The Spiritual Origin of Sex Desire

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, how many of you were there last time when I had taken the CPT on Rasila understanding Krishna’s Ratha Rana? No one was there? No, it was not a camp.
I had just come while going to… Not in a camp, it was a separate lecture. I didn’t take from you? Do we have power supply to have a projector? Or nothing? So, this is the verse which comes at the conclusion of the Raas Panchadhyay. So, the Raas Panchadhyay is the five chapters that describe the Raas Leela, chapters 29 to 33, which are considered to be the beautiful smile of Lord Krishna.
So, generally at the end of a narration in the Puranas, there is the Phalashruti. Not there in a power supply? Okay, you can get it. What we’ll do is, at the end I will show.
We’ll overdo the overview of the CPT at the end. So, at the end of the Raas Panchadhyay, there is this verse which is generally the Phalashruti. Phalashruti means, Shruti is to hear.
Phala is the fruit, the fruit of hearing. So, generally the way in the Puranas are written is that, after we hear a pastime, what is the phala that we will get from the pastime is told. And especially in the other Puranas, profuse phalas are described.
You may go to heavens for as many years as there are hair on your body. The person who has one hair, he will feel frightened. I don’t have any hair.
But, there are promises like that, that by doing this particular Shravana Kirtan Yajna, you will get a lot of benefit. So, now the Raas Nila is considered to be topmost. And what is the Phalashruti that is told over here? That is very interesting.
So, I’ll tell the meaning of the verse, then we’ll decide the Sutra, then we’ll discuss. So, Vikriditam. Krida means to play.
So, Vikriditam means the special play that was happening. Vrajavadhubhir. With the Vrajavadhubhir, the Gopis of Vrindavan.
Ch Vishnu. Lord Vishnu, Lord Krishna. Shraddhanvito anushrunayatavarnaye dhyah.
Ek Vrishraddha. Either one hears or one recites. Shraddhanvito anushrunayatavarnaye dhyah.
Varnaye means to describe. Anu means properly, in Parampara. From the proper authority.
Bhaktinparambhagwati pratilabhyakamam. One will get Parabhakti. One will get pure devotional service.
Bhaktinparambhagwati, unto the Supreme Lord, Pratilabhya, one will attain. And, Kamam. Kamam is lust.
Which is the Rudrogam. The heart disease. You know, all of us are heart patients.
Krishna is the Supreme Cardiologist. He’s come to cure our heart disease. So, Rudrogam.
Ashwa. Ashwa means quickly. Apahinoti.
Apahinoti means to destroy. So, again, emphasis. Achirena.
Achirena means after a long time. Achirena means not a long time. Soon.
Dheeraha. One will become sober. So, one will attain Bhakti.
And, lust, which is the heart disease, will be destroyed. Thus, making one sober. So, this is the phala that is promised after hearing the Ras Panchadhyay.
So, let us recite the verse. Vikriditam rajavadhubhedam ca Vishno Shraddhandhito anushrunayadathavarnayedya Bhaktimparambhagavati pratilabhyakamam Rudrogam. Ashwa.
Apahinoti. Achirena. Dheeraha.
Rudrogam. Ashwa. Apahinoti.
Achirena. Dheeraha. Some of you are chanting in one tune.
Some of you are chanting in another tune. See, if you want to chant, Vikriditam rajavadhubhedam ca Vishno That is one tune. The tune I was singing is, Vikriditam rajavadhubhedam ca Vishno Vikriditam.
Yeah. So, we will recite in this tune. Don’t mix the two tunes.
Of course, I am not a good reciter of tunes, but we will chant in one tune. If you want the first one, that is also nice. Vikriditam rajavadhubhedam ca Vishno Shraddhandhito anushrunayadathavarnayedya Shraddhandhito anushrunayadathavarnayedya Bhaktim parambhagavati pratilabhyakamam Rudrogam.
Ashwa. Apahinoti. Achirena.
Dheeraha. Rudrogam. Ashwa.
Apahinoti. Achirena. Dheeraha.
Vikriditam rajavadhubhedam ca Vishno Shraddhandhito anushrunayadathavarnayedya Bhaktim parambhagavati pratilabhyakamam Rudrogam. Ashwa. Apahinoti.
Achirena. Dheeraha. Rudrogam.
Ashwa. Apahinoti. Shraddhandhito anushrunayadathavarnayedya Bhaktim parambhagavati pratilabhyakamam Vikriditam rajavadhubhedam ca Vishno Shraddhandhito anushrunayadathavarnayedya Bhaktim parambhagavati pratilabhyakamam Ashwa.
Apahinoti. Achirena. Dheeraha.
Shraddhandhito anushrunayadathavarnayedya Bhaktim parambhagavati pratilabhyakamam Shraddhandhito anushrunayadathavarnayedya Bhaktim parambhagavati pratilabhyakamam Ashwa. Apahinoti. Shraddhandhito anushrunayadathavarnayedya Bhaktim parambhagavati pratilabhyakamam Ashwa.
The most striking characteristic of this verse is the paradox. Paradox means a strange contradiction. The first thing that you observe is that till now what has been described is in the previous five chapters the pastime of Radha Krishna, of Krishna with the gopis, going to the forest, dancing together, talking together and normally when people see a boy and a girl together, a man and a woman together, doing some sort of romantic activity, then that triggers the lust in their heart.
But here the promise is given that by hearing these pastimes the lust will be countered and cured. Which is very strange. How can the interaction between a male and a female lead to the curbing of lust? So that seems to be a strange fallacy.
And another thing is actually the pastime is performed by Krishna. And the 10th canto is quite categorical about Krishna being the source of Vishnu. The whole Bhagavatam is very clear about it.
Krishna is the Bhagawan Himself. And Krishna is the intimate aspect of God. Krishna is God at home.
So throughout this whole Raj Panchayat, the Lord is referred to either as Krishna, or Govinda, or Keshava, these more intimate names. Suddenly this name Vishnu comes. So normally we don’t see Vishnu performing any krida.
Vishnu is a grave person. So why is this word Vishnu used over here? And in many places some falla is promised. So one thing is sure that the lust will go away.
But the falla that is promised here is that you will get parabhakti. Parabhakti is pure devotional service. Actually in the scriptures, there is talk about you will become free from sinful reactions, you will go to heavens, or go to Vaikuntha.
But you will get parabhakti is a very rare promise. And in fact, Krishna speaks about parabhakti only in two places in the Bhagavad Gita. One is 18.65, and the second is 18.68. So 18.65… So prior to this in the Bhagavad Gita, actually it is described how a jnani, a person who is in the jnanmarga, leaves home, renounces the world, and after renouncing the whole world, then when he comes to the success, the culmination of jnana, then he becomes brahmahuta, he is spiritually situated.
And what is the characteristic of being spiritually situated? According to the impersonal philosophy, everything is one. So you and I are one, this table and I are one, everything is one, and that one is Brahman. So this person has attained the vision of oneness.
Na shochati na kamshati, he understands that nothing worth lamenting, nothing worth rejoicing, nothing to hanker, nothing to lament. He is equipoised. He is equipoised towards the events of this world, because he is equipoised towards the things of this world.
He doesn’t want one thing and want to avoid another thing. So he is equipoised towards events and things, and he is equipoised towards people also. Samah sarvesh bhuteshu, towards all people he is equipoised.
Normally, this is the culmination. Culmination is conclusion, successful conclusion. The highest development is called as culmination.
So this is the culmination of the process of jnana. That means now he has attained the vision of equanimity. And according to the jnanis, they also practice some sort of bhakti.
The mayavadis, mayavadis means the impersonalists, they also practice bhakti. But what is the goal of bhakti for them? Bhakti for them is a means to mukti. Actually, you and God are one.
But till you don’t realize you are God, you should worship God. And when you realize that you are God, then there is no need for worship. One particular school of mayavadis, they say, yes, deity worship is very useful.
You sit and concentrate on the deity, and concentrate more and more and more and more. And when will you know that you have attained samadhi? By the power of your concentration, the deity should crumble into powder. By the power of your dhyan, when the deity crumbles into powder, then you have gone beyond the form to the formless.
Sinister idea. You want to crush the deity into powder? So now they can’t do it by their dhyan, so they actually bring the deity, and they have attained samadhi. Ridiculous.
The object that they are worshipping, they want to destroy that, so that we can become one with God. So they also do some sort of worship. They can also chant the holy name.
They can even chant Hare Krishna. But their attitude is not one of wanting to become a servant of God. They want to become one with God.
Such people, when they chant, actually the real holy name doesn’t appear on their tongue. Like today morning we were discussing about the holy name appearing to different degrees. So what, when they chant, what they experience is, Shri Bhaktivinoda Thakur says, Pratibimba Namabhas.
Namabhas is like the rising sun. Pratibimba Namabhas means the reflection of the rising sun. The rising sun gives some illumination, it gives some warmth.
