put His argument, “Take the case of Gaṅgā. Gaṅgā comes from the feet of Nārāyaṇa and Śiva takes her on his head. Decide what is the position of Nārāyaṇa and Śiva. Who is oozing from the lotus feet, the divine feet, that is on the head of Śiva. She decides the relationship between Śiva and – Śiva is His servant, vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ, as it is mentioned in Bhāgavatam [12.13.16], that is the real conception of things.” So Mahāprabhu’s ways were like that, by the common example He used to establish His position, the different conceptions, superiority of different conceptions of divinity.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nanda-Yaśodā had their original, the most original superior personality, and Drona and Dharā were absorbed in them.

And also there is mention in the scripture that so many heavenly prostitutes were amongst the gopīs, sarvesya [?]. Madhvācārya has taken resort to that, mentioned that. But the Gauḍīya Goswāmīns can’t tolerate. They might have been absorbed for their higher benefit, but the real party was that of Goloka party. They’re eternal and they’re higher than the higher. They’re higher than the highest, the Goloka gopī party, the original, so, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa nitya līlā koila prakasa [?]

Ordinary conception of the Māyāvādī Smārta School it was something like that, “That Kṛṣṇa we consider to be the God. But He came with the ordinary people, the gopīs, the gopa, and they were all delivered by Him. His friends, His parents, His beloved, all mundane, but He’s super-mundane and by His connection even in a filthy nature delivered them.” That is the conception of the Smārta School.

But the Vaiṣṇava School they think, Sapar sada siddha dhama saha avatari [?]

Mahāprabhu came in Navadwīpa with His own place, own capitol, with His own paraphernalia, not He Himself came alone in a jungle, but He came with all His paraphernalia.

When a king goes to visit a place he takes his own paraphernalia there, raja-cavati [?]. The king is moving, going to visit that place; that does not mean that he’s going singly.

So they say that when He comes down with His own paraphernalia He comes. His own capitol, He’s come with whole here, so everywhere, that is the case. And whatever is told by other scripture, that are not meant for the most deep thinkers, so many absorbed there. Just as in Avatāra also, Avatāra of lower order is absorbed in the Avatāra of higher order.

When a king comes to visit a particular place, the special power of magistrate and other officers all merged in the king. Whatever he says practically, whatever he says they have to carry out. All their special powers disappear and enter into the higher. Whenever the higher comes to a lower, apparently they’re non entity. Whatever he will say, the whole power absorbed there, so like that.

When Svayaṁ-Bhagavān came the Yuga Avatāra entered there, in Mahāprabhu also, rādhā-govinda-milita-tanu. When astavinca chata yuga [?] then the time of Yuga Avatāra only to preach Nāma-saṅkīrtana absorbed in Him. That is the case always.

So Kṛṣṇa does not come always with gopī līlā, only astavincha chata yuga [?], only in one day of Brahmā, astavincha chata yuga, one yuga in Brahmā, not every day, not every yuga, Dvāpara, but once in a day of Brahmā. And Brahmā’s day is sahasra yuga padyanta [?] hundred yugas is one day of Brahmā. And only that one yuga in thousand yuga that Svayaṁ-Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa appears; in all other yugas only Yuga Avatāra not Svayaṁ-Bhagavān. It has been taken out by the Goswāmīns that Kṛṣṇa not only a chance coincidence Avatāra but nitya-līlā.

This is the highest, which seems to be the highest that has got its own position in the universe, in the topmost place. And He comes just as exhibition He comes to exhibit here in this prapañca. And as the Sun is passing through all the countries, so also He’s līlā passes through the whole universe. Sun sets here, rises in another place. So Kṛṣṇa līlā is also like that in the brahmāṇḍa and it has got its original position intact in the highest quarter, nitya-līlā, and nitya and the highest.

So, they’re to explain, though it is not explicitly stated in Bhāgavatam, Svayaṁ-Bhagavān, the word is mentioned. But the Goswāmīns they by consulting all other scriptures and the spirit of Bhāgavatam they are discovering the internal position of Kṛṣṇa. They say that in Bhāgavatam, nanda-tanuja not only so, the Svayaṁ-Bhagavān, vasudeva manaseja [?] in the mental sphere. But they say, they go so far that He comes out of the body of Nanda, nanda-tanuja it is mentioned, nanda-tanuja. So the closest connection with Nanda than Vasudeva, it is mentioned in many places nanda-tanuja and some other expression.

Not without any purpose we are to bring out the real thing. So they say and finding reference from other scriptures when Vasudeva took his son to the Nanda’s camp in the room of her, Yaśodā gave birth to a baby girl, female baby, he put there, Vasudeva did not detect that there was another, male baby, there. Vasudeva put his own son Vāsudeva there and took the female baby in return. And this Vāsudeva baby that entered into Yaśodā-Nandan. That is their finding, consulting all other, many scriptures, and the expression, the hint from Bhāgavatam. The Goswāmīs, Sanātana Goswāmī and others they have established, have come to such conclusion to harmonise all the scriptures about the Kṛṣṇa līlā. So Nanda-nandan was there. Yaśodā gave birth to twins, male and female, and Vasudeva only found the female and put his male child there and took the female child. And the male child Vāsudeva entered, was absorbed into Nanda-nandan. And as long as He was there, and He’s always there, vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya sa kvacit naiva gacchati.

[kṛṣṇo ‘nyo yadu-sambhūto yaḥ pūrṇaḥ so ‘styataḥ paraḥ

vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya sa kvacit naiva gacchati

dvibhujaḥ sarvadā so ‘tra na kadacit caturbhūjaḥ

gopyaikayā yutas tatra parikīḍati nityadā]

[“The Kṛṣṇa known as Yadu-kumāra is Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa. He is different from the Kṛṣṇa who is the son of Nanda Mahārāja. Yadu-kumāra Kṛṣṇa manifests His pastimes in the cities of Dvārakā and Mathurā, but Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja never at any time leaves Vṛndāvana, even for a moment. That original Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa who is Svayaṁ Bhagavān always manifests two arms. He never manifests four arms. He is always by the right hand side of the foremost of gopīs, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and He never leaves Vṛndāvana.”] [Laghu-Bhāgavatāmṛta, Pūrva-khaṇḍa, 165]

Only externally or internally but He’s always in Vṛndāvana, that Svayaṁ Bhagavān, the highest conception of Godhead is always in Vṛndāvana. But sometimes the worldly people can have the experience of that, and sometimes they do not see. But He’s always there. Only the question that He is or He’s not, that we’re disconnected, the switch is off. When switch is on we can see, and switch is off we can’t see ________________ [?] transcendental.

So Drona, the gopīs also, and there are different sections of gopīs, they’re newcomers, that svarūpa-siddha, those that are svarūpa-siddha before they attain vastu-siddhi, the highest stage, they are to be born there where the prapañca-līlā is going on. There they get the chance of being born, and then first participation in direct līlā of Kṛṣṇa, then they enter vastu-siddhi. They enter permanently there, get post, engagement.

These things have been, in details, discussed and analysed, and discussed and given out to us by the Goswāmīns to keep the harmony of all the scriptures and with the ontology of the thing, as they get inspiration from Mahāprabhu. What is the meaning of Svayaṁ Bhagavān? Bhagavān, this adjective may be used to any incarnation, but Svayaṁ Bhagavān the source of all Bhagavān, that is Svayaṁ Bhagavān. How to think and understand Him? In that case so many arguments, and so much information, and so many authorities have been collected, and the Goswāmīns have done. By the blessings of Mahāprabhu they came to such a conclusion, and they have left for us. And we are to follow that. We are to try to understand that. What is this, what is that?

And it is not very possible to know, and to retain also the different divisions of His show, how He showed this Svayaṁ Bhagavān and His prakāśa and vilāsa. Prakāśa also two kinds, prabhāva and vaibhava: and the vilāsa also has prabhāva and vaibhava, so four classifications. And also it is written clearly that vaibhava prakāśa Kṛṣṇa is Śrī Balarāma. Balarāma is vaibhava prakāśa of Kṛṣṇa. And the devakī-tanuja, Kṛṣṇa, He Himself also vaibhava prakāśa of Svayaṁ Bhagavān: so devakī-tanuja with two hands in Mathurā and Balarāma in Vṛndāvana, They’re of equal rank. The Balarāma of Vṛndāvana is equal to two-handed Vāsudeva in Mathurā, of equal rank. It has been clearly described in Caritāmṛta and Laghu-Bhāgavatāmṛta. So we are to follow closely that.

And so also in the case of Rādhārāṇī, the gopīs they’re also come out, their spring is Rādhārāṇī, the mādhurya-rasa gopīs. The Svayaṁ Bhagavān is always with Svayaṁ Rūpa, Svayaṁ Rūp and Svayaṁ Rūpa, Rādhārāṇī. In the rasa the Svayaṁ Bhagavān He was always by the side of Rādhārāṇī. And by the side of other gopīs not Svayaṁ Bhagavān, there Svayaṁ Prakāśa of Kṛṣṇa as the first double, facsimile or something like that we’ll say. The first class double and the second class double in this way. When in rasa, only Svayaṁ Bhagavān with Her, with Rādhārāṇī. At the side of Rādhārāṇī is Svayaṁ Bhagavān, and at the side of other gopīs that Svayaṁ Prakāśa; not Svayaṁ Rūpa, Svayaṁ Prakāśa.

In this way the gradation is there. As much devotedness, so much intensity in Bhāgavata, in Godhead, in this way it is distributed. And the love is the highest criterion, and then power, in this way it is distributed. According to devotion, the nature and degree of devotion, Godhead also distributes Himself to the devotees in a particular gradation. So the devotees are hankering for the service of Rādhārāṇī’s camp. Why? The Svayaṁ Bhagavān is always with Her. And others are of lower order. So the Rādhā kaiṅkarya, that has been settled for us to be the highest achievement for that. Through Rādhārāṇī we can have the taste of the service of the Svayaṁ Bhagavān. So many things to be known!

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

A qualitative difference! Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.01.18.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.18.C_82.01.19.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... their commentary, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Prabhupāda. That is comprehensive. Still if you like, you want to consult Laghu-Bhāgavatāmṛta, the origin Rūpa Goswāmī, and also Dashami-Tipani by Sanātana Goswāmī on Bhāgavatam.

Devotee: _________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Tipani means the commentary of the commentary, the highest commentary. So that is Tipani, prepared by Sanātana Goswāmī himself who had blessing from Mahāprabhu, “That wherever you’ll look Kṛṣṇa will help you at that time.”

And he told that, “If You put Your foot on my head, then I can get such courage.”

“Yes, I’m putting My hand on your head. Kṛṣṇa will help you when you begin your writing.”

And Sanātana forcibly took His foot on his head. “Now I’m sanguine that Kṛṣṇa will help me when I...”

So this is the route that Sanātana Goswāmī has given, that is our supreme court. And if we try to go against that we shall have fear of committing offence against the true decision which comes from Mahāprabhu and Sanātana Goswāmī. So we shall have to manage in any other way. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: ...person who offers prasāda to the Lord, prasāda may be in gradation?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Suiting to the adhikārī. Generally I have arranged that one dal and laphra, and sour, that is for general. And for the patient one particular rasa [?] which may be suitable for them. And for the respectable guest some sort of little fair diet.

Mahāprabhu always used to say that, Morai deha laphra danjan pita bana deha bhakta gane [?] “The rich dishes you should serve amongst the Vaiṣṇava, but to Me I’m a sannyāsī, only ordinary things you give to Me.”

So on the background of that only to keep the body and soul together we should tread and that we can collect some maximum energy and to devotee for the service, for the necessity. Milk may not be necessary for the body labourer, but the brain labourer they must have some milk food. In this consideration there is distinction. In our previous Maṭha of Guru Mahārāja also it was like that, little milk. And there was Sundarānanda, the editor of Gauḍīya, he could not digest milk so the chānā, chānā you know?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yea, chick peas.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That was necessary for him, and milk for some, we ordinary people with dal and gal. There is a saying among the Vaiṣṇava society. “One who can tolerate this dal and gal, gal means abuse, blaming. Then if you want to become a Vaiṣṇava you must be prepared to be abused very much from your superiors. You must not be ready, must not be very self respective, seeker of respect, but you should be prepared always to be punished, to be abused. And also not much food but only nutritious and less costly is dal, the pulse. And so you must be prepared for the less costly nutritious food, this dal, and gal means abuse of the Vaiṣṇava.” Ha, ha, ha. Their chastisement and the ordinary less valuable nutritious food is dal.

So Mahāprabhu says, laphra banjan [?] “I’ve not climbed up to that superior section that he will think that, ‘O, Jagannātha has taken.’”

Svarūpa Dāmodara was very clever, he put some, “You please taste how Jagannātha has tasted it.” Then Mahāprabhu was defeated.

Of course, a devotee must try to see that how Jagannātha has tasted, if it is very salty, or very bitter, or how it is, Jagannātha has tasted. In that way it is sent to the Infinite, and not limited to one’s personal responsibility and risk if it’s connected with the Infinite.

And Jagadānanda he did not know so much ontological question. He put the rich thing in Mahāprabhu’s pot and watching from far away whether Mahāprabhu is taking. If He does not take then he’ll go and close his door and he’ll fast, continue fasting. And by fear of that Mahāprabhu had to take something: in this way. Pita bana deha bhakta gane teji yosam nadosaya [?]

They will be able to adjust, but we’ll be caught by the tongue taste material world. ‘This is sweet, this is very tasteful.’ The material taste and sweetness will caste us down in the material world, so not rich tasteful dishes for us.

And Dāsa Goswāmī went to the extreme. The Jagannātha prasāda what was even rotten it was thrown to the cows and the cows also took away their mouth from, and he took that. And with much water washing the external portion, the very little substance what was found in the midst, he collected that and applying some salt he used to take that, for long time. And he was the son of eighteen lākhs, twenty lākhs of rupees income, father’s only son. And he showed such example how a Vaiṣṇava should behave.

But they’re all parṣada bhakta. They can, they have kept the standard, and they can live without food also. But we can’t. We are to follow the middle path, that whatever will be suitable to keep up my body and that I shall save the energy and devote for the service, my adopt-ability will be according to yukta-vairāgya.

yuktāhāra-vihārasya, [yukta-ceṣṭasya karmasu / yukta-svapnāvabodhasya, yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā]

[“For a person who eats, relaxes, and exerts himself in all duties in a regulated way, and who keeps regular hours in proper measure, the practice of yoga gradually becomes the source of dispelling all worldly suffering.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.17]

Not more rich, not more poor. What will keep up my body and supply my best energy and that should be devoted in the service of Kṛṣṇa. That will be our line of adopt-ability with the external world, yukta-vairāgya. Not only of food, yuktāhāra-vihārasya, also walking, and also sleeping, whatever is necessary, will keep me fit for the service. I’m a servant. I must not neglect my food and become weak and won’t be able to render service. That will also be a loss to me. So only that much what will keep myself fit for service of my nature for which I’m meant. That sort I shall take from the rest, the sleep, the movement. Always sitting, that also may be harmful. So yukta, āhāra, vihā, saran, all these things will be temperate, snāna, exposure, in every way of life we shall be moderate. And the standard will be how I shall collect maximum energy that can be devoted in the service of Kṛṣṇa and Vaiṣṇava. That should be our ideal. Adi kena udayanca cavati paramatava [?] If too extreme that will harm our cause, adhikāra, much more vairāgya and less vairāgya, only middle path. And that is, one rule may not apply all, by individual case it will be accordingly. Someone cannot digest dal, someone cannot digest milk. Someone cannot tolerate cold, someone cannot tolerate heat. In this way, so individual case should also be considered, the general rule is that. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, Dāsa Goswāmī was the prayojana Ācārya, then what was his...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Prayojana, because he hit the point, the Rādhā-dāsya, the Svayaṁ-Bhagavān and Rādhārāṇī, Svayaṁ-Rūpa, Svayaṁ-Rūp. The qualitative current that is passing within the two, minimum of that, a point of that quality current we want. That is our maximum, highest prayojana is there. The Svayaṁ-Rūp and Svayaṁ-Rūpa, when that class of positive and negative connected, are playing, that is the highest of highest order. And however smallest point we want of that quality, so rūpānuga dara. And that is also maximum in quantity in that less grown girl devotees. They have got a free entrance into the deepest līlā. But the grown up she friends, sakhī, cannot approach; not approachable by them, but is approachable by this Rūpa Mañjarī class. So these are very high talks, we’re not eligible to speak of, about all these things.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ, tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī / yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni, sā niśā paśyato muneḥ

[“While spiritual awareness is like night for the living beings enchanted by materialism, the self-realised soul remains awake, directly relishing the divine ecstasy of his uninterrupted spiritual intelligence. On the contrary, the wakefulness of materialistic persons addicted to sense enjoyment is night for the self-realised person who is completely indifferent to such pursuits. The realised souls, indifferent to the mundane, are ever joyful in the divine ecstatic plane, while the general mass is infatuated by fleeting mundane fancies devoid of spiritual joy.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.69]

One section is awake, another is sleeping there, a plane. Just as Swāmī Mahārāja told to Acyutānanda, “If I, what we’re talking in a particular layer, if say to you you’ll faint. That your consciousness will rise there to the point of zero; you won’t be able to understand, beyond the area of your consciousness. If you try to be conscious of that it will be reduced to zero point, not understandable. That means you’ll faint.”

Yā niśā, where one is awakening another is sleeping in that plane, and where the others are awake and the sādhus sleeping there, in this way. Yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ, tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī. They have one particular plane where they’re fully awake, but ordinary people are sleeping there, no consciousness they can raise there. And the sādhus they also do not take down their consciousness to the filthy area where the ordinary people are very much busy. They’re sleeping, they cannot, they also faint here, no trace of their consciousness in that area, in this way.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. So I want to retire now.

...

...from his principle. If we find out that plane as our shelter no adversity can remove, has the power to remove us from that plane. Such sort of mysterious affinity we have there within us. The suicidal squad does not care for anything but for the cause. Kāma-rūpa group there is another, sambandha-rūpa, kāma-rūpacar. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. It’s difficult to find such a plane where once if we can take our stand, no question of removal. Not flickering; none can separate the innate function. Back to God, back to home, home means that, inseparable. So sweet, so sweet, inseparable, the sign of home is such.

If separated, Koila tabu kabu najiyai [?] Mahāprabhu says, “I forcibly separated, it is impossible; almost he dies.”

Just as the fish separated from the water they will die; something like that. But here, death is not possible, soul is eternal. So as Swāmī Mahārāja told to Acyutānanda, ‘you will faint.’ In that plane you will faint, you may live, but fainting. Takhoile setana yadi haya taj yog kabana haya yog [?] Separation is impossible: still if any way forcibly anyone can attempt to do it he will die almost, he will faint. He cannot maintain his consciousness, not a child of that soil, that is.

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ, tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī / yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni, sā niśā paśyato muneḥ

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Hari. So manodharma means changing. Buddhiloka is more stable, the plane of judiciousness, that is more real, more stable. Then Ātmāloka is further more. In this way, the Paramātmāloka which is, according to our progress, we reach higher plane, and there it is possible for us to live for long time. Sanātana Goswāmī has showed the gradation, how the sādhaka is taken to a particular place and after living for some time; dissatisfaction. Again, some connection is given, and he’s taken in the upper layer, thereafter some, the same dissatisfaction. Then some arrangement is made, some higher connection reaches him, and he’s taken in the higher plane. In this way, he’s gradually taken up to Vṛndāvana, through different positions, Vaikuṇṭha, then Ayodhyā, Dvārakā, then Vṛndāvana, in this way. The Satyaloka, Śivaloka, Vaikuṇṭhaloka, in this way, progressing. Gopakumara: Bṛhat-Bhāgavatāmṛta. His life began in a lower plane, gradually going up, showing the importance of different planes.

Parvat Mahārāja: I have a question about this, that Gopakumar he seems to have the same inner nature, even though he’s going through the different planes, he doesn’t seem to be changing himself, until he finds the plane in which he actually finds full satisfaction. But he’s not, seemingly, changing himself. His identity doesn’t seem to be changing, as he goes through the different planes he’s always perfectly situated in his inner nature.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Parvat Mahārāja: Gopakumar, he’s going to these different places, as you mentioned, but he’s not affected. He’s always remaining in his own constitutional position. He’s a vrajavāsī, always, he’s not changing, he’s not being affected...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. So, our inner self is located there. If our inner self, by construction it is meant for Vraja, then the progress will be like that, line, up to that realization he cannot feel any satisfaction. He cannot fully identify himself with other plenary activities. If one who has got his innate nature in Vaikuṇṭha, in Vaikuntha there the termination, he’ll remain there satisfied. But this Gopakumar means, the name is hitting his innermost tendency.

Devotee: ____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gopakumar, this name was given to him only by Sanātana Goswāmī that his innate nature is gopa. But if one’s innate nature is vaikuṇṭha-vāsī, Nārāyaṇa sevāka, then he will go to Vaikuṇṭha, and there he will stay satisfactorily forever. Gopakumar: suppose we cannot see, but through x-ray it can be seen. So if a sādhu can see what is his inner nature, is he a unit of Goloka, and unit also of what group, not only in Goloka, in sākhya-rasa, mādhurya-rasa, where his innate nature, by x-ray it is seen, and then that name has been given, Gopakumar.

[About fifty seconds of Bengali [?] conversation]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The very innate nature, the perfect innate nature, according to that, the name has been given to him, allotted to him: Gopakumar. And one who is in his self-determined stage, who is Gopakumar, his line of sādhana will be like this. He won’t be satisfied anywhere, in any plane. Gradually he will go there, and there his sādhana will be finished. The means to end will be finished there, and he’s satisfied there because he has got his own plane, own home. Gopakumar means whose innate home is gopa, with the gopas, he’s Gopakumar. And if one Vaikuṇṭha sevāka, he will stop in Vaikuṇṭha. This Hanumān, kapiḥ, Rāma sevāka, he will stop in Ayodhyā. That is the inner diagnosis is there. The innate nature is that of gopa so he won’t be satisfied – though he may be offered many things on the way, but he won’t be satisfied as long as he cannot reach the Vṛndāvana. All tasteless, sometimes for the time being he’s trying to adjust with the environment, but he can’t, fails, dissatisfied. Again a new thing is given to him. He’s trying his best to accommodate him with the circumstances, paraphernalia, but he can’t. His inner tendency does not allow him to settle there permanently; uneasiness, dissatisfaction. Then, a higher plane, next higher, next higher, in this way he won’t be free, or won’t be satisfied in any environment, until and unless he reaches to that plane.

Parvat Mahārāja: How is it that one develops this innate nature? Is it developed?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is not developed, discovered.

kṛti-sādhyā bhavet sādhya-bhāva sā sādhanābhidhā

nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya prākaṭyaṁ hṛdi sādhyatā

[“The process of devotional service, beginning with chanting and hearing, is called sādhana-bhakti. This includes the regulative principles that are intended to awaken one to devotional service. Devotional service is always dormant in everyone’s heart, and by the offenceless chanting of the Holy Names of the Kṛṣṇa, one’s original dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness is awakened, as the beginning of sādhana-bhakti. This can be divided into many different parts, such as, faith, association with devotees, initiation by the spiritual master, engagement in devotional service under the instructions of a spiritual master, steadiness in devotional service and the awakening of a taste for devotional service. In this way, one can become attached to Kṛṣṇa and His service, and when this attachment is intensified, it results in ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, 1.2.2]

What is already there, only to discover, to remove the covering, sādhana means that. It is there. It is there in very germinal form, inactive, covered, inactive, to remove the cover, and then it will assert itself.

Parvat Mahārāja: So that means that the souls that are in the brahmajyoti, they have their innate positions also?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: A thousand times that has been answered by me. That is adopt-ability there, both sides. The brahmajyoti, how can he enter into this mundane world? The possibility, the adopt-ability, we are to consider there. This is undetectable stage, undetectable stage. Only with the influence of the lower it can come to the lower region, and with the help of the higher, it can go to the higher region, the adopt-ability in the seed. You are to think out what it can be. It is in the buffer state, in the abscissa, an undetectable subtle thing. But the adopt-ability, endowed with the adopt-ability of both the sides, the higher and the lower. If it is possible that it can come lower, there is possibility it can go higher. But by very minute observation one can detect what is the higher possibility in him. Then it is caught that its higher adopt-ability, possibility, prospect in life is up to Vraja, up to Vaikuṇṭha. In Vraja also in different rasa, that is very subtle form, undetectable way, it is there, that is the svarūpa. And without that svarūpa, how we can come down here, from the tat, undetectable position? That is Brahman, ākṣara.

[dvāv imau puruṣau loke, kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca] / kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni, kūṭa-stho 'kṣara ucyate

[“In this world, there are two kinds of souls: the fallible and the infallible. All beings from Lord Brahmā down to the lowest stationary life-forms are known a fallible (as they have deviated from their intrinsic nature). But the personalities who are eternally situated in their divine nature are known as infallible (personal associates of the Lord).”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.16]

Kūṭa-sthaḥ, undetectable, something like unknowable position, so subtle, so the possibility. Taṭasthā, margin means neither actively participating in any side. But there is possibility there of participation on both the sides. Such is the wonderful position where the taṭasthā jīva comes. This is their question. Very impertinent question; it cannot be solved and conceived very easily. But we must have to adjust with it.

[jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa',] kṛṣṇera 'taṭasthā-śakti' bhedābheda-prakāśa'

[“The constitutional nature of the jīva soul is that of an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa; the jīva soul is a manifestation of divinity which is one with Kṛṣṇa and different from Him. The jīva souls are the marginal potency of the Lord.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 20.108]

By conclusion it comes like that, is created with the adopt-ability. That is undetectable. So it is there. The disease is there. And the cure is our desirable. And to go, for a patient to go into the details of how that disease can come in a body, that is with the doctor, and the medical student, not the patient. The patient practically wants relief. Relief is his question, important, how he can get relief. That is the important necessity in him.

So, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.3], don’t try to know the whole mystery of the infinite mysterious power. You have no right to enter into all the details. Then you will be another infinite, so this is impossibility, jñāne prayāsam. You are finite, you want to measure the whole of the infinite? Absurd! Don’t go to crash your brain, your head against the hill. What is your immediate relief, try for that, the cure of the disease, that is your business. So, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. Submit to the infinite, and try to have your own quota, mind that, mind your own business. Don’t go to interfere with others, in their affairs. That is, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam directs us, “Mind your own business, how you can get the best benefit within the whole, that is your own business, that should be your own business.”

So, jñāna-sunya-bhakti: just as you eliminate your energy in the exploitation, so eliminate your curiosity of knowing everything. That is also an anartha, undesirable. That is your enemy. In the way of your search for the real goal they’re enemy. How can I let loose all the energy I accumulated? How can I leave of them? With so much endeavour I have acquired some energy; why should I leave them? Because you are going to drown in the water with those energies, with those gold coins, leave the gold coins, and then you can swim easily. The heavy gold coins will take you down. Leave the gold coins and be light and swim across the river. So energy so long acquired, leave. So, the curiosity for knowing everything, that is also a subtle burden to you. Leave it; mind your own business, surrender. Surrendering, the curiosity is against, it is enemy to surrender. Curiosity of knowing this thing, that thing, many things: that is an enemy to the principle of surrendering. He will look after. He’s infinite. He’s all-good. Curiosity or the nature of the knowledge, he wants to take his own right by calculation, whether I am being given anything less, whether I am being deceived. In the plane I am going to enter, whether there is any possibility of deceiving me, so I want to know. I can’t [put] faith in the environment. But they can’t tolerate; for this atheist, eliminate him. Faithless, suspicious and another word, who has got no faith, eliminate. Eliminate them, they’re not simple, plain, do not learn to believe the environment.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Sceptic.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sceptic, eliminate the sceptic. Sceptic is not fitted to live here. The sceptic should be eliminated. It is not a plane for the sceptic to live. Like spies they have entered. They are spies of the lower area. They should be eliminated. Only the candidate faithful, optimistic, they will be given entrance, admission here, the plane of surrender. None can deceive; by very nature deception is foreign to them. And anyone within his heart with some scepticism, they won’t like his company. He’s searching, searching, with some doubt, that man, we should not have such company here. The spy of māyā has entered. He wants to take measure of everything, and then to accept. That man must be undesirable in this soil.

Do you feel, follow? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Simple simplicity, then mixed with confidence, surrendering to the whole soil. Surrender only is accepted there.

“If you come to calculate and to exact your gain here, such people we don’t want. They should not live here, enter here. He wants his calculation for his own selfish view, selfish end.”

If you can give more, suppose if you’re cheated, you’ll think that, ‘I am fortunate.’ Are you prepared for that? If you’re cheated by anyone there, you should have to consider, ‘I am blessed, I am fortunate enough.’

There is a story in the Rāmānuja section. Rāmānuja had a very favourite gṛhastha bhakta, householder. Some Dhanur Dāsa or something was his name. Very favourite, so much so that even the sannyāsīns, the renounced souls, they also had some jealousy over that. Then, Rāmānuja made an arrangement one day. When the sannyāsīns went to take their bath, their clothing was somewhere perhaps in the sun or so. Rāmānuja asked one of his disciples just, “They have put their bahirvas [outer cloth?] and kaupīna in a particular place, misplace them, change their position.”

Then when they came after taking bath, “Where is my cloth? O, you have taken it!”

Also, “You have taken mine!”

In this way they began to create a row.

Rāmānuja came, “What’s the matter? You are only, kaupīna is your only wealth, and so much attachment to that, that only they’re misplaced, and you are making the Maṭha simply a place of battle? What is this?” Then anyhow subsided!

End of 82.01.18.C_82.01.19.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.20.B_82.01.21.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...reflected itself in the heart, unjust, very cruel. Then Nanda took Him on his lap and untied: in this way, could not be tied.

So Veda, the Upaniṣads says, ucatistha dasangalam [?] Whatever you can conceive to be the perfect, He’s exceeding over that by twelve fingers, transcendental. Can’t come, He won’t come under the jurisdiction of your any conception however high of height it may be by nature. It is always transcendental. Whatever height you may reach, still He’s above that. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

So whatever achievement we have, if we can connect with Him, He’s all in all, He’s the owner, He’s the enjoyer, it is His, He’s the owner, He’s the enjoyer. I also belong to Him. Only with this sort of conception you can come to your normal position. Otherwise you’re suffering from diseased knowledge, false knowledge. If you want proper adjustment with the Absolute, you are to set yourself in such similar position. You belong to Him. Everything belongs to Him. That is, He’s by Himself and He’s for Himself. By itself and for itself. He’s at the root of everything and He’s the future of everything. In this way we’re to adjust ourselves with the Absolute, then we can hope to come nearer to Him. Otherwise we are going far, far away for our selfish attainment. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. No standard can measure Him in any respect.

Mr. Einstein has said that, “A thing as it is, and something more.”

The measurement, what is the measurement and something more. He’s going, or He’s diminishing, that must be added there. What it is, it is not that, it is some qualification, some more qualification should be added there. You limit in the Infinite. What a thing is, and not only that thing, but something more to be added there. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. The possibility and prospect should be added in a particular thing when you’re going to calculate. This is the length, breadth and height, then something more you are to add there, for its possibility. Every second changing, everything changing, and by the whim of the Supreme Will depending: everything for its existence on His Divine Will and environment and whole environment of the Divine Will. So uncertain, nothing is certain here, because it depends on the sweet will of Him. So without calculating Him, your calculation is not perfect. The Supreme Will at the back of everything, whatever you can go to calculate. Something more you have to add there, because it is dependent on some other force. The calculation of the Sun, the planets, the brahmāṇḍa, and whatever it is, all changing, based on His Sweet Will. No definite calculation or gain can do.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Whatever, wandering through the different stages of life according to our past karma, wherever we are placed, whatever qualification we have got, we are to surrender to the Infinite, to the Absolute Will. And that can take us nearer to His plane, karmārpaṇa; then jñāna-miśrā.

So here in India, that hedonist, or worshippers of many gods there are, but in the end the connection is mantramic, “Whatever I have done, the result, the consequence, I’m offering to Kṛṣṇa.” This Durgā pūjā, this pūjā, that pūjā, so many pūjās are done. Then after finishing the whole ceremony there is one connection, one mantra. Dikrte tat karma phalaṁ [?] “Whatever I have done, the result of the consequence of this, I am offering to Kṛṣṇa.” Sri krsnaya samarpitam astu [?] The link is there. According to my whim, my mental tendency, I’m bound to do something. But the ṛṣis, the well-wishers, the guardians of society, spiritual society, they have given the link there. “Connect it, whatever you do, connect it with Kṛṣṇa.”

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi, yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat / [yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kuruṣva mad arpaṇam]

[“O son of Kuntī, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you offer in charity, and whatever austere vows you may keep - do everything as an offering unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.27]

So Rāmānanda-saṁvāda, the basis was begun with varṇāśrama, then next the Kṛṣṇa karmārpaṇa, because indirectly varṇāśrama dharma connected with Kṛṣṇa everywhere. But to feel direct connection with Kṛṣṇa with all the results, all the fruits, that is one step higher. And then, to give up that and to accept the conscious plane, dismissing the material energy, that no faith in the material energy. But spiritual energy, that is more efficient and powerful, we should take to that. And placed in such a plane of spiritual substance, I’m spirit. I’m nothing to do with matter. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.54], I am brahman, I am cetana, I am conscious, and my necessity with the material energy is nil. So attainment of material acquisition, or loss, both, I won’t be affected by that, by the loss and gain of the material plane, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.54]

“He’s eligible from that basis, he’s eligible really to seek Me, to search after Me, when the charm of material acquisition disappears from his heart totally. He has got a better position.”

But Mahāprabhu says, “Eho bahya [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.59], this is also lower conception. Go higher, deeper. This is also superficial. Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām, he has not attained any devotional attraction there, but only independent of material loss or gain. But that does not mean, withdrawal from the negative side does not mean that he has attained some position in the positive world. So eho bahya, this is also superficial, go further.”

Then he came, “Jñāna-sunya-bhakti, the taste for Kṛṣṇa kathā, for the tidings, for the narration about the līlā of Kṛṣṇa. Wherever he may be posted, in whatever shade of life he may be posted. But if he’s seen to have some taste, his liking the Kṛṣṇa kathā, the story of Kṛṣṇa is very pleasing his heart.”

“Here you are,” Mahāprabhu says. “Eho bahya, age kaha ara. Now I admit that when taste for Kṛṣṇa kathā is to be traced in any jīva it is a sure, positive link, independent of his external position, wherever he may be. He may be a beast even, Hanumān, Garuḍa, but the taste, the partiality, likeness for Kṛṣṇa; that is to be traced in his heart. Here it has begun. Then go further.”

Then from this to śanta-rasa, then dāsya, sākhya, vātsalya, in this way.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Ha, ha. Cold! Ha, ha, ha. Now feeling hot, now cold, ha, ha, ha. What to do? Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. See the position, the stable position of this material world. No dependence, now this, now that. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. From here we are to begin, in such unsettled position. And such things also may be felt when one is well established there.

yata dekha vaisnavera vyavahara-duhkha, niscaya janiha sei parananda sukha

[visaya-madandha saba kicchui na jane, vidya kula, dhana-made vaisnava na cine]

[“When you see a Vaiṣṇava of the highest order who seems to be suffering from material misery, you should know for sure that he is really experiencing the highest ecstasy. (When ordinary people see that a devotee has no material wealth of his own, that he is not enjoying the mellows of family life and has no important position in society, they think that he is suffering. They do not understand that a devotee takes no pleasure in wealth, women, and prestige, but takes transcendental pleasure in humbly serving the Lord.) Bewildered by sense enjoyment and puffed up with pride in their knowledge, education, birth, wealth, beauty, and so on, the ignorant people in general cannot understand the activities or position of a Vaiṣṇava. (One should not think, however, that because a devotee does not consider these things important that he is therefore ignorant. A devotee simply cannot be understood in terms of birth, beauty, education or wealth.) A Vaiṣṇava, on the other hand never considers birth, education, and wealth to be important qualifications, but distributes the Lord’s mercy to everyone, regardless of their social position.”]

[Caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya, 9.240-241] & [Gauḍīya-Kanthara, 3.49]

If Kṛṣṇa’s will is at backing direct, then everything is possible. Even Kṛṣṇa Himself, He’s being the prey of the arrow of that Jarā, hunter. But that does not harm His Absolute position in any way, He’s such. He’s not bound to show His invulnerable aspect towards us.

kṛṣṇera yateka khelā, sarvottama nara-līlā, [nara-vapu tāhāra svarūpa

gope-veśa, veṇu-kara nava kiśora, nata-vara, nara līlāra haya anurūpa]

[“Lord Kṛṣṇa has many pastimes, of which His pastimes as a human being are the best. His form as a human being is the Supreme Transcendental Form. In this form, He is a cowherd boy. He carries a flute in His hand, and His youth is new. He is also an expert dancer. All this is just suitable for His pastimes as a human being.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 21.101]

This is aprākṛta-svarūpa, adhokṣaja, transcendental. And then aprākṛta means very similar to prākṛta, but not prākṛta. That is fifth and last and the highest stage, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says. That His fullest play is to be found even in connection what we think to be non harmonised. What cannot be harmonised with His real character, that is also found within the harmony. That is His highest, the nature of highest harmony is such, to make the impossible possible, in all phases. In vulnerability, in morality, in many other aspects, what is thought to be the most nasty: that may be most pure in purity coming in His connection. There the perfection of the Absolutes pastimes. Whenever anything is getting His connection, whatever show, or whatever sort of play it may show, that is all right. That is all right because it has His connection. So filthy things, the minutest gets the quality of the greatest, of the biggest, most filthy, that can get the position of the purest. He’s so miraculous. He’s mystic. He’s miracle. So when in His connection, everything, the meanest thing is highest. And without His connection the purest thing is the most mean. He’s such. His characteristic is such.

“I’m everywhere, I’m nowhere. Everything in Me, I’m in nothing. So I’m beyond all your comprehension and calculation. That means that you are accustomed to calculate and conceive things in a particular way, I’m far, far beyond that.”

athavā bahunaitena, kiṁ jñātena tavārjjuna / viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat

[“But Arjuna, what is the need of your understanding this elaborate knowledge of My almighty grandeur? By My fractional expansion as the Supreme Soul of material nature, Mahā-Viṣṇu (Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu), I remain supporting this entire universe of moving and stationary beings.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 10.42]

“I am so, I am so, I am so. I am everything. I am this thing, that thing. I am everything. Still, whatever you can think about Me, that is in My small part. I am such.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vapur asya vibhor, madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vadanaṁ madhuraṁ

madhu gandhi mṛdu smitam etad aho, madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ

[“O Lord Kṛṣṇa! The beauty of Your transcendental form is sweet, but Your beautiful face is even sweeter. The sweet smile on Your face, which is like the sweet aroma of honey, is sweeter still.”] [Kṛṣṇa-Karṇāmṛtam, 92]

Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura. “His conception, His figure is very sweet, very sweet. Madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vadanaṁ madhuraṁ, His face, sweeter than His body, madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vadanaṁ madhuraṁ, His figure, His conception. Then His conception of His face: face is the mirror of the heart, that is very sweeter. Madhu gandhi mṛdu smitam etad aho, and then the smiling on the face that is very, very sweet. Madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ. Then what should I go to say and narrate, everything sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet!” There he ends, Bilvamaṅgala.

Sweetness, existence, then knowledge, categorically different from existence, then ānandam, sweetness, that is also categorically different, from consciousness as well as mere existence. That is fulfilment, sat-cit-ānandam, sat-cit-ānanda-vigraha. Ānandam, sweetness is the original substance, and it presupposes conception, and that presupposes existence, sat-cit-ānandam. Ānandam is the integer, akhila-rasāmṛta-murtiḥ, in its variegated nature, harmonised one whole. Plurality and unity harmonised. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Sundara. Gaurāṅga Sundara. Today ________ [?] with me! ____________________________ [?]

“The responsibility is Mine. You go on taking the Name, as much as you can, especially that of Gaurāṅga. The rest you leave with Me. I’m responsible. You obey My order.”

But our sceptic mind won’t allow. I want to make progress calculating every inch, whether which side I’m being taken in. We are a child of that particular soil, without calculation of our interest, we won’t take a step forwards. We’re very reasonable and very judicious. Is it possible to become a fool, wont rely on a beggar? What is this?

acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet / [prakṛtibhyaḥ paraṁ yacca tad-acintyasya lakṣam]

[“That which is inconceivable can never be understood through the logic and reason of the mind. The very symptom that something is inconceivable is that it is beyond logical comprehension.”] [Skanda-Purāṇa] & [Mahābharata, Bhiṣma Parva, 5.22]

It is above your calculation. What really you want for, that is not within your calculation. That is above calculation. Our calculation is fruitless, meaningless there. Really, what is your inner aspiration, your calculation can never guide you there, it is something more. That calculation path you are to shun, to abandon: and take another path, of faith. Faith: that is necessary. Your faith also very meagre. To infinite possibility, how your faith can conceive? How good, how noble your faith can conceive? That is also within limitation.

But there are things you’ll be astounded to think, as Swāmī Mahārāja told to Acyutānanda, “You’ll faint.” Your understanding can never reach that standard. Such great things are there. So please give up that mania of depending on your calculation, your reason, judiciousness, all these things. Give up this shackle, undesirable shackle. Faith also very meagre, how much you can put faith in? It is more and more infinite, and your internal aspiration for that. So give up the calculative life. Come to faith, and try to increase the boundary of your faith, only in the company of the sādhus who are dealing with that faith substance. Leaving life of calculation, come to increase your faith in the association of those that are making cultivation about faith. Connecting yourself, persons with higher and higher faith, there your fortune lies, and never otherwise. The shackle of your calculation, this buddhi, the consideration of this, this is a cage, a nasty cage. Break it down, smash it. Come to faith; that can emulate your fortune, really, in the standard of the infinite. That is the standard to measure the infinite: only faith. That is also very little, new. Still, by developing that side you can come out of this cage, the cage of knowledge, the knowledge within the cage. Smaller cage or higher cage, bigger cage, it is cage after all.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

...from that independent plane. Some connection of that independent plane enters. That can enter here, but we cannot reach there. So in that nirguṇa, sukṛti, ajñāta-sukṛti, jñāta-sukṛti then śraddhā. Śraddhā means faith, of a lower order faith, śraddhā, and it can be developed in different ways.

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo’ [tha bhajana-kriyā

tato’ nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ

athāsaktis tato bhāvas tataḥ premābhyudañcati

sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ]

[“In the beginning there must be faith. Then one becomes interested in associating with pure devotees. Thereafter one is initiated by the spiritual master and executes the regulative principles under his orders. Thus one is freed from all unwanted habits and becomes firmly fixed in devotional service. Thereafter, one develops taste and then attachment. This is the way of sādhana-bhakti, the execution of devotional service according to the regulative principles. Gradually spiritual emotions manifest and intensify, then finally there is an awakening of divine love. This is the gradual development of love of Godhead for the devotee interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, 1.4.15-16]

It can be nurtured within a favourable company and then it grows. And independent of our calculative worldly prospect it passes through, śraddhā, sādhu-saṅga, anartha-nivṛttiḥ, then ruci, āsakti, then bhāva-bhakti, sneha, mana, praṇaya, in this way it vanishes. It disappears into the will of Kṛṣṇa in the svarūpa-śakti kingdom, and feels, it can feel, the heart, the faith will arouse some feeling within us, hṛdaye nābhya nujñāto [Mānu-Saṁhitā, 2.1]. The heart, the inner thirst: that will be quenched. That will say that, “I have come in a proper soil.” The inner most feeling of our interest, the inner most interest: that will come as evidence to me. “Yes, yes, I’m going home, sweet, sweet home. I feel that I’m going to home. I am come to home.” That inner evidence, hṛdaye nābhya nujñāto, from the core of the heart the approval will come, “I want this. And whatever acquired environment so long has been thrust on me, that I want this: that I rejected. But now I feel that my real want is going to be satisfied. Our real self will come out, that yes, this is my home.” That will be the evidence, hṛdaye nābhya nujñāto, the heart’s approval. The core of the heart will come to approve.

...

Kālidāsa in Śakuntalā, one of the very notable dramas in ancient India in Sanskrit: Śakuntalā of Kālidāsa. When history, Śakuntalā she was brought up in an āśrama. And Mahārāja Dusanta he went hunting and there he met Śakuntalā and he was charmed with her beauty or nature anyhow. Privately they married in gandharva style. But Śakuntalā was left there. And suddenly mahāṛṣi Durvāsā visited that āśrama. All absent, engaged in some duty, and Śakuntalā she was sitting, absent minded, thinking about her future and the king. Durvāsā, he was of very angry type. You know that Durvāsā from Ambarīṣa uvāca, easily enraged and cursing. So he came and also perhaps begged something for him, but she was unmindful, could not hear, so gave her some curse. “You are thinking whom he will forget you totally.” So that was with Dusanta.

In the meantime Śakuntalā felt that child in her womb and when that was out, mahāṛṣi Karna, the āśrama leader, he with two of his disciples and one old lady sent her to Mahārāja Dusanta. They went there, but the king forgot the whole thing as the result of the curse of Durvāsā Ṛṣi. He could not remember anything.

And another thing, miraculous incident, the king gave his ring to Śakuntalā. “This is my presentation to you. Whenever necessary you will show, use it.”

______________ [?] The curse of the fortune also! When going Śakuntalā confident that, “His ring with me, king’s ring.” But when she took bath on the way of her journey, some fish at that time took off that ring and he swallowed that ring, the fish.

So Śakuntalā went there and the king forgot everything. Śakuntalā asked the brahmacārīs of the āśrama, they put the question. The ministers and so many gentlemen in the court totally refused them, “I don’t know anything about such agreement. It is impossible.”

Then they asked Śakuntalā, “You plead for yourself. She does not like to hear us, no.”

Then Śakuntalā tried, and perhaps she related also the circumstance in the environment and things that happened. And also perhaps it was informed that his child is in her womb. But still he could not remember and could not recognise. So wholly frustrated, disappointed, what to do, and about to come back.

Then the priest of the king told, “You Mahārāja, she says so earnestly that we cannot disbelieve her. But one thing may be done. You have no child, but she says that she’s with child, put him under the care of your priest, put her under the care. And when she will give birth to the child, he must be your heir and royal signs must be seen in his body. It will be detected there like that.”

With the advice of his priest, minister, Mahārāja arranged like that. “All right, take her to the house of my priest, brāhmaṇa priest, there she will be allowed to stay.”

And then, those that came, one old lady and two brahmacārīs of the āśrama, they left her to her fate and they went away back to āśrama.

Then Śakuntalā when she was led to the house of the brāhmaṇa priest she was so much disheartened and disappointed she prayed to the Lord. “I’m not untrue, and such is my fate. Oh mother earth, give me shelter in your lap. I don’t like to show my face in such position of insult and disregard.”

At the same time there was some miracle. Śakuntalā was born from a Ṛṣi in the womb of Urvaśī. Suddenly Urvaśī appeared and took her above, up, it is mentioned, in the heaven.

Then the priest who was guiding her, he came and described, related the thing, “An astonishing incident, some lady with halo, with jyoti, like lightening she appeared and took her and went up: a most astounding event.” What to do, he finished anyhow.

After a few days one fisherman is caught by the police, that he came to sell the ring. He caught a fish and when cutting he found the ring in the belly of the fish. Necessarily he came to sell it to a shop, and the shopkeeper saw that there is some stamp of the name of the king there. So he told the police and the police caught the fisherman, and took to the king with the ring.

Hmm. In the meantime, I forgot to say. When Durvāsā was casting his curse he’s going away, the two other she friends of Śakuntalā they were coming from some business, or from the river after bath, or anyhow. They heard that already that Durvāsā has cursed her, and they fell to the feet of the Ṛṣi, “What have you done? She’s innocent. You have cast a curse on her. Be propitiated.”

Then by their request the Ṛṣi told, “That if she can show any sign to the king then the king will again remember the whole thing.”

They were confident then, “That yes, king’s ring with her, and she may show then everything will be clear.”

But the ring was taken off when going in the river while taking bath.

Now the ring has come to the king, the whole thing came in his mind, and he began to repent. “What mischief I have done. The innocent lady, and she’s with child. And I have no heir. My heir is with her. And I have so rudely and with ingratitude I have done so much wrong to her.” He began to: now no rest, no sleep, no relishing any food, he was repentant. Anyhow what to do, it is finished.

Then he was invited by Indra to help him in his fight with the demons. Dusanta went to help. When coming back after finishing the battle, in the āśrama of Kaśyapa he found a boy, grown up boy, after, boy of seven or eight, something like that, he’s fighting with a lion...

End of 82.01.20.B_82.01.21.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.21.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...tiger, they’re not very __ he wants to be, not a very furious character. They don’t like to harm the boy. But boy is teasing the lion, sometimes taking out his tongue, sometimes drawing his ears, and the case of the manes sometimes tearing in this way he’s fighting, teasing the lion.

Devotee: Fighting or playing?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Playing. But the lion does not like that, but still boy won’t let it off.

So Dusyanta saw him, stroke him, and he after seeing, he found that the boy’s figure is almost similar to that of him, his eyes, nose, a facsimile. “What is this? If my boy in Śakuntalā: if she has given the birth of a child, and his age also would have been like this, and my facsimile.”

At this time there were so many she friends of Śakuntalā there. They tried to help the lion and take off the boy. Boy won’t come. Then they say, “We are giving, we are producing you a śakunta.”

Śakunta means a doll bird, doll of a bird. That is in Sanskrit śakunta.

When he pronounced the word śakunta, the she friend of Śakuntalā, “Where is my mother Śakunta, Śakuntalā? My mother, yes, I shall go to her.”

Then the king was again astonished, “Oh, śakunta, Śakuntalā, then Śakuntalā must be here.” Then he came nearer and enquired about the matter and it was found that Śakuntalā is there living and this boy his own son. Then of course they were presented together and by mutual arrangement Śakuntalā and the boy – the name of the boy was Bhārata, and they were all taken in.

I wanted to come to one śloka, that when Śakuntalā is starting from the āśrama towards the king, at that time these two brahmacārīns who were asked by the leader of the āśrama Karna Muni, the guardian of the āśrama, “Tomorrow morning you will start, you three with Śakuntalā will start towards the capitol.” Then in the morning they arose and seeing, there is a śloka:

Yate katosta se karam pati dosa dinam aviskrto dina purasara eka tat kara [?]

Ei yudya esya yuga padma pasamo daya ban loke niyam mata evatma dasam tadesu [?]

That śloka is there. Kālidāsa has described, giving description. The Sun is coming and the Moon is going down. Yate katosta se karam pati dosa dinam [?] The Moon is supposed to be the fosterer, the feeder of so many auṣadhi, so many herbs, medicine that can cure many diseases miraculously. And they get their food from the ray of Moon. So such Moon who can cure so many catastrophe, he’s forced to go down. And on the other side the Sun who has got his charioteer, Ulna [?], who is Ulna is born before full grown, and he’s considered to be ominous. The untimely born child is generally taken as ominous. So the ominous personified just on his front, in his face, with this liability also the Sun is rising, on its rise, and the master of the miraculous medicine, the Moon, is going down. This is very peculiar thing. Yate katosta se karam pati dosa dinam aviskrto dina purasara eka aka [?] Both of them are luminary bodies, tejan [?] powerful, just, yuga padma pasamo daya [?] But one in danger and another in prospect. Esya yuga padma pasamo daya ban loke niyam mata evatma dasam tadesu [?] As if it is warning the people at large, “Be prepared that your present stage won’t continue. If you’re in danger, danger will not remain for long time. And if you’re in prosperity, in good position, you’ll have to lose that in the course of time.” So this is teaching us, teaching the people at large, the public, the whole, especially the intelligentsia. “Read it from the law of nature that nothing remains permanent here, and be prepared accordingly.”

And here also giving some hint to Śakuntalā, “You are going with some great prospect that you’ll be queen there, but beware of the hand behind. What you want to enjoy, going to enjoy your prospect, that you may lose your fortune.”

So, and a similar śloka we find in Marga [?] the kavya, where the famous poet he has described Kṛṣṇa līlā, Marga [?] Kundavan apas sri sri madam bhoja kandam leti mokam kadam __________________ [?]

The red flowers which at night with the ray of the Moon flourishes, but in day they’re a little discouraged. And padam, this lily, lotus, it flourishes in daytime with Sun rays and when day is gone they’re a little discouraged. So the morning coming the ________ [?] they were so much pleased by the Moon light they’re going down. And on the other hand the lotus section they’re being very cheerful. Simultaneously one part is discouraged, another part is encouraged, here side by side. By changes of events someone feels encouragement, someone discouragement. Kundavan apas sri sri madam bhoja kandam __________ [?]

And the Moon going down and the Sun rising! ___________________________________________ [?]

When the night passing the owls they’re naturally morose, disappointed. On the other hand the chakrava section their custom is that at night the male and female they must be separated by nature. It is the nature when night falls, the evening, the pair must be separated, and when day will come they will meet. This is the fashion of that class of birds. Generally they stay at the side of the river, and when night comes if one remains this side, another will go the other side of the river. This is the fashion. And daytime then again they will meet. ____ When they can see at night so when day comes they’re disappointed. At the same time the chakrava section they’re very much cheerful, now they’ll meet. _______________________ [?]

Whether we like it or not this is the very nature of the nature. This is inevitable so we must be prepared for such differences in time, and in our fate. And Bhagavad-gītā has come to adjust us here. You have no hand on the external thing. What is necessary to you to adjust yourself with these dualities, the duality is there, man apa man jaya para jaya [?] Good, bad, this, you can’t interfere. Then what precaution should you take? Your internal adjustment without any care, you can thrive. It cannot affect you really. It is some wave, external wave. Because you give much attention to that superficial wave you are discouraged. But don’t care for that. Your real improvement is independent of this good or bad what is seen on the surface. Your prospect, real prospect is within, not on the surface where such things are inevitable to come. So don’t care for that, in any, whatever the physical circumstance may come. You neglect it. It will come and you will of course have to tolerate but don’t be much attentive to that. You go on with your internal affairs and that is the key to the success of your life. And many times it is repeated in Bhagavad-gītā. This sort of advice has been repeated in many places.

And one, I forgot his name, one German scholar he told that, “This is the peculiar advice of Bhagavad-gītā and this is the only remedy to emulate our lot, to gain, to improve our lot. And this is the highest theology in the whole of the world. This is not found anywhere so explicitly as it is suggesting in Bhagavad-gītā that you can’t change the superficial incidents, circumstance.”

But that does not mean that you are lost. Only don’t care for them and take your mind to your own thing without caring these dualities of the world. You can’t fight with them, that is to fight with your own shadow. It is unnecessary at all, this dual thing, rāga-dveṣa, because you have got affinity for something and you have got jealousy for something. The both, jealousy and your, the two kinds of prejudice, in favour and in opposition, you must conquer this sort of feeling. And then you march on to your goal, otherwise your energy will be hopelessly lost. And this is the key to success of your life, this rāga-dveṣa, affinity and indifference, this jealousy, something, rāga-dveṣa. Man apa man jaya para jaya [?] They will be always, you don’t care for that, go on your own way, that is the:

rāga-dveṣa-vimuktais tu, viṣayān indriyaiś caran / ātma-vaśyair vidheyātmā, prasādam adhigacchati

[“However, a true devotee on the path of renunciation in devotion (yukta-vairāgya) acts exclusively for My transcendental satisfaction. Abandoning attachment and envy, although accepting sense objects with his controlled senses, he attains full contentment of heart.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.64]

If you want really the peace of mind which is independent of the incidents of any kind of the phenomenal world, the peace is independent, it does not depend on the external events at all, the peace of mind. It is a separate thing. One may find peace of mind in very unfavourable circumstances, and another man in his very favourable circumstances he may not find peace in his mind, always anxiety, anxiety. ‘If I lose it, if I lose it,’ he’s in possession but still, ‘I may lose it, I may lose it.’ The anxiety is making him suffer. So peace is independent. What is the object of the search of all of us, that peace, real peace, that is independent of the incidents which apparently seem to be favourable or unfavourable; it does not matter at all. Don’t care for that.

sukha-duḥkhe same kṛtvā, lābhālābhau jayājayau / tato yuddhāya yujyasva, naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi

[“Knowing pleasure and pain, gain and loss, and victory and defeat to be one and the same - fight. You will be unaffected by sin.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.38]

Whatever you do you don’t entangle with these two waves, these superficial waves of the world. Don’t care for that. Ignore them; trample them under your feet. You create your mentality in such a way that you trample down this favourable, unfavourable, and go on with your duty. That will fetch the real value for your labour, your energy. You’re devoting your energy cent per cent for His duty. Don’t care for the success. If you’re devoting sincerely your energy that will be counted, and those things won’t be counted, the success or un-success won’t be counted for you. So be indifferent to the external events and go on internally discharging His duty. That is the clue to success. Don’t enter into the world of success, world of peace. Rāga-dveṣa-vimuktais tu [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.64], our sympathy or apathy for external things, one who’s liberated, independent of this sympathy and apathy to the worldly event, viṣayān indriyaiś caran, in this indifferent way he’s taking his food, bath, working, all these things: indifferent. Ātma-vaśyair, and he’s more concerned towards inner world, his ātmā, soul. Vidheyātmā, and can control by the interest of his soul he can control the interest of the mind and that is world interest. Prasādam adhigacchati, he’s sure to reach the plane of real peace. He will find that one day he will find himself settled in the plane of peacefulness. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

...

...two Bhārata at least, one Ṛṣabhadeva’s eldest son was Bhārata who left his kingdom and went to the forest to the ṛṣis and who had to take another birth by nurturing a deer, infant deer, and again got the birth of a deer.

And then next Jaḍa Bharata, a brāhmaṇa’s son who was saved by the goddess Kālī when he was taken by the dacoits to sacrifice before her in Kurukṣetra, Badra Kālī. The dacoits picked up Bharata. He was non resisting, and very good figure, auspicious.

They thought, ‘If we can give sacrifice before the goddess of Kālī then we’ll be fortunate enough to get a chance of looting.’

He did not resist, Bharata, “Whatever the dispensing of the Lord let that happen.” He did not give any resistance. “Take.” Going, and when putting they will cut him asunder. “All His will,” thorough submission to the will of the inevitable Lord!

But the goddess Kālī could not tolerate this. She came with her sword in her hand to cut up the dacoits and let lose that Bharata.

In the last moment the nature revolves against truth mongers. We are to wait for the reaction in the nature for reasonable time. That is what is necessary. Up and down, up, down, up, down, so that is in extreme cases he comes out. Inevitable, change is inevitable here, Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, Kali. The very nature of the time and space, in this way it is set by the nature.

tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido, na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ

[tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ, kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā]

[“Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavour only for that purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet [Brahmaloka] down to the lowest planet [Pātāla]. As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in course of time, just as in course of time we obtain miseries even though we do not desire them.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.5.18]

It is turning, and the nature, good, bad, good, bad, good, bad, in this way it is adjusted. So you need not attempt for any pleasure, as you do not attempt for sorrow, misery. Misery comes of its own accord to you, so happiness will also come of its own accord to you. You need not take any trouble to earn happiness. It is there, adjusted, good, bad, good, bad, good, bad, in this way, action reaction, action reaction. In this way it is adjusted. That is the very nature of things. So you won’t be mindful for this thing, good, bad. But you must be all attentive to something else, the third thing. What is that thing? Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido, na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ, tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ, to discover your own nature. The gems are covered there, jewels are covered there. It is buried within your mind, or your intelligence, or your soul. Gradual process you will be gainer there. Be indifferent to the plane where you are very wakeful now, very attentive now. This is not a plane to give your attention for any real benefit. Dive deep into the internal world and there you’ll find most valuable, more and more valuable things. That is the tenor of the discourse of Mahāprabhu and Rāya Rāmānanda. Go deeper, go deeper, go deeper, deeper. Dive deep within you. There you will also find so many assistants, the sādhus there you’ll find.

...

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Long journey, long journey to the infinite, so many happenings may come on the way, so we must not be dejected here. We are also a member of the infinite world, a particle though we are, but the nature of infinite with us also. So we must not be discouraged by the finite waves of good, bad, calculation, false calculation. After all this is māyā, it’s measurable. Nothing on this surface has any infinite value. So we must not be, must not waste our time making us busy with the finite character of the world. Try to come in the consideration, enter the consideration of the infinite, eternal, of infinite prospect. We must draw our attention towards that, and neglecting the present intimacy with the finite aspect of the world, the superficial.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

asato mā sad gamayo tāmaso mā, jyoti gamayo mṛtyor mā amṛta gamayo

[“I am mortal, make me eternal. I am ignorant, filled with nescience, take me to science, knowledge. And I am threatened with misery, guide me towards bliss.”] [Bṛhad Āraṇyaka Upaniṣad, 1st Adhyaya, 3rd Brāhmaṇa, 23rd mantra]

From non-existence to existence, eternity, that is from mortality to eternity, then from darkness to light, and from misery to ecstasy. The three phases, the existence, the consciousness, and the bliss. Essential three elements we found in our experience: existence, mere existence, and then conscious existence, and then peaceful conscious existence, ecstatic conscious existence. So ecstasy, or happiness, joy: that presupposes the other two, consciousness as well as existence. But existence may not be endowed with consciousness and blissfulness. Mere consciousness that has got existence and also feeling, but not feeling of peace is guaranteed there. But peace is a full thing, it has got both consciousness that is feeling, and existence. That is the integer proper. And these are dependent. That is independent. That is the full thing, that peace, or that blissfulness. That is the conception of the full thing. And mere consciousness is not full, because from feeling means hankering for peace, and mere existence, the stone, fossil, has got also that existence. It is incomplete. But the existence of peace, that contains within it feeling as well as existence, ānandam, sat-cit-ānandam, āmṛtam, ānandam.

Mṛtyor mā amṛta gamayo. How should our endeavour be systematised in this way by Upaniṣad? Try to get out from mortality, from ignorance, and positively try for peace. This should be the tenor of our attempt, everywhere. We must be conscious of our gain, of our interest, our interest to acquire peace, not mere consciousness, not mere knowledge. Knowledge hankers after something. What is that? That is peace. Knowledge seeks peace, peace we should, blissfulness.

sukha-rūpa kṛṣṇa kare sukha āsvādana, [bhakta-gaṇe sukha dite ‘hlādinī’-kāraṇa]

[“Ecstasy personified is Kṛṣṇa Himself, and He feels, tastes and enjoys Himself; but only through faith is it possible to transmit and distribute that ecstasy and joy to others. Faith is the very nature of the hlādinī-śakti, the ecstasy potency, which is represented in full by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. It can transmit total Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the devotees outside. Faith is the halo of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, by the light of which others may understand Kṛṣṇa. When the negative combines with the positive, realisation of Their function is distributed to all other negative parts.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.158]

The happiness Himself it is personal. Happiness is not a property. We are person and we are enjoying happiness, it is not like that, just the opposite. Happiness has got personal conception. When we can understand that, we cross māyāvāda, ‘that brahma-vāda, the happiness, the peace is static, not assertive, not personal. Happiness is not personal. Blissfulness is not personal. It is like a thing, a substance, and we are the owner, we can play on it, we can enjoy it.’ It is not that. That blissfulness that is the highest entity, and the highest entity must be endowed with personal conception. He’s super person, so we’re to become slave to Him if we want that. So dedication, service is necessary if we want peace, we want bliss. And bliss is person, if we can understand, then we’ve got no other alternative but to submit, to surrender and to be acquired and engaged by Him. The whole thing will be changed. We cannot make Him object of our experience any time. Then we must be thrust down, thrown down in this mundane world. If you are master then you can control only things that are lower in status to you. You go to that mean circle, become master there. But if higher association you want you must approach there as a lower substance. It is quite scientific. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So:

tṛṇād api sunīcena, taror api sahiṣṇunā, amāninā mānadena, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

[“One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 3]

Hari kīrtana will be in its right way, the proper method, if you couch yourself, adjust yourself in such temperament. Otherwise you cannot enter into the plane of Hari.

Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, 1.2.234]

Praṇipātena sevayā, paripraśnena sevayā [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.34]

Sevā, the necessity of serving attitude there we must have to appreciate on the whole. We can enter there as a servant, as a servitor we can enter the plane. So we must make ourselves fit with the attitude of accepting eternal servitor-ship. Otherwise that is nothing to me. So subtle and so dignified I won’t be cared there, won’t have any visa there. Visa only for the interest of that plane: that is natural. So sevonmukhe, whatever we do that will be bhakti if sevonmukhata is there. If serving attitude is there, any form that may take up the nature of devotion.

And the mastering temperament, ‘I’m monarch of all I survey,’ then that is sealed, barred. So not only are you to get out of that false vanity, ‘I am monarch of all I survey,’ and not even with any attitude of indifference, ‘I don’t care for anything,’ this abnegation spirit that is also your enemy.

You must have earnestness to have the association of a good plane. At the same time you must be prepared that if you want to enter into higher plane you can enter only as a lower, and then serving for the interest of that. The visa will be issued only for the interest of that plane; that land. We must be conscious of this fact. So sevonmukhata, whether I chant the Name, or do some job by the hand, or worship the Deity, but to approach and enter into that plane this is compulsory that we must be prepared that we want to serve Him, to serve the land. For the interest of that plane we can only get admission. The broad fact, ignoring that, all other exercises will be false, tuṣāvaghātinām. Just as we press only the tuṣā, the cover where there’s no rice, tuṣā means the cover of the rice, paddy, the cover of the paddy is called tuṣā, and the substance within that is rice. Rice and paddy, and if so many tuṣā, the cover of the paddy we press no rice will come, sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām.

śreyaḥ sṛtiṁ bhaktim udasya te vibho, kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye

teṣām asau kleśala eva śiṣyate, nānyad yathā sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām

[“My dear Lord, devotional service unto You is the only auspicious path. If one gives it up simply for speculative knowledge or the understanding that these living beings are spirit souls and the material world is false, he undergoes a great deal of trouble. He only gains troublesome and inauspicious activities. His endeavours are like beating a husk that is already devoid of rice. One’s labour becomes fruitless.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.4] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22.22]

If you eliminate the serving attitude and go on exercising your intellectual side it won’t produce any desirable result. Your labour will be useless, in vain, if you go on with jñāna. Only intellectualism won’t bring anything for you. But you must surrender, then the bhakti, devotion, dedication, that will bring the desired end to you. You want higher things which are above you.

Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, 1.2.234]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Mahāprabhu prema vilasa gaura prema vilasa gaura niskincana bhaktivinoda nama [?]

Gopistitu bhakti kutira kuste smrta nisam nama guṇa murari [?]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Aranya Mahārāja: Guru Mahārāja, who was the person who inspired Bhaktivinoda to preach in the west; begin his preaching in the west?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: None did inspire Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura as we can understand, but he saw, he felt in his pure heart that such things will happen, mantra drāṣṭā. Just as the Upaniṣad, Veda, the truth contained, that is not created by anyone, but that was there and they first detected and expressed: something like that.

End of 82.01.21.B

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Start of 82.01.21.C_82.01.22.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...in this way he felt. The general dispensation of the Lord, he felt. And that was taken up in practice by our Guru Mahārāja in the beginning. And that has been widely effected by Swāmī Mahārāja we see, we see that. He saw it, then next generation our Guru Mahārāja attempted, and the next generation Swāmī Mahārāja made it fruitful, practically, what we see. And it was foretold in Caitanya-Bhāgavata.

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grama, sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma

[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the pioneer of Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana. He said: “I have come to inaugurate the chanting of the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa, and that Name will reach every nook and corner of the universe.”] [Caitanya-Bhāgavata]

And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura saw it in his general intuitional consciousness. He mentioned it in this way, “That it is so plain and so natural that the intelligentsia of the world cannot deny this, that this is the highest acme of our spiritual attainment. It is inevitable. It cannot but be. Cannot but have appreciation. It is so plain and so natural what Mahāprabhu has given: the love to the Divinity. If there is any possibility of any spiritual connection to have a relationship of love to that highest entity, that is the, that should be the highest, clearly, as clear as anything, it should be the goal, cannot but be. To come near the family or to be intimate, if there is any possibility to live a life of intimacy with the Supreme, if it is possible at all then who should not want it and who sincere should not want it, cannot but have appreciation.”

His general vision was like that. “It cannot but be appreciated by the sincere seekers after spiritual truth.” That was his general idea, and on the basis of that he expressed the feeling, “That in no time every sincere intelligentsia seeker after spiritual truth they can’t forego this truth, this reality, that what Caitanyadeva gave out to be the goal of the soul, that is the highest conception of our aspiration. We want to be familiar, most intimate to that Divine Divinity. Not knowing of Him is sufficient, but we must taste Him, have a tasteful life, not theoretical knowledge should satisfy anyone, any heart, but everyone should want to taste it, that sweet, sweetness. Not only an onlooker, sightseer; sightseeing cannot satisfy any sincere spiritualist. You must have practical, a life of living with the spiritual substance. That must, inner necessity of heart must have its play, must have its opening and start and movement and achievement, cannot but be.” That was his vision.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

After it is such chance has been allowed to the human kind by Mahāprabhu they can’t but appreciate. By the very nature of its thing it will attract so many is there is sincerity. If he’s true to his own self he cannot but come this side, otherwise he’s a traitor to his own ego. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

ko nu rājann indriyavān, mukunda-caraṇāmbujam

na bhajet sarvato-mṛtyur, upāsyam amarottamaiḥ

[“My dear King, in the material world the conditioned souls are confronted by death at every step of life. Therefore, who among the conditioned souls would not render service to the lotus feet of Lord Mukunda, who is worshippable even for the greatest of liberated souls?”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.2]

Śukadeva also says, expressing his wonder, “Who won’t come to this way, indriyavān, who has got the senses to perceive things outside? Why should he not come to experience by his whole senses such nectarine existence in the environment? The seeing capacity, the hearing capacity, the tasting capacity, all these are created for nothing, only to receive the nearest reaction for them, no good willing in them in this creation? A full-fledged theism will supply the food for all we have got within us. Only misguided, the whole, the satisfaction of the whole, the eye, the ear, but not this flesh, but the causal eye, causal nose, causal touch, have got their possibility of satisfaction. This ideal is not for nothing. Ko nu rājann indriyavān, mukunda-caraṇāmbujam, na bhajet. Now it is only mortal things, and that will be nectar. That is what is necessary. It is by cover to cover, the internal soul to soul relationship, soul to Supersoul, superior element. Because you are vulnerable you are to deviate, and that undeviating nature, that causal nectarine and superior to you, and you are to approach Him in that way.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Haribol. Haribol. Haribol. Haribol.

Ko nu rājann indriyavān, mukunda-caraṇāmbujam, na bhajet. Śukadeva is expressing his wonder. “How it is possible that so many, devoid of this nectar within, they’re wandering like mad persons, misguided? It is a wonder. The nectar is there, and so many are cheated by their own free will, vulnerability of free will, they’re being cheated. And those that are immortal they’re thronging like in a crowd to take this nectar. And these poor fellows, misguided, ill-fated fellows, they’re wandering hither, thither, in this way. Sarvato-mṛtyur, and they’re meeting death at every point, opposition at every point, but still they’re pursuing that phantasmagoria.”

‘Will o the wisp’ our Prabhupāda told, ‘will o the wisp’ or phantasmagoria, these two terms were favourite to him, ‘We are hunting phantasmagoria, after ‘will o the wisp.’ Those that have come in connection they wonder, ‘How it is possible? Such a higher, big thing for us, only the mania that we should be master, we’ll be master of a stool house.’

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

It is whose expression, what is the expression? “It is better to serve in heaven than to reign in hell,” or the opposite, by Satan. “It is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.” Which is the better, actually? Is it in Paradise Lost? What is the expression? “It is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.” Or, “It is better to serve in heaven than to reign in hell.” The opposite! We are one party, and the others are another party. The fight, Kṛṣṇa consciousness and this scientific civilisation consciousness, the atom, the electron, and the hydrogen bomb, and the drama bomb, and now recently, property!

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, and all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,

Awaits alike the inevitable hour; the path of glory leads but to the grave.

[Elegy written in a country churchyard. 1751]

[Thomas Gray, 1716-71, English poet]

Moora nava dijarnar [?] The necessary conclusion of our material acquisition, that to be buried with the body!

...

...to learn to see, guided by the ear. Receiving guidance from the ear, then with that colour we shall ask our eye to see things, śruti-kṛta. Śruti will show the eye, “It is this. Don’t see it like that. It is this. Try to capture, learn to see, to have a look, have an estimation, the principle supplied by the ear.” Ear means śruti; that is revealed truth.

Vede pasyanti pandita [?] The paṇḍita that has got that Vedic knowledge, śāstric pasyanti paṇḍita, they will see not by their own eyes but by instruction of the Veda, revealed scripture, he will try to see things.

_______________________________ [?] King also sees not through eye but through ear, that is through the detective, the intelligent man. Raja sees through the intelligent man.

Pasu pasyanti gandena [?] General the beast they see things, judge things by the scent.

And chakuvan [?] ordinary people they see things by their eyes.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Do you know, did you hear anything about that man...

...

...Kuñja Bābu, I began to sing, but Prabhupāda was dissatisfied and then you had to go on with singing the song.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Many secret purpose under the guise of this particular līlā he had, under the cover of this līlā he had some mysterious and secret instruction.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: If only to, his will to have been to hear a song only, then he could have heard it from many other sources.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Because he could select, he knew the real current of rūpānuga dara, so he has selected you and from your lips he wanted to hear that song.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: If only to hear the song, then I was more expert in singing than yourself, ostentatiously, he would not prevent me.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You are really a follower of rūpānuga. That has been clearly expressed by this sort of his deed.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So I always aspire after your grace, he says. Senior disciple.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He has got an annual function, very nearby, within a week, and he has invited me, and says, not only to join in the annual ceremony, but your good will I pray for this function.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Your good will I want and...

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Etc, etc.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And repeatedly he says like that. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Confirmation came the same day Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja’s letter, and here the confirmation came the same day.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Same thing, the concurrent. Gaura Hari.

...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: ...pass over the honour due to an elderly spiritual master. That’s the end.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. The position is only clarified there.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Very clear.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

...towards their subordinates, what is the, we don’t find any copy of that ___ [?]

Devotee: Not yet.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No, we don’t have any.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Any copy?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Any letter that has been issued...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No. We’ve not seen that, yet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu.

...

The opposition also gives us new energy, in indirect way. So it is designed in the very original system, it is also not useless; it has got its position, the fight between the positive and negative. One direct, one indirect, that is a necessary part, thesis, antithesis, synthesis, but synthesis is necessary. Hegel says this is a necessary part in progress. But we consider it is a part of līlā of eternal value. Not only that the imperfect is going to improve itself through this process, but this is the process adopted in His līlā in the perfect dynamic movement, is accepted. It is not imperfect, not the way from imperfect to perfect. But the perfect is there and it is for its natural position there, it is. And it is not harmonious, no. It is enhancing the beauty of the harmony contribution; the opposition is a contribution to the harmony. We are to think like that, this is the līlā, then we can accept it as līlā. Otherwise from Hegelian standpoint we’re to conceive that He’s not perfect, from imperfection to perfection the movement is going on. Hegel has explained in his own way, that whatever He’s willing immediately it’s being fulfilled, so no question of His imperfection. Only willing and immediate coming into effect, no opposition can stop it, so He’s not imperfect. But we’re not satisfied with that. It is the beauty, it’s adding to the beauty of the līlā and it’s part of the perfection, otherwise it would have been imperfect.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu says,

koṭi-kāmadhenu-patira chāgi yaiche mare, ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pati kṛṣṇera māyā kibā kare?

[“If a person possessing millions of wish-fulfilling cows loses one she-goat, he does not consider the loss. Kṛṣṇa owns all six opulences in full. If the entire material energy is destroyed, what does He lose?”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 15.179]

There He refutes Hegel. Mahāprabhu says, “Kṛṣṇa’s independence is so absolute character that even the whole indirect process is abolished He does not suffer any loss. If one who possesses crores of kāmadhenu, the milk cow, and His will, independent of calf or any – Generally when the cow has got a child, then only she has got milk. But kāmadhenu without calf she can deliver milk, that is kāmadhenu. Koṭi-kāmadhenu-patira chāgi yaiche. One who possesses crores of kāmadhenu, if any kid dies, no loss. You can consider. So if the whole māyā establishment of māyāic existence is abolished, Kṛṣṇa does not consider any loss to His līlā.” So here He says, “Indirect necessity even may be abolished by His sweet will.”

But Hegelian philosophers say, “That is a necessary part. Without this the whole cannot exist.” They laid stress there.

But Mahāprabhu laid stress in Kṛṣṇa’s will, that even indirect, the māyāic, all the prison houses may be closed at one time, once. The whole of the prison houses may be closed. Still the government may go on. This is applicable in the case of Kṛṣṇa. Generally it is thought the prison houses are necessary, otherwise the normal government cannot go on.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Someone come here today, Saturday. The weekly bus...

End of 82.01.21.C_82.01.22.A

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Start of 82.01.24.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...quality consciousness came down and captured my conscious existence. I could feel, oh this is adhokṣaja. I could feel that this is superior and it captured, surrounded me on all sides. Then I had at that time in my mind that, is this the puṣpa-ratha, the ratha, the chariot that comes down here to take in blessed souls to higher region? This sort of feeling came too. If I, if my body falls now I’m captured. My whole existence is captured by a holy atmosphere, holy and superior conscious atmosphere, I’m there. And now the body drops it can take me anywhere. I’m helpless. That sort of feeling when sitting there. And two gentlemen were also present there, I told them. But I committed some foolish thing, I told them, gradually it began to disappear. Otherwise I could have seen nothing more, but I told I was wondered, such things is possible. Such things is possible. Superior conscious area is there and it can pervade through our jīva consciousness, overpower. That was happy atmosphere, desirable. And I found that I’m dependent, surrounded I’m dependent. Wherever that will go, that is free, that will go, within that my self consciousness will have to go in a cage, conscious cage, cage of consciousness. So it is there, independent consciousness they’re there, they’re more free and they can go anywhere and everywhere, subtler than the soul, jīva soul. Still it is real.

Ideal realism, Hegel said, Ideal Realism. The idea is not imagination or a dead thing dependent on matter, but it has got its independent real existence, idea. But idea captured from mundane world that is another thing. Independent of mundane consciousness, mundane impression, the reality is existing, in its source, its spirit. And the highest conception of it is in Godhead, gradual complete reality. Soul is complete reality, not by product of material chemical combination. It is the independent basis and the conscious, and the matter is floating in a negligent part of that conscious ocean. And now we are to consider about the superiority and inferiority of the conscious ocean, conscious atmosphere, conscious infinite: what is the lower part, what is higher part, there. But independent conception of spirit, that should be the basis of theism, and the matter only a floating part, in the negligent and the neglected part in the conscious ocean, like an iceberg. Matter’s like an iceberg floating in the ocean.

And there is also gradation and qualitative differentiative existence in material and spiritual world. The first part is Śivaloka, then Vaikuṇṭhaloka, then Goloka. Goloka though it is a part; but in some considerations it is the whole, because it is pervading through everything. Just as ether, ether is above. Where there is water there ether also can enter there. And water, air, ether can enter, all pervasive something. Goloka means full, solid circle, full-fledged, that is what Goloka means, full-fledged. The raga there, the attraction, Kṛṣṇa means attraction. Attraction living that is priti, love. Love is all pervading and subtle-most thing, ākarṣiṇī, attraction, the living attraction, that is the very vitality of the spiritual existence. But just as iceberg is also floating, so in Goloka, Vaikuṇṭha is floating in a part. Kavirāja [?] Goswāmī has given hint that Vṛndāvana is said to be thirty two miles circumference, floating. And Paravyoma means infinite. But this is inconceivable that many Paravyoma may live within the limit of that Vṛndāvana. Have you found it?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So the aprākṛta limitation is of that type. Kṛṣṇa, in Kṛṣṇa body, human body not much aiśvarya, of grandeur and mysticism is not the – awe, reverence, and aiśvarya, vibhūti, that display of power is not there. But everything is included and in its negligent part it is existing. In this way we are to approach, we are to think out, that though it is limitation, but still that limitation comprehends the infinite within it, aprākṛta. Aprākṛta, the middle position: aṇor aṇīyān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad, 1.2.20], the subtle-most of the subtle, and the biggest of the big, and the golden mean. We shall consider the golden mean to be the prime cause and not the degree of magnitude, or the bigness, or all the smallness, not subtlest and the biggest. In the middle, golden mean. We are to consider the golden mean which has got something like halo and something like shade within. So aprākṛta ___________________ [?] limited. But a sort of limit consists within it, unlimited. That sort of knowledge in Vṛndāvana, though everything is infinite, but posing is that of a finite, jñāna-sunya-bhakti. The jñāna is behind, negligently in the underground, jñāna. If in any time they invite jñāna, jñāna will be ready there with folded palms.

bhaktis tvayi sthiratarā bhagavan yadi syād, daivena nah phalati divya-kiśora-mūrttiḥ

muktih svayaṁ mukulitānjali sevate ‘smān, dharmārtha-kāma-gatayaḥ samaya-pratīkṣāḥ

[“Oh Devotion, you are of such a magnanimous nature, if there is any way that we can have your least favour, then muktī (salvation or liberation) will wait to serve us with open arms. What to speak of muktī, even dharma (ritualistic virtue), artha (affluence), and kāma (material enjoyment) will be waiting far, far away for whenever their calling bell is sounding. Then, they will rush to our feet saying, ‘What do you want?’”] [Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura’s Kṛṣṇa-Karṇāmṛtam, 107]

They do not want it but they’re above it. If at any time anything necessary that may come of its own accord with folded palms, “Yes, what do you like, want from me, any service?”

So infinite is of that type there, though finite, but the king of infinite. Kṛṣṇa’s king of infinite, though His land, His paraphernalia, everything seems to be finite, seems to be a little ignorant, but it’s above science. In this way we’re to understand.

Svarūpa Dāmodara is making argument with Śrīvāsa in Purī, ratha-yātrā case. “Śrīvāsa, you don’t remember, you’re very much charmed with the majesty of Vaikuṇṭha, but don’t you know that in a particular flower and leaf of Vṛndāvana all these grandeurs that is suppressed. Suppressed but they’re all there, at beck and call they will come. Such is Vṛndāvana Śrīvāsa. And don’t think that is devoid of all ________________ [?] So we are to consider Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka, Vṛndāvana, as such, they’re above, but not in wanting, not in wanting.

A king may like to wander in a simple dress, but that does not mean he has no crown, he has no golden rod, or golden shoe, anything, but he likes the simple dress in the garden he’s owning, in this way, playing with the child. That does not mean he’s in want of all those resources: never, but superseding.

Just as Washington went to cultivate land. Washington was considered the saviour of America at that time, but he gave up, left the position of the President and went to live, went to cultivation, agriculture, simplicity.

There are many type, many men, many persons that like a simple life, not a gorgeous. But the gorgeous, the majesty, awe, reverence, that is underground.

Such aprākṛta is Vṛndāvana. Not in want of, but it is served by: such plainness which is served by the grandeur. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Military is there, but the ruler is not the general, under his beck and call, the military is there. Something like that, the power, the military is not the, not represents the authority of the country. The authority is something plain, limited power, but the dreadful military at his beck and call. So something like that. Plainness, simplicity, these things are there. That is supposed to be the highest, and not the militia grandeur, or any other show.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Jñāna-sunya-bhakti. “Eho bahya, age kaha ara.” [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.59]

Devotee: Mahārāja, I have to beg your leave.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Vidagdha-Mādhava Prabhu has not come?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He went to Vṛndāvana we heard.

Aranya Mahārāja: Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja, what is the difference between the mādhurya-rasa and audārya-rasa?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: When mādhurya is going to be distributed to others, the public, then it becomes audārya. Mādhurya when self-distributing, in a mood of self-distributing, the mādhurya-rasa when in a mood of self-distribution that is audārya, distribution: that is the sacrifice. When it takes place within a particular circle, qualified circle, the pastimes going on, it is mādhurya. And when an attempt is made to give it outside the area, give others also entrance, help them to taste it and to take them in, when for propagation, mādhurya in the mood of propagation then it is audārya. In every place when anything is in distributing characteristic it is called audārya, helping others, sacrifice, helping others.

Rāmacandra _______________ [?] more generous. His life is a life of sacrifice for the subjects, the king of the subjects. Raja prkrti ranjanatha. Not so much for His own enjoyment but He gave His ideal to help the subjects. He came to give Himself, audārya.

Giving is predominant in ones character, he’s called generous, in every position, self distribution. Self distribution is audārya. And tasting within a particular circle amongst the fit, the vilāsa, the pastimes, in a circle of the fittest, that is mādhurya, particular rasa. And when that is going to be distributed to the others, come and take, taste, that is audārya. Every rasa may be audārya. Dāsya-rasa, sākhya-rasa, vātsalya, and mādhurya the highest rasa that _______ [?] līlā in that highest group if invitation comes for admission. We want to admit more in this circle. This is audārya, giving himself to others, self distributing nature in līlā, distributing nature. And to taste, tasting ones own self with a non group, non friends of a particular circle that is mādhurya-rasa, tasting himself. And helping others to taste that is audārya.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, generally we’ve understood there to be four Vedas. I was wondering if the other Vedas like the Ayur Veda and the Veda for astrology...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ṛg-Veda, Ṛg, Sāma, Yajur, Atharva. Atharva generally deals with material things, the jyotiṣa, the ________ [?] etc. Many things in connection with mundane world that is mentioned in Atharva in some places, generally.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s asking Ayur-Veda.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ayur-Veda is a part of Atharva-Veda, dealing with material things mainly. Ayur-Veda, Dhanur-Veda, Dhanur-Veda means āstra-śikṣā, this weapon culture, that is Dhanur-Veda. Then Ayur-Veda, that is dealing with medicine and disease, Ayur-Veda. Yajur-Veda mainly with sacrifice, Sāma-Veda mainly with song, stotram: and Ṛg-Veda mainly the substantial – the truth in substance, Ṛg, revelation. No reason no rhyme. This is revelation, naked revealed truth. No reason no rhyme. _______________ [?] that universal sound, the substantial delivery, not much figure and colour. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Commanding, you may care or may not.

oṁ tad viṣṇo paramaṁ padaṁ sadā, paśyanti suraya divīva cakṣur ātatam

[tad viprāso vipanyavo jāgṛvāṁśāḥ, samindhate viṣṇor yat paramaṁ padam]

[“As the sun and sunlight is continuous over the skies as light-giver to us (for that sunlight is the universal form of the Lord) similarly, the Divine Lotus Feet of the Lord Śrī Viṣṇu is always spread widely (like a canopy) over our head.”] [Ṛg-Veda, 1.22.20]

Ṛg mantra, tad viṣṇo paramaṁ padaṁ sadā, paśyanti suraya divīva cakṣur ātatam. Just as we can see the Sun spread on your head, so also the Divine Holy Feet of Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, is over your head and seeing everything. That His Divine Feet can see everything and He’s on your head seeing everything. So do, think it and go on doing. The guardian’s vigilant eye is over your head. With this conception you approach any activity, any and every activity. And that will do away with you, the guardian’s vigilant careful eye on your head. With this idea you do your duty. Then it will be very difficult to take to any misdeed. The searching eye over me, and He’s my guardian. Viṣṇu, yaḥ idaṁ viṣṇuḥ vyāpnotīti. He’s param pada, His beloved feet, that is like Sun that can see, that is like Sun and spread over your head like a Sun. His eye searching whatever you do you can’t do it secretly. With this idea you do. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. In broad daylight you are to do anything and everything, no darkness...

...

Know everywhere there is light: the eye of Viṣṇu, your well-wisher, your guardian’s eye. With this idea you are to approach anything and everything, then you can’t do any evil things. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. This is one Ṛg mantra, Veda mantra, Ṛg-Veda. And here the brāhmaṇa whatever duty he’s going to perform, first he pronounce this mantram and then go. First oṁkāra, oṁ, and then tad viṣṇo paramaṁ padaṁ sadā, paśyanti suraya divīva cakṣur ātatam. Bhūta-śuddhi, the identification is purged out of any sinful tendency. Now with this idea approach, go to perform your duty. Any duty you’re going to perform, first bhūta-śuddhi, means you purify your existence in this way. You are not this or that, but you are in this position. Now you approach your duty.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

In these days they’re accustomed to hate brāhmaṇism and to expose this brāhmiṇical varṇāśrama they’re all out to prove it a hateful thing. It is not such original ideally. Ideally it is such. All the brāhmaṇas always conscious of the spiritual substance, he’s the mediator between the spiritual and the material. With his aim in the spiritual with his leg in the material, the brāhmaṇas, their ideal is all on the spiritual. A true brāhmaṇa means that, not very differentiated. More differentiated spiritual consciousness that is a Vaiṣṇava, Nārāyaṇa bhakta. And Kṛṣṇa bhakta that is very rarely to be found.

Like mundane men, a Christian missionary he said, “Oh, your God Kṛṣṇa He’s a thief. He’s a debauch. You are going to worship Him? What is this? He’s a thief. He’s a liar, a thief, He’s a debauch, and you want to go to worship Him. What’s this?”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Amongst the political leaders here C.R. Das [?] was _______________________ [?]

Ram Mohan Raya, the Founder of Brahmo-samāja, Brahmo conception, “We want that non-differentiated Brahman to be the highest, and no any figure, colour, or any quality of the highest order. It is spiritual substance, and we’re a part of that, we must return there, everything finished.” The Brahmo conception! “The Māyāvādī also they take to material means, the pūjā, sevā, all these they include.” The Brahmo hates this, “This is idolatry.”

Something like Mohammad-ism, Māyāvādī and Muslim.

Vivekānanda told, “That if Vedānta, that is Māyāvāda conception, that is head, and the body of a Muslim: Islam body and Vedānta head. That should be the ideal nationalism or religion.”

The body of the Muslim, it is mentioned in Jawaharlal’s [Pandit Nehru] Discovery of India, “The Vivekānanda somewhere he wrote, the body of the Islam and the head of the Vedānta, Śaṅkara’s Vedānta, that should be ideal.”

So Brahmo is something like that.

But Vivekānanda he ______________ [?] he worshipped Kālī and he told that, “I’m talking with her.” Here he’s undone.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

śrī-gaurānumataṁ svarūpa-viditaṁ rūpāgrajenādṛtaṁ

rūpādyaiḥ pariveśitaṁ raghu-gaṇair-āsvāditaṁ sevitam

jīvādyair abhirakṣitaṁ śuka-śiva-brahmādi sammānitaṁ

śrī-rādhā-pada-sevanāmṛtam aho tad dātum īśo bhavān

[“What was sanctioned by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu by His descent was intimately known only to Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Goswāmī. It was adored by Sanātana Goswāmī and served by Rūpa Goswāmī and his followers. Raghunātha Dāsa Goswāmī tasted that wonderful thing fully and enhanced it with his own realisation. And Jīva Goswāmī supported and protected it by quoting the scriptures from different places. The taste of that divine truth is aspired for by Brahmā, Śiva, and Uddhava, who respect it as the supreme goal of life. What is this wonderful truth? śrī-rādhā-pada-sevanā: that the highest nectar of our life is the service of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. This is most wonderful. O Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, you are our master. It is within your power to allow them to bestow their grace upon us. You are in a position to bestow the highest gift ever known to the world upon us all. It is at your disposal. O Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, please be kind to us and grant us your mercy.”] [Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja’s Śrīmad-Bhaktivinoda-viraha-daśakam, verse 9]

kvāhaṁ manda-matis tv atīva-patitaḥ kva tvaṁ jagat-pāvanaḥ

bho svāmin kṛpayāparādha-nicayo nūnaṁ tvayā kṣamyatām

yāce 'haṁ karuṇā-nidhe! varam imaṁ pādābja-mūle bhavat-

sarvasvāvadhi-rādhikā-dayita-dāsānāṁ gaṇe gaṇyatām

[“Where am I, so lowly and fallen, and where are you, the great soul who delivers the universe! O Lord, by your grace, you are sure to forgive my offences. O ocean of mercy, in the dust of your lotus feet I pray for just this benediction: kindly make my life successful by recommending me for admission into the group of Śrī Vārṣabhānavī Dayita Dāsa, who is the dearmost one in your heart.”] [Śrīmad-Bhaktivinoda-viraha-daśakam, verse 10]

Mahāprabhu. Govinda Sundara.

śrī-gaurānumataṁ svarūpa-viditaṁ rūpāgrajenādṛtaṁ

rūpādyaiḥ pariveśitaṁ raghu-gaṇair-āsvāditaṁ sevitam

jīvādyair abhirakṣitaṁ śuka-śiva-brahmādi sammānitaṁ

śrī-rādhā-pada-sevanāmṛtam aho tad dātum īśo bhavān

Mahāprabhu. Gaurāṅga Sundara.

Gauranga sundara bada nityam niya namabhi [?]

Gauranga nagara bada nityam niya namabhi [?]

yasyā kadāpi vasanāñcala khelanottha, dhanyāti dhanya pavanena kṛtārtha mānī

yogīndra durgama gatiḥ madhusūdano'pi, tasyā namo'stu vṛṣabhānu bhuvo diśe'pi

[Prabodhānanda Saraswatī says: “From a reverential distance with full adoration I offer my obeisances unto the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, Śrī Rādhikā. Once a gentle gust of wind wafted the sweet scent of Her clothing towards Kṛṣṇa, the supreme beautiful God, making Him feel so blessedly fulfilled that He immediately embraced that fragrance to His heart.”] [Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi-Mangalacarana]

[A Regardful Offering, p 13]

End of 82.01.24.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.24.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...Gurudeva of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Goswāmī, brother of Vyeṅkaṭa. He used to stay in Śrīkuṇḍa Kamavan. Very higher poetry, poetic language, very fervour and impressive: very sweet and very comprehensive, his ideas.

yathā yathā gaura padāravinde, vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta puṇya rāśiḥ

[tathā tathot sarpati hṛdy akasmāt, rādhā padāmbhoja sudhāmbhu-rāśiḥ]

[Prabodhānanda Saraswatī Ṭhākura says: “As much as we devote ourselves to the lotus feet of Śrī Gaurāṅga, we will automatically achieve the nectarine service of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in Vṛndāvana. An investment in Navadwīpa Dhāma will automatically take one to Vṛndāvana. How one will be carried there will be unknown to him. But those who have good fortune invest everything in the service of Gaurāṅga. If they do that, they will find that everything has automatically been offered to the divine feet of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. She will accept them in Her confidential service and give them engagement, saying: “Oh, you have a good recommendation from Navadwīpa; I immediately appoint you to this service.”] [Caitanya-candrāmṛta, 88]

Only as a result of our good deeds of many, many lives, that make us fit to come to the Holy Feet of Gaurāṅga, to have His appreciation, kṛta puṇya rāśiḥ. And such a fortunate man if he takes to the Divine Feet of Śrī Caitanya, Lord Gaurāṅga, gaura padāravinde, vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta puṇya rāśiḥ, he’s automatically and suddenly finds that he’s in the midst of Vṛndāvana in the camp of Rādhārāṇī. Padāravinde, vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta puṇya rāśiḥ, tathā tathot sarpati hṛdy akasmāt, rādhā padāmbhoja sudhāmbhu-rāśiḥ. He’s feeling he’s got the chance of entering into the feeling of the high sentiment which is within the service of Śrī Rādhārāṇī, suddenly. And what is that Rādhārāṇī he has also described in one book, a famous poem.

yasyā kadāpi vasanāñcala khelanottha, dhanyāti dhanya pavanena kṛtārtha mānī

[yogīndra durgama gatiḥ madhusūdano'pi, tasyā namo'stu vṛṣabhānu bhuvo diśe'pi]

[Prabodhānanda Saraswatī says: “From a reverential distance with full adoration I offer my obeisances unto the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, Śrī Rādhikā. Once a gentle gust of wind wafted the sweet scent of Her clothing towards Kṛṣṇa, the supreme beautiful God, making Him feel so blessedly fulfilled that He immediately embraced that fragrance to His heart.”] [Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi-Mangalacarana]

“Sometime it so happened that Rādhārāṇī, the outskirts of Her cloth is floating in the wind, and that wind touched the body of Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa thought Himself so fortunate. “I have got the wind of the fluttering of the cloth of Rādhārāṇī.” He considered Himself to be the best fortunate. Yasyā kadāpi vasanāñcala khelanottha, dhanyāti dhanya pavanena. The wind also considering himself most thankful: “I’m the most fortunate.” And Kṛṣṇa Himself also getting the touch of that wind, He thinks that, “What a fortunate I am.” Kṛtārtha mānī. Yogīndra durgama gatiḥ. And who is that Kṛṣṇa? The yogīs, the jñānīs, after their utmost trial and endeavour can’t reach to His plane. That Kṛṣṇa, the yogīs, the jñānīs, the highest object of their quest and they mostly fail to reach that plane where Kṛṣṇa is taking His stand. And that Kṛṣṇa He thinks Himself to be infinitely fortunate when He gets the slight touch of the wind that is coming out of the fluttering, flapping of the outskirts of the cloth worn by Rādhārāṇī.”

yasyā kadāpi vasanāñcala khelanottha, dhanyāti dhanya pavanena kṛtārtha mānī

yogīndra durgama gatiḥ madhusūdano'pi, tasyā namo'stu vṛṣabhānu bhuvo diśe'pi

“Let me bow down to that direction of the land where Rādhārāṇī took Her birth, vṛṣabhānu bhuvo diśe'pi. What to speak of Her, the land that was given to us, towards that direction let us fall prostrate. So high! Kṛṣṇa is madly aspiring and how, what sort of inconceivable quality She’s couched, the sacrifice: the sacrifice to what degree? Rasa-rāja mahābhāva. The magnitude and the quality of sacrifice is of such a degree it cannot be conceived.”

So self-giving, you are prepared with your capital to come to enter into Vṛndāvana. What sort of capital you have got my dear friend? Such sacrifice! Rādhāpadāṅkita dhāma, vṛndāvana yāra nāma. What is Vṛndāvana? The land that bares the impression of the footprints of Rādhārāṇī, purified by the footprints of Śrī Rādhikā: that is Vṛndāvana. Rādhāpadāṅkita dhāma, vṛndāvana yāra nāma, [tāhā yena āśraya karila]

[“He who has failed to carefully worship the Lotus Feet of Śrīmatī Rādhikā, which are the abodes of all auspiciousness; who has not taken shelter in the transcendental abode known as Vṛndāvana, which is decorated with the beautiful Lotus Flower Named Rādhā; who in this life has not associated with the devotees of Rādhikā, who are very wise and whose devotion for Rādhā is very deep - how will such a person ever experience the bliss of bathing in the ocean of Lord Śyāma’s sublime mellows? Please understand this most attentively.”] [Śrī Rādhāṣṭaka, song 1] [From The Songs Of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, p 118-9]

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, “Because Vṛndāvana bares the footprints, the divine footprints of that divine: and Kṛṣṇa is mad in Her quest. What sacrifice, sacrifice of what quality and what magnitude to be found there? Be prepared my friend for that type of sacrifice. Question of debauchery and this pleasure hunting, sense lust hunting; that is the worst disease you’re suffering from. And if you can get a little pinch of that high quarter of sacrifice then this will all be banished forever, the kāma. Hṛd-rogam, this is a disease of heart, and if you want to get out of this disease, perfect cure of this disease, only point, a bit of that, that līlā, the sacrifice. Only a speck if you can apply you will get rid of this nasty disease of pleasure hunting, sense pleasure hunting. You’ll be saved forever: a little pinch, attraction of that high order of sacrifice of Rādhārāṇī.”

vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ, śraddhānvito 'nuśṛṇuyād atha varṇayed yaḥ

[bhaktiṁ parām bhagavati pratilabhya kāmaṁ, hṛd-rogam āśv apahinoty acireṇa dhīraḥ]

[“One who hears with firm faith the supramundane amorous affairs of Lord Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, as described by a pure devotee of the Lord, soon becomes freed from mundane lust and achieves divine love of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.33.39]

Only hearing also with a regardful attitude, that will release you from that great disease of the monstrous demon, ‘that I am master, I am monarch of all I survey.’ The nasty disease, ‘whatever you get it is for you,’ the monster.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Rādhāpadāṅkita dhāma, vṛndāvana yāra nāma. In Vṛndāvana why only by the touch of the footprints of that great sacrifice personification. Even regards the thinking of the plane can absolve you from all troubles you are suffering from, from eternity, to infinitum. Mahāprabhu Gaurāṅga Sundara. Gaurāṅga Sundara. So Vāsudeva says, gaura nā hoita, kemone hoita.

[yadi gaura nā hoita, tabe ki hoita, kemone dharitām de

rādhāra mahimā, prema-rasa-sīmā jagate jānāta ke

madhura vṛndā vipina mādhurī praveśa cāturī sāra

baraja yuvatī bhāvera bhakati śakati hoita kāra]

[Vāsudeva Datta has said: “If Mahāprabhu had not appeared then how could we sustain our lives? How could we live? What type of ecstatic rasa has He imbibed that we have been able to have a little taste? Without this our lives would be impossible. Who else could take us to the acme of realisation of the position of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. She holds the highest position. She is the greatest victim to the consuming capacity of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. She stands as the greatest sacrifice before Kṛṣṇa’s infinite consuming power. Rasarāja-Mahābhava - the rasa is there, and She is the drawer of that rasa from the storehouse. She has such negative capacity that She can draw out the rasa to the highest degree both in quality and quantity.”]

“Then who would come with all these such prospects to us if Gaurāṅga did not come? Then who will come here with this prospect, the most sweetest and highest prospect of our life? How could we know if Gaurāṅga did not come here? Gaura nā hoita, kemone hoita kemone. How could we live then? Without this hope, the ray of hope of such a great prospect to us ordinary people, such a saviour, if He did not come then how could we live? Wonderful!”

Vāsudeva Datta, Ghosh, he says like that. So in what adoration those take Gaurāṅga at that time when He came here? His servants, His friends, with what love, dignified love they took Gaurāṅga in their midst? And after His sannyāsa, five years, Gaurāṅga came here in this Koladwīpa, and a general amnesty He declared for all the offenders.

kuliyā-grāmete āsi' śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya, hena nāhi, yā 're prabhu nā karilā dhanya

[“At Koladvīpa - the Govardhana Hill of Vṛndāvana, concealed in Śrī Navadvīpa Dhāma - the Most Generous Absolute expressed Himself in His maximum generosity. Without considering any crime, He absolved whomever He found. He accepted them all.”] [Caitanya-Bhāgavata, Antya, 3.541]

Everyone got his fullest satisfaction, and He announced a general amnesty of the heinous offenders. So this is the place. Mahāprabhu came here, aparādha-bhañjan-pāṭ. All our offences may be forgiven by the Lord of Lords. By His grace we may be accepted as candidates for the Vṛndāvana in the camp of Śrī Rādhikā, Rādhārāṇī. Gaura Haribol. Of course all these things we can get by the most magnanimous heart, Nityānanda Prabhu, etc.

heno nitāi vine bhāi rādhā kṛṣṇa pāite nāi dṛdha kari' dhara nitāir pāy

[Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura’s Manaḥ-śikṣā, 1]

Catch firmly the holy feet of Nityānanda. All else will come automatically to you. The Gaurāṅga will come and when Gaurāṅga comes everything comes.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

āmi - eka bātula, tumi - dvitīya bātula [ataeva tomāya āmāya ha-i sama-tula]

[Mahāprabhu said: “I am insane, mad, bāula - pāgala - eccentric. I am one eccentric, and you are another. Therefore, we two are of the same class.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.291]

Mahāprabhu says, “I am a madman and you are also a madman. So these talks are like mad talks.”

Extraordinary means mad, not accepted by the common intelligentsia. That is madness. What do you say? Not accepted by the common intelligentsia. They’re besides them, abnormal. Normality is all exploitation, how we can increase the boundary of our exploitation.

Not satisfied with the Earth, or to the Moon, to the Sun, ‘All should be engaged in our service. Now the fuel, the oil is going to vanish, so Sun should be forced to serve our purpose, the cooking, the motor driving, or the aeroplane driving, the Sun should be made a public servant. As appointed by the Lord that He’s giving so much grace to us we should worship Him, ‘No, no. We shall be so powerful we shall engage the Sun to serve human society.’ Not with thankful eyes, ‘That Sun, you are giving me so much facility,’ with gratitude, not in that type. ‘You Sun, I am intellectual giant, I force you, come and serve us.’

Anyhow, exploitation, plane of exploitation, the plane of renunciation, that also has no position at present, then what to speak of the plane of dedication.

The fools, ‘We want to be king, and you want to be slave. You fool! You are undesirable element in the world. You will promote slavery, slave mentality. We hate you, we shall banish you. We shall efface your enemy culture. We can’t tolerate. You are the worst enemy. We are king, and you say we are slave. And you want that infectious disease in the intellect, the brain killer, you must be punished.’

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So we’re mad, and the madman’s talk.

I, when a B.A. student I read a book Lander’s Imaginary Conversation, whether do you know or not. There the Sidney and another philosopher, in the shade of a cool garden they’re talking, two philosopher friends. One is asking, “What do you think my friend about the public workers? What is their position?”

Then other friend, “I take them as hotel boy, hostel boy. One who feeds someone vegetarian, someone fish, someone meat. But the hotel boy he’s not interested with that, he’s only cleansing the place and the pot, in this way, so public workers are of that position. What men are doing or undoing they do not take into their play, but rendering some sort of service, disinterested service. The rubbing of the dishes, to supply the water, to cleanse the place, quite inattentive and un-careful. What they’re eating, how they’re tasting or not tasting, good diet or bad diet, they’re indifferent to that, only rendering some service. So public workers are like that.”

It satisfied me very much at that time. The public, the Ramakrishna Mission, the social worker, whether he’s a diabetic patient, he should not be given sweet things, then his disease will be enhanced. No concern with that. So rendering service, whether he’s going to die, or whether going to good or bad, it does not matter for them, the public servants, they have this sort of social service. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. That has got some appreciation.

kahibāra kathā nahe, kahile keha nā bujhaye,

[aiche citra caitanyera raṅga sei se bujhite pāre,

caitanyera kṛpā yāṅre, haya tāṅra dāsānudāsa-saṅga]

[“Such topics are not to be discussed freely because if they are, no one will understand them. Such are the wonderful pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Unto one who is able to understand, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has shown mercy by giving him the association of the servant of His own servant.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 2.83]

Not to speak at large to the public, but still, those who are abnormal, super normal, they cannot but speak, deal with these things. But who will care to believe it? Won’t, no interest for the public – kahibāra kathā nahe, kahile keha nā bujhaye. Who will come to believe? None! Koṭiṣv api mahā-mune.

[muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa,

sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune]

[“O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6.14.5] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.150]

One in a crore, that is also too much to say, ha, ha. Sudurlabhaḥ, koṭiṣv api mahā-mune. One in a crore, that is also too much to say. Sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

gaura prabhu prema vilasa prabhu niskincana bhaktivinoda nama [?]

gopistitu bhakti kuti lakuste sitay nisa nama ganam murari [?]

mahāprabhu gaurāṅga sundara bada nitya nija nama bir [?]

He’s madly dancing with His own Name. So sweetness, taking His own Name and dancing madly, how sweetness He finds there in His own Name! The sound aspect: that is ordained to come to save the world. He’s tasting Himself and throwing to the world.

“Oh, how sweet My Name, My own Name it is how sweet, and how useful and effective,” and throwing around and dancing. “Yes, this is a pleasing duty. It is really a duty, work, pastimes, of the high type, what I’m doing, dancing, throwing around the Name.”

His Name, He Himself tasting His own Name and throwing around! Gauranga nagara bara nitya biya namabhi [?] Līlā, this is līlā. Līlā means almost meaningless pastimes, meaningless; the meaning may not be estimated, meaningless means inestimable meaning, infinite meaning, that is līlā. Līlā, movements whose utility cannot be explained by any qualification. That is līlā. Distributing His own Name and satisfied by that He’s tasting Himself and dancing. nitya niya namabhi [?] Mahāprabhu Gaurāṅga Sundara.

And this is the place where Mahāprabhu did it, began such sort of pastimes, Navadwīpa. Then, if we get a little appreciation for a particle for the same, then when Akṣayānanda Mahārāja goes through the streets and some abuses and some push comes to his body, how should it be estimated? That valuation and this undesirability in this plane, how to adjust? How to adjust? Kṛṣṇa līlā is such, Gaura līlā is such, aprākṛta, this is aprākṛta.

Ete kele pite sai [?] There’s a Bengali proverb, if one can eat, fill the belly, his back can tolerate something. Ete kele. If one gets something to satisfy his belly, then he’s ready to tolerate something, some injury to his back.

So, if you are to become a student of the class of such, that high circle, you venture to have an admission there, the little prickling in this sort of and the thorn is in your sole, how should you take? Perhaps if that would not exist it would have been injustice. He feels like that. If so smoothly then it would have been injustice. This is pleasure, this sort of toleration should be thankfully honoured, oh, thankfully honoured, worshipped, if we’re connected with that highest of the highest aim. The prospect is so high, inconceivably high. And the thorn in the sole, or hot sand under the sole, not to be counted, but it is beautiful, it may add to the beauty. It may be harmonised with so much height it is all pleasure. It is all pleasure. This honour, we should be honoured, we should be bribed. We have come to study in a school of such high order and should we want any bribe for that?

What do you say, Akṣayānanda Mahārāja? Your push, the push you get that is an ornament; we may think it as an ornament.

A soldier when fighting may not get any hurt in the body. What type of soldier? You are a coward. No wound at your body to show and you say, ‘I fought.’ So that is honour? We can consider that to be honour? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

And then it may be sweet, ‘Oh, this is in the plane of Gaurāṅga. They’re insulting, they’re beating; that is also adoration?’ There may be another outlook, ‘This is all adoration.’ Just as the guardian gives a slap to a child, by adoring, it may come to such extent also. That is also adoration. That is Mahāprabhu’s adoration, the Dhāma adoration. In this way may be so much precious our understanding. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

In consideration of the highest prospect we are to consider all these things in comparison. Then nothing is too much, nothing is too much, nothing is intolerable. So it is said in Bhāgavatam, “If chastising comes from my Lord, should we disperse it with dishonour? No!”

Priya yadi man kori kore ei vatsan vedastu haite tabe haya koti vom [?] “The scholars following the hymns of the Vedas are chanting in praise of My existence, My beauty, so many attributes, but if,” Kṛṣṇa says, “If My favourite sweetheart is giving some stricture to Me that is more sweet than the Vedic praise, hymns.” Priya yadi man kori kore ei vatsan [?]

The Vṛndāvana is of such type. What is objectionable to another plane, that is also sweeter there, the harmony of such degree and category, we are told. We are given that sort of idea. There we are to connect our fortune. We want to connect our fortune to our prospect in that plane. Mahāprabhu says, koṭi-deha kṣaṇeke tabe chāḍite pāriye.

[sanātana, deha-tyāge kṛṣṇa yadi pāiye, koṭi-deha kṣaṇeke tabe chāḍite pāriye,

deha-tyāge kṛṣṇa nā paī, pāiye bhajane, kṛṣṇa-prāptyera upāya kona nāhi 'bhakti' vine]

[“My dear Sanātana,” He said: “If I could attain Kṛṣṇa by committing suicide, I would certainly give up millions of bodies without a moment’s hesitation.”] [“You should know that one cannot attain Kṛṣṇa simply by giving up the body. Kṛṣṇa is attainable by devotional service. There is no other means to attain Him.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 4.55-56]

“In a second I’m ready to die crores of times if only by that deed I can get the grace of Kṛṣṇa. But it is not in that way to be achieved Sanātana. Patiently following what is recommended by the higher agents, we are to follow that.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Very satisfactory things have come today, very good things. Is it not? High idea!

Devotees: Yes. Amazing things!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu says when requested by Sanātana to give the different types of explanation of ātmārāma śloka. “It does not come to Me ordinarily, but in the company of Sārvabhauma it came. I gave of course eighteen classes of interpretation. Now let Me try by the influence of you how much meaning may come of variegated nature for this śloka.” And sixty one type of explanations Mahāprabhu gave to Sanātana.

So it is by the influence of you all such things are coming through me. Kṛṣṇa is giving to you these ideas through me. So you have much contribution for this sort of attraction of the highest ideal to this plane.

Sometimes Kṛṣṇa was requested to repeat the Bhagavad-gītā. He also told, “No, no. The circumstance drew from Me that sort of discourse. But without circumstance I can’t produce that same thing.”

Something like that! Gaura Haribol. Your attracting nature, your devotional nature, is attracting things from the high plane. And I am also feeling thankful for experiencing this sort of the flow, the current of such thought. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara.

Our Guru Mahārāja once when delivering a discourse in Gaya, invited by some gṛhastha devotee, only I was present with him, and I did not take any paper and pencil or pen. But,

satya-vrataṁ satya-paraṁ tri-satyaṁ, [satyasya yoniṁ nihitaṁ ca satye

satyasya satyam ṛta-satya-netraṁ, satyātmakaṁ tvāṁ śaraṇaṁ prapannāḥ]

[“The demigods prayed: O Lord, You never deviate from Your vow, which is always perfect because whatever You decide is perfectly correct and cannot be stopped by anyone. Being present in the three phases of cosmic manifestation – creation, maintenance and annihilation – You are the Supreme Truth. Indeed, unless one is completely truthful, one cannot achieve Your favour, which therefore cannot be achieved by hypocrites. You are the active principle, the real truth, in all the ingredients of creation, and therefore you are known as antaryāmī, the inner force. You are equal to everyone, and Your instructions apply for everyone, for all time. You are the beginning of all truth. Therefore, offering our obeisances, we surrender unto You. Kindly give us protection.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.2.26]

This śloka of Bhāgavatam he explained in such a beautiful and original way I was charmed. I never found such sort of meaning coming from him. So much so, I was embarrassed that I wanted earnestly to take them down so much so that I could not hear, listen, give attention to his speech very closely. I was between the dynamo. One time I’m following his thought, another time I’m eager to find out some pen and paper, so two things go on. Then anyhow what can I do, I came back.

But when Guru Mahārāja told, himself, he told me, “You are goba gaṇeśa.” A simple bad name, goba gaṇeśa! Gaṇeśa is the expert of writing, and goba gaṇeśa who is Gaṇeśa made up of this cow dung, that is goba gaṇeśa, useless.

He told that, “What came out from my mouth, from my lips today, so many fine points that I had also necessity to go over them more and more.”

When he appreciated, when he told like that, I had got some satisfaction, ‘Oh, then I have got some qualification of appreciation of what is high and what is – he also says that, ‘Very rare things came through his lips today.’ Then I repented that I can’t take down those, then I can appreciate, but unfortunately I could not keep them for others. So some sort of repentance and some sort of satisfaction that I could appreciate those things what is appreciated by my Guru Mahārāja so much that he says that, “Fine points came this time what I had also the necessity of going through once more.” So sometimes it comes.

Gaura Haribol. It is His will Divine that is all conscious and free. Free plane may come down and may withdraw. Things like that, they can withdraw and they can come down at their sweet will. But something keeps, when trading, a part he goes away, some sort of touch remains there. He came and he went away, but some touch will be left there.

bhavārṇavaṁ bhīmam adabhra-sauhṛdāḥ, nidhāya yātāḥ sad anugraho, sudustaraṁ dyuman, bhavārṇavaṁ bhīmam adabhra-sauhṛdāḥ. Bhāgavatam.

svayaṁ samuttīryya sudustaraṁ dyuman, bhavārṇavaṁ bhīmam adabhra-sauhṛdāḥ

bhavat-padāmbhoruha-nāvam atra te, nidhāya yātāḥ sad anugraho bhavān

[“O Self-revealed One, You are bhakta-vāñchākalpataru, the wish-fulfilling tree of the devotee. The great devotees surrendered unto Your Lotus Feet, who have crossed over this ghastly insurmountable ocean of mundanity, have left the boat of Your Lotus Feet in this world (in the Guru paramparā or in the line of Revealed Truth, Śrauta-panthā) - because, they are greatly affectionate to all beings.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.2.31]

The great sages, saints, they come here and go, crossing this ocean of life and death, but they leave their footprints for our use. That following that we also may cross this un-crossable ocean of mortality. This is in Bhāgavatam.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Today we stop here.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: You are such person.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. By your good will let my aspiration be for such thing.

Devotee: Your causeless mercy upon us.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: By sincere aspiration of the thing, that is our lookout. Mahāprabhu.

The heart aching disappeared: for fear, being afraid to hear all these things, then, so, so much attentive to this fact that he forgets his own business. That I have come to create some disturbance, he forgot that business...

End of 82.01.24.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.25.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...Absolute, relative, correlated; inseparably correlated. How can you get out of that? Thesis, antithesis, synthesis! ______________________________________________________ [?]

__________________________________________________________________________________ [?]

No thought, thinking is possible without the conception of the relative and Absolute, everywhere. __________________________________________________________________________________ [?]

I have already spoken I went to Badrinārāyaṇa once. There, one Gujarati advocate...

Mahāprabhu’s interpretation different from Śaṅkarācārya’s. Mahāprabhu says that the Vedic truth we are to accept in toto. Not with any modification.

Śaṅkarācārya has only accepted few according to his own choice, and that also, partial representation, not whole. Just as his four principle expressions from the Vedas, “tat tvam asi, so’ham, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma.”

Mahāprabhu told, “Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma.”

Śaṅkarācārya says, ‘Brahma is existing, sarva is not existing.’

Then why this question arises? Sarva is there, many in one. Many is also there, and one is also there. Then why the question arises, to whom we are speaking? For whom the Veda has come with this advice? So both the relative and Absolute existing together: coexistent. Tat tvam asi, tat is also there, and tvam, you also there, and he also there. Variety is there, unity is there.

But Śaṅkarācārya takes only one and rejects the other. So, it is misinterpretation, it is not proper interpretation of the Veda. His own idea, conception, thrust into the name of the Veda. But Śaṅkarācārya’s interpretation of the Vedas, it is an artificial, it is selfish and provincial. It cannot be entered.

yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante, yena jātāni jīvanti

yat prayanty [abhiṣamviśanti, tad brahma tad vijijñāsa]

[“The Absolute Truth is He from whom everything is coming, who is maintaining everything, within whom everything exists, and into whom everything enters at the time of annihilation.”] [Taittirīya Upaniṣad, 3.1]

What does it mean? It is sufficient, “From whom everything is coming, and who is maintaining everything and existing in whom and entering into whom.” Then, is that not sufficient, specific? It is non-differentiated? How it can be?

In this way, Mahāprabhu refutes Śaṅkarācārya, in very common sense, through common sense. Mahāprabhu’s peculiar characteristic is this; that He refutes everything through common sense. Not through the abstract, difficult arguments of the intellectualism; only common sense.

Whether Śiva is greater or Nārāyaṇa is greater; see the position of the Ganges. She is feet water of one, and lives on the head of the other. Then who should be the greater? Through common sense you can judge.

Whether Nārāyaṇa is greater or Kṛṣṇa is greater? Take the example of Lakṣmī Devī; she is aspiring after Kṛṣṇa, though she has got everything with Nārāyaṇa, still some aspiration. But on the other hand, the gopīs, when they meet Nārāyaṇa, they pray that their devotion to Kṛṣṇa may be enhanced by your grace, and no attraction for Narayana.

So, this way we can judge. Apply your common sense, intuition. Apply intuition more than abstruse argument, tarkā-pratiṣṭhānāt. Argument cannot give a solution to any conclusion. Argument can never help us to reach any particular conclusion. Rather intuition or common sense can help really. That is the recommendation of Mahāprabhu. Hare Kṛṣṇa. He’s refuting the great Digvijayī also in that fashion. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Our newcomer friend?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Parisevān Prabhu, and Caitanya Candra, and also Satyavak.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And what about Vyeṅkaṭa Prabhu?

Devotee: Vyeṅkaṭa is in Calcutta.

Devotee: Do you have any questions?

Devotee: Not right away.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Not just now.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not any particular question. But he comes from Buddhistic School? Eh? Mahāprabhu met many a Buddhist when He was passing through Andhra province. Andhra province had much of the Buddhist scholars there. The great Nagarjun [?] of the Buddhist School, he comes from Andhra. But Bihar, that was the home of Buddhists and the greatest Maṭha was Narendra [?].

Devotee: Now he wants to ask you some questions. [Group laughter]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah! The cat has come out of the bag?

Devotees: [Group laughter]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, let us hear.

Devotee: Your Divine Grace, there is one point in Buddhist philosophy that is called anatha. They say there is no soul; that after you go through the experience of everything sensory, underneath it all there’s actually no foundation of life. No foundation of the living entity. There’s nothing there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He said they have philosophy, anatha, that there is no soul: after experience removed then found underneath no soul, no basis.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The Cārvāka, here in Eastern philosophy, and Epicurus, in the Western philosophy, their opinion, they’re extreme atheists. They say that the consciousness is the by product of the chemical combinations of so many material substances. So, with the dissolution of this physical body, nothing remains, as soul or consciousness, nothing. Only the physical combinations; just as chemical combination produces something more, so the physical connection of different material elements together and the consciousness produced. With the dissolution of this body, fleshy body, nothing remains. Epicurus in the West and Cārvāka in the East!

Then comes the Buddhist School, they say that if the body is dissolved, the subtle body, that is the mental system, it remains. And with the dissolution of the mental system, through transmigration of birth, they admit, this body may vanish, another body we are to enter according to karma. And then, if we do work in a particular way, then the subtle body, the mental system dissolves, and nothing remains, no soul.

Śaṅkarācārya is also of the same type, with slight difference. Buddhist School they say the individual soul does not exist, no permanent individual soul. Śaṅkara also said no permanent individual soul can exist. But difference between them is such that Śaṅkara says the Brahman, the conscious substance is there, and this separate consciousness, consciousness of separate existence, that is false. And with the dissolution of the mental system, nothing remains, no individual soul remains, but the conscious Brahman, whose reflection is the individual soul, that vanishes; that is non-existing. But there is a substance like Brahman. Just as the Moon is there and in a glass there is the reflection, in water, reflection. You remove the glass and no reflection, reflected Moon is nowhere. So all individual souls are reflections from the common cause that is Brahman, consciousness. That is reflected. ___________________ [?] reflected, so, as for individual souls; both are one and the same.

So Mahāprabhu says, “Vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda.”

[veda nā māniyā bauddha haya' ta nāstika, vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda bauddhake adhika]

[“The Buddhists do not recognise the authority of the Vedas; therefore they are considered agnostics. However, those who have taken shelter of the Vedic scriptures yet preach agnosticism in accordance with the Māyāvāda philosophy are certainly more dangerous than the Buddhists.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 6.168]

Śaṅkara also preaches on behalf of the Buddhists and apparently has given some cover. That Brahman is there. And the Buddhists say that nothing is there. This is the difference between them.

But Vaiṣṇava Ācāryas they say, “No. Individual jīva soul, it is nitya. It is just like the particle of dust of the earth, or the pencils of rays of the Sun, something like that. The infinite soul, consciousness, and the finite spark, a great conflagration and the spark, so many jīvas enveloped in darkness, somehow it may be covered, and when it comes to conflagration it is all right.” Something like that!

So, if we’re to refute the Buddhists we’re to go to the modern philosopher Descartes. Descartes. “I doubt everything. Whatever you say, I doubt.” Then, Descartes says that, “Doubter is existing is true or not? You have to start from there. Who is he? Whatever is related, stated, you say, I oppose. I doubt.”

Then, the doubter is existing or he is non-existent? If he is non-existent, then no question arises. If you come in the way of argument, then you are to come whether the doubter, what is his position, you are to assert. “Whatever is said, I doubt.” Yes, but whether you are existing really or not, you are to find that, answer that, the starting point. And what is he? Is he an atom, a dust, without knowledge? Then how he comes to assert? The point of starting should be examined. You do it. Whatever you say, the sayer, who is he? Is he conscious? Has he got reason? Has he got any existence at all? Or is it imaginary? The starting point! Then you will come to find whether you exist or not. And you means who? A matter is putting the question, or a unit of consciousness is putting the question? Who is putting the question, the first starting from where, from conscious region? Then what will be the basic existence, consciousness or matter, fossil or God?

Stevenstein [?], one German scholar, he took Indian nationalism during the first great war. I saw him in the university when I was a student of law. I studied in fourth year class his philosophy; his edition, ontology, psychology. Steven’s [?] language was very simple, still and argumentative, fine arguments, simply produced. Four tests against the atheist he gave. One of that is very useful against the atheists. That is the starting point, consciousness. Whatever you say, it presupposes consciousness. Any statement presupposes consciousness. The fossil, what is fossil? It is black, it is hard, it is smell, some smell, something, attribute, but what is that? That is the stage of mind, consciousness, stage off consciousness. Without consciousness, no assertion can be made. Without the help of consciousness no assertion is possible at all. Extreme case, fossil, fossil is the most elemental substance. Fossil means what? Some colour, from eye, some touch, hard, then some scent, some taste; but the background is consciousness. After all, it is an idea, like Berkely, it is an idea. In the ocean the iceberg is floating, so fossil is floating in the conscious ocean. Ultimately everything, whatever we can assert, that of our experience, that is floating on the iceberg; like iceberg in the ocean of consciousness. It can never be refuted.

I have got experience sometimes. When I was twenty three I had got some indifference to the world, a very natural and deep indifference to the world. At that time I had some experience. I saw, I felt that the material world is floating, just as in the milk there is the cream floating over the milk. So the Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janar; Bhuvarloka below, and the Bhūloka, like cream. The world of experience is like cream floating over the milk which is the mind. I felt it myself. And a huge quantity of milk, and the floating portion is very meagre, a cover. I could feel at that time just like it was, that suggestion came to me. Bhuvarloka, the mental world is huge, and the cover is like that cream, it is over. _________________ [?] The scent, the eye, the ear, the tongue, which is caught by these external senses, that is only the cover. And in Bhāgavatam also Prahlāda Mahārāja says,

na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ, durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ

[andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās, te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ]

[Prahlāda Mahārāja says: “Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labour, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.5.31]

Making much of the cover, bahir-artha-māninaḥ, but do not dive deep into the internal substance. There he will find Viṣṇu. Most peaceful substance within, and the cover, like cream it is over, and we are making much of that, that cover. Durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ. The very substance within, the fruit is covered by this layer, and what we experience at present, that is the cover and we are making much of that, ignoring the very substance for which this cover has been used. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

So, you try to find out the knower, analyse the knower, the doubter, what is he? Is he an atom, like a dust? Or its characteristic is an atom in the conscious, in the knowing, knower, unknown, enquirer, enquired? The starting, coming from the starting, coming from a particular point, who is he? He’s iron, or he’s stone, or he’s a point of consciousness, cetana, spirit, soul? Try to find yourself.

Then gradually you will come to know, just as in your case, that within the particle of consciousness, spirit, the whole world is also like that, covered, but within the spirit. In other words, again you will be able to see that it is a part of consciousness, a particular part of consciousness. In consciousness, different sorts of experience are floating here and there. In your conscious seat: the Sun, Moon, tree, stone, human beings, your beloved, your enemy, all floating on that consciousness. There you will be nearer to you. In that conception you will come, your approach will be nearer to your real self. Matter is far, far away, but soul is near. Try to conceive in that line. Soul, spirit, consciousness is nearer. You are a child of that soil, and matter is far, far away. But the interrupting planes have been so close together that you don’t see. Just as if we put the finger in the eye, we can’t see the finger. Only one foot distant we can see finely. So, what is very nearer we can’t see. I cannot see myself. I can see so many things. I can’t see myself.

Devotee: They like to say that consciousness is a material thing.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who says?

Devotee: The Buddhists.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I say no material thing. If I am to answer your question, then I shall say that nothing is matter. Whatever you feel, that is only a part of your consciousness, all idea. You are concerned only with consciousness. Beyond that you can’t go. That is only idea: the idea of stone, idea of tree, idea of house, idea of body, all idea. And that is very closer to you. And what is shown as particular thing that is far away. You are concerned only with idea. You can’t go outside that. All the things of your experience is a part of your mind.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: So, the eighty four lākh species, that is only idea?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All idea, in the primary position. Because they are also in Vṛndāvana, Goloka Vṛndāvana, originally, nothing is eliminated, everything is harmonised. Everything has its proper position, nothing to be eliminated. Only harmony is necessary, only outlook, angle of vision to be changed. Self-centre: exploitation and renunciation must be given up. This is the cause of hallucination, exploitation and as well as renunciation. Viśvam purna sukhāyate.

Yat kinca tina guṇa mukhi katha matay gosthe samastam hetat [?]

Sadva nanda māyā mukunda dvaitam lilanukulam param [?]

Everything has its contribution to the service of the centre, advaya-jñāna. In reflection also there are so many, there is undesirability there. In Brahmā, the highest position...

ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ, [punar āvartino ‘rjuna

mām upetya tu kaunteya, punar janma na vidyate]

[“O Arjuna, from the planet of Lord Brahmā downwards, the residents of all planets are naturally subjected to repeated birth and death. But, O Kaunteya, upon reaching Me, there is no rebirth.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 8.16]

...and to the lowest creature; misconceived. In Vṛndāvana so many things, but they have got their contribution towards the assistance of Rādhā-Govinda līlā. They are there, they are all conscious, Vṛndāvana every...

Khi katha mukham, yat kinca tina guṇa mukhi katha mukham [?]

Uddhava is aspiring after the birth of a creeper or a shrub in Vṛndāvana? Then, what is the value of the shrub and the creeper in Vṛndāvana? Uddhava’s aspiration is imaginary, theoretical, no practical value? Uddhava, the greatest devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he’s aspiring to have a birth of a shrub in Vṛndāvana. So, already those that are born there in that body; are they useless, or this ordinary shrub, or ordinary creeper? Conscious: anyhow, they are necessary for the pastimes of Rādhā-Govinda. They have got their value, direct value.

Śanta-rasa, a man who does not harm anybody, even a fly or a mosquito he does not kill, that does not mean that he’s paralysed. A mosquito taking the blood, he does not harm. That does not mean that he’s paralysed, diseased man. So there śanta-rasa in passive mood, serving in a passive mood, the sands of Yamunā, the trees, the birds, the insects, they’re in that sort of mood.

Just as in a drama, in a theatre. One he’s playing the part of a dead man. His body is being carried. He’s playing the part of a dead man. He can’t say, he can’t move. That does not mean then that he’s a dead body, he’s dead, when in a drama we find the posing is such. So śanta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, that posing is in that way. That is giving service.

So, śanta-rasa bhakta, a devotee, when he’s, suppose a king’s son, he’s playing the part of a sweeper, and when he’s playing the part of a sweeper, he’s doing so nicely that the men give up claps by appreciation. But really he’s a prince, but playing the part of a sweeper he’s getting applause there.

So that sort of posing, that is also contribution to the service of Kṛṣṇa, satisfaction. Rādhā-Kuṇḍa, the jalam, the water in Rādhā-Kuṇḍa, is considered to be the highest place in Vṛndāvana. For the water there are so many gods and devotees, they are in praise of Rādhā-Kuṇḍa, and what is the position of that Rādhā-Kuṇḍa?

The Govardhana, and that is also a posing, but Govardhana is worshipped as Kṛṣṇa Himself, but in a stone, Śālagrāma, Deities. The Ganges water. Like water, filthy, or filthy water, on the other side is covered. That water can pure, and the purest water in the material sense cannot pure, by touch. So that is another aspect of the things. It is existing, it can exist.

Mahāprabhu says, “Please consider Me Your feet dust. Not even a part of Your body, feet dust.”

Vibhinnāṁśa jīva, feet dust, that is inanimate thing, ‘consider me feet dust,’ but that dust, that is not matter, that is cetana, a unit of consciousness. And filled with love; filled with knowledge as well as love, the feet dust. Feet dust, that is also loving and consciousness present; posing is such. And they are happy there. No comparative study is there. But the primary consideration, they should be understood, that they are also unit of prema and jñāna, knowledge and ānandam, ecstasy. Feet dust is also the emblem of knowledge and ecstasy. Existence presupposed, knowledge also presupposed. That is also points of prema, love divine, in Vṛndāvana, and Navadwīpa. And the wholesale conversion everywhere it will be so, Kṛṣṇa’s kingdom, Mahāprabhu’s kingdom. Only angle of vision, we have lost, that is to be acquired, angle of vision. ‘I’m in the midst of enemy,’ but if angle of vision may be changed, I may think that, ‘No, I’m in the midst of friends.’ It is so broad.

So broad that Jaḍa Bharata, caught by the dacoits, and there he was taken to the Kālī Mūrti and he was, will be sacrificed, he’ll be killed there. But Jaḍa Bharata has got such a spacious angle of vision; he does not care for anything. “His will. Whatever is happening, it is His will. He is the proprietor, He is seeing everything. I have nothing to do.” With this idea, wherever taken he’s going without resistance; and put into the field to be beheaded. At the last moment the goddess Kālī came and killed the dacoits and saved him. But Jaḍa Bharata did not give any resistance. In the midst of enemy, he does not care for that. “No, I am in friendly cycle. No danger.” He’s in such a plane of consciousness that no apprehension, no danger; “I’m under His care, His care.” It was proved that yes, his angle of vision was not a philosophy and imagination but it is reality. It is reality. So many instances are there, that enemy is no enemy.

[akiñcanasya dāntasya śāntasya sama-cetasaḥ]

mayā santuṣṭa-manasaḥ sarvāḥ sukha-mayā diśaḥ

[“One who does not desire anything within this world, who has achieved peace by controlling his senses, whose consciousness is equal in all conditions and whose mind is completely satisfied in Me finds only happiness wherever he goes.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.14.13]

His Divine will at the back of everything. When one can come in connection with that paramount power, and that original plane of reality, he may not have any care. Still in jñāna-sunya-bhakti, that sort of posing is there, it is in jñāna-sunya-bhakti. But that is quite different in nature, Yogamāyā. The gopīs, the friends, know, “Where is Krsna? Kṛṣṇa is not here,” running hither and thither, “Kṛṣṇa!” Cows not grazing, this and that: that is also by Yogamāyā, to arrange for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, such līlā, jñāna-sunya-bhakti.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. What is your inner search? In one word, the revealed scriptures say, “Yes.” The answer of the whole revealed truth in one word is “yes,” to everyone. To everyone, one word, one answer: “yes.” What is the meaning of that yes? What you want, it is there. What you are searching, it is there. What is your inner search, to live, and to improve; you examine yourself, what is your innermost search, what do you want? The revealed truth says, “Yes, that is. Your thirst will be quenched. You will be well-fed, in one word, the answer!”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: In Bhagavad-gītā when Lord says, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho, yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat, what is the angle of vision, yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat?

[apareyam itas tv anyāṁ, prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām

jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho, yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat]

[“O mighty hero, Arjuna, this worldly nature known as external, is inferior. But distinct from this nature, you should know My marginal potency, comprised of the individual souls, to be superior. This world is accepted by this superior conscious potency as an object of exploitation for sense enjoyment, by the agency of each individual’s fruit-hunting actions and reactions. The divine world emanates from My internal potency and the mundane world from My external potency. The potency of the living beings is known as marginal, on account of their medial adaptability - they may choose to reside either in the mundane plane or the divine.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.5]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The misguided souls are from taṭasthā-loka, that has come within his illusory angle of vision; misguided, this world. And also, yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat, there also in Vaikuntha, so many, that is another. The universe of discourse is of this material world here, yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat. This is dead matter, and they entered and movement came, entered within this material conception, and moving it, in that sense, yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat. But ultimately everything is in Him.

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo, mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate

[iti matvā bhajante māṁ, budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ]

[“I am Kṛṣṇa, the Sweet Absolute, I am the root cause of the all-comprehensive aspect of the Absolute, the all-permeating aspect of the Absolute, and also the personal aspect of the Absolute - the Master of all potencies, who commands the respect of everyone - Lord Nārāyaṇa of Vaikuṇṭha. The universe of mundane and divine flow, every attempt and movement, the Vedas and allied scriptures which guide everyone’s worship - all are initiated by Me alone. Realising this hidden treasure, the virtuous souls who are blessed with fine theistic intellect surpass the standards of duty and non-duty, and embrace the paramount path of love divine, rāga-mārga, and adore Me forever.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 10.8]

yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante, yena jātāni jīvanti

yat prayanty abhiṣamviśanti, tad brahma tad vijijñāsa

[“The Absolute Truth is He from whom everything is coming, who is maintaining everything, within whom everything exists, and into whom everything enters at the time of annihilation.”] [Taittirīya Upaniṣad, 3.1]

He’s catching everything. Everything on Him, but here this material world, when this fallen soul’s concern, so many sparks have entered into this, like glow worms entered into the dark region, and there showing that darkness as surrounding it. But the glow worms, like jīva in the dark night, somehow carrying on within the darkness. We can trace like light in darkness, a very meagre light in darkness. Almost covered but can know itself in such a thick way.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Who did you say in the west was expounding the Buddhist philosophy Mahārāja? You said Cārvāka in the east and who in the west?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: In the east Cārvāka: and in the west?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Epicurus. We heard from western philosophy, we read, Epicurus is the atheist of the worst type, like Cārvāka in the east. “With the dissolution of this physical body, nothing remains, and no mental system. What we come across in our dream, that mental system also not existing.” According to him!

But Śaṅkara and Buddha, both of them accept the mental system is also within this physical body. And transmigration of the soul is also admitted in their philosophy. But with the dissolution of the mental system, that is the sukṣma-śarira, nothing remains. Nothing remains; Buddha says, Śaṅkara also says in individual case. But Śaṅkara says, “The consciousness within the mental body, that is a reflection of the above, and that Brahman is existing.” And Buddha says, “Nothing remains,” prikiti karana vada: and Śaṅkara, brahma karana vada. Śaṅkara says,

śloka dhenu pravakṣyāmi yad aktam yānti kotibhiḥ

brahma satyaṁ, jagan mithyā jīva brahmaiva na paraḥ

“In half line of poem, I’m expressing the whole truth that has been expressed by so many volumes after volumes of śāstra. Only within half śloka I shall say, brahma satyaṁ, jagan mithyā, and the jīva, nothing than that Brahman reflected. This is the substance of all the scriptures ever found in the world.” That is his...

End of 82.01.25.A

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Start of 82.01.25.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Proper knowledge is not possible under them. Why you have come, to speak to whom? Is it imagination? Your coming, your endeavour to refute Buddhism and to establish that nirviśeṣa brahma, it has got no meaning? To whom you have come to preach if that is not real, the problem has no reality? Then why so much trouble you are taking, for which? It is also imagination?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Madhvācārya told.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Rāmānuja also: Rāmānuja was the first great opponent of Śaṅkarācārya was Rāmānuja, then Madhva comes. Rāmānuja’s refutation is very strong and based on sound basis, sound foundation.

Then this karma-kāṇḍa, “The God can come, God can help, all these, the Ganges, the Vigraha and all these things all... Then what is the necessity for you to energize so much? All fictitious, your feats, no necessity, it is suicidal. You have come to do nothing? You are come to correct the error, but error is there, error must be there. And the error or misconception has got some sort of reality, otherwise what is the necessity of refuting so much, spending so much energy. Māyā is there; māyā-nitya, jīva-nitya, individual soul and māyā this is nitya.”

The basis is that taṭasthā-jīva, possibility of committing error, of misconception. Anuta prayukta, anu caitanya. Freedom not perfect, defective freedom: that is the cause of this illusion. Prison houses must be there, because the possibility of doing misdeed is in the ordinary peace loving subject. The possibility is there. The possibility of disease is there, so hospital, the medicine, the diet, all these things are necessary. The possibility is there, because weak, freedom is weak, limited.

Māyā is not necessary for the Absolute. But for the relative position, the differentiation, this māyā, measurement is necessary. Division, distribution, when there is many, it is necessary. There is one, not necessary. There the māyā, the same, that serves. The law of the country: the law of the country one and the same. The law helps the law abiding, and the law punishes the law disobeying. One and the same law: protection for the good, and suppression for the bad, one law. Law means to divide rights. One and the same law: providing for protection for the good and the other aspect punishment for the bad. So, the śakti, svarūpa-śakti helps the good, and the māyā-śakti punishes the bad. The purpose is one, law. Good rule. Good rule means this. So śakti is serving the purpose of the Lord, and necessarily it has got two aspects.

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ, vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām

[dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya, sambhavāmi yuge yuge]

[“I appear in every age to deliver the saintly devotees, to vanquish sinful miscreants, and to firmly establish true religion.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.8]

Two aspects, He comes with two aspects, everything with two aspects: one aspect for the good, another for the bad, one thing. He’s also like that. He comes here also with that purpose, a combined purpose. The conception of unity is not a stale non-differentiated, but viśiṣṭādvaita-vāda. Śaṅkarācārya kevalādvaita-vāda, kevalādvaita, oneness, unity, oneness. Rāmānuja says, “One, but differentiated one, not non-differentiated oneness, differentiated one. One no doubt, but one with specification and differentiation, one, viśiṣṭādvaita. Pantheism and Panantheism. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Then in the higher sense, highest realization, that matter is also conscious, because, yato vā imāni bhūtāni, because coming from the Lord. In the beginning we learn that it’s dead matter, and the living entities motivate, but then in the higher realization also living.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Living, that śanta-rasa. The glass, the stone, the earth, the wood, in its so many innumerable, specific colours, the matter, the cetana is there, śanta-rasa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: And the flute?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So we are to say; I told the other day, paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi, we are always in the midst of consciousness. Consciousness is enough, but in different gradation of conception. Gradation of conception may be different, but it’s all consciousness, all eternal, paśu-buddhim.

tvaṁ tu rājan mariṣyeti, paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi

[na jātaḥ prāg abhūto 'dya, deha-vat tvaṁ na naṅkṣyasi]

[“O King, give up the animalistic mentality of thinking: “I am going to die.” Unlike the body, you have not taken birth. There was not a time in the past when you did not exist, and you are not about to be destroyed.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.5.2]

Enter, or reinstate you in your own plane, what is such, without the help of this mortal element you can live, happily. ‘That is not non-differentiated world, and you have no individual representation.’ Not that. If a non-differentiated mass of consciousness can be admitted, then a system of consciousness should be admitted. What’s the harm?

Rāmānuja says that, “It is a system.”

Śaṅkara says, “There is only a mass, non-differentiated mass of light.”

Rāmānuja says, “No, differentiated light mass. That is the basis. Not non-differentiated. Not non-distinguishable.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. And Mahāprabhu says acintya bhedābheda, everywhere relative, something common, something different, everywhere. Whatever point you may go to discuss, some common, some difference. Nothing is quite the same, identical, bhedābheda. And after all, that is not within your fist. That is commanded by the Supreme. The differentiated character; that is in the hand of the Supreme power, Supreme will. It does not depend on your whim. Mahāprabhu. Gaurāṅga Sundara.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Guru Mahārāja, in the many descriptions of Kṛṣṇa’s flute in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, what is the rasa of Kṛṣṇa’s flute?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Different rasa. One thing, that one tune is to mādhurya-rasa its idea is something; to the friends, the sākhya-rasa it’s something, to the cows another thing, to the gods in some other way.

mallānām aśanir nṛṇāṁ naravaraḥ strīṇāṁ smaro mūrttimān

gopānāṁ svajano 'satāṁ kṣitibhujāṁ śāstā svapitro śiśuḥ

mṛtyur bhojapater virāḍ aviduṣāṁ tattvaṁ paraṁ yogināṁ

vṛṣṇīnāṁ paradevateti vidito raṅgaṁ gataḥ sāgrajaḥ

[“O King, Śrī Kṛṣṇa then appeared as a thunderbolt to the wrestlers, as the supreme male to the men, as Cupid incarnate to the ladies, as a friend to the cowherdsmen; as an emperor to the wicked kings, as a child to His father and mother, as death to Kaṁsa, as the universal form of the world to the ignorant; as the Supreme Truth to the yogīs, as the Supreme Worshipful Lord to the Vṛṣṇis - and along with Baladeva He entered the arena.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.43.17]

He’s entering the arena of Kaṁsa, and one is seeing, looking at Him in his own way. He represents everyone; satisfies everyone.

“Oh, He’s mine.” Yaśodā says, “My boy!”

And the grown up gopīs say, “Naughty child.”

Friends: “One of our playmates.”

The cows in Vṛndāvana: sva-pada-ramaṇaṁ.

Bhāgavata even says, “Whenever He is stepping His foot and Vṛndāvana, the Bhumi says, “My fate is fulfilled, my fortune.” The very earth, the dust, they are also feeling as if the pleasure of ramaṇaṁ, of the highest type, only by the touch of His foot, sva-pada-ramaṇaṁ. Vṛndāranyaṁ sva-pada-ramaṇaṁ prāviśad gīta-kīrtiḥ [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.21.5, barhāpīḍaṁ naṭa-vara-vapuḥ] Wherever He’s putting His footsteps, the Earth is, knows no, her joy knows no bounds. The most intense type of ecstasy the Earth is feeling by the touch.

The mādhurya personified, the ānanda personified, He is every way and is corresponding to their own demand. The centre has got the peculiar capacity of correspondence, and demand. The thirst of the whole paraphernalia; according to their capacity, and their rank, and their dignity, it is distributed. They can receive the juice from there, yo yac chraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ.

[sattvānurūpā sarvasya, śraddhā bhavati bhārata

śraddhāmayo 'yaṁ puruṣo, yo yac chraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ]

["O Bhārata, all men have a particular type of faith according to their individual mentalities. The very nature of the living being is based on faith - their internal and external nature is modelled according to their faith. Therefore, their nature may be discerned according to the manner of worship or reverence in which they have faith."] [Bhagavad-gītā, 17.3]

As one’s capacity he can. The sugar candy, if there’s bile on the tongue it’s bitter, but normal tongue very sweet. One thing: according to the capacity of the receiver, it’s tasted in different ways. A man is working; his child will see him as a father, wife will see him in such a way, the servant will see, will look at him in particular way. The dog and others, creatures, they will also take him in a particular way, according to their own rasa. The man is one.

So flute, the sound universal; it is touching the heart of the gopīs in one way, the Yaśodā also another way, “My child is safe.” And the mādhurya-rasa gopīs, “Oh, He’s calling for us, intimating such news to us.” The sakhās, the friends, they’ll be encouraged perhaps for their play arrangement. And the cows they will be benumbed, to see some sweetness; leaving their grazing they will look for the sound. In this way! Sometimes Govardhana becomes liquid, the stone becomes liquid. The current of Yamunā goes up side, not low side current but is going up. Yamunā yan maihe [?] Sometimes Yamunā becomes condensed, the water condensed, and the stone melts. Stone melting and the water comes to be solidified. Such is the peculiar sound of different type.

The will, the God ordered, “Let there be water!” There was water. “Let there be light!” There was light. His will is the basis of everything. His will is working underground, everywhere. So it has been told that stone melting and the water solidified. It is also possible, what to speak of others. The sound, the capacity of sound is such. The flute, the energy, the will He’s expressing through it. It may be beautiful, it may be horrible, it may express itself in anything else. The prime cause of everything is there, centred, the central prime cause.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Jayapataka Mahārāja is here in Māyāpur, no?

Devotee: No, he’s in Thailand.

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...Bṛhat-Bhāgavatāmṛta by Sanātana Goswāmī. I got my idea from there, the gradation. Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janar, Tapar, Satyaloka. Then Virajā, Brahmaloka, Śivaloka, Paravyoma, Goloka: in the middle Ayodhyā, Dvārakā. This gradation is represented there in an elaborate manner. How, how the gradation is going, from down, what is Bhūloka, what is Bhuvar? Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janar, Tapar, Satya, then Virajā, Brahmaloka, then Paravyoma, and then Goloka.

In the comparative study of the rasa, just as I told many times previously, the gold is the mediator between different coins of the different nationality, so rasa is the common standard to measure different opinions of different philosopher’s ontological conceptions. The rasa, the ānandam, the śuka, that is the common standard of all. None say that I don’t want happiness. None say that I won’t to avoid misery. All are common there. And the common standard of measurement is rasa; how that rasa is developing, desirable rasa eliminating undesirable rasa.

Pleasure from the: the thief also when he steals he gets some pleasure. So there is gradation. And one can give the whole thing, and get pleasure. But the difference between that pleasure: the plunderer and the giver, so qualitative difference. According to that the gradation has been allotted there.

Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janar, Tapar, Satyaloka, this is within brahmāṇḍa. Then, the land of, this is exploitation, the land of exploitation, the happiness out of exploitation. Then the happiness out of renunciation, of both kinds: Virajā the Buddhists and Brahma the Śaṅkarite. And then comes Śivaloka, according to Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, Bhāgavatam, vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,12.13.16] Rāmānuja eliminates that portion. Then Vaikuṇṭha, Paravyoma. Then the higher part of Paravyoma is Goloka, the full globe, and Paravyoma is something like hemisphere. The half of the rasa may be represented there. But full five rasas in its fullest conception is only found in Goloka. And midway we have to pass through Ayodhyā and Dvārakā, Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, Govardhana, Rādhā-kuṇḍa, in this way. How the rasa is attaining its highest and higher and higher tastes, that has been traced there.

So, the Temple [of the Vedic Planetarium] I told that there should be an exhibition, to the theological enquirers; that these are the stages, from down to go to the up. What is Goloka? That is to Kṛṣṇaloka and Navadwīpa and Vṛndāvana. And they have come down here to deliver us to take us from that stage. Scientifically, there position is there, and now in prapañca they have come here, as exhibition. The exhibition of the highest has come in the Earth to recruit us from that position; intermediate positions are such and such and such.

Consciously we are to, so no room for sahajiyāism, imitationist. These stages we must pass to attain that Goloka. And here, if we dream, remaining in the Earth I can dream of that, that is nothing. We are to pass these stages; then only our progress be genuine ________ [?] the account, proper account. These are the layers we are to pass; and the acquaintance, the nature of the layer is such. Tapaloka, what is this, the characteristic is this. A man living in Tapaloka, his model, his idea is this, Nava-yogendras living in Tapaloka. Bhṛgu living in Maharloka; and their representation is such, their activity is such. So Svarloka, Indra, Brahmā, there is Svarloka. Mahar, Jana, Janaloka. Janaloka, something...

Devotee: Kumāras?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kumāras in Satyaloka, these Catuḥsana, in this way. Persons of such grade of devotion, they live in such a stage, strata, stages of a devotee. Mahāprabhu says at once pass through these stages of exploitation and renunciation as a whole, then comes to Paravyoma, and from there come to Goloka. The calculative service, and then the spontaneous, loving service, and there’s śanta, dāsya, sākhya, vātsalya. These are the things that are to be illustrated in dolls there. The theology, the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theology should be represented in the temple in dolls, something like that.

Devotees: Dioramas.

Parvat Mahārāja: The inferior systems also should be represented? Like the lower planetary systems, hell, Pātāla, should also be shown, sinful reactions?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Pātāla. That also may be shown. Yes, underground.

Devotees: [Group laughter]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: If that is underground, then it will come to make us understand what is Pātāla.

Devotee: Like a spiral...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Pātāla will be rather this demonic exploitation. But Bhūloka, that is a peculiar place where we can have a free choice. But other places, only meant to enjoy or to suffer the good or bad deeds, mainly. But in this human species, in Bhūloka, that is the gateway we can take, here some independent step. In other places we have got more or less no independence, generally. But particularly by the powerful will of the Vaiṣṇava and the Lord anything can be effected. But the general gait of the free will to adopt anything and to reject anything that is really meant in this mānasa-deha in Bhūloka.

Aranya Mahārāja: Something like a spiral staircase; the temple should be like a spiral staircase?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Maybe in this way, that will be easy, easy for the onlookers: a few steps and then Bhūloka, a few steps Bhuvar. And their activities also to be acquainted there, they’re doing yajña, and they’re doing tapasya, and they’re doing Vedānta analysis, in this way, some sort, what is given in Bṛhat-Bhāgavatāmṛta by Sanātana Goswāmī. From sambandha jñāna, from there, mainly, what is what, which is where. With that conception we can have a general idea of the whole system of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism. What is what, what thought is to be placed where, systematic arrangement. Then the main explanation: renunciation and dedication. Dedication mainly of two kinds; calculative and spontaneous, and in renunciation two types; Virajā, Brahmaloka: and the exploitation, the seven, from above. And the other, Pātāla, that is also meant to feel the consequence of the evil deeds, generally. Not so very important for the – that is a type of punishment, but for the enquirers not so very important.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

You have taken prasādam?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes we did.

End of 82.01.25.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.26.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Pratyakṣa, parokṣa, aparokṣa, adhokṣaja, aprakṛta, five stages of knowledge, conception. Pratyakṣa: sense experience working, sense experience aspect of the world.

Then knowledge that is drawn from the experience of other persons, not direct experience by me, the second class, second layer of knowledge.

The third is in the sound sleep, however inconceivable, some knowledge is there. When we come back from deep slumber, we say that, “I slept a very peaceful sleep.” So some sort of experience has been attached there, knowledge; aparokṣa ________ [?]. Pratyakṣa, parokṣa, aparokṣa, direct experience, but we faint there generally, according to Swāmī Mahārāja’s expression. We faint in that plane aparokṣa ______ [?] in sound sleep. We be there, we come back. Very hazy, slight knowledge we draw, and when awake we say, “Very peacefully I have slept a sleep.” So a sort of knowledge, aparokṣa.

Again, crossing that, further knowledge is possible, that is adhokṣaja layer. That depends upon the sweet will of the higher plane. Not as a matter of right we can enter there, as a subject. We are object there; we cannot wander there as a subject. That is adhokṣaja. By all directions we are helpless, only dependent on Their sweet will; such a plane. That plane is more valuable than we are, in all respects. Still, there is a plane above our subjective area, so that is called super-subjective, transcendental. When that plane cares to take us in, we can enter, and if it lets us out, we are nowhere. That is adhokṣaja, Vaikuṇṭha. Freedom of the plane, of the soil, is greater than that of us. According to its whim, or His whim, we may be taken in, and we may be thrust down, brushed aside. But still, that is a plane higher than we ourselves are. We cannot be subject there, but we are object of Their grace and kindness. They can kindly take me. That is adhokṣaja.

Then at the top of that plane there is aprakṛta, Goloka Vṛndāvana, the plane of love. So it is so rare, so the aprakṛta, the Kṛṣṇa līlā, that is so much rarely to be, to come in, not very easy thing, we’re told, look for it with such temperament. By mere liberation from the forces of nature, we cannot be eligible to have entrance there.

muktānām api siddhānāṁ [nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa

sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune]

[“O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6.14.5] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.150]

It does not matter whether he’s liberated, or he’s siddha, in yoga-siddhi. Nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa, sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā. His sweet will, the sweet will of Nārāyaṇa, He may take in, or He may not care to take in, it is sweet will, pleasure. Such higher plane, so only by dedication can we acquire eligibility to enter into that plane. The visa may be granted, or may not be granted. If they think that it is not in the interest of their land they won’t grant any visa, something like that. So, we are helpless there. Their help is the serving agents who come here, the sādhus, they can help us, recommending us. So Vaiṣṇava has been given very higher place, Vaiṣṇava. A Vaiṣṇava is not a very cheap thing, very cheap thing to be a bona fide member of that plane, who has got some influence in the plane. This is what is reality, concrete reality is such.

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ

[“After many, many births and deaths, one who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.19]

tapasvibhyo ‘dhiko yogī, jñānibhyo ‘pi mato ‘dhikaḥ

karmibhyaś cādhiko yogī, tasmād yogī bhavārjuna

[“The yogī who is a worshipper of the Supersoul is superior to persons engrossed in severe austerities such as the cāndrāyaṇa, superior to the worshippers of Brahman, and superior to the fruitive workers. Know this certainly to be My conclusion. Therefore, O Arjuna, be a yogī.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.46]

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ, mad-gatenāntarātmanā

śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ, sa me yuktatamo mataḥ

[“In My opinion, of all types of yogīs, the most elevated of all is he who surrenders his heart to Me and serves Me in devotion with sincere, internal faith.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.47]

Vaiṣṇava kṛpa, Vaiṣṇava is rarely to be found. Only by accepting the dress of a Vaiṣṇava, imitation, we can’t: Vaiṣṇava dāsa. So our Guru Mahārāja was very fond of saying, “Vaiṣṇava dāsa. Our aspiration to become the servant of a Vaiṣṇava, so don’t venture to pronounce the words that “I am a Vaiṣṇava.” “I want to be a servant of Vaiṣṇava.” That should be the sincere temperament in us. “I want; I aspire after the post of a servant of a Vaiṣṇava.” Vaiṣṇavas are bona fide members of that plane. They have got recognition, position, power, influence, in that plane which is independent in all respects, not dependent of this world in any way, full in itself, self-satisfied.

Here also we may find some people self-satisfied, may not want anything for him, self-sufficient, he does not care for anything. Death or life, equal, loss and gain, equal, does not care for anything, no prejudice there. And that is superior existence, that they’re at all for anything of this mundane help, independently self-sufficient. It is in its own resources.

It is our necessity to have their company. They are not in want of us, but still, there is some feeling, that karuna, dayā, grace. That manages anyhow the connection of the fallen souls for them. There is mercy, grace, kindness, that must have some food, whom to grace, whom to be kind? Some fallen soul is necessary. So only we have got some place there, that there the faculty of grace, kindness, pity, that should be applied for. So fallen souls are necessary so that they’ll feel pity for them, give something to help them. So we have some got position there only through their compassion.

ye yatha patita haya, tava dayā tata tāya, [tāte āmi supātra dayāra]

[Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says: “Your grace is given in accordance with the necessity of those who really deserve it. In that consideration, I have some claim. I am fallen of the fallen, the most fallen, so I have some claim to Your grace.”] [Gītamālā, Yāmuna-bhāvāvali, 19]

As much fallen as one is, the hearty person will be so much moved to remove his difficulty. Patita-pāvana, saviour of the fallen: that is also a qualification in him, so we have got some place in his thinking. Because he’s patita-pāvana, the Vaiṣṇavas are patita-pāvana, so we have got some position, some place, that we may find that they have got some necessity to search after us and to take us up. That is our solace; that is our consolation, such higher entity is possible. We may achieve or may not achieve, but if we know that there is such magnanimous reality, that is enough for us. That is enough for us that there is such magnanimous existence, magnanimous aspect of the world. We may be faulty. We are faulty. But there is so much greatness, so much magnanimity and greatness is there, that our fallen characteristic is nothing.

Just as Acyutānanda told, he put a question to the Urupi Ācārya, “The sin acquired by the eating the cow flesh is more powerful, or the power of purification of the Holy Name of the Lord is more powerful?”

Then he had to submit: “No! God’s grace is infinitely more powerful than any magnitude of sin a man can commit.”

That is our consolation.

[nāmno 'sya yāvatī śaktiḥ pāpa-nirharaṇe hareḥ] / tāvat karttuṁ na śaknoti pātakaṁ pātakī janaḥ

[Still, we are requested to observe the formalities of taking one thousand Names, one lākh (one lākh is, one hundred thousand) of Names, sixteen rounds, etc. These observances are necessary for the lower order. Our attention should nonetheless focus on quality. One Name can be infinitely more effective than crores (one crore is, ten million) of Names if they are only Nāmāparādha or Nāmābhāsa (offensive or an indirect, hazy facsimile). They must be discerned.] [Kūrma Purāṇa]

eka kṛṣṇa-nāme yata pāpa hare, pātakī sādhya nāhi tata pāpa kare

[”No sinner can commit as much sin as one Name of Kṛṣṇa can destroy.”]

Nāmno 'sya yāvatī śaktiḥ pāpa-nirharaṇe hareḥ. So much power the Name has got to purify, a sinner has no power, no capacity to commit sin of such a magnitude. He has no power to commit sin, that is, whatever magnitude of sin one may commit, only at least connection of the purifying Name it vanishes. That is our solace, our consolation.

...

That I have some position there, the nature of right is such there. None can find his own position stable, but others see that he has got a good position. One can see, “He’s a Vaiṣṇava,” but none can think that he himself is a Vaiṣṇava. That is the peculiarity. “I have no position. I only aspire after some position, and the position of a servant.” To get the position of a slave is not so very easy there. Very easy to be a king, to be a Brahmā, to be a Śiva: but very unsettled position to get a position of a slave in Vaikuntha and Goloka, so flickering, so real humiliation is possible there. All humble, humility, and sincere humility. None can realize his real position. At the same time the others feel the position of another. One can feel the position of another servitor, but he can’t, he’s not certain of his own position. That is the peculiarity, everywhere. He feels that his position is uncertain. Only it depends on the sweet will of the authority. But that sweet will seems to him to be reality in the case of others, but not for himself. “I have got no position; but the others have their position ensured, but my position is nowhere.” That is a peculiar feeling there, and it is sincere feeling, not hypocrite humility, not hypocritical, but sincere feeling that, “I am nowhere, only on the grace of so many Vaiṣṇavas. But that is not the case with others, other friends, their position is ensured.” That is a peculiar thing there. So, when asserting: paricāraka- bhṛtya-bhṛtya-bhṛtyasya bhṛtyam iti māṁ smara lokanātha.

[maj-janmanaḥ phalam idaṁ madhu-kaiṭabhāre, mat prārthanīya mad anugraha eṣa eva

tvad bhṛtya-bhṛtya-paricāraka-bhṛtya-bhṛtya-, bhṛtyasya bhṛtyam iti māṁ smara lokanātha]

[“O Supreme Lord of all beings, O slayer of the demons Madhu and Kaiṭabha, this is the purpose of my life, this is my prayer, and this is Your grace - that You will remember me as Your servant, a servant of a servant of a Vaiṣṇava, a servant of a servant of such a servant of a servant of a Vaiṣṇava, and a servant of a servant of the servant of a servant of a Vaiṣṇava’s servant’s servant.”] [Mukunda-Mālā-stotra, 25]

Always they try to go down to the last extremity. “There I may have some position. I may be given a position in the lowest place.” The tendency, the prayer is like that, we find always, with everyone. Purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi sei laghiṣṭha, [“I am so mean, lower even than the worm in stool.” Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 5.205]

Only exception, when their superiors are challenged, faced with any challenge, they come out with their unconscious power, come to assert, and become desperate at that time. When their superior is challenged, the challenge against their Guru, they come out with new vigour, they’re desperate. Any loss or gain they do not care for; comes to assert. Vaiṣṇavī pratiṣṭhā, tāte kara niṣṭhā. [From Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura’s Vaiṣṇava ke? Who is a Vaiṣṇava?] With all his vigour, all his prospects, risking all his prospects he comes out to defend the Guru, Vaiṣṇava, and others, when necessary. There only we can find assertion in a Vaiṣṇava, ācārya-abhimāna. Ācārya-abhimāna means, “I hold some position. From some position I talk to you all.” But he’s sure that position is a position of service, not of a master. A Guru’s servant is Ācārya, but who is Ācārya? He’s always conscious that, “I am engaged in; I am entrusted with some service of my Gurudeva.” He can be Ācārya. Ācārya-abhimāna. “Whatever I’m doing, for the cause of my Guru, I may risk anything and everything, what I have, and if necessary I am to incur debt, loan. Still, I must assert to keep up the prestige of my Gurudeva.” The cat comes out of the bag at that time, with a furious nature, if necessary. Ācārya-abhimāna. Rāmānuja says that this is one of the means to the end, sādhana, ācārya-abhimāna, to assert from the position of Ācārya, when he’s entrusted by the Ācārya to do some work on his behalf.

Our Guru Mahārāja told in Vyāsa-pūjā in Cuttack, that, “So many gentlemen present here in this meeting, and I am receiving so many flowers at my feet. I am not ashamed. Even an animal also feels ashamed, that amongst so many, taking pūjā in the feet. But I have not that minimum sense, that so many respectable gentlemen in the meeting, and excluding everyone, I am receiving this foot worship in the meeting. I am fully conscious of that. But I want to show to all my respected friends my Guru’s position is such. The position of my Gurudeva is such that he can command the highest respect amongst us. Such high level he’s living on, and high aspiration what he can fulfil. Only to give some hint to the public of such higher existence I’m compelled on his behalf to accept this sort of respect amongst you all, my friends. It is only meant for that, meant for my Guru: his dignified position is such. I want to inform you all by this shameful act of mine.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara. Advaita. Śrīvāsa.

sankirtana sanga pange panca karo dasa [?]

Nityānanda Prabhu, to deliver Jagāi, Mādhāi, He received wound from the guṇḍā. But Mahāprabhu could not tolerate. He lost His temper to see Nityānanda exposed, dishonoured in such a way by the guṇḍā and He took resort to cakram. “You cakra, come, I shall kill the whole.” But that was conceived to help that loving campaign of Nityānanda, so there is justification. Ordinary people think that Mahāprabhu lost His temper. Nityananda could keep it, but Śrī Caitanyadeva He lost His temper; He did wrong. The general consideration will be like that, that Nityananda Prabhu was sober, but Śrī Caitanya, He could not keep His temperament.

Just as in the case of Jīva Goswāmī. Rūpa, Sanātana gave their signature to the Digvijayī.

“Yes! We’re not so big a scholar. You are we admit, you are a big scholar.”

Jīva Goswāmī could not tolerate that. “That that man will consider that my Guru, Rūpa, Sanātana inferior to him in scholarship, that fool will preach in the world in this way.”

When he got, “You give the signature. Jīva, you are, though young, we have heard that you have a good name in the scholarly circle. So your signature is necessary. You see, your Gurus, Rūpa, Sanātana, they have given signature.”

“Let me see it.” Torn it to pieces!

“What, what, impertinent you are.”

“Yes. You do not know why they gave signatures. I want to make you know that, that they in hateful temperament to you they gave signatures and dismissed you, your company. To avoid your company they gave signatures and fled. But I am their servant, I can’t tolerate that you will go and spread in the world that they’re fools, they’re stupid, ignorant, no knowledge of śāstra, they’re afraid of talking about śāstra siddhānta with you. I’m ready for fight.” And in his fight, that man was cornered. “Now you know why they gave signature to you. How, why, neglectfully to your scholarship they gave for avoiding, but they’re not so.”

That assertion, that is also valuable for us. That humility is better than impertinence, but impertinence comes to serve humility. Otherwise, humility goes in the rank of cowardice, humility is cowardice. But humility is not cowardice: to prove that, some resistance necessary, somewhere, by the servants of humble persons. The king is plain, but the dewan, he’s very gorgeous: the gorgeous servant of a plain king.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitai. Nitai. Nitai. Mahāprabhu. Gaurāṅga. Hari.

Gaura prabhu prema vilasa bhuma niskincana bhaktivinoda nama [?]

Gopistitu bhakti kutira koste srmta mrsam nama guna murari [?]

...

Parvat Mahārāja: What is the position, even though a person feels very unqualified in all ways, what is his position as he desires to accept more responsibility for serving his Guru, or of his zone?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Qualification or non-qualification of the plane of exploitation and renunciation, that has got no much value for the qualification of the positive plane. That is, when it is vague, meagre position, it is sukṛti, then śraddhā, then bhakti. That is all important, the nirguṇa. Good or bad consideration from the standpoint of nirguṇa dhāma, guṇātīta, apathy or sympathy, our devotion and offence to the Absolute. A consideration of relative positions in the plane of exploitation and renunciation, that is not very important.

api cet sudurācāro, bhajate mām ananya-bhāk

sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ, [samyag vyavasito hi saḥ]

[“If even a person of extremely abominable practices, abandoning all non-devotional pursuits of exploitation and renunciation engages in My exclusive and uninterrupted devotional service, he is venerable as a true saint because he has embraced the revolutionary plane of life.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.30]

Who has got his progress in the nirguṇa plane, in the plane of devotion proper, śuddha-bhakti, acquisition in that plane, that has real importance. And the position and power acquired in this misconceived area, it has got not much position there, in calculation. A man may be a sinner in the consideration of this plane of aggression, exploitation, but that is not very important. Real importance, how much position he has acquired in the nirguṇa, in the plane independent of exploitation and renunciation. The serving attitude, śraddhā, self dedication, how much progress he has acquired in the plane of self dedication.

[nehābhikrama-nāśo 'sti, pratyavāyo na vidyate]

svalpam apy asya dharmasya, trāyate mahato bhayāt

[“Even a small beginning in this devotional service cannot go in vain, nor can any loss be suffered. The most insignificant practice of such devotional service saves one from the all-devouring fear of repeated birth and death in this world.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.40]

A little position there can get rid of a great or dreadful future in this world. This is non-important phase of life, the physical and mental. But the wealth acquired in the soul, in the area of soul; that is all important. Do you follow?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nirguṇa, bhakti, śraddhā, ananya-bhajan, exclusive adherence to the Absolute Good, that is a particular attitude of the inner most soul, that is all important. And these are minor things; this is going and coming, going and coming, transient matter, no so much stability. But that is of high stability and high value, a soul’s transaction towards over-soul, inner transaction; that is all important. This external outer transaction of the coating, this is like garment. The mind is also a subtle garment, not the soul proper. All important that is, how he’s prepared to accept the principle of a surrendered life. That is the most valuable. The surrendered life is a real life if one can conceive within his heart, the core of his heart. That is real property, real wealth. And the external things are coming and going, flickering, non-stable things.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, I want to ask you if there’s any validity to this concept that I’ve heard, and that is, within the material plane, is there such a thing as a more favourable or less favourable position for coming to the service of the Lord?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: In material condition, is there more and less favourable positions for coming to Lord’s service, materially consideration of favourable and unfavourable for bhakti? Is there some material consideration?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That must be, we can apply them in favour of that inner life, bhakti proper. That will do some service, some help, for service. So the value of the plane, that is more powerful, so karmārpaṇa, in whatever position, I have got this small thing I am giving, karmārpaṇa. Karmārpaṇa is a lower stage.

śreyān dravyamayād yajñāj, jñāna-yajñaḥ parantapa

[sarvaṁ karmākhilaṁ pārtha, jñāne parisamāpyate]

[“O Arjuna, subduer of the enemy, of those various sacrifices, the sacrifice of knowledge as mentioned, brahmāgnāv apare [B-g, 4.25] is far superior to the sacrifice of various articles, indicated by brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma haviḥ [B-g, 4.24], because all action ultimately culminates in knowledge.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.33]

As much as inner dedication that is more valuable: the physical dedication in the physical plane less valuable. Inner dedication: as much as inner that is more valuable. And external that has also got value to certain extent, better than non-dedication, and dedicating external things. But the real party to dedicate is one’s own self, then everything is dedicated. The proprietor to be dedicated, not the property. Property is less valuable than the proprietor. Is it not?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Property is less valuable than the property holder. But here the case is mainly with the property holder, not so much with the property. Property does not belong to him. It is already on false claim. But real party is within the holder of the property, the holder, the possessor of the unlawful property. He’s a criminal, not property is criminal, but the holder of the unlawful property, he’s a criminal. And so much so, when the proprietor of things he’s independent of the state, he’s also a criminal, mukta. But he’s a property of the state, when the proprietor thinks it is all right.

How much dominant he’s faithful to the state, he’s of serving attitude to the state, that is to be considered first. How much faithful, willingly faithful to the state: that is state’s first interest. Then he’s not enemy to the state, that is second, and the last is, his property, how it’s being used, against the interest of the state, or for favour of the state welfare? In this way, the inner most existence is more valuable than the outer. An inner man is necessary, whether he’s indifferent, or he’s enemy, or he’s faithful...

End of 82.01.26.A

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Start of 82.01.26.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...faithful to the state, man may be indifferent to the welfare of the state, and man may be antagonistic to the welfare of the state, the interest of the whole. That is to be considered. If the real man he’s faithful to the state, but his property is utilised against the interest of the state, that may be easily managed if the man is really faithful. So misuse of his property, that may be easily compensated, managed. If he’s indifferent, of course with difficulty: but if the man within he’s against the state, whether with property or no property, he’s to be eliminated. The inner man is all important, all others less important. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

api cet sudurācāro, bhajate mām ananya-bhāk

sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ, samyag vyavasito hi saḥ

[“If even a person of extremely abominable practices, abandoning all non-devotional pursuits of exploitation and renunciation engages in My exclusive and uninterrupted devotional service, he is venerable as a true saint because he has embraced the revolutionary plane of life.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.30]

The man is really faithful to the state, but his properties, dependants, are doing something opposite, that is not very harmful to the man. That can be easily taken into real line. Not desirable, but less injurious. The inner man he’s all concern, what is the attitude of him towards the state, towards the authority of the state. That is all important.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu.

‘gaurāṅga’ bolite habe pulaka-śarīra, ‘hari hari’ bolite nayane ba’be nīra

āra kabe nitāi-cānda koruṇā koribe, saṁsāra-bāsanā mora kabe tuccha ha’be

viṣaya chāḍiyā kabe śuddha ha’be mana, kabe hāma herabo śrī-vṛndāvana

rūpa-raghunātha-pade hoibe ākuti, kabe hāma bujhabo se yugala-pīriti

[“When will that opportune moment come to us when there will be shivering of the body as soon as we chant Lord Gaurāṅga's name? While chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, when will there be tears in the eyes?] [When will I obtain the mercy of Lord Nityānandacandra? When, by His mercy, will the desire for material enjoyment become very insignificant?] [When the mind is completely purified, being freed from material anxieties and desires, then I shall be able to understand Vṛndāvana and the conjugal of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and then my spiritual life will be successful.] [When shall I be very much eager to study the books left by the Six Goswāmīs, headed by Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Goswāmī? By their instruction I shall be able to properly understand the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.”]

[From Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura’s Lālasāmayī Prārthanā – Longings and Prayers]

Mahāprabhu. The tuft of hair tied with the feet of the Lord, Guru, Gaurāṅga, the tuft, it is meant for tying. Catch by the tuft when diving in the water.

