Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
“Krishna is the ocean, the ocean is very calm – but Radharani with
her
glances – She is the waves that agitate the ocean. Krishna is the
ocean,
and on the surface are so many waves. He is not easy to get – you
have
to go deep, then you can attain Him.”
Bhakti Books
Contents
Introduction
We are most fortunate to have met and taken shelter of such an amazing
personality as Srila Prabhupada Premgopal Goswami of Radha Madan
Mohan Mandir Nabadwip; the 14th descendent of Lord Nityananda, by
bloodline and uninterrupted diksha line. Prabhupada (the honoury title of
those of this line) is extraordinarily gifted, being steeped in both extensive
knowledge of shastra and deep realization of prema, while at the same time
speaking good English and being skilled in the use of modern technology. He
is a Sadhu who uses WhatsApp! He is also a wonderful storyteller and is a
joy to listen to, in English or his native Bengali. He sings like an angel and is
a gifted musician. We don’t have enough words to glorify him sufficiently,
just to say again how grateful we are for his association and his mercy, and
the chance to do this seva of presenting this first small book of his English
lectures. The book begins with one short tantalizing answer to the question
‘what is Krishna prema?’ given by Prabhu at a Delhi program. Following this
are tasty excerpts from transcriptions of lectures he gave at a very sweet
Bhakti retreat in a village close to Prague (Czech Republic) in September
2014.
This book is an introduction to Premgopal’s unique style of Bhakti
Yoga, the sweet path of love for Radha and Krishna. However it also contains
some great stories and tasty morsels to tempt the more rasika reader. We have
tidied up the language a little to make it suitable for print, but hope we have
kept the sound of his lovely voice in these pages. We are now working on a
volume of nine lectures on Raganuga bhakti given at Radha Kunda during
Kartika 2014.
Please forgive any typing errors. Any mistakes here are all ours and any
nectar is coming entirely from our very much loved Prabhupada Premgopal
Goswami.
Why do we chant this Mahamantra? What benefit will we get from this in our
lives? What is the power of the Mahamantra?
First of all, this Hare Krishna Mahamantra is the mantra for Kali Yuga, (the
age, or era, we are living in). There are four yugas (ages), and each yuga has
one specific mantra. For Kali yuga, the specific mantra is the Hare Krishna
Mahamantra. It is the target, and the means to get there:
Only to see these letters, you can get ananda, bliss. In any language, this not
matter. Maybe it is not in your language, but just if you realize that this is
Mahamantra, you will get this happiness. If you do kirtan, why you are
jumping? Sometimes we are not even dancing, we are jumping! We are
dancing, we are cheering: Hare Krishna! Haribol! Why we are doing this? It
is coming from our heart. But why? Whoever enjoys this kirtan, they will get
this ananda, pure ananda. You have not to think anything. Just do it. Nama
will give you his blessing, his mercy. Harinam will bless you. Then you will
realize everything. After time it will come, for anyone. Anandarabudhi
vardhanam - Anandham amudivardhanam: Amu means ocean. Never ending
ananda – an ocean of bliss. Suddenly you will get in your heart. If you will
connect always with this Mahamantra, then this ocean is yours. Then, all this
realization, all this feeling is yours, it is there for all performers in bhakti.
prati padam purnamrtasvadanam: this is very nice, this poem: every letter,
every word, will give you bliss, all these words, they have thirty-two letters,
sixteen words:
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare (eight
words), Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
(sixteen words).
Sixteen words, thirty-two letters, and from every word, you will get separate,
different ananda (bliss). If you will just chant only Hare Hare Hare Hare
Hare, you will get some ananda. If Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, you
will get ananda, but not like the first one. And this all ananda, it´s 100
percent. Purnamrtasvadanam (relishing or tasting full nectar). You will get
this pleasure, you will get this taste like nectar. Nectarian bliss, you will feel
in your heart. One hundred percent nectarian bliss, nectarian ananda. When
you chant, when you see, when you do kirtan of Mahamantra, then this
Purnamrtasvadanam will come. Every word and every letter, prati padam,
(every part) will give you this 100 percent ananda. It is not that from this
word you will get some little bit, from this word you will get some more; no.
Same percentage but different. Nama is the same quality as Krishna.
Sarvatma snapanam param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam:
Sarva atmasnaparam: by harinam we can take a bath, a bath for our soul.
Externally by taking a bath we can clean ourselves, we can get cooled, we
can feel we are pure now. Mahamantra is the same, he will do some abhishek
(shower) of our soul. By Mahamantra we can purify ourselves internally.
Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam. By Sri Krishna Sankirtan we can defeat all
our senses. Because by chanting the Mahamantra, we can get all the senses as
followers.
Sri Harinama Mahamantra, Sri Nama, and Sri Krishna, both are the same
qualities. Sometimes, Mahamantra is more powerful than Sri Krishna.
Namirtek nam bolo. Nam is more powerful than namir, that means the man -
Krishna. There is a very nice example to illustrate this. It happened with my
great grandfather, Prabhupada Prangopal Goswami. At that time, everyone
knew him by his name. One day it happened that he had to go somewhere by
steamer in East-Bengal. And he has to do some things and he said this to this
controller, the sailor of the steamer, “you should wait some time for me.” But
this sailor, he did not know, he is Prabhu Prangopal. He said, “no no no, I
cannot wait for you.” Then one of Prabhu’s disciple, he said this to the sailor:
“hey what are you doing, Prabhupada Prangopal Goswami is requesting you
to wait, and you are rejecting him?”