But can the reflection of the rising sun give illumination or warmth? Not really much. So their chanting is actually very offensive and it doesn’t benefit them. So these people when they chant also, when they do bhakti also, their idea of bhakti is like a ladder.
Use the ladder, climb up, and once you have reached Brahman, you reject the ladder, take away the ladder. No, no more need for bhakti. So from that point of view, bhakti is a means to mukti.
But here, that conception is being devastated by Krishna. Because the Mayavadis have the idea that as long as you are under the modes, you should perform bhakti. And once you go beyond the modes, once you come to the Brahman platform, then there is no need to practice bhakti.
But Krishna is saying over here, when you come to this level, samah sarveshu bhuteshu, then what will happen to you? Then mat-bhaktim labhate param. Then you will attain bhakti to me. They think at that time bhakti should end.
But Krishna is saying, at that time bhakti will be beginning. What kind of bhakti? Para-bhakti. Para-bhakti means pure devotional service.
So, that means, the jnanis after doing a lot of intellectual procreation, a lot of sapasya, developing a lot of vairagya, after that they come to the Brahman platform, if they are successful. And after they attain the Brahman platform, then they get para-bhakti. And here the promise is made that if you just hear this rashtra, you will get that para-bhakti.
That which is the goal, after the jnanis have attained their goal. Which elevated thing we will get by hearing this rashtra of Krishna. And other place Krishna uses this word para-bhakti is, in 18.68, both occurrences come in 18 chapters only.
First is 55 and second is 58. So in 58 he is telling, so 66 is the famous verse, in 18.66, does anyone know? Sarva-dharman parispeja. And after that Krishna tells us the glory of preaching the message.
And there he says, those who preach my message, he says that, for them pure devotional service is guaranteed. bhakti mayi param krutva maam evai shastya asamshaya Krishna says, for those who preach my message, what is guaranteed? bhakti mayi param krutva they will attain pure devotional service and at the end of that, what will happen? maam evai shastya asamshaya they will surely come back to me. That means Krishna has given this promise that he will attain pure devotional service.
So that which the preachers after preaching all over the world very successful, they will attain pure devotional service. That Krishna says you can attain by by hearing the Rasleela. So what is so special about this Rasleela? Is the projector, will it work now? So anyway, the point I was making is that this verse seems to be quite remarkable.
And why does it use the word Vishnu instead of Krishna? Because Vishnu is well known in the Vedic literature to be the Supreme Lord. And Vishnu is not at all a playful person. Vishnu is God.
And God, who means business? God is in office. So because ordinary people will have the tendency to misunderstand Krishna’s Rasleela to be like the pastime of an ordinary person. So therefore, ordinary man and woman therefore to remind us that this person who is performing the Leela here is not an ordinary person.
He is Vishnu, the Supreme Lord. Therefore the word is used Vishnu. And when Krishna performs these pastimes throughout the history of the world the greatest destructive force is not war.
It is ultimately lust. If you look at the history of the world most of the wars are caused by lust. It’s actually the lust which makes people fight.
And even when people fight on so-called religious grounds, it is based on ultimately the desire to fulfill the carnal urge. Carnal urge is the urge to fight, urge to fulfill sexual desire. So Karna means flesh.
That’s why we have carnivorous. So carnal means, carnal desire is the desire of the flesh. So now all the religions tell us that this carnal urge has to be restricted if one has to move towards God.
But most religions are not able to tell us where does this urge come from. So in the Christian theology their theology is very peculiar. Theology means understanding of God, the study of God.
What is it peculiar? They say that actually Adam and Eve originally fell from the paradise, the kingdom of God. And because Adam sinned against God, all of you know that story, isn’t it? Simple story, God had told you can eat all the fruits in this paradise except for this one fruit, one apple. And then the devil came in the form of a serpent and he tempted, not Adam because Adam was intelligent, he tempted Eve.
Why are you not eating that fruit? God has told you not to eat that fruit. But you know why God has told you to eat that fruit? You will become God. Now God is not there.
He is not watching. Go and eat that fruit. Eve was captivated.
And then what happened? And then Eve went and told Adam, let us eat that fruit. No, no, no, God has told us not to eat that fruit. So Adam was torn between God and woman.
That is the predicament of material existence. God is on one side, woman is on the other side. And what happened? There Adam succumbed.
Let us eat it. And when they ate it, then they fell. So they fell from the spiritual world to the material world.
That is the story which is there in the Bible. Now they consider Adam to be the first man and Eve to be the first woman. And from then, everything has descended.
Everyone has descended. And they say that Adam committed the original sin against God and because of his sin and we are all his children, so we all have automatically become sinful. Because they don’t consider that all of us are there in the spiritual world.
They take this story literally. And they consider that all of us are sinful. So Adam’s sinfulness has sort of passed down to us as a genetic defect for so many generations upon generations.
And according to them, they don’t believe in any law of karma. So there are earthquakes, there are tsunamis, there are whirlwinds, there are huge natural calamities which kill thousands of people. What is the cause of that? That is because Adam ate one apple.
It is quite absurd. So now our Vishnu Acharya has explained that actually, the Adam-Eve story is allegorical. Allegorical means what? It represents something.
It’s not to be taken literally. Actually, the Bible speaks many times in allegory. It’s not the only time.
Several places the Bible speaks in allegory. Allegory is a moral story which does not involve real characters. It involves fictitious characters who are used to teach us a lesson.
So the idea is that all of us are like Adam. And all of us are tempted and every one of us sins against God. And that’s why we come from the spiritual world.
So because they have an idea that Adam committed the original sin, so when sufferings come in this world, we just can’t explain it. Intelligent people cannot take the idea that because somebody did that sin, first of all, it doesn’t appear a very serious sin also. If you eat one apple, what is the problem? And even if it is a sin, why are thousands of people being killed? So they have evolved a strange theology.
So like when the tsunami took place, so they had approached representatives of different religions. What is your response? So from Hinduism they approached us. And from Iskcon they asked me.
Then I was looking at the responses of other religions. So I explained about the law of karma and things like that. It was explained very sensitively.
But there, the Christian expression was remarkable. They said, actually actually most people think that God is in control of this world. And they are totally wrong.
God is not in control of this world. This world is controlled by devil. And devil is causing all this suffering.
And they consider devil to be an entity separate from God. Independent of God. And they say, again they have to bring in the Adam story.
What they say, when Adam decided to obey devil, then he accepted devil as his master. By yielding to his temptation, he shifted himself from the control of God to the control of devil. And therefore, since that time of Adam, this world is controlled by devil.
And all the sufferings of this world are caused by the devil. And therefore, what do we have to do? If you are a devotee of God, then devil will cause you special trouble. And because devil is almost as powerful as God.
God is most powerful, but devil is almost as powerful. And that’s why sometimes in the fight between God and devil, devil wins. Devil wins.
And when the devil wins, then innocent people suffer, the devoted people suffer. And even if this happens, at the end, there will be a final battle. Final, fierce, deadly battle.
At that time, God will defeat and destroy the devil. And then he will bring paradise in this world. And in this world only, everybody will become eternal, everybody will become happy.
And there will be the kingdom of God here. So there are several problems with this narrative. First problem is that, till then what? Till then you have to keep suffering.
And there’s one particular organization, they like to make dates, you know. So, on this particular date, 1985 was the date. 1985 is the date when there’s going to be judgment.
And God is going to destroy devil. And all those people who have not surrendered to God, they are going to be cast into hell forever. That is their idea.
1985 came and went. Nothing happened. God is so merciful, he has given us a leave extension period.
And now, their period, they have extended their period 8 times till now. And now, to some extent, they have become a laughing stock. They are predicting some sort of disaster will happen.
It doesn’t happen. And that’s why, at one time there was a rumor that World War III is going to take place. So Gropa, somebody asked Gropa, what should we do to prepare for World War III? What else can you do, Gropa? So, we don’t have to worry too much about specific predictions.
Will the world be destroyed at this time or get it that time? What we focus on is the principle that all of us are going to die one day. And it’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when.
It’s not a matter of if we will die one day. No. We are surely going to die.
There’s no if in that. It’s only when. Not if, but when.
So, realizing this, we focus on our cultivation of Krishna Consciousness as intensely as possible. But why I was telling all this is that this carnal desire, all of you are clear of the word carnal desire. It’s basically the lust or the sexual desire.
Carnal desire is what takes people away from God. It’s the strongest force which impels people towards sin and violence in this world. So, where does it originate from? The Christians say it originates from evil.
It originates from the devil. But where does it… it seems to be like an innate part of our nature. And how did the devil have that influence on us by which he could create that desire within us? And most people say that we have to control that desire.
But it’s a great challenge to control the desire. So, the Vedic literature is unique in that it reveals to us where this desire actually comes from. So, it explains that actually in the spiritual world we are all eternally related with Krishna.
And those relationships are in one of five mellows. So, among those five mellows, one of them is the Madhuryaras. We are not able to find that particular beauty.