They say aerial, the communists, “Aerial, aerial, electric current, to catch electric current into brain.” Yes, aerial, to imbibe higher knowledge, transcendental knowledge: keeping connection with the higher. The puṣpa which is offered to the Deity, to keep that tied here, that prasāda, offered to the feet of the Deity that is tied here, generally. I am lower than the dedicated flower on the feet: that is on my head. I’m residing lower. The offered flower on my head, on my highest part I hold it. The flower that is offered to the divine feet I’m tying it there; and always below, and connected.

tvayopabhukta-srag-gandha-, vāso 'laṅkāra-carccitāḥ

ucchiṣṭa-bhojino dāsās, tava māyāṁ jayema hi

[Uddhava says: “Adorned with the articles that have been offered to You, such as garlands, fragrant clothing, and ornaments, we, Your personal servitors who partake of Your holy remnants alone, will certainly be able to conquer Your illusory energy.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.6.46]

Uddhava says, “The very easy way to cross this world of exploitation and renunciation, what is this? Only to revere Your remnants. Tvayopabhukta-srak, this mālā, garland, gandha, the scent, candan paste and other things, srak, gandha, vāsaḥ, what is offered to You that sort of dress. Alaṅkāra, and also ornaments offered as prasādam, vāso ‘laṅkāra-carccitāḥ. By adoring that as prasādam, as remnants left by You, to live with that. With this temperament only we shall be able to cross the whole of undesirable elements in the world. Only through my respect for the remnants offered to You, and I am decorated wholesale with only the remnants. That is my all; that is my crown, my glory. The remnants are my glory. I want to glorify myself wholesale with the remnants which is offered to Him and the remaining I glorify. Only with this idea we shall be able to cross this un-crossable; charming forces of nature, apparently charming forces of nature. We shall, by the charm of Your remnants, with this connection, anyhow to connect with the lower stage, lowest, least consciousness, connection of the high, least connection of that Divinity we are to maintain.” That is nirguṇa.

harir hi nirguṇaḥ sākṣāt, [puruṣaḥ prakṛteḥ paraḥ

sa sarva-dṛg upadraṣṭā, taṁ bhajan nirguṇo bhavet]

[“Śrī Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is situated beyond the range of material nature. Therefore He is the Supreme Transcendental Person. He can see everything, inside and outside. Therefore He is the Supreme overseer of all living entities. If someone takes shelter at His lotus feet and worships Him, they also attain a transcendental position.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.88.5]

We are to know what is nirguṇa and what is saguṇa. Saguṇa means which is discordant with the Absolute harmony; that is saguṇa. Not in harmony, clashing with the Absolute harmony of the whole. In the deepest plane the harmony is perfect. And on the surface harmony seems to be a little disturbed; so many authorities in clash in their mode of living their life. Even someone is eating another and maintaining his existence. In the surface discord is so plain that one cannot live, maintain his body, without disturbing another’s existence. That is the discord to the highest position, jīvo jīvasya jīvanam.

[ahastāni sahastānāṁ, apadāni catuṣpadām

laghuni tatra mahatāṁ, jīvo jīvasya jīvanam]

[“Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands; those devoid of legs are prey for the four-legged. The weak are the subsistence of the strong, and the general rule holds that one living being is food for another.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.13.47]

To maintain one’s body he’s devouring so many bodies of so many souls; the discord in the highest sense. And the deepest position none is devoured but everything is eager to devote himself to maintain the existence of the environment, and keeping the tune intact with the centre, central interest, in soul. And that is eternal, the soul is eternal, no necessity of maintaining existence by devouring the bodies of other persons in the same plane. So a diabolical change in life! Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Do you want some water?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. Nimāi. ___________________________________________ [?]

Last night not very cold, so did not use any cover, only the jersey and that dress sufficed, was sufficient, so perhaps some cold catching, some little cold. ____________________________ [?]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Niskincana bhaktivinoda nama gopistitu _________________________________ [?]

Mahāprabhu gauranga sundara bara nitya nija nama bir [?]

Gauranga nagara ______________________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, is that lady arranging printing press?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: She’s gone; no information as yet. She’s expected on the Pūrṇimā day for her second initiation. Perhaps at that time it will be more clear.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

I’m unfit for gorgeous life. Plain and simple is very favourite to me. So I am ease lover, ease lover.

And the Mādhava Mahārāja told once his temperament is such that not only one engagement, at least five, six engagements will always be at his disposal. His nature was such. He told. “Not only one engagement, five, six, departments, and so many assistants will come and consult and I will guide them.” That was his nature.

But I’m just the opposite with me. I’m more concerned with the upper, than the lower. That is another tendency in me, obligation with the upper rank, and not much affinity towards the subordinate. That is also another nature in me, not so much attraction for the subordinate, but more for the superior. That is a temperament in me. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. But in the last part of my life Guru Mahārāja forcing me to distribute something on his behalf, what he kept with me perhaps, that I see, forcibly.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, I wanted to ask you, because we cannot know, but Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta must have had, his nature must have been very sweet...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course, sweetness attracted, though outwardly he was not very sweet, he was very...

Parvat Mahārāja: Like a lion? Nṛsiṁha Guru!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. But inwardly very, very, sweet: very, very sweet inwardly, yet could be traced only at internal, his internal sweetness, but outwardly gorgeous. Pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge, this one expression depicted him, pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge. The way of love was worshipped by him with grandeur and awe and reverence. The object was the simple and beautiful; that love, divine love. But his ways to establish in the world was like a lion temperament. Pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge. In one śloka I have described his life, I think after his departure. If he would live he would say that, “Śrīdhara Mahārāja has imprisoned me in a cage.”

nikhila-bhuvana-māyā-chinna-vichinna-kartrī, [vibudha-bahula-mṛgyā-mukti-mohānta-dātrī

śithilita-vidhi-rāgārādhya-rādheśa-dhānī, vilasatu hṛdi nityaṁ bhaktisiddhānta-vāṇī]

[“Slashing and smashing the illusion of the whole mundane plane, Dealing the deathblow to the scholars’ manic search for liberation’s throne; Relaxing calculation, for the realm of Pure Devotion in Love of Śrī Rādhā’s Lord Supreme: O Abode of Divine Love - Divine Message of Śrī-Bhakti-Siddhānta, May you dance and play and sing your song within my heart forever.”]

Vigorously cutting asunder the whole plane of exploitation, and vibudha-bahula-mṛgyā- mukti-mohānta-dātrī, and he put end to all the scholarly attempt for working or real salvation from this apathetic nature, salvation. Different scholars have given different conceptions of salvation, of liberated stages. But he has given a stop to all their calculations. Then, third plane, third step, śithilita-vidhi-rāgārādhya-rādheśa-dhānī, the ways, rules and regulations, the hardness and stiffness of the rules and regulations, that has been minimised by a touch of divine love. And he has given us the Rādhā Govinda aradhana, that Vaikuṇṭha, crossing the Vaikuṇṭha, the calculation, the viddhi, awe, reverence, all these things. That is minimised, checked, that is slackened, through love. And he represented the Rādhā Govinda aradhana.

That is Bhaktisiddhānta vāṇī, the real existence of Bhaktisiddhānta is there. He’s there, the softness of Vṛndāvana within, and the hardness of a devastator in the _______ [?] Genghis Khan, they created havoc in the world. So fighting with one and all, single handed fight against the whole world and cutting asunder everything coming before him. That is his external attitude. And the second attitude, to put a stop to all scholarly researches, doctorates, to attack the doctorates of different departments, and to stop their boasting researches. And third, to minimise the grandeur of the worship of Nārāyaṇa, he slackened. And the domain of love is taken down, that Rādhā Govinda, it is the core of the heart, the flow of love from your heart, that is all in all, and with that you come to your object of worship. That was his history.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

And Swāmī Mahārāja also did with such vigour. “You UNESCO, like so many dogs you are barking. Dogs bark, fixing their aim at a thing, and you are this world thing. But where will you all go, you boasting persons? A few days after, where will you have to go, all wholesale, you don’t think of that. And everyone for whom you are shedding crocodile tears, what will be their fate in future? You don’t have time to think about that, crocodile tears shedding.” So proudly he spoke from the highest platform of the world, vigorously refuting the present civilisation. Undaunted he stood alone to fight with the present civilised stalwarts from the highest platform of the world. With so much force and power and authority he came and stood against. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He told, “The dogs are going on four legs, and you are going on four wheels, so proud of your cars.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: More faster than dogs.

Parvat Mahārāja: “But you’re running after the same thing,” he said. “With four legs or four wheels, what’s the difference?”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. How pleased our Prabhupāda would have been if he, of course he’s there and he’s pleased. Ke? Nitāi Gaura Haribol. __________________________ [?]

...

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Last days, just before passing from the world, imposed duty, this is grace, his grace. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: So therefore passing is not permitted, no permission.

Parvat Mahārāja: No permission for passing from this world. No granted permission.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha. No permission for departure.

Parvat Mahārāja: Cancelled.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Everything may be possible.

Parvat Mahārāja: Delayed.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Delayed, it may be delayed.

Parvat Mahārāja: Vaiṣṇava kṛpa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vaiṣṇava kṛpa can do anything and everything.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Actually we’re passing, ha, ha. We’re the ones who are passing away.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Only you are saving us actually.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi Gaura.

Mahāprabhu prema vilasa guṇa niskincana bhaktivinoda nama [?]

Bhakti kutira kosti ________ nama guna murari [?]

Isolation!

End of 82.01.26.B

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Start of 82.01.27.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...through books, by the help of bṛhat-mṛdaṅga, the bigger mṛdaṅga. Mṛdaṅga, that class of instrument is found in west north. Any type of this yantra...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Drum.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Drum.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Not same as mṛdaṅga.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not same.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Only since our Gurudeva went.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mṛdaṅga means built by earth, mṛd means earth, aṅga means limbs, sprung from earth, earthen drum, mṛdaṅga, plain, simple. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Any question?

Devotee: Mahārāja, what is the meaning of Chaitanya Sāraswat? You have given the name Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That Chaitanya Maṭha and Saraswatī our Gurudeva, from Chaitanya to Saraswatī. The knowledge that has come from Chaitanyadeva up to Saraswatī, Guru Mahārāja. That length, propaganda within that length we are to revere, accept and preach, Chaitanya Sāraswat, from Chaitanya to Saraswatī. And the angle of vision of our Guru Mahārāja Saraswatī, his angle of vision about Chaitanyadeva, how he has seen with his divine eyes, it is available here. We are concerned with that, from Chaitanya to Saraswatī, our Guru Mahārāja, the Guru paramparā, the whole covered, considered, cultured, and being preached or spread. Chaitanya Sāraswat. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Chaitanyānuga Sāraswat, another meaning. Saraswatī means vāṇī, vākya, words, expressions of Chaitanya, Chaitanya vāṇī, the real preaching, instructions of Śrī Chaitanyadeva, His words. That may be the meaning here. Chaitanya vāṇī: or really from Chaitanya to Saraswatī. The culture of Bhāgavatam as viewed by Śrī Chaitanyadeva and His followers up to Saraswatī. That is the object, the theme of our life, the purpose of our life. Our parichay, our identification, or nature, acquaintance is there. Who are we? We are so and so. They’re our masters. We’re a servant of that group. We want to revere them, to propagate them, to ask people to accept them. Our whole concern is there. Chaitanya Sāraswata. Sāraswata Chaitanya. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Sāraswata Brāhmaṇas, there is a class of brāhmaṇas – Sāraswata, Chaitanyānuga Sāraswata, there are other Sāraswata Brāhmaṇas in Mahārāṣṭra side. They say they are Gauḍa Brāhmaṇas, Sāraswata Brāhmaṇas. Sāraswata. So we are Sāraswata, the particular class, particular Sāraswata group that are under Chaitanyadeva, that Sāraswata: that may be another meaning. In Manu- saṁhitā also it is mentioned, Saraswatī, Dṛṣadvatī.

[sarasvatī-dṛṣadvatyor deva-nadyor yad antaram

taṁ deva-nirmmitaṁ deśaṁ brahmāvarttaṁ prachakṣate]

The Āryan civilization that came from up country, first it was between Saraswatī and Dṛṣadvatī, between two rivers. The Vyāsadeva, they all belonged to that quarter, that Badarīkāśrama. Ambarīṣa Mahārāja he lives that side it is mentioned, the Saraswatī River which is falling on the Ganges near Badarīkāśrama. Badarīkāśrama just on the bank of Saraswatī, where Vyāsadeva used to live, and Nārada came to give dictation about the principles of Bhāgavatam there in Badarīkāśrama just on the banks of Saraswatī. And Vyāsadeva also taught the principles of Bhāgavatam to Śukadeva in Badarīkāśrama on the banks of Saraswatī. Ambarīṣa Mahārāja used to live that side. It is mentioned in Bhāgavatam, hundreds of sacrifices were done by him on two banks of Saraswatī River. That was in very ancient time.

At that time Himālaya was considered to be the latest mountain; highest but not ancient, but very lately out. Of all the mountains, Himālaya, though it is biggest, but it is the youngest. So Himālaya was down, and Himālaya going up, and those places are becoming very cold and people were coming down to have their inhabitance in the plane. And the plane that also with the rising of Himālaya, the Indian Territory was small and with the rise of Himālaya, the plane is also rising from the sea extension. And that is too cold so people are coming down to settle in the sea banks. In this way the seat of ancient civilization was there. But that is up and people are coming down and coming this side. So the first seat of Āryan civilization, Vedic civilisation, used to be located that side, and gradually it’s spreading itself this way. So Saraswatī, the banks of the Saraswatī: that is the place where the Vedic culture began. And gradually that is being extended towards this side. East Bengal and other things up to this Ganges it is ancient, but above that, that has all sprung up from the sea; and in the south also something like that.

So, Sāraswata Brāhmaṇas, a particular group of brāhmaṇas that held up the Vedic culture, they are supposed to have their residence on the upper Himālaya now, and that is gradually coming this side. So, Sāraswata Brāhmaṇas, this is Chaitanya Sāraswata, to differentiate from them, and modified by Chaitanya in the line of Bhāgavatam, He has spread amongst all the Ācāryas. Chaitanyadeva preached about love divine. Clearly, and in a developed way, scientific way, Śrī Chaitanyadeva only preached the fifth end of life, that Bhāgavata prema, the end of life to acquire love, affection, attraction for Godhead, for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Lord of love and He’s the innermost conception of Godhead. The highest conception of Godhead is in Kṛṣṇa. And the jīva can have a relation with Him, that of love, and that is the highest achievement of all souls ever known, come to the world. So Chaitanya Sāraswata, not other Sāraswata, Chaitanyānuga Sāraswata: belonging to the School of Chaitanya. Sāraswata: that belongs to the School of Śrī Chaitanyadeva, Chaitanya Sāraswata.

...

Nitāi Gaura Gadādhara Advaita Śrīvāsa saṅkīrtana sange pange panca paracas [?]

Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswata, Sāraswatas that are the followers of Śrī Chaitanyadeva, Kṛṣṇa Chaitanyadeva. Who believes in the consciousness of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the believers in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Chaitanya Sāraswata, and His instructions. Sāraswata, whose transaction is with sounds, Saraswatī means vāṇī, words, the word trader Sāraswata, whose business is with words, sounds. Sound means Name, Nāma, śabda. Their business with divine sounds, whose duty is the transaction of divine sound: and what sort of divinity? Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya, Kṛṣṇa consciousness sound business. That is their trade they’re engaged in, in that transaction of the divine sound of Kṛṣṇa cult, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

ISKCON: I asked Swāmī Mahārāja, “You are so fond of name but why have you given the name as ISKCON? Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya, Mahāprabhu’s Name, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that philosophical, ontological expression, but Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya, consciousness means caitanya. Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya is there, caitanya is there, consciousness, caitanya, His Name, Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya. You say ISKCON but the world says Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement. They have taken the idea of name, very welcome, very intimately, Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement. The public has given the name Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement. Hare Kṛṣṇa automatically said. But Kṛṣṇa consciousness it is ontological expression to be realised for the philosophical minded. But Kṛṣṇa caitanya, consciousness means cetana, caitanya, Kṛṣṇa consciousness means Kṛṣṇa cetana, Kṛṣṇa caitanya. The Name is there personified. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Īśa-con. He answered, “Īśa-con, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ.” [Śrī Īśopaniṣad, 1] Īśa-con, he answered, replied, “That Īśa-con is there, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. I did not push further. Īśā is some abstract conception of God, Master, but Chaitanyadeva, Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya full of divine love, highest there. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Parvat Mahārāja: What name do you think would be appropriate then?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________ [?] that Kṛṣṇa caitanya and Kṛṣṇa consciousness very near, closer, Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya Name. The other fellows, Ramakrishna Mission, they have given the name Ramakrishna Mission. Mission is English word and Ramakrishna is Indian. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, who are the descendants of the Āryans? There are different opinions that the Āryans have descended into this race and that race. Of course it may not be a very spiritual questions, but for historical reason.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: We do not know about the present historians, but in faith we find those that are followers of the Vedic culture, they are Āryans, ārya. Ārya, Āryans. Ārya means venerable, ārya-putra, ārya-pradhana; principal. Here is a custom that the wife addresses the husband by the name of Ārya-putra. Ārya means grand. The husband’s father is called ______________________ [?] grandfather, as it is told, grand, in that sense ārya is used. So ārya means, Āryans, means pradhana, who are the revered, who held the highest culture at that time. In the beginning of creation who is supposed to hold the highest culture commanded such reverence of all; that is ārya.

And under different circumstances they had to go towards different directions. Of course it may be thought that they are somewhere near the Caspian Sea. Kaśyapa. Kaśyapa is supposed to be the father of the gods. Then nearby came Manu, the ṛṣi, they’re all mostly, they’re residing in that other place on the other side of Himālaya. Then gradually Himālaya rose up and some sort of partition, some came this side, that side, in this way might have been distributed.

But that does not matter. We are not concerned much with the geography. We are concerned with the culture, the comparative study of all available cultures. We are to accept, we are to compare, and we are to receive the comparative study of cultural height. Wherever it be it does not matter. So dīkṣā Guru and śikṣā Guru the same thing comes: relative position and absolute position.

And in this connection I sometimes quote this Barrister Norton. Aurobindo was a very powerful writer, good English, and very, teja [?] powerful writer in English, forceful. And when he absconded, ‘where is he?’ to trace, that Norton, one Barrister of very strong common sense, he used to read different newspapers and seeing some article, “Oh, here is Mr. Ghose.” By his articles he could find.

So, we have to find like that, where is Kṛṣṇa, the Kṛṣṇa conception of Godhead, Śrī Chaitanya who has given out that Kṛṣṇa conception of Godhead, Vyāsadeva, who has given that Bhāgavata, where Kṛṣṇa conception of Godhead. Devaṛṣi Nārada, who came to instruct Vyāsadeva to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness of Godhead, without that everything is tasteless. “Whatever you have delivered so long, that will be all tasteless and unnecessary if you in the end don’t connect it with Kṛṣṇa consciousness of Godhead.”

In this way general Vedic culture they could not reveal the meaning of Kṛṣṇa consciousness properly. In rasa, the śruti, the Veda personified, the higher Veda śruti personified, they’re admitting that, “We failed to express You my Lord, that You are so beautiful and so loving, we could not understand. We failed to distribute to the public Your higher conception.” The śrutis were confessing this. “What we have so far given to the public to understand, that is somewhat Brahman, Paramātmā, that was predominating in our statement. But now we are charmed. So beautiful within, so charming, so loving within, we failed to understand and we also failed to deliver. We will be forgiven our failing.” The general revealed truth at large also failed.

Then Bhāgavatam [10.47.61] came with, śrutibhir vimṛgyām. “All the revealed truth, they are only trying to show the direction, that this side, we do not know it fully but it must be somewhere this side. This is the general instruction of all the revealed truth in the world. It must be very sweet and very useful, indispensable for us, very high: all these things, but so loving and so charming and so beautiful as to attract us to the utmost. We even forget our own existence. So much charming, we could not understand.”

That is the confession of the general revealed truth of different types. That has been given in Bhāgavatam by Vyāsadeva, by Nārada, Śuka, etc., and in the very root the Kṛṣṇa is there, Śrī Chaitanyadeva, Kṛṣṇa as Chaitanyadeva, He’s at the root of the distribution of sweetness of so much high degree of the Lord. So we are surrendered to Him. And He says that this should be spread the length and breadth of the infinite world. Pṛthivīte ache, that has been, in different places it is seen.

[pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grama, sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma]

[Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu is the pioneer of Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana. He said: “I have come to inaugurate the chanting of the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa, and that Name will reach every nook and corner of the universe.”] [Chaitanya-Bhāgavata]

Pṛthivīte 'paryyanta' yata nagarādi-grama, not only the towns and villages on the Earth but pṛthivīte 'paryyanta', up to the villages and towns up to the Earth, that is, all the planets are also concerned. Pṛthivīte 'paryyanta', from somewhere else up to the Earth, wherever there are villages, inhabitants to be traced anywhere. And brahmāṇḍa tārite, brahmāṇḍa means created by one Brahmā, the space and time that is controlled by one Brahmā. So many aṇḍas, aṇḍa means eggs, so many egg-like solid things are floating in the air, brahmāṇḍa. So many eggs-like, so many innumerable planets are floating in the air like so many eggs. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Satyānanda Prabhu has some question Mahārāja.

Satyānanda Prabhu: This year, nineteen eighty two, there is prediction astrologically of many eclipses of the Sun and Moon. And also sometime in the end of February or beginning of March there is a prediction of planets to line up behind the Sun. And also some planets are in retrograde. So this is a very inauspicious time, according to astrological understanding. And many natural disturbances will be there in the Earth. So a devotee, for his service to Kṛṣṇa, should he consider these things when preparing to go to a place? For example, I’m supposed to go to Japan to preach, so that place is known to have many earthquakes and many natural disturbances. So, my question is, for my service, for myself, should these things be considered, should it be important to protect oneself so that one can serve Kṛṣṇa nicely or should one simply depend upon Kṛṣṇa’s mercy in every situation?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In nineteen twenty seven perhaps, there was a big solar eclipse, and at that time the Kurukṣetra Maṭha was newly started. I was Maṭha command there. And Prabhupāda went there and some spiritual exhibition was also arranged there, about the gopīs and Dvārakā Kṛṣṇa meeting how that was depicted. At that time I first heard from our Guru Mahārāja that why on account of solar or lunar eclipse, especially solar eclipse people come to a holy place and take bath, collected by lākhs and crores. His explanation was, I remember, that at that time the planets come in a particular line and there is possibility by increased attraction they may come together and clash and everything may be finished, pulverised by that clash. So with this apprehension, to utilize their time as best as possible they come to a holy place to take bath, take the Name of the Lord, all these things. They concentrate their spiritual activity apprehending some danger, natural or accidental, natural, ādhidaivika, something like the earthquake, the storm; these dangers. What is the suitable word for that?

Devotees: Disaster! Calamity! Catastrophe!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Anyhow, as a universal apprehension of danger, we are to come to a particular place to engage oneself when the last moment has come. Perhaps it may be crushed. So I must utilize my time for the best. So according to their own religious instruction, some Namarg [?], some prayer, church prayer, Hindus, the Nāma-saṅkīrtana, all these things: so when the general apprehension comes or the destruction, whether individual or collective, we should try our best to utilize the time with the high conception in divinity. That is very good, very good. And also it is appreciable, as you say, where the apprehension of danger is acute, to run there for relief work. It is laudable. But, how far that intention is correct, that is to be judged.

When I was in Madras, some pleader came to me and preached about Ramakrishna Mission’s activity. “Why you want to deliver the people? But they’re dying, ill-fed and diseased. You don’t go to help them. If they die, to whom you will preach? So relief work is necessary. Just give them food, give them medicine, keep them in health. Then of course you will give them the God inspiration. That is good. But if they die, to whom will you help in a spiritual way?” That was his point.

I told him, “That there is a famine, want of food in the country, and I have got some food and I am distributing to those that are flocking together around me. But someone is running away. Then what should I do? Should I distribute the food to those that are nearby to them, or stopping that I shall run after the man to catch him to give some food to him? What should I do?” I asked him. “There are thousands of men crowded on my side, and should I go on distributing, or stopping that I shall go to run after him, to take him? So also, men are dying, but other men are ready around me, and the important function of distributing the food why should I leave for the time being. I lose the time for running and leaving the distribution; stopping the distribution I shall run for the man. What is the necessity? So many around me flocking together thickly, I shall go on. So many living persons they are going: why I must be partial to them only? There are hundreds and thousands around me.”

So whether this policy is to be more fruitful or not, this is to be judged. There are so needy persons around me. Should I save them, or I shall run to another place for particular necessity of them? Of course if there are men to attend here, then I can go. If they are attended here, so many attendants to look after here, I may go to some other place where needed. Otherwise why should I lose time by running, by travelling? My business, my aim will be to engage myself always in that. And sometimes not only distribution is the only work. Some are shown to distribute, some supplying, some cooking, so different functions are necessary to save the people. And the disaster, some acute are distributed slow, always, disaster is always going on, not only including human beings, but so many insects, animals, others also. They are also in need of receiving such vibration that comes from the divine layer.

When Mahāprabhu went through Jhāḍakhaṇḍa even the lions, elephants, deer, they also got some benefit from His Nāma-saṅkīrtana. Nāma-saṅkīrtana should be done properly. I shall always emanate that divine energy. I shall try to invite and to distribute, as mediator, to draw and to distribute. So we shall engage ourselves in the most intensified duty of serving, of a mediator. That is the primary thing, main thing, that I may be deeply engaged in drawing from the upper layer and to emanate towards the environment. That sort of high ray, or high wave, that is necessary.

I saw today one important thing in review of Mother Theresa. Mother Theresa told that... What is this pangu? English?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Crippled?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Crippled, those that are not well grown, full grown. “That not only in the physical sense but also mental sense, there are more, many crippled, they should be helped, the mentally crippled persons.” The mentally crippled: so all the civilized persons are mentally crippled. So, physician cure thyself! They are mentally crippled. So around me so many, all, only to remove that I should try to hold myself as an agent. But according to my own adhikāra, my stage, to be sincere to my own self, I shall do as much as possible. It should be done above history and geography. The general...

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Start of 82.01.27.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And in this connection I want to say, one jyotiṣi he told that there is a rumour that the planets are coming in this position, this is not so serious because such things happen now and then. And very recently also it happened like [nineteen] thirty seven and minimized the rumour, not so serious. Two or three years ago there was another rumour like that. So much so that I came out there, the earthquake will come and the whole thing will be demolished. Then I removed myself to this room. And if such a vehement earthquake comes then I shall go and stand under the tree. Some rumours come.

Then when Khrushchev sent the atomic energy towards Cuba, perhaps, to make a base there and perhaps Kennedy was the president, he told, “No, I shall oppose it. I don’t like that so close to America, in Cuba, Russia will bring the atomic missile, so rather I shall oppose him in the ocean.” So Kennedy sent his man of war, or something, navy to oppose Russia. Anyhow the good sense awakened in Khrushchev and he ordered to come back. At that time also it was thought the most acute time has come and the atomic war is going to begin.

So many things I was thinking. I thought I shall enter the temple with Tulasī and close the doors. The whole atmosphere will be polluted. But I shall enter the temple and with Tulasī. Because the oxygen will be spoiled so no oxygen to take, to breathe in, so Tulasī will be there, they breath, they give oxygen. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So underground towns are being constructed now for atomic war! Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. But to get out of this world of blood and flesh and bones, we are more in danger when we live in this cage. If we can live outside of this cage, no fear: in danger only this fleshy body that is in danger. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Parvat Mahārāja: This body is an atomic body.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It attracts atoms, they kill me, the body is always inviting the death, come to me. This body means invitation to the death. So dear our body is to us, but our real welfare is to get out of this body and may not enter this body which is so favourite to us at present. To be out of his association, with his association I’m dying, I’m in danger, and this body is only an outer product. The mental body is responsible for everything, we can see in our dream, that body. There is a country where those bodies move and live, and that government also. They are also dealt with.

Pitṛloka generally according to Hindu śāstra the departed souls they live in Moon. Uttarāyaṇam, dakṣiṇāyanam [Bhagavad-gītā, 8.24-5]. Dakṣiṇāyanam means he passes from the body but again to return to this side. That is their karma. The mental body is of such quality that he will again come back here. So after death they go up to the Moon, to rest for some time there. And there is arrangement in the śāstra to send something, some food to them. In their name it is offered and given to the sādhus, brāhmaṇas, cows, in this way, and they get the food thereby. They have left their energy here and those that are heirs take possession after his departure, his own accumulated energy, they should offer something to them. And by the process of mantram it is as if such subtle company is there, if it is done under such direction they will have to reach to that place, to the departed souls. The subtle body of the departed soul, he’s supposed to stay there and it will be taken there by the process of mantram. The ṛṣi, there is a company and the company looks after that affairs, to transmit it to them. And according to their necessity they will get that food sent from here. Just as if I send rupees from here, money order, M.O., that can be converted into dollars in America, through the exchange. So whatever I shall offer, that will be converted by that company to the necessary need wherever he’s living. They will send them there. That is generally Cāndraloka. And their fortnight, their day, the two fortnight, one increasing according to the increment of the Moon. Black and bright...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Waxing and waning Moon. Black and bright.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah. Then that is the day, waning, the growing Moon that is their day, and the fading Moon that is their night. So pakṣa, it is mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā also, that one month their night in Cāndraloka. And those whose karma is not to take him in again here, Earth is the centre, Moon is revolving the Earth, they go, uttarāyaṇam, towards the Sun. Crosses the limit of the attraction of the Earth and passes into the maha-sunya, great void, crossing the attraction of the Earth they pass, transcends, and go somewhere else to have their life nearby the Sun, uttarāyaṇam.________ [?] that is more light. And Cāndraloka is dependent light, and it’s circumambulating this Earth. But the Sun is above Earth and light more, knowledge representing. So beyond the boundary of the Earth, goes away never to return on this Earth again, those subtle bodies, that is uttarāyaṇam. And this is dakṣiṇāyanam, anyayāvartate punaḥ, [Bhagavad-gītā, 8.26], and that leaves Earth forever, goes to somewhere else according to his karma to live there. But we are asked to have our direction through the Sun, through the light, through knowledge. jyotir abhyantare rūpam atulaṁ śyāmasundaram.

This is a relative direction, light. What is light proper? Light is knowledge. Knowledge is light. Ignorance is darkness, really. So piercing the light, that is knowledge, we shall try to find some śyāmasundara, green land, a green person with a green land. Jyotir abhyantare rūpam atulaṁ śyāmasundaram. Śyāmasundara means green beauty, personification of green beauty. We are to try to seek through the Sun, through the light. That is the remote direction to us by the revealed mantram of the Vedas. Go, light, avoid darkness, welcome light. But light is the representative of knowledge and tackle the knowledge in such a way that you can find a cosmos which is very beautiful and evergreen, kiśora, green, śyāma, sundara. Satyaṁ śivaṁ sundaram, that is maṅgalam, that is good and that is beautiful, ānandam. We are given such direction; direction in a symbolic way. We are far from that, to a person of the remote place, some symbolical expression is extended, in this way. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Tad viṣṇo paramaṁ padaṁ [Ṛg Veda, 1.22.20]. In Gāyatrī, the Veda-mātā, only one sentence containing the whole Vedic truth. That is Gāyatrī. What is that?

Bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur vareṇyam. Different stages of physical experience you are in the midst of; gross, then subtle, subtle, in this way, different stages of conception of gross things, gross to subtle.

Tat savitur, then categorical change! Whatever is divulging to you, the material gross and subtle, whatever makes you conscious of the gross and subtle experience, catch that light, which is showing. Light does not create a thing, light shows the thing. So the knowledge showing, so try to achieve that knowledge which is showing. That is, go to the subjective aspect of things. Try to catch the shower. That is consciousness, not what is being shown, not that, but who is showing. Try to pierce the subjective, enter there if possible, possibly you can come. There you will find what is showing, savitur, that which is giving back to all these material experience. The light, light means the Sun is giving birth to all these by sending his ray. So savitur, the universal subject that is helping your dependent subjects to see and have experience of this world, try to connect with that.

Savitur, vareṇyam bhargo, then some respectful, reverential cause try to trace, varenyam. What is showing to you, that grand general subject, try to pierce through to find the world on the transcendental side, other side, higher side, upper side. And there you will find varenyam, that is varaṇīya, pūjya, that is a venerable world. Here the question of submission and devotion comes in. Not only light, not only knowledge, but there you will find that a venerable plane is on the other side which we should serve, we should worship, we should respect. Such world is on the other side. Varenyam bhargo means that is all knowledge, but mixed with veneration or devotion, dedication, worship that nature, that world.

Devasya dhīmahi, and we should try to exert our all conscious self to the bhargo, devasya is a divine personality, deva. The root meaning of deva: who is very beautiful and who is full of pastimes, dynamic character, not static. Beauty and vilāsa, līlā, līlā, sundarya, beauty, and līlā, deva means. And His bhargo, His paraphernalia of venerable and knowing substance.

Devasya dhīmahi, dhiyo yo naḥ prachodayāt. And if we try to with this venerated knowing faculty you can use, and He will enhance that. If we can engage ourselves in that endeavour and the reaction we shall get for that sort of work, that it will increase our capacity to go more and more higher in that direction. Dhiyo yo naḥ prachodayāt. Our capacity will be increased as the reaction, not any other remuneration for that sort of campaign or endeavour. This is the substance which is given, which is within Gāyatrī that is considered to be the mother of the whole of revealed truth, in a nutshell, Gāyatrī.

In Bhāgavatam [1.1.1], dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. Here also Gāyatrī says dhīmahi. Dhīmahi means chidanuśīlana, that is spiritual cultivation, chidanuśīlana, dhīmahi, and in that stage it will be a venerable spiritual cultivation, anuśīlana. Satyaṁ paraṁ, dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ. By the halo of that noble substance the whole misunderstandings will be cleared and we shall have the connection of the real truth as a whole. And we shall be blessed by the higher consequences of our attempt, if in that direction it is guided. Dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. There is a realm of prajñāna, vijñāna, prajñāna. Prajñāna; the mystic, higher, unintelligible conscious experience, prajñāna, vijñāna, prajñāna, prakṛṣṭa-jñāna, proper knowledge, and this is improper knowledge, defective knowledge. Proper, prakṛṣṭa, purna, real knowledge is prajñāna, in the universal characteristic.

Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

ko nu rājann indriyavān, mukunda-caraṇāmbujam

na bhajet sarvato-mṛtyur, upāsyam amarottamaiḥ

[”My dear King, in the material world the conditioned souls are confronted by death at every step of life. Therefore, who among the conditioned souls would not render service to the lotus feet of Lord Mukunda, who is worshippable even for the greatest of liberated souls?”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.2]

Bhāgavata gives direction that, “Why do you seek danger in the factor of history and geography? You are always surrounded by danger. You are to think that you are always surrounded, not geographical distance, or time distance, independent of that we are covered with danger always. Ko nu rājann indriyavān, mukunda-caraṇāmbujam, na bhajet sarvato-mṛtyur. Mṛtyur, the highest danger is all around us. We are covered. We are in a closed cage of danger, everywhere danger. Sarvato-mṛtyur, everywhere there is death. We are surrounded by dying conception, every moment changing, so many cells dying, coming, dying. We are in the land of death, and death has closely covered us. If we are conscious we have an eye to see that, not far off, not in a particular time. And may be a little intense, or little thin, but we are always closed under the cage of danger, the danger of different types. Still:

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi, yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat / yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kuruṣva mad arpaṇam

[“O son of Kuntī, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you offer in charity, and whatever austere vows you may keep - do everything as an offering unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.27]

We are in a particular level of our thinking. We shall try to utilize our present knowledge to its best. I shall run there. There is another example.

One gentleman took a patient to a good doctor. “Please examine him, he is very sick, and he seems to be very diseased.”

That physician he looked up at the man who has brought the patient to him, with very noted glance.

“I’m not the patient, sir, he’s the patient. Examine him.”

“No, no, his disease is very light, slight. But I find that you within six months you must die. I am saying that to you.”

“No, no, I’m all right. What do you say?”

“Not so, his disease is nothing, but your disease is serious.”

So physician cure thyself. That business, the Guru, the best thing whatever my Guru has ordered, I shall do that.

There was some advertisement to secure a sycophant of a nawab. Advertisement arranged, given notice, and so many persons came to get the service of a sycophant.

What is sycophant, another name in English? Flatterer?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Flatterer, yes man.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Flatterer, yes man. So many persons have come. Then the nawab, the bursar, whimsical king – what is the appropriate term, whimsical king? – he’s examining them, interview is there, “Will you be able to do the service?”

“Yes sir, I shall be able.”

“I don’t think that you will be able.”

“No, no. I shall be able.”

And in this way he was putting questions to many. Then he put questions to another man. “Will you be able to do this difficult service?”

“Yes sir, I shall be able.”

“I think you won’t be able.”

“Yes, I’m also thinking that I may not do.”

“You are the fittest man, yes man.”

And who says, when the nawab says that, “You won’t be able to do,” he says, “No, no, I shall be able to do,” he was rejected.

So who is introducing a patient, he’s more, greater patient. Sycophant, what should I do?

kiṁ karma kim akarmeti, kavayo 'py atra mohitāḥ

[tat te karma pravakṣyāmi, yaj jñātvā mokṣyase ‘śubhāt]

[“Even very learned men are baffled in ascertaining the nature of action and inaction. Some cannot comprehend action, while others cannot comprehend inaction. Hence, I shall now teach you about such action and inaction, knowing which you will attain liberation from the evil world.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.16]

Even the erudite scholars fail to understand what is the duty, and what is not duty, kiṁ karma and kim akarma, what should I do and what should I not do. Muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ [Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, 1.1.1]. The great scholars fail to understand the ways. So it is best to obey the orders of the higher authority in the spiritual line.

[rajas tamaś ca sattvena, sattvaṁ copaśamena ca]

etat sarvaṁ gurau bhaktyā, puruṣo hy añjasā jayet

[“One must conquer the modes of passion and ignorance by developing the mode of goodness, and then one must become detached from the mode of goodness by promoting oneself to the platform of śuddha-sattva. All this can be automatically done if one engages in the service of the spiritual master with faith and devotion. In this way one can conquer the influence of the modes of nature.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.15.25]

Whatever necessity is extended to me from the upper quarter, I shall do that. Whether I shall run to Japan, or I shall sit tight in the room, the higher instruction, caitya Guru. I must be sincerely seeking after His instruction within. And I shall do that.

What is what: the physical death is not death proper. The forgetfulness is the real death, forgetfulness of the Lord; that is death proper. The underlying principle of death is such. Wherever I be, a tree, or a mosquito, or a fly, or worm, or anything, if I’m in Kṛṣṇa consciousness I’m all right, I’m healthy, I’m wholesome. We are to measure things, good or bad, by that standard. The physical death is not the death only, there are higher deaths, non-physical higher deaths there are.

Mother Theresa said, “The mental crippled, they should also need much help.”

So physical crippling, that is not the only look out for service. The mental crippled are many, really diseased persons are they that are mentally diseased, and they’re everywhere, in different ways. We are to dispel, we are to help the mental crippled, the mentally dead, the mentally buried. They are buried in ignorance. The body is not the all important thing, but really mind is more important thing. Whom to help? To help the soul, not the mind, not the body: soul is incarcerated. The party is there. These are not party, they are all cages, dresses. So dress is going to be changed. It does not matter much. The fleshy death is going to be changed, that is not a great thing. But the minds, crippled minds, Kṛṣṇa vimuk jīva, God consciousness-less jīva, that should be the hit of our object. Karma śuddha [?] to purify me, and to purify those that are encaged in mental cages, closed in mental cages. Our lookout should be from that standpoint. Who is to be helped?

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Another question, the living entity comes into the material world from the spiritual world.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: From the spiritual world?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who says so? It is a difficult point. Where from it comes, that is taṭasthā-śakti, marginal potency, generally it has been told. And those that come from spiritual, they are show of coming. And they can go there. The spiritual body that comes here, that is a show. They are inhabitants of that plane. They come and they go to higher plane, they come to the lower plane of their own accord, or by the direction of their Lord. And they can go after finishing his engagement, his duty. But those that are in bondage here, where from they come, that should be the question, is it not? What do you want?

Devotee: But isn’t – kṛṣṇa bhuli sei jīva... when the living entity forgets Kṛṣṇa then he...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kṛṣṇa bhuli, that does not mean that Kṛṣṇa is on the side, missing him he’s coming here. From the marginal potency he has come generally this side. Kṛṣṇa bhuli, forgetting Kṛṣṇa, that’s on the other side, unmindful of that, their misfortune; unfortunately coming this side. But on the other side there is Kṛṣṇa. That is the purpose of the expression,

kṛṣṇa bhuli sei jīva anādi-bahirmukha, [ataeva māyā tāre deya saṁsāra dukḥa]

[“The constitutional nature of the jīva soul is that of an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa; the jīva soul is a manifestation of divinity which is one with Kṛṣṇa and different from Him. The jīva souls are the marginal potency of the Lord. Though in reality they are servants of Kṛṣṇa, from time immemorial, they have been engaged in misconception, as exploiting agents.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 20.117]

Devotee: Isn’t the living entity the superior energy of Kṛṣṇa, jīva-bhūta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Everything also. Everything is energy of Kṛṣṇa, but there is gradation, where he has come, that also belongs to Kṛṣṇa, in the absolute sense. In the relative, that is māyā, under māyā, ignorance. Ignorance, māyā, misunderstanding! Kṛṣṇa is there, proper understanding and misunderstanding, both exist. And the meeting point of the negative, positive, there is a meeting point. The water and the earth, the gas and water, the heat and – margin: and all the difficulty with the marginal position. Neither air, nor ether, but the meeting point. Transformation, one can go to another. So a marginal stage of transformation, we are to understand, and that is the difficulty.

Devotee: The living entity is never born and never dies. And he has come into this material world at some point, although it’s since time immemorial. So before coming to this material world...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. That is relative, immemorial, but the time, the factor of this material space and time, he enters into this material thought, thinking, and then the space and time in the form of material thinking comes and captures him, so anādi. This is before space and time. Space and time is a form of thought. So before coming into such consciousness he had no sense of space and time.

Just as when you are in deep slumber, profound slumber, sleep, no consciousness of space and time. Whenever you come to awake, you have come in the realm of space and time. But how do you come, can you trace it? The fine stages from deep sleep to awakening, can you trace them? But still it is there, vague. No consciousness in sound sleep, but when you awake you come to consciousness, and then space, time, things, body, paraphernalia, all these. But can you measure there? That is the example to be applied there also, the transformation, one to another, consciousness, but so subtle it is very difficult to measure.

The microscope, microscope’s microscope, and then that microscope’s microscope, you can apply there, in the factor of time. So telescope, microscope, and so many in the space and time. You see that in your own experience how from sleep you come out. But how can you trace that? That you may apply in the general case. It is acintya, unintelligible by our present capacity, beyond our capacity. But still it is there, it is the fact, we can’t ignore, that from nothing we are coming to something. We can’t ignore. And it’s being repeated daily, a daily experience, but that is unintelligible. So apply it in the bigger case, how the birth and death is transforming.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Parvat Mahārāja: You spoke of a mental country, and mental government.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course. Yes. The Yāmarāja is there. Even beyond this body, there is person, there is a government, and there is judgement, and the sarga, nāraka arrangement, that is all reality. In a good dream I feel pleasure. In a bad dream I feel pain. So when that mental body beyond this, out of this body, there also in that plane he can feel pain and pleasure, sarga and nāraka. Independent of this body the pain and pleasure experience is not impossible, it is there, possible there. The suffering and enjoying, it is there in the material. In a dream body we also enjoy this material pain and pleasure relating to this material achievement or loss, related to this material experience.

And that is of different type and different plane. Mahar, Janar, Tapar, engaged in good. Without this body that mental body in its plane, Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, as I wanted in the temple [ISKCON’s Māyāpur Vedic Planetarium] to exhibit, in sukṣma-deha, different planes of life, different engagement. And up to Satyaloka, this material relativity; fine, fine, more fine, more fine, in this way, but material relativity. Then Virajā, material connection gone: in Brahmaloka the connection of the other state, peeping, awakening. And then entrance in that land comes with the help of dedicating agents and dedicating tendency we can come at the door of another country, spiritual, finer, in this way.

And that is according to rasa, ānandam, the classification, the gradation there, raso vai saḥ. The gold is the medium of all printed coins. The value of the paper is nothing. But the stamp is everything. The gold is the rasa, ānandam. How much the inner necessity for everyone is for rasa, ānandam, śukham, happiness, ecstasy. And if one by robbing he gets pleasure, another by giving wholesale standing only, he also gets pleasure, but qualitative difference. So by giving, by abnegation we thrive, we get more, maximum rasa. In this way by dedication we get higher type, higher quality rasa, and we advance and advance, march on and on. Dedication, then spontaneous dedication in Vraja, full of love around. By dedication we acquire the atmosphere, the country of love to live in. It is not non-scientific.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara.

Gaura Sundara. ____________________________________ [?]

Devotee: Does the living entity then come from the brahmajyoti?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Generally you may think like that, brahmajyoti: that is the marginal position, brahmajyoti, akṣara. In Gītā [16.6], dvau bhūta-sargau loke ‘smin, two kinds of creation...

End of 82.01.27.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.27.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...moving, and what is static, stands still, just like suṣupti, that deep slumber. Kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni.

[dvāv imau puruṣau loke, kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca

kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni, kūṭa-stho 'kṣara ucyate]

[“In this world, there are two kinds of souls: the fallible and the infallible. All beings from Lord Brahmā down to the lowest stationary life-forms are known a fallible (as they have deviated from their intrinsic nature). But the personalities who are eternally situated in their divine nature are known as infallible (personal associates of the Lord).”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.16]

Whatever you’ll have in your experience in this world they’re always changing place, moving. And kūṭa-stho 'kṣara ucyate, which is undetectable, that is said to be the prime cause, or foundation of this kṣaraḥ, this moving world. That is static, a plane undetectable, ākṣara.

yasmāt kṣaram atīto ‘ham, akṣarād api cottamaḥ

[ato ‘smi loke vede ca, prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ]

[“Because I am transcendental to the fallible souls and also superior to My infallible eternal associates, My glories are sung in the world and in the scriptures as Puruṣottama, the Supreme Person.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.18]

“I am independent of these two classes of created things, both kṣaraḥ and ākṣara, the static or this moving. I transcend both these types of existence. I’m there.”

So detectable and undetectable: undetectable is the base, foundation, for which the detectable things are to be seen here. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, the wives, the yajña patnis, some of the wives of the brāhmaṇas, yajña patnis, they could not be with Kṛṣṇa and by force they have left the body, seemingly, that is?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One left when she was physically opposed, the body was there and the soul went away. That is one case. And others after visit they are reluctant to come back after their darśana, service to Kṛṣṇa. And also they expressed apprehension, “That if we go back, we have disobeyed them, they won’t accept us again.”

“No, no. You will go. They will accept you with respect. You don’t be afraid. I’m everywhere: I’m even existing within their mind. I shall manage. You go, you’ll be respectfully received back.”

And they reluctantly came away. And their qualification as brāhmaṇas, they’re not gopīs, so they’re – Lakṣmī Devī is not getting the entrance, admission, so they had some difficulty also for their previous form attachment, something like. But still, next time he’ll be, they’ll be able to get entrance. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, you said that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement would spread also to other planets. What is the means by which preaching will go on in other planets?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Everywhere, everywhere, what about the planet. Even it’s possible in the realm of trees, birds, there also so many agents may be sent by Kṛṣṇa’s will. Amongst the birds, the bird preacher will preach. In different society, different type of agent may go and spread about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It may not be impossible, in their own term, in their expression it may continue.

And their representative there also in Vṛndāvana, they’re all conscious, the trees, creepers, birds, they’re all conscious of Kṛṣṇa. From their party delegations may go, agents may be distributed, sent in different quarters, “Go, speak in English, and speak in Sanskrit.” Only Sanskrit preaching to your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you’ll be confined to Sanskrit speakers, no, in English, in African, Arabic, Gītā translation. So in any place, in any language, even in the language of the birds and beasts and insects and worms, it is possible. But still, the human species, generally, is accepted for preaching. It is well suited, in the śāstra we’re told. But not impossible in anywhere, but here facility is greater, this human birth.

Parvat Mahārāja: In Jhāḍakhaṇḍa Lord Caitanya preached to the animals.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, because in that plane, independent of body and mind, there is a plane of soul. If waves may be transmitted in that layer of soul, it can awaken there. It is possible.

And Vāsudeva Datta, when he says, prays to Mahāprabhu, “Release all the suffering souls of different types and the whole burden of their sin may be put on my head and I may go to eternal hell.”

“No, no, Kṛṣṇa is not bankrupt, that to release so many souls He will have to make loan and for that He will keep you as the guarantee.”

Guarantor, something like that, when a person stands guarantee for another what is it?

Anyhow, the Kṛṣṇa, “You are a devotee and you are putting a petition to Him, and He will grant you, rest assured. Your hell life is not necessary for releasing them.”

And Haridāsa Ṭhākura says, “Oh! I’m quite confident that when You are singing the Name of Kṛṣṇa and whatever that sound, that wave is reaching whatever ear, they’re all going, getting released, and going to Kṛṣṇa. Not to speak of human beings, but even the beasts, birds, even the trees, even the stones, in whatever. So deep Your singing of Kṛṣṇa, so penetrating into the highest plane of soul, most subtle. So carried by the wave of that finest layer it will reach their heart, and it is so strong it will work to release them forever and take them to Kṛṣṇa. Previously, we are told, that Rāmacandra with all of His capitol, the whole capitol, He went to Vaikuṇṭha, took along with Him the whole animation of Ayodhyā. And so You have come, You will take the whole globe in Your age to Kṛṣṇaloka, not for a very small handful of human beings You have come here. Your descent is general amnesty, must be, in the world.” That was spoken by Haridāsa Ṭhākura to Mahāprabhu.

Gaura Haribol. It may be possible because the movement, the wave created in the finest layer of soul, and independent of the body and mind it may work in that plane and absolve them.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

And that Caitanya dāsa is he here or gone, the disciple of...

Devotees: He’s here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s here. He’s putting question, no?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No. Satyānanda Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One question, what is that?

Satyānanda Prabhu: Often I’m wondering, it is said that Lord Kṛṣṇa appears in all the species of life. And I know that He appears in different incarnations as Matsya, Kūrma, etc., but I often wonder how He appears in every species of life. Could you please explain this to me?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He said, Kṛṣṇa incarnates, Avatāra, in Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha, adyadi, but we are told that He appears in all species, and we don’t understand. Kṛṣṇa appears in all the different praniya yoniya. How is that?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It may be, may be as His sweet will. And in their language He may present Himself. He’s infinite.

There was one atheist, Ārya Samāji, came in Karachi to put a question, “If finite can know Infinite He’s no Infinite.”

Then I answered in the opposite direction, “If Infinite cannot make Himself known to finite then He’s no Infinite.”

But that man shook my hand and fled away without speaking a single word, but, “Namaste.”

So when He’s Infinite He can do anything and everything, otherwise He’s not Infinite. If He fails to make Himself known to the grass, or to the stone, He’s not Infinite. Because He’s Infinite His capacity, His grace, everything is Infinite, we are to take it up.

And what a finite brain we have got, according to our Guru Mahārāja, “This puppy brain.” Puppy brain! Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Swāmī Mahārāja says that, “UNESCO members, they’re so many dogs.”

Parvat Mahārāja: Barking.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Even dog’s capacity, merit, may be more than those dogs, the scientific civilised dogs. A question of mind, to catch the truth, the urgent necessity is the mind attitude, and not this human figure only, mental equipped, so many dogs, asses, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says many a time:

śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ

na yat-karṇa-pathopeto jātu nāma gadāgrajaḥ

[“Men who live like dogs, hogs, camels, and asses praise those men who never listen to the transcendental pastimes of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer from all evils.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.3.19]

The Name of the Lord has not entered a particular ear, he’s lower than an ass, dog, the hog, and camel. The saṁstutaḥ, they’re all praising that mind, human figure, “That you are a higher dog.”

And the hog says, “You are a greater hog.”

The camel says, “You are a more efficient camel.”

In this way they’re making praise of them.

“Because with so much intelligence, so much high capacity you are doing what we are doing, so our market is going to fail. You intelligent camel has entered into our arena and we are becoming worthless.”

In this way they’re praising them. The camel says, “I eat these thorny branches, and the thorn enters into my mouth and the blood oozes. This is my special characteristic. I don’t – but you get so many thorns entering always in your mind as pain, but still you do not care for that, you go on that sort of bad experience with your habit.”

The hog says that, “I am notorious for eating, for honouring the rejected things of all, the stools. But what do you do? You are always the viṣaya, the kāma, krodha, lobha, all these things; you are always devouring and this, punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām.”

[matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā, mitho 'bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām

adānta-gobir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ, punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām]

[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: “Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life, make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Kṛṣṇa are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.5.30]

“You are always tasting that thing; the stools. Without prasāda, whatever we eat, that takes me down. You are devouring that. You have exceeded me.”

The dog, that, “Without any aim I always run in the street. I run to a particular direction, that I have got some urgent business. Then again, suddenly changing the direction, again I want to run in the opposite direction. You have also surpassed me in that, no proper aim of your life, only hither, thither, attracted, and you are running, always running very busy about nothing. It is my bad name that I’m very busy, always busy running without any real aim. But you are doing the same thing, in higher way. So my brain will be finished.”

And the ass, “People call me very bad names, that I only bear the burden. Without having any taste of it I am made to bear. But what burden, tasteless burden you are bearing man: so many responsibilities in your brain, but what for? Your son, your wife, your friends, for your country, you give posing that you are bearing so much responsibility. But that is all futile. Whatever you are doing that creates more trouble for them. This is tasteless, bearing the responsibility, which is aimless, all burdened, producing no desired result. You are a greater ass.” In this way!

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Hare Hare.

This black marketing, in a good, big brain, black marketing is done in such way all the small black marketers they do not get any livelihood, they can’t earn money to live. The big black marketers with their higher brain they’re making monopoly of black marketing, so the small black marketers they’re always fasting, and calling bad name to the greater. “You human beings, you are devolving, and you accuse us, but you are greater black marketers.”

Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So our Amjaka [?] Prabhu, you are to look after the construction now and then. Govinda Mahārāja is not here, not always, but...

Parvat Mahārāja: Yeah, until he comes back.

End of 82.01.27.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.28.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: When in I.A. [?] course we had to read an English novel, The Cloister and the Hearth [1861], written by one Mr. [Charles] Reade. Gerard and Margaret, and their son was Erasmus who is supposed to be a very big genius of the western culture, Erasmus. The whole European literature is rich with his high level thoughts, we are told, Erasmus. And his parents Gerard and Margaret they were inhabitants of Holland.

...

...the hearth, and ________________ [?] true to the kindred point of heaven and hearth ____________ [?] heaven and hearth and earth, true to the kindred point of heaven and hearth. Aprākṛta ________ [?] heaven and hearth, true, harmonised, heaven and hearth harmonised.

kṛṣṇera yateka khelā, sarvottama nara-līlā, nara-vapu tāhāra svarūpa

[gope-veśa, veṇu-kara nava kiśora, nata-vara, nara līlāra haya anurūpa]

[“Lord Kṛṣṇa has many pastimes, of which His pastimes as a human being are the best. His form as a human being is the Supreme Transcendental Form. In this form, He is a cowherd boy. He carries a flute in His hand, and His youth is new. He is also an expert dancer. All this is just suitable for His pastimes as a human being.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 21.101]

So very difficult to differentiate between religion and worldly life: religious life, life divine; and life mundane. Internal distinction and distinction also of the largest quality and quantity! The acute lust and acute love divine, very similar. This parakīya, lampata, debauchery, stealing, lying, these are to be considered the divinity of the highest order. How it is possible, for a sane man? So: tumi eka bātula, āmi, dvitīya bātula.

[āmi - eka bātula, tumi - dvitīya bātula, ataeva tomāya āmāya ha-i sama-tula]

[Mahāprabhu said to Rāmānanda Rāya: “I am insane, mad, bāula - pāgala - eccentric. I am one eccentric, and you are another. Therefore, we two are of the same class.”] [Caitanya- caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.291]

“I am also insane, and you are also so.”

We are talking of the dialogue of insanity, talking about the matter above sanity. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Koiliya bak keva pati haya [?] Where is the man to be found of normal thinking that will come to believe in this?

So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura told, “Why Caitanyadeva could support such things as the highest standard of religious realisation? A man of character, and highly scholarship holder, and of indomitable spirit, independent thinking, He espouses such a cause, the Absolute is such. The conception of the Divine Autocracy means debauchery? No, no, it can’t be thought out.”

So Śukadeva was required there as the mediator, the man for whom no such complaint can be conceived of. Vipu nodar nara sukasya vibikya deste [?] His eye glance is such that none can suspect that that glance has any wistfulness, vacant look, wholesale vacant look. Any man with some motive he wants to look at his eyes, they can’t find them to respond his question, enquiry. No possibility of the answer of any enquiry from his eyes, no response from this world. Different types of men are living here, but his eyes his aim at above all. The extreme example has also been given. Śukadeva going on towards forest, there is a tank and the dibya stri, ladies, that have not got this material body but astral body. They can express, they can create their own physical body and they can leave it also, so powerful, in such position. They can move in subtle body, move and live, and also at their pleasure they can show, they can create a show of this physical body in the physical plane also. Such ladies they’re playing in the water, naked. And Śukadeva is passing by the roadside tank passing by the road. They met often that young man of about sixteen and they knew him very much closely. And they did not think it necessary to clothe them, to cover their body.

But Vyāsadeva is following Śukadeva, “Oh my child where do you go? Come back, come back.” And they, finding that Vyāsa is coming they hurriedly came to the bank and covered their body with dress, with proper clothing.

So in Bhāgavatam the wonder has been expressed, “How is this?” In the beginning, the Śaunaka Ṛṣī, “The Śukadeva is a man of tale. He’s not a man of this concrete world. We have heard about him, that the young man of sixteen passing and young ladies do not care to cover their body. And Vyāsadeva is an old man, he’s going, and they’re very busy to cover their body. What’s the matter? That man, that mystic personality Śukadeva and he was speaker and you attended that assembly, you Sūta Goswāmī, we’re very eager to hear through you what that Śukadeva, that person of dream, what he told. We’re very eager to hear that. The man of tale, of story, when he represented in the meeting, inaugurated about Kṛṣṇa līlā, Kṛṣṇa līlā had got some substantial footing here.” Śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam.

[nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ, śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam

pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayaṁ, muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ]

[“O expert and thoughtful men, relish Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.1.3]

Śrīdhara Swāmī says, śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam, that is, Śukadeva mantavya saṁyutam. Through his mouth means with his remarks, when the Bhāgavat instructions came to this world, modified by the remarks of Śukadeva, then it was easy for the scholars here to accept that it may be possible.

“It may be possible that quite human like attempts, that is the highest in human fashion, the life in the human fashion. And not only ordinary moral human fashion, but so much so as to the standard of immoral human fashion. And that is the acme of our realisation? We are to believe that? So such a fool we are, what is this?” But when it came through Śukadeva with his necessary remarks the scholars could not deny it. “Maybe, everything is possible in the Infinite, maybe.” But they could believe and came in a proper line they were vague, stood as evidence.

And Raghupati Upādhyāya says,

kam prati kathayitum īśe, samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu

go-pati-tanayā-kuñje, gopa-vadhūṭī-vitaṁ brahma

[“To whom can I tell it, and whoever will believe it, that the Supreme Absolute, Param Brahman, the Paramour of the damsels of Vraja, is enjoying in the groves on the banks of the Yamunā?”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.98]

When Mahāprabhu went to Vṛndāvana, perhaps coming back He met in Allahabad, Prayāga, with one brāhmaṇa devotee named Raghupati Upādhyāya. The two had a discourse and in the discourse Raghupati Upādhyāya is uttering this śloka. “It is unbelievable.”

Mahāprabhu asked him, “Upādhyāya, you are a devotee of Kṛṣṇa it seems. What have you understood? Please, what is the object of your bhajan, your attempt, your spiritual attention? Please divulge it to Me, say.” Then,

śrutim apare smṛtim itare, bhāratam anye bhajantu bhava-bhītāḥ

aham iha nandaṁ vande, yasyālinde paraṁ brahma

[“Those who fear rebirth in this world may follow the advice of the Vedic scriptures, others may follow the Mahābhārata - but as for me, I follow Nanda Mahārāja, in whose courtyard the Supreme Absolute Truth plays as a child.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.96] & [Padyāvalī, 126]

“I see that You are a great personage. You ask me about my inner enquiry and attendance to be sincere to You. I think this is my present realisation. Śrutim apare, let those lovers of śruti, Veda, revealed truth, run after śruti. I don’t care for that. Smṛtim itare, there are so many scholars, they’re more engaged in smṛti śāstra, śruti translated into daily activity, mixed with daily habits, habitual activities, smṛti. Let them be busy with the smṛti.

Bhāratam anye bhajantu bhava-bhītāḥ. Then there is that story book, the great volume Mahābhārata, where in the way of different stories the truth of high conception has been delivered. Anye bhajantu bhava-bhītāḥ. I think all those enquirers, their enquiry is more or less by the fear of death. They want to save them from the adversities of circumstances, environment. They’re all seekers of emancipation, liberation. They are after that. The śruti, smṛti, Mahābhārata, Pañcama-Veda, another name for Mahābhārata is Pañcama-Veda, the fifth Veda, that honour the Mahābhārata has acquired. It comes from Vyāsadeva and, “Everything, there is no thought which is not inside Mahābhārata.” All the scholars that flock together _______ they’re all, according to me, they’re opportunist. They want, they seek after liberation, emancipation from the adverse circumstances. That is their aim, mukti-kal. Bhava-bhītāḥ, they’re afraid of birth and death, birth and death, to be afraid of existence at all, wants mukti, liberation, sāyujya, that is, wants to become zero, than to be a member of this undesirable world of misery, bhava-bhītāḥ.

But: aham iha nandaṁ vande, yasyālinde paraṁ brahma. But my conclusion is quite different. I don’t care for śruti, smṛti, or Mahābhārata, or such scriptures. I have found one thing that is the centre of my thought, my realisation, my everything. You asked me and I see Your question is also from very bigger figure and appearance that I can’t hold me off from You. From the inner heart I cannot but talk to You my inner most attempts I want to say. Aham iha nandaṁ vande. I have found a very, very sweet thing, Mahārāja Nanda. I want to worship his feet. No charm for anything in the world, in the śāstric world also, for me. But I have one charm, one charm in my mind. What is that? Attraction for Nanda Mahārāja! Why? Yasyālinde paraṁ brahma. Who is heard to be the highest conception of reality, authority, goodness, He’s crawling in his compound. What sort of acquisition he has got, that who is said to be Param Brahma, He’s crawling in his compound? A very charming thing he has got. In such helpless way the Param Brahma has come and in a helpless form and crawling there. So how great is he, how greater position does he hold? The Param Brahma is dependant to him, crawling like an infant. What is this? Of all mysterious astonishment this seems to be the highest, to me, and I’m caught thereby. This is my...”

Mahāprabhu, perhaps by the response of the appreciation he went on, further.

kam prati kathayitum īśe, samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu

go-pati-tanayā-kuñje, gopa-vadhūṭī-vitaṁ brahma

[“To whom can I tell it, and whoever will believe it, that the Supreme Absolute, Param Brahman, the Paramour of the damsels of Vraja, is enjoying in the groves on the banks of the Yamunā?”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.98]

“And what more I have to hear, I am to hear, that is more and more astonishing, astounding things, gopa-vadhūṭī-vitaṁ brahma. Kam prati kathayitum īśe. I don’t find a second man to whom I can express my heart, the thought of my heart. Kam prati kathayitum. To whom should we say, tell? Ko vā pratītim āyātu. Who will believe me? I don’t find that anyone will believe me, will second me, ko vā pratītim āyātu. What is that, more wonderful! This is vātsalya rasa, the first, Nanda, vātsalya rasa, then this comes mādhurya rasa, more wonderful, gopa-vadhūṭī-vitaṁ brahma. That great Brahman who has got no limit, He’s charmed with the touch of the gopī girls, He’s running after. He’s running after the sweet faces of the gopī girls. It is most unintelligible and most unbelievable thing. This is charming. Though I can put my faith somewhat, but I found no one, not a second person to whom I shall talk about that. This is my inner most heart. I cannot but express it to You, gopa-vadhūṭī.”

I found here, I wrote an article in Harmonist from Madras Maṭha on this point.

Samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu, Raghupati Upādhyāya says to Mahāprabhu, “Samprati, at present, samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu, now no one I find who will believe in this, if it is read samprati. Then afterwards some substantial persons may have confidence on this, but now the condition is such, now. And what is the force of the meaning of the word? That now none else will believe, now, samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu. There is none to put faith in this conception now, so I don’t divulge it to anyone. Why this ‘now?’ I took from here the point that after the Rādhā- Govinda combined Śrī Caitanyadeva will come and He will show out of His own practices and instructions in such a realistic way, then some will, it will be easy for many to believe in this. As Śukadeva was successful to establish amongst the scholars the theoretical existence, and when Caitanyadeva will come to take it up again, and by His own realisation He will establish towards the length and breadth of the world, then of course this won’t remain a fable, but it will come to be, to have recognition in the society of the good scholars. That is the force of the word ‘now.’ Now, none will believe, but the day is not far when the people will have to believe in this. “That yes, Kṛṣṇa runs after the girls, or the gopīs. Yes, Kṛṣṇa, the highest conception of Divinity and Godhead, He crawls on the compound of Nanda and Yaśodā. Śukadeva also told,

nandaḥ kim akarod brahman, śreya evaṁ mahodayam

yaśodā ca mahā-bhāgā, papau yasyāḥ stanaṁ hariḥ

[Having heard of the great fortune of mother Yaśodā, Parīkṣit Mahārāja inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī: “O learned brāhmaṇa, mother Yaśodā’s breast milk was sucked by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What past auspicious activities did she and Nanda Mahārāja perform to achieve such perfection in ecstatic love?”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.8.46]

In vātsalya rasa it is said, nandaḥ kim akarod brahman. Parīkṣit Mahārāja asking Śukadeva, “What did Nanda do, what wonderful thing, what is the wonderful karma or realisation of Nanda? And his wife Yaśodā, what merit she had acquired that Hari, the prime cause, the absolute cause of the whole world is like a child sucking the breast of Yaśodā? Papau yasyāḥ stanaṁ hariḥ. Hari has come down to suck the breast milk of Yaśodā for His sustenance. But that wonderful and these tales are to be taken as truth? Nandaḥ kim akarod brahman, śreya evaṁ mahodayam. Such a grand truth, consequence may come out of that? Yaśodā ca mahā-bhāgā, the infinitely fortunate Yaśodā: papau yasyāḥ stanaṁ hariḥ, Hari has come to her, to suck her breast for His sustenance, papau yasyāḥ stanaṁ hariḥ. So these are all wonders.

Kaihiliay pati haya [?] The faith, faith should be raised to such a standard, śraddhā. If we are to come in connection with the Infinity then infinite possibilities must be accepted there: and say that Infinite is taken up so near to you, so near, nearer to you, the Infinite: tad dūre tad v antike.

[tad ejati tan naijati, tad dūre tad v antike

tad antarasya sarvasya, tad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ]

[“The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.”] [Śrī Īśopaniṣad, 5]

In Upaniṣad, that is, He’s in the distance, the farthest distance, and He’s to the nearest. He’s nearest of all to you, at the same time.

Once, when I had some sudden indifference in my young age of twenty three, then to discourage me one of my nephews, he was a pleader, he’s relating a story in my front addressing some other brother. “That one big scholar came; he was practising in Kalna, at that time, Kalna Court. He was the grandfather of Sylen ______________ [?]” He told, addressing another brother, “One great scholar of the Brahmo School came to deliver lecture in Kalna town. There was a big festival meeting, we also attended. The gentleman told that, “What is the infinite magnitude of this universe, that there are so many stars whose ray has not yet touched the Earth, and the speed of the light is per second this. One lākh, seventeen thousand miles or so, that in speed it can run around the Earth seven times. So the circumference of the Earth is twenty five thousand miles. And seven times in a second, so one lākh and seventeen thousand, approximately, that is the speed. And there is such a star whose light has not yet touched the Earth: so huge magnitude, infinite, from the physical. And if there be any God, then, has He got any time to take care of this Earth, a small planet? He’s very busy with the whole Infinite who has got no limit.” He was discouraging me, “Your attempt to seek, to search God; that is futile; leave it.” In this, that was his purpose.

Then, after he’s finished, automatically came to our mind this expression, of Upaniṣad perhaps, tad dūre tad v antike. I asked him, what you have told it is all right, the magnitude is infinite, of this physical world, and more, mental and other. But can you tell me of any place where He’s not present? That was my question. Is there any atom where He’s absent? What do you say? Silenced! He was about forty five perhaps and I was twenty three. I replied in this way; that is there any atom where He’s absent, He’s not there present? He could not speak anything. Tad dūre tad v antike. Vidūra-kāṣṭhāya [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.4.14] The distant of the distance, but nearest of the nearest, He’s nearest of the nearest, at the same time. So we can have a very closest connection. And it is not unreasonable or unscientific. So we may not have to take the trouble of riding on the stage of morality even.

There I recollect C.R. Dāsa. He was a politician but he was of Vaiṣṇava temperament. He criticised in a very drastic way this Rabindranath and the founder Brahmo Dharma, Ram Mohan Raya. The Ram Mohan Raya took the extreme case to blame, to throw mud in the Vaiṣṇava sampradāya. He incited a particular – of course we also do not approve that, that a zamīndār he’s sitting in a royal style ________ [?] a big pillow on the back, and there is the tobacco pipe in his mouth, and listening to a kīrtana party there. And in kīrtana what’s the play that’s going on? The Kṛṣṇa has become a she barber, in the disguise of she barber He has approached the gopīs.

Rādhārāṇī, She’s in this māna, this apathetic mood. Kṛṣṇa, leaving Her went to the other camp, of Chandravālī. She’s mortified. Her heart has revolted. And She has ordered that, “Don’t allow Kṛṣṇa to enter My assembly. Don’t allow Him. He’s a traitor. He asked Me to come, and I’ve come with all sorts of preparations, and He’s enjoying in the other camp. He has frustrated Me, and from today He’s barred to enter My compound.” In this way She’s in that mood.

And Kṛṣṇa, anyhow He won’t have any clear approach, so in the garb of a she barber He has come to approach, to – the she friends of Rādhārāṇī, many of them know, but in that dress Kṛṣṇa has entered, has come to do some service for Rādhārāṇī at this stage.

Then Ram Mohan Raya says, “This is Vaiṣṇavism, Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism? The upasya, the highest object of worship, that is a barber. And the zamīndār is enjoying his adistha devata. The highest conception of Godhead He has come in that approach, represented there in such a mean position and he’s enjoying. This is Vaiṣṇava dharma?”

So to criticise this Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism he has written in a very strong way taking such examples also.

Then C.R. Dāsa [?] says that, “Ram Mohan Raya, he was an atheist. He read Bible and Koran and somewhat Śaṅkara philosophy. But he did not have the fortune of seeing even Rāmānuja Darśana and Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad. He’s everywhere. He can do anything and everything. He can approach us in the dress, in the garb of a thief. Any way He can come to us and capture us. He may stealthily come, approach and capture us. It is also possible. Nārāyaṇa, everywhere He is and with His full grace. It is not impossible.” In this way he has tried to refute Ram Mohan Raya, Founder of Brahmo Dharma.

The Rabi [Rabindranath] Tagore also, their group professes that Brahmo Dharma.

At the time of death, the other day I found on perhaps the radio that Rabi Tagore told, asked his nurse, relative nurse, “That remind me at the last moment, satyam, śivam, advaitam.” Not sundaram, but in Upaniṣad we find satyam, śivam, sundaram. But they have modified it perhaps, his father, Devendranatha Tagore, Founder of Santiniketan, Devendra Tagore. Hindu, half converted into Brahmo-ism. “That nirviśeṣa-brahman that is all in all, and the saviśeṣa, whatever is saviśeṣa all mortal.” And satyam, śivam, sundaram, he modified as satyam, śivam, advaitam. So Rabi Tagore requested, “At my last time please remind me of this great mantram, satyam, śivam, advaitam.” Not sundaram.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

It is _____________ [?] kam prati kathayitum īśe, samprati....

Govinda Mahārāja, this Govinda Mahārāja, when we were invited perhaps for the installation ceremony there in Chaitanya Candrodaya Maṭha, when he was asked to say something there, he began with this śloka. He rose and after finishing his hymns, praṇāma-mantra he began,

kam prati kathayitum īśe, samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu

[go-pati-tanayā-kuñje, gopa-vadhūṭī-vitaṁ brahma]

[“To whom can I tell it, and whoever will believe it, that the Supreme Absolute, Param Brahman, the Paramour of the damsels of Vraja, is enjoying in the groves on the banks of the Yamunā?”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.98]

You are our friend you are telling me that, he will say that. Then he took it to Swāmī Mahārāja’s campaign, “That it is, ko vā pratītim āyātu, it is beyond our conception and belief what Swāmī Mahārāja has done: a tremendous service to Mahāprabhu and his great Gurudeva. Inconceivable, unbelievable, what he has done by the extensive service which is generally thought to be impossible. That has been done by him. Kam prati kathayitum īśe, samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu. Just as Raghupati Upādhyāya told to Mahāprabhu, it is like that.”

So inconceivable, unbelievable, still it is, but we can have it only through the sādhu, by the service of the Vaiṣṇava, by the Vaiṣṇava of that type, by their grace. We may talk many things about that, that may be like a...

End of 82.01.28.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.28.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...sitting on the bottle of, the barrier is the glass, and not possible for the bee to touch the honey, so, praṇipāta, paripraśna, sevā.

[tad viddhi praṇipātena, paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ, jñāninas tattva darśinaḥ]

[“You will be able to attain all this knowledge by satisfying the enlightened spiritual master with prostrate obeisance, relevant enquiry, and sincere service. Great souls who are most expert in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will teach you that divine knowledge.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.34]

Only by the service of Guru and Vaiṣṇava we can hope to reach one day in such a divine domain. The process we shall try our best to control our senses. That question is coming, what Yati Mahārāja told. Dhīra, dhīra means jitendriya, we must try our best not to undergo the influence of our senses, gross and subtle. Next thing, we must hear the 'nuśṛṇuyād, our way, our method of acquisition must be in a bona fide way, from the authority, as mentioned by Swāmī Mahārāja, from the authority who has, authorised agent who can really give it.

tomāra, kṛṣṇa dite pāro, tomāra śakati āche

vaiṣṇava ṭhākura, doyāra sāgara, e dāse korunā kori’

diyā pada-chāyā, śodho he āmāya, tomāra caraṇa dhori

tomāra, kṛṣṇa dite pāro, tomāra śakati āche

1 [ohe! vaiṣṇava ṭhākura, doyāra sāgara, e dāse korunā kori’

diyā pada-chāyā, śodho he āmāya, tomāra caraṇa dhori]

2 [chaya vega domi’, chaya doṣa śodhi’, chaya guna deho’ dāse

chaya sat-saṅga, deho’ he āmāre, bosechi saṅgera āśe]

3 [ekakī āmāra, nāhi pāya bala, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtane

tumi kṛpā kori’, śraddhā-bindu diyā, deho’ kṛṣṇa-nāma-dhane]

4 [kṛṣṇa se tomāra, kṛṣṇa dite pāro, tomāra śakati āche

āmi to’ kāṅgāla, kṛṣṇa’ ’kṛṣṇa’ boli’, dhāi tava pāche pāche]

[O revered Vaiṣnava Ṭhākura! O ocean of mercy! Please be merciful to me, your humble servant. Purify me by giving the shade of your lotus feet. Your feet I clasp submissively.] [Please help me to control the six urges, purify me of the six faults, and please instil in your servant the six good qualities. Oh, bestow upon me the six kinds of holy association! I am seated here in the hope of having your company.] [On my own, I find I have no strength to chant the holy name of Lord Hari. Please be merciful by awarding me with a particle of faith and giving me the great treasure of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.] [Kṛṣṇa is yours, therefore you are able to give Him to others. This is certainly within your power. I am indeed wretched and fallen, simply running after you crying “Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!”] [Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s, Ohe! Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura, from Śaraṇāgati]

We must approach to a bona fide person who can really give, whose giving is sanctioned, has got already sanction from the higher bona fide person. We must be some sort of minimum standard of qualification. That is, we must not indulge in sense pleasure: that is one thing expected from us. The more thing is that we must approach a bona fide person as a beggar to him for this substance. And the third qualification is that we must have śraddhā, śraddhānvito, 'nuśṛṇuyād, dhīraḥ, three points must be satisfied in our search, then we can hope to have it, to get it.

vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ, [śraddhānvito 'nuśṛṇuyād atha varṇayed yaḥ

bhaktiṁ parām bhagavati pratilabhya kāmaṁ, hṛd-rogam āśv apahinoty acireṇa dhīraḥ]

[“One who hears with firm faith the supramundane amorous affairs of Lord Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, as described by a pure devotee of the Lord, soon becomes freed from mundane lust and achieves divine love of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.33.39]

Viṣṇoḥ here, not kṛṣṇas ca, why Viṣṇu? Viśvanātha Cakravartī perhaps has come to explain why Viṣṇu. Why Viṣṇu? Really, Viṣṇu has got nothing to do with the Vraja līlā. Here Kṛṣṇa, Svayaṁ-Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. But why this word viṣṇoḥ has been applied, selected to apply here? That we may not conceive the Kṛṣṇa as human being, to get out of our association with this ordinary humanity, the Kṛṣṇa is a man, ordinary man. To avoid this sort of tendency, the viṣṇoḥ, you see Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu has got His highest aspect in that way. In this way the midway has been accepted here. But really speaking this is not the līlā of Viṣṇu but it is Kṛṣṇa, the Kṛṣṇa conception of Godhead, not the ordinary Viṣṇu conception of Godhead. But you are to pass through the dignified position of Viṣṇu and then again from there to take a leap towards Kṛṣṇa.

All these precautions and warnings have been given to us that we may not be misguided in the way of imitationist, the sahajiyā section, to save us from the sahajiyā section, the imitationists. That remaining in this plane we shall dream that I have got that. To guard us from that sort of catastrophe it has been guarded in such a way. It’s not very cheap.

muktānām api siddhānāṁ [nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa,

sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune]

[“O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6.14.5] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.150]

One who’s not a self deceit he’ll be too much awake on these facts: not a self deceit, traitor to his own.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

The aim I shall achieve and then enquire after this. Now it is intolerable. Gaura Hari. Such is our position. Gaura Haribol. Vulnerable position, it proves our inability and capacity at every step where we are. But only our ālambana, our source of support and consolation is our dependence on Gurudeva, Vaiṣṇava, Kṛṣṇa-jan, Viṣṇu-jan, kave visnu jane. The nearest approach of Kṛṣṇa, the nearest centre where Kṛṣṇa lives, what is in connection of Kṛṣṇa. Always dependent, taṭasthā jīva, the śakti, the fate, the fate of the negative existence is always dependent. Dependence is intrinsic characteristic. No time it can think that I can stand independently: then it is lost. However higher approach, everywhere, the one common thing, that I’m dependent. I’m dependent. I can’t stand on my own leg. That is the very innate nature of the potency, can’t stand: can’t stand independent, always dependent.

But the idea of dependence can increase, that is dainya, ātma-nivedana, the dainya, that humility, that I have nothing. I possess nothing. So that cannot but induce us to surrender, to seek the support of some other thing. As much as I will be able to think that I am in want, I am support-less, no footing to stand on, my earnest will be more sincere search for any support. To that much, that degree, as much helpless I shall feel, so much of earnestness for the support cannot but automatically arise in my mind. The beauty, wealth, ātma-nivedana, goptṛtve varaṇa, and to hold fast that; “You are my saviour!” The irresistible result of ātma-nivedana, that means to hold Him fast. “You are my only support. I can live only by Your grace. Otherwise I’m nowhere.” Goptṛtve varaṇa, rakṣiṣyatīti, kṛṣṇa viśvāsaḥ, at the same time to foster the idea that He must protect me. He will keep me. This internal trust to develop, that He surely He will keep me, He won’t dismiss me. Goptṛtve varaṇa, rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāsaḥ. And bhakti ānukūl, what is favourable to accept that in our adjustment, and what is unfavourable to reject that. That should be the general attitude. The general attitude will be like that. That is our way.

“I have got it,” then finished. When I shall think that “I have got it” you are finished. How? The progress in the negative side, are you ready for that? You come to become a Vaiṣṇava, or the proposal of the Māyāvādī, “I am so ham, I am He.” The fascinating proposal on the other side: “Why do you go to that side, the slave mentality, the encourager, the creator and encourager of slave mentality? Be off you. And “so ham,” I am He. I am the Absolute.” Their call, “so ham,” dignified!

And the Vaiṣṇava are very much afraid of that, they don’t want. Where is such incident?

Ah! Rāmacandra Purī, the case of Rāmacandra Purī. When Mādhavendra Purī, the great devotee, the Grand Guru of Mahāprabhu, at the time of his departure in Mathurā, he’s weeping, “In my last moment, where are You Kṛṣṇa? Ayi-dīna-dayārdra-nātha. We are told that You are very pitiful to the helpless. Dīna-dayārdra-nātha he, mathurā-nātha. You are the master of this Mathurā-maṇḍala. Kadāvalokyase. I may at any time when You will cast a glance on me, is it too much my Lord even at the time of my departure I may not have Your pitiful look on me, on this fallen soul. Hṛdayaṁ tvad-aloka-kātaraṁ, dayita. O my dearest, my beloved Lord, my heart is aching too much. I can’t stand for Your little care, for a drop of Your pity. Dayita bhrāmyati kiṁ karomy aham. I’m helpless. I can’t take me off from You. I can’t, I fail. I feel I can’t live without a drop of nectar of Your grace my Lord. My last moment I pray in this way!”

[ayi-dīna-dayārdra-nātha he, mathurā-nātha kadāvalokyase

hṛdayaṁ tvad-aloka-kātaraṁ, dayita bhrāmyati kiṁ karomy aham]

[While passing away from the material world, Śrīla Mādhavendra Purī chanted the following verse: “O gentle-hearted Lord, ever-gracious upon the destitute, O Lord of Mathurā, when shall I see You again? In Your absence my broken heart trembles. Beloved! What shall I do now?”] [Padyāvalī] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 8.34]

Then that Rāmacandra Purī, one of his disciples, came, “Why, like a worldly man you are wailing? The śoka-moha, what is this? In śāstra have you not gone through? The śāstra has asked us, gave us instruction, advised us to be above this śoka, the mourning, and this moha, this misconception that I’m in the world. You are Brahman, you’re above that. You think of your real self, that you are the biggest thing. Why do you undergo, why do you indulge in this last moment to come down to such a lower level that you are insignificant, you are helpless? You are the biggest of the big. You think like that, like a heroic way.”

Then Mādhavendra Purī dismissed: “You go away. If I see your face and depart, then I’ll get a very dark future. Be hence.” Rāmacandra Purī.

And what about Īśvara Purī? He, the meanest of the mean, a mean servant, a sannyāsī, but he’s serving his Guru.

[īśvara-purī gosāñi kare śrī-pāda-sevana,] svahaste karena mala-mūtrādi mārjana

[Īśvara Purī, the spiritual master of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, performed service to Mādhavendra Purī, cleaning up his stool and urine with his own hand.] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 8.28]

The stools, the urine, cleansing all these things of Guru, Īśvara Purī, and he got the post of the spiritual guide of Mahāprabhu. Who is Īśvara Purī? Who is serving so meanly, in mean way his Guru: that is Kavirāja Goswāmī could not but mention; svahaste karena mala-mūtrādi mārjana, the stools and urine cleansing, Īśvara Purī. And that was accepted as the proper spiritual guide of the Lord, Mahāprabhu.

So who are the gainers and who are the losers? To accept the way of self abnegation, “I have nothing. I have nothing. So my Lord You come to fulfil my heart. I don’t see anything else in the world that can cure my inner want, necessity.”

na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ, durāśayā ye bahir-[artha-māninaḥ

andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās, te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ]

[Prahlāda Mahārāja says: “Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or Guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labour, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.5.31]

So:

viracaya mayi daṇḍaṁ dīnabandho dayāṁ vā, gatir iha na bhavattaḥ kācid anyā mamāsti

[nipatatu śata-koṭir nirbharaṁ vā navāmbhas, tad api kila payodaḥ stūyate cātakena]

[“O friend of the needy, whether You chastise me or reward me, in the whole wide world I have no other shelter but You. Whether the thunderbolt strikes or torrents of fresh waters shower down, the Cātaka bird (who drinks only the falling rainwater) perpetually goes on singing the glories of the rain cloud.”] [Śrī-Rūpapādānāṁ]

“Whether You give or do not give, I can’t go anywhere as a beggar. You may save or You can – You can make or mar, You can save or kill, but no alternative for my, to have any compensation from any other source than You.” Ananya-bhakti.

ananyāś cintayanto māṁ, ye janāḥ paryupāsate

teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ, yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham

[“I personally assume the whole responsibility of acquiring and protecting the necessities of My fully dependent devotees who are always absorbed in thought of Me alone, and who worship Me exclusively in all respects.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.22]

His promise is also, anyhow, visibly or invisibly He cannot come to our rescue, not always visibly He may come, but invisibly He helps through others also, yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham. It has been proved in many cases on the surface also. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So the path will always be of submission, humiliation, sincere search, and after all the service, and service of the Vaiṣṇava, service of Guru. In other words the service of Kṛṣṇa conception, consciousness, service of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but that is not a chaotic thing that has got some real nature, Kṛṣṇa conception.

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ, jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

ānukūlyena-kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

[“One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favourably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, 1.1.11] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19-167] & [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.21.11, purport]

Kṛṣṇa bhakti, the encasement, the outer garment, the cover should be eliminated and the essence should be taken in, should be accepted. So we are to indirectly we are to have some consciousness what is anyābhilāṣa, what is karma, what is jñāna, what is yoga, what is śaithilya, some sort of knowledge, indirect knowledge of these things what is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness, what is anti Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Some knowledge about that, and main knowledge to the substance, and some knowledge of the covers, with this, and the solace is that.

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate]

na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

If we are sincere in our search then none can seduce us. Our caitya Guru, our inner guide, our simplicity, sincerity, that will help us always. We shall ask within that, “Oh my Lord, I’m in the crossing, crossroad, which way to select?” Whatever he’ll say to the inner voice that is a response we must get. “If you want your benefit you go this side. This won’t be opportunist sacrifice to your religious realisation, that conscience, that inner voice, as much as possible for you to collect. Beyond that no help, I can’t go, but He can come. He can come to my position to guide me, but I can’t go beyond my limit, so my prayer is my everything.” Gaura Haribol. Always, in every case we shall sincerely pray for the inner voice to guard us properly, especially in time of crisis. No other way left for us. We’re not omniscient, we’re not absolute, not all powerful. So what more we can expect? But we must be sincere to our own. That is our ultimate benefit, welfare. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Any question?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes. What is, how can we recognise the difference between the inner voice, as we say, and so many other voices that are actually proposing that we enjoy māyā, that we go here and there, so many voices internally...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: As much as I have come to understand so much responsibility with me. What I do not know I may not have any responsibility there. But it will be according to my own knowledge and experience.

Kṛṣṇa says that, “If one prays to Me, and due to his ignorance prays for something what is not beneficial to him...”

kṛṣṇa kahe, - 'āmā bhaje, māge viṣaya-sukha / amṛta chāḍi' viṣa māge, - ei baḍa mūrkha

āmi - vijña, ei mūrkhe ‘viṣaya’ kene diba? / sva-caraṇāmṛta diyā ‘viṣaya’ bhulāiba

[“Kṛṣṇa says, ‘If one engages in My transcendental loving service but at the same time wants the opulence of material enjoyment, he is very, very foolish. Indeed, he is just like a person who gives up ambrosia to drink poison.”] [“Since I am very intelligent: why should I give this fool material prosperity? Instead I shall induce him to take the nectar of the shelter of My lotus feet and make him forget illusory material enjoyment.’”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22, 38-39]

So ignorance is no bar to the realisation of Kṛṣṇa. He’s too clever. But our inner hankering, the quality of our inner hankering, that is all in all. Even an ignorant man may be directed properly, and a scholarly man may not have any real direction or revelation. That is sincerity that comes, that quality of sincerity that is dependent on the quality of the sukṛti that I have acquired from the previous Vaiṣṇavas in my previous birth’s action. Sukṛti, the quality of the sukṛti, that will guide us, generally we’re saying sukṛti. Three kinds of dealings we find in the case of the liberation, or our achievement about Kṛṣṇa. General case is,

ye yathā māṁ prapadyante, tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham

[mama vartmānuvartante, manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ]

[Śrī Kṛṣṇa says: “As a person takes refuge in Me and surrenders unto Me, I respond and reward accordingly. Being the ultimate goal of all philosophies and doctrines, I am the objective to be attained by all. Certainly, O Pārtha, everyone follows My various paths in all respects.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.11]

“Whoever approaches Me in what spirit, My reaction for him is accordingly. If he approaches Me with _______ [?] a challenging mood, I also approach him in a challenging mood, with the demons. In a very simple way, I also deal in simple way. In this way, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante, how anyone, because he’s free I’m and the free man’s approach, according to his approach I deal with them. That is the general case.

But there are two side issues. Sometimes one formally asks for My devotion, but I give them mukti and they’re disposed of. Because I can see the inner most quarter, there something else. But anyhow, ostentatiously he’s praying for devotion, My favour, but I also can detect and I give him salvation and dismiss him.

And there is also another side, another issue. He’s very sincere at heart but don’t know, he has got no regulated way of prayer, does not know how to formally put the petition to Me. In that case I overlook his superficial faults and correct it and say, ‘You want, you’ve prayed for this thing, but I think you want this thing, is it not?’ Then he says, ‘Yes.’ You correct it and you pray for this, and I’m granting that.”

These three corresponding conducts we find about Him in the scripture, and we’re to adjust with that in such a way. Three types of dealings: one general and two particular, one for deception, and another, amendment of the ignorance. It is there and accordingly we are to adjust, we are to make us careful about the sincerity.

Murkho badati visnaya dhiro badati visnave [?] There is another saying, murkho badati visnaya, and uneducated in Sanskrit, an uneducated man he says, visnaya namo, just as devaya namo. But the correct form grammatically it will be visnaveha not visnaya. The word is not visna but visnu ________ [?] But the uneducated priest he does not know so much he says visnaya namo, and dhiro badati a scholar he will correctly pronounce the visnave dadyat [?]

But, Etat sarvaṁ parityajya bhāva-grāhī-janārdanaḥ. But the Janārdana He accepts the thing according to his heart’s nature, not the word. In Bhāgavatam also it is said, in the ten outlines, points, Nārada giving to Vyāsadeva, the very ten points.

tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavo, yasmin prati-ślokam abaddhavaty api

nāmāny anantasya yaśo ‘nkitāni yat, śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ

[“On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc., of the unlimited Supreme Lord is a different creation, full of transcendental words directed toward bringing about a revolution in the impious lives of this world’s misdirected civilization. Such transcendental literatures, even though imperfectly composed, are heard, sung and accepted by purified men who are thoroughly honest.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.5.11]

The grammatical mistakes and other such ornamental mistakes are overlooked by the Lord. He reads the heart; the language of heart is all in all, tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha...

...

The sin will be removed, washed away, by those words which are grammatically full of mistakes but surcharged with the real spirit of the devotion, on the other hand, this opposite śloka.

na yad vacaś citra-padaṁ harer yaśo, jagat-pavitraṁ pragṛṇīta karhicit

tad vāyasaṁ tīrtham uśanti mānasā, na yatra haṁsā niramanty uśik-kṣayāḥ

[Those words which do not describe the glories of the Lord: who alone can sanctify the atmosphere of the whole universe, are considered by saintly persons to be like unto a place of pilgrimage for crows. Since the all-perfect persons are inhabitants of the transcendental abode, they do not derive any pleasure there.] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.5.10] & [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.12.51, is very similar]

The style, the language, everything is very beautifully couched, but if you dive deep you’ll find no mention about the glory of the Lord, he’s putting rather him in the middle. But ornamental language, dignified style, all these things, so many, but they’re lifeless.

So Nārada asked Vyāsadeva, “Whatever it will be, the substance must be Kṛṣṇa. You must be very careful to that, then it is all right.”

The outward show, that is nothing, that is misguiding. So heart, not the brain but the heart is accepted. In the gopī’s case are they scholars, great scholars they are? They reject, jñāna-sunya-bhakti, Mahāprabhu accepts. Just as ignorance is also an enemy, so ‘I know’ that is also an enemy in the case of what is unintelligible, what is not within your scope of understanding, where you cannot be the subject and make it object of your subjective calculation. So in that case your knowing has no meaning, ‘that I know,’ that has got no meaning, because it is already, its very existence is superseding your subjective area of knowledge. So knowledge has got no meaning there.

But your śraddhā can go. Just as x-ray, the light ray of x-ray can pierce through the wall, through the barrier, so śraddhā, the faith can go through the walls of variegated nature, however hard it may be. The faith can pierce through, but knowledge, light, has got its limit. Just as touch has got its limit which is not within the jurisdiction, ‘I can’t touch, I can’t get that experience,’ but my eye has got more range. But eye has also got a limit, where my intelligence can go. And intelligence also cannot go, but faith can go. It is not non scientific. The jurisdiction of faith may take us to that plane, but our intelligence fails. Our knowledge, experience fails to give any photo and any conception of that world, cannot catch, beyond its jurisdiction. Ether can connect with Moon, but not air. The Moon, the sukra, the Sun, with something there very fine, in fine plane they can connect, but not with gross plane they can connect. So faith is the only reliable, the heart’s expansion is, possibility, prospect, heart’s prospect is the highest, its jurisdiction, its range, heart, but not our reason. Reason fails to reach to calculate. “No!” Reason will say, “This is impossible.” But heart can accommodate, the heart, the most accommodating, the faith, most accommodating. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Mahārāja, is faith a constant thing, or sometimes our faith is weak and sometimes our faith is strong?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It may be. The covers are there. Sometimes, just as in a tank so many plants floating on the water, what is that? Plants floating on the water, sometimes if it is moved the water is seen, sometimes closed. In this way śraddhā is closed by ignorance, anyābhilāṣa, karma, jñāna. It may cover, we are detached, but it is within. Everywhere that is, the faith is everywhere, in svarūpa, in innate nature the faith, but it is ________ [?] ambrosia, or what is this in the womb?

Devotees: Embryo.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In the womb, when the child is in the womb of the mother, embryo or something. That is, heart is there, faith is there, but by favourable environment it grows, gradually, it will grow by favourable environment. Unfavourable, it is lost to the minutest degree, suppressed.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Where is that Viraha Prakāśa?

Devotee: ________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You ask him if anyone of them has lost some dollars.

Parvat Mahārāja: I have already asked.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But they’re ignorant of the fact?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________ the gate keeper, he got forty dollars. One twenty and two tens, and produced it to Kṛṣṇa Saran Prabhu. But perhaps they lived here in this room, any way that they slipped from their pocket or something.

Parvat Mahārāja: They will check and see.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Ask them to check whether the limit is forty, or more, or something. That is my interest, it is real maybe when he has given it to us, may be reliable but it may be forty, but we can’t say, it may be more also. So they’re to check.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

When Pramāṇa Swāmī is being expected?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: After one week.

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...attracted me most. Wherever I felt attraction I collected them. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. The common interest, the common cord, internal cord will be touched, will be helpful for us greatly. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Someone told, Dayādhara or someone, someone told that, “It will supply the very basis and foundation of Swāmī Mahārāja’s activity...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Dayādhara.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...and strengthen it. It is of such nature that it will supply the foundation of his propaganda. And also sweeten it. It is of more intellectual characteristic and it will contribute some sweetness to that structure, and also deep foundation in the heart. So it will help the movement in a great and happy way.” That is the opinion of someone. “So it will have some universal need and natural.” Gaura Haribol. Let it be, by the grace of the Lord.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

And one says, “That Premadhāma-stotra is very condensed. It must be analysed, expanded, the teachings, the līlā and both the teachings of Śrī Caitanyadeva in a very condensed and dignified form. In dignified and condensed way the śikṣā has been represented in this Premadhāma-stotra. Commentary is necessary for that.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

When Madhvācārya had a bull, and Madhvācārya was asked by one of his disciples named Akṣobhya, he asked Madhvācārya, “After you, after your departure, who will prepare the commentary of all your works?”

Then Madhvācārya pointed out to the bull, “He will expand my teachings to the world.”

He heard it but could not digest. Anyhow, he says, that he was the fourth in order of Madhvācārya School Ācārya. First Padmanābha, then Nṛhari, Mādhava, Akṣobhya...

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His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...and got down by the steps to the tank, and with his mouth touching the surface of the water he’s drinking: he began to drink.

The very idea of Madhvācārya just came, rushed to his mind. “Oh! Madhvācārya, when great Guru told that the bull will explain all these writings he has left. So this man he’s imitating the bull, to drink water by the mouth, not by hand. He may be that bull. In his next birth he has come, but the bull’s tendency is still remnant there.”

The suggestion came to his brain, and he asked his disciple, “Please fetch the man to me.”

And he was taken to him, and began to talk with him, and in his mind whether he can convert him to become his disciple. Then the great Guru’s prophecy, prediction will be, will come true. Then gradually that soldier he came towards conversion, and he was Jaya Tīrtha, the great scholar and exponent of the Madhva School. He was so much famous that after he passed away then the scholars of the Madhva School they used to assemble in the day of his departure. All the Ācāryas and scholars of the Madhva School must join, and so familiar and so famous he was. And so his contribution to the Madhva School was of such great value that every scholar, if any scholar is absent to join, absent in the assembly, then they took it for certain that he’s no more, he’s dead, otherwise he must have joined this meeting. Such was the hold in the Madhva sampradāya that Jaya Tīrtha had, the bull. It is His will, and who is selected instrument.

mukam karoti vācālaṁ panghum langhāyate girīm

[yat kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī gurun dīna-tāranam]

[“I offer my respectful obeisances unto Mādhava, Who is the Personification of transcendental bliss. By His mercy, a blind man can see the stars in the sky, a lame man can cross mountains, and a dumb man can speak eloquent words of poetry.”] [Bhavārtha Dipikā, maṅgala stotram, 1]

Not the credit of anyone else. Mukam karoti vācālaṁ panghum langhāyate girīm, yat kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande. It is such: His will. It is more beautiful to see that a small man can give delivery of a great deed, work; deed. It is His beauty. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Satya-saṅkalpa, what He wants to do that is done. None can oppose. That is Absolute, His thought is Absolute. His word, everything is Absolute. Every part of the Absolute is Absolute.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. That is the characteristic of the Infinite, or Absolute, we are told. Everything connecting with zero is zero. Zero minus zero, zero plus zero, zero into zero, zero divided by zero, all zero. So in the case of Infinite we are to take like that, that analogy about Infinite. And what to speak of, we’re told that Ananta is the bed where the Lord takes His rest, so Infinite is the basis on which the Lord has His existence. That is the basis.

To Arjuna, “Infinite of our conception is nothing.” To Arjuna He says,

athavā bahunaitena, kiṁ jñātena tavārjjuna

viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat

[“But Arjuna, what is the need of your understanding this elaborate knowledge of My almighty grandeur? By My fractional expansion as the Supreme Soul of material nature, Mahā-Viṣṇu (Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu), I remain supporting this entire universe of moving and stationary beings.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 10.42]

“Whatever you can think, whatever may be its limit, that forms only My one part. It is in My one part. Whatever infinite conception you may have that’s only a part of Me. In a nut shell you know this. What I am, in very concise form I say to you. That whatever you can think, whatever you can believe, that forms My one negligent part.”

In Māyā’s Essay [?] I read in young age, “Everywhere there is centre and nowhere circumference.” The conception of Infinite he has given in a peculiar way. “Everywhere there is centre and nowhere circumference.” That will help us to think about Infinite.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

The three aspects, sat, cit, ānanda, all Infinite: no limit of existence, no limit of knowledge, no limit of love. _______________ [?] But still, though infinite, everything, but the strata is there, the limit, ānandam we find limited. To us we are infinitesimal, so to us everything is limited. But ānanda, the jñāna, the knowledge, the ecstasy, the existence, all to us is limited. Infinite to us is finite. So we have such a position, detached from the real thinking. From the zone of real thinking we’re driven away, we’re driven away to the realm of māyā and we’re forced to have conception of only limitation in every aspect. Though we find that no limit, but limit of the jurisdiction of the sight, but after the jurisdiction then again there is, so here everything, the limit and unlimited also we find relatively. Still we are given with limited capacity, and limit in the unlimited we are. But we’re asked, that at least through your faith you try to keep connection with the Infinite. It is not possible by your physical body, or even by your intelligence or knowledge. But by faith you can make yourself more extensive. You may have acquaintance with more and more substances. Faith is within you. That is the most extensive plane where you can connect with you. But other things, even knowledge, inference, everything is within limitation, what to speak of the physical senses.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi. Dayal Nitāi.

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His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

kṛpayā hari-kīrtana-mūrti-dharaṁ, dharaṇī-bhara-hāraka-gaura-janam

janakādhika-vatsala-snigdha-padaṁ, praṇamāmi sadā prabhupāda-padam

[O Śrīla Prabhupāda, you serve the living entities by mercifully revealing your divine personality as the embodiment of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s spiritual glories, and in doing so, you eliminate the offences which burden the Earth planet. Your loving disposition is more affectionate than even a father to the followers of Lord Gaurāṅga. I eternally offer my respects unto that charming effulgence that shines from the radiant lotus toe-tips of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda.] [Śrī Śrī Prabhupāda-padma-stavakaḥ, 8]

I composed a few poems, few stanzas, in the hymn devoted to Guru Mahārāja Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. One stanza is this. Kṛpayā hari-kīrtana-mūrti-dharaṁ. As he came, the kīrtana – what is kīrtana? Preaching! Professor ________ [?] translates as preaching, kīrtana means preaching. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, śravaṇa – to listen to, and kīrtana means to preach. That was his translation. Kīrtana means preaching, to give vent to the feeling what we receive by the ear, endeavour to express that by the tongue. So kīrtana is translated as strongly in the word preaching: the purpose of kīrtana is preaching, to reproduce. What we hear, what we receive, the attempt to reproduce that, and that is considered to be the highest type of cultivation, to try to reproduce, kīrtana, reproduction. The verification also, what we have already listened to, is it proper, that is also checked, tested, examined, whether I have listened correctly or not. That is also done there. And when listening we may be absent minded, but when to reproduce we cannot be so. We must be all attentive, we must be relevant so all attentive, that is the very life of kīrtana. Otherwise only to pronounce words, the repetition of the words, that may not be kīrtana proper, kīrtana, the assertion of the inner most faculty, the use there. We must be all attentive. It is very difficult to control the mind, to become attentive to a particular purpose. So while kīrtana, while preaching, kīrtana in the sense of preaching, not pronouncing by the tongue, but preaching. I am – its very life is to help others, what I have received I want to give that to the environment to others. So I am to exert utmost what I have received to bring that in the public, before the public. So preaching has been the word used to reproduce properly what is kīrtana in Sanskrit. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ.

Kīrtana. Austa spandanam mantrena kirtanam tato varam [?] The meaning of austa spandan, that is also something because it proves that what I have acquired by listening, that is some living thing that can assert itself. Hṛday haite bale jive agrete chaley [?] Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes, it comes from the heart to the tongue. Hṛday haite bale ______________ [?] by force. Its origin is in the heart, when I receive through the ear, comes in the heart, hṛday, and from there forcibly it comes to the tongue. Hṛday haite bale jive agrete chaley [?] It comes, bale means not speaks but bale means forcibly. It forces me to take in the tongue, and then to give vent. Jive agrete chaley sabde [?] So assertion is there in kīrtana much. Kīrtana, sound is the only free medium, very easy medium, and assertion through the sound only, which is less affected by the environment, sound. Kīrtana, kṛpayā hari-kīrtana-mūrti-dharaṁ. Here it is mentioned that hari-kīrtana itself is personified, hari-kīrtana is personified, untiring. He can’t, as if his body is so much tired he can’t pronounce: still he won’t leave.

Once in Bombay one gentleman came on the sea beach side, a two story building there we are staying when Śrī Mūrtis are installed that time in Bombay. Prabhupāda with his group went there. I was also one of them.

At night, eight or ten, some Marathi gentleman came, “I want to hear something from your holy lips.”

Prabhupāda is too tired. He asked me, “You say something.”

Ah, his question was, “Who is sādhu?” The gentleman’s enquiry was, “Who is sādhu?”

Prabhupāda referred to me to talk with him, he was very much tired. I began,

sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ, sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham

mad-anyat te na jānanti, nāhaṁ tebhyo manāg api

[“My pure devotees are always in My heart, and I am always in their heart. My devotees know nothing but Me, and I know nothing but them.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 9.4.68]

With this I wanted to begin, to say, to give impression to the gentleman that sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ, the sādhu should have to be the very, to live in His heart. And He will live in the heart of the sādhu. This corresponding relationship there must be. In this way I wanted to approach.

But as these lines generally mean, “The sādhus are so favourite to Me,” Prabhupāda was not satisfied with this beginning, he himself began.

But I failed to understand why this beginning was not accepted by him. I also knew somewhat that this is the highest position of the sādhus, this śloka expressing the position of the sādhus. But the sign of a sādhu, symptom of a sādhu, is not here, that I would have talked of in course of my speech. But anyhow he was not satisfied with this beginning. I got the name, the word sādhu here and I thought that from there I shall come to the symptoms. But the conclusion is such, the sādhus are the heart to the Lord, and Lord is heart to the sādhus, a high degree, their position.

Anyhow he began. I was very much mortified, not that my beginning was discarded, not that, but that with great pain he’s talking, he’s too tired. Still, he began to talk. I had to stop. That was painful to me, and still it is, that he had to talk himself to that man. Of course a short time, then again perhaps I took up the thread.

So kīrtana-mūrti-dharaṁ, always talking, talking, talking, talking, incessant talking about Hari, that was his very nature. So it is mentioned there, kṛpayā hari-kīrtana-mūrti-dharaṁ. Just as the hari-kīrtana, the very principle is personified in him, untiringly speaking about this, that.

I heard from Sakhī Bābu ________ [?] disciple, was first a poor man, he became a multi millionaire afterwards. And many service, he has left this Bhakti Vijay Bhavan, this big temple in Yoga-pīṭha. In Vṛndāvana also many places constructed, repaired many things there. In Rādhā- Dāmodara compound his samādhi has been built by his son.

He told that, “When he and Kuñja Bābu [later known as Bhakti Vilās Tīrtha Mahārāja] met Prabhupāda in the early days of his preaching life,” Prabhupāda’s preaching life, he told that, “He’s talking so forcibly and sometimes even slapping the table, with reddish face.” Sakhī Bābu told that, “In Bengali, but we can’t understand what he says. But this much we understand by our common sense that he wants to infuse within us something. He’s trying his utmost to infuse something, to inject something within us. And we can’t follow, though in Bengali language, as philosophical. And the face is red, and sometimes he’s giving forcible slap on the table and trying to express himself, in this way.”

This Hayagrīva Prabhu, the Mādhava Mahārāja, previously Hayagrīva Brahmacārī, before he joined the Maṭha, he and another friend went to Katwa to see the place where Mahāprabhu had His renunciation. Then while returning they went to see Māyāpur also and met Prabhupāda. And Hayagrīva Prabhu, previously, that Mādhava Mahārāja told that, “When he went to see him and to give our respect,” “Where did you go?”

“We went to Katwa?”

“Why?”

“To see the Deities there: and the place of sannyāsa!”

“Have you seen the Deity?”

“Yes, I have seen.”

“Have you seen Mahāprabhu?”

“Then we were surprised. That we have seen the Deities there, but again he’s asking ‘have you seen Mahāprabhu, have you seen?’ So something must be his meaning. Then we can’t understand what you say, “That have you seen Him” in this way. “He can’t be seen by this fleshy eye.”

Mahāprabhu can’t be seen. Adhokṣaja, is a favourite word in Bhāgavatam and also of Prabhupāda, “He’s Adhokṣaja, this primary thing we’re to understand first, which is Adhokṣaja.”

Adhaḥkṛtaṁ indriyajaṁ jñānaṁ yena. Superseding the plane of the knowledge of our senses, He lives there. He lives in a plane transcending our plane of experience. Not to be found there. It has been repeatedly and with great stress, it’s always pushed to us. We want to see, He could be seen, He can be seen, but He’s in another plane. You are to acquire such eye, first thing, divya-drsti, divya-darśana, so, gurum evābhigacchet.

[tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet, samit paniḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma niṣṭham]

[“One who wants scientific knowledge about the Supreme Truth must approach a bona fide Guru and offer him everything required for sacrifice. The Guru must be fixed in the truth, having heard it from a genuine source.”] [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, 1.2.12]

To get the eye, to get the eye, if you have got the eye then you can see Him, but the eye is necessary to see. He’s there but above the world of our experience. It is a sad thing of course. And there are very few realised souls that can see with this eye also. It becomes so much intense the ordinary eye experience vanishes.

In the case of Dhruva, first he saw in his meditation, He’s in the mind, He’s come down and captured his mental system, and he’s seeing, feeling. Again when so very much intensified then when he opened his eyes he also saw.

This physical vision is removed. The inner vision has come overflowing, inner vision, the flow has come out and captured, and the external vision removed, pushed back. Then only we can see with these senses also. It comes down in such a huge quantity, a huge degree, that it pushes back the plane of our physical vision. It is possible, captures the whole thing, surroundings are also captured. But the flow comes from within, from above, then we can see like that, the external world. But really, that is not matter.

So, just as external things can enter into the internal mind, a picture, what we can see in our dream, external senses are closed, but a particular impression is within, corresponding. So also the opposite, visa versa, the internal, not the mental but the soul’s impression, differentiating, that also can come out, inner flow. If out can go in, so in can come out, we can see.

[ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā, bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san]

prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā

[“Although My eternal form is transcendental to birth and death, and I am the controller of all beings, I appear within the world in My original form, by My own sweet will, extending My internal potency of yoga-māyā.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.6]

Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya. “When I come here in the external world, in the world of external conception, what I have to do? The laws of the physical world are to be pushed back.”

When an officer enters the prison house the prison law goes back, wherever he goes the prison law going back. The King comes to visit the prison, wherever the King is going, there no law of the prison, it is going back, going away. And the King’s law is surrounding him, pushing them. Prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya, sambhavām. The activity paralysed, the law of nature is being paralysed and pushed back. Ātma-māyayā means Yogamāyā, with the help of Yogamāyā, a higher law.

“I remove, push back the lower laws of matter, material laws, and come down. Wherever I am the Para-Prakṛti, the Yogamāyā is surrounding Me always. So I can go anywhere and everywhere, with guard.”

Police officers, the higher officers, wherever they’re going, the guard, the atmosphere also going there, protecting them. Wherever they go they’re under protection. Wherever they move, that atmosphere of protection goes there, before, surrounding.

“So, prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya, prakṛti, that is under My control, it is Mine, it obeys Me, svām prakṛtim. Adhiṣṭhāya, ________ [?] stopping its possession, removing it, and with My own ātma-māyayā, by My peculiar mystic forces I push them back and come down, adhiṣṭhāya, sambhavāmy.”

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā, mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam

[paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto, mama bhūta-maheśvaram]

[“Unable to comprehend My super-excellent divine form of human features, ignorant men blaspheme Me - the Supreme Lord of all beings - by considering Me a mere human being.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.11]

“When I become, I take the figure of a human being, ordinary people can’t understand. They think Myself as an ordinary person. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā. They’re foolish. Mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto. They’re not aware of My superior capacity and potency, so they think like that. They’re connected with the lower laws, lower type of laws. What is the fault with them? They do not know that higher laws in the transcendental world also exist, avajānanti, so misunderstanding, mistake, under estimate Me, under estimation, avajānanti, mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, that I am of lower type. I’m not of that type. When they come with their eye of knowledge jñāna-netra, dhyana-netra, then they come to My proper conception. But when I come down they under estimate, the yogīs, the jñānīs. This is My less representation, My lower representation, the yogī and jñānī. But when they go up to see Me and whatever small quantity they get they think, “Oh, that is very higher order.” But when I come down their estimation is very poor about Me. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā, mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto. Because they’re not aware of My higher potency, My higher capacity, so they say like that. Mama bhūta-maheśvaram. Paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto, mama bhūta-maheśvaram. That I’m master of all sorts of different existences, bhūta-maheśvara, and the great controller of all the laws which is obeyed by the substances of different types and colour. I am all controller. They can’t understand that. That in My full capacity I may present Myself in any place.”

The King can assert himself in any corner of his kingdom.

“Oh, he can control the throne area only, or only the capital.”

But in every corner of his kingdom he can come and fully assert himself there. That side they can’t conceive.

“To the farthest corner I can come with My full power and authority. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā, mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam, paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto, mama bhūta-maheśvaram. Bhūta-maheśvaram, the controller of all sorts of existence: the great controller of all sorts of laws and existing substances.”

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Kṛpayā hari-kīrtana-mūrti-dharaṁ. As if the hari-kīrtana giving vent through sound, to extend Himself through sound, hari-kīrtana. The extension through sound, in the form of sound to extension, that is personified untiringly talking about Kṛṣṇa and Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda. And when talking about Rādhārāṇī he was conceived to be, of course from our standpoint, moved, utmost, wholesale merged. We could see he’s going to be merged in some other region. Very closer to his own Mistress and perhaps he’s going to lose his individuality there. And sometimes with great pride also came out, but very cautiously: whenever we have seen him talk about Rādhārāṇī, very, very cautiously, that it may not be misunderstood. That was his continued apprehension that it may not be misunderstood, that he may not misrepresent Her. That was the care always to be found with him, as if he’s talking to the undeserved, whether it will be well for him to talk about Her amongst those he’s talking around, with some such care. Hare Kṛṣṇa. His general tenor of all his talk was to lead to śrutibhir vimṛgyām.

[āsā maho caraṇa-renu-juṣām aham syām, vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnām

yā dustyajaṁ svajanam ārya-pathaṁ ca hitvā, bhejur mukunda-padavīṁ śrutibhir vimṛgyām]

[“The gopīs of Vṛndāvana have given up the association of their husbands, sons and other family members, who are very difficult to renounce, and they have sacrificed even their religious principles to take shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, which are sought after by even the Vedas. O grant me the fortune to be born as a blade of grass in Vṛndāvana, so that I may take the dust of those great souls upon my head.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.47.61]

To lead towards that side, the conclusion, drawing from different departments to show the direction it is, go this side. Not to talk much of that position, or place, but wherever he begins, the tenor of his speech was always directing in conclusion towards Rādhā-dāsya, towards. Not dealing directly about that līlā but concluding towards that. That was his aim. You may trace it everywhere, so many books there may be, and also prabandha, articles, the conclusion going that side. In this way he left. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. That is the centre, and when he was in that zone he was felt to be quite at home.

Dusta mana! tumi kisera vaisnava? [Who is a Vaiṣṇava?] [Gauḍīya Kanthahara, 3.24]

In that poem, where it is mentioned, once, Radha dāsya tahi chahi _______________ [?]

_____________________________________________________________________ [?]

And there is another thing: anyhow, pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge [mattala sādhu-jana viṣaya range] [“The path of divine love is worshippable to us and should be held overhead as our highest aspiration.”] All his attempts may be summarised in this expression. Many grand things have been tackled, either physically or in the conscious world, this yoga, the dhyana, the Vedānta and everything, the gorgeous things he has tackled. But conclusion always towards rāgapaṭha ________ [?] That is the highest thing, that was the whole tenor of his speech, his movement was like that, pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge. Gaurav of knowledge and also activity, karma, jñāna, he has not neglected but accepted them only as the means to the end, and never for any independent purpose for them. Anything has been accepted, but only to take the advantage of it to prove, to establish as foundation of that Braja rasa, the loving worship, loving service. Love is over all, and very much particular that lust may not be mistaken for love, always guarding in that way. That was one of the most peculiar – the lust may not be considered, may not be mistaken for love. There is every possibility for the ordinary fallen souls, and that is the condition generally with them that are passing in the Name of Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu. The most, almost cent per cent, they’re plodding in the domain of lust and professing that we are in the land of love. So,

āula, bāula, karttābhajā, neḍā, daraveśa, sāñi / sahajiyā, sakhībhekī, smārta, jāta-gosāñi

ativāḍī, cūḍādhārī, gaurāṅga-nāgarī / tato kahe, ei terara saṅga nāhi kari

[The names of the sahajiyā saṁpradāyas are as follows: āula (a mendicant sect following a very easy course of worship), bāula (a sect of mendicants who wander about singing sweet melodies about the pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa while engaging in abominable activities), karttābhajā (a sect of “followers” of Śrī Gaurāṅga in Bengal), neḍā (literally means: “shaven- headed.” Refers to devotees whose greatest religious principle is their shaven heads. The word also means bald or barren and connotes someone who represents himself as a devotee while his so-called religious life is barren of genuine realisation), daraveśa (a Muslim mendicant. This word has also been used by Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī to mean “hippy”), sāni (literally means: “religious instructor”), sahajiyā (literally means: “easiest.” Indicates one who takes the pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana cheaply), sakhībhekī (one who imagines himself to be a gopī, and adopts the dress of a woman), smārta (formalistic and materialistic brāhmaṇas), jāta-gosāñi (caste goswāmīs), ativāḍī (proud devotees), cūḍādhārī (those whose only religious principle consists in shaving the head and maintaining a tuft of hair, marking themselves as Vaiṣṇavas), and gaurāṅga-nāgarī (those who consider that it is the position of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to be the enjoyer of women, when in fact as a sannyāsī in His ācārya-līlā He avoided all association with women). One should avoid associating with these different classes of imitation devotees.] [Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, 13.111]

Avoid especially these forms of religious conception. Avoid them. Avoid them. And then go on enquiring, go on.

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ, jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

ānukūlyena-kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

[“One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favourably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, 1.1.11] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19-167] & [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.21.11, purport]

This is by Rūpa Goswāmī, and the original pramāṇa, evidence, has been quoted by him from Nārada-pañcarātra.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ, tat paratvena nirmalam / hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

[“Pure devotion is service to the Supreme Lord which is free from all relative conceptions of self interest.”] [Nārada-pañcarātra]

Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ, upādhi means dress, garment, coating, cover, upādhi. Following, that is following, not to be traced in the original existence. That is arantuk, outcome, coming from out. So sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ, all the covers, gross and subtle, should be eliminated, upādhi- vinirmuktaṁ. Tat paratvena nirmalam, the very gist, the very life of the thing is tat paratva, extremely and exclusively ended, concentrated towards one point, for Him, that is the difficulty. Generally scattered, our attention is always scattered. To collect them and to hit to one particular point, that is necessary, tat paratva, only His satisfaction will be the only aim of our campaign. Tat paratvena nirmalam, the nirmalata, the purity depends on that, oneness: the peculiarity, the aim, the oneness in aim, tat paratvena nirmalam. Hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ, and you can apply all your senses, but under the direction of that aim, that end. End must be peculiarly exclusive, and ways may be inclusive, but the aim must be exclusive only to one: Kṛṣṇa. But the means may be inclusive. Everything we may accept but to that end. Whether a Mohammedan, whether a Christian, whether a Dravidian, anyone may be accepted. But Kṛṣṇa bhajan, Śrī Kṛṣṇa has got His conception. There we can be one in that platform only if for Kṛṣṇa bhajan, that exclusive end, we all can meet there. It does not matter. So very generous and very bigoted, very, very bigoted. Not less than Kṛṣṇa conception, even not less than Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa, in this way it is developing. Very narrow viewed, most narrowed view, and most extensive. And this is not only a policy but this is truth. We will have to accept that this is the truth.

tapasvino dāna-parā yaśasvino, manasvino mantra-vidaḥ sumaṅgalāḥ

kṣemaṁ na vindanti vinā yad-arpaṇaṁ, [tasmai subhadra-śravase namo namaḥ]

[“I offer my repeated obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, who is all-famous as the Supreme Good. Without offering their actions unto Him, neither the liberationists (jñānīs) who are dedicated to austerities, not the charitable worldly workers (karmīs), nor the world famous, nor the performers of Aśvamedha sacrifices, nor the sages or yogīs, nor persons dedicated to chanting mantras, nor persons of virtuous behaviour - none of them can attain any auspiciousness in life.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.4.17]

The side issues, so many capitalists, so many enterprise we find, this yoga, this jñāna, this tapasya, tapasvino, one class. Tapasvino dāna-parā yaśasvino, manasvino mantra-vidaḥ sumaṅgalāḥ. Different types of companies they’re going on with their individual enterprise, as if, the class enterprise. But kṣemaṁ na vindanti, Śukadeva Goswāmī is drawing them to one point. But in one point they all have in common, have got some relation of subjugation to the Paramount Power, otherwise they cannot exist. So many independent companies may flourish in the country, but must have some understanding with the paramount power of the country, or government, some connection. Independent companies are working, but some understanding with the government, otherwise they can’t exist. They won’t be allowed to go on with their... So tapasvino dāna-parā yaśasvino, manasvino mantra-vidaḥ, so many campaigns they’re going on their business and they’re flourishing. But anyhow they’re connected with that same, must have sanction from there otherwise they can’t live here in the soil, not allowed. Śukadeva Goswāmī says in the beginning of Bhāgavatam. Tapasvino dāna-parā yaśasvino, manasvino mantra-vidaḥ sumaṅgalāḥ, kṣemaṁ na vindanti vinā yad-arpaṇaṁ. Some contribution, some rent towards the power Absolute Controller, some rent is paid to the power. Otherwise, kṣemaṁ means their existence, maintenance would not be possible. So,

kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā, ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ

ye ’nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ, śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

[“Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.4.18]

In the consideration of denotation here, Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, so many tribes, so many different faiths they’re holding. Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, khasādayaḥ. Nye ca pāpā, other sinful tribes also who do not care even for morality, moral life also, pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ...

End of 82.01.29.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.29.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Anyone of them may get rid of any type of their sinfulness, disability, if they come in connection with Kṛṣṇa conception, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. All accommodating, all accommodating, but as to the aim, the most bigoted section.

“We want Kṛṣṇa, none else, Kṛṣṇa conception. And even in that Kṛṣṇa conception, that Dvārakā conception, that Mathurā conception, so sentimentalist and sceptic, so much sceptic that only Kṛṣṇa won’t do, the Kṛṣṇa of Vṛndāvana. Kṛṣṇa of Vṛndāvana; that is what is really wanted.”

So bigoted in one hand, and so generous in another hand: true to the kindred point of heaven and hearth. It may accommodate the most rejected thing, and connect with the, by the strength of the purest connection they venture to accept things of very lowest order. That is the science. This purity centre is so high, and so great, and so noble, that it’s able to capture any type of insane, impure, and mean, and all sorts of neglected things of which we are afraid of, because the centre is so reliable in its purification. So from that standpoint the harmony is not unreasonable.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Any question? Not any newcomer, none from Māyāpur today?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nor from Calcutta, yesterday night?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Jīva Goswāmī has written a commentary on tenth canto, Krama-Sandarbha, and later he goes back and he writes another commentary, Bṛhad-Krama-Sandarbha. So what are the differences between those two? Why was it necessary to write two commentaries?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I’m not aware of that, that two commentaries he’s got. Krama-Sandarbha means Bhāgavata-Sandarbha, that is six, Sat-Sandarbha. And there you find that is in Priti-Sandarbha, in what part?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: No. Krama-Sandarbha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Krama-Sandarbha and Bhāgavata-Sandarbha one and the same, is it not?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: No, different.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Krama-Sandarbha is his tikā on Bhāgavata you say?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yes, Krama-Sandarbha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Krama-Sandarbha, and Bhāgavata-Sandarbha is the gist of that as I found in another book.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Achar. Then Krama-Sandarbha you say is his commentary of tenth canto.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yes. And later he writes another commentary, Bṛhad-Krama-Sandarbha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I did not hear the name of that Bṛhad-Krama-Sandarbha. Anyhow, what is the point?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: I was wondering what was the necessity, reason, for writing the Bṛhad- Krama-Sandarbha?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That I can’t say, but if I can come in connection with the two: here it is dealt in this way, and there in that way, then I can come to some conclusion. And in the ordinary way I can remark that more elaborate, perhaps Bṛhad that is more elaborate, more analysis of the ontological subjects to be found there in Bṛhad. Laghu-Sandarbha by Rūpa Goswāmī, and Bṛhad, Laghu-Sandarbha not, Laghu-Bhāgavatāmrta, and Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmrta of Sanātana Goswāmī: so bṛhad means dealt in more extended way. But if you give any example then I can give my opinion. Bṛhad-Krama-Sandarbha: of tenth canto, or the whole of Bhāgavatam?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Tenth canto.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Tenth canto. There perhaps he might have dealt with tipani of Sanātana Goswāmī. Sanātana Goswāmī’s tipani, Dasama-Tipani, that is the most analytical and extensive book on dasama-skanda. And perhaps he has dealt with that tipani.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: That means Vaiṣṇava-Toṣaṇī ?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vaiṣṇava-Toṣaṇī. Jīva Goswāmī’s tenor of works is always to support, to show the reasonability what his Gurus Sanātana and Rūpa has given to the public. His nature of delivery is always to make it understandable to the scholar public. The references from different scriptures, he has collected extensive references from different scriptures, and has pointed out in a logical way that what Sanātana and Rūpa they have written, that is justified by the scriptural and also reasonable side. That is his service, his nature of service is always that, to protect the delivery given by Rūpa, Sanātana, which comes direct by inspiration from Mahāprabhu. They got inspiration from Mahāprabhu, Rūpa and Sanātana, and that was the better part of their writings. That had the predominating, or the influential part, that inspiration, and they have given some sort of pramāṇa and reason. And Jīva Goswāmī more firmly he has established Rūpa, Sanātana, by extensive quotations from different scriptures, and also by logical representation, to guard them. To guard their Guru’s scripture, Guru’s literature, that was his service, the tenor of, nature of service, to guard, to show the beauty what is given by Rūpa and Sanātana. That was his position. Eh? What do you say?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yesterday I was reading in Kṛṣṇa-Sandarbha, in reply to this Yati Mahārāja, so there was one description of how Devakī and Vasudeva they were aṁśa-avista, jīva-aṁśe- avista. And when the two personalities, Pṛśni, Sutapā, that Devakī and Vasudeva they were avista, aṁśa-avista, within these two personalities.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Two personalities?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yeah, who performed austerities, tapasya.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is all a lower representation. Just as the Drona and Dara entered Nanda and Yaśodā, they’re partial representation and under the garb. The real thing was – just as Mahāprabhu; that was Yuga-Avatāra, but Svayaṁ-Bhagavān when came it was absorbed there. So by their tapasya the Pṛśni and Sutapā they made penance and wanted to have that the object of their tapasya to have Nārāyaṇa as their son. Then Vasudeva also says _______________________ to Nārada, “We are ignorant...

Aham kila pula pajatam bavi mukti dam apujayat namakaya nahito deva mayaya [?]

These ostentatious meanings should be purged out. The plain meaning that Vasudeva is confessing to Devaṛṣi Nārada, that, “Moksa is a greater thing, but misguided we prayed for Nārāyaṇa to become our son and not for mukti. We are befooled.” But really to get Nārāyaṇa as a son it is far, far higher than mukti. But it is in such a posing that Vasudeva says ‘we were befooled.’ Yogamāyā daran muktave [?] “Enchanted, we could not understand that moksa is the highest attainment. We simply prayed for Him to become our son.”

The Yogamāyā, the inner meaning will be the Yogamāyā is higher. And Yogamāyā did not allow him to go to the moksa: took him higher to come in the filial service of Kṛṣṇa. So this is all subdued artha, meaning. In many places it is like that, and so the demigods they entered, they got the chance at that time. Kṛṣṇa is also Yuga Avatāra, and Svayaṁ-Bhagavān, and Svayaṁ-Prakāśa, that Svayaṁ-Vilāsa, Prabhāva-Vilāsa, in different characteristics He’s there. We are to very carefully and very – eliminate all these snares, that Drona and Dara.

Even Madhvācārya has said that, “The gopīs they’re the heavenly prostitutes.”

But are we to accept that? No! We shall say that they had some chance to be absorbed in Their halo, in Their halo of body. The spiritual body there is halo, and there they got some chance to be absorbed, in this way.

Rāmānuja sampradāya says that, “Rādhārāṇī was Śurpanākha.” A hateful expression!

We at least, if they can prove with śāstric quotation, that might have been in the, placed in the foot dust of Rādhārāṇī, by Her grace, it may be possible.

Keśa-Avatāras, Mahāprabhu says, “Many things acceptable and non-acceptable.”

Where it is possible we may accept, least connection outside. And sometimes we’re to neglect the wholesale as āsura-vimohan.

The gopīs were looted by the dacoits, mahoisi-maran [?] When Arjuna was taking them to Hastinā they were looted by the dacoits, it is mentioned.

Just as Sītā Devī was stolen by Rāvaṇa! Sita akrti māyā hari laya ravana [?]

Only a shadow was taken by Rāvaṇa, not Sītā Devī proper. Sita bandi bhangirata [?]

There was a brāhmaṇa in the south, Mahāprabhu was his guest. The brāhmaṇa is only full of repentance, crying and sighing.

Then Mahāprabhu asked, “What is the trouble with you brāhmaṇa? It’s so late, you give something to Me, and you are fasting, what’s the matter?”

“What shall I say to You sādhuji? I heard Sītā Devī was stolen away by a rākṣasa, demon. So Lakṣmī Devī she was forcibly touched and carried.”

Mahāprabhu consoled him, “Don’t mind in that way. What to speak of catching Sītā Devī by his hand, he can’t see even Sītā Devī.” Aprakrta vastu naya prakrta bulya [?] “Sītā Devī is wholesale spirit personified. The fleshy hand cannot see the spirit, what to speak of touching and forcibly carrying.” But this is all māyā, so māyā and virudha vacan [?]

Keśa-Avatāras, another, the Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma when the Dara, the goddess of the Earth went to Brahmā, approached him, “I can’t tolerate the burden of so much sin as being committed now. So arrange for my relief. Otherwise I can’t go.”

Then Brahmā took two hairs from his head, one grey and one black, and cast, “Yes, I’m sending two Avatāras. They’ll come down and They will kill the demons and minimise the trouble for you, Keśa-Avatāra.” And that became Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma. It is mentioned in some scripture.

According to different adhikāra, means capacity, or ruci, that is hankering, different things have been allotted by the authority. And we are to distinguish them and accept. So that is an outer meaning.

What do you say? That Sutapā and all these things, they will stay in the garments outside. They may have some sort of shelter. But the main thing, the inner thing is going to be discussed in the case of Vṛndāvana and others.

Even it is said that when Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa is engaged in killing so many demons, it is the Viṣṇu, He’s performing on behalf, and not the lover Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes it has been shown in such a light. But They differ. Some say that in a hero, in a heroic life, demon killing is a part. In a hero the killing of the demons must be there. And some say no, the Lord of love, and the demon that is being removed, they’re antagonistic, they’re opposed to His līlā, they’re being killed. This killing, this cruel activity are done not by Kṛṣṇa but the Nārāyaṇa living there on His body. He’s embodiment of everything, so that is being done by Them, not by Līlā Puruṣottama.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Mahārāja, there was another explanation, the main explanation why Kṛṣṇa appears is because of vātsalya rasa. Vātsalya rasa is predominant in Devakī and Vasudeva, and also Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja. So in both cases this rasa is predominating, so Kṛṣṇa appears.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But there is difference, bheda and ābheda. We shall say the quality of vātsalya rasa what descended in Yaśodā and Nanda, and Vasudeva-Devakī should be of little lower type. This is kṣatriya-abhimāna, and gopa-abhimāna is that of higher type, Svayaṁ- Bhagavān. And this must be, Vasudeva-nandan is subordinate to Braja-nandan, Nanda-nandan. Devakī-nandan is of little lower type than of Yaśodā-nandan. We are to differentiate like that.

Of course to speak so many things in our mean mouth it does not look well, but still, if we’re to follow the dictations of the Ācārya as inspired by Mahāprabhu, then we’re to find like that, the Nanda-nandan, Svayaṁ-Bhagavān. So much so that when in the rasa, Svayaṁ-Rūpa only in the side of Rādhārāṇī, and so many Kṛṣṇas, the facsimile in the side of the gopīs, that is Svayaṁ-Prakāśa, not Svayaṁ-Rūpa. As gopīs also, little lower than Rādhārāṇī, so the Kṛṣṇa that approaches other gopīs that is also of little lower rank.

So this rūpānuga, when Kṛṣṇa is with Rādhārāṇī, that combination gives such a highest quality of rasa, and the Rūpa etc, though mañjarī, they can get taste of that highest quality of rasa. When other gopīs are approaching Kṛṣṇa, that will be of lower quality.

These are high things, only our conjecture, not much to talk. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. It is stated there, and if possible we’re to grasp it. We’re to grasp it, the differentiation: appreciate how it is possible, why? This is very abstruse case. We must – mind your own lesson, something like. Oil your own machine. In the stage we are, we should try our best to attend to the immediate duty, imperative, and then we’ll be raised to the higher standard, then we shall have to talk like that, to try to understand all these things. Pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge.

Our Guru Mahārāja always told we must serve our Guru varga, Gurudevas, and so much we shall have to go to the highest position Rādhā-kuṇḍa, but we won’t stay there. We’re not fit to live in Rādhā-kuṇḍa, we must come to the nearest, lowest place, Govardhana, and we shall live there, and go to Rādhā-kuṇḍa, serve Them and come back and live nearby.

When Guru Mahārāja lived in Purī, Chattack Parvata, their bungalow, Chattack Parvata was considered as Govardhana, so,

[śīghra āsiha, tāhāṅ nā rahiha cira-kāla,] govardhane nā caḍiha dekhite ‘gopāla’

[“You should remain in Vṛndāvana for only a short time and then return here as soon as possible. Also, do not climb Govardhana Hill to see the Gopāla Deity.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 13.39]

Mahāprabhu says to many, “Don’t climb over Govardhana, even to see, to have a darśana of Gopāla, don’t go over, climb over.”

But Guru Mahārāja constructed his bungalow over Govardhana. Construction finished when he was, he went to occupy, to live there, the Vyāsa and Madhvācārya’s Mūrti were also built, also constructed and placed in a room by the side of his room.

And Guru Mahārāja asked Vasudeva Prabhu to worship them before he enters the room, use the room. And I was asked to worship Vyāsa and Madhvācārya there, the Mūrtis. I told, I do not know by what mantra to worship Vyāsa and Madhvācārya.

I was told, “Whatever you know about them, you think of that and give some flower in respect. And also offer some food, naividyam, to them, and give them the garland, in this way, in whatever way you may do it.” By their order I did that, to Madhvācārya, whatever I knew about him, the ananda ___________________________ [?] anyhow in his memory, _____________ [?] in this way I worshipped two Deities ______________________ [?] Pronounced that and offered flower ___________________ [?] We were finished.

Then Guru Mahārāja used, that he’s using bungalow which is erected on the head of Chattack Parvata that is considered to be the extension of Govardhana in Vṛndāvana, and to climb over which is objected by Mahāprabhu Himself. How to adjust? So I found that the adjustment is in this way, that the Vyāsa and Madhva, the Vyāsa was over the mountain, Madhva also met him, two Ācāryas. And in connection of their service Prabhupāda lived there to satisfy them. Though apparently he crossed the advices of Mahāprabhu, but he made his adjustment with this Vyāsa and Madhva conception helped him to stay there.

So for the service of Guru, the service of our Guru, we can even climb up his bedstead. Sometimes if necessary to crown the Deity, the Deity is a little high, then we’re to place our foot on the siṁhāsana and then decorate and then come up. Or some cloth and then we can put our foot, and then the Deity is decorated, and then we come to remove the cloth and bow down to the siṁhāsana which is supposed to be the extension of Baladeva and Nityānanda. All surrounding necessary articles they come from Baladeva and Nityānanda we are told. So for serving necessity we can approach anywhere and everywhere, but not to fulfil our purpose.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Was that at the Puruṣottama Maṭha?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Near the Tota Gopīnātha?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Near Tota Gopīnātha, there the Prabhupāda’s bungalow. It is placed on the Chattack Parvata, over Chattack Parvata. And Guru Mahārāja in his last days he lived there sometimes when he went to Purī. That is apadata, that is ostentatiously objectionable. But with the particular trend of adjustment he lived there. The necessity of the service, suiting to his health, and his service, he had to accept that, though ordinarily objectionable by the devotional principle, had to do that, but the necessity for the service of Guru.

So to understand was necessary to follow the higher directions and statements of the Guru we sometimes enter into the higher zone of siddhānta, the Rādhārāṇī, the sakhī, the mañjarī, etc. But only for the purpose of service, and not to stay there a long time. To come back and to live, to take stand in our own fitting position. Otherwise they’ll be dishonoured and they’ll disappear forever from my mind. I’ll be nowhere, the faith will be withdrawn. Through faith we’re approaching. If faith, the subtle thing is withdrawn, then we will turn to be a disbeliever, unbeliever. Just as that Hiranyagarba, we are told that he has become an atheist. And for long time some aparādha must have been committed.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: And Pradyumna.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Pradyumna, yes, Pradyumna, and the fine faith withdrawn, and what can we do? Helpless, he’s helplessly thrown in the plane of an atheist. So we’re to tackle those things very carefully, and only in the necessity of our service of Gurudeva, in connection with the service of Guru we should go there. Otherwise always we shall keep it high, higher. Any day if any call comes to me for their service I shall venture to approach them, otherwise keep it always on our head. Don’t try to make it object of your sense, of your experience, don’t try, don’t try. Don’t be so very rushed. They’re so very subtle and susceptible sentiment to the world. There are so many very sentimental, very susceptible, they won’t tolerate that anyone, fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Gaura Sundara. _____________________________ [?] Nitāi. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Any subtle, soft, and higher things should not be handled roughly, always be kept in their pristine glory and honour above our head. The temperament of servant, though in the loving or affectionate area, still the temperament of serving spirit may not leave us. We shall be very much careful about that. After all we’re servants, slaves, we have accepted here as. He may show closer affection, intimate affection, but the modesty, humility, must be genuinely maintained there. If that’s gone we’re lost. Amāninā mānadena [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 3], as a foreigner we are taṭasthā-śakti, we’re granted permission to move and live freely as long as we’re faithful generally towards the plane, towards the land. If anything, anomaly, then we may be banished. Not as a matter of right, but for the gracious extension of our service we are allowed there to live.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Otherwise, as a matter of right, we cannot be allowed to go so high, so high. It is only a gracious contribution or gracious extension. Only with the permission of that department we go and live there and do our duty. As much as my faith, that type of faith will be awakened in me, I’m safe. I’ll be adored by them. But aggrandising tendency, that is a foreign thing there, the assertion of right, that is the most filthy thing there.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge. This formula!

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

...half mad bridegroom of a zamīndār. Anyhow, he was heir to the zamīndāri, the state. He sometimes used to tell to his paraphernalia, “The whole village is within my fist, is it not?”

The sycophants, the karma-tyāgī, the officers, “Yes sir, the whole village is within your fist.”

Then he opened, unloosened this fist, “Going, there is nothing. You told that the whole thing is within my fist but why? I can’t find it. What is that?”

So something...

vicakṣaṇa kari', dekhite cāhile haya, haya ākhi-agocara

“Sudden flash may come. But while I want to see particularly, vanishes.” Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes, “Sometimes in a mood we are searching, searching. Sudden flash came and saw: when I go to particularise, vanished.”

No exercise of right to be tolerated there. All extension of grace! If you have any interest you go, otherwise don’t go. If you want the highest connection it will be independent of such characteristic. If you like you can connect, otherwise not necessary. They’re not under any necessity that they’ll be bound to connect with you. It is such. All extension of gracious wave, but the second, the least connection, that will destroy all charm of all your past experiences: only that lightening experience. That experience only as lightening comes, that lightening experience, that will clearly prove in your heart that exceeds all in quality all your past experiences. Such a type of ecstatic novelty is there. And that is very rarely to be found: cannot but be.

Ko vu vido vartena [?] Bilvamangala says, _____________________________ [?] I got my spiritual education from the throne of Sananda, that in your inner self there is so much ecstatic joy you can’t conceive so high. But, artena kena_______________________ [?] Such a higher type of ecstasy came down suddenly to capture me, and to capture me in such a way as to make a slave of slave of that ecstasy. That lightening experience that has captivated me wholesale...

End of 82.01.29.B

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Start of 82.01.29.C_82.01.30.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...and all other layers, planes of ecstasy, that is all trash to me, such highest type of ecstatic, only for a lightening has captured, letting, and making me see. Ko vu vido vartena [?] Kṛṣṇa, He’s playing, He’s exploiting the beauty of the gopīs, the Braja girls. That attitude like lightening peeped in my heart, and I’m undone, all else is like trash and stool. I can’t be normal with any environment, can’t adjust. It is my heart drawn there, hopelessly drawn, but I can’t retain my existence until any farther I come in the connection of that.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu. Gaurāṅga Hari. Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu.

Today I finish here.

...

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Today is a very auspicious day, the day of advent of Viṣṇupriyā Devī, and also that of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, Raghunandan Ṭhākura, and Raghunātha Dāsa Goswāmī Prabhu. And also the day of departure of Viśvanātha Ṭhākura: and also two of my sannyāsī God-brothers, Bharati Mahārāja and Parvat Mahārāja, departed this day. And generally this day the goddess of learning, Sarasvatī Devī, is being worshipped.

Deve vide vide para ca para ca [?] In Upaniṣad we find, two classes of learning, para and apara. _________________ [?] By which we can understand the unknowable, the transcendental truth, that is para, that is principal learning. And which takes them away from that sort of knowledge of reality, that is apara, the principal and the auxiliary. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes,

Bhakti bada yar hoite sei vida masta _________________________________________ [?]

Really Sarasvatī, mundane, Sarasvatī in Purāṇic conception is accepted as the wife of Nārāyaṇa, Lakṣmī, Sarasvatī, etc, both of them, they are the serving potency of Nārāyaṇa, Sarasvatī. Bhakti bada yar hoite [?] Any learning, any knowledge, that stands in the way of our real relationship with the Absolute. Very hatefully, trample it down. And which helps us to go to reach to the object of our inner desired desire, which can satisfy the eternal thirst we’re suffering from, which can quench that thirst, svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.5.31], the learning, the knowledge that will help us to reach the proper goal, destination of our inner hankering, we bow down to her.

Viṣṇupriyā Devī’s life is that of helping the fallen to go to the utmost, the highest domain of love where Kṛṣṇa, love divine, where jīva can be very, very nearer to Kṛṣṇa. Mercy is over justice. Love is also over justice, prema, divine love over justice. Generally we cannot conceive that anything should be, can be good over justice, crossing justice, it is impossible. Then injustice, what is more justice that is injustice, but injustice cannot be endowed. But mercy got his noble place above justice. We may have certain conception of that, a vague conception of that, that mercy is over justice: so jñāna, knowledge, estimation proper, but prema, the love, that is above. So for the fallen, love is only the object of our hope. We are needy, we are fallen. We have got no merit, no capacity.

So Mahāprabhu comes, “Take the chance! Take the chance! Go to the window where the fallen names are enlisted to be taken in. The royal help comes, royal, extraordinary grant for them, for the fallen. Go to that window and try to have a ticket there, buy, purchase if possible.”

vicārite āobi, guṇa nāhi pāobi, kṛpā kara choḍata vicāra

[From Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’ Śaraṇāgati, Dainya, 5.5]

“If you come to calculate, I have nothing, no qualification, so don’t go that side, where, according to merit the reward is given. Don’t go that side, avoid, and come to this side to try your fortune.”

So with prema, with love, with mercy, Mahāprabhu came. And Viṣṇupriyā Devī helps us in that way. Her whole life is that of sacrifice. And sacrifice may be of different quality, but here, sacrifice for which? For the highest attainment of the whole public, whole fallen! Her contribution is in that line. So whatever we may have, how she helped us indirectly, what was her own, she gave it to the world. And by her example the heart, the iron heart also had to melt. She led her life in such a stern, strict way of devotion, showing it to us that even the stone melted. The opposition party also had to appreciate. Such was her life. From the very young age she very strictly observed the way, to show us how we should try for our highest benefit. That is by her example. We’re told that she took the Name, counted it by rice grains, and that grain was cooked and it was dedicated to Kṛṣṇa. And that also He distributed to some of His devotees, and the remains she took. And daily emaciating from young age, daily, thinner and thinner, in this way she’s going. But her body is not like mass of flesh, us, but she continued.

Śrīnivāsa Ācārya was graced by her, and many other devotees, later, got her mercy, grace. In this way she established, installed Mahāprabhu’s Vigraha, and regularly by the help of His eternal dynasty, eternal succession, she arranged the worship of Mahāprabhu. And we find it still we’re told.

After renunciation, five years, Mahāprabhu came here to visit, according to the custom of the sannyāsīns. And He approached towards His home, previous, and Viṣṇupriyā Devī very dirtily clad in dirty clothing, fell near the feet of Mahāprabhu the sannyāsīn. And Mahāprabhu took off the sandals and blessed her and went away immediately. “Soften your burning heart by the help of these sandals.” Uttering these words Mahāprabhu went away. And she took those sandals and worshipped them as long as she lived. Those sandals are still shown to us by the disciplic succession.

So Viṣṇupriyā Devī, very silent, modest, bashful life she led. She did not come out of the home. And her contribution towards our emulation of devotion is great. So today we’re told the day of her appearance. We invoke her mercy on us fallen souls that we can have for the highest benefit of our fortune, she may be propitiated with us.

Next comes Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi. He was born in Chaṭṭagrām, Chaṭṭalabhumi in Sanskrit. In a brāhmaṇa zamīndār family he was a well-to-do man. But at heart he was very rich with Kṛṣṇa prema, love divine, but outwardly a man of luxury, luxurious life. Curling hair in a fashioned way, with scented oil: then the smoking style also, very princely, then also the bedding, and his dress: all of a very princely style.

Then at that time, of course for the purity and divinity of the Ganges, many persons used to come – used to come to the Ganges side to take bath sometimes. So he had also a house in Navadwīpa. At that time of course the boat was the conveyance. Sometimes he used to come and live here.

And Mukunda Datta who was one of the favourite disciple servitors of Mahāprabhu, he also comes from that place, that Chaṭṭagrām. He remained here permanently. He knew him. When Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi has reached Navadwīpa after a few days Mukunda Datta has come to Gadādhara Paṇḍita. Gadādhara Paṇḍita is younger in age and very mild temperament, who is supposed to be the incarnation of Rādhārāṇī’s bhāva, very sober, mild, young, and soft hearted, and tending towards devotion from childhood.

Mukunda Datta respected and liked him best, and asked Gadādhara Paṇḍita, “Paṇḍita, do you like to see a Vaiṣṇava?”

“Yes, yes. I want to see Vaiṣṇava.”

“Then come with me.” He took Gadādhara Paṇḍita.

Gadādhara Paṇḍita went there and saw that in a rich bedstead he’s sitting. And with that tobacco pipe in his mouth, and curled hairs fashionably arranged, and very rich dress. And Mukunda Datta, he’s a brāhmaṇa, Mukunda Datta went straight and made obeisance. Gadādhara Paṇḍita also imitated, but he thought in himself, “What a Vaiṣṇava he has taken me to see?”

Then Mukunda Datta could feel that Gadādhara Paṇḍita is little _____ [?] So Mukunda Datta in his natural sweet tone he read this śloka of Bhāgavatam, chanted.

aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ, jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī

lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato 'nyaṁ, kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema

[Uddhava says: “Oh, how amazing it is! The sister of Bakāsura, Bakī (Pūtanā), desiring to kill Śrī Kṛṣṇa, smeared poison on her breasts and forced Kṛṣṇa to drink their milk. Even so, Lord Kṛṣṇa accepted her as His mother (dhātrī), and so she reached the destination suitable for Kṛṣṇa’s mother. In this way she came to try and kill Him; yet Kṛṣṇa gave her a position as a nursemaid in His group of assisting mothers. So gracious is the Lord. There is limitless Grace in Him. Of whom should I take shelter but the most merciful Kṛṣṇa? Who else but Kṛṣṇa should we approach for our good? Who can be so kind, so gracious?”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 3.2.23] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22.98]

This śloka was, in a sweet voice and tune, was sung by Mukunda Datta there. Then that touched the heart of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, and gradually shivering began. And then abnormal mind came down and began to throw his limbs. Then began to snatch his hair, and began to roll, and began to throw his legs and head in such a way. That where is that tobacco pipe: where is that richly set dress? All these things, he began to roll. “Kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema.” This is on his lips, “kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema.” He’s convulsing, divine convulsion.

Then Gadādhara was afraid. “What have I done? Such a great Vaiṣṇava, and kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema, in this way!”

So more than an hour such happenings took place, and anyhow they tried their best to nurse him, befitting the position. And then gradually he became peaceful, and after long time he came to these worldly senses.

Then they came away, then Gadādhara Paṇḍita had a great reaction. “I have committed offence against Vaiṣṇava. Mentally I disregarded him, so surely I have committed offence against Vaiṣṇava, such a great Vaiṣṇava.” Then he thought within himself, “How to be absolved of this Vaiṣṇava aparādha? It is heard in scripture that if we take shelter under his protection as disciple then he will forgive all my offences. The Guru does not take any offence, generally, from the disciple side. He’s always merciful. So I have not yet accepted any Gurudeva, officially, so if I really want to be absolved from this Vaiṣṇava aparādha then I must surrender to his feet wholly.” Then he thought, “Of course my real master is Nimāi Paṇḍita. I shall have to get permission from Him.” Then he went to Mahāprabhu.

And Mahāprabhu, Nimāi Paṇḍita at that time, He’d already come from Gayā and He’s continuing His saṅkīrtana campaign most intensely. And suddenly one day He began to cry, “Puṇḍarīka Bāp Puṇḍarīka! Bāp!” He began “Puṇḍarīka Bāp!” None knows what is the name: who is Puṇḍarīka. Mahāprabhu is crying, “Bāp Puṇḍarīka! Oh My father, Puṇḍarīka, where are you? When will you come to see Me?”

In this way, but generally none knows who is Puṇḍarīka, only Mukunda Datta whose home was just nearby in Chaṭṭagrām, he knew Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi. He’s a good Paṇḍita also, Sanskrit scholar. Vidyānidhi was his title. And he was a friend to Svarūpa Dāmodara, we are told hear after. But then, Puṇḍarīka, after Mahāprabhu cried in this way, wailed in this way, taking the name of Puṇḍarīka, within a few days Puṇḍarīka reached Navadwīpa, Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi.

And Mahāprabhu instead of saying Vidyānidhi, He used to give the name Premanidhi. Mahāprabhu told Premanidhi not Vidyānidhi.

And Gadādhara Paṇḍita asked permission from Nimāi Paṇḍita. “I have not yet been initiated, but in the Vaiṣṇava School there’s the custom that one must take initiation. So I’d like to take initiation from Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi.”

“Yes, yes. He’s your Gurudeva. He’s your father.”

Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi is the incarnation of Vṛṣabhānu, father of Rādhārāṇī.

“Yes, you do it, certainly you take initiation from him.”

Then it was proposed through Mukunda Datta, and Gadādhara Paṇḍita took initiation from him, Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, who was the incarnation of Vṛṣabhānu Raja.

Also later on we find in Purī once, Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, though he himself is a typical student of rāga-mārga without caring viddhi, still he had some suspicion in mind that, “Why the pāṇḍās in Orriya they dress Jagannātha with ________ [?] without washing the clothing, after it is washed then some prepared some...

Devotee: Starch.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Starch, is applied there, margowa, marg, means the juice of the rice, that is applied in the new clothing, and that was used for the dressing purpose of Jagannātha.

But Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi told that, “It must be cleansed and then it should be, Jagannātha should be dressed.” Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi thought like that, and that very night he had a dream and he sees that both Jagannātha and Balarāma They’re giving a heavy slap on his both cheeks. And in the morning his intimate friend Svarūpa Dāmodara he’s going to him. “What is my fate? Last night I get such a heavy slap that you see my cheeks have been swollen.”

Svarūpa Dāmodara he, “It is only possible for you. Your devotion has attracted Them.”

“Here, all these superfluous-ness, this purity or impurity, not to be considered here in Jagannātha kṣetra, you Puṇḍarīka.” In this way he was given stricture. “You have come to scrutinise in these smaller things. I am here, generous of the generous to deliver the fallen of the fallen. So these things are ignored here. You have come to...in this way.”

And one, there was some water play in the Indrayumna Sarovar, Mahāprabhu is enjoying with Sārvabhauma and Rāmānanda, very sublime, as ocean, like They’re engaged in childish play, one is throwing water against another. The Sārvabhauma Paṇḍita man of the greatest position of the learned school, and also Rāmānanda Rāya, a most grave governor who was the ruler under Pratāparudra King after Madras the whole Andhra Province was under Orissa governor empire, included. The most serious and grave type of men they’re like engaged in childish play. Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi and Svarūpa Dāmodara there also, Nityānanda Prabhu and Advaita Prabhu They’re also playing with water, and Mahāprabhu enjoying from the banks.

And asking that Gopīnātha Ācārya who first introduced Mahāprabhu that, “He’s not a man, human being, but the Lord has come here,” that Gopīnātha Ācārya. Mahāprabhu says in a merry sport, “What these serious temperament men are doing like a childish play? Gopīnātha, go and stop Them what They’re doing. How the people will say when they look at Them?”

Then Gopīnātha Ācārya says, “Your love, You have brought it in this world that can merge the big mountains, what to speak of these two stone chips.” Meru mandala saila kali [?] “Big mountains are to go down in the flood of divine love, and these two child, what to speak of them ___________ [?] they’re beside themselves. Where is their sobriety and their vanity and all these things. They’re like child. And it is Your credit that You have made them such.”

That Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, his birthday, his day of appearance today. So we invoke for his mercy to us fallen souls.

And you know of Raghunandana in Śrī Khanda near Katwa. He was the son of Mukunda Kavirāja, a well-to-do man, this treatment is his occupation, good practice. His son was Raghunandana. And Raghunandana’s early life is very wonderful and mysterious.

Once, Mukunda got a call for treatment to a distant part of the country. The boy, Raghunandana was asked, “Please feed my Deity.” The Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa was the family Deity to be worshipped in their house, and he asked the young Raghunandana, “I’m going far and I may not come back in time, so my boy, you are to serve Them, to feed Them in time.”

Raghunandana, when the time has come, or has not yet come, he took the dishes, and first worshipping took the dishes there, closed the room and said, “Oh Lord, You must take this.” Then closed the door and went away. Opening, that is as it was. He has not swallowed. “Then what is this?” He began to cry. Again shut the door. “Please take, otherwise what my father will say to me? Take it!” So in his simple earnestness he’ll have to cry. “You take it my Lord, otherwise what, my father will punish me.” Twice, thrice, then the Lord swallowed.

Then after a little, mother has come to take, remove the dishes. “What is this? You have eaten it all up, the whole thing. What is this?”

“No, no, no, I have not. The Gopāla has eaten.”

“Gopāla has eaten? You fool. You want to befool me, Gopāla has taken? You have taken.”

“No, no, I’ve not taken. Gopāla has taken.”

Then the father came back. Mother told, “You asked the boy to do it, then the empty pot I had to take out. The naughty child has devoured everything.”

“What’s the matter Raghunandana?”

“No, no, my father, first He did not take. But I told Him repeatedly, the father will come and chastise me. He asked me to feed You and You don’t take then I’ll be punished by my father. I cried. And then Gopāla took it.”

“Is it? Is it Gopāla took it?”

“Yes.”

“Can you show me?”

“I may try.”

Then Mukunda, being outside, appointed Raghunandana to worship Them. And when Raghunandana offers it is vacant, but when he himself he prays, nothing, as it is.

So one day, “How Gopāla can eat, can’t you show me?”

“Yes, I shall try.”

So anyhow, by the peeping through the window, a little distant, he, Mukunda, saw that Gopāla eating. “The Raghunandana is not ordinary child. Who is he come to my house?”

Then Mahāprabhu with Raghunandana, Raghunandana was very beautiful, exquisitely beautiful, and he was a good dancer, very charming dancing he could manage. Later on the Vaiṣṇava scholars have given their opinion that he was Pradyumna Avatāra, Pradyumna. Very beautiful and dancing also very charming!

Raghunandana and Mukunda both went to Purī to see Mahāprabhu.

Mahāprabhu asking Mukunda, “Who is father, who is son? Mukunda, you are Raghunandana’s father or Raghunandana is your father?”

Mukunda could understand the tenor, “No, Raghunandana is my father.”

[śuni’ harṣe kahe prabhu — “kahile niścaya] yāṅhā haite kṛṣṇa-bhakti sei guru haya”

[“Hearing Mukunda dāsa give this proper decision, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirmed it, saying, “Yes, it is correct. One who awakens devotion to Kṛṣṇa is certainly the spiritual master.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 15.117]

...

āmā sabāra kṛṣṇa-bhakti raghunandana haite [ataeva pitā — raghunandana āmāra niścite]

[“All of us have attained devotion to Kṛṣṇa due to Raghunandana. Therefore in my mind he is my father.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 15.116]

“We have got a little devotion what we think from Raghunandana. But he’s my Guru and so he’s my father, and not that I’m his father.”

“Yes!” Yāṅhā haite kṛṣṇa-bhakti sei guru haya. “Who gives, imparts Kṛṣṇa bhakti, devotion of Kṛṣṇa, he’s the superior, right you are.”

That is Raghunandana. And when the Jagannātha’s chariot was going there were seven groups that sang and danced, seven saṅkīrtana parties, and one party completely made of the Śrī Khanda staff, the Narahari Sarakara, Raghunandana, Mukunda, and their following, one party. And Raghunandana used to dance there, madly, and very charmingly, we’re told. And he was bachelor whole life, Raghunandana. So he was such a type of devotee, we’re told. So we all beg his grace, pray for his grace.

Then Raghunātha Dāsa, that is a famous, who’s considered to be the prayojana Ācārya, what is our highest goal, he has played the part of that himself, practised, and shown to us and left also for us that Rādhā-dāsya. Rādhā-dāsya is the supreme-most goal of all of us.

He’s born in a very rich family. His parents, his father, uncles, they’re all not only rich but very benevolent. Advaita Ācārya and others, big Paṇḍitas, they all got some regular help from him. In that ancient time, twenty lākhs income from the state, and twelve lākhs to Nawab, and eight lākhs net profit...

End of 82.01.29.C_82.01.30.A

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Start of 82.01.30.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Devotee: Every month?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No, year. And lavishly they used it for the help of the scholars and the poor. And only one son, Raghunātha, he’s the only heir in future. But he did not relish that. He had such inner temperament. When Mahāprabhu after sannyāsa He went to Śāntipura he first met Him there and was half mad. Anyhow went back. Then when Nityānanda Prabhu was ordered to preach the Kṛṣṇa prema in Bengal, then Raghunātha met Him once in Panihati, that daṇḍa mahotsava. Nityānanda Prabhu _____ [?] of course, and He asked, “You are to feed My group today. This is My punishment to you.”

Raghunātha arranged and satisfied and found that Nityānanda Prabhu even took Mahāprabhu also there and in saṅkīrtana and blessed Raghunātha Dāsa. And told to the devotees that, “He has got the opulence of Indra, the king of heaven, and his wife is like the heavenly beautiful girls. But that can’t attract his mind. He’s mad for Caitanyadeva. You all bless him that he may be successful in his life.”

Raghunātha, after going back, going home, he kept him quite indifferent in the household affairs. And his father and uncle, they, apprehending that he will go away, so ten persons engaged to protect him always: twenty four hours protection that he may not fly away. But anyhow he had one occasion, one chance, and he fled there and went to Purī.

And Mahāprabhu handed him over, gave his charge to Svarūpa Dāmodara, who is the second, who is the double of Mahāprabhu, He told. Sakha mahaprabhu ditiya svarupa [?] He gave him the charge, Lalitā Devī, who was in Kṛṣṇa Avatāra, to him, told: “What I do not know, Svarūpa Dāmodara knows all, so I give your charge to him. Whatever you feel, any necessity, you put it to him, in this way.” Again once more when Raghunātha came to Him He told, “I’ve already given your charge to Svarūpa Dāmodara, still, if you want to hear something from My lips, then,

grāmya-kathā nā śunibe, grāmya-vārtā nā kahibe

bhāla nā khāibe āra bhāla nā paribe

amānī mānada hañā kṛṣṇa-nāma sadā la'be

vraje rādhā-kṛṣṇa-sevā mānase karibe

[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu told Raghunātha Dāsa Goswāmī: “Don’t indulge in worldly talk, don’t hear worldly talk. Try your best to avoid mundane matters. Don’t eat delicious dishes, but take whatever ordinary food may come of its own accord; and don’t dress luxuriously. Always try to take the Name of Kṛṣṇa with the attitude of giving respect to others, without expecting respect from anyone. Be humble, but never aspire after respectful dealings from others. In this way, try to take the Name of Kṛṣṇa constantly. And within, try to serve Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana. Mentally, be in Vṛndāvana rendering service to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa līlā.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 6.236-7]

The negative side, “Don’t eat palatable dishes, and nor indulge in worldly talk. And always try to take the Name of Kṛṣṇa, and in the inner mind you will try to connect with the service of Rādhā-Govinda in Vṛndāvana.”

These four outlines were given to Raghunātha Dāsa direct by Mahāprabhu, and the whole life he adored like that. Then again He gave the Govardhana Śilā and the gunga-mālā that came from Vṛndāvana. That Raghunātha thought the Govardhana Śilā is Kṛṣṇa, and the gunga-mālā is Rādhikā. So in that attitude he used to jala Tulasī, Tulasī and water, with this he was regularly offering Them in this way. Sixteen years he lived in such a way in Purī.

In the meantime when Raghunātha went there and could not be – that is an independent country, Orissa, Hindu State, and this Bengal is under Mohammedan rule, so no influence from here can work in Orissa. So his father and the other guardians made arrangements, sent one cook, and another servant, and with money, “Go and hire a good house, and at least ask him to take food from you, and try to help him in his daily life.”

But Raghunātha he did not accept it for himself, only he requested Mahāprabhu to take prasādam there. “That they have sent, if Mahāprabhu takes something of that then they will be blessed.” With this idea he asked Mahāprabhu, invited Mahāprabhu to take prasādam there, twice in a month or so. Then after some time he left that idea.

Then Mahāprabhu is asking Svarūpa, “Why Raghunātha is not inviting Me any more?”

“He has thought something within that You are not pleased to: only for his sake You go and take prasādam but You are not very satisfied therein.”

“Yes. He has rightly understood. Only that he will be mortified I used to take.”

"viṣayīra anna khāile malina haya mana [malina mana haile nahe kṛṣṇera smaraṇa]

[“When one eats food offered by a materialistic man, one’s mind becomes contaminated, and when the mind is contaminated, one is unable to think of Kṛṣṇa properly.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 6.278]

“If we take something from the worldly person, worldly minded person, then by the return as reaction some poison enters with the thing into our mind. Our mind may be impure. Yes, he has thought rightly.” Then dismissed!

Then Raghunātha, his vairāgya was above standard of our thinking. Sometimes begging from the temple, prasādam, sometimes in the regular food giving company. And sometimes then afterwards he began to collect the rotten prasādam of Jagannātha which even Jagannātha’s cows could not swallow it, eat it, for the bad smell. Raghunātha collected that sort of prasādam and by washing the rotten portion, the inner things he collected, and with applying some salt he used to take.

It went to Mahāprabhu, “The Raghunātha, he’s living on such prasādam.”

Mahāprabhu one day went there to see. And Raghunātha when he’s going, after preparation he’s going to take, Mahāprabhu suddenly appeared, “Oh! What a nice thing, prasādam you take. Let Me see it. Oh, so sweet, so sweet prasāda you take every day and you don’t offer it to Me. I can’t know.” Then again He...

Then third time Svarūpa Dāmodara caught His hand, “No, no, this is not for You my Lord, not for You.”

Anyhow, so such was the degree of self abnegation, the intense degree, of Raghunātha Dāsa.

And after Mahāprabhu’s departure he went to Vṛndāvana with his mind that, “After having a view of Vṛndāvana, cursory view, I leave this body. And that also that from climbing up Govardhana I shall cast me down, throw me down, and I shall leave, pass away.”

But we are told that with this idea Raghunātha went to Vṛndāvana and then he found Rūpa Sanātana, and what is more wonderful he found Mahāprabhu within them. “Oh! Mahāprabhu is here. Mahāprabhu is working through them.” Mahāprabhu’s literature, in the literature of Rūpa, Sanātana, in their deeds, in their movement, he found fully possessed by Mahāprabhu. “Oh! Mahāprabhu is here. I can’t die.” So he came in close, closer and closer connection with Rūpa, Sanātana. And with his extreme indifference and self abnegation life he’s gone through the literature, especially that of Rūpa and the rāga-mārga. And perhaps he was the greatest student of rūpānuga school, and so much so that he has developed even more, he more clearly gave us than Rūpa that we should aspire after the service exclusively of Rādhārāṇī, and not of Kṛṣṇa without Rādhārāṇī.

When I was in Madras, Prabhupāda’s Vyāsa-pūjā took place in Māyāpur, in Chaitanya Maṭha. Professor Sanyal wrote something, an article in English, and there he mentioned, “Because I do not know Kṛṣṇa, because you say that I’m to worship Kṛṣṇa so I do.”

I could not understand the meaning, internally, ‘What does he say? Guru is independent, independently the highest attainment, highest entity of our attainment. How it is possible?’ I could not follow.

But then after several, two, three years, or four years, in Rādhā-kuṇḍa one day, Prabhupāda in Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja he was there. And Paramānanda Prabhu, he came as a child to Prabhupāda when his age was thirteen only, he came to live with Prabhupāda, Paramānanda Brahmacārī, and very intimate.

He came after a walk in Rādhā-kuṇḍa he came to Prabhupāda and reported that, “The dewan of Bharatpur State with the whole of his family he’s circumambulating Rādhā-kuṇḍa. And perhaps his wife she’s lying and by measuring, she’s lying and then there is a sign, and then again from there again lying, in this way measuring by her body she’s circumambulating Rādhā-kuṇḍa.” So Paramānanda Prabhu very ardently he puts to, “They also regard Rādhārāṇī so much.”

Then Prabhupāda came out, from his inner quarter, he told, “Yes, their concern for Rādhārāṇī and our concern for Rādhārāṇī is quite different.”

I was very much attentive.

Then he said, “They have real respect for Kṛṣṇa and because Rādhārāṇī is favourite to Kṛṣṇa so they also come to Rādhārāṇī. But our position is that our interest is Rādhārāṇī and because Kṛṣṇa is favourite to Rādhārāṇī so we respect Him: the opposite.”

Then I could remember that Sanyal’s writing. “Oh!”

Then later on of course I read out from Jaiva Dharma or somewhere else, that some jīva, some, they’re born out of Baladeva’s angajyoti. The brahmajyoti, the unit of non-distinguishable divine halo, that is the foundation where we get our birth. So some have connection with Baladeva, some with brahmajyoti, they fill up the general. But some have got their birth from the halo of Rādhārāṇī and Her group, their direct connection with Rādhārāṇī. She’s their Mistress. And whatever She does they’re necessarily following Her.

So Prabhupāda told, “We’re really śakta, worshipper of potency, but not vidya-śakta, śuddha-śakta. The real potency is in Vraja, the original, and that is a Dedicating Moiety towards Kṛṣṇa, and our direct connection is there, and indirect with Kṛṣṇa through Her.”

This is our position. All these are thought and accepted to certain extent according to my capacity. I can’t forget. And also with the mantram we’ll find, in the sannyāsa mantra that is peculiarity. In ordinary mantram there is direct connection with Kṛṣṇa, but in sannyāsa mantra our intimate connection is shown towards gopī, there, that is Rādhā-dāsya. That is above Kṛṣṇa-dāsya, after sannyāsa, the purport, the gist of the mantram of sannyāsa, gopī-dāsya is meant there, inner meaning is that.

So this is our claim and we have got it from Dāsa Goswāmī. We pray in his day of appearance he may bless us with his good wish.

And today is the day of departure, Vaiṣṇava viraha, in the discourse of Rāmānanda Rāya and Mahāprabhu it is mentioned, “What is the greatest calamity a devotee may think of?”

[‘duḥkha-madhye kona duḥkha haya gurutara?’] / ‘kṛṣṇa-bhakta-viraha vinā duḥkha nāhi dekhi para’

[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked, “Of all kinds of distress, what is the most painful?”

Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya replied, “Apart from separation from the devotee of Kṛṣṇa, I know of no unbearable unhappiness.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.248]

“The greatest calamity, the greatest sorrow or pain that ever has been felt here, the most intense is in our separation with the Kṛṣṇa bhakta.”

Kṛṣṇa bhakta, Guru viraha, bhakta viraha, that is the deepest pain ever felt in this world. So viraha gives the purity, separation gives the purity, and it is a check, it is a test to our adherence to the cause. If in separation we feel as much pain it measures, it is the standard of measurement what sort of love, attraction, I bear to Him. The measurement we can have by the standard of the intensity of our pain of separation. So it is a real test, it is a real friend. There the enjoyment cannot be present, what may be supposed to exist in any nature or other to keep Him.

So vipralambha, especially for the fallen souls, they’ll be encouraged for, to observe separation. That will be helpful to them more, vipralambha. And sambhoga, they may have some misapplication to the fallen. So their safe path is through vipralambha. Vipralambha is real friend, a guardian, a chastiser, a real friend. And sambhoga, we may be deceived for our ill fate there, the possibility may be there. So we’re more safe when culturing in vipralambha than in sambhoga.

Then the departure of a Vaiṣṇava: the Viśvanātha Cakravartī who gave so extensively, you see Rūpa Goswāmī gave aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā of Rādhā-Govinda in Vṛndāvana, Viśvanātha Cakravartī has given aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā of Mahāprabhu here, that original. Just as Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī in his Govinda-līlāmṛta he has described the aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā of Rādhā-Govinda. Viśvanātha Cakravartī has given us Śrī-Kṛṣṇa-Bhavanāmṛta perhaps. There he has given the aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā of Mahāprabhu, how, and also the aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā of Rādhā-dāsya, how the she-friends and servitors of Rādhārāṇī they have got their twenty four hour duty in the camp of Rādhikā in Her service. That has been given by Viśvanātha Cakravartī. For twenty four hours they have got their designed engagement in the service of Rādhārāṇī’s camp. Rādhārāṇī’s already given to Kṛṣṇa, there’s no question, wholly given to Kṛṣṇa, and their high camp how they’re busy twenty four hours and what is their programme carrying out, that is given elaborately by Viśvanātha Cakravartī, aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā of Rādhārāṇī’s camp.

These are their grace, grant, to us fallen souls. We are to utilise it, then of course we may hope by the grace of Guru and Vaiṣṇava we may have our highest attainment in life.

Then others, the Bhāratī Mahārāja, he was a giant preacher in the beginning of Prabhupāda. His figure was a little taller than ordinary persons, and his voice was very sweet, and his lectures were filled with common sense appeal, so he could capture the mass, Bhāratī Mahārāja.

And the next, Parvat Mahārāja, his birthplace was this Svarūpa Gañja. From very young age he saw Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura just living by the side of his house. Parvat Mahārāja’s house was here, there is a boundary wall, and there is Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s bhajan-kuṭīra, Surabhī Kuñja. In his childhood he saw him chanting the Name. I heard from him direct, that, “Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura at three o clock left his bed and he began to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, as if a man is calling out a man who has gone to a distance. He’s calling a man who’s at a distance. In such a living way he used to take the Name of Kṛṣṇa. He’s calling some gentleman by that name with this hearty and earnest meaningful way he used to chant the Name of Kṛṣṇa. And in his old age whenever felt tired, there was a cement chair, a chair made by cement, brick, cement, and he used to take his seat for some time there, in the old age, and again after a rest, again wandering in the flower garden and chanting the Name of Kṛṣṇa.” He saw him many times, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.

He was married but suddenly by the grace of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, or somehow, suddenly some vairāgya, indifference came in him for the worldly life. And leaving the young wife he went straight to Prabhupāda in Māyāpur Chaitanya Maṭha and offered himself. “I no longer have any liking for household life. Please deliver me.”

Prabhupāda sent him to Purī. Of course at that time Mission had no foundation. After Kuñja Bābu joined then the conception of Mission came with him, in Prabhupāda. Paravat Mahārāja at that time was Haripada Bhattadesik, his previous name, he was deputed to that Bhakti Kuṭir in Purī, to take care there. He used to live there and took prasādam from the temple and took Hari-Nāma and wandered through the banks of the sea. In this way he began his life. Afterwards he became sannyāsī and then served Prabhupāda with heartfelt and severe labour, we saw. Only one paisa, muri [?] or something, half clad, and very strictly indifferent life he led, and very hard labour. I have seen him with my own eyes to do for the service of Prabhupāda.

He told one day, Prabhupāda told, “Yes, I have my eye on you. When the day will come, I’m watching, then I shall take you from this hard labour of life and ask you to sit somewhere and to take the Name, and I shall give an attendant to you.” This was said by Prabhupāda to him.

So Parvat Mahārāja, Bhāratī Mahārāja, and another, Viśvanātha Cakravartī. So now we’re finished. We invoke their grace so that we may go on in our way which is extraordinary in the spiritual world, we think so surely. By the grace of Gurudeva of course, that is general capital to us, the grace of Gurudeva which can help us in any direction in our spiritual aspiration.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

No more today! Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī Prabhupāda kī jaya!

Śrīpād A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja kī jaya!

Sevā Vṛnda kī jaya!

Jaya Viṣṇupriyā Devī kī jaya!

Jaya Śrī Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi Prabhu kī jaya!

Śrī Raghunandan Ṭhākura Mahāśaya kī jaya!

Jaya Raghunātha Dāsa Goswāmī Prabhu kī jaya!

Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura kī jaya!

Jaya Bharati Mahārāja, Parvat Mahārāja!

Bhakti Vṛnda kī jaya!

Navadwīpa Dhāma kī jaya!

Hari-Nāma saṅkīrtana kī jaya!