The sailor exclaimed, “Prabhupada? Prabhupada! He is Prabhupada
Prangopal Goswami?!”
“Yes!”
“Oh Prabhu, Sorry, sorry Prabhupada, I just made a mistake, Ok? Ok, you
will do your work, I will wait for you.”
When he agreed, Prabhupada turned to his disciple and he said: “See, that is
the proof! Name is more powerful than the man - Namirtek nam bolo.”
Similarly, Harinam Mahamantra is more powerful than Krishna sometimes. If
you will do some offence against Krishna, you can take shelter on Harinam.
Yes! He will destroy your offence. He will do everything for you that time.
But if you will do some aparadha to harinam then if you will go to Krishna,
can he clear this offence? No. Then you have to go to Gurudev! (All the
devotees and Prabhupada laugh!) For an offence against Sri Krishna,
Harinam will give you relief from this offence. Harinam has such power, if
you do harinam without any offence, then you will get prema. If you are not
doing this in that way without offence or without respect, then also you will
get results. Harinam has such power. But how? What is this harinam? Very
nicely it was said that: Madhuram madhuramangala mangalanam. In this
world, if you will search all the beautiful things, harinam is the most
beautiful. Madhuram madhuranam, mangalam, mangalanam. If you will
search about all the auspicious things, then you will find: harinam will also
do something auspicious for all auspicious things.
For example, there are some rules for all pujas, you know? All pujas. If you
are doing Krishna puja, or any demigod’s puja, at the end of the puja, you
have to chant Harinam to pray for forgiveness. Why? Because you will do so
many mistakes in this puja, by ignorance, and you have to pray to Krishna,
not to the Demigod who you were just doing puja for. “Oh Prabhu please take
away all these faults, all these mistakes. Maybe in this puja I did so many
mistakes. I´m chanting your name and by this name, maybe, please, and for
this, you should take away all these faults from here for all this mistakes from
here.” Yadushangam kritam karmajnana tadatva janata tat sharbankriyatan
yatahare ranumanekrita. After all pujas you have to chant this mantra, and
then you have to chant three times harinam. If you will not do this, then this
puja is incomplete. You have to pray for forgiveness, then you have to chant
harinam three times. Then your puja will be finished, and will get a hundred
percent benefit from this. Harinam has such power, to give auspiciousness to
other auspicious things.
Sokolo nigomo bolita sak palam cit svarupam: Nigomo boli means the trees
of scriptures. If you will look at the fruits of these scripture trees, then you
will find the best fruit is Harinam Mahamantra. Taking these fruits can give
you sat falam sad, pure knowledge, eternal knowledge, and after you take
this sat falam, you will get this cit, in your heart. The pure knowledge of
Krishna.
Sak krita piparigitam sraddhaya heloyava: If you will chant only one time
(sak krit), - you have not to chant hundred times, a thousand times. If you
will chant only one time, with respect or without respect.
Naromatram tarayet krishna nama brigavaro naromatram tarayot krishna
nama. Harinam will not search from where you were born, from which
family, you were born. Maybe you are from very high cast, maybe very low
cast, in front of harinam everyone is the same. He will give this mukti
(liberation, freedom): naromatran taraet, he will give us mukti. If you will
chant Harinam only one time, whoever you are, you can get mukti. If you just
chant harinam by the guidance of guru, then you will never go to hell. If you
chant Harinam, it can destroy more sin than you can do in your whole life.
Only by chanting one time harinam! E Krishna name joto pabhore, jiver
sadhonay toto pabkore - One time chanting harinam is capable destroying
more sin than we can commit in one lifetime.
There is a very nice example in Ajamil Bhakan.. In Srimad Bhagavata, sixth
canto, there is a conversation between Yamadhuta and Vishnudhuta.
(Yamadhuta are the servants Dharmaraj and they take you to hell, and the
servants of Sri Vishnu are known as Vishnudhuta – they take you to Vishnu’s
place - heaven).
There was a brahmana called Ajamila who lived in Kamyakubja. Later in his
life he did so many bad things, so many sins. In his early life, he was a very
good devotee of Bhagavan, Sri Hari, but by bad association, he began bad
activities which destroyed all the benefits of his bhajan. (He lost his
sadachara, all the activities that purify you for your sadhana or spiritual
activities) and from this, one after one, he lost all his good qualities.
(Sadachara means literally ‘truthful behavior’). Without living in this way, by
proper sadachara, our consciousness is lowered, meaning that good
consciousness, the desire to do seva, to exchange love with others, all
disappear. And this man started by bad association to lose his sadachara, and
then from this to do all the sins: robbery, stealing, beating others, giving pain
without any cause to others. In this way, he spent his life.
When he was more than eighty years old, then one day he got this causeless
blessing from one devotee, from Narada muni. Narada was passing by his
house and he saw that Ajamila was seated in his courtyard with his little son
seated on his lap. And Narada muni saw that he was really loving this son.