But there is another related beauty. It’s also nice. There is not much text in this.
So, in the rest of the tradition, what we do after we go back to the synonym of God is not at all clear. See, the Christians are very, very good at book distribution. Like Prabhupada said, we should be as proficient at book distribution as the Christians.
They are very gentle distributors. They have huge printing presses and they distribute millions and millions of books every year. And their books are often very profusely coloured and with nice pictures.
But it’s remarkable, they have so many pictures about the kingdom of God. And all those pictures, their books with all their pictures, about the kingdom of God, all the pictures are about man, woman, children, animals. There is no God in those pictures.
There are supposed to be books about God. But there are no pictures about God. Because there is no description of God available in those pictures.
So, the way the understanding comes, is that, actually, in the kingdom of God, God is only like an incidental, peripheral factor. So, one devotee, again Ramanuja Swaroop only, when he used to go to mass early in his childhood, then he was a Baptist, nominal Baptist. So, there, one day he asked his priest, you know, what does God do in heaven? And the priest looked as if he had never got this question in his life.
Wondering, what does God do in heaven? And then he asked his priest, okay, what do we do in heaven? Then he said, actually, okay. Actually, the idea that God of heaven was, it’s like a perpetual family reunion. Perpetual family reunion.
So, all your grandfathers and great-grandfathers and grand-aunts and cousins and everybody who has passed away, you will meet all of them and there is a happy reunion over there. So, it’s like, you know, a cosy Sunday afternoon where you are sitting and relaxing on a sofa and everybody is coming and chit-chatting. So, he said, you know, life in this world seems more interesting.
Because there it is that it’s just all people, all people are uniting. Now, you see what happens is that in the Christian theology, their idea is that somehow, although the soul is talked about very much in the literature, but they have somehow developed the idea that the soul and the body are the same. So, the soul and the body are the same.
And that’s why they bury people. Because their idea is that at the time of judgment, then the soul along with the body will be resurrected. Because Jesus was resurrected like that.
Jesus was crucified and apparently he died. When he came back, he came back with the same body. And that’s what the people saw on resurrection day.
So, they think that is how all of us will be resurrected. And that’s why they try to preserve the body. Now, of course, there is a huge problem because you need so much space.
In countries which are prominently Christian or Muslim, huge quantity of space has to be preserved for coffins. Actually, in some small Islamic Christian countries in Europe, almost like one-sixth or one-sixth of the land is now used for graveyards. Because you have to preserve the bodies of all the previous generations.
Because if you don’t preserve them, if their body is not there, then they will not be resurrected. But the strange idea is that the body is already gone. If you open the coffin, you won’t find the body there.
Already it is deteriorated and destroyed by germs. And then also again the problem comes, okay, if you are going to be resurrected in the body, then which body? If somebody died at the age of 70 and he is going to get that body for all of eternity, he will be miserable. He will get a 70-year-old body, isn’t it? No, no, no.
Actually, you will get a youthful body, a highly youthful body, 20-year-old body. But what about if somebody died at the age of 4? He never had a 20-year-old body. And you bury the 4-year-old body, what is the use of that? So, they run into a lot of contradictions because they confuse the body with the soul.
But because they confuse the body with the soul, they also consider bodily desires quite important. And when these bodily desires are obstructions of the spiritual power, they don’t know how to give it up. But the Vedic scriptures explain that actually, we have a relationship with Krishna, not at the bodily level, because we don’t have this body.
This body keeps changing. We change dresses, we change bodies, but we have origins for Rupa. And as for Rupa, we know we have relationships inside of us.
So, this knowledge of fire is also not there anywhere in any of the other literatures of the world. So, these 5 rasas, they come together and people in these 5 rasas, they come together and they form a wonderful life for Krishna where he relates with all kinds of people with all kinds of relationships. But, when Krishna is relating in this way, all the relationships are selfless.
You know, when Krishna had gone away from Vrindavan to Dwaraka, at that time messengers would come to tell that, I hope Krishna is in Dwaraka. Once a messenger came from Dwaraka and he said, Oh! Actually, Krishna sent a message, I am such a ungrateful son that for my parents who took care of me since my childhood, so they only had to take care of me. When I grew up and it was my turn to take care of them, I left them and went away.
He said, ungrateful son, his fault will be restored, will be rectified only when he comes back and again starts serving his parents. So, I am praying everyday, Krishna is praying, he says, I am praying everyday that soon my work here in Dwaraka will get over and I will be able to come back to all of you. In separation from you, I lament everyday and I remember all of you.
When Maharaja Ishwara heard this, he was crying. And they said, in separation from Krishna, we suffer, but we don’t mind that we suffer. But, in separation from us, Krishna suffers and we can’t tolerate that.
The Brajwasis love is not selfish, it is selfless. They are not suffering because we can’t enjoy Krishna. No, they are suffering because they know that Krishna enjoys in their association.
And when they are not there to serve Krishna, then Krishna will not be happy. So, actually, in the Lalit Madhav, it is described that when Lalit Madhav has a book written by Rupa Goswami, so there Nandi Mukhi and Nanda Devi are conversing, so they are asking, how is the condition of Radharani in separation from Krishna? Radharani’s condition is pitiful. She is burning in the fire of separation so terribly that actually, if she lies down on a bed of leaves, the leaves dry and wilt.
Now, to cool her fever of separation, some wet cloth is put on her forehead, the wet cloth dries up. And, her fever of separation, the fire of separation in her heart is so great that she would have died long ago. But some inexplicable power seems to keep her alive.
So, what is that inexplicable power which keeps Radharani alive? Radharani cannot live without Krishna. She would have left Krishna, she would have died long ago. But she lives on because she feels that Krishna has promised that he will come back to her.
And if he comes back, and if he sees that I am not there to serve him, then he will be unhappy. And I don’t want Krishna to be unhappy. That’s why, although she is so unhappy in separation from Krishna, she still lives on.
So, the relationship of the Rajvasis with Krishna is entirely selfless, it is entirely pure. But unfortunately, when the soul comes to this material world, the soul wants to imitate Krishna. And when he wants to imitate Krishna, he tries to form a relationship with others just like Krishna has in the spiritual world.
That means, you know, we also want to have servants who will serve us in Dasya Ras. We want friends who will serve us in Sakya Ras. We also want to be the apple of the eye of our parents.
They will love us and show us their affection in Vatsalya Ras. And then we also want to have a relationship with the opposite sex in Madhurya Ras. So, basically, the relationship in the spiritual world in which Krishna is in the center, we want to have those relationships in this world.
And we also want to be very famous. And we want people to admire us. We want to imitate Krishna, basically, in this world.
That’s what we have come for. And you will see, although all these rasas give Krishna satisfaction, the maximum satisfaction comes from Madhurya Ras. No sentiment relationship.
In the script, actually, Dasya is the common denominator for all relationships. Even if Radharani is associating with Krishna, she is also serving Krishna. She may serve in different ways.
Dasya is the common denominator for all relationships. So, in the Chetan Charitam, in the teachings of Lord Chaitanya, Sanatana Goswami, it is described that just as, how does the creation take place? There is ether. That is the first element that is created.
And from ether comes, yeah, from ether, from ether sound will come. But ether has a capacity to propagate sound. Shabda khe Krishna 7.8. Then he says, from the ether comes the next element.
That is air. Now, air can not only transmit sound, it can also transmit wind. Sorry.
It can also, through the ether, sound can be heard. Through the air, we can sense touch. So, from ether comes air.
Now, from the air, also sound can go. But air additionally has a capacity to transmit sound also. Sound as well as air.
So, like that, ether is the common denominator for air. From air comes water. So, whatever is the property of ether, that is, ether is included in the subsequent elements.
And something more is added. So, like that, shantaras, when to that we add the desire to serve. What are the characteristics of shantaras as described in in Chaitanya Tamas? It has two characteristics.
Complete detachment from matter and complete attachment to Krishna. These two are the characteristics of shantaras. Now, after having these two characteristics of shantaras, what is the characteristic of dasharas? These two characteristics are already there.
Complete detachment from matter, complete attachment to Krishna. But in addition to that, there is also the characteristic of the desire to serve. In shantaras, one thinks, God is so great.
He is so almighty. He is so awesome. What can I do for him? I am a tiny person.
I can never do anything for him. Therefore, there is no it is not that there is no desire to serve. One feels that what can I do for God? God is so great.
And in that sense, one doesn’t feel the need to serve God. So, please close that. One feels there is no need to serve God because there is nothing that I can do for God.
God is so great. Whatever he needs, he already has. So, what can I do for him? In that sense, there is no desire to serve.
But still, in the dasyaras, one feels Oh! Krishna is such a wonderful person. Although he doesn’t need anything, just let me do something for him. Let me do it as an expression of my love for him.
So, when to shantaras, the desire to serve is added, then that becomes dasyaras. And to dasyaras, friendship is added. Krishna is not just my master, he is my friend.
