Vedic wisdom has begun to unfold to undertstand in its right way only after
Lord Krishna appeared on earth as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, manifesting in Him the
display of true love of a pure devotee. His
Holiness Bhakti caru Swami Maharaj explaines to the hundreds of exalted devotees, the mission of Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, excerpt in short. Listen audio here
Krishna has two types of expansions. One is Krishna Himself expands. They are known as svamsa. And the other expansions are Krishna's expansions as parts and parcels. Like, if you imagine the sun as Krishna then the rays of the sun, unlimited rays are coming out of the sun, but these rays are just a minute expansion of the sun. Qualitatively they are one but quantitatively they are different. So jivas - we, the living entities - are like those rays of the sun. If Krishna is the sun, then the jivas (the living entities) are the rays that are coming out of Krishna. Now can a ray be equal to the sun? Never. But qualitatively is there a difference between a ray and the sun? Now this is one type of expansion: the rays coming out of the sun. Now you can consider another kind of expansion of the sun. The sun becomes two. One sun became two suns, three suns, four suns, five suns, six suns, hundred suns, thousand suns, million suns. The same sun is expanding. They are known as svamsa expansions. So Krishna's incarnations are those expansions. The same person is becoming many. They are the incarnations. There are two types of expansions: incarnations and the living entities (avatara and jivas).
Now Krishna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is nondifference between Krishna and Vishnu. There is no difference between Krishna and Narsimha. There is no difference between Krishna and Varaha, Kurma etcetera. In this respect in Brahma Samhita an example has been given: just as one lamp lights up other lamps. To light the other lamps you need one lamp. Now once the lamp is lit, is there any difference between the first lamp and the lamp that has been lit? Same lamp, but there is the original lamp that lit the other lamps. So Krishna is that original lamp that lit the other lamps.
Now what is the
difference between Krishna's incarnations and Krishna? Okay, let's put it this
way: Krishna resides in Vrindavana and the incarnations of Krishna reside in
Vaikuntha. The difference between the incarnations and Krishna Himself is that
Krishna does not act like God. Krishna doesn't act like the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. Krishna acts like a cowherd boy. In Vaikuntha Narayana is the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. Narsimha is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
All these incarnations are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And all their
devotees who surround them, they know that they are the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and their attitude towards them is full of reference, respect. Like, if you know that this is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, how will you behave? How will you treat Him? How you'll
react towards Him? If you are a devotee, if you know who He is, what will be
your reaction? You will just surrender to Him, "Oh my Lord, please accept
my respectful obeisances." But if one is Hiranyakashipu then it is
different. If one is a demon then his attitude will be different. "Oh, who
are you?!" That is also possible, "Who are you?!" But that is
not a favorable relationship. That is called "vairi-bhava",
animosity, a relationship based on animosity, inimical. "You are not God!
I am God." Sometimes here people say, "I am God." But in reality
what they are? They are demons. The demons behave like that. Hiranykashipu says
that, "I am God. Hari is not God. Krishna is not God." Ravana said,
"Ramachandra is not God. I am God." Similarly, Sishupala and Dantavakra
and others they said, "Krishna is not God. I am God." But for a
devotee, what is the devotee's attitude? Will a devotee ever think that he is
God? His understanding is clear, "Krishna is God. I am His servant."
So in Vaikuntha that is the mood of everyone: "Krishna is God. Narayana is
God. I am His servant." So this relationship is called in servitorship,
like a servant accepting Him as the Supreme. But in Vrindavana there is another
kind of relationship. You know in Vrindavana, as I said, Krishna is not God. Krishna
is a cowherd boy. If you see a cowherd boy tending some cows in the field, will
you think he is God? Similarly, if we go to Vrindavana and we see Krishna we
won't think that He is God. But how will He feel? He will feel that He is very
close to you, because you are a devotee. You are coming across God, you have a natural affinity, you have natural attraction for God,
but God is not appearing like a God.