Devarsi Narada remembered that this man had been a very good devotee,
who lost everything by bad association. Narada knew that bhakti was there in
his heart in a hidden way. Bhakti will never be destroyed; when one time
bhakti will get in your heart, it will never leave, only if you will do
unfavourable things, if your all activities will be against bhakti, then bhakti
will hide herself, become covered. Whenever she will get some care, then
again she will manifest. So Narada, he told himself “this man was very nice
devotee, but he lost everything. But bhakti is still there in his heart. I should
try one time, to take him back on bhakti path.” And he went to Ajamila. He
asked, “how are you?” “Yes, I am fine.” “Are Ajamila, I am seeing so many
boys there, they are from the neighbours?” “No no no, they are all my
children.” “And this one? On your lap?” “Yes, this also mine.” “Oh very
nice boy, I never saw such kind of beautiful boy anywhere. You know, I can
go everywhere, I have seen so many children from the Demigods, I have seen
so many children from the Gandharvas, but I never have seen such kind of
beautiful boy anywhere.”
Devarshi Narada, he was searching how he could help this man who had lost
his good consciousness. Because when someone has lost his good
consciousness, he will not accept your good advice. That is the power of
maya. Maya will never give you this consciousness, she will try always to
force you to reject (anything that would free you). So Devarshi Narada, he
was searching, which way can I help this man? And he thought, Ok, maybe
by this boy. And when he started to give some good word for this boy,
Ajamila´s heart was softened towards Devarshi Narada. Devarshi said: “Oh
Ajamila, you know to see the boy, I got some desire in my mind….but no,
just leave it…!” And Ajamila said “no no no, you have to say now what you
were thinking!” and Narada said, “no no no it´s ok, it´s ok.” Then Ajamil said
“no no no, please say this!” So Devarshi Narada said “OK. You know, I have
this desire to give him a name, because I never have seen such a beautiful
boy anywhere.”
“Yes?” said Ajamila. ‘That will be very good for this boy, it would be like a
blessing from you.” But Narada said “no no no, I will give some name but
you will call him by another name. Then it would be like an insult to me.” In
this way drawing Ajamila in. And Ajamil said “no no no, Narada Devarshi, I
´m promising you, whatever name you will choose for this boy, I´ll call him
by this name. Yes, I´m promising you. I´ll call him by your name.”
“Ok, then, I´m giving this boy the name Narayan. You must call him
Narayan.” “Ok Ok. I´ll call him by this name.” The way was clear, and he
gave this name to the boy. Narada Muni saw that Ajamila would chant this
name always - he has true love and strong attachment to this boy, so he will
call always this name: Narayan, Narayan.
Narada Muni disappeared from this place. And Ajamila, whenever he would
go anywhere, he always would chant: Narayana come to me, Narayan come,
we will go outside, Narayan take some water, take your food, Narayan it is
time for sleeping, always Narayana, Narayana. In this way his life was
ending. And at the end of life there is a stage between life and death. There is
one stage, you cannot say anything, but you can listen, you can see
everything, a subconscious stage. Abottadasha subconscious stage. That time,
in the subconscious stage, between life and death, suddenly he saw three men
come to him looking very ugly, fierce and frightening. And to see this three
men (they were yamadhutas), he was really scared in his heart, not for him,
for Narayan. Because he knew that Narayan was playing in the courtyard. He
thought maybe these men will give some problem, maybe they will kill
Narayana, kill my Narayan. And then he shouted: “Narayana, Narayana!” He
was shouting only to call this boy. But this calling entered in the ear of Sri
Hari, Bhagavan, you know. Because this calling was with some love. And
Narayan, Sri Hari, he thought “oh, maybe my devotee, he got some problem
by anyone!” He sent his dhutas, four dhutas “go and see who is giving
problem to my devotee! Do something for him!
So these Vishnudhuta, Narayana dhuta, they just appeared in front of
Ajamila. So now there were three Yamadhuta and four Vishnudhuta. To see
the Vishnudhuta, (they are four handed with weapons, very heavy!), the
Yamadhuta were fearful about this. “Hey, who are you?” the Yamadhuta ask
to the Vishnudhuta, “why you came here?” Vishnudhuta, they ask: “that is
our question, who are you, why you are here? Why you are giving problem to
my Prabhu´s devotee?” The Yamadhuta said: “oh! he is not Prabhu´s
devotee!” “Yes, he is Prabhu´s devotee!” “no no no! we know very well,
because Citragupta, our headclark in Yamaloka he said this! This man, he did
so many sin in his life, always, physically, by speaking, by mind. In this three
ways, he did so many sin in his life, that’s why we three are here. We came
here to take him to Yamaloka and our Prabhu will give him punishment.
Because he did so many things.”
“Oh” said the Vishnudhuta. “Only you just see that he performed all sins?
you have never see that he do so much sadhana to clear all his sins?” “no no
no, he never did anything. We know very well. That’s why Citragupta sent
us.” “You have seen that he did so many sins in his life, but you have not
seen that he did things to clear from his sin, to get relief from this sin? He did
prascitta (Atonement)?” “no no no, he never did any prascitta in his life.”
“You did not see? Just sometime before he chanted Narayana, Narayana!”