Gaura-premānande hari-haribol!

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.01.30.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.31.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Apo mulam phalaṁ paya havir brāhmaṇa ___________________ [?] These eight do not harm our vow, so he wanted us to take something. But I told that this anukalpa arrangement, only in the case when one is not fit to observe that full fasting, then only anukalpa, otherwise not. But he tried his best to impress that he was a brāhmaṇa and brāhmaṇa kanya, and his wishes, his desire is that we should take something. But anyhow, I, we, refused, no, because my point of argument was that when we’re unable to observe a full fast then only this is applicable, otherwise not.

And I gave the example of Rāmacandra. When Bharata went to take back Rāmacandra from His vow of forest life for fourteen years, with Vasiṣṭha and others guardians of the dynasty, there Bharata put, no, Ramacandra told that, “When my father he had obligation to My stepmother that whatever she will want and he must grant it to her. So father is already in obligation, and I’m his son, it is My duty to fulfil what was his obligation. I must do that. And that was concerning Me. His prayer is that Rāma must go to the forest, and Bharata will get the throne. But father, though I’m told that he could not pronounce the cruel word, but still he’s under obligation. And I conceive that it is My imperative duty to do what My father had commitment, so I’m come and I must go on with this forest life for fourteen years.”

Then Bharata came with this argument. “All right, there is provision in the śāstra that one can delegate his duty, anyone to discharge the duty. So you accept me as Your delegation and I shall live in the forest fourteen years and You go and take possession of the throne. Otherwise the public in general and all concerned they’re feeling much pain. They’re in misery so go and relieve them.”

And that was approved by the priests, devas, Guru, Vasiṣṭha, etc, the authority in the śāstra, the supposed authority in the śāstra, śāstric knowledge. They approved, “Yes, by delegation it may be done.”

But Rāmacandra still refused, “No. The question of delegation presupposes that one has got some sort of inability, then only he can delegate, otherwise not. But I’m quite fit. Why should I accept another person to do it for Myself? I’m quite fit. When unfit, then only the question of delegating ones duty comes to exist, otherwise not.” The ṛṣis were all silent.

I put this argument to that gentleman, that brāhmaṇa, goswāmī, that when we feel some difficulty to go on with our duty in any way, then of course the question of anukalpa arises. But when I’m quite fit why should I take recourse to anukalpa? I can, we can fast. That was the plane of my argument. Then of course he could not urge more. The request stopped. We came from there fasting and offering our obeisances there.

Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, Vāsudeva Datta, and Mukunda Datta, in one village these three great Vaiṣṇavas, followers of Mahāprabhu, were born. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Mukunda Datta was a continuous follower of Mahāprabhu, almost, got his peculiar position in Gauḍīya literature. And Vāsudeva Datta is also so. Mahāprabhu told, “Vāsudeva Datta can use Me as a commodity. Wherever he wants Me to sell I cannot but be sold there. He has got so much affinity for Me, Vāsudeva Datta.” And who told that, “The whole burden of all the sins may be put on my head, and let me go for eternity to hell, but release the whole creation. I can’t tolerate their suffering.” That is the famous expression of Vāsudeva Datta. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. And Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, these three, from Chaṭṭagrām, and Mahāprabhu used to imitate their language, Chaṭṭagrām, when Nimāi Paṇḍita, ha, ha, He used to...

Devotee: Mimic.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________________ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Is it Vāsudeva Datta, Mahārāja, who wrote that poem, who sang that poem, yadi gaura nā hoita…

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vāsudeva Ghoṣa, he comes from Rada-Desa, Vāsudeva Ghosh, from Birbam [?] and Vāsudeva Datta, Chaṭṭagrām.

Devotee: Is Mukunda Datta and Vāsudeva Datta brothers Mahārāja?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They’re not brothers, perhaps nephew and uncle perhaps. Vāsudeva Datta is senior and Mukunda a little...

Devotee: Yesterday you were speaking about Mukunda Datta...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mukunda Datta, Vāsudeva... Yesterday we told, saying about Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi...

Devotee: Yes, and in relation to him it was Mukunda Datta who introduced Gadādhara Paṇḍita...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gadādhara Paṇḍita, yes, Mukunda Datta.

Devotee: He was Pradyumna...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Pradyumna, Raghunāndan. Mukunda Datta was neighbour of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, in the same village they lived. Mukunda Datta, Vāsudeva Datta and Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, the common village, near Chaṭṭagrām. And Vāsu Ghoṣa, Govinda Ghoṣa, they come from Rada-Desa, near about Nityānanda Prabhu’s place, Birbum, a part of Badavan, western part. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Vāsu Ghoṣa is one of the eight sakhīs in Vṛndāvana, Vāsu Ghoṣa. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, “mukunda-vāsu-ghoṣ-ādi gāya.”

[narahari-ādi kori' cāmara ḍhulāya, sañjaya-mukunda-vāsu-ghoṣ-ādi gāya]

[Narahari Sarakāra and other associates fan Him with yak-tail whisks as Sañjaya Panḍita, Mukunda Datta and Vāsu Ghoṣa sing sweet kīrtan along with the other devotees for Lord Caitanya’s pleasure.] [Gaura-ārati, 4, from Gītāvalī]

Vāsu Ghoṣa, Vāsudeva Datta, Mukunda Datta. Any question?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes. When we start chanting japa, the mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, the first times we’re chanting a japa-mālā by the order of the spiritual master it seems that we get more realisation, more of the mantra. Then as time goes it seems it becomes more and more difficult. Many devotees have said, have mentioned then that they had this feeling as time goes it becomes more difficult. Why does this happen?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is test of Māyā presents itself. When one begins a religious life, in the beginning he’s neglected. “How long he will, let us see how long he can stick to it.” But when Māyā finds that, “Yes, it is not flickering, but really he wants to leave my jurisdiction,” then she starts her real attack. And that comes as a test to the beginner, and if he can stand that then of course he will go out, parīkṣa, the test. That is in every case it becomes such. In the beginning if neighbouring country comes to disturb the big power neglects it, that is boyish attempt. But if it finds that it’s serious then he also becomes serious, and then the fight comes, and then one must survive. That is the... And the sādhana means that is the fight, the battle, sādhana, to fight with the adverse circumstances, they’re also arranged against that.

Once, this boy, Govinda Mahārāja, in Calcutta, he went to collect funds and to preach, side by side. Then one merchant told him, “Why the sādhus they have got any disease? Are you, they have accepted the path to God and why should they suffer from any disease?”

The boy answered, “Is it the sādhu who should only be attacked with disease, and why you should be attacked? Why? Because you are faithful subject of Māyā, any time Māyā will be able to get rent from you. You are all submissive subjects. You may be relieved. But when one is going, trying his utmost to go out of her jurisdiction, she will come with all her dues. “Ah! Pay off my dues and then you will be out.”

Devotee: That’s a very good answer Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Natural common sense, a notable answer. So also, when fight begins seriously, in a serious stage, then also the test from Māyā comes. “Yes, you want to go out of my clutches, let me try.” Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Satānanda: I have one question, if you can excuse me...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Satānanda: ...that concerns...

Devotee: Say your name.

Satānanda: My name is Satānanda, and I have one question about the ISKCON Society today is very disturbed because of the recent initiations by your divine grace of the sannyāsa initiation. So I cannot understand that my Śrīla Prabhupāda has given the managerial authority to the leaders of our movement, and that we follow them. So I cannot understand how we can please our Śrīla Prabhupāda by going against their instructions, even if they may be, their understanding may not be right and may be acting wrongly. I cannot understand how we can please him, how we can please our Śrīla Prabhupāda if we act against their instructions. And also, from yourself, I cannot understand how you can initiate them and encourage them to also act in this way. I beg your forgiveness for any offence against you, but can you please explain this to me. It’s a confusing thing in my mind.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Devotees: [Group laughter]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He said, “Excuse me, but there other gentlemen in our ISKCON Society are managing authority...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is he?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: GBC.

Satānanda: No, I’m not GBC.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s Satyānanda.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Satyānanda is within GBC?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No. He’s Satyānanda.

Satānanda: Satānanda.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s Satānanda? Oh!

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He says that your grace conferred sannyāsa and...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is his position?

Satānanda: Gṛhastha, I’m gṛhastha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I see something black. Have you got moustache, no?

Satānanda: In Japan they don’t allow foreign Vaiṣṇava, in Japan. So to go in there we have to disguise our identity.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In Japan all must have this moustache?

Satānanda: There’s only two Americans there, all others are Japanese or another country, so it is a very special arrangement.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Right.

Satānanda: Because there was some trouble with the government there before. They don’t allow our Society.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I may say, but I don’t say also, that whether you’ll be able to understand my points of argument.

Satānanda: I’m willing to hear.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You see, you try to follow it. The relative and the absolute standpoints! Suppose, you are an American, there is communist...

Satānanda: Some is there, there may be some, a few people there, a few.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: A few, and mainly?

Satānanda: Mainly capitalist.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Catholic?

Satānanda: Capitalist.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Capitalist. Capitalist and communist and socialist. Suppose you are a socialist at heart, when there is clash within the capitalist and socialist, in general practices you will have some harmonious way of life. But when any clash, what side you are to accept, first socialist or capitalist? Your creed is that of socialist. You live in a country where the majority is capitalist. No clash, no difference. But when there is any clash, what side you are to identify yourself with?

Satānanda: Internally I may identify as socialist, but for peace, for the good of the country...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: If you’re an out and out socialist, then you should try to leave the country and join the socialists if necessary. If we try to assert the social cause, cause of the socialist, if you fail, you will try to keep your creed, your purity of faith for the socialist you will try to leave the country and join the socialists. Will you do that?

Satānanda: Yes, but...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Or you will take leave of the socialist creed and mix with the capitalists, what should you do?

Satānanda: I will leave the country.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So the absolute and relative, two classes of interest. When for the absolute interest we find more importance we must be sincere to our own creed. Then sometimes we’re to leave the paraphernalia if that does not suit me. So in the conception of the purity of what is Vaiṣṇava creed, the purity and the form, the form is also necessary to help me in a general way to maintain my present position. And at the same time my conception of the higher ideal will always goad me to advance, to go forward. And wherever I shall go the greater model, greater ideal, I must go. Life is progressive not stagnant. Do you follow? It is progressive. We’re in sādhana, we’re in progressive life. We are wanted to go ahead, not back, not backward. So the formal position will help me to maintain my present position, and my external affinity for the ideal will goad me towards the front.

And the progressive party, there are so many parties in so many nations, the progressive communists, and progressive communists in Christianity, generally Catholic, then again Protestant, again Puritans, in this way. So development in the right way and also in the wrong way. It is a dynamic world, a living one, adjustment, readjustment is always going on, and accordingly we should also change our present position. We shall have to change our present position so that we may not have to sacrifice the high ideal for which we have come. So it is necessary.

One is born in a particular family by the arrangement of the nature, but his high ideal asks him to leave the country sometimes. Einstein had to leave Germany and to go to America for his high ideal life. So many instances may be found in the world. The ideal is all in all. The highest ideal in a man is the highest thing, jewel, gem, the most precious is our ideal. In Bhagavad-gītā.

sarva-dharmān parityajya, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

[ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ]

[“Totally abandoning all kinds of religion, surrender exclusively unto Me. I will liberate you from all kinds of sins, so do not despair.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66]

“I am the real purport of śāstra.”

There are śāstras, scriptures, many things are recommended there, but meant to promote us towards the truth in indirect way. When you come to a position of direct search you must accept that.

[śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ, para-dharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt]

sva dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ, para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ

[“It is better to carry out one’s own duties a little imperfectly rather than faultlessly perform another’s duties. Know that even death is auspicious in the discharge of one’s duties appropriate to his natural position in the ordained socio-religious system, because to pursue another’s path is perilous.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.35]

It is also said that for the sake of your friends near about you will give up your ideal. That is also recommended. But it is also told, sarva-dharmān parityajya, if necessary to maintain the high ideal you will have to give up your friends also. The high type of idealist they give up their country, their family, their friends, everything, but can’t give up the ideal. So the idealists...

Devotee: _______________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: We are spiritual opportunists. Will you follow, be able to follow? The śikṣā Guru, our Guru paramparā is that of śikṣā Guru, not of dīkṣā Guru. Do you follow? Do you understand? The Guru paramparā, you will find,

mahāprabhu śrī-caitanya, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nahe anya

rūpānuga janera jīvana [viśwambhara priyaṅkara

śrī-swarūpa dāmodara, śrī-goswāmī rūpa-sanātana]

[“Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanya is non-different from Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and is the very life of those Vaiṣṇavas who follow Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī. Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Goswāmī, Rūpa Goswāmī, and Sanātana Goswāmī were the givers of great happiness to Viśvambhara (Śrī Caitanya).”] [From Songs Of The Vaiṣṇava Ācāryas, p 90-3] [This verse is the sixth of eight describing the Brahma-Mādhva-Gauḍīya sampradāya as compiled by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura.]

In this way the line of descent of the highest truth of Kṛṣṇa consciousness: the channel that is of śikṣā Guru. There, who has a standard of realisation in a proper line that has been taken in the list of Guru paramparā, not of dīkṣā paramparā. Dīkṣā is more or less a formal thing, and the material thing is śikṣā Guru, and if śikṣā Guru and dīkṣā Guru is congruent, most fortunate we are. So it is necessary, in śāstra it has been told that, Guru lakṣaṇa śiṣya lakṣaṇa. What should be the signs of a Guru, and what will be the symptoms of a disciple. Disciple and preceptor, in the scripture their lakṣaṇa, their symptoms, have been described. The Guru must be of such order, and disciple must be of such order, and they will come in connection and then it will produce the desired result.

And also it is mentioned in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, when a better person is available then those of lower type they should not venture to make disciples on their face.

Suppose you have got a better seed, you have got the land, the better seed should be utilised first. And if better seed is not available then ordinary seed may be sown. Do you follow? For the interest of the whole, the better seed should be given first chance. If we’re indifferent, if we’re pure in heart, if we’re selfless, then the better seed should be allowed to be sown first, as much as possible, wherever it is available. Lower type of seed should be withdrawn.

So when a higher type of Guru is available to any circle, the lower type of Guru they will think not to interfere for the benefit of the whole, and that is the wish of the Supreme Will, Supreme God. It is not a monopoly of anyone. It should be the monopoly of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and wherever that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is available, we’re concerned with that.

Kṛṣṇa says in Gītā, and many places, in Bhāgavatam especially that, “I start the movement, but gradually by the enervating influence of the plane, that goes down. And then when I find that it has gone down considerably, then I shall have to come again and to give a fresh movement. And then again I find that that is going down by the adverse influence of the environment. And again I send some person of My own to clear the position and to give some fresh energy, invest some fresh capital. And again I find that, in this way things go on here.”

We should look to the standard of knowledge, what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is not a thing to keep in an iron chest and keep the key in his one hand. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not any particular persons monopoly. It is there, wherever it is we must bow down our head. One who has got eye he will see it. So we shall, divya-jñāna, but that sort of eye is necessary. What is Kṛṣṇa consciousness? The Guru should try to impart the capacity of reading what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness proper - and must have sincerity. It is not a trade, not a monopoly. Where is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the sincere souls must hanker, and thank their stars that ‘I can appreciate this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness,’ wherever it may be I can appreciate. ‘Oh, this is real Kṛṣṇa consciousness.’ We should thank our stars if we can feel it, understand it, conceive it, Kṛṣṇa consciousness proper.

So, I started with this idea that so many sincere souls that came in my connection, they’re becoming dissatisfied and indifferent to the present Movement of ISKCON. They’re avoiding them, they going away. This touched my heart.

And I was repeatedly requested by Swāmī Mahārāja, “Look after them. I have taken them, some raw things to you all, especially to you. Please look after them.”

I did not think at that time that he will pass away before me. And above that I have got some affinity for the cause we have come to our Guru, for the cause of Mahāprabhu. For the cause of the Bhāgavata as our belief I’ve come. I must, I should have some interest in general. So if anyone coming to me to seek Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he’s going away frustrated, then naturally some sympathy should come in my heart to help them, to give them relief. With that idea whatever I can, that is very meagre, still, I’m sitting here, I’m not running hither thither to disturb the brains of the ISKCON followers. I’m not running hither thither, but I’m sitting here, idle man. And those that are coming to me, how can I think in my heart there is some good will for Guru Mahārāja, Swāmī Mahārāja, and Mahāprabhu and Bhāgavatam and Kṛṣṇa, if I’ve got some sympathy for them, then those who come to me how can I sit tight without giving what I know, what I feel, without extending this sort of help to those persons.

Only some formal consideration that what ISKCON is doing, the few gentlemen, whom I consider to be a student, not a professor. From my absolute consideration, standpoint, I’m saying, I consider them to be student, not professor. And there they’ve become self made authority and whatever they’ll dictate I shall obey that. I’m not a person of that type.

Devotees: Haribol!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. With my clear conscience to God, that is to Kṛṣṇa, to Mahāprabhu, to my Gurudeva, and to Swāmī Mahārāja, what I’m doing I think it is justified.

Satānanda: For preaching all over the world then...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Whatever doing that I have appreciation. In general way they can go on, extend, but special cases that are not satisfied with them. What about them? They came to Swāmī Mahārāja with their sincere heart to get something, and they will be frustrated, go back empty handed, and crying, hither and thither. And they will march on in their bigoted way. Let them do their world at large, gain the wide world, let them do their work. But only a few that are not satisfied with their conduct and their policy, if they are given some sort of provision to maintain their religious lives, spiritual life, why they create row so much for that? That is detrimental to their own cause. I’m not aggressor. I’m not an enemy to them. I always like that they flourish. That is my interest, that is the interest of my Guru, Swāmī Mahārāja, Mahāprabhu, that they will let them capture the whole world. I’ll be satisfied. I’m not an enemy.

Satānanda: But I think they’re afraid now that if anyone, if this is allowed, then in the future others may do what they like.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They should not be afraid of me. I think I’m their friend. And let us take that angle of vision, let them take that angle of vision. I’m still their friend, because we have our common cause. But at the same time, I don’t think that those novice they are all perfect Vaiṣṇava.

Satānanda: No, I don’t either. But they think that now whenever someone has a different idea they may do what they like and they don’t need to follow.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: We’re all seekers, all students we are, and none of us perfect. Whenever we shall think that ‘I have attained perfection’ I’m gone. The quest is such, always dependent on the above. That attitude should be maintained all through the life, always dependent. Whenever I shall think that it is within our fist I’m gone. Always a life of a beggar and not of a king! Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

I asked him, ‘don’t do this.’ Swāmī Mahārāja ___________________ [?] So not so easily they should be considered to be the criminal before your court. So they’re self condemned. That the position of Ācārya is not perfect, they have proved it already by their past action, that Ācārya’s position is vulnerable. But I gave caution, before that, not saying that they’re perfect, but that this posing will help them for that purpose. And when there is apparent clash with me they consider they’re perfect. What’s this? A foolish thing! Even Swāmī Mahārāja had some respect for me, their Gurudeva, I know it. We had this confidential talk here. And he has got also the courage to openly declare that, that “Śrīdhara Mahārāja I have some respect for.” But still they consider that I am a criminal to stand on the box of a criminal against their, before their parliamentary constitution.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.01.31.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.01.31.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Satānanda: So if someone, a devotee, he has some difference of opinion with his GBC, he’s thinking in a different way, that this is not right. Should you think that he should act for the cause of peaceful...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They should try by their combined effort to solve any problem facing their mission, and whenever they will find some difficulty they should refer to me. I’m affectionate towards them, in connection with Swāmī Mahārāja, in connection with my Guru Mahārāja who wanted to preach in the west, and Mahāprabhu and Bhāgavatam, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for the interest of the principle I’m in favour of them, I’m friendly. So they’re not to apprehend anything from me. I’m eager to serve, to help them, but not against the principle for which I understand to be the true. Then in that case I’ll be a traitor to my own cause, to my own master. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid durgatiṁ [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40] Be sincere and you’ll understand everything.

arjvavam brahmane saksat [sudro’narjava-laksanah

gautamastv iti vijnaya satya-kamamupanayat]

[Truthfulness is the symptom of a brāhmaṇa, whereas dishonesty is the symptom of a śūdra. Knowing this, Gautama Ṛṣi initiated Satyakama as a brāhmaṇa in recognition of his truthfulness.]

[Chandogya Upanisad, Madhva-bhanya, Sama-samhita] & [Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, 14.46]

Simplicity, sincerity, is the qualification of a brāhmaṇa. And then, not only sincerity, but serving eagerness plus sincerity, that is qualification of a Vaiṣṇava. Not to take but to give. Not to make, not to lord it over, as the favourite expression of my Gurudeva, to lord it over. Not to lord it over, but to be a servant, seeing that everything belongs to my Master Divine. That is added to simplicity and sincerity, then one enters the realm of Vaiṣṇavism, in general. Then calculative and spontaneous, voluntary and reflexive: two types of Vaiṣṇava.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Parvat Mahārāja: We’re afraid that the institution is breaking, the society, institution may be breaking. And it seems like they cannot understand there is something within the institution itself, content, and the institution is like a shell.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They’ll be a little, if they’re seeker after truth they’ll be fearless and reckless. It is His institution and if He likes He will keep it. It is spread by His will, so spaciously and so extensively that in so small span of life Swāmī Mahārāja took it to the length and breadth of the world. It is by Divine Will. It is by Divine Will he could do such a great impossible magnitude of work. That Divine Will, that is all in all. We shall try to look in that way. Still of course, as much as possible we shall go on with our capital, what small capital we have got. Sincerely we shall try to utilise them in the service. But at the same time there is the risk of coming in clash with the real truth.

Devotee: Mahārāja, their position is that now there’s so much difficulty, and they know in their heart of hearts that everything is not going correctly. So they’re just looking for somebody to blame. They don’t want to blame themselves. They’re just looking for somebody outside to blame.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is human nature: that is general weakness of man.

Devotee: But they don’t understand that in spiritual life that they have to be careful who they put the blame on.

Devotees: [Group laughter]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Chidānanda: Mahārāja, I have a question concerning śikṣā Guru.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who are you?

Chidānanda: Chidānanda. The first question is, we understand that sometimes in history there’s gaps where there is no śikṣā Guru present. In the beginning of our Bhagavad-gītā Prabhupāda he lists the disciplic succession from Kṛṣṇa down to himself. And there would have to be great time periods when there’s no person to be the śikṣā Guru. So are we to understand that as a fact that there are times in history when there’s no person to be the śikṣā Guru?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: The time gap between the Guru paramparā, different Gurus in paramparā system, some time gap.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. So not only the material connection, the mediator not this flesh and body what we think generally. Suppose one may connect from Newton to Einstein, leaving so many, non-important scientists. The new thing whatever he’ll touch as far as from Galileo, Newton, and someone, and then Einstein, neglecting the middle point. Their contribution, if these are taken into account, then whole thing is taken into account.

Chidānanda: If what is taken into account?

Devotee: If their consideration, like the main preceptor’s consideration is taken into account, then the lesser preceptors automatically follow the same...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: May be eliminated. When a long distance is to survey, then the nearest significant pillars may be neglected. Is it clear? Do you understand?

Chidānanda: So the works...

Devotee: He has understood.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In the case of long distance measuring, so my post, when we are to measure the distance between one planet to another planet, the light year consideration is used. Do you follow it, light year?

Devotees: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Light year, the distance of light year, and not from mile to mile, or metre or metre. So also in – as long as the stalwarts are considered where Kṛṣṇa has given the main thing, those points are accepted for the facility of the work. Something like that.

Parvat Mahārāja: One question also is actually, what is the position of a person who wants to advance spiritually as to the acceptance of one or more spiritual masters?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You see, here we find generally the Advaita and Nityānanda vaṁśa Guru, a general gṛhastha they come and take their initiation. But when one disciple he wants to give us his whole life more intensely, the Guru is engaged in his gṛhastha dharma, household affairs. But the śiṣya, the disciple, he wants to have an exclusive life, the bābājī class, what is in fashion, he goes and accepts one bābājī Guru, leaves his dīkṣā Guru.

Dīkṣā Guru coming from Advaita vaṁśa or Nityānanda vaṁśa, there are some of them amongst the gṛhastha Guru, they say, “The Guru is representation of God, so if you want to have an exclusive life, still you must take bābājī mantram from me, though I’m a householder.”

But the bābājīs say, “No, no, the sannyāsa you must take from a sannyāsī, and not the gṛhastha Guru.”

The gṛhastha Guru they say, “You are ignoring me. You are committing offence.”

But still it is in vogue. Why? He accepts as his sannyāsa Guru, and generally abides by the instructions of that bābājī Guru, but shows some respect to the primary master. When I’m reading in a primary school I show much respect. Then when I go up for higher study, then if I meet the teacher of my primary school, primary life, I also give some respect, not an enemy. That I began my life of learning from him, I began, I have some respect. But still, there are higher professors to whom I think I’m more indebted. In this way, I got my primary help from particular places, vartma-pradarśaka Guru, then dīkṣā Guru, then sannyāsa Guru. Śikṣā Guru circle is wide, broad, anywhere I may get. Wherever I get it is all advaya-jñāna, all interest of Kṛṣṇa. We should not be much jealous about that: all concern of Kṛṣṇa. Toleration, but there is gradation, and if I, my heart due to my previous good karma, if my bhajan becomes speedy; all may not be stagnant. In our mission also, so many came in the beginning, but for their less qualification they continue in the primary condition, kaniṣṭha adhikāra. But some came late, they went up to madhyama adhikāra, late comer also went up. So seniority is not the consideration, but the quality, anyhow it has come it must be respected. It’s not a historic matter. It’s coming from the help from above, unknown quarter. If coming late he may go.

Napoleon he did not follow his previous rules and regulations of battle, new things he evolved. That is also found.

So the God gifted things. When Upaniṣad came, that gave some hazy idea, then full-fledged theism came in Bhāgavatam, just on the verge of Kali. After long time the full-fledged theism, and the Veda is considered as a tree, and the ripe fruit Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that came so very late. So historic questions should not be misused in this way. The newcomer may go higher, and the old persons may lag behind. It’s divine arrangement. But how to judge, the criterion is there. Kṛṣṇa’s ways are not stale, not stagnant, it is a dynamic one. And it can be traced, but to trace that, what is necessary, one must have that thing; that is self effulgent.

ātmā parijñāna-mayo vivādo, hy astīti nāstīti bhidārtha-niṣṭhaḥ

vyartho 'pi naivoparameta puṁsāṁ, mattaḥ parāvṛtta-dhiyāṁ sva-lokāt

[One party says: “God exists!” The other says: “God does not exist!” Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that the ātmā is self effulgent, but still we find that one class of men say, “He exists, we see Him, He can be seen,” and another says: “He has never existed.” This quarrel has no end because one of the parties hasn’t got the eye to see what is self-evident. This quarrel is a useless waste of time, but still it will never stop; it will continue forever.] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.22.34]

Just as ātmā is self effulgent, Kṛṣṇa also more and more to the utmost self effulgent. So there is some contention between the parties. Some say, “Ātmā is.” Some say, “No! No!” The atheists won’t allow that soul can exist independent of matter. But Kṛṣṇa says, that does not mean that that can’t affect the existence of ātmā, it is self evident and existent. But this sort of quarrel that won’t subside, because that will confine to a particular group, they will always have some doubt. Though Sun is, but those that have no eye, in that section whether the Sun is or Sun does not exist, this will continue within that particular section. So half knowledge is also like that, half truth, also that. Half truth will also continue to live forever. And the comparative study must be there, otherwise progress is cipher. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. The make believe, what is the meaning of make believe?

Devotee: ________________________________________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Imagination.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not to be confident, to be confident what is not true, to accept true what is not true.

Parvat Mahārāja: Make believe is illusionism.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Illusory.

Devotee: Fiction.

Parvat Mahārāja: Fairy tale.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Peacefully sitting in a position, that this is the highest.

Devotee: Yes, that’s make believe.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Make believe. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So no position of make believe here. Always a student, a seeker after truth, seeking, searching after new planes, newer and newer planes that should be considered living, accommodating, more and more accommodating. Earnestness and eagerness must remain. To maintain ones position, present position, a kind of energy is necessary. I don’t deny that. To maintain ones present position some sort of energy is necessary, and then to give a push back to go ahead. That is all important, so,

[śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ, para-dharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt]

sva dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ, para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ

[“It is better to carry out one’s own duties a little imperfectly rather than faultlessly perform another’s duties. Know that even death is auspicious in the discharge of one’s duties appropriate to his natural position in the ordained socio-religious system, because to pursue another’s path is perilous.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.35]

Try to maintain your position at the cost of your life. Then, the next point, go ahead, march on. Why, to maintain your present position was advised, that you may not have to go back. And that does not mean that you’re not to go in the front, make progress in the front. It does not mean that, so sva dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ, at the cost of your life you’ll try to maintain your position firm. But that does not mean that you won’t go ahead.

sarva-dharmān parityajya, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ [vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ]

[“Totally abandoning all kinds of religion, surrender exclusively unto Me. I will liberate you from all kinds of sins, so do not despair.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66]

Give up all considerations and take the risk of marching onward. Only to help that, the first advice was given, at any cost you must maintain your position, and the next, march on. Do you follow?

Satānanda: I think so.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, so relative and absolute. Hare Kṛṣṇa. A living spiritual life, spiritual conception, must be of that type.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Satānanda: I’m still, I’m so much kaniṣṭha. I have so many doubts.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, yes, such questions must arise in any type of sincere soul. “Why this clash, it is not desirable, neither for you, nor for us.” Nor for them who are coming to me. The clash is not necessary in itself, but only the question how to live, how to save ones own self. From that ground it is coming. How to live, that is, how to save my position, and how to improve my position: this dire necessity, that is what is happening here, not any canvassing for any mal purpose. Such a huge magnitude Swāmī Mahārāja has done and shown before me, and I shall be the last person to make any harm to that, but only some modification, some, as I told, ‘no hitch but relief work.’ And that is in a small way, only that comes any way to me I’m to deal with him, with them. And they’re making hill of a molehill?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mountain out of a molehill.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mountain of a molehill and that is being detrimental to their cause. They overlook this. It is not their interest, but it’s going against their interest.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: In the spiritual sky Mahārāja, in the spiritual world, everybody has a position of a Guru for the person who enters.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course, for their little help, and we must be thankful to him. A good temperament must be thankful to all. Only giving slight help, “Yes, I’m very thankful for your guidance.”

Devotee: Prabhupāda used to say that gratitude is one of the main qualifications in progress in spiritual life.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Only their learning the, what is the theory, the science of gratitude. I’m grateful to everyone in the environment. The very domain is of that character. Everyone thinks, always thinks himself a thief. I’m a trespasser. Only by the grace of the atmosphere that I can have my position here. They’re all well wisher, and only with the exception of me. That should be the temperament. And he’ll be busy and sometimes forgetful of himself in the intense service, but all...

vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy ādi sakala cinmaya, [māyika bhūtera tathi janma nāhi haya]

[“The earth, water, fire, air and ether of Vaikuṇṭha are all spiritual. Material elements are not found there.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 5.53]

As I told the other day that Hiranyagarbha, vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy ādi sakala cinmaya, where I’m going to live, that whole environment is of better stuff than I am made of. We’re to think like that. We’re are entered into a super subjective. I am of subjective character, taṭasthā, but I am getting admission to enter into super subjective area, where everything holds higher position than me. That should be the attitude of all the newly recruited persons there. Everyone is of that consciousness. The air, the earth, the tree, they all hold higher position than mine. I’m still given the permission by the supreme authority to wander here, only that I’m giving some service, I’m serving, and I’m eager to render that service in the area. With this attitude in the background one should live there. It is in the background when one is accustomed to discharge his particular duty, then in the background this is always, that I have come, I’m treading over a soil who is really, whose intrinsic value is superior.

Madhava: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Mahārāja.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Madhava.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That I am on my mother’s lap. My mother is revered, but I’m in the lap of my mother. An infant cannot understand, but a grown up child if he’s taken into the lap of his mother, ‘Oh, mother is revered, and she has taken me in her lap. I take the feet dust of my mother and that mother has taken me, whole body in her lap.’ Such is the example when we enter the Vaikuṇṭha Goloka. The whole is reverential atmosphere, higher than myself, and still, they have embraced me, they have taken me in their lap, the svarūpa-śakti. And I am asked to do some duty there. The whole environment is reverential, revered environment. I’m allowed to live in only by the grace, not as a matter of right. As a matter of right I may be cast in Brahmaloka, taṭasthā, marginal potency. So we must be conscious of the fact. Before going to enlist our name in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness school we must have this primary knowledge, that our chance is to enter where? In a mother’s land, in God’s throne, only for particular service I’m entering the temple which has got superior position. I’m there only for the service, because they’re graceful, by gracious nature they’re drawing me there. And the mother’s lap, whose feet dust I take on the head, that mother has taken me, my whole, even including my feet, on her lap. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Madhava Prabhu coming from Māyāpur?

Madhava Prabhu: I’m coming from Calcutta Mahārāja. I went to Manipur but they would not let us in.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh! Caru Swāmī went to Manipur?

Madhava Prabhu: Svarūpa Dāmodara is there, yes, Bhakti Caru, yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To open the school ceremony?

Madhava Prabhu: Yes, opening of the school.

Devotee: ____________ [?] Madhava Prabhu was not allowed to enter in the Manipur because he’s a foreigner and they have restrictions there for foreigners. So they had to come back.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Manipura, oh. ________________________________ [?] Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: ____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________________________ [?]

Mīsra, Mahāprabhu’s father’s house, not very well-to-do, but every day guests used to come there. Not so much in the rich brāhmaṇa family, but the poor brāhmaṇa family of Jagannātha Mīsra, the guests used to come every day. And Mādhavendra Purī says in Śrī Ranga Purī in Pandapur ___________________ [?] Śacī Devī, mother of Mahāprabhu, used to treat with them like her son ________________ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: May I ask one question please?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Devotee: I’m interested to find out about the Vasus. Bhīṣmadeva was one Vasu. Could you please tell me the story about the curse that made him take birth as Bhīṣmadeva.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is minor thing. Vasu, for stealing the milking cow of Vasiṣṭha they’re cursed and they’re forced to come to the Earth. They’re degraded from their position, and Bhīṣma was the leader so he was punished with a long life here, that is in prison house, and the others only, his attendants, they’re with less punishment they’re allowed to get out. All the eight Vasus, that is some demigods, they made some ______ [?]

Devotee: Connivance. Some plan, connivance.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Anyhow, to take away the milk cow, kāmadhenu of Vasiṣṭha. Perhaps Bhīṣma he milked and the others helped.

When Vasiṣṭha came to know that he gave a curse, “Why they have done such injury to me? I say they must come down to this material world of death and infirmity.”

And they had to come, and Bhīṣma was principal among them, so Bhīṣma had to stay here for long time in degraded position. And the others they had slight help so immediately after their birth they’re all released, and Bhīṣma was detained. And after all then Bhīṣma also gave his life, in that way. That is minor thing, a question of history. That is history, not much spirituality in that, there. But how Bhīṣma became one of the twelve stalwarts in the spiritual realm: that is an important question.

Devotee: How did he become?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That by the grace of the Ganges and Santanu, the father was incarnation of Śiva. With their influence Bhīṣma accepted.

Devotee: He’s considered one of the mahājanas.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mahājana, but he may be considered as a jñāna miśrā bhakti, under the jurisdiction of jñāna miśrā bhakti. Sometimes opposite to Kṛṣṇa, and sometimes in favour, just like Śiva. Śiva is the jñāna miśrā. Brahmā karma miśrā example, Śiva, jñāna miśrā.

Then they say from Prahlāda pure devotion begins. But Prahlāda also says that, “I have some element of opposition with the paramount power. Sometimes I went to fight against Him in Naimiṣāraṇya due to my demonic connection. I’m not pure. But Hanumān is pure.”

But Hanumān he says, “I envy the position of the Pāṇḍavas.”

Then Pāṇḍavas say in their turn, “The Yadavas are the real fortunate, always in close connection with Kṛṣṇa.”

The Yadavas say, “We are in name in connection, but real connection we find with Uddhava.”

And Uddhava in his great statement, comment, “That I aspire after a birth of a creeper and shrub in Vṛndāvana.”

It is so inconceivably superior in the realm of devotion, pure devotion. In this way the things are going up. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. The quality should be judged. This is the way, the scriptural suggestion, and our realisation must follow the path, how it is. It is there, it is written, but we must have to understand that. How it is possible? How in this gradation the devotion is going to its zenith? We are to realise that, that it is so, so it becomes superior, so more superior, in this way. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: ___________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________________________ [?]

...

Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Chidānanda: Mahārāja, I’d just like to ask you one more question – I’d just like to ask if this is a correct consideration, that when Prabhupāda was present he was giving me spiritual instructions so therefore he was my śikṣā Guru. And then after he departed, now I take instructions from his books and his tapes and general instructions. So is he personally still considered my śikṣā Guru or are his books and tapes considered my śikṣā Guru?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say? When Prabhupāda living, then, he used to?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s my śikṣā Guru.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He was dīkṣā, śikṣā, all?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, everything, but now departed, so his book, and his recording, that is also now my śikṣā Guru? That is the question?

Chidānanda: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course, and that in a passive way, that in a passive way that śikṣā Guru. And generally the caitya Guru’s function is greater there. That is passive. If you fail to understand a particular passage, you cannot catch, then you cannot have progress. This is passively represented to you, and you are to extract real purpose from there. But another Vaiṣṇava may see something else there, something more. So it has been said, ya’o vaiṣṇavera sthane bhāgavata paḍa.

[“yāha, bhāgavata paḍa vaiṣṇavera sthāne, ekānta āśraya kara caitanya-caraṇe]

[“If you want to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,” he said, “you must approach a self- realized Vaiṣṇava and study it under his guidance, while at the same time taking exclusive shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.”] [Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 5.131]

If you want to read Bhāgavata you must go to a Vaiṣṇava Ācārya, Vaiṣṇava teacher, from him you read the Bhāgavatam. Otherwise you may not, you fail to understand the real standpoint. The Vaiṣṇava Ācārya, with his help you’re to read Vaiṣṇava scripture. So that is śikṣā Guru, all right, it will help to remind you, but if you fail to understand, the book won’t come to remove your misconception. But a living śikṣā Guru, sādhu, he will point out, “No, your fault is here, you can’t understand this point.” So sādhu, śāstra, both, sādhu is principal and in absence of sādhu, the living scripture, then this passive scripture is our help.

sādhu-śastra-kṛpāya [yadi kṛṣṇonmukha haya, sei jīva nistare, māyā tāhāre chāḍaya]

[“If the conditioned soul becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious by the mercy of saintly persons who voluntarily preach scriptural injunctions and help him to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, the conditioned soul is liberated from the clutches of māyā, who gives him up.”]

[Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 20.120]

Devotee: Caitya Guru is the passive...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Caitya Guru not passive, but it is something vague within us, we can’t detect its directions always. It is difficult to understand the inner voice.

Devotee: Caitya Guru can be both a manifestation of our Gurudeva or Kṛṣṇa also?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. When we ask something, standing before, within us, standing before Gurudeva, “Please advise me in this peculiar position what I’m to do.” And the Guru what I feel that Gurudeva is giving this suggestion. If I’m pure, then I shall be able to catch the real suggestion from him. Or sometimes I may ask Kṛṣṇa while reading Gītā, “What is the real meaning of Your speech? Please allow me to understand.” And according to my position, if Kṛṣṇa He gives suggestion to me, I can understand that this is the purpose of His speech, in this way. But it is vague. It depends upon ones capacity of realisation.

End of 82.01.31.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.00.A_150.2

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: ...Ruci Prabhu, he’s from America.

Devotee: _______________________ kaliphos [?]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So he’s from America and he’s been listening to the tapes of Your Divine Grace very ardently for around one year. He listens very, very carefully and is studying the theistic conception that you’re presenting. And Bhaupadeva Prabhu he’s coming from South Africa, and he has one letter to Your Divine Grace from Mukunda Mālā Dāsa, Mukunda Mālā Vilāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is the letter?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: In the letter there’s also a hundred dollar donation.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Govinda Mahārāja.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: It says, “To His Divine Grace Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīla Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja, Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭha, Koladwīp, Bengal. Dear Gurudeva, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your lotus feet. As an agent of Mahāprabhu you shower the mercy from the highest plane upon the lowest of men. Such an act of kindness can never be repaid, for the gift you are giving is so valuable that it can never be purchased by any amount of material opulence.”

And then he quotes the verse of Raghunātha Dāsa Goswāmī:

nāma-śreṣṭhaṁ manum api śacī-putram atra svarūpaṁ

rūpaṁ tasyāgrajam uru-purīṁ māthurīṁ goṣṭavāṭīm

rādhā-kuṇḍaṁ giri-varam aho rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ

prāpto yasya prathita-kṛpayā śrī guruṁ taṁ nato 'smi

“I bow down to the beautiful lotus feet of my Gurudeva, by whose causeless mercy I have attained the Supreme Holy Name, the Divine Mantra, the service of the Son of Śacī Mātā, the association of Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara, Rūpa Goswāmī, and his older brother Sanātana Goswāmī, the Supreme Abode of Mathurā, the Blissful Abode of Vṛndāvana, the Divine Rādhā-kuṇḍa and Govardhana Hill, and desire within my heart for the loving service of Śrī Rādhikā and Mādhava in Vṛndāvana.”

“After the disappearance of our beloved Śrīla Prabhupāda we felt like a rudderless ship cast adrift in a great ocean. Although he has given us the course and pointed out the direction in which to sail, in his absence we feel so much incompetent to steer the ship on our own.”

tvaṁ naḥ sandarśito dhātrā, dustaraṁ nistitīrṣatām

kaliṁ sattva-haraṁ puṁsāṁ, karṇa-dhāra ivārṇavam

“We think that we have met Your Goodness by the will of providence, just so that we may accept you as captain of the ship for those who wish to cross over the dangerous ocean of Kali, which deteriorates all the good qualities of a human being.” [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.1.22]

“I’m simply praying that by your mercy I’ll be enabled to understand the essence of your teachings and surrender completely to your instructions, which are non-different from those of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura, and our own Śrīla Prabhupāda. I would like to glorify you properly but I’m an insignificant jīva. No one can estimate the extent of your glories. Out of billions of living beings only a few have the human form of life. Out of billions of human beings only a few are devotees. And out of thousands of devotees one may be a mahā-bhāgavata. Who then can estimate the rare good fortune of those who have the sublime opportunity of sitting before your lotus feet...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Jai! “...as we are doing...”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: ... “and hearing you explain Bhāgavatam? Such persons must be the most fortunate souls in the universe.”

tulayāma lavenāpi, na svargaṁ nāpunar-bhavam

bhagavat-saṅgi-saṅgasya, martyānāṁ kim utāśiṣaḥ

[Śrī Śaunaka Ṛṣi said to the assembly of the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya: “The attainment of heavenly planets or liberation from material existence cannot even slightly compare with the immeasurable fortune gained by a moment’s association of a devotee of the Supreme Lord. What, then, can be said of the petty dominion and assets of mortal men.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.18.13]

“The value of a moment’s association with a devotee of the Lord cannot be compared to the attainment of heavenly planets, or liberation from matter, and what to speak of worldly benedictions in the form of material prosperity which are for those who are meant for death. I had also planned to be in Navadwīpa in order to take firm shelter of your lotus feet, but it seems that Kṛṣṇa has other plans. I have heard from Yudhāmanyu Prabhu that Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja wants me to go to America as soon as possible. I will help him in the publication of a book compiled from your lectures. You once explained that just as a son is relieved of his debt to his father by begetting a child, the disciple is somewhat relieved of his debt to his Guru by establishing the message of his Guru within human society for the benefit of future generations. There’s an urgent need for the devotees of the world to hear your message. And even the non devotees may be reclaimed by hearing from you. I want to see your words published in books that can be distributed all over the world.”

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grama, sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma

[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the pioneer of Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana. He said: “I have come to inaugurate the chanting of the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa, and that Name will reach every nook and corner of the universe.”] [Chaitanya-Bhāgavata]

“Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura stressed the need for the publication and distribution of transcendental literature. And if a fallen soul such as myself can assist Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja in fulfilling this mission I will consider it a great honour. I have no qualification to help him but by your mercy I may become fit to do this service. Please give me your blessings so that I may become inspired to help Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja in distributing your teachings to the world.

Since I’ve been here in South Africa I’ve done my best to help with the relief work. I’ve typed up manuscripts of your lectures which I’ve distributed among the devotees here. The temple president here, Mahātmā Dāsa, is becoming more and more eager to hear your siddhānta, and he’s thinking about going to India to take shelter of you, and ask for guidance and help. Many other devotees are also enthusiastic to know more about you, and I’m trying in my own small way to encourage them to hear your tapes, read the transcripts, and the paper of Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, and in this way develop an understanding of your relationship with Swāmī Mahārāja and ISKCON.

I am well and happy, and by your inspiration I’m still going out regularly for preaching. Since I’ve been here I’ve distributed about five hundred volumes of a book entitled Teachings of Queen Kuntī, a series of lectures by our Śrīla Prabhupāda. The people here are simple and friendly and interested in our philosophy. I will depart for England on the eighth of March, and hope to arrive in America soon after that to work with Dhīra Kṛṣṇa. I hope this meets with your approval.”

And then he says he has one question to ask you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is that?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: It is he says, “I hope it is not impertinent.” But before the question, in your poetry you say, “Kamala-priya-nayanam.” [Śrī-Dayita-dāsa-praṇati-pañcakam, 4]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kamala-priya-nayanam, yes. Kamala, the name of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in her private life in, under Rūpa Goswāmī to serve Rādhārāṇī, and nayanam means that our, the name of our Guru Mahārāja. Kamala-priya-nayanam.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nayanamaṇi is, was the name of our Guru Mahārāja in her Vṛndāvana bhajan, and Kamala Mañjarī that of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and Guṇa Mañjarī that of Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja. Three have been mentioned there in that poem.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So that’s why this question is about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Svarūpa Dāmodara.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Svarūpa Dāmodara is Lalitā Sakhī, it is mentioned.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Anyway, then he says, “I hope I have not committed any offence by making this letter too long. Please forgive any impertinence I may have committed.”

Jaya oṁ viṣṇupāda paramahaṁsa-parivrājakācārya aṣṭottara-śata-śrī-śrīmad bhakti rakṣak śrīla śrīdhar dev-goswāmī mahārāj kī jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: “Your humble servant, Mukunda Mālā Vilāsa Dāsa. Enclosed is a donation of one hundred dollars.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Has come through?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Bhaupadeva Dāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhaupadeva. He’s coming from South Africa, this Bhaupadeva?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And he wants to stay up to Gaura-Pūrṇimā?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. His ticket expires on that day so he will be forced to leave the country. Mukunda Mālā Vilāsa, he must leave South Africa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And another boy, this Ruci or who?

Aranya Maharaja: Ruci Dāsa Brahmacārī and Rohiṇīpriyā Dāsa.

Devotee: Just coming today Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And another boy came with them to enquire, to inform me that I am ill-presented about the ISKCON.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, misinformed.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Misinformed, misrepresent ISKCON has been misrepresented to me by some. Is that boy here?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No, he’s returned to Māyāpur.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Without meeting me.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Aranya Maharaja: He asked some questions this morning. He asked many of the questions about Mahāprabhu ______

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He had a lengthy discussion with me after your darśana for around one and a half hours.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And this Satānanda.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Satānanda Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s also in some doubt.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So you’re to help him according to your capacity. He has lost his faith there, and whatever faith he had in me that is also disturbed by their abuse for me. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So he’s a little perplexed.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Hmm. Doubts, in Bhagavad-gītā,

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Saṁśayātmā vinaśyati, nāyaṁ loko ‘na paro

[ajñaś cāśraddadhānaś ca saṁśayātmā vinaśyati

nāyaṁ loko ‘sti na paro na sukhaṁ saṁśayātmanaḥ]

[“But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.40]

So doubt is a very mischievous thing. That should be cleared as early as possible, and to place us in a positive plane. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So I proposed to Mukunda Mālā Vilāsa to help me with this book. And also I wanted to inform you that the idea of the book would be to take excerpts from your speaking in the mornings on particular subjects. You speak repeatedly on a particular subject in different lectures.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So I want to combine them together to create a chapter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: As you like you can adjust them. Hare Kṛṣṇa. But if it is possible, in two ways you can, one, sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana, selection under three heads. Or historical, date by date, or classification of the same nature, that is sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana, or by historical instalments, as suits you. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. And the topics in the heading, or in the marginal note, the topics dealt with may be given in the margin or in the heading. The subject matter, to facilitate the understanding of the reader you may use.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: There are also certain phrases that you use repeatedly that make nice titles for chapters.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Maybe, I forgot. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Just like you speak of the world of exploitation.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, yes.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: That is a nice title for a chapter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Exploitation, renunciation and dedication.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Exploitation also karma, vikarma, sukarma, sub-division there may be, renunciation also of several kinds, dedication generally two. Vaikuṇṭha, Paravyoma and Goloka area, there is also gradation, development. Any way! And the abstract of the lectures also may be given in the beginning in a note as you like.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. That’s what I’d like.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To help others to understand in your own way you may put note there. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Also to capture their curiosity, their interest.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Govinda Mahārāja ______________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Akṣayānanda Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Akṣayānanda Mahārāja quite silent.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I just came Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. You are to help our Satānanda Prabhu. He’s a little weakened. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. What are the points of his doubts, suspicion, to note carefully and to try to help him. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. ______________________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Govinda Mahārāja ___________________________________[?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So Mahārāja, in your poem you say, “Kamala-priya-nayanam.” [Śrī-Dayita-dāsa-praṇati-pañcakam, 4] Is this revealed, some kind of revelation, the identities?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is mentioned there, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has mentioned his name in his poem he’s such. And we also could trace the name of Prabhupāda from some letter, and so I have mentioned there. And I heard from the lips of Prabhupāda about the name of Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja, that secret name I got from Prabhupāda. And Prabhupāda’s own name I got from his letter, one letter. And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s name, that is already mentioned in his own self composed poem. And Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja’s name perhaps mentioned in Gauḍīya. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Aranya Mahārāja: So it’s true that the great Ācāryas they reveal their identity in their literatures, in some of their writings?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In their Kṛṣṇa līlā participation within a very confidential circle.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. So I want to go in.

Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī Prabhupāda kī jaya.

Śrīmad Bhaktivedanta Swāmī Mahārāja kī jaya.

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... not Haṁsadūta, Jayatīrtha Mahārāja, so he told Jayatīrtha Mahārāja himself has recommended that Satsvarūpa Mahārāja.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes. I notice some difference in temperament between myself and himself to some extent.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He had some grievance in his mind that, “Jayatīrtha Mahārāja he’s not so much engages himself in the study of Swāmī Mahārāja’s books, but Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura and your tapes. He devotes much of his time for that, not so much fond of Guru Mahārāja’s books and literature: little indifferent.” That was his complaint.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Achar.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I told that what Swāmī Mahārāja imparted to you all, that is a general course, but there is special course also. And that you can find from your Guru paramparā and the mantram you have got. Where to go, where is the goal? The primary training he has given you all. But long way to go. If you consult the mantra which you have got, the second dīkṣā, second initiation, and also Guru paramparā. And if you go through Rāmānanda Rāya saṁvāda, how step by step we are to go, where, it is clearly mentioned there. Where denotation increases connotation decreases. And if connotation is to increase denotation will diminish, necessarily.

End of 82.02.00.A_150.2

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.00.B_150.2

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Aranya Mahārāja: I’ve already given the letter to him.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, you already gave?

Aranya Mahārāja: Yeah. Hari Charan____________ [?] It is final, Yati Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, he has mentioned that. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Has he accepted it was a mistake that he had done?

Aranya Mahārāja: No.

Devotee: He has not accepted. What did he say?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: That different people in Madras have been sometimes disturbed about these things, and since their society is most prominent Gauḍīya society they have to take some position. So recently he looked at his writings and came with these observations and miscalculations. And that he’ll be coming here, he wants to talk to him personally, and also...

Devotee: Talk to Akṣayānanda Mahārāja?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yeah, and he said, but also while he’s here he will consult with Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja and his statements will be taken as the final, finally into account. Something like that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The people here are philosophical minded. On their pressure I had to enter into such discussion and whatever I have understood I have done so. So many others also are to be tackled. And I shall go and see you and have a discussion. And what Śrīdhara Mahārāja will say that will be the final. Something like that, the purport of his letter. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: But he’s going to stop continuing that, did he mention that he’s going to stop, in his next issues?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course, he stopped.

Devotee: _____________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _______________________________________________ [?]

...

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: ... in England that the Dean of Westminster, he’s the personal minister, priest, for the Queen, has invited me to speak in Westminster Abbey on April 20th. I’m supposed to address a group of important persons in Westminster Abbey on April the 20th. This is I think a good step forward.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Encouraging. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Sarvabhavana Prabhu __________________ [?]

Devotee: ______________ [?]

...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: ... Yati Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I heard.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He said, “I would like to come and discuss here,” and he said, “The decision of Revered Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja will be final.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right.

Devotees: Haribol. Haribol. Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s coming on the seventeenth of March.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. In the meantime I’d like to communicate with ISKCON on that point, the last word Swāmī Mahārāja felt his sentiment, he expressed his sentiment. That he has done many things, and he told many things against God-brothers, as he felt necessity for propagation. “So I beg forgiveness from them.” On the basis of that, to omit that portion in his publication where it is mentioned, that should no longer be continued, on the basis of his last wish.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I’ve already written such a letter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: To our ISKCON, some of our men.

Devotee: To whom?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I also like to send...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Rāmeśvara Mahārāja, Satsvarūpa Mahārāja...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To the President or Secretary?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yeah.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: After this meeting new President perhaps will be selected, is it not?

Devotees: Yes, and new Chairman.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: The first order of business.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then, to the new President, in my name I want to get some information of this type. Ke? Nimāi. That it is desirable that you should omit on the basis of his last wish, the name. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: ________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They put me in the jurisdiction of Gauḍīya Maṭha in general.

Devotee: ISKCON leader?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ISKCON leader. Gauḍīya Maṭha in general, that means they’re not one with them, and so, now, they have come to such decision that Śrīdhara Mahārāja will also be cast on that group of Gauḍīya Maṭha. We shall see him...

Devotee: I don’t think so Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...as we were seeing Gauḍīya Maṭha so far. And from now we shall also have to see Śrīdhara Mahārāja as of Gauḍīya Maṭha. Where it is mentioned? In, Dhīra Kṛṣṇa, in their advice to some gentleman it is mentioned somewhere.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes, in general they’re advising the devotees should not come here. They’re a little worried I think that you’re proving so attractive.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Giri Mahārāja wrote in his letter that, Giri Mahārāja mentioned that point in his letter.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He was to be viewed, because he took sannyāsa from you, he was to be viewed as Gauḍīya Maṭha sannyāsī.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Ah, he even mentioned that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Gauḍīya Maṭha and ISKCON, two different institutions. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: ...address that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura gives to the sannyāsīs who are leaving for the West he says that, “The Śrī Chaitanya Maṭha is a Divine Manifestation.” And he requests them to try to extend its scope everywhere.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Yes.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: So apparently this...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He had such convictions, strong conviction.

Once, when he was in Purī, at that time Mahārājah Manindra Nandi, he was a Mahārājah, a very charitable hearted and used to help the sahajiyā section with a great amount of money. He went to meet our Prabhupāda in Purī. Then the sahajiyā section they do not admit this Yoga-pīṭha in Māyāpur, the birthplace of Mahāprabhu. So that question occurred.

And Prabhupāda told to that Mahārājah that, he was, in his hand the Tulasī mālikā was counting, that, “Mahārājah, with this Tulasī mālā in my hand I pronounce what Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has expressed to be the birthplace of Mahāprabhu. None in the world or anywhere will be able to remove Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s decision. None can challenge, and no earthly, worldly power will be able to remove the birthplace from there to any other.”

This Prachin, they told that Prachin Māyāpur is the birthplace. So there was some contest. Some case was also in the court of Krishna, but the judge he gave opinion in favour of Prabhupāda, present Māyāpur, “That this is proper Māyāpur, and not this Prachin Māyāpur on the other side of the Ganges,” _____ [?] his idea.

Another time he told, there was some quarrel with the most local Muslims pertaining to a particular land. Then one of his disciples made a compromise with the Muslims to, the necessary land was acquired by offering another land as exchange.

So Prabhupāda was very much dissatisfied. “I requested you to get the land by purchasing, not by exchange. The land which is already in possession, that is also necessary for Nitāi kuṇḍa. It is necessary for Gaura kuṇḍa just by the side there Nitāi kuṇḍa I’ve already designed, and that land is kept for that. So you have done without asking my permission, did wrong, I can’t accept.”

In course of that argument, “I have no want of money, no want of money. Mahāprabhu’s temple here, and there are so many jewels and gems I found. If necessary I shall take one of the jewels from the temple and I sell it, and I will get thereby crores of rupees, and thereby I shall reconstruct the whole Navadwīpa as it was at the time of Mahāprabhu.” Feelingly he told like that. “I shall sell the jewel of the temple of Mahāprabhu. It is there, and crores of rupees I shall get for it. And I shall improve the whole area. No want of money.”

So he was, came from another land, the land of faith, land of faith, and he could see what was inside, Vṛndāvana, this Navadwīpa.

The Svarūpa Dāmodara and Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, they’re having hot discussion. “Vaikuṇṭha is full of wealth, and Vṛndāvana is only forest, creepers and jungle, some flower and some creeper.”

Devotee: Mahārāja __________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Faith is a wonderful potency, infinite potency there is in faith. That cannot be estimated. Through faith we can see any phase of the Absolute, according to its degree and quality. It is possible. The plane of faith, incalculable resourcefulness: and it is real. That is the real aspect. This is wonder. What we think to be the most imaginary, but we’re told that is the real basis. By faith we can come in contact of such a plane that Almighty, Omniscience, Omnipotent, and so many other Infinite Attributes, such cause, the only cause of the world, can be only approached by faith.

Sakala chāḍiyā bhāi, śraddhādevīra guṇa gāi. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, “Set aside everything and praise the Goddess of Śraddhā.” Śraddhā, faith, śraddhā, a tiny soul, how can we raise the limit of our faith? How much we can conjecture, or we can estimate? That will be but an infinitesimal part of the Absolute; whatever we’ll be able to expect, hope, that will be very low to the normal degree, faith. So what is and what is not, our puppy brain can’t have, can’t give any estimation for. Everything is possible.

There is a story in Purāṇa that one devotee of a lower standard asked Devaṛṣi Nārada, “What Nārāyaṇa is doing?”

Nārada Goswāmī replied, “That through the eye of the needle He’s passing elephant, many times, passing animals, incessantly.”

“Is it possible? You don’t, you’re deceiving me.”

So we’re told in Bhāgavatam that at the night of rasa-līlā, the Brahmārat night, the light of the Brahmā: that was infused in it, entered. The factor of time: that can be expanded. And the space also can be expanded and narrowed down, what is so easy to us, both space and time, that is after all a form of thought. That can be squeezed and that can be extended, narrowed and expanded, expansion is possible. Only we are to, the difficulty is to educate us up to the standard to see, divya-darśana, how to see things. Whatever we see, everything is Infinite, everything has got Infinite possibility, only learn how to see, darśana. How to see, how to think, how to estimate, connect you with Infinite. And you’re going, you like the company of finite very much, to be surrounded by the things of limited energy, limited prospect, limited value. You like it you have got it. But you leave it. Try to find infinite around.

[akiñcanasya dāntasya śāntasya sama-cetasaḥ]

mayā santuṣṭa-manasaḥ sarvāḥ sukha-mayā diśaḥ

[“One who does not desire anything within this world, who has achieved peace by controlling his senses, whose consciousness is equal in all conditions and whose mind is completely satisfied in Me finds only happiness wherever he goes.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.14.13]

“When you’ll come to be satisfied with My connection then you’ll feel all the waves coming from four directions are carrying only happy news for you.”

tat te 'nukampāṁ [susamīkṣamāṇo, bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam

hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidhadhan namas te, jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya bhāk]

[“One who, in the hope of achieving Your grace, goes on enduring the inauspicious fruit of his own karma, and passes his days practising devotion unto You in every thought, word, and deed - such a person is heir to the land of freedom: he attains to the plane of positive immortality.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8]

Only learn how to look at, how to estimate your environment. Śṛṇvantu viśve amṛtasya putrāḥ. You are born in the ocean of nectar, but the worst destiny has taken you in the world of limitation and want. Always want, want, want. But really you are a child of the land of nectar, amṛtasya. Only connect, try to reconnect, on which your soul, your proper self is standing, the foundation, the soul, where the soul’s standing, try to find out. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur, in the wrong direction you have come so far.

indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur, indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ

manasas tu parā buddhir, buddher yaḥ paratas tu saḥ

[“The learned proclaim that the senses are superior to inert objects, the mind is superior to the senses, and the faculty of resolute intelligence is superior to the mind. And he who is superior to the intelligence is the soul himself.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.42]

You are there my friend, you are there. Your proper self is there. And all this negative side you have entered into encasement of different orders. Then the positive side on the other hand, Paramātmā, Puruṣottama, and Vaikuṇṭha Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa, Rāmacandra, Dvārakeśa, Vṛndāvana, gradual development.

yad dhāmnah khalu dhāma caiva nigame brahmeti sanjñāyāte

yasyāṁśāsya kalaiva duḥkha nikarair yogeśvarair mṛgyate

vaikuṇṭhe paramukta-bhṛṅga-caraṇo nārāyaṇo yaḥ svayam

tasyāṁśī bhagavān svayaṁ rasa-vapuḥ kṛṣṇo bhavān tat-pradāḥ

[“The effulgent, non-differentiated aspect of divinity known as Brahman is composed of infinite particles of individual consciousness, and has been considered by the Upaniṣads and by Vedic scholars to be the halo of the Absolute. The localised plenary portion of Godhead known as Paramātmā is sought after by the great yogīs practising extreme penances. Nārāyaṇa Himself, the predominating Lord of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, whose lotus feet are worshipped and served by His unexcelled bee-like devotees, is only a partial representation of the original Personality of Godhead. The original or full-fledged aspect of divinity is Kṛṣṇa. O Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, you have not come to distribute Brahman or Paramātmā or even Nārāyaṇa bhakti, but Svayam-Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, the original conception of the Absolute, who is all-ecstasy. It is you, O Gurudeva, who can gently place me in His hands, and you have come to give Him to the public.”] [Śrīmad-Bhaktivinod-viraha-daśakam, v 7] & [Śrī Kīrtana Mañjuṣā, p 53]

Our Guru Mahārāja was very happy when he read through this stanza, composed by me. “A happy style,” he told. And just previous to that also,

lokānāṁ hita-kāmyayā bhagavato bhakti-pracāras tvayā

granthānāṁ racanaiḥ satām abhimatair nana vidhair darśitaḥ

ācāryaiḥ kṛta-pūrvam eva kila tad rāmānujādyair budhaiḥ

premāmbho-nidhi-vigrahasya bhavato māhātmya-sīmā na tat

[Desiring to benefit the people in general, you preached the Bhāgavata principles of devotion. Like the great spiritual geniuses Rāmānuja, Mādhva, Nimbarka, and Viṣṇuswāmī, you composed different scriptures which reveal the divine philosophical vision of the previous ācāryas and great devotees. But, O Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, O Gurudeva, more than that, you are a vast ocean of divine love, and your magnanimity knows no bounds.] [Śrīmad-Bhaktivinoda-viraha-daśakam, 6] & [Śrī Kīrtana Mañjuṣā, p 52]

Is about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and his confidence in Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is so great, so deep, that any connection of him he used to see as infinite: everything of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura of infinite colour.

Infinite also has their quality, qualitative infinite, from Brahman infinite may begin. Brahman, Vaikuṇṭha, all infinite type, different types of infinite. The basis of Vaikuṇṭha means infinite, no kuṇṭha, no measurement, no limitation, Vaikuṇṭha. Kuṇṭhasam vikuṇṭhanath. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

He’s wonderful, wonderful, that of wonderful stride, adbutakrāma, Vāmanadeva is called, adbutakrāma, krāma means stride, one foot, another foot, putting, that is krāma. That of Urukrama, adbutakrāma, whose strides are wonderful, His thoughts, manners, every gesture, posture, all made of wonder. Even jīva soul is wonder, in Gītā it is mentioned.

āścaryavat paśyati kaścid enam, [āścaryavad vadati tathaiva cānyaḥ

āścaryavac cainam anyaḥ śṛṇoti, śrutvāpy enaṁ veda na caiva kaścit]

[“Some see the soul as astonishing, some describe him as astonishing, and some hear of him as astonishing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.29]

Enam means jīvātmānam, says, stares with wonder. Āścaryavad vadati tathaiva cānyaḥ, then another section when they come to speak about ātmā they’re wondered. Āścaryavac cainam anyaḥ śṛṇoti, and who wants to give audience to the relation of anyone about ātmā he’s also struck dumb. “Such things are existing, I’m so and so?” Wonder! Śrutvāpy enaṁ veda na caiva kaścit, and there are many even attending, and listening to the description of ātmā they can’t trace anything about his existence. But still it is.

Once, Jawaharlal [Pandit Nehru], he came to give a speech about some election campaign in Calcutta ____________________ [?] and some, at that time Mukha Mantri [?] was Bihan Raya [?], and those communists, that Yati Bosh [?] party, about four hundred or so with black flag, “Go back Jawaharlal! Go back!” They began to cry.

Jawaharlal told, “About sixty crores of men in India and I represented them. And you four or five hundred people only showing black flag “Go back” and I shall go back? Only four hundred people “Jawaharlal go back!” But about sixty crores of people they want me. What should I do?” Like that! So a portion,

ātmā parijñāna-mayo vivādo, hy astīti nāstīti bhidārtha-niṣṭhaḥ

vyartho 'pi naivoparameta puṁsāṁ, mattaḥ parāvṛtta-dhiyāṁ sva-lokāt

[One party says: “God exists!” The other says: “God does not exist!” Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that the ātmā is self effulgent, but still we find that one class of men say, “He exists, we see Him, He can be seen,” and another says: “He has never existed.” This quarrel has no end because one of the parties hasn’t got the eye to see what is self-evident. This quarrel is a useless waste of time, but still it will never stop; it will continue forever.] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.22.34]

A particular negligent section they say that, “God does not exist, there is no God. I can’t see Him.” Like some owls, they will say, “I can’t see the Sun.” That does not mean that Sun won’t exist.

End of 82.02.00.B_150.2

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.01.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So his former Guru he accepted his position as vartma-pradarśaka, something like ṛtvik. His position was then like a ṛtvik, he offered them. Just as mildly in your ISKCON so many ṛtviks are giving, distributing mālā, counting, distributing down, so many are distributing, but they’re not Guru. But somewhat they’re agent for his good period, the beginning, vartma-pradarśaka, he’s taking him to the proper Guru. “Come here and take your initiation.” But when he says, “Count Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa,” this is a kind of slight dīkṣā when uttering Hare Kṛṣṇa to any person. That has got also some value but very meagre.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: DK Swāmīji.

Aranya Mahārāja: Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, Brahmā, Bhaupadeva, Madan Manohara, and Ruci Dāsa.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ____________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ____________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

[The first part of the transcript dated 82.02.00.A_150.2 appears again in this transcript timed approximately 01:50 – 23:07. “So he’s from America ____ self composed poem.”]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So Ruci Prabhu, he’s from America.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ____________ kaliphos [?]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So he’s from America and he’s been listening to the tapes of Your Divine Grace very ardently for around one year. He listens very, very carefully and is studying the theistic conception that you’re presenting. And Bhaupadeva Prabhu he’s coming from South Africa, and he has one letter to Your Divine Grace from Mukunda Mālā Dāsa, Mukunda Mālā Vilāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is the letter?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: In the letter there’s also a hundred dollar donation.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Govinda Mahārāja.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: It says, “To His Divine Grace Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīla Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja, Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭha, Koladwīp, Bengal. ... souls in the universe.”

tulayāma lavenāpi, na svargaṁ nāpunar-bhavam

bhagavat-saṅgi-saṅgasya, martyānāṁ kim utāśiṣaḥ

[Śrī Śaunaka Ṛṣi said to the assembly of the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya: “The attainment of heavenly planets or liberation from material existence cannot even slightly compare with the immeasurable fortune gained by a moment’s association of a devotee of the Supreme Lord. What, then, can be said of the petty dominion and assets of mortal men.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.18.13]

“The value of a moment’s association with a devotee of the Lord cannot be compared to the attainment of heavenly planets, or liberation from matter, and what to speak of worldly benedictions in the form of material prosperity which are for those who are meant for death. I had also planned to be in Navadwīpa in order to take firm shelter of your lotus feet, but it seems that Kṛṣṇa has other plans. I have heard from Yudhāmanyu Prabhu that Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja wants me to go to America as soon as possible. I will help him in the publication of a book compiled from your lectures. You once explained that just as a son is relieved of his debt to his father by begetting a child, the disciple is somewhat relieved of his debt to his Guru by establishing the message of his Guru within human society for the benefit of future generations. There’s an urgent need for the devotees of the world to hear your message. And even the non devotees may be reclaimed by hearing from you. I want to see your words published in books that can be distributed all over the world.”

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grama, sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma

[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the pioneer of Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana. He said: “I have come to inaugurate the chanting of the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa, and that Name will reach every nook and corner of the universe.”] [Chaitanya-Bhāgavata]

“Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura stressed the need for the publication and distribution of transcendental literature. And if a fallen soul such as myself can assist Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja in fulfilling this mission I will consider it a great honour. I have no qualification to help him but by your mercy I may become fit to do this service. Please give me your blessings so that I may become inspired to help Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja in distributing your teachings to the world.

Since I’ve been here in South Africa I’ve done my best to help with the relief work. I’ve typed up manuscripts of your lectures which I’ve distributed among the devotees here. The temple president here, Mahātmā Dāsa, is becoming more and more eager to hear your siddhānta, and he’s thinking about going to India to take shelter of you, and ask for guidance and help. Many other devotees are also enthusiastic to know more about you, and I’m trying in my own small way to encourage them to hear your tapes, read the transcripts, and the paper of Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, and in this way develop an understanding of your relationship with Swāmī Mahārāja and ISKCON.

I am well and happy, and by your inspiration I’m still going out regularly for preaching. Since I’ve been here I’ve distributed about five hundred volumes of a book entitled Teachings of Queen Kuntī, a series of lectures by our Śrīla Prabhupāda. The people here are simple and friendly and interested in our philosophy. I will depart for England on the eighth of March, and hope to arrive in America soon after that to work with Dhīra Kṛṣṇa. I hope this meets with your approval.”

And then he says he has one question to ask you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is that?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: It is he says, “I hope it is not impertinent.” But before the question, in your poetry you say, “Kamala-priya-nayanam.” [Śrī-Dayita-dāsa-praṇati-pañcakam, 4]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kamala-priya-nayanam, yes. Kamala, the name of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in her private life in, under Rūpa Goswāmī to serve Rādhārāṇī, and nayanam means that our, the name of our Guru Mahārāja. Kamala-priya-nayanam.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nayanamaṇi is, was the name of our Guru Mahārāja in her Vṛndāvana bhajan, and Kamala Mañjarī that of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and Guṇa Mañjarī that of Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja. Three have been mentioned there in that poem.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So that’s why this question is about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Svarūpa Dāmodara.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Svarūpa Dāmodara is Lalitā Sakhī, it is mentioned.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Anyway, then he says, “I hope I have not committed any offence by making this letter too long. Please forgive any impertinence I may have committed.”

Jaya oṁ viṣṇupāda paramahaṁsa-parivrājakācārya aṣṭottara-śata-śrī-śrīmad bhakti rakṣak śrīla śrīdhar dev-goswāmī mahārāj kī jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: “Your humble servant, Mukunda Mālā Vilāsa Dāsa. Enclosed is a donation of one hundred dollars.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Has come through?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Bhaupadeva Dāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhaupadeva. He’s coming from South Africa, this Bhaupadeva?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And he wants to stay up to Gaura-Pūrṇimā?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. His ticket expires on that day so he will be forced to leave the country. Mukunda Mālā Vilāsa, he must leave South Africa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And another boy, this Ruci or who?

Aranya Maharaja: Ruci Dāsa Brahmacārī and Rohiṇīpriyā Dāsa.

Devotee: Just coming today Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And another boy came with them to enquire, to inform me that I am ill-presented about the ISKCON.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, misinformed.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Misinformed, misrepresent ISKCON has been misrepresented to me by some. Is that boy here?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No, he’s returned to Māyāpur.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Without meeting me.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Aranya Maharaja: He asked some questions this morning. He asked many of the questions about Mahāprabhu ______

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He had a lengthy discussion with me after your darśana for around one and a half hours.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And this Satānanda.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Satānanda Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s also in some doubt.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So you’re to help him according to your capacity. He has lost his faith there, and whatever faith he had in me, that is also disturbed by their abuse for me. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So he’s a little perplexed.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Hmm. Doubts, in Bhagavad-gītā,

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Saṁśayātmā vinaśyati, nāyaṁ loko ‘na paro saṁśayātmanaḥ.

[ajñaś cāśraddadhānaś ca saṁśayātmā vinaśyati

nāyaṁ loko ‘sti na paro na sukhaṁ saṁśayātmanaḥ]

[“But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.40]

So saṁśaya, doubt, is a very mischievous thing. That should be cleared as early as possible, and to place us in a positive plane. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So I proposed to Mukunda Mālā Vilāsa to help me with this book. And also, I wanted to inform you that the idea of the book would be to take excerpts from your speaking in the mornings on particular subjects. You speak repeatedly on a particular subject in different lectures.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So I want to combine them together to create a chapter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: As you like you can adjust them. Hare Kṛṣṇa. But if it is possible, in two ways you can, one, sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana, selection under three heads. Or historical, date by date, or classification of the same nature, that is sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana, or by historical instalments, as suits you. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. And the topics in the heading, or in the marginal note, the topics dealt with may be given in the margin or in the heading. The subject matter, to facilitate the understanding of the reader you may use.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. There are also certain phrases that you use repeatedly that make nice titles for chapters.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Maybe, I forgot. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Just like you speak of the world of exploitation.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, yes.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: That is a nice title for a chapter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Exploitation, renunciation and dedication.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Exploitation also karma, vikarma, sukarma, sub-division there may be, renunciation also of several kinds, dedication generally two. Vaikuṇṭha, Paravyoma and Goloka area, there is also gradation, development. Any way! And the abstract of the lectures also may be given in the beginning in a note as you like.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. That’s what I’d like.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To help others to understand in your own way you may put note there. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Also to capture their curiosity, their interest.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Govinda Mahārāja ______________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Akṣayānanda Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Akṣayānanda Mahārāja quite silent.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I just came Mahārāja, just now.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. You are to help our Satānanda Prabhu. He’s a little weakened. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. What are the points of his doubts, suspicion, to note carefully and to try to help him. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. ___________________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Govinda Mahārāja _______________[?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So Mahārāja, in your poem you say, “Kamala-priya-nayanam.” [Śrī-Dayita-dāsa-praṇati-pañcakam, 4] Is this revealed, some kind of revelation, the identities?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is mentioned there, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has mentioned his name in his poem he’s such. And we also could trace the name of Prabhupāda from some letter, and so I have mentioned there. And I heard from the lips of Prabhupāda about the name of Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja, that secret name I got from Prabhupāda. And Prabhupāda’s own name I got from his letter, one letter. And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s name, that is already mentioned in his own self composed poem.

[The first part of the transcript dated 82.02.00.A_150.2, timed approximately 01:50 – 23:07 – “So he’s from America ____ self composed poem.”], ends here.]

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... But what is the proof that you have got the grace and I not got His grace? What’s the guarantee there?”

Then his answer was that, vastu visay [?] The Absolute consideration is there. What you want though that is relative. Everywhere such difference, point may be drawn. So Absolute knowledge is not possible, comparative knowledge, but to know what is what. To call a spade a spade, and to call an axe a spade, that must be different then in particular level who knows the meaning of the words and identification with the thing, he will, he can detect the mistake. “But this is not spade, this is axe.” But ordinary people who are not well versed with the language and the thing then says it’s an axe. But the discrimination is possible, and that is known by the symptoms.

“I say He’s Lord Himself. You say that he’s man, a human being. But one day you will have to say, “No, He’s superman, not a man.”

And when that day came Gopīnātha Ācārya told, “What, Sārvabhauma, what I told you put objection. Now you’re seeing the same thing.” He’s beaten.

“Yes, by your grace, by your affection to me Caitanyadeva Śrī Caitanya was gracious on me, by your company, your affection, with these valuable things.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. So Sārvabhauma showed his respect to Gopīnātha Ācārya.

Absolute knowledge is possible, but not to all, just as, mattaḥ parāvṛtta-dhiyāṁ sva-lokāt. Always there’ll be a particular section who’ll be atheist, who’ll be half atheist, who’ll be this and that, so many, because for their deviated position cannot but be.

ātmā parijñāna-mayo vivādo, hy astīti nāstīti bhidārtha-niṣṭhaḥ

vyartho 'pi naivoparameta puṁsāṁ, mattaḥ parāvṛtta-dhiyāṁ sva-lokāt

[One party says: “God exists!” The other says: “God does not exist!” Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that the ātmā is self effulgent, but still we find that one class of men say, “He exists, we see Him, He can be seen,” and another says: “He has never existed.” This quarrel has no end because one of the parties hasn’t got the eye to see what is self-evident. This quarrel is a useless waste of time, but still it will never stop; it will continue forever.] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.22.34]

And devoid of God consciousness means devoid of self consciousness as the result. One who does not know God he cannot know himself, because his estimation in relation to the whole, that is to be asserted, otherwise no estimation. To have an estimation of a person we must have the estimation of the paraphernalia, otherwise he can’t be judged, proper estimation is not possible. According to the environment what position he holds, that is necessary, sambandha-jñāna, who is who. Ke? _________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ___________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________________________________ [?]

...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: ...to inform him, might be a better time.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He may be more receptive at that time.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________________________________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja thought that if we write now they may make an unpleasant issue of it in their meeting.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: That is their tendency.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: From bad to worse. Maybe better to write after.

Devotee: ___________ Mahārāja first.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________ diplomacy. I’m talking straight. He says no, with some diplomacy.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: After some time.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________________ [?] We pananju jñānam kevalanam visa vadanam upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ prakopāya na śāntaye [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 4.25.9, purport] [It is said in Hitopadeśa, upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ prakopāya na śāntaye. If good instructions are given to a foolish person, he does not take advantage of them, but becomes more and more angry.] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.8.11, purport]

[Devakī knew very well that because the killing of her many children had been ordained by destiny, Kaṁsa was not to be blamed. There was no need to give good instructions to Kaṁsa. Upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ prakopāya na śāntaye (Cāṇakya Paṇḍita). If a foolish person is given good instructions, he becomes more and more angry. Moreover, a cruel person is more dangerous than a snake. A snake and a cruel person are both cruel, but a cruel person is more dangerous because although a snake can be charmed by mantras or subdued by herbs, a cruel person cannot be subdued by any means. Such was the nature of Kaṁsa.] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.4.5, purport]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Right.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: You know this śloka.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You know?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Prakopāya na śāntaye.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You think that this will be the case?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, a definite case of upadeśo hi mūrkhāṇāṁ.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________ [?]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But whatever Your Divine Grace’s will is we are surrendered to that.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Order supplier.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: To go to heaven or hell.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ___________________ [?]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Na kutasya na vidyati [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ___________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Acyutānanda ____________________________ [?]

brahmāṇḍa brhamite kona bhāgyavān jīva, [guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja]

[“Wandering throughout the material universe, the very fortunate living entity who receives the grace of Guru and Kṛṣṇa receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.151]

It is acquired by wandering throughout the length and breadth of this wide world. Anyone can acquire that sukṛti, by the help of which, we can catch what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how it is universal, how it is attracting, how it is charming, how it is our own: all these things.

Karun nai vilasay na vidya na caru purosam ___________________ [?]

nāhaṁ vedair na tapasā, na dānena na cejyayā

śakya evaṁ-vidho draṣṭuṁ, dṛṣṭavān asi yan mama

bhaktyā tv ananyayā śakya, aham evaṁ-vidho 'rjjuna

jñātuṁ draśṭuṁ ca tattvena, praveṣṭuṁ ca parantapa

[“Neither by study of the Vedas, nor by austerity, charity, or sacrifice, can anyone behold My humanlike form of Supreme Absolute Truth (Parabrahman) which you are now seeing before you.”] [“O Arjuna, conqueror of the enemy, although in this form of Mine I am practically impossible to be seen by all other methods, the pure devotees, by their exclusive devotion unto Me, are capable of actually knowing Me, seeing Me, and entering into My divine pastimes.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 11.53-4]

bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ śraddhayātmā priyaḥ satām

[bhaktiḥ punāti man-niṣṭhā śvapākān api sambhavāt]

[“I, who am dear to the sādhus, can be reached only by devotion born of unalloyed faith. Even a dog-flesh-eating outcaste who dedicates himself to exclusive devotion for Me is delivered from the influence of the wretched circumstances of his birth.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.14.21]

nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo, na medhayā na bahunā śrutena

[yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas, tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛnute tanūṁ svām]

[“One cannot understand the substance of the Paramātmā, the Super-soul residing within everyone's heart, by means of expertise in logic, intelligence or learning. When the living entity begs the Lord for His mercy, being desirous of His transcendental loving service, then the Supreme Lord reveals His self-manifest form directly before him.”] [Kathopaniṣad, 1.2.23] & [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, 2.3.2]

These are no qualifications, but _____________________________________________ [?] So that is another classification. That is progress in the nirguṇa plane. So progress in the plane of this saguṇa world, good bad, the relative position in the consideration of māyā: that has got no value in ones progress towards Kṛṣṇa prema. That is a separate plane. ___________________ [?]

One ṛṣi, Uttanka, he came to throw curse on Kṛṣṇa. “Kṛṣṇa, You are the cause of the whole dreadful pain that was created by this Kurukṣetra battle. So many widows, so many orphans, and so many mothers, fathers are crying. They have lost their son, their father, their child, all these things: a horrible lamentation in a general way.” _______________________________ [?]

Devotee: Broken.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “Breaking the sky, so I, You are responsible for all these troubles. I want to curse you.”

Kṛṣṇa smilingly told, “You brāhmaṇa, by great pain and misery and suffering you have accumulated some good puṇyam, good merit. But I’m standing on nirguṇa bhūmika. You will lose the whole of your merit if you come to curse Me. I will remain untouched, unharmed. This will be the result. Don’t do so. Then after great pain you have acquired some sort of merit, but that will vanish, you’ll be nowhere. But that will not be able to produce any effect in Me. I’m taking My stand in the nirguṇa bhūmika, nirguṇa and saguṇa. I am absolute position in the absolute plane. I’m following the absolute wave of the whole universe. And your partial, provincial, local origin, wave, that will be crushed when it will come in to face the wave, and that is irresistible, moving in the absolute plane with absolute force, for the nirguṇa plane, that irresistible.”

And what amount of force that is coming it will, going to the whole of the universe with how much strength that wave moves. And locally created and locally finished, otherwise provincialism. So however greater, no provincial energy can stand if it comes into clash with the absolute movement that are working here in the universe. That may be fine, but that is the most powerful, nirguṇa. Nirguṇa means nirbhadi. Guṇa not a positive, guṇa means negative, prakṛti guṇa is a negative, this māyā, the negative aspect of the world. And it has got three guṇas, satya, raja, tama. The lowest, then the middle, and the highest, but the whole thing is erroneous, miscalculated, māyā, mā yā, it is false.

There is a story of three thieves. One thief robbed a man and wanted to kill him. The second thief, “No, no, don’t. You have robbed all right, no necessity of killing him.” So that is little better, the thief. Then the third thief, “Oh, he’ll not be able to get out of this dense forest. Come along with me, I shall show you the path towards the village or town.” He took him and, “Oh, this is the path, you go.” But they’re all thieves, but little difference between them. The tama guṇa the worst, want to rob and to kill. The raja guṇa opposes to kill but robbing. And the satya guṇa he’s also taking share in the robbing wealth, but he’s taking him towards, “Go safely this side.” But they’re all thieves, that satya, raja, tama, all thieves, all misconception, but difference between them very little. And nirguṇa is positive, is truth: so good or bad calculation from the provincial world standpoint cannot stand before the absolute calculation. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Ke?

Devotee: _____________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh! _______________________ [?]

Devotee: _____________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh! _______________________ [?]

Devotee: _____________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh! _______________________ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa. _____ [?] bhagavan ananta tam nirvito niyatato bhajeta samsata heto paramasya yatra [?] The basic explanation! Evam sat citte sata eva sidho [?] Within one’s one heart the self effulgent truth comes from perception. Sat citte sata eva sidho [?] Not to be borrowed from anywhere else, but it is within. And by its own light it is seen, just as Sun is seen by his own light. Whether the Sun is existent that’s not to be proved by any other light. Sun is always proving his existence, self evident. Sat citte sata eva sidho [?] Ātmā, Paramātmā, the cetan, the light, light like substance, ātmā. That can be shown, that can be seen by his radiance. His existence not to be proved by any material evidence. Sata siddya praman, sat citte sata eva siddha [?] Within you, and it will show, the ātmā will show itself, or himself, by his own light you’ll be able to see him, just like the Sun. Sat citte sata eva siddha [?] Not outside but within, and not by the help of any other light or any other proof, but he’s his own proof. This is the nature of the substance, the soul. Soul is such substance. Sat citte sata eva siddho [?] Ātmā, and what is his nature, how he will emit his acquaintance with you? From within him, ātmā priyā, your favourite, your loving substance, that will come from there, not outside. It will, just like light, there is your affection, that will also come, emanate from that and touch you, your heart, and you will be able to feel ātmā priyā. Artha, artha means that is the object of your search, artha...

End of 82.02.01.A

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Start of 82.02.01.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: …then, that ātmā, that Paramātmā, as a whole. Bhagavān means bhajanīya-guṇa-viśiṣṭha, He’ll attract your regard, your affectionate service. By His own nature He will attract, He will prove to you that, “I’m your Master, I’m your Guardian, I’m your friend.” This qualification in Him: not only light, but that personal affection is there. Bhagavān bhajanīya-guṇa-viśiṣṭha. Such qualifications He possess that He can attract your reverence, your heart’s affection, love divine, bhagavān ananto.

Evam sajite sata eva sidho ātmā priyato bhagavan ananta tam nevito niyatata bhajeta [?]

And now your duty will be to give, to take leave from all other prospects and proposals of life, nevito niyatata, and with regular attempt to approach towards them, towards Him.

niyatata bhajeta samsara heto paramastata [?]

And your charm, attraction, bondage, and your hankering for this, what is non-Bhagavān, this world, that will disappear in no time, this also.

Evam sajite sata eva sidho ātmā priyato bhagavan ananta

tam nevito niyatata bhajeta samsara heto paramastata [?]

It is not hearsay. Only try and you will have the whole evidence and everything within you. And such experience you’ll have that you will stand again guarantee to make it known to others. And you will ask others, “Try, verify; only what I say here, and do and you’ll see.”

“Veni vidi vici.” Julius Caesar. “I wandered and I conquered, I saw and I conquered.” The Julius Caesar, he was such a great general and his conquests of different directions was so easy that he told...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: “I came, I saw...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Parvat Mahārāja: “Veni vidi vici.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “Veni vidi vici.” So you come, and what I say, listen to, do it and you’ll find. But the attempt must be sincere and thorough, not haphazard and hesitating.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Hari Charan_______________________ [?]

Devotee: ___________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. ________________________ [?]

...

[04:30 – 06:00 [?]

Devotee: Back home to Godhead.

Devotee: Sound vibration.

Devotee: _________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________________ [?]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: What was that? Mahārāja, what did you say about the mosquitoes?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is it?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: You spoke something about mosquito.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They mentioned the name of mosquito and Hari Charan has collected many mosquito ___ Calcutta, mosquito carton.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Net.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So I asked him, “The mosquito class, are they informed that you have collected so many mosquito cartons? Have they got any clue?”

Devotees: [Group laughter] _________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________________________________ [?]

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: __________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________________________ [?]

End of 82.02.01.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.03.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...then, after thousands of lives I shall come. I shall get. I shall get, and thousands past in a moment.

Mahāprabhu told, “Take him. What was thousands of lives after he will meet Me, but by his dint of devotion let thousand lives that is vanished. And only in one second the thousand life’s time vanished in one second. He has got such power within him. Take him now, just now.”

And also the gopīs told, though one brahmaratri was made to enter into this ordinary night, rasa līlā night, but the gopīs thought, “Only my winkling, winkling of an eye the night passed away, such a happy night passed within a winkling of an eye.”

But we are told, Śukadeva Goswāmī says,

sahasra-yuga-paryantam, ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ

rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ, [te 'ho-rātra-vido janāḥ]

[“A day of Lord Brahmā lasts for one thousand caturyugas* and his night is of the same duration. Persons who know this have the true conception of day and night.”]

[Bhagavad-gītā, 8.17] [*One yuga (age) in the time calculation of the demigods = the four yugas or one caturyuga in the time calculation of mankind, or 4.320.000 years.]

General Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, Kali, this is one yuga, and such thousand yugas, that is the measure of the night of Brahmā. And that Brahmā night at that time was entered by the will of the Supreme. But still they told that within a winkling of an eye the night passed away, we remain not satisfied. This is also possible by the Absolute will. The necessary law: that also is changed. What the scientists can never think of, that how within a small span of time a big span of time can be entered. A small space can be contracted and space can be expanded. Time also can be contracted and expanded. This is beyond the brain of the scientists, but it is possible by the Supreme will. We are told like that. And there are many instances that the space also contracts and expands. So time also contracts and expands. This is all consciousness.

So the causal calculation goes towards consciousness, not depending on the matter which is floating on consciousness, like iceberg in the ocean. That is the Vedic conception. Vedic conception and that in a negligible part of consciousness the world consciousness is floating. We are to explain with this fundamental theory everything: consciousness is all in all. His will. “Let there be water.” There was water. “Let there be earth, fire.” There was fire, light. The causal nature is such.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Then only exclusive devotion to Him, that will have the principal necessity and urgency, and our prospect lies there. Our faith is designed and determined there, best thing there. He’s all powerful, and all conscious, all powerful and at the same time all charming. So no objection can be filed against Him. Suhṛdaṁ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ.

[bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, sarva-loka-maheśvaram

suhṛdaṁ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ, jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati]

[“I am the enjoyer of the results of sacrifice performed by the fruit-hunter, as well as the results of austerity performed by the liberation-seeker - I am their only worshippable object; I am Nārāyaṇa, the indwelling monitor of all planes of life, and the Supreme Worshippable Personality who awards liberation. And I am the well-wisher of all - I am Kṛṣṇa, the devotee’s most adorable friend. The soul who thus knows My true identity attains the ecstasy of knowing his own original divine identity.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 5.29]

“I’m really friendly to all. If you understand that you’ll find peace in your life. You’re not in the land of enemy. Really, you’re in the land of your intimate, heartiest friend.”

Such consciousness in the background. Be optimistic to the utmost. Optimistic to the utmost: no place of pessimism. That is very negligible. That is only confined in the area of māyā, and very meagre position. The whole, jīva soul, is place of optimism. Yes. Oṁ means yes, a big yes, covering all questions. Oṁ means yes. Yes means whatever you are searching, that is existing. That is, whatever, everyone you are in searching and this is – all the searches combined, it will come to mean that happiness. Happiness, ecstasy, after all that one thing. Hankering may be of different type, but the common thing is happiness. And the Veda, the revealed truth says in one word, “Yes, what you’re searching that does exist. Don’t be disheartened, be hopeful.” That is the first general answer to all the questions of the world. And then comes details and coming in different instalments, in different stages by instalments. And so much so it’s going that you are surrendering and He’s also surrendering to you, so much so. If you’re infinitesimal you can surrender your whole. If it is possible you’ll find the Absolute is surrendering to you: such is also possible. Such is also possible. Such hope, such great prospect we may have. Infinitesimal, he can conquer the Infinite, only through surrendering in a proper channel. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

ahaṁ bhakta-parārdhīno, hy asvatantra iva dvija

sādhubhir grasta-hṛdayo, bhaktair bhakta-jana-priyaḥ

[The Lord tells Durvāsā: “I am the slave of My devotees; I have no freedom apart from their will. Because they are completely pure and devoted to Me, My heart is controlled by them, and I reside always in their hearts. I am dependent not only on My devotees, but even on the servants of My devotees. Even the servants of My devotees are dear to Me.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 9.4.63]

“It is My pleasure to become subservient to My servants, to My devotees. Voluntarily I feel pleasure to become servitor, useful to My own servants. This is My nature.”

So bhakti is the most wonderful thing that is the basis of surrendering. So bhakti has been praised in the scriptures like anything. Śrī-kṛṣṇākarṣiṇī ca sā. She’s possible to attract the Absolute to the finite. Such is the peculiar force of bhakti. Wherever the Absolute, wherever the power, He’s submitting to the affection. There is the astonishing presence of devotion will come.

So once, we heard from Parvat Mahārāja, one devotee, he asked Prabhupāda, when Rādhārāṇī, after leaving the rasa, She’s going away, She could not tolerate the equal treatment of all. Then no special characteristic in the treatment of Kṛṣṇa in the rasa, then She was dissatisfied and suddenly disappeared from that arena. And when Kṛṣṇa came to find suddenly that Rādhārāṇī’s not here, then He also disappeared from that assembly and went to search among His queens. Then at last He found Her.

And going to some other place, Rādhārāṇī told that, “I can’t walk any more. If You want to take Me further You are to carry Me.”

Then Kṛṣṇa suddenly disappeared.

Then Parvat Mahārāja is asking to our Guru Mahārāja, “Why Kṛṣṇa disappeared at that time? He did not fulfil the purpose of Rādhārāṇī?”

It was intolerable for the time being to our Guru Mahārāja. “What is devotional presence here?” He expressed his virakti, little enraged. “No bhakti is present here, no devotional...?” He wanted to avoid. That Kṛṣṇa is avoiding Rādhārāṇī, the group of Rādhārāṇī they’re not prepared to tolerate, not to hear even such news, “That our Mistress has been defeated or discouraged or insulted,” they won’t like and they can’t tolerate such idea. Then I heard from him that Guru Mahārāja avoided to answer the point.

I searched what Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has given in answer in his commentary. Then I found Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has written that, “Kṛṣṇa wanted to enjoy the situation. If suddenly He disappears then what will be the position of Śrī Rādhikā? He wanted, He was curious to experience that fact, that event, “That what, that how She will stand. That sort of thing Kṛṣṇa wanted to enjoy, so for the time being He did like that. Then again coming to Yamunā He may be there.” So bhakti is there where the surrender gets the free hand, better hand...

Devotees: Upper hand.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Upper hand, surrender, the devotees get the upper hand. There we can find the presence of intense bhakti, devotion. Devotion’s very nature is such that, krta hari prema bhajan. Hari, the Absolute, He’s overpowered by heart and makes Him to, as if to serve His devotees. There is bhakti. Bhakti’s presence is intense there only. This is bhakti, where the power, such as you may conceive. A great General comes home and his infant boy taking him by a finger and drawing towards some direction and he’s going. The power is following affection. He’s defeated near affection. That is devotion. There devotion means that, where power has no power. Power becomes powerless. That charming substance is devotion, dedication, surrender. It is so powerful. So the land, the plane of surrendering where power is useless, rather power is servant to that place. The land of service is so high, so noble, so elevated. By surrender we can attain such a high plane where power has got no power. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. The knowledge, the power, everything: the power may be represented by energy, and even knowledge, calculation, high, low, all vanishes when Love Divine comes. So that plane is such, and the acme, the full conception in mādhurya rasa, and then that is also gradation. It is vanishing in Śrī Rādhikā’s Holy Feet.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

yadi gaura nā hoita, tabe ki hoita, kemone dharitām de

[rādhāra mahimā, prema-rasa-sīmā jagate jānāta ke

madhura vṛndā vipina mādhurī praveśa cāturī sāra

baraja yuvatī bhāvera bhakati śakati hoita kāra]

Vāsudeva Gosh is saying that, “Gaurāṅga came with Him such things of the highest wave has come down. If He did not come how could we live? There is such a thing and I cannot have taste of that. That living is no living, a cipher. There is such a high thing and I’m detached from that. What’s the meaning of such life? But I’ve got that clue. Now I find life is something, life is worth living because there’s such end of our fortune, fate; our life has become enlivened for that prospect. It is there whether I get or may not get, but still that is there. So much degree of fulfilment of a life is possible I can live. I want to live.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Swāmī Mahārāja has taken the news of such prospect through all the wide world. How fortunate he is he has done such a great service to humanity. And it was in another plane, he has done in the plane of our calculation, and it was prepared in the subtle plane and pushed with energy by Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura. His will power gave him such a great push and externally that is taken to the length and breadth of the world.

Mahāprabhu Gaurāṅga Sundara. Gaurāṅga sundara badar nitya nira nama bhir [?]

He’s singing His own Name and dancing madly. Gaurāṅga is dancing in His own wonderful mood, taking His Own Name and dancing. And that wave is being distributed to all around, all over the whole creation, that wave. Gaurāṅga nagara badar nitya nira nama bhir [?] That is a peculiar type of movement in this world.

Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Sundara.

Who are at present in Māyāpur – both?

Devotee: Jayapataka and...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jayapataka Mahārāja and...

Devotee: Bhāvānanda Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhāvānanda Mahārāja. They’re all doing well there?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No other sannyāsīns?

Devotee: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Or Ācārya or...

Devotee: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: GBC present there?

Devotee: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Only those two? Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Bhāvānanda is leaving today.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: For?

Devotee: Vṛndāvana.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vṛndāvana. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa nāma-kīrtanaṁ

rāma-rāma-gāna-ramya-divya-chanda-nartanam

yatra-tatra-kṛṣṇa-nāma-dāna-loka-niṣtaraṁ

prema-dhāma-devam eva naumi gaura-sundaram

[“The Lord travelled to the holy places of pilgrimage in South India with the clever underlying compassionate intention of delivering the fallen souls. Appearing as a beautiful young renunciate He distributed the sweet transcendental Names of the Supreme Lord, singing Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa he...as He strolled down the different pathways, entered temples and visited homesteads. During His sacred pilgrimage sometimes the Lord would be carried away by some indescribable, ineffable, divine exaltation and would sing “Rāma Rāma” and dance gracefully with most charming gestures and rhythms. Regardless of any time, place, circumstance, or personal qualification, He magnanimously delivered all those in South India who came in contact with Him by inspiring them to chant Kṛṣṇa’s Holy Names with pure devotion. I sing with joy the unending glories of my golden Lord Gaurasundara, the beautiful divine abode of pure love.”] [Premadhāma-deva-stotram, 22]

When He was going to the South in preaching tour Mahāprabhu in this posture,

kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa he

kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa he

rāma rāghava rāma rāghava rāma rāghava rakṣa mām

kṛṣṇa keśava kṛṣṇa keśava kṛṣṇa keśava pāhi mām

[Within the purport of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 8.26]

In this way in dancing posture He’s progressing towards the South. Beautiful tall figure and He’s chanting and tears running down, and tears at the same time dancing. Apparently two opposite things, tears running down, and dancing with His hands up, He was always walking: a peculiar type. What is it? What is this? So much sweetness is there, but we’re devoid of it.

Devotee: This is coming from your Prapanna-jīvanāmṛtam Mahārāja?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Where He’s going, Prapanna-jīvanāmṛtam. Where He’s going towards Godāvarī, when He’s going to Rāya Rāmānanda in that posture He’s found. A peculiar conquering type. His conquering fashion is that, that dancing, hands up, and crying with tears coming down. “We are so unhappy, but there is happiness. Take the Name. You will be in a position to attain that great thing more.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

vañcito 'smi vañcito 'smi, vañcito 'smi na saṁśayaḥ

viśvaṁ gaura-rase magnaṁ, sparśo 'pi mama nābhavat

[Śrīla Prabodhānanda Saraswatī says: “Deceived, deceived, no doubt, deceived I am! The whole universe became flooded with love of Śrī Gaurāñga, but alas, my fate was not to get even the slightest touch of it.”] [Caitanya-candrāmṛta, 46]

Prabodhānandapāda says, “Surely I’m deceived, I’m cheated. I’m deceived, I’m deceived, I’m deceived, no doubt. The whole world merged in Divine Ecstasy and the only exception is mine. Vañcito 'smi, vañcito 'smi, vañcito 'smi, no doubt the whole world I see they’re merging in the wonderful Divine Ecstasy of joy, only with the exception of me.”

That is a type, that whole is inundated, the environment is inundated with Divine Blissfulness and I am only the exception. Such is the peculiarity in feeling of that thing. That is the peculiar symptom of surrendering. If I have got, then that is a difficult position. Only from the indirect side one may see that he might have got.

But, the capitalist, as much as they can amass money, so much they think: ‘No, no, how much little maybe it will finish in one wave.’

Only the direction is changed, hankering, finite wants to become Infinite, he’s looking after Infinite. And Infinite enters into his heart, then inspires him to come closer to Him. And seeing the Infinite characteristic he finds in himself that, ‘I’m in want. I’m in want.’ The reaction in that way! Finites starting towards Infinite brings such reaction in finite: ‘I’m in want, so much to attain. I have nothing, no progress. No real progress I can make, so dissatisfaction,’ so vipralambha, in want. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is normal position. So hankering of embracing the Infinite, that is the measuring unit, how much hankering for the Infinite, not that how much Infinite is attained by me, but by the hankering for the Infinite in the finite. That is the measurement of his attainment. So Mahāprabhu Himself says:

na prema-gandho 'sti [darāpi me harau, krandāmi saubhāgya-bharaṁ prakāśitum

vaṁśī-vilāsy-ānana-lokanaṁ vinā, vibharmmi yat prāṇa-pataṅgakān vṛthā]

[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said: “My dear friends, I have not the slightest tinge of love of Godhead within My heart. When you see Me crying in separation, I am just falsely exhibiting a demonstration of My great fortune. Indeed, not seeing the beautiful face of Kṛṣṇa playing His flute, I continue to live My life like an insect, without purpose.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 2.45]

“What to speak of prema proper, even only infinitesimal point of scent of real devotion I have got, what to speak of getting proper, love proper. Even the remotest scent, a point of scent of the Divine Love has not come in Me. I don’t trace in Me.” He Himself says like that.

These are big words, big meanings of big expressions: too big, too big to deal. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. But anyhow we are to justify pure reason somewhat, while swimming in the ocean: reason’s satisfaction. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Can’t get, can’t leave. I’m not getting anything. Then leave. No, no, I can’t. Don’t say so. Then you’re caught red handed. Why can’t you leave?

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So Pramāṇa Swāmī Mahārāja, how many with you?

Pramāṇa Swāmī: Nine.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nine. Where to accommodate them there?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: You’ll be staying here?

Pramāṇa Swāmī: They’re staying in Candrodaya Mandir still.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Managing in Māyāpur.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They’re all in Māyāpur? And you have come alone or with one or two?

Pramāṇa Swāmī: They’re with me now. We’re all together now Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh! All have come here.

Pramāṇa Swāmī: Yes.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Staying is managed there, their living is managed there. Staying is managed in Māyāpur, residing.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So you’ll go back?

Pramāṇa Swāmī: Yes. We’ll come tomorrow morning.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You’ll come tomorrow morning?

Pramāṇa Swāmī: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: With all of them?

Pramāṇa Swāmī: All together, yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura. Will they allow you to come here?

Pramāṇa Swāmī: Yes. No compromise.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No compromise.

Pramāṇa Swāmī: No. They are, they feel uneasy.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, by your presence there?

Pramāṇa Swāmī: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then?

Pramāṇa Swāmī: They’re feeling some uneasiness because we’re coming here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course, cannot but, it is quite natural. They should not be blamed for that. After all you are all in connection of Swāmī Mahārāja, so it must be painful for them, if you show slackness in your friendship. Is it not?

Pramāṇa Swāmī: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But still they cannot quench your thirst; that’s the difficulty. The purpose for which you have joined the holy feet of Swāmī Mahārāja, that aspiration, that hunger, earnestness, that must have some food. That is the real thing. We have come out for that. We have left the circumstances where we were born and out in quest for something, and wherever that is located we must be slave to that circumstance, if we’re to be sincere to our inner quest. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Quite natural, and this is also natural, that question of stages, question of different stages in our development and realisation.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

They’re apathetic to me, thinking that I’m not their well-wisher, because we’re not following, pursuing their resolution, of the GBC. Ha, ha. What I got from my Guru Mahārāja GBC cannot show anything more than that to me. I don’t think like that: that is my point. I must be sincere to my own self, the understanding of my Gurudeva, cannot betray my own creed. But I’m friendly to them. They may overlook it. Because I love Swāmī Mahārāja and this is his creation, ostentatiously.

The desired end of my Guru Mahārāja, primary, how he was earnest for preaching in the foreign land. He requested me also, and also I found his earnestness to preach, to take Mahāprabhu to the wide world. That I saw, I felt. I was chastised. Ha, ha.

He was so generous in his practices he felt to invite people to the Maṭha, even the non-vegetarians will be accommodated within the Maṭha and the arrangement should be made with the nearest hostel to supply a non-vegetarian diet to them.

I, a mild protest: Then there will be a blame on the Mission.

“Thousand lives ago I have finished that decision what you told today.” That was the reaction. “Thousands of births ago I had come to this conclusion. For the service of Mahāprabhu we must be of vaikuṇṭha-vṛtti.” That was his word, vaikuṇṭha-vṛtti.

And the feeling sensation passed through my body, in Bombay, in a hired two story building, the first floor, just near the sea shore, he told me in an exited mood.

“Thousands of lives before I decided and I came to this conclusion, everything we shall do for the service of Mahāprabhu. No stone unturned.”

Vigorously came forth. I was astounded feeling such vigorous will, impression, and that took figure in the activity of Swāmī Mahārāja. First party Bon Mahārāja, second party Goswāmī Mahārāja. Then the chance, Swāmī Mahārāja he took the fame after long time, and anyhow with his grace came all empty handed, fully dependent on Him, and that was the key to his success. He had to come down to help him, and he did wonderful, astounding results he showed. So I see as a resultant of that feeling of my Guru Mahārāja what I saw in nineteen thirty three or four...

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.02.03.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.03.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________ [?] Once I saw his face when he was delivering some introductory lectures for the Harmonist to the Editor, Professor Sanyal. I saw, I felt, the face, just like _____________ [?] a class of lotus, white and red, and with a very big size, and of circular type. He’s talking, inspired, and movement of his blood circulation is such a way that sometimes here a little reddish, here a little whitish. In this way just like petals of flower I found in his face. I experienced just like a ________ [?] a type of lotus, I found his face once in Calcutta. Wholly given to devotional path and Mahāprabhu. Besides that he had no existence at all. That incarnate, his preaching and work Mahāprabhu incarnate. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Swāmī Mahārāja told me, “That in your presence,” that is in my presence, Prabhupāda told him, “You’ll also have to be ready, you’ll have to go to the West.” Before me, but I faintly remember when he told me, “That in your presence Guru Mahārāja told.” Then I’m trying to recollect and faintly can recollect it might have been said before me. Because it was his general way, “You go to the West for preaching the doctrine of Mahāprabhu.” So common thing at that time, that was in Bombay.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

From the outcome of that wave you all have come, as concrete, what was from subtle, that has come to take shape in material world, attracted so many of you to the great pilgrimage. So many pilgrims on pilgrimage towards Gaura Dhāma, Kṛṣṇa Dhāma, Navadwīpa and Vṛndāvana, all pilgrims gathered.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ, jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

ānukūlyena-kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

[“One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favourably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, 1.1.11] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19-167] & [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.21.11, purport]

Kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ, the cultivation of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa culture. Eh?

Devotee: _____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _____________________ [?] How the progress in the building?

Parvat Mahārāja: Oh, it’s big, almost to the ceiling of the first floor, the wall is almost to the ceiling of the first floor.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The beams just above the doors and the windows...

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes, one beam all around, yes. Yesterday...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then some wall...

Parvat Mahārāja: A little wall, yes, two and a half, two feet more.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Two feet more?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Seven, eight, seven feet up to door, then eight, nine, ten, even four feet perhaps.

Parvat Mahārāja: Ten, ten and a half, then the beam is almost one foot, about one brick and a half.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. To be completed within three weeks?

Parvat Mahārāja: Five days before – Mr. Dina [?] said five days before Gaura Pūrṇimā will be ready with doors closing.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha. All right, let us see, let us hope. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Parvat Mahārāja: Can house many devotees.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, very good. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Those days gone by when during parikramā just in the front singing and dancing and guidance, and gave guidance.

Parvat Mahārāja: You’re still guiding.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I was mad. I became almost mad to sing and dance in the Name of Gaurāṅga, and without any _______ [?] almost, and those days gone by. Now to go down I have to...

Parvat Mahārāja: We can get a palanquin, you can come down with us.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. I’m pleased to think that so many of you will dance in Gaura-maṇḍala taking the Name. That is more proud, we feel more proud to think that so many adding to the resourcefulness of Gaura Dhāma, as was foretold by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. “The day is not far off when the friends, the devotees of the West, they will mix with the Eastern, and they will chant and dance with the Name of Śrī Gaurāṅga,” as foretold by him.

He gave a lecture in the City College and at that time one great scholar of theosophy and Vedānta also, Hiran Datta, he came one day to preside over a meeting in Bagh Bazaar Maṭh. He told, “When we were young student of City College Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda he gave a lecture there, and he mentioned that the days are not far off when the Western devotees will also come here, and along with the Eastern sing jointly the Name of Gaura Nityānanda.” He told, “I’m pleased to see the beginning.”

At that time that [Herr] Schulze and Baron and one _______ [?] gentleman came here, and he was requested to preside over a welcoming meeting. Perhaps there he told, “I heard as a student from the lips of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. I’m a witness, and I’m pleased to see the beginning of that,” he told. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

But we’ve not seen Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, we’ve read. He passed nineteen fourteen, August, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura passed away. I joined twenty six. And first great war began that year Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura passed away, nineteen fourteen.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

And the next year Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja passed away. And Prabhupāda thought himself helpless, as we have heard from him, from his lips. “I felt myself devoid of guardian. The burden came to me. What to do? Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura wanted that, “You must take the charge of the activity I began, about the service of Mahāprabhu.”

But he said that he himself was of another type, and secluded type. He wanted to speak about Mahāprabhu but his temperament was not to invite the people and to take the responsibility of looking after them, for their accommodation, for their feeding. That sort of activity he was not – the temperament was not such.

So when Kuñja Bābu joined he took that side, and Prabhupāda, he got ready the educated society to hear his talk, his speech about Mahāprabhu. Little philosophical, his style was philosophical, so he preferred educated society as the listeners. Kuñja Bābu he did that side, he took the trouble of inviting and accommodating and feeding. Such trouble was, the burden was taken generally by Kuñja Bābu.

And Prabhupāda he told once in Benares, I heard it with my own ear, “That my demand is only some educated listeners. That is what I want, not any gorgeous arrangement for my personal comfort. We don’t like that. Simply my demand is some educated persons to whom I can give vent to my feelings about Kṛṣṇa bhakti, Vraja-maṇḍala, Vṛndāvana bhakti, and Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda, all these things. I’m very eager to give them, to make them out, to distribute so sweet, so great, so divine, so noble, the idea I’ve got. I want to distribute that to the public. That is only my hankering, nothing else.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. ___________________________ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Any question?

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. _____________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ____________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________________________________ [?]

...

All the disturbing elements disappear. When He’s favourable, the circumstance cannot but be favourable, the central arrangement. Nitāi. So we’re to take up everything as His grace.

tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo, [bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam

hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidhadhan namas te, jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya bhāk]

[Lord Brahmā said: “One who, in the hope of achieving Your grace, goes on enduring the inauspicious fruit of his own karma, and passes his days practising devotion unto You in every thought, word, and deed - such a person is heir to the land of freedom: he attains to the plane of positive immortality.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8]

That is the key to success, the wholesale success, the key to wholesale success, tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo, bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ. Not to oppose anything in the circumstance, but to try our earnest to see it favourable as much as possible, that it cannot but be favourable. This is the necessity at this stage of my life. Whatever seems to apparently apathetic we are to search with a searching look, ‘no, this is the necessity at this moment for my progress, because it is passed by the hand from the ultimate guardian. Nothing can miss His attention. Then the enemy will lose its venom ___________________ [?] a divine connection. The enemy, the sting of enemy will be rubbed, will be modified, having the Absolute connection. The key to success recommended by Prahlāda Mahārāja.

“Try to read your environment with a friendly optimistic approach. Approach the unfavourable circumstance with optimistic and friendly search, and you’ll find ultimately that it is your friend. He’s your friend, because he’s got connection Him who is a friendly guardian to you, passing through His attentive and favourable sight. You try to find the whole in every point, the optimistic whole in every point. Then if the adverse circumstance that you think surrounding you that will vanish, that can’t but vanish.”

īśvaraḥ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ, hṛd-deśe ‘rjjuna tiṣṭhati

[bhrāmayan sarvva-bhūtāni, yantrārūḍhāni māyayā]

[“O Arjuna, I am situated in the hearts of all souls as the Supersoul, the Lord and Master of all souls. For every endeavour of the living beings in this world, the Lord (My plenary expansion, the Supersoul) awards an appropriate result. As an object mounted on a wheel is caused to revolve, the living beings are caused to revolve in the universe by the almighty power of the Lord. Incited by Him, your destiny will naturally be effected according to your endeavours.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.61]

Because He’s the wire-puller of everyone, the key is in His hand, to the minutest circumstance, point of circumstance. All is in His close attention and He’s the key holder. We’re facing Him and not an independent entity. You’re to tackle every event like that. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. That is the key of success to one’s life if one can follow this attitude as ideal. Gaura Haribol.

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate]

na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

No sincere good soul can meet ever any adverse circumstances, na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, so kalyāṇa maṅgalam must be in our heart, within the throne of our heart. We shall install that kalyāṇa maṅgalam, goodness itself, or Himself, you must install in your heart. The corresponding response cannot but be good. The plane of life may be such. By His grace we may live in such a plane of life. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. And what we think at present to be our own interest, if there is any mistake that will be corrected. “Oh, I wanted this but I could not detect that this is harmful to me. So by this instance I’m educated, I’m instructed that I’m to change my attitude.” That is progress in life.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

He came to change the plane of our life. “Why do you live in this plane? Come, to live in this plane, this is meant for you. Why troubling in the gross, undesirable plane? Come to My plane of love and leave it. Not only happy but a wonderful happiness of every seconds nobility, prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ.”

[ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ

śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam

ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ

sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam]

[“The Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa cleanses the mirror of the heart and extinguishes the fire of misery in the forest of birth and death. As the evening lotus blooms in the moon’s cooling rays, the heart begins to blossom in the nectar of the Name. And at last the soul awakens to its real inner treasure - a life of love with Kṛṣṇa. Again and again tasting nectar, the soul dives and surfaces in the ever-increasing ocean of ecstatic joy. All phases of the self of which we may conceive are fully satisfied and purified, and at last conquered by the all-auspicious influence of the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 1]

Every second it gives some wonderful new taste. Its characteristic is such, it never becomes stale. And at the same time it is peculiar, the fullest type of blissfulness. Not partial, it seems. The number of infinite is infinite. Any number infinite together is infinite. So at every step it is infinitely blissful, tasteful. Such is the characteristic. kahiva katha na tatha baulake [?] Not to be talked out, but still, a mad cannot but give vent to his expression. And who will come to believe that he must be of that nature of madness, insane. Insane in the sense of the sanity of this world, but real sanity is there. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ, ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ. Showing the direction, from some distance, dig darśana, only pointing out, only pointing out the nature, from far off, that it is such, it is such. Śrutibhir vimṛgyām [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.47.61], sayings in the revealed truth, they’re also: “We’re searching, we’re going this way. You come along with us,” the śruti says: “Yes, we’re also in search, and as far as we know it is in this side. Come along with us.” That is the nature of the revealed instructions. Śrutibhir vimṛgyām. They have not finished, they’re only guides on the path. Śrutibhir vimṛgyām. And the Śruti they’re also confessors in the rasa līlā, “We have failed to express You my Lord. But by Your grace what we experience we failed to distribute to the public, this Your particular noble divine character, we could not. The public should not be blamed. We failed in our duty to express so ecstatic noble characteristic of Yours.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he has given out, told us, that Gokula is more comprehensive than this Goloka. This is a peculiar expression. Gokula that we find in this perverted reflection what is called, that is Gokula, and Goloka that is in the original quarter in the causal area. But Kṛṣṇa līlā is so peculiar type, nara līlā.

kṛṣṇera yateka khelā, sarvottama nara-līlā, [nara-vapu tāhāra svarūpa

gope-veśa, veṇu-kara nava kiśora, nata-vara, nara līlāra haya anurūpa]

[“Lord Kṛṣṇa has many pastimes, of which His pastimes as a human being are the best. His form as a human being is the Supreme Transcendental Form. In this form, He is a cowherd boy. He carries a flute in His hand, and His youth is new. He is also an expert dancer. All this is just suitable for His pastimes as a human being.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 21.101]

That līlā finds its fullest play in this mundane, than in the original. This is a peculiar type of thought. It is very similar to mundane, not mundane but similar to mundane, so it flourishes so in mundane more attractively than in the original. We are to see it like that. Suppose in a town there is a drama which is representing a narration of a village life. So when it is enacted in a village it will look more beautiful. But in town, in some artificial village creation it is to be played: something like that. Here, the negative side flourish more. There, the negative side is just like picture, in Goloka. _________________________ [?]

But the negative side when it’s in connection with the positive waves utmost that is more relishable. Maybe something like that, Gokula.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi. Inconceivable, acintya bhedābheda, simultaneous distinction, and non-distinction, of the part of the whole, Mahāprabhu says, acintya, inconceivable. Mahāprabhu is very particular to keep up this expression, that inconceivable. Nothing is within your hand. All Rights Reserved there. Being conscious of the fact and then go to decide, to pass remark, or to give vent to your thoughts. All Rights Reserved there: Autocrat in every department to the minutest point. With this idea you go to describe, give description to anything and everything: All Rights Reserved. So it depends on His whim, so acintya, you cannot give any definite description of anything. With this on your head you go to deal with things. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.02.03.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.13.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: [Leading singing ? – 1:38]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Emona durmmati, saṁsāra bhitare.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja:

(1)

emona durmati, saṁsāra bhitore, poḍiyā āchinu āmi

tava nija-jana, kono mahājane, pāṭhāiyā dile tumi

(2)

doyā kori’ more, patita dekhiyā, kohilo āmāre giyā

ohe dīna-jana, śuno bhālo kathā, ullasita ha’be hiyā

(3)

tomāre tārite, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya, navadwīpe avatār

tomā heno koto, dīna hīna jane, korilena bhava-pār

(4)

vedera pratijñā, rākhibāra tare, rukma-varna vipra-suta

mahāprabhu nāme, nadīyā mātāya, saṅge bhāi avadhūta

(5)

nanda-suta jini, caitanya gosāi, nija-nāma kori’ dān

tārilo jagat, tumi-o jāiyā, loho nija-paritrān

(6)

se kathā śuniyā, āsiyāchi, nātha! tomāra caraṇa-tale

bhakativinoda, kāṅdiyā kāṅdiyā, āpana-kāhinī bole

[1) O Lord! With such a wicked mind as this I have fallen into the material world, but You have sent one of Your pure and elevated devotees to rescue me. 2) He saw me so fallen and wretched, took pity, and came to me saying, “O humbled soul, please listen to this good tiding, for it will gladden your heart. 3) Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya has appeared in the land of Navadvīpa in order to deliver you. He has safely conducted many miserable souls such as you across the sea of worldly existence. 4) To fulfil the promise of the Vedas, the son of a brāhmana, of golden complexion and bearing the name of Mahāprabhu, has descended along with His brother, the avadhūta Nityānanda. Together They have overwhelmed all of Nadīyā with divine ecstasy. 5) Śrī Caitanya Gosāi, who is Kṛṣṇa Himself, the son of Nanda, has saved the world by freely distributing the gift of His own holy name. Go to Him also and receive your deliverance.” 6) Hearing those words, O Lord, Bhaktivinoda has come weeping and weeping to the soles of Your lotus feet and tells the story of his life.] [Dainyātmikā, by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________ Kṛpā-bindu diyā, gurudeva! kṛpā-bindu diyā.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ____________________________ Nimāi.

Nimāi [?]:

(1)

gurudev!

kṛpā-bindu diyā, koro’ ei dāse, tṛṇāpekṣā ati hīna

sakala sahane, bala diyā koro’, nija-māne spṛhā-hīna

(2)

sakale sammāna, korite śakati, deho’ nātha! jathājatha

tabe to’ gāibo, hari-nāma-sukhe,, aparādha ha’be hata

(3)

kabe heno kṛpā, labhiyā e jana, kṛtārtha hoibe, nātha!

śakti-buddhi-hīna, āmi ati dīna, koro’ more ātma-sātha

(4)

yogyatā-vicāre, kichu nāhi pāi, tomāra karuṇā—sāra

karuṇā nā hoile, kāṅdiyā kāṅdiyā, prāṇa nā rākhibo āra

[1) O Gurudeva! By administering a drop of your mercy make this servant of yours infinitely more humble than a blade of grass. Giving me the strength to bear all trials and troubles, free me from desires for personal honour. 2) O lord and master! Inspire me with the power to befittingly honour all living beings. Only then will I sing the holy name of the Lord in great ecstasy, and my offensive activities will cease. 3) When will this person be indeed blessed by receiving your mercy, O lord and master? Devoid of all strength and intelligence, I am very low and fallen. Please make me your own. 4) When I examine myself for worthiness, I find nothing of value. Therefore Your mercy is the essence of life. If you are not merciful to me, then I will constantly weep and weep, no longer being able to maintain my life.]

[Gurudeva, by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sarvasva tomār, caraṇe saṁpiyā.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ____________ sarvasva tomār, caraṇe saṁpiyā __________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

(1)

sarvasva tomār, caraṇe saṁpiyā, poḍechi tomāra ghare

tumi to’ ṭhākur, tomāra kukur, boliyā jānaho more

(2)

bāṅdhiyā nikaṭe, āmāre pālibe, rohibo tomāra dwāre

pratīpa-janere, āsite nā dibo, rākhibo gaḍera pāre

(3)

tava nija-jana, prasād seviyā, ucchiṣṭa rākhibe jāhā

āmāra bhojan, parama-ānande, prati-din ha’be tāhā

(4)

bosiyā śuiyā, tomāra caraṇa, cintibo satata āmi

nācite nācite, nikaṭe jāibo, jakhona ḍākibe tumi

(5)

nijera poṣana, kabhu nā bhāvibo, rohibo bhāvera bhore

bhakativinoda, tomāre pālaka, boliyā varaṇa kore

[1) Now that I have surrendered all that I possess unto Your lotus feet, I throw myself down before Your house. You are the master of the house; kindly consider me Your own dog. 2) Chaining me nearby, You will maintain me, and I shall lie at Your doorstep. I will not allow Your enemies to enter, but will keep them outside the bounds of the surrounding moat. 3) Whatever food remnants Your devotees leave behind after honouring Your prasāda will be my daily sustenance. I will feast on those remnants in great bliss. 4) While sitting up or lying down, I will constantly meditate on Your lotus feet. Whenever You call, I will immediately run to You and dance in rapture. 5) I will never think for my own nourishment, and will remain absorbed in ever cherishing love for my Master. Bhaktivinoda now accepts You as his only maintainer.] [From Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s, Śaraṇāgati, Goptṛtve-varaṇa, 4]

____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: __________________ [?]

jayore jayore jaya, paramahaṁsa mahāśaya, śrī bhaktisiddhānta saraswatī

goswāmī ṭhākura jaya, parama karuṇāmaya, dīnahīna agatira gaṭi

nīlācale haiyā udaya, śrī gauḍamaṇḍale āsi’

prema bhakti parakāśi, jivera nāśilā bhava-bhaya

tomāra mahimā gāi, hena sādhya mora nāi, tabe pāri yadi deho śakti

viśvahite avirata, ācāra-pracāre rata, viśuddha śrī rūpānugā bhakti

jāni āmi mahāśaya, yaśovāñchā nāhi haya, vindu mātra tomāra antare

tava guṇa vīṇādhārī, mora kaṇṭha-vīṇā dhari’...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Śrī gauḍamaṇḍala bhūmi, bhakta saṅge parikrami.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Śrī gauḍamaṇḍala bhūmi, bhakta saṅge parikrami, sukītti sthāpilā mahāśaya.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kuliyāte pāyaṇḍīrā, atyācāra kaila yā’rā.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Kuliyāte pāyaṇḍīrā, atyācāra kaila yā’rā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Tā savāra doṣa kṣamā karī’, jagate kaile ghoṣaṇā, ‘taroriva sahiṣṇunā’, hana ‘kīrttanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. _________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________________________ [?] Smārttamāta jaladhara.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja:

smārttamāta jaladhara, śuddha bhakti rabi-kara, ācchādila bhāviyā antare

śāstra sindhu manthanete, susiddhānta jhañjhāvāte, uḍāilā dig digantare

sthāne sthāne kata maṭha, sthāpiyācha niṣkapaṭa, prema sevā śikhāite jīve

maṭhera vaiṣṇava gaṇa, sadā kore vitaraṇa, hari guṇa-kathāmṛta bhave

śuddha-bhakti-mandākinī, vimala pravāha āni, śītala karilā taptaprāṇa

deśe deśe niṣkiñcana, prerilā vaiṣṇava gaṇa, vistārite hariguṇa gāna

pūrvve yathā gaura hari, māyāvāda cheda kari, vaiṣṇava karilā kāśīvāsī

vaiṣṇava darśana-sukṣma, vicāre tumi he dakṣa, temati toṣilā vārāṇasī

śrī pāṭ khetari dhāma, ṭhākura śrī narottama, tomāte tāṅhāra guṇa dekhi

śāstrera siddhānta-sāra, śuni lāge camatkāra, kutā kika dite nāra phāṅki

śuddha bhakti-mata yata, upadharmma-kavalita, heriyā lokera mane trāsa

hāni’ susiddhānta-vāṇa, upadharmma khāna khāna, saj janera vāḍāle ullāsa

daivavarṇāśrama-dharmma, hari bhakti yāra marmma, śāstra yukte karilā-niścaya

jñāna-yoga-karmma caya, mulya tāra kichu naya, bhaktira virodhi yadi haya

śrī viśvavaiṣṇava-rāja, sabhāmadhye ‘pātrarāja’, upādhi-bhūṣaṇe vibhūyita

viśvera maṅgala lāgi’, haiyācha sarvva tyāgī, viśvavāśī jana-hite rata

karitecha upakāra, yāte para upakāra, labhe jīva śrī kṛṣṇa-sevāya

dūre yāya bhava-roga, khaṇḍe yāhe karma bhoga, hari pāda padma yā’te pāya

jīva moha-nidrā gata, jāgā’te vaikuṇṭha dūta, ‘gauḍīya’ pāṭhāo ghare ghare

uṭhare uṭhare bhāi, āra ta samaya nāi, ‘kṛṣṇa bhaja’ bole uccaisvare

tomāra mukhāra vinda, vigalita makaranda, siñcita acyuta-guṇagāthā

śunile juḍāya prāṇa, tamo moha antarddhāna, dūre yāya hṛdayera vyathā

jāni āmi mahāśaya, yaśovāñchā nāhi haya, vindu mātra tomāra antare

tave guṇa vīṇādhārī, mora kanṭḥa-vīṇā dhari’, avaśete valāya āmāre

vaiṣṇavera guṇa-gāna, karile jīvera trāṇa, suniyāchi sādhu guru mukhe

kṛṣṇa bhakti samudaya, janama saphala haya, e bhava-sāgara tare sukhe

te-kāraṇe prayāsa, yathā rāmanera āśa, gaganera cāṅda dhari vāre

adoṣa-daraśī tumi, adhama patita āmi, nija guṇe kṣamivā āmāre

śrī gaurāṅga-pāriṣada, ṭhākura bhaktivinoda, dīnahīna patitera bandhu

kalitamaḥ vināśite, ānilena avanīte, toma’ akalaṅka pūrṇa indu

kora kṛpā vitaraṇa, premasudhā anukṣaṇa, mātiyā uṭhuka jīva gaṇa

harināma-saṁkīrttane, nācuka jagata-jane, vaiṣṇava-dāsera nivedana

harināma-saṁkīrttane, nācuka jagata-jane,

harināma-saṁkīrttane, nācuka jagata-jane,

harināma-saṁkīrttane, nācuka jagata-jane,

Haribol, Haribol, Haribol, Haribol,

Nitai Gaura Haribol, Haribol, Haribol, Haribol,

Nitai Gaura Haribol, Haribol, Haribol, Haribol

[Ācāryya-vandanā, From Kīrttan Guide, 4th Edition, p 11-13]

[No English verse translation available here]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _____________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________ [?]

(1)

bhayabhañjana-jayaśaṁsana-karuṇāyatanayanam

kanakotpala janakojjvala-rasasāgara-cayanam

mukharīkṛta-dharaṇītala-harikīrtana-rasanam

kṣitipāvana-bhavatāraṇa-pihitāruṇa-vasanam

śubhadodaya-divase vṛṣaravijā-nija-dayitam

praṇamāmi ca caraṇāntika-paricāraka-sahitam

(2)

śaraṇāgata-bhajanavrata-cirapālana-caraṇam

sukṛtālaya-saralāśaya-sujanākhila-varaṇam

harisādhana-kṛtabādhana janaśāsana-kalanam

sacarācara-karuṇākara-nikhilāśiva-dalanam

śubhadodaya-divase vṛṣaravijā-nija-dayitam

praṇamāmi ca caraṇāntika-paricāraka-sahitam

(3)

atilaukika-gatitaulika-ratikautuka-vapuṣam

atidaivata-mativaiṣṇava-yati-vaibhava-puruṣam

sasanātana-raghurūpaka-paramāṇugacaritam

suvicāraka iva jīvaka iti sādhubhiruditam

śubhadodaya-divase vṛṣaravijā-nija-dayitam

praṇamāmi ca caraṇāntika-paricāraka-sahitam

(4)

sarasītaṭa-sukhadoṭaja-nikaṭapriyabhajanam

lalitāmukha-lalanākula-paramādarayajanam

vrajakānana-bahumānana-kamalapriyanayanam

guṇamañjari-garimā-guṇa-harivāsanavayanam

śubhadodaya-divase vṛṣaravijā-nija-dayitam

praṇamāmi ca caraṇāntika-paricāraka-sahitam

(5)

vimalotsavam amalotkala-puruṣottama-jananam

patitoddhṛti-karuṇāstṛti-kṛtanūtana-pulinam

mathurāpura-puruṣottama-samagaurapuraṭanam

harikāmaka-haridhāmaka-harināmaka-raṭanam

śubhadodaya-divase vṛṣaravijā-nija-dayitam

praṇamāmi ca caraṇāntika-paricāraka-sahitam

[1) He (of divine form) came forth from the birthplace of the golden lotus - the ocean of the mellow of divine consorthood. His large, merciful eyes dispel (the suffering souls’) fear and proclaim (the surrendered souls’) victory. His tongue (constantly) vibrates the whole Earth planet with Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana, his beauty resplendent in the robes of the Sun’s radiance (saffron) that purifies the universe and dispels the suffering of material existence. On his Holy Day of Advent, I (again and again) bow down unto that beloved associate of Śrī Vṛṣabhānunandinī, and the servitors of his lotus feet.

2) The devotees surrendered in pure devotion are eternally protected at his lotus feet. He is worshippable by the pure souls endowed with sincerity and good fortune, and he accepts (even) those who obstruct the service of Śrī Hari, just to rectify them. As the very fountainhead of mercy upon all mobile and immobile beings, he crushes the inauspiciousness of the whole universe. On his Holy Day of Advent, I (again and again) bow down unto that beloved associate of Śrī Vṛṣabhānunandinī, and the servitors of his lotus feet.

3) Like a miracle, his body moves with a joyful elegance and charm beyond the world’s understanding, fulfilling the artist’s aspiration. (Or, dancing in pastimes transcendental to the world, his artistic form incites divine love’s hankering). His intellect surpasses that of (even) the demigods, and he is nobility incarnate as the commander in-chief of the Vaiṣṇava sannyāsīs (tridaṇḍi-yatis). The sādhus of profound intellect describe the nature of his personality as meticulously in the line of Śrī Sanātana, Śrī Rūpa, and Śrī Raghunātha, and they speak of him as being on the same plane as Śrī Jīvapāda (being superbly replete in perfect theistic conclusions). On his Holy Day of Advent, I (again and again) bow down unto that beloved associate of Śrī Vṛṣabhānunandinī, and the servitors of his lotus feet.

4) On the bank of Śrī Rādhā Kuṇḍa at Svānanda Sukhada Kuñja, he is devoted to the service of his Beloved, and (furthermore) he is greatly endeared to the divine damsels of Vraja headed by Lalitā. He is most favourite to Kamala Mañjarī who is pre-eminent in Vṛndāvana, and with the glorious qualities of Guṇa Mañjarī he builds the residence of Śrī Hari. On his Holy Day of Advent, I (again and again) bow down unto that beloved associate of Sri Vṛṣabhānunandinī, and the servitors of his lotus feet.

5. He is immaculate joy incarnate, or, he is the graciousness or the joy of Vimalā Devī. He manifested the pastimes of his Advent at Puruṣottama Kṣetra in the holy land of Orissa, and he revealed his pastimes of delivering the fallen souls and extending his mercy upon them (by awarding them the gift of divine love) at the ‘new isles,’ or Navadvīpa. Circumambulating Gaura Dhāma in the same way as traditionally done at Vraja Dhāma and Puruṣottama Dhāma, he continuously propagates - the loving desire of Vraja, the divine abode of Vaikuṇṭha, and the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. On his Day of Holy Advent, I (again and again) make my obeisance unto that dear associate of Śrī Vṛṣabhānunandinī, and the servitors of his holy lotus feet.] [Śrī-Dayita-dāsa-praṇati-pañcakam, Homage unto Śrī Dayita Dāsa]

[Śrī Śrī Prapanna-jīvanāmṛtam, p 216-218]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kabe gaura-vane.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja:

(1)

kabe gaura-vane, suradhunī-taṭe, `hā rādhe hā kṛṣṇa’ bole’

kāṅdiyā beḍā’bo, deho-sukha chāḍi’, nānā latā-taru-tale

(2)

śwa-paca-gṛhete, māgiyā khāibo, pibo saraswatī-jala

puline puline, gaḍā-gaḍi dibo, kori’ kṛṣṇa-kolāhala

(3)

dhāma-bāsī jane, pranati koriyā, māgibo kṛpāra leśa

vaiṣṇava-caraṇa- reṇu gāya mākhi’, dhori’ avadhūta-veśa

(4)

gauḍa-braja-jane, bheda nā dekhibo, hoibo baraja-bāsī

dhāmera swarūpa, sphuribe nayane, hoibo rādhāra dāsī

[1) When will I wander weeping under the shade of various trees and creepers on the banks of the celestial Gaṅgā River in the land of Navadvīpa, crying, “O Rādhe! O Kṛṣṇa!” and forgetting all physical comforts? 2) I will take my meals by begging at the homes of dog-eaters, and will drink the water of the Sarasvatī River. In ecstasy I will roll on the ground from bank to bank of the river, raising an uproar of “Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!” 3) Bowing down to the inhabitants of the holy land, I will beg a particle of their mercy. I will smear the dust of the Vaiṣṇavas’ feet all over my body and wear the dress of a mendicant. 4) I will see no difference between the inhabitants of Vraja Bhūmi and those of Navadvīpa, and I will be transformed into a resident of Vraja. The true nature of the Lord’s abode will manifest itself to my eyes, and I will become a maidservant of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.] [Siddhi-lālasā, by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura]

& [Kīrttan Guide, 4th Edition, p 60-1]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

śrī-rūpa-mañjarī-pada sei mora sampada, sei mora bhajana-pūjana

sei mora prāṇa-dhana sei mora abharaṇa, sei mora jīvanera jīvana

sei mora rasa-nidhi sei mora vāñchā-siddhi, sei mora vedera dharama

sei vrata, sei tapaḥ sei mora maṇtra-japa, sei mora dharama-karama

anukūla habe vidhi se pade haibe siddhi, nirakhiba e dui nayane

se-rūpa mādhurī-rāśi prāṇa-kuvalaya – śaśī, praphullita habe niśi-dine

tuyā adarśana ahi garale jarala dehi, cira-dina tāpita jīvana

hā hā prabhu kara dayā deha more pada-chāyā, narottama laila śaraṇa

[Śrī-rūpa-mañjarī-pada]

[“The divine lotus feet and shelter of Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī are my ever cherished invaluable wealth and object of my devotional service and worship. They are the treasure of my heart that adorns my existence and they are the life of my life. They are the infinite reservoir of all transcendental mellows and the perfection that fulfils all my desires. They are the conclusion of the esoteric meaning of the Vedas for me. They are the goal of my vows, austerity, maṇtras and meditation. They are the purpose of my inner divine existence and the spiritual activities of my soul.

I am earnestly praying that the divine will of providence will greatly favour me so I may maintain perfection in the pure loving service of her lotus feet. At that moment the moon like beauty and radiance of Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī will appear before my eyes captivating and bathing the lotus of my heart with rays of ecstasy constantly day and night. My heart burns afflicted by the venomous bite of separation from such a beautiful life of fulfilment. I am in such desperate need therefore, O my divine mistress Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī, please shower your ambrosial mercy upon me, soothe me, and embrace me in the shade of your lotus feet. Narottama dāsa takes complete shelter of you.”] [Prathana Lalasa, 16, by Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura]

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

Nitāi Gaura Haribol Haribol Haribol Haribol

Nitāi Gaura Haribol Haribol Haribol Haribol

Nitāi Gaura Haribol Haribol Haribol Haribol

Nitāi Gaura Haribol Haribol Haribol Haribol

Jaya oṁ viṣṇupāda śrī śrīmad bhakti siddhānta saraswatī goswāmī prabhupāda kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jaya tadīya mahāvir bhavasan mahotsav kī!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jaya parikara vṛnda kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jay ācārya vṛnda kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Harināma saṅkīrtana kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Chaitanya Maṭha kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Govinda Sāraswat Maṭha kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Śākha Maṭha samo kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhakta-vṛnda kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Jaya oṁ viṣṇupāda paramahaṁsa-parivrājakācārya aṣṭottara-śata-śrī śrīmad bhakti rakṣak śrīdhar dev-goswāmī mahārāja kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Devotee: Jagad guru śrīla śrīdhar dev-goswāmī mahārāja kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

nāma-śreṣṭhaṁ manum api śacī-putram atra svarūpaṁ

rūpaṁ tasyāgrajam uru-purīṁ māthurīṁ goṣṭavāṭīm

rādhā-kuṇḍaṁ giri-varam aho rādhikā-mādhavāśāṁ

prāpto yasya prathita-kṛpayā śrī guruṁ taṁ nato 'smi

[Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Goswāmī prays: “I only aspire after one thing. I cherish the hope that one day I may be welcomed into the plane where Rādhikā and Mādhava are in Their glory, sitting and playing.”]

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca

patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

[I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees who can fulfil the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.]

namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te

kṛṣṇaya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ

[I offer praṇāma unto Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He has assumed the golden hue of Śrīmatī Rādhikā and is munificently distributing Kṛṣṇa prema.]

End of 82.02.13.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.13.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

[dīvyad vṛndāranya-kalpa-drumādhaḥ,] śrīmad-ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-sthau

śrī śrī rādhā-śrīla-govinda-devau, preṣṭhālībhiḥ sevyamānau smarāmi

[I constantly meditate upon that Divine Couple Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda, who are seated upon a wonderful throne highly decorated with brilliant jewels. They are sitting within the illustrious forest of Vraja, beneath a mind attracting desire tree, accompanied by Their dedicated servitors such as Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī, Lalitā Devī, and other intimate servants like the priyanarma sakhīs.]

Adara nastidam rante priyacet punar punar srimad rupa rambhoga duli syam janma janmani [?]

śrī caitanya mano'bhīṣṭaṁ, stāpithaṁ yena bhūtale

svayaṁ rūpa kadā mahyaṁ, dadāti sva-pandāntikaṁ

[Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura said: “O when will Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī, who has firmly established in this world, the pure devotional teachings and principles of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and thus fulfilled His cherished desires, ever bless me with eternal shelter of his lotus feet?”]

mukam karoti vācālaṁ panghum langhāyate girīm

yat kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī gurun dīna-tāranam

[“I offer my respectful obeisances unto Mādhava, Who is the Personification of transcendental bliss. By His mercy, a blind man can see the stars in the sky, a lame man can cross mountains, and a dumb man can speak eloquent words of poetry.”] [Bhavārtha Dipikā, maṅgala stotram, 1]

___________________________ [?] Gaura Haribol.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: [The recording from now (01:00) until 12:50 is in Bengali [?]

So, I like to produce something for your discretion about our revered beloved master who attracted us from different direction under the shade of his holy feet. His words are all exclusively devoted to that of Mahāprabhu. What Śrī Caitanyadeva He wanted to give to the jīva soul, soul world at large, that was his attempt was identified with that.

And in scripture we find, the Veda, the ancient scripture of revealed truth, the most ancient of all the revealed truth scriptures is Veda. That has been seen as a tree, and the Vedānta, the very substantial portion, plucked up from the Veda, Upaniṣad, and there they have been placed in a very argumentative and gradual development way, to prove that theism, that our aspiration for the sat-cit-ānanda, eternity and full knowledge, as well as full satisfaction, that is possible. Vedānta has proved that. But that is also hazy to some extent. So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,

artho 'yaṁ brahma sūtrānāṁ, [bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ

gāyatrī bhāṣya rūpo 'sau, vedārthaḥ paribriṁhitaḥ]

[“Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam represents the real purport of Vedānta-sūtra. And although it is very difficult to draw out the real purpose of the one hundred thousand verse epic Mahābhārata, the great history of the world, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has come to give its real meaning. The mother of all Vedic knowledge is the Gāyatrī mantra. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the gist of Gāyatrī in a very full-fledged way. And the supplementary truths of the Vedas are also found within Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam.”] [Garuḍa Purāṇa]

He, the Bhāgavatam, the same propounder of Vedānta, he, having some novel impression from his Gurudeva Nārada Goswāmī, he gave himself the commentary of Vedānta as Bhāgavatam. There he has given some idea of full-fledged theism. And afterwards thinking about the adverse circumstances of the present age of Kali where in every point there is challenge. Without challenge nothing can pass. So ordinary simple and fair transaction is not very easily possible, can pass here. Kali kalaha, every step one will come and put some doubt, objection, “No, it can’t be.” In such age, the most simple way, simple means to be devised for the ordinary person to get out of this entanglement and to go to the highest attainment.

So it was settled that only through sound, only through sound, sound should be the vehicle, sound should be the means to attain our end. And that sound must be genuine sound, śabda- brahma, Vaikuṇṭha sound. Sound, the vibration which produces sound, that must be, that must come down, that must be taken down here in this plane, and with the help of that sound one will be able to arrive to that highest height. This world, and the sound will be such that the other defects of the environment may not, its progress may not delay or destroy its progress. The Vaikuṇṭha. So the genuine sound which represents the highest truth, that should be given to one and all liberally as far as possible.

So Mahāprabhu came with the Name, the Name God, śabda-brahma. And because the jīva soul is considered, of Kali, was considered to be the most wretched, so the pity of the highest order was drawn with deep impression, and the highest thing of our attainment that was given through the sound. That is the highest thing, its representation, that sort of symbol, that has been extended to us, that Kṛṣṇa Nāma. Because we’re fallen to the extreme so to our relief the extreme highest thing has been used. And Mahāprabhu came with that.

And it was inconceivable that only through sound a man can attain his highest prospect. It may be very ludicrous at the apparent vision. “Only through sound, we’re trying our utmost, labouring so hard for the achievement of small acquisition, and the highest acquisition can be had only through sound? How it may be possible?”

So the divine scholars and scriptures come to our help and to show and to prove that it is possible. And then recruiting officers are also sent from that level to here to preach, to make us understand, and to help us in various ways to take to that domain. So Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura he came, one of the most courageous agent or recruiter, came here to recruit so many fallen souls to the highest level. And he had to, “We’re going to fight with all the representatives of all the different levels intermediate.”

And he did so. Mostly he considered that Māyāvāda that was his greatest enemy. All others may be refuted, other thoughts may be refuted very easily. But the Māyāvāda, the Brahman conception, that the renunciationists they took the upper hand in the religious world than the elevationist. So he had to fight out with them, and not only that, even he had to fight out with the lower conception of the spiritual world that is viśiṣṭādvaita-vāda, śuddhādvaita-vāda, etc, and to prove that what Śrīman Mahāprabhu has given by His benevolence that is the summum bonum of our life, all. And that very easily we can get, and the highest thing we can get if we can follow systematically the line of Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanyadeva.

And Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura he did a great, noble service for that, of Mahāprabhu as well as the people, fallen souls like us at large. And also taking that thread, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swāmī Mahārāja, his achievement is unthinkable to us, and as the result of which you all have come today in Navadwīpa Dhāma. And also in the day when our Guru Mahārāja appeared in this world to show your respect to him and thereby to the line that Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, the Guru paramparā and also Mahāprabhu and what they gave, that Rādhā-Govinda.

The Braja līlā of Kṛṣṇa, and the Braja līlā of Kṛṣṇa and Navadwīpa līlā they’re almost of equal level. In Braja the highest attainment within a particular group and in Navadwīpa līlā something added that how that can be distributed to the public. So, according to some they say that Gaura līlā is more gracious to us, greater, as our Gurudeva also.

“I’m directly indebted to my Gurudeva, most, most, because he’s the nearest station from I have got my prospect. My fulfilment of life I got from the nearest station. I’m indebted to him most, most. And through him I’m to go to show my obeisances to any other higher layer.”

Anyhow we’re to realise how practically we can get benefit what is given by A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī, or Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Mahārāja, or Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, or Mahāprabhu. Practically we’re to acquire that knowledge, that feeling, that sentiment. We’re to make that highly valuable wealth, to make our own property. That should be our object of life, how shortly, and how genuinely I can reach. Otherwise my appreciation for them will be lip deep. To be sincere we must try hard how we can really get that thing.

bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra, janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra

[One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 9.41]

Satisfy yourself and then satisfy others with the nectar that you appreciate, that we appreciate that is given by our Guru Mahārāja. If we can do that successfully, then it will be befitting for us that we say that is great, that is noble, that is high. Otherwise all this will be mere lip deep talk. But if we can acquire that, and if we can really distribute that, and convert so many and prove that it is really the nectar, it can save. More or less we’re always in every stage of our life we’re in apprehension of mortality, of dissipation. Everything is vanishing. So eternity which we first want, and not only eternity but with consciousness, the anu-bhuti, that we can feel and we can feel what good, the satisfaction. Sat-cit-ānanda, satyam, śivam, sundaram. Sundar the beauty, the charm: the ānanda that anyone of us, everyone of us we’re knowingly or unknowingly we’re only earnestly hankering for that thing, that ānandam. Ānanda and sundar they’re synonymous.

So we want, in this connection I may say that when Gandhi, Mahātmā Gandhi with his political movement of ahiṁsā, satyagraha or something, for political achievement. Rabindranath was the single opposition amongst the scholars of India. And Gandhi told that, “While I’m trying to release Sītā Devī from the hands of demons as cherka, and Rabindranath he wants to...

Devotee: Play the flute.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “He wants to, by his flute he wants to dance the gopīs.”

So that sort of complaint can come against us. The immediate necessity, Gauḍīya Maṭha had to fight out in intense circumstances when the political men they’re up by their great sacrifice of this, resources of this world. They’re trying to earn political freedom. We had to do that, “This is nothing, futile. You’re trying to fight for the senses, freedom for the senses. But we want to fight freedom from the senses, not for the senses, for the senses.”

So the sense can, senses may be pleased by their acquisition: that is of very lower order. But really the senses: that is our real enemy. We want to get freedom from the hands of those misguiding apparent friends like senses and this material achievement. And not only that, but so many kinds of proposals of liberation, that is also snare.

Aurobindo also told, “Mukti is the last snare of māyā.” I found in Yoga and its Object before I joined Gauḍīya Maṭha. “Mukti is the last snare of māyā.”

So mukti, that is also to be discarded, and something else above that, and then that respectful devotion, and that devotion which is pure, actuated by the mood of pure love. The highest sacrifice is there and the highest gain is also there. These things have been proved in the scripture as well as by their practices by the great personages, the Vaiṣṇava, and our Guru Mahārāja, one of that great messiah who came with such news to deliver and delivered many of them. And as a result we all assembled here, it is his, he began, and now we’re here.

Once he told to an Attorney in Calcutta Maṭha, “I began, I single handed I began this fight. And now so many I have got, about five hundred who are speaking on my behalf.”

Now thousands and thousands they’re speaking on his behalf in the world. He started single first. The background was given by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura but practical dealing he began single. And then today we find we are so many under his holy feet to show our gratitude to that noble leader of Mahāprabhu. So in his birth day, today is the day of his advent and we should, as Rāmānanda Rāya says, tabe sei ghaṭī-kṣaṇa-pala, alaṅkṛta karimu sakala. Rāmānanda Rāya says that time is very precious. Ye kāle vā svapane, dekhinu vaṁśi vadane, sei kāle āilā dui vairi.

Mahāprabhu says:

‘ānanda’ āra ‘madana,’ hari’ nila mora mana, dekhite nā pāinu netra bhari’

punaḥ yadi kona kṣaṇa, kayāya kṛṣṇa daraśana, tabe sei ghaṭī-kṣaṇa-pala

diyā mālya-candana, nānā ratna-ābharaṇa, alaṅkṛta karimu sakala

[Jagannātha-vallabha-nāṭaka, 3.12-3] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 2.37-8]

“Suddenly like lightning the most happiest plane came down to have some connection to Me and suddenly disappeared. Now I’m, only I have, I can remember the touch, slight lightening touch of a wonderful type of ecstasy. Now I think if that point of time can be made to stay here for little long I should try to do that. I shall try to propitiate the time so that the time may make delay in this plane and I’ll be able to have such connection if time is – but if time passes away, everything. So the time is also very valuable, so following that we should try to worship that time, the time that delivered such a good omen to the world.”

So we’re all assembled here to honour the time. That time gave our noble and our fortune giver, our master, our leader who has commanded whole life, whole energy and is directing which way to go and move. So all important in our life is our guide. What way he wants to guide us we are to go. So guide is the great important factor in our life. So good guide who can satisfy all our aspirations to its fullest extent, such a guide, how important position he holds. So how much we should be thankful to them, and to the time, and everything in his connection.

“Die to live.” Hegel says, “Die to live.” If you want to live the life, a proper life, you’ll have to die. So at the cost of our death we’re making some progress, how valuable it is. And who is that guide and what importance he holds in our heart. With that sort of energy and attention we shall try to devote, to show our little honour. We are child, and he knows it fully well, so only seeing our childish attempt, perhaps he’ll be satisfied with us.

With this statement I want retire today from this function. And we’re to put some puṣpa-añjali.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

End of 82.02.13.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.15.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No gramisya grato gratyet [?] There is this moral teachings in India.

No gramisya grato gratyet siddhe karye samam phalam [?]

Yadi karye vipadi syat mukha rasa tasya anyate [?]

It is not based on truth, but this is niti, means politics, this politics. No gramisya grato [?] When a party is making advance don’t go ahead. No gramisya grato gratyet siddhe karye samam phalam [?] If the object is achieved then we’ll all be equal sharer and, yadi karye vipadi syat [?] But if we’re to meet danger ahead then, mukha rasa tasya anyate [?] Those that will be in front they will be, they’re to suffer. This is policy, politics, raja niti. But devotional rules is not such. The servitors, the servants of the Vaiṣṇava, they’ll take on their head all the difficulties and allow their masters to live in pristine glory: just the opposite.

[kṛṣṇa-nāma-cintāmaṇi, akhila rasera khani, nitya-mukta śuddha-rasa-moy]

nāmera bālāi jata, saba lo’ye hoi hata, tabe mora sukhera udoy

[The Name of Kṛṣṇa is a transcendental touchstone, a mine of all devotional mellows. It is eternally liberated, and the embodiment of pure rasa. When all impediments to the pure chanting of the Holy Name are taken away and destroyed, then my happiness will know its true awakening.] [Śrī Nāma-Māhātmya, 8, From Śaraṇāgati]

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, “Whatever offences against the Holy Name is there let me welcome them and be perished, and let the glory of the Name in its splendour, let it shine in its own splendour. And the difficulties I shall take and I want to perish with them.”

The Vaiṣṇava cult, die to live: the Hegel is a very good man. Die to live, because ātmā has got no death, he’s eternal. Death is only to the shackle over the, the coating, the dress, the garment, and that is accumulated from the foreign land. And let the foreign part dissolve. Die means death to the foreign encasement, and ātmā is eternal, that won’t die. And by embracing death ātmā shines more and more. Die to live. Just as the gold when put into fire it comes with brighter colour.

Davitam davitam punari puna kancanam kanta varna [?] As much as the gold is burned into fire, it comes with brighter colour, ātmā. Not self aggrandizement, but self-dedication, that is the nature of ātmā. Ātmā lives only on that. Only that is his food. By giving away, by distribution, not by aggrandizement, ātmā lives by distribution.

Yate kori vedan tata yari ved [?] It is said in connection with our knowledge, that what a peculiar type of wealth our knowledge is, not like other properties.

Jnata ved banta nay vaiva [?] When the co-sharers come to divide a property, joint property, brothers, father’s property, heirs, they want to share the property amongst them, divide, but, jnata ved banta nay vaiva [?] If one has got knowledge that cannot be taken into share, cut up into shares and take possession. Jnata ved banta nay vaiva [?]

Chori napi na maniya te [?] The thief can steal everything, but he cannot take one’s knowledge, learning.

No dani no kayam jyati [?] Other properties, if you make a gift then it becomes less, but your learning, as much as you can distribute, it won’t be lessened. Rather it will be enhanced. Vidya ratna maha dano [?]

So, the jewel of knowledge is of such peculiar higher nature. So also the wealth of the ātmā, the soul; you may distribute as much as you like, but it won’t be diminished. It will rather be enhanced. The very existence requests this, the law of existence. Ātmā, so by giving, by serving, ātmā thrives, and by accumulating, absorbing, ātmā dies, or he’s surrounded by foreign elements covering. His death means to be buried under some foreign elements. Ātmā’s death means to be buried under earth of foreign elements.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nāmera bālāi jata, saba lo’ye hoi hata, tabe mora sukhera udoy. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Bālāi means, Maharaja?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bālāi means the dangers... bālāi haita bālāi __________________________ [?]

The infant, so many difficulties or dangers that come to attack the child: that is bālāi. Bala means child, not full-grown, child, that is balaka, bala. And what comes to attack the child stage of Name, that is when the Nāma is in a very crude form, not full-blown, full-grown, fully expressed, at that time there are so many dangers for the Name as aparādha, ābhāsa, etc.

Bhaktivinoda says, “Let all the offences if possible, to be put on my head, and I want to...” A suicidal squad! “I want to die with all the troubles, and let the Name grow without any danger from the environment.”

Devotee: _____________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. __________________ [?] Bālāi. When Name is full-grown, then nothing can approach, no difficulty, no obstacles can approach. But when in its crude form, then only so many enemies of Name may come. In the beginning when a devotee is serving the Divine Name in the beginning, then so many defects may come, and those difficulties may be removed.

Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura prays to the Lord, “Please, the difficulties in the first stage of a student of the Name School may be allowed by Your special grace to be allotted to me. And the Name, God, Name, Lord, may easily be tasteful to all the public who need it.”

That is an aspiration, whether that is possible or not. It is possible by the special pleasure of God everything is possible. Aloka dhan [?] The bhakti is sādhana-siddha and bhagavad-icha -siddha, two types. Only by exclusive grace of the Lord also, a jīva can attain his highest position, special case. Generally we are acquired through sādhana that is the general way, but special grant is also possible, and that is of four types. I forgot the name, the aloka dhan [?] and another three type of the grant of special grace to the devotees. Ke? Hari Charan? Govinda Mahārāja ________ [?] On the whole, I find,

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate]

na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

A sincere soul must be saved, is sure to be saved from unlimited difficulties there may be. Our previous births are also unlimited. And the acquisition, wrong acquisition of so many previous births, they are deposited in some form or other. That must be disposed of. So, they will come ahead to disturb me, my progress. But still, according to our sincerity in the attempt, we shall get the divine help. And as much as they may be in their intensity, or in their... and whatever be their venom, but none will be able to do anything.

The case of Prahlāda is teaching us. Even from the nearest person, nearest in the sense of mundane affection, the father, he may also turn to be the greatest enemy, but he’s defeated, not Prahlāda. All these examples show us that He’s there. If you really search for Him, He’s all-pervading, all-knowing, omniscient, and omnipotent also. He’s at your backing, according to the purity of your purpose He will come to you in proper time, won’t fail. No treachery from that side, but benevolent and gracious approach. Only because you do not give consent, so He cannot approach to you, because that will be interfering with your free will. Otherwise, He’s favourable. That is our solace. We are not out to search for a stone, or any passive friend, but passive, active in all points. He’s all complete, all perfect. I’m going to search for Him. He’s very near to me. Only I am not allowed to, due to my past, not allowed to connect with Him. All-permeating, all-pervading! Tad dūre tad v antike.

[tad ejati tan naijati, tad dūre tad v antike

tad antarasya sarvasya, tad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ]

[“The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.”] [Śrī Īśopaniṣad, 5]

No doubt He’s far, far away, but still, He’s the nearest of the near. So near perhaps I am not so much near to me, He’s so near to me. I myself am not so near to my own real self, paravasa [?] I am, what I am, that is my ego, is a foreign thing. I am a foreigner. What at present I am, my present ego, that is a foreigner. So, I’m not very closely near to my own self, own interest, own identification. That is my position. I want to be my real I. Real I means not purchased by any provincial opportunity. Not the opportunity hunter.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Opportunist.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Opportunist. Opportunists are traitors to the environment, of his own section, opportunists. But opportunist may have got also a broad, broader sense. Opportunist! Sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66], he’s also bold opportunist to seek the proper opportunity of his life. Opportunist! Janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra. [Caitanya- caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 9.41] Acquire goodness and distribute that to others. First, selfish, acquire the truthful knowledge, the knowledge of truth, and then you can distribute truth to others. So in that sense self-seeker; “I want to find truth. And then only I can help others. Otherwise, if I’m living in half truth or falsehood, whatever I shall do for others that will be also of that nature, cannot but be.” So, Svayam asida katha manyam syamyet [?] When one who has not attained perfection, how can you help others to be perfect? So,

bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra, janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra

[One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people [by preaching nama-sankirtana, the chanting of the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa.] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 9.41]

Realize yourself, and then help others to realize the truth. That is not so-called opportunist. That is good. So that plane is such, the plane of harmony, but harmony in the Absolute sense. Yathā taror mula niṣecanena [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 4.31.14], to pour water into the root of the tree; to put food into the stomach; apparently it is provincial, the stomach is getting the food, but not the ...by the result it is not so, because stomach is a serving unit, for particular purpose of life. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So, the plane is such, all-harmonizing plane. Everyone’s interest is properly represented there. Everyone’s best interest is properly represented. Such a plane is, and we have to seek for such a plane, such a soil to live in. A very, very abstract thing, but when one’s inner awakening has occurred, earnestness for that plane: he can’t avoid.

sarva-dharmān parityajya, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

[ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ]

[“Totally abandoning all kinds of religion, surrender exclusively unto Me. I will liberate you from all kinds of sins, so do not despair.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66]

ahaṁ hi sarva-yajñānāṁ, bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca

[na tu mām abhijānanti, tattvenātaś cyavanti te]

[“-Because I alone am the enjoyer and rewarder of all sacrifices. But since they cannot know Me in this way, they again undergo birth, disease, infirmity, and death.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.24]

“Yes it is that I’m the proprietor and the consumer of anything and everything. But I am your friend. I am your friend, well-wisher, your guardian, so no apprehension of losing anything, when the case is in My hand.”

You try to think that. If you realize that to be the truth, then you have no misgivings. Then only you can find true peace at heart; that I am well represented in the highest management, administration. The perfect administration is there and I am well-represented. Not only myself, all, all well-represented there. The interest of everyone is well-represented there in that centre. I want friendship with that centre. I only want to realize that. Then only I can be at ease. No misgivings, no apprehension; I can find peace proper. So this is a general thing.

Then there is higher layer also that is designed by Yogamāyā, to enhance the pleasure of the pleasing principle; that is unthinkable, unknowable. The personal interest of the Absolute is designed there. The cause, the cause of all the energy, to produce more energy, more satisfaction in Him, the design has been by His sanction been made by Baladeva etc, to keep up His dynamic character always. The dynamo is supplying energy, electricity, to so many places, but to preserve and to promote the power of dynamo, there is also a design. Something like that. He is there, His domain, that is also in such a way that the very centre is being supplied with more and more energy, and vice versa. In this way, that is Yogamāyā. That is the internal management of home of the Absolute. The Absolute as if He has got a home, where so many members are trying to keep up His energy, and the jñāna bala krīya ca, in different directions we are told, and it is eternal.

This cakra, one helps another. The Napoleonic chair, everyone is sitting on the chair, and everyone has turned himself into chair. Cakra movement, that is shown, Viṣṇu cakra, that is the very nature of the eternal movement, movement in a circular way, one helping another. That I told the other day that when men are required to live in the sky, their stools will be converted into food, such attempt is going on, and that is in circular order. To continue, to maintain, easy maintenance of the eternal character, this circular movement has been designed.

So positive imbibes power from negative. In Caitanya-caritāmṛta, perhaps fourth chapter, Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa and Their mutual position and Their conduct has been described, as if Kṛṣṇa is imbibing His force. In connection, so Both are indispensably connected: predominating and predominated aspect of things.

One cannot stand independently, what has been conceived by Śaṅkara and Buddhistic School. Buddhistic School; their ultimate is prakṛti, that is the negative side. And Śaṅkara, eliminating the negative side only tries to establish the positive side, eliminating negative side, that prakṛti, objective side, only subjective and that is nothing.

Without object, subject can’t stand, and without subject object can’t stand. This is Vaiṣṇava theory. Both is eternally true, and so the dynamic character. Otherwise Virajā is static, the ultimate cause is Virajā, prakṛti, and Brahman, that is also a static conception of the prime cause. But prakṛti puruṣa, the enjoyer and the enjoyed, the aggressor and the aggressed, the positive and negative, and eternally connected, cannot be abstracted, one from another. Eternal! Vaiṣṇava theology! Only, outwardly positive holds the primary position, very important position. But if we go to scrutinize further, then we cannot but feel that the negative has got also as if a positive position of its own. Otherwise the positive cannot act: a peculiar thing in that sense.

Kṛṣṇa can make mad the whole world in their attraction for Him, but the same Kṛṣṇa, He becomes mad to have the company of the hlādinī śakti, becomes mad. In this way it has been shown in Chatu sadyai [?] And that is the secret of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism, śuddha-śakta. The potency has been given higher attention. And we are to follow this, even from the outward utterances of scripture when Lord Himself says, “Those that are directly devoted to Me, they are not devotee proper, but those that are devotees of My devotees, they are My real devotees.” If we try to follow the very principle of this saying, that this is not hyperbolic remark, but there is some genuine reality in it.

ye me bhakta-janāḥ partha, ne me bhaktaś ca te janāḥ

mad bhaktānāṁ ca ye bhaktās, te me bhaktatamā mataḥ

[“Those who worship Me directly are not real devotees; real devotees are those who are devoted to My devotees.”] [Ādi Purāṇa]

If we try to find out the very inner meaning, the inner purpose of such sayings, then we can reach to that conclusion as our Guru Mahārāja remarked, “We are śuddha-śakta.” We are worshippers of the potency, but not this mundane potency, but the potency wholesale dedicated to the possessor of the potency. Without retaining Her individual independent entity at all, cent per cent dependent; such potency is very, very rarely can be conceived and realised.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

“The direct approachers to Me are not, that is not proper approaching; but approaching through proper channel, through the devotees, that is proper approach. That is real approach.”

So Gauḍīya Maṭha eliminates Mirabhai and so many other apparent devotees to be real devotees, because they are mad in praise of Kṛṣṇa, not so much for the devotees of Kṛṣṇa. So the Kṛṣṇa is not alone. King is not alone. King means so many, big establishment always; and to approach the King if it is real, then the approach must be through a channel. So Kṛṣṇa means He’s already surrounded by a big hierarchy, a big bureaucracy. And to approach, one cannot approach direct: if his approach is real he must select a particular channel. And he cannot but praise them, revere them, and their magnanimity. It is by their help only we can get the nearness of Kṛṣṇa, otherwise not. Gaurna benga daskar [?] One will take a lift across the whole system and then approach the King? It is avastava, unreal. So, when one is engaged so much apparently that he’s a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa, eliminating the devotee class; then that devotion has not come to take the shape of real approach. It is a vague thing; he’s far from Kṛṣṇa.

Suppose the highest peak in Himalaya, Everest, from far off we can see the Everest, but if we want to climb Everest, then we are to pass through, as much as we shall approach, we shall so see so many nearer peaks, lower peaks of mountains. Then we can approach. So, when approach to the Everest will be actual approach, then we cannot avoid the names and the characteristic of other peaks surrounding Everest. But from far-off, we can see only Everest, and not the other peaks around it.

So, when we express our connection with Kṛṣṇa, only, alone, then we are far-off. But really when we’re in the field, we’re practically doing, we cannot but have connection and express and acquaintances of the nearer peaks that are surrounding that higher peak. Something like that. So, practically who are in the field, and practically who are engaged in approaching Kṛṣṇa, their approach will be realistic only when they’re engaged with so many devotees of different departments of Kṛṣṇa.

So I marked when preaching in the South, whenever any gentleman approached our Prabhupāda, he’s a very renowned devotee of this place, then Prabhupāda used to ask him, “Under whose guidance your devotional activity goes on to Kṛṣṇa?”

Generally they used to say that, “No, no, I am direct concerned with Kṛṣṇa, Rāma,...”

Then, when they went away, we heard our Guru Mahārāja to say, “He has no devotion.” Dismissed, no devotion, no practical devotion, that is vague, not any particular shape it has taken now. Because that’s ignoring the āśraya, the surrounding positions of the Lord, without which all will be only abstract thinking, not practical approach. Gaura Hari.

That is the great test whether the devotion wants liberation, wants any other thing but Kṛṣṇa, but the Lord. That is also a criterion, much devotion shown, but why? We want emancipation, liberation, not service of Kṛṣṇa. But for, to acquire, to earn liberation we are taking the devotion of Kṛṣṇa. That is also lower, guṇa-māyā worship: worldly worship, and not worship real in the transcendental plane. That is not eternal. For the time being, that is māyā. That is sattya-guṇa, and also another, not liberation, not any other object. The devotion of the Lord must not be subservient to any other end of life. That devotion, or siddhi some other, that is one criterion. Another criterion, that elevated devotee, only the Lord alone is being worshipped. That is also false. Two types of devotional practices generally seen in the world, they may be dismissed because they cannot do, they cannot satisfy these two criteria of devotion proper. But the world does not get any news of all these things, this Ramakrishna Mission...

End of 82.02.15.A

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Start of 82.02.15.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...then whatever goods may be delivered to you, that is God. Any parcel with the stamp of God that will deliver you God. The Ramakrishna Mission, jata mata tata patha [any spiritual path is just as good as another]. It does not depend on the contents of the mata. Not _________ [?] opinion, any opinion.

Then I put them questions that, “If I say that to insult Ramakrishna and Vivekānanda, that is a path, to the highest goal, will you allow that? No particular criterion of any opinion, but on the whole any opinion in the name of religion stamp, religious stamp, the opinion may be anything and everything, and that will lead to the proper goal?”

This Siddhanti Mahārāja who told that Vivekānanda was a guṇḍā in the public meeting: in Chitagan [?], no, in Kisora Gangi Mayi Mansi [?]

Then one gentleman said, “Everything is equal, everything is equal, all is equal. Kṛṣṇa, Brahman, whatever you say, yes, they are all equal.”

Then he put the question, “Your father and this dog – equal?”

Then he is seen. “You want to abuse me?”

“No, no, no, not abusing, everything is equal, then you have nothing to say, this dog and your father is equal. If I say what you do to your father will you do to the dog?”

Such things in the name of religion, many things are going on. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. The most scientific conception, acintya bhedābheda, most accommodating, in nutshell, given by Mahāprabhu.

One gentleman, one scholarly gentleman came to me about thirty years back perhaps, “What do you do?” All these things!

I told, “We do this, publish books, journal also, monthly.”

“What is the name?”

“Gauḍīya Darśana.”

“Darśana? You are a Vaiṣṇava? What philosophy? You’ll make kīrtana, bhakti? You are supposed to know and to speak about bhakti, but what darśana?”

“Yes, the Bhakti School has got darśana. Other schools have no darśana.”

“How? Śaṅkara...”

“Śaṅkara has got no darśana.”

“What is the name of your darśana?”

“Acintya bhedābheda.”

“How it is? You say you are giving a particular conception of your view, and the same time you say that, acintya, un-thinkable. How is it possible?”

“Have you gone through Bhagavad-gītā?”

“Yes, I have gone.”

“Then: paśya me yogam aiśvaram.

[na tu māṁ śakyase draṣṭum, anenaiva sva-cakṣuṣā

divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ, paśya me yogam aiśvaram]

[“By these present eyes of yours you will not be able to see Me. Therefore I give you supernatural eyes by which you can see My almighty, mystic power.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 11.8]

“I am everywhere, everything in Me, I am nowhere, nothing in Me.”

Can you conceive? Can you show such a thing in this world? This is acintya. It depends on the final relationship of anything and everything. It depends upon the sweet will of the Lord. No final sanction has been given to any stage of the existence of anything here. It is in His hands, so acintya. General statement.

“Everything in Me, I’m everywhere, and if I wish, I can withdraw Myself from a particular thing. It is My sweet will.”

This is acintya bhedābheda. And what your Śaṅkara says? He says that everything is false. Then why has he come to preach, to whom? The false has come to preach to the false?

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So, the spiritual master is sometimes called āśraya-vigraha?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, in the beginning like the forest, then in the end, the very near circle of the forest. From far off only He is āśraya, Kṛṣṇa. And then when we approach closely, we find, no, our āśraya means our shelter is somewhere located within His servitor circle, and not in Him directly. There I am. I am of vitiated nature, entity, unit. So those that are under any circumstances deviate from Him they’re the eternal paraphernalia: cannot but be. They’re eternally connected. But we, sometimes we’re coming away and going. Unreliable servitors: that is our position so we cannot claim the position of the Absolute servitors, but under their guidance we can be given chance of service. That we must accept, we have to accept, that we are recruiters. We’re not amongst the permanent servitors of Him. So recruiters must have some a servant under any genuine bona fide subjects. The foreigners must be guest and gradually accommodated with some bona fide permanent servitors of the land of Kṛṣṇa, and dependent. So, there is a fixed law. The recruiters may come to such position in the eye of law, and not more.

But Guru, Gurudeva, by the special will of Kṛṣṇa, he’s a specially delegated power. So in him we can see deeply, the function, the delegation of Kṛṣṇa, and accordingly to think him in that way, a special delegation. If we attend very closely to the delegation aspect in Gurudeva: Gurudeva person and the inspiration of Kṛṣṇa in him, the two aspects in Gurudeva. He’s a Vaiṣṇava. He himself when in Ekādaśī, he does not take annam. His conduct will be like a Vaiṣṇava. But śiṣya, he will give him anna in Ekādaśī. He’s concerned with the delegation power, the inner side, the inspired side, the inspired Vaiṣṇava. The inspired Vaiṣṇava is an Ācārya, Guru. So, when he looks that side, the śiṣya, he marks only the special inspired portion within the Vaiṣṇava, the Guru. He’s more concerned with that part.

Then Gurudeva himself, he generally poses as Vaiṣṇava. So, his dealings towards disciples and his dealings with other Vaiṣṇavas will be different, then that acintya bhedābheda, sometimes. And that the free will of Kṛṣṇa he will do, mark and do.

What I say, that is the ideal, the model, but there may be imitation, and there may be deviation, both is possible. Imitation is also possible for ulterior motive. One may make trade of a Guru, as in Yati Goswāmī, and being unfit also, for some reason or other one may pose as Guru. But the real Guru, the lakṣaṇa is there in the śāstra.

[tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta, jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam]

śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ, brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam

[“Therefore any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide Guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.3.21]

In Bhagavad-gītā...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Tad viddhi praṇipātena.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

[tad viddhi praṇipātena,] paripraśnena sevayā

[upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ,] jñāninas tattva darśinaḥ

[“You will be able to attain all this knowledge by satisfying the enlightened spiritual master with prostrate obeisances, relevant enquiry, and sincere service. Great souls who are most expert in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will teach you that divine knowledge.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.34]

So in the case of only saying that I’m Guru is not Guru.

Gaurane gaurane mukhe bole de nai chale gaure vichar loile vichar phal phal [?]

So imitation is always possible. The scripture will come for the selection of a real Guru, and the real Guru will come to take out the meaning of the scripture; interdependent. One will help another, for our recognition. The Guru will say, ya'o paḍa bhāgavata vaiṣṇavera sthane [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.131] we must, acaryavan puruso veda [Chandogya Upanisad, 6.18.2]. We shall read the scripture under the guidance of a proper professor, proper Guru, Vaiṣṇava. So, the scripture is dependent on Ācārya, and Ācārya, who is Ācārya, the scripture will say; so interdependent they are sādhu, śāstra, both, the active and passive agents.

Tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.1.1] “First I transmitted the true knowledge through Brahmā to this world. And then from him, what came, that was written as Veda, śruti, and that was held by his disciples, Catuḥsana and then Marīci, with Atri, Aṅgirā, all these gentlemen.”