So in this way Krishna performed His pastimes. Now after performing His Vrindavana
pastimes Krishna considered that, "I revealed My Vrindavana pastimes, but
how will anybody ever enter into Vrindavana lila? When I was enacting the
pastimes, okay, some fortunate souls got a chance to develop a relationship
with Me directly." That of course didn't happen accidentally. It happened
by Krishna's arrangement. Like those who became qualified, those who, through
their devotion, developed their relationship with Krishna, they got a chance to
take birth in Vrindavana at that time. So this is how a living entity gets an
opportunity to enter into Krishna's pastimes. When you become almost perfect in
your spiritual relationship with Krishna then you get a chance to take birth in
Vrindavana when Krishna is going to perform His pastimes there or when Krishna
is performing His pastimes. For example, whoever developed this kind of
attachment to the Lord, like say for example, as I mentioned, the young girls'
love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a boyfriend. So some people
developed that relationship with Krishna in other ages. Like for example, when
Ramachandra was performing His pastimes in Treta Yuga and He went to Mithila,
the court of King Janaka, to win Sita Devi, then there were many other girls
also present there and seeing Lord Ramachandra how did they feel? Seeing Lord
Ramachandra they felt, "I wish I could have Him as my husband. I wish I
could have Him as my lover." They felt that way. It's a natural feeling.
You are seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead and they felt that way. Just
some young girls naturally felt that way. But Ramachandra's mood was in these
pastimes only one wife. [laughter] But Ramachandra recorded that they wanted
Him as their lover. What does Krishna do? Krishna fulfills His devotee's
desires. So they got a chance to take
birth in Vrindavana at that time and get Ramachandra - now as Krishna – as their lover.
You want to hear of another set of personalities who became attracted to Lord Ramachandra? Ramachandra banished Sita Devi. You know that? Because some persons said something not so nice about Ramachandra and Sita Devi. So Ramachandra banished Sita Devi. So Sita Devi was in the ashrama of Valmiki. But when a king performs a sacrifice then the queen has to be there. Without the queen a king cannot perform a sacrifice or spiritual activity. This the custom: the queen has to be there. Now Sita Devi is in the forest, in the ashrama of Valmiki, and Ramachandra decided not to marry more than one wife. So what Ramachandra did? He created "svarna Sitas", made Sitas out of gold. And those murtis of Sita was kept next to Him when He was performing these sacrifices. He performed many sacrifices, so there were many golden Sitas, svarna Sitas. So once these svarna Sitas approached Him, "You accepted as Your wife but you are not behaving with us as our husband." So Ramachandra said, "Not in these pastimes." So these svarna Sitas also became gopis in Vrindavana.
And then, as you know, there were the sages. They were experts of Upanishads. They were exponents of Upanishads. So those sages, mind you, they were lifelong brahmacharis but when they saw Lord Ramachandra, they felt as if they were women and Lord Ramachandra is the male. So they developed some kind of womanly attraction to Ramachandra. To them also Ramachandra said, "I am sorry, not in these pastimes." So they became gopis of Vrindavana.