“Oh, you made some mistake! He was not calling Prabhu, your Prabhu
Narayana Bhagavan, he was calling his son!” “Oh you are so foolish, you
have not this knowledge about the power of Prabhu´s Name? You have not to
chant his name only to think that you are chanting His name! You know the
Nam has such power. You have not to chant to think about Him, you can
chant anyhow.”
Because you know, even if you will just accidentally hear his name, you will
get relief from all your sin. Maybe not even all His name, shakrit: This total
Nam, maybe you are going somewhere, and somewhere kirtan was going on.
And you are passing by in a car, at very high speed. And Krishna Nama was
there. When you were just passing by this temple, only the ‘Kri,’ it entered in
your ears, but not the ‘sna’. But you will still get this result, the benefits of
the holy name. Maybe you will chant the name with distance (between the
syllables). Even, you are reading one book and the first word of the book
was, maybe ‘Kri’ and the last word of this book maybe ‘sna’, you will get the
result. If you´ll read the total book, you will get the benefit to read the name
of Krishna. Krishna will delete all the middle words, he will accept this ‘Kri’
and ‘sna’. He will give you, send you, the benefits of this name.
Anyhow, if one time you´ll chant Mahamantra, anyhow - with respect, or
without respect, you will get the benefits. Maybe you have not this ability to
speak, you have some problem with your tongue, you cannot chant Krishna,
maybe chanting Kishto, Kishno. (Or in China: Klishna!) Anyhow. We may
not have not the ability to chant properly, but will still get the benefits, the
benefits from Krishna Nam. So when he did his prascitta, to chanting the
Prabhu´s name, namabashe napitoshandabane, namabashe
napitoshandabane. That means, if you´ll chant nam, mahamantra, Harinam,
and you are not thinking about this, it is called abhash - the shadow of the
name. If you´ll chant in that way also then you will get benefits. For example
maybe you are reading the name of one shop: Krishna Stores, Govinda. Here
in Europe you will find so many prasad restaurants called Govinda, Gopala,
here also in Prague also the have Gopal. If you read the name of the
restaurant, also you get benefit. This is namabhas. Even by namabhas you
can please Krishna.
And you know what happened at the end of Ajamila’s life? After the
conversation between the Vishnudhuta and the Yamadhuta, the Vishnudhuta,
they sent back all the Yamadhuta, and they said to Ajamila: “Ajamila, you
got the pure mercy of Prabhu, and he will give you a little more lifetime. A
second chance. Do not misuse this time.” Then Ajamila, he left his house and
immediately went to the forest and started this same sadhana, namasadhana.
(Chanting of harinam, the holy name). And when this little extra lifetime was
ended, then a very nice golden chariot came to him with one Vishnudhuta.
And this Vishnudhuta, he said: “oh Ajamila, now your life is finished, now
Prabhu is waiting for you, and that’s why He sent this golden chariot for
you.”
“Prabhu sent this golden chariot for me?” “Yes, Prabhu loves you! Prabhu
has strong love for you, that´s why he sent this golden chariot.” “Ajamila, he
was just climbing into this chariot, but he got a thought: “oh Vishnudhuta! I
cannot go!” “Why?” “You know, because of all of you, and because of
Devarshi Narada, I got this chance to do some sadhana, because of devotees I
got this chance to do some things for Prabhu. But my forefathers, maybe they
did not get this chance in their life. That means they are not in Prabhu’s
Dhama. So I do not want to go there alone. I will just go back and tell my
payer to my Prabhu, that please send me to the place where my forefathers
are waiting, I want to join them. Without all of them I do not want to go alone
there in Ananda Dham, Vaikuntha.”
Then the Vishnudhuta said: “Ajamila, Prabhu always wants to give to all his
devotees pure happiness. And he knows this, that maybe you will not get
some pleasure there alone in his Ananda Dham, that´s why he is taking all
your forefathers there before you. Look, you can see!” Then Ajamila saw a
big golden chariot going towards Vaikuntha (heaven) and in this golden
chariot were all his forefathers. Then the Vishnudhuta said “Ajamila, Nama
has such power that if you will chant, if you will do this sadhana,
namasadhana, then you will get liberation, He will give liberation to all your
forefathers, all your lineage, all your descendants and all your present
connected persons. By Nama, they will all get benefits by your sadhana, all
of them, because you are a vaisnava.
So even by accidental hearing of the name, all sin is destroyed. But this is just
a general result, and we are not searching for this general result. We want to
attain prema; we are doing all this to attain this seva for Krishna for Yugal,
Radha Govinda. So for us, we have to chant this Mahamantra without
offence. We have to be very respectful about this. We have to always know
that the name we are chanting is not an ordinary name. This name is our goal,
and this name is our medium to achieve our goal at the same time. By the
Name you will get prema, by the Name you will get seva, service of Sri
Krishna. This is why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he gave us this name. In the
other yugas, there are many ways to do sadhana, to achieve prema, realization
of divine love. But, we are really so fortunate, although we have not the
qualities needed to do serious bhajan - Here in Kali yuga, Kalerdoshanidher
ragenmastehi ekamahanguna. We are full of faults, there are no good
qualities, we do not have the ability to give one hundred percent
consciousness to Him. That´s why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he appeared, to
give us this causeless blessing by which we can attain this (prema, Divine
service) very easily, more easily than in all other yugas.
