PLEASE NOTE, *THIS DOCUMENT IS AT DRAFT (NOT PERFECT) STAGE. IT IS RECOMMENDED TO READ WITH GM’S VIDEO IN BACKGROUND. *
Mukham karoti vacalam pangum langayate girim
Yat kripa tam aham vande sri gurum dina tarinam
Paramananda Madhavam Sri Caitanya Isvaram
So I will give a short class and then questions and answers. You can sent your questions on Facebook too. So today I was very fortunate to visit the Chennai Radha Krsna temple where I saw Nitai Gaura, Jagannath, Baladev, Subadra and Sudarshana cakra, and in the centre altar Radha Krsna and Lalita and Visaka. Also the utsava murti of Rukmini Krsna and Satyabhama and also with Prabhupada watching the deities. There was also a big crowd for the Sunday feast. Also in the Shuddha Satva restaurant there was a special meeting of the congregation about the TOVP – Temple Of Vedic Planetarium. And so they are asking for sponsors to the various parts of the temple. Some of the large donors were sick and not present today. So I spoke for a short time in that meeting. It was nice to see all the devotees in Chennai. I spent about one year here in Chennai, in this flat provided by Ajita Gopinath and Radha Rajeswari devi dasi. So I was in Chennai longer than any other place after Mayapur. So the Chennai devotees have been very kind to me. In fact, as soon as I came, some of the night guard staff came up for prasadam! They knew that this maharaj gives prasadam! In fact, in the airports in India, they know, that, oh, this maharaj gives prasadam, so they come up. Similarly, in Kolkata and the cities I frequently go, they come. So SP said that we should give out prasadam and people in India, they like prasadam. So we had a Ratha Yatra here yesterday and about 800 to 1000 residents who participated. So they pulled the ratha and took prasadam and thus their lives were blessed. So this human form of life is meant actually for serving Krsna to perform bhakti-yoga and go back to Godhead. But instead they are all involved in material existence and we suffer and enjoy according to our karma. Maybe our previous karma was such that we were made to suffer. So we have to tolerate the good and the bad. And focus on our real work which is to serve Krsna. It is not important, these material situations. What is important is that in spite of all these different situations, we advance in our Krsna consciousness. So there is bound to be some happiness and some sadness. The rishis and wise people said that society, friendship and love of the material world has some happiness. But that happiness is minute. And there is a lot of sadness. Krsna calls this world as dukhaalayam, a place of sadness and temporary. So the sadness is temporary but some happiness, some sadness. So if we can develop our Krsna consciousness, we can always be happy and we can tolerate all these situations that would come up. We know that happiness is temporary and also that sadness is also temporary. We try to absorb in Krsna consciousness. Visya chadiya sei rase mojiya – give up our expectation of happiness in the material world. It may come sometimes, all the time it doesn’t come. That is depending on our karma. But we can always get spiritual bliss! Sei rase mojiya – get absorbed in the transcendental mellow of Krsna leela. Be absorbed in Lord Caitanya’s and Lord Nityananda’s pastimes. Nitai Gaur met each other first time, Nitai was calling out, where is My Kanhai Gopal? Where is My Kanhai Gopal? He was in such ecstasy. One devotee was chanting and telling the pastime of Krsna. He jumped into the air, Nitai jumped! He shouted Haribol so loud that the devotees thought their ear drums would burst. Sound went to the end of the universe, to the higher planets. Indra must have been shocked to hear, what is that sound? So sometimes Nitai he fell on the ground in ecstasy and Lord Caitanya took His head on His lap. Gadadhara knew that Lord Caitanya was Vasudeva, Lord Krsna, He knew that Nitai was Balarama, the source of Ananta. He knew that Anantadeva held up the Lord as Narayana, as Mahavishnu. But here He saw the Lord was holding up Nitai. He was seeing with wonder, how the positions had changed. How the Lord was holding up Anantadeva! Ha! So these pastimes of Nitai and Gaura and pastimes of Krsna and Balarama are very special. In the pastimes, the Lord does some amazing things. Like when Lord Krsna went to Kurukshetra for the solar eclipse, He took the service of washing the feet of all the visiting kings. He, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was washing the feet! Ha! So Krsna would do some amazing things. That is the nature of His pastimes. That He is always the Supreme Lord, He is always worshipped as the Supreme Lord, but sometimes He enjoys being in a subordinate position, that is His pastime. So we should develop our service attitude to Krsna who is such a wonderful Lord! And He says that He reciprocates with His devotees. ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tataiva bhajamyaham. So Krsna reciprocates with His devotees and He reciprocates in the best way. When Krsna was taking the flat rice of Sudama Vipra, He took once, He took twice and He was going to take it three times, but Rukmini stopped him and She said, if You take three times I will not be able to pay him. Actually She is the source of Mahalaksmi and She is also Laksmi herself. One time Vipra Sudama had nothing and so he begged and got flat rice. So Krsna took one time, She had to give him all kinds of materiall blessings, two times She should give almost equal to Krsna, but if He took three times then She may have to give more than Krsna and that was not possible. So that is why She stopped Him. Krsna’s pastimes are filled with these very special circumstances. When Yasoda was trying to tie up Krsna in the special Kartik month or Damodara pastime, no matter how long she brought the rope it was always two fingers short. Why two fingers? There was a reason. So all His pastimes had some secret things. There was a meaning why every time two fingers short. Krsna cannot be tied up but He is only tied up because of His devotees’ desire and certainly it is His own free will, certainly if He wants to be tied up. So finally He allowed Yasoda to tie Him up. Then He dragged the mortar and brought down the two Arjuna trees, and the brothers, sons of Kubera, were liberated from their curse, Nalakuvara and Manigriva. So like this Krsna’s pastimes have unlimited significance. So the devotees of Lord Caitanya absorbed in the rasa of Krsna’s pastimes. Sei rase mojiya, mukhe bolo.. We also chant with the mouth the holy names of Krsna, Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. So today I mentioned how in Chennai there is a crisis of water. So Srila Prabhupada, he chanted Hare Krsna in Hyderabad, when there was a three year drought in Andhra Pradesh. So after his chanting the rain came. So to end the water crisis in Chennai, everybody should chant Harek. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. So get all the people to chant. Questions.