So in this way when Krishna came, different personalities got an opportunity to take birth in Vrindavana and develop their relationship with Krishna as friends, as father and mother and as lover and beloved. But Krishna considered after withdrawing His pastimes, "Well, people will hear about My pastimes but how will they develop this relationship with Me?" And His main consideration was, "The devotees generally serve Me in the mellow of awe and reverence. In the mellow of awe and reverence, following vaidhi-bhakti, they worship Me." It is the scriptural injunction that one must serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the mood of awe and reverence. The Nectar of Devotion instructs
sruti-smriti-puranadi-
pancaratra-vidhim vina
aikantiki harer bhaktir
utpatayaiva kalpate
[Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.2.101]
If one renders devotional service, even though very, very sincerely but if it is not following the instructions, rules and regulations of the scriptures, like Sruti, Smriti, Purana etcetera, then it will simply create a disturbance. So how devotional service should be executed? By following the rules and regulations of the scriptures. If one does not, then it will simply create a disturbance. But Krishna considered, "Devotees will naturally serve Me following the rules and regulations of the scriptures, but by rendering devotional service in this way, when one achieves his perfection then he'll go to Vaikuntha." Because by practicing vaidhi-bhakti, when you achieve perfection you go to Vaikuntha. Then how will one go toVrindavana? You see, the problem is when you go to Vaikuntha, what will happen? You will get your eternal spiritual form. This form cannot be changed. So how will you then go to Vrindavana? Because you'll get stuck in Vaikuntha. Once you go to Vaikuntha, you'll get stuck there, because you'll get your eternal form there. That form will always be there. You can't change that form. So Vrindavana is beyond Vaikuntha. The Vrindavana mood is different from Vaikuntha. Therefore, once you go to Vaikuntha you cannot have access to Vrindavana. Therefore Krishna decided to come as a devotee and that is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Now when this devotee Supreme Personality of Godhead is served, following the rules and regulations of the scriptures or vaidhi-bhakti, then one will be able to enter into Vrindavana, into Krishna's pastimes. In simple words: if you serve Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, following the rules and regulations of the scriptures, meaning in dasya rasa (in the mellow of servitorship), then you will be related to Krishna in friendship, parental or conjugal relationship. So that is why Krishna came as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Appearing as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, what did He do? Appearing as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Krishna is giving Krishna-prema, direct Krishna-prema.
Yesterday this point came up that when one is involved in devotional service, then we should consider that he has already transcended the Karma Kanda section of the Vedas and Jnana Kanda section of the Vedas and yoga-siddhi. Do you remember that? We discussed it this way: just as in school, the ordinary educational system, first you go to primary school. Then you go to secondary school. Then you go to college. Then you go to university. Similarly, the spiritual development also takes place in this way. Generally first is Karma Kanda, then Jnana Kanda and then yoga and then comes bhakti. After passing those classes you come to the final stage of bhakti. So if we consider Karma Kanda as the primary school, Jnana Kanda as the secondary school, yoga as the college and then bhakti is the course in the university. First of all, to come to the university one has to go through all that: primary school, secondary school, college and then university. Now if somebody is in the university, shouldn't we consider that he already passed primary, secondary, college etcetera and has come to the university now? So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is directly giving us that university course, access to the university. No primary school. No secondary school. No college. Won't it be wonderful if we have an opportunity to go directly to the university? So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is creating that good fortune. Krishna bhakti is beyond yoga-siddhi. After achieving the spiritual perfection in yoga one comes to bhakti and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is giving it directly. So that means He is elevating us to the highest platform. That's why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has been considered to be very, very merciful, most munificent.
What is the
difference between Krishna and Vishnu? How many of you know the difference
between Krishna and Vishnu. Who is Vishnu? Vishnu is the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. Who is Narayana? Narayana also is the Supreme Personality ofGodhead. But who is Krishna? Krishna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead
from whom all the incarnations have become manifest. So Vishnu, Narayana,
Narsimha, Varaha, Kurma - they all are expansions of Krishna. But the thing is
there is no difference between Krishna and His expansions. This expansion takes
place like one to two, to four, to five, six, seven, eight, unlimited number. They
are expanding, but the same personality. Can Krishna do that?
Krishna has two types of expansions. One is Krishna Himself expands. They are known as svamsa. And the other expansions are Krishna's expansions as parts and parcels. Like, if you imagine the sun as Krishna then the rays of the sun, unlimited rays are coming out of the sun, but these rays are just a minute expansion of the sun. Qualitatively they are one but quantitatively they are different. So jivas - we, the living entities - are like those rays of the sun. If Krishna is the sun, then the jivas (the living entities) are the rays that are coming out of Krishna. Now can a ray be equal to the sun? Never. But qualitatively is there a difference between a ray and the sun? Now this is one type of expansion: the rays coming out of the sun. Now you can consider another kind of expansion of the sun. The sun becomes two. One sun became two suns, three suns, four suns, five suns, six suns, hundred suns, thousand suns, million suns. The same sun is expanding. They are known as svamsa expansions. So Krishna's incarnations are those expansions. The same person is becoming many. They are the incarnations. There are two types of expansions: incarnations and the living entities (avatara and jivas).