There is in this Kali yuga one very nice quality. This quality is not present in
the other yugas - satya, treta, dvapar. If we just take a vow for doing
something good, we will get some benefit from that, from just taking the
vow, sankalpa. For instance, we are just thinking, deciding, “ok, I´ll do every
day sixteen rounds of harinam.” We are not chanting, we have not started yet,
but only to fix your mind, only to take this vow, “I´ll chant sixteen rounds
every day”, you will get some benefits. Only by thinking. That is a special
mercy in Kali yuga. For all Kali people, and we can use this, it is such a good
opportunity. Maybe in our life we will not get so many chances to do good,
but we can take a vow. It means, even if our intention is there but for some
reason we can´t keep the vow, still the intention will give us some benefits.
To get the full benefit, we have to take care about our bhajan. If we want to
do this in Kali yuga, then we have to fix our mind on Harinam, on the
Mahamantra. . Before taking shelter on Guru, Harinam will giving
purification, he will take all your darkness, he will give you some relief from
this material world, from this burning sensation. And after taking shelter of
the lotus feet of Sri Guru, all the instructions of Sri Gurudev will be
beneficial with Harinam, (not without Harinam). So Harinam will support
your bhajan, and prema, you will achieve after you take shelter on guru.
Service you will get after you will take shelter on guru. That is the power of
Sri Mahamantra, Harinam Mahamantra. That´s why we have no other way, in
this Kali yuga - Harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam, kalau nasty
eva naty eva nasty eva gatir anartha.
We have only one way in front of us, only to take shelter on Harinam.
Haribol!!!
You only need strong desire for Krishna in your heart. It does not matter
where you are – you could be in Vrindavan, or here in Europe.
There is a nice verse from Sri Caitanya Caritamrita:
anyera hridaya—mana, mora mana—vrindavana, ‘mane’ ‘vane’ eka kari’
jani, tahan tomara pada-dvaya, karaha yadi udaya, tabe tomara purna
kripa mani [Madhya 13.137]
(Speaking in the mood of Srimati Radharani, Caitanya Mahaprabhu said,
“For most people, the mind and heart are one, but because My mind is never
separated from Vrindavana, I consider My mind and Vrindavana to be one.
My mind is already Vrindavana, and since You like Vrindavana, will You
please place Your lotus feet there? I would deem that Your full mercy.”)
So devotees pray, ‘Oh Prabhu, (God, Lord), I have not such qualities to go to
your holy place, I have not this ability, I am unqualified, asha marta, but you
know Prabhu by your blessings, by your mercy, I made my heart Vrindavan,
I made my heart Vrindavan; please, come here.’
Where there is Krishna katha (talks about Krishna), where there is Gaura
katha, this place is Vrindavan. We are talking about Krishna here, so this
place is Vrindavan now. In Europe, this place (a small village outside Prague)
is Vrindavan; in Europe, this place is Navadwip – you only have to feel it
here, in your heart.
You don’t have to go anywhere. If you go somewhere, to many different
places, then your mind will get so many problems; some will say this, some
will say that, some will say other things, and all this can make you pagal -
puzzled, crazy. You will start to think, what I should do? That’s good, this is
not good, no, that is better. The habit of collecting (too much) knowledge
from so many places, this habit is named vallabha grahita. It is very
dangerous for our life. A person with such a habit will not accept any one
(authority), he will not take anyone’s word, because there are so many kinds
of thinking, so many philosophies, so many realizations. That’s why
Narottam Das Thakur said we should follow our acharya’s, from our
tradition; your guru, your param guru, your paratparam guru, your
parameshti guru, you should follow their footsteps. maha janer ye patha –
Whatever example is set by great personalities, one should follow.
We have to be very careful about our bhajan. How do we do this? You have
to go the way your guru, your param guru, your paratparam guru, your
parameshti guru, they followed. We have to follow them. We have to be very
careful not to miss their footsteps. If we follow this, then we can achieve
prema in our life, otherwise we will get craziness; we will never get prema
and realization, these feelings, in our life.
Yes, we can collect so much knowledge; we can read so many granthas
(books). Grantha reading and collecting knowledge is good, but then you
have to filter, you have to compare. No one has the right to say any things
about any other tradition. We should not criticize other traditions, “Oh you
are doing wrong!” No! You have no right to say this. Why? First of
everything you have to all about know what tradition he is following. And
every tradition has a special mood. You are from one tradition, and you are
talking with someone from another tradition, you have no right to say
something to him and he has no right to say some things to you, that you are
wrong. No! You have no right to say this. Yes, you can say such things which
are non-scriptural. “Hey what are you doing, it is not according to the
scriptures,” But about the mood, you have no right to say anything about this.
You should not think in that way. No! You have to fix your mind on the
words of your own Guru. (Do not waste time criticizing other traditions, other
moods).Then you can get realization, and you can get these feelings in your
life.