Then what happens? Then it becomes sakharas. And then, when to that friendship, when to that sakharas, actually the desire or the feeling that actually Krishna is dependent on me. The feeling of being Krishna’s maintainer is added.
That actually, if I don’t feel Krishna, then Krishna will fall sick. So, Krishna may even die. The feeling that I have to maintain Krishna.
When the feeling of maintainer is added, then that becomes vatsalya. And to that vatsalya, then intimacy is added. When intimacy is added, then that becomes sakharas, I’m sorry, because of these rasas, the relationship actually becomes closer and closer.
It becomes more and more intimate. And Krishna gets more and more happiness in this relationship. So, just as we see in this world, these relationships go upward.
Similarly, in this world also, to give up attachments is very difficult. Now, if you see, when you become devotees, what happens? First thing that happens is, our friends do not become devotees. Some of our friends.
And then we feel, oh, what will my friends say if they see me chanting Hare Krishna, if they see me wearing bhakti kurta, what will they think of me? So, basically, we are trying to imitate Krishna by having our sakharas. And if you want to serve Krishna, become devotee of Krishna, well, look at that sakhara. It is difficult.
But, of course, we never lose because we get other friends. We get other friends in devotional service. But then, that enjoyment, I am the hero among my friends.
And when we become a devotee and we stop being a hero, then it is very painful to the ego. Because, you know, how can you be a hero wearing bhakti kurta and having short hair and… So, let sakharas imitate Krishna. And then sometimes, not always, sometimes our parents may also become displeased.
Why are you doing all this? So, then, basically, we want to imitate Krishna with bhakti kurta. I want to be the apple of the eye of my parents. And I want my parents to show their profuse love on me.
And that is a very difficult attachment to give up. But more difficult than even that is actually the attraction to the opposite sex. Because that is, we are imitating Krishna.
Now, if you see, whether it is sakharas or vatsalaras, there is nothing immoral in that. In fact, that is moral. If you have a friend, you should help the friend.
If you have parents, you take care of the parents. But, the Bhagavad Gita describes it, this world is like an upside-down tree. That which is the highest in the spiritual world becomes the lowest here.
Lowest in the sense that it becomes most entangling. That is why the attraction to the opposite sex, where does it originate? It originates from the spiritual world. Where does it originate from the spiritual world? There is an original attraction between male and female in Radha and Krishna.
Or in the Gopis and Krishna. And when we want to imitate Krishna, then we take that position of Krishna. And then we want to have that enjoyment.
That is how this desire originates. And because Krishna gets the highest pleasure in that relationship, when we want to imitate Krishna, that becomes the highest attachment. And actually, to a large extent, this Madhurya attachment, or this perverted reflection of Madhurya attachment, is stronger than Vatsalya also.
Many times, some boys want to become Brahmachari. If they want to become, then they often have a problem of lust, and they have a problem, what will my parents say? And sometimes they say that, for the sake of my parents, I have no desire to marry you. For the sake of serving my parents, no, I cannot hurt them.
So I cannot become a Brahmachari. Actually, it is not wrong. One can be a Dharashtra, one can be a Brahmachari.
But I am talking about how maya misleads those over here. For the sake of my parents, I will not be a Brahmachari, I cannot hurt them, I will get married. And then they get married, and if you get married to a modern girl, the first thing she tells is, get your parents out of the house, or let us leave our house.
So then what happens? That son is torn between Vatsalya and Madhurya. The reflection of Vatsalya, and the reflection of Madhurya. And what happens? More than 95% of the time, what does he choose? He chooses the reflection of the Madhurya.
He gets attracted to his wife. Because what is happening is, he has already lived with the parents for 20-25 years, the wife is new now. So some sense of adventure is there.
Some sense of new pleasure is there. So actually he leaves. But the point here is that, actually this is the strongest attachment to give up.
So, the principle is, not that we somehow curb that desire. No, no, no, I will not do this, I will not do this. That is not the way to control that desire.
When we philosophically understand where the desire comes from, actually it is a reflection of our original desire. It’s like, this light is giving a yellow color. Now, if I put a red film on it, what will happen? What color will come out of it? It will become red.
So it might be a very soothing, nice yellow, but a covering can make it a glaring red. So like that, the soul has an original desire to love and serve Krishna. But when the soul gets covered by the body and the mind, then that gets filtered and distorted.
That becomes distorted as lust. As a desire to enjoy separate from Krishna by exploiting matter. So, the solution is not to curb this lust artificially, but to revive our love.
When we revive our love, it is the same force. One way it is going towards lust, other way it is going towards Krishna. So when we revive this force, automatically this force will go down.
That’s why bhakti is not so much about giving up desires. Bhakti is more about taking up desires. What does it mean, taking up desires? Taking up desires means, we take up the desire to serve Krishna.
And by that, we automatically give up the desire to enjoy material world. The path of impersonalism is focused on giving up desires. But giving up anything is very painful.
And giving up desires is especially painful. We can give up the things of this world, but it is very difficult to give up the desires of this world. So, but when we understand there are higher desires that we can have, the desire to love and serve Krishna, then this desire gets curbed and ultimately gets eliminated.
That’s why this verse, what did it say? bhaktin param bhagvati patilabhya When we get that bhakti, when that love for Krishna is revived, then what happens? kamam rudhrogam asvapahinodhi That kam will go away. So of course, till that time, we also have to struggle, we have to minimize the oppression of the opposite sex, we have to fight and control the senses. But the most important principle is to arouse our love for Krishna.
When we awaken our love for Krishna, then everything else takes care of itself. Now, to understand this further, so as devotees, we have to understand that this world is like a reflection, and Krishna nilaya is like the reality. I was saying earlier, urdhva moolam adharshaakam Bhagavad Gita 16.1, that is upside down banyan tree.
So upside down banyan tree, where do we see it? In a reflection, in a river. So this world is like a reflection, and Krishna’s world is a reality. So now, you know, many people, they read some Radha-Krishna lila, and they think, oh, Radha-Krishna relationship is just like that.
And they think, oh, very nice, there are boy and girl is there, there are also boy and girl is there. But it’s not like that. That is divine, that is the reality, our relationship is a reflection.
Unfortunately for us, for the pure devotees, like Rupa Goswami has a very amazing prayer. He says, yuvati naam yatha yu naam yu naucha yuvati naam yatha mano bhiramate tatra mano me ramatam tvayi He says, my dear Lord, just as a boy is attracted to a girl, and a girl is attracted to a boy, let my mind become attracted to you. mano bhiramate tatra mano me ramatam tvayi Let my mind become attracted to you.
What is the characteristic of a boy-girl attraction? It is so natural, it is so spontaneous, it is so powerful. So, that means, when a devotee sees the male-female attraction of this world, he understands that this is an illusion. Now, what is the reality? The illusion, the reflection, when you see the reflected mango, it is one thing to just jump into the river and try to catch the mango.
So, what happens, you jump into the river and try to catch the mango, the river is shallow, and boom, you hit the head. What happens? Mango? No mango, but I can see the mango. You jump in again, and again the other part of the head gets broken.
And then, you go out and see the mango again. It looks so attractive. Again you jump in, and this time break the head.
And again jump in, break the leg. And then a counsellor comes along, a material counsellor, a psychiatrist comes along. He says, actually, we should make a systematic plan.
Make a plan, so that you can catch that mango. Go through the whole river and search where it is, and find out wherever it is, and grab it. And people go, is it here? They go and spend their whole life trying to find the mango, and they never get it.
Why? Because the mango is not there. Actually, so earlier, whether it was in India or the West, the illicit attraction was always there between male and female, but at least there was a regulation of marriage was there for most people. But now the idea of marriage is collapsing.
So, see how Maya works is, first you change things. OK, you have one house, change your house, change your car, then at least have a permanent job. Now change the job also.
Why? Because the old job doesn’t give you happiness, new job will give you happiness. So keep changing, changing, changing, and then now they think, OK, I’ll change my car, I’ll change my house, I’ll change my job, now let me change my spouse also. So you know, they change their life partner also.
Now they are not life partners, they are future partners. In fact, nowadays, many times when marriages take place in the West, the marriages take place with marriage of as much as love affair as there are legal affairs. There are divorce contracts already made inside it.
If you divorce after one year, then you’ll get this much property, I’ll get this much. If you divorce after two years, this much. You know, where is love? They talk so much about love.
But after changing their spouses also, they are not satisfied. So now the latest craze in America is something very peculiar. One of my friend in America, he recently told me this.
He got a car driver’s license. So normally whenever you have to get a legal registration, you have to fill a form. So you know, what is your name, what is your age, which country, which state do you belong to, and then also gender.
Then we write male or female. In America, things are not so simple. When the gender comes, what is your current gender, what was your past gender? Why? People feel satisfied, I am not satisfied with this gender, so let me biologically change the gender.
They do biological operations and they change the gender. And the whole class of people, these people are called as gender benders. Gender benders.