Now Krishna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is nondifference between Krishna and Vishnu. There is no difference between Krishna and Narsimha. There is no difference between Krishna and Varaha, Kurma etcetera. In this respect in Brahma Samhita an example has been given: just as one lamp lights up other lamps. To light the other lamps you need one lamp. Now once the lamp is lit, is there any difference between the first lamp and the lamp that has been lit? Same lamp, but there is the original lamp that lit the other lamps. So Krishna is that original lamp that lit the other lamps.
So that Krishna
eternally resides in Vrindavana, Goloka Vrindavana. And that Krishna comes once
in a day of Brahma. The other day we discussed about the duration of Brahma's
day. How many of you remember the duration of Brahma's day? Very good. I have a
beautiful audience. [laughs] So everybody, I can see, is listening very
carefully. So the duration of a day of Brahma is a chatur-yuga multiplied by a
thousand. Thousand chatur-yugas is a day of Brahma. So in a day of Brahma this
original Krishna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, comes just once.
The original Supreme Personality of
Godhead comes just once, almost at the midday, at about say eleven forty five, at late morning. So at that time the original Krishna comes.
Godhead comes just once, almost at the midday, at about say eleven forty five, at late morning. So at that time the original Krishna comes.
Now what is the
difference between Krishna's incarnations and Krishna? Okay, let's put it this
way: Krishna resides in Vrindavana and the incarnations of Krishna reside in
Vaikuntha. The difference between the incarnations and Krishna Himself is that
Krishna does not act like God. Krishna doesn't act like the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. Krishna acts like a cowherd boy. In Vaikuntha Narayana is the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. Narsimha is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
All these incarnations are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And all their
devotees who surround them, they know that they are the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and their attitude towards them is full of reference, respect. Like, if you know that this is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, how will you behave? How will you treat Him? How you'll
react towards Him? If you are a devotee, if you know who He is, what will be
your reaction? You will just surrender to Him, "Oh my Lord, please accept
my respectful obeisances." But if one is Hiranyakashipu then it is
different. If one is a demon then his attitude will be different. "Oh, who
are you?!" That is also possible, "Who are you?!" But that is
not a favorable relationship. That is called "vairi-bhava",
animosity, a relationship based on animosity, inimical. "You are not God!
I am God." Sometimes here people say, "I am God." But in reality
what they are? They are demons. The demons behave like that. Hiranykashipu says
that, "I am God. Hari is not God. Krishna is not God." Ravana said,
"Ramachandra is not God. I am God." Similarly, Sishupala and Dantavakra
and others they said, "Krishna is not God. I am God." But for a
devotee, what is the devotee's attitude? Will a devotee ever think that he is
God? His understanding is clear, "Krishna is God. I am His servant."
So in Vaikuntha that is the mood of everyone: "Krishna is God. Narayana is
God. I am His servant." So this relationship is called in servitorship,
like a servant accepting Him as the Supreme. But in Vrindavana there is another
kind of relationship. You know in Vrindavana, as I said, Krishna is not God. Krishna
is a cowherd boy. If you see a cowherd boy tending some cows in the field, will
you think he is God? Similarly, if we go to Vrindavana and we see Krishna we
won't think that He is God. But how will He feel? He will feel that He is very
close to you, because you are a devotee. You are coming across God, you have a natural affinity, you have natural attraction for God,
but God is not appearing like a God.
Therefore, there [in
Vrindavana] you are having a natural kind of prerogative, a special opportunity
to develop three very special relationships with Him. Those three relationships
are known as friendship, parental and conjugal. If you know that Krishna is
God, then could you develop these relationships with Him? No. So in order to
enable the living entities to develop these three special relationships with
Him, Krishna in Vrindavana made everybody forget that He is God through His
behavior. He is not acting like God! He is acting just like a cowherd boy, so
that they can develop these three relationships with Him. And mind you, that is
the topmost region of the spiritual sky. The highest region of the spiritual world
is Vrindavana.