We need knowledge for our bhajan, otherwise it will not support us, so many
different conclusions will come – just as a stick can help to support a person
doing parikrama, knowledge can help your bhajan. Collecting knowledge is
good, but we have to know which knowledge we are collecting. We have
very little time in our life; we shouldn’t go with so many things, only we
have to go to the centre. “What will support me in achieving my target?” We
should go with that. In this way knowledge will help us to develop our
bhajan and we can realize everything. In the biographies of siddha
mahatmas, how they followed all these things. They never followed anything
that is against the scriptures, they never did things that are against their Guru
parampara (disciplic line of gurus). We know that if Guru will be against
you, then nothing will happen in your life; we should have respect for this
tradition, the tradition of which you are taking shelter. Then the realizations,
the feelings, the pure prema will come in your life. That is the essence of our
bhajan.
Sometimes you may actually travel to Vrindavan. Why are you going there?
To get some realization, to get some knowledge, to get the association of
sadhus. You are going to get some mercy from the Brijvasis (local residents),
from the dust of Vrindavan. If you do not have the realization, how special
the dust of Vrindavan is, then you will get no benefit from going there. If you
have not got a favorable attitude, then there’s no benefit in going to
Vrindavan.
In Prema Bhakti Candrika, (Prema Bhakti Candrika is an essential book for
all Gaudiya Vaisnavas - all the important principles of bhakti are there)
Narottam das Thakur mentions this very nice poem:
Thirtha jatra parisrama kebala manera bhrama, sarba siddhi gobinda
carana, Drdha biswasa hrde dhari mada matsarjya parihari, sada kara
ananya bhanjana
If you go to the pilgrimages, that is like a waste of your time and waste of
your energy. It’s like an illusion of your mind. Why? Why he said this?
When scriptures said this; if you go to the pilgrimage, to the Tirthas, then you
will get benefits. Then why did Narottam Das Thakur speak in this way?
Because he wanted to mention this point; if you have not this favorable mind
(Abimukhiman) to go there, then you should not go, that would be waste of
your time and waste of your energy.
You are going to Vrindavan, you went to Vrindavan? Why? First you have to
know why you are going to Vrindavan, why you are going to Nabadwip, why
you are going to Puri Dham? Collecting mercy. Collecting feelings and
realizations from there. From this place, from this dust. One has to go there in
serving mood, but not only in a serving mood. You need Abhimukhi. A
favorable mood. Otherwise you will not get any benefits. Someone went to
Vrindavan, and when I asked him, “Have you been to Vrindavan?” He
answered “Yes I have been there.” “Ok, please explain some realizations you
got there.” And he started to say: “Oh all these brajavasis (the local residents
of Vrindavan) you cannot imagine, how many problems they’ll give you.”
That means he wasn’t really there, nothing was there. He got no realizations.
Many pilgrims will maybe go Navadwip then Vrindavan, then Puri. Or
sometimes they go to Vrindavan then Puri then from Puri to Navadvip. When
they come back from this place to Navadwip, I ask them “From where you
are coming now, Vrindavan? Puri?” “Yes Prabhu, I´m coming from
Vrindavan now.” “Oh, then please explain some realization you got out
there.”
“Oh Prabhu,” if they come from Vrindavan; “oh Prabhu the Brajavasis you
cannot imagine, they do not leave you until that time you have no money in
your pocket!” And if they come back from Puri, then “oh Prabhu, the pandas
you cannot imagine, how intolerable!” Then I ask “why you go there? Only
to see the Brijbasis and Pandas?” “Nonono, we go there to take darshan of
Radharani, or take darshan of Jagannatha” “Then what you have seen?”
If you want to take nice the fragrance, nice smell from rose, then you have to
tolerate the thorns. Everywhere you go, everywhere, all this places, also holy
places, you will get problems. If you have a lovely time, that means you got
mercy. But you will get these problems everywhere; everywhere, some
cheating, some arguing. Because if you want to get the lotus, then you have
to clear all these weeds first.
Even the monkeys they can give trouble in Vrindavan. One day I was there in
Vrindavan, and you know my Vrindavan temple, (Laksmi Kanta Kunja), it is
just on the market near Gopinath bazaar, and there are so many monkeys.
One day I was sitting outside and was reading one grantha. Then, I had some
work in my room, I just left this grantha there and I went inside the room, for
only maybe 3 or 4 minutes, when I came back I found all the pages in
separate places. Hahaha – monkeys!”
There is a verse: If Radharani will allow me to take birth as a monkey, as
anything, there in Vraja; Tad bhuri bhagyam iha janma kim apy atavyam…
[Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.34]
Lord Brahma is praying, he was praying to Krishna, “please allow me to take
birth as a stone or as a grass anywhere in Vraja.” Then Krishna asked
Brahma, “oh Brahma what will happen, if I allow you to take birth as a grass
somewhere in Vraja? Where I never go, I never go there, what will happen
with you? You will never see me!”
Brahma said, “No problem, now I have realized this truth, if I need you, then
if I will try to go to you directly, I will never reach you, I´ll never get you. If I
need you, then I have to go to your associates (your devotees). Maybe you
will not go there, but maybe one of the servants of your servants, they will go
nearby, and when they will go nearby, then I will request those patita pavana
(your devotees who are merciful to the fallen), ‘please give me the dust of
His lotus feet and sprinkle it on me.’ In this way I can get your foot dust any
place. I have no need that you are going there or not.” (As long as Your
devotees go there – for example, even this small village near Prague!)
The Secret of Manjari Bhava
If we just think about this material world, then also you find this. A mother,
when she will take care of her child, giving bath, feeding – then that time she
needs the mood of a servant. Without this mood she cannot do this properly.