In the men and in the book, śruti. First it was in the sound and not script. Gradually it became in writing, but in the beginning only direct through the sound from one man to another, from lip to ear. Śruti. Then no script, writing, was invented at the time, but the knowledge continued from mouth to ear, śruti, sayings, śruti, audio. You have made audio?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Through audio, it was passing through audio. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But sometimes it becomes lost.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, without, for the absence of the mediator, sometimes lost, and sometimes disfigured, distorted. Then again the Lord feels the necessity of coming. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.7] Sometimes He Himself comes, sometimes sends a normal thinking man to reinstate the standard of the truth of religion. It is necessary, to keep to the standard.

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ, proktavān aham avyayam

vivasvān manave prāha, manur ikṣvākave' bravīt

[evaṁ paramparā-prāptam, imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ]

sa kāleneha mahatā, yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa

[The Supreme Lord said: “Previously I instructed the Sun-god Sūrya (Vivasvān) in this imperishable scientific knowledge, which is achieved by selfless action. Sūrya, the presiding deity of the Sun, delivered it to his son Vaivasvata Manu, exactly as he had heard it from Me. Thereafter, Manu instructed the same knowledge to his son Ikṣvāku. O conqueror of the enemy, in this way, the saintly kings such as Nimi, Janaka, and others, learned this path of knowledge through divine succession. From the beginning of time, I am giving My tidings to others, transmitting the truth that I am the goal through this system of disciplic succession, generation after generation. Presently, due to the influence of this material world and the passage of time, the current is damaged, and this teaching appears to be almost completely lost.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.1-2]

“What I say, this karma yoga to you Arjuna, I first told it to Sūrya, and from Sūrya it came from generation to generation, and then it has been disfigured, mutilated. Again I am talking that very same thing to you today.”

So the enervating plane, the truth, whatever comes, the truth when comes it is fresh, bright, but gradually with the contact of this enervating plane it becomes weak, disfigured, demoralized. And then again He has to rejuvenate it, renaissance or something like that, from time to time.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Is there any difference between an Ācārya and a Guru?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Guru, Ācārya same thing, but generally Ācārya may be told more extensive work, Ācārya. And also another thing, the Ācārya must have some knowledge of the scriptures, and the Guru may not have expressedly some knowledge of scripture, but real knowledge, the purport of the śāstra is there. He may not quote scripture, but he feels the meaning of the scripture. Then, he may be Guru. But Ācārya means one who will preach, and who will be able to quote scriptural evidences, generally. Acinoti yah sastrartham, acaryas tena kirttitah.

[acinoti yah sastrartham acare sthapayaty api, svayam acarate yasmad acaryas tena kirttitah]

[An Ācārya is one who fully understands the conclusions of the revealed scriptures. His own behaviour reflects his deep realization, and thus he is a living example of divine precept. He is therefore known as an Ācārya, or one who teaches the meaning of the scriptures, both by word and deed.] [Vayu Purāṇa] & [Gauḍīya Kanthahara, 1.23]

The definition of Ācārya is this. Acinoti yah sastrartham, from the scriptures he’ll be able to draw out the proper meaning, yah sastrartham. Acare sthapayaty api, and who has got the capacity of the people to accept them, those meanings of the scriptures. Some influence over the people, to accept the proper meaning of the śāstra. Svayam acarate, and he himself practices those rules and regulations in his own life, acaryas tena kirttitah. And he’s known, he’s called an Ācārya.

Who is standing? [Looking at the person with the camera]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: That is...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Parvat Mahārāja.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Now we have Śrīdhara Mahārāja Video. We have audio. This is Video. That is Parvat Mahārāja. [Behind the camera] So, that śloka is from the Vayu Purāṇa?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I don’t remember. But there is one thing. I was told that Bhāvānanda Mahārāja, he trampled down under his foot the Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, a very important book of the preachers section.

Prabhupāda collected from different scriptures, as if he collected so many weapons for the preachers to use in the field proper, Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra. And put them in a very regular way. Guru-Tattva, Gaura-Tattva, Bhāgavata-Tattva, Nityānanda-Tattva, Śiṣya-Tattva, then Nāma-Tattva. In this way a fair division, and also all the necessary quotations from different śāstras, that is the weapon of the preacher. If one goes through that book, Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, then he’s satisfied with all the requirements when he’s in the field of preaching.

But I was told that Bhāvānanda trampled down that. How? “We are only to go through the books given to us by our Swāmī Mahārāja, our Prabhupāda, and don’t touch all those books.”

In this way, that he must have committed a great offence, a heinous offence. And I advised for him, it may be intimated to him, he should publish that Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra in a very beautiful way, and with repentance, and with all regard. Otherwise he will have to mourn, to reap the result of such heinous actions, whoever he be. It is not a matter to trifle in such a way.

It is Nāma-aparādha, first Nāma-aparādha. Then the Vaiṣṇava aparādha, and the second, satam ninda namnah paramam aparadham vitanute [To blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the Holy Name of the Lord] [Padma Purāṇa, Brahma-Khanda, 25.15] [Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, 17.69] Then śāstra. The śāstra, that is giving us the devotional process to us, if we dishonour that, then the Name will be dissatisfied. Sādhu ninda and śāstra ninda, the śāstra ninda, to talk against śāstra, that is mild.

And what he has done that is a demonic, heinous thing. And he must beg to propitiate the śāstra, and he should publish that particular śāstra in a very honourable way and distribute to others. Then he may escape from that sort of offence. Any friend of him may say to him in my name. This is not a trifling thing.

If Kṛṣṇa is concrete reality, then śāstra is also so. They have got also, they have got such value. Not to be belittled. The carrying the news of Kṛṣṇa, that is not to be belittled. It is so serious. It is as real as Kṛṣṇa. We shudder to hear such things. So he must do some service to that very śāstra, Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra. It is a very favourite book of our Guru Mahārāja. We have seen it. He collected them and as equipment, the tool [?], the storehouse of weapons with all the preachers, as storehouse of weapons, and the tool [?] in Sanskrit, where they opens, or get. So the preachers, that is, so many important, vital quotations to support the Kṛṣṇa consciousness: and that has been dealt with in such a wrong insulting way. I am, never I have heard it. My heart is aching to think of that offence. If I do not inform to him, I will be under offence. So, at least to save me, I want to put my request to him, ‘Do this my friend. My friend, my boy, you save yourself.’

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: ______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________ [?]

Devotees: [Group laughter]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I should be natural. Ha, ha, ha. What am I? They are to look after what is awkward, what is beautiful. Ha, ha, ha.

Devotees: [Group laughter]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I am what I am. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. That I’m for that, or that is for me. Ha, ha. What is the position? Ha, ha. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So our Guru Mahārāja in the Ādi-līlā [1.46] of Caitanya-caritāmṛta in the verse ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān, nāvamanyeta karhicit, in the explanation he mentions that, “In all the ancient literatures of devotional service and in the more recent songs of Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and other unalloyed Vaiṣṇavas, the spiritual master is always considered either one of the confidential associates of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, or a manifested representation of Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: According to rasa-vicāra. To the mādhurya rasa, representation of Rādhārāṇī: in other rasa representation of Nityānanda, Baladeva, two divisions. By representation of Himself: representation of the highest servitor of a particular department, and also maybe representation of any of the special servitors in any of these camps. These three phases may be discussed and understood, the three phases. First the Lord Himself is Guru. Next we are told the most favourite and that most favourite may be in different rasa. Hari Charan______________________________ [?]

Hari Charan: ___________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Three, then, the three there, in first darśana only the top of the Everest. And next, the nearby peaks. And then, what is suitable for my special personality according to the atmosphere, so much cold, where I can take permanent shelter, what cave will be suitable for me to, for permanent living there; in this way, it is to be adjusted at least in three different planes.

First to the Lord Himself, then next stage we find the first class servitor, the head of every department of service, then my particular department. One servitor may have different departments. Then any particular department there is head. Under his care, I shall to begin my eternal life. The mañjarī class, Rūpa Mañjarī, Rādhārāṇī, Rūpa Mañjarī. First Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī, Rūpa Mañjarī. Kṛṣṇa, Baladeva and then Subal or any other friend, in this way. In vātsalya rasa, Kṛṣṇa, Yaśodā, Nanda and then any other helping hand to Yaśodā, Nanda, in this way, the location is to be traced. And there are three stages.

Devotee: So there are different groups of intimate associates?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, there are different groups. And groups and then fighting between the groups; Rādhārāṇī’s group, Chandravālī’s group, Their fighting temperament, that is also there.

Devotee: There are all harmonized in the transcendental plane, there is complete harmony within.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, that harmony, that difference also to promote intensity of service. There it is harmonized, the competition; that means competition. Perhaps Swāmī Mahārāja utilized this competitive spirit in his propaganda. There is competition that enhances the central capital. So that has been, that design, that plan, has been accepted there, the competition, the Yogamāyā. By competition enhances the degree of serving attitude and that is utilized. What is here, what is there, perverted reflection here. So competition is also utilized, the spirit of competition, and because that all harmonizing one it is all good.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He used to tell, “Transcendental competition.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Of course everything is there transcendental. Or the mundane is so much worse, the competition and everything worse. But competition of dedication at the bottom, it is dedication, and competition in the dedication, that is most desirable thing.

We are told when the Mohammedans came here in India in the beginning, there was one fort. And two parties of Rajputs, they wanted to enter into, attacked from both sides, and whose party will enter first into the fort, there was a competition. The one party tried to enter through the main gate, and on the gate, so many hooks, spikes, were put on the door. So they excited an elephant to break down that door, but the hooks were there, elephant puts his head and coming back. So one Rajput, he embraced that hook, and on his back, the elephant was engaged. And then the elephant used his force, and broke open the door. Because they wanted that they will enter the fort first. But on the other hand, the other party, crossing the wall, already entered. But there, the sacrifice was so much that one soldier he embraced the hook on the door, and then the elephant pushed, and of course with the door, the man, dead body fell.

So competition, for the land of competition of dedication, you can’t blame anyone. Not competition for selfish end, but competition of dedication, and dedication all-comprehensive. The cause represents the general characteristic. So the competition of dedication, and dedication, the result may be enjoyed by anyone and everyone, because the centre of interest is one. And by His satisfaction we’re satisfied. In this way it is distributed. So He’s harmonizing everything. The highest standard has been given out by Rādhārāṇī.

Moray yade diya sukha diya pai maha sukha tabi sei dukha sukha bhaja [?]

“If by giving pain to Me, He becomes satisfied, then My pain is welcomed by Me, to be welcomed by Me. If Kṛṣṇa is pleased by giving pain to Me, that pain is My wealth.”

In this way She harmonizes everything.

Moray yade diya sukha diya pai maha sukha tabi sei dukha sukha bhaja [?]

“That is My highest bliss. If by giving pain to Me, He becomes happy, then that pain is My highest happiness.”

There it is harmonized. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: ________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. _____________________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: We’ll take your leave now?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

End of 82.02.15.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.17.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

oṁ tad viṣṇo paramaṁ padaṁ sadā, paśyanti suraya divīva cakṣur ātatam

[tad viprāso vipanyavo jāgṛvāṁśāḥ, samindhate viṣṇor yat paramaṁ padam]

[“As the Sun and Sun light is continuous over the skies as light-giver to us (for that Sun light is the universal form of the Lord) similarly, the Divine Lotus Feet of the Lord Śrī Viṣṇu is always spread widely (like a canopy) over our head.”] [Ṛg-Veda, 1.22.20]

The holy, the divine feet of our holy master is just like the Sun, an eye, a big eye like the Sun, which is above our head. A vigilant eye of a guardian, grand guardian, it is hanging on our head and we are living under that vigilant eye of the guardian.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Not that the objective reference, but the subjective reference. We shall try to live always in subjective relativity, not objective. Not under the feet that I have got hard ground to stand so I am big. Because under my foot there is hard land I can stand erect, not that. But over my consciousness is super-consciousness, the vigilant guardian’s eye. I am living under the shade of that eye. Not below, but up side, above, our āśraya. We are hanging. We are hanging with our support in the substantial and upper world. Always be conscious, consideration with the guardian. And only on their direction we shall come to connect with servants, that is which is considered to be of lower realization. But main support we shall think about to have from the upper world.

Tad viṣṇo, so this Ṛg mantra, this is a principal mantra in Ṛg-Veda. Whenever anyone will approach to any new duty he will think himself, just before that what is he, who is going to approach a particular duty, what is his position? His position has been given to think out in such a way: that you are under the vigilant eye of your guardian. And it is as living as the Sun. A great eye just like the Sun spread over your head. Light itself, it can pierce through to see anything within you. And with this identification of you, you approach anything whatsoever as your duty.

But not encouraged that you are on a solid Earth you are standing and you are going to do this thing and that thing, never, so subjective relationship. We have, really, just as the Sun’s ray, where does it stand, the Sun’s ray? It stands on the Sun. The ray stands on the Sun. That is its source.

So also we are to think that our stand is on the, we are so many particles of consciousness, and our stand, our motherland is that conscious area, God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is our relationship, we shall always be conscious of the fact. We are connected with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We are members of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness world. And we have come to wander in the foreign land of material consciousness. This māyā, misconception, that we are one unit of this material world. It is not so. We are unit of the conscious world, Kṛṣṇa conscious world. And anyhow we have come in this material conception of things. And matter is where we can exploit our objective side. And the subjective side, which we should revere, and our relationship with of that of reverence, devotion, with the higher entity and not that of exploitation or enjoyment. The real enjoyment, enjoyment divine, that comes from service, not from exploitation. All these basic things we are to understand.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Swāmī Mahārāja told in New York, “The engineers they have built so many houses that will stand for ages. But they did not mind that their body may stay how long, the engineer’s body how long. The houses will stand for long, long period. But those that will live in the houses, their body how long it will stand and how the vitality can be improved, longevity can be improved, they had not cared for that at all.”

The objective side, very busy with the objective side, neglecting the subjective value will use them. No cultivation is necessary for the user of the objective world. All importance to the objective side; not neglecting totally the subjective side, who will utilise the object, they’re neglected.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Parisevana has come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Parisevana. But our Bhāratī Mahārāja gone to Durgāpur, or where?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: So he said. No news yet though.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: For a week he has gone. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Who is at Māyāpur now, Bhāvānanda Mahārāja or Jayapataka Mahārāja?

Devotee: Only Bhāvānanda and Jayapataka.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Both?

Devotee: Yes. No one else has arrived.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Devotee: No one else has arrived.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No one, only two.

Devotee: I did not want to explain my position to them.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not even a courtesy visit, a formal visit for courtesy?

Devotee: I was staying there for one month. And they understood that I was coming for your darśana in the morning every day. So they asked me, ‘Please leave Māyāpur. Please go to Japan.’ So I said all right. But I did not go to Japan, I came here. But now they understand that I am here. So they are saying, ‘So please come back.’

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is general expectation in a sane man. Especially, their guardian, his guardian has asked him to do so.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

What are other two letters in the name of Mahamuni?

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Sun ray that touching the Earth. Then, where is its home? A Sun ray considered play is touching the Sun, is touching the hill, touching the water. What should be the considered his home? Necessarily the Sun: and not the Earth where it is. That is our position. We pertain to conscious world, not the material, home connection there, the Sun; the spiritual Sun. We are being advised to consider that though you are in a hole of this Earth, but still your soil is in the Sun proper. You emanate from there. You are sustained from there. And your prospect is there; though you are in a hole of this Earth, or water. We have to conceive like that. Because we are consciousness so our home is the source of consciousness. Wherever we are; birds, beasts, the mountain, whatever position, the consciousness, this conscious existence. Your source is there, just like Sun.

You are not a child of this soil. You may be captive here, captive, but not your home, a foreign land. All your prospect and aspiration can be applied from that side because your nature is of that order. Your food, your everything will be of that stuff, and this will be all poison to you.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Pertaining to consciousness, that is our immediate, our nearest nature or acquaintance, but if we are to go deeper, then we shall find something else. Crossing the vision of light or consciousness, the necessity of the existence, that is happiness or ecstasy, prema, on the other side. Following cit, we are to go and establish ourselves in the realm of prema, love, more than that, ānanda, beauty, sundaram, and never in this side.

So ānanda is above light. Rasa is above consciousness. Beauty, charm, that is above mere consciousness, mere understanding. Feeling, feeling is not complete in itself. Feeling for something, feeling. So perfect thing, the fullest conception of thing is in beauty or ecstasy. Consciousness cannot be the perfect thing, just as not mere existence, but ānandam, ecstasy is perfect, prema, love, beauty. That presupposes consciousness as well as existence, sat-cit-ānanda. Ānanda is the final conception of substance. It can stay by itself, it can exist by itself, or he or she can exist by himself or herself, ānandam. But feeling, consciousness, and hankering for ecstasy, and existence without consciousness and ānandam, that is useless. Mere existence is useless, it’s to no purpose. But endowed with consciousness somewhat can search for its own good, and the goodness itself is ānandam, ecstasy. And that is independent and complete thing, because the feeling as well as the existence, both subservient to its existence, ānandam. Ānandaṁ brahmaṇo vidvān, na vibheti kutaścaneti.

[yato vācho nivarttante, aprāpya manasā saha

ānandaṁ brahmaṇo vidvān, na vibheti kutaścaneti]

[“As one gets subjective realisation of the transcendental blissful aspect of the Supreme Divinity, he sheds fear completely for all time. Such a realised man of wisdom is freed totally from negative thoughts. Having his thoughts fully attentive to the All-Blissful Divinity, he is spared from such torture. Such is the secret doctrine.”] [Taittirīya Upaniṣad, 11.9.1, p 522]

When you are to realize that, raso vai saḥ, you need not be afraid of anything, from any apprehension that can arise here. Ānandaṁ brahmaṇo vidvān, na vibheti kutaścaneti. The apprehension, the fear, fear of death, fear of the threatening of non-existence. Not only I shall have any fulfilment but my existence is also at stake. I may be devoured by non-existence. So disappearance will be banished, ānandaṁ brahmaṇo vidvān. Where I’m trying to find it, it is not located here.

Devotee: _________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: _________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________________________ [?] Apparently when Mahāprabhu is looking at the Śrī Mūrti of Jagannātha Deva, apparently it seems that His aim, He’s fixed in the, what we look at the Vigraha. To our vision, only a doll of wood, and Mahāprabhu is fixing His eye there. But He’s shedding tears, and tears flowing in a current, no end: incessant current. What, where is it He’s connected? What we see as a wooden doll, and He is looking at that and incessant current of tears coming down. His connection where located? He’s on the opposite side, in the subjective. Subjective! So when we shall approach to have a darśana of the Śrī Mūrti, what attitude should I approach, to have a look of the Śrī Mūrti? So we should learn to have darśana of Śrī Mūrti. It is meant, it is not a mundane thing, try to see with the opposite connection. It has come down to help you, you fallen souls in the material world. And He has come down as if in such a plane to take you up to His domain, He has come down.

Paravyūha vaibhava antaryāmī arcā. Rāmānuja has classified the expression of the Supreme Entity in these five forms. Para, the central conception of the highest entity. Vyūha, then He extends Himself, His extended self, extends Himself in different functions. In different figure, if you may call it. Vaibhava, by further attempt He comes down here in this mundane plane as Avatāra, Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha. Antaryāmī, by another function He is present at every heart of every soul. Every conscious unit holds within, His presence. That is the fourth function of Him. And the fifth is Arcā. He comes down in the plane of our physical perception. I can touch, I can see, I can have scent, there. But it is He. He has come.

And to help our understanding, Mahāprabhu looked at the Vigraha and He was inundated with His own tears. That His eyes were not fixed on the wood, but with the touch of that superficial wood characteristic it is connected high to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, deep with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That He has come here and making arrangement for the deliverance of the crores of fallen souls, especially by extending His own prasādam to one and all. In a great magnitude, His magnanimous presence here: for the relief work, for the relief work of this world. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Durvikṣā: that is famine. Our Guru Maharaja used mostly this word, “the famine, durvikṣā.” What sort of durvikṣā, famine, food want? Want of food, Kṛṣṇa kathā will be. The world is suffering from the famine of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa talk, Kṛṣṇa kīrtana. So, here try to open so many food distributing offices, stocks. Distribute food of all the souls. Talk about Kṛṣṇa.”

Yāre dekha, tāre kaha [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 7.128] Mahāprabhu also told, “Whomever you come across, talk of Kṛṣṇa. Give him food. And the food is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa kathā.”

“The famine period, that is only, famine stricken, the world, the whole we find all famine stricken people. Famine stricken and distribute food, right and left whomever you come across, say about Kṛṣṇa.” Ke?

Devotee: _____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That was the feeling of our Guru Mahārāja. And Swāmī Mahārāja did that in the west, distribution of food to the souls. They are famine stricken, all, everywhere.

Kṛṣṇa-kathā-durvikṣā. Our Guru Mahārāja told, “I do not admit of any other conception of famine. But only famine is here and that is of Kṛṣṇa kathā, Kṛṣṇa smṛti, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Only that famine is here and I don’t admit any other conception of famine or want in this world.”

So, with so seriousness he could conceive the necessity of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in connection with us. We are suffering from famine. For want of food, that is only our food, we can thrive there, Kṛṣṇa kathā, Kṛṣṇa kathā. So Kṛṣṇa is such to us, of such importance to our existence, to live, to move, vitality. Kṛṣṇa can supply vitality to us, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So Vasudeva Datta says, “Śrī Gaurāṅga is my vitality. How could I live if Gaurāṅga did not appear? I could not live.” Yadi gaura nā hoita, tabe ki hoita, kemone dharitām de. “If Gaurāṅga did not appear then how could I live? I have come in connection with such a valuable thing, valuable food, now I think that without this my life is sheer impossible.”

So vitality of the vitality, Kṛṣṇa kathā, Kṛṣṇa consciousness! And Swāmī Mahārāja went to distribute that vitality of the vitality of the soul, the soul of the soul, in the western world. And Prabhupāda did his best here. And so we have come.

And it is also told by Haridāsa Ṭhākura to Mahāprabhu that, “You have chanted Kṛṣṇa Name, cultivated Kṛṣṇa consciousness here. Stava jangam [?] Animate, inanimate, the whole world is supplied with food of Kṛṣṇa consciousness there. Their life is fulfilled in whatever position they may be. I heard of Your Jhārikhaṇḍa campaign, the elephants, the tigers also danced and chanted with Kṛṣṇa Nāma. So what wonder there will be if I say that the stones, the trees, they are also, have attained their highest end of Kṛṣṇa consciousness when You chanting, You yourself chanting. What degree of intensity Kṛṣṇa consciousness has been produced here by Your own chanting.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Primary education is also education, but that should not come in hitch with higher education, no, should not enter into compete, competition, with higher education, primary education. We must be careful about that. At the same time, higher education and lower education, the differentiation between the two must be genuine also. Primary education may not be thought that this is the highest education, then that will also be dangerous thing. Alpavidyā bhayaṁkorī. In Sanskrit there is a saying: what is the English idiom? Alpavidyā bhayaṁkorī.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, a dangerous thing. We must be careful about that, otherwise it will be suicidal. The question of offence comes there. When primary stands against higher education, asserts, that sort of assertion is committing offence. Commitment of offence means that, the lower stands against higher. Offence arises from that tendency.

Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare,

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Amāninā mānadena, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. We should take resort to kīrtana always, but our attitude should be such, Mahāprabhu recommends,

tṛṇād api sunīcena, taror api sahiṣṇunā, amāninā mānadena, [kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ]

[“One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 3]

But generally upwards, tṛṇād api sunīcena, taror api sahiṣṇunā, amāninā mānadena, we will be, our attitude will be humble all towards high. And if we think that we’re being done wrong, still also we shall take to patience, amāni. And under no circumstances we shall work for our own position and prestige. That should not be our aim. From above, amāninā mānadena, and we shall try to respect everybody. It is all mostly connected towards upper world, tṛṇād api sunīcena, taror api sahiṣṇunā, towards Vaiṣṇava world. Our conduct will be always like that. Then only we can thrive well in our campaign.

Slow and steady wins the race. It’s a long journey, not a journey to finish within a few hours, or a few days, or a few years, a continued appointment. It is to go on a long way, so we are to adjust accordingly. But we should run quickly and then we shall stop and sleep, it’s not a matter of that type, but it’s a long way we’ll have to walk on. And so our attitude will be such, then we’ll be successful. Tṛṇād api sunīc, no cause, we should not extend any cause for resistance, which will create resistance. Won’t create such circumstance that invites resistance; tṛṇād api sunīcena. Still if any resistance unexpectedly approach me; I shall try my best to forbear, being conscious that my guardian’s eye over me. He’s also eager to help me in my campaign. I’m not alone. So I may make, or go on confidently that there is person above to redress the wrong that can be shown to me. So I may not take initiative in the beginning, sahiṣṇunā, amāninā. And no other object will come and pollute my aim, the pure purpose of my life. I won’t allow any...

End of 82.02.17.A

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Start of 82.02.17.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...amāninā, that pratiṣṭhā will come, or any other temptation will come and induce me to go ahead. I should never allow any other but the satisfaction of Guru, Gaurāṅga, and Kṛṣṇa, etc, Vaiṣṇava. No other element can enter there in my purpose. The purity of purpose should always be maintained very scrupulously, amāninā. And mānadena, and I won’t shrink to give proper conduct, to show proper conduct to my environment. That is, won’t expect that they will come and help me; I must not very eagerly, amāninā mānadena, why they are not coming to help me? No such mentality. They are engaged in their own business. It is my own. Alone I shall go on with my duty. I won’t be always searching that someone must come and help me, mānadena. They are doing, let them do their own duty. It is mine. I shall go along with this, amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. With this attitude we shall go on. Krsna ne bhāvita [?]

My concentration only with this sort of adjustment may be more and more intense. My confidence in Kṛṣṇa will be more and more increased. And my duty will be purer if I couch myself in such a way, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, Hari kīrtana, Hari kīrtana. Also it will make us to be conscious that such sort of hindrances, obstacles, is almost sure to come to attack you. So already you are given this instruction. Whenever you begin your work, all these things will come to attack you. But you have already been given this instruction. So if they come in your way; and almost sure they will come, you are to deal with them in such a way.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Hari kīrtana. The life is not very comfortable, a life of comfort. Ha, ha. My Guru Mahārāja told me, “Comfort seeker,” accused me of comfort seeking nature. “You don’t want to risk you, you are comfort seeker. You don’t want to take the risk of Kṛṣṇa kīrtana. You are ease lover. Ease lover, you don’t like to take the risk of Kṛṣṇa kīrtana. So many in the famine, so many souls they are dying, and you keep yourself under closed door, in the room, ease lover. I can’t sit idle. You may sit idle, but I can’t. So many crying in need of food! I can’t.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

His grace! “You need not go out to distribute food in the famine area, you just look after the store. You stand and keep the store and I shall engage another person. You become store keeper at least.” He told me. “You don’t like to take risk for the distribution ________ [?] then a store keeper: at least you do the duty.” Gaura Hari. So much graceful to me!

Aranya Mahārāja: You have such valuables in your store that people from all over the world are coming to purchase them.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Almost my time is finished. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Store keepers post. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

I am saying so many things about myself, but also it is seen in the śāstra. The Vedavyāsa has written Bhāgavatam but there also his name is mentioned with due honour. The writing came from him after all. Bhagavān Vyāsa, when someone is addressing Vyāsa he uses Bhagavān Vyāsa. But it is ultimately passing through him. That is nirapekṣa, impartial representation of his own self also. When he’s saying something in his writing, in his own writing, still he’s doing justice to him also, the writer himself, impartial judgement. “Bhagavān Vyāsa,” the Vyāsadeva himself is writing that, as it is. As it is: impartial description!

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But Mahārāja, Vyāsadeva, he’s saying “Bhagavān Vyāsa.” But you’re not speaking like that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I told just now, the store keeper, ha, ha, ha, ha, store keeper. In a general way as I’m taught by others I simply represented their feelings. But am I to think I’m really a store keeper? I’m giving vent to the general opinion only. But according to the advice of Mahāprabhu,

na prema-gandho 'sti darāpi me harau, [krandāmi saubhāgya-bharaṁ prakāśitum

vaṁśī-vilāsy-ānana-lokanaṁ vinā, vibharmmi yat prāṇa-pataṅgakān vṛthā]

[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said: “My dear friends, I have not the slightest tinge of love of Godhead within My heart. When you see Me crying in separation, I am just falsely exhibiting a demonstration of My great fortune. Indeed, not seeing the beautiful face of Kṛṣṇa playing His flute, I continue to live My life like an insect, without purpose.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 2.45]

“No store. I have not come across any store as yet. If we could find such store then what would be my condition?” From the Absolute standpoint and standpoint of Mahāprabhu: “I do not know what is the real scent of Kṛṣṇa prema divine, the love divine, the Kṛṣṇa, divine love of Kṛṣṇa. I have no scent even of that high thing.” Mahāprabhu says like that. So He has got some conception of what Kṛṣṇa prema should be, what higher standard that has got. “Not yet I have achieved the scent, what to speak of getting anything in possession.” So high, how high the position of the purity of Kṛṣṇa prema. This is all fighting with shadow. Still, yāre dekha, tāre kaha [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 7.128], because we are wanted in our condition to do so, we do.

Dūre śuddha kṛṣṇa prema ___________________________________________________ [?]

Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol.

The Sun is the source of the infinite intensity of heat. But that is not necessary for us. A particular stage of heat is sufficient for us. More than that not useful for our purpose! So we are to take position in a particular place where we can thrive from the heat of the Sun, and may not be burnt into ashes, thriving point in a particular space.

You see iron is being melted by a particular heat. But there are metals which hold that liquid iron that is of harder stuff that can tolerate that intense heat. That is not melted. The pot is not melted, but iron in the pot is being melted by the heat. Different stuff!

So we’re told that proper location, proper location. Liberation is proper location. And the highest heat we cannot tolerate, we cannot endure. So the first group, Nanda, Yaśodā, Śrīdhama, Sudhama, Rādhārāṇī, Lalitā, they are, they can tolerate, they can adjust. And our capacity requires adjustment in a proper position of ānanda. The wave should be utilized. Mahābhāva, rasa-rāja mahābhāva dui eka rūpa, the rasa-rāja mahābhāva. [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.282]

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Devotee: Three persons from ISKCON came just now.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What for?

Devotee: What for I don’t know. They’re downstairs now. I didn’t meet them yet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _____________________________ [?] Indians?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Nimāi Prabhu, are they Indians?

Devotee: ______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Some one of you may go and meet, one should go...

Devotee: I’ll go.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...and meet, what is their necessary requirement.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So the jīva śakti, what you mentioned, Śrīdhama, Sudhama, they are cit śakti, they can tolerate that heat. Can jīva śakti ever tolerate such heat?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They can’t contain, no. So under, just behind them they should take their stand, position. They’ll be as Swāmī Mahārāja told to Acyutānanda, “You will faint.” Do you remember?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. You will faint there, cannot keep your consciousness to that standard. As yet you have not acquired that position. So something like that, we will faint there. Ha, ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So jīva śakti always remains jīva śakti?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jīva śakti always in subservient position, secondary, that will be his highest attainment, position.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. Nitya Kṛṣṇa dāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But the dāsatva is of such degree. _________________________ [?]

(Three members of ISKCON arrive and are introduced.)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Old faces or new?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: This is Ruci dāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ruci, I might have heard his name perhaps.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: One devotee, Vipramukya, from Jayatīrtha Mahārāja’s zone.

Devotee: Sukra.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Oh, in England.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: England.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: How long he’s separate from Jayatīrtha Mahārāja?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He says, “How long are you separate from Jayatīrtha Mahārāja?”

Vipramukya: Not separate.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not separate in that sense. But you come away. I want to hear his news from you. How long you do not know, you are disconnected?

Vipramukya: I’ve been away for two weeks.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Two weeks. He is all right then?

Vipramukya: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Before two weeks he was all right?

Vipramukya: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. You come from Māyāpur now?

Vipramukya: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhāvānanda Mahārāja, Jayapataka Mahārāja, both of them are there now?

Vipramukya: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. They are doing well?

Aranya Mahārāja: They are doing well?

Vipramukya: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________ [?] rainfall?

Vipramukya: Much construction is going on there now.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Much?

Vipramukya: Construction, building.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Construction. Construction means Swāmī Mahārāja’s temple construction?

Vipramukya: Yes, samādhi.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Samādhi Mandir. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Rain coming!

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No, it’s not coming.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Outside it’s coming.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Your room is completely full, house full, packed.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So the spectacle only formal.

Devotees: [Group laughter]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Manu-saṁhitā begins creation from this point.

āsīd idaṁ tamo bhūtam, aprajñātam alakṣanam

apratarkyam avijñeyaṁ, prasuptam iva sarvataḥ

[tataḥ svayambhur bhāgavān, avyaktavyaṁ jayan idam

mahābhutādi vṛtaujāḥ, prādur āsin tamonudaḥ]

[Manu-saṁhitā, 1.1.5-6]

Just before creation, the creative movement began. Just before that the position is that of equilibrium, taṭasthā means equilibrium. Āsīd idaṁ tamo bhūtam. In the stage of darkness, ignorance, enveloped fully with ignorance, aprajñātam, no possibility of any estimation. Alakṣanam, no symptoms would exist that any conjecture or inference will be possible. Avijñātam, science had no position there for investigation. Prasuptam iva sarvataḥ, only we can say from here was complete in deep sleep. Deep sleep may bear some conception of the period. Prasuptam iva sarvataḥ, sound sleep. Tataḥ svayambhur bhāgavān, avyaktavyaṁ. Then a movement began. A movement began from within, and some light came. Light was seen by the seers, that the seers, but the light, that was pre-existent, but the seers got the eye to see the light, they began to see.

Apa eva sa sadyado [?] In the first conception there was water. The light first showed something like water. Apa eva sa sadyado [?] The light that came that is compared with personality. Light means consciousness. Consciousness means person. The personality gave birth to the onlooker, to the feeler. A substance, objective substance just like water: that is Virajā. Brahmaloka and Virajā, what is told by the Vaiṣṇava vocabulary, the light means Brahmaloka, and the first objective side represented as water, Virajā, jala. Apa eva sa sadyado [?]

Then, pasa bījam apasayat [?] Then the seeds were sown in the water, the shade of light. The first conception like water, accommodating, moving solution, tasa bijam apasayat [?] And some seed was sown, thrown into that water, apasayat [?] apa means of lower conception. So, the lower creation began. The water is also, the water proper, that was created long afterwards, but the first creative energy is compared with water. That is prakṛti, the highest conception of prakṛti is considered to be like water. And the lowest conception of Godhead is considered like light, ray, ray and water. The nearest approach of the conception of the caitan as well as jala: matter and consciousness. Consciousness compared with light and matter compared with water, in their primitive differentiated position. Prakṛti mahan, then in connection with the bija and the water the next production was known as mahā-tattva. The sum light mixed with the sum matter as mass. The mass of matter infused with some light: that is known as mahā-tattva. And that was divided into many units; ahaṅkāra, mahato ahaṅkāra. Ahaṅkāra as a whole, the element of all the ahaṅkāra, the mother ahaṅkāra is mahā-tattva, prakṛti mahan, mahato ahaṅkāra. Ahaṅkāra pañca tan-mātrani.

Then it expressed himself, developed itself into five main ingredients, pañca tan-mātra. That is what can be seen, what can be scented, what can be heard, what can be tasted, what can be touched: the primitive principle of such expression. Pañca tan-mātram ahaṅkāra pañca tan-mātrani. Then they again that five principle developed himself in three phases, satya, raja, tama. Just as rūpa, the vision, and the darśa, the Sun, the light, the vision, the colour, and the eye. So the either, the ear and sound, so everything in this way: those five again converted himself into three respectively. So five into three, twenty came into existence. And those prakṛti, mahat-tattva, ahaṅkāra. Twenty ____________________________ [?]

The development of the material world has been described to come down in such a process. Again when withdrawn; the most gross enters, dissolves into the subtle. And then into the more subtle, more subtle and in this way it enters into that prakṛti, that watery substance. And the ātmā to that Brahman, that mere consciousness: non-differentiated mass of consciousness, Brahman, akṣaraḥ.

[dvāv imau puruṣau loke, kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca]

kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni, kūṭa-stho 'kṣara ucyate

[“In this world, there are two kinds of souls: the fallible and the infallible. All beings from Lord Brahmā down to the lowest stationary life-forms are known a fallible (as they have deviated from their intrinsic nature). But the personalities who are eternally situated in their divine nature are known as infallible (personal associates of the Lord).”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.16]

That Brahman has been defined as akṣaraḥ.

[yasmāt] kṣaram atīto ‘ham, akṣarād api cottamaḥ

[ato ‘smi loke vede ca, prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ]

[“Because I am transcendental to the fallible souls and also superior to My infallible eternal associates, My glories are sung in the world and in the scriptures as Puruṣottama, the Supreme Person.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.18]

“I exist transcending both the two aspects of the substance, kṣara and akṣaraḥ, so I’m Puruṣottama, Vāsudeva, Parabrahma. Within Me the whole of My jurisdiction also considered, that Vaikuṇṭha, Goloka, the whole thing, represented by only the name of Puruṣottama or Vāsudeva.”

Then when we enter into that domain of Vāsudeva we can see so many demarcation, so many stages, so many pastimes, so many dealings there. They’re busy in their dedicated life there, eternal world. The general conception like that, calculative dedication and then spontaneous dedication: that is called Goloka. And there are so many different kinds of pastimes, śanta, dāsya, sākhya, vātsalya, mādhurya, svakīya, parakīya. That is very, very high. Still we have to somewhat view that our fate is finally connected with that high thing what is given to us by Bhāgavatam, Mahāprabhu, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, etc., Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, etc, in the scriptures. That is our future, our future prospect. Prospectus is such. Sambhanda jñāna needs it, according to our taste. Taste also can also be improved by hearing from higher source. Selection, the spirit of selection may be improved when we are shown different ideas, models. What may attract us most according to our choice, inner choice, we are to move on to get that, to acquire that.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nimāi ____________________________________________ [?]

Viśuddha sattva dāsa: In the process of the sankhya universe, in the creation of the sankhya universe, ___________ [?] the consciousness is being differentiated as a unity. How that takes place?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I can’t follow.

Viśuddha sattva dāsa: In the evolution of the sankhya universe, the creation process that you explained...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who are you?

Viśuddha sattva dāsa: Viśuddha sattva dāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Viśuddha sattva. Ha, ha. Viśuddha sattva is above all creation.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Viśuddha sattva dāsa: I’m only a servant of all Vaiṣṇavas.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now what do you say?

Viśuddha sattva dāsa: In which time the consciousness, the individual consciousness takes place in the individual entity in the process of sankhya universe?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Anyone repeat it.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: In the process of sankhya universe...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In the process...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Creation of the universe...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sankhya?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: According to Sankhya philosophy at which stage does individual consciousness occur: during the process of creation?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Just now I described that. The general ahaṅkāra is created first. prakṛti, pasa bījam apasayat [?] Tal-liṅgaṁ bhagavān śambhur. In Brahma-saṁhitā [5.8], the ray of consciousness comes to mingle with prakṛti, prakṛti means energy. The consciousness and energy, the most primitive conception of energy: that is prakṛti. And consciousness they are of two categorical difference, energy and consciousness. The mass consciousness comes in contact with mass energy and they mingle together. And then a general ego comes to be seen. Then that is dissolved. That general ego is dissolved into innumerable parts, innumerable ego. And that consciousness within, that also distributes itself within each unit. In this way gradually the individual soul is coming down, individual ahaṅkāra. When they are one as a common whole all ahaṅkāra in that primitive state it is known as mahat-tattva. Then after when it grows into so many individual units, when a particular thing is broken to pieces, an atom. An atom also broken, then electrons, in this way gradually in their development they came as individual ahaṅkāra, jīva souls. Taṭasthā, akṣaraḥ, undetectable, akṣaraḥ means undetectable. From that plane it comes to detectable plane as a whole. And then again in the next process of development in the negative side it is seen, innumerable units from that mass lump as mahat-tattva. Then gradually other things develop in this negative side of exploitation.

Devotee: Creation of brahmāṇḍa is posterior to this process?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah! Hare Kṛṣṇa. Eko ya yatra navriti ramnaya bata tirvano [?]

Force sometimes thrashing, pushing forth and sometimes withdrawing: in this way heart contracts and expands, contracts and expands. The whole brahmāṇḍa expands and contracts. Connecting with the one and many, one and many, in this way, the creation and dissolution, evolution, dissolution: in this way. As a heart moving, contracts and expands: the whole brahmāṇḍa in such a process. What we find in the smallest unit, the same character is to be traced in the bigger units. This is the suggestion to know the whole, more or less. And there are some categorical new elements to be added to our knowledge also. And those that are within; they can have some partial knowledge. And those that are independent, outside this contracted and expand world, onlookers from outside, they are giving the real history of the whole thing. And that is revealed truth. And that also accordingly distributed according to the capacity of the people, of the province, of the section. So revealed truth also as Bible, as Koran, as Veda, in this way, they are dealt, revealed truth has dealt partially thinking the capacity of that particular group in that portion. But revealed truth is reliable somewhat. And there also extended with some modification befitting person to whom it is extended. So some difference we find in the revealed truth.

End of 82.02.17.B

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Start of 82.02.17.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...full-fledged theism. And also there is mention that beyond this created world what is there? Eternally dancing world, the eternal dance is there. Here contraction and expansion and there eternal dance. And that is also lower and higher type according to the nature of the rasa, or ānanda, or ecstasy, which is the desired thing of every conscious unit.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Rain Stopped?

Devotee: Yeah.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Vipramukya: Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Vipramukya: Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in this material world are eternally going on.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Vipramukya: When Kṛṣṇa finishes one pastime in this universe, the pastime begins in another universe.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What?

Vipramukya: So my question is, when the universes are withdrawn into Mahā Viṣṇu, do the pastimes continue to go on?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then what?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: When the universes...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Dissolved.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Mahāpralaya.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mahāpralaya, this side, this side is almost equated to zero, equilibrium. And the other side is in full swing always, nitya līlā, the eternal aspect. No harm there.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: With the bauma līlā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Just as suppose the fruit fall from the tree and it is finished gradually, but the tree is there. Something like that. This may be, may equate to zero, but the other is eternally going on.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But this question of Goloka-Gokula arises.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Ha, ha. The Gokula Vṛndāvana it is there, but the seers are all absent. It is there, it is there, it is there in ideal. That is extended here. What we see, we see from our different position of existence, but it is there always. But we have not eye so no seer, no touch, none to, but it is same with that. It is in such a plane that it cannot, the external different processes of the material energy, it cannot touch that fine ideal existence in that plane. Suppose if the Earth vanishes, that does not mean that whole solar system will vanish, it is there. But the men on the Earth, they cannot see that, and its influence on the Earth. It is in another plane existing, finest plane. That the creation, the evolution, it is beyond evolution and dissolution, such subtle energy. If the Earth’s destroyed, the air or the either may not be destroyed. The ethereal representation in the Earth is not destroyed, but is within and outside the Earth. The either within and outside the Earth, but with the dissolution of the Earth, either may not be dissolved, it is there. Something like that.

yathā mahānti bhūtāni, bhūteṣūccāvaceṣv anu

praviṣṭāny apraviṣṭāni, tathā teṣu na teṣv aham

[“O Brahmā, please know that the universal elements enter into the cosmos and at the same time do not enter into the cosmos; similarly, I also exist within everything and at the same time I am outside everything.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.9.35]

He’s there and not there. “I’m everywhere and I’m nowhere. Everything in Me nothing in Me.” We are to understand that aspect of the cause, of the effect, the relation of the cause and effect, of different type. The inner representation of the cause and the outer superficial representation of the cause, they may have different position, different property in every respect. The body may destroyed, mind may not be. Mind may be destroyed, ātmā may not be.

Vipramukya: Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Vipramukya: When Kṛṣṇa, in Kṛṣṇa līlā, Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana is the original Kṛṣṇa. But when Kṛṣṇa is in Mathurā or Dvārakā it’s Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa. So my question is when Caitanya Mahāprabhu is in Navadwīpa and when Caitanya Mahāprabhu goes to Jagannātha Purī is Caitanya Mahāprabhu in Jagannātha Purī the original Caitanya Mahāprabhu?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One and the same, but difference function and our concern. He’s conscious of His own position. But the functional questions differ. Gaura Hari. Ke? Nimāi______________ [?] Kṛṣṇa.

Vipramukya: Is Mahāprabhu in Jagannātha Purī an expansion of Mahāprabhu in Navadwīpa?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mahāprabhu in Navadwīpa generally of two phases, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa milita: that has come once in one day of Brahmā.

aṣṭāviṁśa catur-yuge [dvāparera śeṣe, vrajera sahite haya kṛṣṇera prakāśe]

[“At the end of the Dvāpara-yuga of the twenty-eighth divya-yuga, Lord Kṛṣṇa appears on Earth with the full paraphernalia of His eternal Vrajadhāma.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi,līlā, 3.10]

And Mahāprabhu as the giver of the Hari-Nāma, Yuga-Avatāra, every Kali-yuga He comes. Both combined here. And when in Purī, generally we do not find this Nāma Avatāra, but that Rādhā-Govinda milita and He’s particularly engaged in His original līlā. He’s searching Himself in the mood of Rādhārāṇī. Not so much engagement of spreading, only the Name of Kṛṣṇa is to be found there. That superficial aspect is almost absent there. A very far connection, but not completely eliminated. But in the greater aspect the partial representation is represented in such way, the Yuga-Avatāra is represented in Svayaṁ-Bhagavān līlā.

harṣe prabhu kahena, — “śuna svarūpa-rāma-rāya / nāma-saṅkīrtana — kalau parama upāya

[In great jubilation, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “My dear Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya, know from Me that chanting the Holy Names is the most feasible means of salvation in this Age of Kali.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.8]

Mahāprabhu addressing to Svarūpa and Rāma Rāya, “Oh,” sometimes coming outside on the superficial temperament in connection with world, “Oh Svarūpa, Oh Dāmodara, this Rāmānanda, the Nāma-saṅkīrtana is a very wonderful means to attain the divine love of Kṛṣṇa.” In this way He’s expressing and tasting, but mostly deeply engaged in separation of Kṛṣṇa, searching.

More attentive or less attentive, no function can be completely separated from another. All have some unification of uniting relationship tied in. Isva tatve veda mane de haya aparadha [?] The continuance is always present everywhere and anywhere. Nothing can come in to separate totally, it is continuous.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa.

Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Vipramukya: Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Vipramukya: In every Kali-yuga there is a particular form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu comes?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Aranya Mahārāja: In every Kali-yuga does a particular form of Mahāprabhu come?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, a Yuga Avatāra, as Yuga Avatāra He generally comes every Kali-yuga. Kṛṣṇa also comes every Kali-yuga, then Haṁsa and Hayagrīva, then Satya-yuga, Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, Kali.

kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ, [tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ

dvāpare paricaryyāyāṁ, kalau tadd hari-kīrttanāt]

[“Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Viṣṇu, in Tretā-yuga by performing sacrifices, and in Dvāpara-yuga by serving the Lord’s lotus feet can be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.3.52]

tretāyāṁ rakta-varṇo ‘sau [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.24]

[In Tretā-yuga the Lord appears with a red complexion]

dvāpare bhagavān śyāmaḥ [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.27]

[In Dvāpara-yuga the Lord appears with a dark blue complexion]

And in Kali,

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣā ‘kṛṣṇaṁ, sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam

yajñaiḥ saṅkīrttana-prāyair, yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ

[“In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the Names of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.32]

Guhya Avatāra, secret, so in a mystic way it has been described in Bhāgavatam, not very clearly as in other areas. Because channaḥ kalau, in Prahlāda Mahārāja’s song we find. “So one of Your Names is Triyuga, You are represented in three Yuga. And in the fourth, it is channaḥ, in disguise.” [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.9.38]

Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Hare Rāma. Hare Rāma. Rāma. Rāma.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Rāma. Hare Rāma. Nitāi Gaura.

Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

... from the newcomers, Mm?

Vipramukya: Mahārāja, in the Gambhīrā, at Jagannātha Purī...

Devotee: Gambhīrā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gambhīrā, yes.

Vipramukya: Gambhīrā in Jagannātha Purī, is that Gauḍīya Maṭha temple?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No, that is separate. Not within the administration of any followers of Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī, but they belong to the sahajiyā section.

Vipramukya: They are sahajiyās?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Something like. More influence of the sahajiyā section there. But still cannot but be some modification in them though they are opposing Gauḍīya Maṭha, but unconsciously imbibing something from there. Cannot but influence their condition. Though putting blame on Gauḍīya Maṭha people, but still they’re correcting themselves unconsciously. Because the eyes of the public are being opened, so it is difficult to continue in their foolish way. They’re being modified more or less. Those Goswāmīns, the other so many who take the Name of Nitāi-Gaurāṅga and go on with their whimsical things. As much as the propagation of Gauḍīya Maṭha is extending they are feeling to maintain difficulty of their own whimsical opinions and activities. Unconsciously they’re modifying themselves, correcting themselves. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Many of them are openly announcing, “We could not understand Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura in the beginning, we opposed him like anything. But now we understand gradually that what he did, though we thought it was against the sampradāya, but now we can see that what he did, apparently different from our custom, but he did rightly.” Many of them say like that in the open meeting.

One of them, who was the chairman when some municipal address was given to Swāmī Mahārāja when he came here first with Acyutānanda and that Rāmānuja. He was given here the welcome, municipal welcome, and one Mr. Kopendhu, Sankatirtha [?], he was a good scholar of Sanskrit and so-called follower of Mahāprabhu, and his remark one day in a meeting where I was present, that; “We fought with Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura in many ways, that he’s introducing many novelties into the sampradāya, crossing the direction of the previous Ācāryas. We accused him with this vehemently in paper and press and platform. But now we come to realize that what he did, he did it rightly. We have not so much foresight to see him at that time.”

So the other day the Caitanya Goswāmī, the Principal of the College Navadwīpa, he also announced that in a meeting. “We could not understand him at that time. Now we realize that what he did is quite justified. And we failed to understand him.” In this way they are many of them are admitting the fact.

The apparent services may not be real, and the real service may not always apparently a copy of the former: imitation of the former. The spirit is all important and not the form. Rūpa, Sanātana took the form of kaupīna, white dress, and Prabhupāda took red dress and daṇḍam, new introduction. But the spirit was there, the form was modified. And the form is what the bābājīs – that spirit is absent, the difference is this. So spirit should be welcomed at all cost, in all ages and time. The spirit is all and all, and the form may vary, the outer, according to the environment the form may vary. But the spirit must be there eternally. And the differentiation between spiritual representation that is of eternal type, it is there. And we are to adjust with them according to our inner necessity and capacity.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Swāmī Mahārāja he has deviation from Guru Mahārāja in giving the names of the sannyāsīns. The process in which our Guru Mahārāja gave name to the sannyāsīs, Swāmī Mahārāja deviated from that. But I, though other God-brothers they feel something difference, I did not do so. Because his work was more grand, and great in magnitude, and the circumstances was also very different than that of India. So this sort of freedom he must have to adjust with the circumstances, and with the nature, and the education, and the civilization of the populace. This latitude he must: should enjoy. Enjoy means he must found such inspiration from within for greater accommodation. So his naming and so many things are different. But we are to see the spirit within, not the outer thing.

And Prabhupāda also, formerly, he seemed to deviate from Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura laid stress in the household life and he was very much afraid of the renounced life. Life of renunciation, that may be very grave and serious and may be reactionary. But Prabhupāda he came with such an organization. He gave some chance for what was not generally available, that Vaiṣṇava sevā, Vaiṣṇava association, sādhu-saṅga. What is the most indispensable necessity in the life of a sādhaka: that is sādhu-saṅga. He made arrangement with that sādhu-saṅga available to many. And so he told, took bold step to collect persons of different stages and to draw them in and giving chance of divine service under the guidance of the Vaiṣṇava, Vaiṣṇava sevā, always hearing, always engagement. And so these deviations from Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was amply compensated by another aspect. So that deviation is no deviation in spirit, but in form.

So Swāmī Mahārāja also had deviated, formally, in many cases. But the spirit is intact, there. Who has eyes to see that they will embrace them, otherwise others will murmur that he took the name of “Prabhupāda” himself, of his Guru. His Guru had reverence for Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s name. And he has given this “Ānanda,” Vivikānanda dīkṣā in the Ramakrishna Misson, they generally use this “Ānanda” in the sannyāsī. But our Prabhupāda did not do. So deviation from Prabhupāda, all this sort of accusation may come on Swāmī Mahārāja, deviation from his own Guru. But one who has got eye to see the spirit within, he won’t care for this change of formality. He’ll see the inner thing and not the external. And one who has got such a high degree of distributing himself, he must be given by the higher authority some latitude, magnitude of extending himself in some original way. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Vipramukya: Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Vipramukya: What form did the apparent deviation of our Śrīla Prabhupāda take place? Exactly what was the difference of how he was different...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I can’t count them but I gave you example, two, three etc.

Vipramukya: Yeah, but, no, I know that, but specifically in relationship to the sannyāsa names.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sannyāsa names, Prabhupāda used first “Bhakti” and then three worded, three lettered word, one word and then that hundred and eight names he began to use, beginning from the first. This sannyāsa, that was not in vogue before Prabhupāda: these hundred and eight names or so, sannyāsī names. There was bābājī, always bābājī and dāsa. And he did not use any “Ānanda.” Generally it was aslisyadosh [?] of Vivikānanda, they use it. Śaṅkara’s section also some way or other. This “Ānanda” is generally added in the brahmacārī, the Svarūpa, Ānanda, Caitanya and Prakāśa, these are generally recommended for the brahmacārī. But we find the Ramakrishna Mission and the Śaṅkara also in the name sannyāsa, Prakāśānanda, Prabhodānanda. But Prabhupāda used according to scripture only “Ānanda” in the brahmacārī, Ānanda, Prakāśa, Svarūpa and Caitanya, in brahmacārī, not in the name of sannyāsī.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

I was told, I heard that from Sakhī Bābu, that when Prabhupāda took sannyāsa then he went to Vṛndāvana with two of his followers, one Paramānanda, another Kuñja Bābu, a gṛhastha, the Bhakti Vilās Tīrtha, who was recently the Ācārya of Caitanya Maṭha. And their dress, Prabhupāda’s dress was that of a sannyāsī, red cloth, what the bābājīs they did not like. And they said, rakta-vastra ‘vaiṣṇavera’ parite nā yuyāya. It is mentioned in Caitanya-caritāmṛta [ Antya-līlā, 13.61], a Vaiṣṇava should not wear red cloth because that represents mere māyāvādī and tantric, so they will always take white cloth, that is. But Prabhupāda took red cloth and his dress was that of sannyāsī. He went to Vṛndāvana. And two of his disciples that followed him, Paramānanda and Kuñja Bābu, they were clad in European dress.

Sakhī Bābu told that created a commotion amongst the sahajiyās. “What is this?”

He went to Vṛndāvana with red cloth and also took the brahmacārīs with European dress. Generally who uses cloth, the India dress, but entering Vṛndāvana it was revolutionary dress. They began to criticize on all sides.

That’s what Prabhupāda showed. “We see that was the emblem that you people, you don’t appreciate what Mahāprabhu has given for us. All your attention is drawn by the glamour of the European culture. So, Europeans should be approached and when it will be possible to for us to accept them, Mahāprabhu’s creed, then you will come and accept. You are followers of the glamour of European civilization, you are all slaves. You have become slaves to European civilization: all your attention towards that. So they should be taken in. So I’m couching myself in such a way that I shall approach to the present scientific culture and the seat is with the Europeans.”

So his attitude was to attack, to prepare himself as a general to attack the present civilization in the European camp. “And these fools they’re only blind followers of that culture.” That was his attitude.

Devotee: Mahārāja__________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So we shall search the spirit most, and not the form so much. Whether it is a cloth, or it is a pantaloon, or a coat, that has got some value, not that no value, some value, but within, the man within is all important. All right then, I shall dissolve.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Jaya oṁ viṣṇupāda śrī śrīla bhakti rakṣak śrīdhar dev-goswāmī mahārāja kī jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Śrī bhaktisiddhānta saraswatī goswāmī prabhupāda kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Śrīmad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swāmī Mahārāja kī jaya!

Devotees: Kī jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sevā vṛnda kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya.

End of 82.02.17.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.18.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...then we are to look at the different structure there, how, we’re to trace. We must have a scientific conception of devotional school. It is not whimsical. It is not unsubstantial, which cannot be proved, but it has got its proof. It has got its real nature, but the test will be of different type. Telescope cannot be used as microscope. Microscope cannot be used as telescope. So in the pramāṇa, the proof, the guarantee, that will be of different nature. What is applicable in, for the mundane science, that test cannot be applied in the transcendental plane. So that has got the standard of measurement that is different, and we’re to acquaint ourselves with them, what is the criterion of the standard of measurement, or test of the transcendental world. We’re to get that, then we’ll be able to understand that any whimsical statement is not transcendental truth. It has got its specific characteristic. Yata mata tata pata, “Any opinion of any man has got any value,” there, this sort of anarchical position is not there. That is more systematic, more truthful. Vidyam vastava matra gostha subadam [?] It is apparent and that is reality, and that reality can be known by the dint of reality. By the power of reality it is to make Himself known that is in His hand.

nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo, na medhayā na bahunā śrutena

[yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas, tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛnute tanūṁ svām]

[“One cannot understand the substance of the Paramātmā, the Super-soul residing within everyone’s heart, by means of expertise in logic, intelligence or learning. When the living entity begs the Lord for His mercy, being desirous of His transcendental loving service, then the Supreme Lord reveals His self-manifest form directly before him.”] [Kathopaniṣad, 1.2.23] & [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, 2.3.2]

Worldly qualification is not sufficient to get that. Yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas. This one path we’re recommended. By His grace we can know Him, no other alternative. Yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas. Whoever is graced by His selection to know Him, he can only know, otherwise it is impossible. All Right Reserved! If He wants to make Himself known to another, then that ‘another’ will know Him, the only path, that śrauta path, grace, kṛpa. That is the way, otherwise invulnerable, unapproachable. Nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo, na medhayā na bahunā. High intellectualism, high scholarship, scholarship of a genius, pravacanena labhyo, and who can describe and deliver lectures in a beautiful way, pravacanena labhyo, na medhayā na bahunā śrutena, vast study. No. Everything is useless. Yam evaiṣa vṛnute. Only one way, that selection appointment must come from that quarter to take in.

Here, visa cannot be granted by the passport officers. The visa can only be granted by that domain. These passport officers are helpless to give any visa. It must come from the other world. So yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas. “Yes, you may come in. You’re desirable. You may come in. You’re desirable.” That sort of visa has to come compulsory for entering that land. Yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas, tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛnute tanūṁ svām. Then He will make Himself known clearly and more intimately in its progressive: according to development of his inner progress. As much as he’ll be able to accept the nationality of that land, he’ll be so much adored there. He’ll be taken into secrecy of all serious departments if he can prove that he won’t be a traitor at any time. Eternally accepted in the nationality of that country he’ll be given full confidence there according to his adjustment, improvement in the adjustment. He’ll be allowed to enter into the deeper-most position.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Sukha, sukha, happiness, rasa, raso vai saḥ. The quality of the rasa that is all. Rasa, higher rasa only by dedication, by surrender and dedication we can attain the higher rasa and higher type of gentlemen, their intimate company we can acquire by dedication. By dedication! That is devotion. And dedication of quality and quantity, two things to be observed, dedication of class quality and quantity.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nimāi _________________________________ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: You told, Mahārāja, “Service of quality and quantity.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Quality, it is also of innumerable kind and differentiation and the quantity also. Degree of affinity and nature of affinity, division, sub-division, sub-sub-division: as in branches, in different branches Rūpa Goswāmī has given. Especially in mādhurya rasa he has classified, in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi. In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu the science of general devotion he takes it, the general bhakti, and bhakti gradual development. And the highest position it comes to mādhurya rasa, it is closed there in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, first part. And in second part Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, there only mādhurya rasa has been dealt with in details.

I’ve not gone through it but only Caitanya-caritāmṛta and other literature. We did not venture to enter into the details of mādhurya rasa. Our Guru Mahārāja did not like it. But it will come irresistibly within you. You go on, śravaṇa kīrtana. Pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. It is so high. When it will come it will awaken within you. You won’t be awakened by any other person. Oh!

An example was given by Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja in a general way. That Bābājī Mahārāja he used to live in a very small hut on the banks of the Ganges. Another gentleman imitating him erected a similar cottage nearby. And physically he used to make penances like Bābājī Mahārāja, eating, or not eating, taking bath, some days not taking bath, in this way, physical austerities. Then his remark came one day to one sādhu, “Only entering the labour room a girl cannot produce a child, the mere imitation, but many things necessary beforehand.”

And also there’s another tale. A girl talking to her mother, “When the child will come out of my womb, mother, you please awaken me at the time.”

The mother told, “No, no, you will awaken then at the time. It won’t be necessary that I shall rouse you from your slumber. Oh, a child is coming, you awake. It is not like that.”

So the sahajiyā bābājīs they were labouring hard externally to produce some child.

But our Guru Mahārāja told, “It is no easy a thing.”

muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa

sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune

[“O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, one may be a devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. Such devotees, who are fully peaceful, are extremely rare.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6.14.5] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.150]

“It is highest of the highest, so won’t allow you to venture to run towards that exclusive only. No. When the day will dawn by the grace of the Lord, you’ll not be able to resist that thing, that tendency within you. You go on.”

[tāhāṅ vistārita hañā phale prema-phala,] ihāṅ mālī sece nitya śravaṇādi jala

[“The creeper greatly expands in the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, and there it produces the fruit of love for Kṛṣṇa. Although remaining in the material world, the gardener regularly sprinkles the creeper with the water of hearing and chanting.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19.155]

The duty of the mālī, of the disciple, to pour water into the root, and natural growth there will be, and then the fruit will come down, from here you’ll taste. In this way! So don’t venture to rush in, in that. Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, there is a book where only mādhurya rasa has been dealt in details. And very shortly that is given here and there in Caitanya-caritāmṛta in well guarded way. We have our approach from there, and whatever little we have heard from Guru Mahārāja from his lips. Sometimes we, like a star here and there, we look at them. Not a detailed account we have gone through wholesale. But whatever we have heard that is enough and one day we may be allowed to enter that domain, in any life, a vague representation. Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, there is groups, sakhī, nama-sakhī, priya-sakhī, in this way so many groups of sakhī. And there are then mañjarī, and different departments, so many things there are.

That is on our head, on the upper side of our attainment. We’re hoping, but not unnaturally enter there as a trespasser, then everything will be spoiled. We’re not ready to spoil our fortune. Whatever we’ve got there is much there. There is much, but any greater prospect which is impossible for mankind to reach there, why should I be so much ardent, impatient, and to spoil my prospect? I won’t go to spoil. What we have got that is enough food. And if we do not find any food there, then to find food to run up that will be treachery. Eagerness is good but rushing is foolish. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi. [Viśvanātha] Cakravartī Ṭhākura has given gist in three of his summary books. Kiran-bindu-kana, Kiran-ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, no! Kiran-bindu-kana. Kana-Bhāgavatāmṛta, Āmṛta-kana, Kiran-ujjvala-nīlamaṇi-kiran: Ray of the gems, lustre of the gems. And bindu, a particle of the nectar, bindu, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu-bindu, A drop of water of the ocean: Kiran-bindu-kana. There he has mentioned in a very short sketch.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: If there’s no one, if Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura did not approve of his disciples to read such a book as Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, then who was the book written for?

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. We’re not atheists, that before reading that book if I die my prospect is gone forever. Don’t think like that. If I’m there in the soil I’m safe. One day I must get that. He gave me some hints. He gave me admission by requesting me to sing the song of Rūpa Mañjarī. And I think that he has given, at least, many of our friends told that, “he has given you admission.” His well, good wish is there, that I may not misunderstand at least. A gate-keeper, ha, ha, ha: by the name of Bhakti Rakṣaka. They say that I’m the protector, but I think that I’m a gate-keeper.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gate-keeper. By this name he has appointed me as a gate-keeper. “Who will go in, you are to see.” Hare Kṛṣṇa. So I’m not giving passport or visa to anyone and everyone.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy ādi sakala cinmaya, māyika bhūtera tathi janma nāhi haya

[“The earth, water, fire, air and ether of Vaikuṇṭha are all spiritual. Material elements are not found there.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 5.53]

We are to be conscious that the soil of that land is more valuable than, by which we are made of. We taṭasthā jīva, our, the material by which we have been created, and where we are wanted to enter, that is of more valuable type of material, the water, the earth, the air, everything. If I’m not a traitor of this sort of understanding then how can I venture? I’m allowed to go: I’m required to go over, putting my footsteps what is more pure and venerable for me, only for the necessity from that region. That is free. It is not so cheap, most valuable.

Jīva Goswāmī has mentioned in Sandarbha that why Śukadeva did not take the Name of Rādhārāṇī in Bhāgavatam. He came, he approached, and almost was going to take Her Name, but he shuddered and pushed back. That is the opinion of thinking the audience, the characteristic of the audience. Śukadeva, he approached to take the Name, but again he came back. “No!” What is the thought underlying this of Jīva Goswāmī?

So we preachers we must follow that, with scrupulousness. Pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge. So our Guru Mahārāja is said to be the incarnation of Jīva Goswāmī, Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura, Śrī Jīva. Su-vicāraka iva jīvaka. I have read, I heard, I put it in his poem, [Śrī-Dayita- dāsa-praṇati-pañcakam, 3] And also in another place, kavirāja-narottama, raghu-rūpa-sanātana- kīrti-dharaṁ, dharaṇī-tala-kīrtita-jīva-kavim [Śrī Śrī Prabhupāda-padma-stavakaḥ, 7] He was the protector of the bhakti rasa, and rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge, as Jīva Goswāmī did. Jivadye ravi raksitam.

It is high above, and tried to prove that from evidences from different scriptures: from this Purāṇa, Tantra, Veda, Upaniṣad, Mahābhārata. Jīva Goswāmī’s function was to prove that what Rūpa and Sanātana gave, that is the highest in the theological world, to prove that, that was his function. And our Gurudeva’s function was similar, to prove that is above, and, “Come to understand the steps and make it understood with me, come. I won’t allow you to spread blasphemy about the same. That is my duty. And Gauḍīya Maṭha mainly for that, that it is high, that is higher than the highest. And you all come to fight in the lower position, lower plane.”

Śrutibhir vimṛgyām [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.47.61] All the śruti, revealed truth, in different expressions, they’re only showing, ‘in that direction.’ That is the position of the thing, śrutibhir vimṛgyām. They’re particularly showing the direction only, ‘that is in this side,’ and not taken into and analysed and testing, not like that. It is so valuable, it is adhokṣaja. It is the harem of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. It must not be undervalued, undermined. That is the danger in it, the danger of undervaluation. That must be guarded with all our might. And it is self effulgent. When it will come it will awaken in one’s heart. It’s apratihatā, irresistible. And then it will be full-fledged, it will be natural growth. One won’t be able to return to catch the reign of his progress, won’t be able. Ha, ha. It should be such, natural. And he’ll find that he’ll be surrounded by that plane, no help, it is such. It will come down. The higher atmosphere will come down to surround.

I myself, in the lowest order, I had some experience of the adhokṣaja knowledge. One day I was sitting on that chair there, and talking with Manoviram Prabhu and Satyananda Prabhu. Suddenly I found that some subtle plane of knowledge came down and captured my whole consciousness. My consciousness, limited consciousness, as if it is surrounded. And even at the bottom at the disposal of that higher knowledge I felt: so much so that I, when it is drawn, a few seconds, or half a minute, or a minute, then it will be vanished. I began to tell to those, “That now I’m experiencing some wonderful thing. That higher consciousness has come down and it has surrounded me from all sides. I think my ego is within another atmosphere, and that is something like mist, but that is conscious, not any other thing. Not even, that’s of higher substance than I am, than my knowledge, I felt it.”

Then I thought, ‘Oh, we’re told that when one is going to Vaikuṇṭha in a chariot, is this a token of chariot?’ Some surrounding and whenever I felt myself helpless, wherever it will go I’m captured, as captive I shall have to go there, I felt. ‘I’m helpless here. Wherever this consciousness will go I’m a captive within that in a cell. I shall have to go. No other alternative.’ I conceived this, so that I’ve come to, that is adhokṣaja. Higher consciousness came down and within and without, I found that thing. Anyhow, it was my feeling, that is higher consciousness coming down and surrounding me and I’m a captive in its hand. And wherever this will go I will have to go as a captive.’ That was my feeling at that time.

Previously also I had some conception what is soul, what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, a flash, but this is outside, a sudden flash of knowledge came. I’m there and it is outside, some flash came, went away. This Viśvarūpa advaya, not Viśvarūpa...

Sadvata pranipa sarva loka sri mukam sarvatas himam loke sarvam avrisyati sadhi [?]

That sort of conception of the Lord suddenly came as a flash, and went away, vanished. That is all external experience, though purely conscious. But this time I felt that I was a captive of that knowledge.

So higher knowledge is possible, which is not object to us: which is not object. I’m a subject and that is an object. Generally things are like that, high or low, but I’m subject. But if we’re to enter Vaikuṇṭha, all are surrounded by our Guru, who are above or below, the whole atmosphere, the land of Guru. Everyone to be served, everyone to be served, and no one to enjoy, or to exploit: everyone, the whole atmosphere to be served. I’m the only servant and it is required that I shall serve the whole environment. I’m to enter into that law. Have I got such faith in me, of that standard, that there may be such a place where from the bottom to the up things of all my consideration is all venerable, and I’m to serve all of them? I’m the only servant, and the whole environment is to be served. Such sincere feeling we must have first, otherwise I’m a disbeliever. I’m an enemy to the cult of devotion proper. I can’t be a traitor. I’m disbeliever if I can’t believe that Paravyoma is a sphere which is constituted by all venerable unit to me. Then, how can I enter there? Only the plea of service I’m called. “Come to serve Me.” Only I can go there, otherwise I cannot put my foot in the venerable plane. So I believe that, so,

[nehābhikrama-nāśo 'sti, pratyavāyo na vidyate]

svalpam apy asya dharmasya, trāyate mahato bhayāt

[“Even a small beginning in this devotional service cannot go in vain, nor can any loss be suffered. The most insignificant practice of such devotional service saves one from the all-devouring fear of repeated birth and death in this world.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.40]

The faith that such things is existent, all venerable soil, the whole soil is venerable, such things exist: has firm faith, that is enough. Others will come from them, the land of guardian. They’re well-wisher. How much I can love myself, my interest? How can a child know how to love him? His mother, his father, the guardian, they love the child more than the child can discriminate and love himself. So we must have faith in the guardian, in the higher conception of the plane that there is such, there is consideration, there is affection, there is judgement, there is grace, mercy, in the land of my guardian. That is enough to have real faith in such. Not imaginary philosophic faith but practical. A theoretical philosophical understanding won’t do. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

If God is there, Kṛṣṇa is there, everywhere, He’s looking after me. To have such consciousness, concrete consciousness, real consciousness, the vigilante eye, the guardian’s eye, I’m bathing in the nectarine glance of my Lord from here. The ray of His grace is bathing me, under His gracious look, merciful look. In front of that I’m... If I have firm faith there is no miscalculation on the other side. When I’ve got my position real in a particular step, He’s there.

tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ divīva cakṣur ātatam

[Ṛg Veda, 1.22.20]

Like a Sun the grand eye with mercy extended towards us on our head. I’m being, I’m taking bath in the Sun ray, the graceful ray of the Lord. I’m taking bath always in that.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Is this what Purī Mahārāja of Kalna, he said rūpānuga-dhara.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh? Purī Mahārāja?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Of Kalna, he said rūpānuga-dhara.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Rūpānuga-dhara.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Dhara means?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Dhara means current, dhara, line, lineage of current. The stream, the current of pure love that is coming through Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī and his predecessors and successors. But he’s the middle figure. His predecessor’s line has been collected and scientifically arranged by him and then through him it is passing afterwards. According to Mahāprabhu’s advice Rūpa Goswāmī has given a scientific form of that dhara, of that current, and what is passing through him to this side, we are followers of that. We want to take bath in that stream, and following that stream we want to go up. Gaura Sundara. Gaura Hari...

End of 82.02.18.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.18.C_82.02.20.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I have written a poem about Prabhupāda, praṇāma mantra.

gauḍe gāṅga-taṭe [nava-vraja-navadvīpa tu māyāpure

śrī chaitanya-maṭha-prakaśa-kavaro jīvaika-kalyāṇadhīḥ

śrī siddhānta-sarasvatīti-vidito gauḍīya-gurvanvaye

bhāto bhānuriva prabhātagagane rūpānugaiḥ pūjitāḥ]

[“That great personality who resides in Gauḍa-deśa on the banks of the Gaṅgā in Navadvīpa, which is new Vṛndāvana and is known as Māyāpur, has manifest Śrī Chaitanya Maṭha and is the only person concerned with the real welfare of the living entities. He is known as Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī who is in the succession of Gauḍiya Gurus; resplendent as the Sun in the morning sky, he is worshipped by the followers of Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī.”] [Encounters with Divinity, p 215]

Gauḍe gāṅga-taṭe, the land of Gauḍa, gāṅga-taṭe, on the banks of the Ganges. Gauḍe gāṅga- taṭe nava-vraja-navadvīpa tu māyāpure. In this Bengal, the Gauḍadeśa, on the banks of the Ganges, gāṅga-taṭe. Vrajavida, or para Braja, which is identified with Braja, Vṛndāvana, which is a separate or a double expression of Vṛndāvana Himself, vrajavida-navadvīpa, New Vṛndāvana, or secret Vṛndāvana, gupta Vṛndāvana, or para Vṛndāvana. Māyāpure, in the village of Māyāpur. Śrī chaitanya-maṭha-prakaśa-kavaro, who established there Śrī Chaitanya Maṭha. Jīvaika- kalyāṇadhīḥ, for the highest benefit of the jīva at large, jīvaika-kalyāṇadhīḥ.

gauḍe gāṅga-taṭe nava-vraja-navadvīpa tu māyāpure

śrī chaitanya-maṭha-prakaśa-kavaro jīvaika-kalyāṇadhīḥ

What is the only good of jīva, that was within his mind and for that he established Chaitanya Maṭha in Māyāpur.

śrī siddhānta-sarasvatīti viditau [gauḍīya-gurv-anvaye

bhāto bhānur iva prabhāta-gagane yo gaura-saṅkīrtanaiḥ

māyāvāda-timiṅgilodara-gatān uddhṛtya jīvanimān

kṛṣṇa-prema-sudhābdhi gāhana sukhaṁ prādāt prabhuṁ taṁ bhaje]

[“In the great Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava teachers’ line,

as Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī he’s renowned.

Like the radiant Sun in the morning sky,

he appeared to rescue all souls swallowed by

the all-devouring impersonal philosophy.

By spreading the teaching of Lord Gaurāṅga

to sing the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa,

he gave all the chance to dive in the ocean

of love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person.

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta, my lord, divine master –

at his feet do I pray to serve him forever.”]

[Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, The Hidden Treasure of the Sweet Absolute, p x]

Śrī siddhānta-sarasvatīti viditau. And he was known by Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī here. Gauḍīya-gurv-anvaye. In the lineage of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava his name is Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī. Gauḍīya-gurv-anvaye, bhāto bhānur iva. He expressed himself. No! He shined like a Sun in the morning. He shined like a morning Sun. Bhāto bhānur iva prabhāta-gagane, rūpānuga pūjitāḥ, and worshipped by the followers of Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī. Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī, he came and established Chaitanya Maṭha on the banks of the Ganges, Māyāpur, in Gauḍadeśa, what is a separate facsimile of Vṛndāvana, and in the name of guru-paramparā, in the spiritual lineage as Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī he was shining like a morning Sun and being worshipped by the followers of Rūpa Goswāmī. Rūpānuga pūjitāḥ. Sūrya upāsanā is done by Rādhārāṇī. Rādhārāṇī is worshipper of Sūrya, outwardly, bhānu-kāṇḍa, all these things: Vṛṣabhānu, in the line of Sūrya, his father’s relation. So bhāto bhānur iva prabhāta-gagane, the morning Sun mild ray, Sun ray. Rūpānuga pūjitāḥ, and all the true followers of Rūpa Goswāmī they surrounded him with their veneration and materials to worship him.

Rūpānuga janera jīvana, in Prabhupāda’s own language in the guru-paramparā.

mahāprabhu śrī-caitanya, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nahe anya

[rūpānuga janera jīvana viśwambhara priyaṅkara

śrī-swarūpa dāmodara, śrī-goswāmī rūpa-sanātana]

[“Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanya is non-different from Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and is the very life of those Vaiṣṇavas who follow Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī. Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Goswāmī, Rūpa Goswāmī, and Sanātana Goswāmī were the givers of great happiness to Viśvambhara (Śrī Caitanya).”] [Śrī Guru-paramparā, 6] [Songs Of The Vaiṣṇava Ācāryas, p 90-3]

Mahāprabhu śrī-caitanya. Who is none but Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa combined. Rūpānuga janera jīvana. He’s the very life of these followers of these sections of rūpānuga. Viśwambhara priyaṅkara, śrī-swarūpa dāmodara. And the very favourite of Viśwambhara, Mahāprabhu, Swarūpa Dāmodara, and śrī-goswāmī rūpa-sanātana, and both those Goswāmī brothers known by Rūpa and Sanātana the name was given by Mahāprabhu Himself, Rūpa, Sanātana.

[Śrī Guru-paramparā, 7] Rūpa-priya mahājana, jīva, then the favourite of Rūpa is Jīva, as well as Raghunātha. And tāra priya kavi kṛṣṇadāsa, then the next step the Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, the writer of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, he’s connected with Raghunātha. Then kṛṣṇadāsa-priya-bara, narottama sevā-para, though Kṛṣṇadāsa’s Guru was Lokanātha but Prabhupāda saw that the dhara, the current from Kavirāja coming to Narottama Ṭhākura, the similar current, the rāga-mārga. Narottama priya then Viśvanātha Cakravartī then it came, Baladeva [Vidyābhūṣaṇa], Viśvanātha Cakravartī then Baladeva [Vidyābhūṣaṇa], Jagannātha [dāsa Bābājī]. Then Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, in him he could trace that the same current of the same high quality in Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. And then Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja also added.

And then he says that, “I have got always eternal aspiration to serve the Holy Feet of Rādhārāṇī.” Śrī-vārṣabhānavī-barā, sadā sevya-sevā-parā, tāhāra-dayita-dāsa-nāma. And that person’s name is Dayita dāsa, dayita-dāsa-nāma. [Songs Of The Vaiṣṇava Ācāryas, p 93] Ei saba hari-jana. “And I am trying to do the service to this lineage to satisfy my Guru, Gaurāṅga, and Rādhā-Govinda.” In this way he’s giving his own, the knowledge of his position there.

We’re to follow that, the spirit, and not the form we find there. The physical connection has been ignored, and the flow of the pure knowledge that has been traced there in Guru paramparā. And we’re to believe. If we’ve got faith in such thing then we’re a real follower of Gauḍīya Maṭha and its creed, if we have.

The sahajiyās they attack us, “Oh, they have no Guru paramparā. They’re all lost. Who will care for that? They have no guardian, guardian-less. They’re all mushrooms. Gauḍīya Maṭha Guru was a mushroom. No lineage to be traced. What are they?” That is their kolahul [?] their loud noise.

The śāstra is there, the development, Rāmānanda Rāya, then other śāstra collected by that Sat-Sandarbha through which we are to understand the Bhāgavata, Mahābhārata, Gītā, and all the śāstra. And where is the substance we are hankering that, where the goods are, that goods shed. The real goods shed, we want to purchase a ticket surrounding the goods shed. “It’s located here.” The Gītā says, the Bhāgavata says, the Mahābhārata says, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and that has the approval with our heart. Kriyatāṁ yadi kuto 'pi labhyate [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya- līlā, 8.70], wherever it is available, in whatever market it is available, deposit the money, purchase it at once. No haggling of the price, bargaining, in a tedious way, no, wherever you find it purchase at any value wherever you find. And Bhagavad-gītā gave the stress, such valuable thing, in Mahābhārata and in Bhāgavatam, here and there, “Oh! Such valuable thing is possible. It is existing, then wherever you find it purchase it at once. No cost is more for that.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So I like to stop here today. What’s the time?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Twenty to ten.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Jaya Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāja kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī Prabhupāda kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Śrīpāda A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swāmī Mahārāja kī jaya!

Devotees: Jaya!

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Akṣayānanda Mahārāja come?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. What’s the time now?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Just eight o’clock.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jayatīrtha Mahārāja’s plan of Purī University, is it in progress?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes. We have the deed now for the land. That’s in our possession now. And I’ve been arranging in England some means for collecting funds.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: For that.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: I want to collect two lākhs of rupees per month towards the construction. That’s my preliminary goal. So then we want to draw the designs and so forth. Anyway, of course I can’t do anything, but if I get your blessings. If you like such a program then it will work out all right.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. The Government there are sympathetic, more than Bengal?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes. In fact I know the Chief Minister there, Mr. Panyaika. He’s very fond of Śrīla Prabhupāda, and we had a long discussion with him some, about two years ago in Delhi, and at that time he encouraged us directly to do something in Jagannātha Purī. He said that, “Why your Society hasn’t done anything in Purī? Purī is more important to Mahāprabhu than Navadwīpa.”

(Group laughter)

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: That was his argument.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bengal he rejected and Purī he selected.

(Group laughter)

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Sārvabhauma, Rāmānanda, Pratāparudra Mahārāja, the then independent king of India, Hindu India, he submit, became His disciple. And when conquering Orissa and South India He came back to Bengal, then Bengal came to appreciate Him, partially.

Devotee: Mahārāja___________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. __________________ [?]

Devotee: ___________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________ [?] Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. So many small kings they’re all Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava of the influence of Pratāparudra, previously. Hare Kṛṣṇa. In Jagannātha Temple also the Vigraha, the ṣaḍ-bhuja Gaurāṅga Mūrti is established within. But the devotees they do not like to worship Mahāprabhu in His sannyāsa veśa, in the dress of renunciation. Ha, ha, ha, sannyāsa veśa.

Here, those that are incorporated in His līlā of Navadwīpa, they take it as Dvārakā, sannyāsa veśi gaurāṅga, as Dvārakeśa. When Mahāprabhu has returned in Bengal and He’s putting up with Vidyāvācaspati, Vidyāvācaspati’s building there.

And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he aspires from this Vṛndāvana, from Ganges side, as if he’s Rādhārāṇī with gopīs meeting Kṛṣṇa in Kurukṣetra, the Dvārakeśa. So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he’s meeting sannyāsī Mahāprabhu in Vidyānagara from far away, that he has met, the gopīs have met the Dvārakeśa and asking them to come again to Vṛndāvana. In Bhajana-lālasā we find in Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.

“When giving up that sannyāsa veśa You will come and join in Śrīvāsa Aṅgan, the rasa-maṇḍala of saṅkīrtana? There we will dance and chant with You the Name of Kṛṣṇa, Gaurāṅga at this. That is the acme of our hankering, that we want to get back Gaurāṅga in Śrīvāsa Aṅgan, the rasa-līlā-sthan.”

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Aspiration, that, “He’s taken sannyāsa and He’s undertaking such painful practices of a sannyāsī. And we’re here, we can’t help. We shall serve Him in all possible ways. And for the public good He has accepted this sannyāsa dress. We can’t tolerate that. The public activity, from private life He’s transferred into public life.”

“Kṛṣṇa also so, from His private life of enjoyment in Vṛndāvana He went to do public service. Bhu bar varan [?] the fighting with the king, the depressing Jarāsandha, Śiśupāla, all these things in political life He entered, leaving His free and usual enjoying life in Vṛndāvana. He has gone to render, to discharge His duty to the public. We don’t like it. He must remain with us, along with us, and we shall enjoy His company, dance, sing, all these things. That is our desire.” That is, their inner outlook is like that.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: So the residents of Navadwīpa see Purī as a kind of New Dvārakā, something like Dvārakā they see Purī?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Dvārakā, Purī, and Jagannātha is also there, the Dvārakeśa. And Mahāprabhu from Dvārakā He: the Guṇḍicā is supposed to be Vṛndāvana, Nava-Vṛndāvana. And in the chariot He’s taken from Dvārakā to Vṛndāvana, Mahāprabhu, that,

priyaḥ so 'yaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ sahacari kuru-kṣetra-militas

tathāhaṁ sā rādhā tad idam ubhayoḥ saṅgama-sukham

tathāpy antaḥ-khelan-madhura-muralī-pañcama-juṣe

mano me kālindī-pulina-vipināya spṛhayati

[Upon arriving in Kurukṣetra, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī said: “O My dear friend, now I am at last reunited with My most beloved Kṛṣṇa in Kurukṣetra. I am the same Rādhārāṇī, and He is the same Kṛṣṇa. We are enjoying Our meeting, but still I wish to return to the banks of the Kālindī, where I could hear the sweet melody of His flute sounding the fifth note beneath the trees of the Vṛndāvana forest.”] [Padyāvalī, 383]

“I am that Rādhā. He’s that Kṛṣṇa. But the environment is not very favourable, so I’m not happy. I’m taking Him to Vṛndāvana and there We’ll be happy, in comfort, We shall live. And here in Dvārakā We’re not in the proper mood. We can’t come.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was hankering to get his post within Navadwīpa Maṇḍala.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hmm?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, when he was in the Government service he was applying for the transfer to come to this District, I believe.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. He, when after his retirement he wanted to go to Vṛndāvana and live there, but anyhow he went to Tarakeshwar [?] for some business, and there he got a dream, twice, two nights consecutively.

“Where you are going, to Vṛndāvana? But in your own home there is some important service. You are to discover the real position of the birthplace of Śrī Gaurāṅga Deva. And you’ll have to do that. You don’t go to Vṛndāvana.”

Then he came and again took the service in Krishnanagar, he re-entered into the service, for the facility, for the advantage of getting, going through the records of the place. So there he began to be acquainted with the ancient records of the Gaura-Maṇḍala, and got one Hunter’s Statistics. There he found just on the other side of the Ganges this Māyāpur, MYAPUR, in the Hunter’s Statistics it was mentioned. And then also many documents of the transfer of land, old documents of the locality he collected. And there also there was ‘Māyāpur.’ And also in Bhakti-ratnākara it was mentioned that, “In the Māyāpur keli was the birthplace of Śrī Gaurāṅga Deva.” And then he found that Māyāpur in the old documents, the transfer of land, in this way he found something like here the Māyāpur should be located.

Then he wanted, “If Mahāprabhu really wants to discover His birth site by me, let Him show me something of that type.”

So one day on this side of the Ganges in early morning, about three or four o’clock, on the roof of a house he’s taking Hari-Nāma and fixing his eye towards that Māyāpur, with the expectation if anything can be seen by his eyes, anything divine. Then suddenly he found a flash of light on that side, and the saṅkīrtana going on. Then he attentively tried to trace the position of the place, and then anyhow found that a palm tree is standing there. Then, that day dropped.

Again on the Svarūpa Gaṅgā side on the roof of another building he was staring at that place taking Name, and then also suddenly some flash came, came and found that saṅkīrtana party. When he, the first day, after having his darśana in the morning he went to the place to trace whether that palm tree is there, and whether other trees are where, in this way he went to trace the land. With some experience he came out. And the next time when he saw from the Svarūpa Gaṅgā side, then another flash, he had some experience of the place and he could locate approximately. And the other day he went there and fixed the position, and that was the nearby the high land, that was selected for the temple. In this way the Yoga-pīṭha was found out.

And he went out himself for collection to erect some building and to place Mahāprabhu’s Śrī Mūrti pūjā there. Nichibara [?] State helped him a great deal, then this Kavi [?] the Vaiṣṇava State zamīndār. When he went to them for collection a lady was the proprietor. She read already the books, Jaiva Dharma and others of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and she was a Vaiṣṇava lady. She asked her manager, “My state belongs to Kṛṣṇa and His devotee has come. So what to give subscription, you forward all your income and expenditure and the whole paper to him, and ask him what the amount should be of subscription.” The lady told, “He’s a Vaiṣṇava and this is the state of the Lord. So when he has come he’s the owner of the state and let him sign how much and just show the income and the expenditure and leave the paper to him and ask him to sign how much.” That lady, famous lady. Just as Sumati Morarji she managed to help Swāmī Mahārāja to go to the West, so this lady did so. So anyhow that was done, nineteen, eighteen, ninety three or four, anyhow, sometime, that place was, the building was erected there perhaps and sevā.

Then he wished to hand it over to our Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura. He was reluctant in the beginning, but Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had to give some pressure. “That you don’t like to bear the trouble of the service of Mahāprabhu? Do you like to become a Māyāvādī, nirviśeṣa-vādī? You are seeking after your own comfort.”

Then Prabhupāda told this, “What to do? Then I had to come this side.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

When Gurudeva himself is saying about his weakness, how a disciple should look at him? He himself is expressing that he was so, and his Guru is correcting him. Guru is to show that my Guru is perfect, but still when he himself in his own mouth he says, expresses, ‘that I have some defect, this defect, and I was corrected.’ How this should be taken by his disciple? Perplexed! Then of course the explanation is there, many times. So, that āsura mohan [?], then this childish play of Kṛṣṇa, that He’s got so many defects, His guardians are trying to teach Him. Then Mahāprabhu, the guardians, vātsalya rasa, all these things there are. In Caitanya Bhāgavata, misra kayhe putra kane mahe narayan tata pita daran kara sikhan [?]

In a dream when Jagannātha Miśra is chastising Nimāi, boy Nimāi, for His lesson, then one day he had a dream that, “You are punishing your boy, but do you know who is He? He’s siddha nidha, all learning is within Him.”

Then Jagannātha Miśra also answered in the dream, “The son, what to speak of being siddha, but even he may be Nārāyaṇa Himself, but still it is my duty.” So this is what is vātsalya rasa.

misra kayhe putra kane mahe narayan tata pita daran kara sikhan [?]

Yaśodā won’t admit that, “My boy, he’s absolute. No, no. People, they’re jealous of me. I’ve got a good child. And they say no, this is not mine, He’s so and so. I don’t like these people. They’re coming to spoil my child.”

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: This is vātsalya rasa, pure vātsalya, won’t admit.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has got his eternal residence in Godrum?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I can’t follow. Bhaktivinoda?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has got his eternal residence in Godrum?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In Godrum, yes. Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura installed there: first Surabhi-kuñja and then Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja. Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja is the name of the kuñja of Lalitā Devī in Vṛndāvana. And our Prabhupāda he established Śvānanda- sukhada-kuñja in Rādhā-kuṇḍa. Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja’s position is on the north eastern corner of Rādhā-kuṇḍa in Vṛndāvana, the Lalitā Devī’s camp there. And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he constructed his house here and gave that name, Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja. Just as here, and Prabhupāda afterwards he established in Rādhā-kuṇḍa Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja, and gave the name Braja-Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja.

That came to my mind in some doubt it came. The Vṛndāvana Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja that is original, and in Navadwīpa of course it was established afterwards. But that is already Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja and Prabhupāda with some qualification established here Śvānanda- sukhada-kuñja and gave an adjective Braja-Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja. That is, this is original, this is original. Because his Gurudeva has expressed here Śvānanda-sukhada-kuñja, and Braja and Navadwīpa both eternal, whether this first and that second, or that first this second, that is in eternity, it cannot be considered in that way. Whether summer is first or winter is first, it is in a cyclic order. So Svarūpa Dāmodara also has given, deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau, caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptaṁ, rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ.___________ [?]

Devotee: Rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmād

ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau

[caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptaṁ

rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa svarūpam]

[“I worship Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Kṛṣṇa Himself, enriched with the emotions and radiance of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. As the Predominating and Predominated Moieties, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are eternally one, with separate individual identities. Now They have again united as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. This inconceivable transformation of the Lord’s internal pleasure-giving potency has arisen from the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.5]

They’re one and the same but still They divided Themselves into two in Vṛndāvana, in Vraja. Caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā. Again They have combined and come as Caitanya, caitanyākhyaṁ. Rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa svarūpam. So who is the first, who is the second: They’re both eternal. Eternal means co-existent.

If you want to ask whether winter is beginning, or the summer beginning, or the autumn beginning, the rainy beginning: what should be the beginning? We are to answer that all developing, co-existingly developing, simultaneously developing into this present figure. From crude form it is coming out, simultaneously the whole thing together.

So it is eternal simultaneous, both līlā. So asks us to taste and allow others to taste. One who is tasting something, we’re told that our tendency to express such sweet or good taste to others, that is also simultaneously grown, following our own taste. We cannot taste anything, good or bad, cannot taste or cannot do anything completely forgetful of our environment. Some sort of influence from the environment is always with us in our existence. The consciousness of the paraphernalia is indivisible in our own existence. The circumstance is also relative to our own self conception. We cannot conceive our position forgetful of the environment. It is not possible, so it comes to that. In our identification, the environment’s position is also inseparably connected. So we cannot be selfish. We cannot be selfish, independent of the environment.

We like our family. We like our country. We like the land. We like the brahmāṇḍa: this way. I’m a member and I have got my Guru, that vātsalya rasa, or mādhurya rasa, that friend rasa. In the seed everything is represented, so co-relative.

The law of relativity, that Einstein says, “We cannot divorce a particular, separate a particular thing from the environment. That thing plus something, some probability should be calculated with that, law of relativity.”

The law of relativity requires us to think of outside. So the enjoyment within, and the wish, the will of distributing the same enjoyment to the environment, both is eternal. One cannot be traced as the beginning in particular. So the magnanimous...

End of 82.02.18.C_82.02.20.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.19.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa padāra, the continued recollection of Kṛṣṇa, the divine feet of Kṛṣṇa, avismṛtiḥ, not that un-forgetfulness of the remembrance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, of His divine feet.

avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi [ca śaṁ tanoti

sattvasya śuddhiṁ paramātma-bhaktiṁ, jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāgya-yuktam]

[“For one who remembers the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, all inauspiciousness soon disappears, and one’s good fortune expands. In other words, one becomes free from all material contamination, one attains liberation from repeated birth and death, and one’s real spiritual life begins. As one’s heart becomes gradually purified, one’s devotion for the Lord within the heart awakens, and one realises the Paramātmā. Thus one gradually develops knowledge (jñāna), realisation (vijñāna), and renunciation (vairāgya).”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.12.55]

It will dissipate, destroy, abhadra, no bhadra is desirable, what is not good. The element that is not good in us, nasty, which is nasty, which is impure within us, that will be destroyed by the continuance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in any stage. In its lower stage, in slightest negligent connection even: can destroy the un - desirability of our connection with things of lower nature. Kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi ca śaṁ tanoti, and it will promote maṅgalam, goodness within us, śaṁ tanoti. Sattvasya śuddhiṁ, the substantial character of our existence will be improved, sattvasya śuddhiṁ, our soul existence, that will be purified. Our standpoint, our understanding, our aspiration, everything will be purified. Paramātma-bhaktiṁ, and we shall attain devotion, attachment towards the super-subjective realm, jñānaṁ ca. And our knowledge, our conception about the same will improve: jñānaṁ ca.

One word missing [vijñāna], three lettered word, jñānaṁ ca, virāgya-yuktam. Jñāna, virāgya, are the two co-relative terms, jñāna, virāgya, jñānaṁ ca, virāgya-yuktam, one word missing from the memory.

And the knowledge, the conception about that, will have in its retinue, the proper conception and apathy to this mundane world. Virāgya jñānam, virāgya-yuktam, avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa-padāra. So anyhow we are to maintain our Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and here the advice is that, try to maintain. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is the medicine, and there is no other medicine which can produce Kṛṣṇa consciousness, cure our disease and discover Kṛṣṇa consciousness within us. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the cause of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And we have to get help from the sādhus who have got Kṛṣṇa consciousness within them.

Just as from one light another candle may be lit. A candle cannot produce light from within, but it is to be lit from another candle. Something like that. We are to, we are to awaken our buried Kṛṣṇa consciousness which is covered by anyābhilāṣa, karma, jñāna. That should be awakened with the help of another light. That will come to help the slept Kṛṣṇa consciousness within us, and our consciousness will arise from its sleep, as it is. So method is like that, sādhu-saṅga, kṛṣṇa-janma-mūla.

kṛṣṇa-bhakti-janma-mūla haya ‘sādhu-saṅga’

[kṛṣṇa-prema janme, teṅho punar mukhya aṅga]

[“The root cause of devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa is association with advanced devotees. Even when one’s dormant love for Kṛṣṇa awakens, association with devotees is still most essential.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22.83]

At the same time it is told that it is ahaituky, causeless. How to harmonize? Kṛṣṇa bhakti, the faith in Kṛṣṇa, or the devotion towards Kṛṣṇa, we can get from the sādhu. At the same time it is told that it is causeless. So Cakravartī Ṭhākura has: ahaituky apratihatā.

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

ahaituky apratihatā, [yayātmā suprasīdati]

[“The supreme occupation (dharma) for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendental Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.2.6]

It is causeless and it cannot be checked, ahaituky apratihatā.

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

ahaituky apratihatā, yayātmā suprasīdati

When it is awakened within our heart we can feel that the heart is getting wonderfully satisfied. The satisfaction is produced in our heart, we can feel it. Ahaituky apratihatā, no cause and cannot be checked, cannot be opposed, any opposition cannot have any effect there. It is such. Then: bhaktyā sañjātayā bhaktyā [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.3.31], bhakti comes from bhakti, so it is ahaituky. The light is there, another candle is lit from it. From light, light coming. So it is ahaituky. In this way we are to trace the original light. That is eternal self existence. And it is extending itself. So it has no cause, it is causeless. The cause is there eternally and it is only extending itself. And apratihatā, it may be, temporarily it may be opposed or apparently checked, but it:

nehābhikrama-nāśo 'sti, pratyavāyo na vidyate

[svalpam apy asya dharmasya, trāyate mahato bhayāt]

[“Even a small beginning in this devotional service cannot go in vain, nor can any loss be suffered. The most insignificant practice of such devotional service saves one from the all-devouring fear of repeated birth and death in this world.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.40]

It won’t leave you. For the time being it may suppressed, a little. But it cannot be finished, it is of eternal type, eternal type. It has got connection with the eternal aspect of the universe, so apratihatā. We are to come to, come near such sort of existence. We are to come in connection with that plane of life, a particular plane, plenary existence or acquaintance of nature. It is there. Only we are to connect, have connection with that.

avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi ca śaṁ tanoti

sattvasya śuddhiṁ paramātma-bhaktiṁ, jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāgya-yuktam

That vijñāna: that was missing, jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāgya-yuktam. Jñāna means direct knowledge of the thing. And vijñāna that a systematic knowledge. In Bhagavad-gītā also we find vijñāna.

jñānam te' ham sa-vijñānam, idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ

yaj jñātvā neha bhūyo 'nyaj, jñātavyam avaśiṣyate

[“Now I shall fully describe to you, with the taste of the flavour of My divine sweetness, this knowledge of My grand majestic splendour and opulences. After knowing all this, absolutely nothing will remain for you to know, being situated on this beautiful, joyful, and victorious path.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.2]

Sa-vijñānam, jñānam, sa-vijñānam, jñāna means a general knowledge. And vijñāna means the knowledge of its constituent parts, as a system, systematic knowledge. So jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāgya-yuktam, you will attain the knowledge of the Absolute as a system, a part, hierarchy, gradation.

And virāgya means, twofold meaning, one negative, another positive. Negative; you will have no attraction for non-God, that is mundane attachment. No attraction for mundane necessity. And positive, viśiṣṭa-rāga, you will have viśiṣṭa, excellent rāga, anurāga, attachment, viśiṣṭa. Which is accepted by calculation and elimination, that sort of rāga, in a proper place, not in the approximate good, bad, all mixture, not that. But eliminative attraction, adjusted attraction you will have.

Virāgya-yuktam, jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāgya-yuktam, the knowledge that is supported by attraction and also experience of the system, system, as much as necessary in any part of it. Discriminative attachment: attachment for the eye, attachment for the nail, they should not be equal. Adjusted attachment in a particular system, more or less attachment should be well adjusted. Wherever, how much attention is necessary according to that. The head is more the important and the leg is little less. In this way proper adjusted attachment for the systematic whole, you will acquire gradually. First hazy, as a mass of attraction, and then the attraction will be systematized as much as you will come in connection with the other side, the object of your attachment in a systematic way you will be able to realize. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

Avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi ca śaṁ tanoti. In general way the good advancement, sattvasya śuddhiṁ, your understanding in its progress will eliminate undesirable portion from it. Your conception will be more clear and clear. More and more clear. So undesirable things from your conception will gradually vanish and it will lead to the perfect conception, sattvasya śuddhiṁ.

In the beginning the sattya, what you come to understand approximately to be eternal sat-cid-ānanda, but there will be gradual development of your understanding. More clear and more pure! First a mass of light, then a figure, then the potency, then the līlā with the potency, in this way your approach will be closer and closer and many things close and minute things will come to your view. The minutest part also, detailed things, the full cid-vilasa will be gradually very close to you, or you will be led closer to the specified differentiated view of the plane, higher and higher. In this way development progressive, progressive life in bhakti, in devotion. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Any question?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So when it says,

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, [sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ]

[“After many, many births and deaths, one who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.19]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti. From Brahman conception the different instalments, first all consciousness, then the consciousness is of individual character. Individuality is added to consciousness. No consciousness can exist without personality. The consciousness is personal. The next step will come. The consciousness is for personal: personality and consciousness that is, cannot be separated one from another. What is differentiated from personality that is only a halo of the personality, something like, that is Brahman, there also minutest personality, combination, akṣaram. Kṣaram atīto ‘ham, akṣarād api cottamaḥ.

[yasmāt kṣaram atīto ‘ham, akṣarād api cottamaḥ

ato ‘smi loke vede ca, prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ]

[“Because I am transcendental to the fallible souls and also superior to My infallible eternal associates, My glories are sung in the world and in the scriptures as Puruṣottama, the Supreme Person.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.18]

Kṣara means perishable changeable or unchangeable, eternal. Substance of two kinds: changing or unchanging. Kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni.

[dvāv imau puruṣau loke, kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca

kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni, kūṭa-stho 'kṣara ucyate

uttamaḥ puruṣas tv anyaḥ, paramātmety udāhṛtaḥ

yo loka-trayam āviśya, bibharty avyaya īśvaraḥ]

[“In this world, there are two kinds of souls: the fallible and the infallible. All beings from Lord Brahmā down to the lowest stationary life-forms are known a fallible (as they have deviated from their intrinsic nature). But the personalities who are eternally situated in their divine nature are known as infallible (personal associates of the Lord).”] [“But totally distinct from both these types of souls, there is a Supreme Person who is known as Paramātmā, the Supersoul. He is the Supreme Lord. Entering into the three worlds in His eternal form, He maintains all beings in the universe.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.16-17]

“Whatever we see in the changing aspect of the world that is called kṣaraḥ: and ākṣara unchangeable. I am transcending, I exist transcending both of these two substances, kṣaraḥ, ākṣara. I am Purusottama. So My name is Puruṣottama.”

Puruṣottama means Vāsudeva. Vāsudeva, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.19]. When the jñānī, the Impersonal School, they come to understand that the prime cause of consciousness of their quest is personal one, then they come to conceive Vāsudeva. But such jñānīs are very rarely to be found. Mostly jñānīs cannot cross this line. They are lost there:

ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas, tvayi asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ

āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ, patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ

[“O lotus-eyed Lord, although non-devotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. Although they may rise to the level of impersonal Brahman realisation, they fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they neglect to worship Your lotus feet.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.2.32]

They generally, the general faith of the jñānīs to climb up to the highest position with great effort, and then when they cannot catch that consciousness means person, cannot cross that; they have to revert back, come back, fall back. And those that can cross, ‘Yes, consciousness means person; the big personality, I am small.’ So bhakti begins there. The relation of subordination of the lower to the higher that comes to be effected. And sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.19], and such a person amongst the jñānīs is very rarely to be found who can take the positive connection for the higher aspect of life, sudurlabhaḥ. And mostly they come back. They have to come back from that. After much penances they climbed up to that high mark, and because they did not accommodate that the higher entity must be dealt with devotion so they had to come back.

Those are vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.19], Vāsudeva is personal, Puruṣottama, but they can cross the line and enter Vaikuṇṭha. And there we are told gradually as their vision grows more and more they can find potency on the side of the personal God. Then becomes a devotee of Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa, and enters complete in Vaikuntha sevā. But there is awe, reverence, there are śāstric rules, and there are examples of the higher realized souls to guide them. And there they do not find the whole of their innate nature. Having full engagement some sort of thirst have no corresponding relation to satisfy its inner tendency.

And when they feel some urge from within, they are to search after other rasa, a purer friendship, friendly service, then the filial service. And the mādhurya rasa service, service of a sweetheart. Consorthood urges him to go up, or go deeper, and gradually coming in contact with such agents, gradually they find their own heart blossoming and blossoming to its fullest extent takes him gradually towards Goloka Vṛndāvana.

He can see that what was Brahman, then Paramātmā or Vāsudeva, then Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa, that has gradually come into him as Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not Nārāyaṇa consciousness. Superseding Nārāyaṇa consciousness he comes in contact with Kṛṣṇa consciousness of the reality. He’ll awaken, he finds himself awakened in a plane where he sees the all connecting, all harmonizing principal is no longer Nārāyaṇa, but He’s Kṛṣṇa, as Kṛṣṇa fully awakened. His heart also fully awakened, and at the same time it says that the environment, the object of his search is also fully equipped: full-fledged theism. Full-fledged theism; the theistic conviction, conception, receives its satisfaction in the fullest way.

Just as with the opening of the eye we can see the world, and according to the degree of our sight we come to the subtlest thing of the environment. So also by our inner awakening of the fullest type we come to a particular world, environment, and that is Vṛndāvana, Goloka. Vṛndāvana: the land of love, spontaneous labour, movement. Movement is spontaneous and all around we find only friendly plane, plain, friendly and very intimacy, intimacy. And no quench for higher but with the quench, eternal quench of coming in closer relation with them, closer connection with them. No possibility of any higher change of environment. But that is almost final and now only remaining things, how to come in, from closer to more close connection with the environment. And that becomes the initiative of our movement there, more and more intimate connection with the environment. Environment is eternal. But our intimacy, there is the competition. The movement and the guidance is there.

That is what may be thought of as nitya-līlā. Nitya-līlā. Līlā means movement, some sort of necessity. Repetition, but ever new, ever new, only question of time. Every day when I am hungry in the morning food is tasteful to me. Not always. So by the movement of the time it is like that. Everything is palatable, not stale. It is managed by Yogamāyā in such a way. The līlā is eternal. Fullest satisfaction of all the inner parts of our system: the wholesale satisfaction of every atom of our constituent part of our spiritual body. In this way things go on.

prati aṅga lāgi kānde, prati aṅga mora

[Jñāna Dāsa says in his Vaiṣṇava-padāvali - Anthology of Vaiṣṇava Songs:

“Every part of My being cries for the corresponding part of Him.”]

Every limb, every part of my limb cries for the corresponding part of the limb of the other side. The sambhanda, it may come to such a stage that every atom constituting my body, my spiritual body, mind, whatever it may be, will aspire after the union of the every corresponding part of the environment. And this way, in such friendly way, so many are moving there, and it is adjusted by Yogamāyā. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Prati aṅga lāgi kānde, prati aṅga mora. The highest conception: every atom in my existence is in loving aspiration with the environment. And that is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa consciousness has circulated me. Circulated means from all sides it has embraced me. I’m lost in the thought of Kṛṣṇa consciousness which is detailed, elaborate, acquaintance. I’m merged, I’m merged in the deeper most part of Kṛṣṇa consciousness where I shall feel that Kṛṣṇa has captured every atom of my existence. Every atom is feeling as if separate pleasure by His embracing. By His embracing, and that also is possible only in consorthood of relationship; that every atom has been embraced, captured. Coming through the most intimate connection, ādi rasa or mukhya rasa, the name of mādhurya rasa is ādi rasa. That is the most original. That is the source of all other rasa. All other rasa is dependent on ādi rasa. And mukhya rasa, all rasa is represented there, all other rasa, sum total of all rasa, of course with the gist of them. We are told like that and Mahāprabhu came with this, anarpita-carīṁ cirāt [Caitanya- caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.4]. What, it is considered never any distribution, possible distribution of it was previously, before Mahāprabhu.

In Jaiva Dharma we find one Vaiṣṇava is asking his Gurudeva: “Devotion that is eternal, but why do you say that it came from Mahāprabhu?”

Then his Guru, that Paramahaṁsa Bābājī, his Guru, he’s saying, “I visited Vṛndāvana and asked the eternal servitor of Śrī Caitanyadeva, Śrī Sanātana Goswāmī, anarpita-carīṁ cirāt, what is the meaning underlying? What has never been dealt with before?”

Then he told, “Bhakti is eternal, generally, in Nārada-sūtra, Śaṇḍilya-sūtra, all these things. But the type of devotion what Mahāprabhu, what we meet after the advent of Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanyadeva; that was not previously any time open to the ordinary person. So it is called anarpita-carīṁ. And what is that? That this is that, this complete surrender to Kṛṣṇa in consorthood of relation where every atom of the jīva soul gets welcomed and embraced by the corresponding atom of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in mādhurya rasa. That was not open to the public before. This is my finding or my faith. You may accept or may not accept.” Sanātana Goswāmī told it to the Vaiṣṇava Ācārya, “This is my private conception. You may take it or may not.” Sanātana Goswāmī told. So, devotion in general there is beginning.

prāyeṇa munayo rājan, nivṛttā vidhi-ṣedhataḥ

nairguṇya-sthā ramante sma, guṇā-nukathane hareḥ

[“O King Parīkṣit, mainly the topmost transcendentalists, who are above the regulative principles and restrictions, take pleasure in describing the glories of the Lord.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.1.7]

ātmārāmāś ca munayo, nirgranthā apy urukrame

kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim, ittham-bhūta guṇo hariḥ

[“Those sages who, being merged in the bliss of the spirit soul, are totally free from the binding knot of mental images - they too engage in the unmotivated service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the performer of marvellous deeds. This is but one of the qualities of the Supreme Lord Hari, who charms the entire world.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.7.10]

Begins from here.

pariniṣṭhito 'pi nairguṇye, uttamaḥ-śloka-līlayā

gṛhīta-cetā rājarṣe, ākhyānaṁ yad adhītavān

[“O saintly King, I was certainly situated perfectly in transcendence, yet I was still attracted by the delineation of the pastimes of the Lord, who is described by enlightened verses.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.1.9]

The beginning of bhakti is śanta rasa, catuḥsana.

tasyāravinda-nayanasya padāravinda-, kiñjalka-miśra-tulasī-makaranda-vāyuḥ

antar-gataḥ sva-vivareṇa cakāra teṣāṁ, saṅkṣobham akṣara-juṣām api citta-tanvoḥ

[“When the breeze carrying the aroma of Tulasī leaves from the toes of the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead entered the nostrils of those sages, they experienced a change both in body and in mind, even though they were attached to the impersonal Brahman understanding.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 3.15.43]

The primary admission into devotional school: above jñāna, vairāgya, śanta rasa.

na tathā me priyatama ātmayonir na śaṅkaraḥ

na ca saṅkarṣaṇo na śrīr naivātmā ca yathā bhavān

[“Neither Brahmā nor Śīva are as dear to Me as you; My elder brother Saṅkarṣaṇa is not as dear to Me as you, nor even Lakṣmī Devī. Even My own Self is not as dear to Me as you.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.14.15]

Step by step the development of the devotional school has been proved here, so gradation is there.

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ

[“After many, many births and deaths, one who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.19]

The beginning of devotional life, and then there is step by step going up. In Rāmānanda Rāya:

varṇāśramācāravatā puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān

viṣṇur ārādhyate panthā nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam

[“The only way to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, is to worship Him by properly executing one’s prescribed duties in the social system of varṇa and āśrama.”] [Viṣṇu-Purāṇa, 3.8.9] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.58]

The beginning.

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi, yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kuruṣva mad arpaṇam

[“O son of Kuntī, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you offer in charity, and whatever austere vows you may keep - do everything as an offering unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.27]

Second step: third,

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā, na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

[“The spotlessly pure-hearted and self-satisfied soul who has attained to his conscious divine nature neither grieves nor craves for anything. Seeing all beings equally (in the conception of My supreme energy), he gradually achieves supreme devotion (prema-bhakti) unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.54]

No, third:

sarva-dharmān parityajya, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

[“Totally abandoning all kinds of religion, surrender exclusively unto Me. I will liberate you from all kinds of sins, so do not despair.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66]

ājñajaiva guṇān doṣān, mayādiṣṭān api svakān

dharmmān saṁtyajya yaḥ sarvvān, myāṁ bhajet sa ca sattamaḥ

[“In the scriptures of religion, I, the Supreme Lord, have instructed men of all statuses of life in their duties. Duly comprehending the purificatory virtue of executing those prescribed duties as well as the vice of neglecting them, one who abandons all allegiance to such dutifulness in order to engage in My devotional service is the best of honest men (sādhu).”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.11.32]

Then fourth:

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā, na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

[“The spotlessly pure-hearted and self-satisfied soul who has attained to his conscious divine nature neither grieves nor craves for anything. Seeing all beings equally (in the conception of My supreme energy), he gradually achieves supreme devotion (prema-bhakti) unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.54]

Then, “eho bāhya,” [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.59], the fourth step: “eho bāhya.” Then:

jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām

sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir, ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām

[Lord Brahmā said to the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa: “Oh Lord, Oh Unconquerable One, those devotees who, completely giving up all attempts on the path of jñāna of attaining the non-differentiated platform known as Brahman by hearing the transcendental narratives of Your pastimes (kathā), which emanates from the lotus mouths of the mahā-bhāgavat sādhus and pass their lives by engaging their body, mind and words in pure devotion, easily conquer You (they easily get Your transcendental association), although You are the most difficult to attain in the three worlds.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.3]

That is the fifth, “eho bāhya āge kaha āra.” [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.59] Then,

[yan-nama-sruti-matrena, puman bhavati nirmalah]

tasya tirtha-padah kim va, dasanam avasisyate

[“A man becomes purified simply by hearing the Holy Name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose lotus feet create the holy places of pilgrimage. Therefore what remains to be attained by those who have become His servants?”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.72]

Sixth, then the sākhya rasa, then vātsalya rasa, eho bāhya uttama, then mādhurya rasa, in this way it is going up. Systematically we are to understand and digest. Digest what is bhakti. In the beginning we must have a broad conception of the positive world, the world of dedication. The world of exploitation we are living in at present. Just the opposite life is possible similar, a systematic and progressive life of dedication. And the renunciation, that is in the middle. We must have, tre dhani vadi padam [?] Three checks of the Lord, exploitation, renunciation and dedication. The basic faith we must have.

End of 82.02.19.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.19.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Buddhi Yoga Dāsa: When Kṛṣṇa took His Mohinī Avatāra and Śiva was following Him, but in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam they say that there was no issue. But in South India they worship an issue which is called Hari Hara Putra. Is this bona fide?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who’s putting this question?

Devotee: Buddhi Yoga.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Buddhi Yoga, when has he come?

Buddhi Yoga Dāsa: I’ve just come.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Today.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Today? All right! Then, what is your question?

Buddhi Yoga Dāsa: When Kṛṣṇa took His Mohinī Avatāra and Śiva was following Him, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. What is the question underlying?

Buddhi Yoga Dāsa: The question is, in South India they worship an issue as Hari Hara Putra, the combination of Śiva and Viṣṇu. I was asking if this was bona fide? There was an issue, there was a putra from Mohinī and Śiva.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say, in South India?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: In South India they worship the Hari Hara Putra, the son of Mohinī and Śiva. Is it correct or not?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha. Mohinī and Śiva. This is the first time, we travelled throughout the South India, the first time this comes to me. And it gives me a suggestion that there is a class of pāṣaṇḍīs, followers of Śiva, extreme followers of Śiva, it is perhaps their created blaspheme. This never occurred. And if it is found in any Purāṇa, Liṅga Purāṇa or this tamasic Purāṇa, then also it should be taken as, Mayavada macharsan patchan navodam utchatay [?] Later created by some of the mischievous persons in that way, pāṣaṇḍa Śiva.

And so Rāmānuja told, Bhagre na cakre mano pi no gadchet so mangiram [?] “It is better that a tiger will devour you. Yet, never the less you must not enter into the temple of Śiva.” No gadchet so mandiram [?] “So for shelter, don’t go to take shelter in Śiva temple: rather, the tiger may devour you. You’ll be less harmed.”

So Śiva: I have not heard like that, so far. Rather it is mentioned in Bhāgavatam that Śiva was so much excited seeing that Mohinī Mūrti. Mohinī Mūrti was not a material one, only Śiva wanted, Śiva was not present when Mohini Mūrti, Viṣṇu distributed nectar amongst the Gods and the demons. Śiva heard it afterwards, and he was so much charmed with the description of the beauty of Mohinī Mūrti that he came to the place later on when all things have finished.

Then Śiva prayed, “If I could have seen that beautiful Mūrti.”

Then when he went to Nārāyaṇa and prayed for this, then suddenly he saw that beautiful woman figure as Mohinī, just appeared before him, before his eyes.

And Śiva’s wife was just on his side, but still, wife in the side, that means the man must have some check, but he forgot himself, that his guardian is there. Forgot, and so much besides himself, he approached to catch her. But the Mohinī Mūrti, that was a phantom and that slipped away, then vanished.

But Śiva was so much excited that the semen fell from him, and wherever the semen fell, the gold was produced thereby. It has been mentioned in Bhāgavatam. But not any possibility there was of union between Mohinī and Śiva. No possibility.

And Viṣṇu is always Puruṣa, enjoyer, and not to be enjoyed anywhere. Intrinsically, substantially, He’s always enjoyer, and not to be enjoyed. That is prakṛti. We have never heard that Viṣṇu took the form of women. He’s enjoyer, not to be enjoyed. Predominating Moiety, not Predominated Moiety!

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Where have you found that?

Devotee: In Kerala.

Devotees: Where? What place?

Devotee: All over Kerala the temples of Ayappa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then, ancient or recent?

Devotee: They say ancient.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They say: what you have, your experience?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s talking Ayappa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ayappa means?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: There’s one particular...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ayappa? Particular Province?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No, particular deity called Ayappa. You must have heard of them in that time also.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where is it located, in what town?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Many places in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, many people worship Ayappa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ayappa means the son of Viṣṇu and Śiva?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes. I also saw that. They’re bogus.

Devotee: There main shrine is in Shabri Malay [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I did not hear. I heard only that they take Viṣṇu as the brother-in-law of Śiva, because in Vṛndāvana, from Yaśodā the twin came asta-bhuja-devi, whom Vasudeva took to Mathurā from Vṛndāvana, the Asta Bhuja Mūrti, the sister of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa was born and asta-bhuja Mūrti born. Vasudeva took Kṛṣṇa to Yaśodā and took her son. So, they say that that asta-bhuja Mūrti, Kātyānanī, she was the sister of Kṛṣṇa and because asta-bhuja is the wife of Śiva, so Viṣṇu becomes wife’s brother, that is brother-in-law. In this way, they represent Viṣṇu. The extreme section that worship, that take Śiva to be the highest god. Four sections of the Śiva worshippers we found in the South. Pasupat, I forget the name, four sections they are divided into.

But I never heard hitherto that such one child has been...but I found the name of Nija Linga papa [?] Nija Linga papa [?] whose, papa means father, whose father is his own; who is his own father. Nija Linga papa [?] He’s father of Himself. That is Nija Linga [?] That is Svayambhū, He has created Himself. That is Svayambhū. “By Itself,” of Hegel, “He’s by reality by itself.” Nija Linga [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Māyā akrti [?] Mahāprabhu says that Sanātana Goswāmī that, mahishi haran [?] Keśa Avatāra, Rudra vakan [?] that is all imagination to suit some purpose what is that word technically known, Mahāprabhu told, remarked, āsura mohan.

Just as Śaṅkara was ordered that, “Go and try to take away the general attention of the people against Me, do away from Me. Lokan madvi mukan koro [?]”

That is for the utility of segregation. In a hospital the more serious patients are taken away for the interest of the less serious patients. So this policy has been adopted, that the, who are great offenders, serious offenders, more heinous, they should be secluded. They’re all offenders, more or less, but the most desperate should be separated to save the mild offenders. For the interest of the mild offenders, the grave offenders should be separated. So those who are, whose disposition is more atheistic, they should be separated from the wavering, hesitating public. So madvi koram kuro [?], that “I am God.” Preach that, it has been said like that. Lokan madvi mukan kuru [?] What’s the name you told?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Ayappa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ayappa. Aya means aya, apa means father. Aya means masaya, apa means father, pita mahasaya. Ayappa, aya means father, apa means also father, aya means father aya. Both pita – ayappa – bap e bap – something like that, father of the father, ayappa, the father of the father.

Devotee: Aya sometimes means big brother.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Meaning may come to this, aya, bap apa, father’s father, that is father’s father, ayappa.

Devotee: _______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________________________ [?] Anyhow, that. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Any concoction, a curious concoction!

Devotee: Mahārāja, I was wondering, since today is Ekādaśī, if you could tell us a little something about the importance of Ekādaśī.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ekādaśī. Aprākṛta. Aprākṛta means which is like prākṛta. Super- mundane, aprākṛta, which is similar to mundane, but not mundane, that is aprākṛta, super-mundane. The mundane colour is there, so the word mundane is used. But we are to remind, give warning, that this is not mundane though similar to mundane, so, aprākṛta. So we are told... Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja is going away?

Devotee: _______________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...super-mundane, so like mundane, similarity. It bears the similarity of mundane. So as we find here that by the influence of the Moon, here in this world, everything by the influence of the Moon, from the heat of the world, or the rasa, means the watery portion in the body, that increases, in every place, in the samudra, in ocean also, this draw, the ebb and tide, what is that, ebb and tide?

Aranya Mahārāja: High and low tide.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: High and low. So in full Moon and new Moon, nearing both these occasions there the watery portion is swallowed, is enhanced, and thereby the enjoying spirit is also developed. I’m talking of it from the lecture of my Guru Mahārāja in Kurukṣetra in nineteen twenty seven or twenty eight. The basis, scientific basis that by the movement of the Earth, Moon planet and the Sun, the heat becomes less: and the exciting rasa, juice in our body is enhanced, and thereby it increases the tendency of exploitation, enjoyment. So, fasting is necessary to meet with that external movement of the nature, the fasting can save us from that peculiar reaction. So fasting has been recommended, and especially if one cannot fast at all, it’s impossible, then he may take to some classes of diet that will give less cause for excitement, so anukalpa. But mainly fasting, why? To check the senses, because the senses at that time, by the natural flow, it becomes more intense, and the result is that he’s excited, and he wants to enjoy, to encroach on others, on the environment. So this unfair encroachment of one’s own self, to be controlled, this fasting has been recommended; this is one way.

And another way, if it is taken to the centre; by, in such season, that Kṛṣṇa Himself, He also feels more necessity of enjoying, and when Kṛṣṇa feels more necessity, the devotees, they get a greater chance of service. The time is very valuable for them, because Kṛṣṇa wants to enjoy, and at that time, devotees should be busy to supply the things for His enjoyment, so much so that they won’t have any time to feed themselves. Upa sāmīpya vāsa, upa means sāmīpya, always to remain by the side of Kṛṣṇa, whatever He wants, only to supply. They forget to take their own food etc., or any other thing. They want to be more busily engaged for the service of Kṛṣṇa, because in the time of need they will fetch more remuneration, that is affinity towards Kṛṣṇa; more grace, so upa sāmīpya vāsa. And secondary is to, by fasting we can make our body dry, and so our enjoying spirit will be lessened. These two: the general explanation.

Then there are so many things, that everything is conscious, everything is personal. So Ekādaśī has got her personal character, and she devotes herself for the service of Kṛṣṇa with all, accompanying them in the service of Kṛṣṇa, engaged them. And does not know any food or anything else, and does not allow others also in her group to take food and waste-time, but always engagement with the service of Kṛṣṇa, underlying meaning is that. Am I clear?

Devotee: Yes.

Parvat Mahārāja: Why is it then, that we take some food, and not other foods?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That I told, that is less injurious. Those that are considered to be less injurious, not more exciting, in that way it has been. And also it is mentioned in another way in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. Some peculiar sins, they’re fond of taking their shelter in those places which we reject. Pāpa means a type of sin that are very fond of taking their shelter in those trees and those places which we surely want to avoid. It is mentioned like that. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, can you tell us also about the importance of Dvādaśī?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, Ekādaśī, Dvādaśī, then Pūrṇimā, Amavasya. So in the beginning Dvādaśī is more: in another word we are told, another aspect, approach, that Ekādaśī, Dvādaśī, they are very favourite tithi of Hari. So, in that the underlying cause already explained, but it is told that these two tithis they are very favourite to Hari. And in those tithis, if we serve Hari, Hari will be pleased with a smaller service.

So, Dvādaśī, Ekādaśī, both are very favourite to Hari. So Dvādaśī has been called more favourite but little lenient. So Ekādaśī only aṣṭa mahā Dvādaśī, then there we can leave Ekādaśī and we observe Dvādaśī, otherwise Ekādaśī observance is compulsory. Though Dvādaśī is also honoured and favourite of Hari, still Ekādaśī has got preference for fasting. And only in the eight cases, by the mixture of nakṣatra tithi etc, that Dvādaśī has got the preference over Ekādaśī.

That is the time when our small service will give us greater result. That is the clue, the key. In Ekādaśī, in Dvādaśī, if we serve, service is small, but we get some greater remuneration. Remuneration means His prema, priti, serving attitude, our earnestness, all these things will be enhanced at that particular time, season.

But the scientific cause in that sense, that Hari in that time because pure, because Hari wants to consume more from the service. So, that is the fortune of the servitors, that Hari demands more service, so the importance for the servitors. At that time during Ekādaśī and Dvādaśī, less service of Hari is more useful. That is the key. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. And in the approach of Pūrṇimā, Amavasya, where the rasa, that the material eccentricity of enjoying energy becomes to the highest degree, so, check in the beginning the check, before full Moon and new Moon, that is checked nearby.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

[A devotee places a wireless microphone on Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja’s clothing]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: It is a microphone that works, wireless microphone.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, in any place it may be placed?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Anywhere.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I’m told that one button, this button was presented by America to Kruschev or from Kruschev to American President, “I’m presenting this button to you.” And it was there, and whatever they’re talking all reported.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: It is like that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And in the second war I was told that one Japanese, half mad sādhu, he was posted in Burma. Under a tree, he was a madman begging, and spending his days in some meditation and etc. But he had a peculiar type of machine, something like in his hand, that was detected. And then it was found that he was a spy, the sādhu, but only what he speaks sometimes, this hand watch perhaps, and that is transmitted.

Parvat Mahārāja: They think that we Western Vaiṣṇavas, that we are from the C.I.A.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They’re of that mentality. Sama shila bhajanti vai [?] “They’re all of political mind.” I was told that there was one leader of communistic thought previously, one Nipen [?] Professor Nipen [?] when he came here, he also gave lecture, and he told that, “I went to meet Bhāvānanda Mahārāja.”

Swāmī Mahārāja was present at that time. But he told, “You Indians, you don’t like, you don’t want to put faith in God; it is very wonderful. You first put faith, and then you see whether He is or not. Beforehand you say, ‘there is no God, no God,’ but come to see God in a process that has been recommended: then you will know.”

So that gentleman told, that Professor here, “That I was not defeated by his arguments, but I could trace his simplicity, and that attracted me.” That gentleman told.

And I was told by another gentleman that he approached Bhāvānanda Mahārāja, “You are all C.I.A,” all these things. “That we wonder that in India, you cannot think it that a man can exclusively devote his life for spiritual purpose. We are to see that in India, the land famous for its spiritual culture.”

So, they are all, so it justifies our attitude of Guru Mahārāja to approach the West, that these are slave mentality, they’re doing right. The Indians or Asians, they are more or less hankering up, staring at European culture, civilization. So they are all slaves to that culture, scientific civilization, so they should be approached, not these people who are always hankering after the glamour of present civilization which is found in Europe and America, in the Western countries. So, it is useless to approach these people, but rather we shall try to approach them. So, they’re all more or less political minded, mostly political minded, can’t see beyond politics, this body conception.

Though the land is famous for spiritual cultivation, but this Kali-yuga just the opposite. And so Mahāprabhu has come with the highest conception of spirituality, the highest degree of spiritual conception. He had to come to retaliate, to save the situation. The highest form of theism, a drop of the highest form of theism may be dealt with to these persons. Other medicines won’t work. Only the highest type of medicine can work here. So in some other ages also, men who have got real sense, they aspire after a birth in Kali-yuga. Apparently so unfavourable for spiritual life; so very unfavourable for spiritual life this Kali-yuga, but still, sāragrāhī, there are persons in any other yuga where apparently the environment is more spiritual, they want a birth in this Kali, the adverse position, that the highest degree of theism is distributed here.

kaliṁ sabhājayanty āryā, guṇa jñāḥ sāra-bhāginaḥ

yatra saṅkīrtanenaiva, sarva-svārtho 'bhilabhyate

[“Those who are actually advanced in knowledge are able to appreciate the essential value of this age of Kali. Such enlightened persons worship Kali-yuga because in this fallen age all perfection of life can easily be achieved by the performance of saṅkīrtana.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.36]

Only by small participation into that higher type of theism, one can be fulfilled in all respects, aspects of life. So, because the environment is unfavourable, the guardian, our guardian is more thoughtful about our goodness, welfare. Taking more care; more attentive to take care of us. Because the environment is so harmful our guardian’s eye is more vigilant towards us, and they are providing similarly for our relief.

All political consciousness, politics, politics! Many of C.I.D’s approached me also, several times, and I told them straight, that, “No.”

I was told that Swāmī Mahārāja was also asked by Indira [Gandhi], “That they say that there are so many C.I.D’s under your...”

“It maybe, that’s your lookout.” Swāmī Mahārāja told this straight. “It is your lookout. There may be some. So many persons come. But I say that I am starting really, dealing with reality, and not with this politics or sociality, I can assure. But in such a huge crowd, some may enter, and it will be your business to find them and to punish them, not mine.”

And Indira was very affectionate to Swāmī Mahārāja, because when she was a child, she used to come with her father to purchase medicine from the shop of Swāmī Mahārāja in Allahabad. Because the national medical shop was only in Bengal, Bengal Chemical, the first medicine was produced here in Bengal, and he was the agent of that Bengali country made medicine in Allahabad.

And Jawarlal [Pandit Nehru], Itilal [?] because they were nationalists so they liked the Indian production of medicine, anything which is produced in India, to encourage that industry, so they were customers to Swāmī Mahārāja’s shop.

And Indira as a girl, she also followed her father to purchase medicine from Swāmī Mahārāja. At that time she was perhaps a girl of nine or ten, maybe. In nineteen thirty, when I met Swāmī Mahārāja, Indira was a girl of twelve at that time. So even from before, she used to come with her father to purchase medicine from Swāmī Mahārāja. So, eight, ten, nine, she used to come to Swāmī Mahārāja, the only agent of the national production of medicine in India at that time. No Bombay production in Maharastra or Gujrat they began. Only Bengal produced first medicine. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

So, he, Swāmī Mahārāja addressed her as “Indu,” her family name, Indu. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

And also she told, I heard from Swāmī Mahārāja perhaps, direct, she told, “You need not come to me for this concern, you may send your secretary to me. That will suffice.” She gave assurance to Swāmī Mahārāja.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Rāma. Hare Rāma. Rāma Rāma.

Hare Hare. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Devotee: How is it that Advaita Ācārya can be Mahā Viṣṇu and Sadāśiva?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sadāśiva and Mahā Viṣṇu have similar positions; that is, the jīva tattva as a whole represented in Śiva, as a whole. If the whole jīva tattva is represented in a symbolic way, that comes to give delivery of Śiva. And Śiva has got two fold characteristics, with adaptability of two sides. One, he can exploit this misconceived world...

End of 82.02.19.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.19.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... But when you go to serve the real world, that is Śivaloka. It is called Sadāśiva: the more original form of representation of Śiva there. And there, the Viṣṇu, that Śiva is also utilized for the first officer to serve for the, this mundane world, the misunderstood world. So Nārāyaṇa enters there, enters in one aspect, in one function, He enters there and manipulates through him. So if we’re to look at the manipulator, then He’s Mahā Viṣṇu, and where the inspiration is, has come and through whom it is working, then we find Śiva; the delegation of Mahā Viṣṇu come in Śiva. So that is an eternal post created at the bottom of this whole brahmāṇḍa, that is the misunderstood aspect of the world. The eternal position of an officer, where the delegation of Viṣṇu is there in the creation: in the management of this world. If we look at the inner function, there is Mahā Viṣṇu, and Mahā Viṣṇu is utilizing the highest representation of this māyic world, the jīva as a whole, searching after, it is incomplete, it is imperfect.

Whenever any Southern Indian people approached me when I was there in Madras, “Śiva is greater or Viṣṇu is greater?”

I used to point out to them this thing, that Śiva’s type is a searching type, a penance, he’s practising penances and searching after truth; he’s not complete. But Viṣṇu is always full. Generally, Viṣṇu Avatāra is seen to be full with His own; not searching for any higher promotion or higher object. But Śiva is a type who is searching and inquiring and making penances to attain his end. So he’s in want, but he’s trying his utmost to eliminate his inner want. He’s a type like that, seeking after truth, searching after truth, and making penances. But Nārāyaṇa, He does not do, He’s such. He’s full in Himself. Generally we see where so many, this solution, so many problems, none can solve, then at last they come to Nārāyaṇa, and He comes and solves the matter. His position is like that. He’s self-contented, and He’s the giver of the highest solution in the case of very intricate position, which cannot be solved by any other.

Devotee: Mahārāja, did Rāmacandra really do Śiva pūjā?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, He did.

Devotee: Why?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In a formal way, as He came as human being. Kṛṣṇa also in Dvārakā life, He also showed so many. Even the brāhmaṇas and so many observances of varṇāśrama dharma He did; He also served His Guru, He went to Gurukula, this is all in human way He wanted to:

yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas, tad tad evetaro janaḥ

sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute, lokas tad anuvartate

[“Whatever action is performed by a great man, the general masses imitate and follow. And whatever standards the great personality sets by exemplary acts, the whole world pursues as the right conclusion.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.21]

utsīdeyur ime lokā, na kuryāṁ karma ced aham

saṅkarasya ca kartā syām, upahanyām imāḥ prajāḥ

[“If I do not perform duties, then, following My example, all the inhabitants of these worlds will renounce their duties and thereby come to ruination. Thus I will be the cause of social turmoil due to unvirtuous population, and in this way, I will be responsible for spoiling posterity.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.24]

What the higher personality does, the others follow, so,

na buddhi-bhedaṁ janayed, ajñānāṁ karma-saṅginām

[yojayet sarva-karmāṇi, vidvān yuktaḥ samācaran]

[“The scholarly proponents of the path of knowledge must not confuse ignorant, attached men by deviating them with the advice, “Leave aside action, and cultivate knowledge.” Rather, controlling their own minds, the learned should perform all the various duties without desiring the results, and in this way, subsequently engage the common section in action.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.26]

In Gītā it is, what you want, the answer given in Bhagavad-gītā. “If I do not observe all these things, the public won’t care to observe, and they’ll be lost. So, I have to do.”

So Rāmacandra, as He came here to teach a particular type of lesson to the public in this mundane world, and as mundane, He had to approach all the duties. Only in special cases He asserted Himself. Then He began the worship of the ocean, the person ocean. But the ocean did not care to come to Him, the sea. When just before the construction of the bridge from India to Laṅkā, He, to keep the honour of the sea, He fasted whole day, and He worshipped the deity of sea, and He wanted to ask her permission. But she did not care to come, to appear.

Then He asked Lakṣmaṇa, He ordered Lakṣmaṇa, “Oh, she’s not coming. Give My arrow and bow. I shall make the whole sea a dry pit, the whole water I shall draw out of her.”

When the goddess of the sea, she could understand this, she ran and fell on His feet.

In this way, He came in a human form, and to show to the public how an ideal king should go on in discharging his duty. He was conscious of that, so in a human way He behaved almost everywhere. So, once He worshipped the sea, worshipped many, worshipped Śiva also, and also gave respect to the brāhmaṇas, to so many, like a human being.

Devotee: Mahārāja, are Hanumānji and Gaṇeśa and Subraminia, are they āṁśas or jīvas?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hanumānji is a devotee, svarūpa-śakti. His eternal abode is Ayodhyā in Vaikuṇṭha. And what you say, Hanumān, svarūpa-śakti.

Devotee: Gaṇeśa, Gaṇapati.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaṇapati, sometimes within him some function of Viṣṇu enters and works. Some delegation is found sometimes. But Gaṇapati means binayaka [?], that is the leader of the democratic party, gaṇ means many, and the leader of the many. Generally they’re miss-doers, binayaka [?]. They represent the voice of the people, voice of the self-seekers. People are generally, fallen people in bondage they’re self-seekers. And Gaṇeśa is the leader of them. So they’re satisfied: when one is going to begin a good action, any good attempt, give some in way of bribe something they, ‘Don’t come to prevent my good attempt, I’m satisfying.’ So in the beginning the gana binayaka binakara [?] whose nature is always to disturb the good people they’re giving something. ‘I’m giving this. You go off. Don’t disturb me.’ A disturbing element: that is Gaṇeśa. And also there is some, sometimes we see there is some delegated power in Gaṇeśa. In Bhagavad-gītā [chapter ten] it is mentioned.

“Wherever you’ll find any power concentrated you may think that I’m there, that vibhūti-yoga. In this way, wherever any power, anything big, anything, greatness, you find extraordinary, you must think that My power in any way is there. And tapasya also, by penances they want to acquire some power, they pray, and I have to give him something. In this way!”

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: So Gaṇeśa is jīva śakti or svarūpa śakti?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaṇeśa? Gaṇeśa is not svarūpa śakti. And the Kārttikeya he’s also sometimes delegated power, because to kill a great demon the Kārttikeya was necessary, and peculiar, some potency to be attached there to make him successful in his campaign. Just as sometimes the leader of the party is given, is promised some reward. “Oh, you control your men. I’m rewarding you with this little thing, and you control your party.” A form of bribe! So for the benefit of the people, and for the good administration, many things to be adopted by the administrator! Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Devotee: Mahārāja, after Nṛsiṁhadeva killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, no one could approach Nṛsiṁhadeva to pacify Him except Prahlāda Mahārāja. Why couldn’t Lakṣmī approach Him if Lakṣmī was His eternal consort?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That was the, to make the position of Prahlāda Mahārāja unique, in the relation of service to Nṛsiṁhadeva. Lakṣmī Devī she withdrew herself and purposely told that. And apparently it was also convincing for the peculiar figure of Nṛsiṁhadeva.

Lakṣmī Devī she told that, “I’m afraid to approach Him. He’s in a furious mood. But only this has been taken for Prahlāda’s cause, benefit. So only Prahlāda can approach Him, and he’ll find in a loving mood. Otherwise He’s now in a furious mood, and approach from any other quarter will have a clash between His present mood and from any other mood from any other quarter. But this is meant only for Prahlāda, this furious figure. And Prahlāda’s approach will be considerate and will be real path to the solution to minimise His anger.”

That was a general common sense, and by that Prahlāda’s devotion that was eulogised. And Lakṣmī Devī herself told that, “I’m afraid to approach Him when He’s so much enraged.” And only Prahlāda, and it was the nature, it was the truth, and thereby Prahlāda’s position was enhanced as a devotee.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So also in Rādhā-kuṇḍa Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura he spoke about Prahlāda Mahārāja from the Bhāgavatam.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not Rādhā-kuṇḍa. In Vṛndāvana he asked his sannyāsī disciple to explain about Prahlāda Mahārāja’s śuddha bhakti from Bhāgavatam, and not to indulge in describing the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and gopī and others, because it is too high. We must begin from the first plane of bhakti. Then that is above, pūjāla rāgapaṭha gaurava bāṅge. That is high, high.

And the sahajiyā has taken down in this mundane rasa in Vṛndāvana. So to discourage them that, “What you are doing in Vṛndāvana, thinking you are gopī and Kṛṣṇa in this way you are doing, this is all false, wrong. This is all hell. You have created a hell in Vṛndāvana. So begin from ABC, the śuddha bhakti, Prahlāda, śuddha bhakti. Then go step by step to the higher devotional realm.”

And in the Śyāma-kuṇḍa and Rādhā-kuṇḍa, at that barrier, he himself used to explain Upadeśāmṛta of Rūpa Goswāmī and not any tenth canto, and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa līlā, but Upadeśāmṛta he explained himself there. And were the listeners, audience. Gaura Sundara.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: In which position are the teachings of Ṛṣabhadeva?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ṛṣabhadeva? What part you want to learn?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: That where are his teachings placed: in which devotional stage? Like you say Prahlāda is śuddha bhakti.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You give particular instance.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Of his teachings?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Like, nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājaṁ nṛloke [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 5.5.1]

[...“Of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, ...]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: This is general bhakti. In Bhārata, in Ṛṣabhadeva, it is ordinary general bhakti. In Ambarīṣa also, maybe reckoned in śanta rasa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, we’re told that Bhārata Mahārāja who was attracted to the deer, he fell from the stage of bhāva bhakti. He fell due to attachment for the deer, but he was in that stage of bhāva bhakti, still he fell.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It may be considered the lowest stage of bhāva bhakti. Or it may be considered that to give us warning it has been shown like that. Just as the Lord Himself sometimes comes to teach us, taking what is impossible, taking Him in him only to show. So bhāva bhakti, what to speak of bhāva bhakti, it has also been warned against that from svarūpa siddhi also one may fall down. Only in vastu siddhi they’re safe. When they attain vastu siddhi they’re saved eternally. Even in svarūpa siddhi there may be danger. Gradual, the fullest attainment, but not actually accepted, participating in it, in the real līlā.

Our fitness is imperfection but no recognition. Fitness before recognition is also dangerous. Something like that. When recognised you are safe. Before that, from fitness you may lose the chance of getting that. It may be possible. That is svarūpa siddhi. One has attained his highest position, but after that vastu siddhi, he gets recognition, entrance, by the higher sphere. “Yes, he’s one of us.” Admitted, then he works. They look after, the government will look after you. Otherwise you’re in individual consideration, something like that. That is also within the jurisdiction of svarūpa śakti. But in svarūpa śakti also there are divisions, higher, lower. So the recognition may be vastu siddhi. Formally it is told when one has attained svarūpa siddhi then where the Kṛṣṇa līlā in the prapañca, in the material sphere is going on, he receives a call from there. And then he enters. He’s allowed to have entrance into that bhauma līlā. And from some rehearsal and then he’s taken in eternally. Something like that: the recognition, the rehearsal and recognition, and before that they, that government recommended rehearsal and the recognition his fate is uncertain.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma, naiti mām eti.

[janma karma ca me divyam, evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma, naiti mām eti so 'arjuna]

[“O Arjuna, one who actually perceives My supramundane birth and activities enacted by My sweet will, does not undergo rebirth. After giving up his present body, he attains Me. Having become subservient to My divine pleasure (hlādinī-śakti) in the form of My revealed divine potency, such a soul achieves eternal devotional service unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.9]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So 'arjuna.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So before this mām eti, tyaktvā dehaṁ, so does that mean only giving up the body as in death, or giving up the bodily conception?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Body of different materials. This deha means this flesh body. Then the sukṣma body is also there. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma, naiti mām eti so 'arjuna. Who ________ [?] for whom it is told, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma, naiti mām eti so 'arjuna?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Janma karma ca me divyam.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ. Oh! Janma karma ca me divyam, evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: “One who knows Me.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where is it, eleventh canto?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Bhagavad-gītā, fourth chapter [ninth verse]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Fourth chapter.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Janma karma ca me divyam...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In what connection it is told? Janma karma ca me divyam, evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ. Tattvataḥ means there is wrong thing. It is tattvataḥ in word word but there are so many stages, evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ. Tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā, viśate tad-anantaram.

[bhaktyā mām abhijānāti, yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ

tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā, viśate tad-anantaram]

[“Only through love and devotion can I be understood as I am. Thereafter, fully understanding Me, you can merge into My entourage.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.55]

Tattvataḥ, realisation, knowledge about the reality, that knowledge of different stages and strata, planes of knowledge. We’re to cross that, and accordingly our leaving there can enter in another layer: first layer, second layer, third layer, in this way. That is also within him. So formal and material, or substantial consideration everywhere to be traced: division, sub-division, sub-sub-divisions. As much as we’re minute we can find them, the minutest difference between them. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, are there any examples given? Of course it is an undesirable thing, but are there any examples given for instruction of devotees who may have fallen from svarūpa siddhi? Are there any such examples given for instruction?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Svarūpa siddhi. Fallen, but that fall is also very temporary, it may be. We may take the case of Viṣṇu Chita who is even recognised as parṣada bhakta. But there also we find such thing. Do you know the story of Viṣṇu Chita?

Devotees: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Viṣṇu Chita was a priest in some temple in the south. He was a brahmacārī. He very scrupulously engaged himself in the service. One day suddenly two girls came there to see the temple, and one of them was very much charmed with the beautiful figure of Viṣṇu Chita. And she told her elder sister that, “I’m charmed by the beauty of this pūjārī. I can’t leave the place. You go.”

Then, how to live there? They approached, both of them approached the priest, he was the manager also. “She wants to serve in this temple for some time. She’s charmed by the atmosphere of the temple and she wants to render service to the Deity.”

In a simple way Viṣṇu Chita accepted. “Yes, if she likes so the service of my Lord she may remain here.”

Then, she’s trying to entice the devotee, but devotee does not care. In this way, some time passed. Suddenly one day in a rainy season with his wet cloth so closely mixed with his body that perhaps her, anyhow her body attracted suddenly the attention of Viṣṇu Chita, and gradually they had some illicit connection. And so much so that when the girl thought that the man is under her clutches she left the temple. And the man, leaving the service of the Deity followed her. And she went to her own place, home, Śrī Ranganatham. And the man Viṣṇu Chita he also gave the charge away to the temple proprietor and went away.

Then after some time that girl rejected him. “I don’t want you.”

But he can’t leave her. “Oh, take some money or something, otherwise I won’t allow you to enter my room.” What to do, he’s trying.

One day that gentleman he’s lying on a veranda of some householder. He’s trying to sleep but can’t sleep, the mosquito is disturbing, and he’s that way, disturbed way, he’s passing the night.

And at that time Ranganatham and Lakṣmī Devī They were out on a night tour, throughout the streets if Śrī Rangam. Lakṣmī Devī asked Ranganatham, “Who is that man? Why he’s lying there and tolerating mosquito bites in very miserable condition?”

Then, “Oh, you don’t recognise him. He’s Our old servant of that particular temple, Viṣṇu Chita.”

“Why he’s in such deplorable condition?”

Then Ranganatham described the whole thing. “Such and such things happened.”

“You are very cruel. Give something to the man, and he may enter the room of that girl.”

“What can be given?”

“The golden pañcapatram, the golden spoon.”

They aroused Viṣṇu Chita. “Oh, man you are suffering, you are very poor. Take this thing. This is valuable thing, you take this.”

Then he did not care, he’s mad in his own way, did not care who’s giving to him, when the God with a golden spoon, or very much joy. And he went to the door of the girl and pushed: “Yes, I have brought something valuable. Open the door.”

Then she opened the door and found this is this. “How; where have you got it?”

“I have got it, some gentleman has given it.” Anyway, passed the night perhaps!

And then in the temple that was missed, and it was reported to the king, and the king gave a beat of drum in the town. “Wherever it will be found you’ll be in danger: if anyone has found it, just put it, produce it to us.”

Then when they also got the news it will be dangerous to keep it, then that girl gave it that, “This man has given it to me.”

He was put into the prison.

Then Ranganatha He gave a dream to the king as well as to the highest priest that, “I have given it to him. He was My old servant in that temple. I have given him a reward. He won’t be punished.”

Then of course he was released and then he came to his former senses. “What have I done? I was so and so and I have come down to such a mean position.” Then he roused, like Ajāmila, and went away to his own service.

In this way some higher position it is shown that even from high position we may fall. We must not boast of our position, must not be proud of our high position. Always be careful. Always be in a prayer mood, praying mood. What am I? A tiny soul! The māyā is so extensive, endowed with so much power, but only our hope is the grace of Guru, Vaiṣṇava. Always be in want, and prayerful mood we should try to pass our time. Hare Kṛṣṇa. We may not commit to the feet of those higher advanced people by coming, indulging in discussion of their pure character, to take them down in the – to make the object of our – to satisfy our curiosity. But the necessity for which we’re trying to draw, to get, their grace may be gracious to us.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: It is said that Lord Gaṇeśa removes impediments from one’s devotional service. One time someone asked Swāmī Mahārāja Śrīla Prabhupāda about this and he said, “Well, give me a hundred thousand dollars a month and I will start immediately his worship.” What are some practical things that we may do to remove some of these impediments that we have?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I’m not sure.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: About Gaṇeśa removing impediments.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Gaṇeśa removes obstacles in our service.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I can’t follow.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He said Gaṇeśa – to worship Gaṇeśa, Gaṇeśa pūjā, a devotee may do that, to remove obstacles, impediments in his service. So can we do that?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In a particular case it may be granted when a devotee’s found by his Guru that he’s got much affinity towards Gaṇeśa. Then he may ask him, “Do it and pray to him that in no time he can release you and to help you to the way of Viṣṇu.” Just as we’re told,

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi, yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kuruṣva mad arpaṇam

[“O son of Kuntī, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you offer in charity, and whatever austere vows you may keep - do everything as an offering unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.27]

Whatever you are much engaged with you can’t get out from there. Try to connect it with the Supreme, and do it for some time, then it will vanish. Whatever you have got some affinity to particular work you try to work in that way, but the result you be very particular to devote it to the centre. And then in no time you’ll get relief from that particular tendency which is an obstacle, ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ. It will come under this jurisdiction, Kṛṣṇa karmārpaṇam. I’ve got particular affinity for particular duty, and that duty may be some time given attached, and only to connect it towards the centre, and in short time I’ll be relieved of that tendency. With this idea that may be provided, timely. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: I was meaning, what are some other practical general things that we can do to remove some of these impediments and troubles we have in devotional service?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Aranya Mahārāja: He’s asking, what other things can be done to remove – what other activities can be performed to remove the anarthas or the obstacles to devotional service?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Not just Gaṇeśa pūjā but any other thing.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Anything, Gaṇeśa pūjā affinity, or Śiva pūjā, or whatever it may be. I’m captured by particular interest, and if I want to get out of that particular interest that should be connected with the Absolute. And then in the shortest time I’ll be relieved of that.

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi, yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kuruṣva mad arpaṇam

[“O son of Kuntī, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you offer in charity, and whatever austere vows you may keep - do everything as an offering unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.27]

In varṇāśrama dharma they’re worshipping the deity Durgā, all these things.

Pita tat karma phalam sri krsnaya samapita mastu [?]

The connecting link in this way, and when that will be more purified then, yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi, whatever he’s doing, direct towards Kṛṣṇa.

Tusme tuste priyatam pundarikakha [?]

The connection is given in this way, and that will be more and more clear and direct, and then, sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66], he will come to that stage that he can give up all conceptions of duties for the service...

End of 82.02.19.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.19.D

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Any question?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: What’s his name?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Bhakta Jeff.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Bhakta Jeff.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhakta?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Jeff.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jet?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Jeff.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: J,e,p?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: J,e,f,f, double f, Jeffery. He came with Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Just as in Upaniṣad it is told, I’m riding a horse. I’m trying to take the horse this side, but the horse is going forcibly. I shall try always to make it turn towards a particular direction, but the horse is going. I am to let loose for some time, and I will always be trying to get it. Then sometimes I shall find that horse whim has been diminished and he’s coming to my desired way. It is mentioned in Upaniṣad, something like that. We are helplessly, we may allow to go another way but our desired way is another side. So we are allowed to go something in advance and always trying to change the direction. In this way sometime I shall find that I’m able to change my direction towards Kṛṣṇa.

loke vyavāyāmiṣa-madya-sevā, nityā hi jantor na hi tatra codanā

vyavasthitis teṣu vivāha-yajña-, surā-grahair āsu nivṛttir iṣṭā

[“Everyone is naturally inclined to have sex, eat meat, and drink wine. There is no need for the scripture to encourage these things. The scriptures do, however, give concessions to people who are determined to do these things. The scriptures therefore grant a license to enjoy sex by allowing sexual intercourse with one’s lawfully wedded wife at the proper time of the month. They grant a license to eat meat to those who perform a certain kind of sacrifice, and a license to drink wine to those who perform the Sautramani sacrifice. The purpose of granting these licenses for sense gratification is only to restrict these activities and encourage people to give them up altogether. The real intention of the Vedic injunctions regarding sex, meat-eating, and wine-drinking is to make one abstain from these activities.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.11]

To allow us to work in the wrong direction for some time with the object and with some strategic advice that you come back through that. If I want to go to give him direct opposition I may be lost. So that strategy has been recommended to be accepted by us in our spiritual movement also!

Devotee: In the incident of Bali Mahārāja rejecting Śukrācārya to accept Vāmanadeva, what are some of the practical instructions we can get from this?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That depends upon the sukṛti. For some duskṛti, some evil action, my fate is entangled with a Guru who is not up to my liking. So in that case my sukṛti guides me against the acceptance of my temporary Guru. And by crossing the order of Guru we have to do something. That whoever will be, who will stand on the way of myself and my Supreme Lord, he may be rejected: and what to speak of any other different hindrances, even Guru, false Guru. Guru means false Guru, who wants to create some hindrance, create some boundary wall between myself and my desired Lord. Such Guru should be removed. And here came the sukṛti in the disciple. Sukṛti was of a pure type, but anyhow for some false deed of his previous life he had to meet a false Guru, not a proper guide. And it was necessary that sham Guru should be given up. There are so many taking the dīkṣā from this Guru-tradesman, Guru-trader, and to give up that and come to the real sādhu Guru. The laksan according to the symptoms of Guru has been given in the scriptures. And by leaving aside the ordinary common Guru that are going on in the world, he should take shelter of a proper Guru, guru nirvacan [?] kula guru [?] then so many Gurus avaiṣṇava.

avaiṣṇavopadiṣṭena mantreṇa niryaṁ vrajet

punaś ca vidhinā samyag grāhayed vaiṣṇavād guroḥ

[“One who accepts the mantra from a Guru who is a non-devotee or is addicted to sensual pleasure with women is doomed to a life in hell. Such a person must immediately approach a genuine Vaiṣṇava Guru and again accept the mantra from him.”] [Hari-Bhakti-Vilāsa, 4.366]

For my previous offences I unconsciously submitted to a formal Guru. But when the material acquisition pushed me, pinched me, and warned me of my false future and showed me proper light, then leaving that I must come to a fair Vaiṣṇava gentleman and to accept him my Guru. So this is...

Devotee: ______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: By chanting the Name of Gaura-Nityānanda we want to take our position proper.____________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: ______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhajan kushal [?] there is a courtesy in the Vaisnava society when meeting to ask one another, bhajan kushal, that not only about health, physical health, but about the mental. That is about spiritual realization, how it is going on. That is a custom, bhajan kushal. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Because there are also many hindrances may come, many obstacles along the way of bhajan. Bhajan means dedication to the Supreme. Dedication to the Supreme. Exploitation and dedication, the opposite current, and the abscissa in the middle, merging. Centre, self-centred or sense centred, and God centred; two current. Sense centred current, this side, that of exploitation. And that is of dedication to the highest centre. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means the current which will take us toward Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, opposite current. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is no imagination, that is reality. More than we are accustomed to tell this world as realistic view. Realistic, the worldly sense which is realistic, that is unreal to us. In Bhāgavatam [1.1.2], vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ, the Vyāsadeva is addressing us to join with him in his cultivation about vāstava-vastu, the absolute substance, unassailable substance.

Dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ [Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, 1.1.1], misunderstanding about which can be removed only by His grace, ray.

Yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyaḥ [Kaṭha-Upaniṣad, 1.2.23], by His grace He can be known. Not any other can, any other thing can make Himself known, only He can be known by His sweet will. We are to look after, we are to pray faithfully so that the ray may come down and I will be able to have perception of Him. Avaroha-panthā, coming down, not going up: not empirical but deductive method. Not ascending but descending method He should be approached. We are subject and the realm is made of super subjective elements.

Vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy ādi sakala cinmaya [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 5.53] The earth, the water, the air, everything in that soil all spiritual: not only spiritual but made up of stuff which is superior in quality than I am, because I come from the lower strata, taṭasthā śakti.

Kṛṣṇera taṭasthā-śakti, bhedābheda prakāśa [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 20.108] So we cannot make them object. That is all subjective and as an object we can try to enter into their domain. All Guru, no servant, all superior, I am only the inferior. So I have to enter into the land of all superiority. It is very difficult and wonderful at the same time. It is very rarely to be had, if possible, practically. They’re all spiritual; the earth, water, everything all spiritual substance. So no self-deception, self-deception has no place. It is just like mathematical calculation. That is super-subject. I am object in comparison to that domain where I want to enter into.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. It is difficult to conceive, what to acquire. It is stranger than dream. It is difficult to conceive that such plane is possible which is super-subjective, which is made of the element that is super-subjective. Unknown and unknowable in general sense, transcendental, supra-mental, adhokṣaja, aprākṛta, are the terms by which we can have a vague conception of the world, that world. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol. Only by sheer submission we may be drawn there, drawn up by the members and by the Lord there. We have come out for such life possible.

svadharmma-niṣṭhaḥ śata-janmabhiḥ pumān, viriñcatām eti tataḥ paraṁ hi mām

avyākṛtaṁ bhāgavato 'tha vaiṣṇavaṁ, padaṁ yathāhaṁ vibudhāḥ kalātyaye

[“A person who executes his occupational duty properly for one hundred births becomes qualified to occupy the post of Brahmā, and if he becomes more qualified, he can approach Lord Śiva. A person who is directly surrendered to Lord Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu in unalloyed devotional service is immediately promoted to the spiritual planets. Lord Śiva and other demigods attain these planets after the destruction of this material world.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 4.24.29]

In Bhāgavatam Mahādeva says, Śiva: that, “If one can regularly discharge hundred births his attached duty under varṇāśrama he can be qualified for the post of Brahmā: Brahmā, the director of one brahmāṇḍa.” Tataḥ paraṁ hi mām, “After that my position,” Mahādeva says, “Covering the land of renunciation and penance, all these things, over attachment to the mundane plane, world. I cover administration there over Brahmā.” Tataḥ paraṁ hi mām, avyākṛtaṁ, “Not clearly differentiated, my position, buffer stage, controller of the buffer state. Some this side, some other side, and vague, no clear position or rule, something, avyākṛtaṁ, __________ [?] not clearly specified. Avyākṛtaṁ bhāgavato 'tha vaiṣṇavaṁ, padaṁ. There is another section superior and higher to me and there is vaiṣṇavaṁ padaṁ, and Vaikuṇṭha padaṁ.”

That is the upper current there, the in-carrying current, centre-carrying current. Here there is out-carrying current, so many subsections, subsections of animals. There centre-carrying, in- carrying current, bhāgavata vaiṣṇavaṁ padaṁ. Yathāhaṁ vibudhāḥ kalātyaye, addressing the gods, vibudhāḥ, “Oh you gods, there is such things above me, yathāhaṁ, and when there will be a wholesale dissolution of this world of exploitation then I shall also be, I shall also get the chance of retiring in that domain. I will get recognition of entering into Vaikuṇṭha, that bhaktaloka; that is another.”

We are to have clear faith. Faith is our guide. And all our qualities are useless there. They can’t work. Only through faith in the guidance of the saint and scripture, thereby it is possible to make any advancement. Just as by seeing the map one can make progress, so also something like that. Seeing the map, direction in the śāstra, we are this, after that, after that. Śāstra and the saints, the words of the saints, instructions of the saints, with such things to our help we can march on that side.

In the first half is Vaikuṇṭha, the calculative service, and the higher half is spontaneous, automatic, raga bhakti, no motive, cannot but do the service, love, labour of love. Only on the higher sphere, and Kṛṣṇa resides in that quarter. Around Him so many different types of services are arranged. This is one more wonderful than dream. Dream, only dream’s jurisdiction that is drawn from this material world thoughts and ideas in the mental system and that is reproduced. So the reproduction must be similar to this mundane world. Here they are drawn from this experience of this world, the eye experience, the ear experience, the touch experience, so dream: these materials in a fine way. But that is not world of experience, but only by faith can we have some vague idea from the scriptures and the sādhus.

sādhu-śastra-kṛpāya yadi kṛṣṇonmukha haya, [sei jīva nistare, māyā tāhāre chāḍaya]

[“If the conditioned soul becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious by the mercy of saintly persons who voluntarily preach scriptural injunctions and help him to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, the conditioned soul is liberated from the clutches of māyā, who gives him up.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 20.120]

That is our path. So faith, whether increasing or decreasing, bhajan means our progress, progress in faith. Faith getting the characteristic of reality or vagueness, faith is deep, deeper, or faint and fainter: that is what is the health of bhajan.

I’m not keeping well, can’t talk much, tired. They are going away. But as you came new, newly, so I had to talk something. Otherwise they’re all going, I don’t, I’m not able to talk...

...

...and in former life he was overseer. So in the birth place of our Guru Mahārāja a big temple being constructed and he was supervising all that. Now that is installed, finished. He has come to parikramā here in Navadwīpa. Coming here for a time again, go and settle in Vṛndāvana, he’s already settled there. Big family he has come, respectable, and vairāgyam, indifference to the world. For long time he rendered service to the Maṭha and Guru Mahārāja. Hare Kṛṣṇa. They are disciples of Swāmī Mahārāja, staying with me for some time. They have got much affection to me, like to hear the śāstric explanations from me, so they’re staying here. Gaura Haribol. Where is Aranya Mahārāja?

Aranya Mahārāja: Here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: How did you see? Did you go to?

Aranya Mahārāja: Yes, I went. We calculated how many doors and windows had to be placed.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I was...

...

karmaṇy evādhikāras te, mā phaleṣu kadācana

[mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr, mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi]

[“I shall now describe niṣkāma karma-yoga, the path of selfless action. You have a right to perform your natural prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to any fruits of that action. You should neither act with desire to enjoy the fruits of your work, nor, as a result, should you be attached to neglecting your duties.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.47]

It is His business. It is not our business. It is His lookout. So whatever we shall do we shall offer it to Him. Immediately our responsibility ceases there. Do: the result offer to the Lord, our responsibility finished. And only to look after how He has taken, what is His meaning. That we are to modify our activity in that way, that perhaps His will is moving in such a way, so I should adjust myself accordingly, in this way. Otherwise it will be something like karma. A fixed plan we want to carry out with desperate determination.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: What I want to know is, the public, they will say there is a difference. There are two organizations separate from one another. How should we speak to them?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then that’s a plain thing, as I of course told you, that those who are not satisfied with their management, if they like to follow the ideal of our Guru Mahārāja but different from the present administration, they will like to have connection with them. This is our business, not any ambition of any parallel institution. But it is something like relief work. They may come and take rest here, and they may live here, they may talk here, kīrtana. With some engagement we are trying to provide for them, those who have got reverence for Guru Mahārāja, Mahāprabhu etc, but not satisfied with the present administration of ISKCON. As we are sufferers and those that are sufferers we try to help them little. This you may begin with this idea and then it will depend on Him how it will go.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, that’s what I’ve been telling people.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That this is our good will, and if you like that those that differ with the present management of ISKCON and also they have respect for Guru Mahārāja and Mahāprabhu and Kṛṣṇa consciousness in general, we may live together. For that we are trying to establish some small places in this way, humble beginning. Plain living, high thinking. Let it grow naturally in its own way, only to provide for the basis. God willing, many will be dissatisfied and they will seek some shelter and association for mutual co-operation and go on. Where is Sarvabhavana Prabhu?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s down, but he’s not come. I don’t know why.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But what did he say that Caru Swāmī is expected tomorrow?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: I heard today or tomorrow.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Today or tomorrow. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. ________ [?] After a week: or no?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Maybe by March third, fourth.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Third, fourth. And before our parikramā begins?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. I don’t want to go on the parikramā, because I think it may be some conflict, or awkward situation.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha. As you like.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Sarvabhavana Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sarvabhavana Prabhu.

Aranya Mahārāja: And Bhakta John.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________ [?]

Devotee: _______________________ [?]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Mahārāja, I was also wondering in regards to establishing Deities in San Jose in California.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Deity?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yeah, Mūrti.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, Deity. How, what sort of Deity?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Well, I was attracted personally by the Deity of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and Mahāprabhu, as you have established here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is our Guru Mahārāja’s idea. Everywhere mostly he established, installed, these three Deities. But Swāmī Mahārāja has done how there?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He’s done different ways. He’s done this Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Mahāprabhu he did in Māyāpur and he did in Calcutta. And generally he’s done Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, also Jagannātha, Subhadrā, Baladeva, and Gaura-Nitāi.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But in America?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: All over America like that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jagannātha and Gaura-Nitāi and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In three ways.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, three altars.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You begin with Giridhari, then gradually when you find a place proper you’ll be able to take responsibility of the installed Deity services, then you may begin: responsibility continuing the sevā-pūjā.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: One thing, it’s not so much for me, as for the people who are coming to the temple, and the...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But anyhow one will have to take the responsibility for the maintenance, of such type and hope.

...

Have they considered that letter, my letter?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: They probably are reading that now also. I think you will get a favourable response to the letter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where’s Bhāratī Mahārāja, he’s there?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, he’s working on Prapanna-jīvanāmṛtam.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Near timing for the publishing.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Well they’re still working, because there’s a problem, that I don’t know if anyone is competent enough to give the correct meaning of what your intentions were.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Approximately, whatever may be available. Meaning has no end. Mahāprabhu when giving the ātmārāma śloka meaning expressing to Sanātana Goswāmī sixty-one different meanings.

Then Sanātana Goswāmī would say, “You are Kṛṣṇa Himself. Whatever You like You can bring meaning from whatever word or expression of śloka.”

Mahāprabhu told on the other hand, “Why do you praise me Sanātana? Don’t you know that every word of Bhāgavatam is Kṛṣṇa Himself?”

So infinite possibility is there ____________________ [?] infinite. So any and every meaning can be drawn from any and every letter and word. Ke?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: It’s Brahmā, Brahmā dāsa. I just read that also, that part of Caitanya-caritāmṛta. And Mahāprabhu said that, “By your, after sixty meanings,” He said, “By your devotion you’re bringing another meaning.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “You are drawing through Me.” And Sārvabhauma by his association came so many, eighteen or so. “Let Me try. I generally do not have any meaning, but in your connection let Me try what Kṛṣṇa gives supply to Me.” Then sixty one came in connection with Sanātana.

Sahajiyā natha kana artha puspati nahi pai [?] “Circumstance gives the inspiration and I go.”

Even Kṛṣṇa is the same, somewhere the Gītā, some wanted to hear the Gītā again. “No that is not possible, that particular circumstance, environment, that helped us to deliver that advice. Any and every time it is not possible.”

Devotee: __________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One thing: Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Prabhu has shifted to that______ [?]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Yajavar Mahārāja, one of the oldest sannyāsī God-brothers, he generally...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Stays in the room downstairs, yes I’ll make the arrangement.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He is very old and invalid so that room should be vacated.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Vacated, yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And we shall like to cleanse it. He is almost invalid. Though little younger to me but he has become more invalid than myself. And his contribution towards the service of this Maṭha is also laudable. So he’s coming.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Last sannyāsī of Prabhupāda.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Last?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Last sannyāsī.

Devotee: When is he coming?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Today.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: May come today also may come. Today pañcamī, he may come, start, then evening he may come, today, or tomorrow.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________________ [?]

...

By second or third March you want to go to America?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Well I want to test the environment, the atmosphere, after the arrival.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: After meeting is finished.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ___________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Mādhava Prabhu and Jeff Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mādhava Prabhu is non-compromising. And he cannot take any artificial shape.

Mādhava Prabhu: I spoke to Rāmeśvara the other day and therefore he became angry. Mahārāja, there are now two devotees from Māyāpur, they’re Bhāvānanda’s disciples, they’re at the house talking with Bhāratī Mahārāja and Parvat Mahārāja. And they’re expressing some difficulties they’re having.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who?

Mādhava Prabhu: These two disciples of Bhāvānanda; one is first initiated and the other has been twice initiated by Bhāvānanda Mahārāja, and they’re expressing...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Indian or American?

Mādhava Prabhu: One is American, one is Indian. The one who has first initiation is Indian, and he knows Tapan Prabhu. And the one who has second initiation, first and second, he’s a Gurukula boy. He’s about twenty years old now. And he’s complaining that he has been more or less forced to take initiation by Bhāvānanda...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In the meantime one boy came to Bhāratī Mahārāja and made it known to him by his request I gave him Hari-Nāma. That he would stay with Bhāratī Mahārāja. But suddenly he left the mālā here with Kṛṣṇa Sarana and went away. Only one day or two days I think. I do not know them, but Bhāratī Mahārāja told that, “He is intimately known to me and he will work with me.” He did not have any initiation there, a newcomer. But someone came and wanted to see me, I told that I do not feel well, I can’t see now. So they mixed with that boy and I heard that Bhāratī Mahārāja is not here at present, he went to somewhere in the meantime, and the boy ran away. So some are sent sometimes to watch also how the things are going on here, the intelligent branch. Now what do they say?

Mādhava Prabhu: So, they’re preaching to them that they should remain with Bhāvānanda, and get his permission to come here, if they want to come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: If you like you may keep along with you for some time and see how genuine they are in their heart.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Serious meeting, discussing on myself. I am the subject of the meeting. How to deal with this Śrīdhara Mahārāja?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: The super-subject.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja is super subject.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No, he’s super subject.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: No, you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s super subject.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Ah! Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja is super subject.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And I’m the subject, whether he’s friend or foe. Some say he’s a foe, you must reject him. Some say, may not be foe. Some say he may be foe inside, but outwardly friend. Still, we shall have a policy not to cut him off altogether now. Let us wait and see. And that sort of conclusion will be supported by majority, I think, not now. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Mādhava Prabhu: Rūpānuga said there is a spirit of accommodation, among the GBC.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Accommodating...

End of 82.02.19.D

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.19.E

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Mādhava Prabhu: They feel that there is some threat from this side.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then, another danger is there, that Haṁsadūta Mahārāja has come already. He’s a dangerous man. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Mādhava Prabhu: So if a person has taken dīkṣā from one of the ISKCON Ācāryas, but nonetheless he’s feeling some genuine dissatisfaction, then should he be encouraged to remain dīkṣā with those Gurus but come to you for śikṣā?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Can’t follow.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He’s saying; if some man has taken dīkṣā from an ISKCON Guru, but he feels persistently dissatisfaction, should we encourage him to remain...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Come here for śikṣā?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: ...for śikṣā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________________________________ [?] In spite of the opposition of their dīkṣā Guru, or by their consent: if by their consent, then no harm, but if after opposition, then it’s to be considered. That how far he’s genuine, sincerity, why he’s leaving the place, the question of standard of śikṣā or something else? So many questions to be known! Why he has lost faith in the dīkṣā Guru? These considerations are to be taken in. Now this Mukunda Mālā created havoc. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Our Jayatīrtha Mahārāja is trying to take Rāmeśvara Mahārāja here, trying his best to take him here to me. Jayatīrtha Mahārāja is trying hard to take Rāmeśvara Mahārāja here to me. But I don’t know what attitude I shall have then about Rāmeśvara Mahārāja.

Mādhava Prabhu: Mahārāja?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Mādhava Prabhu: All the Gurus are upset over this issue, but Mukunda Mālā is very happy. So why are they upset? Is their unhappiness because he’s not becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious? What is their unhappiness?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Mahārāja cannot see, out.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Such a big figure approaching, I’m thinking that tiny girl is coming.

...

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. ______________ [?] Mādhava Prabhu’s question.

__________________________________________________________________________ [?]

Harshly, that even my talk was little harsh, is it not? And excited!

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Whose talk?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Mahārāja’s talk.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: When?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: When Mādhava Prabhu began to put questions and I began to reply.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Oh, yes. That’s right.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: At that day the talk was little rude, and excited, the answers. Is it not? It should not be, should be more mild.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: No, naked truth.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Naked.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Not truth, but naked truth.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not couched, dressed according to suit the purpose of the public. That means naked. Truth, as Swāmī Mahārāja told Gītā As It Is. Not to suit the taste of the public, not dressed according to that.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: 06:40 - 07:40 [Bengali?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _______________________________________ [?]

Many different aspects and in a reasonable foundation, it is established firmly.

________________________________________________________ [?]

We can educate the three worlds by only, by the help of the knowledge that is in Gītā.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: __________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sārvabhauma gave negative side, and positive side Rāmānanda.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ___________________________________________________ [?]

Rāmānanda positive, Sārvabhauma, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya negative ________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________________________ [?] Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Śrī Kṛṣṇa-saṁhita he has given this idea; that in the highest stage it may be seen that externally one may be a king, a ruler, a politician, engaged fully in this, but at heart he may be a soft-hearted woman, a gopī. And as if she, he’s enjoying the service of Kṛṣṇa. It is possible. Outwards, outwardly he may have engagement in this external world, and inward he may be another, quite different. In Śrī Kṛṣṇa-saṁhita there differentiated between the two groups, vāragrāhī, sāragrāhī.

There are many who bears the burden of the śāstra, and the sayings of the sādhu, saints. Can’t understand the real purpose, but the memory is taxed with many quotations and many kinds of thought, but can’t capture the very gist, the very substance. That is one class.

And another class, sāragrāhī, they collect the very essence of things and do accordingly. And the sāragrāhī section they apparently they may be seen engaged in different public activities, this, that thing. So something will be common. In quarrel they will be peace maker, in such stage they’ll come with this thing. Some sort of symptoms to be found in them. But in inner world it just may be very soft and loving heart, and where he’s engaged in the confident service of Kṛṣṇa, it is possible. Śrī Kṛṣṇa-saṁhita. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Outwardly one colour and figure, and the inward endeavour is just opposite, it may be.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he was like that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sometimes when he was in official works, at that time he was like that.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha __________________ [?] In his last days sometimes he used to walk around taking the Name quite naked, stark naked. And he gave instructions to his intimate attendants that, “If any person comes from outside, then you will cast some cloth around me, wrapper on me.” That was his way.