So that Krishna of Vrindavana comes once in a day of Brahma and He brings Vrindavana down here. And enacting His pastimes Krishna enables His devotees to develop these three relationships with Him. So when Krishna was here five thousand years ago and if you were in Vrindavana at that time then you could get an opportunity to get Krishna as your friend or treat Krishna as your child. Or if you were a girl then you could have a love affair with Krishna. So that is the specialty of Krishna's Vrindavana pastimes.
So that Krishna of Vrindavana comes once in a day of Brahma and He brings Vrindavana down here. And enacting His pastimes Krishna enables His devotees to develop these three relationships with Him. So when Krishna was here five thousand years ago and if you were in Vrindavana at that time then you could get an opportunity to get Krishna as your friend or treat Krishna as your child. Or if you were a girl then you could have a love affair with Krishna. So that is the specialty of Krishna's Vrindavana pastimes.
So in this way Krishna performed His pastimes. Now after performing His Vrindavana
pastimes Krishna considered that, "I revealed My Vrindavana pastimes, but
how will anybody ever enter into Vrindavana lila? When I was enacting the
pastimes, okay, some fortunate souls got a chance to develop a relationship
with Me directly." That of course didn't happen accidentally. It happened
by Krishna's arrangement. Like those who became qualified, those who, through
their devotion, developed their relationship with Krishna, they got a chance to
take birth in Vrindavana at that time. So this is how a living entity gets an
opportunity to enter into Krishna's pastimes. When you become almost perfect in
your spiritual relationship with Krishna then you get a chance to take birth in
Vrindavana when Krishna is going to perform His pastimes there or when Krishna
is performing His pastimes. For example, whoever developed this kind of
attachment to the Lord, like say for example, as I mentioned, the young girls'
love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a boyfriend. So some people
developed that relationship with Krishna in other ages. Like for example, when
Ramachandra was performing His pastimes in Treta Yuga and He went to Mithila,
the court of King Janaka, to win Sita Devi, then there were many other girls
also present there and seeing Lord Ramachandra how did they feel? Seeing Lord
Ramachandra they felt, "I wish I could have Him as my husband. I wish I
could have Him as my lover." They felt that way. It's a natural feeling.
You are seeing the Supreme Personality of Godhead and they felt that way. Just
some young girls naturally felt that way. But Ramachandra's mood was in these
pastimes only one wife. [laughter] But Ramachandra recorded that they wanted
Him as their lover. What does Krishna do? Krishna fulfills His devotee's
desires. So they got a chance to takebirth in Vrindavana at that time and get Ramachandra - now as Krishna – as their lover.
You want to hear of another set of personalities who became attracted to Lord Ramachandra? Ramachandra banished Sita Devi. You know that? Because some persons said something not so nice about Ramachandra and Sita Devi. So Ramachandra banished Sita Devi. So Sita Devi was in the ashrama of Valmiki. But when a king performs a sacrifice then the queen has to be there. Without the queen a king cannot perform a sacrifice or spiritual activity. This the custom: the queen has to be there. Now Sita Devi is in the forest, in the ashrama of Valmiki, and Ramachandra decided not to marry more than one wife. So what Ramachandra did? He created "svarna Sitas", made Sitas out of gold. And those murtis of Sita was kept next to Him when He was performing these sacrifices. He performed many sacrifices, so there were many golden Sitas, svarna Sitas. So once these svarna Sitas approached Him, "You accepted as Your wife but you are not behaving with us as our husband." So Ramachandra said, "Not in these pastimes." So these svarna Sitas also became gopis in Vrindavana.
And then, as you know, there were the sages. They were experts of Upanishads. They were exponents of Upanishads. So those sages, mind you, they were lifelong brahmacharis but when they saw Lord Ramachandra, they felt as if they were women and Lord Ramachandra is the male. So they developed some kind of womanly attraction to Ramachandra. To them also Ramachandra said, "I am sorry, not in these pastimes." So they became gopis of Vrindavana.