So why? Because I am not satisfied internally, so let me change something to make myself satisfied. So it is very, very pathetic when a devotee feels like this. We laugh, but when people are actually going through it, it is very pathetic.
But it is all because we don’t know where to look for happiness. Forgetting the connection with Krishna, and looking everywhere else. And not getting anything in return.
So, a devotee understands, an advanced pure devotee understands that this world is like a reflection. So even when he sees a boy and girl in this world, he thinks, oh, let’s make a connection towards Krishna. The reflection reminds him of the reality.
Now we have become devotees, but still we are sadhakas, and somehow we are not yet convinced that in this material world there is no happiness. For a non-devotee, maya comes, welcome, I was just waiting for you. Come, come, come.
And for a pure devotee when maya comes, he says, get out. But for a sadhaka, when maya comes, wait, when nobody is there, then. Now Haridas Thakur told the prostitute to wait.
But that wait was different. That wait was to make her hear the holy name, so that she would be delivered. But our wait is not like that.
Our wait is to get the opportunity. So we are not yet convinced that this world is a place of misery and that there is no happiness in this world. So as soon as Devam Rupa has said in one lecture, the scriptures tell us that self-gratification leads to misery.
We secretly disbelieve it. We secretly disbelieve it. Not that we, this is not true, we will not say like that.
How can it be true? There is so much happiness here. How can anybody say that there is no happiness? The scriptures are exaggerating. There must be happiness here.
Okay, if misery does happen, then there is madhulla bhai, just a drop of happiness. But because we are not convinced there is no happiness here, so what happens? Even when we see Radha Krishna pastime, even when we see Gopi Krishna pastime, what happens? That is the reality and this is the reflection. And for a pure devotee, the reflection reminds him of the reality.
But for us, the reality reminds us of the reflection. For us, when we see Radha Krishna pastime, we think, oh, I should also have my partner and I can enjoy. That is all, just garbhadas, just for that only.
People think, I will have my partner and I will enjoy. But you will see this very strange paradox that those who are advanced devotees of Krishna, like Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu himself, or the 6th Goswami of Vrindavan, they had absolutely no attraction to the male-female relationship of this world, and Shukadeva Goswami also. But they are utterly attached to Krishna.
That is, their attraction is the understanding that this is a reflection, that is the reality. And I have to cure the reflection and turn towards the reality. So till we come to that stage, till we come to that stage, we philosophically understand, try to philosophically analyze, understand how this world is a reflection.
And then, we focus on hearing Krishna Leela, but not the Krishna Leela which will remind us of the reflection and attract us to the reflection. So if hearing the Radha Krishna pastimes again attracts us back to the mundane lust, then we should not hear those pastimes. Prabhupada was very practical about this.
His words say that by hearing the Radha Krishna pastimes, we will become purified of lust. But when will that happen? It will happen if there is anushrunayat shraddhanito, with faith and we hear from proper authorities. Then it will purify us.
Otherwise it will putrefy us. Putrefy us means we will become contaminated. Master Jnanatma Radhamath was giving a lecture in America and one tall man with a beard, a French beard and smoking a cigarette, was sitting behind.
And then, at the end of the talk, he raised his hand and said, Swami, I have done my Ph.D. in Geet Govind. Geet Govind is a very, he has written a big book, Swami talks about the panjugal pastimes. I have done my Ph.D. in Geet Govind.
And I know what Krishna does with the gopis in the forests of Vrindavan. Why do you worship such a lusty God? Can’t you find somebody better to worship? So, Maharaj told him, With all due respect to you, sir, I have to inform you that you have done your Ph.D. without passing your Ph.D. What? So he said, I said, the Rasleela is the highest spiritual realization. It comes in the 10th Canada of Bhagwan, after one has studied Bhagavad Gita, after one has studied the 9th Canada of Bhagavatam, understood and realized the message, then the Rasleela is told to us.
So he says, that is the highest spiritual realization. And the journey of spiritual realization begins by understanding that I am not the body, I am the soul. And when I understand I am not the body, I am the soul, then I give up all harmful bodily pleasures.
And those harmful bodily pleasures are no meat-eating, no gambling, no sex, and no smoking. So from the point of view of spiritual realization, unless we can give up these pleasures, we have not even passed our Ph.D. Without passing our Ph.D., how can we possibly understand the order at the Ph.D. level? So therefore, Prabhupada is given some pastimes of Radha Krishna in the Krishna book. If we read them and if we feel agitated, then we should not read them.
But the more we practice Krishna Consciousness, the more we come to the mode of goodness. In the Bhagavad Gita 14th chapter, Lord Krishna says, when we come to the mode of goodness, that mode of goodness will lead to knowledge. So when we get the philosophical knowledge, then we will understand more and more clearly that this world is a reflection, and that is the reality.
When we understand that, then we will no longer be agitated by material desires, when we read Radha Krishna pastimes. And then we will become purified. Krishna is ultimately concerned with the devotion of a person’s heart.
And for Krishna, all devotees are just devotees. See what happens, for Krishna, the gopis are devotees, Narada Muni is a devotee, the sages who perform meditation are also devotees. But for us, these are devotees and these are girls.
That’s the difference. The problem is with our vision. And that has to be cured.
So what happens when an advanced devotee hears Krishna’s pastimes of the gopis, he sees the gopis not as women, he sees the gopis as devotees. And he sees Krishna not as a young boy, Krishna as God. Nowadays, if you notice on television, a lot of religious programs are becoming popular.
Jai Veer Hanuman, Om Namah Shivaya, Shiva Mahapurana, and Ravana. Ravana is also there. But what happens is, people like to see these stories.
Krishna was very sweet. When we see these, ordinary outside people also like to see this. But generally, when we see a movie, what is our attitude in seeing a movie? We identify with the hero.
We identify with the hero. And basically, when the hero is being bitten by the villain, we also say, what is happening? We also feel shaken. And when the hero is with the heroine, then people also start to believe.
Why? Because they identify with the hero. So, this is the enjoying mentality. Of course, it is second-hand enjoyment.
Somebody else is enjoying, and we imagine I am enjoying. Second-hand. But, even in second-hand, the enjoying mentality is there.
Many times, when we come and start hearing Krishna Leela, then also we have that enjoying mentality. And we identify with Krishna. Krishna shot the arrow, and Indra was running away.
Now, it may not always be like that, but we may identify with Krishna. A devotee does not identify with Krishna. A devotee identifies himself as a devotee of Krishna.
And how wonderfully, Krishna, my Lord, is protecting His devotees. How wonderfully Krishna is teaching lessons to those who are going on the wrong track. That’s how a devotee thinks.
Now, when we hear Krishna Leela or Ram Leela, are we identifying with Krishna or are we identifying with the devotee? It’s very difficult to say. But, whom we are identifying with becomes very clear when we start hearing Radha-Krishna Leela. Because, when we hear Radha-Krishna Leela, and if we identify with Krishna, immediately our lust will get triggered.
In other Leelas, when we hear, just the enjoying mentality comes. Krishna is such a great hero. Krishna beats up these people.
Krishna performs such nice mischief. We have enjoyment. It’s not wrong to enjoy.
But, a devotee enjoys by identifying with a devotee. The great devotees, when they hear Krishna Leela, they don’t identify with Krishna. They identify with a devotee.
They identify with the Gopis, with Radharani, with Arjuna, with Hanuman. And, by that, they get happiness. So, as long as we have the enjoyment mentality, we will identify with Krishna.
And, as soon as we identify with Krishna, our lust will get triggered. We will identify with Krishna. When a woman hears Krishna Leela, is it that because somebody removed his body, she will become more attracted to Krishna? It is material attraction.
Actually, a woman also has to understand that I am not a woman. I am a soul. And, actually, basically, the conditioned soul, when he wants to enjoy the material world, by imitating Krishna, that conditioned soul wants to enjoy the female body.
So, the soul who gets a male body enjoys the female body from the outside. A soul who gets a female body enjoys the female body from inside. Those are actually the principle of enjoyment independent of Krishna’s common denominator.
In both cases. But, if with proper philosophical understanding, we hear Krishna Leela, and keeping it in our mind that Krishna is God, and that all the Gopis are the devotees of Krishna, then, there is no problem. Then, his theory, his past tense can also purify.
Even when we identify with Krishna, still there is some purification. But that purification will not be as much as if we identify with the devotees of Krishna. So, when Krishna appeared in this world, he lived first in Gokul.
Then he went to Vrindavan. And then he went to Nandagram. In Vrindavan, he lived in three places.
So like that, Radharani also, she was born in Rawal. Then, her parents were Kirtida and Rishabhanu. They went to Barsana.
And from Barsana, she went to Yavat. She also lived in three places. So, when Rishabhanu and Kirtida were living in Barsana, at that time, they decided to invite Indra Maharaj and Krishnadevaraya to their house for prasad, food, for a big feast.
They were both fellow cowherds. And when Rishabhanu Maharaj decided to invite, he sent an invitation to Krishnadevaraya. When Krishna’s birthday was celebrated a few weeks ago, at that time, they had invited their family to their Krishna’s house for prasad.
