Nama Om Vishnu paadaaya..
Hari Haraya Naama Krishna …
Jaya Radha Madhava…
Mukham karoti…
Hare Krishna! So I went last night to Kolkata, and this morning I met my doctor from Chennai. I wanted him to come to Mayapur, but he said he was too busy. He had to go from Kolkata to Delhi to do some training, and then fly back to Chennai. So he said, maybe next time he will try on the Vyasa puja time So he gave me an order I have to drink more water, 2 ½ liters a day and he also said, I should do everything normal. He said, you are not sick anymore! Haribol! But then I said, can I go travelling? He said not for one year, from August last year. Although he says everything is normal, my normal was travelling!! Ha! He said you can travel around India, maybe in nearby countries, Malaysia, Gulf, Bangladesh! Anybody here from Bangladesh? Haribol! Sonar Bangla! How many want me to stay in Mayapur? Haribol! Less. How many want me to go to Bangladesh? Mayapur? Bangladesh? South America? Russia? China? Anyway so I got back in time for the GBC meeting at the tail end and so it is very late. I think I will take some questions. Is Shanta Gopi here? Is Dipshika or Preeti here? Two girls were trained by Shanta Gopi devi dasi in IT. She also taught them KC. They are now chanting 16 rounds and Dipshika from Patna, she had memorized my song Jodi Prabhupad na hoito tobe ki hoito. How many know it by heart here? Very few. (6). So that was quite inspiring to see a new devotee who has memorized this Prabhupad song. Bangla, how many of you know this Prabhupad song by heart? So are there any questions? Is Gopa Gopika here? No. She was discharged from hospital and came back to Mayapur this morning. She is staying in one of our nurses house, Prayojana dd. She thanks everyone for helping her. Doctors thought she may breathe her last, but quick action and she is alright now. But you should tell your friends if they come to India better they should get travel insurance. It is relatively cheap and if you end up in hospital, the insurance pays. I have travel ins when I travel. When I went to hospital in Australia and they paid. Questions?
Question: Hare Krishna guru maharaj: How can one gain the quality of the Shikshashtakam, the trnad api verse, in devotional life? No name
Guru maharaj: Send your names with questions. Ha! That is how you get humility. Anyway, at first you may practice the Shikshashtakam without much realization. But after a while, when we start to realize by offering respect to others and not expecting any respect for yourself, this you will realize that this is a very effective way to make friends. And if you associate with people who are humble, that is also good. I was in one place where a person said, I AM HUMBLE, I am humble, YOU ARE NOT HUMBLE, I AM HUMBLE. I never heard anyone yelling out I am humble. Ha! I AM NOT HUMBLE! Ha! Ha!
Devotees on line names were read by repeater.
Question: Adi Satvika devi dasi: Is listening to a bona fide class equals to reading Prabhupad books?
Guru maharaj: We should listen to the classes. We should also read Prabhupad books. It is not or, it is both. Reading Prabhupad books gives one association with Srila Prabhupad. Hearing a bona fide class may have some relevant application for you. Prabhupad said, we should attend class and he also said, we also should read his books. Whether or not it is the same, the point is we should do both. Haribol!
Question: Dear Guru maharaj, Dandavat Pranam: How can one hold the mercy of Srila Prabhupad? Sharanagati Gaura das
Guru maharaj: How can one hold the mercy of Prabhupad? Cling on to it! Don’t let it go! Now, if we get the mercy then we should cherish that. We should protect it, from losing it. There was some purport by an acharya in our line, I forget who, maybe it is Prabhupad, but he was saying that maya comes to us in different forms. Like, a pickpocket, a thief, a robber, a wild animal. A pickpocket tries to take away your valuable and you don’t know till it is gone. Like that you associate with somebody, and they talk gradually about maya things, and that is like they are picking your pocket. Or someone is directly offending Krishna is like armed robbery! Choo Choo Choo! Different ways that maya can get you. But you should be very protective of your mercy! Hare Krishna!
Question: How can I chant feelingly? Himanshu, Your aspiring servant.
GM: Himanshu! Aashirwaad. Have you read the Nectar Of Devotion? Read the 6th chapter. That explains how one starts chanting on the vidhi marg, following the rules and regulations. Then gradually following the vidhi marg, one becomes spontaneous in their service, and so that is called Raaganuga. From that one reaches the stage of bhava, where you feel ecstasy in service of Krishna. And then the chanting will be more feelingly. So you can also chant in front of the deities, or in front of Tulasi plant. In this way devotional service is a gradual process. And eventually, you should have more and more feeling for the Lord and His holy name. Haribol!
Question: What should be one’s mood while doing service during parikrama? Ramanipati das
Guru maharaj: You see Lord Caitanya, He married Lakshmi Priya, she was Sridevi and then He married Vishnu Priya, she was Bhu devi. In holy dham she is Niladevi. So you are walking on Lakshmi, Niladevi. You should be very, very, very, very devotional and the dham is an expansion from the spiritual world. Like an embassy is representative of a country so, here the holy dham is an extension of the spiritual world. So with utmost respect and devotion for the holy dham, we are entering the dham, with a service attitude. We want to serve all the devotees who are coming to perform the Navadvip parikrama. Tomorrow morning, we have the adivas ceremony, where we go to the Yoga pith, and say a sankalpa of the parikrama, because it says we should start and end our parikrama in Antardwip. Since we have many groups like six or seven groups, I don’t know how many groups this year. Since everybody goes out in different places, and goes around the dham. So we start off at the Yoga pith and we end here in the field in maha milan, in Antardwip. That Antardwip, Pancha Tattva are in Antardwip, and Radha Madhava are in Rudradvip. Bhakti Vinod Thakur, he saw a kirtan party turn into a raasa lila, here in Rudradvip.
So we have here Krishna Kishora, Ekanath Gaura Das, but we have only ten minutes.
Krishna Kishora said, Guru maharaj is very tired and has only ten minutes. Avatari group going to meet guru maharaj.
Krishna Kishora said: Guru maharaj we just came straight from a drama we did with His Holiness Bhakti Marga Swami called The Queen’s Secret.
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
7 March 2019