Question: Dinanath Gurudas: Practices like Taoist meditation, kundalini yoga, tantric yoga, is being practiced within the frame of the regulative principles. Is this acceptable?
Guru maharaj: One of the principles is that everything we do, is favorable to Vasudeva. So if these things you are mentioning are favorable to Lord Krsna, then it is alright. But if it detaches our focus from Krsna to something else, then it is not so good. I don’t know what these different processes entail. But what we do in terms of aratis and different programs is a kind of tantra. Tan means body and tra means, to deliver. To use the body in Krsna’s service is tantra. Mantra man means mind and tra means deliver. So if we chant the holy names it delivers our consciousness. But some people use tantra, they worship other deities or demigods, in order to get some magical powers. They use that in a negative way. Those kinds of things are not very useful for devotional service. We should use the vaisnava tantra and not the other tantras.
Question: Can girls live without marriage?
Guru maharaj: Generally, it is recommended for girls to get married. We don’t force anyone to do anything. If they don’t want to get married, we cannot force them. But generally, marriage is recommended.
Question: In Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada says that we should meditate and become deeply absorbed in the names, forms and qualities of the Lord. Can we do that with His pure devotees as well? Haridhwani mataji from New Talavan.
Guru maharaj: Since a pure devotee is fully submerged in devotional service to Krsna, if you are absorbed in that aspect of the devotee, then there is no difference.
Question: Ramya Vrndavana devi dasi: The doctors you desired that I should preach to are quite resistant initially and try to understand with mundane intelligence but once they learn, they become steady devotees. So how to inspire those who are struggling to accept on their mental platform?
Guru maharaj: Srila Prabhupada said that to make a devotee one gives buckets of blood. So as a doctor, you know how much blood we need! By your prayers to Krsna, by your intense desire to help the conditioned doctors to become liberated and very patiently hearing them and answering all their questions, many of them should accept. There are four kinds of people that don’t accept. So if someone falls in that category, then it is very tough to make them devotees. maya apaharita gyana – someone whose intelligence has stolen by maya – but even these tough nuts can be cracked, but it is not easy! Special mercy! Sometimes taking prasadam, sometimes reading books, sometimes special association, you don’t know what will reach these people. So people that are easily brought are of four types – those who are in difficulty, economic needs, inquisitive and wise.
Question: Due to preaching activities it is difficult to hear from senior vaisnavas, association of senior vaisnavas becomes tough sometimes. My humble question is that, for that situation, what should we do? Kindly advise. Abirami Nimai das. Tribal preacher.
Guru maharaj: I don’t understand this question whether we don’t get enough association of vaisnavas or we get it and it is difficult to tolerate the preaching of senior devotees. If we don’t get much association, that is why I try to go on Facebook to give association. As far as tribal preaching, it is a very important aspect of our Krsna conscious outreach and as far as having senior devotee association, I don’t really understand what is the difficulty? If they are having some confusion because of some preaching of a senior devotee, you can clarify with their spiritual master or with some siksha guru, and have it clarified.
Question: Sometimes we have to make our family members go through inconveniences for the higher purpose of serving guru and Krsna. Does Krsna bless them also in the process? Since they are also undergoing some sacrifice, although not directly practicing devotion?
Guru maharaj: I don’t know which family members you are referring to and what kinds of austerities they are going through. Like if you are doing Nirjala Ekadasi, it is not that you make your family members do Nirjala! You can feed them and fast yourself. It is not that you are feeding some advanced devotee and that afterwards your wife cannot take the prasad. I don’t know what austerity you are talking about. If you are saying that you are offering prasadam and they have to wait ten minutes to offer, that kind of austerity they have to do. Last question.
Question: Could you please tell me how one can know if he or she is under the protection of the Holy Name? When Kala sarpa dosha or ketu dosha has been active in their birth chart. I do not know how to express. My only hope is you guru maharaj. Yadurani devi dasi, Bengaluru.
Guru maharaj: Why not? If you are chanting they you are getting some shelter. Even if things happen negatively, you think that it would be much worse if I wasn’t chanting. So like by chanting, the bad things are reduced. But if you doubt it, how do you know, how bad it would be? We don’t want you to stop chanting and experiment! Ha! Just put on the TV and watch the Aljazeera News. So what is going on Syria and Iraq. They are not chanting the holy names, so see the difficulties they are going through. Chant Hare Krsna and be happy. Don’t worry about whether you are getting full shelter or not. Just chant Hare Krsna and go back home back to Godhead. Haribol!
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
14 July 2019