When the child will grow up, the parents, mother and father, they will be
friends with the child. In this way, vatsalya rasa includes all these other
moods.
When you will go further, there is madhura rasa. In madhura rasa all the other
moods are included. And manjari bhava sadhana is included in madhura rasa.
When you are practicing in madhura rasa, in manjari bhava, all these moods
are there. The manjaris are playing with Krishna and Radhika, that is sakhya.
They are giving advice to Them; sometimes they will say, “O Radharani, it’s
morning, the sun came – now you have to go back to your house.” This is
vatsalya mood, instructing. And when they are serving, they’ll need a special
mood, a mood like a servant. And in madhura rati, the manjaris will joke with
them. When Radha and Govinda are performing their intimate pastimes, the
manjaris will help - not the sakhis. In the place of Their intimate meetings,
only manjaris can enter – not even the sakhis. That is why Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu gave us this mood. With this mood you can taste Krishna in all
the moods: shanta, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhura. And whenever you
will offer any mood to Him, he will reply with the same mood – he will
reciprocate with the same mood -what you offer Krishna, He will offer you
back.
Then there is a question: why not the sakhis, why not become sakhi? What is
the difference between manjaris and sakhya? friendly mood? Manjaris also
they are sakhis. Why they are very special? why we need this mood? because
Sri Chaitanya Mahabrabu, he gave us this special mood, to get Krishna, to
achieve Krishna prema, in a higher stage.
If we just go to Krishna directly, then we will not get Krishna 100%. The
100% of Krishna you cannot get. You can directly go to Krishna, play with
Krishna, but you cannot attain this real prema. If you really want to taste
Krishna prema, then you have to taste Krishna with Srimati Radharani. When
Srimati Radharani is with Krishna, then Krishna will appear. Otherwise not.
Because when Radharani is on His left, then He is Madan Mohan. Without
Radharani, then ‘Madana Mohita. If Radharani is not there then He is known
as Madana Mohita. That means you will be bewildered by Kamadev. When
Radharani is together with Krishna, then he is also Madan Mohan. He can
bewilder the mind of Kama because Radharani is the shakti – the power of
Krishna. If power is not there, then what will we do with one man who has no
power?!! Isn’t it? We always need the powerful. We need power. We need
Krishna 100%, that’s why we need this special mood of manjari.
So what is the special thing about manjari bhava? What is their speciality,
these manjari sakhis? They are also known as sakhis. Why are they known as
manjaris, what is their special quality? The special quality of manjaris is that
all the manjaris are in favour of Radharani. They are serving Krishna also,
but only by the desire of Radharani. By the desire of Radharani, all the
manjaris, they are all under Srimati Radharani. They will not accept Krishna
alone – only with Srimati Radharani. A manjari has love for Krishna, deep
love, yes. But she loves Him when He is with Radharani, not alone.
Krishna, you know, he has this nature lampat shiromani. (The crown jewel of
all debauchees!). He likes to go with the young girls, and He likes to play
with them. And He wants to joke with them, He wants to play, and that’s why
He says to Radharani, Oh, Kisori, your manjaris they are very beautiful. May
I play with them? And Srimati Radharani She says, “Oh Krishna, don’t try to
do this! Otherwise you will lose your all dharma, all your ego, by them.” “No
no no, why are you saying like this?” “Yes. They will not accept you.”
Krishna, He was determined that He could play with them. “Yes, Radhe, I
can – I can bewilder any mind. You know, I am Madan Mohan, I am Krishna.
I can attract anyone.”
“Ok, you can try. You can see if they will do something with you.” And
Krishna, only to show that He can do anything, He went to one manjari and
he started to joke with her. First the manjari did not give any attention to him.
What he was saying, she just ignored Him, and she kept going further. She
was picking flowers, you know, from one tree, one plant to another plant, and
so on. And Krishna, He was following her. “Hey, play with me, come, say
something, I am saying so many things but you are not answering. Why?”
The manjari answered, “Krishna, I am doing something.” “Ok, you can do
later. Now just talk with me” “No no no Krishna. Now is the time Radharani
will go to Surya puja, and that’s why I have to collect all these flowers.
Otherwise She will be late.” “Ok, no problem – some other one will do, just
come to me, come.” But she was not giving any attention to his word. Then
Krishna He just took her hand, saying, “Come!”
Then she showed her anger “Hey Krishna, what are you doing!” “Why, you
have no love for me?” “Yes, Krishna, I love you” “Then why you are
speaking me in this way, why are you angry?” “You know Krishna, I love
you – with Radharani. Not alone. When you are with Radharani, then I love
you – otherwise not. Go to Arjuta Surya, maybe she is waiting for you. Go to
Radharani.”
Krishna went back to Radha. Radharani. She already knew what would
happen. She said, “What’s happened, Krishna? Did she play with you?”
“Noooo!” “What did she do with you?” “Nothing! She did not give any
attention to me. She just behaved like I was not there, you know, I talked so
many things, like I talk with the girls.”
Radharani said “you see! They are all my manjaris. They love me, not you!
Do not do this anymore.”