So in this way when Krishna came, different personalities got an opportunity to take birth in Vrindavana and develop their relationship with Krishna as friends, as father and mother and as lover and beloved. But Krishna considered after withdrawing His pastimes, "Well, people will hear about My pastimes but how will they develop this relationship with Me?" And His main consideration was, "The devotees generally serve Me in the mellow of awe and reverence. In the mellow of awe and reverence, following vaidhi-bhakti, they worship Me." It is the scriptural injunction that one must serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the mood of awe and reverence. The Nectar of Devotion instructs
sruti-smriti-puranadi-
pancaratra-vidhim vina
aikantiki harer bhaktir
utpatayaiva kalpate
[Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, 1.2.101]
If one renders devotional service, even though very, very sincerely but if it is not following the instructions, rules and regulations of the scriptures, like Sruti, Smriti, Purana etcetera, then it will simply create a disturbance. So how devotional service should be executed? By following the rules and regulations of the scriptures. If one does not, then it will simply create a disturbance. But Krishna considered, "Devotees will naturally serve Me following the rules and regulations of the scriptures, but by rendering devotional service in this way, when one achieves his perfection then he'll go to Vaikuntha." Because by practicing vaidhi-bhakti, when you achieve perfection you go to Vaikuntha. Then how will one go toVrindavana? You see, the problem is when you go to Vaikuntha, what will happen? You will get your eternal spiritual form. This form cannot be changed. So how will you then go to Vrindavana? Because you'll get stuck in Vaikuntha. Once you go to Vaikuntha, you'll get stuck there, because you'll get your eternal form there. That form will always be there. You can't change that form. So Vrindavana is beyond Vaikuntha. The Vrindavana mood is different from Vaikuntha. Therefore, once you go to Vaikuntha you cannot have access to Vrindavana. Therefore Krishna decided to come as a devotee and that is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Now when this devotee Supreme Personality of Godhead is served, following the rules and regulations of the scriptures or vaidhi-bhakti, then one will be able to enter into Vrindavana, into Krishna's pastimes. In simple words: if you serve Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, following the rules and regulations of the scriptures, meaning in dasya rasa (in the mellow of servitorship), then you will be related to Krishna in friendship, parental or conjugal relationship. So that is why Krishna came as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Appearing as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, what did He do? Appearing as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Krishna is giving Krishna-prema, direct Krishna-prema.
Yesterday this point came up that when one is involved in devotional service, then we should consider that he has already transcended the Karma Kanda section of the Vedas and Jnana Kanda section of the Vedas and yoga-siddhi. Do you remember that? We discussed it this way: just as in school, the ordinary educational system, first you go to primary school. Then you go to secondary school. Then you go to college. Then you go to university. Similarly, the spiritual development also takes place in this way. Generally first is Karma Kanda, then Jnana Kanda and then yoga and then comes bhakti. After passing those classes you come to the final stage of bhakti. So if we consider Karma Kanda as the primary school, Jnana Kanda as the secondary school, yoga as the college and then bhakti is the course in the university. First of all, to come to the university one has to go through all that: primary school, secondary school, college and then university. Now if somebody is in the university, shouldn't we consider that he already passed primary, secondary, college etcetera and has come to the university now? So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is directly giving us that university course, access to the university. No primary school. No secondary school. No college. Won't it be wonderful if we have an opportunity to go directly to the university? So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is creating that good fortune. Krishna bhakti is beyond yoga-siddhi. After achieving the spiritual perfection in yoga one comes to bhakti and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is giving it directly. So that means He is elevating us to the highest platform. That's why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has been considered to be very, very merciful, most munificent.
 |
| Deities of Naamhat Boxtel |
Nowadays so many boys and girls are trying to get admitted into IIT, and if somebody
comes and says, "Okay, it doesn't matter what your qualification is -
direct admission to IIT!" How will you feel about that person? Won't you say
that he is very kind? He is very merciful? So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is like
that. Now usually nobody can do that. Even the vice-chancellor of IIT cannot
do that. Even the chairman or whoever is the highest person in IIT cannot do
that. But the Supreme Personality of Godhead can do that! He is able to do anything He wants and nobody can challenge Him. Nobody can question,
"Why are You doing this?" If anybody questions then the king's men will
grab him by the neck and throw him out! "Who are you to question the activity
of the king?"