So, then they invited. They agreed. Then, Nishadamayi, Krishna came back from his herding the cows.
And when he came back, Nishadamayi told him, tomorrow, don’t go for herding the cows. Let your friends go. So, tomorrow, Rishabhanu Maharaj and Kirtida have invited us for a feast at their house.
So, Krishna said, what is the use of going for a feast without my friends? If my friends are not invited, then I will not go. So, Nishadamayi knew the etiquette. She said, okay.
If you don’t want to go, then you stay at home. Then, Krishna started thinking, no, no, I will come instead. Then, actually, Kirtida, she sent a, she sent several invitations and reminders, please come.
And then she said that, there was some distance. Even now, if you go by bus, it takes about an hour or so, to go to Barsana, hour and a half. So then, they started off early in the morning.
And just before, a few days before they started off, at that time, Rishabhanu Maharaj sent a message to Radharani. And he said that, we are inviting Nandamaharaj Nishadamayi to our house for food. So, Rishabhanu Maharaj’s messenger said this.
Rishabhanu Maharaj is requesting, can you cook the food for them? So, Radharani said, what is the special occasion? So, Radharani was there with Lalita and Shyama Sathe, what is the special occasion? No, they had invited us long ago. So, in reciprocation, we want to invite. So, Radharani said, happily, yes, I will cook.
Now, Radharani, earlier, Durvasa Muni had come. At that time, she had cooked and served Durvasa Muni. Now, you have done that Durvasa Muni drama, and you have said, Durvasa Muni is a very irritable person, unpredictable person.
Sometimes, he will say that, I am hungry, give me food right now. And Radharani has to run and cook everything for him. And then she will bring the food and say, I am not hungry now.
And then again, right in the middle of the night, she will say, I am hungry. And then immediately, the servant will go and wake up Radharani, and she will cook. And she took care of him very nicely.
And he was so very happy that Achyut Durvasa Muni blessed Radharani, that whatever she cooks will taste like nectar. And whoever eats what Krishnaji cooks, will never fall sick. Now, of course, Durvasa Muni has no power to bless Radharani.
Radharani will bless Durvasa Muni. Whatever devotion anyone has, that actually comes from Radharani. But, in the Leela, they are playing like a normal human being.
So, as I told earlier, when Nandamaharaj asked, you know, how Krishna can kill all these wicked demons? So, what did Nandamaharaj say? Actually, Garga Muni told me that my son is just like Narayana. So, when the demons come, the power of Narayana enters into him, and that’s how he is able to kill. Therefore, we should worship Narayana very nicely.
That is their idea. And sometimes, the Avrajas are afraid whether Narayana will protect or not. So, when Krishna was there with Kalia, some of the Devatas, they thought, whoever protects us, Shiva, Shiva, please protect our Krishna.
Mahadev, Mahadev, please protect. They all pray. They don’t know that Krishna is gone.
So, Krishna plays this Leela over them. Of course, we know how Lord Shiva comes there to get the darshan of Krishna. It’s a different story.
But then, Radharani went into the kitchen and started cooking. Radharani, when she cooks, no, she doesn’t cook on one stove. She cooks on 50 stoves simultaneously.
Running from this stove to that stove, this stove to that stove, and everything, nothing gets burnt. Everything is cooked perfectly. So, she was running around cooking.
And then, Maharaja Shiva made a majestic arrangement. Now, right from the entrance of the main gate of the entrance of Barsana, to the main gate of Shiva’s palace, the whole road was cleaned very nicely. And then, coconut pots with small plants were kept there.
And beautiful decorations were made on top. And the whole road was sprinkled with scented water. As soon as Maharaja Shiva came at the door, at that time, immediately there were servants and guests to welcome.
And they were standing and welcoming. And then, they walked ahead. So, Maharaja Shiva was right there at the gate to welcome.
And so, right in front was Andhra Maharaj. And next to them was Balaram. And behind them was Krishna.
And Maharaja saw that. He went and embraced Krishna and Balaram. I offered his respects to Andhra Maharaj.
I told him, please come in. And they had come from a long journey. And the warmth of the reception mitigated all the exhaustion of the journey.
And they arranged for their bathing, and cleaning, and dressing. They had servants helping and everything. And then, they invited them to the main assembly hall, where the feast was to be served.
So, Rajeshwara Mai finished her bathing very quickly. And then, she went to the kitchen. And there, she saw Radharani, Lalita Sakhi, Shyama Sakhi.
They were all cooking. And when she saw all the beautiful items that were cooked, she became so happy. She said, Oh, Radharani, how are you? She didn’t say Radharani, she said Radha.
Oh, Radha, how are you cooking so many items? Such an incredible cooking! So, Radharani became shy, and she said, Actually, it is all your blessings. And then, she started counting one by one, so many items, so delicious. At that time, Kirtuda came there.
And then, Radharani said, Oh, Radha, Radha has cooked so wonderfully. But still, I am unhappy about one thing. Radha’s body is like a tender lotus flower.
Why did you engage her in the difficult task of cooking? Just see! You know, because of all the cooking fires, her flower-like body has become wilted. And, she is sweating so much. She is so exhausted.
So, Kirtuda said that, Actually, I know that, yes, I took a great risk by engaging her in cooking. But, just out of joke, Vichivan Maharaj asked her, that all of you are coming, can you cook? And, she immediately agreed. She immediately agreed to cook.
And, you come so rarely to our house. We thought we should offer you the best delicacies. Therefore, we asked Radharani to cook the best delicacies.
Actually, the main cooking is going on elsewhere. And here, only so many items are going on. So, then, there are hundreds of people who are cooking over there.
And, then, Nishwadamayi said, Okay. Anyway, whatever Radharani, whatever wrong might have happened, you know, if you take charge of serving, then everything will become correct. So, then Nishwadamayi said, Actually, Rohini is very expert in serving.
Let her serve. And, Kirtuda said, No, no, no. Actually, all of you are guests at our house.
Let all of you sit for food. And, Radharani, Shama, Sathya, they will serve. And, Radharani became very shy.
She said, No, no, no. I cannot serve. And, then, Nishwadamayi said, Now, you have become so expert in cooking.
Now, I will train you to become expert in serving. So, then Radharani said, Okay. I will serve Nishwadamayi in the inside chamber.
And, let Shama, Sathya serve everyone in the main chamber. So, Radharani was shy to serve Krishna. She was very shy.
So, she said, Let Shama, Sathya serve. Shama, Sathya said, Yeah, this is also unreasonable. I will also serve Nishwadamayi.
And, others can serve the main guest. So, then Nishwadamayi said, Don’t be shy. All of you can serve everyone in the main guest room.
Then, finally, after bathing and getting ready, seeing the palace, then on the Maharaj’s side, on his right side, Krishna, on the right side, Balram, and on the left side, Krishna. Then, next to Krishna was his old mischievous friend, who was Madhumangal. And, next to Madhumangal was Subal.
And, all the Gopalas were sitting. And then, Radharani went and started serving Nandamaharaj. And then, others, Shama, Sathya were serving Krishna, Madhumangal and Subal.
And, Nishwadamayi saw this and he told Radharani, Actually, Shama, Sathya will not be able to serve alone. We also help her. everybody knew that Radha and Krishna are the perfect couple.
So, they wanted that Radharani should serve Krishna. So, Radharani was very shy. So, she started serving.
And, as she was serving, Madhumangal started speaking, Food is so wonderful. I have never, although I am a Brahmana and I get the best feast everywhere, you know, I have never eaten food like this. I am feeling very happy to eat this food.
But, at the same time, I am very worried. Because, after eating this food, how will I be able to eat any other food? It is so delicious. And then, Krishna said to Madhumangal, So, Madhumangal had his hands and legs were moving.
So, Krishna told Madhumangal, Don’t make so much mischief and noise. Just be quiet and eat the food. So, Madhumangal turned to Krishna and he said, You mean to say, I should become like a dumb man and keep quiet? After eating this food, I feel like I should praise this food with a thousand mouths.
And you are telling I can’t use even my one mouth. So, impossible. He said, Actually, Radha who has kokadet, she is actually Mahalakshmi.
She is the goddess of fortune. Otherwise, how can anyone cook such wonderful food? At that time, Radharani became very shy when she was hearing all this. And she went away inside.
And then, in between Krishna and Madhumangal, there is a parrot. This parrot was actually a spy of Radharani. Radharani had sent a parrot to always be with Krishna to see what Krishna is doing and to keep coming and reporting back.
So, sometimes if somebody wants to speak, what happens? They move their neck. And their neck comes out and they become taller and they want to speak. So, Krishna was offering some food to this parrot also.
And suddenly this parrot moved the neck. And Yashodamayi noticed it. So, he said, Oh, Dhrija! Oh, best of the Dhrija! So, what do you want to say? And immediately Madhumangal said, See, even Yashodamayi has accepted I am the best of the Dhrija.