Manjaris have this mood, this special mood. They love Krishna, they have
very deep love, very deep attachment for Krishna, but with Radharani. Not
without Radharani. They will accept Krishna with Radharani. And they are
all controlled by Srimati Radharani. Radharani will order them, and they will
follow the instruction of Srimati Radharani. How they will serve Sri Krishna,
and what Krishna will want, and when, and how. Radharani will say this to
them, and they will follow all these orders.
Manjaris can go inside the kunja, they can see everything. In padyavali
kirtan, and some slokas, if we just read Raga Vartma Chandrika, very nicely
it was explained there, the manjaris were seeing the pastimes, the eternal
pastimes. They were meeting, and manjaris were seeing this, helping Them.
Later the manjaris were explaining their realisations. One manjari was saying
to others, “Oh sakhi, just see how Srimati Radharani, our Yuteshvari, she
defeats Krishna, and sometimes Krishna defeats Srimati Radharani.” And
they are explaining all these realisations. It is very nicely explained in Raga
Vartma Chandrika, and in Padyavali also. But they do not have any
attachment for meeting with Krishna. They see everything, but they have this
special quality of serving mood, in Madhura rasa. They have this type of
love, like lover and beloved, but they are under Srimati Radharani.
Sometimes, Radharani she will say to one manjari, go to Krishna, play with
him. If Srimati Radharani will say this, go to Krishna, then they will go. They
will play with Krishna with this mood, because Radharani said this, because
they got this order from Srimati Radharani. By themselves they will not go to
Krishna. They have this special mood, that’s why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabu,
he wanted to give us this nice taste of Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna Prema. So he
gave us this manjari bhava sadhana.
When we will do our bhajan, our practice, then when we are able, Gurudeva
will see, Gurudeva will realise, yes he is ready, he is prepared to continue
with this, and he will give this manjari svarupa, this bhava. He will not give –
he will reveal. That is the supreme and highest taste. This is our highest and
supreme goal – our target. We have to do this, we have to achieve all of this.
Question – can you explain this bhavocha mayi and lalasa mayi? You
explained it simply, but can you expand?
Answer – Yes. There are two kinds of moods in manjari bhava: bhavocha
mayi and lalasa mayi. In bhavocha mayi, the mood will come, the manjari
will see that Radha and Govinda, when they are meeting and performing their
pastimes, when they are engaged in their (amorous) pastimes, then Radharani
will not give the manjaris any instructions. But the manjaris will see,
according to the mood, according to the time, according to the need – they
will just know how to serve Radha Krishna Yugal (the Divine Couple). For
instance, if they see that They are sweating, they will fan Them. Cool them
with air. Or wipe this sweat with a cloth. That is this mood. Now is the time
They would like the betel leaves, or some water. So according to the
particular mood, then they will serve. Without being told what They need.
And in lalasa mayi mood, the other kind, the manjaris will go with eagerness
and ask what to do. “Oh Srimati, I want to serve You. What can I do?” When
Radharani sees their eagerness, she will engage them with one particular
seva. “OK, do this.” In Thakura Mahasaya (Narottam das Thakura) Lalasa
mayi (song) it is very clearly written there. How one will engage with this
seva. Thakura Mahasaya explained:
sri Rupa pascata ami rahiba bhita hana
donhe punah kahibena ama pane cana
sadaya hridaya donhe kahibena hasi
kothaya paile rupa ei naba dasi [Prarthana, Lalasa song 19 text 1-4]
I timidly follow behind Sri Rupa manjari. When will she say to me, ‘fetch
some water for the divine couple?’ When will the Divine Couple
compassionately smiling say ‘where did Rupa manjari get this young
maidservant from?’ Hearing these words, Sri Rupa manjari will say,
‘Manjulali gave this maidservant to me.’ At that time I will feel very humble
at heart, and I will diligently engage in the service of the Divine
Couple.
Thakura Mahasaya, he explained his tradition. His guru rupa sakhi, his guru
manjari, is Manjulali manjari, and he explained how he got engaged with this
seva. He said that maybe I’ll go with my Guru manjari to Rupa manjari, and
Guru manjari will put me into the hand of Rupa manjari, and she will take me
to the Yugal. After seeing me, they will ask Rupa manjari, with smiling
faces, “Oh, Rupa, who is this very nice dasi – from where you got this dasi,
this servant.” Then Rupamanjari will give my identity, she will say, “yes,
Manjulali manjari, she gave me this new dasi, and I tested her and found that
she is very soft hearted, sadaya hridaya. When I saw that she is very soft-
hearted, and has a very favourable mood, then I engaged her in Your seva.”
First I saw the qualities, first I examined her, then I saw she is very soft-
hearted, and then I engaged her in Your seva. That is the traditional way.
Narottam das Thakur, he says, how can anyone say that this (manjari
svarupa) is self-manifested? Only by guru rupa sakhi we can engage
ourselves in this seva. Always in anugatya (following). “Self-manifested”
means there is some (false) ego. “I can do it (my way). I am the doer.” No!
This bhajan line is always under guidance, following. I will follow my Guru,
she will follow her Guru, she will follow her Guru, and only ‘she’ - there is
no ‘he’!
Question - Can everyone get this manjari bhava?
Answer - Yes. When Guru will see that the disciple is prepared, then Guru
will deliver all these things to his disciple.