'ye dine gṛhe bhajane dekhi, gṛhete goloka bhāya

[caraṇa-sīdhu, dekhiyā gaṅgā, sukha nā sīmā pāya]

[“Goloka Vṛndāvana appears in my home whenever I see the worship and service of Lord Hari taking place there. When I see the Ganges, that river of nectar emanating from the Lotus Feet of the Lord, my happiness knows no bounds.”] [Bhakti-anukūla-mātra Kāryera Svīkāra, song 4, verse 6] [The Songs Of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, p 37-8]

“Whenever I see that others are helping me in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then I think, I feel that it is Vṛndāvana, Goloka, my house is Goloka.”

Easily excited, that shows the function, the inner function, with slight connection come out. We are trying, we are trying, we are engaged by outside experience, but we have to try to conceive the līlā of Vṛndāvana with some effort. But there is the opposite stage also. They are always there, inner experience, inner world. Sometimes they will have to come outside _____ [?]

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

...

...first we came to join the mission. Sometimes newcomers when there was any talk of the outsiders, they are attacking Gauḍīya Maṭha, any commentation, any litigation, all these things, the newcomers they would not be allowed to enter into that, that sort of talk.

We asked, “Why, everything is for Kṛṣṇa?”

“No, this is madhyama adhikāra, they can stand only, love and rupture. Whatever is for Kṛṣṇa that should be adopted. The kaniṣṭha adhikārī, they cannot adjust with such things. The litigation, the commentation, that stern commentation of the opponents, all these things, this is meant only for the madhyama adhikārī, not kaniṣṭha adhikārī. They should be kept aloof.”

That sort of arrangement we found. Then gradually when they’re making progress and could understand that whatever is done for the service of Kṛṣṇa, the guarantee is the purity of Gurudeva, of the Vaiṣṇava. They’re doing not for fame, but surrendered soul. It is difficult. One may, to leave this charm for women and money that is easy to detect. But whether he’s working for his own fame as a religious man, it is very difficult to detect that.

“I am an Ācārya, I am a religious authority, and so many will revere me. I shall be like a king in the spiritual world.”

That sort of thirst for good name and fame: that may remain within. And it is very difficult that he has got no such hankering for name and fame, but he has dedicated whole, surrendered whole for the Lord. So there lies the rub. There the difficulty, whether, “Yes, what is the guarantee?”

Ordinary man can’t measure, can’t gauge that, the depth. So to do so it becomes necessary that we must also go, climb up nearer the level. Then only it is possible. Whereas from lower level it is not possible to measure how much he has got selfish hankering for name and fame, or fully given for the cause of Kṛṣṇa consciousness or Gaura consciousness, very hard to detect that. So in order to do so we shall have to go up to level nearer, then only we can detect that. Surrendered, surrender. How much affinity, how much close affection, how much identified with the real cause. The real cause, that is to do or die for the principle, do or die for the principle. In very subtle points that can be known by one who has got nearer approach the plane. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Maharaja?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Devotee: What if we find this pratiṣṭhā within ourselves? We cannot give up the mission so what should we do?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: We find within ourselves desire for name and fame but we cannot give up the mission.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is, by the recommended, the recommended activities which are meant for us to do: if we do that, and find our inner affinity, the progress in the inner affinity, attraction for the thing. That will, the intensity of the attraction for Kṛṣṇa consciousness and ________ [?] and a desperate attitude for the cause, all these things will prove whether I’m sincere. __________________________ [?] Simplicity, sincerity, that is the wealth by which we can purchase, lobha, our, laulyam api mūlyam ekalaṁ, [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.70], only the purchase money is our greed, inner greed.

bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir, anyatra caiṣa trika eka-kālaḥ

prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus, tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣudapāyo 'nughāsam

[“As with every mouthful an eater feels the threefold effects of his satisfaction, his stomach being filled, and his hunger being dispelled, in the same way when a surrendered soul serves the Lord he realises devotion of three natures simultaneously: devotion in love, the personal appearance of the Lord who is the abode of love, and detachment from all other things.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.42]

By these three tests we can measure the progress: affinity towards the goal, for the destination, and our apathy for non Kṛṣṇa consciousness, sympathy for the positive and apathy for the negative. And also one’s position, his position is being strengthened day by day. The faith is being strengthened day by day. These should by the criterion. Progress in the positive, and withdrawal from the negative, and get strength more and more to advance, these three are written in Bhāgavatam.

If non Kṛṣṇa consciousness things dealt, one, a devotee won’t relish it. Very much disturbance he will feel. From the negative side that is a measurement. And whenever Kṛṣṇa kathā, talk of home, he will feel very encouragement and earnestly he’ll be all attentive to hear minutely. And gradually the strength of such nature will increase day by day, with more earnestness, with more apathy to the negative, the strength, intensity. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

That their men will come and associate with persons here and without any cause, serious cause we should not like to give indulgence to such events. They have come, they may see āśrama, they may have taken some prasādam, bow down to the Deity, and they may go. But if any particular important case is there then of course we are to attend. Otherwise generally to satisfy curiosity, I have no time and energy to spare.

...

Generally I’m feeling disturbed that they are all thinking of me not in a sympathetic way.

...

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

...

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

You have seen Śrī Kṛṣṇa-saṁhita by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yes, I have that, read some portions of it.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Some portions. Have you gone through that portion where he has given, he has mentioned sāragrāhī and vāragrāhī?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: I’ve read that, and also you’ve discussed it.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vāragrāhī and sāragrāhī.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is to be very minutely gone through.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: You had used that when you were defeating Hiranyagarbha. When he came you were defeating him with this.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: This Hiranyagarbha should be shown one article. Two articles we had about Lalitā Prasād by Prabhupāda himself. One, Badha Rādhā [?], another article he’s engaged in the worship of Urichandi [?] The presiding Deity of the town was Urichandi [?] Śakti, Kali pūjā.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Viranagar.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Viranagar, Ula [?] And he’s engaged, Lalitā Prasād is engaged in the worship of Urichandi [?] the Śakti not of Śaktimān that Kṛṣṇa, that is materialistic view he’s possessed with. Clear description there! Imitation is not genuine thing. Jara vilāsa and cid vilāsa, serving and enjoying, may be similar but not same, the opposite. Dedication and exploitation opposite, both are very busy, busy to work for their satisfaction. But satisfaction connected with the senses, or the satisfaction of the senses of Kṛṣṇa, the opposite, sāragrāhī, vāragrāhī. Even going through the various scriptures one may not understand the real purpose, what is the gist, what is the aim of the writings: it is very difficult to understand, what for. Athāto brahma-jijñāsā, athā, athā brahma-jijñāsā, the reason for brahma-jijñāsā: and dharma-jijñāsā by Jaimini, and brahma-jijñāsā by Vyāsa in Vedānta. Pūrvva-mīmāṁsā and uttara-mīmāṁsā, pūrvva-mīmāṁsā by Jaimini, athāto dharma-jijñāsā: and uttara-mīmāṁsā by Vyāsa, athāto brahma-jijñāsā. Enquiry is present in both the treatise. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. _____________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Mahārāja, in the beginning of Nārada Bhakti Sūtra doesn’t he have the equivalent towards, “Now is the time to inquire about bhakti?”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Paranu bhakti isvari, Śāṇḍilya Sūtra, Nārada Sūtra. But all of them collected and harmonized in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu. Full-fledged theism, theism, He is, He is, how He is, how He is. Theism means this Oṁ, Oṁ means theism, in the bud, then tree, branches, flowers, fruits, and ripe fruit, galitaṁ phalaṁ, Bhāgavatam [1.1.3]. Rasam, raso vai saḥ, rasaṁ labdhānandī bhavati.

[raso vai saḥ. rasaṁ hyevāyaṁ labdhānandī bhavati

ko hyevānyāt kaḥ prāṇyāt yadeṣa ākāśa ānando na syāt eṣa hyevānandayati]

[“Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the embodiment of all ecstatic bliss; He is the reservoir of all pleasure. Having derived ecstasy from Him, the individual souls become blissful. For, who indeed, could breath, who could be alive if this Blissful Lord were not present within the hearts of all souls. He alone bestows ecstasy.”] [Taittirīya Upaniṣad, 2.7] & [Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, 9.2]

Rasa is controlling the whole market in different phases, in different appearance, that rasa. According to purity of the rasa the standard of life is being dignified: the qualitative difference. Rasa in exploitation, rasa in renunciation, and rasa in service, and dutiful service, and spontaneous service. And also śanta, dāsya, sākhya, vātsalya, mādhurya, the different group, the differentiated symptoms, criterion, are difficult to detect.

Only a spiritual expert is he who can detect those subtle differences between the different stages in different rasa. And in one rasa also there are so many personifications. There is also gradation. Knowledge is gradation, experience of gradation. It is spelled to the extreme.

Even in Kṛṣṇa conception, the Svayaṁ-Bhagavān, then Svayaṁ-Prakāśa, then Prabhāva- Prakāśa, Prabhāva-Vilāsa, in this way even there is gradation of Kṛṣṇa Himself, what to speak of the servitors. Svayaṁ-Bhagavān, then Svayaṁ-Rūpa, Svayaṁ-Prakāśa, then Prabhāva-Prakāśa, Vaibhava-Prakāśa, then Prabhāva-Vilāsa, Vaibhava-Vilāsa, in this way permutation combination in mathematics it is going on. What to speak of others.

Then Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, then Caturvyūha in Dvārakā, then in Vaikuṇṭha, Caturvyūha Nārāyaṇa, Caturvyūha, then the twenty-four extended vilāsa extension that is extended functions of delegated figures, in this way.

Then Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī, Garbhodakaśāyī, Kṣīrodakaśāyī. Then this Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha, these Avatāras. Then this Yuga-Avatāra, then Śaktyāveśa-Avatāra, Manvantara Avatāra, so many, according to their function, so many stages, so many intensity, degree, classification, in svāṁśa tattva, and then vibhinnāṁśa, taṭasthā jīva, and then this māyāic world. And there also, prakṛtermahān ahaṅkara pancatran mahatrāni, then, panca bhu panca indriya [?] Development!

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

The full fledged material evolution and also the spiritual dedicative evolution there, and it is always dynamic, always progressive. Hare Kṛṣṇa. And we must have some concrete experience, a real touch with reality.

In the words of our Prabhupāda; “The honey is in the stop of file, in a file, the mouth is closed, and the bee just sitting on the, or sitting over the glass thinking that, ‘I’m tasting honey.’”

Such case is there also. Mane mana man kala kal [?] He’s cheating his own mind, that Kṛṣṇa līlā is such. Externally they’re dealing with men and women in a particular process and they think that, ‘we are enjoying that līlā.’ Like Caṇḍīdāsa and others they also say that, ‘We are by our physical conduct and behaviour we are tasting the same thing as in Vṛndāvana.’ And Hiranyagarbha has entered that section. So he will be master in no time, master of Goloka, master of Vṛndāvana, no time, very ready made things he’s getting there.

I heard that one bābājī he had reputation of a good character, that he did not mix with women, he keeps his character good. But when he has died so many men and women of that sect they’re assembled, gathered there. Then one bābājī , one women, the mātāji, she’s lamenting, “Oh, the bābājī dead but he could not reach Goloka. It is very repentable, lamentable that he could not reach Goloka, because it was supposed that he did not mix with any women.”

Then another lady came out, “Who says that he had no Goloka. I know it fully, he had my association.” She came forward to give certificate to the dead bābājī that he had connection of Goloka.

Vaikuṇṭha means moral and Goloka means immoral according to them. Engaged in immoral activities, men and women, and they are experimenting with Goloka. And those that are little immoral temperament are lost according to them. He remained in Vaikuṇṭha, he could not understand what is Goloka. This is their fashion of dealing with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, most filthy, immoral. And Hiranyagarbha has entered that clan: make believe. He’s not wasting time like us in philosophising, or ontological labour, but he has already attained that rasa and going on tasting.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So I like to retire now my friends. Gaura Haribol.

Devotees: Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

End of 82.02.19.E

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.20.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... mādhurya and audārya, both simultaneously existing.

[rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmād]

ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau

caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptaṁ

rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa svarūpam

[“I worship Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Kṛṣṇa Himself, enriched with the emotions and radiance of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. As the Predominating and Predominated Moieties, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are eternally one, with separate individual identities. Now They have again united as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. This inconceivable transformation of the Lord’s internal pleasure-giving potency has arisen from the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.5]

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: So the tendency to truly distribute the glories of the Lord, throughout the environment, that will grow naturally along with the development of devotion on the inner plane.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Within. So kīrtana has been accepted the most efficient to enhance his own inner wealth. Distribute your good will to others and as reaction that will come to help you in your development. Good will, excise: that will enhance the degree. That is, distribution means attraction, attraction and distribution, both are co-relative friends. One does not live at the cost of the other; but they are co-operating. Think good for others and your own good will be thought out automatically.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: So this is the real basis of the position of the Guru.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: He who has sufficient good will for others may be considered Guru. I think this must be that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, so self-forgetfulness. Christ said self-forgetfulness. Self-sacrifice in Socrates and self-forgetfulness is in Christ we are told this way. In Mahāprabhu we find self-forgetfulness: only difference in quality. Where the distribution, self-forgetful distribution in what layer, that is the difference, in what plane? That may be in mundane plane distributing food and clothing, and then in the learning, the plane of ordinary, this scientific education etc. And the reaction goes, the distribution of creating atomic bomb, atom bomb market, to distribute atom bombs to others that is to invite suicide. And their distribution of love that will bring love in its retinue.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. There they have the principle of deterrents, nuclear deterrents. But we’ve got loving adherence, adherence, opposite I think.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I don’t follow: they?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: The militarists they say that, “If I have enough atom bombs then I’ll be able to deter the tendency of the other party to attack me with their atom bombs.” So this is the principle of mutual deterrents.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The mutual, both are in competition in the wrong plane.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes, so both sides are always having to build more and more bombs in order to deter each other.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Tit for tat. One is accumulating tit another is accumulating tat.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Devotee: But you are distributing bombs of bhakti in our hearts.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That sort of strength was with my Guru Mahārāja. Single handed he began to challenge the whole of the world. “Everything what you are busy in all trash, give up poison, poison. Try to invoke the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. The whole world is suffering only for the dearth of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” “Kṛṣṇa-kathā-durvikṣā,” he told, “I don’t admit any famine, any famine in this world, but only the famine of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” Repeatedly that was told by our Guru Mahārāja. “Only famine of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, no other famine I admit. I’m not prepared to admit any type of famine in this world, only Kṛṣṇa kathā. Give Kṛṣṇa consciousness to all then all right, they’re not in want. This is a concocted dearth of unnecessary things. Everyone has got ample, only he must be conscious of his own real self, who is he. They are so much busy about nothing. After phantasmagoria they are running after. Only their attention should be directed towards the truth and they will find they’re all right. Only one problem: that unconsciousness to Kṛṣṇa. Mind your own self, mind to God and no want in this world.” Repeatedly and very strongly he told, and single handed he began his fighting.

And one day he remarked to a Barrister in Calcutta, “I began ten years ago. I wanted only one, but now I have got five hundred to speak the same thing on my behalf.”

The Barrister he challenged him, “Do you like to convert me?” When he was saying to him why he was doing all these things, “Do you want to convert me?”

“Yes, I want to convert you if only you give a little attention. But you are not giving me attention. How can you convert? If I have only five minutes I will convert you if you give proper attention.” He told. “One day I began to preach singly, now five hundred I have got within these ten years.”

So how happy he would have been to find so many faces from the civilized world of the day: would have been happy. Ke? Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Kṛṣṇa-kathā-durvikṣā. My ear still remembers that experience. Kona, kṛṣṇa-kathā-durvikṣā, kona durvikṣā nāi jagate.

[jagate eka mātra hari-kathā-durvikṣā, chāḍ’a āra kona durvikṣā nāi]

[Subjective Evolution of Consciousness, p 20]

“No want, no famine, only the want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this world. No other famine.” Very strongly he repeatedly told. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: On the appearance day of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda we read there was one address given by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura to the sannyāsīs who were going to preach in the West, in nineteen thirty-three perhaps. It was his farewell address to them and encouraging them in the preaching work in the West, and all the devotees who that were listening to that they became very ecstatic to hear Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura’s words at the very beginning of the preaching work in the West.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where did you find, in Gauḍīya?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: It was published in one book called Śrī Caitanya’s Teachings. A collection of some articles and speeches I think.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: By whom, edited by whom?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: It was collected together by that Tīrtha Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah, yes. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: He instructed them at the time that they should employ the method of propaganda as explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

tṛṇād api sunīcena, taror api sahiṣṇunā, amāninā mānadena, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

[“One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 3]

He said that that should be the method they employ in their propaganda in the West, that that would be successful.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Swāmī Mahārāja did that. His life was also at stake, but still with divine confidence he marched on.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes. Maximum risk, maximum gain.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha. No risk, no gain. That is mahābhāva. To risk means mahābhāva, and to gain means rasa-rāja, who can risk, the negative and the positive, negative is risking and thereby get the positive, to attract positive. To risk means to attract positive.

There was a Bengali poet, one lady, of Brahmo type, she’s writing that, Amar ami nile karinath amari [?] Of course it is collected from Vaiṣṇava Darśana. Amar ami nile karinath amari karinath sunya [?]

Ami rikta hariya danya harinama ami tumi sakuna [?]

Perhaps the wife is addressing to her husband, “You have snatched my ego from me.” Amar ami nile karinath [?] “And leaving me quite empty, and I feel that I am very much fortunate, being quite empty. You are so perfect, that you have taken everything from me. I feel I am empty and I consider myself to be very fortunate that I have nothing and everything you have taken away from me. You are such perfect. You are such perfect that you have snatched everything from me and I think that I am fortunate.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Just as Mahāprabhu told,

yaḥ kaumāra-haraḥ sa eva hi varas [tā eva caitra-kṣapās

te conmīlita-mālatī-surabhayaḥ prauḍhāḥ kadambānilāḥ

sā caivāsmi tathāpi tatra surata-vyāpāra-līlā-vidhau

revā-rodhasi vetasī-taru-tale cetaḥ samutkaṇṭhate]

[“That very Personality Who stole My heart during My youth is now again My Master. These are the same moonlit nights of the month of Caitra. The same fragrance of mālatī flowers is there, and the same sweet breezes are blowing from the kadamba forest. In Our intimate relationship, I am also the same lover, yet My mind is not happy here. I am eager to go back to that place on the bank of the Revā under the Vetasī tree. That is My desire.”] [Kūrma-Purāṇa] + [Padāvalī] + [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.78]

That Ratha-yatra celebration, He chanted an ordinary poem in some ordinary book. The corresponding thought was couched in Sanskrit by Rūpa Goswāmī, priyaḥ so 'yaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ, in this way!

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Vipramukhya: Mahārāja, why do you say that it was ordinary?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Uh?

Vipramukhya: Why do you say that it was ordinary what Mahāprabhu...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ordinary?

Vipramukhya: This verse.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ordinary? It was produced by some people, worldly poet. That is ordinary, worldly poet, not from scripture. But it is collected from an ordinary epic, in the social epic. There is one book named Kāvya-Prakāśa in Sanskrit. There a quotation from the ancient poem, poetry book, one śloka. There it is mentioned that one lady she says that, “Before my marriage, I loved some gentleman and I met him in a jungle on the banks of river. That was a night, a moonlit night and the season was also the spring. But in course of time I am afterwards married to that very gentleman, and I find that the same moonlit night and so sweet odour is coming from the flowers from the garden also, and he is the same man, I am the same lady. Still my mind is always attracted by that environment where we first met before our marriage.” The general poetry is like that, in a particular ordinary social or worldly book.

And Mahāprabhu chanted that śloka when He’s dancing just on the front of the chariot of Jagannātha. He was chanting that śloka but ordinary people cannot, even His parṣada, they could not understand why that particular poem from a particular social book He’s chanting and madly dancing before Jagannātha. And Rūpa Goswāmī, sei ślokārtha lañā akarilā svarūpa.

prabhura nṛtya-śloka śuni’ śrī-rūpa-gosāñi, sei ślokārtha lañā śloka karilā tathāi

[“When Rūpa Gosvāmī heard a verse uttered by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu during the ceremony, he immediately composed another verse dealing with the same subject.”] [Caitanya- caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.73]

Only Svarūpa could understand why He’s chanting that śloka which is considered to be a nasty one. But Rūpa Goswāmī came that year and he composed a parallel śloka giving it the proper meaning and connection with Vṛndāvana līlā. Rūpa translated in this way.

“That Rādhārāṇī has met Kṛṣṇa in Kuruksetra. And there She says, “I am that Rādhā, He’s that Kṛṣṇa. But My mind is always attracting Me to Vṛndāvana. I can’t get any satisfaction here. Both the main figures, both of Us present. But I don’t have any sense of real enjoyment. My mind is always being attracted to Vṛndāvana.”

priyaḥ so 'yaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ sahacari kuru-kṣetra-militas

tathāhaṁ sā rādhā tad idam ubhayoḥ saṅgama-sukham

tathāpy antaḥ-khelan-madhura-muralī-pañcama-juṣe

mano me kālindī-pulina-vipināya spṛhayati

[Upon arriving in Kurukṣetra, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī said: “O My dear friend, now I am at last reunited with My most beloved Kṛṣṇa in Kurukṣetra. I am the same Rādhārāṇī, and He is the same Kṛṣṇa. We are enjoying Our meeting, but still I wish to return to the banks of the Kālindī, where I could hear the sweet melody of His flute sounding the fifth note beneath the trees of the Vṛndāvana forest.”] [Padāvalī, 383] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 1.79]

Rūpa Goswāmī wrote that and on a plantain leaf it was written and put under the thatched roof of the hut where he was living. Mahāprabhu was going for taking bath in the sea, and Rūpa had already left for taking bath. And Mahāprabhu waiting there for some minutes perhaps: the Rūpa Goswāmī will come and he will meet Him and then he will go to take bath. Suddenly He looked above and under the thatch something was written in a plantain leaf is there, thrust. He took it and He saw and He was in meditating mood. And He is asking Svarūpa Dāmodara, He knew the handwriting of Rūpa, then when Rūpa came Mahāprabhu is asking Svarūpa Dāmodara.

“Svarūpa, how is this that Rūpa he has understood the meaning of My heart? I chanted some ordinary śloka from the ordinary book and danced, and the purport, real purport is known by him. How it is possible?”

Svarūpa Dāmodara told, “You don’t understand this Master? It is Your grace. The cause is only Your grace to him. No other way. There can be no other way to enter Your heart. But Your grace has made him so dignified. You have opened the door of Your heart to him and he has entered there and got everything.”

“Yes, I did so Dāmodara Svarūpa. I did so. He’s a good soul and he’s qualified to deal with this subtle divine love. So I have fully given him what I have got. And not only that, I request you also to give your whole self to that boy. He’s really a fit person to deal with all these higher ecstatic things.” Mahāprabhu recommended.

And then Rūpa came and Mahāprabhu gave a slap. “How can you know My inner feelings?” He gave a slap on his back.

Gaura Hari. That was in Siddha Bakula, still the place is there, Siddha Bakula, Haridāsa Prabhu’s place, Siddha Bakula. This incident took place there, Siddha Bakula.

Vipramukhya: With Mahāprabhu and Rūpa Goswāmī in Siddha Bakula?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He met with Rūpa-Sanātana. Rūpa-Sanātana used to live with Haridāsa Ṭhākura in Siddha Bakula. And Mahāprabhu met them there. Because they had some intimate association with the Muslims and so the Hindus or the brāhmaṇas or the priests of Jagannātha they were scrupulous not to touch them. So they used to live there, in some secluded place where they may not have any complaint against them. Tṛṇād api sunīcena, taror api sahiṣṇunā. [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 3] They themselves were very careful not to come to any criticism by the public of that day. So Rūpa, Sanātana used to take their abode with Haridāsa Ṭhākura. That was a garden of the Guru Kāśī Miśra of Pratāparudra, the Emperor.

Mahāprabhu He begged for that place. “I want that,” He asked, “A solitary place that will be little far from Jagannātha temple, not very far, and a solitary place I want where I should sometimes live in a peaceful manner. I want such a place.”

Then Sārvabhauma, or someone recommended that Kāśī Miśra’s place. “That is very solitary and that is not very far off and still secluded place.”

So Mahāprabhu begged from Kāśī Miśra, “I want that garden house for My own purpose.”

Kāśī Miśra said, “Yes, everything belongs to You. Whatever You select You may have it freely.”

So Haridāsa Ṭhākura was placed there in that Siddha Bakula, and Rūpa, Sanātana used to live there. Twice they came and lived there, Rūpa, Sanātana, twice or once. Sanātana, once perhaps they came. And Rūpa to some he presented his writings: that was discussed by Mahāprabhu along with Sārvabhauma, Rāmānanda and Svarūpa Dāmodara, and that was appreciated very much. So much so when Rūpa Goswāmī showed his Guru-vandanā; anarpita-carīṁ cirāt, Mahāprabhu, Śrī Caitanyadeva could not tolerate. He said, Pratisthate hai ei nindad lakan [?] “You have, in your description you have been too much liberal. And this equates to blaming one, to put blame on one: exceedingly, praise, praise of extreme degree that equates to almost blame.” Pratisthate hai ei nindad lakan. “You have made too much of Me. So much so that you have blamed Me.” Pratisthate hai ei nindad lakan.

anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau

samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam

hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandīpitaḥ

sadā hṛdaya-kandare sphuratu vaḥ śacī-nandanaḥ

[“May that Lord, who is known as the son of Śrīmatī Śacīdevī, be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in this age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant spiritual knowledge of the mellow taste of His service.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.4]

Sārvabhauma says, “No, he has dedicated to his Guru. Guru should be praised in such a way. He has done rightly, nothing wrong.” In this way!

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Have you finished your pāraṇa?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Pāraṇa. From nine thirty or sometime within that you must take something, Ekādaśī pāraṇa.

Vipramukya: Today it’s nine fifty-seven.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now?

Vipramukya: No, nine fifty-seven, after one hour.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Pāraṇa time or now?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Hari Carana Prabhu he already, we’ve already broken, we’ve already done the pāraṇa at around seven thirty.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Seven thirty, all right. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: I also feel like I am breaking my fast this morning after several months of missing yourself. This morning I am also breaking fast.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. I am talking just before, pratisthate hai ei nindad lakan [?] To make too much praise, that means to blame oneself.

Vipramukya: Śrīdhara Mahārāja, how important is it to break fast the day after Ekādaśī? Is that very important to break fast in early the morning?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To break fast, that is, there are three constituent parts there are, so pāraṇa is also considered to be the part of that vrata. Everything is service, nothing is enjoyment of aggression, but still it is considered to be a part of the vrata, pāraṇa. So such importance is attached here that if that day, the birthday of Vāmana or Varāhadeva, the pāraṇa time must remain fixed. And there, janma time that respect that is shown to the birthday that will come earlier, within pāraṇa time, and not the pāraṇa will go later. Such importance is given. Because Ekādaśī, observance of Ekādaśī in toto it is very important, as importance is given by the śāstras.

Vipramukya: Sometimes the pāraṇa time is calculated to be very early in the morning.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Sometimes according to the combination of tithi, nakṣatra, etc, they have calculated.

Vipramukya: In England sometimes the pāraṇa time is before sunrise. It says on the calendar break fast after sunrise and before a certain time.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is to be adjusted calculating in the almanac. From Navadwīpa and Vṛndāvana thousand miles difference, so how they calculate the difference in observance, and that should be extended to the West according to the mileage. Because in America is just the opposite; when day there is night, there is noon there is midnight. So how, and Vṛndāvana and Navadwīpa, how differentiation, and in that ideal that should be lengthened.

Vipramukya: Sometimes that pāraṇa time comes before we are finished with our morning program. Then we should break fast before morning program is finished? What is the result if one does not break fast?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That combination of the calculation of the Ekādaśī tithi by the Sun and the Moon’s, generally by Moon’s movement, the tithi is formed. So that is for the astronomers.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s asking if by chance one does not do that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu has written, he has recommended to come later not earlier. If one is in a foreign land and he does not find any almanac or any trace, then he observes it towards later time not earlier. That has been advised in general.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Vipramukya: Mahārāja, the other day I was here and you said that Mahāprabhu comes every Kali-yuga.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Every Kali-yuga as giver of Hari Nāma. Nāma, Kṛṣṇa Nāma, Nāmāmṛtam: and not as Rādhā-Govinda-milita-tanu. Ordinary Yuga Avatāra, not only here, in Vṛndāvana also, in every Dvāpara-yuga Kṛṣṇa comes, but only Yuga Avatāra, not Rādhā-Govinda līlā. But Rādhā-Govinda līlā is eternal in Vṛndāvana in suppressed way. Here also Navadwīpa līlā eternal suppressed, underground, but not come on the surface of prapañca. But it is eternal, has got connection with the eternal. The subtle most plane is always present in the gross thing. The ether, the electricity, present everywhere, in stone, in wood, in brick, everywhere, and also transcending this material. So the higher planes are so subtle and so real, that it holds up, it supports all sorts of existence. And that is at the bottom, or within, or surpassing, transcending, so everywhere that is. The subtle most thing, and it’s quality, it’s movement is always there. Only it comes over the surface, asserts sometimes, and in disguise present always.

yathā mahānti bhūtāni, bhūteṣūccāvaceṣv anu

praviṣṭāny apraviṣṭāni, tathā teṣu na teṣv aham

[“O Brahmā, please know that the universal elements enter into the cosmos and at the same time do not enter into the cosmos; similarly, I also exist within everything and at the same time I am outside everything.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.9.35]

“I am everywhere, I am nowhere.”

Ether is everywhere, ether is nowhere, according to experience.

Vipramukya: Mahāprabhu is golden colour when He comes?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. But it varies in the case of ordinary Kali-yuga. In Nārada Purāṇa we find, śuka akha varna [?] the colour of a śuka, parrot. It is also mentioned, the Varāhadeva sometimes in black and sometimes in white colour, in different kalpa the colour may be different, sometimes, it is mentioned. But golden colour this,

aṣṭāviṁśa catur-yuge [dvāparera śeṣe, vrajera sahite haya kṛṣṇera prakāśe]

[“At the end of the Dvāpara-yuga of the twenty-eighth divya-yuga, Lord Kṛṣṇa appears on Earth with the full paraphernalia of His eternal Vrajadhāma.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi,līlā, 3.10]

Because the colour of Rādhārāṇī which is fixed, golden. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Devotee: When Mahāprabhu comes does the whole universe become empty?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Empty? Why?

Devotee: All the souls become liberated.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not empty, but just like the current of the Ganges River, passing and then again filled up. That is also, the question all liberated, there also the question was put as you put now.

Haridas jive sunya haibe [?] The question from the other side it was put.

Puna sukya jive udvudva karive [?] It will be filled up from the subtle plane of Brahmaloka.

Devotee: Is that the same thing with Kṛṣṇa and Rāmacandra?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You see, for the time being in particular, suppose the day of independence the government orders to release all the prisoners. Prisoners are released, then again prisoners begin to come and fill up, in this way. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Vipramukya: Mahārāja, does that mean that the living entities that are in this universe at the present time were not here in this universe when Mahāprabhu was here?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Those who are living here now they were not here at the time of Mahāprabhu, they came after Mahāprabhu? He’s asking.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Came after Mahāprabhu we may take it. And some of His parṣadas are also here and there, scattered. They are sent for some good purpose.

Vipramukya: Where did they come from? Did they come from another universe?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Generally they come from Brahmaloka. The Infinite source is there, ākṣara, kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni, kūṭa-stho 'kṣara ucyate, kūṭa-sthaḥ.

[dvāv imau puruṣau loke, kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca

kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni, kūṭa-stho 'kṣara ucyate

uttamaḥ puruṣas tv anyaḥ, paramātmety udāhṛtaḥ

yo loka-trayam āviśya, bibharty avyaya īśvaraḥ]

[“In this world, there are two kinds of souls: the fallible and the infallible. All beings from Lord Brahmā down to the lowest stationary life-forms are known a fallible (as they have deviated from their intrinsic nature). But the personalities who are eternally situated in their divine nature are known as infallible (personal associates of the Lord).”] [“But totally distinct from both these types of souls, there is a Supreme Person who is known as Paramātmā, the Supersoul. He is the Supreme Lord. Entering into the three worlds in His eternal form, He maintains all beings in the universe.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.16-17]

The marginal plane is also infinite. A line can be infinite, a plane can be infinite, a solid also can be infinite. The marginal plane that is also infinite.

Vipramukya: Is it possible in transmigration to go from one universe to another?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Maybe, one universe to another universe. And generally after death, to enjoy the good and bad results of karma, they are transferred here and there to another brahmāṇḍa, to another planet also. Generally the ordinary people that have got attraction for the Earthly pleasure after death they are transferred to Moon, the Moon being intimately connected with the Earth. Again they are to return here for enjoyment or something. And those that are a little of renunciating character they’re allowed to cross the attractive plane of the Earth and to go further on other planet also.

Uttarāyaṇam and dakṣiṇāyanam, in Bhagavad-gītā [8.26] it is mentioned, ekayā yāty anāvṛttim, anyayāvartate punaḥ, someone goes to uttarāyaṇam, towards the Sun. Taking the knowledge, the path of renunciation, the yogī, the jñānī, they go crossing the attractive portion of the Earth. And those that have got attraction here they go to Moon and they come back. But they do not have this body of flesh and blood so no such food is necessary. So only thinking that they have got some position where they stay, with this idea they can pass their time in Moon. Though no such food, no such things, but only just in a dream one may think that ‘I am taking a shelter, rain coming, I am to take shelter under some shed.’ All in imagination, something like that! They hold the position of Moon. Then they again come shortly here for fulfil their purpose here. They have got some interest, debt, some debt and some gain and loss they are connected with this relativity so they have to come here for attraction. Ekayā yāty anāvṛttim, anyayāvartate punaḥ. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.02.20.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.20.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Vipramukhya: ... Yuga Avatāra for Dvāpara-yuga yet He appeared on the brink of Kali-yuga.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Uh?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Kṛṣṇa is Avatāra for Dvāpara-yuga, then why He came just at the beginning of Kali-yuga?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Every yuga, to recommend a particular duty of that yuga. In Satya-yuga also, in Treta-yuga, in Dvāpara-yuga and also in Kali-yuga, every yuga what will be the specific duty of that yuga suiting to the season. So to recommend and to inaugurate that He generally comes: that is Yuga Avatāra. He comes many a time but this is one sort of coming down, one type, this Yuga Avatāra to inaugurate, to open what should be the duty of that particular age, He comes Himself and He does it by His own practice and asks people to go on in that way.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But his question is, “Then why does Kṛṣṇa come at the end of Dvāpara-yuga and not at the beginning?”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He does for the necessity, the necessity of this yuga where the Rādhā-Govinda līlā. That was the main purpose of coming towards the end.

Devotee: Mahārāja, how is it that Caitanya Mahāprabhu had Madhavi Devī as an intimate associate?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not intimate associate, but Madhavi Devī has her, had amassed divine love to such a degree that a particular section told that she’s a great devotee in Oriya of Mahāprabhu, Madhavi Devī. Madhavi Devī means Śikhi-Māhiti and Madhavi Devī who is Madhavi Devī?

Devotees: Śikhi-Māhiti’s sister, sister of Śikhi-Māhiti.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Śikhi-Māhiti yes. A particular section in Orissa, they’re of that opinion that Śikhi-Māhiti and Madhavi Devī, they were very much attached towards Mahāprabhu. They were great devotee, devotee of a high order of Mahāprabhu in Orissa. But that is not generally accepted by the Gauḍīya School. They show some respect to that opinion of the particular section of Orissa. In this Avatāra only there is two and a half. One is Śikhi-Māhiti and half is Madhavi Devī. Because she’s woman so half, that is also not easy to be accepted. The woman figure, only for the figure she will be given less benefit. That is also not proper. A particular section is of that opinion. It is recommendatory, not real.

Devotee: So Mahārāja, exactly what offence did Choṭa Haridāsa perform?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: We should take it as Mahāprabhu by His own person is teaching it to the public. He was not actually so; but he was made to play the part of such a person. That the, and outwardly that was given serious objection, that in the name of Mahāprabhu he went to beg something from the lady. Mahāprabhu did not like that.

This is to warn us that a particular plea, or under the plea of preaching or something we should not try to satisfy our carnal desire which is within our heart. Outwardly I’m going to meet a person, as if for the service of Kṛṣṇa, or serve the sampradāya, or some benefit divine. But if within our heart there is something underground, and the satisfaction of that, for the satisfaction, for the real satisfaction of our inner lust, if we apply or use the plea of preaching, coming in connection with the outside, that is a very serious offence. Do you follow? Outwardly the plea for the God’s service, but inwardly at the same time I want my sense satisfaction. That has been condemned in very strong way. That is very punishable. Vedāśraya-nāstikya-vāda bhauda keli [?] Half truth is more dangerous than falsehood. To take the advantage of the service and under that disguise to go on one’s own sense pleasure, to seek sense pleasure under the colour of devotion, that is a serious offence. It has been showed there, that you are making your good feeling subservient to the lower tendency. You are asking your Gurudeva to serve you. Such serious thing!

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

That is a warning. We must be very careful for that when we are preachers. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. But that punishment was given outwardly, but Choṭa Haridāsa he used to sing around Mahāprabhu, and Mahāprabhu could hear his song, and other devotees also could hear. But outwardly he was sacrificed.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Once, one of our sannyāsīs, ISKCON sannyāsīs, apparently had fallen into sense gratification. And afterwards he committed suicide thinking that this was the only way of atonement. But later Śrīla Prabhupāda said it was not a very good idea.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mahāprabhu showed that extreme exemplary punishment, but still in our level we should not deprive ourselves from the valuable time in this human birth, most valuable. We must repent and will again take the advantage of this human birth time to utilize. That was extreme case, Choṭa Haridāsa. Mahāprabhu had to be so much strict because He was conserving the love divine which is so similar to the mundane lust. So to show the great difference between love divine, braja prema, and the, what is going on here, the lady love. So to show that though it may look to be similar, but this is just the opposite. So such strict, to keep up the standard, purity of the standard, He had to apply to take to such serious punishment. That under no circumstances, this should not be taken as that.

Vipramukhya: Mahārāja, if a sannyāsī falls down, does he lose the grace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu? If he again takes up the service of the Lord, can he regain the grace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course temporarily he loses but, bhūmau-skhalita-pādānāṁ bhūmir, again he will try to get up and go on. Fallible creature we are, we won’t leave any stone unturned.

bhūmau-skhalita-pādānāṁ bhūmir evāvalambanam

[tvayi jātāparādhānāṁ, tvam eva śaraṇaṁ prabho]

[“For those who have stumbled and fallen upon the ground, that very ground is the only support by which they can arise once again. Likewise, for those who have offended You, O Lord, You alone are their only refuge.”] [Skanda-Purāṇa]

If we fall down on the ground again with the help of the ground we shall try to stand up. And when the Guru and the sādhu are there, by their forgiveness also we may be, may begun a fresh life again, on behalf of God and they may sanction the mercy.

Vipramukhya: So Mahāprabhu behaves in that way with Choṭa Haridāsa but not with everyone?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not everyone.

Parvat Mahārāja: Would it be correct to assume that He did that...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But He did not like. There is another, Kālākṛṣṇa dāsa, who was enticed in the South.

Vipramukhya: Bhaṭṭathāris.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He took him here and then dismissed him from His company. But Nityānanda Prabhu gave him some service engagement and kept within the fold. He’s more generous.

Once, one, when we were preaching in Ellor, in Andradesha, myself, this Mādhava Mahārāja, at that time Hayagrīva Brahmacārī, and others, two or three, we were preaching in the Ellor town. Then it so happened that one of our brahmacārīs he perhaps had connection with a lady in that, we are living in a chotri [?] that is a dharmaśālā, rest house. And at night some people came with the cry that the brahmacārī has been found in the room of that particular lady. I was at that time aching with headache. I was lying in the room. And they came and roused this Mādhava Mahārāja, the Hayagrīva Brahmacārī and told that, “Such things have happened.”

Then Hayagrīva Prabhu cleverly told that, “Mahārāja is sleeping and his health is not well, so tomorrow morning you will come and we shall do what is necessary.”

Then after they went away, Hayagrīva Prabhu silently saying to me, “Mahārāja, have you heard what things are going on?”

I told, yes I have heard everything. Then what to do? And at that time our Guru Mahārāja was at Madras Maṭha. I asked him, I think you remove this boy just now. Just now consult the railway guide, the train, whether the Madras side or the Bengal side, immediately remove him from this spot. And then in the morning we shall see what to do.

So Hayagrīva Prabhu took his bedding and he put outside under the shade of a tree. And came back and asked him, “You go.”

So he went to Madras. So just now at that time, one o’clock, a train is going towards Madras, Ellor station, and he was sent to Madras.

Then in the morning they came, then Hayagrīva Prabhu told, “When Mahārāja he woke at night I related everything to him and he was very much enraged and immediately dismissed him and has driven him. Where he has gone we don’t know.”

Then of course the culprit was not there so things were arranged smoothly.

Then Tīrtha Mahārāja, that old Tīrtha Mahārāja he was in Madras. Prabhupāda went to open Dacca Maṭha. Anyhow he came to know, “Why you have come?” And something like this, then he, Tīrtha Mahārāja gave a good whipping and drove him away from the Maṭha.

And he was living in Madras, with some industry there. And within six months Prabhupāda again visited the place. And he was coming now and then, “Please accept me.”

Then we told him that, “Prabhupada is coming shortly, at that time you come, then we shall recommend your case.” Then Prabhupāda came and that boy also came and we asked Prabhupāda, “That boy is still in Madras town, he’s taking some business here and he’s coming now and then and he wants to be reinstated. What we can do?”

Prabhupāda told, and it was a strange thing to us, he told, “Mahāprabhu did not accept such persons so I can’t. But Nityānanda Prabhu kept them. So your attitude should be to keep them.”

Then we were perplexed.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Prabhupāda says, “I can’t accept him because Mahāprabhu did not accept. But your duty should be to give him shelter because Nityānanda Prabhu gave shelter.”

In this way, for the time being we were perplexed. “Are we disobedient to you that we’ll go against your order?” But anyhow he told that Nityananda Prabhu...

And another time also, I was in Calcutta Maṭha, letters coming, and someone is reading letters to Prabhupāda. One letter came from Kurukṣetra Maṭha that one gentleman he was driven from the Maṭha for such action, intimate connection with lady, they have driven out. Then again he has come to Kurukṣetra to join. Then the Maṭha commander of the place has asked Prabhupāda permission. “That he’s coming and I have kept him here and whatever you like to say I’m to do that.”

Then Prabhupāda, considering the letter said, “Only connection with the sādhu, that can help us, help a jīva. Sādhu-saṅga, Kṛṣṇa-Nāma: that is the only way to our relief. There is no other way, so how can I drive away that man? Then he will have no alternative.” So asked him to keep him: no other way!

Another time Prabhupāda told, I had some complaint against some big man in our Maṭha that his monetary transaction is suspected. Prabhupāda in the beginning he chastised me, “You have also attraction for money. You are a sannyāsī. Why should you have so much attraction for money? The money may be thrown into water. If necessary for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa money may be thrown into water. What is money?” In this way he rebuked me somewhat. Then after few days in Madras Maṭha, I was there, he was also________ [?] suddenly he took Bhāgavatam to me, “Your answer is here.”

sva-pāda-mūlam bhajataḥ priyasya, tyaktānya-bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ

vikarma yac cotpatitaṁ kathañcid, dhunoti sarvaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ

[“One who has thus given up all other engagements and has taken full shelter at the lotus feet of Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is very dear to the Lord. Indeed, if such a surrendered soul accidentally commits some sinful activity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is seated within everyone’s heart, immediately takes away the reaction to such sin.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.42]

If any devotee he has got some fault, anything undesirable if is seen in him, he’s not to be punished for that. Either expulsion or any other punishment, he is not to be punished. Why? He’s engaged in a particular thing, that is the service of the Lord and that is the, that can fetch the highest value. So if he’s given some punishment or expulsion, that cannot cure him, purify him. The highest form of purification is in which he’s already engaged, and that can purify to the highest degree. So, no other punishment of any form is necessary for him. He should be allowed to go on in the service, and in no time he will be purified. So it will be injustice. In Bhāgavatam, sva-pāda-mūlam bhajataḥ priyasya, tyaktānya-bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ, vikarma yac cotpatitaṁ kathañcid. Anyhow, if any malpractice is found in him, dhunoti sarvaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ, Hari, staying in his heart, He will purge out everything. He will sweep out everything. No other punishment or any alternative arrangement should be made; for ananya-bhāk, who has exclusively given him for the service of Kṛṣṇa, no other practice. That was shown to me. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So that is the reason. So sometimes from the outward it seems, it appears awkward, that he committed something wrong, and still he’s given indulgence. Sometimes from outside it seems to be awkward, but still that is the theory.

api cet sudurācāro, bhajate mām ananya-bhāk

sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ, samyag vyavasito hi saḥ

[“If even a person of extremely abominable practices, abandoning all non-devotional pursuits of exploitation and renunciation engages in My exclusive and uninterrupted devotional service, he is venerable as a true saint because he has embraced the revolutionary plane of life.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.30]

“Sādhu are sādhu measured from the standard of this māyā, sattya, raja, tama guṇa or guṇamay which is misconception. So from the plane of misconception good or bad should not be applied to My devotee who is working in the nirguṇa plane. This law does not apply there, in the case of ananya-bhāk who is in nirguṇa plane, who has accepted exclusive devotion to Me is all in all.”

Exclusive devotion to Kṛṣṇa, serving promise, devotedness to Kṛṣṇa, when this has been accepted broadly in a soul, then whatever he commits in the calculation of this mundane plane good or bad; that should be ignored totally. Because that is of good or bad, both is unreal in the misconception area. And there whatever little he can collect that is crore times, infinitely of greater value than any valuation, high valuation of this world of miscalculation. That’s the conception. Do you follow?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ [Śrī Īśopaniṣad, 1] And here; ‘Oh, this is mine, this is yours. Why you have stolen my thing?’ All false, good or bad: everything false. And in the absolute sense everything belongs to Him. He’s His servant. In the necessity of service what he has done, perhaps he has stolen a flower and dedicated to Kṛṣṇa. Not only it is stolen, but from whom it is stolen he will be benefited, unconsciously. So nothing can be wrong. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Absolute consideration and the relative consideration!

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Vipramukhya: Mahārāja, I have a question on another subject matter. When the jīva is in the grips of māyā how much independence does he actually have?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: According to his position. A tree has got less independence, free will, a man has got the maximum. Also in that, it is, the gradation it comes in this way. Āvṛta cetana, covered consciousness, then saṅkucita cetana, narrowed consciousness. Then mukulita cetana, blooming consciousness, and there comes āvṛta cetana, the trees, the narrowed consciousness the animals, the blooming consciousness human beings. And then also classification:

__________________________________________________________________________ [?]

In this way classification, and as much as going higher so much responsibility, and when in dense darkness his movement will be less productive and may be dealt with mercy, more grace. And as much as, occupying higher position, their crimes should be given more importance. In this way it will be judged. As much freedom, as much sense of responsibility, so much the degree of punishment should be attached.

If a sādhu does something wrong, of course in his line there will be a bigger punishment. Punishment means in the Vaikuṇṭha, in a general way, in Vaikuṇṭha, no punishment. Only you accept yourself more. What has gone is gone. Let the dead past bury its dead. With new urge you begin. The most lenient position, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness they enjoy. But there the quality of sacrifice must be of a very high type. He’s dealing also with very valuable thing because the whole self surrendering creed to be signed there in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Everything belongs to Him, nothing to me. Nothing to me, such high degree sacrifice to be that, that bond to be signed sincerely. Then he can come under such merciful consideration.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, if real bhakti begins in the brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, what is this shadow bhakti?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sādhu bhakti?

Devotees: Shadow, chaya.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Shadow, shadow bhakti, brahma-bhūtaḥ.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā, na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

[“The spotlessly pure-hearted and self-satisfied soul who has attained to his conscious divine nature neither grieves nor craves for anything. Seeing all beings equally (in the conception of My supreme energy), he gradually achieves supreme devotion (prema-bhakti) unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.54]

What do you say?

Devotee: Prabhupāda talks in The Nectar of Devotion about shadow bhakti.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Other devotees: Shadow attachment.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: It’s mentioned in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, shadow attachment.

(To other devotees) What’s that called para-aśakti?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Chaya bhakti?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Shadow attachment, aśakti.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Shadow?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Chaya rati ?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Chaya rati, that is of two kinds, which is not genuine, that is divided into two, one reflection another shadow. So shadow is considered to be the higher than the reflection. Reflection in māyāvādā, really no faith, faith is already, the foundation is a concoction. And in the case of chaya it has not reached to the degree of reality, but still it is in the real path. That is chaya rati. Nearness, nearness of the reality, is shadow, but no intermediate intervention. But in reflection that is in pratibimba rati, there is that non conference, a barrier between them. So pratibimba rati is very lower and chaya rati is near to the reality, but not reality proper. That is chaya rati. Gaura Haribol. In Hari-Nāma-cintāmaṇi it has been described by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, you may see, chaya and pratibimba.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: So that means that the jīva’s feelings are still in the relative plane but they’re somehow moving in the direction of the absolute plane?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Moving in direction but far away from the reality. It has not touched reality, but come near.

Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Vipramukhya: Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa says, “Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto, fix your mind upon Me.” [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.65] When we fix our mind upon Kṛṣṇa the mind becomes purified. When the living entity ascends into the spiritual world, does he enter the spiritual world with his purified mind, or does he have to leave behind the purified mind?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, real mind, and this is shadow mind. What we are possessing at present that is shadow mind. Mind is a plane where the sympathy and apathy live, sympathy for something and apathy for something, saṅkalpa, vikalpa. ‘I want this, I want to reject this, I want avoid this.’ These two opposite desires live in mind. And there also the mind is there, everything is there. And this is self-centred and that is God-centred. That would be the response.

Ane hrday more more man vrndavana mane mane eka kori mani [?] Mahāprabhu says, “They have got their mind. They’re thinking, ‘I want this for Kṛṣṇa, I don’t want this for Kṛṣṇa.’ Kṛṣṇa is the object of interest there, the aim of interest, His love, His satisfaction. And here it is self-centred or this mundane centred, this land centred or family centred, or some other centred than that of Kṛṣṇa.”

Vipramukhya: So is it possible to say that the only difference between the material mind and the spiritual mind is a question of purification?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: A question of purification and the criterion is that Kṛṣṇa interest and other interest. One may sacrifice for the country; but that is not Kṛṣṇa. The Kṛṣṇa sacrifice, preparedness for satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa to the utmost: that should be the criterion, and everything is there, and this is perverted reflection. What’s the time?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Five to ten, almost ten.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Almost ten. Gaura Hari. So, Jayapataka Mahārāja, no, Jayatīrtha Mahārāja, are you to return to Māyāpur, evening?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes, in the evening.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In the evening. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. So Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jayapataka Mahārāja, to stay...

Devotee: Jayatīrtha Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jayatīrtha Mahārāja, ha, ha, Gaura Hari, to...

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: He’s mistaken me for a Vaiṣṇava.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To take rest here in the noon, arrangements should be made for that. You ask Govinda Mahārāja where he’ll take rest at noon here, the Jayatīrtha Mahārāja.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Here’s our eternal rest.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Our eternal rest is here.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jai!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Who has come along with you here? Where are they?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam dāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And, another?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Kiśora-Kiśori dāsa, he’s my second initiated disciple from America. And then Satyavak Prabhu came with me also.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s old?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Satyavak, yes, he is our old God-brother whose living in Māyāpur.

Parvat Mahārāja: He comes every year.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But who comes along with you from London?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam dāsa came with me from London; and Vipramukhya’s also here from London.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I want to make some inquiry about the health of Vaiṣṇava Carana, and his mother.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: You can inquire from Kiśora-Kiśori I think. He may know something.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Are they well?

Devotee: Oh yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They are doing well?

Devotee: Very good.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. I got letter from her, Vaiṣṇava Carana and also his mother, a letter, a month ago perhaps. And I gave reply also. And it is mentioned there they will come on pilgrimage, for pilgrimage in India. Do you know anything about that?

Devotee: I don’t know when they’ll be arriving. I don’t know.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It was mentioned in a letter, “We may go on pilgrimage to India before this Dola Yatra ceremony.” And I asked them that at that time you must come to see me. I consider you to be my daughter.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. I’ve heard only one report about them and that is they’re your unconditional servants. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Vaiṣṇava Carana is a promising Vaiṣṇava. When the Govardhana-Śilā was mentioned by, to him, by someone that when Mahārāja, that is myself, when I came here with Govardhana-Śilā I began. “Oh how wonderful,” he remarked, the boy. That boy remarked “How wonderful.” Who came from his heart. “That this Maṭha was begun only with the Govardhana-Śilā, how wonderful.” That showed his heart, inner heart. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: We also think it’s very wonderful. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

This is Gupta Govardhana, Girīrāja in Navadwīpa.

śrīmac-caitanya-sārasvata-maṭhavara-udgīta-kīrtir jaya-śrīṁ

bibhrat sambhāti gaṅgā-taṭa-nikaṭa-navadvīpa-kolādri-rāje

[yatra śrī-gaura-sārasvata-mata-niratā-gaura-gāthā gṛṇanti

śrīmad-rūpānuga śrī-kṛtamati-guru-gaurāṅga-rādhā-jitāśā]

[In the Holy Abode of transcendental touchstone Śrī Navadwīp Dhām - the selfsame Śrī Vṛndāvan, in the land of Koladwīp, whose inner identity is the King of mountains Śrī Govarddhan, near the charming shores of the holy River Bhāgīrathī who delivers all the fallen souls stands that great and glorious King of all Temples - Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh.

In that beautiful retreat, the surrendered devotees whose lives are the message of Śrī Gaura, are eternally absorbed in the loving service of the Divine Master, the Golden Lord Gaurāṅga and the Loving Lord Śrī Govindasundar with His consort Śrīmatī Gāndharvvā, accompanied by all Their beloved associates.

With hearts always filled with good hope to attain the grace of the Lord, following faithfully in the line of Śrī Śrī Rūpa and Raghunāth - the storekeepers of the unlimited treasure of pure, sweet love divine, those surrendered souls ever sing the unending glories of the transcendental name and qualities of the most magnanimous, original Supreme Lord Śrī Śrī Gaurāṅgasundara.

Indeed the hearts of all beings, moving and still, marvel in the glory of Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh as they take shelter in the soothing, affectionate shade of the victory flag that flies aloft and sings wholeheartedly to the world the ever-expanding renown of Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh; bearing that banner of all transcendental benedictions, Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh ever shines resplendent in all its divine magnificence.]

[Composed by Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja while residing in a hut on the banks of the Ganges in 1941. Rendered into English by Śrīpad B.A. Sāgara Mahārāja from the Bengali translation by Śrīla B.S. Govinda Mahārāja.] [Kīrtan Guide, 4th Edition, p 16]

Kolādri-rāje means Govardhana, Koladwīpa, kolādri-rāje.

yatra śrī-gaura-sārasvata-mata-niratā-gaura-gāthā gṛṇanti

śrīmad-rūpānuga śrī-kṛtamati-guru-gaurāṅga-rādhā-jitāśā

Aim is Rādhā-Govinda’s service: line is that of Rūpa Goswāmī. Who are we? From Caitanyadeva to Saraswatī Goswāmī, the flow of the instructions, we are bridged there and our stay is here, Govardhana, aparādha-bhañjan-pāṭ. This is so.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So there, Vaiṣṇava Carana is not expected to come here, this evening?

End of 82.02.20.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.21.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kuntī Devī,

vipadaḥ santu tāḥ śaśvat, tatra tatra jagad-guro

[bhavato darśanam yat syād, apunar bhava-darśanam]

[Queen Kuntī Devī prayed to Kṛṣṇa: “I wish that all those calamities (poisoning, arson, cannibalism, the vicious assembly, exile in the forest, the battle), would occur again and again so that we could have Your darśana again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.8.25]

And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura _____________ [?] kichu nāhi pāi, tomāra karuṇā sāra [from Gurudeva, 4] So many quotations from Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s Śaraṇāgati, and other books, and also Bhāgavatam! A very good letter, a devotee’s proper letter!

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Ke? Govinda Mahārāja. Jayatīrtha Mahārāja ____________________ [?]

...

Gaurāṅga Campū. Where have you got that book, ________ [?] edition?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Possibly published in Calcutta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ānanda-Vṛndāvana-Campū, and that Gopāla-Campū of Jīva Goswāmī. Ānanda-Vṛndāvana-Campū perhaps that, compiled by...

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Kavi Karṇapūra.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kavi Karṇapūra.

Devotee: Some of us were discussing this morning that some of us we don’t always stay in one temple and have an opportunity to do regulated Deity worship, but we like doing Deity worship. So as far as an individual travelling with his own Deity, maybe you can give us some advice that would be the best form of the Lord, or the best procedure for an individual to travel with Deities.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is he?

Devotees: Ruci Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ruci Prabhu. What is his point?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He does travelling and preaching. He travels much. And he doesn’t get chance to be in the temple and see the Deity. And he wants to know if he can travel and take one Deity with him. What type of Deity is the best, what is permitted?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who has given the Deity to him?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No, he doesn’t have now.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Govardhana Śilā or Gopāl Mūrti, what is the Deity?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, he doesn’t have any now. He doesn’t have anything now. But he wants your advice as to what would be the best form of the Lord to worship while travelling.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He hasn’t started it yet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is not necessary. Kīrtana is of higher type, so arcana is less powerful. So, if we are asked by a superior to take the service of arcana that is all right. Otherwise in the general case kīrtana will be more powerful and more fruitful, to serve in kīrtana, the preaching department.

Anyhow the importance is there that under whose guidance I am working, that is all important. My energy will be translated or transformed into a subtle form and it will be lead to the higher quarter. By devoting my energy I shall receive some remuneration and that will be in terms of whom I shall obey, under whose order I am devoting my energy for the service. The quality of that man under whose order I am devoting my energy, I shall be paid in terms of that.

So sādhu-anugatya, that is all important thing. One side, that I will be relieved from my mental tendency which is forcing me to wander in the different stages of this material world, I shall get relief from that. And the positive side: that I will be, my soul will be lead to what strata, what plane? The plane from which the order is coming to me, in that coin I shall be paid. His qualities will come down to help me. My lower energy will evaporate, will be diminished, will disappear, and I will find myself in the plane for whom I’m working. That is all important in bhakti. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Even murdering may be bhakti and worship of the Deity may be karma or jñāna. The quality depends at whose disposal I’m doing the work. Hanumānji, he killed so many, but that was pure devotion. At the same time there are so many, huge money being spent to construct temple, and Deity also installed into the śāstric order. And in a grand way the arrangement for the worshipping, but that may be karma-kāṇḍa if any object there is, any begging purpose underlying. So,

kiṁ karma kim akarmeti, kavayo 'py atra mohitāḥ

[tat te karma pravakṣyāmi, yaj jñātvā mokṣyase ‘śubhāt]

[“Even very learned men are baffled in ascertaining the nature of action and inaction. Some cannot comprehend action, while others cannot comprehend inaction. Hence, I shall now teach you about such action and inaction, knowing which you will attain liberation from the evil world.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 4.16]

Even the higher scholars cannot understand what is karma, what is akarma, what is vikarma. The object is all important for which I’m working. Hatvāpi sa imāḹ lokān na hanti na nibadhyate [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.17] There is a plane if one is standing on that plane he can crush so many brahmāṇḍas, he does not do anything. It is possible. Revolutionary thought. Crushing so many solar systems, one may not be entangled in any activity, good or bad. Such a plane is there. The universal wave, that is moving, and if I can dance in tune of that wave I’m free. No reaction will have any effect on me, in nirguṇa-bhūmita, that is called nirguṇa. No motive, no local interest however spacious is there. Universal, irresistible, and bhakti proper means to adjust ourselves with the dance of that plane. That is bhakti proper, nirguṇa.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

And local interest, provincial interest, they clash with one another. That may be very small or big, that does not matter; that is saguṇa. Dvitīyābhiniveśa, bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.37]: consideration of second interest. But in higher cid-vilāsa also, there it is apparent that local interest, personal interest, but that is not so, that is a fashion of the universal wave, and Yogamāyā. At the bottom there is that consideration of Absolute interest, not of any local. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ____________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________________________________ [?]

Devotee: ___________________________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

[eṣā te ‘bhihitā sāṅkhye,] buddhir yoge tv imāṁ śṛṇu

buddhyā yukto yayā pārtha, karma-bandhaṁ prahāsyasi

[Kṛṣṇa said: “I have just explained to you the wisdom of the conception of reality (sāṅkhya philosophy). Now hear of the conception of devotional service, or bhakti-yoga. O Pārtha, by buddhi-yoga, engaging your intelligence in devotion, you will be able to completely cut the bondage of action.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.39]

nehābhikrama-nāśo 'sti, pratyavāyo na vidyate

svalpam apy asya dharmasya, trāyate mahato bhayāt

[“Even a small beginning in this devotional service cannot go in vain, nor can any loss be suffered. The most insignificant practice of such devotional service saves one from the all-devouring fear of repeated birth and death in this world.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.40]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________________________________ [?]

___________________________________________________________________________ [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: So what would be the difference, Mahārāja, between bhakti-yoga and buddhi-yoga, according to Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: According to Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura buddhi-yoga is more spacious and accommodating. It’s aprākṛta, it will suit mostly for aprākṛta-līlā, more accommodating, more nearer to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, buddhi-yoga. The bhakti-yoga is just above jñāna-yoga, what is described in twelfth canto, twelfth or thirteenth. But buddhi-yoga is more spacious. Externally he may deal with anything and everything, but that has no influence on him: buddhi yoga. But in bhakti-yoga, in dvadaya sadhyai [?] we find that some sort of restriction, control, is applied there. ____________________________________ [?] All these things are all right, but any external connection with the, which may be considered to be rejectable, even in the highest position of devotee, that can also be harmonized, everything. Doing anything; he may not do. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Buddhi-yoga, eka akura nandana [?] Whatever he’s asked to be done by his master he’s ready to do that, without any consideration of good or bad, buddhi-yoga.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, this Mahalambrita [?] Brahmacārī, he was once interpreting...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: He was once giving a lecture and interpreting that to follow the instruction of the Guru...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s a nasty man.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: He’s a nasty man, yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He came from the source of Jagabandhu. When he went to America for doctorate, I was in charge of Bombay Maṭha at that time. And when he came back I saw his doctorate. But there also defect. In his writing in the name of Jīva Goswāmī what he has written there is error. He again, the acme, when he told that, “Mahā-jano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ,” I heard from one of my God-brothers, Dr. Samlal, he attended one of his lectures perhaps in Barampura or somewhere. And he told, and perhaps I might have seen in the paper also. He was explaining mahā-jano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ, he said, “Gandhi is a mahājana, Rabindranath is a mahājana.” Hearing that I have rejected him and cast him in the dustbin!

[dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ, mahā-jano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ]

[Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja said: “The real secret, the solid truth of religious principles is hidden and concealed in the hearts of unadulterated self-realised persons, saints, just as treasure is hidden in a mysterious cave. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahā-janas advocate.”] [Mahābhārata, Vana-parva]

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: That is your kṛpa Mahārāja. At least he has a place in your dustbin.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Pratisthate hai ei nindad lakan [?]

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. And another thing I found in his writing; he was very eager to find out the name of Śrī Caitanyadeva in the writing of Rabindranatha. And anyhow he mentioned a place where Rabindranatha is saying to some persons that: “You are too much of the varṇāśrama fascination, but Caitanya also did not care for your formality.”

He, with very eagerness tried to trace that Rabindranatha also took the name of Caitanya. But Rabindranatha took it in that hateful way. “Even Caitanya did not care for your formality,” not Śrī Caitanya, Caitanya. “Caitanya also did not care for the formalities of varṇāśrama, what of mine, I don’t care for you.” And he was so much proud that Caitanya is mentioned and it came from the lips of Rabindranatha, that fellow.

I was told that he can deliver lecture very fluently, and very impressive way. That I have heard. Long ago, when I went to Jalpai Purī [?] for preaching, the general educated public told that, “What you have preached here about Gauḍīya Maṭha, hitherto, such high calibre of pracāra _______________ [?] but Mahalambrita [?], he came and in the name of Caitanya, he delivered several lectures and the people were impressed. But Mahalambrita [?] had fluent style of lecture but nothing within. “That Gandhi is a mahājana, Rabindranatha is a mahājana, in the line of mahājana.” _____________________________ [?]

So long a fool may cut a good figure, as long as he does not open his lips. Opening his lips to the scholar section, that is a difficult thing! Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: ________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ______________________________ [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: He also smokes, Mahārāja. That Mahalambrita [?] after giving his lecture as soon as he goes inside, he is puffing, to get back his inspiration.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And smoking mere tobacco or gangika. That will be more stimulating.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: So one of our God-brothers he was visiting him before. So he asked him, “How do I see that you are smoking?” He said, “No, this is for private, amongst you. But for public, I am against smoking.” Such a bogus character he is.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s hypocrite. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Mahārāja, in Durgapura there was one gentleman who was arguing from this Kali-santaraṇa-Upaniṣad. And from there he was quoting one verse where, I think Lord Brahmā he is stating the mahā-mantra with Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare first, and Hare Kṛṣṇa afterwards. So he said, “How do you adjust this in your philosophy?”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What did you say?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: I told him that in the Ananta saṁhitā and Garuḍa Purāṇa, and one other Purāṇa that the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is given as we chant it. And that Brahmā he’s Haridāsa Ṭhākura, the Nāma-Ācārya, so we follow his example.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kali-santaraṇa-Upaniṣad it is such. Agni Purāṇa, and Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, half-half. But they say that this is because it comes from Upaniṣad it is Vedic mantra. And ordinary people may not have any entrance to Vedic mantra. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has re-adjusted this mantram, and the Vedic mantra concern is cancelled, thereby and He gave it to all. That is, a section of people in the U.P [Uttar Pradesh] side who love Śrī Caitanyadeva, they like to give their opinion like this.

But ours is that where it is mentioned “Hare Rāma” first, then that is superficial. Their concern is that Rāma Avatāra that took place first, and Kṛṣṇa Avatāra that afterwards that occurred: so first Rāma, Hare Rāma and Hare Kṛṣṇa. But our deeper meaning is that in danda, when similar two things are connected together, not the historical precedent, but the consideration of the highly developed conception. So Kṛṣṇa Nāma is higher than that of Rāma Nāma. It is mentioned in Purāṇa. Sahasra nama _____ rama nama ________ [?] Then three Rāma Nāma is equal to Kṛṣṇa Nāma, in this way it has been mentioned in Purāṇa. So Kṛṣṇa Nāma is more superior to Rāma Nāma. So in danda samas [?] when they are connected together, the stress is given to the superiority, so Kṛṣṇa Nāma is to come first. This is one point.

Another point is that everything is moving in a cyclic order. Which is first, which is next, that cannot be ascertained, in the eternal cycle, whether Kṛṣṇa is before, or Rāma is before. So from that consideration also if we take Kṛṣṇa Nāma that is not relating to posterity, but in the eternal cycle any place you may begin.

Then, another higher thing of our sampradāya people secrets is this, that our deeper meaning is not concerned with Rāma līlā. Even the Name Rāma there we find Rādhāramaṇa Rāma, the wholesale in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not Rāma consciousness of Godhead.

So, Mahāprabhu’s highest conception of thing, the Svayaṁ-Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa līlā, it is connected with that. So, the Kṛṣṇa līlām, not historical Avatāra, in the predecessor of Kṛṣṇa, but we are concerned with, independent of desa, kala, only Vṛndāvana līlā, Svayaṁ-Bhagavān līlā of Kṛṣṇa. That is the real purpose of Mahāprabhu which it is not mentioning of Rāma līlā of Ayodhyā at all, no connection. Mukta prugraha [?] ___________________ [?] Do you follow?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yes Mahārāja. There was also another thing that came up, while we were discussing, and that was Gautama Ṛṣi and this his wife, Hotami [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Na vai vidhu saro napi deva kuto manisya [?] What Mahāprabhu gave, the internal meaning, the Ṛṣi cannot stand there, no ṛṣi. Na vai vidhu saro napi deva kuto manisya [?] No mention of the humanity, human scholarship, you to trespass into the realm, even the ṛṣi do not know. They have dealt superficial theism. Superficial theism has been given by the ṛṣis.

_____________________________________ [?] What are the ṛṣis? Some substantial, some ground, ground preparation, ground of theism that is supplied by the ṛṣi in general. Vyāso vetti na vetti vā [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 24.313] The development of the theism. Cārvāka is also ṛṣi, ṛṣi means research scholar. Who has given a new, doctor, ṛṣi means doctor, who has given some original opinion into the society he’s ṛṣi. Brahmāṛṣi, devaṛṣi, rajaṛṣi, there are so many ṛṣis, section of ṛṣi.

atrir vasiṣṭhaś cyavanaḥ śaradvān, ariṣṭanemir bhṛgur aṅgirāś ca

parāśaro gādhi-suto 'tha rāma, [utathya indrapramadedhmavāhau]

[medhātithir devala ārṣṭiṣeṇo, bhāradvājo gautamaḥ pippalādaḥ

maitreya aurvaḥ kavaṣaḥ kumbhayonir,] dvaipāyano bhagavān nāradaś ca

[From different parts of the universe there arrived great sages like Atri, Cyavana, Śaradvān, Ariṣṭanemi, Bhṛgu, Vasiṣṭha, Parāśara, Viśvāmitra, Aṅgirā, Paraśurāma, Utathya, Indrapramada, Idhmavāhu, Medhātithi, Devala, Ārṣṭiṣeṇa, Bhāradvāja, Gautama, Pippalāda, Maitreya, Aurva, Kavaṣa, Kumbhayoni, Dvaipāyana and the great personality Nārada.] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.19.9-10]

They are all students and with profound silence they are giving hearing what novel thing is coming from the mouth of this boy. They’re struck dumb, the ṛṣis. When Śukadeva began to deliver his lecture on Bhāgavatam they are all struck dumb, the ṛṣis. The new thing coming. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

ājñajaiva guṇān doṣān, mayādiṣṭān api svakān

dharmmān saṁtyajya yaḥ sarvvān, [myāṁ bhajet sa ca sattamaḥ]

[“In the scriptures of religion, I, the Supreme Lord, have instructed men of all statuses of life in their duties. Duly comprehending the purificatory virtue of executing those prescribed duties as well as the vice of neglecting them, one who abandons all allegiance to such dutifulness in order to engage in My devotional service is the best of honest men (sādhu).”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.11.32]

What to speak of the ṛṣis, what God Himself He has by His own lips He has given, ordered, “This is your...” and that is also being cancelled: and go; necessity of going up. Kṛṣṇa Himself He has also given so many things in the name of religion, but there is gradation. Go further, go further, go deeper. The development is there in theism. So, na vai vidhu visaro [?] In many places it is mentioned. Anya prakas paranam visisya ana nana mano _________________________ [?]

Even those, the lords of ṛṣis, the munis, if they cannot understand Your such, loving service, the value, then they will have to go down. Such authority will also have to go down, so-called authority. Such a high level Mahāprabhu has given. This Rādhā-Govinda līlā combined. What He has given that cannot be comparable. Not only on this brahmāṇḍa, this history of solar system, but in the course of the history of crores of creation and dissolution, creation and dissolution, such high thing, theism. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Na bhuto na visyati [?] What Mahāprabhu has given to us!

Ha, ha, ha. One gentleman told that, “Sati, Savitri, Sita, Damayanti and so many others, Draupadī, the high models of so many ladies, they are shining like stars in the history, in the Purāṇa, of the Vedic culture here. So long they are shining very, with great splendour. But whenever Rādhārāṇī has entered the arena, they all have become pale. All the models, the ideals, they cast shadow. Covered with shadow more or less when Rādhārāṇī entered with Her intense love for Krsna. The whole creation, even including so many śāstra, Purāṇa, ṛṣi, culture, everything, by Her dazzling personality everything became paled.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Doctor Dinasen [?] told like that. “When through the door of Brahma-vaivarta-Purāṇa the character of Rādhārāṇī entered into the world of literature, then all other ideals of the highest attainment of the ladies, of the chaste ladies, all became pale, paled away.”

So Mahāprabhu came with that. And so it is told that Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī combined.

anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau

[samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam

hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandīpitaḥ

sadā hṛdaya-kandare sphuratu vaḥ śacī-nandanaḥ]

[“May that Lord, who is known as the son of Śrīmatī Śacīdevī, be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in this age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant spiritual knowledge of the mellow taste of His service.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.4]

Not ever been given to the world. In the cyclic order of the creation, dissolution, that has never been given to the world, what Mahāprabhu has given, dhanyāḥ kali, this fortunate Kali-yuga.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Die to live. The death has also has got its degree. The degree of the death, the intensity of the degree of death, what Rādhārāṇī showed for Kṛṣṇa: no parallel ever conceived in the world! Such self-giving, self-offering, so intense self-surrendering is never to be thought of even by the scholars of the world, of the devotees. It is impossible. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

And accordingly all the groups of Kṛṣṇa, the sakhās, the servitors, the vātsalya rasa, father, mother, all: all the highest degree of sacrifice and surrender to be found only in Kṛṣṇa līlā, Svayaṁ-Bhagavān in Vṛndāvana.

Otherwise the greatest devotee Uddhava, it is coming from His own mouth, of Kṛṣṇa. “Where the Brahmā, the Śiva, the Saṅkarṣaṇa, Lakṣmī, and Myself even, is not so superior as My favourite Uddhava. I consider him to be more favourite than My own body.” Kṛṣṇa says.

And that Uddhava says, “I want to be a creeper, a shrub in Vṛndāvana that I may have the chance of the touch of the feet dust of these damsels of Vraja.”

What is this? Can you think it out? It is impossible for us to think out what high degree of devotion and sacrifice can be present there. And this cannot be denied. I put it to a Madrasi Paṇḍita and he could not say anything in opposition. Paṇḍita from Bhāgavata and whole Bhāgavata in his mouth; he does not care to take any book, whole Bhāgavata in his memory, that Paṇḍita. I met him in Bangalore. But when I put this proof he could not speak anything. So many appreciators, very staunch advocates, judges, followers, could not speak a single word.

Proof positive, Kṛṣṇa Himself says, “Uddhava you are such a favourite devotee of Mine, none is so.”

And that Uddhava says like this. And how to measure, by light years! When we are to measure the distance of the stars that are very far, far off, by light year! So here also, light year Brahmā, Śiva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Lakṣmī, Myself, Uddhava and thereafter...

End of 82.02.21.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.21.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Mahārāja, you were talking about the Caturvyūha and the Catuḥsana before...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Caturvyūha and Catuḥsana are not one and the same.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: No, I’m sorry. So Pradyumna, and Aniruddha, and Saṅkarṣaṇa, and Vāsudeva.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: So, in the material world...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mula Caturvyūha, adi Caturvyūha and Their extensions. Mula Saṅkarṣaṇa in Dvārakā, mula Caturvyūha, adi Caturvyūha, Caturvyūha in Vaikuṇṭha, Adi Caturvyūha in Dvārakā, and this Kāraṇodakaśāyī and Garbhodakaśāyī They’re extensions. Now?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: So, with the extensions...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Extension, extension, the delegation, you may say. They have particular type of function, they have got their particular type of function. And that sort of function wherever is present, we are to trace the origin in that line.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: So what part does Durgā Devī play in the function of the mind, buddhi and the____ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mind, body and?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: The Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu is an expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kāraṇodakaśāyī, He has to deal with the whole of prakṛti. And the Garbhodakaśāyī a particular part of brahmāṇḍa, a part of brahmāṇḍa. The whole dealt by, just as DN [?] and SDO [?] and the commissioner and rajapal in this way. So above the whole of the prakṛti, movement, there is Kāraṇodakaśāyī. And at every brahmāṇḍa there is Garbhodakaśāyī. And every soul within there is Kṣīrodakaśāyī.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Pradyumna and Aniruddha, Their expansions are Garbhodakaśāyī and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Their expansions...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Aniruddha: Kṣīrodakaśāyī, and Pradyumna: Garbhodakaśāyī, and Saṅkarṣaṇa: Kāraṇodakaśāyī, and Vāsudeva above all. Vāsudeva is higher, and He’s above, transcendental of the whole of Brahman conception. This Brahman, Kāraṇodakaśāyī, He’s also above the Brahman conception. But Brahman has direct concern with Him. Tal-liṅgaṁ bhagavān śambhur [Brahma-saṁhitā, 5.8] That Kāraṇodakaśāyī, the rays coming to touch prakṛti, this energy, and that is Śiva, and Kāraṇodakaśāyī in the background. And transcending all the relativity of the māyāic world, of the material world, there stands Vāsudeva, Parabrahman, Puruṣottama. Kṣaram atīto ‘ham, akṣarād api cottamaḥ.

[yasmāt kṣaram atīto ‘ham, akṣarād api cottamaḥ

ato ‘smi loke vede ca, prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ]

[“Because I am transcendental to the fallible souls and also superior to My infallible eternal associates, My glories are sung in the world and in the scriptures as Puruṣottama, the Supreme Person.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.18]

He’s got no concern with this material transaction, the Vāsudeva. And Saṅkarṣaṇa, the first step down, to connect with material conception as a whole, and the partial management by the Garbhodakaśāyī. And the individual case of jīva is taken by the Kṣīrodakaśāyī, Antaryāmī, Paramātmā. In this way Their function can be, They are all one and the same, but according to Their function we are to trace Them in different way. ___________ [?] manay haya aparādha [?] One power of government represented in so many figures. Something like that.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Mahārāja, what function does Durgā Devī play?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Durgā Devī?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: These three, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Saṅkarṣaṇa, in this as expansions, what is her duty?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: From the negative side, the negative side, that is in a representative government, in the democratic government, the parliament and also the king’s side or rajapati. Something like that. Durgā Devī, she is direct, her direct concern with this world of punishment: misguided souls, to train them, to punish them. And there also the representation from above has been sent here to detect how the function is going on. From the government above their representation has been put in the administration of Durgā Devī, to check how far it is going on, in a system, or whimsically, something like that. The representation of the above, and Durgā Devī in general charge of the administration of punishment for the misguided. She’s the empirical representative and that is coming down from above to help the jīva, that they may not be mishandled. Something like that.

Devotee: (asks a question too far away from the microphone to record)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Another devotee: What is the relationship between Subhadrā Devī and Durgā Devī?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Subhadrā Devī and Durgā Devī. What is the reason of your asking this question? Where do you find anything in common between them? Subhadrā Devī She represents the līlā of Kṛṣṇa. She’s there, She’s in Dvārakā. She has got no administrative function. Where is the room of misconception between the two?

Devotee: Viṣṇu, in Viṣṇu form, and Yogamāyā... [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yogamāyā, who is Yogamāyā? Subhadrā?

Devotee: Subhadrā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Subhadrā is not Yogamāyā. A part may be played by Her to function of Yogamāyā. Subhadrā has got no mundane function. She’s there with Dvārakā līlā of Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Mahārāja, from Kṛṣṇa so many expansions are coming, like Caturvyūha. So from Rādhārāṇī could you explain how Durgā Devī is an expansion [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Durgā Devī and Yogamāyā. Durgā Devī’s concern with Yogamāyā. And Yogamāyā may be considered to be the comprehensive potency under Baladeva, where, who are entrusted with the charge of management and the arrangement to facilitate Kṛṣṇa līlā there in Vṛndāvana. And Durgā Devī may be considered Her, Yogamāyā’s representation in this perverted world. Bhuvanāni durgā, chāyeva yasya, vibharti, bhuvanāni durgā.

[sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir-ekā, chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni vibharti durgā

icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā, govindam ādi puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi]

[The external energy, māyā, is of the nature of the shadow of the cit potency. She is worshipped as Durgā – the agent of the Lord who is responsible for creating, preserving, and destroying the mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, in accordance with whose will Durgā conducts herself.] [Brahma-saṁhitā 5.44]

She’s in charge of this mundane world for management, for administration. And her extension in the positive world is Yogamāyā. Yogamāyā there in the transcendental world is making management necessary and Her facsimile, shadow, cast here in this mundane world, and here Durgā Devī is in charge of management. Something like that.

So Durgā Devī says, “I am there in Chandi. I am Rādhā in Vṛndāvana.” She’s proud to trace that, “We are potency and potency should not be neglected by the person. We have got our extension up to Vṛndāvana and there my class is represented even in the position of Rādhārāṇī. The most favourite position in Vṛndāvana She holds. And She also belongs to my section, that is potency, the negative side. Negative side is extended up to the highest quarter. You should not ignore us.” She’s boasting like that. ______________________________________________ [?]

There is a saying in, like Aesop’s Fable, this Indian Aesop’s Fable, this Pañcatantra, that one small bird, like the sparrow, she put some egg in the banks of the ocean. And the ocean’s waves washed it away. Then the parent told, “Oh, you neglect me so much. I shall look after you. I shall see to punish you.” The ocean laughed away. But she sent the information to a higher bird, and from there to another higher, and from there it went to Garuḍa. The bird section, Garuḍa holds the highest position of the whole bird kingdom. So when it reached, Garuḍa came to threaten the ocean. “I shall drink you up. Why you have taken away the eggs of that sparrow? You beg forgiveness to her, or otherwise I shall drink you fully.” Then samudre, the ocean, came to beg forgiveness to the sparrow.

So _________________________ [?] So Durgā Devī here making boast that, “You don’t neglect me that I’m māyā here, but my concern is there also, in the highest position. We are negative side. I’m represented there in the highest favourite domain of Kṛṣṇa. There I am Rādhā. Here I am favourite to Mahādeva and in my inner self we hold the highest position there.” Something like that.

When we are told in the śāstra such sort of statement, we are to harmonize in this way. That negativity as whole, the potency as whole, differentiated from that of the Predominating Moiety and Predominated Moiety, śakti-śaktimān. From effect to cause, and from cause to effect, we shall have to understand the point of adjustment. Religion is proper adjustment, a favourite word, expression of our Guru Mahārāja. Even in his last days, often he uttered this; religion is proper adjustment. Sambandha jñāna, and that you automatically engage yourself in your duty, the sambandha jñāna, fully awake of your position in the universe. If you are fully awake you cannot but discharge your own duty, sambandha jñāna. And if you can perfectly discharge your duty, the end, the udesya [?], the consequence, cannot but be in your fist. The prema prayojana tattva cannot but come to you, will welcome you. So proper adjustment, our real position, what is my real, Ke ami kana more janata [?] Who am I? Who am I, only the flesh and blood, or only the mental system which I have got experience at the time of my dream, or as told in Upaniṣad, and Veda? In Gītā:

indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur, indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ

manasas tu parā buddhir, buddher yaḥ paratas tu saḥ

[“The learned proclaim that the senses are superior to inert objects, the mind is superior to the senses, and the faculty of resolute intelligence is superior to the mind. And he who is superior to the intelligence is the soul himself.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.42]

Then Paramātmā and other subjective worlds. How to find the adjustment? What am I? I’m a member of this material soil, or something more? Transcending this material consideration I have got my existence in the unassailable higher quarter of knowledge and love, the strata of knowledge, and then that of love. Transcending knowledge there is another higher plane of ecstasy, joy, and love, prema ____________ [?]

There exploitation and renunciation and dedication, and dedication of the highest order, the surrendered dedication.

Where do you want to live? These are extended to us for our preference. You select where you want to live, in what plane. And this is not poetry, or not even philosophy, but inner demand, a sincere, sincere willingness, determined will, that where? Not a fashion, not philosophy, or luxury. Serious point, we are to decide for ourselves where do we want to live, in what plane of life. In the plane of a guṇḍā, the plane of the patriot, so many, plane of the scientific, the wire-puller of the exploitationist: what plane? I must seek and I must find out my life sincerely where do I select to be my home? Back to God, back to home; where is my home? Self-determination, the problem of self-determination in our front and we are to judge sincerely, to do justice to our own self. Not a luxurious attempt of putting others to their higher interest. First, I am concerned where I am to seek my position, sincerely? Then the next question will be that I shall try also to put others in that position. Janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra.

[bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra, janma sārthaka kari’ kara para-upakāra]

[“One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 9.41]

Only hypocritically preaching, that has got no higher benefit. But if under the guidance of a real guide I begin my work, my hypocrisy also may vanish. That may be connected by my previous sukṛti independent of my voluntary thinking, it is possible. The sukṛti has connected me some higher guide, and gradually the hypocrisy, the self-suicidal tendency that will vanish. Hypocrisy, kapaṭā, deceit, self-deception tendency, kapaṭā, hypocrisy, that will vanish. Sukṛti may join me, my faith, with a real guide. And all the other defects will gradually vanish when I’m in the process of purification by carrying out his order. It is possible. And as much as I’ll be sincere, my words will carry so much value, and the others will be benefited by my words, my vibration will work in them, janma sārthaka kari. Sādhu-saṅga, sādhu-saṅga. So it has been requested repeatedly in the śāstra, that sādhu-saṅga, select your association, select your guide. The association in general, and the guide in particular, that is all important in our life. We are living in an uncertain eternity, and to secure a certain position we must strive hard. And the association and the guide, that can help us most in our campaign. We are lost in the eternity.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Any of you are expected to go to Māyāpur?

Devotee: A couple of boys _________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Is there anyone?

Devotee: ______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Through him I want to give some news to ___________ [?]

Devotees: Caitanya Candra is going Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Caitanya Candra, who is he?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Disciple of Jayatīrtha Mahārāja. Caitanya Candra, disciple of Jayatīrtha Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Disciple of Jayatīrtha Mahārāja. ________ [?] a little representative, two, things what, one about: omit, I want to request them to omit what is mentioned in the writings of Swāmī Mahārāja attacking his God-brothers, on the basis of his last word. That is one of my requests to them. It would be better for them on that basis henceforth the publication that will be issued, that their names should be suppressed.

Otherwise there is possibility, as Yati Mahārāja has done, and the Rūpa Vilasa, who has become president of the Bagh Bazaar Maṭha, Bhāgavata Mahārāja, he has sent something attacking this Gauḍīya Maṭha, mentioning their names, so many things are out.

They will also come with their attacking spirit and that won’t be very pleasing, not pleasing, a controversy. And there are men who will be up to get something un-tasteful against Swāmī Mahārāja. There are no want of such men who want to make down the glorious head of ISKCON, there are men, so if they will come with their weapons and fighting that is undesirable.

So, on the basis of his last word, that may be omitted. I want to: and there I’ll be free from my responsibility. If they do not care to discuss, their meeting will take place, I want to put it seriously to them. ‘It is advisable you do this. And there is the basis of his last word; you can do it. And if you don’t do, then the atmosphere may be worse. And because I have got some affection for Swāmī Mahārāja’s institution I cannot but warn you with this request. There is time. And one is out, and another will also be out. And it will spread, and the people who, they are not in favour of ISKCON, they will advance, take this opportunity, and they will try to make the position down of ISKCON.’ This may be represented to them. Then they can do anything and everything. I will have no... Who is the man who can represent this to them properly, our Bhāratī Mahārāja?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: I could go and speak with Bhāvānanda.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, you go and you tell you were sent by me and these things. Yati has already begun, and the Bhāgavat Mahārāja, Bagh Bazaar, he will also begin. And that may not be in the ________ [?] They may take these steps, our Guru Mahārāja has written what to do, and there is the last word that I give for some purpose, and now I retire from that, he has told. And on that basis they can take up this. This is to point out to them before the meeting. Otherwise the meeting will finish then they cannot be able to take such a drastic measure individually. So before meeting this must be represented to them. This is one thing, and in my name also. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: That was one thing.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: That was one point.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh, what is that?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: That was one thing. You said, ‘a few things.’

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Two things? Another thing came from the background, perhaps this Rāmeśvara Mahārāja question, maybe. I forget. This is one, and another...

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, the suggestion is that it will be better if we have a written form so that we can present it to the GBC board.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What I may say I have said now you put it in...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Transcribe it here and Bhāratī Mahārāja can deliver.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Compose, you compose a letter and then if you...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Get your approval...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And then send through him.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

The coming trouble may be quenched.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Eka point Mahārāja? Only one point? You were saying there were two points.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha. That I don’t venture to mention.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Maybe later on Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Later on. That is concerning Rāmeśvara Mahārāja. To speak plainly that would be something like audacity on my part, to cross ________________ [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Un-authorised, un-bona-fide criticism? Undue?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Undue privilege, undue. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Gaura Nitāi.

Our Aranya Mahārāja is here?

Aranya Mahārāja: Yes, right here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You will have to go to Calcutta is it not, to fetch the money?

Aranya Mahārāja: Tomorrow.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Tomorrow.

Aranya Mahārāja: Tomorrow morning.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: As early as possible. So if you go this evening then you may manage for the exchange tomorrow and then come tomorrow or day after tomorrow.

Aranya Mahārāja: Sarvabhavana is going back this afternoon, maybe I’ll consider going with him.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So you can, what to do you think?

Devotee: It’s all right if he comes tomorrow.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Evening is the right time Mahārāja. Because right now for the festival there will be so many visitors coming that there will be extra police then.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: May be accommodated there. So it is necessary that we shall begin some repair work there. We shall have to begin some repair work. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. You may go and visit the place.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You may go with Govinda Mahārāja or anyone you like.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Aranya Mahārāja has seen?

Aranya Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Akṣayānanda Mahārāja has seen?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Hmm.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja not seen?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No.

Aranya Mahārāja: We can all take a walk down there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And anyone wants to see, the transaction almost settled...

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...so you can visit.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: I had one question, that, I believe in one of your songs, you say that this area is the aparādha-bhañjan.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, aparādha-bhañjan. All sorts of difficult offences were pardoned here by Mahāprabhu. This is the place, aparādha-bhañjan. Mahāprabhu was so liberal. He’s magnanimous, but still the acme of His magnanimity was shown in this place.

kuliyā-grāmete āsi' śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya, hena nāhi, yā 're prabhu nā karilā dhanya

[“At Koladvīpa - the Govardhana Hill of Vṛndāvana, concealed in Śrī Navadvīpa Dhāma - the Most Generous Absolute expressed Himself in His maximum generosity. Without considering any crime, He absolved whoever He found. He accepted them all.”] [Caitanya-Bhāgavat, Antya-līlā, 3.541]

Whatever prayer came to Him when He came back from sannyāsa to here, and all petitions were granted. All sorts of prayers were granted and extensive pardon, wholesale: the wholesale pardoning place. Kuliyā-grāmete āsi' śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya, hena nāhi, yā 're prabhu nā karilā dhanya. Everyone got his aspiration fulfilled here. None went empty handed. Gaura Hari.

Anyhow I passed here forty years _______________ [?] And I came with permission from Nityānanda Prabhu from that Ekacākrā. I took my permission of Nityānanda from there. “You are the Master of Gaura-maṇḍala. I come to take Your permission. I want to have my cottage there and to pass the last days of my life there. You please grant it.” And almost I have finished my period. Aparādha-bhañjan-pāṭ.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: And that is still going on Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course, it cannot but be. The very nature of the soil demands that, attracts the aparādhis.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: And we feel Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The fortunate, attracts the fortunate. And that is the pardon. The forgiveness is sure, so only the fortunate are attracted here. For it is sure his aparādhas gone then he will have everything. Ha, ha. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So, because now...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So we may inform that to GBC also.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All the offenders are gathered here, and in no time our offences will be pardoned. And our fulfilment will be got, we are sure to get our fulfilment. Ha, ha, ha. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: That’s what I was hoping for.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes all hoping, all students. All of us are students. And students also consult and help each other. Our Guru Mahārāja...

End of 82.02.21.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.21.C_82.02.22.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “...student, but I’m monitor.” In his Madras life he, it was published in Harmonist perhaps and pamphlets issued there in Madras. “I’m monitor.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

He told, “I am a monitor,” but I did not relish that idea.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Who told Mahārāja?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhaktisiddhānta.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Oh, told that you were a monitor?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No, no.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Oh, he himself. I see.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No, he himself, he told that, “I am a monitor.”

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: So we also do not relish, Mahārāja, when you include yourself as a student.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is still, he’s student, it was difficult for me to take it. I did not take it. But he posed himself like that: “Then still I have to know.” That is dynamic. The progress is always dynamic. Everything is dynamic in character. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Progressive, līlā, nava-navayana. The conception of infinite is not a stagnant one, but a dynamic infinite, infinite is dynamic. That is very difficult to have a conception of infinite, of course clearly difficult. A dynamic infinite, infinite, the conception of it is infinite, not static but it is dynamic.

Gaura Hari. Līlāmay, and līlā means nava-navayana, ever new. Ever new, that is also a characteristic of infinite. We have to have some direction, līlāmay, and it is not that it is in want and to have fulfilment, not that. But it is, it’s nature, līlā, that is called līlā. The very nature, existence with the eternal, with the eternity, with the eternal conception of infinite, it is līlā, always satisfying Himself. The movement is always a pleasing moving thing. The pleasure itself is of moving characteristic. The ecstasy itself is of moving characteristic, līlā, ānandam, no want to fulfil, to be fulfilled.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

bāulake kahiha - loka ha - ila bāula, bāulake kahiha - hāṭe nā vikāya cāula

bāulake kahiha - kāye nāhika āula, bāulake kahiha - ihā kahiyāche bāula

[“Tell our Prabhu, who acts as madmen do, that everyone has lost their sanity,

And rice once high in price has no value.

In love of God, half-crazed humanity neglects this world and all they once held dear;

tell Him a madman brings this to His ear.”]

[Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19. 20-1]

“Not to be discussed, still one cannot but talk it, talk about it like a madman. And if we go on talking, talking, who will come to believe in it? None will lose their time to listen to the madman’s delirium. ___________________________ [?] In another place, “I am a madman, talking in delirium and you are also a madman of the same type. So you have come to listen to this delirious statement.”

āmi - eka bātula, tumi - dvitīya bātula, ataeva tomāya āmāya ha-i sama-tula

[Mahāprabhu said: “I am insane, mad, bāula - pāgala - eccentric. I am one eccentric, and you are another. Therefore, we two are of the same class.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.291]

“We are of the same section, same section, I am also mad, you are also mad, so we feel enjoyment in such mad talk.” Rāmānanda Rāya, Mahāprabhu, āmi - eka bātula, tumi - dvitīya bātula.

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ, tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī

yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni, sā niśā paśyato muneḥ

[“While spiritual awareness is like night for the living beings enchanted by materialism, the self-realised soul remains awake, directly relishing the divine ecstasy of his un-interrupted spiritual intelligence. On the contrary, the wakefulness of materialistic persons addicted to sense enjoyment is night for the self-realised person who is completely indifferent to such pursuits. The realised souls, indifferent to the mundane, are ever joyful in the divine ecstatic plane, while the general mass is infatuated by fleeting mundane fancies devoid of spiritual joy.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.69]

Mahāprabhu. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu. Gaurāṅga Sundara. Gaurāṅga Sundara.

Gaurāṅga Sundara bhara nitya niya nama bir [?]

He’s dancing, taking His own Name and dancing, niya nama bir [?] Uttering different sounds, receiving some impression from them and dancing Himself. Getting impression from the sound of His own Name and dancing.

There is, pritio principia [?], or what? The cause is the effect, in a cycle. Pritio principia [?], or what is this?

Devotee: The Latin expression, does anybody know it?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In logic, perhaps I heard, pritio principia [?] a circular movement: that Napoleonic chair. Hare Kṛṣṇa. nitya niya nama bir [?]

His own Name is the cause of His own dancing. The suggestions from different names are coming and that impression creating some energy and that energy is making Him dance. Ecstasy, ecstatic energy, the dynamo is creating ecstatic energy. And that is the cause of His dancing: taking His own Name He’s dancing, the līlā. nitya niya nama bir [?] Such is Gaurāṅga, that moving ānanda, moving ecstasy.

In my Prema dhama Stotram, I put that He’s the ultimate reality, absolute. Why? The two things presented in Him. One: dancing, in ecstatic joy, feeling within Him. And chanting; distributing that to the others. Finding Himself in ecstatic joy, ecstatic, and distributing to others. This is Gaurāṅga, and the highest principal of ecstatic energy is such, cannot be but such. He’s of a dancing mood, fulfilling Himself. The dancing explains that the inner propensity is of ecstatic joy, dancing. And kīrtana means that is distribution to the public, to the environment, that asserting. The ecstatic joy is assertive, self-assertion, self-distributing ecstatic joy. That we find in Gaurāṅga. So Gaurāṅga is the highest entity. In that way I have dealt it there. The sat-cit- ānandam in ecstatic joy He’s dancing, and kīrtanam, that He’s trying to distribute to the others, ātmā-vandanam. He’s offering Himself to the environment, distributing Himself, līlā.

ānanda-līlāmaya-vigrahāya, hemābha-divya-cchavi-sundarāya

tasmaimahā-prema-rasa-pradāya, caitanyacandrāya namo namas te

[“He who is the embodiment of divine bliss, whose form is decorated with the symptoms of ecstasy, who appears magnificently beautiful with a complexion as splendid as gold, He who benevolently gives in charity to all the ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa, the highest divine perfection of life, I worship Him again and again, my beloved Lord Caitanyacandra with all devotion.”] [Caitanya-candrāmṛta, 11]

That is His dance. Perhaps from Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, the Guru of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Goswāmī, this beautiful stanza coming in praise of Śrī Caitanyadeva. Ānanda-līlāya-rasa- vigrahāya, ānanda-līlā-rasa, in the ecstatic pastimes: rasa personified. Hemābha-divya-cchavi- sundarāya, and the golden beauty, the ecstatic beauty emitting golden lustre, very beautiful figure, hemābha-divya-cchavi-sundarāya, that divine figure. Mahā-prema-rasa-pradāya, and He’s distributing the great divine love, distributing by His movements, and the words, and every gesture, posture, distribution of divine love. Mahā-prema-rasa-pradāya, caitanyacandrāya namo namas te. I bow down my head to such Śrī Caitanyadeva Who is so and so. In Arcana Kana this has been taken up as dhyāna. When we meditate Mahāprabhu, we should do in this way. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Sometimes we’ve heard of Guru-Gaurāṅga, this expression, and also in...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Guru-Gaurāṅga Gāndharvā-Giridhāri. That is the name given by Guru Mahārāja in the Māyāpur Deities. The Guru is there, the guide, and Gaurāṅga, who is the potency guide and Gaurāṅga, the Lord Himself as Guru. And Gāndharvā, which can draw the best, maximum rasa, Gāndharvā. And Govinda-Sundara, that is the source of everything, around whom the whole is existing and playing, and He’s the source of all rasa, and the concern, the concern and the gist of the whole campaign. The holder, the support of the infinite existence: that is rasa. Ecstatic aspect, and the drawing of that ecstasy aspect, ______ [?] and both combined distributing Themselves, Gaurāṅga, and who has come to make the world known of this fact, Guru.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So in arcana is there also Guru-Gaurāṅga, in the beginning stages?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: According to one’s own capacity and stage he will try to see. And the awakening of his inner self he will go on with arcana. Goswāmī Bon also expressed Vigraha, but our Prabhupāda told that cannot be told that arcana proper, that was bhajana. They are serving. Arcana means through mantram we hope through this process that one day we shall come to the direct position of service. The medium, arcana means medium, and bhajana means direct service.

When there was a question, “Why the Goswāmīs they installed Śrī Mūrtis there in Vṛndāvana; Name was sufficient, they are taking Name, and they have encouraged arcanam which is generally found with the Rāmānuja section? Mahāprabhu has not given much stress on arcanam, but Nāma bhajana.”

And our Guru Mahārāja answered, “Arcana, installed for others, recommended, but they themselves engaged in direct service, that is bhajana. Bhajana means direct service, soul to Supersoul, not through the medium of any mental system, to purify one’s own mind. When the liberated souls, the svarūpa siddha souls, they are found to go on with arcana, that should not be considered as arcana mere, but that is bhajana, direct service.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. I shall have to go to bathroom, so I retire here. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Govardhana-Śilā that was given by Mahāprabhu to Raghunātha dāsa Goswāmī. That is, as Śālagrāma is considered with respect in varṇāśrama amongst the brāhmaṇas, so amongst the Vaiṣṇavas the Govardhana-Śilā. Śālagrāma is called Gaṇḍhaki-Śilā. Naturally we are known by revelation. By that Gaṇḍhaki-Śilā, the Śilā that is found in the River Gaṇḍhaki, there, natural existence of the Lord Nārāyaṇa in different ways, it is revealed. And so who has got their faith in that revelation, they accept the path of worshipping Nārāyaṇa in Gaṇḍhaki Śilā, or Śālagrāma.

And so also Kṛṣṇa expressed Himself in Bhāgavatam and other places we find that, “I am in Govardhana. Govardhana and Myself, inseparably We are connected. So anyone, anyone who will worship Govardhana, he will worship Me.”

And with this idea Mahāprabhu, He knew it Himself, He gave it to Dāsa Goswāmī Prabhu. And then in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava School that worship of Govardhana-Śilā is continuing. And it gives us entrance into the rāga-mārga, direct in the line of divine love towards Kṛṣṇa.

To worship Nārāyaṇa-Śilā, that is Gaṇḍhaki-Śilā or Śālagrāma, in viddhi-mārga. That is very hard and very stiff and very strict methods of worshipping Nārāyaṇa in viddhi-mārga.

And in rāga-mārga, rāga-mārga is more liberal. It wants the heart and not much formality. So for the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, who wants to attain their position in the land of divinity, the Govardhana-Śilā worshipping that is very advantageous, and encouraging, and fruitful for them.

This is in nutshell I say about Govardhana-Śilā to you. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. It helps us to enter into the domain of divine love; avoiding the domain of this legal devotion, lawful devotion, rules and regulations according to the order of the śāstra. And if there is any flaw: then we become damaged, our ideal prospect is damaged. Very strictly we are to observe the rules and regulations of the worship, very strict.

So Mahāprabhu wanted that we may avoid that path. Our faith is somewhere else that is above this land of viddhi, upāsanā. So Govardhana-Śilā worshipping will be more safe, and more fruitful for our purpose. Because we want to have service in the Vṛndāvana area, the domain of love divine. That’s the purpose and utility of having our dīkṣā, initiation in the line of worshipping Govardhana-Śilā. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: So Mahārāja, I’m asking your blessings if I can begin worship. I’m asking your blessings for me to worship Govardhana Śilā, when I go to Vṛndāvana.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: (repeats in Bengali)

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He wants to worship Govardhana-Śilā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. You have got mantram from Swāmī Mahārāja?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: First and second initiation?

Devotee: Yes, first and second.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course you can begin worshipping Govardhana-Śilā.

Devotee: Thank you very much Mahārāja.

Another Devotee: Guru Mahārāja also when he came that time with Govardhana-Śilā only, taken from Vṛndāvana. In that temple is Govardhana-Śilā.

Parvat Mahārāja: The devotee here, Dāsarātha Sūta, he has two Śilās. And before you gave me sannyāsa I offered water and Tulasī to one of the Śilās, un-authorisedly and I painted the eyes of the Śilā, Govardhana-Śilā. And then I was very astonished when you named me Parvat. Because I felt I got the blessings from this Govardhana-Śilā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, Might be. Ha, ha, ha. Stealthily He’s drawing you towards Him, unconsciously.

Parvat Mahārāja: It is said that sannyāsīs should not worship the Śilās?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They also may do. But sannyāsa is not necessary for worshipping Govardhana or serving Govardhana. That is mainly taken for preaching. For preaching purpose the sannyāsa āśrama is necessary. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

Devotee: Mahārāja, could you perhaps give some specific or some detailed instruction about worshipping Govardhana-Śilā?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Some instruction of the details of worship.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Very simple. Mahāprabhu advised that the minimum will be with little water and Tulasī. And generally, whatever we take, no splendour, no grandeur, but in a simple way, generally whatever we are to take, the food we must put. And if possible bathing, and then offering the puṣpa, flower, Tulasī, and then some food, in the bhoga. And anything may be done as we can do in the Vigraha of Kṛṣṇa. So also everything may be done. But the simple and the short way of honouring Him will be. He’s self satisfied. With the minimum we have found that water and Tulasī is sufficient. But as you can accommodate in that affair very easily you can do that.

Devotee: Anything that I that I would institute extra, would I have to maintain that every day?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Anything?

Devotee: Anything beyond Tulasī and water...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes also you can offer.

Devotee: But would I have to maintain that every day?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Maintain?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. As suiting with the circumstance, you may do that.

Devotee: _________________________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________________________________ [?]

...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So, this is Mahātmā Prabhu over here. He’s arrived from South Africa, where Yudhāmanyu is. Yudhāmanyu’s working with him.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Coming from Africa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yeah, South Africa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: South Africa. And he’s an American?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, no he is a Canadian, oh American.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Canadian.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: American.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: American. All right, he will stay here after?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: For some time.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Some time means after Gaura-Pūrṇimā, no?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. Does he want to go there also, Māyāpur, or only here?

Mahātmā Prabhu: Yudhāmanyu encouraged me to stay here.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He says Yudhāmanyu Prabhu encouraged him to stay here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Here, all right, as you like. As you like you may do. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Our Aranya Mahārāja has left for Calcutta?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He alone?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Govinda Mahārāja____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He will meet with Sarvabhavana and will do the necessary.

Devotee: ________________________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________________________ [?] Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, what function does Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva play in devotional service? He can help us to attain pure bhakti?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is he?

Devotees: Bopadeva.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bopadeva, comes from?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He’s also coming from South Africa, but he’s an American.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is his question?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: It’s about the function of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva in devotional service.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: His special function is to do away with the obstacles that come in the way of the devotees for their advancement towards the plane of divinity. Bhakti-vighna-vinasana [?] Vighna, the obstacles that may come on the way of our progress towards the divine world: generally He takes care of that and removes those obstacles from the way. So especially the devotees they have got some special relationship with Him. They revere that the undesirable things may be removed and the path may be cleared by His grace. He did so in the case of Prahlāda Mahārāja. And it is very conspicuous how He helped the devotee, in what sort of dangerous and unfavourable position. It is very clear, and so devotees they have got special liking and interest in the service of Nṛsiṁhadeva, so the hindrances may be removed and the path may be cleared by His grace. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Mahārāja, you said that Mahāprabhu preferred the Govardhana-Śilā worship over Śālagrāma worship. Why then do we see in the Gauḍīya temples, the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava temples of Mahāprabhu, that they also have Śālagrāma, Nārāyaṇa Deities on their altars?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is the question?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: In the Gauḍīya temples we find Śālagrāma-Śilā worship, but Mahāprabhu preferred Govardhana.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Just as the sacred thread is also not necessary, and the Śālagrāma-Śilā worship is also not necessary for a Vaiṣṇava, Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava devotee to make progress in his path to the goal. But it was arranged only with some purpose, so that it was meant for two purposes, positive and negative.

Positive side is this; that one should not think that Kṛṣṇa worship is lower than that of Nārāyaṇa worship. The Goloka is on the upper position of Vaikuṇṭha. So if we are to go there we have to pass through Vaikuṇṭha. This process we have to pass through. The man otherwise he will become a sahajiyā. He will give much respect to the blood brāhmaṇas, the flesh brāhmaṇas, and he will keep his position lower, and he will be afraid of approaching Nārāyaṇa. And naturally there may be inclination that Kṛṣṇa, He comes from Nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa is the origin of all, the source of all conceptions of Godhead: as the Rāmānuja, Madhvācārya sampradāya do. But Kṛṣṇa Svayaṁ-Bhagavān, He’s above all. To promote such faith in the devotee it is necessary, it was found necessary, that he will think that we’ll have to pass such condition, and then above that the domain of love.

And on the other hand the brāhmaṇas, so-called blood brāhmaṇas they think that the Vaiṣṇava they have no right to come to Vaikuṇṭha. They are also worshipping the Kṛṣṇa, the cowboy, and their position is lower to that of us. So they commit offences against these Vaiṣṇava. To save them, to save the blood brāhmaṇas from their offences to the Vaiṣṇava, and to make the Vaiṣṇava also, the disciples of Vaiṣṇava, the servants of Vaiṣṇava be conscious that their land is crossing Brahmaloka and Vaikuṇṭha, so he must be very careful in his campaign, valuable campaign.

For these two purpose these have been introduced, the sacred thread as well as the worship of Nārāyaṇa. Otherwise they’re not necessary, neither the sacred thread nor the worship of Nārāyaṇa. But the intermediate steps were supplied, finding that there is misconception about the Vaiṣṇava in the social stair, about the social status of them and others. The Vaiṣṇava is lower than brāhmaṇa, they have no right to worship Śālagrāma. In this way their value is minimized and their position comes in lower conception. So in order to remove that misconception in the servant of the Vaiṣṇava as well as the so-called society of the brāhmaṇas, this method has been introduced by our Guru Mahārāja especially, Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura. And we are also following his footsteps. Gaura Haribol. Am I clear?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: We’ve also heard that one becomes free from offences by worshipping the Śālagrāma- Śilā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He said, we’ve heard that we become free from offences by worshipping Śālagrāma-Śilā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not that, free from offences. Necessarily we will have to be more attentive to our flaws. More attentive that Śālagrāma is not so forgiving character. He’s very strict, my Master whom I am going to serve, He’s very strict. That will excite me and encourage me to be very accurate in my service. In that way it may be. But without love, the only the tendency that is excited or actuated by any fear, or any other object, that may be of less value. Love is the most valuable, the inner love. The innate love: that is the most valuable thing. Without that, so strict following in the observance and etiquette divine, that will more or less tasteless, useless. Murko badati visnaya dino badati visnave [?]

etat sarvam parityajya bhāva-grāhī-janārdanaḥ

Devotee: _________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _____________________________________ [?] The bhāva is the most important thing, the inner feeling, the inner sentiment, ruci. That is valuable than the formalities, the fashion. An uneducated man may say visnaya namah, grammatically incorrect. And the scholarly man will say visnave namah, it is grammatically correct. But the Lord will accept the meaning, the purpose of the heart, not so much the outer ornamental figure or aspect.

End of 82.02.21.C_82.02.22.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.22.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, is it rasābhāsa to worship Gaura-Nitāi Deities and Govardhana-Śilā together?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Is it rasābhāsa to worship Govardhana-Śilā and Gaura-Nitāi together?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. Gaura-Nitāi and Govardhana-Śilā not rasābhāsa. But if Rādhārāṇī’s representation is there, then it will come to clash in rasa. But in separate, a separation, a screen may be given between Nitāi. Nitāi, Gaura-Nitāi, and if Govardhana-Śilā there is Rādhārāṇī then screen should be given between the two. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Parvat Mahārāja: Yesterday you said that after Rādhā-kuṇḍa, Govardhana is the most important place of līlā. We don’t know much about Kṛṣṇa līlā in Govardhana.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is generally told to be the favourite place of the Chandrāvalī section. Sākhya-rasa līlā is also in full swing in Govardhana. And there the Chandrāvalī section, udara-paṇi-ramaṇat, that section, we are told, they have the place of līlā nearby. Rādhā- kuṇḍa also near to Govardhana but, udara-paṇi-ramaṇat tatrapi govardhanah [Upadesamrta, 9]: anyhow selected few than that we find in Vṛndāvana. In Vṛndāvana the general mādhurya-rasa and Govardhana selected. And Rādhā-kuṇḍa is only the selected group of Rādhārāṇī, not any other, no entrance of any other. This has been mentioned by Rūpa Goswāmī. But I saw in my Guru Mahārāja’s one article, “Rādhā-kuṇḍa, tree, and also water, there is also some differentiation. And the Rādhā-kuṇḍa water, that is the highest position, to promote the most intricate līlā in the water.” These are very high talks. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Ke?

Devotees: Paramānanda.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Paramānanda. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. This side I feel intense sun. Should we arrange that side?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: As you wish.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: My body’s sweating.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Too hot.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

...

Devotee: Mahārāja, you have said that Madhvācārya has some opinions about the gopīs that we do not accept. My question is, how is it that Madhvācārya, so great Ācārya, can make such mistakes?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. It is the supreme and independent will of the Lord. There is mohana in Brahmā. Have you heard of that, brahmā-moha?

Devotee: Yes, brahmā-vimohana-līlā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Brahmā-vimohana. Can you accommodate that?

Devotee: Er?

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The original Guru of Madhvācārya also, Brahmā sampradāya, and the Śrī sampradāya, Lakṣmī Devī. So it is such, you can know, I cannot know. His will, sweet play, sweet will. Brahmā-moha. Vyāso vetti na [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 24.313]

...

Mahāprabhu says that, “Sanātana, something is passing through Me. I can feel that something higher, knowledge, a flow, is going through Me to you, to grace you, but I can’t taste them.”

Such is also possible. His supreme will is such, His characteristic. You do not know, but through you some intimation is sent ...... to another gentleman, through you. He can send some intimation to another gentleman through you. You won’t be able to read it. Do concede this? Eh?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So it is possible. Only when Mahāprabhu Himself came, Rādhā- Govinda...

...

It is possible for Him only, to give the idea of the fullest thing, it is His grace. It is His sweet will. It is His own, and not a property of many. He’s autocrat, He’s the highest, and whomever He selects to give His own thing, he will get it. No question can be raised: ‘no taxation without representation,’ that sort of slogan has got no room here. But you can know, as Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura told on our behalf. Vinod bani haya hay hari-dasa hari nahi pay.

[“Those who live in this universe but are not interested in Your eternal form remain completely oblivious just like ignorant frogs who live in a small, shallow well. Now Bhaktivinoda sings, alas! What an unfortunate, sorry situation has arisen here! For it seems that the eternal servants of Hari have not become fixed up in the service of their eternal Lord Hari.”]

[From Śrī Śrī Gītā-mālā, translated by Daśaratha-Sūta dāsa]

“My position is that of a servant of Hari and I am devoid of Hari. What is the fun? What am I? I am a slave to Kṛṣṇa, to the Lord. And I’m devoid of my Lord as my master. What a fun it is.”

You can wail, you can depend, you can moan, but all right reserved. And when you will awaken to that stage you will get that. But still He’s above law, we are to consider, the surrender, otherwise the position of surrender is nowhere. Surrender, if we analyse the very basis of surrender, then in what stage surrender has got, may have its existence? Only where there is no right. ‘Whenever any right is going to be established, surrender is not necessary, we must fight out our innate right.’ It is not so. To certain extent it may go on, but in Kṛṣṇa līlā this has got no place. Even Lakṣmī Devī she can’t enter, what to speak of others. She cannot secure any admission card there. Acintya bhedābheda, so Mahāprabhu has put this, the acintya, it is not within any law or anyone’s fist. All right reserved! His sweet will, but He’s absolute good. That is our solace. As a matter of right we can’t enter. Even Lakṣmī Devī cannot, even Brahmā does not know, even Śiva outside. But still we have, if we take the way chalked out by Mahāprabhu, śiva viriñcira vāñchita ye dhana, we can enter there. We can have a place there. It is so dear and so rare and so valuable and desirable, brahmara vāñchita ye dhana, jagate phelila ḍhāli.

[emana gaurāṅga vinu nāhi āra, hena avatāra habe ki hayeche

hena prema paracār, śiva viriñcira vāñchita ye dhana

jagate phelila ḍhāli, kāṅgāle pāiye khāila nāciye

bājāiyekaratāli, nāciyā gāhiyā khola karatāle

dhāiyā mātiyā phire, tarāsa pāiye śamaṇa kiṅkara

kabāṭa hānila dvāre, e tina bhuvana ānande bharila

uṭhila maṅgala śora, kahe premānande ehenā gaurāṅge

rati nā janmila mora]

[“O mind please listen. You have nothing else to be attached to except Śrī Gaurāṅga. Never in the past, nor in the future, will there be such a benevolent incarnation who has presented the matchless divine love ecstasy of God so generously. He poured into this world that ambrosial wealth which is ever cherished and hankered for even by great powerful personalities like Śiva and Viriñci (Brahmā). By His merciful grant, even the most common destitute persons were blessed with the chance to imbibe that nectar with great delight. Overwhelmed by spiritual ecstasy they began to sing the glory of the Lord and dance accompanied by the concert of rhythmic drums and sweet karatālas. Frightened by the power of such holy saṅkīrtana, the inauspicious atheists who were slaves to their mortal ego, ran away and hid in locked rooms to protect themselves from such purifying effect. All three worlds of existence (svarga, martya and patala) became blessed by receiving transcendental bliss and reverberated that auspicious sound. Premānanda says: “I can never have enough devotion to my beloved Gaurāṅga.”]

[From Bhakti Nandan Svāmī’s Śrī Bhakti Rakṣaka Bhajana Madhuri, p 7]

& [A Collection of Verses used by Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja, verse 147]

The magnanimity, we are to look for the magnanimity of Mahāprabhu. Śiva viriñcira vāñchita, which is aspired by Śiva and Brahmā. A drop, for a drop they are praying. But that He took here in a flood. Inundated with that nectar, a drop of which is very rarely to be had and thought of even. We are to approach with such attitude and hankering and expectation. It is so great, it so magnanimous. What is this?

Devotee: __________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura raghava kavita bara [?] Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

na tathā me priyatama ātmayonir na śaṅkaraḥ

na ca saṅkarṣaṇo na śrīr naivātmā ca yathā bhavān

[“Neither Brahmā nor Śīva are as dear to Me as you; My elder brother Saṅkarṣaṇa is not as dear to Me as you, nor even Lakṣmī Devī. Even My own Self is not as dear to Me as you.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.14.15]

Uddhava!

āsā maho caraṇa-renu-juṣām aham syām, vṛndāvane kim api gulma-latauṣadhīnām

yā dustyajaṁ svajanam ārya-pathaṁ ca hitvā, bhejur mukunda-padavīṁ śrutibhir vimṛgyām

[“The gopīs of Vṛndāvana have given up the association of their husbands, sons and other family members, who are very difficult to renounce, and they have sacrificed even their religious principles to take shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, which are sought after by even the Vedas. O grant me the fortune to be born as a blade of grass in Vṛndāvana, so that I may take the dust of those great souls upon my head.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.47.61]

These two ślokas, one from the mouth of Kṛṣṇa Himself, and the next from the mouth of Uddhava, straightly can take us to that highest place. Eliminating so many things outside, from Brahmaloka, from Catuḥsana, from Brahmā, beginning from Brahmā, the grand trunk road is passing up to Uddhava in Dvārakā, and then from Uddhava coming direct to Vṛndāvana to show the position, how higher, how far. Eliminating many things on both sides of various higher prospects, all left, and we are marching, we have to march on, and the way that of surrender, of devotion, loving devotion, not only formal devotion.

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

[“The holy place known as Mathurā is spiritually superior to Vaikuṇṭha, the transcendental world, because the Lord appeared there. Superior to Mathurā-purī is the transcendental forest of Vṛndāvana because of Kṛṣṇa’s rāsa-līlā pastimes. And superior to the forest of Vṛndāvana is Govardhana Hill, for it was raised by the divine hand of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and was the site of His various loving pastimes. And, above all, the super-excellent Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa stands supreme, for it is over-flooded with the ambrosial nectarean prema of the Lord of Gokula, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Where, then, is that intelligent person who is unwilling to serve this divine Rādhā-kuṇḍa, which is situated at the foot of Govardhana Hill?”] [Upadeśāmṛta, 9]

These subtle things we are to put in our faith. Only through the faith of the finer order that we can be led to that quarter, the highest conception that is in the heart of Kṛṣṇa. The heart of Kṛṣṇa we are to enter into, not any other place, the heart of Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. It is there. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. Nitāi. This is the way chalked out, but on the higher side there are many things also. Līlā, mādhurya-līlā cannot stand alone, the sākhya-līlā, the vātsalya-līlā, they have got their high necessity, high value to support them. Mādhurya-līlā, of course that is the main thing, but still that is dependent on the paraphernalia: there must be vātsalya-līlā, there must be sākhya-līlā, the different groups and the servitor group, all śanta group.

Even Rādhārāṇī when She missed Kṛṣṇa in Kurukṣetra, Her mind is running to Vṛndāvana. Running to Vṛndāvana, “The Kṛṣṇa is there, Myself is also here, We two.” But Her mind is running to Vṛndāvana. What for? So Vṛndāvana has got its valuable part to play in this līlā, Vṛndāvana. And what is Vṛndāvana? Vṛndāvana, the sands of Yamunā, the water, the jungle, the birds, the peacocks, the stag, deer, the cows, the cowboys, the Govardhana, the cave of Govardhana, then the motherly relatives. Everything there and that is well designed for Their purpose most suitable. So for the stage, She’s hankering for the stage where to get His company. So Vṛndāvana and the whole, the sākhya group, the vātsalya group, the śanta group, they have got their own peculiar valuation that cannot be eliminated. Rādhā-Govinda cannot be taken out from Vṛndāvana, as Mahāprabhu from Navadwīpa. And so many devotees all have got their own necessity and respective position in the harmony. The whole thing is a system: one part cannot be snatched away from the other parts. Then it is not living, it is dead, it is artificial. It is useless. It cannot be imagined even, it’s such, organic whole.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura-Nityānanda bol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura-Nityānanda bol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

pañcama-juṣe kālindī-pulina-vipināya spṛhayati

priyaḥ so 'yaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ sahacari kuru-kṣetra-militas

tathāhaṁ sā rādhā tad idam ubhayoḥ saṅgama-sukham

tathāpy antaḥ-khelan-madhura-muralī-pañcama-juṣe

mano me kālindī-pulina-vipināya spṛhayati

[Upon arriving in Kurukṣetra, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī said: “O My dear friend, now I am at last reunited with My most beloved Kṛṣṇa in Kurukṣetra. I am the same Rādhārāṇī, and He is the same Kṛṣṇa. We are enjoying Our meeting, but still I wish to return to the banks of the Kālindī, where I could hear the sweet melody of His flute sounding the fifth note beneath the trees of the Vṛndāvana forest.”] [Padyāvalī, 383]

“My mind is running straight towards Vṛndāvana. I have got the main object of My pleasure. But it is useless, useless, not the favourable paraphernalia.”

So Rādhārāṇī’s pain of separation, he’s writing to the highest point here. Getting the object of Her union very near, very close, after long separation. But still She cannot get the real advantage of union.

So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura told: our Guru Mahārāja’s words were mostly very revolutionary. I am a beginner. I have entered newly, two years or so perhaps in Calcutta Gauḍīya Maṭha in the hired house. I was in charge of Kurukṣetra Maṭha. I came during Calcutta ceremony and again I shall have to go back to Kurukṣetra. Prabhupāda had in mind that he will open an exhibition there in Kurukṣetra showing with dolls that Kṛṣṇa with friends coming from Dvārakā, and the gopīs from Vṛndāvana have come. It is mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam during eclipse ceremony to take bath in that Brahmā-kuṇḍa, dvaipayan, etc. He wanted to show that by doll, exhibition was arranged. Then he ordered a letter should be printed in this way and that will be circulated. Twenty thousand may be circulated in a big area.

And in connection of that he’s saying that: “You all know that the bogus people, something like that. Bhuwa [?], bhuwa in Bengali, bhuwa means antasasunya [?] hollow. And when a tree is hollow, within it is hollow, then it is said it is bhuwa in Bengali. Vṛndāvana bhuwa loka maskare eka tatni bolyen [?] He told this, “That only the hollow people, the men of shallow thinking, they like Vṛndāvana.”

I was very much perplexed. What is this? Hitherto I am told that Vṛndāvana is a place, the highest place. Anartha yukta, one who has not attained master-ship over his senses he won’t enter Vṛndāvana. Mukta kula, only the mukta, the liberated souls can enter Vṛndāvana, and may have opportunity of discussing Kṛṣṇa līlā. Only the liberated, it is for the liberated. Those that are not liberated from their senses, they may take to Navadwīpa. But the liberated souls they may have entrance for their benefit in Vṛndāvana.

And now Guru Mahārāja says that, “Only shallow thinkers they will enjoy, they will welcome Vṛndāvana. But the man of real bhajana, real divine aspiration, he must take to Kurukṣetra.” I fell as if from the top of the tree.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is this? So long, so long we’re listening to such things. Now that Vṛndāvana is the highest position and that is fallen. What is that? I am a very acute hearer, listener, so was very much acute to catch what should be the meaning.

Then next thought he gave, “Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura after his tour through different place of pilgrimage, he, when he came back he told, ‘The last days of my life I shall pass in Kurukṣetra. I shall construct a cottage there near Brahmā-kuṇḍa, and I shall pass the rest of my life there. That is the real place of bhajana.”

Why? The servitors, just as a general merchant they will seek a market in the war time. Why? There they expend money like water, without caring. No value of any money. During that dangerous position they can spare money like water. So the merchants say that, “We shall be able to earn something if war period comes.”

So when the service is more valuable according to the intensity of its necessity. So when Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī there but union is impossible, so separation, the degree of the sentiment of separation it is reaching to the highest zenith. And at that time service is very, very valuable to the āśraya, to Rādhārāṇī. When it is necessary to the highest degree, according to the necessity, She is in the highest necessity, because She has got Her position in such place that She can’t control. “I’m here, near, just near.”

The football just from the goal if it comes away, there we consider a great loss. Coming to the goal it has again come back, the most valuable position, coming near the goal.

So Kṛṣṇa is there after long separation, the spirit, the hankering for union must come to the greatest point. But it is impossible, the circumstance not allowing so. So She is, She needs the highest service from Her circle, the sakhīs. Her group must come with their serving spirit in that case, that She’s in the most need of help from outside to maintain Her position.

And Bhaktivionda Ṭhākura says, “There, a particle, a drop of help, will fetch the greatest amount of prema. So I want vipralambha, sambhoga and vipralambha. Things are very near, can’t meet. So service in that place can fetch the most gain for the servitors. So I shall construct a hut there on the banks of Brahmā-kuṇḍa and I shall think of that position of the Divine Couple. And if I can raise myself to that standard then it may not come back to this mundane plane any time. No possibility. If so high I can put up my serving prospect.” So,

priyaḥ so 'yaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ sahacari kuru-kṣetra-militas

tathāhaṁ sā rādhā tad idam ubhayoḥ saṅgama-sukham

tathāpy antaḥ-khelan-madhura-muralī-pañcama-juṣe

mano me kālindī-pulina-vipināya spṛhayati

[Upon arriving in Kurukṣetra, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī said: “O My dear friend, now I am at last reunited with My most beloved Kṛṣṇa in Kurukṣetra. I am the same Rādhārāṇī, and He is the same Kṛṣṇa. We are enjoying Our meeting, but still I wish to return to the banks of the Kālindī, where I could hear the sweet melody of His flute sounding the fifth note beneath the trees of the Vṛndāvana forest.”] [Padyāvalī, 383]

So wherever She is, but Vṛndāvana is necessary for Them. And Vṛndāvana means the whole paraphernalia, favourable paraphernalia. To that extent Vṛndāvana is unique. Vaikuṇṭhāj janito varā madhu-purī tatrāpi rāsotsavād vṛndāraṇyam [Upadeśāmṛta, 9]. But that is the main thing, in this way.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

And the gopīs told,

āhuś ca te nalina-nābha padāravindaṁ, yogeśvarair hṛdi vicintyam agādha-bodhaiḥ

saṁsāra-kūpa-patitottaraṇāvalambaṁ, gehaṁ juṣām api manasy udiyāt sadā naḥ

[“The gopīs spoke thus: ‘Dear Lord, whose navel is just like a lotus flower, Your lotus feet are the only shelter for those who have fallen into the deep well of material existence. Your feet are worshipped and meditated upon by great mystic yogīs and highly learned philosophers. We wish that these lotus feet may also be awakened within our hearts, although we are only ordinary persons engaged in household affairs.’”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.82.49] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 13.136]

The gopīs in general they presented a petition to Kṛṣṇa. Publicly Kṛṣṇa is a king and the leader of so many kings in India. And these they have come from unknown quarter, living in jungle in the society of the milkmen. What position they have got there? Externally no position! And Kṛṣṇa holding the highest position in the political and royal society of the then India, and so He’s the figure like eyeball in every eye: Kṛṣṇa’s position. And they’re in helpless, poor, and neglected condition. What value they have got? But when Kṛṣṇa Himself came, first to Nanda-Yaśodā’s camp to give mother praise, parental respect to them, within the midst of great disappointment for the time being, they felt, ‘Oh, my boy has come at last to see us.’ As if for the time being they got their life back again in a dead body. Anyhow after some courtesy shown to them, Kṛṣṇa in the meantime made arrangement to meet with the gopīs. Gopīs privately and also suddenly appeared in their camp.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Rūpa Goswāmī has collected many ślokas, many poems, from different devotees in Padyāvalī, mentioned devotees. They had also their poems about Kṛṣṇa līlā and Rūpa Goswāmī has collected them and published in Padyāvalī. Stavāvalī of [Raghunātha] Dāsa Goswāmī and Padyāvalī of Rūpa Goswāmī. There is a śloka, it should not be spoken at large; still I do. In Bhāgavatam of course it is like this, that when Kṛṣṇa came and they, in general they gave something in as a petition.

Āhuś ca te, the group of the gopī, they told: “Āhuś ca te nalina-nābha padāravindaṁ, Oh You of lotus navel, padāravindaṁ, Your holy feet, lotus feet. Yogeśvarair hṛdi vicintya, we are told that the great master yogīs they try to meditate on Your lotus feet, agādha-bodhaiḥ, and with their unfathomed knowledge and mental resources they come to think of Your lotus feet. They try, their endeavour is for to have You in imagination, the lotus feet of Yours, we are told. And we believe also. Saṁsāra-kūpa-patitottaraṇām, that yogīs means those that have nothing to do with this mundane, with the clay, but higher realization in the conscious world, spiritual world. They are said to be, centre their highest attention toward Your lotus feet. And those that are busy in elevating their life in this mundane world, the material exploitation, elevation of their life, saṁsāra-kūpa-patitottaraṇāvalambaṁ, they also are busy to worship Your lotus feet to get out of this entanglement of the action, reaction, in the mundane world, they use it. The karmīs, the elevationists and the salvationists, the centre of their interest, both of these sections, is Your padāravindaṁ, Your lotus feet: the elevationist as well as the salvationist. And what are we? We live in the neglected part of the lower society, in jungle. And cows is our wealth, of cowherds, we are some animal traders. Live in jungle and we trade in cow business and we sell the curd and the milk and these things in the outskirts of the society.

āhuś ca te nalina-nābha padāravindaṁ, yogeśvarair hṛdi vicintyam agādha-bodhaiḥ

saṁsāra-kūpa-patitottaraṇāvalambaṁ, gehaṁ juṣām api manasy udiyāt sadā naḥ

“We are neither karmī, that scientific exploiter, nor the higher exploiters in the world of consciousness, or the researcher, researching, but saṁsāra-kūpa-patitottaraṇāvalambaṁ, gehaṁ juṣām, we only know family life only. Family life, gehaṁ juṣām api manasy udiyāt sadā, we have no other qualification, but only a family life of the lower section of the society. That capacity we have got. Gehaṁ juṣām api. But our audacity that we pray that You, very great, You may if You kindly condescend to extend Your lotus feet to our negligent part of our society, in our negligent heart, any time, we’ll think us blessed. Gehaṁ juṣām api manasy udiyāt. In our mind, that we can maintain in our mind the memory of Your holy feet. We are busy in our family matters. We do not know śāstric life, nor the salvationist, yoga, jñāna, Vedānta, Veda, etc, nothing of the kind. Neither scripture, nor moral standard we have got. A neglected position we hold. And there in our family possibly we can think in our mind, we can remember about Your holy lotus feet. You please grant this to us. We can’t expect anything more from You.” That is their petition.

And Kṛṣṇa also outwardly told: “Yes I know.”

mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām, amṛtatvāya kalpate

[diṣtyā yad āsīn mat sneho, bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ]

[“My dear gopīs, everyone considers themselves fortunate if they possess devotion for Me, and by that they achieve an eternal life of nectar. But I must admit that I consider Myself most fortunate because I have come in touch with the wonderful affection found in your hearts.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.42.44]

“The people they want My devotion for their life in the eternity, amṛtatvāya. To cross the limit of mortality and to have an eternal life they worship, they come to Me. They take to My service. Mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām, amṛtatvāya kalpate, diṣtyā yad āsīn mat sneho, bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ. But fortunately for you, you have got some affection towards Me. Anyhow it has occurred that you have some affection towards Me. So that will take you to Me ultimately.”

That is the external meaning: the formal meaning, the superficial meaning, of both the camps. But our Ācārya’s they have squeezed out another meaning from those forms of prayers. They say they are conscious of the real private relationship between the two. So they have drawn out of that another meaning based on sentimentalism, the clash of sentimentalism between both the parties, beloved, lover and beloved. And it is in this way. When the gopīs in general put a prayer the meaning is this.

“Oh we remember that You sent Uddhava to console us one day. To console us outwardly, Uddhava, by reciting many śāstric śloka, śāstric representation, that it is nothing, the whole world is mortal, we shall all have to go away from this. So the affection has got no such any value. Attachment: that must be cut off to anything. You must try to liberate us from any attraction for the environment and make us free. All these apparently sweet things You wanted to distribute to us through Uddhava. And now You Yourself also showing us the same path, that You are so and so, You are great, and everyone should try for his own highest interest, to think Me, and take benefit for their own.”

In this way, in Caitanya-caritāmṛta you will find the meaning explained in this way.

End of 82.02.22.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.22.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...not yogīs that we will be satisfied with abstract thinking about You. Are we yogīs that we shall be satisfied with abstract thinking? Thinking, or imagination, concoction, all these things, we’re not a party to that. Neither we are karmī that we are incurring so much debt from the nature, and to get relief of that we shall come to Your door, ‘Oh, please relieve me my God from my previous bad activities, please relieve me.’ We do not belong to any of these two sections. But what are we? Gehaṁ juṣām api manasy. We want to live with You as a family man. Not that abstract thinking, nor to use You to clear off the fault of the nullified activity, to use You for any other purpose. We want to have a direct family life with You. Don’t You know that? And You come to, first by Uddhava and now You Yourself. Are You not ashamed of that?”

This is their inner meaning. Gehaṁ juṣām api manasy udiyāt sadā naḥ. So mildly they’re putting, that, “We won’t be satisfied by anything else. You know it for certain. You know it better. But if You kindly come, You as we had You wholesale in our midst, our prayer is there, and we’re not satisfied with anything less than that. Anything less than that cannot satisfy. We’re talking, not abstract thinking, nor we want to utilize You to relieve us from the entanglement of this material nature. We have got no conception of our body, no body conception we have got.”

deha-smṛti nāhi yāra, saṁsāra-kūpa kāhāṅ tāra, tāhā haite nā cāhe uddhāra

[viraha-samudra-jale, kāma-timiṅgile gile, gopī-gaṇe neha’ tāra pāra]

[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued: “The gopīs are fallen in the great ocean of separation, and they are being devoured by the timiṅgila fish, which represent their ambition to serve You. The gopīs are to be delivered from the mouths of these timiṅgila fish, for they are pure devotees. Since they have no material conception of life, why should they aspire for liberation? The gopīs do not want that liberation desired by the yogīs and jñānīs, for they are already liberated from the ocean of material existence.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 13.142]

“We have no body consciousness, so we do not get relief from the reactionary suffering of this material life. We don’t care for that. We are unconscious of that. So what is our real need? That we want to serve You direct in our loving cell, to please, try to do that.”

And then Kṛṣṇa’s answer, that had got also inner aspect.

mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām, amṛtatvāya kalpate

[diṣtyā yad āsīn mat sneho, bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ]

[“My dear gopīs, everyone considers themselves fortunate if they possess devotion for Me, and by that they achieve an eternal life of nectar. But I must admit that I consider Myself most fortunate because I have come in touch with the wonderful affection found in your hearts.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.42.44]

“You know all the people they want Me through devotion to attain, to help them for the acquisition of the highest position in the eternal world, the world of eternal benefit. Fortunately, if they get such connection with Me they consider themselves fortunate. But on the other hand, I consider Myself to be fortunate because I got your affection. The whole world wants to show their affection to Me. And that I, Myself, consider that I am fortunate because I have got your affection towards Me. Diṣtyā yad āsīn mat sneho. That fortunately for Me that I have come in touch with such valuable affection what I found in your heart. I consider Myself to be fortunate.”

The inner meaning, the gopīs read like that.

[eta tāṅre kahi kṛṣṇa, vraje yāite satṛṣṇa, eka śloka paḍi’ śunāila]

sei śloka śuni’ rādhā, khāṇḍila sakala bādhā, kṛṣṇa-prāptye pratīti ha-ila

[While speaking to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Kṛṣṇa became very anxious to return to Vṛndāvana. He made Her listen to a verse which banished all Her difficulties and which assured Her that She would again attain Kṛṣṇa.] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 13.159]

When Rādhārāṇī She could look into the meaning of Kṛṣṇa’s answer, reply, “Yes,” She became satisfied. “Wherever He may be in the physical sense, but at heart He’s mine alone. So He could compose His troubles within, and He came back to Vṛndāvana. But very soon He cannot but come to join our party again.”

And what I was going to say little after, the śloka, the meaning of the śloka collected by Rūpa Goswāmī, when Kṛṣṇa met in Kurukṣetra.

Kim pardante yutusye vibane swamino he satantra kancit kalum kachit [?]

______________________________________________________ [?] When Kṛṣṇa came to the camp He found suddenly Rādhārāṇī. And just He stooped down as if to touch Her feet. Kim padante [?] And Rādhārāṇī is shrinking away, She says, “What You do?” Kim pardante yutusye vibana [?] “I found You on My feet and coming to catch My feet, what’s the matter?” She shudders. Kim pardante yutusye [?] “You have no fault. You are as pure as anything. You have not done anything wrong.” Swamino he satantra [?] “You are My master. You are My Lord. You are at liberty to do anything and everything. I am Your servitor. We are Your servitors, our position under You. We shall try our every nerve to satisfy You. By nature our position is such. And You are master, You are our Lord. You can do anything and everything. Why do You come and stoop to low as to touch My feet? I can’t tolerate.” Kim pardante yutusye vibane swamino he satantra kancit kalum kachit [?] “For a little time You have got engagement in some other place, but what harm there? No Harm. _________________________________ [?] “No crime for You, for that.”

________________________ [?] “I am criminal, the crime I have committed, on the other hand.”

Avaskarini aham eho māyā [?] “Why: how?” ___________________ [?] “I still dragged down My body and life. I could not die for Your separation. So great and holy affection I came in touch of, and I could not die. I am showing My face to the public. I am not worth Your divine affection. I could not die for the separation of Yourself, and I had to show My face to the public, avaskarini [?] So I am criminal of the first quarter.” Avaskarini aham eho māyā jivitam tad viyoge [?] “I maintained My life till now.” Bhakti prayanasi_______________________ [?] “It is, in the scripture it has been arranged, that the wife should be the wholesale subservient to the master, to the husband. And not that husband should be very submissive to the wife. It is not the scriptural standard. So You are all right. The whole burden of breaking the law of love is on My head.”

In this way She told, as Mahaprabhu also told:

na prema-gandho 'sti darāpi me harau, krandāmi saubhāgya-bharaṁ prakāśitum

vaṁśī-vilāsy-ānana-lokanaṁ vinā, vibharmmi yat prāṇa-pataṅgakān vṛthā

[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said: “My dear friends, I have not the slightest tinge of love of Godhead within My heart. When you see Me crying in separation, I am just falsely exhibiting a demonstration of My great fortune. Indeed, not seeing the beautiful face of Kṛṣṇa playing His flute, I continue to live My life like an insect, without purpose.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 2.45]

Śrī Caitanyadeva also echoing the same thing, na prema-gandho 'sti darāpi me. “Not a bit of divine love in Me for Kṛṣṇa, even little, a bit of scent, of divine love of Kṛṣṇa is in Me, krandāmi saubhāgya.”

“Then why You are shedding tears profusely, uninterruptedly? Always day and night You are shedding tears for Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa.”

“Oh you don’t know it. To show to the public, to canvass that, ‘Oh I have got Kṛṣṇa prema, I have got divine love for Kṛṣṇa. Only to show to the people and thereby to get some good name of a Kṛṣṇa dāsa: to deceive the people I have all hypocrisy in Me.”

“Why? Why do you say so?”

Vaṁśī-vilāsy-ānana-lokanaṁ vinā, vibharmmi yat prāṇa-pataṅgakān vṛthā. “The positive proof is there. That is still I live, I could not die. If I had some real love, by separation I must have died. That is positive proof that I have not a bit of, the scent of Kṛṣṇa prema in Me. Kṛṣṇa prema is so high, so attractive, once coming in contact with that none can maintain his life without further connection with that thing. It is impossible, it is so high, so enchanting, so attracting, so beautiful, and so heart swallowing it is impossible. It is such, it is of such higher degree, that love is, na prema. Prāṇa-pataṅgakān vṛthā.”

Sanatana krsna prema nilokena haya yadi haya tyaja yoga kahuna ya...[?]

“Sanātana, that divine love for Kṛṣṇa is not to be had, to be traced in this mundane world. It is impossible that a human can come in connection with that sort of divine higher love, yadi haya. If anyone by chance comes in connection with that, then no separation is possible, he can’t forget that. He cannot live separately without that connection.” ______________________________ [?]

If by chance any participation, any separation, he will die instantly. It is so attractive, so high, he will have to die instantly without that sort of vital, vital devotion, higher, noble life. It is such, so great, so noble, so beautiful, so magnanimous, that is what is. Gaura Haribol. We are out to search for that thing in the world. For that thing in the world Mahāprabhu came to inform us that there is such vital thing, vital of the vitality. Without that given us chance to come in contact with that it is impossible him to go on living without that connection with that. There is such prospect for us all, and Mahāprabhu came to distribute that to the world for us.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

A little connection. I am told that a section in South Africa, they committed suicide in a collective way.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: In South America.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh? South America, somewhere, South Africa, somewhere, because their faithful process of life is going to be disturbed by the present civilization, they could not tolerate. Rather, “Take the poison and be off, take leave from this world, that we can live safely in the world of our faith. Faith divine, no charm for anything in this mundane world, let us go with peace. And as members of the peaceful world, let us enjoy that peace which is independent of the material acquisition. So here is no charm that we shall hesitate to withdraw us from this world.’

But we shall say that this life is valuable relatively, why, because higher aspiration we can acquire. We can have the chance of acquisition from this plane. The seed from this human life is so valuable that we can take the path of the highest divine conception.

labdhvā su-durlabham idaṁ bahu-sambhavānte

mānuṣyam artha-dam anityam apīha dhīraḥ

tūrṇaṁ yateta na pated anu-mṛtyu yāvan

niḥśreyasāya viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt

[“The human form of life is very rarely attained, and although temporary, gives us a chance to achieve the supreme goal of life. Therefore, those who are grave and intelligent should immediately strive for perfection before another death occurs. There are so many forms of life: the aquatics, the vegetable kingdom, the animals, the birds, ghosts and other living beings, but only in this human position do we hold the key to the complete solution of the problems of life.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.9.29]

Su-durlabham idaṁ, very highly valued, and rarely found, this human body: because there are so many forms of life.

jalajā nava lakṣāni, sthāvarā lakṣa viṁśati

[kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ, pakṣiṇām daśa lakṣaṇam

triṁsal lakṣāni paśavaḥ, catur lakṣāṇi mānuṣaḥ]

[In the laws of Manu, it is written: “There are 900,000 kinds of aquatics, 2,000,000 kinds of trees and plants, 1,100,000 kinds of insects and reptiles, 1,000,000 kinds of birds, 3,000,000 kinds of four-legged beasts, and 400,000 kinds of human species.” Manu says that the trees are in such a hopeless position as a result of their own karma. Their feelings of pain and pleasure are similar to ours; their souls are not of a lower standard. Still, they are in such a deplorable position as a result of their own karma. They have none to blame but themselves. This is the state of affairs in this external world.”] [Viṣṇu-Purāṇa]

The water animals, the vegetable kingdom, the animals, the birds, and so many ghosts and others also above, but only in this human position that one – this is the key for the solution of whole path, all the forms of life we are to travel in. If we can utilize this valuable life, the time of this valuable life in a valuable way, then we can acquire such a thing that we can avoid the whole chain of the life of this troublesome world. We can get rid of all sorts of troubles in our physical life, our mental life, the key is here. In the lower stages, viveka ha hitvat [?] Jīva Goswāmī says viveka is not sufficient understanding is awakened in the lower life, and in the higher life that, ved gandharva bhoga vinivesa etat syat [?] Previously acquired enjoying energy is sufficiently accumulated there on all sides. So it is difficult for them. So chief enjoying elements are surrounding, it becomes difficult for them to get out there of the charm of those and to engage one to begin the prospect of a fresh life. So this is human life is the highest form of advantageous position to go out of this entanglement and to reach to the highest object of our life divine. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: ___________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________ [?]

Devotee: ___________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Crore manu davati [?]

Devotee: ___________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Whenever I go to talk about, my mind is always drawn towards that, towards...

Hari Caran Prabhu: Gaura-premānande hari hari bol!

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Ha, ha, ha.

Hari Caran Prabhu: Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda… [ etc.]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. The forced retirement! Nitāi-Gaura. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Hari Caran Prabhu: Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda… kī jaya! [etc, etc.]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hari Caran Prabhu kī jaya!

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Hari Caran Prabhu: (continues)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jaya.

Hari Caran Prabhu: (continues)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jaya.

Hari Caran Prabhu: Gaura-premānande hari hari bol!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jaya. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Hari Caran Prabhu: _________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________________ [?]

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Any question?

Devotee: Why did Caitanya Mahāprabhu choose to give the highest conception of love of Kṛṣṇa to the lowest class of people, to the people of Kali-yuga?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh, what’s the point?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Why did Mahāprabhu like to give the highest love of Godhead to the lowest persons of this Kali-yuga?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is the very nature of Śrī Caitanya Avatāra. Why the gopīs they came to form the neglected social position, the gopa? It looks: it is the most befitting. The highest conception of magnanimity means what? The highest point, the conception of the highest magnanimity, how should be nature of that? To help the most needy, and because He comes from the high position He cannot give ordinary things. The valuable things He must give, and His attention must be drawn to the most needy. Is it unnatural? What do you think?

Devotee: No, that’s correct.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The highest magnanimity must take notice of the lowest needy. And if He wants to help them by His own coin and that is His coin. Do you follow?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He cannot distribute them only the grass, or the stone chips. What He thinks to be real wealth, He must extend that to the lowest, the poorest people. There is opulence of jewels and gems, and He will go to search some stone chips for the distribution to the lowest level. What should be the natural thing? Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

So we all try to fall at the feet of that Great Messiah, Śrī Gaurāṅgadeva. The devotees say, “We can’t keep up our life to conceive that there may be a place where Gaurāṅga won’t be. We shudder to think that without such a magnanimous friend how one can live his life? This is impossible.”

yadi gaura nā hoita, tabe ki hoita, kemone dharitām de

[rādhāra mahimā, prema-rasa-sīmā jagate jānāta ke

madhura vṛndā vipina mādhurī praveśa cāturī sāra

baraja yuvatī bhāvera bhakati śakati hoita kāra]

[Vāsudeva Datta/Gosh]

The world is not worth for living. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Mahārāja, Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja writes that we can become free from offences to the Holy Name if we chant the names of Lord Caitanya and the Pañca Tattva. So how is this?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does she say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: She tells, Swāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he writes if we chant Pañca Tattva mantra then we can get free from the nāmāparādhas. Why is that; how is that?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, he has rightly done so. They’re so magnanimous They’re meant, the Pañca Tattva is meant to raise up the souls from their fallen condition. Only the deserving person can have entrance in Vṛndāvana, Kṛṣṇa līlā. But Kṛṣṇa has come down to cure the offenders from their offences and then to allow them entrance into Vṛndāvana. So Pañca Tattva, by taking Their name and by remembering Their līlā in our lowest position we can be purified and we are prepared for the participation of Vṛndāvana līlā. And in Vṛndāvana līlā there is the twofold līlā going on. In Vṛndāvana, in Goloka, one Vṛndāvana the mādhurya rasa prakāśa where within their own circle they’re enjoying the pastimes of divine love: and there is another quarter where Śrī Rādhā-Govinda milita Gaurāṅga He Himself tasting in the mood of Rādhārāṇī His own qualifications, His own sweetness with His paraphernalia. That is also there, we are told. And we are to realize gradually by the recommended processes. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Who is she?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Her name is Bhakta Priyā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhakta Priyā. Comes from?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: She comes from San Jose with us, she’s helping us there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: She comes with her husband or alone?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: She’s a widow.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: She’s a widow. And she’s disciple of Swāmī Mahārāja?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Twofold initiations, she got?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. And she has come with whom?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: With myself and Brahmā and Bhakta Jeff. We all came together.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. The Japanese lady she has gone to Vṛndāvana or to Japan?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Japan.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And this Iranian lady who came from Ceylon, she’s here?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: She is here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. I can’t see, so I have to enquire one thing so many times. I beg to be excused for that, by you all. It is difficulty enquiring one for his identification, of course it is objectionable, un-courteous, but can’t help. So you be all gracious to me and excuse such defect and fault in me.

Devotee: What you are seeing, we are all aspiring for that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course, by God’s grace as I told before, Mahāprabhu said, “Sanātana, Kṛṣṇa is sending grace to you through Me.” It cannot be the acquired property of any one of us, it is free. And we may be utilized like a channel. He’s having His own līlā, His līlā, His pastimes in different way is in a movement. As much we can make ourselves empty it is easy for us to see His līlā. Withdraw once our ego.

īśvaraḥ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ, hṛd-deśe ‘rjjuna tiṣṭhati

bhrāmayan sarvva-bhūtāni, yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

[“O Arjuna, I am situated in the hearts of all souls as the Supersoul, the Lord and Master of all souls. For every endeavour of the living beings in this world, the Lord (My plenary expansion, the Supersoul) awards an appropriate result. As an object mounted on a wheel is caused to revolve, the living beings are caused to revolve in the universe by the almighty power of the Lord. Incited by Him, your destiny will naturally be effected according to your endeavours.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.61]

He’s acting though us. The inner plane everywhere is the plane of His own līlā, and our existence on the gross surface, gross coating. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Taṭasthā, svarūpa-śakti, then taṭasthā-śakti, then this material coating: but the inner most substance all filled up with the flow of His pastimes, in the sweet, sweetest, and most generous way, Kṛṣṇa and Gaurāṅga.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, what is the meaning of the higher energy of the Lord, the internal energy, the most intimate energy of the Lord?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is go to the similar direction. We may apply some approximate word for the same. Sometimes we say higher, sometimes innate. In this way we try to give some direction by using such words according to our mentality and capacity of the direction. But what we direct, what we want to mean by those words, that depends upon the circumstance when we’re dealing with a particular thing. We are taṭasthā position and higher, inner, that means towards the, higher means inner, deeper, sometimes higher, sometimes deeper, sometimes inner, in this way only a directive meaning. Śrutibhir vimṛgyām [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.47.61], the Vedas also are directing, “Toward this side.” Unknown and unknowable, inestimable from this plane of life: only some vague, some nearer expressions to be used by us. Adhokṣaja, aprākṛta, supernatural, transcendental, still we are trying to deal in our own way.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, when Kṛṣṇa or Mahāprabhu descends to this world, what is happening in Goloka Vṛndāvana?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: There also.

Devotee: Also? So there’s two?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. He can extend Himself. He’s such. The characteristic of the infinite is such. Infinite minus infinite is infinite. Infinite plus infinite is infinite. Infinite into infinite, that is also infinite. Infinite divided by infinite is infinite. You may take the case of zero. Zero plus zero is zero. Zero minus zero is zero. Zero into zero is zero. Zero divided by zero is zero. Just the opposite you are to think.

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ, pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya, pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

[“The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.”] [Śrī Īśopaniṣad – Invocation]

In Upaniṣad we find the basis of such existence. It is possible. What we can’t conceive, it is there, it is such. The nature of infinite is such.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So what’s the time?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Five to ten.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Five to ten.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Almost ten.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So we should show some respect to Hari Carana’s request.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Hari. Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda…

End of 82.02.22.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.23.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Mādhava Mahārāja: ...favourable in general.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s as before?

Mādhava Mahārāja: Hmm?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: As he was before?

Mādhava Mahārāja: Yes. I requested him to come here and speak with you. He’s going to try to come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He may try to come here to meet you, Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Did you meet Jayatīrtha Mahārāja?

Mādhava Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Doing well? He is doing well?

Mādhava Mahārāja: Oh yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And what about that Mukhyavipra?

Devotees: Vipramukhya.

Mādhava Mahārāja: I did not see him.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Did not see. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. All the Ācāryas come?

Mādhava Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: With the exception of Haṁsadūta?

Mādhava Mahārāja: Haṁsadūta is not there, Hṛdayānanda is not there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hṛdayānanda, two absent.

Mādhava Mahārāja: Some, I don’t know all. Only about thirteen GBC members have come so far. They don’t seem very enthusiastic this year.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who?

Another devotee: The GBC.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They have got their responsibility, how to conduct the present movement. And any news of Pramāṇa Swāmī and Viraha Prakāśa, are they in Vṛndāvana?

Devotee: Somebody told me Mahārāja that they’re going to Venezuela because they can’t extend the tickets.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, both of them?

Devotee: Looks like that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. _____________ Prabhu is there?

Devotee: No. I didn’t see him.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Yesterday when we went to Māyāpur we feel that the spirit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is missing there. Relations between the Vaiṣṇavas are very cold there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Remarking that way that will be too much: missing altogether.

Devotee: Mahārāja, in about a week and a half Navadwīpa Dhāma parikramās are coming up. Perhaps you can tell us something about that.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Parikramā. After one week or so there will be Navadwīpa parikramā. He wants to hear something about Navadwīpa parikramā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To be more introduced with the realistic view of Navadwīpa, there are so many division in this Navadwīpa Dhāma, mainly nine, and they’re told as representation of nine sections of devotion, śravaṇa, kīrtana, smaraṇa, vandanaṁ, then arcanaṁ, sakhya, ātma-nivedana. Śravaṇaṁ, that Sīmantadwīpa is, represents śravaṇa, akya [?] bhakti. Kīrtana, this Godruma. Smaraṇaṁ is Madhyadwīpa, pāda-sevana, this Koladwīpa, arcana, the Jahnūdwīp. What is this? Koladwīpa and then Rudradvīpa and vandana is Jahnūdwīp. Sakhya is Rudradvīpa, and ātma-nivedana is Māyāpur. They have got connection with these nine types of main devotional conception. And when we travel there we are reminded by the incidents of those places how such representations come from such places. And all together promotes us to understand what is devotion proper. And ātma-nivedana is the basis of all. And if after ātma-nivedana, that is surrender, the plane of life will be categorically changed. After ātma-nivedana, after surrendering to the central direction, whatever will be done by us that will come to have recognition as devotion: that is devotion, ātma-nivedana, selflessness plus self-surrendering. Self-surrendering means, presupposes selflessness, selfish actions come to end, and selflessness that is also crossed and then self-surrendered life begins. And that is devotion proper. A life of a devotee, not any individual interest or provincial interest, but they work for the universal interest of the whole absolute: they are soldiers of that plane. They do anything and everything they may do but the suggestion, inspiration comes from the centre. Centre, the absolute good!

So, though apparently they seem to be member of this plane, world, but through their heart the connection is with the absolute good cause. So their colour is completely changed, valuation is completely changed. Their movement, valuation of their movement completely changed, though apparently they seem to be doing everything almost similar to the mundane persons. They are eating, they are also eating, but properly they are not eating they are serving the remnants sent by the Lord, in this way.

tvayopabhukta-srag-gandha-, vāso 'laṅkāra-carccitāḥ

ucchiṣṭa-bhojino dāsās, tava māyāṁ jayema hi

[“Adorned with the articles that have been offered to You, such as garlands, fragrant clothing, and ornaments, we, Your personal servitors who partake of Your holy remnants alone, will certainly be able to conquer Your illusory energy (māyā).”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.6.46]

Uddhava says in Bhāgavatam that, “We shall conquer the whole of the māyāic energy only by one thing. What is that? We shall accept everything with the spirit of service. Whatever You send for us, tvayopabhukta. You have taken it, You have enjoyed, and the remnants we shall have to go to serve. And thereby the whole illusory energy will be devastated.”

So once that Professor Baul [?], who wrote that Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya in English, he had his younger brother, he was a graduate perhaps, and he challenged Professor Sānyāl.

“What do you do there? What we shall do you also do in the Maṭha.”

“No, no, we don’t do that what you do.”

“No you don’t do that. You don’t eat?”

“No we don’t eat.”

“Then what do you do? I have seen you with my own eyes that you are eating.”

“No, we don’t eat. We don’t eat like you. Devouring solid things, putting into the stomach, we don’t do that. We serve mahā-prasāda.”

As Swāmī Mahārāja told Acyutānanda, “You will faint there.” “So it is beyond your understanding what we do. We don’t eat like you. No spirit of consumption. We don’t consume anything. We honour the remains of the Lord. That’s what we do.”

So such will be the difference of all the activities of the true Vaiṣṇava and the worldly men. Apparently they seem to do the same things that the others are doing. Working, sleeping, eating, and abusing persons, so many things. Earning money and distributing, so many similar, but the standpoint is totally different. Connected with the centre, abiding by the direction of the central movement; and they are guided by their provincial and local interest. Local and absolute, that is the difference and that difference is very, very great. On the other side of the selflessness, or renounced life, renunciation comes between, complete renunciation, and this side and other side. So what is devotion proper that to be realized. Realized, it is not by apparent movement generally, but the question of adjustment, angle of vision. Angle of vision: that is to be changed.

So Dhāma parikramā, so many stories, so many sceneries, but all meaning to help us in our absolute adjusted life. And if one can catch that, his parikramā, his walking, travelling through different tīrtha and receiving the local historical or eternal instructions thereby in different conceptions of devotion. That is encouraged.

So it is not like the merit hunter, punya karmī. There are general people in the general Hindu section who also who are out in pilgrimage coming in contact with the holy places with some holy association. Their main object to get some unseen help in their present life! In their present life what they want they want that to be satisfied by some invisible help, daiva. That is punya karmana. Good, to acquire good merit, that will help to their present life in success according to their conception, not śuddha-bhakti.

But the devotees, the Gauḍīya Maṭha people, their object is quite different. That is, cannot be reckoned in any of the different planes of present education of some section are hunting for. They can’t think even that a purely spiritual life is possible at all. That may be only a concoction they are suffering from...

...

...culture. According to the so-called civilized scientific scholars: “The Gauḍīya Maṭha, that is fighting with their shadow. They’re hunting after impossibility and the imaginary things. That is superstition. They’re hunting, or running after phantasmagoria, superstition.”

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ, tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī

yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni, sā niśā paśyato muneḥ

[“While spiritual awareness is like night for the living beings enchanted by materialism, the self-realised soul remains awake, directly relishing the divine ecstasy of his un-interrupted spiritual intelligence. On the contrary, the wakefulness of materialistic persons addicted to sense enjoyment is night for the self-realised person who is completely indifferent to such pursuits. The realised souls, indifferent to the mundane, are ever joyful in the divine ecstatic plane, while the general mass is infatuated by fleeting mundane fancies devoid of spiritual joy.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.69]

On the other side we think that in the name of concrete reality they are running after phantasmagoria, just opposite. The mortal, which is produced certainly in the mortal achievement, they are running after that. They think immortality is not possible. There Socrates had to pay for it, that soul is immortal. So at the cost of his life he had to announce those words, “soul is immortal.” Otherwise, “No, nothing is immortal. So it is foolish to neglect the mortal pleasure. Whatever there may be let us enjoy.”

That is their - but we neglect it simply, and ours is, yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ, tasyāṁ jāgarti. What is quite darkness to them, we want to be wakeful in that plane of life. The basis is, soul is immortal and there is the immortal world. And not only immortal but that is of nectarine reality.

Śṛṇvantu viśve amṛtasya putrāḥ. “Oh, you sons of nectarine world, be mindful in my address. You are all internally sons of that soil. You are child of that soil, why do you suffer so much? You are to become victims of mortality but really you are not so. You have got inconceivably higher prospect of life. Come back, come back to your own plane. Come back home.”

That is the general call of Upaniṣad. The most ancient revealed scripture comes to realize. So the attempt of Gauḍīya Maṭha, not only call for the theistic life, but theism to its full-fledged condition. That is, a family life with God, family life with the absolute beauty and charm. “Your place is just on the lap of the affectionate father: or just in the lap of the beloved consort.”

In this way, and do or die, do or die that is the slogan of Gauḍīya Maṭha. Let us try our utmost, strive our utmost to achieve what is our own, what is our own real prospect, for that, and no compromise. Not any compromise on the way, in midway, but fight to the finish. We have to fight to the finish and we must be prepared for that. All of the Gauḍīya Maṭha Ācāryas were so, not any haphazard or any compromise, nothing of the type.

So he had to begin his fighting almost single handed, against the whole of the world, against all different stages of culture ever known to the world. And his only support was Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam and Mahāprabhu. On his head, with heart within and God overhead, on the head Mahāprabhu and Bhāgavatam, has stood single to fight out Their cause, Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura. And that also, not only he wanted to come fighting in Bengal, the province of Mahāprabhu, the Gaudadeśa, or not only India, but outside. To attack, he meant to attack the highest position of the present civilization, the western world. The scientific civilization, so proud they are with their present achievement. And to break down the whole structure of present false civilization structure, to demolish and to construct a divine temple, divine temple over the remnants of this mundane world, construct a temple of God. And not only this half truth, but according to Bhāgavata the fullest, in his words full-fledged theism. Not stop in the midway or halfway or be satisfied with partial progress, but wholesale dealing. And that as given by Bhāgavatam. Vai vijñāna-virāga-yuktam, what is that śloka?

avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi ca śaṁ tanoti

sattvasya śuddhiṁ paramātma-bhaktiṁ, jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāga-yuktam

[“For one who remembers the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa all inauspiciousness soon disappears, and one’s good fortune expands. In other words, one becomes free from all material contamination, one attains liberation from repeated birth and death and one’s real spiritual life begins. As one’s heart becomes gradually purified, one’s devotion for the Lord within the heart awakens, and one realizes the Paramātmā. Thus one gradually develops knowledge (jñāna), realization (vijñāna), and renunciation (vairāgya).”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.12.55]

The conception of theism something like this: avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ, continuous existence, kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ, under the holy protection of the divine feet of Kṛṣṇa, continuous, to maintain ones continuous engagement life, all sorts of movements. And thinking the guide is on my head, the holy divine feet of Kṛṣṇa, padāravindayoḥ. Avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa- padāravindayoḥ, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi ca śaṁ tanoti. By this attitude we can remove what is foreign in us in no time, very easily. The continued memory, or remembrance of Kṛṣṇa pada, Kṛṣṇa connection will, in no time it will disperse all the difficulties on the way, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi, what is meanness, what is meanness, what is not dignified.

Gauḍīya Maṭha stands for the dignity of human race. Slavery to Kṛṣṇa is a most dignified position, we have to understand. And what is against it that is meanness, abhadrāṇi. The only standard, gentle life, a gentle standard, gentleman’s life is to understand and to accept the position of subordination to the Absolute Truth. It is not mean life. What is proper, what is real, to admit that and to only on that basis to make one’s life advanced, that is not meanness. To understand one’s proper position and proper duty and to discharge that, that is gentleman’s life, what is truth: to accept that. So avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi, what is considered to be meanness that is removed very soon, abhadrāṇi. Ca śaṁ tanoti, and what is really welfare, beneficial to us, that will extend, that will increase, śaṁ tanoti.

Sattvasya śuddhiṁ, you are in some adulterated conception of your own life, adulterated, mind, this intelligence, the exploitation energies of different kinds is all adulteration. So sattvasya śuddhiṁ, your existence will eliminate all sorts of adulterated things, adulteration, sattvasya śuddhiṁ, it will be purified and come out in its pristine glory, your real self from within, sattvasya śuddhiṁ.

Paramātma-bhaktiṁ, and you’ll find you have got a happy devotional connection with the Supersoul, with the super knowledge, paramātma-bhaktiṁ. Jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāga-yuktam, and the knowledge proper, with His paraphernalia, not a hazy impersonal knowledge but knowledge proper with His parivar, with His paraphernalia, vijñāna, is a systematic existence, vijñāna-virāga-yuktam. Jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāga-yuktam. Virāga means what at present your attraction is in this mundane that will be transferred, viśiṣṭa-rāga, the rāga, the affection proper will be discovered. Now your affection and attraction and love misdirected. But they will find their proper place of affection, virāga-yuktam, they will have a real place and position where they are to act. The affection, the attraction, the viśiṣṭata, vaiśiṣṭya is a special characteristic you will find, these faculties will find there a special support, to which they will be directed, proper place they will find. This is devotion.

...

...of Śrī Gaurāṅgadeva, who is He and what He came here to give to us. All these things will be clear and easily accessible to us and acceptable to us. It will promote to our highest goal of life. Help is meant for that. It is meant for that, to get Gaurāṅga nearer to our soul, nearer to us, and to get Him nearer to our soul, that is to get guarantee of our achievement in Kṛṣṇa līlā, even unconsciously. So, for us fallen souls it is more useful to cultivate about and to know about Śrī Gaurāṅga, which will be able to give us the fulfilment of life with least trouble and in the fullest path. It will not recommend any haphazard or any misconceived Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but real Kṛṣṇa consciousness and also with least difficulty we can have full Kṛṣṇa consciousness by the help of Gaura consciousness. Śrī Gaurāṅga consciousness; and then also we will be able to feel that Gaura consciousness also includes Kṛṣṇa consciousness, plus something more. What is that? The distribution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness and the arrangement of distribution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, both combined is Gaura consciousness. Kavirāja Goswāmī has written:

kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta-sara, tāra śata śata dhara, daśa-dike vahe yāhā haite,

se caitanya-līlā haya, sarovara akṣaya, mano-haṁsa carāha’ tahate

[“There is no doubt that we find the highest nectarine taste of rasa in Kṛṣṇa līlā. But what is Gaura līlā? In Gaura līlā, the nectar of Kṛṣṇa līlā is not confined to a limited circle, but is being distributed on all sides. It is just as if from all ten sides of the nectarine lake of Kṛṣṇa līlā hundreds of streams are flowing.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 25.271]

Kavirāja Goswāmī, the giver of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the most valuable literature, theological, has ever seen the light. Kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta-sara. What is Kṛṣṇa līlā? That is the real gist of nectar, sweetness, happiness, ecstasy, kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta-sara. The sweetest of the sweet that can ever be conceived, that is represented in Kṛṣṇa līlā, sweetness in its acme. And what is Caitanya līlā? That sweet fluid of Kṛṣṇa līlā is spring and the current coming by hundred channels. Gaura līlā is such the fountain of Kṛṣṇa līlā from where towards ten directions hundreds of streams of that sweet Kṛṣṇa līlā in fluid, like river it is being spread on all sides. Sweetness of Kṛṣṇa līlā as a fluid, and from the fountain that is starting towards ten directions. Kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta-sara, tāra śata śata dhara, daśa-dike. Hundreds of such streams of sweet fluid is passing towards ten directions. That fountain is Gaura līlā. Kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta-sara, tāra śata śata dhara, daśa-dike vahe yāhā haite, se caitanya-līlā haya. You try to understand what is Caitanya līlā. It is the source. You may take it the source, the foundation, because līlā is eternal. Though it is after we see in Kali and that was in Dvāpara, the previous Kṛṣṇa līlā, but it is eternal. The giver is there then the gift is coming to us. Daśa-dike vahe yāhā haite, se caitanya-līlā haya, sarovara akṣaya. And not a fountain, it is almost a lake. A lake, ten directions, so many streams of sweet Kṛṣṇa līlā is being distributed to the world.

kṛṣṇa-līlā amṛta-sara, tāra śata śata dhara, daśa-dike vahe yāhā haite,

se caitanya-līlā haya, sarovara akṣaya, mano-haṁsa carāha’ tahate

“Oh devotees, come like so many birds. So many birds you swim in the lake. From what lake the Kṛṣṇa līlā in different streams are going to the world outside, come and live in that lake, sarovara akṣaya. Mano-haṁsa carāha’ tahate. The swan of your mind asking to take shelter in this sarovara, the haṁsa: the mind is compared with a swan. And the swan may swim in that nectarine lake of Gaura līlā from where towards ten directions so many hundreds streams of nectar is going in all ten directions.”

[bhakta-gaṇa, śuna mora dainya-vacana

tomā-sabāra pada-dhūli, aṅge vibhūṣaṇa kari’,

kichu muñi karoṅ nivedana]

[“With all humility, I submit myself to the lotus feet of all of you devotees, taking the dust from your feet as my bodily ornaments. Now, my dear devotees, please hear one thing more from me.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 25.272]

“Oh devotees my humble prayer to you all,” Kavirāja Goswāmī says, śuna mora dainya-vacana.

[ei amṛta anukṣaṇa, sādhu mahānta-megha-gaṇa, viśvodyāne kare variṣaṇa

tāte phale amṛta-phala, bhakta khāya nirantara, tāra śeṣe jīye jaga-jana]

[“The devotees who have taken shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu take the responsibility for distributing nectarean devotional service all over the world. They are like clouds pouring water on the ground that nourishes the fruit of love of Godhead in this world. The devotees eat that fruit to their hearts’ content, and whatever remnants they leave are eaten by the general populace. Thus they live happily.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 25.276]

Mahānta-megha-gaṇa. “And the devotees, the saints, like clouds they are taking that nectar from that sarovara, just as the cloud takes the water from the...

End of 82.02.23.A

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Start of 82.02.23.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...giving to the fortunate souls.

Mora sadhu manta eho van kori akasan cato dikhe kori vari san [?]

This is the conception of Kavirāja Goswāmī. There’s something more but I forget. It is there you will find, very charming, heart touching things, and giving a, such clear conception. Govinda-līlāmṛta, in Sanskrit the Govinda-līlāmṛta, that book has been written by Kavirāja Goswāmī, where the aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā, the full twenty-four hours engagement of the gopīs with Kṛṣṇa, how, it has been described there. And in Caitanya-caritāmṛta in Bengali and Sanskrit, and that is purely Sanskrit. These two books has made him immortal, and given very, very high position among the sādhus. Kasturi Mañjarī is his name in Kṛṣṇa līlā, Kavirāja Goswāmī Prabhu. And his place was that, between Katwa and, Katwa and Ekacākrā, Nityānanda Prabhu’s son Station Balarama. There you have to go two miles north from Balarama Station. There is Jamatpur [?] place of Kavirāja Goswāmī.

Once I went to visit that place, and all through my request was to ISKCON, just try to improve that place, most important, according to me. Who has given Mahāprabhu proper to us.

Prabhupāda, our Guru Mahārāja, told that sarvansa [?] Caitanya-caritāmṛta, all his, every part and parcel of it is aprākṛta, composed of the purest material, highest material. No part can be disregarded as less valuable, all of equal value, the whole thing, sarvansa brahmani [?] And in other books there are some things substantial, other things only to help that, so many stories etc, have been added. Even in Bhāgavatam so many stories which may not be necessary for us, but only to support the original thought they are devised. But Caitanya-caritāmṛta, never a letter to be found which has not got the highest value, such is impossible. Anything to be composed there necessary of elements of different type, generally, different type of elements necessary for the construction of a particular thing. But Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the wholesale: a golden temple or something more than that. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

If one can have gone through Caitanya-caritāmṛta he has got anything and everything within his fist. The Bhāgavatam, Mahābhārata, anywhere, Veda, any other, the central truth he’ll be able to attain. Nothing in the theological world will be new to him. He will get the clue of adjustment in the theological world. If one can go through Caitanya-caritāmṛta in the right way he will have the key of the theological kingdom in his hands. In a gross or in a subtle way all conceptions of theistic world have been represented there in their own position. The outlook, the adjustment is such fine and perfect there within Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

yasmin vijñāte sarvam evam vijñātam bhavati, yasmin prāpte sarvam idam prāptam bhavati

[“By knowing Him, everything is known - by getting Him, everything is gained.”]

What is the conception of the centre? Centre can represent the whole in it. The seed represents the tree. So if one can have knowledge in dissection of the seed, in the subtle form, he may get some knowledge of the tree there, it is possible. So, yasmin vijñāte sarvam evam vijñātam bhavati, yasmin prāpte sarvam idam prāptam bhavati. Apparently it seems to be impossible, ‘if one thing is known everything is known,’ a madman’s delirium. Apparently it seems like that, one thing is known everything is known. Then what is the meaning of one? One in many, how when one known everything is known? Nonsense: in this in the apparent understanding. But the Upaniṣad, the revealed truth, its central representation is such, that it is possible by knowing one, we can know many. This is the revolutionary assertion and we are to face with that in a sincere and an earnest way. How it is possible? This is such a great thing, a great truth cannot be buried underground. And we will dance that we are civilised, like a madman. When we come to have recognition from within, then we get śraddhā, faith. Faith means to come to admit this fact, that if one is known many is known, everything is known. This impossibility if we can accept within our heart, then we are theistic people, we have got śraddhā, we have got faith, we have got faith. Otherwise our religious tendency is all hypocrisy, hypocrisy.

'śraddhā' - sabde - viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya, kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya

[“Śraddhā is confident, firm faith that by rendering transcendental loving service to Kṛṣṇa one automatically performs all subsidiary activities. Such faith is favourable to the discharge of devotional service.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22.62]

If you do your duty to Kṛṣṇa, all duties are done, discharged. If you can have such quality of faith, then you have got śraddhā. You are faithful. Faith is a divine thing. It has awakened in you. So in no time you will thrive, śraddhā.