Dhrija! So, Dhrija means what? Twice born. Dhrija. So, a Brahmana is twice born.
And a bird is also twice born. The bird is first born inside the nest. Inside the egg.
Then he cracks the egg. So, Yashodamayi smiled and he said, I am not referring to you, Madhumangal. I am referring to this bird.
Madhumangal felt very bad. He became very silent. He looked at the bird, best of the Dhrija.
I will show you. And then he said, How? How can he compare Radharani to Mahalakshmi? It is a great offense. Then, Madhumangal said, What do you mean? Radharani is as good as Mahalakshmi.
It is no offense to Mahalakshmi to have her compare with Radharani. The parrot shook his head. He became very angry.
It is not an offense to Mahalakshmi. It is an offense to Radharani. Because Radharani is the source of Mahalakshmi.
It is not an offense to Mahalakshmi. Radharani had gone back to her room. She and Shyamashakhi were giggling.
These two Dhrija’s are making so much fun. I am feeling very shy. I don’t want to go back.
Shyamashakhi went inside. Radharani is not there. She went inside again.
She said, Radha, I can understand that you are feeling shy. Any cultured lady will feel shy when she is praised in public. But you need not feel shy because what they are telling you about you is true.
What they are telling about you is true. So please go and serve again. Now Radharani went and started serving in another area.
Other Gopas were also serving. Dhrija told her, please go and serve Krishna also. She started serving Krishna also very shyly.
Whatever Krishna wanted, she was providing. And then all the Gopas had a very big feast. Balram, Madhumangala was floating in ecstasy.
Nandamahabhi was also praised. The food was unparalleled. Yesterday I was telling, how should the food be? Fragrant, then color, then softness, and then taste.
So fragrant, colorful, juicy, delicious. That’s how Radharani had cooked the best prasadam. And Nandamaharaj profusely glorifying the prasadam.
And then after, everybody had taken the food. Then Yashoda went to Radharani and said, you know what that mischievous Batu was saying is true. After eating the food cooked by you, we cannot be satisfied with any other food.
Therefore, I have a request to you. You please come to our house every day and cook for Krishna. And he said, I will get permission from your elders.
You should come and cook for Krishna every day. So at that time, when Rishibhanu Nandini, wife, said, oh Yashoda, you are the queen of Vrindavan and our life is for your pleasure. So whatever you tell us, we will surely do.
It is an honor for us that Radha can come and serve and cook for your family. Yes, Radha will come every day. Radharani heard this and her heart started bursting with ecstasy.
Because now she will get to serve Krishna every day. Because although Radharani had served cooked feast for everyone, every morsel of food that she had cooked had been surcharged with love for Krishna. And among everybody who ate the food, the people who relished the food the most was Krishna.
Because he was tasty. Not just the food and not just the love. Because everybody had love for Krishna.
But Radharani’s love for Krishna is the greatest, it is the sweetest. And Krishna was tasty like love. From that day onwards, every day if you go on Vrindavan Parikrama, near Nandagram there is a place called Pavan Sarovar.
So near Pavan Sarovar is the kitchen where Radharani would come and cook for Krishna every day. And then she would cook and after the cooking would be over, then Dhanishtha and other Sakis would take the food to the house and then they would offer it to Krishna. Radharani would be watching from the kitchen, watching from the window whether Krishna liked the food or not.
She would see what Krishna likes, so that she would cook more of that for Krishna. And Krishna also knows that Radharani is watching. So he decides to have some mischief.
So Radharani has cooked a very delicious laddu. And Krishna takes that and he makes his face very twisted. And when he makes his face twisted, Radharani’s heart almost says, what happened? And Krishna is so careful, what went wrong? And he pushes the plate away.
He pushes the plate and next is Madhumangala. He picks the laddu. Then Radharani becomes angry.
Krishna is having fun. It’s delicious but Krishna is just making fun over there. So in this way, Krishna and Radharani are very very sweet pastimes.
So actually, here you see in this particular pastime, a very important thing, Radharani worked very hard to serve Krishna by cooking for him. And at that time, Yashodamai tells Radharani, that if you come and cook for my Krishna, then I will give you the best of garments and the best of jewels and ornaments and I will reward you profusely. So at that time Radharani doesn’t speak anything but Krishna does speak.
He says, no, we don’t want any of these garments and garlands and ornaments. And Radharani replies, no, what we want is to please you. And if we please you, that is the perfection of our life.
So actually, what Radharani served Krishna and what did Radharani get by that? More service to Krishna. So that is our philosophy. We serve Krishna and we serve Krishna, what happens? We get more service to Krishna.
As devotees, we should never see service as a burden. Service is an honor. When we get service, service is not a burden.
Service is an honor. Because, for Yashodamai, it means a big thing. For her, cooking for Krishna is the joy of her life.
For her, Krishna is her own child and she has fed her her breast milk and now she cooks for Krishna. Yesterday I was telling you about how when Krishna wanted to go out for lunch, there were so many food items. So like that, Yashodamai loves to cook for Krishna.
But when she sees that Radharani can cook better than me, she is not concerned that I should cook for Krishna. She is concerned that Krishna should get the best food. And therefore she asks Radharani, you cook for Krishna.
So, for Radharani, when Yashodamai is asking her to cook for Krishna, that service is not a burden. It is an honor. Similarly, for devotees, when they are serving Krishna, for them, service is an honor, service is a treasure.
And if they are giving that service to us, for example, if somebody tells us, you know, you please cook for Krishna, you please cook for Krishna, you help in the preaching, we should not think that, oh, because they couldn’t find anyone else, so they gave me. Actually, it is a very intimate offering of the heart to, of the devotee to Krishna. So, actually when the devotees are offering their service to Krishna, that means they are considering us trustworthy.
They are considering that this person is also worthy of serving Krishna. That service which I would like to do, because I have so many people who are not able to do this service. So, if I entrust this service to this devotee, he will do it nicely.
When we do deity worship, that is the mood. Actually, we are not doing deity worship. Our spiritual master is doing the deity worship.
And we are simply assisting him. But even to have the opportunity to assist is a privilege. And therefore, when we get that opportunity, we should understand it is not a burden, it is an honour.
It is a privilege. And, by the service that we get for Krishna from the devotees, we become progressively more and more attached to Krishna. And we become disentangled from the material world.
But apart from service, what is the other way we can stay aloof from maya? If we don’t do service for Krishna, then what other engagement do we have? We simply go into maya. Therefore, service is a great blessing. And the way Radharani worked personally hard to cook for Krishna, as a devotee, she wants to work very hard to serve for Krishna.
And, the ideal example of a Brajivasi for us is Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada was living in Vrindavan, and there also he was in Radha Damodara temple, where Jiva Goswami had lived earlier. And he had meditated on Radha Krishna’s pastimes.
So then, Srila Prabhupada was also meditating on Radha Krishna’s pastimes. But Srila Prabhupada left Vrindavan. For what purpose? For the purpose of fulfilling the desire of Radha Krishna.
Radha Krishna has come as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Shri Krishna shayitanya, Radha Krishna nahi anya. They have come and they have said that, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said, Tuthvite aache yata nagaradi graham, sarvatra pachar hoide mora naam.
And every town and village, my name should be chanted, will be chanted. Now a devotee doesn’t think, Oh, Krishna has made the prediction, then Krishna will make it happen. Nothing like that.
Making Krishna’s prediction come as a reality, is my responsibility. A devotee feels like that. Now Arjuna was shown by Krishna the Vishwaroop.
And in the Vishwaroop, Krishna, Arjuna saw, Bhishmam chidronam cha Jayadatam cha Sarve sahasayo Yuddhamukhya So Yuddhamukhya, all the generals, warriors on the side of the Kauravas, they were all entering into the mouth of the Vishwaroop. And when they were entering, they were all being destroyed. So then Krishna, Arjuna didn’t tell Krishna, Krishna, as it is you have killed Bhishma, Drona and Chaitanya.
Then why do I have to fight? You just finish it off. No, he saw the prediction and he said, Now let me work to make it happen. And if you look over here at the Mahabharata, how hard Arjuna had to work, how many setbacks he had to face, how many times he got wounded, how many very careful and strategic planning he had to make to ultimately make Krishna’s vision become a reality.
What Krishna had shown in the Vishwaroop. So actually the devotee feels it is my responsibility. So the essence of Radharani’s mood of service, is Radharani’s mood of bhakti, is service, selfless service, doing whatever pleases Krishna.
So when Krishna played the flute, the gopis left everything and ran to the forest to harass Krishna. Similarly, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu instructed that preach all over the world. That was like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s flute song.
So then Prabhupada left everything and he went to the west to preach. So actually Prabhupada is following the footsteps of the gopis. And Prabhupada is telling us what is the mood of selfless service.
And by this mood of selfless service where we work, take up difficulties to please Krishna, to please Krishna’s devotees. Then gradually we become purified. And when we become purified, then our attraction to Krishna becomes more and more and more.