So that is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's special mercy. In order to bestow this mercy upon the living entities Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has come. You see, it is so rare to have access to Krishna's Vrindavana pastimes. Did you understand that? How rare it is to have access to Krishna's Vrindavana pastimes? Just to have access to Krishna's Vrindavana pastimes one has to be so qualified. The exponents of the Upanishads were one set of people, the sages of Dandakaranya were another set of people and, as I mentioned, the
damsels of Mithila, like Sita Devi's friends, they were such personalities. Or Prishni and Sutapa, they performed such severe austerities. And Drona and Dhara. Drona and Dhara, husband and wife, they wanted to have the Supreme Personality of Godhead as their son and they performed such severe austerities for thousands of years and as a result of that they got the position of Nanda Maharaja and Yashoda Mayi.
But for us what is happening? Do we have to perform any such austerities to enter into Krishna's pastimes? What is our situation? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy. Take it! Okay, you want to enter into Krishna's pastimes? Chant the Holy Name of the Lord offencelessly. The rest will automatically happen. Become engaged in the sankirtana movement, you'll have access. So can you imagine what kind of good fortune Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is creating for us? So that is the special prerogative. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came and in Sikshastakam He gave this very, very wonderful process in just eight verses. How many of you know these eight verses of Sikshastakam? Wonderful! Very good.
Through this Sikshastakam, what is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu telling us? He is telling us how we can develop our loving relationship with Krishna simply by chanting the Holy Name of the Lord. The Supreme Personality of Godhead bestowed His special mercy in the form of the Holy Name and through the process of sankirtana. Just follow this process and you will achieve your ultimate perfection.
So this is the wonderful gift of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to us. And you all have come to this Dhama of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, which is known as Audarya Dhama. Navadvipa Dhama is known as Audarya Dhama. Audarya means? Does this word come in Hindi, audarya? [audience: udara] Udara. [In Hindi:] Udara se ye shabd ati hai, audarya. Ye jo udara bhava jo hai, us bhava ko audarya kaha jata hai. [Meaning: so audarya comes from the word udara. It is this udara mood that is known as the audarya mood] Matlab bare mahaan, bare udara; [meaning] very magnanimous, very munificent. So that is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mood; so merciful. Come! Take Krishna-prema! In one hand we are so fallen in the age of Kali, our condition is so miserable, but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying, "Come, take the greatest mercy, greatest spiritual benefit of being elevated to Goloka Vrindavana."
This is the place where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is distributing this wonderful opportunity. Are you all taking full advantage of this Dhama, Navadvipa Dhama? Which place did you all go to today? [devotees: Jagannatha temple] Jagannatha temple! Oh, wonderful! Did you take prasada there? Okay, now your life is perfect. [laughter] Yes, Jagannatha is famous for His prasada. Jagannatha is also very munificent, very magnanimous, and He is distributing His prasada.
Thank you all very much! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Does anybody have any question?
Today's topic, was it clear? Did you understand? It was a little complex
topic, but I tried to present it as clearly as possible.
You see, when you are on the earth planet, when you are in the material nature then you are open to any spiritual identity. You get it? From Vaikuntha you cannot change your spiritual identity, but from the earth planet, whatever may be your spiritual identity - do you know what it is? Therefore you are open to any identity. You get it? From here you can go to Brahmajyoti, you can go to Vaikuntha or you can go to Vrindavana. Where do you want to go?
Devotee: Goloka Vrindavana.
BCS: Goloka Vrindavana. Thank you!
Devotee: Guru Maharaja, what is the svarupa siddhi?
When you practice spiritual life, it will happen. Whatever your svarupa is will become manifest. Do you have your svarupa now? Say for example, a tiny spark, does it have any shape? No. So our spiritual identity is like a tiny spark, spiritual spark. We lost our spiritual identity. But as we become engaged in devotional service, our spiritual shape will become manifest according to our service. So that is
what will happen: as you become engaged in spiritual life, devotional service, your spiritual shape, spiritual form will become manifest.