Sakala chāḍiyā bhāi, śraddhādevīra guṇa gāi. [Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has written] Throw away everything which you think to be your property and friend. Try to sing the noble characteristic of śraddhā, that is faith, faith, śraddhā. That can only deliver you the infinite within you finite. The infinite that is giving you the news, the tidings that finite can come in infinite, you can get Kṛṣṇa, you can get infinite. Only such faith is the seed, otherwise how can you approach?

Kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya. In other words, Infinite can come in finite. So that is the good news. This śraddhā can only take to you that prospect, that hope. So dismiss, disperse everything. Only foster, adore the śraddhā, the faith. And that you will, that will be able to give you everything. That will be able to satisfy you fully. All others are partial adventure, and that will take you, to guide you in a blind lane. All are blind lane, only the royal road is śraddhā in the life of every soul.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, you say that the infinite can come in finite form, what is the form that the infinite...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is not finite, but in the terms of finite you may think like that. But your feeling is satisfied by the infinite. What your preparedness in you for the, to accept, to welcome the infinite, that will all be fulfilled and more than that. All your earnestness will be fully embraced and compensated, and there you will feel still there is more and more, can’t finish. But in qualitative aspect you’ll be fortunate to meet that. Finite cannot finish its taste in infinite. But it is fulfilled with the proper qualitative aspect. The highest possible attainment of the jīva, Eka-bindu jagat ḍubāya [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 15.19] One drop is sufficient to inundate the whole creation. It is such, it has been told like that. You will be lost in this sweet ocean. We are swimming in the ocean of nectar. We may swim, we may dream, we may do anything and everything, but sweetness is there. Sweetness to our utmost capacity when all will be cured, no aspiration more than that. Whatever is endowed in us that will have its fulfilment amply, more than that, beyond its capacity, rather, the capacity will be more increased and you will be satisfied. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Mahārāja, how our consciousness can bring us to the stage śuddha Nāma, chanting without offences?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is the same thing, by the association of the sādhu, who has got that, who is living in that plane, and he’s emitting that sort of ray outside. And if I be fortunate enough to come to him, with of course the favourable attitude, then I will be able to imbibe that, and that will help the quality of my, in the process of my taking the Name. So sādhu-saṅga, and next śāstra-saṅga. That is the favourable atmosphere, can only help. Just as the proper weather can help a patient. A patient is suffering from some disease and the doctor may recommend, ‘you go to that weather and that will improve your health unconsciously, the air, the water: all these things.’ Sādhu-saṅga, sādhu-saṅga, where the vibration of higher type, real type, to take advantage of that vibration, that will help improve, to remove the filthy character of my mind and awaken the Naming, the Name taking aspect in me, to improve its condition internally. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Hari. And that is sevonmukhe hi, sevonmukhe hi, the road to the Name is Vaikuṇṭha, spiritual, and the road to go to that, that of service, not of exploitation, nor of renunciation, that of dedication. And this dedication spirit within us can be improved by the association of the sādhus.

[ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ]

sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ

[“Therefore the material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṇa’s holy name, form, qualities, and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṇa really is. In other words, the holy name of Kṛṣṇa can never be grasped by the material senses. Only by rendering devotional service, beginning with vibrating the Lord’s glories upon the tongue, can one realize Kṛṣṇa, for He will reveal Himself directly to the sincere soul.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, 1.2.234]

As much as we shall be able to improve our dedicating temperament, we’ll be nearer to the spiritual substance, spiritual existence, spiritual master, spiritual food, everything spiritual. To dive deep into the spiritual realm only to increase our capacity, our dedication, and that we can imbibe from the association of the sādhu and then śāstra.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Nitāi. Gaura Nitāi. Gaura Nitāi. Gaura Nitāi. Gaura Nitāi.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Mahārāja, in the absence of the spiritual master, how does one keep the association...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: A spiritual master is not a limited thing. We must not fix limitation in him. Spiritual master I find in a figure, or any Vaiṣṇava, but at the same time it has been told that he’s God Himself. That aspect we should not ignore. One who can know who is his well-wisher, if we know it properly what is well and who is my well-wisher; if I understand that. So the spiritual master may approach me by various lives and aspects, spiritual master.

But our Guru Mahārāja used to see in a small incident: “Oh, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura came. I could not understand him.” In many incidents he used to look like that. “Oh, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura came to me through him, but I could not take him.”

That is, always in search of his master. The bona fide disciple is always living in the association of his master. And the master also cannot be idle without giving response to the bona fide disciple. So in many ways, in many instances he may come to help us, it is also possible. So that Guru, we won’t go to Guru to confine in a visual, mind, eye experience cage. What I know about Guru? Guru is He. Or Guru is a particular servitor of Him. But still it is in that Guru is He.

“I Myself is Guru to all.”

That that instruction of Krsna may not be ignored. And also if the yogīs they can come hither and there to meet their objects, and the Vaiṣṇavas also by the will of God they can also go here and there in many ways and help. So we must have some extensive infinite idea about our Gurudeva, not a limited thing. But in different provincial interest, in different aspects, he may come to help to me. If I’m sincere my guardian’s eye is always vigilant over my head. He cannot forget me, his child, if I have got real interest in him. He, on the other hand, must have corresponding interest in me, cannot but be. So after all, na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ.

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate

na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati]

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

If you are pure, the nature won’t commit any mistake, environment is not going to commit any mistake, or be jealous to your progress. His watching eye over you all! Mind your own lesson. Oil your own machine. And He’s there, He’s there. A true disciple’s mind is always living in relativity of his Gurudeva.

So we found here and there in many places, “Oh, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, I could not. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Bhaktivinoda.” Always constant connection of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he lived. One disciple came, Bhāgavatānanda, from Purī. Only a year or two perhaps he lived and he passed away. Prabhupāda began to cry. He wrote one article in Gauḍīya ___________ [?] Bhāgavatānanda, a Maṭha was established in his birthplace, Bhāgavatānanda Maṭha in Midnapore. And Prabhupāda, “Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura came. I could not understand.” Profusely he was shedding tears.

As I told some several times that there was one Barrister, Mr. Norton, in Calcutta High Court. Aurobindo absconded and he wrote under disguise some article. And Norton finding his writings said, “Oh, here is Mister Gosh!” He went to trace, “Where is Aurobindo? This article it cannot be but that of Mr. Gosh. So enquire, enquire the office of this magazine, where he has got this article. So there you will find the clue where Mr. Gosh is living.” _________________________________ [?]

Bhāratī Mahārāja: So the vapu and vāṇī is unlimited and living.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, the vapu should be eliminated. Vāṇī may also be vapu only form of word. It was published in Gauḍīya but I had some objection to that. The vāṇī means the sound vapu. Vapu means this practical life, they took it. And vāṇī, it is said that, “What I say you take it, but what I do don’t take it.” It is something like that. Vapu and vāṇī, they meant like that. “What he does, don’t go to imitate. But what he says, his advice, they accept that.” What is that śloka in Bhāgavatam?

īśvarāṇāṁ vachaḥ satyaṁ, tathaivacharitaṁ kvachit

teṣāṁ yat svavacho yuktaṁ, buddhimāṁs tat samācharet

[“The instructions of the great personages are always true, but their conduct and their practices may not always be useful to the beginners. So the sober person will accept those practices that are backed by his words, understanding that in his higher stage he may do something which may not be useful to those of a lower stage. He has such spiritual power that what may be seen as a defect in the beginner, cannot harm him in any way. Therefore the fair minded beginners will accept those practices which are in consonance with his instructions, as being useful to their progress.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.33.31]

Those that are great, their advices are always reliable, vachaḥ satyaṁ. Tathaivacharitaṁ kvachit, but their practices are not always to be accepted, acharitaṁ kvachit. Teṣāṁ yat svavacho yuktaṁ, which is, the practices which is combined, supported by his advice: that should be acceptable to the intelligent section, because he’s paramahaṁsa. But for particular reason, he’s old, so suppose in Ekādaśī day he takes something. So the, another man, “Oh, when he takes something, then we must take. If we are able to fast completely, why do we do? He’s taking?” So, he’s not feeling well.

Just as Mahāprabhu told to Haridāsa, “You are now old, you decrease your saṁskāra, saṁskāra alpakāra [?]”

Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, “I cannot fulfil my nedistha saṁskāra [?] What I have fixed that every day I shall take tri lākha Nāma, three lākha of Names. I can’t fulfil.”

“Oh! Why three lākhs? Now you are old, you minimize your standard.”

So according to one’s own necessity, a man of higher position, his practices, daily practices, may be a little slackened. But that should not be taken into account by an ordinary disciple. His instructions: always take, and practices, only those that are combined with instruction, that he will take. So, what I told, from what point?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Vāṇī vapu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vāṇī vapu. So vāṇī means advice. But vāṇī tattva, one may say something in the meeting, but he may not be so. Then he will accept his vāṇī and not vapu, not practice but his words, the upadeśa. But there we may find many who in the meeting will say something, but he’s not sticking to that sincerely. Then what to do? Vāṇī is also not acceptable always, vāṇī, vapu. So vāṇī is also vapu. If we want to analyse more finely, then we’ll find that vāṇī also vapu. Externally vāṇī is delivered in some way, but internally he may think some other. Generally hypocrites do that. They say something and they do another thing. Not only, even in sincerity they are lacking, vāṇī, vapu. It is very difficult to understand the inner man. By bombastic expressions and lectures one cannot be great. Inner personality to understand it is difficult. The inner man, not the imitation can be in practice as well as can be in words and expressions, in lectures also, imitation maybe. But the man within that is different. So we must be very alert. Only sweet words won’t do, sweet words. The sweetness of the sound: that is not kīrtana. One who can chant Kṛṣṇa Nāma, very sweetly, very touching, satisfying the ear, there are so many in this Orriya they can chant very sweetly the kīrtana, but that sound, sweetness of the sound that is not Kṛṣṇa Himself, it’s something else.

This Rāmadāsa Bābājī, he used to take the name Kṛṣṇa and tears running from, and through the nose also liquid things are coming. And at the two sides two men with some pieces of cloth always removing them. And he’s shivering like anything for Nitāi Gaura Rādhā Śyāma Nitāi Rādhā Gaura Śyāma. That false thing is madly chanted, and so many of the audience are charmed how he’s taking the name, he’s shivering, he’s shedding tears, and so many things, lost his senses of the outside world all these things. But, ___________________________________________________________________________ [?]

What of sound? This vapu and this vāṇī, the vāṇī is coming and the vapu is shivering, but still, that is dismissed as offences against the Vaikuṇṭha Nāma, because other conducts and also the false knowledge, false conception of the tattva, ontology, the Nitāi is Rādhā. If Nitāi is Rādhā we are to cancel out Sanātana Goswāmī and this Narottama Ṭhākura, and so many others, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and so many others. And he’s dancing and chanting and weeping and showing so many feats.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Mahārāja, it seems like a symptom of Kali-yuga that everyone limits, even in other societies besides Gauḍīya Maṭha, everyone limits their Guru to vapu and vāṇī.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Everyone has a limited conception of Guru.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, yo yac chraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ.

[sattvānurūpā sarvasya, śraddhā bhavati bhārata

śraddhāmayo 'yaṁ puruṣo, yo yac chraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ]

[“O Bhārata, all men have a particular type of faith according to their individual mentalities. The very nature of the living being is based on faith - their internal and external nature is modelled according to their faith. Therefore, their nature may be discerned according to the manner of worship or reverence in which they have faith.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 17.3]

The object of worship is not in dearth. Dearth of object of worship, and no dearth of Guru in the world, a guṇḍā has also his Guru. What is Guru? Yo yac chraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ, Bhagavad-gītā, worshippers of many gods there are. There śraddhā, but the very śraddhā to be analysed and seen what type of śraddhā, and that type of Guru and that type of devata is everywhere. So sattvasya śuddhiṁ paramātma-bhaktiṁ.

[avismṛtiḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ, kṣiṇoty abhadrāṇi ca śaṁ tanoti

sattvasya śuddhiṁ paramātma-bhaktiṁ, jñānaṁ ca vijñāna-virāgya-yuktam]

[“For one who remembers the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, all inauspiciousness soon disappears, and one’s good fortune expands. In other words, one becomes free from all material contamination, one attains liberation from repeated birth and death, and one’s real spiritual life begins. As one’s heart becomes gradually purified, one’s devotion for the Lord within the heart awakens, and one realises the Paramātmā. Thus one gradually develops knowledge (jñāna), realisation (vijñāna), and renunciation (vairāgya).”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 12.12.55]

These - adulteration. What we are, what are our real necessity? That is to be found. If I am this body or I am this subtle mind? Or I am only the soul, a part of Brahmaloka? So many different stages of thinking, by the elimination!

keśava tuwā jagata bicitra [karama-vipāke

bhava-bana bhrama-i, pekhaluṅ raṅga bahu citra]

tuwā pada-bismṛti, ā-mara jantraṇā, kleśa-dahane

dohi' jāi kapila, patañjali, gautama, kaṇabhojī,

jaimini, bauddha āowe dhāi'

tab koi nija-mate, bhukti, mukti jācato,

pāta-i nānā-bidha fānd so-sabu--bañcaka,

tuwā bhakti bahir-mukha, ghaṭāowe biṣama paramād

baimukha-bañcane, bhaṭa so-sabu,

niramilo vividha pasār daṇḍabat dūrato,

bhakativinoda bhelo, bhakata-caraṇa kori' sār.

[“Oh Lord! Your creation is a very wonderful type, different and variegated. My real pain however, is from out of separation from You. And here I am seeing a diverse character of different types, different sectarian views. But the real purpose of all these things is only our separation from You. If we are to diagnose properly, only our separate existence from You - separate consciousness - is the root of all this faithfulness. I am suffering from Your separation, but so many doctors of different types have come. They are running to me to cure me; Kapila - Śaṅkara, Patañjali - Yoga, Gautama, Kaṇada - everything produced from atoms - Kaṇada. Bauddha - that is, the dissolution of the mental system ends everything. Jaiminī, although good activity is transient, still, what to do? “Go on doing good activity and try to live happily; there is no other end to life.” They come apparently to represent You, but, when they give delivery to things, we find that either they advocate enjoyment or salvation; exploitation or salvation, that is in their fund and nothing else! In whatever dress they may couch, but ultimately if it is analysed we find either salvation, pleasure, or this total dissolution into indecipherable something? But, to take us to that goal, only these two goals, they create various kinds of charming traps to catch us. But, ultimately, they lead us to these two and nothing else. Either the higher planes of life in the subtle world (for the time being) or complete annihilation, effacement. Why are they here? It is the view from the Universal standpoint; they have come to segregate those that are not sincere. Those that are sincere will not be affected by such canvassing. They come for only those half-hearted persons and take them away from this camp. Then, the devotees may go on in their own way peacefully. They won’t be able to come to disturb them. They are in their own path. That is the underlying purpose of You. They have created multifarious very charming things for their canvassing. But anyhow, I might have been saved. I understand that definitely only the feet dust of Your devotees is everything for me - nothing else! I want only the holy feet dust of Your devotee. No other ambition I have got! And I have got this sort of yearning by Your Grace. So, Bhaktivinoda discarded them.”]

By the help of Guru and our śraddhā we are to eliminate so many tempting offerings will come to us from different directions. “It is the truth.” “It is the truth.” In this way with their own ________ [?] that is selling pot they will come. “Oh, you want this? This is a very good thing.” And many canvassers will come and represent their things, dolls. So we have to eliminate through śraddhā. Sukṛti and śraddhā will help us to eliminate all the outer demands of the outer coating of our existence. And the inner soul he will be able to recognize, ‘this is what I want.’ In this way the elimination will go. And one who can understand that thing, and what is gold and what is only glittering things that are not gold, in this way to understand. And that is the beginning, in the very beginning of Gauḍīya Maṭha. Tanma tamna tanma. “This is not, this is not, this is not.” Neti neti. “It is not, it is not, it is not.” In this way, but in this way there is infinite possibility. So through śraddhā, nirguṇa, sakala chāḍiyā bhāi, śraddhādevīra, the faith, faith in Kṛṣṇa. Faith in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is elimination mostly of bhukti, mukti, and viddhi bhakti, all sorts of exploiting tendency and all sorts of renunciation tendency, avoiding tendency. And then also this service under restriction, rāga bhakti, that is natural, that is sincere, non artificial. We have appreciation for that. Mahāprabhu came to give that and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam has recommended that. We are to understand our thing. What is our need? What you say that may be fallible at every strata, so formal knowledge is no knowledge.

That is, in Bhāgavatam, Nārada Goswāmī’s upadeśa. Gaura Haribol. Naur ivāspadam. Vātāhata-naur ivāspadam. The wind hunted boat, sometimes driven this side, that side, that side. Vātāhata-naur ivāspadam. Uncertain position, uncertain position, wherever the wind blows the boat is running, carried by that. Any charm from any direction coming and swallowing me: that is nothing.

[tato ’nyathā kiñcana yad vivakṣataḥ, pṛthag dṛśas tat-kṛta-rūpa-nāmabhiḥ

na karhicit kvāpi ca duḥsthitā matir, labheta vātāhata-naur ivāspadam]

[“Whatever you desire to describe that is separate in vision from the Lord simply reacts, with different forms, names and results, to agitate the mind, as the wind agitates a boat which has no resting place.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.5.14]

Astira siddhante ahino madiya hari bhakti lailate [?] Must have our standpoint fixed. Unmovable standpoint we must have and that is the real wealth. We shall be able to know what is what. Anyone will come and catch me by the ear will drag me to a particular direction. And I am showing so many feats of devotional practices, that’s nothing. We must stand on the ground, have our stand and we will be able to know what is what. There are mainly of exploiters, different types of exploitation, and then that of renunciation, and then of viddhi bhakti. These are the nikhila-bhuvana-māyā...

End of 82.02.23.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.23.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja:

[nikhila-bhuvana-māyā-chinna-vichinna-kartrī, vibudha-bahula-mṛgyā-mukti-]mohānta-dātrī

śithilita-vidhi-rāgārādhya-rādheśa-dhānī, vilasatu hṛdi nityaṁ bhaktisiddhānta-vāṇī

[“Slashing and smashing the illusion of the whole mundane plane, Dealing the deathblow to the scholars’ manic search for liberation’s throne; Relaxing calculation, for the realm of Pure Devotion in Love of Śrī Rādhā’s Lord Supreme: O Abode of Divine Love, Divine Message of Śrī-Bhakti-Siddhānta, May you dance and play and sing your song within my heart forever.”]

[Composed by Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja]

Bhaktisiddhānta-vāṇī has a particular position. What is it, that?

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that: keśava tuwā jagata bicitra. “So many Ācāryas with their own offerings they are coming to canvass us and to make their disciple. The Kapila, Patañjali, Bauddha, Jaiminī, so many. I won’t be fed their prey. Otherwise no man’s land, everyone will come to capture me. Anyone will come to entice me. I must not have such position, a chaste position we must have, that is valuable.”

So many paṇḍits gave their signature to that Krimikanta, King of Keral [?] “Yes, Śiva is the highest conception of divinity.”

His minister said, “Oh, so many signs you see, it is all established fully.”

“No, no. The signatures that is given here we see, no position. If you can collect signature of Rāmānuja then of course it is, we can accept.”

So, knowledge, the absolute characteristic, if knowledge is possible we are to admit that. Chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.2.21 & 11.20.30] A knowledge of that quality is possible. Bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś, chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ. Absolute knowledge is possible, to have that. We must understand first that. It is possible to come in touch with absolute knowledge, chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ, such knowledge is there which can eliminate all other existing sorts of opinions to be wrong.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Mahārāja, what is the meaning of chastity for the proper disciple?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Chastity, that is faithful to the cause, faithfulness to the cause for which he has come. Ha, ha, ha, is a relative term. So, chastity, unchangeable adherence to Kṛṣṇa consciousness: that is chastity in the absolute sense. There may be relative chastity. Sincerely he’s finding interest in a particular plane. Not sincerity is complete there. It is only sincerity complete when one comes to accept Kṛṣṇa consciousness of Godhead. Others all relative and no knowledge is chaste than Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And in Kṛṣṇa consciousness also one may not think that by beginning, by getting the touch of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he has acquired the whole thing. So according to his getting pure conception of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the hazy consciousness, the pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness that is degree, and by his awakening he’ll become more chaste and chaste, in this way. Chastity means our adherence to the truth. The truth, we have come to realize, that truth is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not a limited thing that only when one has got in his hand but he has swallowed that. It is also of infinite character. And there is gradation, and there is the room of progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So one true to his own sincere progress he’s chaste, we shall have to say so, not to the figure. Vyāso vetti na vetti vā.

[aham vedmi śuko vetti, vyāso vetti na vetti vā

bhaktyā bhāgavataṁ grāhyaṁ na buddhyā na ca ṭīkayā]

[Lord Śiva says: “I know the true purpose of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; Śukadeva, the son and disciple of Vyāsadeva, knows it thoroughly, and the author of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Vyāsadeva may or may not know the meaning. The real purpose of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is very difficult to conceive and can only be known through bhakti.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 24.313]

Such strong expression is also there, vyāso vetti na vetti vā. All right reserved, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is unlimited. Still there is possibility of conceiving its purity and adulterated form and the Ācāryas, they have given it to us. He has come, in classification we find.

vande gurūn īśa-bhaktān, īśam īśāvatārakān

tat-prakāśāṁś ca tac-chaktīḥ, kṛṣṇa-caitanya-saṁjñakam

[“I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, who appears in six features as: the instructing and initiating Gurus; the Lord’s devotees beginning with Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura; His Avatāras such as Advaita Ācārya; His prakāśa, or full expansion (Nityanānda Prabhu); and His śakti, or divine energy (Gadādhara Paṇḍita).”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.1]

And,

vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca

[śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam

sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ

śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca]

[Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī]

First rank that we come in direct contact with, first this rank. Vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta- pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca. Then śāstra Guru, the authentic śāstra given by whom: and with the help of that, this first section of Guru comes to help us. Śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha- gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam. Who has given in a permanent shape what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not direct but through our Guru their experienced things are given to us, extended to us. Then, sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ. Who originally came to distribute Himself, the thing. What is that? That has been given by Rūpa Goswāmī, the śāstra, śāstra maker. So the original giver section that. And what they gave? Śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa- pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca. By four stages it has been introduced to us.

What our Guru Mahārāja told, everything may not be understood and accepted in the beginner’s stage. But afterwards we are to realize, ‘Oh, what he told, this is its meaning.’

Just as when I was in Madras I found in a Vyāsa Pūjā address, Professor Sanyal told that, “I don’t want Kṛṣṇa. But because you say that I have necessity with Kṛṣṇa so I worship Him. I take His Name.”

I could not understand. “What is this? We have come out for Kṛṣṇa and who can give Kṛṣṇa, in search of that we have come to Guru.” That was my understanding. I came out for Kṛṣṇa and Mahāprabhu. Then who can give me the real conception of Kṛṣṇa, Gaurāṅga, I have come to search out for him and then I find Guru.

And he says, “Because you say I have got necessity with Kṛṣṇa, so I want to connect with Kṛṣṇa, otherwise not.”

I did not understand. But in Rādhā-Kuṇḍa once when the Bharatpur State Dewan, with his family came to circumambulate Rādhā-Kuṇḍa, respectfully, by lying and measuring in this way.

Then Paramānanda Prabhu, a favourite disciple of Prabhupāda, he came and informed Prabhupāda. “Prabhu, those, they also, the Dewan and family, they also have great respect for Rādhā-Kuṇḍa.”

Prabhupāda answered, “Their devotion for Rādhārāṇī and ours are of different type. They have got reverence, devotion for Rādhārāṇī because they have got direct reverence, devotion for Kṛṣṇa. And because Rādhārāṇī is favourite to Kṛṣṇa they also revere Śrī Rādhā. But our case is different. Our concern is with Rādhārāṇī. And because Rādhārāṇī reveres, wants Kṛṣṇa, so we also want Kṛṣṇa.”

Then that was clear in me after three-four years. So whenever we come approximately thinking that this is truth, we cannot receive or understand the whole of it. If we’re in the line, gradually it will come to our realization. Many things still we find in śāstra that after in the process of realization such things will come. In bhāva bhakti, _________________________________________ [?] All these things, and prema bhakti there according to their realization there is written the different stages how it develops. Those are not within us. But that is given and gradually we are to understand, in this way. In the beginning, a beginner in a college getting admission they may not expect to know anything and everything.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. A systematic knowledge, knowledge properly adjusted, otherwise there are many amongst our group, they heard Prabhupāda’s advices, words, but partly. One day some Aranya Mahārāja told, he was a senior man, he told: I forget. Somewhat mainly, that Prabhupāda told on this thing, supposes, who... Anyhow some provincial remark he wanted to utilize in a universal way. But I gave some objection. ‘Mahārāja, Prabhupāda told this, it is all right. But this is not the whole thing. He told this also. So we are to harmonize. We cannot ignore the other thing, other part of his advice. So we shall have to come in adjustment in a systematic understanding of the words. So only partial aspect is laid stress in a, sometimes in a particular point, and who has attentively caught that he takes that and nothing else behind, nothing beyond that. So, a systematic knowledge of the whole must be understood.’

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. In a progressive life, what, the step when one wants to get up, another’s business only to take the leg from that and to put in another step. So the kaniṣṭha adhikārī which is the object of his attainment, a madhyama adhikārī he’s perhaps withdrawing from that and trying to climb on the upper, in this way. Under the guidance of Guru so many different sections of śiṣyas, all may not be equal of realisation. One can understand some, another can understand something more, another more, in this way there may be gradation. But even the senior disciple may fall back, and the junior may go up. It is also possible. We have seen and you can also see now. So many oldest gone away and newcomers are showing greater energy. You can find among yourselves; we have also found it. No stereo type rules. It is a living thing and...

As I told you another gentleman made the remark that Darwin theory, survival of the fittest, natural selection, survival of the fittest. Not in the Darwin line of thinking. Came back, went forward. We have seen and we are to see that. It is a living thing, not a stereo type. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

He’s there. He has not finished Himself. In His own śāstra He says “What I have written this you do. Even crossing that who may come to Me, he’s My higher servitor.”

So He’s living, still, and He’s above all. The transaction, ready made money, the trading by loan and trade with ready money. Trade with ready money, purchasing with ready money and purchasing in loan. He’s there, He is master, He’s autocrat. His dealings should not be limited, even in scripture. He says, “Even crossing scripture I exist.”

ājñajaiva guṇān doṣān, mayādiṣṭān api svakān

[dharmmān saṁtyajya yaḥ sarvvān, myāṁ bhajet sa ca sattamaḥ]

[“In the scriptures of religion, I, the Supreme Lord, have instructed men of all statuses of life in their duties. Duly comprehending the purificatory virtue of executing those prescribed duties as well as the vice of neglecting them, one who abandons all allegiance to such dutifulness in order to engage in My devotional service is the best of honest men (sādhu).”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.11.32]

“Though they are given by Me, those directions. So directions for different classes, so sometimes it will be necessary to show My devotion even crossing My own laws. And they are higher devotee.”

So many things are there. The main thing is faithfulness, to die for the cause. Die to live.

______________________________________ [?] Simplicity means to be independent of prejudices, ancient prejudices, that is to be simple. To be empty, to be un-possessed of the mal-possession, to be clear, to be free of foreign possession: that is simplicity. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Formal, formal and substantial, the two things, that is the main trouble towards progress.

[śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ, para-dharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt]

sva dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ, para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ

[“It is better to carry out one’s own duties a little imperfectly rather than faultlessly perform another’s duties. Know that even death is auspicious in the discharge of one’s duties appropriate to his natural position in the ordained socio-religious system, because to pursue another’s path is perilous.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.35]

The progress means to deal with these two difficulties. To stick to one’s former position and then to make progress, advance. If advancement is not sure it is judicious to take the former position. If there is any doubt of any progress one should stick to the former position. But, that it is no progress. Progress means to leave the former position and go away. And only who is hopeful of his bright future he should leave his former and go and advance. And those who are of doubtful mentality, suspicious mentality, it is better for them to stick to the former position: that already consolidated foundation, to take stand there.

During the time of Guru Mahārāja there were so many who did not take sannyāsa, but later on they found to go more speedily towards the goal, taking sannyāsa. To take sannyāsa means to take risk. To take risk means for further progress, he’s taking risk, his preparedness for further progress, taking risk. So should he hold that same position in the time of Guru Mahārāja where he was? Should he stick to that position, or his desirable line he will try to make progress? And if he makes progress he will see so many things new and so many things to be rejected. According to his own progress he cannot but see some things to be kept back and some things in the front to invite, to go near. So progress means this. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

What is good what is bad; what is Kṛṣṇa, what is non Kṛṣṇa. Some sort of approximate knowledge we should have and that will be realized more and more. ‘Oh, I could not detect this but now I feel that with Kṛṣṇa conception this is also a valuable point.’ In this way the realization will advance. Life is progressive. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. But without being sure of his progress one should not leave his former position. Sva dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ, para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ. What I do not find to my own, I must not take risk for that. But when I shall find, though it is a little far, but this is my own, I must jump there. ‘That this is my own, my inner hankering is searching only for that thing. Oh, it is on the jurisdiction of my look. I must jump and take.’ It depends on our sincerity and our proper understanding.

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate]

na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

Sometimes one may fall down, but he will be able to understand.

jāto-śraddho mat kathāsu, [nirviṇṇaḥ sarvva-karmmasu

veda-duḥkhātmakān kāmān, parityāge 'py anīśvaraḥ]

[“He who has imbibed heart’s faith in the tidings of My Name, nature and pastimes; who has become indifferent to all kinds of fruitive work and its rewards; who has learned that all forms of enjoyment of sensual passions ultimately transform into misery, yet he is unable to fully abandon such passions - such a faithful devotee, being determined that his shortcomings will be dispelled by the potency of devotion, gradually comes to abhor those evil passions that enslave him, knowing the havoc they wreak - and he serves Me with love: When his object is pure and sincere, I give him My mercy.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.20.27]

That these are not desirable but they are hunting me and for the time being capturing me. But after little they vanish, then that man thinks ‘Oh, what suddenly came and overpowered me? So my interest is hampered. Again I may not be attacked by them. I must be very alert.’ In this way, sometimes the lower propensities also may get the better hand, go down, and sometimes one may go up. But we are always in the midst of battle. We are a soldier always fighting for progress.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Any one of you think that indifference to the present committee which was founded by Swāmī Mahārāja, to differ from that committee, whether it will be helpful or not, if any doubt it will be better to stick to the resolution of the committee. But if one can see clearly that what the committee wants to get from us that is not the real desire of our Guru Mahārāja, what he wanted to show, it is not keeping up to that standard: and at the same time if you find what I say that is nearer to the ideal for which Guru Mahārāja came to preach, then only there will be justification for you to come to this side ignoring the committee decision. That will be their justification. If anyone can’t see that difference they should not take such bold step, it should not be considered for them.

Devotee: __________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is the time, nine o’clock?

Devotees: Five after ten.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ten?

Devotee: Five past.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Five after ten? All right! Nitāi Gaura Haribol. What was your question?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Chastity, first chastity then vapu vāṇī.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: What is the chastity of the true disciple?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then, do you find that it is replied in any way? Or it is more obscure?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: It is living.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: When it comes from you it is living.

Parvat Maharaja: Fresh water, new water.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What you all say?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Easily applicable.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Very clear, but we have to come to the standard.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes to appreciate, come to have a touch of the soil proper, then it will be able to feel and discriminate. We have to take our stand in a proper plane, then only viewing outside we can see what is whose position, where from. Sambhanda jñāna, Sanātana Goswāmī has given it in Bṛhat-Bhāgavatāmṛta. We are closely to follow that then we shall have got a proper; that means proper adjustment. Taking our stand in a particular position if we look out around, by casting a glance, cursory view, we’ll be able to say, “Oh, this is there, this is here, this is there, this is lower, this is upper, all these things.”

We must have sambhanda jñāna in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. What is Kṛṣṇa, what is Nārāyaṇa, what is Baladeva, what is the potency group, all these things we must have some sort of conception, who is where. We cast glance and say his position. Just as in the army, army, the general perhaps from the up, aeroplane, he will have a look, “Oh, here they are posted they are all right.” The general taking his glance, who is where, everyone in his own position is all right. So the absolute standpoint given by Bhāgavatam, Vedavyāsa in his last revealed truth, book, scripture, He has given, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.3.28], anādir ādir govindaḥ [Brahma-saṁhitā, 5.1]. Taking our stand there we are to get, we’ll have a view of the environment and have our decision who is where, what is what.

So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, keśava tuwā jagata bicitra, a market, variegated things are displayed, shown here, keśava tuwā jagata. So many mercantiles are around us, they’re just placed around us for show, keśava tuwā jagata bicitra.

Then, tuwā pada-bismṛti, ā-mara jantraṇā, kleśa-dahane, dohi' jāi. Your separation, separateness from You, from Your conception, has put me to such trouble that I am always being burned by different types of painfulness. Kapila, Patañjali, Gautama, Kaṇabhojī, Jaimini, Bauddha, āowe dhāi'. They do not know what is the real trouble within. I am burning for Your separation, they do not know that. They are producing different types of medicine very eagerly. “Oh take this, take this, take this.” So many doctors are coming eagerly to give relief, to remove my pain. But my pain is separation from You. They do not know.

Tab koi nija-mate, bhukti, mukti jācato, pāta-i nānā-bidha fānd. They mostly take Name of You. “Yes, I have come to give you relief.” The painfulness you are feeling they say that, “Yes, I know what type of pain you are suffering from. So that pain must be banished if you accept this, taba koi.” In Your Name they come. That to remove my pain, what, for Your separation, they do not know, but still the painfulness I shall be able to remove, in this way they come, approach. Tab koi nija-mate, bhukti, mukti jācato. And ultimately we find either they are of the exploitationist group or the renunciationist group. In this they must be put into these two groups, bhukti or mukti. Jaiminī etc, they come to offer some higher level of exploitation. And the renunciationist they come for liberation. They cannot surpass the jurisdiction of these two, on the whole. Bhukti, mukti jācato, pāta-i nānā-bidha fānd. But their method of approaching is of a different and capturing type, nānā-bidha fānd, entrap. They want to entrap us in a variegated charming way, pāta-i nānā-bidha fānd. So-sabu--bañcaka, tuwā bhakti bahir-mukha, ghaṭāowe, but all of them at least they are common in one place, they’re all against Your devotion. They have got no real recognition for You. It is sure, I have found, tuwā bhakti bahir-mukha, ghaṭāowe biṣama. So they are – “God, save me from my friends,” they come to give me relief, but actually they aggravate the disease, ghaṭāowe biṣama paramād.

Baimukha-bañcane, bhaṭa so-sabu. Now Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is coming with his own conclusion. “Then why You are giving indulgence all those professors to misguide the people? Baimukha-bañcane, bhaṭa so-sabu. It is for testing. It is for segregation. To help the real thinking man, You want the half-deep, lip-deep devotees to take away. Your plan is like that. You send them to test who is bona fide in his quest about You. And who are superficial they are taken away by them. And leaving them to go on with, smoothly, without any disturbance of the seeming friends they can work, go on smoothly. That is Your object. Baimukha-bañcane, bhaṭa so-sabu, niramilo vividha pasār.

So I, Your servant of the servant, Bhaktivinoda, his finding is this. Niramilo vividha pasār daṇḍabat dūrato, bhakativinoda bhelo, bhakata-caraṇa kori' sār. I have got by Your grace a glimpse of right knowledge to understand who is who. So I honourably give some respect to them, and be off. Yes, I am all right, now you please let me off. And I want the feet-dust of Your devotees. The pure holy feet dust of Your devotees, that is the only medicine to do away with my trouble. The pain, the pangs of separation: that is my real disease.

And the feet-dust, vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekam [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 5.12.12]

And, niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.5.32]

The dust, holy dust of Your devotees, that is the only medicine to remove my pain. I have found it my Lord by Your grace. Giving some honour to all those doctors, to bid adieu to them.”

So this eliminative capacity when we,

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ, jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

[ānukūlyena-kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā]

[“One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favourably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, 1.1.11] & [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.21.11, purport]

& [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19-167]

And this also, amongst the devotees also, all that came to Swāmī Mahārāja, or our Guru Mahārāja, they are not of equal. Many of them have gone away, and many are very weak, labouring below. And many are shining, trying to go up, we see. And many they are busy...

End of 82.02.23.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.23.D_82.02.24.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...want to exploit Swāmī Mahārāja, his good name, his credit, his good will. They know themselves what is their position by measuring by real standard within, but there are many who cannot control the temptation of exploiting him, “Guru bhogi.” There is a term, “Kṛṣṇa bhogi,” wants to exploit Kṛṣṇa, wants to exploit Guru, his name, and to make field for his own personal exploitations, that is also possible. So a real student, a bona fide student is to be alert from all sides that the non Kṛṣṇa may come in different dress and I must try to save me. And if we are sincere none can disturb us.

Vibhiṣana, he says, “We must not rely māyā.” The Hanumān was keeping the Rāma-Lakṣmaṇa within room of his tail and Vibhiṣana is warning, “Hanumān, very careful that Mahi-Rāvaṇa will entice you, entice Rāma-Lakṣmaṇa and in different dress he will come.” Then at last he came in the garb of Vibhiṣana himself and took Them away.

So the possibility of the approaching of māyā is very spacious, comprehensive. So we have to be careful to maintain the valuable tendency and outlook for our inner awakening what we have got, taste. We’ll be very careful to maintain that and if possible to make progress on the line. That is our interest. So, ‘God save me from enemies,’ that is also a general thing, ‘God save me from my friends,’ that is also there. And I am also included within that. You must be alert of that. I may be also as a friend I may go to deceive you. You will be so much careful. At your own risk you pray for the, appeal to the caitya Guru for giving right direction, what is what. What is what, what is to be accepted, crucial point.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. I don’t want to take the responsibility. Mahāprabhu and Kṛṣṇa has also not taken the responsibility. You are free.

[iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ, guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā]

vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa, yathecchasi tathā kuru

[“I have now disclosed more and more hidden treasures to you. Remember all this, and then do as you wish.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.63]

One who can compel everything to come to His own line: He also says, “You are free. What I had to say I have said. Now you, Arjuna, decide what you are to do. Vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa, exhaustively to the fullest capacity of yourself, you discriminate and decide, what step you are going to accept.”

What else, anything?

Mādhva Prabhu: Mahārāja, yesterday they asked me if I accepted the GBC as absolute. I say because I accept them as relative, because they see themselves as absolute. Then they asked, ‘Do you accept Śrīdhara Mahārāja as absolute?’ I say, ‘Yes, I accept him as absolute because he sees himself as relative.’

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh, what does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He said yesterday he was asked, “Do you accept the GBC as absolute.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who?

Devotees: Mādhva Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mādhva Prabhu.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He said, “No, I see the GBC as relative because they think themselves to be absolute. But I see Śrīdhara Mahārāja as absolute because he presents himself as relative.”

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Paid in their own coin. Yes I am conscious of both absolute and relative, I am relative also. Everyone holds the relative position, because further more to realize there. So he’s a research scholar.

Parvat Mahārāja: Presented very scientifically.

Devotee: ______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So, I retire today.

Parvat Mahārāja: Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Today is the day of departure of one Rasikānanda Mahārāja, disciple of Śyāmānanda Prabhu. Rasikānanda Prabhu, and Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja. At the same time the day of departure of our colleague Mādhava Mahārāja. Rasikānanda Mahārāja he was in Midnapore side, he was the disciple of Śyāmānanda Prabhu.

Śyāmānanda Prabhu’s history is this; that he first got initiation in the sākhya rasa from Hṛdaya Caitanya Goswāmī near Kalna. Anyhow he went to see Vṛndāvana. He came from a non brāhmaṇa family, generally cultivator section. Went to Vṛndāvana and one day in the early morning he was out on visiting different holy places. From Nandagram he’s going eastward toward Kalivana. Suddenly found on the way an ornament called nupur, the foot ornament of the ladies, he suddenly found.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Bangle.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bangle, nupur, in Sanskrit. Just over the foot, in this way, nupur. Then he took it on his bag and being very much surcharged with love divine, he’s going. Suddenly when looking back side he found that a girl of exquisite beauty she’s searching for something there where he got it. Then he came back, asked the girl “What you are searching for?”

“An ornament missed here. One nupur of Rādhārāṇī missed somewhere here. I’m searching for that.”

“Oh, I have got it.” He handed over.

And the girl put that nupur on his forehead and vanished.

Then he was besides himself, “What’s the matter? I am fortunate enough that I have got, I have had darśana of the divine damsels of Vraja.”

Then he had been thinking in this way, already he had some sākhya rasa training. His Guru gave him mantram such. He’s thinking I have got that sort of duty. He’s thinking in that way and taking Name. But from this incident a change came in his mind and his tendency began to grow in favour of mādhurya rasa. “How beautiful, charming figure they are, what is their duty, at night they attend rasa ceremony.” In this way, thinking thus there was a great change in his mind.

And he connected Jīva Goswāmī, “That such is the condition. My Gurudeva, he’s in that rasa, but I am finding deep tendency, irresistible, towards the service of mādhurya rasa. What to do?”

Jīva Goswāmī examined him, and being satisfied gave him dīkṣā in mādhurya rasa.

Then this was broadcast gradually amongst the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, not only in Vṛndāvana but in Śrī Gaura Maṇḍala also, “That such has happened in this case.”

His Guru, Hṛdaya Caitanya, he felt disturbed. “What is this? Jīva Goswāmī, the standard Vaiṣṇava, followers of Rūpa, Sanātana, he did such thing. That is against courtesy. Śyāmānanda was my disciple.”

Anyhow he managed to call for a Vaiṣṇava assembly in Vṛndāvana. And there from that assembly he called for both Jīva Goswāmī and Śyāmānanda to give explanation for that un courteous activity.

Jīva Goswāmī did not attend but he sent Śyāmānanda, “Go attend the meeting, answer their call.”

Śyāmānanda went. From the meeting, from the committee, the assembly called explanation; “What’s the matter? You took initiation from Hṛdaya Caitanya Prabhu?”

“Yes, I did.”

“What was your tilak?”

“At that time it was such and such.”

“Now you have changed your tilak into that nupura.”

“Yes, it is changed.”

“Why and how?”

He related the story. No, he wanted, his Guru desired that present tilak will be effaced.

“You efface your tilak, present tilak.”

“I can’t efface. If you can, you may efface my tilak.”

They tried but could not. Then they were bewildered. “What’s the matter? Why such, what is this?”

He related the narration, the story. Then of course they had some awe, reverence.

Then he told his...

Another internal story; that when the call for explanation came, he prayed to Rādhārāṇī, “This is the difficulty. What I am to do?”

Then it is told that Rādhārāṇī gave him assurance, “I shall look after that.”

So Rādhārāṇī connected with Subal, the leader of the sākhya rasa in his group. “One of your servitors I am taking him, you allow.” And he gladly did so. In this way that was intimated to, revealed to Hṛdaya Caitanya and everything was compromised, minimised. This is Śyāmānanda.

When he came back, these three, Narottama, Śrīnivāsa, Śyāmānanda, these three came back with the bullock cart with a chest full of books. And that was looted near Bapura, Viṣṇupura. And after trying for many days for searching out those books they failed. And then Śyāmānanda went to his own country to preach, Midnapore side. And Narottama also left for north Bengal to preach to mind their own lesson. But Śrīnivāsa was the leader of them in charge of the books. He did not leave, like half mad he was roaming, and anyhow when...

That was looted by the local chief, Birhambir by name. He had some affinity for Bhāgavatam, and his Guru, Vyāsa, one Vyāsa by name, he used to chant Bhāgavatam in his assembly every afternoon. And Śrīnivāsa anyhow came and suddenly, unconsciously he pointed out some mistake in the reading of Bhāgavata of that Vyāsa, Birhambir’s Guru. Then he was detected, “Oh, he’s not a mad but he’s a great genius in Bhāgavatam.” Then anyhow they came to know his position. And the books that were lost, grantham, all these things came in. And then they told that, “I have stolen those caskets.” And it was shown to Śrīnivāsa and the Birhambir also became disciple of Śrīnivāsa.

Then Śyāmānanda, when preaching in Midnapore he got a disciple named Rasikānanda. He was very sincere and his feeling, emotion was so much great, almost after dīkṣā he became half mad. And he was preaching the Name of Kṛṣṇa and the Vṛndāvana līlā of Mahāprabhu, of Kṛṣṇa as by Mahāprabhu. And his sentiments were so deep that he’s told by some to be the Avatāra, Aniruddha Avatāra. That which is not found in human soul, such intense were his sentiments about the different thought of Vṛndāvana. He established a Maṭha on the western side of Midnapore District.

Devotee: Gopījana-vallabha-pura.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gopījana-vallabha-pura. His famous seat was there and he preached in a very intense way. Rasika-maṅgala, there is a book, it is mentioned there that one day one fakir, Muslim fakir, who had some power of showing miracles to the public, he came. He heard the name of Rasikānanda to be a great saint, so he came to test him. He came on the back of a tiger to the āśrama of Rasikānanda. “Where is he? I have come to see him. He’s a great saint.”

And at that time it is told that Rasikānanda Prabhu he was rubbing his teeth by a branch, a small branch of tree.

Parvat Mahārāja: Twig.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: A twig: and he was sitting on a broken wall of a broken room, an earthen wall. Then when it was intimated to him that fakir has come on the back of a tiger, then it is told he asked the wall, the broken wall where he was sitting, “Wall, it is necessary that you should go, you should carry me,” and the wall coming.

And then the fakir came down from the tiger. “This is animate and he can move the inanimate? This is siddhi.”

Devotee: ______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Rasikānanda Prabhu he was a śuddha bhakta. But this yoga vibhuti, the wall, inanimate wall, was asked to advance, to march on, and the wall did. What’s the matter? Then of course it is seen, it is stated,

[bhaktis tvayi sthiratarā bhagavan yadi syād, daivena nah phalati divya-kiśora-mūrttiḥ]

muktih svayaṁ mukulitānjali sevate ‘smān, dharmārtha-kāma-gatayaḥ samaya-pratīkṣāḥ

[“Oh Devotion, you are of such a magnanimous nature, if there is any way that we can have your least favour, then mukti (salvation or liberation) will wait to serve us with open arms. What to speak of mukti, even dharma (ritualistic virtue), artha (affluence), and kāma (material enjoyment) will be waiting far, far away for whenever their calling bell is sounding. Then, they will rush to our feet saying, ‘What do you want?’”] [Kṛṣṇa-Karṇāmṛtam, 107]

The siddhi, yoga siddhi, all these things, they only wait for the order of a Vaiṣṇava, who does not care for siddhi. But if in any place such wish may come to them, it is effected. And these things prove, these incidences if we take to be true, then that theory it is very difficult to prove by the science of fossil, fossilism. But what I say that everything is hypnotism, in the character of hypnotism; then all is possible. Only will force, that can show anyone anything. The willpower can create so many thoughts and ideas of our experience. We can explain from that background.

Anyhow, Rasikānanda Prabhu he spread Mahāprabhu’s doctrine in that part of the land extensively. And his devotion was very firm and fast, fervent and sentimental. His heart fully melted when he took the Name of the Lord or engaged himself in any service. So much so that the section of Vaiṣṇava, they thought he’s not human soul but he’s Īśvara koṭi, that he’s a function of the Lord Himself, Avatāra. It is told by some, Rasikānanda. His day of departure is today.

And then the next, Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, who is supposed to be the veśa Guru of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and also veśa Guru of Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja, as well as that of Guru of Carana dāsa Bābājī, who was the Guru of Rāma dāsa Bābājī. So-called Rāma dāsa Bābājī his Guru was Carana dāsa. And Carana dāsa, his Guru was Bhāgavata dāsa. Bhāgavata dāsa, and Gaura Kiśora Bābājī Mahārāja who is Guru of our Prabhupāda, Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī, they took, Bhāgavata dāsa and Gaura Kiśora dāsa, took their bābājī initiation from Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī. And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is also told to have his veśa, that bābājī veśa and mantram from Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī.

And also it is told that Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī once he went to find where is the birth place of Mahāprabhu. And he was very old, one hundred and twenty-five years old. And crippled, and one U.P. devotee named Vihari dāsa, we have seen him, he used to carry him on his shoulders, generally.

He one day told that, “I want to see the birthplace of Caitanyadeva, take me on the other side of the Ganges.”

Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī has got his samādhi here. When he was taken there, “Stop here, dig earth. Here the Kazi broke the mṛdaṅga of many, of some householders of that time who used to go on chanting, before Mahaprabhu subdued him.”

And some broken pieces of that earthen mṛdaṅga were found there. And it is told that was in Śrīvāsa Aṅgan, somewhere there, like nearby, this Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī. So in another way he also located the birthplace of Mahāprabhu on that side. His samādhi is this side, Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, his day of departure is also today.

And Mādhava Mahārāja you know. He was my God-brother, junior to me, both in age and also in – junior. Nineteen thirty he joined the mission exclusively. You might have seen him, a fair, young, energetic man. He was very energetic, so much so our Guru Mahārāja once remarked that, “He has got volcanic energy, that Mādhava Mahārāja, volcanic energy he has got, very energetic.”

And he was very dissatisfied with me and he tried always that, “You must come out for preaching.”

For long time he was in my party. I am sannyāsī and he was white clad canvasser. And collection was generally his responsibility. And whatever we collected we sent it straight to Prabhupāda. And Prabhupāda was happy to speak, “This is my party, my party.” Anyhow our preaching was also satisfactory and the collection also.

So he was very satisfied with my preaching capacity, and reported to Guru Mahārāja many a time, “Whether any opponent equipped with ancient knowledge of Veda, Upaniṣad, Purāṇa, etc, or a modern scholar with any scientific knowledge may come to oppose, Śrīdhara Mahārāja will keep the prestige all through, of the mission.” That was his remark, and especially of my analogy. I could give appropriate analogy to the opponents to prove my case. That was some special...

Devotee: ______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________ [?]

...

Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: You spoke of your use of analogy.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Analogy, that was very famous. I was famous for my analogy, accurate analogy.

Parvat Mahārāja: Can you give us some examples?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Analogy in every point whenever any difference I tried to put my case by giving some analogy. That is my special characteristic. You also can hear, whenever, generally I put some analogy to clear the position of the ontological aspect. That is my nature, the nyāya- śāstra.

Once it happened that in Kulna one Ramakrishna follower, follower of Ramakrishna Mission, one doctor, man of position, he came to fight on their part. And I told him to make him understand in course of my discussion, ‘that there are so many big sign boards, big sign boards, but if the auditor goes in they say the company is bankrupt.’

So Ramakrishna , Bhārata Sevā Āśrama, Congress, they are giving relief work to the people, doing good service to the people. A big sign board is on the office. But if a real auditor goes to check what sort of benefit they are doing, he’ll say, ‘they are all bankrupt completely. No capital but only show.’

Then it is gone our Siddhānti Mahārāja, who has got a Maṭha here, at Calcutta, Purī. Then in his – we came Mādhava Mahārāja, that is Hayagrīva Brahmacārī, came, we were with Prabhupāda in Purī and he gave lecture and quoted such example, that very example. And that was out in an article in Nadiyā Prakāśa.

Prabhupāda read it. “Siddhānti,” that is Siddha Svarūpa Brahmacārī, “he can put good analogy, this economic analogy.”

Then there was Hayagrīva Brahmacārī, Mādhava Mahārāja, he told, “This is Śrīdhara Mahārāja’s analogy.”

In this way: in Madras when our Guru Mahārāja was to go there we were arranging for some procession from the station to the Maṭha. I went to visit the leader of the boy scout, a Marathi gentleman, some ________ [?] I asked him that, we are making arrangements for many things to follow the procession. We’d like if your boy scout also can join our procession.

“No, no that is only for social work. We have no religious program for us. We don’t commit.”

Ours is also a social.

“How yours is social? You do only religious side: you take up no social work.”

I gave him analogy; support. What is this? You are human species, cow species, dog species, so many species. You like that we shall help the dog society retaining them that they will be dog always, dog society. Ours is that if there is possibility of the dog to come to human society we shall take our service in that line, to make the dog toward, to take the dog up to the human section if possible. Then what sort of service will be more useful?

The man, “Of course if it is possible to take the dog to the human society that will be more appreciable.”

“Ours is like that. And you want the dog will remain dog and you will serve them.”

In that way: one gentleman, one of them came, “You – the man is dead, you do not go, like Ramakrishna Mission, you don’t attend the patients. But if he’s dead to whom you will preach?” He came with this question.

I told that, suppose there is a famine and I have got some quantity of food and I am distributing and the crowd is there and I am only distributing the food. But if someone flies away, runs away, should I stop my distribution and run after him to fetch him, then again I shall distribute? But the crowd is there, I am doing that important business. If I stop distributing then so many will be losers. Why I should take? So many men dying, what’s the matter dying, going away from my sight? Then why should I engage myself in another engagement without distributing the nectar? That will be bad economy. In this way: whatever.

Once I went to an education minister there, for recommendation letter, we shall go to your district for preaching, we want an introduction letter.

“No, no Swāmīji. That is village and you must learn Tamil then you can go and preach there. But in English you can’t preach there.” He told like that.

I told, suppose I am running through the street of your village and a boy is drowning in the water in a tank. Should I go to learn Tamil?

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Or any way I shall try to make understood that he’s drowning, what should we do? So we are looking with that importance, the man is drowning, so any man, any interpreter we shall catch there and we shall give vent to our feelings to help them.

In this way whenever any opposition used to come I could put some analogy in different ways.

There was one I.C.S., the king of Jaipur Orissa, he promised to pay for the cost for the construction of the Madras temple. But he told that, “I do not know, the new Diwan I.C.S., he has come, O. Pulla Reddy, you please approach him, he will pay you the money. I am only signing.”

I avoided, that is a young I.C.S., new comer. If I approach him then some opposition may come.

“But the king has signed, this will be...

End of 82.02.23.D_82.02.24.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.24.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Nitāi. Satyam, śivam, sundaram, sat-cit-ānanda.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

[varṇāśramācāravatā] puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān

viṣṇur ārādhyate panthā nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam

[“The only way to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, is to worship Him by properly executing one’s prescribed duties in the social system of varṇa and āśrama.”]

[Viṣṇu-Purāṇa, 3.8.9] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya, 8.58] [Gauḍīya-Kanthahara, 14.2]

Varṇāśrama has been designed on the plane of theism, morality as well as theism, moral theism. The basis of religious life is there: and then go up. Para śloka śabdera nirnaya [?]

Quote authority and say what should be our object of search, aim of search. The enquiry, the quest, what should we seek? How should I, we, regulate our searching faculty? The first answer came, varṇāśramācāravatā, morality and theistic basis.

And not like Śaṅkara, the imaginary theism. Śeṣya, Īśvara, Īśvara means saviśeṣa, the master, who is master, who can have the power of dispensation. That is not impersonal. To get faith in such mastership, or masterhood in the management of the Absolute, and also some sort of conception of duty towards the neighbour. Śeṣya naiyitik [?]

Here varṇāśrama begins: and then go on gradually, march towards, make advance towards theistic conception more and more, higher from higher.

So, ‘For Itself, Reality is for Itself, for Itself.’ Your existence is subservient, subordinate. Absolute is there, and you must have some relation with Him, and try to find out what happy relation you have got with the Absolute. We are searching, always searching for something, to fulfil our fleeting desires. That search should be converted into some scientific and universal search. That is what is necessary. Search should be there, but such search should be regulated properly. That is what is necessary.

So brahma-jijñāsā, and Jaiminī says dharma-jijñāsā, what should be our duty. According to Śaṅkara brahma-jijñāsā, what is the most comprehensive. And Mahāprabhu says kṛṣṇānusandhāna, search after a friendly guardian. That is enlivened, not a dead search, that I am subject, I am analysing and searching something in the objective world. No! Search for your guardian. Search for higher entity than you are. You are limited, it is very plain, it is very plain to you and all that you are limited, insignificant. So search means who can satisfy you that must be of higher level, so conduct your serving endeavour towards higher plane. And there is gradation and finally you’ll have to come to Kṛṣṇa conception of Godhead. It won’t have its satisfaction anywhere.

So Mahāprabhu says, “Age kaha ara.” [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.59], “Go further, go further.” In Rāmānanda Rāya. “Go deeper, go further. It is superficial, it is superficial. Yes, it is, but still go further. Yes, it is good, go further. Yes, it is very good, a little more, go.” In this way, step by step He’s drawing out what is our real necessity in a very scientific way and systematic way what should be our quest.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

So I want to retire now. So Jayatīrtha Mahārāja’s rikshaw should be arranged for him. You two will go?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes. Myself and several others...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One attendant?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: I think I have two with me. Kiśora Kiśori perhaps...

Aranya Mahārāja: And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam dāsa.

Devotees: _________________________________ [?]

Devotee: I’ll ask __________ to arrange two rikshaws.

Aranya Mahārāja: Maybe just one.

Devotee: When would you like to have, just now?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes, now.

...

Vipramukhya: You were talking in such a way because I’m so foolish. Me, just like some ass, you must beat the ass.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You have got some, I can see you have got some, from so far away you have come to consult with me. You have some affection for me, some reliance on me, so you have come. And there are so many you’re not going to meet, so I appreciate you, your attempt. Because you have heard that I’m closely connected with Swāmī Mahārāja so long you have come for that. I’m a stranger to them. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Vipramukhya: I think that we should all take leave.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. I am still a friend to ISKCON, wholesale. What I had to do, what my Guru Mahārāja wanted me to do, at least to certain extent, my brother Swāmī Mahārāja he has done that very thing so well and extensively and wonderfully. We cannot but feel sympathy, affection, gratitude, love for him. Otherwise I’d be a stone, a satan. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So you may go now, take some prasādam. Gaura Haribol.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: If you want to stay here____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You can come here any time. I’ve not asked any one of these friends to remain, but I’ve asked them, if you like you can stay, so they are staying.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ___________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________ Bon Mahārāja ______________________________ [?]

Swāmī Mahārāja was the first man to announce, “That here, Europe is defeated by Asia.”

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Devotee: Within a few minutes Bon Mahārāja was quietened.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Swāmī Mahārāja was sitting on the front there. I’m here, Bon Mahārāja here, then Swāmī Mahārāja, then [Herr] Schulze [later, Sadānanda dāsa], these four, within a round table, and hot discussions.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Standing, who are they?

Devotees: ____________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No seats?

Parvat Mahārāja: A little more comfortable. Oh yes, it’s all right. Can see you better.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa. ______________ [?] Our Guru Mahārāja told, “See by the help of the ear.” Ear should direct our vision, our eye. What I see, independent of ear, that is defective.

Devotee: _______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah, _______ [?] Babu went to see the āratī of Jagannātha in Purī. And Prabhupāda could not find one who has delivered a carton [?] lecture. We were all, had to do that, and _________ [?] was sent. He was an advocate, renowned advocate, and also son of zamīndār in Bahura [?]

Then, “Where is ________ [?] Babu?”

“He has gone to see the āratī in the Jagannātha Temple.”

“Oh, he has gone for eye exercise.”

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Next morning when he came, he was present, then that was repeated. “You went to have an eye exercise there.” So such revolutionary remarks we are accustomed with.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Vede pasyanti pandita. By the standpoint of the Vedic advice, a Vedic scholar, a devotee, will try, will learn to see things, not as seen by this fleshy eye. But the standpoint that is given to us by the revealed truth we should accept. Try to see that. Try to read the nature, the environment, in accordance with the instructions of the revealed knowledge.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Govinda Mahārāja _________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________ Ha, ha, ha, ha. __________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________ go to Māyāpur now?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes, sometime, soon.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sometime, yet in your hand?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Jayatīrtha Mahārāja not taken prasādam today. All day he’s fasting.

Devotee: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That I’m undermining them.

Devotees: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Should I go in? With your consent!

...

[sattvam viśuddham vasudeva śabditam], yad īyate tatra pumān apāvṛtaḥ

sattve ca tasmin bhagavān vāsudevo, hy adhokṣajo me namasā vidhīyate

[“I am always engaged in offering obeisances to Lord Vāsudeva in pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is always pure consciousness, in which the Supreme Personality of Godhead, known as Vāsudeva, is revealed without any covering.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 4.3.23]

This is uttered by Mahādeva. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Sattvam viśuddham vasudeva sattva. In comparison to ordinary sattya-guṇa, sattya, raja, tama, three planes of misconception, and to differentiate from that sattya-guṇa, the pure consciousness is known as viśuddha sattva, śuddha sattva, viśuddha sattva. That transcending all qualities of mundane colour, viśuddha sattva, the purest consciousness, not mixed with māyā, mundane thought. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Viśuddha sattva. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Satya means truth, satya means jīva. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: ______________ [?] and Nadiyā dāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nadiyā dāsa?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He’s Jayatīrtha Mahārāja’s disciple.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jayatīrtha Mahārāja doing well there?

Devotee: He’s here Mahārāja since yesterday.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, since yesterday he’s here?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, so he hasn’t been to Māyāpur, recently.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Mādhava Prabhu, he was just in Māyāpur, oh you weren’t there. Viśuddha Sattva was in Māyāpur.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Those that were to come, they’ve all come, hmm, perhaps? All GBC must have come there?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He said Haṁsadūta has not come. Atreya Ṛṣi has not come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Atreya Ṛṣi not come?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Who else?

Devotee: Adi Keśava Mahārāja not come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Adi Keśava not come.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He resigned.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The Harikeśa come?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He’s there, Harikeśa?

Devotee: Yes, Harikeśa is there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Only Adi Keśava, Haṁsadūta, and Atreya Ṛṣi.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Is Balavanta there?

Devotee: Not yet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not yet come. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: And they made Rūpānuga the Chairman, he’s new Chairman.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, Chairman already selected?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, on the first day Chairman is selected.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh.

Devotee: Bhakti Svarūpa Dāmodara, in the meeting he says that he’s accepting you as a more elevated Vaiṣṇava in the planet, and as your śikṣā Guru. So the decisions they have made look like everybody who came to take sannyāsa from you is considered to be outside of ISKCON.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He says that Bhakti Svarūpa Dāmodara told in the GBC meeting he accepts you as the most elevated Vaiṣṇava on the planet, and you as his śikṣā Guru. But they’re deciding that, the general GBC, that anyone who takes sannyāsa from you is outside of ISKCON.

Devotee: So he want to speak with Mādhava before he take sannyāsa and maybe he’s the chance that he can speak in front of all the GBC about what is his feelings.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Mādhava?

Devotee: Yes.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He says Bhakti Svarūpa he wants to speak to Mādhava Prabhu before taking sannyāsa, and perhaps give him the opportunity to address the GBC about his personal feelings.

Devotee: Rūpānuga Prabhu is friend of Mādhava and he’s the President so he can arrange for that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What? I can’t follow.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Rūpānuga...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That, before this.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Oh. That they may give Mādhava Prabhu the opportunity to address the GBC, why...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To draw?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No, to speak to the GBC, why he wants to take sannyāsa from Your Divine Grace.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But he wrote a letter, but they want to hear something aurally from him, is it?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: They may give him the opportunity to speak, I don’t know if they’re requesting.

Mādhava Prabhu: Mahārāja, I’m Mādhava. I’m thinking they simply want to lecture to me because they’re taking the absolute position. So I was going to request that they come here and speak all together, in an inoffensive atmosphere.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hmm, what does he say?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He says, it may not be that they want to hear from him, but they may want to speak to Mādhava. But his suggestion to them would be that they come here, to see Your Divine Grace, and in that atmosphere they can discuss this point.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: At this time this is too much to expect from them, that they will come here and consult about yourself.

Devotee: Mahārāja, Bhakti Svarūpa Dāmodara he want to come here but it is very sick, so he tried to come many time. So I ask him to come when he’s feeling well.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Rūpānuga Mahārāja, his zone is where?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: His zone...

Aranya Mahārāja: Florida, oh, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Southern United States.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Southern?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: United States. That is Mexico and others...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No. South Eastern United States, like Georgia, Florida, Tennessee.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Anywhere outside America?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And who will be the Vice President?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Jayapataka.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jayapataka Mahārāja, and Secretary?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: And Secretary is Bhagavān.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhagavān Mahārāja, previously he was President once, is it?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. He was Chairman before Bhāvānanda and Jayapataka was Secretary.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, and Secretary is Bhagavān Mahārāja, and Assistant Secretary?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No Assistant Secretary.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No Assistant Secretary.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Three officers.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Any proposed sannyāsī, or new member of GBC?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: There’s proposals for new sannyāsīs: how many?

Devotee: About twelve. They want to make so many ceremonies before taking initiation: go to take bath in the Gaṅgā, and follow the Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Goswāmī’s...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right, and any addition to the GBC, are they thinking of, no?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: They’re going to have a meeting, Ācāryas will have a meeting about extending Ācāryaship.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. They’ll do? Last year I asked, requested to do so, but they accepted the principle but not any practical step. Afterwards they came and told me, “We have accepted the principle of extension of Ācārya, but this year we have not done so.” So the present year perhaps they will increase the number of Ācārya from eleven to twelve, thirteen, fourteen, maybe. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Perhaps that one has resigned and then fill up the gap.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Well, he was not Ācārya.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not Ācārya?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No. GBC. He was candidate for Ācāryaship last year.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja he’s a strong candidate for Ācāryaship, is it not?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Last year also he expressed his desire to have recognition of the Ācārya post. This year perhaps he will be given recognition of Ācāryaship.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So also, Caitanya Candra he says that Jayatīrtha Mahārāja was speaking today that around seventy five of his disciples are coming to the festival. Oh, forty, maybe less. But he wants to bring them here, and they may not approve of that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They may not?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: The GBC may not approve of him bringing his disciples here to see you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh. They won’t approve, even to have a look of...

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...of me, is it?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Well, you know what one moment’s association...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I’m so poisonous to them.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But,

['sādhu saṅga,' 'sādhu saṅga,' - sarva śāstre kaya], lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya

[“The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22.54]

Even a small association will have a strong effect on them.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: If we consider one to be a real sādhu then that quotation will apply, otherwise not. Sādhu may be of different types. Just as Guru bhyuva [?], sādhu bhyuva, who says that ‘I am a sādhu.’ A mere statement cannot make one’s self to be sādhu. They say he’s sādhu bhyuva [?]. He’s advertising himself as a sādhu, not he’s a real sādhu. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. And what about that Pramāṇa Swāmī, they’re still in Vṛndāvana or gone back?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: We’ve heard that he may have to return because of some ticket problem, but it’s not confirmed.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, both of them, Viraha Prakāśa as well as Pramāṇa?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I might have expected some wrong circumstances also may apprehend something. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nimāi was sent by me for some purpose to ISKCON Maṭha. Both Bhāvānanda Mahārāja and Jayapataka Mahārāja was staying, both of them staying at that time. When he approaches Bhāvānanda Mahārāja he says, ‘Just go and ask Jayapataka Mahārāja.’ And when he goes to Jayapataka Mahārāja, ‘Oh you just go to Bhāvānanda Mahārāja.’

Then he once found that they two are discussing. ‘Now, this is your transcendental diplomacy,’ Nimāi told, ‘transcendental diplomacy.’ You say go to him, he says go to him. Whom should we approach, so ‘transcendental diplomacy.’ Gaura Haribol.

They say, “Yes, we have got some confidence in him, but his present attitude is not conducive to our propaganda.” That will be their version. “We can’t understand his present policy. We think that his present policy is going against us. We are more interested with our Guru Mahārāja, and next, we may regard him. But here, now we feel that the very real interest of our Guru Mahārāja is at stake, so we cannot show such blind honour to him. According to our conscience we are to go on. What can we do?”

Mādhava Prabhu, this will be their argument, and what you are to say? Gaura Haribol.

Mādhava Prabhu: As they’re going by their conscience, I’m also going by my conscience...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “Yes, of course. Yes, but our collective conscience, and that has already got some certificate from Guru Mahārāja whom you also have obligation to.”

Then what will be your answer?

Mādhava Prabhu: Prabhupāda’s sanction is that when there’s some confusion that we should come to you for solving the difficulty. So I think we should follow that order.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course, if you feel that then what will be their point they know. Then they may come to argue that, ‘That Śrīdhara Mahārāja is no more living, who was friendly to our Guru Mahārāja. He seems to be changed by this time. He’s too old, and his thoughts are not very regular now.’

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But we can say that that GBC is no longer living.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ‘But we are still young. No defect of our brain may come down so soon. But he’s too old. It is possible that his brain might have sustained some defect. He’s old man.’

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Kṛṣṇa willing, His līlā!

Mādhava Prabhu: That is called limited conception of Guru.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hmm?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He said that is called the limited conception of Guru.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That Guru is in disease?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Rūpa Goswāmī has advised against such consideration.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Also Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī, vande gurūn īśa-bhaktān [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.1.]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of course they’re too old...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, he wrote the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, so all these things came into his mind in his old age.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is special case. The contention will be, ‘that is special case.’

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: And Śrīla Prabhupāda he wrote Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam purports from his bed in Vṛndāvana when he was very sick, our Bhaktivedanta Prabhupāda. And the purport reads the same in the last volume of tenth canto of Bhāgavatam as in the beginning.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So Mahārāja, in the Jaiva Dharma of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, in one section we find that a Guru is taking his disciple to meet with his Guru.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Living.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, like Nṛsiṁhānanda, he was in Nṛsiṁhatala. And that Vaiṣṇava dāsa Guru, Paramahaṁsa, he’s taking him to meet his own Guru. And he prostrated on his Guru and from there he learned how he’s to deal with his own Guru. He got there that sort of lesson. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. I remember that.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So does that show the principle that sometimes one may initiate in the presence of one regarded as the Spiritual Master?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: And how should a disciple think?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: As grandfather, something like that. That I told the other day to __________ [?] Mahārāja. ‘The Sonhood of Godhead.’ Though Yaśodā is whipping Kṛṣṇa, still Kṛṣṇa is the highest. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

...

...has not come there?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Caru Swāmī?

Devotees: _________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s not come. Bhadridaran [?] Prabhu come, no?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He usually stays in Calcutta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s in charge in Calcutta Maṭha.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. He doesn’t leave that place.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Can’t leave the place. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

...

...who, that Vipramukhya, where is he? He’s not taking sannyāsa?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Māyāpur. Yes, he’s taking sannyāsa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Has taken?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Taking, will take.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Take from, Rūpānuga Mahārāja?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No. Rūpānuga, he was a sannyāsī many years ago, but he went back to his wife. He’s not a sannyāsī any more.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh. He’s a gṛhastha?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. But Vipramukhya he wants to take sannyāsa from Satsvarūpa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, Satsvarūpa, I heard the name.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But sometimes Satsvarūpa likes for people to wait, and have association with him for a year before giving them some initiation. So whether he will require that of Vipramukhya or not we don’t know.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Where is that John?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: At the house, over there, in Navadwīpa but at that house.

Aranya Mahārāja: That’s the white house. He’s at the white house on the corner. He’s staying with Akṣayānanda Mahārāja.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He’s staying with all our devotees.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Here?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He comes from the zone of Jayatīrtha Mahārāja. Jayatīrtha Mahārāja’s party not yet come? They will come is it? They’re expected to come, not yet come?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. Around March first they’re coming.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: March first, today is twenty fourth?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Five days.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Wednesday, five days.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s Hari-Nāma-cintāmaṇi which explains about how we can liberate from nāmābhāsa and come to the transcendental chanting. Maybe you can explain about this.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh, what’s he say?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He says that Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in Hari-Nāma-cintāmaṇi is explaining how to...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Avoid nāmābhāsa...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, and come to the pure stage.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...and to attain śuddha-nāma.

End of 82.02.24.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.24.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...but repeatedly the king of Jaipur, he asked me to see the dewan, and I could not avoid, I approached him.

He flatly refused. “What do you say? This is the, generally the ________ [?] the jungle people, they are ill-fed, half-clad and poor men, and from their revenue, if anything is surplus I like to expend them for their benefit. And you will construct a temple and that also in Madras town. If you could build within their area then also I could consider that sometimes they will have recreation there by religious talks, but in Madras. And I am the last man to help in this way.”

The king has given the signature you see.

“Oh he was the man walking on the street, this Radhakrishnan and others, because they took bribe, one lākh of rupees every year for the Andhra University and he has been put into the throne. And the real heir, the wife of the late king, she is at Lucknow now, she’s the real heir. A man on the street is put on the throne by Radhakrishnan and others by conspiracy because they got one lākh of rupees every year for their University of Andhra.”

I said, “You please try to dissuade the king from contributing one lākh to the University. Who will pay the money they are the poorest of the poor.” In this way he disappointed me. Then I thought that I have almost lost the thing. Anyhow I collected courage and gave him a good blow. Vikrīḍitaṁ, and within I am calling for the help of Guru Mahārāja. “I am frustrated. If you come to my help then it may be possible.” Within I am praying for his help, and outwardly I caught him like a turtle, and told,

vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ, śraddhānvito 'nuśṛṇuyād atha varṇayed yaḥ

bhaktiṁ parām bhagavati pratilabhya kāmaṁ, hṛd-rogam āśv apahinoty acireṇa dhīraḥ

[“One who hears with firm faith the supramundane amorous affairs of Lord Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, as described by a pure devotee of the Lord, soon becomes freed from mundane lust and achieves divine love of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.33.39]

From Bhāgavatam quoted. I told him, with deep impression of course, because I am frustrated at that time, wholly, then I told him, “You see, when I was a hog I devoured a hillock of stools but my hunger is not appeased. When I was an elephant, I devoured a jungle but appetite is not quenched. So appetite, our hunger, is not appeased in this way. As much as we get, so much my thirst is more and more.”

Sahasra nityati sati sahasra laksati naksadhi laksato rajam rajo tata [?]

So Śukadeva Goswāmī has diagnosed this thirst, this hunger as heart disease. And that heart disease can only be cured perfectly if one can adjust with Kṛṣṇa līlā, listen to the vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ, Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes with the damsels of Vṛndāvana. If one can attain and adjust and harmonize himself with such thought of such plane then only this heart disease is cured fully. Otherwise it is not, it is within the very mental, very deep rooted, it is the nature and it wants to be fully cured.

Anyhow this touched the heart of the man, and the drops, his tears, was little wet with tears he stood. He told, “Swāmīji, you believe me, I have faith in God.”

“And your eyes are the witness.” I saw.

“Yes I shall get your money. But not now, I shall send you, you may be sure that I shall give you the money.”

In this way the analogy, many analogy!

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

So I was very intimately connected in my life of preaching with this Mādhava Mahārāja who was Hayagrīva Brahmacārī, a tall, fair and robust health. I can’t believe that he has gone. And he was about eight years younger than myself.

And he used to come to me at least once or twice in a year, and with this complaint all through; “You are deceiving the educated public.” That was his general complaint against me. “You could help them but due to the miserly habit, as Prabhupāda told, ‘ease lover.’ I do not know much, but I push forward. Whatever little I know I want to take it from door to door. You know that I am not very scholarly, or I have not such capacity or intelligence. Still I try my best to carry out from door to door whatever little I know. But you are doing injustice.” That was his general complaint.

And when any serious problem he used to consult with me, “What should I do?” When opening any new centre he used to consult with me. Whether giving sannyāsa or taking sannyāsa, all the important matters, he used to come to me to consult. That was his nature, younger brother. And when he invited me to his Calcutta meetings, I used to visit almost every year, and to deliver lecture there and they appreciated my talking. I took that chance: that I am not doing myself, but Calcutta that is a place of educated men. And there five days in dharmaśālā we used to convene. And in almost every year for those five days or six days I went there and spoke whatever I could, in this way.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi.

Mahāprabhu Gaurāṅga Sundara.

Parvat Mahārāja: What was your saṅkīrtana? You were going on the party and preaching and collecting funds you were mentioning earlier with Mādhava Mahārāja. Then you would send all the money. What would you do, how would you approach people?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, we, suppose we went to a place from the station. From the station, previously some sort of invitation we had. And otherwise we went to a place and stopping at the station, some were out to enquire, “Who is the religiously minded man here?” Then after having some sort of information we used to _____ [?] with him.

And then he wanted us, “Take your beddings away. I am arranging for your stay.”

And then we, some handbills we printed and circulated, or by drum beating circulation, “Gauḍīya Maṭha people has come. And they will convene meeting in such and such place. And Bhāgavata-pāṭham, explanation of Bhāgavatam, in someone’s house, or in some temple, you all come.” In this way two, three days program, or at most, five days program. Then after that we took name of who are the benevolent persons and who can help for this purpose. We approached him, “We have come to you, give to our Maṭha, or that particular Maṭha, you take, bare the cost.” Or, “The Vigraha will be installed there, you please bare the cost.” Or, “There will be in parikramā so many people will gather and huge expenditure; you give some rice, or one days expenses you please bare.” Or, “In Māyāpur our cooking room is damaged and to repair some money is required.” Or, “You help us to publish an edition of Bhagavad-gītā, or this book or that book.” In this way some sort of service we mentioned and we asked collection, for temples, Deities, water, rooms, books, in this way did collection, or land in some place, variegated.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

In Bombay while preaching, one gentleman, an officer, Bengali officer of course, mint officer “You are out for collection but you are all rich men,” he told. “You are all rich. Gauḍīya Maṭha is very rich institution. Why should you collect?”

I told him, “Yes, when you see that we are rich, at least you see that we spend money very extravagantly. Is it not?”

“Yes.”

“But we say that we are beggars. And being beggars we spend money very extravagantly, what a rich man can do. A very big rich man he can spend money in that way, extravagantly. But we say that we are beggars. Now your point will be that in which we spend money whether that is unnecessary with extravagance, or that has got real necessity there? There the difference, not that we are rich. Your point will be that a beggar why he should spend money like water in these things which we consider to be luxury?

Suppose a doctor, he has not much money but still he runs in a motorcar. None will see, “Oh, this is luxury.” But we may not think like that. The motorcar saves his time, takes him to many patients in a short time. That is help to the society.

So we also may use motorcar or some such vehicle or thing to approach many to talk about God consciousness, which we think that is the real service to society, though we are penniless, in this way. And we are decorating the Deity in a very luxurious way. We are distributing prasādam profusely, what a rich man cannot do. By begging we are distributing prasādam to so many. So spending money, but money spending does not mean that one is rich, a poor man also can do. Now we are to try to understand why, what is seemed redundant and we consider that to be very important and we spend for that, by begging. That should be necessary for you to understand. That we are rich so we are spending, not principle is that there, in this way.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

What’s the time? Nine o’clock?

Devotee: Yeah, five past nine.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hari Charan_____________ [?]

Devotee: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nimāi _______________ [?] Nimāi ______________ [?]

Devotee: Where’s Nimāi?

Devotee: I haven’t seen him. Maybe in his room? ____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nimāi in study? By nine thirty you and Nimāi after taking some food you may start to Mādhava Mahārāja’s Maṭha.

Devotee: He’s coming Mahārāja. Nimāi is coming. Hari Charan Prabhu has come as well.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Have seen, but that important function of registration of the land, so Hari Charan cannot be spared. You have taken bath?

Devotee: Yes Mahārāja. I’m ready.

Parvat Mahārāja: I have a question. In Prabhupāda’s books it is mentioned that as one feels, in a certain point of our spiritual life, one feels natural attraction, the words, ‘one type of relationship, one rasa.’ Then yesterday I heard that the initial ruci we feel is the result of our previous karma from previous lives, and of present...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: There are two points, two line of dealing with the thing. One in the crude form we can’t know which is our inner attraction. So it may differ in the beginning when we have got no real connection with the inner most tendency of our heart, then the change of faith is possible. And in the higher realization also it is possible, but that is very rarely. Very rarely there is interference of the higher. Interference may come from higher. It is possible but it is very, very rarely possible. Generally due to the non defecting to detection such things happens. Misreading, in general case generally due to misreading of the inner tendency, such diagnosis is made. This is a general case where we find from one branch to another branch. Mostly it is like that. And real change in the spiritual realization it is very rarely possible by the interference of the superior power. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Mahārāja, how does Bhaktisiddhānta and Lalitā Prasāda differ in their ideas?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who are you?

Devotees: Buddhi Yoga.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Buddhi Yoga. Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura had no recognition for Lalitā Prasāda, though physically his younger brother. We read in Nadiyā Prakāśa article that he has, in the beginning Lalitā Prasāda was living with Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī. But gradually difference came between them and he left our Guru Mahārāja, and went straight to Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s birthplace, his maternal uncle’s home village where he was born. And he attended there to found a separate Maṭha for his own centre.

And at that time our Guru Mahārāja wrote that, “He has gone to worship Ulicandi [?]” Ula [?] is the name of the village. And there the specific deity was Kali, Śakti, Candi. “He has gone to serve Ulicandi [?], instead of Kṛṣṇa.” That was the remark of our Guru Mahārāja.

And also later, sometime later on, his remark came that, “He is fond of his baba, father, and not of Rādhā. He sees Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his physical affection. That is not out of him, that paternal respect that is commanding his heart and to render some sort of service. He does not understand what Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura really was.”

That was the finding of our Guru Mahārāja. This Ulicandi [?], though he’s worshipping Mahāprabhu and that is Ulicandi [?] that is bhoga, when we do anything for some exploiting purpose, then really that is the service of the external material potency and not of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ, prapadyante ’nya-devatāḥ

[taṁ taṁ niyamam āsthāya, prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā]

[“Persons whose good intelligence has been spoiled by illicit desires for exploitation and renunciation or other duplicitous pursuits, worship other godly personalities such as the Sun-god and the many demigods. Being enslaved by their instinct, they adopt the corresponding rules and regulations of fasting and other tenets accordingly.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.20]

If want of sincerity, the heart is not cleared of the undesirable things, anyābhilāṣa, karma, jñāna, etc. So it is told that he’s doing, he’s a śakta, that is, he’s a worshipper of the śakti, potency, or exploitationist. So he was looked at by our Guru Mahārāja in that way. The material affinity to his father, that is the underlying motive which is pushing him to these apparently religious duties or so. That was the opinion of our Guru Mahārāja.

Once when I entered Maṭha, or from outside I am visiting, I heard our Guru Mahārāja to say one day; Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura, one man asked, “What is the position of the śaktas, worshippers of the potency, physical potency of the Lord?”

He told that, “They are materialist. Their position is that of materialist.”

I could not take that word immediately to be true cent per cent. I came from a śakta family. I heard and I saw in books that Māyā was also caitanya rupini. Kaivalya dahini caitanya rupini cinmayi [?]

She’s consciousness, I heard. And now he told that they are materialist, they are atheist, those that are worshipper of potency. I tried to come to some adjustment. His words cannot be neglected, and what I have gone through, the śāstra, and got, that is cinmayi, śakti, the potency is conscious. And he says worshippers of the external potency they are atheists, they are materialist. How to harmonize? Then I gave more stress to Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī’s statement. Why he says materialist? Then I came to this understanding. The materialist, that is śakta, their opinion is that śakti, potency, is the most original substance, and consciousness is the outcome of that potency. Potency and consciousness; puruṣa and prakṛti, and when prakṛti which is not puruṣa or not conscious, that is held to be the most ultimate, and the consciousness comes out of it, then of course, that is materialism, fossilism. So śaktivāda is fossilism.

So our Guru Mahārāja’s remark to Lalitā Prasāda was of that type. That his reverence towards Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and through him towards Mahāprabhu, that the origin of that is material connection of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. It is baba, badha, Rādhā. There was one article in Gauḍīya, “I say,” that is the opinion of Prabhupāda, “Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura should be seen as Rādhā. But he could not see as Rādhā, there came some badha, that means hindrance, and the next baba, father. So his endeavour towards Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and through him towards Mahāprabhu, that basis was his physical connection.” That was traced by Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura, and we are followers of him.

And another time also he says, “He’s engaged in the worship of Ulicandi [?], that the deity Kali, who is supposed to be the presiding Goddess of that town, his energy is devoted only for that. That is also connecting with materialism, and not pure spiritualism.”

He once remarked about Śiśir Ghose who wrote Lord Gaurāṅga, and Amiya Nimai Charit, and many things about Mahāprabhu: editor and founder of Amṛta Bāzzār Patrikā, a man of prestige and renowned man. Nija bhogi golila gauranga [?] Prabhupāda’s remark, “He has constructed Gaurāṅga, suiting his own enjoying purpose.” Nija bhogi golila gauranga [?]

Gaurāṅga As He Is, as Swāmī Mahārāja has written Gītā As It Is, and Gītā as seen by so many scholars. Independent of that, he tried to guide the readers of Gītā, the Gītā As It Is. So Gaurāṅga as it is, as He is: and Gaurāṅga as we want to make, create our created Gaurāṅga, that mental concoction Gaurāṅga. Gaurāṅga may be, sute kita pata [?]

We must hear in a bona fide method and then we shall guide our eye to see and then to produce the form. Not to create by our own mental prejudice. That is one thing. We should try our best to get out of our prejudice and saṁskāra, and to go, to catch, try to catch what is independent of our self and so many like us, the mental concoction, the māyic conception. So Gaurāṅga as He is, Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa consciousness as it is: and to create Kṛṣṇa consciousness in his own mental way, these things will be very different. We shall always try set aside our mental representations and to catch what is already there.

This is, in other words our Guru Mahārāja told once, “When we take the Name we shall not encourage our mind to see a picture, because,” he says, “that whenever anything comes to mind other senses goes there like vulture on the cremation ground. Whenever some sound, eyes say, ‘oh it must be of such colour, such figure. The touch, ‘oh, it may be touched in such a way.’ Like vultures all other senses will run and fall on it with their own impression. But they should not be given any chance of doing that. The sound will produce its own rūpa, colour, or figure, and then the guṇa, the quality, not like the quality that is found here. That is diametrically different. Such Nāma, nāmna, rūpa, rūpasya, then guṇa, then parikar, then līlā, all these things, the cetan, that will come down. That is of different type. And this mundane experience won’t be allowed to cover what will, is expected to come down from the other world. So our prejudice, our saṁskāra, our mental tendency to place before us that, ‘I know anything, I know everything, oh, it is of that type.’ The mental tendency, prejudice will come out and will stand on your side, ‘oh it is known to me to certain extent, it must be like that.’ All these are hindrances. They must not be allowed to do so.”

We shall try, the Name I have got, what I got from my Gurudeva, that is different, original, that of revolutionary type of thing, sound. I am to concentrate to cultivate that only. And that will gradually assert itself in a particular gradation, rūpa, guṇa, līlā, and I shall find my own soul as unit in that system shown by the Name. And that is another world. Not the world of our own experience and conception, or inference, or something like that. It is pure spiritual consciousness. And we shall dismiss all our empirical attempts to go and modify. That will be, the progress will be hampered thereby.

So sevonmukhe hi jihvādau, we shall engage in the service that will come from the Vaiṣṇava quarter, and thereby the prejudices will die and clear out from our mind, without food. Whatever initiative is taken from the mind, that will feed the mind and help it to continue its longevity. So only we shall carry out the order of the Vaiṣṇava, the Guru, and according to my fortune, higher Gurus, Guru of higher level, by obeying his orders I shall able to imbibe. That under my present existence will vanish gradually, the mental existence. Ete he rabi sabanatha [?]

A new world will come before me and I shall find that I have got my individual position there, in my soul. And all the mental system with this body they will evaporate. They will vanish. And only my inner soul and I will find there the light that will come. The soul is there and unity is there. And the whole new world will come. Will come in view and I shall find that I am there represented in such and such position. And my present conception of my own existence with ego, with mental system, with body, everything will go away, something like that. Gaura Haribol. ____________________________________ [?]

Devotee: He’s gone downstairs Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gone down, ask him to take bath.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I told him Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Take bath, and you may take him to attend the meeting.

Devotee: He told me, “Just wait for a while.” He will come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. There will be a meeting perhaps and some will have to speak something. And when Nimāi is requested he can also speak something. And then the distribution of prasāda and then you may come away.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, I’ve heard one story. I wanted to know you could tell me if it’s true or not. It’s about Mīrābāī, famous Mīrābāī, the women devotee and Jīva Goswāmī.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: We do not know that. So far we know that Mīrābāī devotion is that of some mixed type, not real type of devotion. Because her devotion only confined to Kṛṣṇa, and not any mention of any devotees. The Kṛṣṇa: where it is mentioned about only the king that is imperfect. King means so many ministers, generals, queens, all these things. King is not one. So Kṛṣṇa is not one, the svarūpa śakti is there, and that is real Kṛṣṇa. And the other Kṛṣṇa is a Kṛṣṇa of creation, mental creation, concoction. That is a reflection of Kṛṣṇa may be in this world, where we cannot see that Kṛṣṇa with His different rasa is surrounded by different groups of servitors in different rasa. That is Kṛṣṇa real. True Kṛṣṇa is of that conception. That is in svarūpa śakti. Otherwise in this area of Māyā, the satya guṇa, the Kṛṣṇa has come and I and Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa surrounded by His svarūpa śakti servitors that is real Kṛṣṇa, of cid vilasa. And in the transcendental world in His own position Kṛṣṇa is such. And by crossing, without crossing them, without caring to see them, my direct contact with Kṛṣṇa that is a dream. That is imagination, may be imagination, not reality.

So Gauḍīya Maṭha people, and their Ācārya, and their consideration, cannot give such only so many sentimental, emotional that may be, but the bottom, the very foundation is wrong. That these sentiments cannot give us Kṛṣṇa, the worldly sentiments, mental feats. Kṛṣṇa is not alone. And without submissive, submitting to His eternal devotees we can never approach Him, properly. The proper approach towards Kṛṣṇa cannot but be through His devotees. Not direct contact or contract to get Him is possible. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So direct service...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Of Kṛṣṇa never possible for the taṭasthā jīva śakti.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So their direct service would be to the servitors, the servants of the servant.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, through the servant of the servant, the service that is realistic conception of Kṛṣṇa, service of Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise that is imaginary. It is not measured by the amount of tears, or amount of dancing, or so many feats.

Devotee: But Mahārāja, they say that she took initiation from Jīva Goswāmī.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. We don’t find that. In the ________ [?], in the songs of Mīrābāī, such things are not present. They have connected, they are connecting, some connects and some things more.

She also insulted Rūpa Goswāmī. It is told that Mīrābāī came to see Rūpa Goswāmī. And Rūpa Goswāmī at that time, perhaps he was in particular mood, he told that, “I don’t like to see any lady.”

Then she told, remarked that, “Oh, he thinks himself to be a man. I think the only man in Vṛndāvana is Kṛṣṇa, and all else are women.” With that remark she went away.

This also perhaps mentioned in Bhaktamala, grantha. And that is not very authentic, that Bhaktamala grantha. There collection of lives of many devotees of different types, but not very authentic.

Devotee: Mahārāja, I’ve heard that she is a gopī on Chandrāvalī’s side.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

End of 82.02.24.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.24.C_82.02.25.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...have to give recognition of Chandrāvalī, the gopīs, the Nanda, Yaśodā, and the Vṛndāvana, so many things must come, for her praise. Only Kṛṣṇa is the object of her praise, admiration, and all eliminated. She can’t see the greatness, the nobleness, of the paraphernalia; only Kṛṣṇa. This is artificial.

“If you want to be My devotee, become a devotee of the devotee. One who is a devotee of the devotee, he’s My real devotee.”

And, “I can’t recognise the greatness, the nobleness of the devotee of Kṛṣṇa,” and eliminating them, “I am good and Kṛṣṇa is good.” And all eliminated; what is this? “No greater person than myself, only Kṛṣṇa, and myself. And all eliminated.” This is madness. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Mahārāja, is opulence, money, an indication that Kṛṣṇa is being pleased or served properly in the temple, if there’s money and many devotees and so on?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is not the criterion, money is not criterion, and if by Kṛṣṇa’s wish money is also utilised in the service; that also may be. But that is not the only criterion. Even Sanātana Goswāmī when he’s putting to Rādhā-Mādhan-mohan only a quantity of butter, and only putting into the fire and he’s offering that and taking it. Bhāva-grāhī janārdanaḥ, He does not, Kṛṣṇa does not accept anything material. But what the devotee offers Him with his own earnestness, that earnestness is taken by Kṛṣṇa, the bhāva-grāhī. He’s cetana, and He’s spiritual, and the spiritual element – that in a worshipper, what he gets by the offering, Kṛṣṇa takes that, the inner tendency is accepted by Him, not the outer, outside.

There is a tale that there was one devotee in Purī, Mādhava dāsa. He was a man, he was a devotee of sākhya-rasa. So much so that we are told one day Jagannātha says, “Mādhava, I shall go to steal jackfruit from the garden of a particular pāṇḍā. You are to follow Me.”

“What is this my Lord - Your pastimes? All right, what You will, I must carry out.”

Then at night, taking Mādhava, He has come, entered the garden of jackfruit. And Kṛṣṇa went up the tree and He’s snatching and they fell. There was sound. The pāṇḍā came out.

“Who is there, stealing my jackfruit?”

Then Kṛṣṇa leaving His over-cloth on the branch He jumped and ran away.

And the man found this Mādhava. “Oh! You are that Satan. At daytime you sit by the side of a road and beg, you are a big sādhu. And at night you have come to steal my jackfruit.” He gave a good beating.

“Kṛṣṇa took me...”

“Kṛṣṇa took, Jagannātha took...

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...came to steal with you. You fool. You want to convince me that.”

“There is His sheet you see.”

“Oh. You have stolen also the over-cloth of Jagannātha, you have stolen and put there, and you want to befool me.”

He was taken and was brought, took him to the King, and of course a good beating.

Then Jagannātha gave a dream to the King as well as to the leader of the priests. “I went with Mādhava to steal jackfruit, and Mādhava is beaten and I have taken all those beatings in My body. And please arrange to apply some medicine on My body.”

Then there was a great upset. “Mādhava is really such a devotee. Jagannātha Himself given dream both simultaneously to the King and the leader of the pāṇḍās.”

Then Mādhava left the place; went to Vṛndāvana. “Now people will throng to see me, that I am such a high devotee. I won’t be able to tolerate all these...” So he went away.

And it is told, written in Bhakta-mala, that Mādhava, when collecting some fried gram, he offered it to Bankibihari, their temple. And he took himself. And Bankibihari is of course daily worshipped, that arrangement, the bhoga, raga, everything. But at that time the servitor of Bankibihari, he was of a high type, and he could feel Bankibihari’s satisfaction after bhogam. That day, he says that, “Bankibihari’s face is not very peaceful. He has not taken anything it seems.” Then he told, “I must have some flaw.” So again he prepared new bhoga and again placed. Then also, after short time he removed, he came to see the face of the Deity and found Him uneasy; the Deity is uneasy. So he began to cry. “I am so sinful my things are not being accepted, my Lord, by my Lord. What is this? What shall do?” He fasted. “I can’t eat. I can’t take prasādam when I feel that Bankibihari did not touch it.” Then without taking food he’s lying on the bed and in his coma he says, he sees that Bankibihari told that,

“It is not your fault. But I cannot feel well. I feel sick. That Mādhava, My devotee has come from Purī, and he has offered Me that channa, that fried gram, and I took that in such quantity that I can’t eat anything. A full belly I took and I fell sick.”

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So external grandeur is no criterion; only fried gram, that may cause so much filling that He becomes sick, bhāva-grāhī janārdanaḥ.

And there is another story that of that mongoose in rājasūya-yajña. The mongoose only rolled in a spot where a brahmin was staying at the time of dubīkṣā. So much degree of sacrifice was only perhaps rice or bread, on some two or three hairs, but the degree of sacrifice was great, and in the rājasūya so many mass collections from the King and a big yajña, a gorgeous rājasik. So sattvic, rajasic, tamasic, the yajña of three kinds in this world, anyhow devotion is covetable for the Lord. Prema, God is fond of prema, not any external grandeur. Rather grandeur may go on to a little extent in Vaikuṇṭha, this may be, but Vṛndāvana especially they’re all subterranean, not fond of any gorgeousness. Plainness, simple, and prema, devotion, love, sacrifice, affinity, surrender. That is the wealth admired in Vṛndāvana, specially.

So what’s the time?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Quarter to ten.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I like to retire today.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

........

Parvat Mahārāja: ...in my zone. That is the proof they are the devils. Keep creating the troubles.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s most affected because Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja is very near to him. His zone is nearer to Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, so he’s most affected; and also nearer to Haṁsadūta Mahārāja, is it?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So naturally he will be very much excited.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: His nature is also like that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s also challenging also; all right. No discussion begun about my request, proposal?

Parvat Mahārāja: He said the meetings did not start yet, just preliminary.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. Where is Mādhava Prabhu, is he here?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: He came at two o’clock in the morning, so he may be tired.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So late he could manage to come?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Yes. He also went late; he went at seven o’clock and came at one or two in the morning. So they must have had a long talk into the night.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Six hours.

Parvat Mahārāja: Only Hṛdayānanda Mahārāja came into the room and after a calm introduction he also became like a lion or tiger, agitated.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who?

Parvat Mahārāja: Hṛdayānanda.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And how many lions are there?

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One Rāmeśvara, then Hṛdayānanda, these two, and perhaps Bhagavān is also not a less one, Bhagavān dāsa. Then three, and...

Parvat Mahārāja: They are waiting for Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja to arrive.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s a sober man. At least very meek and speaks very little. Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja, last year he came here, Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja.

Parvat Mahārāja: Tamal Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Tamal Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja is very shrewd and clever.

Parvat Mahārāja: More like a tiger.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: More like a fox.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He may be a lion or tiger, but in my case he’s considered with little calmness perhaps. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. And how is Satsvarūpa Mahārāja, a little sober?

Devotee: Yes he is sober.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: He’s trying to remain neutral.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Neutral but not positive.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And what about Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Prabhu?

Parvat Mahārāja: His name is on the table for Guru-ship, this year. Him, Bhakti Tīrtha, the black sannyāsī, he’ll be the first black Ācārya for the black community.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhakti Tīrtha comes from Africa?

Parvat Mahārāja: Yeah, well, no, he’s American, but he’s Negro.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Negro, Bhakti Tirtha.

Parvat Mahārāja: And also Panchadravida Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Panchadravida, in Madras?

Parvat Mahārāja: Panchadravida Mahārāja in South America, Mexico.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: South America.

Parvat Mahārāja: Mexico.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Panchadravida.

Parvat Mahārāja: These are three of the names on the table for Ācāryaship.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Consideration of Ācāryaship.

Parvat Mahārāja: They know that you are forcing them to do this.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And not Svarūpa Dāmodara?

Parvat Mahārāja: We didn’t hear about it.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Not any Indian?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, Gopāla Kṛṣṇa’s Indian.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Indian, Punjabi, comes from Punjab?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And no trace of Caitanya dāsa, Caitanyapāda, that absconder in Punjab?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No trace?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: No, he’s gone. Apparently he was arrested in Australia.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: He was found and arrested in Australia.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Arrested?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, many months ago. Almost a year ago he was found in Australia and he was arrested.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Arrested for the interest of ISKCON?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: What happened to him after that I don’t know.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He sold away the building and many properties of ISKCON.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. And no news about Haṁsadūta Mahārāja?

Parvat Mahārāja: He’s said to be completely ousted of ISKCON.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, ousted.

Devotee: Rejected.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Rejected. Haṁsadūta Mahārāja. So he’s already a dead member of ISKCON.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: But that’s not official. No official decision in that way though. That’s just general talk.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But he’s hopeless, hopeless case for the ISKCON.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: That they say.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That they say. That they say. So this is not a unanimous decision, objection, that they say, but he may not be so, he is not so.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Anyaiar vriti vana yatsar sarvata sarvada [?] Direct and indirect method, we may approach a cause.

But direct approach is more healthy and helpful; ānukūlyena-kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ.

[anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ, jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

ānukūlyena-kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā]

[“One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa favourably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, 1.1.11] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 19-167]

And prātikūlyena-kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ, that is also possible, to cultivate in indirect way. That is also possible, but that is not very desirable. Ānukūlyena-kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ, to cultivate about Kṛṣṇa in favourable way, in positive way - that is desirable, by elimination of the indirect side. But indirect side is not less important. It is approaching to the highest stage of devotion in any way or other. It is necessary. It is a necessary part; indirect.

Devakī is indirect to Yaśodā. Yaśodā is always afraid of Devakī, Vasudeva. “They come to claim the child as their own. How can it be?”

And in Rādhārāṇī’s camp they think that Chandrāvalī’s camp, group, they are anti, indirect to the direct camp. So in all rasa there’s harmony in discord.

When Kṛṣṇa begins His play along with the friends, two parties of course, one side with Kṛṣṇa and another side Balarāma. And then the other cowboys they are divided, divided. But two sides, Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa, represent two opposite sides, when playing began, and others divided into two. And they began to fight and who will be defeated, their punishment is that they will carry the men of the other party on their shoulders; in this way some sort of service punishment. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Balarāma was very strong; on the other side Śrīdāmā was very strong. Śrīdāmā came to Kṛṣṇa’s party, Kṛṣṇa was less strong; Balarāma sufficiently strong. So Balarāma one party, and Kṛṣṇa another party, and Śrīdāmā must be in the party of Kṛṣṇa. In this way and then the playing began, Their two parties fighting. And Balarāma generally did not accept that He’s defeated. His party is defeated He won’t accept that. So whenever that proposal announced, “Your party defeated,” Balarāma became enraged. “No. You are wrong.” That was His nature. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

And sometimes some demons also entered into the parties, taking the form of a cowboy. There’s this Pralamba, then Vyomāsura, they mixed within the party. And they are seeking opportunity of taking on the shoulders taking away any of them. So Vyomāsura he one day carried Balarāma into the depths of the jungle. And when Balarāma could understand that he’s a demon and not anyone of our party, then such a big blow He put on his head. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Enjoyer, enjoyed, then also sub groups of different rasa. In this way it is the necessity of the nature of līlā, bifurcation. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis; synthesis means there are many antithesis, otherwise synthesis, harmony means many, many and one, one and many, purity and plurality. That is harmony, plurality must be there, bahu. Neha nānāsti kiṁcana. Who will say many and they are not independent, they are meeting in a common cause, no nānā, not many because they are harmonized into one. So in [Kaṭha] Upaniṣad [Part 4, mantra 11] it is said neha nānāsti kiṁcana, there is no variegatedness.

What’s the meaning? Śaṅkarācārya he sacrifices many and accepted only one.

Mahaprābhu told, “This is not proper acceptance of the revealed truth. The nānā must have recognition and the one also have recognition. Both plurality and unity, both should have recognition, not only one. Why do you say that there is no nānā, no variety, no plurality? You have no right to say that. If plurality is not there then what is the necessity of saying, what is the necessity of saying that there is no plurality? Plurality is there and still there is one who is connecting the, and controlling the plurality. So the plurality and unity, both exist simultaneously. You have to admit this.” This is the conclusion of Mahāprabhu.

But Śaṅkarācārya he sacrificed the wholesale plurality, diversity; that only one is there. No plurality. Then necessarily it becomes non-differentiated, non-specified, nirviśeṣa.

apāṇi-pādo javano grahitā, [paśyaty acakṣuḥ sa śṛṇoty akarṇaḥ

sa vetti vedyaṁ na ca tasyāsti vettā, tam āhur agryaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntam]

[“The Lord has no hands or legs, yet He walks and touches. The Lord has no eyes or ears, yet He sees and hears.”] [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 3.19]

No leg no hand, no hand no leg. But He can run and He can catch. Paśyaty acakṣuḥ, no eye, but He can see. Sa śṛṇoty akarṇaḥ, no ear, but He can hear.

Then Śaṅkarācārya accepts only one part. No ear, no eye, no leg, no hand. But Mahāprabhu says, “No, you must accept both. He has no leg but He can run, He can walk.”

What does it mean? He can see, but He has no eye. What should be the meaning? The eye is there but the eye is not of the fleshy eye as we have got. This is the purport. The leg is not like the leg that we posses. The eye is not so that we have got. But He has got His eye. So, prakrta nisedi kori aprakrta sthapan [?] That is the conclusion of Mahāprabhu. Not this mundane, but He has got spiritual. Spiritually He has got everything. And this negative-ness only will apply to the mundane characteristic. Otherwise He can see so He has got eye. But He has got no eye; that is no eye similar to us. That should be the purpose of the Vedic mantram. Everywhere we are to take in that way.

Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma, whatever we see it is Brahman, sarvaṁ. Śaṅkarācārya says, “No sarva, no many, but only one Brahman.”

But Mahāprabhu says, “No. Sarvaṁ is also existing; otherwise no necessity of saying such. But one is the master and they are subordinate, in a system, the controlled and the controller; in this way, otherwise no necessity. If it is not existing then what is the necessity of your talking so much? Whom you have come to preach? What is the necessity of preaching if they are not existing? That is also, Māyā is also there. Māyā has got its existence otherwise why you have come to remove Māyā? If Māyā does not exist, if misconception, misunderstanding does not exist at all, then what is the necessity of your talking so much to remove misunderstanding? It is there. So misconception, the possibility of misconception is also there, it is reality. It is reality that misconception, provincial, local conception, it is also there. The relative is also there, not only absolute; absolute, relative, both co-existent. This is cid-vilāsa. Not the negation of a particular thing but the adjustment; adjustment of everything with the whole.”

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

So, Kṛṣṇa is considering in the case of Śiśupāla, how he will be killed. A meeting, Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, and Uddhava, three discussing. What Kṛṣṇa says Baladeva giving opposition. Kṛṣṇa wants a policy to be adopted.

Baladeva, “What is this policy? You please leave it to Me. I shall go and kill him straight. What is the policy - this and that - I don’t understand.”

Then Uddhava he’s trying to pacify Baladeva.

And it is represented very cleverly in marga kavi [?] Ukta musala pani na [?] ...in the ornamental way, what the musala pani [?] has told - musala pani is Baladeva - musa means this club. Musala pani Baladeva, that gives a hint that He does not rely on any intelligence or politics. He wants to solve everything with the club, with the strike of His club. Musala pani, that He has got less intelligence, but wild force, musala pani.

Then it was arranged that the rājasūya-yajña is advancing and Śiśupāla will be, all will be invited and Kṛṣṇa will be given by the Pāṇḍavas the highest position. And that Śiśupāla won’t be able to tolerate and he will abuse Kṛṣṇa in a very boisterous way. And then, Kṛṣṇa already promised that hundred offences He will pardon, to Śiśupāla’s mother, His maternal aunt. And that will be fulfilled and he will be killed there. These all were presented by Uddhava in that meeting. And the ultimately what to do - that was by accepted Balarāma also.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Opposition is also service: in mādhurya rasa also, opposition may be seeming opposition, bhāma-bhāva, bhāma. Of course this is very higher topic. Rādhārāṇī’s nature is bhāma-bhāva, bhāma. Whatever is offered from the side of Kṛṣṇa, She flatly refuses that. And that increases excitement in Kṛṣṇa. That is a peculiar thing, niyantor-bhāma. The highest type of, what is niyaka?

Devotees: Hero, heroine.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hero, heroine; the highest type of heroine. She will posses that sort of attitude, always opposing the hero, such a tendency. It is supposed to be highest quality – so, all these things. So opposition is also a particular service to the cause. In harmony it has got its position, otherwise what is the necessity of harmony? The greatest opposition force, if one can control, there is the real capacity, or real sapasamsar, superiority of harmonizing principle. The greatest opposition force can be harmonized by whom? He’s the expert of harmonizing of the harmonizers. So harmony - harmony means to control opposite forces. And it must have to be such powerful that it will come to...

Rāmacandra told, once when Lakṣmaṇa fell when hit by the sakti shil, a peculiar type of weapon of Rāvaṇa, sakti shil; perhaps by Indrajit or so. Rāmacandra repented very much and He told - afterwards... Desi desi kalatrani [?] “We can get the, no, wife may be available in every province and country, desi desi. Friends also we can have from many countries.”

Anta desh na pasyami yat pradarsh aho data [?] “But no land is seen where a brother from the same mother can be found.” That was the wailing of Rāmacandra.

But Lakṣmaṇa told from the opposite side. Rāmacandra said a friend like brother is never available anywhere. But Lakṣmaṇa He told from the opposite angle of vision.

Garbastha kira hanthara [?] “The brother is the worst type of enemy. Because when he comes in the mother’s womb, the elder brother, he cannot suck the breast of the mother; milk. When the brother is in the womb, the elder brother is deprived of the mother’s milk of the breast.”

Garbastha kira hanthara, bhu istha crohatta [?] “When he comes out of the womb of the mother then he, the brother, captures the lap of the mother, and the elder brother is dispossessed of the lap of mother.” Bhu istha croha dahaka [?] “That lap of mother is dispossessed by the elder.”

Yogame dana hantara [?] “When he’s grown up, he comes to take the share of the father’s property, claims, ‘I must have equal share with you.’”

Vanasti vati samoripur [?] “So brother is the first class enemy of the brother.”

That was argued by Lakṣmaṇa Himself.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Opposition, still Rāmacandra He could control brothers. Harmony, in Rāmacandra also we find He left Sītā, banished Her, banished Sītā when She was with child. Only by the remark of an ordinary subject He banished Sītā.

Then when there was a particular sacrifice Rāmacandra was asked by the ṛṣis that, “You must marry. Without wife such sacrifice cannot be performed, so You have to marry.” That aśvamedha-yajña.

Then Rāmacandra refused to marry. Then there was a compromise. Then a golden statue of Sītā, that will be prepared and that will be on the left side of Rāmacandra when He will begin to engage Himself in the actual sacrifice, ṛṣis agreed.

And when that news reached Sītā, Sītā thought first... Rāmacandra has only one wife, Sītā, while Dāsarātha had several thousand, His father, but Rāmacandra only single wife, eka patni dar. Kṛṣṇa, bahubalav, in Dwārakā, thousands, but Rāmacandra only one, Sītā. And Rāmacandra, of course apparently, dealt with Her very cruelly. But when Sītā heard that Rāmacandra is performing yajña Sītā knew that He must have to marry again. But when She heard that Rāmacandra with a golden statue of Sītā on His side is performing yajña and He did not marry...

End of 82.02.24.C_82.02.25.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.25.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...She had Her satisfaction to the highest degree. “He’s so faithful to me. I am not banished from His heart, I am banished externally for the policy of government, but actually I am not banished from His heart.”

So harmony; how the things of opposite types can be harmonized by higher principle. To harmonize things of a particular plane, energy of the higher plane is necessary to harmonize. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Anything, and there must be something anti, cannot but be, some opposition, some opposite conception. Any statement, some opposition, and to harmonize that. Hegel says that is the process of progress. Process of progress, progress means this; whatever there will be, some opposite conception of opposition possibility. The possibility of opposition and then to do away with the opposition greater harmony is necessary. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Highest type of harmony is so, that diversity ultimately helps it. The opposition helps the main flow. Not only harmonized but it enhances the beauty of the harmony. When harmony is successful then it becomes the necessity of beauty, beauty and harmony - same thing. Beauty and harmony, harmony generally perhaps used in the sound world and beauty in the eye world, eye and ear; but anyhow, the opposition enhances the beauty. If there would not be any diversity then beauty is not possible. Different things will be and they will harmonized and that is beauty, vilāsa. Otherwise it will be jumbled together in nirviśeṣa brahman.

So Kṛṣṇa represents beauty and His harmonizing capacity exceeds, supersedes everything. Even stealing is beautiful, lying is beautiful, whatever He does, His wickedness is also beautiful. The conception of the greatest harmony: that can harmonize anything and everything. Nothing can be there that He cannot harmonize. So the opposition what is very objectionable, the stealing, the lying, debauchery, so to say, is inconceivable in Him, all harmonized. All harmonized, so sweet, no enemy. Enemy also becomes friend in harmony. Beauty means that, harmony means that. Gaura Haribol. Not afraid, advaya-jñāna.

bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād, [īśād apetasya viparyyayo 'smṛtiḥ

tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ, bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā]

[“Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is effected by the potency for illusion, called māyā. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshippable deity and as his very life and soul.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.37]

The origin of fear only comes from the lack of harmony. Fear’s born from disappointment of harmony, otherwise no place of any fear. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśa, undesirability is represented in Sanskrit as bhayaṁ. Bhayaṁ means apprehension, fear, originates from lack of harmony. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād, of second interest. Common interest, one interest, if we can reduce many interests into one interest, as parts of one interest, then there is harmony, no fear. Only fear from separate interest, clash between separate interests. But if that can be linked in common interest, no fear, bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād.

Īśād apetasya viparyyayo 'smṛtiḥ: the first stage that we are afraid, we have got apprehension. Why? Dvitīyābhiniveśa, we are suffering from the mania of second interest, separate interest. So we are afraid, we have got apprehension, dvitīyābhiniveśa. Īśād apetasya, when does it come to effect, to take place, this apprehension? Īśād apetasya, when we deviate from the common-most idea, of common master, common controller, common guardian, then only we suffer from apprehension. The vyādhi, the disease of apprehension, arises only when we lose, we separate ourselves from the common controller, common guardian of all. Īśād apetasya, the master consciousness, that we have got a master, we have got a controller and he is common to all, and his interest represented there in that common master. Īśā, īśā jñāna, I have got my master and he is to look after that and he is master of all, so no apprehension. So deviation from the consciousness of a common master, common guardian, the apprehension comes to rise. Īśād apetasya viparyyayo 'smṛtiḥ, and then when deviated, one is minus of the common guardian, then viparyyayo, he comes in a very unfavourable circumstance. Losing that common master consciousness he comes in a very dreadful position, viparyyayo. Viparyyayo 'smṛtiḥ, and forgets, he’s puzzled, and forgets his own self, real self and self interest also he loses, viparyyayo 'smṛtiḥ, he’s beside himself, 'smṛtiḥ.

Tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ, then if he can come to know anyhow by the help of the external sādhus, it is His māyā; then who can control the māyā? He does not go to fight with māyā, illusion, misconception, the forgetfulness of the centre, the forgetfulness of his guardian. Then he appeals to the guardian, the guardian himself.

bhūmau-skhalita-pādānāṁ bhūmir evāvalambanam

[tvayi jātāparādhānāṁ, tvam eva śaraṇaṁ prabho]

[“For those who have stumbled and fallen upon the ground, that very ground is the only support by which they can arise once again. Likewise, for those who have offended You, O Lord, You alone are their only refuge.”] [Skanda-Purāṇa]

If we fall on the ground, with the help of the ground we stand again. So our forgetfulness of our guardian, that is the cause of all the disasters in which we find ourselves. And again the only way to get out of this, to be reinstated in that idea of guardian, common guardianship. And that is effected by the sādhus that are normal, that have not deviated from God consciousness. With their help we are to appeal to that all controlling agency and then we can again be reinstated in that īśa jñāna that I have got my master. I have got my master to whom, in whose holy feet I am to take shelter. I am to surrender to my master, the life of surrender again will come, will take, and everything is there. Only we shall always be conscious of our guardian, the highest harmonizer. The problem is one, only one problem; that we deviate from the consciousness of our guardian, and the only way to get out of the trouble, is to become conscious of our common guardian. That is God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Back to God, back to home, back to Godhead. Only one problem, we are deviated from Godhead and we shall try to go towards Godhead. We should go back to Godhead. And only one word that is necessary, what is necessary, back to Godhead, back to home, back to God, back to home. The general problem is this. And by so many variegated ways that is to be promoted. But the main thing is this.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the centre of highest harmony, and harmony is sweetness, harmony is beautiful, harmony is Kṛṣṇa, harmony is our guardian, harmony is our mother, guardian, harmony is our master. That is sweetness; that is rasa. No enemy, no apprehension I’ll be devoured by the inauspicious elements around.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Rāma. Hare Rāma. Rāma Rāma. Hare Hare.

That guardian came to us, from door to door, Gaura, Nityānanda, “Take Us. I have come to you, take Me.” Gaurāṅga, Nityānanda, from door to door. “Accept Gaurāṅga, I’ll be sold to you without any price. No price necessary, I’ll be sold to you. Only you take to Gaurāṅga.”

bhaja gaurāṅga, kaha gaurāṅga laha gauranger nāma,

yei jana gaurāṅga bhaje sei amāra prāna.

[“Worship Gaurāṅga, speak of Gaurāṅga, chant Gaurāṅga’s Name. Whoever worships Śrī Gaurāṅga is My life and soul. Come straight to the campaign of Śrī Caitanya and you will safely attain Vṛndāvana.”]

He’s my vitality of vitality, you say, you take refuge of Gaurāṅga. What is your real necessity, He has come to your door. Accept Him. Accept Him. And what is necessary I am doing.

Jesus came to wash the feet of his followers, is it not?

Devotee: Hmm.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Washed the feet of the disciples, ten: something like that?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So Nityānanda Prabhu has come to offer any service, any service, “You take to the Name of Gaurāṅga.” The approach there is similar, but the object of approach there is great difference between Jesus and Gaurāṅga. Kṛṣṇa or Krista: Christ and Kṛṣṇa, one full-fledged, another partial achievement, so method closer, in closer relation. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. And the Gandhi also there, ahiṁsā, but the achievement is only political, mostly, this mundane political emancipation. But Jesus had some higher, spiritual offer. And Mahāprabhu the highest spiritual offer, on the basis of science, full-fledged theism. And Śukadeva announced in the assembly of the great scholars of ancient India of different thought.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Any question?

Devotee: Mahārāja, when Rāmacandra was separated from Sītā, can those feelings of separation be compared to when Rādhā was feeling separation from Kṛṣṇa? Is there any comparison there?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No, not, this is relating to the mundane government Avatāra but that is the eternal, this is of eternal, but it has got temporary value, and that is permanent. This is as a policy in the mundane administration, nīti. Rāmacandra is more given, Rāma līlā is more given to the nīti _______ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Morality.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Moral...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Conduct.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... and this mundane moral side. And Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes concern only wholesale the highest pastimes. No mundane reference. And here the reference is mundane. A good King, the good King of the highest conception. That we find in Rāmacandra, the highest possible ideal King, in consideration with this mundane administration of many, with religious background. But Kṛṣṇa līlā, that has got no connection with this mundane world. That is an eternal plane in the highest quarter of the existence. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Parvat Mahārāja: What is the teaching behind His hearing a person, of the people, and on the basis of hearing that impression He banishes Sītā who is impeccable? What is the teaching behind it, or moral, government, what is it?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He takes the responsibility of even promising good government even to the worst people. Just as a bad son, he should also get affection of the mother or father. A most wicked child, he has got also a position in the affectionate bosom of his mother or father. A slight remark against His good name, a slight remark against the sincerity of good government, Rāmacandra could not tolerate. For that He took the highest bait, highest sacrifice. For the least dissatisfaction of the subject, He held Himself responsible and took the whole reaction on Him, the penances on Him.

“I am not only Master of so many, so many souls, but if anything, even any imaginable remark comes against it.”

Just as when any deserver in the department of any administration, the minister resigns. You are acquainted with that, this fashion, this etiquette, that whenever any unsuccessful in particular department of a minister, the minister thinks that, “I’m not fit, I resign. A fit man should be engaged in my place.” He does, to save his honour. Honourable retreat, retirement, this is honourable retreat, “That I am unfit.”

So in that colour, line, “I am a King. I am supposed to give a good government to My subjects. But I find there is some complaint about Me. Then I must take the charge, the bad remark against Me, and I must have to take the challenge. Either to give away the kingdom, I’m not fit, I leave the kingdom. Or I shall have to, the alternate thing I shall have to make sacrifice so as to make compensation for the complaint.” So Rāmacandra took the second line.

“That you say that I am Myself doing wrong, I’m not law abiding, the moral law abiding. I’m the dispenser of the laws and I’m law breaker. Who is dealing with the laws of the country and the complaint came that He’s the law breaker, religious law breaker. Then I’m taking the punishment on My own head. According to your judgement, you subjects, I give judgement for your control, and your opinion is controlling Me, accept your judgement. And though I know that I’m not, I can’t be charged with that complaint, but still, because someone says that I’m so and so, so I take the punishment Myself so that there’ll not be any room for other subjects to do such things.

Apparently that may be objectionable, not really. Sītā is chaste, Sītā lived for one full year in Rāvaṇa’s house and Rāvaṇa was a demon and he was a great power. So easily one may think that Sītā has been polluted. She was under the care of a satanic person for the whole year. So easily some complaint may come against Her. But few of us are satisfied that She’s as pure as We can conceive. But general public may not have such understanding. So to satisfy the mob, I take their decision as punishment on Me and I accept that, yes, I banish Sītā. I’m giving punishment to anyone and everyone, from this throne, and when a slight voice is regaled against Me that I’m a culprit, I must take the punishment.”

That was the most generous type of attitude which Rāmacandra showed.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, you were speaking of the principle of harmony.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then, Kṛṣṇa also did so, when a bad name came to Him that He has stolen that Syamantaka-maṇi. But Kṛṣṇa knew that He has not taken, but He had to take that challenge, and run after, to do some justice to that bad name. And anyhow He followed the Prasena, and the lion, and then from Jāmbavān He restored that Syamantaka-maṇi and gave it to the owner to prove that He was not the thief, the kalanka. The bad name came to Him and in order to do away with that He had to take such trouble and prove that, “I’m not the thief.”

Hmm, then, what do you say?

Devotee: I had a question because you were speaking about the principle of harmony. I was wondering if you could explain how that applies practically, what you were explaining?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I don’t know.

Aranya Mahārāja: He wants to understand how to practically understand this principle of harmony.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: How practically to understand what is the principle of harmony?

Aranya Mahārāja: Yes. He’s asking that question.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hmm, ha, ha. What is the meaning of harmony you know?

Devotee: Yeah, ha, ha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Harmony means what, in your conception? What is harmony?

Devotee: Well, harmony, strictly speaking, is a musical term and it refers to different musical tones which are in balance and they sound...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So different sound is tuned to one, that is harmony, different instruments, different tone, from different men, many, plural is connected with one and giving some sweet, on the whole, giving some sweet and soothing feeling, or sentiment. That is harmony. There must be different things, different kinds of sounds from different kinds of instruments, and different kinds of voice. That is harmony.

As you see, the Earth, the planets, they’re moving in their own way, and again they’re connected with another movement, another force. The Moon is moving around the Earth. There are so many upagra, planets, are moving around another planet. Upagra [?] means, ki?

Just Moon to the Earth so in Bṛhaspati ___________ [?] there are so many sub planets, they’re moving in their own way. Again, with all those movements, Earth is moving round the Sun. So many others moving, in this way in one year Earth is circumambulating the Sun. There is Bṛhaspati ______ [?] in two or four years or twelve years Bṛhaspati completes its round, around the Sun. Again, there is a time when everyone can complete his one year movement.

This, you know the LCM, mathematics, LCM, BCM, do you know? LCM, to find a common...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Lowest common multiple.

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Common, so many figures meet their common, divided, some five times, some ten times, some hundred times, they’re to meet at one point. In this way variety meets in one point, he represents in one, all meet in one. That is harmony, plurality meeting unity, in different planes. In the plane of sound, in the plane of colour, in the plane of movement, it may be of different phases, but many meets one, in one point, that is harmony. Just as so many branches of the tree, they meet in the trunk. The trunk harmonises so many branches. The twig harmonises so many leaves. In this way, harmonised.

...

...sound, and beauty which is applied in the plane of colour, vision. So also in different planes the beauty, the harmony, the unity, and many similar words that can represent. The master, the guardian, the controller, the well-wisher: in different phases it may be applied. Many in one, many represented in one part, in the interest of the many when represented in one place.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: So in the Absolute, even discord brings harmony.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. In the highest Absolute there’s room for the accommodation of anything and everything, otherwise it cannot be absolute. If something outside, it is not absolute, absolute one, one accommodates everything. Enemy is no enemy to Him. All relatives, so according to...

The Śaṅkara says, “Then it becomes zero. All, enemy, friend, all jumbled together, that is possible only in zero conception.”

But the theistic school says, “No. That is dynamic, living. Absolute means absolute good, not zero. Not necessarily to be non-differentiated, non-specified, a zero like thing. But everything will have got its fullest representation. Still, whole is so great that it can accommodate them. They’re in full swing. All the parts they’ve got their full interest.”

And the controller is, the general is so high and tactful that he can control the soldiers, they’re so brave as suicidal squad. The suicidal squad soldiers must be very brave and the general of that squad must be very, very brave. Bold and brave and desperate soldiers also can be harmonised in a particular army. They can be controlled. Such brave and such genius there may be as to become their general.

Gaura Haribol. Positivist, not negativist like Śaṅkara, but positivist, “Yes, everything is.”

When I was a boy of fourteen I heard from one of my teachers,

Satyam briyath briyam briyath na briyath satyam apriyam [?]

Briyam ca nanitam briyath esa dharma sanatana [?]

He quoted it from some Upaniṣad perhaps. It says, satyam briyath, always speak the truth. Briyam briyath, always speak what is pleasing. Na briyath satyam apriyam, never speak such truth which is not pleasing, unpleasant, satyam apriyam. Briyam ca nanitam briyath, at the same time you must not speak a pleasing thing which is untrue, which is false. Esa dharma sanatana, this is sanatana dharma, the eternal conduct.

I was puzzled, what is this? Satyam briyath, it is all right. Then briyam briyath it is also all right, not objectionable. But na briyath satyam apriyam, never say such truth which is unpleasant. How it can be tolerated? Whether it is pleasing or not pleasing, truth must be spoken. Why should it be, should have any opposition that truth must not be spoken? Na briyath satyam apriyam. At the same time, briyam ca nanitam, what was pleasant but not true don’t say so. Esa dharma sanatana, dharma, the eternal conduct should be like this.

So truth also has necessity of modification. There is the truth of our conception. The higher truth can conceive, can harmonise both truth and falsehood. It comes out of that.

Kṛṣṇa asking Yudhiṣṭhira, “Say that Aśvatthāmā is dead. Say to Droṇācārya.”

But Yudhiṣṭhira’s faltering, hesitating.

But Kṛṣṇa says, “What is the truth of your conception, from the higher standpoint that may not have such value.”

A general law in a particular plane that may lose its generalness in the consideration of higher office: so gradation of conception in truth. Truth in our conception may not be truth from the higher plane of conception.

Arjuna, he promised that whoever will blame his Gāṇḍīva he will cut his head immediately. One day when Yudhiṣṭhira was insulted by Karṇa in the Kurukṣetra battle, then Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa had retired from the battle to take some rest in the camp and Yudhiṣṭhira abused Arjuna.

“You gave me assurance that you will make me King and I am enchanted by that I am a fellow fell prey to your influence. But you can’t do that. Karṇa has insulted me very eagerly, and fie your Gāṇḍīva.”

Then Arjuna when the blame came to Gāṇḍīva, Arjuna trying to draw the sword from his...

End of 82.02.25.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.25.C_82.02.26.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...very well, how to keep up the promise, is it not? Ha, ha, ha.

“But have you got only one promise, that whoever will blame your Gāṇḍīva you will behead him? Only this promise in your life you have made? But there are other promises that you will make King, the Yudhiṣṭhira, the King of India. Was that not a promise of you? Then was that not a promise, so many promises, and if you don’t keep up your promise you will welcome death. There is another alternative. If you don’t, if you can’t keep up your promise then you will die, but death is also of different kinds: eight kinds of death. One of them, one of death is to engage in ones own praise. So as the sin, so the penance, so go on praising your own capacity. Then eight kinds of death: that is one kind of death, to praise ones own self. Do that.”

Arjuna was perplexed. Yes, he was really going to behead Yudhiṣṭhira to keep up his promise, but he already promised that he must make him Emperor of India. That was also a promise. So Kṛṣṇa came with the conception of higher truth. Arjuna was perplexed and Arjuna left.

In this way, in the conception of our truthfulness there is also some defect. So satyam briyath briyam, what is satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.1.1], so what is true? The truth is not law, truth is Kṛṣṇa. The ultimate conception will come that truth is personal, truth is a living thing, not a dead law, abstract. That is not the real conception of truth proper. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi, the characteristic of truth, let us try to understand.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says, “I am hereby going to give you the real conception what is truth proper. Truth is person. Truth is Absolute. Truth is Lord. Truth is not a law, abstract, a man-made expression.”

So to abide by the Absolute movement, flow, flow of movement coming from the Absolute control centre, that is truth. Whatever He desires, He wants, surrender to that. That is truth. The highest conception of truth is there in harmony. Truth is to dance in harmony with the most original plane according to its vibration and wave. That is truth. That is inevitable, causeless, inevitable movement of the plane, to dance in tune of that. That is truth. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Hari.

Truth is God. Satyam, then śivam, then sundaram. Truth can be raised into that of goodness, and then again that is sweetness. Truth is sweetness, sweetness, ānandam, rasam. That is truth. That is truth, what can fulfil, what can quench the thirst of all. That is truth. In its higher conception, truth that can satisfy, that can quench the thirst of anyone and everyone in the world. Truth has got such a wide conception. Satyam, and gradually that śivam, so when truth says that man will be punished with death, then mercy comes and minimises, then mercy is not truth, rather, the higher conception of truth, mercy, who can compensate the situation. Mercy may not come from a man in the street, but mercy can come only from such a position who can give harmony, can compensate. He can only show mercy, not anyone in the street. So in this way the higher conception of truth runs to sundara, satisfaction, to remove all the difficulties, not only, but positively to fill up the whole heart with sweet nectar, juice, sweet juice. Akhila-rasāmṛta-murtiḥ. The definition of Kṛṣṇa has been given in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu by Rūpa Goswāmī. Akhila-rasāmṛta-murtiḥ, the nectarine rasa, juice, and that is personified, that is harmonised. Personification means harmonised and living thing.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

What’s the time?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Nine thirty.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nine thirty. Any question? Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Our Bhāratī Mahārāja is here?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No question from you, what is this?

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: I’m trying to harmonise.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vijñāna Bhāratī.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Vijñāna Bhāratī. Sounds, speech, words, filled up with viśiṣṭa jñāna, words consisting scientific knowledge, or higher knowledge. Words filled up with high knowledge, and in the field of devotion. Bhakti Vijñāna Bhāratī.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Very dignified name.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha. So you are to keep up the dignity of the name.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. And he’s Bhakti Vilāsa Parvat, the parvat who’s containing the bhakti vilāsa, the play of devotion. The play of love is displayed where: in the caves of mountain, Govardhana, jñāna-sunya-bhakti. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Mahārāja, you didn’t explain the last line of that verse.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Which?

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.37]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād, īśād apetasya viparyyayo.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: The last line you didn’t finish.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ, bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā. How to be reinstated into that harmony, if we lose the harmony, how to be reinstated? Bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā. Only by devotion, only by devotion, only by surrender, surrendering: not by calculative attempt, but by surrendering. And what is the type of surrender? Guru-devatātmā. Guru-devatātmā ca, guru-devatātmā, it may come in the first plane of explanation, Guru and devata. Devata means abhista, for to give whom Guru has come, this is guru-devatātmā, that He Himself is Guru, and what the Guru comes to give. Three things must be represented there, Guru, devata, ātmā. The disciple, the Guru, and the summon bonum, the goal, that will be one. One means not physically one, but in one tune, in one sweet connection, guru- devatātmā. Again, guru-devatātmā ca, Guru is everything. He’s devata. We shall try to find our goal also in Guru, and ātmā, devata, and ātmā means priya. Guru is the object of my worship as well as he’s the object of my love and affection, devatātmā. In this way we shall concentrate and we’ll be reinstated in no time in my former position, back to home. We are to rely on Gurudeva. And who is Guru? Guru is he who has come to deliver me, to take me there. Guru is not a static thing, but he’s of dynamic character. He’s living, so living that we are requested to see him, the ultimate, sākṣād dharitvena [Śrī Śrī Gurv-aṣṭaka, 7]

ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān, [nāvamanyeta karhicit

na martya-buddhyāsūyeta, sarva-deva-mayo guru]

[“One should know the Ācārya as Myself and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinKing him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods.”]

[Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.17.27] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.46]

“You want Me. You want Me. I have come to take you to My Own place. Guru is such. In whatever lower position you may be, you are born in the line of the fish, I have come to you in the form of a fish, Matsya Avatāra, to help you. You have come in a tree, I have come in the form of a tree. In this way I have come here to take you in.”

That is the general conception of Guru. He has come. Then again, he comes, how? In different representations He can come, but He’s there within, because none can give Him without He Himself. Yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas.

[nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo, na medhayā na bahunā śrutena

yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas, tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛnute tanūṁ svām]

[“One cannot understand the substance of the Paramātmā, the Supersoul residing within everyone’s heart, by means of expertise in logic, intelligence or learning. When the living entity begs the Lord for His mercy, being desirous of His transcendental loving service, then the Supreme Lord reveals His self-manifest form directly before him.”] [Kaṭha-Upaniṣad, 1.2.23] & [Muṇḍaka-Upaniṣad, 2.3.2]

The conception of the super existence is such, that they can come down, but we cannot go up to Him. So His coming down, that is most indispensable thing. He comes down in different ways, in different forms, in different instalments He may come. But if any connection really to have with Him, He will have to come. But He may come in different form, different plane, but still, it is dynamic and not fully identified with a particular plane or form. We are to find it in that way. Guru-devatātmā, Guru, devata, and not a human form with some human mentality, with some human education, with some sort of particular knowledge in the spiritual world: not. Gurudeva, devata, Guru, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa rūpam śāstre pramāṇe.

So in innermost finding He has come to take me. And He means His own, His representative also. If He comes here, He’s staying, His representative also, so some representative also may come. Through him He may negotiate with me. So Guru is infinite, infinite. We should not give any finite characteristic in him. Still, because we’re finite, so only with some sort of finite conception we are to approach. But at the same time we must be very careful that my limited knowledge, my prejudices, may not be bar to my way of progress in the unknown, real path. Guru, guru-devatātmā. Anyhow your deep connection and hankering for the object, and who has mostly come to think for you and take your charge ostentatiously. You must not be lacking showing your fullest sympathy and cooperation with that deliverer. This way you’ll be easily taken in there, what you hanker after, guru-devatātmā.

bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād, īśād apetasya viparyyayo 'smṛtiḥ

tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ, [bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā]

[“Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is effected by the potency for illusion, called māyā. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshippable deity and as his very life and soul.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.37]

Here, because by His peculiar, particular potency, I am thrown here, so I must take the, that shelter to the potency. It is not recommended in Bhāgavatam.

As the śaktas, the tantrics say, “The māyā has got direct connection with me so I must take shelter to māyā. And when māyā will be satisfied with me she will open the door and I shall be allowed to go up.”

But here, Bhāgavata says, “No. Whose māyā, He’s the Master of māyā, and whenever you will show your tendency to be one with the, to satisfy Him, the māyā automatically she will leave you, she’ll withdraw from you.” That is the Vaiṣṇava theory. And in the good sense also it may be taken that Guru he also may be His potency, the potency, this māyic potency and the real potency, real and misconceived. The Guru is real potency, that we must take shelter through him, to Kṛṣṇa, in this way.

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate]

na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

If we’re sincere, we’re not to incur any loss. We must be rewarded with success. Na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati. A very valuable advice in Gītā, be true to your own self. Be sincere in your search, in your activity, in your prayer, in your movement. Crookedness, be aloof from, kapaṭā means deceitfulness. Be very careful of deceitfulness. That is māyā, deception is māyā. Try to drive away the tendency of deception. It comes to self deception. Deception is bad. Simplicity is good. If we’re simple then we can have our quota easily. Because we draw a screen and then we’re separated. In this way, be clear, be straight, in thinking, and be a student, really student. Become: prepare yourself to be a student, proper student, always trying to learn, student. Student in this sense, students also become teacher. Learning and distributing that learning to another, still he’s always student. None can finish his learning, his inquisitiveness, inquiry.

Kṛṣṇānusandhāna can never be stopped, cannot come in a stagnant position, kṛṣṇānusandhāna. It is continued eternally, kṛṣṇānusandhāna, how to search, and how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, no end. No end of satisfaction to Kṛṣṇa. As much as he will try to satisfy, so much so he will think that, ‘I can’t satisfy Him.’ That is the very nature of the quest, infinite, we are told, because it is infinite. But still we are in the element, though we think we are in want, we are searching, but still we are in the element, not misconceived ego. Kṛṣṇānusandhāna, kṛṣṇānusandhāna, everywhere, it cannot be finished, kṛṣṇānusandhāna, search after Kṛṣṇa, it is never ending, can never be finished. Sweetness, more sweetness, more sweetness, more charming, more charming. A race cannot be run, to commence a race that can never be run to its finish.

So scientists, they’re also after searching of infinite, but in the plane of exploitation, that is the difference. The plane of renunciation and the plane of self distribution, plane of love, the plane of dedication; that should be done. Everything we shall search after to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, for the centre, not for any part, the central interest. We shall work in the interest of the central necessity, the central arrangement. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Search is there, search, how to satisfy my Lord. How to satisfy my next superior who is in his higher way trying to satisfy his higher master: in this way to Kṛṣṇa, in this way. Energy with more energy, more and more energy, but the plane is a different one. No cessation of energetic movement in any time, always a dynamic character. A servant should be more dynamic than the master. But the master in his position he will also try to be more dynamic to give rest to his own master. In this way they will find more dynamic, all dynamic. Through sweetness also dynamic in its self distribution, Mahāprabhu is also incest distributing Himself, His sweetness. He’s also of dynamic character. Cooperation, action, reaction, difference of plane in our life. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Mahārāja, you said that mercy is the highest conception of the truth. Could you give us an example?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ke bolchen?

Devotee: Mercy is the highest conception of truth. She wants an example of that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mercy, the highest conception of truth, yes. There is in Mahāprabhu, Aparadhe vicara te nahidhi [?] Jagāi, Mādhāi, they came to oppose Mahāprabhu and His campaign. Who came to distribute Divine Love, Jagāi, Mādhāi opposed, but they were pardoned, and also they got the high position of a devotee, that prema. Pūtanā came to kill Kṛṣṇa with poison in a motherly form, but apparently she was killed by Kṛṣṇa in some way or other, but elevated her soul to the highest position, through mercy.

aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ, jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī

lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato 'nyaṁ, kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema

[“How astonishing! When Pūtanā, the wicked sister of Bakāsura, tried to kill child Kṛṣṇa by offering Him deadly poison on her breasts, she reached a position befitting the Lord’s nursemaid. Could I ever have as merciful a shelter as that of Lord Kṛṣṇa?”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 3.2.23]

“Whom should we go to seek for my best achievement than Kṛṣṇa who even forgave His slaughterer and gave her the highest position of a mother, motherly position?”

So there we find mercy over justice.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Nityānanda Dayal. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Do you follow?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, she follows.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Mādhava Prabhu not yet come?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. So we may finish today here.

Devotees: Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

...

Devotee: Mahārāja, when we first become devotees it is said that Kṛṣṇa doesn’t accept any of our offences. So in the beginning we make advancement very quickly, and then after some time that advancement slows. Can you explain what those offences are?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say? Who is he?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: This is Mahātmā Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mahātmā Prabhu, newly come?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Come from where?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: South Africa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: South Africa. What is his question?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: His question is that when we are newcomers to Kṛṣṇa consciousness it appears that we make some rapid advancement...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, then little retardation?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. So what is the explanation?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is mentioned in Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s book [Mādhurya Kādambinī, p 15], he has classified, utsāha-mayī, ghana-taralā, then viṣaya-saṅgarā, in this way five stages in the beginning, sometimes it is seen like that. In the beginning that is utsāha-mayī, with much enthusiasm one approaches the cause. And then gradually, ghana-taralā, sometimes it is enthusiastic and sometimes depression, in this way, viṣaya-saṅgarā. Then again he may come to his former position also. Then he’s saṅgarā, he’s very much busy for his fame as a devotee. So many sub-divisions have been mentioned in the first stage. But the only remedy is to engage oneself in the service under proper guidance, saṅga, sādhu-saṅga. That can help us, mostly, in general. Whatever disadvantage we feel in our way, mostly they can be compensated by the association of sādhus. Unconsciously we may make progress there. So to live in the organisation and to have a position.

[śrīmad-bhāgavatārthānām āsvādo rasikaiḥ saha] / sajātī-yāśye snigdhe sādhau saṅgaḥ svato vare

[“One should taste the meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the association of pure devotees, and one should associate with the devotees who are more advanced than oneself and endowed with a similar type of affection for the Lord. Those that are in our line, who have the same high spiritual aspirations as we do, and who hold a superior position, to associate with such saintly persons will help us the most to progress towards the ultimate goal.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, 1.2.91) & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22.131]

Of similar temperament but superior to myself, such association will help us a great deal, and also when sādhu is not available then śāstra saṅga as much as possible. But it happens in many cases, but we shall try to avoid it, avoid this, because the attainment is very valuable and time is very short. After this human birth, if I’m posted somewhere else as a result of my previous karma then the condition will be more helpless and hopeless. So śāstra has given instructions to us to utilise the time which is before my death.

Anu mrtya yavat [?] So long I am this side the death, I shall try my utmost to utilise this valuable time for this purpose. Otherwise the alternative, visaya kula sarva tasvat [?] What engagement I shall get, alternate, in the opposite side, that will be available everywhere. Wherever I shall go, there this viṣaya saṅga, my sense pleasure will be available everywhere.

Only through sevā my own self, the most valuable thing, that cannot be had anywhere else, but only in this human birth, and only with the company of the sādhus, the association of the devotee. So much trace has been laid on this sādhu saṅga. And we have also read, heard, and by our experience we have been informed that sādhu saṅga, Vaiṣṇava saṅga, sevā, that is the most important thing.

Though in the beginning a beginner devotee, beginner, he may not even tolerate, “That sādhu saṅga, he’s also after a man. There may be some other alternatives but why they put so much trace on the sādhu saṅga?”

Vaiṣṇava sādhu saṅga means sādhu sevā. Sādhu means Vaiṣṇava, Vaiṣṇava sevā. Sevā means by submissive listening also we can serve him, not only personal service. That is also very valuable. But at least to have, to avail oneself of the chance of listening, coming in close connection with sādhu, intimate connection with the sādhu. The sādhu means Vaiṣṇava. His inner existence is always busy in the service of Kṛṣṇa in higher type. And that influence if I can catch, immediately I may be rich in my serving attitude. Sādhu and śāstra, these two can help us a great deal in our progress. So anyhow to manage that otherwise no other way, no other way. Those that are interested in such things for which I have come, those with real interest, I must have association of them. They know the value for which I’m hankering, so they will take the necessary action to help me. They appreciate the wealth for which I’m searching after. So only they are my intimate friend. And it is their interest also to increase their number to help that others may also be servitor of his Lord, it is their interest, so common interest he has got with me. So anyhow that association we have to secure, for the retardation, the slackness, the lethargy, that that may vanish, and we may feel more earnest necessity and do accordingly.

Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: I’d like to ask a question. I’d like to know what is meant by the term acyuta-gotra.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is he?

Devotee: Gaura Keśava dāsa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Gaura Keśava. Yesterday he came.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: From where?

Gaura Keśava dāsa: From Bangalore, South India.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: From? South India. Where? Bangalore. Whose disciple?

Gaura Keśava dāsa: Prabhupāda.

Devotees: Swāmī Mahārāja, our Guru Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: How long?

Gaura Keśava dāsa: Six years.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: How long you are in connection with ISKCON?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Six years.

Gaura Keśava dāsa: In connection with ISKCON for about nine years.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nine years. You have got both the initiations?

Gaura Keśava dāsa: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Your previous acquaintance? What was your name?

Gaura Keśava dāsa: My previous name? My previous name was Greg, karmī name, Gregory, English name. I’m from Australia originally.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, from Australia. Now, what is your question?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: What is the meaning of acyuta-gotra?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Do you know the Sanskrit word acyuta?

Gaura Keśava dāsa: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is it?

Gaura Keśava dāsa: It’s a Name of Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The derivative meaning, na cyuta, acyuta, cyuta means which is separated, comes down, falls down, cyuta. Na cyuta, who never deviates or falls down, acyuta, always can maintain His eternal position that He’s acyuta, always maintaining His position as eternal, not cyuti, no deviation, no separation, no fall from the original position. So acyuta-gotra...

End of 82.02.25.C_82.02.26.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.25.D

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________________________ [?]

...

...that to give us warning it has been shown like that. Just as the Lord Himself sometimes comes to teach us, taking what is impossible, taking Him in him only to show, so bhāva bhakti. What to speak of bhāva bhakti, it has also...

...

Mādhava Prabhu: ...yes, as usual, the meetings have not yet started, just preliminary discussions. I had a long discussion with Rūpānuga.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yourself?

Mādhava Prabhu: Yes. The President of the GBC, for this year, until the early morning hours, so I did not come this morning because I was so tired from the discussion last night. But he brought up many interesting points, and he requested that we’ll not make the points known to the others in general so that his position does not become known by anyone because he’s going to be the Chairman and he doesn’t want to appear to be on one side or the other. So he said, he wants first of all to send his respectful obeisances to you, and that his main concern is that no one will offend Śrīdhara Mahārāja. He’s afraid that anyone may offend you. He wants to avoid such things, because he feels it would be very damaging to anyone’s spiritual life. So then he brought up some questions which I have for you.

Devotee: Rūpānuga’s President of GBC?

Mādhava Prabhu: Rūpānuga, he’s GBC.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He’s Chairman.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: For the coming year he has been appointed Chairman of the GBC.

Mādhava Prabhu: He came here many years ago and he was very impressed with your good self, and then recently he came when some of the...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: With Swāmī Mahārāja?

Mādhava Prabhu: Yes, he also came by himself I think.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Nineteen seventy four was our first international festival. He came at that time.

Mādhava Prabhu: Then he came during the time when the GBC inquired about the Guru issue, also.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Nineteen seventy eight.

Mādhava Prabhu: So he said he’s always been very impressed, and he wants establish some relationship with you, but he’s not able to do so now because of the social consideration.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He wants to establish some relationship with Your Divine Grace, but because of the present unfavourable social environment he’s unable to do so.

Mādhava Prabhu: Well, one of the main...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What about Caru Swāmī, he says?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Caru Swāmī, nothing, he said nothing.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now what is your decision, now?

Mādhava Prabhu: My decision is finalized.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Finalized?

Mādhava Prabhu: Yes, before I went there, so I am staying firmly at your lotus feet. But he kept raising one point that I think is – maybe you can explain for us. That point is that he says, “Prabhupāda gave a general instruction that we should not associate with his God-brothers.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Mādhava Prabhu: He said, “This is a general instruction.” He said, “He may have given some particular instruction to some devotees that they can come here,” he said, “but in general he said we should not associate with them. And he said that this association means that we should not take initiation from them. That although he instructed particular devotees that they can come, he did not in particular instruct me that I can come. This instruction that he gave to the GBC also, was they could come to you for philosophical questions, was also given just to the GBC, and not to the others.” And this was his argument, one of his arguments.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He’s saying that our Guru Mahārāja’s general instructions...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes: that I understood.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: “Do not associate intimately. Intimately means also, taking initiation, and such things. He’s saying, he gave another general instruction to the GBC, they can come and hear from you on some philosophical matters. But he did not tell the devotees who are under the GBC that they may come.” So he was saying that Mādhava, he did not get any specific instructions that he can come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hmm? He has given specific instructions...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Has not given to Mādhava any specific instructions. To a few devotees, he gave some specific instructions, Acyutānanda, Rāmānuja, some others, but he did not give him any specific instructions like that.

Mādhava Prabhu: So therefore, “I’m not following Prabhupāda’s order.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What specific advice was given to Acyutānanda? What was that? Not to come to me?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No, that he should come to you and take your advices, instructions.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, in the beginning.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, and that’s where he mentioned you are śikṣā Guru.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Do you know anything what is the fate of my request, the letter requesting omission of the....

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: God-brothers.

Mādhava Prabhu: Yes, I told that to Rūpānuga, and he said, “Yes, this is a very good idea, that we should not do this.” He has agreed.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, very good.

Devotee: ____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Swāmī Mahārāja ______________ [?] criticise ____________ [?]

____________________ [?] further publication will omit _________________________ [?]

________________________________________________________________________ [?]

_______________________________________________________________________ [?]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: ____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________________________________________ [?]

__________________________________________________ [?] So, not any particular question to me?

Mādhava Prabhu: Well, this one point. How do I respond to him? I told him that Prabhupāda’s instruction to us was to approach a qualified person who is spiritually giving instruction.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____ [?] open. So that they may not be mishandled by the outsiders, so such precaution he must have pronounced, so that they may not be misguided and enticed. But not that the path of progress towards the higher realization of devotion that he has banned thereby.

Suppose you have come from some school to take Christianity. But there also that sort of instruction and request to the authorities must have been given previously, to the Catholic Church, or to any organization. That, “You must not mix with outsiders, so that your spirit may be disturbed. You must observe the authority.” Just as in the case of the catholic, the Pope.

Such instructions are, precautions, are always given in every religious view or sampradāya, society. But still, who are seekers after truth, they may not care for that and they’ll come out to seek the real, the concrete truth, not the stereotyped thing that was followed from ancient time. Everyone, more or less, they’re under particular religious, social binding. And it is, as I told repeatedly, in Bhagavad-gītā.

[śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ, para-dharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt]

sva dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ, para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ

[“It is better to carry out one’s own duties a little imperfectly rather than faultlessly perform another’s duties. Know that even death is auspicious in the discharge of one’s duties appropriate to his natural position in the ordained socio-religious system, because to pursue another’s path is perilous.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.35]

Very strongly here it is advocated, that, “Don’t leave your own religion, conception of your spiritual duty. Don’t leave your present position. But rather you should die, and after death, some change may come. Don’t leave your position.” Then,

sarva-dharmān parityajya, [mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ]

[“Totally abandoning all kinds of religion, surrender exclusively unto Me. I will liberate you from all kinds of sins, so do not despair.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66]

It is also there. So it should be considered that to maintain our present position, we are recommended so strongly because we may not fall down. But if I get chance of advancing, then with risk we must try to go ahead, if such opportunity I get. No risk no gain. But I must be sure that I’m advancing, in the name of advancement I’m not going down. That sort of self satisfaction, self decision, clear conscience, we must have. I’m going ahead. Not in the name of going forward, I’m going down. Mainly I’m justified to leave my present consolidated position. Sva dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ, para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ. The duty, in the consciousness of which you have taken your stand at present, rather die therein, don’t leave the position. Very strongest terms it is told there, but again there is, sarva-dharmān parityajya, if that clear call of advancement will come, one cannot but take the risk of advancing, going ahead.

Mādhava Prabhu: Mahārāja...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Mādhava Prabhu: So another point that he made, criticism, was that, about yourself, that you did not follow the order of Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī about the GBC, that instead you wanted to establish one Ācārya, and uh...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I can’t follow.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He is saying that Rūpānuga has brought up this criticism against yourself that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta, he wanted that among the GBC of Gauḍīya Maṭha, who were successful, that a self-effulgent Ācārya should come forth...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then wrong information. The GBC was in our favour. The GBC, after the tenth or thirteenth day of departure of our Guru Mahārāja, GBC was formed. Then there was division, and five against, and eight in our side, we followed GBC.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Well they’re saying that you created the division.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. Yes, I created means I supported, and got in my side eight in number, in the beginning. And then in the next stage, when I was frustrated, two years after, then of course I left. The minority GBC, they put a case on high court, on the basis of the will, and the case was going on between two parties. Then the majority portion, the number eight, they’re in possession. Mainly more than eighty per cent of men sided on our side, came on our side. But after two years when I had some cause to be frustrated with the Ācārya, then I retired. And then after long time, after twelve years after the departure of our Guru Mahārāja, I affected a compromise between the two parties, the two litigating parties.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But Rūpānuga he’s saying that in the letter he received from our Guru Mahārāja, that our Guru Mahārāja is saying that you are responsible for disobeying the order of Bhaktisiddhānta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. I supported a particular party, their division, and I supported one party according to my own opinion. But the GBC divided, thirteen members, five one side, and eight another side.

Devotee: ____________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I was in the party of the eight team, majority.

Devotee: _____________GBC______ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I am not a member of GBC.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Right, but you told us...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But when that eight again formed full GBC, eliminating those five, and they had requested me very earnestly to be a member of GBC, but I refused. I did not enter into GBC any time. I was always outside.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Right, but you said that Siddhanti Mahārāja said that your influence was so great that you convinced.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, and my support of this party, majority party, my support was very valuable. And they say, for my support, they got the majority, overhead majority, Siddhanti told. But I had also in my mind, I did according to my conscience clear, and I had in my mind that Professor Sanyal, his support was most valuable, Professor Sanyal. But Siddhanti said, “No, your support was most effective.”

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But what did the five want?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: The five, the eight wanted Vasudeva, were in favour of Vasudeva, and the other five, what did they want?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They wanted many Ācāryas. Generally those five, they were opportunist. So, we wanted to purify the mission, at least I, and many like us, wanted to purify the mission, because those five were, generally _______________ [?] just as Bon Mahārāja. Then there was Nemi Mahārāja, then Kuñja Bābu, who was exploited for his family interests. And so many, they were something like notorious for their ill conduct. But we wanted to purify.

Devotee: ________________ [?] Paramānanda Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Paramānanda ___________________ [?] Paramānanda, Bon Mahārāja, Nemi Mahārāja, Bhāratī Mahārāja _________ [?] Professor, Sundarānanda, Tīrtha Mahārāja, Keśava Mahārāja.

Devotee: Keśava Mahārāja_____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________________________________ [?]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Mahārāja, they say that you are against things like GBC in principle, because you like dictatorship...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. When I left I was requested by Sanyal whom I revered to certain extent. Now the decision of the GBC, that’s the second GBC, “You must obey.”

But I told, ‘No. GBC, I have no charm for GBC. And the property under GBC, who has got some temptation for that, he’s compelled to obey the GBC. But I want to serve under the guidance of a Vaiṣṇava. So, wherever I shall find a Vaiṣṇava, my interest will be to serve under his guidance. And if I don’t find, I shall retire and I shall follow my own conscience.’ That was my statement, at that time, a little harshly.

So much so, that the different parties wanted to make myself as Ācārya, the Keśava Mahārāja’s party, the Mādhava Mahārāja’s party.

But I refused. ‘No. Because there are senior brothers, there are many, senior members, and I won’t be able to follow their guidance. I want to keep my conscience clear. So, because I won’t be able to follow them, who is their majority, so I did not take the position of the Ācārya offered by them. I came here to live separately. I tried once, but when failed, then I thought that I will not remain subservient to anyone in the mission.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So, the point that they have to question is that, see, they heard from our Guru Mahārāja that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta’s order was that a strong governing body be formed.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “Form a Governing...” in his last days that was published in a paper. “Form a Governing Body of ten or twelve, but Kuñja Bābu will manage as long as he lives. Kuñja Bābu’s intelligence excels that of all.” Then, last words: “I am indebted to Professor Sanyal, Bhakti Sudhakar Prabhu.” Then, “Vasudeva may help to preach the rūpānuga instructions. Bhāratī Mahārāja should to look to the Mission.” So several, such sayings were there.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Didn’t he also say something about love and rupture?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Should have the same end?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then he told Kuñja Bābu, he asked Kuñja Bābu, “To be courageous and callous.” He asked Kuñja Bābu. “Love and rupture,” yes two words. “Both desirable if for Kṛṣṇa, if we are to face rupture or love, we must do it for Kṛṣṇa.” That was one point.

Devotee: ______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _____________ [?]

Mādhava Prabhu: So, Mahārāja, did Bhaktisiddhānta Mahārāja ever say that one Ācārya should not be chosen?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One Ācārya?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Did he ever say that they should not select only one Ācārya?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No, never. He was silent about the question of Ācārya.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Didn’t everyone wonder?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But whatever he, he was sick, what he told that was not we have thought, we thought afterwards the Governing Body would select some Ācārya. When the Governing Body was formed, that day Mādhava Mahārāja, he was Hayagrīva Brahmacārī, he proposed first that, “Who will be the Ācārya? We shall go out for preaching, and people will come to enquire, ‘who is the next successor of your Guru Mahārāja? What should we tell them?” Kuñja Bābu, the management with whom he was little enraged. “That we shall see hereafter. Why you are so busy with that question?” And he was silenced.

Mādhava Prabhu: Another point that he was interested in was the idea of the GBC being above the Ācāryas. You have said that that is not correct.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh, what does he say?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He’s saying that Rūpānuga, or this position was expressed, that the GBC they’re the ultimate authority.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: They are ultimate managing authority.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They are?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: The ultimate, final.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ultimate authority.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Above even the Ācāryas. And you have said previously, this is not the correct understanding.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, I told. I told. The management is the function of the kṣatriya organizer, and the Ācārya, they are of brāhmaṇa class. An Ācārya should not be put at the disposal of the management. That is my opinion. There should be some Ācārya Board. Another committee there may be, the experts in the śāstric knowledge. They may be consulted, by the Ācārya? And GBC will manage under Ācārya Board: that is my conception. The management is the activity of a kṣatriya. And the Ācārya: that is the function of a brāhmaṇa who are more given to philosophy and śāstric knowledge, but that does not care much for the organization. They are more devoted to the philosophy, to the ontology, to the spiritual practices, and the spiritual enquiries, and the publishing of the śāstra, etc. Their time should be more devoted towards that. The ontological side, they should represent. And the money matters and the administration, that may be with the GBC, the GBC. And they should be under the direction of the Ācāryas. That is my point. I don’t approve that the GBC, that the Chairman he’ll be with the Ācārya Board and the Governing Body mixed, and the Chairman will be one GBC. That is dishonourable to the Ācārya. Ācārya, they should be more or less to be thought like having some Divine representation, so faith, more faith in the Ācārya than the administrators.

Just as in varṇāśrama, the brāhmaṇas are Ācārya. They do not make much of the monetary and the administration. Money is given to the vaiśya, finance. First knowledge, second administration, kṣatriya, third finance, and fourth general labour: that is the ideal varṇāśrama, in the Vedic expression. And here begins the Vaiṣṇava cult, in a very crude form and then it advances towards, varṇāśramācāravatā, in Rāmānanda-Saṁvāda. First began with varṇāśrama. Then, it is developed into Kṛṣṇa consciousness gradually. The basis is varṇāśrama. So in this mundane world varṇāśrama should be the system through which people have connection with the spiritual life of high type.

Mādhava Prabhu: So when the Ācārya is a GBC?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ācāryas, they may consult with one another, real Ācārya, sincere and real Ācārya who has got more affinity towards devotion and the śāstra and ontology. More attraction towards that, than to make money and men: that should be the symptom of an Ācārya. He will be more or less indifferent to the material acquisition. And his tendency will be towards higher realizations, and he’ll try to distribute that amongst the people, in such way. And the administrator, financial administration, all these things, that should be done by the experts of that department. But the cultivation of the śāstra, and the realization of the truth, and suggestion what should be done about the publication of śāstra, all these things. And such education, may be in charge of the syllabus in the school, colleges, all these, the knowledge department, that should be with the Ācārya. And the property dispensation that may be under the guidance of the Ācārya: or collaboration. Management must not go to control the scholars.

Mādhava Prabhu: So when the Ācārya is a GBC is that some conflict?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ācārya Board, about the spiritual matters the Ācārya Board’s decision will be final. And in consonance with that, the Administrative Board, they will try to manage.

Mādhava Prabhu: There is no conflict if one is both Ācārya and GBC?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then, a general body of them and another, I told, suggested, that the experts in the śāstric knowledge, may not be Ācārya but scholars, they can help the Ācārya. And also the GBC minimised to keep harmonious connection.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He’s saying, is there any problem for an Ācārya to also be a GBC, administrator?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ācārya may be GBC, but who is not Ācārya, he will go to control Ācārya that is awkward. Non Ācārya will go to control Ācārya that is awkward thing.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, very clear.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ācārya must have such reliable position, not a man of suspected character. And the zone that also may be in an ordinary sense, but the stalwarts of every zone, they should have some free choice of their Ācārya, whom he can really put faith in, he will take him good. Because he’s in a particular zone, without his free choice he’s forced to take that man as Ācārya, he has no faith, he has forced initiation, that is also not good. They should be allowed to select their Ācārya whom they can really put faith in. An ordinary man in a particular zone, he can take the Ācārya, he’s primary student. Primary students they will have the local school. But those that can go out and mix with all the Ācāryas, they should be given chance to choose their own Ācārya, Gurudeva. That will be natural. The faith will have its full play. It’s a question of faith, not of administration. The question of faith has the first importance, if one is natural towards. The transaction of faith, free faith, free relationship, free choice, otherwise only administration purpose, one is forced to accept a particular Ācārya. That, I think is unnatural, artificial thing. So when administration comes to take the first position, then these things will come. Free transaction, sincere and free! Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Mādhava Prabhu: There was a rumour that you said that the GBC meeting was meaningless, because it is all relative.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All?

Mādhava Prabhu: Relative.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. From the absolute understanding, I don’t think that GBC is supernaturally a perfect body. I don’t think. As much as they will come with their decision to the Absolute truth, as I can conceive, I shall give so much value to it. I have got some knowledge, and I am not going to submit my own spiritual experience blindly to anyone and everyone. Last year I told after the decision of the GBC, ‘It is unfortunate and injudicious.’ A bold remark I made. I’ve got my own ________ [?] range, logical.

Bhāratī Mahārāja: _____________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh? __________________ [?]

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Prerogative?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No. The world of consideration, a range of a particular universal discourse, universal discourse, logical term: the point on which we’re discussing, the range within the range.

When I was in Madras, one judge, Rāmānuja, named Vallabhacari, afterwards he was the chairman of the Supreme Court of India, Supreme Court from Madras, when one day I approached him, he told that, “Swāmīji, I have no faith in any organization, because I have reason to believe that in Ancient India, in the Ācārya in the preaching system, there was no organization, all individual enterprise. In Purāṇa, in Vedic time and in other time, always we find that no organization in the religious matter we found, no trace. It came with the Buddhists first, and they’re out of Vedic culture, veda namaniya, they did not accept Veda.”

I only replied him, that, sango śakti kalau yuge. It is mentioned in scripture, Vedic, Vedānta scripture somewhere...

[Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came and introduced saṅkīrtana - sango śakti kalau yuge. "In this age of Kali, if the Holy Name is chanted congregationally, the combined efforts will be fruitful."] [The Search For Śrī Kṛṣṇa, p 109]

End of 82.02.25.D

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.25.E

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: … the professors of Sanskrit, professors, paṇḍitas, Ācāryas, they’re all individual case, that according to their scholarship, according to their honesty, śāstric knowledge, their realization, they will sign this, could make many disciples. But not that, and only following his disciples of course, but none in an organized way. He must be disciple to that person, cannot be, that system was here. That is artificial. In our case what should we do?

I came from a brāhmaṇa paṇḍita family of high, good name. Then, we had our family Guru, but I had no faith in them, as gṛhastha. From my childhood, I thought that I must have a tyāgī whose life is exclusively given for the truth. I must have such a Guru. I want to improve my connection, my condition, so from childhood I had such aspiration.

Then suddenly, when I was fourth year student, my age was twenty two or three, suddenly a change came, and it seemed very critical change. And at that time I came across the life and teachings of Mahāprabhu. And almost I surrendered. Then afterwards when I had to search for Guru, then necessarily: ‘who is the best man, best soul in the sampradāya of Mahāprabhu?’ That was my quest.

I searched in different places. So many Goswāmīs, they’re paṇḍitas but they have no renounced life, the śāstric knowledge, but they’re all family men, many, in dedicated life. And those that are apparently dedicated, this bābājī class, in our section they were notorious for their character-less-ness and also for their ignorance, want of knowledge, mostly, in śāstra, the bābājī class. Some sort of bābājīs given absolutely to knowledge of śāstra can be found, but still not so much impression in their advices, instructions, or words.

At last I came to Ācārya of Gauḍīya Maṭha. I found exclusively, exhaustively devoted to Mahāprabhu, and with strength, so much inestimable strength and exclusive adherence, following the instructions of Mahāprabhu. And I gave my head there. _____________ [?] This is my position.

So I have my independent characteristic, in my own way from the bottom, from the foundation of knowledge which I have acquired. Some family contribution, in my family there was the nyāya śāstra, Indian logic, then Purāṇa, and Bhāgavatam, and the Smṛti, all these departments of śāstra. Not so much Vedānta of high type: that had not cultivation there.

So Prabhupāda accepted me with a little, greater affinity, affection. I may not mention every personal questions, but generally my example and personality had some respect in the Mission. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Mādhava Prabhu: The letters from Rāmeśvara Mahārāja to yourself, they want a copy of those letters, to see what offence has been made.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What offence?

Mādhava Prabhu: What offence? I explained that Rāmeśvara had written one letter that was offensive, and they want to know what it is that he said.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Offence to whom?

Mādhava Prabhu: To yourself.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: To you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who says it is offence?

Mādhava Prabhu: I was explaining that Rāmeśvara had written a letter which you became offended by.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In his position of an Ācārya he came to call for explanation why I had given initiation to someone whom was already initiated by him. But the fact that I faced, that the disciple lost his faith in Guru, and knowing that the Guru also rejected the disciple. And the rejected disciple came to me. I delayed and enquired, and when I was satisfied; generally I tried to reinstate his faith to his former Guru, he might have committed an error. But with some evidence also he came out that he could not put his faith in the Ācārya, for some undesirable deeds, and also no possibility of reinstating his faith in his former Ācārya, Rāmeśvara. Then I came to know that Rāmeśvara Mahārāja when he came to know that he has lost his faith in him, he rejected him. When Rāmeśvara Mahārāja had rejected him, I came to know by some evidence: then I gave him connection.

Mādhava Prabhu: Would you like them to have a copy of that letter?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What I wrote to him?

Mādhava Prabhu: No, his letter...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No, Rāmeśvara, his letter to you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The copy is here, three letters or two letters, perhaps there’s a copy with Akṣayānanda Mahārāja.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, they would like to see.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They may like to see, yes you may take. We’re keeping a copy here of the letter.

Rāmeśvara Mahārāja is calling for explanation from me from the absolute position of an Ācārya. But I do not look on him as an Ācārya holding some absolute position. And plainly speaking, I think that my experience about the spiritual world and position of the Ācārya is superior to him. And it is somewhat accepted by his own Ācārya, Swāmī Mahārāja. It shows his ignorance, that he’s ‘master’ of the world, of a particular province, a particular section. It is not a property of this world that we should demand. The atomic jīva is free. Jīva is endowed with free will. That cannot be dealt like a property, material thing.

Our Guru Mahārāja, his ideal was to deal the disciples in general, that a leaf, a flower, offered to the Deity, how should one deal with the flower? Flower when come in connection with the Deity. So soul is offered to the holy feet of the Deity, of Kṛṣṇa, he should be considered as honourable, as pure. And he used to give praṇāmas to the śiṣya also. But there is such estimation in the background. And whenever the Guru is compelled to punish or to abuse the śiṣya that is his pralapita: that he’s possessed by particular tendency only, particular emotion that he does so, not in normal position. When Guru goes to abuse and punish the disciple, at that time he’s not considered to be in proper mood, but the mood of punishing that especially comes from Kṛṣṇa. That is pralapita, abnormal. And normally they say that as giving flower, and I have offered him to the holy feet of Kṛṣṇa, so he should be seen with some respect. The śiṣya should be seen with some respect. That is the ideal. He’s living, soul, and he wants to go to Kṛṣṇa and comes for my help. He’s not my slave, but honourable relation.

We are taught from the position of a man who’s endowed with delegated power, not naturally. Rank is but the guinea stamp, man is the gold holder. Everywhere, the stamp and the man, the rank and the man, both should be considered. The rank is not everything.

Devotee: _________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You can see the letter from Akṣayānanda Mahārāja ______ [?]

Mādhava Prabhu: So he likes very much that I go there and speak with him on regular basis. He wants that I go there...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who?

Mādhava Prabhu: Myself, Rūpānuga.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Rūpānuga Prabhu wants that you should go there and?

Mādhava Prabhu: Regular way to communicate with him about what is going on from here, because he does not know.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He wants, Rūpānuga wants that Mādhava Prabhu may come there and inform him of what is coming from this side.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: About ____________ [?]

Mādhava Prabhu: The main topic of discussion of the GBC meeting is yourself, and the devotees who are coming to you. So he wants there to be communication between this side and that side so that any problems that come up they may be clarified easily.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I have no any special desire for this, only that will come to me, my first tendency will be to avoid them. But if I can’t avoid then I shall give some attention. And then if I find that they desire help then I will try to render help according to my small position. That is my principle all through. I don’t like to go against the GBC, nor I like to submit to their decision. They’re independent. I am also independent. I’m not going to interfere with their activities. But when that report of their activities comes to me by anyone and seeks some advice from me, I give my, I’m independent man, I give my own instruction as I understand to them. And they’re free to take it or not to take it. That is my position, open position. I’m not sold to any plan of my life, specially, and my plan always in the line of compromise.

I’m not _________ [?] but my tendency is always to minimise and compromise and harmonise. My general nature is such. But still I’m a man of independent understanding, and independent opinion, and independent realisation, and I differ from many of our own section. I can’t submit to their realisations, their thought, their advice. I’m independent of them. I don’t go to interfere with anyone’s activity, but when it comes to me I give my independent decision, and generally I stick to that, whether they take it or does not take, it does not matter much with me. So I’m not their friend, neither their foe. More friend than foe. But still I have my own understanding, own conscience, and I’m open to all that come to me for advice, I give them advice _________________ [?] But I have no time, nor age, nor energy to take any responsible charge of anyone or any action, in this time, of this era. And previously, when I was young I had also no such mentality.

I have got three stars with much influence on me. One is Buda [?], that means some childish and some creative nature, childish and creative nature, mainly. And Bṛhaspati, vedavit, a sober and master of ontological type. And Soni [?] represents indifference, independent characteristic, without caring anyone, and no aspiration, even for the disciples__________ [?] And if some connection with the lowers section, that is the nature of Soni, the spirit of our own highest benefit in my life. And to give us that connection is really the Sun, so a very auspicious connection . And also the Bṛhaspati has a favourable relation with Moon. That is also very good I am told. But still I have not got that. I’ve got some ontological knowledge but my understanding does not allow me to organise, and give shelter to, to take responsibility of any Mission or other help of any high standard: that won’t allow. And Bud [?] some playful and some frivolousness, with simplicity to mix with the child, childishness, childish simplicity and playful temperament, that is Bud [?] And Bṛhaspati, the solar, the ontological capacity, and strong common sense, and clear decision, all these things. And the Soni [?], the habits of abnegation, not of accommodating temperament. That is the present characteristic in me.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. So you are to go back this night?

Mādhava Prabhu: No, no. I will go tomorrow night.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Tomorrow morning, oh, night, there is time.

Mādhava Prabhu: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You may think what to do. If you like you can take the letter.

Mādhava Prabhu: Ok.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They may not find anything objectionable. First you see if there’s anything objectionable. The play is of hesitative tone.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Challenging, they have a challenging spirit.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And now, perhaps as a policy they want to express that, ‘I’m not to be blamed. But there are some followers of Swāmī Mahārāja who has taken me, dragging me to this position which is blameable.’

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ‘And Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, and he’s the most wretched person who has taken this bold step, revolting against GBC. And he’s trying to establish a second organisation, taking my name, to fulfil his own ambition.’ Something like that their complaint is.

Mādhava Prabhu: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But I find that Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja has got, it is my opinion, he has got very clear thinking to catch the purport of the śāstras very finely. And he is impressed by my decision and my representation of the śāstric knowledge. And I’m convinced, not only he, but many of my God-brothers, they appreciated my way of thinking, in the ontological.

Even our Guru Mahārāja, he had asked the editors of papers, “Try to collect Śrīdhara Mahārāja’s articles, then the standard of your paper will be higher.”

With Sraman Mahārāja, who is now Ācārya of Caitanya Maṭha, he was editor of Nadiyā Prakāśa Daily, and to him I wrote an article from Bombay Maṭha about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. And that was published in Nadiyā Prakāśa and Prabhupāda read that, and remarked that, “Try to collect such articles for your paper, then the standard of your paper will be higher.”

And my Sanskrit passage only one poetry was published during Prabhupāda, that was very much appreciated by him. And also my lectures and arguments reported to him several times by many canvassers, and he appreciated. And even my senior God-brothers in the living time of our Prabhupāda, he used to ask me to repeat what we heard from Guru Mahārāja, and I represented and they’re satisfied.

I have got some special capacity of catching the fine ontological points and to represent. So when Guru Mahārāja was present I got some appreciation. I have got some faith, confidence, in my own decision, spiritual decision on that plane. And I feel that I have got some experience about the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ontological things. So I cannot submit to anyone and everyone, to their decisions. That seems to be childish to me. This is not self conceit but away from the taṭasthā, from taṭasthā temperament which I am describing for any other, without concerning myself. Impartial, as an impartial judge, this is my knowledge, in my dealing, in my frame of thinking. I don’t care for any future ambition, still any necessity of caring other’s opinion so much. My life is finished, almost finished _________________ [?]

About two years ago one my experienced law God-brothers told that, “Your disinterested nature and strong common sense, has given you some unique position in the Mission, whole of the Mission. Non interested nature and strong common sense in the spiritual realm also.”

Gaura Hari. I do not want any help from others. At the same time I do not want to submit to them things that I have, to submit to anyone, of the present living persons. So my good, of general respect I shall have to say ________________________________ [?] And I also revere Swāmī Mahārāja for the great magnitude of work he did, beyond conception. So I say that śaktyāveśa avatāra. So much personal capacity, strength, that some divine force came to work in his favour. __________ [?] It is damaged [?]

Devotee: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So many last weeks I insulted them permanently and the talk has been recorded, eh?

Devotees: (Group laughter?)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You caught me.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: I won’t distribute this recording.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, you may distribute.

Devotees: (Group laughter?)

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: All right I will.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What I am within me, the people will know and they will abuse me.

Devotees: (Group laughter?)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But what I am, if I need to be abused it will be well and good, any offences will be purged out.

Devotee: ______________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _____________________________ [?] Ha, ha, ha, ha. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. ____________________________________ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Then, should we stop here?

Devotees: (Group laughter?) Yes Mahārāja.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, but the more that you reveal to us about yourself, the more we become attached to your lotus feet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. That is also captured here.

Devotees: (Group laughter?)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So they will say that, “Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, he’s the root of all this evil.”

Devotees: (Group laughter?)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “So this year, GBC meeting mainly concerning this nasty fellow.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. But I cannot, I like them, I love them, but I can’t betray my conscience towards Mahāprabhu and Gurudeva. My own sincere understanding about Mahāprabhu, and spiritual scriptures, and Gurudeva and Vaiṣṇava, what I know I can’t betray them for the acquisition of the favour of GBC. I can’t sacrifice them. But still I think that I love them. I love them for Swāmī Mahārāja. He had affection for me. And it is a great work he has done for Mahāprabhu, so laudable. A blind man also can see what magnitude of service he has done for Mahāprabhu. For his connection, still affection and I’m well-wisher of ISKCON. They may believe or may not. This is the question of my heart. If I don’t love them as a child of Swāmī Mahārāja then think I do injustice to the cause of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya as well as my faith in my obligation to Guru Gaurāṅga, and Bhāgavata and Gītā and Vedic knowledge. I can’t commit suicide. I cannot be a traitor to my own self, to my own understanding and sincere realisation. That is my position. Jaya Oṁ Viṣṇu-Pāda...

End of 82.02.25.E

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.26.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...is, who gets recognition as family member of Kṛṣṇa, of Acyuta. There are so many gotra that the original they trace their lineage from some original position, from Bṛghu from Sandila, who is known in the society, a famous man in the society and coming down in his lineage, he says, that is they’re dying and taking birth in another body and there he’s to be recognised in the lineage of another person, can’t retain the position of his former. By the change of the body the birth line also changes, so their cyuta, changeable.

But one who enters acyuta gotra he enters the family of God. “He’s my Master. He’s my Lord.” So he’s not to change his acquaintance in future any longer, acyuta gotra.

Others today in ones gotra, Agasta Ṛṣi, then next birth another gotra, another ṛṣi. Next birth another, perhaps an animal, no parichar, no acquaintance of any lineage.

But once enters into acyuta gotra, “That Acyuta is my Lord. I’m to be acquainted in His Name. That I’m such and such belonging to Him, it won’t be changed. Won’t be changed, it will continue eternally that, I’m connected with Acyuta. Not cyuta, not to be disconnected, that is Acyuta, whose position is unchangeable, He’s Acyuta. And I have come to connect my fate with Him. That my recognition will not have to be changed any longer. Always I shall be able to say, I belong to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and no necessity of changing that position. For eternity I shall, I may go on with this parichar _________________ [?]

Bhāratī Mahārāja: Identification?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Identification or so, __________ [?] Introduction letter, parichar ______ [?] that I am so and so. And it won’t have to be changed any time. My introduction will remain eternally one and the same, acyuta gotra. I belong to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa is my Lord. Once one can attain such, he won’t have to change it, won’t, any time. But others,

ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ, punar āvartino ‘rjuna

[mām upetya tu kaunteya, punar janma na vidyate]

[“O Arjuna, from the planet of Lord Brahmā downwards, the residents of all planets are naturally subjected to repeated birth and death. But, O Kaunteya, upon reaching Me, there is no rebirth.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 8.16]

Others identification must undergo some sort of change, every possibility of changing in any other identification. But if I can attain identification in connection with Acyuta that may not have to be changed.

Suppose, if I have some introduction from the President of the whole country, that may be used in any provinces. But if I have any provincial introduction, that may have to be changed in another province, or one district to another district. But if I can have from the central authority, then wherever I shall go I shall not have to change my introduction. That introduction will be valid everywhere.

So acyuta gotra means my relationship with the Supreme Lord, whose respect is everywhere, acyuta gotra. Gotra means connection, lineage connection.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Hari.

Did he write a letter, from Bangalore, no, here?

Devotees: No. No: another gentleman.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is that gentleman?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Who wrote?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is also ____________ [?] mahājana...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: One Indian gentleman wrote...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Some gentleman, from Bangalore side.

Devotee: _____________________________ [?]

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: His contention is...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He wants all three.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: “A bad ISKCON-ist is better than a good Gauḍīya.”

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But it is not limited there. “They may be, they may go back to Christianity or to any other creed. Even they may turn to be atheist. But they should not enter the Gauḍīya association.”

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The mentality in this line, “A bad ISKCON-ist is better than a good Gauḍīya. The rejected ISKCON-ist may go anywhere, but they should not associate with Gauḍīya. That will be more...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Poison.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...injurious to us.” The principle at present is like this. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Too much sensitiveness and susceptibility: to keep up ones own prestige. If it does not come from high it is difficult to maintain. Who gave Swāmī Mahārāja so much prestige? Where from did it come? Ha, ha. Such a great prestige, where from did it come?

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. And they’re busy to find out what was wrong with me. But in spite of so much wrongness Swāmī Mahārāja appreciated me. That is enough. To his last days, he had some appreciation for me to his last day of appearance. So that is enough for me. I don’t want, whether I was litigant, I was a fallen man, I always after the policy of divide and rule, many things may be told against me. But in spite of that, Swāmī Mahārāja appreciated my association up to his last day. I do not want anything to plead in my favour than that. Ha, ha, ha.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: At least to them. Gaura Haribol. That half truth is more dangerous than falsehood. That will apply in their case, at least. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So the letter here may be given to Mādhava Prabhu if he wants.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I’ll arrange that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Photostat copy, duplicate.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: I’ll manage that, no problem there. Five minutes work.

Devotee: Mahārāja, I’ve heard that Tulasī first appeared as a dumb girl and married someone called Śaṅkhacūḍa and then became a plant. Is this true or not?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hmm? What’s he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: It’s the question of Tulasī.

Devotee: _________________________________ [?]

Bhāratī Mahārāja: _____________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, yes it is true.

Devotee: Will you tell us the story.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is true. It is possible. And it is so. And at the same time, Nārāyaṇa He had to also take the shape of Śālagrāma. She came as plant, and Nārāyaṇa came as stone. And Nārāyaṇa’s special desire, “That without your touch I won’t accept any form of worship.”

Devotee: It’s also said that Śaṅkhacūḍa...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Adulteration in the worldly sense, but in connection with Nārāyaṇa no charge of adulteration is possible, because everything belongs to Him. So adulteration: that is a perverted view of reality. So in this perverted world also it was adjusted in this way. But in fact there is no pollution, no filthiness. It is pure as anything. From that angle of vision it is līlā, and the anomaly only in the wrong view, perverted reflection here. From the angle of vision of the absolute realm it is līlā, it is as pure as anything. Only diversity in unity, plurality in harmony, it is that. From this side, through the spectacle of māyā where we’re eager to establish our own right, Tulasī and that Jalandar dasu, that demon, there is some right, conjugal right which is māyā, misidentification, misreading of the truth. There it is wrong from that plane. And there also that high connection came down to take us there anyhow. Here also that Nārāyaṇa also came as stone, in our view, and Tulasī came as plant. And there was some understanding to help our spiritual future that Nārāyaṇa won’t reject Tulasī in any time. Their connection is eternal. And without the connection of Tulasī, Nārāyaṇa won’t accept any sort of pūjā, worship to Him, any honour, not acceptable if not connected with Tulasī. So it is so universal we are led to understand, for our gradual advancement towards the Absolute Truth. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Parvat Mahārāja: Mahārāja, this prescribed duty, belonging only to the conditioned stage, what determines...

Bhāratī Mahārāja: __________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitya karma, naimittika karma, naimittika karma is duty that springs from a particular cause. So whatever karma: our only duty and obligation towards the centre. And the other obligations in the midway: that also to be connected with the Absolute Centre. Even the karma-kāṇḍa, that is also, that is attempt to connect the unnecessary duties to connect with the centre, anything. Anything and everything should have some connection with the centre: then it will be useful for us, our purpose. Centres connection will be healthy. Only our duties connected with centre that is perfect stage. Partial duties if connected with the centre, that is better, and even any duties, and every duty, connected with centre that is the best. Anyhow to have any connection with the centre that is useful for us, whether karma, or naimittika, or nitya, it does not matter.

A paramahaṁsa, we are told, even they go to answer nature’s call: that is also connected with service. To pass urine, that is also connected with service, what to speak of other things. It is such. Everything for the interest of Kṛṣṇa, not for any other interest, whatever it may be, that is what is necessary. And in the process of that whatever is connected that is good. No question, no difference of nitya, naimittika, or karma, or any other thing.

Sleep, sleep is also connected with the service. A good sleep can give good energy, and that may be utilised for the service. In deeper sleep he has no utilisation of any energy. That is also reckoned a part of the service because that helps the service.

yuktāhāra-vihārasya, yukta-ceṣṭasya karmasu

yukta-svapnāvabodhasya, yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā

[“For a person who eats, relaxes, and exerts himself in all duties in a regulated way, and who keeps regular hours in proper measure, the practice of yoga gradually becomes the source of dispelling all worldly suffering.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.17]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.02.26.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.26.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...but to see what Kṛṣṇa wants Arjuna to see, to look at. He can control the subject. He’s super-subject. He has the power to control the subject and to make to see, or hear, or touch, anything He can do by subjective interference. Not objective production is necessary, only by subjective control the super-subject can get you any sort of experience. He can do. It is better and easier to think in that way about the līlā of the Lord. He’s not to create a new thing with fossil or matter, but only His will, will control your subject, your subjective existence in such a way that whatever He likes you to experience, you’ll have no other alternative but to experience that thing. He has got such supernatural position and power. Then everything can be explained. All miracles can be explained very easily.

...

Devotee: ...world, then Kṛṣṇa He is always taking birth in the spiritual world, always being born. Because the material world that is reflection, the past... the līlā here is reflection...

End of 82.02.26.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.27.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...to meet as a body, and to go on in the line of Swāmī Mahārāja, as you can think, within you best - not to be silent or inactive. As much as we know, as much as we have got from him, with so small capital we shall go on, whatever, but sincerity in, of heart, sincerity of heart, that is the real capital. If it is found anywhere...

...

The conscience that took me to that Great Messiah, Swāmī Mahārāja, I cannot neglect that inner voice of mine; that guide. I shall do accordingly. I should rely on my inner tendency that took me to Swāmī Mahārāja, leaving so many things aside. So according to the dictation of my sincere heart, I shall go on. Go on. Ahaitukī apratihatā, that is causeless and that is irresistible. None can control. That particle is within us, that is bhakti. That is causeless. That means that has got no ulterior motive. That is innate, innate. You are an eternal flow of the plane. It is a particle, element of that substance, and apratihatā, none can oppose. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Gaura Hari, Gaura Hari.

I have suggested that a centre in the Madhyadwīpa should be established by dissatisfied sincere souls, for the propagation of which they have imbibed from Swāmī Mahārāja, for the best benefit of the people. But in a mild way, not any boisterous way. What they’re complaining against the present body, that may not enter into their association. With this idea they should combine and go on with what they have understood from Swāmī Mahārāja, to take it from door to door in a mild way, in a mild way. So much as competition with them, but to carry the truth, which they cannot tolerate that should not be; in their own way; out of necessity, not for any competition purpose. Then Swāmī Mahārāja willing, God willing, that will grow, that will grow; according to the sincerity of the feeling that will grow.

Swāmī Mahārāja has left a big organisation, and property, and men. But these people will have to begin in a humble, in humble way, and their sincerity and goodness will be their capital. Not so many grandeurs, so many money, so many men. So mild way, with heart within and God overhead, they may launch another missionary work.

[yaḥ svakāt parato veha, jāta-nirveda ātmavān]

hṛdi kṛtvā hariṁ gehāt, pravrajet sa narottamaḥ

[“A narottama, or first class human being, is one who awakens and understands, either by himself or from others, the falsity and misery of this material world and thus leaves home and depends fully on the Personality of Godhead residing within the heart.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.13.27]

A narottama sannyāsī has been qualified in this way. At heart there is Hari, Guru, and they leave the world and connect with the, leave their individual interest for the cause of the Supreme. Hṛdi kṛtvā hariṁ gehāt, pravrajet. Gehāt means from individual consideration. Renounce, devote for the public consideration, to distribute Guru and Hari to one and all, narottama sannyāsa, for the service of Hari.

Bahava iha vihaṅgā bhikṣu-caryāṁ caranti. Like birds from one tree to another tree; but their campaign is, yad-anucarita-līlā-karṇa-pīyūṣa. I am drinking nectar through my ears. Yad-anucarita-līlā-karṇa-pīyūṣa-vipruṭ-, sakṛd-adana-vidhūta-dvandva-dharmāvinaṣṭāḥ. And that is causing the dissolution of this māyik, this misconceived solidarity, one drop is dissolving.

[yad-anucarita-līlā-karṇa-pīyūṣa-vipruṭ- / sakṛd-adana-vidhūta-dvandva-dharmāvinaṣṭāḥ

sapadi gṛha-kuṭumbaṁ dīnam utsṛjya dīnā / bahava iha vihaṅgā bhikṣu-caryāṁ caranti]

[“The transcendental līlā of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is great nectar for the ears. Those who relish just a single drop of that nectar even once have their attachment to material duality totally ruined. Many such persons have immediately given up their futile homes and families and have come to Vṛndāvana like a free bird out of a cage. Becoming totally detached from their material life, those devotees have taken up the path of renunciation and have accepted alms just to maintain their lives on this plane. In this way they continue to search for Him, the all fulfilment of life.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.47.18]

Just as I am told, that there is some chemical thing which applied in the iron chest, the iron dissolved; some acid. To open, the dacoits, to open the iron chest uses some solution I am told.

So one drop of nectar, nectar in connection with the Absolute - that can dissolve long drawn family solidarity, in the interest of the body, mind. And when that is dissolved then bondage, the man in the public street and his business will be to take from door to door, the news, the nobility of that solution.

That amṛtam, that nectar, a drop of nectar has absolved me from all my loan of exploitation and made me free. And you also use this, you will be free. You will be free of your long incurred loan from this nature and you will be able to go to your own soil, back to home, back to Godhead. You will carry that nectar, drop of nectar, Hari-kathā, the news of the Absolute, sweetest of the sweet. Necessity, the only necessity; no other necessity is there, the only necessity, of all of us, indispensable necessity.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. The other day one gentleman told that some of them are roaring like lions. It is very difficult to find roaring for the cause of Kṛṣṇa. That is most desirable, roaring, that will diminish the bondage of māyā. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Gaura Haribol. Huṅkāra, Nityānanda Prabhu had that huṅkāra; a roaring voice.

nityānanda bali’ yabe karena huṅkāra [tāhā dekhi’ lokera haya mahā-camatkāra]

[“Whenever He shouted aloud the name Nityānanda, the people around Him were filled with great wonder and astonishment.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 5.167]

Koriya kalma sanath [?] That sound with the spiritual potency, could remove all the misconception of the audience.

Devotees: Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa Sharan Prabhu...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________________________ [?]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

It is deplorable that they have lost their faith in me. I was, I am, their well-wisher. And Swāmī Mahārāja who could not put his faith to any other God-brothers, but he had faith in me; and they are misusing that. I have no personal ambition, so I am in an impartial position. Many come to consult with me. I am not a, I am a consulting physician, not having any practice for myself, something like that. My position is more or less like that, consulting lawyer, or consulting physician; ha, ha, ha, having his own dispensary. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. That is my very nature from my boyhood. Not self seeker, but a tendency for seeking for others. My mother used to abuse me, “You don’t want your own interest, always trying for the interest of the others.” Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is my nature.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Of course, I am not perfect, but...... in self seeking, but with impartial judgement to try to help others, as much as possible for me to know and do.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa.

__________________________________ [?]

Devotee: __________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mahāprabhu. It is very easy to feel and understand that we can’t, we can’t serve Hari, Guru, Vaiṣṇava. But, ‘I am serving, I have got,’ that is to say, that is the most difficult. The nature of our acquirement is such. We are going to capture those that are higher in all respect than me, and that also in infinite degree. Then how it is possible? We must be conscious. We want to be connected with the superiors, with the superiors, whom it is impossible to control; but only the love, the affection, no right, no force.

That is the plane of approach, and love and devotion, that means sacrifice. Sacrifice, self sacrifice. That is the royal road, sacrifice. By sacrifice, no undesirable thing can enter. Sacrifice, no selfishness, selfish idea, and it has got no end. So we must not be afraid of any dejection.

When beginning, we are to promise, we are to sign a creed, that we won’t require any result, any consequence. That is with Him. That is in the infinite. That is with the infinite. Only the part of duty, insignificant it may be, attached for my position, my concern with only that, with that. The rest is in His hand. We must not bother about that. Only we shall concentrate ourselves to that one point, that what is my duty, to ascertain that and to accept that. And the rest will come out of its own accord. I won’t go to bother about that. With this spirit we are to begin any endeavour. Gaura Haribol.

We are going to take bath in the “Ocean of Sacrifice.” Ha, ha. Sacrifice: die to live, in Hegel, a very good expression. Die to live. That is the process of living; to die. What we are at present, die. Die, to your whole self, as a bait for the service. For the hankering of the service the bait is your wholesale ego. Die. And you don’t die. At the same time it will be clear that you want to die, but you can’t die. But that, your inner acquaintance will come out, that you don’t die. You don’t die. You are eternal. You will be able to find out that every moment I tried to do the thing at the cost of my death, but death is not coming. Why? I am trying to embrace death, but death is not come. What’s the matter? That I won’t die. I won’t die, I am eternal. And the power and the courage become more and more, bigger for me. Die to Live, sacrifice, ahutih, yajña, this word yajña means ahutih. That put into fire. You put yourself into the fire. Your dearest thing put into the fire, yajña. Yajña means sacrifice.

yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra, loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ

[tad-artham karma kaunteya, mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara]

[“Selfless duty performed as an offering to the Supreme Lord is called yajña, or sacrifice. O Arjuna, all action performed for any other purpose is the cause of bondage in this world of repeated birth and death. Therefore, remaining unattached to the fruits of action, perform all your duties in the spirit of such sacrifice. Such action is the means of entering the path of devotion, and with the awakening of true perception of the Lord, it will enable you to attain to pure, unalloyed devotion, free from all material qualities (nirguṇa-bhakti).”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.9]

sarva yajnyena saro [?]

ahaṁ hi sarva-yajñānāṁ, bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca

[na tu mām abhijānanti, tattvenātaś cyavanti te]

[“-Because I alone am the enjoyer and rewarder of all sacrifices. But since they cannot know Me in this way, they again undergo birth, disease, infirmity, and death.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.24]

“I am the master, the controller, and enjoyer, and recipient of all the sacrifices. Wherever it occurs, the recipient is Myself. Beneficiary, the only beneficiary in the world is Myself.” Kṛṣṇa says, “I am the only beneficiary, no other. All transmitter, all transmitting agent. But the ultimate beneficiary is Myself. Ahaṁ hi sarva-yajñānāṁ, bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca. But that Myself, that I, is friendly to you, not foe. Suhṛdaṁ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ [Bhagavad-gītā, 5.29] “I am your best friend.”

That is proper adjustment, which we hanker after. The Absolute Guardian, the owner, is my friend; is my friend. We are to realise that and do accordingly, with heart within, God overhead. Gaura Haribol.

Our Guru Mahārāja in the last words, “Be courageous and callous,” one of the expression peculiar, “Be courageous and callous.” Courageous we understand but callous is a mystic. Callous means perhaps forbearing, tolerant: callous. Callous not dismissing, not hateful, but tolerating spirit. Tolerating, forbearing, courageous and forbearing: callous. Be courageous and callous.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Love and rupture for Kṛṣṇa is welcome. It may be apparently love, it may be apparently rupture, but if it is for Kṛṣṇa, then it is acceptable. We must accept it. Only that for my personal fame I shall try to avoid rupture. That may not be justified. Yes, rupture, but it must be for the cause of Kṛṣṇa. That must be guaranteed from my heart. Then, if it is necessary, I must take it on my head, rupture.

Apparently, it is undesirable to come in connection with rupture with anybody, but if it is necessary for the cause of Kṛṣṇa we won’t come back. According to our own capacity, we are to invite. But it must be for the cause of Kṛṣṇa, it will have, fetch equal value with love. Love and rupture: rāga and dveṣa. Everything should be devoted to the cause of Kṛṣṇa, but not unnecessary, not some selfish purpose.

Whatever is done for His account it is justified fully, and that is nirguṇa. That is called nirguṇa. Caring for any result, to go on with the conceivable duty, the conception of duty towards Him, the Absolute Truth, that is nirguṇa. That is the most original wave of the whole universe, of our conception. Ahaitukī apratihatā, that is causeless, that is līlā. That is dynamic, but that is causeless, and that is irresistible, that wave, that is the līlā of Kṛṣṇa. None can oppose that. We are to adjust with that wave. And then we can enjoy the harmony. The harmony is not a static one but it is a dynamic, harmony is dynamic. And the dynamic harmony, to adjust oneself with the ultimate wave, the ultimate movement, plane of movement, that is nirguṇa, and Kṛṣṇa’s flute and dancing, the autocrat, beauty autocrat is in that plane.

Our Gāyatrī, Veda-mātā, is also tuned with that aim, as I have tried to draw out from Gāyatrī. Gāyatrī. Gāyatrī muralīṣṭa-kīrttana-dhanaṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi. In the same tune, the origin of the Revealed Truth, the Gāyatrī, Revealed Truth, Veda, the mother of the Vedic knowledge, that the Revealed Truth. Or directing tendency, and the call of Kṛṣṇa by the tune of His flute to adjust everyone in their respective duty, to satisfy Him, that is well connected. And the kīrtana of Mahāprabhu, saṅkīrtana, all aiming at the final adjustment with the nirguṇa, with the most fundamental plane, or wave of the most fundamental plane. Gāyatrī muralīṣṭa-kīrttana-dhanaṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Mādhava Prabhu: Śrīdhara Mahārāja, when Bhaktisiddhānta said that a GBC should be formed and that the Ācārya would be self effulgent, did he say how initiations would go on before that Ācārya became manifest?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is he?

Devotees: Mādhava.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mādhava. What is he saying?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: He’s saying that, “When Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura formed the GBC body he had said, he had left instruction that Ācārya will be self effulgent from amongst his disciples to continue the sampradāya.” So he’s asking, “Did Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura leave any specific instructions as to how initiation would go on before this Ācārya manifest himself?”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I can’t follow. I was thinking something else. What do you say?

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Whether Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura left any specific instructions how initiation will go on, after his disappearance, and before that Ācārya manifests himself?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh. You see, we have come to understand, generally we feel that Ācārya will appoint Ācārya, his successor. But we saw that he did not, he avoided. And necessarily, we came to think that whatever spiritual education he has already imparted to his disciples and perhaps it is natural and he relied on his general preaching and instruction that it will come naturally from his own imparted grace. It will come automatically.

And, as it happened afterwards, in relative, from the relative plane we may not appreciate that, but from the Absolute standpoint, we find that everything happens by the will of Kṛṣṇa, or Mahāprabhu, and necessarily, of Gurudeva. That is all good. In different ways, in different stages, that reacted, what he told, the reaction, the vibration, has come in different ways.

Anaya bedi gaban yasva sarvatra sat pada [?] If we can accommodate the dissolution of Yadu vaṁśa, the war of Kurukṣetra, if we find that that is not lacking in spiritual, from the Absolute standpoint, then this dismemberment also is to be appreciated. While complaining, but we are to, still we are to accept the inevitable, and through this process, the inevitable will appear.

Now we are sitting to find dissatisfaction in the existing administration. It is a process, and through this process perhaps something will come out. We can’t avoid this. It is a necessary process. So after Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura: that was also so. Through our complaint among dissatisfaction, so many things came and it was propagated and preached in a particular way. That is the final reading of things. That in the ultimate, ultimate decision is in His hand, and what is happening, that is all right. That is all all right. Still according to our own realisation we shall stand, ‘don’t do this,’ but when done, that may be accepted as the will of Kṛṣṇa. It is a peculiar of thesis, antithesis, synthesis. It is undesirable, don’t do it. But when it is done, it should be accepted, His will. We must, I am to adjust with that. In this way we are to take things.

Some things even Māyā, māyā. Sītā Devī was stolen by Rāvaṇa. It has got also meaning. It was necessary, to educate us, to give us something. So bright side, it has got also its bright side. Rāmacandra was banished by the request of Kaikeyi. It has got bright side. Jagāi, Mādhāi, and the Judus, betrayer, betrayer, oppositionist, it has got also meaning, place to serve the positive. The negative is serving the positive. In this way we are to adjust. It is a particular process. Through the pain child comes from the womb of the mother. Through the process of painfulness of the mother, child comes out; the object of her joy. That is the nature. So whatever we shall do, we shall do with sincerity, but not with attachment, much.

[karmaṇy evādhikāras te, mā phaleṣu kadācana

mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr,] mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi

[“I shall now describe niṣkāma karma-yoga, the path of selfless action. You have a right to perform your natural prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to any fruits of that action. You should neither act with desire to enjoy the fruits of your work, nor, as a result, should you be attached to neglecting your duties.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.47]

Because the fruit is not in your hand, so you neglect your service, don’t do that. ‘The fruit is not mine, then why should we labour?’ That satanic tendency may not enter your heart. What you think to be best, you try your best for that. But don’t look at the result. At the same time don’t be idle. ‘When I have got no connection with the result, why should I labour fruitlessly?’ That is satanic.

He’s warning against you, “No. Your part is only to do your, discharge your duty, and the next with the infinite.”

Because you are not only, you are only a very negligible portion of the infinite, so you do your duty. But the result involves so many clash with these waves of the infinite quarter. You don’t go to fix that your particular duty will produce a particular result, no. That is not possible, that is impossible. You are to do your duty as a quota, as your contribution to the Infinite. Be, try to have such life, and more than that, sacrifice. Your life: a particle of sacrifice for the cause of the whole. Try to die. Try to die for the Infinite. That is really your position. Learn to die for the Infinite, not for your own selfish purpose. And not magnified selfish, that is national, or social, or some family interest, like that. And there you find your best satisfaction within. You are there. When you are a sacrificed unit wholesale you can find the maximum pleasure in you; apparently which is thought to be impossible.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

The plane, the plane of sacrifice, there we live, your prospect is there, so don’t be discouraged. Atreya Ṛṣi must not be discouraged. He’s there, He’s there. Whom you are searching for, He’s there. None can make monopoly. He’s there. Why should we be disappointed? No disappointment. No disappointment. It is all for the best, all for the best.

End of 82.02.27.A

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Start of 82.02.27.A_O [A copy of 82.02.27.A]

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...to meet as a body, and to go on in the line of Swāmī Mahārāja, as you can think, within you best - not to be silent or inactive. As much as we know, as much as we have got from him, with so small capital we shall go on, whatever, but sincerity in, of heart, sincerity of heart, that is the real capital. If it is found anywhere...

...

The conscience that took me to that Great Messiah, Swāmī Mahārāja, I cannot neglect that inner voice of mine; that guide. I shall do accordingly. I should rely on my inner tendency that took me to Swāmī Mahārāja, leaving so many things aside. So according to the dictation of my sincere heart, I shall go on. Go on. Ahaitukī apratihatā, that is causeless and that is irresistible. None can control. That particle is within us, that is bhakti. That is causeless. That means that has got no ulterior motive. That is innate, innate. You are an eternal flow of the plane. It is a particle, element of that substance and apratihatā, none can oppose. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Gaura Hari, Gaura Hari.

I have suggested that a centre in the Madhyadwīpa should be established by dissatisfied sincere souls, for the propagation of which they have imbibed from Swāmī Mahārāja, for the best benefit of the people; but in a mild way, not any boisterous way. What they’re complaining against the present body, that may not enter into their association. With this idea they should combine and go on with what they have understood from Swāmī Mahārāja, to take it from door to door in a mild way, in a mild way. So much as competition with them, but to carry the truth, which they cannot tolerate that should not be; in their own way; out of necessity, not for any competition purpose. Then Swāmī Mahārāja willing, God willing, that will grow, that will grow; according to the sincerity of the feeling that will grow.

Swāmī Mahārāja has left a big organisation, and property and men. But these people will have to begin in a humble, in humble way and their sincerity and goodness will be their capital. Not so many grandeurs, so many money, so many men. So mild way with heart within and God overhead, they may launch another missionary work.

[yaḥ svakāt parato veha, jāta-nirveda ātmavān]

hṛdi kṛtvā hariṁ gehāt, pravrajet sa narottamaḥ

[“A narottama, or first class human being, is one who awakens and understands, either by himself or from others, the falsity and misery of this material world and thus leaves home and depends fully on the Personality of Godhead residing within the heart.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.13.27]

A narottama sannyāsī has been qualified in this way. At heart there is Hari, Guru, and they leave the world and connect with the, leave their individual interest for the cause of the Supreme. Hṛdi kṛtvā hariṁ gehāt, pravrajet. Gehāt means from individual consideration. Renounce, devote for the public consideration, to distribute Guru and Hari to one and all, narottama sannyāsa, for the service of Hari.

Bahava iha vihaṅgā bhikṣu-caryāṁ caranti. Like birds from one tree to another tree; but their campaign is, yad-anucarita-līlā-karṇa-pīyūṣa. I am drinking nectar through my ears. Yad- anucarita-līlā-karṇa-pīyūṣa-vipruṭ-, sakṛd-adana-vidhūta-dvandva-dharmāvinaṣṭāḥ. And that is causing the dissolution of this māyik, this misconceived solidarity, one drop is dissolving.

[yad-anucarita-līlā-karṇa-pīyūṣa-vipruṭ-, sakṛd-adana-vidhūta-dvandva-dharmāvinaṣṭāḥ

sapadi gṛha-kuṭumbaṁ dīnam utsṛjya dīnā, bahava iha vihaṅgā bhikṣu-caryāṁ caranti]

[“The transcendental līlā of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is great nectar for the ears. Those who relish just a single drop of that nectar even once have their attachment to material duality totally ruined. Many such persons have immediately given up their futile homes and families and have come to Vṛndāvana like a free bird out of a cage. Becoming totally detached from their material life, those devotees have taken up the path of renunciation and have accepted alms just to maintain their lives on this plane. In this way they continue to search for Him, the all fulfilment of life.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.47.18]

Just as I am told, that there is some chemical thing which applied in the iron chest, the iron dissolved; some acid. To open, the dacoits, to open the iron chest uses some solution I am told.

So one drop of nectar, nectar in connection with the Absolute - that can dissolve long drawn family solidarity, in the interest of the body, mind. And when that is dissolved then bondage, the man in the public street and his business will be to take from door to door, the news, the nobility of that solution.

That amṛtam, that nectar, a drop of nectar has absolved me from all my loan of exploitation and made me free. And you also use this, you will be free. You will be free of your long incurred loan from this nature and you will be able to go to your own soil, back to home, back to Godhead. You will carry that nectar, drop of nectar, Hari-kathā, the news of the Absolute, sweetest of the sweet. Necessity, the only necessity; no other necessity is there, the only necessity, of all of us, indispensable necessity.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. The other day one gentleman told that some of them are roaring like lions. It is very difficult to find roaring for the cause of Kṛṣṇa. That is most desirable, roaring, that will diminish the bondage of māyā. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Gaura Haribol. Huṅkāra, Nityānanda Prabhu had that huṅkāra; a roaring voice. Nityānanda bali’ yabe karena huṅkāra [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 5.167] Koriya kalma sanath [?] That sound with the spiritual potency, could remove all the misconception of the audience.

Devotees: Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa Sharan Prabhu...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________________________ [?]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

It is deplorable that they have lost their faith in me. I was, I am, their well-wisher. And Swāmī Mahārāja who could not put his faith to any other God-brothers, but he had faith in me; and they are misusing that. I have no personal ambition so I am in an impartial position. Many come to consult with me. I am not a, I am a consulting physician, not having any practice for myself, something like that. My position is more or less like that, consulting lawyer or consulting physician; ha, ha, ha, having his own dispensary. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

That is my very nature from my boyhood. Not self seeker, but a tendency for seeking for others. My mother used to abuse me, “You don’t want your own interest, always trying for the interest of the others.” Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is my nature.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Of course, I am not perfect, but ...... in self seeking, but with impartial judgement to try to help others, as much as possible for me to know and do.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. __________________________________ [?]

Devotee: __________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mahāprabhu. It is very easy to feel and understand that we can’t, we can’t serve Hari, Guru, Vaiṣṇava. But, ‘I am serving, I have got,’ that is to say, that is the most difficult. The nature of our acquirement is such. We are going to capture those that are higher in all respect than me, and that also in infinite degree. Then how it is possible? We must be conscious. We want to be connected with the superiors, with the superiors, whom it is impossible to control; but only the love, the affection, no right, no force.

That is the plane of approach, and love and devotion, that means sacrifice. Sacrifice, self sacrifice. That is the royal road, sacrifice. By sacrifice no undesirable thing can enter. Sacrifice, no selfishness, selfish idea, and it has got no end. So we must not be afraid of any dejection.

When beginning we are to promise, we are to sign a creed that we won’t require any result, any consequence. That is with Him. That is in the infinite. That is with the infinite. Only the part of duty, insignificant it may be, attached for my position, my concern with only that, with that. The rest is in His hand, we must not bother about that. Only we shall concentrate ourselves to that one point that what is my duty, to ascertain that and to accept that - and the rest will come out of its own accord. I won’t go to bother about that. With this spirit we are to begin any endeavour. Gaura Haribol.

We are going to take bath in the “Ocean of Sacrifice.” Ha, ha. Sacrifice: die to live, in Hegel, a very good expression. Die to live. That is the process of living; to die. What we are at present, die. Die, to your whole self, as a bait for the service. For the hankering of the service the bait is your wholesale ego. Die. And you don’t die. At the same time it will be clear that you want to die, but you can’t die. But that, your inner acquaintance will come out, that you don’t die. You don’t die. You are eternal. You will be able to find out that every moment I tried to do the thing at the cost of my death, but death is not coming. Why? I am trying to embrace death, but death is not coming. What’s the matter? That I won’t die. I won’t die, I am eternal and the power and the courage become more and more, bigger for me. Die To Live, sacrifice, ahutih, yajña, this word yajña means ahutih. That put into fire. You put yourself into the fire. Your dearest thing put into the fire, yajña. Yajña means sacrifice.

yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra, loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ

[tad-artham karma kaunteya, mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara]

[“Selfless duty performed as an offering to the Supreme Lord is called yajña, or sacrifice. O Arjuna, all action performed for any other purpose is the cause of bondage in this world of repeated birth and death. Therefore, remaining unattached to the fruits of action, perform all your duties in the spirit of such sacrifice. Such action is the means of entering the path of devotion, and with the awakening of true perception of the Lord, it will enable you to attain to pure, unalloyed devotion, free from all material qualities (nirguṇa-bhakti).”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.9]

sarva yajnyena saro [?]

ahaṁ hi sarva-yajñānāṁ, bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca

[na tu mām abhijānanti, tattvenātaś cyavanti te]

[“-Because I alone am the enjoyer and rewarder of all sacrifices. But since they cannot know Me in this way, they again undergo birth, disease, infirmity, and death.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.24]

“I am the master, the controller and enjoyer and recipient of all the sacrifices. Wherever it occurs, the recipient is Myself. Beneficiary, the only beneficiary in the world is Myself.” Kṛṣṇa says, “I am the only beneficiary, no other. All transmitter, all transmitting agent. But the ultimate beneficiary is Myself. Ahaṁ hi sarva-yajñānāṁ, bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca. But that Myself, that I, is friendly to you, not foe. Suhṛdaṁ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ [Bhagavad-gītā, 5.29] “I am your best friend.”

That is proper adjustment, which we hanker after. The Absolute Guardian, the owner, is my friend; is my friend. We are to realise that and do accordingly, with heart within, God overhead. Gaura Haribol.

Our Guru Mahārāja in the last words, “Be courageous and callous,” one of the expression peculiar, “Be courageous and callous.” Courageous we understand but callous is a mystic. Callous means perhaps forbearing, tolerant: callous. Callous not dismissing, not hateful, but tolerating spirit. Tolerating, forbearing, courageous and forbearing: callous. Be courageous and callous.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Love and rupture for Kṛṣṇa is welcome. It may be apparently love, it may be apparently rupture, but if it is for Kṛṣṇa, then it is acceptable. We must accept it. Only that for my personal fame I shall try to avoid rupture. That may not be justified. Yes, rupture, but it must be for the cause of Kṛṣṇa. That must be guaranteed from my heart. Then, if it is necessary, I must take it on my head, rupture.

Apparently, it is undesirable to come in connection with rupture with anybody, but if it is necessary for the cause of Kṛṣṇa we won’t come back. According to our own capacity, we are to invite. But it must be for the cause of Kṛṣṇa, it will have, fetch equal value with love. Love and rupture: rāga and dveṣa. Everything should be devoted to the cause of Kṛṣṇa, but not unnecessary, not some selfish purpose.

Whatever is done for His account it is justified fully, and that is nirguṇa. That is called nirguṇa. Caring for any result, to go on with the conceivable duty, the conception of duty towards Him, the Absolute Truth, that is nirguṇa. That is the most original wave of the whole universe, of our conception. Ahaitukī apratihatā, that is causeless, that is līlā. That is dynamic but that is causeless, and that is irresistible, that wave, that is the līlā of Kṛṣṇa. None can oppose that. We are to adjust with that wave. And then we can enjoy the harmony. The harmony is not a static one but it is a dynamic, harmony is dynamic. And the dynamic harmony, to adjust oneself with the ultimate wave, the ultimate movement, plane of movement, that is nirguṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s flute and dancing, the autocrat, beauty autocrat is in that plane.

Our Gāyatrī, veda-mātā, is also tuned with that aim, as I have tried to draw out from Gāyatrī. Gāyatrī. Gāyatrī muralīṣṭa-kīrttana-dhanaṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi. In the same tune, the origin of the Revealed Truth, the Gāyatrī, Revealed Truth, Veda, the mother of the Vedic knowledge, that the revealed Truth. Or directing tendency, and the call of Kṛṣṇa by the tune of His flute to adjust everyone in their respective duty, to satisfy Him, that is well connected. And the kīrtana of Mahāprabhu, saṅkīrtana, all aiming at the final adjustment with the nirguṇa, with the most fundamental plane, or wave of the most fundamental plane. Gāyatrī muralīṣṭa-kīrttana-dhanaṁ rādhā-padaṁ dhīmahi.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Mādhava Prabhu: Śrīdhara Mahārāja, when Bhaktisiddhānta said that a GBC should be formed and that the Ācārya would be self effulgent, did he say how initiations would go on before that Ācārya became manifest?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is he?

Devotees: Mādhava.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mādhava. What is he saying?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: He’s saying that, “When Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura formed the GBC body he had said, he had left instruction that Ācārya will be self effulgent from amongst his disciples to continue the sampradāya.” So he’s asking, “Did Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura leave any specific instructions as to how initiation would go on before this Ācārya manifest himself?”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I can’t follow. I was thinking something else. What do you say?

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Whether Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura left any specific instructions how initiation will go on, after his disappearance, and before that Ācārya manifests himself?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh. You see, we have come to understand, generally we feel that Ācārya will appoint Ācārya, his successor. But we saw that he did not, he avoided. And necessarily, we came to think that whatever spiritual education he has already imparted to his disciples and perhaps it is natural and he relied on his general preaching and instruction that it will come naturally from his own imparted grace. It will come automatically.

And, as it happened afterwards, in relative, from the relative plane we may not appreciate that, but from the Absolute standpoint, we find that everything happens by the will of Kṛṣṇa, or Mahāprabhu, and necessarily, of Gurudeva. That is all good. In different ways, in different stages, that reacted, what he told, the reaction, the vibration, has come in different ways.

Anaya bedi gaban yasva sarvatra sat pada [?] If we can accommodate the dissolution of Yadu vaṁśa, the war of Kurukṣetra, if we find that that is not lacking in spiritual, from the Absolute standpoint, then this dismemberment also is to be appreciated, appreciated. While complaining, but we are to, still we are to accept the inevitable, inevitable, and through this process, the inevitable will appear.

Now we are sitting to find dissatisfaction in the existing administration. It is a process, and through this process perhaps something will come out. We can’t avoid this. It is a necessary process.

So after Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura: that was also so. Through our complaint among dissatisfaction, so many things came and it was propagated and preached in a particular way. That is the final reading of things. That in the ultimate, ultimate decision is in His hand, and what is happening, that is all right. That is all all right. Still, according to our own realisation we shall stand, ‘don’t do this,’ but when done, that may be accepted as the will of Kṛṣṇa. It is a peculiar, thesis, antithesis, synthesis. It is undesirable, don’t do it. But when it is done it should be accepted, His will. We must, I am to adjust with that. In this way we are to take things.

Some things, even māyā, māyā. Sītā Devī was stolen by Rāvaṇa. It has got also meaning. It was necessary, to educate us, to give us something. So bright side, it has got also its bright side. Rāmacandra was banished by the request of Kaikeyi. It has got bright side. Jagāi, Mādhāi, and the Brutus, betrayer, betrayer, oppositionist, it has got also meaning, place to serve the positive. The negative is serving the positive. In this way we are to adjust. It is a particular process. Through the pain, child comes from the womb of the mother. Through the process of painfulness of the mother, child comes out; the object of her joy. That is the nature. So whatever we shall do, we shall do with sincerity, but not with attachment, much. Mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi.

[karmaṇy evādhikāras te, mā phaleṣu kadācana

mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr, mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi]

[“I shall now describe niṣkāma karma-yoga, the path of selfless action. You have a right to perform your natural prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to any fruits of that action. You should neither act with desire to enjoy the fruits of your work, nor, as a result, should you be attached to neglecting your duties.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.47]

Because the fruit is not in your hand so you neglect your service, don’t do that. ‘The fruit is not mine then why should we labour?’ That Satanic tendency may not enter your heart. What you think to be best, you try your best for that. But don’t look at the result. At the same time don’t be idle. ‘When I have got no connection with the result, why should I labour fruitlessly?’ That is Satanic.

He’s warning against you, “No. Your part is only to do your, discharge your duty, and the next with the infinite.”

Because you are not only, you are only a very negligible portion of the infinite, so you do your duty. But the result involves so many clash with these waves of the infinite quarter. You don’t go to fix that your particular duty will produce a particular result, no. That is not possible, that is impossible. You are to do your duty as a quota, as your contribution to the Infinite. Be, try to have such life and more than that, sacrifice. Your life: a particle of sacrifice for the cause of the whole. Try to die. Try to die for the Infinite. That is really your position. Learn to die for the Infinite, not for your own selfish purpose. And not magnified selfish, that is national, or social, or some family interest, like that. And there you find your best satisfaction within. You are there. When you are a sacrificed unit wholesale you can find the maximum pleasure in you; apparently which is thought to be impossible.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

The plane, the plane of sacrifice, there we live, your prospect is there, so don’t be discouraged. Atreya Ṛṣi must not be discouraged. He’s there, He’s there. Whom you are searching for, He’s there. None can make monopoly. He’s there. Why should we be disappointed? No disappointment. No disappointment. It is all for the best, all for the best.

End of 82.02.27.A_O

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Start of 82.02.27.B_O [a duplicate of 82.02.27.B_82.02.28.A]

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...is necessary for my progress, we are to take that. We are to accept every event that, ‘This is the necessity. I am to pass this examination. If I go back, then it is kept, again I shall have to pass this examination.’ So whatever is, tat te 'nukampāṁ [Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8], it is His grace, whatever in shape it may be. But it is His grace. It is necessary for me, immediately, at this time. So I am to face this, face this with a good heart, and good, encouraging and sincere heart. Thinking the other side is conscious, He’s not ignorant. I am in His relativity, whatever step I am taking forward, I am in His relativity I am taking. He is there, all conscious, and I am less conscious, meagre consciousness. He’s all love. And I’m searching. What is my fate, what is my fortune? So I have come out to find Him, not a stone, not an ignorant Infinite, but a conscious and a loving and merciful Infinite, I have come. I am surrounded by Him so why should I be dejected? Dejected. Because this has come to me, it is necessary for me, so it has come to me, according to my stage. I am to face this, face it, courageously and faithfully, to face every circumstance faithfully, sincerely. And not cowed down by any special interest, but universal interest. And that is my inner interest. We are to face every circumstance with that. Stand in front, face to face. Not that, ‘If it would be withdrawn, I will be saved,’ not that. Then it will be kept for my future examination. Not that. His grace, it is necessary for me; for my progress of life it is necessary. In this way we are to face. Then we can advance more and more. No avoidance. No spiritual avoidance. Gaura Haribol. That’s a positive.

Devotee: Thank you very much Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. The real thanks, the attitude, due to Him. We are all instruments playing in His hand. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. So this shows your integrity, your purity, your affinity, faithfulness, to your Gurudeva, that your heart seems to be dissatisfied. Susceptible that the order: the line of your Guru Mahārāja may not be covered, may not be disregarded. That earnestness in your heart: that is jewel. A valuable jewel is there, that you are eager, you are alert that Guru Mahārāja may be extended, and by so many clouds his gracious birth may not be covered. You feel in your heart, that is your wealth. That is our wealth also, all of us. We should try to keep up, to be grateful to the wealth we have got from our Guru Mahārāja, and keep with all alertness that it may keep that spark within us, a spark of Divine Nectar, a drop of Divine Nectar. We may keep intact in our hearts, and all our wishes, desires, activities, will be controlled for the interest of that drop, that spark.

Eka mat karam juste guru sisyena bide prasidban nasty tatvam yad tatya so ari nimbaved [?]

Only through one word, the Guru gives something to the heart of the disciple. And the earth, the universe, cannot produce so much wealth that can purchase that only one drop, that can be equal as value to purchase that one drop. It is so valuable. And with that Divinity we must try to keep up the valuable drop of instruction which he has extended in our heart. We must be faithful to that instruction, that principle. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi.

We must not be aggrieved, because whatever happens cannot go outside His will. Ha, ha.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

On the other hand, we are to be adjusted. We must learn to be adjusted to what is inevitable. What is happening, it is backed by His will and we shall try to take leave from all sorts of complaints that are arising from us. That is the fullest adjustment of the highest section of devotion, paramahaṁsa. They can adjust with everything. But in madhyama adhikāra there is some complaint, ‘Oh, this is good, this is bad, my Guru and that will be spread.’ This is madhayama adhikāra, when he says that, ‘This is good, this is God, non-God, God, non-God.’

But when fully established in nirguṇa, there is no such complaint. Everywhere he can trace the will and the meaning of His līlā, fully adjusted. In the middle way of course we shall have some complaint. But at the same time to solace our own progressive dissatisfied mind, that the finer adjustment is to adjust with everything that happens, comes to us.

Para-duḥkha duḥkhī. Vaiṣṇava, a real Vaiṣṇava, has got no dissatisfaction for his own, but they have got some sort of sorrow, pain, for the trouble of others, para-duḥkha duḥkhī. Now, your section has got this pain. ‘That we of course have got little grace from Swāmī Mahārāja direct. But others in the posterity, they’re going to be deceived.’ And there is your dissatisfaction. Why should you not work smoothly in the line of Swāmī Mahārāja? The trouble is there, para-duḥkha duḥkhī. And as for your own, ‘That we have got some clue. We can go on. We can do with the help of that. But the others are being deceived. They’re not getting the thing exactly what we got.’ There the para-duḥkha duḥkhī. Then that Dāsa Goswāmī says about Sanātana Goswāmī,

vairāgya-yug bhakti-rasaṁ prayatnair, apāyayam mām anabhipsum andham

kṛpāmbudhir yaḥ para-duḥkha-dukhī, sanātanaṁ taṁ prabhum āśrayāmi

[“I surrender unto Śrī Sanātana Goswāmī, the Ācārya of sambandha-jñāna. He is an ocean of mercy and is always unhappy to see the sufferings of others. Although I was blind, in the darkness of ignorance, he gave me the light of transcendental knowledge. He taught me the real meaning of detachment and made me drink the highest nectarine rasa of divine love.”] [Vilāpa-kuṣumāñjali, 6]

Not for his concern but his concern is that others are being deceived to receive the same thing what I have got. Para-duḥkha-dukhī is a qualification of Vaiṣṇava.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: May I take permission of your leave Mahārāja?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Devotee: I think I have to face my...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hṛdi kṛtvā hariṁ gehāt pravrajet.

[yaḥ svakāt parato veha, jāta-nirveda ātmavān

hṛdi kṛtvā hariṁ gehāt, pravrajet sa narottamaḥ]

[“A narottama, or first class human being, is one who awakens and understands, either by himself or from others, the falsity and misery of this material world and thus leaves home and depends fully on the Personality of Godhead residing within the heart.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.13.27]

In your heart, with Hari and Guru, you may take leave. _____________________________ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. You have not taken anything, eh, any breakfast, no?

Devotee: Some have.

Devotee: We’ve all taken.

Devotee: Some have taken. Most have taken.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Would you like to rest Mahārāja? Would you like to retire?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: My health is not going well. Still I have got some wound from the door, and the whole night I got some pain, felt some pain, therein. Old age, power of resistance diminished. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi. So should we retire today?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes. We’ll take your leave. Jaya oṁ viṣṇupāda...

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...everyone will know. So this roaring of Rāmeśvara Mahārāja, Bhagavān Mahārāja, produced in chanting, roaring was converted into chanting, song. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Anyhow: hopeful news. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. More accommodating. They’re all members of GBC, is it not?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gopāla Kṛṣṇa, and another gentleman, Pañcadravida, he’s also GBC?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Svarūpa Dāmodara also GBC.

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Only Pramāṇa Swāmī, he’s accepted provisionally, he’s not GBC.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Their principle that they’re applying, that they’ve taken, is that GBC may be nominated as Ācārya. And with a three quarters vote he may be accepted, three fourths, majority three fourths he may be accepted.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: The nominated Ācārya.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah, by three fourths majority.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Devotee: There are twenty two. Sixteen should vote favourably.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh, sixteen?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Sixteen out of twenty two.

Parvat Mahārāja: Should vote favourably.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sixteen, twenty two, that three fourths majority they have got, is it? Or something? What about the sannyāsa of that gentleman, that Vipramukhya?

Devotee: ________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He has taken sannyāsa?

Devotee: Not yet, in Gaura Pūrṇimā, with fifteen more devotees, fifteen or twenty more.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Twenty more.

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: From different Ācārya?

Devotee: From different, yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. One GBC has resigned, that Harikeśa, or Adikeśava?

Devotee: Adikeśava.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Adikeśava. Then in his place some...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: The GBC from Australia, he has gone to New York, in his place.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But not anyone appointed as new GBC, new man appointed to fill up his place?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Not that I know.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So the number of GBC is less by one.

Devotee: Also they want to extend Mahārāja, they want to extend the GBC members. There are some proposals, like Tripurari Swāmī, Girirāja Swāmī, and there are seven more proposals. But it’s not been decided yet, anything.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi. ______________________________________________ [?]

...

ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ, prātikūlya-vivarjjanam

[rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāso, goptṛtve varaṇaṁ tathā.

ātma-nikṣepa kārpaṇye, ṣaḍ-vidhā śaraṇāgatiḥ

evaṁ paryyāyataś cāsminn, ekaikādhyāya-saṅgrahaḥ]

[“The six limbs of surrender are as follows: 1 - To accept everything favourable for devotion to Kṛṣṇa. 2 - To reject everything unfavourable for devotion to Kṛṣṇa. 3 - To be confident that Kṛṣṇa will grant His protection. 4 - To embrace Kṛṣṇa’s guardianship. 5 - To offer oneself unto Him. 6 - To consider oneself lowly and bereft.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22.100]

These are within that heading, ānukūlyasya. But this is not one with Hari bhajan. This is favourable or unfavourable adjustment towards our divine realisation. The body, the administration, they’re not itself realisation. But this may help or may not help our realisation. This should be seen from that angle of vision, the favourable adjustment and unfavourable adjustment. But actually our divine realisation does not depend on these arrangements, actually. That is something else. That is rather our connection with the infinite possibility, and not any limitation. We must be open to anything and everything that is Vaikuṇṭha. Kuṇṭha, no measurement, no limitation, no concern with, no relativity with limitation. But they may be considered as favourable or unfavourable. So much valuation we can attach to that, this sort of adjustment in this mundane world.

But bhajan means our self surrendering, the infinite conscience, we must live in the midst of infinite, under the sky. Always we must be under the sky, unlimited. Kṛṣṇe ichar [?] Any desire, any movement, any suggestion may come anywhere, any time, to us, to obey. Such preparedness, we shall stand face to face with the Infinite Will, and expecting that everything comes from Him. That is the necessity and that is the beauty and that is our destination. Face to face, individually or collectively. Whether I’m taking Hari-Nāma, or preaching, everything may be mundane, mere formal. And everything may have its infinite characteristic, every movement, every step. Only we shall be conscious of our environment in such way. We’re living in the eternity, not any mundane rules, platform, country, province, they’re all relative. ____________ [?] Another relative world is there.

Our Guru Mahārāja has written Relative Worlds, one book. In Bengali, Paratanta jagat tai [?] Two kinds of worlds, self-centred and God-centred: it is relative, that is also relative; but that is God-centred and this is self-centred, this māyā. Jara vilas and cit vilas. The controlling force there, the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa: and here the satisfaction of the sensual persons. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. So, a particular action may be bhajan, may be devotion to someone and maybe enjoyment to another one. Only the attitude is concerned.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Purity depends upon surrender, degree of surrender. Surrender to the highest prime cause. Surrender to Nārāyaṇa, or surrender to Rāmacandra, Dvārakeśa, Mathureśa, Vrajendra-nandan, in this way, more and more. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Whether we are taking Name, or formally, we may be seen engaged in any sort of activity, but our attitude, our internal object, that will decide what is what. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Love and rupture. It may be in the form of love externally, or in the form of rupture also externally, but internal adjustment is to be considered as all important. We have to understand, we have to follow how it is there. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So, it does not depend on the environment, on the dealings of others. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Ahaitukī apratihatā. None but my own ego, I am my greatest enemy, I am my greatest friend. Friend or enemy are really in me. No force outside can check if I am right. That may enhance, of course for a beginner, some concern, but otherwise, that is also dependent on the nature of sukṛti.

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate]

na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

The assurance: “I am there. I am there to look after any unfavourable consideration of anyone. I am omniscient. I am omnipotent also. So, if anyone is directed towards Me, I look after him.”

And it is also seen in history, Dhruva, Prahlāda, and so many other cases. Na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati. So apprehension has got limitation, and that comes to improve our position, if we can take it in that way, everything comes to help us. Tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8]. The most hopeful suggestion to us, in all shades of life, tat te 'nu. Na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, from inside, and from outside, tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo, bhuñjāna evātma. Blame yourself, and none else. Take this attitude. That is the perfect adjustment. Blame yourself for your past activity. Don’t waste your energy to blame others, to throw mud on the face of others. The energy is only being wasted thereby. You must concentrate the whole of your energy on this side, that the blame is to you and to have appreciation for the Lord; His 'nukampāṁ, His grace, and we are taking it as undesirable because it does not suit my present taste. The medicine may not be tasteful to a patient. A diet also may not always be tasteful to a patient. But it is conducive to health, wholesome. This is the highest type of regulation of the śāstra. If you can take benefit of this law, in no time you will have a very good position. Tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo, not only to blame the circumstances, but to appreciate, that is He at the back. My best friend, He’s at the back of everything. Everything is passing through His eyes, attentive eyes. So there cannot be any defect there.

Even Rādhārāṇī, She also says, “Not to blame for this long separation with Kṛṣṇa. It is only the outcome; it is coming out of My fate. He’s not to be blamed for this sort of: though outwardly it is seen by, admitted by all He has left us cruelly.” But She’s not prepared to put the blame on the side of Kṛṣṇa, never. “No wrong can be found there. There must be something wrong in Me which has come out in such form.”

The competition between the groups in the service: that is also harmonized in this way in Rādhārāṇī. Kavirāja: most important point. Rādhārāṇī says that, “Not that She does not like other party to serve Kṛṣṇa in competition with Her, but Her idea is that they cannot satisfy Kṛṣṇa well. This is to be noted carefully, that Her attitude is that they cannot give proper satisfaction to Kṛṣṇa, so She cannot like them. That is Her contention.”

“If they could serve Kṛṣṇa well, satisfy Him well, I have no complaint; let them do. But they can’t do, but still, as aggressor they come to serve.”

There’s the difference. Kavirāja Goswāmī, he cites an example.

kuṣṭhī-viprera ramaṇī, pativratā-śiromaṇi, pati lāgi' kailā veśyāra sevā

[stambhila sūryera gati, jīyāila mṛta pati, tuṣṭa kaila mukhya tina-devā]

[The wife of a brāhmaṇa suffering from leprosy manifested herself as the topmost of all chaste women by serving a prostitute to satisfy her husband. She thus stopped the movement of the sun, brought her dead husband back to life and satisfied the three principal demigods [Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara]. [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.57]

There is an historical reference from Purāṇa. There was one chaste wife, whose husband was a leper. She tried her best to serve him. One day, she took her husband to the, some holy river, perhaps on the banks of the Ganges they lived, and there she also bathed her husband. But there one prostitute, by name, Lakshahera, one lākh diamond, ray, that lustre, that prostitute went to take bath in the Ganges, or some holy river, I don’t remember, and the brāhmaṇa, they were brāhmaṇas, the leper brāhmaṇa he felt some charm for that prostitute. Anyhow, he was taken back home and the chaste wife detected some dissatisfaction, some reaction in her husband.

She asked, she enquired, “Why do you seem to be unhappy?”

The husband told, “I felt some attraction for the beauty of that prostitute. I can’t take my mind off her.”

“Oh. You want her?”

“Yes.”

“I shall try.” Then that lady, she was a brāhmaṇa, but still, every day in the morning, she used to go to the house of that prostitute. She was a rich lady, and she used to do the work of a maidservant there, without any remuneration. She did the duty of the maidservant there, and very scrutinisingly, so that it attracted the attention of the mistress.

“Who cleans this area and does these things so beautifully?”

And by enquiring she came to know that, “One brāhmaṇa lady, she comes, and every morning she does all these things. We tried to oppose, but she does not hear.”

“Why she...?”

“She wants to meet you.”

“All right, tomorrow, you may take her to me.”

Then, next morning when she was taken to that prostitute, that brāhmaṇa lady, she expressed her inner motive, “That my husband is so and so, and he’s much attracted towards you, and it is my desire that you may satisfy him. It is my lookout as his religious wife that how he’ll be satisfied, but this is his aspiration. And I like to see him satisfied.”

Then the lady could understand, that prostitute, “Yes, tomorrow, take him. I invite you both to take food in my house tomorrow.”

That was intimated to the brāhmaṇa, and they came. Of course there was agreement for brāhmaṇa cooks etc, so many things. Two dishes were served: one, some prasādam, Bhāgavata prasādam in a plantain leaf, Ganges water into earthen pot, all vegetarian, fruits, etc. Next, by the side, in golden and silver pots, so many meats and rich dishes, they were served, and a good āsana, all these things: one sattvic, another rajarsic, tamasic.

Then, she with folded palms invited the brāhmaṇas and asked, “This is Bhāgavata prasādam, in such and such way, and that is a rich dish, prepared in such and such way. Whatever you like, you may take at your sweet will.”

Anyhow the leper brāhmaṇa, he had the choice of the prasādam, and he accepted that and he took, began to take.

Then that prostitute, after he has finished his prasādam, taking, “Your wife is like this prasādam, sattvic, and this is rajarsic; meat, rich dishes, gold, silver, all these things, this is me. I am so and so, and your wife is purest of the pure, higher type. Then why, when your taste is for this sattvica, the Bhāgavata prasādam, purity, and externally, that is very gorgeous but internally, very impure, filthy, why have you come here?”

Then the brāhmaṇa came to his senses. “Yes, I am wrong. God has taught me through you. My fleeting desires ended, no more now. I am satisfied. You are my teacher in the spiritual line.”

In this way ____________ [?] Kavirāja Goswāmī has quoted this in Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

End of 82.02.27.B_O

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.27.B_82.02.28.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...is necessary for my progress, we are to take that. We are to accept every event that, ‘This is the necessity. I am to pass this examination. If I go back, then it is kept, again I shall have to pass this examination.’ So whatever is, tat te 'nukampāṁ [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8], it is His grace, whatever in shape it may be. But it is His grace. It is necessary for me, immediately, at this time. So I am to face this, face this with a good heart, and good, encouraging and sincere heart. Thinking the other side is conscious, He’s not ignorant. I am in His relativity, whatever step I am taking forward, I am in His relativity I am taking. He is there, all conscious, and I am less conscious, meagre consciousness. He’s all love. And I’m searching. What is my fate, what is my fortune? So I have come out to find Him, not a stone, not an ignorant Infinite, but a conscious and a loving and merciful Infinite, I have come. I am surrounded by Him so why should I be dejected? Dejected. Because this has come to me, it is necessary for me, so it has come to me, according to my stage. I am to face this, face it, courageously and faithfully, to face every circumstance faithfully, sincerely. And not cowed down by any special interest, but universal interest. And that is my inner interest. We are to face every circumstance with that. Stand in front, face to face. Not that, ‘If it would be withdrawn, I will be saved,’ not that. Then it will be kept for my future examination. Not that. His grace, it is necessary for me; for my progress of life it is necessary. In this way we are to face. Then we can advance more and more. No avoidance. No spiritual avoidance. Gaura Haribol. That’s a positive.

Devotee: Thank you very much Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. The real thanks, the attitude, due to Him. We are all instruments playing in His hand. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. So this shows your integrity, your purity, your affinity, faithfulness, to your Gurudeva, that your heart seems to be dissatisfied. Susceptible that the order: the line of your Guru Mahārāja may not be covered, may not be disregarded. That earnestness in your heart: that is jewel. A valuable jewel is there, that you are eager, you are alert that Guru Mahārāja may be extended, and by so many clouds his gracious birth may not be covered. You feel in your heart, that is your wealth. That is our wealth also, all of us. We should try to keep up, to be grateful to the wealth we have got from our Guru Mahārāja, and keep with all alertness that it may keep that spark within us, a spark of Divine Nectar, a drop of Divine Nectar. We may keep intact in our hearts, and all our wishes, desires, activities, will be controlled for the interest of that drop, that spark.

Eka mat karam juste guru sisyena bide prasidban nasty tatvam yad tatya so ari nimbaved [?]

Only through one word, the Guru gives something to the heart of the disciple. And the earth, the universe, cannot produce so much wealth that can purchase that only one drop, that can be equal as value to purchase that one drop. It is so valuable. And with that Divinity we must try to keep up the valuable drop of instruction which he has extended in our heart. We must be faithful to that instruction, that principle. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi.

We must not be aggrieved, because whatever happens cannot go outside His will. Ha, ha.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

On the other hand, we are to be adjusted. We must learn to be adjusted to what is inevitable. What is happening, it is backed by His will and we shall try to take leave from all sorts of complaints that are arising from us. That is the fullest adjustment of the highest section of devotion, paramahaṁsa. They can adjust with everything. But in madhyama adhikāra there is some complaint, ‘Oh, this is good, this is bad, my Guru and that will be spread.’ This is madhayama adhikāra, when he says that, ‘This is good, this is God, non-God, God, non-God.’

But when fully established in nirguṇa, there is no such complaint. Everywhere he can trace the will and the meaning of His līlā, fully adjusted. In the middle way of course we shall have some complaint. But at the same time to solace our own progressive dissatisfied mind, that the finer adjustment is to adjust with everything that happens, comes to us.

Para-duḥkha duḥkhī. [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.11.29-32, purport] Vaiṣṇava, a real Vaiṣṇava, has got no dissatisfaction for his own, but they have got some sort of sorrow, pain, for the trouble of others, para-duḥkha duḥkhī. Now, your section has got this pain. ‘That we of course have got little grace from Swāmī Mahārāja direct. But others in the posterity, they’re going to be deceived.’ And there is your dissatisfaction. Why should you not work smoothly in the line of Swāmī Mahārāja? The trouble is there, para-duḥkha duḥkhī. And as for your own, ‘That we have got some clue. We can go on. We can do with the help of that. But the others are being deceived. They’re not getting the thing exactly what we got.’ There the para-duḥkha duḥkhī. Then that Dāsa Goswāmī says about Sanātana Goswāmī,

vairāgya-yug bhakti-rasaṁ prayatnair, apāyayam mām anabhipsum andham

kṛpāmbudhir yaḥ para-duḥkha-dukhī, sanātanaṁ taṁ prabhum āśrayāmi

[“I surrender unto Śrī Sanātana Goswāmī, the Ācārya of sambandha-jñāna. He is an ocean of mercy and is always unhappy to see the sufferings of others. Although I was blind, in the darkness of ignorance, he gave me the light of transcendental knowledge. He taught me the real meaning of detachment and made me drink the highest nectarine rasa of divine love.”] [Vilāpa-kuṣumāñjali 6]

Not for his concern but his concern is that others are being deceived to receive the same thing what I have got. Para-duḥkha-dukhī is a qualification of Vaiṣṇava.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: May I take permission of your leave Mahārāja?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Devotee: I think I have to face my...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hṛdi kṛtvā hariṁ gehāt pravrajet.

[yaḥ svakāt parato veha, jāta-nirveda ātmavān

hṛdi kṛtvā hariṁ gehāt, pravrajet sa narottamaḥ]

[“A narottama, or first class human being, is one who awakens and understands, either by himself or from others, the falsity and misery of this material world and thus leaves home and depends fully on the Personality of Godhead residing within the heart.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.13.27]

In your heart, with Hari and Guru, you may take leave. _____________________________ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. You have not taken anything, eh, any breakfast, no?

Devotee: Some have.

Devotee: We’ve all taken.

Devotee: Some have taken. Most have taken.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Would you like to rest Mahārāja? Would you like to retire?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: My health is not going well. Still I have got some wound from the door, and the whole night I got some pain, felt some pain, therein. Old age, power of resistance diminished. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi. So should we retire today?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes. We’ll take your leave. Jaya oṁ viṣṇupāda...

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...everyone will know. So this roaring of Rāmeśvara Mahārāja, Bhagavān Mahārāja, produced in chanting, roaring was converted into chanting, song. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Anyhow: hopeful news. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. More accommodating. They’re all members of GBC, is it not?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gopāla Kṛṣṇa, and another gentleman, Pañcadravida, he’s also GBC?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Svarūpa Dāmodara also GBC.

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Only Pramāṇa Swāmī, he’s accepted provisionally, he’s not GBC.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Their principle that they’re applying, that they’ve taken, is that GBC may be nominated as Ācārya. And with a three quarters vote he may be accepted, three fourths, majority three fourths he may be accepted.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: The nominated Ācārya.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah, by three fourths majority.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Devotee: There are twenty two. Sixteen should vote favourably.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh, sixteen?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Sixteen out of twenty two.

Parvat Mahārāja: Should vote favourably.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sixteen, twenty two, that three fourths majority they have got, is it? Or something? What about the sannyāsa of that gentleman, that Vipramukhya?

Devotee: ________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He has taken sannyāsa?

Devotee: Not yet, in Gaura Pūrṇimā, with fifteen more devotees, fifteen or twenty more.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Twenty more.

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: From different Ācārya?

Devotee: From different, yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. One GBC has resigned, that Harikeśa, or Adikeśava?

Devotee: Adikeśava.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Adikeśava. Then in his place some...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: The GBC from Australia, he has gone to New York, in his place.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But not anyone appointed as new GBC, new man appointed to fill up his place?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Not that I know.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So the number of GBC is less by one.

Devotee: Also they want to extend Mahārāja, they want to extend the GBC members. There are some proposals, like Tripurari Swāmī, Girirāja Swāmī, and there are seven more proposals. But it’s not been decided yet, anything.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi. ______________________________________________ [?]

...

ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ, prātikūlya-vivarjjanam

[rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāso, goptṛtve varaṇaṁ tathā.

ātma-nikṣepa kārpaṇye, ṣaḍ-vidhā śaraṇāgatiḥ

evaṁ paryyāyataś cāsminn, ekaikādhyāya-saṅgrahaḥ]

[“The six limbs of surrender are as follows: 1 - To accept everything favourable for devotion to Kṛṣṇa. 2 - To reject everything unfavourable for devotion to Kṛṣṇa. 3 - To be confident that Kṛṣṇa will grant His protection. 4 - To embrace Kṛṣṇa’s guardianship. 5 - To offer oneself unto Him. 6 - To consider oneself lowly and bereft.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22.100]

These are within that heading, ānukūlyasya. But this is not one with Hari bhajan. This is favourable or unfavourable adjustment towards our divine realisation. The body, the administration, they’re not itself realisation. But this may help or may not help our realisation. This should be seen from that angle of vision, the favourable adjustment and unfavourable adjustment. But actually our divine realisation does not depend on these arrangements, actually. That is something else. That is rather our connection with the infinite possibility, and not any limitation. We must be open to anything and everything that is Vaikuṇṭha. Kuṇṭha, no measurement, no limitation, no concern with, no relativity with limitation. But they may be considered as favourable or unfavourable. So much valuation we can attach to that, this sort of adjustment in this mundane world.

But bhajan means our self surrendering, the infinite conscience, we must live in the midst of infinite, under the sky. Always we must be under the sky, unlimited. Kṛṣṇe ichar [?] Any desire, any movement, any suggestion may come anywhere, any time, to us, to obey. Such preparedness, we shall stand face to face with the Infinite Will, and expecting that everything comes from Him. That is the necessity and that is the beauty and that is our destination. Face to face, individually or collectively. Whether I’m taking Hari-Nāma, or preaching, everything may be mundane, mere formal. And everything may have its infinite characteristic, every movement, every step. Only we shall be conscious of our environment in such way. We’re living in the eternity, not any mundane rules, platform, country, province, they’re all relative. ____________ [?] Another relative world is there.

Our Guru Mahārāja has written Relative Worlds, one book. In Bengali, Paratanta jagat tai [?] Two kinds of worlds, self-centred and God-centred: it is relative, that is also relative; but that is God-centred and this is self-centred, this māyā. Jara vilas and cit vilas. The controlling force there, the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa: and here the satisfaction of the sensual persons. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. So, a particular action may be bhajan, may be devotion to someone and maybe enjoyment to another one. Only the attitude is concerned.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Purity depends upon surrender, degree of surrender. Surrender to the highest prime cause. Surrender to Nārāyaṇa, or surrender to Rāmacandra, Dvārakeśa, Mathureśa, Vrajendra-nandan, in this way, more and more. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Whether we are taking Name, or formally, we may be seen engaged in any sort of activity, but our attitude, our internal object, that will decide what is what. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Love and rupture. It may be in the form of love externally, or in the form of rupture also externally, but internal adjustment is to be considered as all important. We have to understand, we have to follow how it is there. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So, it does not depend on the environment, on the dealings of others. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Ahaitukī apratihatā. None but my own ego, I am my greatest enemy, I am my greatest friend. Friend or enemy are really in me. No force outside can check if I am right. That may enhance, of course for a beginner, some concern, but otherwise, that is also dependent on the nature of sukṛti.

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate]

na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

The assurance: “I am there. I am there to look after any unfavourable consideration of anyone. I am omniscient. I am omnipotent also. So, if anyone is directed towards Me, I look after him.”

And it is also seen in history, Dhruva, Prahlāda, and so many other cases. Na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati. So apprehension has got limitation, and that comes to improve our position, if we can take it in that way, everything comes to help us. Tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8]. The most hopeful suggestion to us, in all shades of life, tat te 'nu. Na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, from inside, and from outside, tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo, bhuñjāna evātma. Blame yourself, and none else. Take this attitude. That is the perfect adjustment. Blame yourself for your past activity. Don’t waste your energy to blame others, to throw mud on the face of others. The energy is only being wasted thereby. You must concentrate the whole of your energy on this side, that the blame is to you and to have appreciation for the Lord; His 'nukampāṁ, His grace, and we are taking it as undesirable because it does not suit my present taste. The medicine may not be tasteful to a patient. A diet also may not always be tasteful to a patient. But it is conducive to health, wholesome. This is the highest type of regulation of the śāstra. If you can take benefit of this law, in no time you will have a very good position. Tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo, not only to blame the circumstances, but to appreciate, that is He at the back. My best friend, He’s at the back of everything. Everything is passing through His eyes, attentive eyes. So there cannot be any defect there.

Even Rādhārāṇī, She also says, “Not to blame for this long separation with Kṛṣṇa. It is only the outcome; it is coming out of My fate. He’s not to be blamed for this sort of: though outwardly it is seen by, admitted by all He has left us cruelly.” But She’s not prepared to put the blame on the side of Kṛṣṇa, never. “No wrong can be found there. There must be something wrong in Me which has come out in such form.”

The competition between the groups in the service: that is also harmonized in this way in Rādhārāṇī. Kavirāja: most important point. Rādhārāṇī says that, “Not that She does not like other party to serve Kṛṣṇa in competition with Her, but Her idea is that they cannot satisfy Kṛṣṇa well. This is to be noted carefully, that Her attitude is that they cannot give proper satisfaction to Kṛṣṇa, so She cannot like them. That is Her contention.” “If they could serve Kṛṣṇa well, satisfy Him well, I have no complaint; let them do. But they can’t do, but still, as aggressor they come to serve.” There’s the difference. Kavirāja Goswāmī, he cites an example.

kuṣṭhī-viprera ramaṇī, pativratā-śiromaṇi, pati lāgi' kailā veśyāra sevā

[stambhila sūryera gati, jīyāila mṛta pati, tuṣṭa kaila mukhya tina-devā]

[The wife of a brāhmaṇa suffering from leprosy manifested herself as the topmost of all chaste women by serving a prostitute to satisfy her husband. She thus stopped the movement of the sun, brought her dead husband back to life and satisfied the three principal demigods [Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara]. [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 20.57]

There is an historical reference from Purāṇa. There was one chaste wife, whose husband was a leper. She tried her best to serve him. One day, she took her husband to the, some holy river, perhaps on the banks of the Ganges they lived, and there she also bathed her husband. But there one prostitute, by name, Lakshahera, one lākh diamond, ray, that lustre, that prostitute went to take bath in the Ganges, or some holy river, I don’t remember, and the brāhmaṇa, they were brāhmaṇas, the leper brāhmaṇa he felt some charm for that prostitute. Anyhow, he was taken back home and the chaste wife detected some dissatisfaction, some reaction in her husband.

She asked, she enquired, “Why do you seem to be unhappy?”

The husband told, “I felt some attraction for the beauty of that prostitute. I can’t take my mind off her.”

“Oh. You want her?”

“Yes.”

“I shall try.” Then that lady, she was a brāhmaṇa, but still, every day in the morning, she used to go to the house of that prostitute. She was a rich lady, and she used to do the work of a maidservant there, without any remuneration. She did the duty of the maidservant there, and very scrutinisingly, so that it attracted the attention of the mistress.

“Who cleans this area and does these things so beautifully?”

And by enquiring she came to know that, “One brāhmaṇa lady, she comes, and every morning she does all these things. We tried to oppose, but she does not hear.”

“Why she...?”

“She wants to meet you.”

“All right, tomorrow, you may take her to me.”

Then, next morning when she was taken to that prostitute, that brāhmaṇa lady, she expressed her inner motive, “That my husband is so and so, and he’s much attracted towards you, and it is my desire that you may satisfy him. It is my lookout as his religious wife that how he’ll be satisfied, but this is his aspiration. And I like to see him satisfied.”

Then the lady could understand, that prostitute, “Yes, tomorrow, take him. I invite you both to take food in my house tomorrow.”

That was intimated to the brāhmaṇa, and they came. Of course there was agreement for brāhmaṇa cooks etc, so many things. Two dishes were served: one, some prasādam, Bhāgavata prasādam in a plantain leaf, Ganges water into earthen pot, all vegetarian, fruits, etc. Next, by the side, in golden and silver pots, so many meats and rich dishes, they were served, and a good āsana, all these things: one sattvic, another rajarsic, tamasic.

Then, she with folded palms invited the brāhmaṇas and asked, “This is Bhāgavata prasādam, in such and such way, and that is a rich dish, prepared in such and such way. Whatever you like, you may take at your sweet will.”

Anyhow the leper brāhmaṇa, he had the choice of the prasādam, and he accepted that and he took, began to take.

Then that prostitute, after he has finished his prasādam, taking, “Your wife is like this prasādam, sattvic, and this is rajarsic; meat, rich dishes, gold, silver, all these things, this is me. I am so and so, and your wife is purest of the pure, higher type. Then why, when your taste is for this sattvica, the Bhāgavata prasādam, purity, and externally, that is very gorgeous but internally, very impure, filthy, why have you come here?”

Then the brāhmaṇa came to his senses. “Yes, I am wrong. God has taught me through you. My fleeting desires ended, no more now. I am satisfied. You are my teacher in the spiritual line.”

In this way ____________ [?] Kavirāja Goswāmī has quoted this in Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

End of 82.02.27.B_82.02.28.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.28.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... dīkṣā Guru, śikṣā Guru, śāstra Guru. So he’s a beggar. He’s indenting from one side and...

...

... went to serve the prostitute. Why? For the satisfaction of her husband!

So, Rādhārāṇī says that, “I’m ready to serve those opposite, seeming, apparently opposite camp, if they can really satisfy My Lord. I’m ready to serve. But they can’t. But they have got some demand. I differ in that point. Not that My share is being lessened. That is not My attitude.”

So, wherever any unfavourable circumstance comes it is always Her durdaiva-vilāsa. It is coming from within, and not anything to be traced outside. That should be the attitude of a true devotee of Kṛṣṇa, and thereby, we will invite, we will be able to invite good ideas within. We shall attract good things, collect good things from the environment to purify me and my position. Always, though it is not very easy, but still, the energy, if possible should be devoted only to collect good wishes, good will, from the external circumstances. Try to indent as much as you can, good will, to purify your own position.

Tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8]. We are encouraged to look deeper. Try to look deeper and then you will find your friend. Be liberal in your attitude towards the environment, and you cannot but come in connection with the plane which is really liberal. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness in its ultimate reach. You’ll find Kṛṣṇa consciousness, home.

Prahlāda boldly met all the adverse circumstances, but ultimately he was victorious. And Prahlāda’s father’s calculation about the environment was falsified. And Prahlāda’s calculation came out in flying colours to show that it is his calculation, his deeper vision could read correctly. There is Hari everywhere. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is commanding the whole.

So, we must not allow ourselves to be discouraged under any circumstances, however acute apparently it may seem to us. He’s there. As much as the circumstance seems to be apparently very serious and very apathetic to us, but it is not so. The smiling face will come behind the screen of the Lord. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa, the type of Kṛṣṇa, He’s beautiful, He’s aggressor. He’s waiting for us. He’s infinite. His consumption has no limit: eagerly awaiting to accept our services. Only the screen should be removed, and our preparedness must be to that degree of intensity. And that inner wealth can be discovered only by the help of the sādhu, Guru, etc, and such scriptures, association. Association can help us, but the fact is such, the śāstra will also say, the Guru, sādhu, they are all one, to say like this.

“That is all nectar, and you have drawn a screen between the nectar and you are tasting the poison, thinking that this is very useful to you.”

On the whole, think it, that no blame is to be put to another part. No difficulty, but it is the truth. We are responsible for our disgrace, our fallen stage. And the path is also of similar: self-condemnation and appreciation of the environment, especially God and His men, and then gradually everyone. None can be given authority to harm me. All superfluous and misleading, that one can do harm to another, that is misleading on the superficial plane. Ultimately it is not so. All friendly: when we reach the highest stage of a devotee we shall see that all our apprehension was wrong, was concocted, māyā. Misconception, māyā, misconception, mā yā, what is not, that what is not, māyā. Mriyate, anaya, all measured from the standpoint of measured vision, from that localized or provincialized interest, and not Absolute Interest.

I was guided by provincial or local interest, selfish, and not by universal interest. So that was the cause of all these troubles, mriyate, by measured, not by Infinite consideration, but by measured consideration. My angle of vision was guided by measured consideration, mriyate anaya, but not from Absolute or Infinite consideration, so I am suffering, I was suffering. But now that I have come to understand my interest included in the Absolute, or the infinite interest, I am released; no trouble, it will be like that.

So, a bad workman quarrels with his tools. According to my karma, this environment I am producing, the environment which I’m going to blame, that is created by my own karma. So as I used the food, so the stools have come, so I should not go to quarrel with the stools, it is the effect of my own feeding. So, I did karma, the result has come as environment. So a bad workman quarrels with his stools. Stool is innocent, that has got no fault. So, karma is such, it is like stool. As we eat, so the stool comes. So, that is useless, waste of energy.

With the help of the sādhu, and the scripture, try to get out of the diseased hankering, diseased food, selection of the food. Take prasādam, Bhāgavata prasādam. Connect everything with Kṛṣṇa, not only imaginary connection, the connect everything that is – try to connect, it has no connection, not so. The connection is there, but you can’t detect. Try to detect that, everything. Try to live in Kṛṣṇa, not in measured interest. Then everything will be all right. Whatever, you may take Hari-Nāma, you may preach, you may write, you may work, you may meditate, you may worship, you may cultivate, but:

yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra, loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ

[tad-artham karma kaunteya, mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara]

[“Selfless duty performed as an offering to the Supreme Lord is called yajña, or sacrifice. O Arjuna, all action performed for any other purpose is the cause of bondage in this world of repeated birth and death. Therefore, remaining unattached to the fruits of action, perform all your duties in the spirit of such sacrifice. Such action is the means of entering the path of devotion, and with the awakening of true perception of the Lord, it will enable you to attain to pure, unalloyed devotion, free from all material qualities (nirguṇa-bhakti).”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.9]

It must be for the sacrifice, for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, representing the whole of the whole, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Do everything in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and you will be released in no time, and you will be reinstated as a member of the Kṛṣṇa conscious world. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is infinite, it is not monopoly, but still it is monopoly of the sādhus, Guru and the scriptures, that have promised to distribute it to the misguided.

Ahaṁ bhakta-parārdhīno [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 9.4.63] “Those that take bath by the feet dust of My devotee, that is the door to enter into My land, in a submissive way.”

Vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-‘bhiṣekam [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 5.12.12]

[rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti, na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā

na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair, vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-‘bhiṣekam]

[“O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the feet dust of the great devotees. It is never attained by austerity, Vedic worship, acceptance of the renounced order of life, the discharge of the duties of household life, the chanting of the Vedic hymns, or the performance of penances in the hot sun, within cold water or before the blazing fire.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 5.12.12]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Niṣkiñcanānāṁ.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Niñkiṣcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat. And also,

naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ, sprśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ

mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-'bhiṣekaṁ, [niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat]

[Prahlāda Mahārāja states: “Unless they smear upon their bodies the dust of the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava completely freed from material contamination, persons very much inclined toward materialistic life cannot be attached to the lotus feet of the Lord, Who is glorified for His uncommon activities. Only by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious and taking shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord in this way can one be freed from material contamination.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.5.32]

In Prahlāda and in Rahūgaṇa, in two places it is mentioned very clearly. That only taking bath in the pure dust, divine dust, of the feet of the Guru and Vaiṣṇava, sādhu. That with a humble and a prayerful mind, if we try to show our allegiance and surrender to the smallest advices of the Guru, Vaiṣṇava, that is the door through which we can enter into that world. By our submissive acceptance of the smallest meanings of the words coming from the Guru, Vaiṣṇava: that is the door we can enter into the Vaikuṇṭha, and Goloka, etc. That is here, no dearth of that peaceful life. It is ample, it is infinite. Only we are finite. We are finite; there is no dearth of that what we aspire after.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaurāṅga, They came with that news, tidings. “Come home. Come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” Their earnestness to take us to that domain was unparalleled, unprecedented in the history of the world. And also we are told that Their coming also repeatedly occurs, every asta vinca yuga of Brahmā, every Kali-yuga, generally Hari-Nāma.

Anyhow, we should not miss the present. Sama ei sarvat praman [?] The present time, that is the real capital. Trust no future. Trust no future. Act, act in the living present. Anuvritya yavat_________________ [?] Only the days, the number of days that is this side your death. That is, you may think at your hands, that is your capital, this time, this side the death. After death, where you will be posted, that is uncertain. Don’t go to depend on that, it won’t be judicious. Only this side the death, the time, that you may have some consideration.

mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ.

[As a consequence of such sinfulness, men are condemned (mandāḥ), their intelligence is unclear (sumanda-matayaḥ), they are unfortunate (manda-bhāgyāḥ), and therefore they are always disturbed by many problems (upadrutāḥ). This is their situation in this life, and after death they are punished in hellish conditions.] [From the purport of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6.2.5-6]

These are adverse circumstances. So many diseases are there. Then unfavourable circumstances may be created, so many hindrances. But still, human birth and only just before the death, so many days you may expect, that is your capital, you may think. The real capital of course is sādhu-saṅga, and your cooperation, and the days also. About the time, not so much trace has been given.

Sukadeva Goswāmī, varaṁ muhūrtaṁ viditaṁ. One moment properly understood, that is enough to begin with, to connect with. That fortunate moment, fortunate second, that takes you in connection with the right thing, that is valuable. Kiṁ pramattasya bahubhiḥ parokṣair. Hundreds of births, barren, may pass away, already passed. But that time is the most fortunate moment, and most valuable moment, when we come in connection with Kṛṣṇa consciousness through any sort of agency.

[kiṁ pramattasya bahubhiḥ, parokṣair hāyanair iha

varaṁ muhūrtaṁ viditaṁ, ghaṭate śreyase yataḥ]

[“What is the value of a prolonged life which is wasted, inexperienced by years in this world? Better a moment of full consciousness, because that gives one a start in searching after his supreme interest.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.1.12]

One gentleman, one Parvat Mahārāja or who told? He got one book from the dustbin.

Parvat Mahārāja: Trash can.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: From the dustbin, he collected a book, and that took him to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Bhāvānanda Mahārāja told that, “I was looking at that festival, dancing and chanting around the ratha. What is this?”

Tamal Kṛṣṇa told, “You don’t know? Have you heard of Kṛṣṇa?”

“Who is Kṛṣṇa?”

“Gītā: the book you have...?”

“No. What is Gītā?”

In this way, he went enumerator and reject everything.

“Oh, do you know India?”

“Yes, I know India. I have heard the name of the country.”

Well there the God came as incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, this thing and that thing.”

“But anyhow, the circumambulation and dancing and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, but I don’t know why I associated, I entered in that circular dancing. Then I became unconscious for some time, then when I had my lost consciousness again, that they are putting some water into the, here, all these things, and I was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, I became devotee. I became devotee suddenly.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. “I can’t leave Hare Kṛṣṇa.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Bilvamaṅgala’s connection, that is more wonderful. He used to come to a prostitute. And the prostitute remarked, “In such unfavourable circumstances you have come to me in this dead of night in hail and storm. If a slight portion of this sort of attention you had for Kṛṣṇa, then you will be how much benefited.”

But this struck the man within. “Yes, it is so. A hundredth part of such energy, desperate energy, to be used for the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then how we will be benefited, saved.” That turned the man, created the turn. “Oh, yes.” He bowed down to that prostitute and began his journey for Kṛṣṇa.

So, from the smallest incident, the most negligent incident also can connect us with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Everything is surcharged. Just as the enemy camp puts some underground bomb, time bomb here and there, and bursts! So, here and there, everywhere, such bombs are posted, placed, and when the bomb burst, then Kṛṣṇa consciousness comes in. Gaura Haribol. Underground arrangement we find in many places.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

[advaita-vīthī-pathikair upāsyāḥ,] svānanda-siṁhāsana-labdha-dīkṣāḥ

haṭhena kenāpi vayaṁ śaṭhena, dāsī-kṛtā gopa-vadhū-viṭena

[“Although I am worshippable by the wanderers on the path of monism, and although I have received initiation into ascending the great throne of self-satisfaction, I have been forcibly converted into a maidservant by some deceitful paramour of the Gopīs.”] [Śrī Śrī Prapanna-jīvanāmṛtam, 7.20]

Karṇāmṛtam. Kavi Karṇapūra he says. And Śukadeva says,

pariniṣṭhito 'pi nairguṇye, uttamaḥ-śloka-līlayā / gṛhīta-cetā rājarṣe, ākhyānaṁ yad adhītavān

[“O saintly King, I was certainly situated perfectly in transcendence, yet I was still attracted by the delineation of the pastimes of the Lord, who is described by enlightened verses.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2.1.9]

Śukadeva says, “My case was more hopeless than a viṣayī. There they have got mal-engagement, but I had non-engagement.”

Non-engagement, that fate which has got no engagement, aspiration of perfect rest, no engagement: that is said to be more dangerous. Idle man’s brain is devil’s workshop. The idleness to its extremity in sāyujya mukti, samādhi. The greatest type of atheist, that brahma samādhi, that most pessimistic, the most pessimistic section, there, there cannot by any goodness, only to equate to zero, that to get relief. All troublesome, only complete withdrawal to non-existence: that is the highest aim of life, to everyone, the most pessimistic.

And Vaiṣṇavas, they are most optimistic, most optimistic. Karmīs are generally misguided fools, and the intelligentsia, the jñānīs, they dig their own grave. They are very eager to dig their own grave. The highest aim is pessimism; nothing can be used, no utilization, no good exists; what exists, that is all bad. So complete withdrawal, so consciousness means conscious of bad things, so, no other alternative but to enter the grave, death. That is their ultimate aim. But optimistic are the Vaiṣṇava, everything good. What is bad it seems, that is only with my indiscrimination, mal decision: that is responsible. But the world, the creation, it is infinite good, worth living life to its extreme highest attainment, especially the Kṛṣṇa conscious people. Nothing which does not contribute for the satisfaction of the whole, including myself. Including myself everything is meant to contribute satisfaction for the whole, including myself. A cooperative goodness and blissfulness: that is the world. World means that, the cooperating good units are working together, and there is the Master. He’s the source of all goodness, the most optimistic conception, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

yadi gaura nā hoita, tabe ki hoita, kemone dharitām de [Vāsudeva Ghosa]

It is a peculiar sentiment. Yadi gaura nā hoita, tabe ki hoita, kemone dharitām de. “But why so long you have, you are carrying your body? You have come in connection of Gaurāṅga in future? But how you have carried your body so long, you had no connection with Gaurāṅga? Now you think that it is impossible to live without Gaurāṅga, but before this, before you invented Gaurāṅga, how could you live?”

So, the centre is here. The past life, the conception of our svarūpa, of our real self is in the centre. And without that connection, everything is redundant. That is no life, that is death. That is a dead man’s dead body. Here I found that I am living, my life is worth living. I got back the clue of the existence of my life here in Gaurāṅga’s advice and the association. The centre is here. The past and future is not the centre; present is the centre. We may think that centre might have been in the past, but that philosophy has been denied here. The present is the centre, and from there the future and the past may connect, go on. It is eternal, life eternal. Everywhere there is centre, nowhere circumference.

We find that here in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, “Oh it is, my self is here! Who says that without Kṛṣṇa consciousness that I lived? It was impossible, I am here, I am living here.” This is astonishing, wonderful, when one awakes from his slumber he finds that, ‘I am here.’ So when one gets back to Kṛṣṇa consciousness his feeling is like that. “That this is my beginning, this is my future, everything here. That was, all others concoction. That was taking me from here, just as in dream, we’re sleeping in a bed, and I was taken to some jungle, to some mountain, to some other country, but when we get up, I find I was in the bed. I’m in the bed, but I was wandering here and there.

So: gaura nā hoita kemone hoita prema-rasa-sīmā rādhāra kemone dharitām de. “Without this conception, this prospect, the life of such a highest prospect I am meant for. I went away from my prospect of life, how wonderful, that is all imaginary, not real. The reality is that I am living at the feet of Gaurāṅga. That is reality, all others concoction. From here, in a dream I am going and sometimes vegetable kingdom, sometimes bird kingdom, sometimes animal kingdom, sometimes ghost kingdom, human kingdom, wandering. But here I am in the feet dust of Gaurāṅga.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. What’s the time?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Nine o’clock.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Nitāi. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Any question? __________________________ [?] Mahāprabhu Govinda Sundara.

Devotee: Mahārāja, how is your finger today?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Finger? Gradually in the curing process, it was pressed in the door, here. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, what was the dissatisfaction that Śrīla Vyāsadeva felt after compiling some of the Vedic literature, even though some of these literatures had some pastimes of Kṛṣṇa in them?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, why the dissatisfaction?

Devotees: Dissatisfaction.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: If we go to construct a building, then, and over the plane why we dig the earth and begin our foundation from the lower position, something like that, a reaction, a setback. When one does something, he gets satisfaction, and after doing so much, he felt dissatisfaction, that is to dig the ground, to put the structure there.

“I have given so much, but the subconsciousness, dissatisfaction says that you have done nothing.”

A reaction came. And then the structure was placed there, so dissatisfaction. Satisfaction of the fulfilment of one’s life if possible, so the dissatisfaction of un-fulfilment, non-fulfilment of one’s life; that is dissatisfaction.

“I have done nothing. Life is wasted. In the garb of doing so many things, I have deceived the people, ultimately, I’m told. A background for that.”

And the Nārada also came with such stricture.

jugupsitaṁ dharmma-kṛte 'nuśāsataḥ, [svabhāva-raktasya mahān vyatikramaḥ

yad vākyato dharmma itītaraḥ sthito, na manyate tasya nivāraṇaṁ janaḥ]

[“You have committed a great wrong. In your injunctions of religious duty for the masses, you have sanctioned condemnable worldly works for fulfilment of mundane desires. The masses are already by nature attached to condemnable worldly works for fulfilment of mundane desires. It is a great wrong because the worldly masses will conclude that your messages alone are the central religious duty. Even if they are taught by other knowers of the truth to refrain from those worldly works, they will not accept those teachings, or, they will not be able to understand them for themselves.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.5.15]

“What you have done, that is most filthy thing. Jugupsitaṁ means gave hateful things. Hateful things you have given, you have distributed to the world in the name of their real benefit. You are treacherous. In the garb of an Ācārya you have given delivery to things which is all sham; not any real thing you have given to the world. And reality is He, Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Good. Not His halo, nor the explanation of the description of the negative side of the world. The good and bad in the wholesale is wrong. In a dream, good or bad, everything is bad, everything is false. So you have dealt with sattya, raja, tama, Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janar, Satya-loka, Mahar-loka, Janar-loka, all in the negative side. And you feel great satisfaction that you have given much to the world, but that is within the jurisdiction of the negative side.

And about positive, what you have told that is non-understandable, a vague thing, a Brahman what is Brahmān? In Brahmāpura, in the domain of Brahmā, everything is there, so many jewels there buried in the Brahmloka. Brahmaloka means the halo of the real world of love divine. That is Brahmaloka from outside, only the halo. On the verge, on the last point, last plane of this mundane world of exploitation, you say there is something, Brahman, and some Puruṣottama, all these things, vague things. But you have not given delivery of the real thing. God, the beloved, the lover of the whole world, and every jīva has got his fulfilment in His service. What’s concrete, the life’s fulfilment, you have not distributed to the world. So many forms and fashions and ornaments, and in dignified language you have distributed, all empty things.”

In this way he came, jugupsitaṁ, gaditam, ninditam. “What you have done, that is blameable, dharmma-kṛte, because the stamp is religion, but ultimately the thing is not, bogus. It is the parcel, over parcel this is nectar, but we find this is poison. Dharmma-kṛte 'nuśāsataḥ, svabhāva- raktasya mahān vyatikramaḥ. You’ve done a great misdeed to the world. Yad vākyato dharmma itītaraḥ sthito, na manyate. Because, you were respected by the whole scholarly world that you know the best what is religion. Now if anyone comes to give the delivery of the real thing, people won’t accept him at all. So, I have come to you and you...

End of 82.02.28.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.02.28.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... “That will be your penance, the compensation. So long you have only shown more or less the negative side. Now the positive side you are to supply, through you it must be supplied, otherwise the people won’t accept.”

In this way, he was dissatisfied. Doing so much for the world, in the ordinary calculation, he has done enough. Inestimable service he has done in the religious world. That is the general understanding of the people.

But Devaṛṣi Nārada came and told: and before that, he found nonplussed. “He has done so much good for the world, but still, he himself is not satisfied, what to satisfy others. But the giver himself, he does not feel peace in his mind. The giver of so many good things to the world, he finds in himself that he’s in want. He’s not in peace. He’s in misery, uneasiness. So in that highest order, what gives real peace to him, that will be considered easily that the real way to the peace to the world.”

Do you follow? Not clear? Not fully clear. If anyone can understand you may clarify.

Vyāsa recommended to the world for their peaceful life, “Don’t steal others property, don’t take forcible possession of others property, love your neighbour, all these things, so many things, then you will find permanent peace in life.”

But the giver of all these things, he did not find peace in his mind, because what he gave, really, the valuation of that was very little. So, he could not find peace himself. The giver of peace, he is in non-peace.

And then Nārada came and told him, “What is real peace you please take it from me, and now give it, distribute to the public. Then you will find peace.”

And Vyāsa said, “I did so, and I found real peace in my mind. And oh, you worldly people, you take it. What I have given before, that is not sufficient. What I give now, that is really peaceful, and you accept that.”

That was the thing. So, hitherto, what was in possession of Vyāsadeva that cannot contribute real peace to us. To show that to us, and for his natural position as such, Vyāsadeva was in sorrow, not in peace. But when he got the real seed of peace from his Gurudeva Devaṛṣi Nārada, “That you have lost peace of mind: only it is necessary that you will have to give real peaceful thing to the world.” And it was effected in that way.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Mahārāja, but one thing is that Vyāsadeva, he had already given Mahābhārata with Bhagavad-gītā.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. That is in seed, unconsciously. That was given by him __________ [?], what he did not conceive himself, to the real standard. In Padma-Purāṇa, and the other, but in Bhāgavatam, he has given it. That is, hitherto, his gift may, there was chance of being misconceived of the mundane world. The devotion of Kṛṣṇa, that might have been conceived as a part of this mundane world, in sattva guṇa. But Bhāgavata made it clear that it is over Brahmaloka, cid-vilāsa. Not within sattva guṇa, it is nirguṇa. And Vyāsadeva, he gave it, and not only by him, but when it came percolated from the realization of Śrī Śuka, it reached that standard, that cid-vilāsa, not jaḍa-vilāsa. Not in the mental world, but in the transcendental world; the stealing, the lying and other autocratic movements, all is of absolute purity in the centre. Infinite value of the highest order: that was attached, that was made public, of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the world, when it came through the mouth of Śukadeva. So, vyāso vetti na vetti vā.

[aham vedmi śuko vetti, vyāso vetti na vetti vā

bhaktyā bhāgavataṁ grāhyaṁ na buddhyā na ca ṭīkayā]

[Lord Śiva says: “I know the true purpose of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; Śukadeva, the son and disciple of Vyāsadeva, knows it thoroughly, and the author of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Vyāsadeva may or may not know the meaning. The real purpose of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is very difficult to conceive and can only be known through bhakti.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 24.313]

But Vyāsa was living and after three editions, or fourth edition, first from Nārada to Vyāsa only ten lines, and Vyāsa to Śuka, that is few lines. And then, Śuka to Parīkṣit, that was the main thing, and then last, from Sūta Goswāmī to Śaunaka Ṛṣī, the fourth, and then, Vyāsadeva, the whole thing he put in a book form, last edition, and sent it to the market. The fourth sitting, it is there. And the introduction, three ślokas, janmādy asya [Bhāgavatam, 1.1.1], nigama-kalpa-taror [Bhāgavatam, 1.1.3], dharmaḥ projjhita [Bhāgavatam, 1.1.2]. Three introductory ślokas given by Vyāsadeva, and it sent to the market, what at present we get. So, when came through Śuka, it got the, Bhāgavata got the standard in the cid-vilāsa, over Vedānta. Previously it was mentioned, but the real characteristic, to stand over in the standard transcendental world was not up to mark, up to standard: only narrative, narration. In Padma-Purāṇa, Brahma-vaivarta-Purāṇa, they had got only not the standard of philosophy, ontological standard, but narration, history, something like. But comparative study and ontological position, to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, given mainly by Bhāgavatam. When it came to be given, also,

artho 'yaṁ brahma sūtrānāṁ, bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ

gāyatrī bhāṣya rūpo 'sau, vedārthaḥ paribriṁhitaḥ

[“Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam represents the real purport of Vedānta-sūtra. And although it is very difficult to draw out the real purpose of the one hundred thousand verse epic Mahābhārata, the great history of the world, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam has come to give its real meaning. The mother of all Vedic knowledge is the Gāyatrī mantra. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam gives the gist of Gāyatrī in a very full-fledged way. And the supplementary truths of the Vedas are also found within Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.”] [Garuḍa-Purāṇa]

So, Gāyatrī, then Veda, Brahmā-sūtra, and Gītā, Mahābhārata, all these things, everything represented in nutshell here, and something more. In this way, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness in its fullest dignity we get, and when it can satisfy the Vaidāntic scholars, and supersede all the scholars, the jñāna-kāṇḍa. The jñāna-kāṇḍa, those that are salvationist, they are the exploitationist like Jaiminī, they had not so much credit in the society, but the credit was in the hands of the renunciationtists, this Kapila, Pātañjali, this nyāya, this logical section that dealt with the meanings of the Veda. And Vedavyāsa had no other alternative but to relieve them, this Vedānta, uttara-mīmāṁsā: that was given by Vyāsadeva to combat the other opponents, that sāṅkhya, yoga, etc. But that was also vague, like that is Brahman, not very discriminated, differentiated realm of the truth of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So there was necessity of Bhāgavatam. Rasam the highest thing is rasa, and not the intellectualism. In Vedānta and other śāstras of the higher order, they are full of intellectualisms, ontological jugglery. But that is rasa, the rasa is the upper hand of everything, ānandam, and not consciousness; not intelligence, not consciousness, not ontology. But ultimately the highest thing is rasa, ānandam, beauty, charm, harmony. That is all important. And it was given in Bhāgavatam, in Gopī Gītā, in other places that, that is rasa. That is ānanda. That is not intellectual jugglery. From the plane of intellectual jugglery it is taken to the domain of rasa in Bhāgavatam, the unique treatise.

Devotee: Mahārāja, what will be the value of Caitanya-caritāmṛta in comparison with the super excellent position of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhāgavata has got a general position in Sanskrit and also in exclusive information, historical reference, and dealings with many of the various departments of the intellectualists. That has got its position. But if we are to consider the very gist of Bhāgavatam, then we get Caitanya-caritāmṛta; above that. Above that, because in Bhāgavatam, other things are also mentioned, many things, which is not so much necessary, but it was considered to be necessary to maintain the position of Bhāgavatam from that Davamandala samsthar [?], the geographical position, the historical position, all these things are mentioned.

But in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, that is the very essence, and that is also, that was percolated by Śukadeva’s realization and here it’s coming from, that is percolated from Mahāprabhu, the Kṛṣṇa, rādhā-govinda-milita-tanu, the combined Rādhā-Govinda. Through Him it is coming in its intensified glory, more purer glory from the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and not many things which apparently may seem undesirable and unnecessary in Bhāgavatam; so many things, so many stories.

But that will be for the selected few, not for all. Bhāgavata will have more spacious jurisdiction than Caritāmṛta. But increased connotation we find in Caitanya-caritāmṛta than in Bhāgavatam. Bhāgavata has got its influence over a larger area. The Madhvācārya, the Viṣṇusvāmī, the Nimbarka, Rāmānuja and Sanatani, they have got some sort of obligation towards Bhāgavata that is coming from Vyāsadeva. But Caitanya-caritāmṛta, a more selected group; and who understands that, he thinks that this is more useful and more safe and more giving of purer conception of Bhāgavatam.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So, who are attracted by Bhāgavatam there may be some room of misconception. But in Caitanya-caritāmṛta that misconception has been mostly eliminated, prākṛta, to conceive it as mundane. More caution is given in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. But still, those that recognise Caitanya-caritāmṛtam to be the highest standard, they’re also seen engaged in filthy practices like the sahajiyā, āula, bāula, etc, in the field.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: I’ve heard one explanation of how the River Gaṇḍhakī appeared, and I do not know if it is true, the explanation. Can you say: is there some explanation how Gaṇḍhakī River has appeared?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: How?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: River Gaṇḍhakī, how the appearance took place?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaṇḍhakī, appearance of Gaṇḍhakī River. I don’t know the history.

Devotee: I’ve heard one story. There was a discussion between Lakṣmī, Sarasvatī, and I think Parvatī, and they were trying to understand who was the most chaste woman in the universe.

So Nārada Muni, they consulted Nārada Muni and he said that, “Actually, none of these three is the most chaste, but the most chaste is this one prostitute.”

So they were very shocked and they went to Viṣṇu. And so Viṣṇu He approached Nārada Muni and he said, “Yes.” Nārada Muni said, “Yes, there is this one woman and she’s the most chaste.”

So Viṣṇu thought He would test her. She was a prostitute so He appeared before her as a leper.

And so she brought Him into, well, her maidservant greeted the leper and then the maidservant went to the prostitute and said, “There is this gentleman here.”

And she said, the prostitute said, “Yes, show him in.”

So the maidservant said, “But he’s a leper.”

And the woman said, “No, that is all right, just show him in.”

So then she prepared a big banquet and then she served it to the leper. And He ate everything, but as He was eating, part of his, some of His skin fell into the food.

So the maidservant when the man, the leper was finished eating, the maidservant brought the remnants before the woman, and the woman ate the remnants of the leper. And then she saw the skin there and she ate even the skin. So in this way she served the leper, with great devotion she served the leper.

And, I don’t remember so clearly, but Viṣṇu, Who was coming before her as the leper, He was very impressed with her devotion.

And so He said, “Yes, because you are so devoted you will be the Gaṇḍhakī River and I will appear within your waters as Śālagrāma-śilā.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I do not know that. Where is it found, in any Purāṇa? I’ve not come across...

Devotee: I’ve only heard it from my...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... but I see some sort of rasābhāsa there. Viṣṇu accepted the prostitute, not mother, is it? The prostitute and Viṣṇu, that leper connection, was that of wife and husband, or mother and son?

Devotee: I think more wife and husband.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then how that prostitute who was accepted as wife, she can be transformed to be the mother of Śālagrāma-śilā?

Devotee: Yes, I see.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So there must be some misconception, mis-description perhaps. I want to see the original thing, then I can give decision.

Devotee: I see.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That here some anomaly we find in the story.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So any more question, from any corner?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Vidagdha-Mādhava Prabhu has just come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah. Any news from him: fresh?

Vidagdha Mādhava: Haṁsadūta Mahārāja ______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Has he come, is it, eh?

Vidagdha Mādhava: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Today?

Vidagdha Mādhava: Yesterday.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Today he has come.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yesterday.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right.

Vidagdha Mādhava: And you know there’s three new Gurus.

Devotees: ___________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Devotee: You’ve already heard the news about the new Gurus.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, new Gurus, yes. Three new Ācāryas has been added to the Ācārya Board. One is Svarūpa Dāmodara, another is Pañcadravida and Gopāla Kṛṣṇa. All right. And that Praṇāma Swāmī is also being given some hopeful news that under some condition he may also be incorporated. Anyhow, they are more extensive, becoming more extensive. And that was unanimously or any opposition: their decision?

Vidagdha Mādhava: There was some deadlock for two days. There was some opposition.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Some opposition, opposition recorded or ultimately it was accepted unanimously? In the course of the meeting may have any opposition, but when in conclusion more than three, four majority perhaps it was accepted, in the face of opposition or ultimately unanimously? You don’t know?

Vidagdha Mādhava: I don’t know.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Vidagdha Mādhava: Pañcadravidha Swāmī is coming.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Now, here?

Vidagdha Mādhava: Yes, he’ll be coming here, now, after the meeting he wants to come. And Jayatīrtha Mahārāja he will try to bring others, including Rāmeśvara.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Aranya Mahārāja: Jayatīrtha Mahārāja is going to try and bring Rāmeśvara Mahārāja here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So now I want to retire.

Devotees: Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ... even the animals, the vegetable kingdom, all may be benefited. The wave that is created, the sound, the wave, that can help even the inanimate object, to certain extent. So the vibration that helps the atmosphere, purifies the atmosphere with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That the subtle most which can have effect in all sorts of gross elements in the world, the subtle most is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That can work anywhere and everywhere in every plane. But we may not detect.

Mangalam bhagavan visnu mangalam madhusudanam [?]

Mangalam sarva devesu mangalaya tanu hari [?]

Śivam, all auspicious, auspicious and anti mortality, generally that is considered to be śivam _________________ [?] Śiva, who has conquered this mortal aspect of the world, mortal wave, conquered the mortal waves. Beyond mortality, immortal, is śivam. And then positive area of love and beauty, that is something more, the highest transcendental position. And above that nothing can be, love and beauty, satyam, śivam, sundaram, all satisfying rasa. No complaint against, all harmonising, none have to complain.

I heard in my boyhood one śloka from Upaniṣad, satyam briyath priyam briyath [?] “First, speak what is truth, speak truth, satyam briyath.” Na priyam na briyath satyam apriyam [?] “But don’t say truth which is not pleasing.”

That struck me. What is this? Satya, truth must be pleasing, or may not be pleasing, it may be cruel, harsh, but still, truth must be spoken. Why that will be modified? Satyam briyath. Then, priyam briyath, talk truth, speak truth, the next, priyam briyath, talk pleasing, tell pleasing, priyam briyath. Why modification? Na briyath satyam apriyam. Don’t venture to speak a truth what is not pleasing. I could not adjust. Why it will be so? Truth must be spoken at any cost. Na briyath satyam apriyam. Priyam ca nanitam briyath. And don’t go to speak pleasing which is not true. That is also there. Esa dharma sanatana. This is the proper substance of the sanātana- dharma, of the eternal duty, or function.

Anyhow I got a shock. The truth may not be universal. There’s something more than that which can, the truth will be modified by that. Then gradually I came to know, truth means justice, but mercy is above that, the possibility of the existence of mercy. So truth and priya means love, prema. Prema is over justice, consideration, knowledge. That represents truth. But love is more than that: love, mercy, more than that, satyam, śivam, sundaram. There is truth, there is auspicious, beyond mortality, eternal, śivam, and then fulfilment of life is in beauty and love, prema. It is possible. Over justice there can exist something. One party aggrieved, but if in the domain of love none aggrieved. What is, apparently seems to be grievance that is also compensated in another way. So satyam, śivam, sundaram, raso vai sah, sundara means beauty, and prema love, mercy: of same category. And truth, justice: in the same category. And the exploitation, adharma, that is of the lowest category.

So Mahāprabhu came, the Lord of love came with, to distribute love. Love means, not this which is passing here in the name love, not that. That is lust. Love only connecting with the Supreme Divinity. Love is Divine, always Divine, prema. And here, enemy of love is lust. That is current here in this plane. Gaura Haribol. The distinction between love and lust we are to maintain always. That will be of a principal thing in our preaching endeavour. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says,

kāma-preme dekho bhāi, lakṣanete bheda nāi, tabhu kāma ‘prema’ nāhi haya

[“My brother, lust and love appear as one and the same; yet, lust is never love.”]

[Kalyāṇa-kalpataru, song 18]

Similar but not same, we’ll be warned against that very much. The sahajiyā section they mingle in the name of love they really what they cultivate that is lust.

Charna mamsa mayo kama [?] It is in this world of flesh and blood, whatever it is applied it is lust. And, prema cid ananda dhama [?] That is on the other side, on the transcendental side, crossing the existence of our soul, Supersoul, or Paramātmā. Even in the realm of Paramātmā we don’t find love. Even in the realm of Nārāyaṇa we don’t find real love. Surpassing that the love is in the Goloka, especially in Vṛndāvana it is. So the warning has been given by the Ācāryas previous that we must not make, we must not jumble together love and lust. One is life, another is death, two extremes. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Śrīdhara Mahārāja, if we have not yet come to the platform of even truth and justice, then how can we know that that which we’re trying to apply to a person in the name of love or treating him with the highest principal is not simply mundane or sentiment?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is his... Who is here, Akṣayānanda Mahārāja or Bhāratī Mahārāja? What does he say?

Devotee: If we have not yet even come to the platform...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, somewhat...

Devotee: ... of truth or justice, how can we know if we try to deal with someone with love that it’s not just mundane sentiment?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So we are to... At least we have got some clue through our faith. We may not be established in that plane, but through faith we’re connected. And we’re to repeat the advices of our predecessors with faith, with good feeling, good attitude, and gradually the undesirable thing will pass away by that transaction, that process. What we have heard from Guru, from the śāstra, we’re to repeat that.

In my boyhood also I had, I came in connection with another thing. Avrti sarva sastranam bodha gadi godarsi [?] It is mentioned in a Sanskrit verse, that to chant repeatedly one thing is better than to understand the meaning. I could not understand this, at that time, I could not understand. I was a boy of thirteen, fourteen. Then I came across this śloka. avrti sarva sastranam. That is repeatedly chanting of the hymns of śāstra, of the advices, the mantram of śāstra, bodha gadi godarsi. It supersedes even the understanding of the meaning of it. I could not understand. But I came to understand this when I came to Gauḍīya Maṭha. It is possible. The śāstra, the perfect words, śāstric words, the Nāma, Name, the Name we do not understand the meaning, real meaning of the Name, but if through faith we go to continue taking the Name, gradually Name will come with His pristine glory to me. So the many advices in the śāstra, it is written, we can’t understand, can’t follow the real meaning, but still if with faith we go on chanting and tackling the saying repeatedly, one day I will find the śāstra is revealing His meaning in me. It is possible. It is fact. We have experienced that.

So it has been said that don’t think that śāstra is inanimate. It is a posing in that position, a passive position: the sound. The sound which is aprākṛta, that is cetan, the sound, not ordinary sound, but, vaikuṇṭha-nāma-grahaṇam [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6.2.14] The sounds that are transcendental, they’re person, they’re cetan, but they’re posing in that some passive way, in śanta rasa. So when they’re satisfied with us, they will come with their meaning to our own plane. They will descend. The meaning will descend. Just as like the water has been ice, then the ice will be melted into water, something like that. Those rigid sounds which is impenetrable at present, one day that will come out within my heart with self effulgent way, and I shall be able to understand. ‘After long time, oh, this is the purport of this śloka.’

So, when we generally take seat in a vyāsāsana and going to read any śāstra, Bhāgavata, Caritāmṛta, we worship with flower and do namaskāra. That is not an objective thing, subjective, super-subjective, so I honour before I go to read. If He likes, He’s pleased with me, then He will give the real meaning. It will come within my heart with its real meaning, purpose. It is possible. So the mahā-jana, the advices that come from the mahā-jana, that is all cetan embodied within. And any time that will be pleased with me, my behaviour, my attitude, my earnestness, my good will, they will come with pristine glory with his real meaning in my heart.

So we are to carry out that, in that tune we are to carry out preaching, preaching that we are not perfect. That is also a ban, an obstacle, to think that I am perfect. ‘I’m carrying out the order of my Gurudeva. I’m a peon, I’m not proprietor.’ This spirit a preacher must have. This is healthy, healthy sign of a preacher, an Ācārya. ‘I’m mediator,’ and never, ‘I’m master.’ If you think master then he becomes opaque, the line banned there, it is tampered. But he says, ‘I am peon,’ what is coming always, ‘I’m a middle capitalist. There is higher capitalist, I am taking from him and I’m distributing to the ordinary people.’ This should be our attitude, not the lustre, the highest centre, then we’ll be undone. Always a current, a current is passing through me, and receiving the grace from up, and I am distributing them to the lower, junior section. I shall be instrumental, always a preacher must think, Guru must think. But externally the Guru may not express that idea, but internally it must be seen. He’s a beggar. He’s a beggar at the...

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His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Rāma Rāma. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja is coming from which side? Direct from America?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I spent two weeks in the Philippines.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Philippines, through Philippines. And you have reached only yesterday, here.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: On the twenty seventh.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Twenty seventh, today’s first, day before yesterday.

Gaura Haribol. You remain in health and spirit, eh? All right. Gaura Haribol.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Yes. By your grace.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: By the grace of the Lord. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Hari. Who else have come with you?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I just brought one servant.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Only one, one attendant.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Jayatīrtha Mahārāja’s party from England reached, no?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes. Some of our men reached, so far about thirty men, forty men have reached.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: But more are coming still.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Coming still. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Actually they’re coming on pilgrimage to see your lotus feet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________________________ [?]

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura...

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His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...natural. It should be, the relation should be that of happy combination, not forced, not forced. It should be adjusted like that, happy, natural, fruitful. Question of faith, question of faith, not of practice, not of practices, not of creating habits, main thing is faith.

There was one case in Andhra Pradesh. Once I met one SDO [?] in Kanada, Andhradesh. We’re having a talk. Then he’s putting questions from here and there. I gave him a blow. That you are talking at random. We are following a particular system, but you are talking at random. Anyhow that was very impressive to him.

Later on he searched for me. “Where is Śrīdhara Mahārāja? He has changed the course of my life, remarking, ‘talking at random.’ Yes, I was doing so. Then I began to read systems, Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, all these particular line of thought, then I changed.”

That gentleman told me that, “One Hindu girl, no, one Hindu husband, he became Christian, and the case came to my court. I myself crossed the young boy. ‘Young boy, don’t you feel any responsibility to your former wife? You married her, and she came to you, and you had some responsibility for her whole life, her sustenance, maintenance.” This way!

But the boy answered, Sir, when faith changes, sense of duty disappears, is changed automatically.”

He told, “I could not answer him. The boy told, ‘When faith changes, the sense of duty disappears, or also changes. When I was a Hindu I had some obligation. But now I’m a Christian, wholesale change has come in my life. I’m standing on my faith. So my former obligation has no effect in my present position.’”

So faith is the most extensive ground, most spacious ground. When man changes his faith, whole life is in a new risk. Then ordinary sense of duty cannot come to work there. It will be artificial, a self opposing life, suicidal life. Faith going one side, and practices another side. What fruit we can derive from that action? So faith should be given preference, śraddhā. Otherwise life will be artificial, miserable, and fruitless. You consider. You are all so many sober men. I can give suggestion out of my experience, and my knowledge of scriptures. But everyone is to think for us because we are living at our own risk, everyone, more or less. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

We may try if we think that faith is running to a wrong way, we shall try to help him. ‘That what you think, this is not well. This has got this difficulty, or you have got this wrong in your faith.’ I don’t say that faith means only, the word faith, that is all perfect. There is also gradation in faith, proper, improper. But faith should be interfered in a mild way to save his life. But if any time it is seen that his faith has awakened for higher thing, we should not go to interfere. That sort of exception, that may be bad example to others also. We are to consider that that may set bad examples to other colleagues. So in considering both we are to deal with, that only in the name of faith everyone is going away. That is also difficult in the administration, difficulty. So we are to use our free and sincere conscience as the judgement. At the same time if we check real faith to have its own real end, then we shall have to incur the penalty for that. So faith is not very cheap thing, real faith, that is valuable, and so, every whim may not be, may not pass on in the name of faith. At the same time, the valuable faith should not be discouraged. So we are to seek between them. The valuable chance should not be checked. At the same time, anything, any whim may not be passed in the name of faith. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate] / na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

We must be sincere in our decision, otherwise our own bhajan will be disturbed, own realization will be checked. The law is not the respecter of any person. So truth is also not respecter of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is impartial, and partial to faith. Partiality, favouritism towards the devotee, that is the faithful. So śraddhā, faith, that is all-important wealth, a universal wealth for all of us. We may not create offence against the general faith, śraddhā. Śraddhā, that is prema, śraddhā when in developed form, that is prema, that is love divine. And Kṛṣṇa is also partial to that, attached to that. So to commit offence against faith, that is also detrimental to our main cause. So with this consideration we are to move on. We have come out to fight, we have come out to take the bold, the position of an Ācārya, of a general, to fight out the cause of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But my movement may not be detrimental to the very cause for which I am out to propagate. I must save my own position. May not be, the fight may not be the same side goal. What is this, same side, same side goal?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Touch back.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The player sometimes erroneously taking the ball in such a way that the party he becomes responsible to make goal in his own side, same side goal. I went to oppose, but it was touched in such a way that the ball came within the goal. Same side goal it is called.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. It is a very subtle thing, very susceptible.

Pañchadravida Swāmī: So, Śrīdhara Mahārāja, we must take your leave now. There is some decision to put forward the names of new sannyāsīs. They are going to choose new persons who will receive sannyāsa, so we are going back for that decision.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, yes, yes. You may go. Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

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His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Parvat Mahārāja: We hear that, when one accepts a spiritual master, then the spiritual master, we heard, if the disciple does not finish his sādhana in this life, then the spiritual master will have to come again in the next life. And I want to know if that means that the same jīva, who was acting as a spiritual master in this life-time, will appear in the next life-time. What is the situation?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So, it is said that,

ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān, [nāvamanyeta karhicit

na martya-buddhyāsūyeta, sarva-deva-mayo guru]

[“One should know the Ācārya as Myself and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods.”]

[Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.17.27] + [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.46]

Suppose a jīva has begun his spiritual life under the guidance of a particular Ācārya, and the jīva could not attain perfection, and the Ācārya went away. And next time, he will get, in next birth, in that birth also he may get help from śikṣā Guru. And also, after that birth also, he may meet Guru. But, that very jīva, through which he was taken up, may not come; in any other form, in any other jīva also he may come. It may be possible.

Not only that, Narottama Ṭhākura says - his Guru was Lokanātha Goswāmī - Narottama Ṭhākura is praying, kabe lokanatha mora hatete doriya, samatidei rupa samhita diya [?] “I aspire after the day when my Guru Lokanātha, will take me by the hand and will take me to Rūpa Goswāmī – Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī. And I shall get there, my appointment of eternal service in the camp of Lalitā - Rādhā-Govinda.”

It is also possible. So, only mundane figurism must not be thrust in the conception of Guru. Guru can come to disciple in any mood, in any figure, any colour, any place, any time. The connection with the... So, it is said, ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān. Guru’s position is extensive, comprehensive, unlimited. In any way, any form, he may come, he may come.

His concern is to be benefited in a line, and not to quarrel with this Guru, that Guru. In the general sense, of course, we should abide by the rules of Guru; and the... every moment we shall change a Guru, that will hamper our cause. It is not desirable. With our whole attention as we can command, we will submit to Gurudeva, because, I’m very low and that is very high. To command my whole attention, then I can understand a little. So, to collect all our scattered mind, attention, to one point; so that it may be utilized to its highest extent, to catch the word. Guru should be thought, ‘He’s perfect, may not be perfect, but...

Just as the child, to him the mother should be conceived as the most affectionate. So many mothers are there, but feels his respective mother. That must have some special dealings and affection, and we should take the advantage of that. But, then, suppose the mother dies, then none will come to help the child for its nurturing and well being? Anyone may come, and help the child; even more than motherly affection may be found somewhere else. It is possible.

So, we must be awake to our real interest. Why Guru? What for? What is Guru? Only, not making much with the form, but the material for which I have come to Guru. What is that? We must have to understand that, we must have to calculate and realize our Guru. Sometimes even, though very rarely, Guru tyāga is also necessary. Sometimes, most unhappy circumstances, one has to give up his Guru. Such is also mentioned; not happy, not very cheap; very, very rarely, even it is possible that one may give up his Guru. Smārta Guru, the Jati Goswāmī, the kula Guru, the sectarian Guru, they have to be left, and to come to vaiṣṇavād guroḥ.

avaiṣṇavopadiṣṭena, mantreṇa niryaṁ vrayet

punaś ca vidhinā samyag, grāhayed vaiṣṇavād guroḥ

[“One who accepts the mantra from a Guru who is a non-devotee or who is addicted to sensual pleasures with women is doomed to a life of hell. Such a person must immediately approach a genuine Vaiṣṇava Guru and again accept the mantra from him.”] [Nārada-pañcarātra] & [Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, 4.366] & [Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, 1.54]

Worshippers of other gods, they’re advised to leave their own Guru and come to a Vaiṣṇava Guru. And in Vaiṣṇava Guru, also there is gradation. So, we must have to feel, to come face to face with truth, for which Guru is necessary, and which Guru will impart. Guru lakhan is there, the symptom of a Guru is there, and the symptom of a śiṣya is there. So, Guru, the avadhūta, he had twenty-four Gurus, giving respect [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.7.33-35]. And śikṣā Guru’s importance is also not undermined, in Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

śikṣā-guruke ta’ jāni kṛṣṇera svarūpa, [antaryāmī, bhakta-śreṣṭha, - ei dui rūpa]

[One should know the instructing Guru to be Kṛṣṇa Himself. As Guru, Kṛṣṇa has two forms as the Supersoul and as the best of devotees.] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 1.47]

Even we can see. Where there is real devotion, if we can trace, there is Guru. Higher devotion, there is Guru. And Guru won’t come into clash, fight each other. Guru won’t come to fight with each other. They have got their intimate connection, helping one another, that should be the type, when in real position. ______________ [?] Guru fighting one another, that is not desirable and not of higher type. Some must, for mundane necessity may be there for fighting.

So, it is general. I’m dealing always with this: the relative and the absolute. First, the relative position, we must maintain our own position, that we may not have to go down. And next, to try for a higher realization, advancement, that is necessary.

So, our adherence to Guru, real Guru is Guru jñāna and Guru identified; and also the instalment of knowledge that we have got from Gurudeva. Then, if it is possible that a higher instalment I may get from another figure. If I accept that, that is not disregarding the Guru; the higher study, higher study. Gurudeva, before giving me higher training, he departed and higher training is necessary for me, if it is available anywhere, if I get that, what will be the harm? I’m not going to kill, to behave very rudely with the Guru. Guru will be satisfied, “Yes, you have got it.”

The blind faith is always dangerous. But we shall do, with open eye, and the eye should have the power to see; not blind eye. Hare Kṛṣṇa. And formal change is also not being necessary. “Yes, I’m there.” And in particular case, even formal change may be necessary. But in the general case, one must stick to sad-guru, and won’t leave him, leave him.

[śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ, para-dharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt]

sva dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ, para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ

[“It is better to carry out one’s own duties a little imperfectly rather than faultlessly perform another’s duties. Know that even death is auspicious in the discharge of one’s duties appropriate to his natural position in the ordained socio-religious system, because to pursue another’s path is perilous.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.35]

At the same time, sarva dharmān [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66], we are to adjust to this: local and absolute, questions; to apply in our own case. And here, no question of renouncing the Guru has come; is coming. “What Gurudeva told, I could not catch the whole thing. Perhaps by the help of anyone, I’m getting more light and more knowledge about what he wanted to make me understand. By the help from any other place, I’m getting more understanding what my Gurudeva wanted me to understand, I’m getting. He’s not here, but if from some other source I can understand what Gurudeva wanted me to understand; where’s the harm? My allegiance to him will be more increased. He wanted to give me such and such things, but unfortunately he departed, I could not get all these higher things. But now fortunately, from some other quarter, some light is given to my previous experience, in such a way; that I find what my Gurudeva meant to give me, that was more and more higher.” What’s the good?

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate] / na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

Thereby I’m not going to insult my former Gurudeva. Gurudeva’s gift I could not appreciate. What he wanted to give us, I could not understand wholly, and it is not possible also. But, if by the help of another gentleman, I can more clearly understand what Gurudeva wanted to give me, then there is no harm. Only misgivings, suspicions, and some other engagements, and some other motive: that may dissuade me from such, getting knowledge from outside. ‘You must confine to that. And don’t try: if you try to get more light from some other to understand what you have, if you do, then you are a non-believer.’ We don’t think it is such.

When, Mahāprabhu went to Purī, there was one; met Sārvabhauma, and Sārvabhauma and his students could not accept Mahāprabhu as Lord Himself.

“A good scholar and sannyāsī: young sannyāsī.” Sārvabhauma proposed to his brother-in- law, Gopinātha Ācārya, that, “He’s too young; and now He has taken sannyāsa. It will be very difficult for Him to maintain the whole life in this sannyāsī roll.” And, “All right, when it is done already, I shall try my best to help the young boy, very charming figure, and also very bright student, to help Him. And always keep Him engaged with Vedantic transactions, advaita-marga, show that the world is all nothing, all māyā, it is all false, the charm for anything in this world all false. Always such things should be reminded, and then it will be able for Him to control His senses, and to remain in this path.”

Gopīnātha Ācārya, he could not tolerate these sayings, statements of Sārvabhauma. “Sārvabhauma, do you think that He’s an ordinary young man? You have seen with your own eyes, when you took Him from the temple of Jagannātha, the sattvik-vikar, which is not possible in human body. You yourself have seen that with your own eyes. Still you can’t understand who is He? He’s not a human being, He’s the Lord Himself.”

“No, no, young man. Of course, He has got good prospect; but persons like you, you will finish His career. You are all flatterers, and you will chill His head. I’m not of that line. I shall try to do good to Him.” In this way. Then Sārvabhauma told, “Go and take Him to my house and feed Him with some care, and then you will come and again you will teach me. Go out.”

Then, another day, the students of Sārvabhauma, they began to make argument with Gopīnātha Ācārya. Sārvabhauma was there.

Gopīnātha Ācārya told, “You say, you think that you have got good knowledge of the śāstra. But in śāstra, Mahābhārata, Bhāgavat, there is evidence enough to prove that Śrī Caitanyadeva is Lord Himself, Avatāra. But you, yet you can’t put faith in Him. You have no grace. Only by the grace of the Lord He can be known, not by any worldly intelligence, knowledge.”

Then, from these students of the Sārvabhauma School, they asked that, “You say that only by the grace of the Lord, Lord can be known. But what is the proof that you have got the grace, and we have got no grace? What’s the basis of your argument? You have got grace and so you understand Him to be Lord, and we have got not grace, so we can’t understand. How can you prove that?”

ācārya kahe, - “vastu-viṣaye haya vastu-jñāna, vastu-tattva-jñāna haya kṛpāte pramāṇa

[Gopīnātha Ācārya replied: “Knowledge of the summum bonum, the Absolute Truth, is evidence of the mercy of the Supreme Lord.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 6.89]

So, the question of absolute truth is coming here. Just as in Bhāgavatam it is said,

ātmā parijñāna-mayo vivādo, hy astīti nāstīti bhidārtha-niṣṭhaḥ

vyartho ‘pi naivoparameta puṁsāṁ, mattaḥ parāvṛtta-dhiyāṁ sva-lokāt

[The speculative argument of philosophers – “This world is real,” “No, it is not real” – is based upon incomplete knowledge of the Supreme Soul and is simply aimed at understanding material dualities. Although such argument is useless, persons who have turned their attention away from Me, their own true Self, are unable to give it up.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.22.34]

Ātmā – God or jīvātmā – that is self effulgent, then, that can be known by his own light, innate light, but still there are so many sections that do not believe in ātmā, or in God.

Kṛṣṇa says that, “This will continue. Though ātmā is self-evident, self-effulgent, still, to a particular section, this thing, or this suspicion that ātmā is or not is, that will continue forever. And that only confined to a particular section. Mattaḥ parāvṛtta-dhiyāṁ sva-lokāt, whose consciousness has deviated from his own position. First, deviation from Me, My conception, and next, as a result of that, from his own conception. That deviated section, they will always say that, ‘No, no ātmā, no Paramātmā.’ So it is like that.”

So, we must really – that absolute knowledge. Not the form, but the substance, what is the main thing. But substance and form, they have got some relationship. But mere form is not the substance. If any difference to be drawn, substance is more important than the form. So, it is possible, that what Swāmī Mahārāja wanted to give you, that is something, and that can prove its real existence. So, you, if you get the same thing from outside, what he wanted to give you, if you try to, if you get it somewhere else, then you are not to dishonour him. That will rather bring more honour to him. He wanted to give this, but he departed, then I’m getting further more. The basis he has given, and how well wisher he was for us, and what valuable thing he wanted us to give. So, that will increase your thankfulness, your gratitude towards him. And what he wanted to give if it comes from some other thing, they must be friendly, they can’t come from opposite direction. They must be very familiar and friendly. So, so only it is possible that his friend can give what he wanted to give. When we cannot understand the reality, then these objects of quarrel comes to cover us, and that is most unfortunate thing. ________________________________ [?]

Whatever you feel better, you do that; and gradually when the time will come, then you will try to understand. Now, what you think you do that. According to one’s own capacity, and not to push, and press, and ___________________ [?] rubbing the same thing. English ki ache [?]

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Friction?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not friction – that unnecessary tickling, meddling – unnecessary pressure or handling, unnecessary handling – interfering. What you feel within, you do that. Because, by only pressing to make one understand, one may not understand. He must have some adhikār, capacity, to catch the thing. Otherwise, he will be... only waste one’s energy. If he cannot catch the fine point, then it will be a waste of energy. The same thing will; no solution will come in new form. Always, the same thing will come. So, in the hesitation, whether this way or that way, what you think better, you do it.

sve svehadhikāre yā niṣṭhā, sa gunāḥ parikīrtitāḥ

[viparyayas tu doṣaḥ syād, ubhayor eṣa niścayaḥ]

[“Remaining fixed in the position for which one is qualified is considered virtuous. The opposite - accepting a position for which one is unqualified, while giving up a position for which one is qualified - is irresponsible and is considered impious. This is the conclusion of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.”] [11.21.2]

In one’s own capacity, what he can accept, it is better to follow that, to take that. Otherwise, by pressure one may, for the time being may have a peep of something, next moment he loses, and then again in the furious condition. In that case, when we are not sure of our fair and safe progress, it is better to stand, taking the hold in the former firm position.

[śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ, para-dharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt]

sva-dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ, para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ

[It is better to do one’s duty poorly than to do another’s duty perfectly. It is better to die doing one’s duties than to leave them and follow another’s dharma. To attempt to follow another’s dharma is dangerous.] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.35]

And when our understanding will be clear that, “What my Guru Mahārāja came to give me, I’m finding the same thing here, why should I not take?” His own courage, at his own risk he will run to take that. “I have got my Guru Mahārāja’s thing exactly so, and he was so fine, so higher thing he came to give us.” No grudge, no trouble, no quarrel, this bothering, botheration.

Parvat Mahārāja: That is our understanding, that you’re giving us the same, in higher level.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

Devotee: Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja, if one hasn’t got the natural propensity as a preacher of philosophy, should he try and develop that propensity, or be satisfied in using propensities he has got, in Kṛṣṇa’s service?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I can’t understand what he says.

Dhira Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He says that, “If one has not got some tendency for preaching philosophy, should he be satisfied to engage the tendencies he has in Kṛṣṇa’s service, or try to culture the philosophical tendency?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Yes - philosophy is not all, not all important thing. Service is all important. Faith is necessary, śraddhā, regard; regard, that is necessary for the service. That is all in all. Philosophy in the middle stage, one may have it, or may not have it. From kaniṣṭha adhikāra, without caring this madhyama adhikāra of philosophy, one may go straight to uttama adhikāra. It is also mentioned. In the middle stage of the devotee, such philosophy is there, but from the first stage, to the third, to the highest stage, one can pass without the help of philosophy, it has been stated. By śraddhā; automatically he can cross the realm of philosophy. No charm of philosophy in him. He will think, ‘I have got my heart’s - my thirst is quenched, I have come in connection direct with my object of search.’

yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ, manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ / yasmin sthito na duḥkhena, guruṇāpi vicālyate

[By attaining to this state, he never considers any mundane acquisition as superior, and in the face of unbearable tribulation his heart never wavers.] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.22]

jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām

[sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir, ye prāyaśo ‘jita jito ‘py asi tais tri-lokyām]

[Lord Brahmā said to the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa: “Oh Lord, Oh Unconquerable One, those devotees who, completely giving up all attempts on the path of jñāna of attaining the non-differentiated platform known as Brahma by hearing the transcendental narratives of Your pastimes (kathā), which emanates from the lotus mouths of the mahā-bhāgavat sādhus and pass their lives by engaging their body, mind and words in pure devotion, easily conquer You (they easily get Your transcendental association), although You are the most difficult to attain in the three worlds.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.3]

śreyaḥ sṛtiṁ bhaktim udasya te vibho, kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye

teṣām asau kleśala eva śiṣyate, nānyad yathā sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām

[“My dear Lord, devotional service unto You is the only auspicious path. If one gives it up simply for speculative knowledge or the understanding that these living beings are spirit souls and the material world is false, he undergoes a great deal of trouble. He only gains troublesome and inauspicious activities. His endeavours are like beating a husk that is already devoid of rice. One’s labour becomes fruitless.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.4] & [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22.22]

naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ, na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam

kutaḥ punaḥ śaśvad abhadram īśvare, na cārpitaṁ karma yad apy akāraṇam

[“Knowledge of self-realisation, even though free from all material affinity, does not look well if devoid of a conception of the Infallible (God). What, then, is the use of fruitive activities, which are naturally painful from the very beginning and transient by nature, if they are not utilised for the devotional service of the Lord?”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.5.12]

Na vai vidur ṛṣayo nāpi devāḥ, kuto manuṣyāḥ.

[dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītaṁ, na vai vidur ṛṣayo nāpi devāḥ

na siddha-mukhyā asurā manuṣyāḥ, kuto nu vidyādhara-cāraṇādayaḥ]

[“Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṇas.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6.3.19]

bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ [śraddhayātmā priyaḥ satām

bhaktiḥ punāti man-niṣṭhā śvapākān api sambhavāt]

[“I, who am dear to the sādhus, can be reached only by devotion born of unalloyed faith. Even a dog-flesh-eating outcaste who dedicates himself to exclusive devotion for Me is delivered from the influence of the wretched circumstances of his birth.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.14.21]

So serving attitude can give us, can take us to the land; bhakti. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah!

ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ

sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ

[Our senses, physical or mental, are ineligible to come in touch with the transcendental. The Name is non-material (aprakṛta), without mundane limitation (vaikuṇṭha). It belongs to another plane. So, nothing about Kṛṣṇa, His Name, Form, Qualities, or Pastimes can be touched by our physical or mental senses. But when we have a serving attitude, He comes down to us of His own accord.] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, 1.2.234]

Not by increasing our knowledge, but by increasing our tendency of serving the cause, that is our dedication, whatever small position we may hold. But dedicating us for the cause, we can make progress, firmly. And sometimes, philosophy may help, to make my determination firm.

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had few disciples; one of them he was graduate, that Yogendranath Bose, Headmaster. He joined Prabhupāda, took sannyāsa from him, and he looked at our Guru Mahārāja as his own Guru. Own sannyāsa Guru, and his Guru, initiating Guru was Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. But he showed respect to sannyāsa Guru - Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and our Guru Mahārāja from the same outlook, angle of vision, abhinna, same angle of vision. Respect not less than that. We have seen with our own eyes. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

What is the case of the person who has got first initiation from Swāmī Mahārāja, and the second initiation from the present Ācārya, what will be their case? What will be? How the śraddhā will be weighed? How much to the initiating Guru, and how much to the former Nāma Guru? How to see that? Some sort of difference there must be. Swāmī Mahārāja and his disciple who has become Ācārya, how they will differentiate between them? And with, also, the brother, his God-brother and his disciple, how they will look at one another?

We are so many God-brothers. We are, many of us are making disciples in the general sense. But, should I not tolerate another God-brother who is also making disciples? Or my disciple won’t be able to tolerate that another God-brother is making disciple him? What will be the matter? In this Indian soil, so many Gauḍīya Gurus, so many disciples of Prabhupāda, they are serving their Guru in their own way, and anyhow they are mixing together in some relationship or other, not fighting with each other.

So, this ISKCON’s policy, they won’t allow to enter any God-brothers of Swāmī Mahārāja to have disciples there; the monopoly. Do they think that it is the divine will? ‘The divine will be such that no one should enter, where Swāmī Mahārāja’s men are preaching.’ None of the disciples of Swāmī Mahārāja’s Gurudeva, they will have entrance in any place where they are making trade. What’s the matter? So, non-accommodating spirit!

Here in India, so many they are doing. In Mahāprabhu’s time, also, Advaita Ācārya, Nityānanda Ācārya, Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, so many. They had their disciples: Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Virachandra Prabhu. They were preaching cooperatively, they were preaching and having their disciples.

But, ‘This will be the standard, degree of devotion, that we won’t allow anyone’s disciple making in near about us.’ That mentality - that should be appreciated as the highest type of Guru bhakti, devotion to Guru? That, ‘None will be allowed to enter in this place where we are, we followers of Swāmī Mahārāja are going on.’

Have they got such real faith in Swāmī Mahārāja’s words? They can’t keep their own position, can’t keep up their own position; many of them are falling down. Dehki dekhiti dina te nasta yaha [?] Three conditions in one day, and these men, they are puffed up to say that they are all perfect. They do not know what is perfection proper: their audacity to say that, ‘I’m perfect,’ or, ‘We are perfect.’ They do not know what is perfection! Everyone should try to be a student, to remain a student, for eternity, student. Mahāprabhu Himself does not say that He’s perfect. No Goswāmīs have said that they’re perfect. What is this?

The Jayapataka ran to me, “That Jayatīrtha Mahārāja is showing so many sentiments, symptoms, and he’s preaching that all these are divine. Should we believe that?”

Never, and the śāstra and the reason I proved to him.

He was satisfied, and told, “Now I will crush him,” he told here, “I shall crush him.”

This is their ability, their standard of devotional knowledge; and they come to assert that they are all perfect.

Dhira Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Sometimes they say, “We are not perfect individually, but when all these imperfect men get together, then we’re perfect.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. So, a number of finite can make infinite.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Infinite is the sum total of finite.

Parvat Mahārāja: It’s more the case of blind leading the blind.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Do they have such faith in Swāmī Mahārāja; faith of such degree to Swāmī Mahārāja? Then appointed by Swāmī Mahārāja so many Ācāryas, how they came to push-up, by the majority? If so, then why they took them in by my recommendation? Why they crossed that verdict of majority, by my advice? If that is absolute, the verdict of the majority of the GBC is absolute, then, why they left the absolute by my advice and reinstated them in their own position? What’s the reason?

End of 82.03.01.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.03.01.D

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ___________________________ [?] Mahārāja cannot see.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: He can see through the ears.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Yes.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: And through the heart as well. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: I have read your lecture of Germany.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Ah, in the court?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Yes, court.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Harmonist.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Back to Godhead.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Back to Godhead, all right. Many of them are appreciating very much.

______________________________________________________ [?] And all the Opponents, Judges, Advocates, as well as the Bishop, all ousted, crushing defeat. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Very nice and bright.

Devotees: _______________________________________ [?]

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Does anyone have that thing written down?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where is that Pañcadravida Mahārāja, new Ācārya?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: He’s preaching in Mexico and in places of that sort and doing very good work, selling many books especially and many new devotees are coming under his supervision.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Fortunate enough that Mahāprabhu has accepted him to be a good preacher. Without His grace we can’t do anything.

mukam karoti vācālaṁ panghum langhāyate girīm / [yat kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī gurun dīna-tāranam]

[“I offer my respectful obeisances unto Mādhava, Who is the Personification of transcendental bliss. By His mercy, a blind man can see the stars in the sky, a lame man can cross mountains, and a dumb man can speak eloquent words of poetry.”] [Bhavārtha Dipikā, maṅgala stotram, 1]

Whom He selects as His own agent he can do. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas.

[nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo, na medhayā na bahunā śrutena

yam evaiṣa vṛnute tena labhyas, tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛnute tanūṁ svām]

[“One cannot understand the substance of the Paramātmā, the Super-soul residing within everyone’s heart, by means of expertise in logic, intelligence or learning. When the living entity begs the Lord for His mercy, being desirous of His transcendental loving service, then the Supreme Lord reveals His self-manifest form directly before him.”] [Kaṭha Upaniṣad, 1.2.23] + [Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, 2.3.2]

The main current of thought is like this. It comes from up. We’re all instruments. Our duty is to be, to surrender to His will. The current is already there and we are to connect. All our sādhana means that. ______________________________________________ [?] It is already there and only disconnected. That is our position, only to connect. Everything is there. The deepest plane, deepest foundation of the universe, is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the finest and the deepest foundation. Waves are always moving there, and we are to adjust with them, that, those waves, to dance in that tune. We shall try to dance in the tune. That is nirguṇa, causeless and irresistible, ahaitukī apratihatā. The wave, that is moving in the deepest foundation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness that is causeless, ahaitukī, no other cause. That is the prime cause, cause of all causes. And apratihatā, that means that is irresistible, nothing can oppose it. That’s the universal movement, eternal movement, and movement of goodness and love, beauty. And we are to connect with that and harmoniously we are also to dance life. That is what is necessary. Back to God back to home. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

nehābhikrama-nāśo 'sti, pratyavāyo na vidyate / svalpam apy asya dharmasya, trāyate mahato bhayāt

[“Even a small beginning in this devotional service cannot go in vain, nor can any loss be suffered. The most insignificant practice of such devotional service saves one from the all-devouring fear of repeated birth and death in this world.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.40]

A least connection of that movement, that is inestimable gain, over all estimations that gain, anyhow, that is quite natural. At present we are suffering from abnormality, but normal is there. We are to remember this all the time. That is home and we are normal there, and here on other surface we are all abnormal, suffering from disease. Jarā-vyādhi, to be born and to die, that is a general disease of this so called soul in bondage. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: I wanted to beg you for your blessings and the blessings of the assembled Vaiṣṇavas.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. The Ācāryas all blessing.

Swāmī Mahārāja told I hear in America when he was suffering apparently from some disease, apprehended that he may not live long, he told, “If I die don’t be discouraged. Your grandfather is there.”

So the ancestors they’re all well wishing, they’re all overhead to encourage us in our line of extending the current of love to the world, to one and all. Not only human beings, they have got the higher chance, but...

[the following text is also in the transcript dated 82.02.28.C]

...even the animals, the vegetable kingdom, all may be benefited. The wave that is created, the sound, the wave, that can help even the inanimate object, to certain extent. The vibration, that helps the atmosphere, purifies the atmosphere with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That’s the subtle most which can effect in all sorts of gross elements in the world. The subtle most is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That can work anywhere and everywhere in every plane. But we may not detect.

Mangalam bhagavan visnu mangalam madhusudanam [?]

Mangalam sarva devesu mangalay tanu hari [?]

Śivam, all auspicious, auspicious and anti mortality, generally that is considered to be śivam _________________ [?] Śiva, who has conquered this mortal aspect of the world, mortal wave, conquered the mortal waves. Beyond mortality, immortal, is śivam. And then positive area of love and beauty, that is something more, the highest transcendental position. And above that nothing can be, love and beauty, satyam, śivam, sundaram, all satisfying rasa. So no complaint against, all harmonising, none have to complain.

I heard in my boyhood one śloka from Upaniṣad, “Satyam briyath priyam briyath [?] First, speak what is truth, speak truth, satyam briyath. Na priyam na briyath satyam apriyam [?] But don’t say truth which is not pleasing.” That struck me. What is this? Satya, truth must be pleasing, or may not be pleasing, it may be cruel, harsh, but still, truth must be spoken. Why that will be modified? Satyam briyath. Then, priyam briyath, talk truth, speak truth, the next, priyam briyath, talk pleasing, tell pleasing, priyam briyath. Why modification? Na briyath satyam apriyam. Don’t venture to speak a truth what is not pleasing. I could not adjust. Why it will be so? Truth must be spoken at any cost. Na briyath satyam apriyam. Priyam ca nanitam briyath. And don’t go to speak pleasing which is not true. That is also there. Esa dharma sanatana. This is the proper substance of the sanātana-dharma, of the eternal duty, or function.

Anyhow I got a shock. The truth may not be universal. There’s something more than that which can, the truth will be modified by that. Then gradually I came to know, truth means justice, but mercy is above that, the possibility of the existence of mercy. So truth and priya means love, prema. Prema is over justice, consideration, knowledge. That represents truth. But love is more than that: love, mercy, more than that, satyam, śivam, sundaram. There is truth, there is auspicious, beyond mortality, eternal, śivam, and then fulfilment of life is in beauty and love, prema. It is possible. Over justice there can exist something. One party aggrieved but if in the domain of love none aggrieved. What is apparently seems to be grievance that is also compensated in another way. So satyam, śivam, sundaram, raso vai saḥ, sundara means beauty, and prema love, mercy: of same category. And truth, justice: in the same category. And the exploitation ________ [?] that is of the lowest category.

So Mahāprabhu came, the Lord of love came with, to distribute love. Love means, not this which is passing here in the name love, not that. That is lust. Love only connecting with the Supreme Divinity. Love is Divine, always Divine, prema. And here, enemy of love is lust. That is current here in this plane. Gaura Haribol. The distinction between love and lust we are to maintain always. That will be of a principal thing in our preaching endeavour.

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says,

kāma-preme dekho bhāi, lakṣanete bheda nāi, tabhu kāma ‘prema’ nāhi haya

[“My brother, lust and love appear as one and the same; yet, lust is never love.”]

[Kalyāṇa-kalpataru, 18]

Similar but not same, we’ll be warned against that very much. The sahajiyā section they mingle in the name of love they really what they cultivate that is lust. Charna mamsa mayo kama [?] It is in this world of flesh and blood, whatever it is applied it is lust. And, prema cid ananda dhama. That is on the other side, on the transcendental side, crossing the existence of our soul, Supersoul, or Paramātmā. Even in the realm of Paramātmā we don’t find love. Even in the realm of Nārāyaṇa we don’t find real love. Surpassing that the love is in the Goloka, especially in Vṛndāvana it is. So the warning has been given by the Ācāryas previous that we must not make, we must not jumble together love and lust. One is life another is death, two extremes. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Śrīdhara Mahārāja, if we have not yet come to the platform of even truth and justice then how can we know that that which we’re trying to apply to a person in the name of love or treating him with the highest principal is not simply mundane or sentiment?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is his... Who is here, Akṣayānanda Mahārāja or Bhāratī Mahārāja? What does he say?

Devotee: If we have not yet even come to the platform...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, somewhat...

Devotee: ... of truth or justice, how can we know if we try to deal with someone with love that it’s not just mundane sentiment?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So we are to... At least we have got some clue through our faith. We may not be established in that plane but through faith we’re connected. And we’re to repeat the advices of our predecessors with faith, with good feeling, good attitude, and gradually the undesirable thing will pass away by that transaction, that process. What we have heard from Guru, from the śāstra, we’re to repeat that.

In my boyhood also I had, I came in connection with another thing. Avrti sarva sastranam bodha gadi godarsi [?] It is mentioned in a Sanskrit verse, that to chant repeatedly one thing is better than to understand the meaning. I could not understand this, at that time, I could not understand. I was a boy of thirteen, fourteen. Then I came across this śloka, avrti sarva sastranam. That is repeatedly chanting of the hymns of śāstra, of the advices, the mantram of śāstra. bodha gadi godarsi. It supersedes even the understanding of the meaning of it. I could not understand. But I came to understand this when I came to Gauḍīya Maṭha. It is possible. The śāstra, the perfect words, śāstric words, the Nāma, Name, the Name we do not understand the meaning, real meaning of the Name, but if through faith we go to continue taking the Name, gradually Name will come with His pristine glory to me. So the many advices in the śāstra, it is written, we can’t understand, can’t follow the real meaning, but still if with faith we go on chanting and tackling the saying repeatedly, one day I will find the śāstra is revealing His meaning in me. It is possible. It is fact. We have experienced that.

So it has been said that don’t think that śāstra is inanimate. It is a posing in that position, a passive position: the sound. The sound which is aprākṛta, that is cetan, the sound, not ordinary sound, but, vaikuṇṭha-nāma-grahaṇam [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6.2.14] The sounds that are transcendental, they’re person, they’re cetan, but they’re posing in that some passive way, in śanta rasa. So when they’re satisfied with us they will come with their meaning to our own plane. They will descend. The meaning will descend. Just as like the water has been ice, then the ice will be melted into water, something like that. Those rigid sounds which is impenetrable at present, one day that will come out within my heart with self effulgent way, and I shall be able to understand. ‘After long time, oh, this is the purport of this śloka.’

So, when we generally take seat in a vyāsāsana and going to read any śāstra, Bhāgavata, Caritāmṛta, we worship with flower and do namaskāra. That is not an objective thing, subjective, super-subjective, so I honour before I go to read. If He likes, if He’s pleased with me, then He will give the real meaning. It will come within my heart with its real meaning, purpose. It is possible. So the mahājana, the advices that come from the mahājana, that is all cetan embodied within, and any time that will be pleased with me, my behaviour, my attitude, my earnestness, my good will, they will come with pristine glory with his real meaning in my heart.

So we are to carry out that, in that tune we are to carry out preaching, preaching that we are not perfect. That is also a ban, an obstacle, to think that I am perfect. ‘I’m carrying out the order of my Gurudeva. I’m a peon, I’m not proprietor.’ This spirit a preacher must have. This is healthy, healthy sign of a preacher, an Ācārya. ‘I’m mediator,’ and never, ‘I’m master.’ If you think master then he becomes opaque, the line banned there, it is tampered. But he says, ‘I am peon,’ what is coming always, ‘I’m a middle capitalist. There is higher capitalist, I am taking from him and I’m distributing to the ordinary people.’ This should be our attitude, not the lustre, the highest centre, then we’ll be undone. Always a current, a current is passing through me, and receiving the grace from up and I am distributing them to the lower, junior section. I shall be instrumental, always a preacher must think, Guru must think. But externally the Guru may not express that idea, but internally it must be seen. He’s a beggar. He’s a beggar at the...

[End of transcript dated 82.02.28.C]

...holy feet of his own Guru, a beggar. Dīkṣā Guru, śikṣā Guru, śāstra Guru, so he’s a beggar. He’s indenting from one side and distributing towards another side. That should be the healthy sign of a Guru, Ācārya, preacher, or any servant of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

[the following text is also in the transcript dated 82.03.01.A]

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Rāma. Rāma. Nitāi Gaura Hari.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Haṁsadūta Mahārāja is coming from which side? Direct from America?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I spent two weeks in the Philippines.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Philippines, through Philippines. And you have reached only yesterday here?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: On the twenty seventh.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Twenty seventh, today is first, day before yesterday. Gaura Haribol. You remain in health and spirit all right?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Yes, by your grace.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. By the grace of the Lord! Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Who else have come with you?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I just brought one servant.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Only one.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: One yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: One attendant.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Yes.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Like Mahāprabhu in the South.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Jayatīrtha Mahārāja’s party reached from England, no?

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: How many...

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Yes, some of our men have reached, so far about thirty men, forty men have reached.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: But more are coming still.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: More coming still. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Actually they are coming on pilgrimage to see your lotus feet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________________ [?]

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Hari.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

[End of transcript dated 82.03.01.A]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is he?

Parvat Mahārāja: Parvat.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Parvat Mahārāja. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. You’re all vibhāva of Swāmī Mahārāja. Once he came here with hundred and fifty approximately, and had a meeting. With hundred and fifty persons he came. Wonderful!

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I was present at that time.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You were present.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: And there was a big feast.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who else are here that were present that time, anyone?

Another devotee: I was present.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

All going away one by one leaving me. What is His will? Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: _______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________________________ [?]

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I sent Dayādhara Gaurāṅga to Malaysia to preach. Dayādhara, I sent him to Malaysia for preaching.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s your subordinate; you may utilize him in any way you like.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: He’s one of your soldiers. So I put him to work.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s a good scholar. And you are to utilize him in the service of Mahāprabhu. _______________ [?] Hare Rāma. Rāma Rāma. Hare Hare. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Rāma Rāma.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Today I was discussing, in the morning, with several of the God-brothers, there at Māyāpur Chandrodaya Mandir, that I thought the central issue at the current moment is whether or not it is actually acceptable for someone who is an initiated disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda to accept you as his śikṣā Guru. Because I felt that if that principle was accepted then the question of sannyāsa, the question of the authority of the preaching of the sannyāsīs, the question of their future engagement and so forth becomes clear. And if that principle is accepted then the matter can be resolved. And if it’s not accepted then it seems to be the centre of the controversy.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Let the universal will work out in His own sweet way.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And we shall try to submit to that. Our business is to submit to the Divine Will. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

I know from the core of my heart that I am not only friend to them, but I like to be friend to all existence in the line of Mahāprabhu. As Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanyadeva wanted to be friend to the whole universe, and He is so, we have come to learn in His school and to learn the ways how we can be friendly used by the whole animation. That should be our ambition, everyone, friendly but in a particular way. As the doctor is a friend of the patient. Sometimes externally the patient may not consider the doctor to be his friend. Or even his nearer relatives who want to very bitter medicine to swallow. But ultimately we want to be friend to all. We have come out almost for common cause according to our position. So ultimately we all want to be friendly to all, especially to those that are out for such campaign. But still there some difference may be seen, due to different position in the same work. But that will be minimized. That may be removed. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja: Some of us are anxious for your guidance and others seem to be somewhat indifferent.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I am informed that some of you are always trying to remove the differences between ISKCON and myself; very eager, some members. I am getting information now and then that some are striving hard to re-establish, to reinstate the friendly relations between the two; myself and ISKCON.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Yesterday I suggested that the GBC Body, who is the administration of our movement, they should relate with Your Divine Grace just as, for example in America a government administration changes but they keep some regard, great regard for a veteran politician, like Kissinger for example.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I have not gone to America, America has come to me.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And it is Divine Dispensation. I am sitting idle here. I am a notorious man, ease lover, ease loving man. I got that remark from my Guru Mahārāja. I am not going to anywhere, I am here. But the others coming to me by the dispensation of the divinity. So, I am not afraid. I have no loss, no gain. It is His arrangement that you have all come here. I have got not the least contribution for that. Only Swāmī Mahārāja came, I welcomed him, seeing that a great divine force has come down to work for him. Otherwise it is impossible what he has done. I was eager to welcome him. And so, and he also could rely on me. He knew me from beforehand so he sent his men here. And he came here repeatedly and had some give and take, this way. Then again you are coming in number, more number. Now he’s not here as a friend, one of his friends left here, you are affectionately ________ and as much as possible I am thinking, I am doing...

End of 82.03.01.D

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.03.02.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. [twenty seconds of Bengali]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: He’s saying that the way you defeated the scientists, and the way you preached like a lion in Germany; Mahārāja was remembering that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bauddhācārya mahā-paṇḍita nija nava-mate.

Takhe kandila prabhu na pare stavi te [?]

[bauddhācārya mahā-paṇḍita nija nava-mate, prabhura āge udgrāha kari’ lāgilā balite]

[“One of them was a leader of the Buddhist cult and was a very learned scholar. To establish the nine philosophical conclusions of Buddhism, he came before the Lord and began to speak.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 9.47]

Mahāprabhu had to meet many Buddhist Ācāryas in Andradesa, the province of Nagaryam [?] a stalwart in the Buddhistic philosophy. And also we find in a great poet, Śrī Harsa [?] naisaraka, naisaraka’s kavya, naisadi padi lalitam [?] a good epic, naishad [?] And there is mentioned, Haṁsadūta is there, mentioned a poem, very poetic writings.

pistibi dhunie rasanesi tapi, diktiyate hamsa kulavatam [?]

vijnapani aniruma yata, kundakya dusni rdaya sadasya [?]

pistibi dhunie rasanesi tapi, diktiyate hamsa kulavatam [?]

Haṁsadūta. Rūpa Goswāmī also used haṁsa as dūta. Haṁsadūta.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Kālidāsa also used.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _____________ [?] That has been criticized, as haṁsa, may play the part, but how the cloud may be taken as messenger? Kālidāsa has himself given explanation for that. Karmatma na prakrti ________ cetana cetanesu [?] So much engrossed in lust feeling that they lose the sense whether addressing to animate or inanimate; can’t differentiate - so much blind with lust. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

But in the highest sense anything can be messenger, He willing, God willing. Everything is animate. What I like to say, that consciousness first and matter conception last. So, at the bottom of every material consciousness there is some spiritual consciousness. Consciousness can know consciousness, can contact consciousness direct. This, chayaya garba sambhutam [?] ...Sun, all the planets. From consciousness, first hazy consciousness, and then material consciousness. When consciousness coming into stage of matter; material conception, before that he’s to experience a sort of vague consciousness, and crossing that coming down to material consciousness. So everything has got its spiritual side. And we are in direct connection with that aspect only. Especially, the Earth is conceived as a woman, presiding deity of the Earth is as woman. The Sun, so the devata, is there because the soul coming into material consciousness must come through Sun, from cidābhāsa, then acit. Without crossing that plane, consciousness cannot come to matter consciousness. When pure consciousness is coming to matter consciousness, before that he will pass through cidābhāsa, so, at the background of everything material thing, there is some spiritual conception, and that cannot but be.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, what is that cidābhāsa?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is something like mind. Suppose the consciousness comes to feel matter, consciousness is coming to material world, to know material world, he has to pass through the material consciousness and then to matter. As according to Darwin theory, “The matter gradually produces consciousness.” But before producing consciousness that must produce some hazy consciousness, mind, and then soul: just the opposite.

Devotee [Svarūpa Dāmodara Goswāmī?]: What is this subjective evolution that I’ve been hearing about?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Subjective evolution in toto, you may take it as parallel to material evolution. Subject is first, super subject is first, then jīva subject next, and then from jīva subjective the product is coming as matter. And before the product comes to matter it must have to penetrate through hazy consciousness and then matter, cidābhāsa, that devata.

Madhavācārya says that anything within that devata and then vayu or Guru, and then Baladeva, then cid-līlāmṛtam, the five classification given by Madhavācārya - a thing, and then presiding deity of that thing. Then within him there is Guru tattva, vayu, mukha vayu, mukha prana, and then within that Baladeva, and within that cid-līlāmṛtam, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. The process of development in this way, this is upward.

But I say downward. The reality exists, and according to Hegel, “By Itself and for Itself.” This is independent. To become Absolute, Hegel says that, “It must be by itself and must be for itself.” That it is His own cause and also it exists to fulfil His own purpose. Not subservient to any other, then that any other will be in higher position. So, to become reality if we at all assert that there is anything reality, that two qualifications he must possess. What? That must be by itself, He will be His own cause. And the second, more important to us, that He exists to fulfil His own purpose. Not subservient to any other entity. Then its position will be secondary. So, reality, the absolute, it is full in itself.

Then other things are coming from Him. Perfect things already exist and what we see to be imperfect that comes down according to our defective mentality. That will be dependent; imperfect will be dependent on perfect, in a particular portion, may be, to prove His perfection. To prove the perfection, conditioned, unconditioned, finite, infinite, this is indirectly existing. The defective world has got indirect position in the truth. So without, from reality to come to what is we think to be unreal, we are to pass through a sort of consciousness, then to the material representation, necessarily. At once that cannot jump into matter conception, but must pass through a process to come to material consciousness.

Devotee: But it’s not that the subjective evolution is a removal of the, or upgrading the ātmā which is bound within this material body. To remove this material body...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Evolution means it is eternal. What exists that is eternal, a system, not that a non-differentiated cause like a seed, and then evolving to a tree. It is there, the dynamic whole is there. So, the svarūpa-śakti evolution is already there, the inner evolution is eternal with the cause; that is eternal, nitya. Then from taṭasthā, from the verge of the eternal potential evolution which is eternal; then the taṭasthā-śakti, brahmaloka, the evolution and dissolution begins only on the outer-skirts. And svarūpa-śakti that is always evolved thing, not from non-differentiated, differentiation is coming. Eternally differentiated thing, līlā, it is there. If static can be conceived eternal, then why not dynamic thing can be conceived eternal? Evolved, within, svarūpa-śakti, it is nitya. Then evolution and dissolution that is concerning only this, to the subtle spirit to the gross material. Here the evolution-dissolution, not there, in the eternal abode, svarūpa-śakti.

Devotee: So objective evolution is what modern science calls Darwinian Evolution, and subjective evolution will be in Kṛṣṇa conscious sense...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You are to take the example of hypnotism. Hypnotism, subject, super-subject controls the subject to see anything and everything. And he’s bound to see that. As we see the stone, stone compels us to see it as stone, just take the opposite. The super-subject, He can compel us to see even water as stone. I shall see stone. The whole control is on the upward and nothing remains in what we see in the objective world. Objective world fully controlled by the subjective.

[na tu māṁ śakyase draṣṭum, anenaiva sva-cakṣuṣā]

divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ, paśya me yogam aiśvaram

[“By these present eyes of yours you will not be able to see Me. Therefore I give you supernatural eyes by which you can see My almighty, mystic power.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 11.8]

“I say see Me in this, he’s bound to see. No other alternative.”

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca, does that also imply?

[sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭho, mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca

vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo, vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham]

[“I am situated (as the Supersoul) within the heart of all souls, and from Me arises the soul’s remembrance, knowledge, and the dissipation of both (according to his karma, or action in the mundane plane). I am the exclusive knowable (ecstatic) principle of all the Vedas. I am the author of the Vedānta - Vedavyāsa, the expounder of the knowable meaning of the Vedas. And certainly I am the knower of the purport of the Vedas.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.15]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca, He’s the prime cause, but not the immediate cause. That depends on the; it is applicable to the taṭasthā śakti jīva, this side of the world. Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ, Svar, Mahar, Janar, Tapar, Satyaloka - up to that. Also, He’s the controller, He can, for His līlā He can do anything and everything. In His own domain also He may play in that way. But what is meant here in Gītā that is concerning this Satyaloka, this brahmāṇḍa; this evolution and dissolution area.

Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca, that is also a gist. “Everything manipulated by Me.”

No credit can be attached to the external things, but all credit should go the centre. Centre is controlling anything and everything. The colour is produced through the eye. Not that the colour is there and the eye can catch it. In wholesale consideration the colour has been produced from sūkṣma. The stool, the gross is coming from the subtle. So, sound is created by the ear. In sāṅkhya philosophy of course, pañca tanmatra, that is bifurcating thing three ways, branched three ways. In tama guṇa the objective, raja guṇa the instrumental, and sattya guṇa the light: the light, the eye, the colour. So, the sky, the sound, ear and what is another?

Devotee: Sound.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sound. In this way the one cause is branching in three ways, pañca tanmatra, branching three ways, tama, raja, sattya. The world is coming from subtle, the gross is coming through these channels. The feeler, the instrument is creating the object of his perception.

Devotee: There was a conference in December in Delhi, that Mādhava and I...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You try to understand this hypnotism. The whole thing is a hypnotism, the whole creation, and it is completely in the hand of the Subject. All this has got no meaning, the law, sub-law; all is pertaining to the subjective world.

Devotee: But how does one know that there’s hypnotism?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Devotee: How will one understand, or will realize that there’s hypnotism?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Will that process; how one can know that from the laboratory three gases can produce water? The hydrogen and oxygen, these can produce water. How can one know? Only when you come to that stage of knowledge can you know that the gas can produce this material thing. In that way when you have got idea of the higher things then you can say that from subtle gross things are coming out.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, can we compare it to a dream? Like a dream is a reflection of the reality and this reality is a reflection of the absolute reality. This relative reality is a reflection of the absolute reality.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Perverted reflection. Yes. And highly qualified things must be given the position of the causal importance. Not that the lower thing can produce higher thing. But higher thing, it is easy for the higher to produce lower. Why should we not follow that?

Devotee: Yes. That’s our point.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Our point. The lower, the stone can produce soul, we are to take that? Why not that soul can produce stone? Why not? We are to enquire that process, how soul can produce stone. We have done away with that, and the stone is gradually producing soul. We are very fond of investigating in that line. Why? The subtle will be given more importance than the gross. Man has created God, and not God has created man.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, so then God is the magician and we are the observers.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He is magician, and super magician, not ordinary magician of our experience.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Then what is the role of Yogamāyā Mahārāja?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: What is the role of Yogamāyā?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is company, eternal company of God, prakṛti puruṣa, existing together. The potency, thing and potency, substance-potency inconceivably connected. Otherwise that would be Brahman. Independent of potency we conceive the soul that is Brahman of Sankarācārya; so the prakṛti puruṣa, the energy and consciousness.

Baladeva - three things, jñāna, bala, kriya ca, the eternal aspect of the absolute whole, first bifurcation in three ways we find, energy and consciousness, thinking, feeling, willing, sat-cit-ānanda. Satya, the existing; existence maintains what is the potency as Baladeva, and the consciousness mainly Vasudeva, and the feeling mainly Rādhikā. Jñāna, bala, kriya ca, sat-cit-ānanda, hlādinī, three phases, advaya-jñāna, one whole can be thought in first evolved stage if we say so in three ways; consciousness, main consciousness, main energy and main satisfaction. Three phases we are to conceive that ultimate reality. It is there. Jñāna, bala, kriya ca, thinking, feeling, willing, sat-cit-ānanda, satyam, śivam, sundaram: then by evolution and dissolution in the eternal and in the non-eternal.

You are to go through Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s Śrī Kṛṣṇa Saṁhitā. Have you gone through?

Devotee: No, no.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You must go through it, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Saṁhitā, that book of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, the development has been given there in creation.

Vipin Pal, he gave lecture in a public hall ________________________________ [?] a university institute. There a meeting was held after the departure of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Vipin Pal, a political leader. And he also edited for some time a magazine named Nārāyaṇa, financed by C.R. Das [?] There he of course dealt with Bhagavad-gītā and many things. But he gave lecture there, “That going through Śrī Kṛṣṇa Saṁhitā of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura my faith in Vaiṣṇavism came back.” He was Brahmo type but he told, in a public meeting he declared, “That after reading Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s Śrī Kṛṣṇa Saṁhitā, my faith came back to Vaiṣṇavism.” His ancestors were Vaiṣṇavas perhaps. He was a man of Sri Hatta [?].

So in a very scientific way Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has dealt there, theism.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

So this came from my mind, in my mind, this question of grahan, surya grahan, candra grahan [?] You see by material combination and movement, but in scripture it has been described that Rahu is devouring the Sun or the Moon.

When in the last days of Prabhupāda he was in Purī, bungalow, and perhaps some eclipse came at that time, can’t remember. Vasudeva Prabhu who was supposed to be knowing the siddhānta, next to Prabhupāda, he suddenly ridiculed the idea given in Bhāgavatam that Rahu is devouring Moon or Sun. This was in a ridicule tone ______________ [?] something like that.

But I could not tolerate that, that in the name of Bhāgavatam such remark should be passed. I came to support Bhāgavatam. Prabhupāda was there, our Guru Mahārāja. I opposed Vasudeva Prabhu. That what Bhāgavatam has stated, that must not be taken so lightly. So I came with some far-fetched support saying that Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, in Jaiva Dharma has created so many imaginary characters. But I think that is not imagination. It might have occurred in some kalpa, some day of Brahmā. And that has come. In this way I went to support, that what is necessary to prove reality, that has got some real position, cannot but be. In this way my argument was. And Prabhupāda supported me.

Devotee: What was Prabhupāda’s explanation?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He only supported me. Then I think now and then, what is the matter, this Rahu? What Śukadeva, he told, Vyāsadeva has told, geographically which is impossible, but it is there. Swāmī Mahārāja and Gita As It Is, how to prove, I don’t know. But it is, I have got faith in this, saṇ-māsā dakṣiṇāyanam, uttarāyaṇam, all these things, so many things.

[agnir jyotir ahaḥ śuklaḥ, ṣaṇ-māsā uttarāyaṇam / tatra prayātā gacchanti, brahma brahma-vido janāḥ]

[The followers of the path of knowledge who are in knowledge of the Absolute attain the Absolute by expiring at a time of day illuminated by fire, sun, and associated elements, within a fortnight of the bright moon during the sun’s six-month northern orbit.] [Bhagavad-gītā, 8.24]

[dhūmo rātris tathā kṛṣṇaḥ, ṣaṇ-māsā dakṣiṇāyanam / tatra cāndramasaṁ jyotir, yogī prāpya nivartate]

[If he expires on a dark night within a fortnight of the dark moon, during the sun’s six-month southern orbit, the fruitive worker on the path of action reaches the heavenly plane, but subsequently has to undergo rebirth.] [Bhagavad-gītā, 8.25]

sahasra-yuga-paryantam, ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ / [rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ, te 'ho-rātra-vido janāḥ]

[A day of Lord Brahmā lasts for one thousand catur-yugas and his night is of the same duration. Persons who know this have the true conception of day and night.] [Bhagavad-gītā, 8.17]

So, very recently, I always meditate on these things, I generally live alone, but I generally live with the scriptures, especially trying to understand the inner meaning of the ślokas in a universal way. So, recently this suggestion came to me: the chaya, the shadow; that is also considered to be a stage of consciousness. And only through that stage we can come to the material conception, and not without. That recently came to mind, a month ago, because I am internally discussing with me all these things, all the time, always.

Recently this came to me that, why they used to see, the Āryans used to see everything as conscious? This shadow, shadow is also conscious. Before we go to have conception of a shadow we must pass from soul through the mind to the material conception. So, the chaya, the shadow, before we reach the conception of shadow we must pass through some mental stage, and that is cidābhāsa, that is, personification may be attached there. Before we attach, soul approaching matter, material world, but before that we must have passed through some cidābhāsa, into matter, what is non-matter, non-consciousness. Through such realm he must pass, must have to pass through. And that is to be reckoned first.

That is chaya got his personality it is cetan, chaya. Everything, every material conception presupposes some spiritual conception of that particular thing. Necessarily the soul must pass through that stage to have a conception of material existence. So chaya has got personality. And Bhāgavata and the ṛṣis they’re addressing in that way. Everywhere they’re finding the personal, the personal type. What we think we conceive it to be the dead matter, but they are always taking the personal representation. Why? The soul when going to the material conception will have to pass through some personal. That is his own, real, in the store, and that is to be reckoned. And what is concrete matter that is unknown and mere effect, so personal conception there must be. Govinda Mahārāja, _______________________________ [?]

...

Devotee: You said shadow, consciousness in the shadow.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So the shadow, before we reach the conception of shadow, the soul is going to have experience of the shadow. So soul has to pass through a stage to go to the shadow conception and that will be person. That has some spiritual existence. So everything, the Earth, the Moon, everything has got personal conception. So what we say to be matter, at the background must have some personal conception of them. Without personal conception we cannot reach to the gross matter. That is my argument, contention. So in our ancient śāstra we find that they’re always talking to the person. Though to us it is matter, dead matter, but they have considered them as persons. Why? That matter is rather the shadow of that thing. That is more real. That is more real, and the matter is less real.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: So the shadow is Rahu?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: The shadow is Rahu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Shadow, when it is seen as a person, that may be Rahu.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: So that means the Moon is going through the influence of Rahu, which is...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And rather, everything is conscious. The shadow, that effect, when the Moon is between the Sun and Earth, the shadow of the Moon is coming here. And what is coming that is also, everything is conscious, everything first conscious, then matter. Through the personal conception we are come out to have gross consciousness. We must pass through. So really what is in our side that is all personal. So everything they’re addressing as person, the tree, the mountain, the Sun, the Moon, this ocean, everything person. They are dealing everything as person. Why? Because before coming to that material conception they have to come through a particular process. And pure consciousness is coming to pure matter, then must be some mixed stage and that is person, in karma, suffering in karma. Person means they are not whole spiritual person as we are; mixture. So, what they are saying and addressing, ‘everything is person,’ it is real. It is not concoction. It is necessary truth. Before we come to the conception of any matter our soul passes through a process to go to that material conception. And the representation, the reflection in the soul, that is something conscious. Without, and piercing through that we are to go to the material conception.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, this reminds me also, in New York city the police, when the police car goes they have a siren and they make a very weird sound, a very strange sound. And Prabhupāda used to say that there are ghosts sitting on the siren and making that sound. Ha, ha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. So, everything is conscious. As the present scientists say everything is matter, everything is matter, so we have real cause to think that everything is conscious.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: So Mahārāja, will it mean that some personalities are creating the impressions in our consciousness that is giving us the impression? Whatever we are experiencing is being caused by the influence of some personality?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Say we are seeing, say the shadow we are seeing, now this shadow...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Whatever we see that does not matter. But we can direct feel what is in our nature that is consciousness. In developed or degraded position it may be. But that is nearer to us, nearer to us. We feel our mental energy only.