So that is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's special mercy. In order to bestow this mercy upon the living entities Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has come. You see, it is so rare to have access to Krishna's Vrindavana pastimes. Did you understand that? How rare it is to have access to Krishna's Vrindavana pastimes? Just to have access to Krishna's Vrindavana pastimes one has to be so qualified. The exponents of the Upanishads were one set of people, the sages of Dandakaranya were another set of people and, as I mentioned, the
damsels of Mithila, like Sita Devi's friends, they were such personalities. Or Prishni and Sutapa, they performed such severe austerities. And Drona and Dhara. Drona and Dhara, husband and wife, they wanted to have the Supreme Personality of Godhead as their son and they performed such severe austerities for thousands of years and as a result of that they got the position of Nanda Maharaja and Yashoda Mayi.
But for us what is happening? Do we have to perform any such austerities to enter into Krishna's pastimes? What is our situation? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy. Take it! Okay, you want to enter into Krishna's pastimes? Chant the Holy Name of the Lord offencelessly. The rest will automatically happen. Become engaged in the sankirtana movement, you'll have access. So can you imagine what kind of good fortune Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is creating for us? So that is the special prerogative. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came and in Sikshastakam He gave this very, very wonderful process in just eight verses. How many of you know these eight verses of Sikshastakam? Wonderful! Very good.
Through this Sikshastakam, what is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu telling us? He is telling us how we can develop our loving relationship with Krishna simply by chanting the Holy Name of the Lord. The Supreme Personality of Godhead bestowed His special mercy in the form of the Holy Name and through the process of sankirtana. Just follow this process and you will achieve your ultimate perfection.
So this is the wonderful gift of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to us. And you all have come to this Dhama of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, which is known as Audarya Dhama. Navadvipa Dhama is known as Audarya Dhama. Audarya means? Does this word come in Hindi, audarya? [audience: udara] Udara. [In Hindi:] Udara se ye shabd ati hai, audarya. Ye jo udara bhava jo hai, us bhava ko audarya kaha jata hai. [Meaning: so audarya comes from the word udara. It is this udara mood that is known as the audarya mood] Matlab bare mahaan, bare udara; [meaning] very magnanimous, very munificent. So that is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mood; so merciful. Come! Take Krishna-prema! In one hand we are so fallen in the age of Kali, our condition is so miserable, but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying, "Come, take the greatest mercy, greatest spiritual benefit of being elevated to Goloka Vrindavana."
This is the place where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is distributing this wonderful opportunity. Are you all taking full advantage of this Dhama, Navadvipa Dhama? Which place did you all go to today? [devotees: Jagannatha temple] Jagannatha temple! Oh, wonderful! Did you take prasada there? Okay, now your life is perfect. [laughter] Yes, Jagannatha is famous for His prasada. Jagannatha is also very munificent, very magnanimous, and He is distributing His prasada.
Thank you all very much! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Does anybody have any question?
Today's topic, was it clear? Did you understand? It was a little complex
topic, but I tried to present it as clearly as possible.
You see, when you are on the earth planet, when you are in the material nature then you are open to any spiritual identity. You get it? From Vaikuntha you cannot change your spiritual identity, but from the earth planet, whatever may be your spiritual identity - do you know what it is? Therefore you are open to any identity. You get it? From here you can go to Brahmajyoti, you can go to Vaikuntha or you can go to Vrindavana. Where do you want to go?
Devotee: Goloka Vrindavana.
BCS: Goloka Vrindavana. Thank you!
Devotee: Guru Maharaja, what is the svarupa siddhi?
When you practice spiritual life, it will happen. Whatever your svarupa is will become manifest. Do you have your svarupa now? Say for example, a tiny spark, does it have any shape? No. So our spiritual identity is like a tiny spark, spiritual spark. We lost our spiritual identity. But as we become engaged in devotional service, our spiritual shape will become manifest according to our service. So that is
what will happen: as you become engaged in spiritual life, devotional service, your spiritual shape, spiritual form will become manifest.
Continues..
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