Devotee: So the colour we see, colour, when we see colour; is our mental energy?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is a mental stage.

Devotee: What is the reality of that object?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The reality that it is in soul, that is only real. The seer is reality. Reality is the seer.

Devotee: The subject?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Subject, subject is real. And whatever the subject goes to feel, that is also emanating from the subject.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: But Mahārāja, are the objects also person? Like say we are seeing the colour red. Is red also a personality?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, of different personality. Everything, first consciousness, and then when more gross then we can think like that. What is that thing? It is unknown and unknowable. In the class of ontological also we get, that we can know a thing, it’s attribute to the eye is such; to the ear is such; to the touch is such. But independent of all these appearances what the being, what is the nature of the being? In the class of ontology in the western philosophy also we had to read like this. The independent of the appearances, a thing is appearing to the eye in a particular way, to the ear in a particular way, to the touch in a particular way. But these are all appearances. But independent of appearances, the ontological aspect, what is it? The reality, that is unknown and unknowable.

So, my contention, when the consciousness is going to feel some non-conscious matter, it will have to pass through a conscious area to meet the material. And so the representation of that material, what it is in its feeling; that cannot but have consciousness so that is also person. So, the Sun, Moon, ocean, mountain, everything is addressed by our ṛṣis as person - first that conception and then you will have to come to this material idea. So to consciousness, conscious world is very near and the material world is far off. So they are addressing in the environment whatever they will find as they’re all person. In Veda, in the ancient literature, we find that they are all in the midst of persons, so many persons. Everything is a person.

Devotee: And person means thinking, willing and feeling.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Devotee: Thinking, willing and feeling.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Thinking, feeling and willing, yes.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: A living entity.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: A living entity has got three phases. So, God with His potency; that is a subject is existing first, and then its experiences. And experiences of the subtle must come first and given importance. And when the subject is coming to the more distant way to conceive matter, that will be very far away from him. So he will address everything that he is surrounded by all person, personal conception. It cannot but go beyond that, to assert that this is matter, that it is far off. His direct connection is with the shadow of the material, the reflection of the material into conscious world. He can understand that only. If matter can exist independently, then also the matter has got a shadow in the conscious world and he’s concerned with that shadow. In other words, that is person, and this is his body, after effect. This matter is the after effect. But respective of all material conceptions what has direct contact with soul, that is all person. That is all something like mental substance as we have within.

End of 82.03.02.A

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.03.02.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...cidābhāsa. Person, pure person, liberated soul, and this struggling in the matter, that soul, two kinds, baddha jīva, kṣaraś cākṣara, cākṣara eva ca. Kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni, kūṭa-stho 'kṣara ucyate, then the kṣaraś – what, I missed the link...

[dvāv imau puruṣau loke, kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca / kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni, kūṭa-stho 'kṣara ucyate

uttamaḥ puruṣas tv anyaḥ, paramātmety udāhṛtaḥ / yo loka-trayam āviśya, bibharty avyaya īśvaraḥ]

[“In this world, there are two kinds of souls: the fallible and the infallible. All beings from Lord Brahmā down to the lowest stationary life-forms are known a fallible (as they have deviated from their intrinsic nature). But the personalities who are eternally situated in their divine nature are known as infallible (personal associates of the Lord.”] [“But totally distinct from both these types of souls, there is a Supreme Person who is known as Paramātmā, the Supersoul. He is the Supreme Lord. Entering into the three worlds in His eternal form, He maintains all beings in the universe.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.16-17]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: That first consciousness and then the manifestation. Like I asked you the question that everything is actually a person. Like, now its morning...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah, that. Person, baddha jīva, just as baddha jīva.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Person means liberated person and non-liberated person, mixed with material transaction. So they’ll be considered all persons, person means all consciousness, unit of consciousness. So person is surrounded by personal existence, cetana.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: But Mahārāja, say Gaṅgā, we are perceiving Gaṅgā as the water, but she’s a person, but on what platform?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, everything is person. Before we go to the material conception we must pass through the personal conception, aspect of that thing.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Oh, I see. So purer we become the more personal we become.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. And actually it is so. It is Yamunā, the balukana [?] all cetan, but posing in a passive way. Posing is in different way but they are all conscious, the trees, the fruit, everything is conscious, spiritual. But posing of different type, the cows, everything is conscious. So conscious characteristic we find the Āryans they took in nature everything conscious, addressing them as conscious. That is the basis, universal basis, that before we come to material consciousness we have to pass through a stage of conception, a concept of a particular thing. That is in my experience what we find that is conscious in this side. It is in me, this reflection in me, and in me the plane that is conscious. The subject is consciousness and whatever that thing may be it cast its reflection in it. And he is concerned only with that. And he does not know what on the other side.

Devotee: Mahārāja, in the individual how we can differentiate consciousness from mind?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: With an individual, how can you make a distinction between the consciousness and the mind?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Consciousness, in Gītā the road is suggested.

indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur, indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ / manasas tu parā buddhir, buddher yaḥ paratas tu saḥ

[“The learned proclaim that the senses are superior to inert objects, the mind is superior to the senses, and the faculty of resolute intelligence is superior to the mind. And he who is superior to the intelligence is the soul himself.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.42]

Paramātmā, from the soul conception, the spiritual conception, the world conception, you are coming through a particular process. By a method of elimination you can go and trace, and what is mind it is told that vāsanā, “I want this, I don’t want this.”

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Saṅkalpa, vikalpa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Saṅkalpa, vikalpa. Atmakam manah. What is mind? The thing which contains apathy and sympathy for the external thing: that is mind. And we are to trace within us what is that thing. What is that thing, it is with me and I am to enter into my own cell and try to have experience. What is that thing? Then the faculty of judgement, reason, what is that thing it is in me, try to come in touch with that thing direct. I did once; once I did so, tried to find, “What is my mind? It is already in me, what is that thing? What is the reason in it, and what is the source, crossing the stage of the decisive faculty? What is that thing? Like yogī, to come in direct touch with the materials within us. The intelligence is within me and why should I not come to trace what is it to see?”

Devotee: When the faith is growing in a particular direction, how we can say, how we can know that it’s coming from our own self, from our inner consciousness, and not from the influence of the environment or the circumstances?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Can’t follow, wholly. When the faith develops?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: He’s saying, Mahārāja, how do we know that it is developing from inside and not an influence from outside?

Devotee: I say when the faith is growing in a particular direction, how we can know for sure that it’s coming from our inner consciousness and not from the influence of the environment?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Just as in dormant, by help of the external, when one is sleeping, by external interference he can be roused. So something like that. It is dormant but by external help he awakes from his slumber. He can feel his own feeling is guaranteed. “I was such and such, I am such and such, and if I apply the process I am becoming more and more conscious.” In this way he’s his own guarantee. “That by the help of my friends my health is, I recover my health.” In this way.

Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja: Mahārāja, I wanted to clarify one point; that in Kapila’s Sāṅkhya philosophy, that the pradhana that is un-manifested matter which is eternal. So you were saying everything is consciousness. So that also has consciousness? Is that correct?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja: So from there the three modes of material nature...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Material, only misconception which is the cause of all this material existence; that has got also personality, the Devī. That is also...

Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja: But then why is that when in the manifested world, in this cosmic world, when the living entities it’s said is injected into this pradhana stage, so that the individual consciousness comes into existence?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is all mainly, the world means within misconception, within misconception. You have proper conception, then you can read Kṛṣṇa līlā everywhere.

vana dekhi' bhrama haya – ei 'vṛndāvana', śaila dekhi' mane haya – ei 'govardhana'

[When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu passed through the Jhārikhaṇḍa forest, He took it for granted that it was Vṛndāvana. When He passed over the hills, He took it for granted that they were Govardhana.] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 17.55]

Everything will excite you about Vṛndāvana. You won’t see the outward thing if you are relived from misconception. A mad man, mad man, mal-adjusted brain, when he’s cured, when in madness he’s in the midst of his friends, but when he’s gone back to normal position the same thing; all friends. Only the misconception to be removed, the disease, the disease to be removed; everything is all right.

Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja: The disease is a lack of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh? A lack of consciousness, misconception, disease: dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād.

[bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād, īśād apetasya viparyyayo 'smṛtiḥ

tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ, bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā]

[“Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is effected by the potency for illusion, called māyā. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshippable deity and as his very life and soul.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.37]

This separate interest, the point of separate interest. Dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād, īśād apetasya viparyyayo 'smṛtiḥ. The deviation, the charm of separate interest, the prospect of separate interest is the root cause of all these misunderstandings. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād. The concept of provincialism, localism, local interest, provincial interest, has caused the difference from the central; we’re away from the central conception. From universal consciousness we have come to local, all the ways in so many differences. Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ, Svaḥ, Mahar, Jana, Tapa loka, different stages are evolved only in this process. It is provincialism and universalism, loss of the consciousness of the centre; that is the root of everything. Dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād, īśād apetasya viparyyayo 'smṛtiḥ. The whole organic, organic whole consciousness, that is the most healthy position. That is adjustment. Mal-adjustment is the cause. Adjustment is life, it is liberated life. And to be the prey of mal-adjustment, that is to approach pain, misery, because everything is all right, only in the conception of our own personal interest. Special interest, not universal: that is the cause of the detachment from the conception of the whole. And from that conception of our health or the satisfaction, the ānanda, the happiness of health, we are deprived of the happiness of our healthy position. The cause is self interest. Dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. The autocrat is absolute good. The absolute autocrat is absolute good, so no room for complaint. Suhṛdaṁ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ, jñātvā māṁ:

[bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, sarva-loka-maheśvaram

suhṛdaṁ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ, jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati]

[“I am the enjoyer of the results of sacrifice performed by the fruit-hunter, as well as the results of austerity performed by the liberation-seeker - I am their only worshippable object; I am Nārāyaṇa, the indwelling monitor of all planes of life, and the Supreme Worshippable Personality who awards liberation. And I am the well-wisher of all - I am Kṛṣṇa, the devotee’s most adorable friend. The soul who thus knows My true identity attains the ecstasy of knowing his own original divine identity.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 5.29]

“I am everything. You are nothing. But I am your friend. Don’t forget that. You are represented in Me. Don’t forget that. That detachment has been the cause of all the misery you are suffering from at present. You and your caste, all of you have lost faith in Me, that I am your friend. You are jealous that, “I am not the master. Someone be master. No taxation without representation.” But you are well represented in Me. More than you can conceive. Why do you forget that? Reinstate you in that faith, you will be all right. It is by your fault that you are suffering, otherwise no difference in dealing or vision from the universal standpoint.”

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi. So, dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād, īśād apetasya, īśā jñāna, my master, that He’s my master. He’s my well wisher, He’s my guardian. Deviation from that is misery of so infinite magnitude. But the cause is very subtle and little. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Detachment, we are detached. We’re captivated in enemy camp. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja: So this is wonderful information.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Just as you may take the case of a mad man. Vikitya chitya [?] Pātañjali, vikitya chitya, chitya is rather better, disorganized. But vikitya, it is organized. Organized way we are attending towards our - what is bad, what is evil. In organized way we are searching that. Not only vikitya, not only disorganized way, but it is quite intellectually set, intelligence is set towards the bad. That is vikitya, worse than mad, according to Pātañjali.

So what will be the relief? A madman what everything he has got in his possession, but only he is out of consciousness. The consciousness is to be set properly. Then he will find, ‘Oh. Everything is there.’ Back to home, his consciousness cast aside, not in home. The homeward, that consciousness must be pushed homeward. That is the problem.

Our Guru Mahārāja used to tell, “I don’t admit any famine in this world; only that of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” Kṛṣṇa kathā-durvikṣā ___________________________ [?] Whenever excited he used to give this expression out, kona durvikṣā nāi chāḍ'a āra jagate eka mātra kṛṣṇa-kathā- durvikṣā. “Say from door to door that Kṛṣṇa is there. You are Kṛṣṇa’s, you belong to Kṛṣṇa. You are Kṛṣṇa dāsa. Only remind this from door to door, soul to soul, you are Kṛṣṇa dāsa. Then he will find, ‘Oh! Everything I have got. I am Kṛṣṇa dāsa, connected with Kṛṣṇa.’ That link must be supplied, then everything all right. No other dearth of anything here. No dearth, no misery, no nothing. Only that you have forgot Kṛṣṇa, your Lord. Only that point you must push, strike. And this universal necessity is here, no other necessity. I don’t admit anything.” When excited he used to say like that, eka mātra kṛṣṇa-kathā-durvikṣā. “Only one want is here, that is, they have forgotten their Lord who is infinite, infinite bliss. Only try to reinstate those souls, those conceiving, those feeling agents, connect with that Kṛṣṇa; everything will be all right.”

“There’s always fire, fire burning. No necessity of extinguishing the fire. What will be burnt into ashes by fire, you have nothing to do with that world. All your inner demands can be met only in connection with Kṛṣṇa. The other things are all unnecessary, which may be burned to ashes, which may be devoured by the flood or anything else. We have no real concern there. The opposite concern, they have taken you back, attracting you back towards it. You can’t allow your mind to go to Kṛṣṇa. So negative, these are our enemy, so may be burned to ashes, the whole world. We are not affected in any way by that. The war may devastate; the Earth, Sun, everything may vanish; but still we remain. And if we can have connection with Kṛṣṇa, these are all unnecessary for us, and for everyone. Why should we come to live in the mortal world; erroneously identifying with flesh and blood? And we are only thinking that we are dying, we are being born and dying – a false notion.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So everything is conscious. And when we realize it fully we are in svarūpa-śakti domain, there, but posing itself, that Yamunā, that water, that creeper, that tree, but all consciousness, posing in different ways.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: They are acting also consciously Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Consciously.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Like when Kṛṣṇa goes to take bath in Yamunā all the waves rush to embrace Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yamunā uyarn [?] They melt, footsteps, the stone melting, the footsteps printed there, sometimes. So everything is conscious. So this Rahu-ketu vigrahan [?], the Āryans in their scripture, everywhere they find they’re talking with the nature as they’re talking with persons. And it is real. And ours is deviated ignorance.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. So fossilism you are to crush; Swāmī Mahārāja’s order; you will take strong position here and crush the fossilism. Who says there is fossilism? First consciousness, that Berkley’s theory, ‘Not that we are in the world, but world is in the mind. Not that the mind is in the world, but the world is in the mind.’ In everything, no conception, nothing here remains.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Actually from that the English expression came, “No matter, never mind.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Ultimately all concoction, undesirable things are all concoction, so don’t worry.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, while coming, we saw that, we noticed that in front of the Devananda Gauḍīya Maṭh that the lion is biting the elephant. So Haṁsadūta Mahārāja wondered what is the symbolism, what does it signify?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I can’t understand it. I don’t follow the idea, why the lions are biting.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I don’t appreciate that, but the opposite.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Yeah, right, because the elephant is sattya guṇa Mahārāja, and the lion is raja guṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Elephant is sattya guṇa and elephant is Nārāyaṇa’s, Anantadev’s vahana and lion is vahana of Devī. So elephant should be given preference.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: So why is it opposite?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I don’t appreciate that.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And so many anomalies are there. The Jagāi, Mādāi, the Vasudeva, and that Devānanda Ṭhākura kept as gate keepers. That is objectionable. So many gods, the Mūrti of the mahātmā also, in so many things I differ from them. I told them but they are angry with me.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: I was just telling Haṁsadūta Mahārāja that. Mahārāja, then what was their idea?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: We understand the right idea, but what’s their idea?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: British government is ruling over Indian government. Ha, ha, ha. The lion was the symbol of the British in India. Ha, ha, ha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha. And they may take it perhaps that we Vaiṣṇavas are lions. Vedanta Keśori, Vedānta Gauḍīya Maṭha. ‘And you may be in mass, such a big volume, you the śakta _________________ [?] but like lion we have attacked you.’ In this way they may have their conception.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: But Mahārāja, what is the relationship between the elephant and śakta?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That I don’t find. That what I find is that the elephant is the carrier of Ananta Deva. Sometimes Ananta Deva, He’s imagined to be on the back of elephant. And lion is always the carrier of Devī, Durgā Devī. So I don’t find the harmony there.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, can this mean that transcending the mode of goodness...

_________________________________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But the symbol will be lion?

tṛṇād api sunīcena, taror api sahiṣṇunā, amāninā mānadena, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

[“One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 3]

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Lion! Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura. Nitāi Gaura Hari.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja ________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right! _________ prasāda _____________________ [?]

Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja _______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________________________ [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: ___________ he started a school in Manipura, and he was working very hard for months together, and right after opening the school he became bedridden.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But what about his opening here, Maṭha?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: (to Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja) Yeah, what happened to your Maṭha Mahārāja in Navadvīpa?

Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja: Ha, ha. _______________ negotiations.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: The negotiation is going on, like they’re very much willing to hand him over the Maṭha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, then the sooner the better. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja: So Bhāratī Mahārāja, I think we should go now.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: And Atreya Ṛṣi Prabhu came. He’s sitting here Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where? Here?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Yes. He came when you were talking so I did not announce his arrival. And actually we were supposed to come together but Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja was in such a hurry so we had to leave without him. Ha, ha, ha. And I was feeling very guilty then. But he came on his own. Ha, ha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Atreya Ṛṣi: I am persistent, that’s my only qualification. Like a goat.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So, your persistence is your qualification, so none can conquer you.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: And he made a mistake, Mahārāja, he said that he’s as persistent as a goat, but it’s not the goat is not persistent, it’s the bull that’s persistent; Dharma.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Persistent. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Everything coming in connection with Kṛṣṇa: that is converted into jewel, gem. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Hare Rāma. Hare Rāma. Kṛṣṇa can utilize anything and everything. That is His special position. He can harmonize; the highest harmonizer. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotees: ______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________________ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. ____________________ [?] Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare,

Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The meeting is over, finished?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What about that, I put some application about stopping in the future publication whatever spoken against the God-brothers of Swāmī Mahārāja that should be omitted. That was my request.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I think that subject will probably come up at the BBT meeting, book trust meeting, separate from the GBC.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: By book trust meeting, they’re also under the GBC is it not?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: No, no.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: BBT, they’re independent?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Yes, they’re independent, completely.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So the application is directed to that meeting, or it is in the waste paper basket?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I don’t know because I came late. But BBT meeting will take place today. So I’ll be there and then I’ll let you know.

Devotees: ____________________________ [?]

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: If I get a copy from Akṣayānanda Mahārāja I’ll introduce it.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who are the members of that Book Trust meeting, who are the members of that committee?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Who are they? Myself, Bhagavān Mahārāja...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Your name?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Haṁsadūta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, Haṁsadūta Mahārāja. So you are one of the members?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Have you seen my petition?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: No, I haven’t seen it. He’ll give me a copy and I’ll bring it up.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Are you very weak now?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Weak, no, I’m strong.

Other devotees: He’s well now Mahārāja, he’s doing well.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Doing well?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: We’re all happy to see that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But he has become more...

Atreya Ṛṣi: He’s more satisfied.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Satisfied?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Independent.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Or more humble?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: More humble? No. I’m working without getting involved. I’m not taking any part.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So, peaceful.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: He’s aloof.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Non-co-operation, no, not non-co-operation...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not non-co-operation.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Non-participant.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Non-participant, non-interfering.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Non-interfering. No, I’m just doing the positive work; print some books, sell some books, preach.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: He printed, re-printed the books of our Gurudeva in a very nice way. Haṁsadūta Mahārāja has re-printed the books in a very beautiful way. And everybody is hankering for those books that he has made.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But we have not received a copy yet.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I only have one set and it’s on display. I have to take orders then I will bring it. You can see it. We printed in Singapore.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is less costly there?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Yes, one third the cost.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I heard it; less costly. In Japan also less costly.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: No, no. Japan is very expensive now.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. I heard Swāmī Mahārāja arranged with some Japanese editor to publish his books.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: That was years ago, but since then their economy has expanded so much that they’re practically on par with America.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Today Jayatīrtha Mahārāja not come. Is he there?

Devotees: Yes. He’s there.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Many of his men come from London perhaps.

Atreya Ṛṣi: This morning there is a committee where Jayatīrtha Mahārāja is also a member to discuss about the God-brothers who have come here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Haṁsadūta Mahārāja is eliminated from the meeting?

Atreya Ṛṣi: No, just four or five members committee.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who are they? One Jayatīrtha Mahārāja?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Jayatīrtha Mahārāja, Bhakti Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja, Tamal Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Three.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Rāmeśvara, no, no, not Rāmeśvara. Bhagavān, Kīrtanānanda, Jayapataka.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Four, five, six.

Devotees: __________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I am thinking that I may disconnect with ISKCON for my own peace.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Please don’t, Mahārāja, we need your mercy.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I shall be independent here and whatever I should think best I shall do.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Mahārāja, please remain our well wisher.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: For Swāmī Mahārāja’s request. He repeatedly requested me to look after ISKCON.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Please, yes, Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But I did not think at that time that he will pass away before me. In ordinary way he’s requesting me, “You please look after, look after.” And naturally I had some affection for them because such bright work of men, great magnitude, almost inconceivable. The success of the Gauḍīya Maṭha as a whole, Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we have already sold our head to Kṛṣṇa consciousness through Mahāprabhu and we find such a great glory, such a glorious victory over the world. Naturally our head should be bent on that. And we had pride of our heart. But that does not mean that I shall forgo my own existence. Ha, ha.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Mahārāja, the negative, un-appreciating elements are temporary. They’re temporary and insignificant.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I am old enough; I can’t stand so much botheration. I can’t stand it. They are all eager to hear something from me, but these tapes are working as enemy towards them. What is this? They themselves come to hear from me and when my statements, my sayings are proving enemy to them. So this is very, to deplore, a deplorable thing that in the old age I am entangled into this undesirable relativity.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: But it says in the Bhāgavatam that the great souls live only for the welfare of others.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Para-duḥkha duḥkhī, it is there. They have got no misery for their own, but they think themselves miserable only for others. But I am old, I can’t tolerate. And my nature is non-interfering from the beginning. So much so that I am called, “ease lover.” Not aggressive. Not for preaching but only to know; the knowing aspect, listening aspect, the aspect of inquisitiveness, that is predominating in me.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: So these are the doing aspects; these Americans, they do.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And to find new lights, to find new lights from the scripture, from the words heard from my Guru Mahārāja, every day in new colour. I can see, I can feel, everything is infinite. Every word, every letter is of infinite characteristic. I’m rather internally busy for that in my last days. But these external disturbances are proving too much for my health even, these undesirable things.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

End of 82.03.02.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.03.02.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Suppose – in a general way I remark. There is a disease, a medicine has been invented and that is applied. If any better medicine is invented to deal with the patients, what are we to do? Import duty? From the standpoint of humanity, what should we do? The other country has produced a medicine of higher utility and my countrymen have not produced that sort of medicine. Then should we use any import duty?

Atreya Ṛṣi: It depends on what the goal is; if the goal is to get well or if the goal is to get bigger country.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say? I don’t follow.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: It depends on the goal. Whether the goal is to get well or the goal is to get wealthy. Ha, ha, ha. If the goal is to get well then there should not be any duty, but if the goal is to become wealthy...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Wealth?

Devotees: Wealthy. Rich.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Rich, wealth.

Devotees: Make commerce, trade.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Then impose tax.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kāma paśyanti kāminī mayaṁ jagad lubdhāḥ paśyanti dhana-mayaṁ jagad. Gold is above anything and no health of the county men? Gold is above the health of the countrymen.

[nārāyaṇa-mayaṁ dhīrāḥ, paśyanti paramārthinaḥ

jagad dhana-mayaṁ lubdhāḥ, kāmukāḥ kāminī-mayam]

[A devotee sees everyone and everything in relationship with Nārāyaṇa (nārāyaṇa-mayaṁ). Everything is an expansion of Nārāyaṇa’s energy. Just as those who are greedy see everything as a source of money-making and those who are lusty see everything as being conducive to sex, the most perfect devotee, Prahlāda Mahārāja, saw Nārāyaṇa even within a stone column.] [From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.7.55, purport]

Atreya Ṛṣi: It’s unfortunate; our misfortune.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: But the fact that there are a number of GBC men and Gurus coming to your lotus feet...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then why they did not allow Swāmī Mahārāja to enter into their country? Why, what for?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Well they want to sell their own medicine.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Why not import duty at that time? Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: But our Swāmī Mahārāja; I was going to say that because already some of the GBC men are coming to your lotus feet to take instructions and advice, this shows that...

... a chain is as strong as its weakest link.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is for their own interest. Swāmī Mahārāja was bold enough to discourage, to cancel other God-brothers. He could speak against me also but he did not do so. Why? He has dismissed other God-brothers more or less, but he has not dismissed me. Lack of courage, or something else?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: No, no, no. He respected you highly.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Or his appreciation for me?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: He appreciated.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is a clear thing, he was courageous enough; he has challenged the whole world and even including our so many God-brothers. But still he had some affection for me. And that is zero? What do they say? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. They’re disregarding Swāmī Mahārāja himself.

In the case of Caru Swāmī some came to give opposition to his sannyāsa. But what did Swāmī Mahārāja tell? “He’s not newcomer to me. He’s my old friend.” And in spite of their opposition he gave him sannyāsa.

He asked, Acutyānanda, “What sort of talk you had with Śrīdhara Mahārāja?”

“You would faint to hear that.” Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

But from the beginning we had some good relation, both; from the very conception of Back to Godhead, from when he was translating Gītā; so many discussions day after day about the meaning of Gītā. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. And they’re separating me from him, because he’s absent, physically. It’s painful. I have got no other selfish interest of my own. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Kṛṣṇa is selfish to the extreme. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Mahāprabhu is selfish to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness to be the Absolute, and our Guru Mahārāja also. Ha, ha, ha.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

I am going to form an opposition party? Then in my tapes they are to find out, they are to show that, ‘This is objectionable. We can’t accept this.’ The general things that are the answer to questions I am giving out: they are to establish, ‘No, no. These are all false, not up to mark, the standard of scripture, or the sayings of mahā-janas – objectionable.’ They are to prove. But to come down to that level of their criticism, it is better for me to stop connection, not to enter into any quarrel. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. The last days of my life may go on peacefully, these troubles.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, time will prove that you are right and they are wrong.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They are making much of the form, neglecting the spirit, making much of the form. The committee is absolute, but that committee decision is already defeated by my recommendation, last year, when they rejected three of the Ācāryas. By my request they reinstated. Then where does go the decision of the committee? It loses its absolute characteristic there? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. They say it is absolute, they are all perfect. But I don’t see that I am perfect, I am still a student. I want to be student. Even my Guru Mahārāja told in Madras, in his letters, “I am the monitor of the class.” Something like that. The leader of the class is called monitor?

Devotees: Monitor.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Monitor.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: He’s a student.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He was monitor, a student, a leading student. He told himself, “I am a student.” Really we are so. We are in the path of infinite. We must be conscious that we are travelling in the path of infinite. So none can conceive to be perfect, especially the preacher class. The paramahaṁsa, who has got nothing, seeing everything everywhere Kṛṣṇa, that is another thing. But the preacher class, they’re supposed to live in an environment of progress. A student, the attitude of student, I am not finished infinite. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. After attaining perfection then what comes next? It will begin to rot.

Atreya Ṛṣi: It’s death.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Its death, crystallisation.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The way to death. After rising to the zenith, then you have to come down. And the progressing to the unlimited that will always go on, Vaikuṇṭha rasa. We are living in Vaikuṇṭha. What is that Vaikuṇṭha?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Progress.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In a surrounding of infinite everything is infinite, everything has got its infinite character, I am living within. All un-understandable, everything of infinite character; we must live in that. ________________________________________________ [?] Gaura Hari.

...

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: You will just speak, and the ones who are sincere they will be automatically attracted to you. And those who are insincere they’ll automatically run away from you. Ha, ha, ha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Your grand certificate is too much for me. But every one of us should have that attitude, to live in the infinite means all Guru and I am the disciple. But only when particularly inspired by the Absolute Will, then one can chastise another. That is a temporary influence, inspiration. Otherwise we’re all are students.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Once you told us Mahārāja, “In Vṛndāvana even the dusts they’re also our Gurus.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy ādi sakala cinmaya [māyika bhūtera tathi janma nāhi haya]

[“The earth, water, fire, air and ether of Vaikuṇṭha are all spiritual. Material elements are not found there.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 5.53]

What does it mean?

indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur, indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ

manasas tu parā buddhir, buddher yaḥ paratas tu saḥ

[“The learned proclaim that the senses are superior to inert objects, the mind is superior to the senses, and the faculty of resolute intelligence is superior to the mind. And he who is superior to the intelligence is the soul himself.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.42]

Then Paramātmā and jīva, taṭasthā-loka, brahma-loka and Vaikuṇṭha, the earth, the water, everything made of spiritual stuff. And that is of higher quality than that of taṭasthā-loka. Svarūpa-śakti _______________________ [?] Guru veta rtaya asambha guru sampat guru dharcari ______________ [?]

Otherwise no other plea to go there, only _________________________________________ [?]

__________________________________________________________________________ [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: And with that mood Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura wanted to stay in Govardhana. He didn’t want to go to Rādhā-kuṇḍa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: (about 7min 12secs of Bengali conversation) We have got combination. We have got our committee that is absolute. Whatever we shall do that must be justified by the resolution of our combined opinion.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Another thing is, Mahārāja, they are so much into lording it over that they cannot stand that somebody should go away from their clutches, from their controlling jurisdiction.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: (about 1min 20secs of Bengali)

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: ______________________________ [?] Mahārāja just said that he feels that it would be better if the mass takes the initiation from the local, the zonal Guru. But the class, these who are getting a chance to meet, to see the other Gurus, mix around with the other Gurus, they should be given a chance...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: According to their faith, śraddhā.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Yes, according to their faith they can select their Guru; otherwise if somebody develops their faith for somebody else and is forced to take initiation from somebody else that will not be natural.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And the concept of provincialism will also disappear. Everyone has got disciple from anywhere, any place, combined. According to śraddhā the relationship should be allowed to grow, for Guru and śiṣya, otherwise it is artificial, a laboured thing, a pressure on the faith. As much as natural we should try to go on, faith, independent faith.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, what happens when one is forced to take initiation from somebody and then later on he develops his faith on somebody else?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So by chance it may happen it was not available, but the policy is there, that is worse.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: I see. But what is the position of that man who has been forced to take initiation from somebody in whom he doesn’t have total faith?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Very unwholesome position. Whole life he will labour under uncertainty. No progress.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Can he change, can he take sort of, can he surrender himself...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is undesirable, it is undesirable. In reality it should be, either in this life or in another life, next life. Otherwise it cannot thrive, the soul cannot thrive without natural connection. According to ruci, according to the rasa, adjustment and re-adjustment is possible. But this life is almost useless; it will go on repenting in hesitation and no progress. The progress may be intellectually, but from soul’s standpoint no progress, no faith. A forced Guru is thrust on him whom he cannot regard, give regard, that is life in death, something like life in death.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: These are the defects of an institution Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So as much as an institution must be accommodating to the truth, the conception of truth.

So, Balavacari [?] one gentleman, a leading advocate of the Rāmānuja section in Madras, he told me clearly and strongly that, “I do not believe Swāmīji.” Modestly he put to me, “I do not believe in organization. In ancient India, in every case, Indians _____________ [?] No constitution.”

I told him, sango śakti kalau yuge [Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said: “In this age of Kali, if the Holy Name is chanted congregationally, the combined efforts will be fruitful.”] So it has been arranged by our Guru Mahārāja in this system.

Regularly he was a judge in the Supreme Court, ________ Balavacari [?] He told me that, “In ancient India we don’t find any organized attempt to do anything. But all individual attempt, in every case, in finance, or in the education department, or in any departmental enterprise ___ [?]

Of course Jīva Goswāmī had the conception of Viśva-Vaiṣṇava-Rāja-Sabhā, but that has been translated by professor Baul [?] as “court” and not as “assembly.” Assembly, that is democratic line, by election. And court by selection from up, deducting, descending method, not ascending.

_____________________________ [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, you take some rest now.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha. Caru Swāmī feels excitement in me and asks me to take rest. Humble Swāmīji!

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Caru Swāmī means humble Swāmīji.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Haṁsadūta Mahārāja - is he to return to Māyāpur?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Yes Mahārāja.

(To Haṁsadūta Mahārāja) He’s asking whether you have to go back to Māyāpur today.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Not when it’s raining.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What do you think?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I have to go later for GBC meeting.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Today Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja has brought some Manipuri cooks from Manipura. So they made it a point that we must go back before one o’clock to attain the prasāda, I mean to attend.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right, if any commitment then I can’t help. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Where is he sitting, Haṁsadūta Mahārāja?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: He’s here, standing Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But he should be offered a chair, Haṁsadūta Mahārāja.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: No, no. No.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He doesn’t want, no.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. _____________ [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: ______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________________________ [?]

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: No, no. I would be offensive to the chair.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: The chair is here Mahārāja.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: _________________ [?] “Now that I know the chair is a person, if I sit on the chair I’ll be offensive to the chair.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: We brought two chairs for Atreya Ṛṣi Prabhu and Haṁsadūta Mahārāja but neither of them wants to sit. They’re actually feeling that they shouldn’t sit in an elevated position in front of you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But...

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Now Haṁsadūta Mahārāja is kneeling down on the ground.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Does he forget that request, the value of request? Ha, ha.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja, no value in the request you can find? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: No matter what I do I’m going to be offensive.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: “No matter what I do I’ll be offensive.”

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: If I refuse your request...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Mahāprabhu asked Sārvabhauma, “Sārvabhauma, what can I do? Govinda is sent by My Gurudeva to serve Me, but I must give honour to him, he’s My God-brother. But he says that Gurudeva has ordered him. What should I do?”

guru seva kaya manya apana guru ajnadhi upadhi paya [?] Something like that.

Then Sārvabhauma told, ajna balava [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: (to Haṁsadūta Mahārāja) So Mahārāja, now you are defeated. Ha, ha, ha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But this is not ajna [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: No Mahārāja, to us.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...but request. I cannot be audacious so much as to say like that.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: (addressing others) Mahārāja cited the example of Govinda Prabhu. When he went to Caitanya Mahāprabhu and because His Gurudeva sent him, Īśvara Purī sent him, to become Mahāprabhu’s servant, to attend Him, so He said, “How can I take service from you? You are My God-brother.” So He said, “By order of the spiritual master.” Then Sarvabhauma Bhatācārya said, “The order is higher.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. But here is not order.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Here is request which is even higher.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That can be a plea to you.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: All right, I’ll sit on the chair.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Somebody please bring another one for Atreya Ṛṣi Prabhu. Then Haṁsadūta Mahārāja will feel better. Haṁsadūta Mahārāja is sitting alone in a chair so he’s feeling uneasy. So I said that if Atreya Ṛṣi Prabhu sits in a chair...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It will help him.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

He’s cutting jokes. There is one statement by some Vaiṣṇava.

___________________________________________________________________________ [?]

So these talks what we had, in enjoying mood we are having talks, but if it is connected with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this is also sādhana. The mock fight between the friends, that is also sādhana _______ [?] Everything may be harmonized in a life dedicated to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: You are our uncle, spiritual uncle, so with the uncle there is always more humour. Sometimes some light relationship.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Uncle; not only uncle, but elder uncle.

Devotee: (Group laughter)

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: That makes it even more relishable.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha. Elder uncle, both in age perhaps and in seniority, elder uncle, form, it is formal. Baladeva is also uncle to someone.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

[Finishes with about three minutes of conversation with Bhakti Caru Swāmī]

End of 82.03.02.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.03.02.C_

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, you take some rest now.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha. Caru Swāmī feels excitement in me and asks me to take rest. Humble Swāmīji!

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Caru Swāmī means humble Swāmīji.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Haṁsadūta Mahārāja - is he to return to Māyāpur?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Yes Mahārāja.

(To Haṁsadūta Mahārāja) He’s asking whether you have to go back to Māyāpur today.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Not when it’s raining.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What do you think, of going back?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I have to go later for GBC meeting.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Today Svarūpa Dāmodara Mahārāja has brought some Manipuri cooks from Manipura. So they made it a point that we must go back before one o’clock to attain the prasāda, I mean to attend.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right, if any commitment then I can’t help.

Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Where is he sitting, Haṁsadūta Mahārāja?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: He’s here, standing Mahārāja.

End of 82.03.02.C_

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.03.02.C_O

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: He [Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja] made an interesting remark. He said that perhaps Your Divine Grace’s words, which is attracting a certain type of devotee, will inspire the larger ISKCON body to become more enthusiastic to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness just to make their point, so...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What? I can’t follow.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: In other words he’s seeing the positive side. That now that there’s some competition perhaps ISKCON will become even more enthusiastic to preach.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Their defeatist mentality is responsible for that.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________ [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Haṁsadūta Mahārāja is telling that Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja made a nice point yesterday. That is that the ones, those who are being inspired by Your Divine Grace, mostly they will inspire the larger ISKCON body to become more involved in preaching, because the opposition party will inspire them to get into competitive spirit.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Competitive spirit will be arisen because so many are coming here.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _______________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _______________________ [?]

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: It’s Kṛṣṇa’s way to give more inspiration.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: __________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _______________________ [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: _______________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________________________ [?]

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Without competition there’s no...

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Yes. ________ Mahārāja also said that once.

________________________________ [?] It’s always good to have an opposition party.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________ [?] Rādhārāṇī ___________________ [?]

The Chandravālī’s group, what is the ideal? ___________ [?] The opposition intensifies, it is natural.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: And you can see that this year only they changed a lot and then the GBC...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Actually Mahārāja, you told that you did not like that the standard would go lower, and I think your desire is being fulfilled.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Your desire that the standard will not go lower is being fulfilled because they are taking it as a challenge to progress.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I depreciate their statement.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Depreciate, yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. I am not an opposition party to Swāmī Mahārāja. Rather it may be supplementary. It can be said so, it will supplement.

Atreya Ṛṣi: Yes. That is our conviction.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What Swāmī Mahārāja has not yet given to them, they may get that thing here; to add, and not to caste outside as opposition.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja he actually didn’t say opposition party; that was the way I presented it.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But enliven, that I can accept. And Dayādhara Prabhu has written in his one letter that, “Your Prapanna-jīvanāmṛta and your tapes, that will enliven. It is, it will supply the deeper roots to ISKCON. The people, if they come across this book and these tapes, their faith will be more consolidated in ISKCON.” That is his conception, and I also conceive like that. They’re allowed, after his departure there may come a general depression, but these things will help them, will give similar food.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Life, yes. We don’t have any doubt Mahārāja. I mean we’re all under the same...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Because my expressions, the nature of my expressions, of my representation, that was appreciated by my Guru Mahārāja and mostly by all the scholars in our Maṭha. Because it is based on this ontological conception based on pure cid-vilāsa. That is whatever I see I have in view that it must cross the level of Brahmaloka. Not of this world but of other world, cid-vilāsa-lakṣaṇa. That the smallest thing that we mention here, that is placed above renunciation, liberation. Not this side, that is śuddha-sattva, viśuddha-sattva. Not this side liberation, or emancipation, sattva-guṇa. Not sattva-guṇa, Viṣṇu, not sattva-guṇa but viśuddha- sattva, nirguṇa, cid-vilāsa. Every word, every syllable what I express, I give out, that is from the plane of viśuddha-sattva. That is the special characteristic of my sayings. So our; this so many stalwarts that are Ācārya, Madhusudana Mahārāja, Purī Mahārāja, and others, they appreciate my talk very much, that ever new. Not a stereo type thing. Whenever I approach, when I give explanation to a particular śloka every time some new thing will come, not any, er _________ [?]

Devotees: Memorised, not parrot fashion, mechanical?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...any mere repetition, but come with some touch with infinite. Whatever I say must have some touch with infinite conception. That is the peculiarity in me. So, increase the faith, the śraddhā, the basis always for that. The foundation, the faith, that will be more consolidated. So not any enemy to any person, in a general way, not referring any particular section, in most generalized way I deal things.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: We’re all indebted to you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: We’re all indebted to you Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. We’re indebted to the source, the Guru Mahārāja. If I can carry that channel then I am fortunate. It is his; it may be stopped any moment. Ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. I have not many disciples. But I was never afraid that if my disciples mix with another’s they will be discouraged. Come and go, can’t understand me, but I am here. But I am not afraid that by mixing with other party they will be weakened. ___ duty____ other market_______ efficient industry __________________ to save ones own industry?

Devotees: Tax, import, to restrict import?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To impose duty on the import, impose taxes.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: To restrict import.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Import taxes, because the internal industry will not be able to compete with the product, so some taxes should be used. Something like that. A protection duty, something like that, it seems to me.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Suppose – in a general way I remark. There is a disease, a medicine has been invented and that is applied. If any better medicine is invented to deal with the patients, what are we to do? Import duty? From the standpoint of humanity, what should we do? The other country has produced a medicine of higher utility and my countrymen have not produced that sort of medicine. Then should we use any import duty?

Atreya Ṛṣi: It depends on what the goal is; if the goal is to get well or if the goal is to get bigger country.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say? I don’t follow.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: It depends on the goal. Whether the goal is to get well or the goal is to get wealthy. Ha, ha, ha. If the goal is to get well then there should not be any duty, but if the goal is to become wealthy...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Wealth?

Devotees: Wealthy. Rich.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Rich, wealth.

Devotees: Make commerce, trade.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Then impose tax.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Kāma paśyanti kāminī mayaṁ jagad lubdhāḥ paśyanti dhana-mayaṁ jagad. Gold is above anything and no health of the county men? Gold is above the health of the countrymen.

[nārāyaṇa-mayaṁ dhīrāḥ, paśyanti paramārthinaḥ

jagad dhana-mayaṁ lubdhāḥ, kāmukāḥ kāminī-mayam]

[A devotee sees everyone and everything in relationship with Nārāyaṇa (nārāyaṇa-mayaṁ). Everything is an expansion of Nārāyaṇa’s energy. Just as those who are greedy see everything as a source of money-making and those who are lusty see everything as being conducive to sex, the most perfect devotee, Prahlāda Mahārāja, saw Nārāyaṇa even within a stone column.] [From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 7.7.55, purport]

Atreya Ṛṣi: It’s unfortunate; our misfortune.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: But the fact that there are a number of GBC men and Gurus coming to your lotus feet...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then why they did not allow Swāmī Mahārāja to enter into their country? Why, what for?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: Well they want to sell their own medicine.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Why not import duty at that time? Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: But our Swāmī Mahārāja; I was going to say that because already some of the GBC men are coming to your lotus feet to take instructions and advice, this shows that...

... a chain is as strong as its weakest link.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is for their own interest. Swāmī Mahārāja was bold enough to discourage, to cancel other God-brothers. He could speak against me also but he did not do so. Why? He has dismissed other God-brothers more or less, but he has not dismissed me. Lack of courage, or something else?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: No, no, no. He respected you highly.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Or his appreciation for me?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: He appreciated.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It is a clear thing, he was courageous enough; he has challenged the whole world and even including our so many God-brothers. But still he had some affection for me. And that is zero? What do they say? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. They’re disregarding Swāmī Mahārāja himself.

In the case of Caru Swāmī some came to give opposition to his sannyāsa. But what did Swāmī Mahārāja tell? “He’s not newcomer to me. He’s my old friend.” And in spite of their opposition he gave him sannyāsa.

He asked, Acutyānanda, “What sort of talk you had with Śrīdhara Mahārāja?”

“You would faint to hear that.” Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

But from the beginning we had some good relation, both; from the very conception of Back to Godhead, from when he was translating Gītā; so many discussions day after day about the meaning of Gītā. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. And they’re separating me from him, because he’s absent, physically. It’s painful. I have got no other selfish interest of my own. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Kṛṣṇa is selfish to the extreme. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Mahāprabhu is selfish to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness to be the Absolute, and our Guru Mahārāja also. Ha, ha, ha.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

I am going to form an opposition party? Then in my tapes they are to find out, they are to show that, ‘This is objectionable. We can’t accept this.’ The general things that are the answer to questions I am giving out: they are to establish, ‘No, no. These are all false, not up to mark, the standard of scripture, or the sayings of mahā-janas – objectionable.’ They are to prove. But to come down to that level of their criticism, it is better for me to stop connection, not to enter into any quarrel. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. The last days of my life may go on peacefully, these troubles.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, time will prove that you are right and they are wrong.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They are making much of the form, neglecting the spirit, making much of the form. The committee is absolute, but that committee decision is already defeated by my recommendation, last year, when they rejected three of the Ācāryas. By my request they reinstated. Then where does go the decision of the committee? It loses its absolute characteristic there? Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. They say it is absolute, they are all perfect. But I don’t see that I am perfect, I am still a student. I want to be student. Even my Guru Mahārāja told in Madras, in his letters, “I am the monitor of the class.” Something like that. The leader of the class is called monitor?

Devotees: Monitor.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Monitor.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: He’s a student.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He was monitor, a student, a leading student. He told himself, “I am a student.” Really we are so. We are in the path of infinite. We must be conscious that we are travelling in the path of infinite. So none can conceive to be perfect, especially the preacher class. The paramahaṁsa, who has got nothing, seeing everything everywhere Kṛṣṇa, that is another thing. But the preacher class, they’re supposed to live in an environment of progress. A student, the attitude of student, I am not finished infinite. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. After attaining perfection then what comes next? It will begin to rot.

Atreya Ṛṣi: It’s death.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Its death, crystallisation.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The way to death. After rising to the zenith, then you have to come down. And the progressing to the unlimited that will always go on, Vaikuṇṭha rasa. We are living in Vaikuṇṭha. What is that Vaikuṇṭha?

Atreya Ṛṣi: Progress.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In a surrounding of infinite everything is infinite, everything has got its infinite character, I am living within. All un-understandable, everything of infinite character; we must live in that. ________________________________________________ [?] Gaura Hari.

...

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: You will just speak, and the ones who are sincere they will be automatically attracted to you. And those who are insincere they’ll automatically run away from you. Ha, ha, ha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Your grand certificate is too much for me. But every one of us should have that attitude, to live in the infinite means all Guru and I am the disciple. But only when particularly inspired by the Absolute Will, then one can chastise another. That is a temporary influence, inspiration. Otherwise we’re all are students.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Once you told us Mahārāja, “In Vṛndāvana even the dusts they’re also our Gurus.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy ādi sakala cinmaya [māyika bhūtera tathi janma nāhi haya]

[“The earth, water, fire, air and ether of Vaikuṇṭha are all spiritual. Material elements are not found there.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, 5.53]

What does it mean?

indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur, indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ

manasas tu parā buddhir, buddher yaḥ paratas tu saḥ

[“The learned proclaim that the senses are superior to inert objects, the mind is superior to the senses, and the faculty of resolute intelligence is superior to the mind. And he who is superior to the intelligence is the soul himself.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.42]

Then Paramātmā and jīva, taṭasthā-loka, brahma-loka and Vaikuṇṭha, the earth, the water, everything made of spiritual stuff. And that is of higher quality than that of taṭasthā-loka. Svarūpa-śakti _______________________ [?]

Guru veta rtaya asambha guru sampat guru dharcari _______________________________ [?]

Otherwise no other plea to go there, only _________________________________________ [?]

__________________________________________________________________________ [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: And with that mood Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura wanted to stay in Govardhana. He didn’t want to go to Rādhā-kuṇḍa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: (about 7min 12secs of Bengali conversation) We have got combination. We have got our committee that is absolute. Whatever we shall do that must be justified by the resolution of our combined opinion.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Another thing is, Mahārāja, they are so much into lording it over that they cannot stand that somebody should go away from their clutches, from their controlling jurisdiction.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: (about 1min 20secs of Bengali)

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: _______________________ [?] Mahārāja just said that he feels that it would be better if the mass takes the initiation from the local, the zonal Guru. But the class, these who are getting a chance to meet, to see the other Gurus, mix around with the other Gurus, they should be given a chance...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: According to their faith, śraddhā.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Yes, according to their faith they can select their Guru; otherwise if somebody develops their faith for somebody else and is forced to take initiation from somebody else that will not be natural.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And the concept of provincialism will also disappear. Everyone has got disciple from anywhere, any place, combined. According to śraddhā the relationship should be allowed to grow, for Guru and śiṣya, otherwise it is artificial, a laboured thing, a pressure on the faith. As much as natural we should try to go on, faith, independent faith. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Mahārāja, what happens when one is forced to take initiation from somebody and then later on he develops his faith on somebody else?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So by chance it may happen it was not available, but the policy is there, that is worse.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: I see. But what is the position of that man who has been forced to take initiation from somebody in whom he doesn’t have total faith?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Very unwholesome position. Whole life he will labour under uncertainty. No progress.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Can he change, can he take sort of, can he surrender himself...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is undesirable, it is undesirable. In reality it should be, either in this life or in another life, next life. Otherwise it cannot thrive, the soul cannot thrive without natural connection. According to ruci, according to the rasa, adjustment and re-adjustment is possible. But this life is almost useless; it will go on repenting in hesitation and no progress. The progress may be intellectually, but from soul’s standpoint no progress, no faith. A forced Guru is thrust on him whom he cannot regard, give regard, that is life in death, something like life in death.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: These are the defects of an institution Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So as much as an institution must be accommodating to the truth, the conception of truth.

So, Balavacari [?] one gentleman, a leading advocate of the Rāmānuja section in Madras, he told me clearly and strongly that, “I do not believe Swāmīji.” Modestly he put to me, “I do not believe in organization. In ancient India, in every case, Indians _____________ [?] No constitution.”

I told him, sango śakti kalau yuge [Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said: “In this age of Kali, if the Holy Name is chanted congregationally, the combined efforts will be fruitful.”] So it has been arranged by our Guru Mahārāja in this system.

Regularly he was a judge in the Supreme Court, ________ Balavacari [?] He told me that, “In ancient India we don’t find any organized attempt to do anything. But all individual attempt, in every case, in finance, or in the education department, or in any departmental enterprise ___ [?]

Of course Jīva Goswāmī had the conception of Viśva-Vaiṣṇava-Rāja-Sabhā, but that has been translated by professor Baul [?] as “court” and not as “assembly.” Assembly, that is democratic line, by election. And court by selection from up, deducting, descending method, not ascending.

_____________________________ [?]

End of 82.03.02.C_O

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.03.02.D

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: ...Atreya Ṛṣi Prabhu and Haṁsadūta Mahārāja but none of them want to sit. They’re actually feeling that they shouldn’t sit in an elevated position in front of you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But...

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Now Haṁsadūta Mahārāja is kneeling down on the ground.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Does he forget that request, the value of request? Ha, ha.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja, no value in the request you can find? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: No matter what I do I’m going to be offensive.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: “No matter what I do I’ll be offensive.”

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: If I refuse your request...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Mahāprabhu asked Sārvabhauma, “Sārvabhauma, what can I do? Govinda is sent by My Gurudeva to serve Me, but I must give honour to him, he’s My Godbrother. But he says that Gurudeva has ordered him. What should I do?”

guru seva kaya manya apana guru ajnadhi upadhi paya [?] Something like that.

Then Sārvabhauma told, ajna balava [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: (to Haṁsadūta Mahārāja) So Mahārāja, now you are defeated.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But this is not ajna [?]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: No Mahārāja, to us.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...but request. I cannot be audacious so much as to say like that. My request!

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: (addressing others) Mahārāja cited the example of Govinda Prabhu. When he went to Caitanya Mahāprabhu and because His Gurudeva sent him, Īśvara Purī sent him, to become Mahāprabhu’s servant, to attend Him, so He said, “How can I take service from you? You are My God-brother.” So He said, “By order of the spiritual master.” Then Sarvabhauma Bhatācārya said, “The order is higher.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. But here is not order.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Here is request which is even higher.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That can be a plea to you. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: All right, I’ll sit on the chair.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Somebody please bring another one for Atreya Ṛṣi Prabhu. Then Haṁsadūta Mahārāja will feel better. Haṁsadūta Mahārāja is sitting alone in a chair so he’s feeling uneasy. So I said that if Atreya Ṛṣi Prabhu sits in a chair...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It will help him.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. He’s cutting jokes?

Devotee: Here’s another chair.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is that? There is one statement by some Vaiṣṇava.

__________________________________________________________________________ [?]

So these talks what we had, in enjoying mood we are having talks, but if it is connected with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this is also sādhana. The mock fight between the friends, that is also sādhana _______ [?] Everything may be harmonized in a life dedicated to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: You are our uncle, spiritual uncle, so with the uncle there is always more humour. Sometimes some light relationship.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Uncle; not only uncle, but elder uncle.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: That makes it even more relishable.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha. Elder uncle, both in age perhaps and in seniority, elder uncle, form, it is formal. Baladeva is also uncle to someone. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

[About two minutes of conversation with Bhakti Caru Swāmī]

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: He was actually thinking of going to Calcutta tomorrow for a day or two, and then come back; stay through the festival and then go to Calcutta for a few days.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I’m under the control of Bhakti Caru. No freedom. And Bhakti Caru is under your control. So I think everything depends on Your Divine Grace.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You should not say so, there is GBC.

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: They are under Kṛṣṇa.

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: Or Kṛṣṇa’s energy.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They are under Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa is under them?

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: No. I think they’re under Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What they think?

Bhakti Caru Swāmī: If they think Kṛṣṇa is under them, then they come under Kṛṣṇa’s energy, Mahārāja.

Haṁsadūta Mahārāja: I think everything will come out all right because after all everything is under Kṛṣṇa. It just takes different colours.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Of course we are to accept that ultimately. This is all for the best, so no room for any grave complaint.

[akiñcanasya dāntasya śāntasya sama-cetasaḥ] / mayā santuṣṭa-manasaḥ sarvāḥ sukha-mayā diśaḥ

[“One who does not desire anything within this world, who has achieved peace by controlling his senses, whose consciousness is equal in all conditions and whose mind is completely satisfied in Me finds only happiness wherever he goes.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.14.13]

“Who is satisfied with Me, every wave coming from outside are carrying happy news for him.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo, bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam

[hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidhadhan namas te, jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya bhāk]

[Lord Brahmā said: “One who, in the hope of achieving Your grace, goes on enduring the inauspicious fruit of his own karma, and passes his days practising devotion unto You in every thought, word, and deed - such a person is heir to the land of freedom: he attains to the plane of positive immortality.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8]

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. That is the real solace of life.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotees: Mahārāja _________________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _________________________________________ [?] Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Letter is addressed to His Divine Grace Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīla Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja. Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh. From West Malaysia.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s there, West Malaysia?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. “My dear Śrīdhara Mahārāja, Please accept my humble obeisance’s and glories at the lotus feet of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī, who is an ocean of unending, inconceivable and unpredictable mercy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Leaving the shelter of the devotees at New Jagannātha Purī,” that’s San Francisco or Berkley, “I have come to Malaysia to help begin a temple in Borneo. Although I am ill-equipped for such a project I am hoping for the mercy of the sādhus and Kṛṣṇa to make me more humble in this difficult task. I would also like to beg for your mercy, but I am too proud and arrogant to do such a thing, being a westerner who has so much going for him in the material world. Still, at every moment I know that I am receiving your mercy. And in fact I am nothing but your mercy. Such is my great fortune.

As you have said, “Such is our divinity. We have come in connection with such noble life with a conception of such nobility, self abnegation to such a degree of honour to the living being a selfless life. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has brought the highest thing down from that quarter to us.”

And there in that position we are the highest gainer we are told by the experts of that world. Perhaps I am a mere dreamer. Perhaps one of the admiring pseudo intellectuals of the exploiting west. Perhaps a waste of all of Kṛṣṇa’s energy spent on mundane efforts to attain name and fame. But your eloquence is a thrill for me. It sustains me, it encourages me, it shames me, it bolsters me, it scares me, it dares me to dedicate even a fragment of my false ego to you and to the great Vaiṣṇava tradition which I have been so fortunate to behold by the mercy of Swāmī Mahārāja.

What one considers as a fortune is relative. One thousand dollars is a fortune to one man, a bother to another. But to a low born wolf of such deleterious qualifications for a noble life as myself, how can one access the worth of my involvement in such a life in such exalted association? It can be compared to an ant serving prasāda to an elephant. How is it possible for the ant to please the elephant? Yet somehow the ant is favoured by the elephant. Though the elephant has no need to accept the offerings of the ant, still he encourages him. What a great thing we have got. Indeed how do we pay for such a gem whose value has become inestimable? What is the worth of such a life? How can we calculate such an empire in our own currency? By some inattentiveness I have misplaced the address of mother Uma, your disciple in Kota Kinaballu, East Malaysia.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He says, “I have misplaced the address. If we chanced to visit that city I would be desirous to visit her. Could Hari Carana send me the address? I pray to Kṛṣṇa that you shall not be further offended by these nonsense GBC antics on this Gaura Pūrṇimā. I further pray that in some small way this ant can somehow circumambulate your lotus feet the rest of his stay on this planet and eternally receive your benedictine association. All daṇḍavats again and again to Your Divine Grace for attracting me to your service.

Your helpless servant, Dayādhara Gaurāṅga dāsa.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Haribol. Another letter today came to someone Kamal, Kamalāsana. He has got it? He is not here?

Devotee: He’s in Māyāpur today.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Letter with whom?

Devotee: Kamalāsana Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: A letter came in his address. So far I remember the name is Kamalāsana. I have sent it downstairs.

...

Devotee: They’re printing in Germany every month.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam insert!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Published by whom, in German language?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: By Harikeśa.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Harikeśa Mahārāja knows German language?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Something. The local German devotees they do it under his direction.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. German people are nearer to India in thought. Max Muller, he was a German, is it not?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He had ancient appreciation for the Upaniṣads.

And I forget the name, one German scholar, he expressed very firmly that, “Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā is the highest theological book ever come to the world.”

And with this remark that Gītā advises us to adjust ourselves with the environment, we can’t have any control over the environment. It is not possible. So, if you like to have real peace you are to adjust yourself with the environment. The whole sādhana, or the means to end, self- determination, is within this adjustment. That is irremovable, that is eternal. You can have no control over the environment at any time. It is the resultant of so many forces outside and that is inevitable. Only the clue to find peace in your life is how you can take them favourably. You are to learn that. You must have to come to a point of understanding with the environment. It is in you and not outside, the wrong with you and you are to correct yourself, mā phaleṣu kadācana.

karmaṇy evādhikāras te, mā phaleṣu kadācana / mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr, mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi

[“I shall now describe niṣkāma karma-yoga, the path of selfless action. You have a right to perform your natural prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to any fruits of that action. You should neither act with desire to enjoy the fruits of your work, nor, as a result, should you be attached to neglecting your duties.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.47]

Don’t try to interfere with external forces and try to bring them to your control. It is impossible. Only the whole concentration of you should be applied, your internal adjustment with the environment, whatever it may be. There lies the key to success. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Where is Mādhava Mahārāja? Has he come, no?

Devotee: Mādhava Prabhu?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Mādhava Prabhu.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He has not returned from Māyāpur yet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Bhāratī Mahārāja also...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...with him? And do you think that Vrajendra-nandan to come back here?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Today?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Tomorrow.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Tomorrow. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Akṣayānanda Mahārāja keeping well?

Aranya Mahārāja: No, he’s got headache; no, not ears, sinus problems, his nose...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No dysentery also?

Aranya Mahārāja: No, just he’s been up late typing the Prapanna-jīvanāmṛta, he’s been typing the manuscript. He stayed up a little late last night so he got sick.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

No other gentleman here knows typing?

Aranya Mahārāja: No other people to type.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So Dayādhara Gaurāṅga is a Doctor?

Dhira Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And Mādhava Prabhu is also a Doctor?

Dhira Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And there is one Astana he’s also a Doctor?

Dhira Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Ami Astana?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ami Astana.

Dhira Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He is a Doctor?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Doctor. He will come soon.

Dhira Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: But you are the Transcendental Professor.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. As long as my Lord wills: conditional.

mukam karoti vācālaṁ panghum langhāyate girīm / yat kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī gurun dīna-tāranam

[“I offer my respectful obeisances unto Mādhava, Who is the Personification of transcendental bliss. By His mercy, a blind man can see the stars in the sky, a lame man can cross mountains, and a dumb man can speak eloquent words of poetry.”] [Bhavārha Dipikā, maṅgala stotram, 1]

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. The nature of transcendental talk is like that. Only one should surrender at the sweet will, and it will come down to give vent to own self. That should be the nature of transcendental advices; to request, to pray, to come down, come down. Not my property. Generally we should see, look at it as the property of my Gurudeva, and he has entrusted it with me. With such disposition we shall try to talk about transcendental tidings, affairs. So it is necessary that we shall offer our obeisances before we begin to talk; that I may be used as an instrument. I am mere instrument of the talk, of the supernatural, transcendental subject matter. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ.

ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ

sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ

[Our senses, physical or mental, are ineligible to come in touch with the transcendental. The Name is non-material (aprakṛta), without mundane limitation (vaikuṇṭha). It belongs to another plane. So, nothing about Kṛṣṇa, His Name, Form, Qualities, or Pastimes can be touched by our physical or mental senses. But when we have a serving attitude, He comes down to us of His own accord.] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Purva-vibhaga, 2.234]

Because it is transcendental, supernatural, aprakṛta, adhokṣaja, in characteristic; so the nāma, rūpa, guṇa, līlā - anything pertaining to the Supreme Entity, pertaining to Kṛṣṇa. Nāma, rūpa - na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ, it is never approachable, by nature, it is not approachable by any senses, even including mind, avāṅ-manaso gocaraḥ. It exists transcending the jurisdiction of our senses, including the mind. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ. Then how can we get connection with that? Sevonmukhe hi, with expectant attitude, serving attitude we are to approach, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. Then this jīva is indriyaiḥ, eye indriyaiḥ, and ear indriyaiḥ. If our heart, our soul, is of serving attitude and prayerful expectant attitude, then that descends in the plane, in the consciousness. Then from there it comes to the plane of our senses and exerts Himself to come out in the external atmosphere. Svayam eva sphuraty, He comes out of His own accord. We cannot make it object of our mind, or object of our senses. It is independent. Only by prayerful mood we can invite Him and He will come down graciously, come down. And from the consciousness, the ahaṅkāra, mind, in this way, then it comes to the tongue, from tongue to the ear. In any way we approached it becomes rūpa, guṇa, līlā, etc. So we always think that serving attitude and serving presupposes surrender. First surrender and then on that ground, on that foundation, any other attitude may work, may work to appeal to the higher region.

So lip cannot pronounce the Name. This physical ear can’t hear or listen to the Vaikuṇṭha śabda, can’t grasp the meaning; only surrendered ear. The man must surrender and that surrendering tendency must be, must reach, it must flow to every part of our mind and body. And when if it reaches the ear, that surrendering mentality, then the ear can catch the meaning of the sound. Comes to the tongue, then the tongue can produce real Kṛṣṇa Nāma. Otherwise it will be only a shallow sound pronounced by the physical instrument. Nāmākṣara bahiraya batu [nāma kabu naya] [From Jagadānanda Paṇḍit’s Prema Vivarta]

...

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. This is in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, science of devotion by Rūpa Goswāmī. This is most important śloka. Otherwise God consciousness will be only imagination. But if we can understand this connecting link, we’ll be conscious of such connection, connecting the Vaikuṇṭha and the mundane world; then it will be no longer imaginary thing, concrete reality. Only we should know how to approach. How to approach, what side it exists, and how to attain that, sevonmukhe hi.

There was one scholar, Indian scholar in the south, he accused that Radhakrishna, and also one scholar, Bengali scholar, Suren Dasa Gupta [?], who wrote books about the different existing philosophies of the world and also Indian philosophy. That man remarked that they have approached Eastern philosophy through Western method. That is through intellectualism. But eastern philosophers they have got their peculiar way of approaching the truth, praṅipāta, paripraśna, sevā. Without serving attitude we cannot expect to have any connection with higher entity. If we want to have connection with the plane which is higher than that of us, then we must have to work for the interest of that plane, otherwise no admission. Then only connection is possible, for their interest.

Sevonmukhe hi, praṅipāta, paripraśna, sevā. I want connection only to fulfil the object that will come from that plane. A scholar must not abide by the dictation of an idiot, an ignorant man, there will be no good. The scholar cannot surrender to an ignorant man. But one ignorant man if he surrenders to the scholar, then he may be used to some good effect. So we are, on the whole, are of lower capacity, lower understanding, and in many ways of lower position. So, if we are ready to - the raw materials for their discretion, then we can have some entrance there in that market. And they will mould our raw energy to produce some fruitful result. From it utility will come, otherwise we can’t have any connection, what to speak of controlling.

So prema, or love means that. So complete surrender for the cause. And higher things can be captured only by love, by surrender, by increasing our negative tendency. I am in want. You have many. I am in want. I want Your grace. I am in want of what? Of the opulence You have got, that is of higher quality, Your grace. You are full. You are high. I am low. I am small. I want Your grace to remove my want, my difficulties, my imperfection. So, the beginning, the attitude of the beginning of a spiritual life must be sincere in this respect - that we are needy in the real sense. Needy of the property that is of high characteristic, that is of high value. So, in such a mood we are to approach; praṅipāta, paripraśna, sevā.

Praṅipāta means I have finished my search in this world, in this plane of life. Nothing can satisfy me in this plane. My search finished, hankering finished. And I have come to conclusion that the thing for which my innate hankering, without which my innate thirst can never be quenched. That is with You and I want that thing. I want to live there where such innate hankering will be satisfied, that nectar. I want to live to serve in the world of nectar. Because without nectar, nothing can satisfy my heart, quench the thirst of my heart. So, I want be indebted into the land of nectar. Nectar is our real food which can satisfy our inner hankering, śṛṇvantu viśve amṛtasya putrāḥ. You are child of that soil.

End of 82.03.02.D

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.03.02.E_82.03.03.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So also, you soul, you can thrive there, in Vṛndāvana, the land of love divine. How hopeful, how encouraging, how fulfilling, fulfilment giving, inestimable goal, come back to Godhead. Back to Godhead, as Swāmī Mahārāja has given that expression, Back to Godhead. It was in a small booklet published first by our Guru Mahārāja. Gauḍīya Maṭh Ki Koran, what does Gauḍīya Maṭh do? A very small pamphlet: Back to God, back to home. Then latter Prabhupāda used not to God but to Godhead, because by the word God the Christian conception of Godhead comes in the front, so Godhead; different conceptions of God amongst the different sections, sampradāya. So Godhead, that word was preferable to our Guru Mahārāja Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī. So Back to Godhead: Godhead, the source of all different conceptions of God. Svayaṁ Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, Godhead. Back to Godhead, come home. Śṛṇvantu viśve amṛtasya putrāḥ. You are child, you are really meant for this soil, amṛtasya putrāḥ. You are to live on nectar, you are amṛtasya putrāḥ. You are product of amṛta, of eternal sweetness, beauty. Your original connection’s with that thing, with Him. So, why do you pass your days in despair? Why you pass your days in trouble of different types, for long, long period? Help yourself, try to live, try to save yourself from all sorts of difficulties in general.

Ādhiyātmika, ādhibhautika, ādhidaivika, scientifically in these three classes the miseries, the difficulties of our life may be seen. Ādhibhautika: from one man or animal to another animal. Ādhiyātmika: within, from within, within the body, from within the mind, as disease or repentance; something like that. Ādhidaivika, famine, flood, these natural dangers, difficulties; these are always disturbing you. And try to work out wholesale liberation from the hands of those. And that is the negative side only. In the positive side, you are to have a happy engagement, to your fullest satisfaction, and it is concrete reality. What you think to be reality that you find that it is transient, it is traceless, you have got sufficient experience of that. But the proposal that’s coming from above, try to taste it with sincerity.

Then, praṅipāta, that I have finished my searching here in this mundane, janma-mṛtyu jarā- vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam. [Bhagavad-gītā, 13.9] Then honest enquiry: not to establish one’s own opinion over the other and quarrelling. No such time to lose by useless quarrelling talks, discussions to defeat one another; that is intellectual jugglery, but paripraśna, honest enquiry. And then the principle thing, you are to accept service. If you want company or association of the higher, then you should utilise yourself for their interest, that higher interest. You are to make higher interest of your own. Your lower interest, interest as you can conceive in your lower nature; that cannot have any worth, any respect there. But if you can have real sincere respect for the ideal there, then you will go, you’ll be allowed admission in that plane, that you will go to live there, and not to make trade. But you are going to be a bona fide resident of the place. That nationality you are to take, not to rob and come back. Then no entrance is possible automatically. But if you have real charm, why should you come back?

[na tad bhāsayate sūryo, na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ] / yad gatvā na nivartante, tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

[“My supreme holy abode is that place which the surrendered souls reach, never to return again. Neither sun, nor moon, nor fire - nothing can illuminate that all-illuminating supreme abode.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 15.6]

“That is My very sweet land. My land is very sweet, My plane where I live, and none can wish to come back from that land of Mine.”

ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ, punar āvartino ‘rjuna / [mām upetya tu kaunteya, punar janma na vidyate]

[“O Arjuna, from the planet of Lord Brahmā downwards, the residents of all planets are naturally subjected to repeated birth and death. But, O Kaunteya, upon reaching Me, there is no rebirth.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 8.16]

“Wherever you will go by the outskirts or My land, you can’t stand. You will all be revolving. But if you can enter into My sweet land, then you will not have to come back any longer. Yad gatvā na nivartante, tad dhāma paramaṁ mama.” The Lord Himself is tasting as if the very sweetness of His land He’s tasting. “My dhāma is param dhāma. Where I live is a very sweet place. And if you can come you won’t be pushed back.”

So it is a great prospect for us. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vapur asya vibhor, madhuraṁ madhuraṁ vadanaṁ madhuraṁ

madhu gandhi mṛdu smitam etad aho, madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ

[“O Lord Kṛṣṇa! The beauty of Your transcendental form is sweet, but Your beautiful face is even sweeter. The sweet smile on Your face, which is like the sweet aroma of honey, is sweeter still.”] [Kṛṣṇa-Karnāmṛtam, 92]

Bilvamaṅgala says he can’t check his own tongue, always saying, “Sweet, sweet, sweet; His figure is very sweet. His face is more sweet, and if we can find a smile in the face that is very, very, very sweet. And what should I say? Everything is sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ madhuraṁ. I can’t say anything else; sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet.”

Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura. And it is seen that he was a man of our type. He was a prey to a prostitute, and how suddenly by the grace of the Lord and his previous sukṛti, sudden change, and it took him to the highest quarter. So, however fallen we are, we may have our hope. We may be optimistic that we also may be taken up into that, which is dream of the dream into that high place divine, our home. Gaura Haribol. So I finish here today.

Devotees: Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You’re Akṣayānanda Mahārāja?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is there?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: In this connection here they’ve stated that, “Those who have taken sannyāsa from other Gauḍīya Ācāryas ... whether they accept Swāmī Mahārāja Prabhupāda, as ultimate authority ... be allowed to preach in ISKCON Mandir.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?] Full-fledged theism: that requires us to change our angle of vision, to meet the future as well as the present. Whatever is coming, past by the omniscient and omni... [About thirty seconds silence] ...I am put into test, the circumstance, as thinking it as divine arrangement, divine. So, we must...

...

Which seems to be non-sympathetic, apparently, but in the case of every devotee when they’re put to trial, their case was dealt in such a way. Optimistic; optimism is our goal, and we must try to bring, to draw within our own self, the optimistic attitude to meet the optimistic outside. Then we can attain complete liberation from the hands of miscalculation; māyā means miscalculation. Optimism for optimism – environment, there must be good under the guidance of the Absolute. And I must be also meet with same attitude – optimism. From my part no pessimism should be encouraged.

tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo, bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam

[hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidhadhan namas te, jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya bhāk]

[Lord Brahmā said: “One who, in the hope of achieving Your grace, goes on enduring the inauspicious fruit of his own karma, and passes his days practising devotion unto You in every thought, word, and deed - such a person is heir to the land of freedom: he attains to the plane of positive immortality.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8]

Whatever undesirability we find within me, that is due to my previous mal-adjusted activity. And this is the policy by which we can finish the undesirability within us. By non-encouragement, that attitude what cannot help me in the adjustment with the circumstances, that element must not be encouraged in me. So, evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam: that should be considered the result of my previous undesirable activities. The remnant must vanish as soon as possible. The best way is to discourage that anomaly within me. That cannot make me adjust with the most trying circumstances. What if – a general endowed with special capacities, he can devise ways and means if he’s surrounded by the enemy forces in any overhead way, he can make out the way for his own. There lies the speciality in the general. So, in this way, however we are surrounded we think by the enemy force, the tactics given, the lessons given by Bhāgavatam; be friendly, be friendly, and then you will find that some immediate real help is coming to you. Don’t be discouraged, tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo; because your sacrifice won’t be wasted.

[bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, sarva-loka-maheśvaram]

suhṛdaṁ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ, jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati

[“I am the enjoyer of the results of sacrifice performed by the fruit-hunter, as well as the results of austerity performed by the liberation-seeker - I am their only worshippable object; I am Nārāyaṇa, the indwelling monitor of all planes of life, and the Supreme Worshippable Personality who awards liberation. And I am the well-wisher of all - I am Kṛṣṇa, the devotee’s most adorable friend. The soul who thus knows My true identity attains the ecstasy of knowing his own original divine identity.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 5.29]

The final dispenser, He’s my friend. The final decision is in His hand. He’s my friend so I should not be afraid of anything. Go with the sense of my duty, duty consciousness. Concentrate ourselves in duty consciousness.

karmaṇy evādhikāras te, [mā phaleṣu kadācana / mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr, mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi]

[“I shall now describe niṣkāma karma-yoga, the path of selfless action. You have a right to perform your natural prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to any fruits of that action. You should neither act with desire to enjoy the fruits of your work, nor, as a result, should you be attached to neglecting your duties.] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.47]

“Concentrate you whole energy to understand and to perform your duty. That is expected in you, and that will be your best key to success of life. And it is universal, not only for you, for everyone it is so. Concentrate your whole, concentrate wholly only you are to understand what is your duty and what it is necessary to do your duty. Within that limit you keep yourself and do it to your best capacity and understanding. That is what is required of you. And the rest on Me,” the Lord says. “The rest is with Me and I am friendly to all; I am not traitor to anybody. So you may have reliance on Me and go on with your duty consciousness.”

The great advice, a general advice; hope to the hopeless, courage to the afraid, this is very nectar of life.

tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo, bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam

hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidhadhan namas te, jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya bhāk

[Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.8]

Very soon you will find that you are not surrounded by your enemies, you are liberated. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Act, act in the living present, with heart within and God overhead. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. And that is bhakti, we want to get bhakti. We want; we have come out to acquire devotion, to the faithfulness. To acquire faith, faithful soldiers of the Almighty, of the Absolute Authority. The faith is our life, faith is everything. Faith in Him: that is everything to us. Go on. Go on. We want Him only and nothing else. No compromise, no compromise only with Him. Not any other proposal that may tempt me to some other direction, but wholesale faith towards Him. And out of that consciousness what sense of duty will come within me on my part, I am, I must discharge that. The rest on Him: the rest on my guardian. And I am to perform my duty, as I can understand, that this is the desire of my guardian - in this way.

So we are soldier, soldiers for eternity we may say. Die to live, soldiers in the eternity, eternal life. Particular circumstances may face us, but we need not allow us to be tempted by any particular good results. The eternal principle we must follow. What we have got from my Gurudeva, from Mahāprabhu, Bhāgavatam, that Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is not any partial truth. Not any time serving necessity. But we are eternally wedded to that. Once for all we have given us to the universal truth. And we shall go on, we shall go on by the call that we hear from Bhāgavatam and from Mahāprabhu, from Gurudeva; march on, on.

Only one road and one slogan: For Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure; for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa we are out to do anything and everything. One slogan, Kṛṣṇa saṅtoṣa, satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Lord, Absolute Master, the Absolute Good, what we are given to understand. We are to adjust accordingly in the road. I may ask me whether it will lead me towards that road, so I sincerely ask to me, and what answer I shall get I shall do that. I won’t be betrayer to my own dictation of my own conscience spiritual. That will be our path. We may not be betrayer to our spiritual conscience. According to our own standard, own capacity, own stage, this should be the general way. And,

nehābhikrama-nāśo 'sti, pratyavāyo na vidyate / svalpam apy asya dharmasya, trāyate mahato bhayāt

[“Even a small beginning in this devotional service cannot go in vain, nor can any loss be suffered. The most insignificant practice of such devotional service saves one from the all-devouring fear of repeated birth and death in this world.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.40]

The danger will disperse. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Test should be there to indicate my progress, so that we’ll not be cowed down. We may ask my own conscious what to do, and whatever I shall find in my inner voice, sincere.

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate] / na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

The assurance is given there. So we are to adjust accordingly, according to our capacity and understanding, so we may not have to mourn that I neglected my inner voice and I had to come here. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

The Milton said, “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”

[After going blind, the English poet John Milton (1608-74) wrote the poem, On His Blindness. In the sonnet’s last line he reflects that even with his disability he has a place in the world]:

[When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one Talent which is death to hide

Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest He returning chide,

“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”

I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need

Either man’s work or his own gifts. Who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed,

And post o’er land and ocean without rest;

They also serve who only stand and wait.]

He is such, injustice may remain with God. He wants labour that can be done only in day time. When Milton was blind, in his sonnet, we read it, that; “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?” So, is He so much unjust that He will demand labour from me which can be done only in daytime with light? And He will ask me to do in darkness what can be done only in day with light, with the help of light? So no injustice of such order can remain with Him.

So as much light given to me, with the help of that light how much I can see, I shall do that. Not more than that may be required of me. That is necessary for me for the present. So no possibility of injustice from His side. Perhaps we are to dive deep into our heart to enquire. “What is my inner necessity? In such case, such circumstances, what should be my duty? To enlighten me about my own duty, perhaps such hazy circumstances sometimes come to surround us.”

Gaura Haribol. The faith will help us to come out with flying colours under any eventuality. In this infinite universe only faith to Him, that can save us. The highest intelligence will only take us to that sort of understanding. Otherwise we are lost. However big it is only an infinitesimal part of the whole. So one cannot be proud of his magnitude, however greater it may seem, that is only a negligible part in the universe. So between small and big there is not much difference. Only those that depend on the whole, they are gainer. Otherwise big and small, the difference is very small. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. To take refuge to the highest authority, that is to be faithful to His dispensation; that is the highest, the best policy recommended by Bhāgavatam. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

vipadaḥ santu tāḥ śaśvat, tatra tatra jagad-guro / bhavato darśanam yat syād, apunar bhava-darśanam

[Queen Kuntī Devī prayed to Kṛṣṇa: “I wish that all those calamities (poisoning, arson, cannibalism, the vicious assembly, exile in the forest, the battle), would occur again and again so that we could have Your darśana again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.8.25]

Kuntī Devī inviting dangerous position so that only in danger we can collect our attention to the highest degree to search for the answer; to search for Him Who can give relief to us. We can concentrate; we are compelled to concentrate our intelligence the most when we are in danger. So, Kuntī Devī says that, “Danger is my friend. So I want danger. I welcome danger, where helplessly I am to approach to Kṛṣṇa with the highest possible attention. So I have calculated, and I have seen, it is finished, that danger is my friend, because I can be best attentive to pray for the help of Kṛṣṇa.”

So deeper vision of the circumstances they are coming to help us in our position. Danger is no danger if we have faith in Him whose forgetfulness is only danger and nothing, no danger. We admit no danger but the forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa; that is only danger, the māyā. Māyā is only danger, forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa, forgetfulness of our guardian, of our well-wisher, guardian, that is danger. No other danger we should admit. So whatever will encourage me to be nearer to my guardian, that is my friend. We shall try to understand this line of help, and understanding. Only Kṛṣṇa is our friend, and non Kṛṣṇa is our danger. And simplicity but not diplomacy can give us Kṛṣṇa. Sada haya ___________ [?] gaura siksa _________________ [?] What is necessary is our sincere hankering and not diplomatic. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Kṛṣṇānusandhāna, Mahāprabhu said; brahma-jijñāsa and kṛṣṇānusandhāna. The whole attempt should resolve into this general current. All current of inquisitiveness will come into one flow, and that is kṛṣṇānusandhāna, the quest, the search for Kṛṣṇa. That is only one campaign in whatever form we may do it. Search for Kṛṣṇa and sincerity in the search is the best qualification, nothing else. Must be true to our own self, our own search, whether I am after something else, non Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa. We must ask to us clearly. And according to the answer we shall move.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Kṛṣṇānusandhāna.

hāhā kṛṣṇa prāṇa-nātha vrajendra-nandana!, kāhāṅ yāṅa kāhāṅ pāṅa, muralī-vadana!’

[The Lord would cry, “O My Lord Kṛṣṇa, My life and soul! O son of Mahārāja Nanda, where shall I go? Where shall I attain You? O Supreme Personality who plays with Your flute to Your mouth!”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 12.5]

“Hāhā kṛṣṇa. Where is my Lord of heart? Hāhā kṛṣṇa prāṇa-nātha, who can satisfy the quench of, who can quench the thirst of my inner most heart, prāṇa-nātha, and who can supply the vitality which is losing, fighting with the circumstances. Vrajendra-nandana!, kāhāṅ yāṅa. And He’s Vrajendra-nandana, no other conception of Godhead, but the sustainer of life, supplier of vitality; who can strengthen My heart, My existence. Prāṇa-nātha, Vrajendra-nandana Kṛṣṇa - not in any other form, Vrajendra-nandana divine love dealer: that is His nature. He’s dealing with love divine, prema, attraction, charm, beauty, Vrajendra-nandana, kāhāṅ yāṅa kāhāṅ pāṅa, muralī-vadana! And He has got His flute divine. The tune of which, the sound of which is always trying to adjust us, to call us to attend our respective duties; helps us, to guide us to the respective service, the flute. The sound encouraging everyone to take possession of his natural service, service that is self determination, the cause is helping self determination. Giving the proper adjustment in everyone’s own respective duty, the tune, the sound. Vrajendra-nandana, kāhāṅ yāṅa kāhāṅ pāṅa, muralī-vadana! - a loving and affectionate call to attend our respective duty in the adjusted infinite, we want.”

Mahāprabhu showed the way, “Come in this way. Always be eager to catch the suggestion of His flute. From the sound of His flute: where to join your duty, where to join your duty, in general or particular time and space. The guidance will come from His flute, and sweet flute. The sweet sound of His flute, not forced one, but sweet sound, a sweet call will encourage you to attend your own respective duty. I want that master, that master Vrajendra-nandana. I am searching for Him.”

Mahāprabhu went on the way, advanced Himself and told us all to follow Him. “Hāhā kṛṣṇa prāṇa-nātha. He’s master of My life, Vrajendra-nandana, kāhāṅ yāṅa kāhāṅ pāṅa, muralī-vadana! The general call, the general sound of the flute of Kṛṣṇa is such, and we have to listen to that and begin our journey towards infinite domain of love. We have all come out of our own respective caves of different types and joined in a procession, as if, leading towards Vṛndāvana, a procession towards Vṛndāvana, so many of us want to go.”

End of 82.03.02.E_82.03.03.A

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Start of 82.03.03.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...the land of our dream. Do or die. If I get that it is all right, that is God. What is the benefit of life? So, we are out.

sarva-dharmān parityajya, mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

[ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ]

[“Totally abandoning all kinds of religion, surrender exclusively unto Me. I will liberate you from all kinds of sins, so do not despair.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66]

Śaraṇaṁ vraja, not gaja [?] The hint is there. There’s a particular type of ornamental suggestion. Sarva-dharmān parityajya, “I am going to issue such an order. But where is the goal? It is that Vraja and nowhere else, nowhere. Sarva-dharmān parityajya, it is only found in Vraja. That is where, without caring for the laws, and the society, and so many dear and near, absolutely given to My call. Their whole fate, their whole fortune given to Me. Still they’re at stake. Only in Vṛndāvana, Vraja, you can find that and nowhere else. Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ. Ultimately you will see that you will above all, mā śucaḥ.” No room of any repentance you will have, you will be able to realize. No offer will be higher in this whole world. You will be able to feel that. Raso 'py asya, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate.

[viṣayā vinivartante, nirāhārasya dehinaḥ / rasa-varjaṁ raso 'py asya, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate]

[“Although the person of gross corporeal consciousness may avoid sense objects by external renunciation, his eagerness for sense enjoyment remains within. However, inner attachment to sense objects is spontaneously denounced by the person of properly adjusted intelligence, due to his having had a glimpse of the all-attractive beauty of the Supreme Truth.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.59]

No temptation can snatch you from that level of life. It is such. Mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ.

Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa

[kabhu nā vādhibe tomāra viṣaya-taraṅga, punarapi ei ṭhāñi pābe mora saṅga]

[“Instruct whoever you meet in the science of Kṛṣṇa. Teach them the instructions of Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā, and the teachings about Kṛṣṇa in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way, on My order, become a Guru and liberate everyone in the land. If you follow this instruction, the waves of materialism within this world will not affect you. Indeed, if you follow My order, you will soon attain My association.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 7.128-9]

The campaign was of such universal character that no condition was attached to that; such a wide universal, the call was of such nature.

[A loud aeroplane flies overhead]

Devotees: Jet, jet fighter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Fighter?

Devotees: Jet fighter, yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jet fighter? They are busy to show, make show that we have got jet fighter. Ha, ha, ha, ha. There is a Sanskrit poetry, beko bhavati [?] the frog is jumping. Tanca bhavati dani [?] Then a serpent is pursuing that frog. Sikhi phani darvati [?] Then one peacock, he’s running after the serpent. Then peacock’s, bado darvati [?] Then one hunter, he’s also following the peacock to catch him. Then the bagdo darvati [?] Then one tiger, he’s also running after the hunter. In this way, then kalo darvati [?] The time is following them all to devour.

Kāla, mahā-kāla, that is represented by Śiva, Śiva, mahā-kāla, factor of time and space. We are accustomed to think in terms of time and space, deṣa, kāla, space and time, here, because we do not know what is eternity. The soul is a member of the soil which is eternal, and then deviated conception of the soul, that is member of this mundane time and space, ahaṅkāra. Ahaṅkāra, ahaṅkāra pañca tan-mātrani, all these. Our consciousness focused outside; outside in this material world. But our real soil of life, living, in the realm of soul. We are to withdraw from the negative side of mortal aspect of our thought. If we can withdraw from it to our own self, ātmārāma.

ātmārāmāś ca munayo, nirgranthā apy urukrame

[kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim, ittham-bhūta guṇo hariḥ]

[“Those sages who, being merged in the bliss of the spirit soul, are totally free from the binding knot of mental images - they too engage in the unmotivated service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the performer of marvellous deeds. This is but one of the qualities of the Supreme Lord Hari, who charms the entire world.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.7.10]

What is necessary to withdraw from the negative conception of our own representation, identity, this is partial, this is negative side, this is mukti.

indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur, indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ

manasas tu parā buddhir, buddher yaḥ paratas tu saḥ

[“The learned proclaim that the senses are superior to inert objects, the mind is superior to the senses, and the faculty of resolute intelligence is superior to the mind. And he who is superior to the intelligence is the soul himself.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.42]

Masked so much in the negative life, and so withdraw our identification, our self consciousness to the plane of soul and then try to march on, on the positive side, Paramātmā, super-subjective area. Super-subjective area from the standpoint of consciousness, super-subjective. But super-love from the standpoint, super-sympathy, super-sympathy where they all like and love one another and tries to be useful to one another. Here everyone wants to maintain his existence at the cost of others. Killing so many animals he can keep up his own body, mind, everything here. Otherwise it is impossible, without exploitation one can’t stand here in this plane. But there, self-distribution, not exploitation. The soul’s upper, from soul to upper direction. Not super-subjective, but super-sympathetic, super-loving, that is the realm, this affection. From the standpoint of affection, that is also superior to superior.

So, generally, the call from that land will come to us: “Anyhow run away from the dangerous zone, come away.” Yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa, āmāra ājñāya – “I say, intimate, anyone, everyone, ‘Come out to the safe position.’ That was the imperative call of Mahāprabhu. “Danger that is underground always ________________ [?] by which this bomb is prepared - gunpowder, something like that. And so anyhow through any agent take them out of the dangerous position, and the safe position is Kṛṣṇa. Yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'.

As I told that Education Minister of Madras - I saw him, that I am going to visit your land to preach, I want one recommendation letter from you.

That man told, “Oh, Swāmīji, you don’t know the language of my district, then what will you do going there?”

Then I replied that, ‘Suppose I have gone your district and passing by a tank and one boy is drowning, should I go to learn your language and then to inform that the boy is drowning? We feel so much urgency, that everyone is dying every moment, every second, and we have come to help them, with that sort of urgency. So I shall try to find one translator, mediator _____________ [?] anyhow one who will translate.

Devotee: Interpreter.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not interpreter, but anyhow I shall secure, and what I have to say I shall say then. With such urgency we are wandering through the length and breadth of the country. Not wasting time for learning language, and then to say that you are in danger, what is this? So, yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa. Mahāprabhu’s call was such urgent. He felt anyhow, for which that they are in danger, and there is their hope.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Our Guru Mahārāja began with such mad intensity. Sakhī Bābu told me that this Kuñja Bābu, Prabhupāda was almost alone at that time in Caitanya Maṭha, and Sakhī Bābu and Kuñja Bābu went to see him after the samādhi of his Gurudeva, Gaura Kiśora Bābājī.

Sakhī Bābu told that, “He is trying his best to make something, to understand, to inform us. His face has become red. Of course he’s speaking Bengali and they are also Bengalis but we can’t understand what he says. Giving much impression, his face is red. Sometimes he’s giving slap on the table and we felt that he wants us to devour something, immediately. But we can’t, we’re like dull, we are sitting, callous. We’re callous. He’s not able to produce any impression on us. But he’s not being discouraged; going on with his full sentiment.” So something like that. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

What necessity Swāmī Mahārāja had in him? He took the risk of going abroad; and so helplessly without any provision for his food and clothing, also in that foreign land, unknown quarter. Took the risk of his life, and got down there quite empty. Only capital - the sweet will of Kṛṣṇa. The sweet will of Kṛṣṇa, the autocrat. ‘He may do, He may not care,’ but only his capital was His will. His will, his Guru’s suggestion, suggestion from his Gurudeva he caught and he thought, ‘Kṛṣṇa will help me.’ With this capital he went there empty handed. But what grand success we see in his activity.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. We are not courageous enough, but he had the courage, practical courage. And he showed it, proved to the world, that still some unknown help can be got. Not only in the time of Christ and other Messiahs, but still that is continuing. He is there and He can do miracles. His little wish can show the miracle to the world. Adbhutakrama, one stride is sufficient to cover the whole world. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

In famine we do not get a glass of water for drinking, and when there is flood, there is water, water everywhere. How we will be saved from water? His will is such. We are infinitesimal, He is infinite. So it will be the best interest of the infinitesimal to connect with the infinite. No greater prospect can be than this connection, this attempt to connect.

Once in Bombay our Guru Mahārāja told, “A poor girl, nothing, even nothing to eat and clothing, but if she’s married to a rich man, then by that connection she becomes master of so much wealth.”

So, we have nothing, but if we can have some affectionate connection with Kṛṣṇa, everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, so I have got everything at my disposal. Only through the link of love it may be possible. So the highest prospect, through love we can attain. Even Kṛṣṇa, who is the monarch of everything, He becomes my friend, and He comes to satisfy me, what of other things.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Mahāprabhu has given such key in your hand. “Hey, infinitesimal soul, go and become master of the whole. Only connect with the real master in the thread of love. Such high position, highest of the high; it is in your fate, in your fortune, unlink it. The possibility, the prospect is so great, try to link yourself with that tie. There is such subtle tie, thread, is possible, you can tie with the Absolute. I am giving you the clue. Don’t pray for anything, but take His name. And whatever He will give you of His own accord, accept that. Don’t pray. If you pray for anything, that will be your loss; don’t pray. Only want Him, pray Him, and not anything which He can give. Pray His love, His attraction. His serving, service, that will be the object of your prayer, nothing else - then you’ll be loser.”

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

So: yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa. You are all out for to accept that holiest duty. Not only to save the mortal souls, mortal jīva, but this is the highest prospect you are to link them with. Such noble and magnanimous to the highest degree, to come to the fold of Mahāprabhu, Śrī Gaurāṅga Deva, to have the clue.

Kṛṣṇa says that, “The type of their approach in Vṛndāvana, divine love, can move Me to such a great extent that I think whatever little they give to Me, still I cannot clear their debt. I think Myself that I am indebted to them, I can’t clear their debt. Such fine cord they touch in Me when they come through the Vraja conception of love, prema. The prema that is found in Vṛndāvana, when anyone comes to approach Me with that type of service, I forget Myself fully and I think My fine cord is touched in such a way that I think if I give them wholesale, still I am in debt.”

Such thing, which is, can never been conceived, is given by Mahāprabhu, Rādhā-Govinda Themselves combined. What more we may expect, we tiny souls? What may be our expectation more, any more can we conceive? Never!

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

heno nitāi vine bhāi rādhā kṛṣṇa pāite nāi, dṛdha kari' dhara nitāir pāy [From Manaḥ-śikṣā, verse 1]

Where should we go? Everywhere we find the highest position. Infinite is such. Whatever point we touch, in whatever side we approach, that is infinite. Nityānanda Prabhu, Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī, Yaśodā, friends, whichever way we shall approach the Absolute; that everyone...

Our Guru Mahārāja, when anything cooked well and distributed to him, served to him, and someone is asking, ‘Which of the cooked vegetables is more tasteful?’ When someone is asking to him, he said, ‘Everything is better than everything.’

Devotees: (Group laughter)

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sabda chey sabda bare [?] ‘Everything is better than everything.’ That was a peculiar answer. ‘This is the best, and this is the next, no, everything is better than everything.’ Now you understand what.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Whatever side we shall approach we shall find, ‘Oh! This is what can satisfy my heart’s thirst.’ Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Everything in its own position is the best, it means that.

Generally when, before joining Gauḍīya Maṭh, that is hearing our Guru Mahārāja, we thought Rūpa Goswāmī’s position is higher. And the sahajiyā section, Rūpa, Sanātana they gave signature to the digvijayī, they did not care to discuss.

But Jīva Goswāmī could not tolerate, he came to discuss with the digvijayī and defeated him. And then asked; “Now you should try to find the higher plane from which my Gurus, Rūpa, Sanātana, did not like to give you signature. They did not like to come down to such a plane. But that does not mean that they are not scholars. Only to teach you that I have come to discuss with you, otherwise I would also have given my sign. But you would have been deceived thereby. So for your benefit I had come to discuss with you about the śāstric siddhānta.”

So some amongst the sahajiyās, they say, “Jīva Goswāmī was a Vaiṣṇava of a lower order.”

But we came to hear from Guru Mahārāja, “No. He’s also perfect in his own point of service. Different departments and every department is perfect in its own way. So Jīva Goswāmī had his allotted service of that type, and there he’s perfect, he’s not less. This alternative is necessary.”

And also we are told that Kavirāja Goswāmī says after writing this book [Caitanya-caritāmṛta], “Who will read this book, at present, or in future, I am hankering for their feet dust. Feet dust, everyone who will read my book in future also, from here I show my obeisance to the future generation. Purīṣera kīṭa, I am very low, lowest of the low I am. But only the incalculable grace of the divinity has helped me to write this book. I have nothing.” In this way!

But on the other hand, Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, he has written, “I am appealing to the public from all respects with all my might, accept, try to understand who is Nityānanda, who is Gaurāṅga. They are so great, so magnanimous, so merciful. Still, if anyone does not accept Them, for his own pride, I like to kick on his head with my left foot.” He said like that.

__________________________________________________________ [?] Of course apparently it is very proud statement. Naturally we may think Kavirāja Goswāmī was a Vaiṣṇava of higher type and Vṛndāvana dāsa of lower type. But to my wonder I got interpretation from Guru Mahārāja one day. When he was speaking to someone, in side issue he mentioned that, “Those blamers of Gaura-Nityānanda, who had no other alternative, hereby, by giving his punishment, he has given some clue for their fate to come in the camp of Gaura-Nityānanda. They were lost finally. But only because Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has punished in such a way, so Kṛṣṇa’s sympathy will come in that way to capture them, to take them in. He has made the way by such statement, undesirable statement, to the public, he has made, he has given some connection for them to come to Kṛṣṇa.”

Do you follow? Am I clear, no?

Kṛṣṇa will think, “Oh! My beloved servant has treated them so rudely.” So He will come to nurture, to take care of those fellows.

Suppose if a child is quarrelling and beating another child. The mother of the child who’s beating another will come to show sympathy to the other child who is done wrong by her own child.

So, the Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, the devotee of Nityānanda, he has dealt cruelly with someone. And Nityānanda Prabhu will come to help him, to console him. “No, no my child has done something wrong. Don’t mind, you come and take food in My house.” In this way! Who had no other way, but Vṛndāvana Ṭhākura, by giving punishment to them, by speaking ill of them, has connected them with the Supreme. As I heard first from the lips of my Guru Mahārāja, He’s so harmonizing. The harmony comes to what extent? Adjustment to the greatest distance, even crossing the limit it is going to take in. So any punishment from the side of the devotee draws sympathy of the higher agent toward that punished person.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari.

So betideak [?] it is negative; as also being into the positive. Prātikūl is being connected ānukūl; that is indirect is being converted into direct. Ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ. Ānukūlyena-kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ. So, some prātikūlya-ānu-śīlanaṁ: that is being converted into ānukūlya adhikāra. Indirect is being converted into direct service. Everything is there, direct or indirect, but we find that indirect is being converted into direct. So conversion is possible everywhere, change.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ______________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________________________________________ [?]

So today I take your leave now.

Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

End of 82.03.03.B

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Start of 82.03.03.C

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Parvat Mahārāja: The point is that our Guru Mahārāja never appointed them. That’s a lie.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is another thing. That is to take the foundation from under their foot.

Parvat Mahārāja: Tamal Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī said when he was being kicked out, he said to an assembly of God-brothers that, “ISKCON has been living a lie for the last three and a half years: our movement, because Śrīla Prabhupāda never appointed any Ācārya.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: If their decision of the majority is Absolute, why they are afraid so much for the tapes of Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja. They’re in possession of the Absolute Divine Power, eh?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: In fact they said that just one tape could destroy ISKCON.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is not meant for that. It is meant to help ISKCON. Swāmī Mahārāja came with some Divine inspiration. After that, it will be difficult for them to keep up the structure. As Dayādhara Prabhu has rightly pointed out that my tapes and my books will help them with more, enliven them to go on with their activity. They are not able to utilize it, but seeing a ghost that is going to attack them. Gaura Haribol, Gaura Haribol. Who is he who put the question from that side?

Devotees: Bhakta John.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: John. He was sent by Jayapataka Mahārāja, no, Jayatīrtha Mahārāja?

Aranya Mahārāja: Jayatīrtha’s zone, coming from London.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Jayatīrtha’s zone he came from.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Bhakta John _______________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Supplied the money.

Devotee: Very small place, very nice place. He belongs to Bridgenorth. Not far from his place in England.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, England.

Devotee: Yes Mahārāja. It’s a beautiful place, nice place. So he’s also nice.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _______ So, I like to retire now.

...

Madhumangal.

...

Vidagdha-Mādhava: ...Letter explaining my initiations to yourself to Surabhir Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: To?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Surabhir Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Which Mahārāja?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Surabhir Abi Paliantam Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is he, GBC?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He does the building, architect and all that, designing, not a GBC. He’s in charge of samādhi building and all that.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: What he say?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: So, the response was that I should give you up as both śikṣā and dīkṣā Guru and take another initiation from an ISKCON Ācārya, and that would be the way I would stay in ISKCON. So I’ve left.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say, Akṣayānanda Mahārāja?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He says, Mahārāja, he told that Surabhir Swāmī, he revealed that, ‘I have got dīkṣā from Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja.’

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, then?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Then he said that Surabhir Swāmī told, ‘You may go to another Guru.’ He recommended, ‘Go to an ISKCON Guru and disregard this dīkṣā.’ An unfortunate thing!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then it is for you to select. I have no objection, if you disconnect me and take dīkṣā from anyone of them...

Vidagdha-Mādhava: No! Don’t even speak like this Mahārāja. Don’t speak like this _____________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He would never do that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I’m open to all. I’m clear. Then, what should I say?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: No problem, I have no problem.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. That is his letter, his letter to Haṁsadūta Mahārāja, Jayatīrtha Mahārāja? Your letter?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Yes. This was from Vṛndāvana. I had asked him to present something to the GBC.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh. So you’re ousted from GBC, from ISKCON?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: This is... now, that should be a lesson to others that are coming to me.

tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido, na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ

tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ, kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā

[“Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavour only for that purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet [Brahmaloka] down to the lowest planet [Pātāla]. As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in course of time, just as in course of time we obtain miseries even though we do not desire them.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.5.18]

And just before that,

tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer, bhajann apakvo ‘tha patet tato yadi

yatra kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya kiṁ, ko vārtha āpto ‘bhajatāṁ sva-dharmataḥ

[“If someone takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even though he may not follow the prescribed duties in the śāstras nor execute the devotional service properly, and even though in an immature stage he may fall down from the standard, there is no loss or danger for him. But if he carries out all the injunctions for purification in the śāstras, what does it avail him if he is not Kṛṣṇa conscious?”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.5.17]

Hare Kṛṣṇa. A great impression to take risk, here in this śloka: tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer, bhajann apakvo ‘tha patet tato yadi, yatra kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya. What we miss thereby? Nothing, because, ko vārtha āpto ‘bhajatāṁ sva-dharmataḥ. If there is no bhajan, then, bhajan means our realisation towards Kṛṣṇa, Absolute Truth. Then in the relative position, what value? Thousands of times we are turning up and down, crores of times.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: You have got one copy from Caru Swāmī?

Devotees: No.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________________________________ [?]

Devotee: _____________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Yes I have, but no copy, original.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Original with you, and Caru Swāmī has made so many...

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: But I do not know, Caru Swāmī has do or...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: I don’t think he did. He didn’t make the copies.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Photostat.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Photostat copy _______________ [?]

Devotees: _______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Letter to Acyutānanda, and letter to Bengali. He wants to hear in English translation. Śrīpad Govinda Mahārāja _______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Śrīpad Govinda Mahārāja, you will know my obeisance to you. Then?

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Your letter dated the fifth...

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: January.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...duly received.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Śrīpad Śrīdhara Mahārāja _____________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What Śrīdhara Mahārāja has directed I took it on my head.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I take it on my head. He’s my always well-wisher.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ______________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: After the departure of Prabhupāda I should accept his direction.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ______________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I got direction from him that I shall live in this country forever.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ______________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Very soon, in near future, I may get the nationality citizenship here.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: ______________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You will all bless me that I may die working in this way here.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Back to Godhead________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Your advice relating to Back to Godhead is very, very enlivening.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Back to Godhead________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hence you will mark more (srividhi?) more decoration, more development, improvement in decoration and other matters.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now the news is this that Acyutānanda is going to you for good association and instruction so please give him shelter for a few months.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I have no courage, no, what should be, I can’t collect courage to keep him in Vṛndāvana alone.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: If he be in disadvantage then he may come back to this country. He has got return ticket in his possession.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hope that you will ask Śrīdhara Mahārāja and arrange for his living there

_________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Knowing that he’s not doing well I did not write any letter direct to him.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hope you are all in health and spirit.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: __________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: My offering to you is this.

Devotee: Twenty ninth January, nineteen sixty nine.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: This is one letter: another letter to Akṣayānanda Mahārāja by whom?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mukundamālā Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, what’s the purport?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He had some complaint against Rāmeśvara.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Against Rāmeśvara.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s far away in Africa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He has one letter of Rāmeśvara, news report, monthly news letter he writes, monthly news report of this book trust.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Rāmeśvara, every month he sends one news letter to all the ISKCON centres around the world.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: So Mukundamālā Prabhu has complained that his news report is offensive to Your Grace. But he does not mention your name in that letter.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: What it is...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Somebody, he’s very greedy of enticing our disciples, so must be careful of him.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No, he didn’t say that.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No, what he’s giving here, he’s quoting one letter of our Guru Mahārāja regarding the...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: God-brothers in general?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No, not God-brothers. This is about the jīva ātmā.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Coming from brahmajyoti or not, that question. And he says that our Swāmī Mahārāja has given one explanation so we should not accept explanation of anyone else. That’s all.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Even though Ācāryas they may have different opinions. So they think that what our Guru Mahārāja says here is different than what you say.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is that point I say coming from brahmajyoti, taṭasthā loka. And Swāmī Mahārāja’s opinion is which, what?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Do you want to hear? I can read it to you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He says, “We never had any occasion when we were separated from Kṛṣṇa. Just like one man is dreaming and he forgets himself, in dream he creates himself in different forms: ‘now I am a king discussing with my staff. Now I am being pounced upon by a ferocious tiger,’ like that. This creation of himself as seer and subject matter or seen, two things, but as soon as the dream is over the seen disappears, but the seer...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is all right, but the question is, the dream begins, just before dream what was the stage?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes, that he will say.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s coming to that.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: He says, “Now...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The question will come whether from svarūpa śakti realm one can be fallible. That will be the question. So Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu has given this sort of explanation that otherwise our position, our svarūpa is vulnerable. Again if we go to that position again we may have to come back, so uncertain. So Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu has taken this and those that are in this world he gave such sort of decision, the taṭasthā. Even in Bhāgavatam in nine months of age in the mother’s womb says see the Lord. It is mentioned in Bhāgavatam. Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu says but whenever he comes out of the womb he forgets everything. Here also Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu has taken this point, he said that particular group and who can see in nine months of age the Supreme Entity they do not forget. That is his argument. Once coming in connection with Him the māyā may not attack him and make him captive, his subject. Then Rāmeśvara Mahārāja has written in this way. All right, he may do.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Actually, without even touching Jīva Goswāmī or any other of the previous Ācāryas he has given this narrow minded...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I’m not going to interfere with the siddhānta of Swāmī Mahārāja.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Of course, we know that Mahārāja. These gentlemen are a little unfortunate. Nothing can be said more, little unfortunate (sampiyen?) buddhi.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then that is letter from Mukundamālā.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And he’s to decide what to do.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He asked me, that you may not tolerate this, you should give me some idea to fight against that Rāmeśvara.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I don’t like much fighting.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No, I also. Here it may not be so necessary. I don’t also envisage any fighting, not necessary.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then, that is your letter?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Another letter of John, to what effect?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: His friend in England.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: England. Good news?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Just general greeting.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They’re all well and they have wanted to know about his health? All right, finished! Hare Kṛṣṇa. Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja has created this trouble by publishing that booklet, pamphlet. Ha, ha, ha.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: But many lucky people have read that.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They must have to take some step, otherwise this letter will crush their credit. So, for their self defence it is necessary that they will catch even they find a straw in the current.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes. But Mahārāja, many innocent devotees are being saved by that letter, who would have gone away. They have found that this gentleman in Navadwīpa I did not know he was there, and they’re running to hear.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Anyhow, the śāstra has also adopted that policy.

na buddhi-bhedaṁ janayed, ajñānāṁ karma-saṅginām

[yojayet sarva-karmāṇi, vidvān yuktaḥ samācaran]

[“The scholarly proponents of the path of knowledge must not confuse ignorant, attached men by deviating them with the advice, “Leave aside action, and cultivate knowledge.” Rather, controlling their own minds, the learned should perform all the various duties without desiring the results, and in this way, subsequently engage the common section in action.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 3.26]

And they may go on with investing their energy in a particular stage, then again if anyone does not want to deceive himself, deprive himself, none can deprive him.

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate] / na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

So, He’s there to look after anyone and everyone. We’re not living in a kingdom, in anarchical kingdom, so does not matter. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: _______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ________________________ [?]

Devotee: _________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Devotee: Tomorrow morning I shall go.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha, ha. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: To Māyāpur?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No, here in market, to purchase some important...

Devotee: ______________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: _______________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Tomorrow morning.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He likes to establish his position with them. And yesterday, one, our Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja of the Devananda Gauḍīya Maṭha, of the Vedānta Samiti, Bhaktivedanta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja, he went there, to Māyāpur, and he told Bhāvānanda, Jayapataka, and Bhagavān and others that, “This Bhāratī Mahārāja, previously Venkatta, he’s a good boy. You must accept him. You must not reject him.”

And they were nonplussed and they said, “Yes, yes, Mahārāja, of course we will accept him.”

Because he’s considered much senior to everyone: that Bhaktivedanta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja. He actually performed the samādhi ceremony of our Śrīla Prabhupāda. He was requested by Prabhupāda before leaving, “That you should kindly see the affairs of my samādhi.” Which he did!

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So, he will join ISKCON and sever connection with us?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Who?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhāratī Mahārāja.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: No. He will never sever connection here.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But they will accept?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, they’re becoming lenient.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: On the exceptional case, only one exception.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes. So far it seems to be only one. But Bhāratī Mahārāja would never consider. You’re everything to him. He would never consider any...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But he’s little soft minded man.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, it’s true, but still he has many times told me that, “Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja is everything to me.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: “But for preaching sake I may mix on that side for some time also, with your blessings.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Because I also challenged him on that point. I also did not like it, running this way and that. And he...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You replied the letter of Jayapataka Mahārāja?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes, I replied Mahārāja. I told him, I’m not studying any book of karma-kāṇḍa and jñāna-kāṇḍa, and I do not want to become a learned scholar, as you have implied. And I do not know who has told you these things. And I also wrote that, ‘You have written that Prabhupāda cannot be pleased, I cannot see how Prabhupāda is pleased by you sitting in Navadwīpa.’ So I wrote, ‘Yes, I know that you cannot see how Prabhupāda is pleased by me sitting in Navadwīpa, but I have got my own conviction, so kindly excuse me. And your invitation, I cannot come just now, but it is very kind of you to remember me.’ I only wrote these things. On account of Your Divine Grace I did not make any challenge or mud throwing. But when meeting personally I may tell him anything and everything, but I thought better not to put in a letter, because there will be another mud throwing, and no end of mud throwing. But when meeting them personally I’m prepared for anything.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: And also Bhāvānanda, I would like to meet him some day and tell him about that Gauḍīya-Kaṇṭhahāra, and question, be careful, what you’re doing is a great dishonour to the whole sampradāya. One of his disciples...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Especially Prabhupāda.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Yes. I know it.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Very carefully he collected and that is the weapon of the preachers. It is a sacred book. Though it was published in the name of a gṛhastha, Atindriya Bhakti Ratnakara, but it was done by Prabhupāda himself. All the necessary proofs which preachers should have he collected there in different chapters, very suitable. The company of a preacher, that book, every preacher should keep that book in his company, such worth. Gauḍīya-Kaṇṭhahāra, Kaṇṭhahāra means the necklace of the Gauḍīya. And the name was given by Guru Mahārāja, Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, yesterday, one disciple of Bhāvānanda came to me, and he was very affectionate to me before also. And he had received initiation in our, when we were not together these last few months. So I encouraged him, but it awakened my spirit to try to help Bhāvānanda, rather than to: otherwise. So Gaura Pūrṇimā or someday I may meet him, briefly if possibly, and try to help him. That is my desire, because I see so many innocent souls are there. They’re taking Hari-Nāma and dīkṣā and this and that, and they must be all helped. Not only Bhāvānanda but so many disciples they may be misguided so it is a great danger, injustice. And they’re all innocent more or less it would appear.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Anyway, all good things come from you, what we could get by Your Grace.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _____________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He took time to think out: he came with proposal long ago, but I asked him to wait and see and don’t take any decisions so hurriedly, swiftly. And he waited for long time and then he expressed his firm desire. Then of course I came to connect with him, and also asked him that, you may work in connection of ISKCON. I have no objection. Because he was already engaged in the service of that samādhi mandir, you can go on with work. It is his samādhi mandir, Swāmī Mahārāja’s, so you go on working there.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Vidagdha-Mādhava Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah, Vidagdha-Mādhava Prabhu.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He was aware Mahārāja, he knew.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now, he’s refused by them. So anyone who will risk them to come this side they must be prepared for such drastic action from that side. Otherwise it will be inconvenient for him to protect their institution.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _______________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: ____________________They did not tell him to go out.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now what is his decision? He will again go there or I won’t go?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: They gave me a choice of taking another initiation and staying. Otherwise, Bhāvānanda Mahārāja said, ‘You cannot serve in my zone, certainly you cannot work on the samādhi.’

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Bhāvānanda Mahārāja said, ‘Either take dīkṣā from someone else, otherwise you can’t work in my zone, and you cannot work in samādhi service.’

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In any duty of ISKCON, now nowhere?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: No, just Bhāvānanda’s...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Not the whole ISKCON, only Bhāvānanda’s particular zone. But other GBC’s will not say that, Jayatīrtha Mahārāja, Haṁsadūta Mahārāja, Atreya Ṛṣi Prabhu, they would not say that. There are certain who are more broad minded, more intelligent, more accommodating.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: As you like you may.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _______________________________________ [?]

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: And of course Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _______________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Now you may select your company: favourable company you may select of your own accord with whom you like to work.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Before he took dīkṣā from you, from Your Grace, I told him that, ‘Kindly consider you may be rejected outright. Please consider this point.’

And he told, ‘No, the lotus feet of Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja are everything to me. Whatever happens, I want that.’

So there was no problem there, I think, is it not?

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So you all consult and decide and try to utilise him in the service of Mahāprabhu. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _______________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where is Mādhava Prabhu, is he here, no?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Māyāpur.

Devotees: ______________________________________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: You may think together. You may think with their advice.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: You’re very lenient Mahārāja, and accommodating to us, although we do not deserve.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Vidagdha-Mādhava: Mahārāja, I now have some sincerity of purpose that was not there before. Some sincerity of purpose I have. It is my wealth, you have given.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: By Your Grace, I now have got some sincerity of purpose.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Everyone should be sincere. Without sincerity we can’t connect ourselves with noble things so high.

Devotee: Another point which was brought before...

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ...you went there alone, or...

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: To Yoga-pīṭha, to get some books of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What are those books?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Did you get your books?

Parvat Mahārāja: No, they didn’t receive any English books until Gaura Pūrṇimā.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: We wanted to get Śrī Caitanya’s Teachings.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ah, Life and Teachings by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: No. Śrī Caitanya’s Teachings.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: By whom?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta. It is made by Tīrtha Mahārāja: many different lectures.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, compiled.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes. Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ______________________________________________ [?]

Devotee: That book is available at Devananda Gauḍīya Maṭha.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Jaiva Dharma, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s Jaiva Dharma, and Bṛhat-Bhāgavatāmṛta, that book he wanted also, and The Bhāgavat, Bhaktivinoda, The Bhāgavat, also.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhāgavatārka-marīci-mālā.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Also, Bhāgavat lecture.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Oh, Bhāgavat speech, yes.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Theology, also Bhāgavatārka-marīci-mālā, Vaiṣṇavism, Nāma-bhajan.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Bhāgavatārka-marīci-mālā is that translated into English?

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: By Yati Mahārāja. And he’s coming here he told, on the sixteenth, so another two weeks.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. _______________________________ [?]

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So, it would be good for us to go through these books?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: _________________________ [?]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Translation...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: May be checked.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The original is all right, the translation there may be grammatical mistake or so.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Yes.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: And siddhānta.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Siddhānta may differ in translation: that will be very little.

Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: Śrī Caitanya’s Teachings...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Where there will be any doubt you may consult...

End of 82.03.03.C

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.03.03.D_82.03.04.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: We are all students.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And my Guru Mahārāja also told, “I’m the monitor.” We must not be afraid of the eternal existence of our guide and Guru, so we are always student. Ha, ha, ha. Always to serve under their direction! Kṛṣṇa-prema janme, teṅho punar mukhya aṅga. Sādhu-saṅga, always it is necessary, the direction of the sādhus. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti-janma-mūla haya ‘sādhu-saṅga’, [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 22.83] the very origin of Kṛṣṇa bhakti is in the association of the sādhu. And kṛṣṇa-prema janme, and when you have already acquired, established in Kṛṣṇa prema, teṅho mukhya aṅga, he’s the principal part your transaction, your realization, your service, and in every case his guidance will be necessary. Don’t try to be perfect, that is the greatest disease. That is almost māyāvādā, that I am brahma, so 'ham. Daso 'ham that is healthy mantra, formula, daso 'ham always: Mahāprabhu says, “dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ.”

nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro, nāhaṁ varṇī na ca gṛha-patir no vana-stho yatir vā

kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrṇāmṛtābdher, gopī-bharttuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ

[“I am not a priest, a king, a merchant, or a labourer (brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra); nor am I a student, a householder, a retired householder, or a mendicant (brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsī). I identify myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of the gopīs, who is the personification of the fully expanded (eternally self-revealing) nectarean ocean that brims with the totality of Divine Ecstasy.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 13.80]

That is; Mahāprabhu Himself says like that. For whom: only for the newcomers and not for us? So, one who thinks that he’s in perfection, perfect stage, because he’s appointed as Ācārya then he’s the highest position, his position is invulnerable, indisputable, unassailable - if they think like that, they are gone, finished.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, we are told that when our Gurudeva used to offer obeisance to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta, that Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta would say, “Daso 'smi.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, to everyone.

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: Everyone?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Everyone, whoever he is, not only his disciples, daso 'smi.

Once it so happened, I had not joined the Maṭha, but I’m coming and going, in Calcutta, that hired house. And I saw that he’s sitting straight, but whoever is coming and making bow, bow down, and he bends his waist and daso 'smi, in this way. I thought, it came in my mind, that we are once bending our head and he, the saint, he’s always bending his head in response to so many. So I should not bow down to him, that was my conclusion, at least I shall give some relief. So mentally I honoured him and passed away. I put this question to another senior disciple, ‘I did so.’

“Why you did?” Little excited!

Then I explained the position. That is incidentally he had to bend down and I thought that must be very troublesome for him. So at least I give him relief, with this idea.

“Then it is all right.”

I mentally offered my obeisances to him but not physically. Only from this then he supported me.

“Of course if that is your idea, you are all right.”

So daso 'smi, daso 'smi – men are passing through his door toward the meeting. Meeting is there on the - there is a shade built on the roof and he’s in the door and this is the stair case and by his front they’re to go. So anyone is coming and offering obeisances and in return he says, “Daso 'smi,” in this way, always daso 'smi, daso 'smi, daso 'smi. Hare Kṛṣṇa. “I am your servant. I am servant. I want to cleanse the temple in your heart, Hari mandir.” A Guru he wants to cleanse the heart of the disciple; that is Guṇḍicā marjana. “That Kṛṣṇa is sitting there. I must cleanse the heart, that throne, so the duty of a servant.”

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

...

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: We would be in dark forever.

Aranya Mahārāja: These things are cleaning our hearts.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ, kālena sarvatra.

[tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido, na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ

tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ, kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā]

[“Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavour only for that purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet [Brahmaloka] down to the lowest planet [Pātāla]. As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in course of time, just as in course of time we obtain miseries even though we do not desire them.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 1.5.18]

manapa manastolam durlam mitradibak haya [?] We should not hanker for honour, respect only. Whatever comes from Him we must try to take it on our head. Gaura Haribol. Ultimately it is passing through Him. Hare Kṛṣṇa. _______________________________________________ [?]

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

...

That German disciple of our Guru Mahārāja, Herr Schulze [Sadānanda dāsa], he asked Prabhupāda; Prabhupāda asked him to go with a party somewhere but he very modestly put that, “We in Germany we first make a program sometimes three months ago, sometimes a month ago, then we do accordingly. But here only at least one week ago if any program including me is to be done, at least one week ago if I get the information it is better for me.”

But our Guru Mahārāja answered, “I get intimation only five minutes ago. How can I give you one week ago?”

So things are such, committee, program, all the machinery, things should be handled with that spirit; there is dictation coming and we are to transmit that. To deal with higher subjective element and if that is autocrat then there is no estimation about that. Our preparation for the service must be of that type and attitude. Always busy, wait, what will be the dictation from up, from above, we are to carry out that. This should be the general nature of a devotee, muktih svayaṁ mukulitānjali sevate ‘smān.

[bhaktis tvayi sthiratarā bhagavan yadi syād, daivena nah phalati divya-kiśora-mūrttiḥ

muktih svayaṁ mukulitānjali sevate ‘smān, dharmārtha-kāma-gatayaḥ samaya-pratīkṣāḥ]

[“Oh Devotion, you are of such a magnanimous nature, if there is any way that we can have your least favour, then mukti (salvation or liberation) will wait to serve us with open arms. What to speak of mukti, even dharma (ritualistic virtue), artha (affluence), and kāma (material enjoyment) will be waiting far, far away for whenever their calling bell is sounding. Then, they will rush to our feet saying, ‘What do you want?’”] [Kṛṣṇa-Karṇāmṛtam, 107]

Everyone waiting with folded palm to receive the order: and to try to carry out that. That is the way of living with higher subject, always expectant attitude. A servant near the master, whatever order is coming I am to with vacant mind. To plan program, I’m doing from here, carrying out of lower order. We must try to live in the vicinity of the autocrat master. Of course general program is there, Hari kīrtana.

In Vṛndāvana also we are told that those that are trying to follow the different līlā which is occurring everyday in different places of Vṛndāvana, though bābājīs, not very pseudo bābājī, in the beginning they are to go on with a formal chart. ‘The rasa is there and what will be our duty if there is rasa, in these way what to do, what will be one’s function?’ In this way they get their training, something like that, training, rehearsal, something like rehearsal. When we are told that our higher stage they can catch or understand where the rasa līlā is to take its seat today. They get the clue and they go to attend that place. ‘Today the rasa will be in Vṛndāvana, today it will be in Govardhana, today in that part, that part.’ The nitya līlā is there and they getting some connection, some clue, they go there and try to participate. In this way also it is a custom amongst them. Some might have seen some time ago, they get some suggestion within their mind, revelation in their mind that, ‘Today the rasa līlā is going to take its seat in such and such place. So let us go there and survey, watch how things may happen, whether we can see or can’t see.’ This way: the living pastimes, in the beginning the rehearsal, the next the living thing where it is occurring to attend that.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Subjective character: that is all important thing for us. We are going to connect with the Master World, not to make program for an objective world and to go on with our program. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Whatever we do we must be conscious of the fact: awaiting for the decision from the higher zone, higher realm.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Whose men have come, Jayatīrtha Mahārāja?

Devotees: Yes.

Parvat Mahārāja: One of them has a question to pose you.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: He’s coming from London?

Aranya Mahārāja: All from London, yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: London. Known to Mr. John? No. Is he known? No. John is also come from London.

Aranya Mahārāja: Yes, John is from London, he went to Calcutta this morning. He will be back this afternoon, tonight.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: All right. What is his question?

Devotee: I’ve been told that the pure devotee, his consciousness is dovetailed with the Supreme Consciousness, with the Lord. And yet we see that there are different opinions amongst pure devotees. Can you explain why?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ki bolchen?

Aranya Mahārāja: His question is, why are there differences amongst the pure devotees?

Parvat Mahārāja: Of opinions once their consciousness is dovetailed with the Supreme.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: It may be of two types. One type, the highest type, differentiated character of the līlā. Different group of services with apparent different interests and they are to make arrangement accordingly to them. The rasa has got its respective connection, relation with another rasa. Even it is said that the vātsalya and mādhurya rasa they’re antagonistic. Yaśodā is serving, she’s serving in vātsalya rasa. And the mādhurya rasa servitors, the gopīs, their interest is opposite. Yaśodā wants that her boy may take full rest at night, His sleep may not be disturbed, then His health will be broken. But the mādhurya rasa servitors, their interest just opposite. So even in the perfect ideal of the rasa there may be some difference. Only one instance extreme I show, but such differences we can find, small or great in the vilāsa, in līlā. That is of one type.

And another type, when we do not realize, all of us, of same standard: when there is difference in our realization, according to our calculation difference cannot but be. So when we do not know the whole thing there may be difference, and in the ideal also there is some difference. That is concerning ideal and the realization according to our stage of devotion, there cannot but be difference. So in sādhana and siddha difference may be there, cid vilāsa. But generally we are to think that we are not in perfect condition so our differences will be due to our realization, degree of realization. Everything varied.

But the difference amongst the main principals, that is deplorable, and that will cause disturbance to the newcomers. It is a great catastrophe for the newcomers. They have come with open faith of a very mild standard. Their faith is not so high, so intense, that they will be able to tolerate many things which seem to be like discord. The difficulty is with them. So whenever such things to be happened, generally the madhyama adhikārī Vaiṣṇava should try to keep the beginners outside. They should not be allowed to enter into these discussions and differences and quarrel and litigation, all these things. This is only reserved for madhyama adhikārī.

laukikī vaidikī vāpi, yā kriyā kriyate mune, / [hari-sevānukūlaiva, sa kāryā bhaktim icchatā]

[“O great sage! One who aspires for devotional service should perform all activities, whether Vedic or mundane, in a way that is favourable for the service of Lord Hari.”] [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindu, Purva-vibhaga, 2.200, from Nārada-pañcarātra] & [Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, 13.82] & [In Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 13.113, purport]

Whether it is social affairs or any śāstric affairs discussion, what is the real post, standpoint? What will be the real good, beneficent? According to their stage they will try to struggle, quarrel. One says, ‘No, this will be good,’ another says, ‘No, this defect is there in your program.’ Some quarrel may come even amongst the sincere souls. But still the ______ [?] adhikārī, the beginners, must not be allowed in that circle, kaniṣṭha adhikārī. The first training, the stage of first training, that cannot tolerate all these things. But still it is there in madhyama adhikārī. To use all our faculties in connection with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, love and rupture. We have to quarrel, sometimes we have to go to litigation. Sometimes difference in our realization concerning understanding of the proper meaning of the particular mantram of the scriptures, particular poem of the scriptures. There may be differences, discussions: that is not undesirable, sometimes it is necessary.

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi, yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat / yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kuruṣva mad arpaṇam

[“O son of Kuntī, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you offer in charity, and whatever austere vows you may keep - do everything as an offering unto Me.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 9.26]

“Good or bad, whatever is within you, that must be thrown for the object of My service.”

'kāma' kṛṣṇa-karmārpaṇe, 'krodha' bhaktadveṣi-jāne, 'lobha' sādhu-saṅga harikathā

['moha' iṣṭa-lābha bine, 'mada' kṛṣṇa guṇagāne, niyukta kariba yathā tathā]

[“Lust I will engage in offering the fruits of my work to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Anger I will direct towards the enemies of the devotees. Greed I will engage by being greedy to hear the topics of Lord Hari in the association of the saintly devotees. Bewilderment will be manifested because I cannot immediately attain my worshippable Lord. Madness will be there when I madly glorify the transcendental attributes of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In this way I will engage each of these in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa.”] [Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura's, Śrī Prema-bhakti-candrikā, 2.10]

It may be adjusted in such way. I have got anger, that anger should be tried to be utilized in favour of the service of the Lord. 'Krodha' bhaktadveṣi-jāne. Who has come to attack the devotees, I may use my anger against him, in this way, to make the best of a bad bargain. So many tendencies are in my mind and when I want a transformation, wholesale, within my mental system, I shall try to adjust them in such a way. That in connection with divine service I shall try to utilize them in that stage. The diplomacy, diplomatic knowledge I have got, that also may be utilized for the service. In this way whatever one has got he may try to utilize that as much as possible for the service of the Lord. In that way he will be able to purge out them very soon and very easily.

Yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi, yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat / yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kuruṣva mad arpaṇam

And then, sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66], next higher stage, then when you have very little you give it, give them all and become one with cetan, soul. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.54], brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā stage, jñāna miśrā bhakti. And yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi, that is karma miśrā. And sarva-dharmān parityajya means from karma miśrā to jñāna miśrā. And then real bhakti begins: jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 10.14.3]. Not to keep connection independent of the connection with karma and jñāna only to take the help of ruci, taste. Whatever be my condition, but if I got taste and I have got the connection of a sādhu, the taste will take me up, very strongly and very safely to the right direction. Only sādhu-saṅga, that is the all important, my taste to hear from the lips of a real sādhaka, sādhu, where the real God consciousness has begun. My taste for real God consciousness, Krsna consciousness: that is the most valuable thing. Then all will go away in no time and that taste will take me upward.

Mahāprabhu says, “Here it is, it is the beginning. Otherwise from other stages we may fall back. But if we’ve got real taste when, in the real God consciousness, Krsna consciousness, then we are safe, laulam atra. Eho bāhya āge kaha āra [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 8.59]. Yes, it is. It is the real beginning of the real life of a real devotee. It is here, the real God consciousness and the real test of the disciple and he’s fortunate enough to have real relation with real God consciousness, eho bāhya. All other qualification, non-qualification all ignored. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta, jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ. Above calculation the faith has begun in its original form, in its real form here. Now faith has given shelter this disciple and he’s safe. And he’s safe, otherwise by calculation, by using our knowledge in drawing the comparison of the goodness of this world and that world, these are all very weak things. Cannot be reliable, but faith is reliable. But faith has got its real characteristic. Must have connection of a real sādhu and he will find inner taste to that.” Here Mahāprabhu sanctions. “Yes, here it begins, the life of a devotee proper begins here. He has crossed the dangerous line of danger of māyā.”

The calculation cannot be dependent on, not relied. Calculation can’t help us to reach the proper space, but sukṛti and śraddhā, nirguna, independent, śraddhā. Sakala chāḍiyā bhāi, śraddhādevīra guṇa gāi [Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura] Firm faith, that is most valuable thing to reach. No knowledge and no energy, amount of energy, this money, men, worldly wealth all energy, but energy and knowledge, both are futile. Only śraddhā, faith: that is our inner function. Why? Knowledge means doubt. Knowledge means in the background there is doubt, suspicion, and he wants to get elimination and acceptance. ‘This is good, this is bad.’ This is the symptom of the badness and goodness calculation. It is not automatic. Knowledge, the possibility of suspicion on the background, ‘I may be deceived, I shall have to understand.’ He’s in the plane of a treachery atmosphere, suspicious. And he’s to calculate and find out what is true, what is untrue, all these things. So he’s living in the plane of suspicion, doubt, knowledge means. But faith, he has reached such a plane where no treachery is possible. No room of any suspicion, no room. In that country suspicion is not to be found. Because that are living in the soil they do not know what is cheating, deception, so simple dealings there. There a plane of faith, then we have come to the real soil where calculation is not necessary. Such a safe plane we have come in, so, sakala chāḍiyā bhāi, śraddhādevīra guṇa gāi. Faith, when we have connection within us with faith and also the genuine party, genuine party as my Guru I have got. This connection is the happiest for the soul.

Mahāprabhu says, “Yes, here it is, now go further. Otherwise, eho bāhya, this is superficial, this is superficial, go ahead, go forth. Eho bāhya, eho bāhya, eho bāhya, eho bāhya, now here it is, go, make further progress.”

Jñāna-sunya-bhakti, that is śraddhā, and śraddhā cannot be exploited, real śraddhā, yo yac chraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ.

[sattvānurūpā sarvasya, śraddhā bhavati bhārata

śraddhāmayo 'yaṁ puruṣo, yo yac chraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ]

[“O Bhārata, all men have a particular type of faith according to their individual mentalities. The very nature of the living being is based on faith - their internal and external nature is modelled according to their faith. Therefore, their nature may be discerned according to the manner of worship or reverence in which they have faith.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 17.3]

Śraddhā will take to a particular place, śraddhā, there the guidance of the Supreme. None can seduce one who has got real śraddhā. Through faith he will understand the real thing. Innate attraction, my heart feels very confident here in his, he may be an illiterate, he may be a poor person devoid of all these worldly resources, but heart will select his company automatically. As selection of friend the heart will guide him surely to a proper. He may not know but that will seem to be very congenial to him, that company, devotee, so,

[pārtha naiveha nāmutra, vināśas tasya vidyate] / na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid, durgatiṁ tāta gacchati

[“O Arjuna, son of Kuntī, the unsuccessful yogī does not suffer ruination either in this life or the next. He is not deprived of the pleasures of the heavenly planetary systems in this universe, nor is he denied the chance to personally see the Supersoul in the divine realm. This is so, O dear one, because a person who performs virtuous actions never becomes ill-fated.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 6.40]

That is the greatest solace for us. That ignorance cannot be in general, cannot be, that is not ignorance proper but illiteracy or something like that, that cannot stand on our way. It is some other thing. A beast can approach a scholar you can hate only: it may be even of such order. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So, we need not worry much, still it is all undesirable, especially for the beginners. Differences between the upper persons whom we consider to be of upper rank, they’re quarrelling, and the lower class cannot but be disturbed. So they will try to avoid as much as possible. At that time they may give their attention towards the scriptures. Less quarrelling, scriptures also quarrelling, because they recommend advices of different stages, so that is also quarrel. Everywhere progress means quarrel, elimination and acceptance, that means quarrel, one condemns another. Progress means such, we can’t avoid it altogether. But still, the progress is there. We must not be afraid.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Progressive, progress!

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: Śrīdhara Mahārāja, as disciples of Śrīla Tīrthapāda we can see that our spiritual master is very much attached to you and he’s having very much affection for you. But we are also seeing that some other people, his Godbrothers, also pure devotees, Ācāryas, are feeling not similar in their viewpoints. And what you said earlier that the kaniṣṭha adhikārī should not be allowed to hear the discussions of the upper class devotees, we are hearing these discussions without even wanting to and we are becoming confused. Would you please...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Who is he?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Prabhu.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Akṣayānanda Mahārāja: He’s disciple of our Jayatīrtha Mahārāja. He says that, “My Guru Mahārāja, Jayatīrtha Mahārāja, is very much attached and affectionate to Your Divine Grace. And we consider ourselves kaniṣṭha but we should not hear adverse things, but we cannot help but hear these things. And there are differences in other Ācāryas and they are considered by us pure devotees. So we feel some confusion.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Or you may think it will be, if well meaning, you will not allow yourself to enter into that plane, but, to waste your energy. But in the meantime you may utilize your energy in some other form of duties. You may attend to the books. You may not give attention to the quarrelling stage. That will be more considerate and useful to you or men of your stage. Gradually we shall come to know what is what. But now because I don’t understand I am being puzzled, I don’t go that side, I may use my energy in another place. That policy you may take.

Suppose one cannot go where the fighting is going on, killing, blood shedding, all these things. But he may utilize himself in services far from where the fighting is going on. In that way you can utilize your energy. You can’t tolerate the bloodshed and so in a peaceful place others suppose the supply of food and the nursing of patients in hospital, you can utilize your energy there. And those they love fighting they will run towards the front and with sword begin fighting...

End of 82.03.03.D_82.03.04.A

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Start of 82.03.04.B

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. That will be judiciousness. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. There is Hitopadeśa, this moral teachings book.

no ganeshya grato gachit siddhi cadye samam phalam [?]

yadhikar jevi bhakti mukha satya hanyate [?]

When a party going on to a dangerous place, don’t go ahead, but keep towards back, no ganeshya grato gachit siddhi cadye [?] If the party is victorious, then everyone will be gainer. And if there is danger, who is in the front, he will die. The others will be saved, mukha satya hanyate [?] This is Cāṇakya niti koutila [?] policy, diplomacy.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

When there is doubt in our understanding we shall keep back. Until and unless I’m fully confident that my energy will be utilized in such activity of service, I should not venture. That is not my adhikāra. “I have not reached that stage.” With such thinking we shall keep back.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Parvat Mahārāja: Mahārāja, the Christians also preach about the Holy Ghost and faith in the Holy Ghost within the heart, and that one should surrender to the Holy Ghost with faith. And they deny knowledge as inferior to revelation.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But how surrendering to Holy Ghost? Holy Ghost means non- differentiated, or what is this? Ghost means God the father, God the son, God Guru, or God the Holy Ghost. Three conceptions amongst the Christians I heard, three aspects; and perhaps they come to say lastly that God the Holy Ghost, that is the highest conception. Is it? God the father means creator, and God the son means Guru, who comes to deliver the people, fallen souls. And God the Holy Ghost, that is the very gist, the substance of the two aspects of Godhead. That is something like Brahman, but how to surrender to Brahman that means be one with him. What’s the matter? I don’t know that. Holy Ghost, that non-differentiated: any personality there? Father is the personality. And the Ghost that is jyoti, that is consciousness. But differentiated or non- differentiated, that is like Brahman, and to surrender means to be one with him and not maintain any individual existence, personality. Is that the idea?

Parvat Mahārāja: Actually they pray to the Holy Ghost to come into their heart.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Then?

Parvat Mahārāja: And when the Holy Ghost comes into their heart they achieve many mystical powers.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And then?

Parvat Mahārāja: They have some kind of a personal addressing in prayer.

Aranya Mahārāja: I think their conception of Holy Ghost is more in line with the Paramātmā, Supersoul.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Paramātmā.

Parvat Mahārāja: Yes, caitya Guru.

Another devotee: Yes; God coming to them and instructing them from within.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Devotee: God comes to them and He instructs them from within.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They’re conscious of the presence of Godhead within him, and on behalf of God they may say many things, eh?

Devotees: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Avasitha [?]

Parvat Mahārāja: “God spoke to me and told me to do this. So I am following God. I don’t need anyone to tell me. God is in my heart. He’s telling me that I should eat meat and do all these things, and nonsense, but it’s not nonsense because God is telling me to do this. I have faith in that.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Once I was told by a gentleman that when the British began to rule in the beginning and the churchman or the padre, what is the English?

Parvat Mahārāja: Priest, like a priest.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Priest. They used to take class of Bible every week perhaps, every day, in Rajsayi [?] town. One gentleman told him, “I was a boy, he was older than myself. He told me that he was taking, a good priest, he was taking class of Bible and he read the portion where Moses saw in his dream, Moses or Abraham, someone, saw in his dream that God is ordering him to this and that, and so many things, saw. In dream saw God came to him in dream and ordered him to do this and that.” Then that gentleman told, “I was a boy, I stood up. And if any from the audience stands up then he thinks that he will have to say something. He stopped his speaking and attended him. And he told that Moses saw in dream, God appeared and asked him to do this and that. Then what did he see? You say that God has no figure, then in dream what did he see? He must have seen Him in dream, you say it is mentioned, but what did he see? What form, form there may be.”

Then the priest stopped for some time and told, “This boy has asked me a question and I can’t answer just now. Tomorrow I shall try to answer.”

In this way, so He’s in him, He’s directing, but in what way?

apāṇi-pādo javano grahitā, paśyaty acakṣuḥ sa śṛṇoty akarṇaḥ

[sa vetti vedyaṁ na ca tasyāsti vettā, tam āhur agryaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntam]

[“The Lord has no hands or legs, yet He walks and touches. The Lord has no eyes or ears, yet He sees and hears.”] [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 3.19]

In the beginning it seems to be non-differentiated because He has got no figure of the mundane type. Paśyaty acakṣuḥ. He can see, but He has no eye. He can catch, He has no hand. He can walk, He has no leg. All these things are said in Upaniṣad.

And the Śaṅkarācārya class, impersonalists, they say that, “No leg, finished.”

But Mahāprabhu came to say, “He must have eye, but not fleshy eye. He’s got leg, but not this fleshy leg. Sa śṛṇoty akarṇaḥ. Not ear like us, of flesh and blood, but He has got ear. So He has got everything.”

So only to dissuade us from having a carnal, a mundane figure, but really there is figure in the conscious world, in the cinmaya, that is pure spiritual world, sarviśeṣa. So the hazy, the primary conception may be that we can’t differentiate. The yogī also, in their first conception, Paramātmā, but when they’re nearer the real conception that Paramātmā becomes Vāsudeva. And for the jñānis also, Brahman, then when personality within Brahman, then that becomes Vāsudeva. Parabrahma, Puruṣottama, in Bhagavad-gītā we find Puruṣottama, Parabrahma. Brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham [Gītā, 14.27] – Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Gītā, 7.19]

[brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham, amṛtasyāvyayasya ca / śāśvatasya ca dharmasya, sukhasyaikāntikasya ca]

[Kṛṣṇa says: “I am the basis and original mainstay of the undivided divine vitality of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal, and is the constitutional position of inexhaustible nectar and the sweetness of the ambrosia of profound love divine.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 14.27]

[bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate / vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti, sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ]

[“After many, many births and deaths, one who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 7.19]

Whenever personality is seen in that infinite consciousness, then devotion proper begins, finally. And not as a means to a particular end, devotion; that is saguṇa, and nirguṇa devotion means final decision, that my final position is such position, a big personality, Vāsudeva.

Here also in the development of jīva, in tree there is also a person within, ātmā. And then idiot, there is also ātmā, a person, a scholar there is a vaijñānī, the ātmā developed, developed evolution. So when in the evolution of theism we see the personal conception, then we go nearer to the reality.

Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, jñānavān māṁ prapadyate. Then bhakti cannot but come, the idea of superiority. And the oneness, I am also conscious, the cause is also conscious, only big seat and small. One drop of water and the ocean, but one drop of water. I am person. I have got individuality and the ocean has got also individuality, personality. Personality, then Vāsudeva. Brahman becomes Parabrahma or Puruṣottama or Vāsudeva. Was in first conception, primary conception, not person but consciousness as a substance, mere substance, consciousness. We are subject and from an objective view when we see the super subject with the view of objective tendency we find Paramātmā, nirviśeṣa, brahman, nirviśeṣa, to certain...

Paramātmā all pervading, inner most: Who’s living everywhere. And when everything is living in Him; that is Brahman, brhatama [?] All comprehensive aspect; all comprehensive aspect; that is Brahman, brhat brahma [?] which can accommodate everything within Him, that is Brahman. And which is living within everything, even atom, electron, whatever smallest part, within that He is. That is Paramātmā, Antaryāmī. But, something like inner substantial conception, not a subjective conception. Whenever subjective conception we can feel, relating to that, then we see person, the Puruṣottama, Vāsudeva, Paramātmā.

In Gītā also mentioned: bhu vare vantare rupam [?]

That Vāsudeva, catuḥ bhuja yogī, they say like that, gradually. So Paramātmā and Brahman, both in clear vision; we are to look them as personal God. Vāsudeva, ekala vāsudeva [?] Vāsudeva only Puruṣa, and then again with more closer vision we find there is potency behind Him. Sa śakti [?], Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa. More deeper vision discloses that not only Vāsudeva is one, but by the side of Him there is potency, Lakṣmī Devī. In this way through Rāma līlā, Dvārakā, Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, it is developing gradually. One in many; one in many. Oneness in its gradual developed condition, we have to see, according to the opening of the inner eye. We are seeing, we are reading the environment and the relativity. We can judge the relativity according our inner awakening, with deeper vision.

premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena, [santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti

yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ, govindam ādi puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi]

[“I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, Who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṇa Himself with inconceivable innumerable Attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.”] [Brahma-saṁhitā, 38]

When the inner most tendency within us: that is love; when that awakens then our vision also changes about the environment and the cause of the environment changes. We are to differentiate between energy and knowledge, that is willing, thinking and feeling. Willing, thinking and feeling. Willing produces energy. Thinking: His own conception of His existence and the outside. And the feeling: that is what for the thinking is existing; what is searching. Thinking, what is the object of thinking, what he wants. That is feeling, a good sensation, good sentiment. That is hlādinī, that is rasa, ānandam, that is beauty, charm. And that is the most original desirable thing. All of us, knowingly, unknowingly: all of us after that, after the search of rasa, beauty, harmony, ānandam, ecstasy. That is our real diagnosis: every one of us wants that. And feeling presupposes the sensation of enjoyment; that presupposes thinking as well as existence, jñāna bala kriya ca; thinking, feeling, willing, sat-cid-ānandam, or satyam śivam sundaram - the trinity.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. So we beginners, on the whole, we shall try to avoid the quarrelling and try to keep aloof – still, with some engagement in a peaceful part, peaceful way. We may engage us in the books, or in the opposition, or any other activities there. We may not take the quarrelling has no value at all or opposite value. It may have some value. No value or everything is opposite, that also we may not take. And discussing, then finding some fault, some defect; so many are leaving; of course different defect might have entered here and how to remove that. So somewhat discussion you have to go in this way, this way. It is not desirable, this is desirable, a quest is there with earnestness. So search after truth, searching in a particular mode it is going on there. And different person recommending different means to end, in this way anyhow. But we are not to dismiss, ‘because quarrelling so nothing, no good can stay here,’ not to take that sort of decision.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, you said earlier when the question was asked about the Christian who says that God was telling him to do things. And that we say, ‘No, you can’t perceive God.’ But in Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says, “I am directing the wanderings of all living entities.” Can you explain that? The verse that says they are seated on the machine made of material energy?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: In Bhagavad-gītā, Lord says īśvaraḥ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ...

[īśvaraḥ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ, hṛd-deśe ‘rjjuna tiṣṭhati

bhrāmayan sarvva-bhūtāni, yantrārūḍhāni māyayā]

[“O Arjuna, I am situated in the hearts of all souls as the Supersoul, the Lord and Master of all souls. For every endeavour of the living beings in this world, the Lord (My plenary expansion, the Supersoul) awards an appropriate result. As an object mounted on a wheel is caused to revolve, the living beings are caused to revolve in the universe by the almighty power of the Lord. Incited by Him, your destiny will naturally be effected according to your endeavours.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 18.61]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hṛd-deśe ‘rjjuna tiṣṭhati.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā. But the Christians say...

Devotee: They say, “God is telling me, God is directing me...”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Vāsudeva, Paramātmā. It is like Paramātmā, and still He’s acting, so not hazy, not non-differentiated, īśvaraḥ sarvva-bhūtānāṁ, hṛd-deśe ‘rjjuna tiṣṭhati, as Paramātmā.

“I am residing at the heart of everyone and I help him as much as possible keeping his freedom. Without interfering with his freedom I try guide him in a passive way. I dictate, ‘don’t do this, do that.’ He may care or may not care. I don’t assert Myself, only in a passive way I give direction. Sometimes he may catch, sometimes he may ignore. But I am there, I am everywhere. There is not a place where I am not, I am everywhere. And I am in his heart also and I am giving dictation also. Sometimes he can catch, sometimes he can’t catch, but I am there doing My duty as much as possible. The tree is there, the soul of the tree is also there, but he’s so much engrossed with ignorance that it is very difficult to trace My dictation there. But still I am there and doing My function. Otherwise he won’t have any possibility to come back from that worse position.”

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Then the Christians will say, “But we are following, like in your Gītā, it says He’s in the heart directing, so we’re following, that’s why we’re Christians.” They will defend themselves. “We are following.”

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But our difference is about the prospect. What you say, and what you are giving, your program is limited. As indicated, “Only one birth, and outside human beings no other souls. So we kill animals, trees.” The reaction thereby not in your calculation, and also you give some conception of theism, but that is not fully differentiated in a scientific way as we find in Gītā and Bhāgavatam. Akhila-rasāmṛta; He’s rasa, He’s ānandam. But what sort of ānandam? Ānanda is analysed in different ways. All these details absent: only vague representation, as a primary study of the primary school. We don’t deny; that it is nothing; it is something, but not the fully differentiated thing. It has got also necessity for a particular section.

loke vyavāyāmiṣa-madya-sevā [nityā hi jantor na hi tatra codanā

vyavasthitis teṣu vivāha-yajña-surā-grahair āsu nivṛttir iṣṭā]

[Everyone is naturally inclined to have sex, eat meat, and drink wine. There is no need for the scripture to encourage these things. The scriptures do, however, give concessions to people who are determined to do these things. The scriptures therefore grant a license to enjoy sex by allowing sexual intercourse with one’s lawfully wedded wife at the proper time of the month. They grant a license to eat meat to those who perform a certain kind of sacrifice, and a license to drink wine to those who perform the Sautramani sacrifice. The purpose of granting these licenses for sense gratification is only to restrict these activities and encourage people to give them up altogether. The real intention of the Vedic injunctions regarding sex, meat-eating, and wine-drinking is to make one abstain from these activities.] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.5.11]

parokṣa-vādo vedo 'yaṁ, bālānām anuśāsanam / [karma-mokṣāya karmāṇi, vidhatte hy agadaṁ yathā]

[“Childish and foolish people are attached to materialistic, fruitive activities, although the actual goal of life is to become free from such activities. Therefore, the Vedic injunctions indirectly lead one to the path of ultimate liberation by first prescribing fruitive religious activities, just as a father promises his child candy so that the child will take his medicine.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.3.44]

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has also given position to that. That to that particular country, particular sect; that sort of amount couching in that dress, it was necessary for the primary students. That is also revealed truth. But considering the space and time and the people, couched in that way it was delivered there. But there is theism. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Hari. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, we understand from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that there are three states of consciousness, the wakefulness, sleep and deep sleep. If you could explain to me, Mahārāja, what’s the position of the ātmā, or the soul, in these different states?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: He said, “In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we understand there are three states of consciousness, wakefulness, sleep and deep sleep. So in these three stages what is the position of the ātmā?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Sleep there is dream, deep sleep without dream. Deep sleep, and sleep and?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Wakefulness.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Wakefulness. What is the position of ātmā?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Yes; in those states.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Deep sleep - the whole negative engagement of the ātmā stopped. And in dream, that is limited and less intense. And when we are wakeful to this false identification of the world then we are in fullest conception of negative idea. And deep sleep, withdrawal from the negative side. And in dream, half, not so much intense but less intense; in the dream also these material experiences reflected in the mental plane. That we find. Very rarely we can find in dream the reflection of the upper world of cid-vilāsa, in very rare cases. When the worldly experience has become very thin, and some sukṛti that our, we gather unconsciously some connection of the supernatural power, then also sometimes in dream we can feel some supernatural incident. And when it is more intensely connected, then in our wakeful stage also sometimes we may have some catch the reflection of the supernatural things sometimes. Sometimes a flash may come from the super-subject area; come down to the plane pushing aside our energy of experience of this body. That comes down and a flash encircles me. It is also possible, in very rare cases. But generally when fully awake we are fully connected with the negative side, engrossed, wholesale captured. And dream less powerful. But we are captured there with mundane things but it is weak and vague. And in sound: in dreamless sleep, sound sleep, we almost withdraw from the negative side, but no practical participation of the positive. In the margin, in abscisa, we remain, suṣupti. We come to Brahman, come, withdraw to near the cause but not conscious of the cause; withdrawn from the negative but no conception of the positive.

We faint there, in Swāmī Mahārāja’s language, we faint there. To that standard our consciousness can’t really come: we faint in suṣupti, in brahmaloka, we faint there.

Everything is relative, our experience is all relative. Big sound we cannot hear, small also we cannot hear. Only in limited ear area our ear can work. Eye also. The dazzling light we can’t see and as very meagre we can’t see. Only in the middle standard we can work. So many things but our inner capacity cannot catch them. In a limited period, position, we are to live and move. Even a bird can see more than a human being, can know more. He sees the storm will come and so many birds that can know. The flood is coming; so many insects, worms can know that. But human beings can’t. The knowledge, the intuitive knowledge: that is also put in a cell. Everything is put in a cell. Within that he’s to work. So what was the question?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: What is the position of the ātmā in these three states?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes, ātmā, in this dream. In limited area we live and move. Otherwise we faint. There is night.

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ, tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī / yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni, sā niśā paśyato muneḥ

[“While spiritual awareness is like night for the living beings enchanted by materialism, the self-realised soul remains awake, directly relishing the divine ecstasy of his un-interrupted spiritual intelligence. On the contrary, the wakefulness of materialistic persons addicted to sense enjoyment is night for the self-realised person who is completely indifferent to such pursuits. The realised souls, indifferent to the mundane, are ever joyful in the divine ecstatic plane, while the general mass is infatuated by fleeting mundane fancies devoid of spiritual joy.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 2.69]

We are awake somewhere and we are sleeping somewhere else. And one who is waking there, we are sleeping there, we have fainted. There are so many; objective and the super-subjective realm where we all sleep a dreamless sleep. And so many others are there wakeful in that plane but they are sleeping perhaps here.

kṣetrajñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi, sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata

[kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ, yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama]

[“O Bhārata, you should also know Me as the knower of spheres of action (as the Supersoul situated within the heart of all living beings). Such fundamental and essential knowledge of the sphere of action and the knowers of that sphere (knowledge of the mundane, the soul, and the Supersoul) is considered by Me to be actual knowledge.”] [Bhagavad-gītā, 13.3]

“Only I am wakeful to all planes possible. But others they are conscious in a limited area. I alone am wakeful in all planes of life, everywhere; only I. Kṣetrajñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi, sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. But others they are wakeful in a limited area. Wakefulness is the nature of kṣetrajñaṁ; that is soul, but within limitation. But unlimited conception of anything and everything, only Myself alone I have got.”

Gaura Hari.

Devotee: Mahārāja, does that mean that the more less negative the position of the soul is, the more Kṛṣṇa conscious the soul is?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Gaura Hari. What?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Does it mean that the less negative engagement the soul has, when there is less negative engagement, does it mean he is more Kṛṣṇa conscious?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Hmm?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: When the soul has got less and less negative side, does it mean he is more and more Kṛṣṇa conscious?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ha, ha. Not necessarily. Negative as a whole, then if he has any conception at all, withdrawal from the negative, then dreamless slumber, that is Brahman conception. And then without negative some positive conception arises, this Śivaloka, then Vaikuṇṭhaloka it may be partial, it may not go to reach to Kṛṣṇa consciousness also. There may be so many stages of consciousness on the way to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is supposed to be the highest quality consciousness. That is shown from different ways by scientific methods.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Mahārāja, if that was the case then simply by sleeping everybody would be Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Eh?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: If that was the case then simply by sleeping everybody would be Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: There is no conscious. Sleeping, deep sleep means no conscious. But maybe by abstraction we may think that eliminated of the negative he has come to the positive but he has got wealth within the floor. He’s moving, he’s sitting on the wealth, but it is underground, no idea. It is Brahman, nearest to Brahman – he’s in the middle, this side Brahman, this side world, but unconscious of both the things, both sides, unconscious of both sides. Negative, not actually, if we calculate more accurately, the next time he will be wakeful and will come in the negative side; so negative tendency is also dormant in him. He’s near the negative but not in its expressive condition, only very dormant, he’s there. Next moment he will, when equilibrium will be disturbed and then he’ll find he has come in this world. So that is near him, actually.

Dhira Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja: So what of the śloka...

bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir, anyatra caiṣa [trika eka-kālaḥ

prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus, tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣudapāyo 'nughāsam]

[“As with every mouthful an eater feels the threefold effects of his satisfaction, his stomach being filled, and his hunger being dispelled, in the same way when a surrendered soul serves the Lord he realises devotion of three natures simultaneously: devotion in love, the personal appearance of the Lord who is the abode of love, and detachment from all other things.”] [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.2.42]

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Trika eka-kālaḥ, prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus, tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣudapāyo 'nughāsam. The realization proper will gradually take us to that land, to that plane. Bhakti means serving tendency. Pareśānubhavo, some sort of conception of the subjective world, superseding my subject on the other side, there is some world, pareśānubhavo.

And anyatra viraktir, that disgust with the stale experience of this world, apathy, disgust, anyatra viraktir. This negative side has no charm, loses its charm. And the positive side, he gets some peep into the positive world on the super-subjective. And the bhakti means his attention towards the positive grows more and more. More he finds energetic to have experience of the super-subjective, pareśānubhavo. And if in a general healthy way he’s utilizing his energy, then gradually he’ll make advance toward the higher realm, and withdraw from the lower objective world of sense experience. The world of sense experience, not only the world of sense experience, even the sense, the body, the mind, the intelligence also, that is applied in the case of negative side, all will be trash, unnecessary, undesirable enemy-like to him. He’ll be very eager to get out of the whole system. The bad government, that is a system there, the judge, the magistrate, the police, everything. If the government is bad then the wholesale will be undesirable, even the judges.

So buddhi to be also rejected because that abides by the laws which is not good servants of the law, so wholesale will be abolished, undesirable; whole system in the negative side undesirable and hateful. And he finds more sweetness into the subjective world though apparently it is of serving, not of making, not lord-it-over. Not mastery but serving. But still that will be tasteful because the company is so congenial. To give up freedom to the congenial...

End of 82.03.04.B

* * * * * * * *

Start of 82.03.04.C_82.03.05.A

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī Mahārāja

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Better to serve in heaven than reign in hell; just the opposite that Satan told. It is better to reign in heaven than serve in hell.

Aranya Mahārāja: No, better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Reign in hell and that is satanic. And we take the opposite. Better to serve in heaven than reign in hell. This is hell. The world of experience through these mundane senses, mundane world of enjoyment, this enjoyment is reactionary, it is a loan, this is undesirable. This is prey to janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [birth, death, old age, disease: Bhagavad-gītā, 13.9] so this is undesirable. Not to reign. Better to serve in a land where normal production is, than to be a king of the desert. To be master of a desert, then that is, the apathetic forces of desert will come and burn me. Better to get a service in a land of opulence. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, earlier on you were speaking about Paramātmā and you referred to Paramātmā as nirviśeṣa, and yet we always see the Paramātmā depicted as a personality. Can you clarify the point a little bit more, who is Paramātmā?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say? Paramātmā?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: He says he thought he heard you say that Paramātmā was nirviśeṣa. So we generally think of Paramātmā as a person.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Yes. Paramātmā is person. But generally when they approach the personality cannot be, Paramātmā and brahma is brahma pur, brahma, Para brahma. Deeper vision and proper vision, everything is person. But from hazy vision it is not found as person. But some dictative voice something like, some dictation coming just like intelligence, Paramātmā. Just as a higher form of spark, our soul is a spark-like consciousness, atom; atomic consciousness, and super-quality spark within the spark of soul. Something like in the beginning Paramātmā is seen like that. But it can dictate, soul can also dictate something, assertive soul. But because taṭasthā, marginal, not developed condition, but it has got the capacity of taking initiative. And Paramātmā is a spark of a perfect understanding. What it, what Paramātmā gives as suggestion that is perfect, connecting with perfect thing; infallible. But jīva’s tendency for free choice not infallible, it may be fallible, but it is also a spark, that is also spark in the beginning.

But whatever, but the cetana, cetana means that everything has got a form: the smallest and the biggest. In the first view the form may not be conceived, may not come within the range of conception, the form. But in closer vision everything has got its form, we find. Form in that way, form in that plane. Light also may be analysed; different constituent points, and every point has got a peculiarity, combined they produces something. So everything, air, either, everything, they can be analysed and combined. So their form is not, just as the measurement of a solid is not exactly so as the measurement of the liquid, and the measurement of electricity is not the same as the measurement of the liquid, so their form according to their own position. But form is there. In other words the one point can be separated from another, recognised as separate from another unit. In this sense, everything has got form.

So Paramātmā if we find more definitely we find there is Vāsudeva, personality. What is Vāsudeva? Who is connected with the smallest and the biggest; the biggest is also within Him, the smallest also He’s entering and living. That is Vāsudeva, who can accommodate everything in Him. Atma kocin sadve sadvam vasavati [?] And who is living within everything. He’s existing, maintaining existence everywhere, within everything and outside everything. That is Vāsudeva. That characteristic we can find. And then we find He is Vāsudeva, He is person because He is consciousness. Consciousness without personality cannot exist. Consciousness means person. Every unit of consciousness is also person, and whole consciousness is also person. Personal characteristic means He wants to enjoy, bhoga, satisfaction ________ [?] satisfaction. “Everything for Him;” Hegel’s philosophy, “Reality is by itself and for itself. Everything is for Him.” That is the test of personal existence. He’s the absolute enjoyer. Everything is meant to satisfy Him. That is the criterion of personality. Do you follow? Not clear. Any question of any part. Where do you want to put more question, in what part?

Devotee: You gave the analogy of form, electricity and liquid.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Form, yes. Liquid is also form, everything has got its form in different way. The electric unit, its form and the stone unit form will be different. If stone is analysed in the smallest part, and if a flame is analysed, fire, or the sun ray if it is analysed, their nature will be different. But still they should have got their respective nature. And parikaras, his acquaintance, by their peculiar form; form in their own way. So jīva caitanya have got their special form. Ātmā. If we can understand the differences in the formation of different types of gross things then we can draw it to the original side, that jīva souls have got their form. Ghosts also got their form. Light’s form is different. There is one candle, you light another candle. One light, one ray is mixing through another ray. The water also; one glass of water, another water mixed, one enters into another, but still they will maintain their own form, mixed, unmixed.

Devotee: Jīva and caitanya have the same form.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: The form, one candle removed, the light becomes diminished, intensity becomes less, but - and when again the candle taken here the intensity increases. But the light has some intensity added to it, and withdrawn, its form is gone away. So in soul also it is such, in consciousness. Not this form should be thrust there; form. The ghost has got, can take any form, many forms a ghost can take, but still it has got its peculiar form. It cannot use the capacity of power of a god. The ghost’s power, the ghost’s capacity, is limited to that of the gods, in this way - limitation of power, capacity, duty, all these things. So,

apāṇi-pādo javano grahitā, [paśyaty acakṣuḥ sa śṛṇoty akarṇaḥ

sa vetti vedyaṁ na ca tasyāsti vettā, tam āhur agryaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntam]

[“The Lord has no hands or legs, yet He walks and touches. The Lord has no eyes or ears, yet He sees and hears.”] [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 3.19]

He has not leg, He has not eye, He has not ear, He can see, He can hear, He can run, all these things. Not like this material form, but form He has got, He can see; everything different. As in mind also; mind can see, mind can hear, mind can touch, it is central, it can do anything. But still the mental seeing and the mental hearing is different. The mental ear and the mental eye is different. But on the whole, mind can see, non-differentiated world. Mind can see, mind can hear, mind can touch; in dream. But mind has eye, mind has ear, but that is not of this physical type. This you can drag on. It is and it is not, harmonize.

Devotee: Mahārāja, you were saying earlier that, in the beginning in devotional service we may be attracted by the sublime nature of spiritual consciousness. But at the same time as beginners in devotional service and especially with our backgrounds coming from very degraded conditions of life, sometimes even in pursuit of devotional service we’re affected by these lower qualities. How can we come to a position very quickly of being undisturbed by material things?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: He says, in the beginning of devotional service we may be attracted by the sublime quality of devotional service. But because we are very low born, our background is very degraded, then sometimes again we are attracted to degraded things. So how can we very quickly cut that and advance into the pure platform?

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That is that renowned thing by association, by association. When my system is under disease, sometimes if you’re taking medicine also I can’t help my physical health. We are recommended by the doctors to go to some, to change the atmosphere, where the, unconsciously some medicine type things will enter me through the air, through the food, the water, in this way my health will improve. Something like that.

The living association, that is the sādhu; by his company, by talks, by various other connections, even without any physical cooperation only living by the side, his mental or spiritual ātmā will emit some power outside. And I will imbibe that, my ātmā, and will improve. So sādhu and śāstra; if we try we may not understand fully, but still, the śāstra, the holy books, if I try to understand their meaning that will also contribute something to improve my health. In this way, our improvement depends on the environment, and that environment, sādhu and śāstra, always. The external help I need. That means I am in want. Then some external help is necessary to improve my condition. And which can help, I am wanting in something, and where it is, if I keep myself in his company then it will be transmitted in me and my condition will be improved. A sādhu - I am lacking in a particular form of energy. And that form of energy is where that sādhu’s company will help me, will give me more and more strength and health. It’s a general thing. Always to improve one’s own condition, the favourable environment is necessary. Favourable environment; that is the association of the living souls or sādhu, and if it is not possible, not available: then holy books I shall try to keep company of. In all cases this should be applied.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol.

Devotee: Mahārāja, Lord Caitanya has given us one verse, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ [Śikṣāṣṭakam, 1]; the process of cleaning the heart. We are preaching in the western countries, which is very contaminating. And sometimes it seems that we are cleaning and also picking up particles of dust. So it seems like we are cleaning but sometimes getting dirty again, and going on like this, cleaning and getting muddy, and cleaning and getting dirty. So if you can please explain how we can stay clean on the transcendental platform, aloof from any dirt. It’s very difficult.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What does he say; that when we take the Name it is cleansed and again it is covered with dirt?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Because when we do pracāra in our countries, so much bad atmosphere, that again we get dirty. But we want to know how to stay always clean at every time.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So that is, our connection with the higher, that must always be kept. It is possible that when I’m, suppose I’m going to nurse in an epidemic area I’m going to nurse, and the poison from the patients will come to attack me. So I must have some infective things. My good health and that the poison, the besili [?] may not enter. I must take precaution. I should get help who has sent me to relief work. I must get all those equipments and precautionary medicine and food that I may struggle in the epidemic area and can help them. Do you find, do you follow?

Devotee: Yes.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I must have my own protection from the higher. Then I shall venture to attend the relief work. Because it is quite natural that the besili [?] of the epidemic area, cholera, anything, the poisonous germs will attack me. I must have to take some precaution. And who has engaged to that area I must get such; must have some guarantee of such provision, and then I shall go. So that means vaiṣṇavera ānugatya, under the direction of a Vaiṣṇava, the direction of a sādhu, Guru, we shall take that risk. Not disconnected; then we shall die. The nāmāparādha, the asraddha-dhano nama-dhan [Gauḍīya Kaṇṭhahāra, 17.69-75, from Padma Purāṇa] Where is no śraddhā, no health, I’m going to give health there, so it is risky. So, I must have some strong backing so that I can work, I can help them; otherwise I’ll be lost. Ten offences against the Name, one is asraddha-dhano nama-dhan. One powerful, he can do the, take the risk. But who’s weak in health, who may be attacked by the germs, he must take protection enough, necessary protection, and then he will do, take the work. And who has got that, the supernatural Name, has got in him, His descent in his heart; that is enough. He can do, and no filth will come to cover it again. He’ll be able to drive away all the germs that will come to attack him. But if he’s not so, he must have help from the upper house. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Gaura Hari. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. What’s the time?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Nine thirty.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: I’d like to stop here.

Devotees: Jaya oṁ viṣṇu-pāda...

...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: No knew news from Māyāpur?

Parvat Mahārāja: Chaitanya Candra came and he has news.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is his news?

Chaitanya Candra: Your Divine Grace, the news is that they had a very strong meeting last night with the GBC, final meeting. And they made a proposal to Śrīla Tīrthapāda. They told him that he must renounce all connection with you, Your Divine Grace; including all tapes and pictures. And if he does not do that then he must leave ISKCON, renounce all his connection with ISKCON.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: They told Jayatīrtha Mahārāja, the GBC Board told, that unless he gives up his connection with Your Grace, and hearing your tapes and any connection, then he’ll be...

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Ousted.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: ...ousted. And those who have taken sannyāsa from Your Grace, they must give up that sannyāsa and they may apply again from other Gurus of ISKCON.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So they’re strict to the extreme. Yes. That shows their weakness. Such absolute power is not a good sign, for them.

Vyāsadeva has been accepted as jagat-guru, śaktyāveśa avatāra, Vyāsa, ____________ [?]

All the revealed scriptures of different types coming through him; still, he’s writing in his own hand what was his position just before the appearance of Bhāgavatam, and how his Gurudeva Nārada he’s chastising him. The jagat-guru, he also expressed that he’s in want. The śaktyāveśa avatāra especially for the scriptures; he’s also saying that, “I am finding in myself dissatisfaction, discontent, and I can’t account for the same why I’m so.”

Devaṛṣi Nārada came and told, “Yes. I know. And you have done wrong, diabolically. And you are to compensate. It is necessary for the divine arrangement that you are to compensate for that.”

So Infinite is of such character. To deal with Infinite, it is necessary that one who is going to deal with Infinite, he’ll always be conscious of his weakness. Then only will he be able to draw light from Infinite.

So it is deplorable to think themselves so much impertinent, ‘that we are masters of the whole.’ That is direct disqualification, for any institution that wants to work under Vaiṣṇava faith. Vaiṣṇava faith; from the beginning to the end, they’re conscious of their own defect and want, imperfection – from the beginning to the end. And to feel that, that is to attract the grace; it is not their own property. The property of Gurudeva, property of the Lord, and as much as we are given opportunity of dealing with that thing, we can do only that. Never say that we are masters of any position. Such assertion is just the opposite. Dambha; that is the opposite of dainya, humiliation, and dambha is opposite, ‘That I am master of the situation.’ That should not be thought. That is not the direction proper. Of course, everyone, everybody is free to decide for his own.

And the Vyāsadeva, Devaṛṣi Nārada, they have come to hear what Śukadeva Goswāmī says. Vyāsadeva Himself He taught Śukadeva, but still he has come, “How the delivery?” Because He’s always conscious of the infinite characteristic of the thing, of the knowledge; the knowledge revealed, that is of infinite character and none can know to its finish. He has again come with His own Guru, Vyāsadeva has come, Devaṛṣi Nārada has come, their disciples of disciples, how can represent, what sort of representation Śukadeva can deliver to the world? Eagerly they’ve come to hear. So the openness to infinite, that should be always observed; that characteristic, otherwise it is very dangerous.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Let them do it. Still it is in the protective side, pertaining to protection, but has not taken any aggressive attitude.

Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Nitāi Gaura Haribol. Vyāso vetti na vetti vā.

[aham vedmi śuko vetti, vyāso vetti na vetti vā / bhaktyā bhāgavataṁ grāhyaṁ na buddhyā na ca ṭīkayā]

[Lord Śiva says: “I know the true purpose of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; Śukadeva, the son and disciple of Vyāsadeva, knows it thoroughly, and the author of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Vyāsadeva may or may not know the meaning. The real purpose of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is very difficult to conceive and can only be known through bhakti.”] [Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 24.313]

We are out to deal with infinite. The primary sincere feeling will be of the fact that we are under, we are nothing. Only we can be an instrument by His liking. If He likes He can make instrument anyone and everyone.

mukam karoti vācālaṁ panghum langhāyate girīm / [yat kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī gurun dīna-tāranam]

[“I offer my respectful obeisances unto Mādhava, Who is the Personification of transcendental bliss. By His mercy, a blind man can see the stars in the sky, a lame man can cross mountains, and a dumb man can speak eloquent words of poetry.”] [Bhavārtha Dipikā, maṅgala stotram, 1]

Our knowledge must make progress towards that line of thinking. It is He, He’s everything, and He can make anything as His mediator, instrument. And as much time as He likes, everything at His disposal, His sweet will. We shall live always under His sweet will. We have come out to serve His sweet will, sweet autocracy; sweet but autocratic temperament, but sweet we are told. We are out for that. Our masters are of that nature, sweetness, love. That voluntarily they come to submit to the servitors, but no right can be asserted. No right can be asserted, all voluntary.

Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol.

Ha, ha. There are thousands of men from that side, and you are few, five, six, or ten, twenty five; and they’re so much afraid of you? Only the spirit of conquering, no attitude of give and take, learning, that we may have to learn something yet. They’ve finished their learning and they’re ready only to distribute their own hoarded wealth. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. All right, He’s there.

[About fifty seconds of Bengali spoken]

Jayatīrtha Mahārāja is wavering, or what is?

Chaitanya Candra: What he’s saying is that he may have to comply with them because of his responsibilities.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: That Vipramukhya got sannyāsa?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: On Gaura Pūrṇimā he’ll get.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So perhaps he’ll be set against Jayatīrtha Mahārāja there, maybe. Gaura Haribol. What about the case of our Brajendra-nandana?

Devotees: He’s here now.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: And our Bhāratī Mahārāja: special case?

Devotees: He did not come back, did not return yet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: But he should also disconnect; otherwise no room there?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Yes. And also Kanan Giri Mahārāja is there, they must disconnect.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Either accept them or reject; no middle policy.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: No black or white. Eventually it was to come.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: In one sense it is good. Completely separate _______________ [?]

Clear cut, independence, complete independence. Gaura Hari. _______________________ [?]

ISKCON does not belong to their committee, but ISKCON ultimately belongs to Swāmī Mahārāja. It represents Swāmī Mahārāja, in my consideration. I look to ISKCON with that light. So if a friend or if a child goes astray, the guardian may not be satisfied with that, until and unless comes back. Ha, ha, ha, ha. My relation, my connection through higher source; not only that, coming through Mahāprabhu - Prabhupāda [Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura] Prabhupāda and Mahāprabhu. Prabhupāda conceived the idea; Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and western preaching, they took the first attempt. So because I am connected permanently with them from the very conception I have got connection, so I can’t disconnect it completely. My good will must be there; cannot but be. Gaura Haribol. But it is also Divine Will. Let us wait and see what the things go on, how.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. At the same time I can’t give ditto to their decision because I have some connection with Gauḍīya Sampradāya, the God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Guru consciousness, Gaura consciousness, I can’t give it from their, from that position. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. Gaura Haribol. After all it is all for the best, we are to take that everything His grace, this attitude; whatever.

Śrīla Govinda Mahārāja: Jayatīrtha Mahārāja any decision?

Devotees: Not yet, not clearly. He says different things to different people.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: Not yet. And what about HaṁsadūtaMahārāja?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: They didn’t approach him. He kept quiet.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: ___________________ [?] He’s a hopeless case. Already they have separated him, so in fact he’s unapproachable. ________________ [?] Hare Kṛṣṇa. Who are they?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: What is your good name?

Devotee: Drūvanātha. I used to type for you in Vṛndāvana Mahārāja.

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: Oh yes, of course. Drūvanātha, our God-brother. Nistula and Drūvanātha.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: What is their connection?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: They’re both disciples of our Guru Mahārāja; our God-brothers.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: God-brothers. They come from, America?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: They both came from London. One from Bangladesh, and Drūvanātha’s from London.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: They’re connected with Jayatīrtha Mahārāja?

Aksayānanda Mahārāja: No.

End of 82.03.04.C_82.03.05.A

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