And as our attraction to Krishna becomes more and more, then we relish these pastimes more and more. Ultimately, we enter into these pastimes. We enter into these pastimes.
And that is the ultimate goal of our life. But we can enter into these pastimes not just by prematurely thinking that I was advanced devotee. Bhakti Sahaja Thakur would say that nobody can gate-crash into the kingdom of God.
You know what is gate-crash? Gate-crash means the gate is locked and you just break the door and go inside. I have come here now. Krishna, I have come to Goloka now.
What is my sarupa? Tell me now. We can’t gate-crash into the spiritual world. So what do we have to do? Let us serve Krishna.
When Krishna sees that you are serving nicely, then he lifts us up and takes us to the spiritual world. Just like Prabhupada said that how do we develop love for Radha and Krishna? He said, actually we develop love for Radha and Krishna by preaching their glories all over the world. So actually, if we have to preach, preaching requires a lot of sacrifice.
It requires a lot of commitment. Preaching is not just giving one class. That also requires some preparation.
But that is okay. That is not so difficult. But actually preaching means we have to live according to what we are preaching.
Preaching also means that we have to take care of those to whom we preach and guide them and inspire them in their spiritual life. And when we do that, then Krishna is so pleased. Prabhupada, for him, he just wanted to write books.
He could have done that in India also. In 1962, 63, 64, he published three volumes of the first canto of Shiva’s Bhagavatam. And by that time he got a recommendation from the then Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri.
And after that, with that recommendation and with already three books published, he could have been very easily able to publish all the other Bhagavatams also. But Prabhupada was not interested in writing books. Yes, writing books was important for Prabhupada, but his most important mission was to transform people’s hearts and make them into devotees.
And writing books were a means to that, a very important means to that. But Prabhupada saw that Indians are too enamored by the West. Indians are too captivated by everything Western.
And that’s why they are not paying any attention to their own cultures. Prabhupada took a huge risk of going to America. Prabhupada went from Vrindavan, the capital of devotion, to New York.
There also, the Bhobari, which was the capital of degradation. The capital of devotion to the capital of degradation. For what? To fulfill Lord Chaitanya’s mission.
Fulfill the desire of Radha Krishna. To elevate the people over there. And how amazingly he elevated them and transformed them and brought them back.
And he brought them back. So many Indians were amazed. How is Parvata practicing devotional service? And it created a flood of bhakti.
And now, actually by Prabhupada’s mercy, there are so many wonderful temples coming up all over, not just India, India of course, Russia, and also in different parts of the world. So, Prabhupada is actually showing us by his example, how to be a devotee of Radha Krishna. There may be many devotees who are Arunachala, who know many very strange and beautiful stories of Radha Krishna.
They may be absorbed in very higher mellows, at least they think they are. But the highest mellow is the mellow of selfless service. So, if we serve Krishna by, what is this selfless service for us? That means we serve Krishna by trying to satisfy his desires and the desires of the devotees.
If we take up the responsibility for preaching, for helping other souls come to Krishna lotus feet, then Krishna becomes very pleased by that. Devotees become very pleased by that. And by their mercy, we make a rapid advancement.
So, remember I started the class by telling about how Parabhakti, the hearing of the Rasis, I can use Parabhakti. Hearing of the bastions of Radha Krishna, I can use Parabhakti. We can get that Parabhakti also by preaching Krishna Consciousness.
So, as Sadhakas, we do both. We hear Krishna’s pastimes and we preach also. And by that we get double mercy.
And thus we can make rapid spiritual advancement. So, I’ll summarize. I started by talking about this verse and how it has three strange characteristics.
Or not strange, striking characteristics. First is that, although it is describing apparently man-woman pastimes, it is saying by hearing this, lust will go away. Secondly, it is saying that that rare gift which the Jnanis get after the completion successfully of their Jnan, Parabhakti, that we’ll get by hearing this.
And thirdly, although this pastime is performed with Krishna, the word Vishnu is used. Why Vishnu? To help us understand it is not some ordinary boy or girl. It is God himself who is present over here.
And how will this hear this pastime free us from lust? That connection we’ll discuss elaborately. How the carnal desire is the biggest distraction, the biggest impediment on the spiritual path. And where it originates from is a big mystery for even religious followers, religious scholars.
We discussed how the Judaya Christian tradition has no answer. They say this tendency towards evil and sin is like a genetic defect that has come down. And they get messed up with their explanations.
But the Gaudiya Vishnu Siddhanta explains to us that actually, Krishna has five rasas in the spiritual world. When we come to the material world, we want to imitate him by developing relationships with those five rasas. And just as Madhuri is the highest for Krishna, similarly, the attachment to the opposite sex becomes the strongest for us.
And we try to give it up. Either as a regulate, purify, and give it up eventually. And then we discussed how do we do that? It’s not just by curbing the desire, but by awakening our love for Krishna.
And what does awakening our love for Krishna mean? That means actually developing a spirit of service. We discussed how Radharani is selfless, sacrificing herself for Krishna by cooking for him. And lastly, we discussed how for us selfless service, Prabhupada is taught by his example, means preaching.
And by preaching, we can actually develop our love for Radha Krishna, relish their pastimes, enter into their pastimes, and return back to them. Thank you very much. Is there any questions? Yes.
There’s nothing I can do. Not that I don’t want to serve him. There’s nothing I can do for him.
He’s so great, he’s so purna, he’s so self-satisfied, and he has everything. He’s Atmaram, Heeshwar, Aishwarya, Purna. First of all, he doesn’t need anything because he’s self-satisfied.
And secondly, he has all six opulences. So whatever one may be able to provide, he already has it. So what can I do for him? Their meditation is their service.
They become like trees in the spiritual world. The Thavar, Thavar is a non-moving thing in the spiritual world. There are no things in the spiritual world.
Everyone is a being, not a thing. But those who appear like things, they are in the Shantaras. So they are absorbed in Krishna.
Krishna-Nila. Yeah, good question. So do we also have that kind of relationship in the spiritual world? Like, why attraction is there? Because is there something like that originally in the spiritual world? For us also, as I was telling, there is a male and female form in the spiritual world, a temporary and perishable.
But in the spiritual world also there are male and female forms. But everything in the spiritual world is for the service and pleasure of Krishna. So even the male and female forms are just for the purpose of serving and pleasing Krishna.
So apart from Krishna, there are other people also who are male forms. But there is no attraction between male and female mutually. Male and female are all attracted to Krishna.
So our attraction to the opposite sex in this world is not because we are attracted to the opposite sex in the spiritual world. It is because we wanted to assert the position of Krishna and get pleasure in relationships the way Krishna is getting. Any other questions? Dwaraka in the material world and Dwaraka in the spiritual world are different.
Just as Vrindavan in the material world and Vrindavan in the spiritual world are different. What is the difference in Vrindavan? There is no pastime of Krishna growing. Krishna taking birth and Krishna growing.
That pastime is not in the spiritual world. Similarly, in Dwaraka also, there is no pastime of Krishna’s sons getting married to some women and then getting children. Whoever is there is in that role forever.
And Krishna has his queens. No doubt about that. But the way Krishna’s family expands, even in Dwaraka, Krishna is not an elderly person.
Of course, Krishna never grows old. But in Dwaraka also, Krishna is a youth. He is not like a 100 or 110-year-old person.
He is like a youth only. But he is like a married youth. So, whatever is there in the spiritual world, I don’t know in Dwaraka whether Krishna has sons.
I have my doubts because nobody has a relationship with Krishna like father and son. But even if they are there, I’ll find this out in more detail, but even if they are there, if they are married and they have children, then that’s how it is. No, see, Krishna’s book describes pastimes in the material world.
See, Krishna is getting married. At least there was a time when he was not married. And after a time, there was a marriage.
But it’s not like that in the spiritual world. Krishna is eternally married to the queen in the spiritual world. So, Krishna’s book, practically, even Anandam Jampu, Gopal Jampu, they describe Krishna’s pastimes as a progression.
But there are other books like Krishna Bhavnavat, Mahakavya, Govind Vilayamrut, Vishwamitra Sangeet Madhav, Raghuvartam Chandrika. These books describe the daily pastimes of Krishna. That means, okay, what Krishna does in the morning, what he does in the afternoon, what he does in the evening, like that.
So there, the pastimes are not progressive in the sense that Krishna performs these or similar pastimes every day for all of eternity. Krishna has Sakhira’s pastimes in the morning or in the daytime. He has Vatsala’s pastimes in the morning or in the evening, like that.
Those pastimes go on eternally. The particular form of the pastimes may be different. The way he talks to Gopal, what mischief he does, where he goes, that may vary.
But in the spiritual world, whatever relationships Krishna has, they are the way they are eternally. So, officially, apart from Krishna and the queen, there are other members who are also married and they have queens. But they are all attracted to Krishna.
If they have children, they have children eternally. That means that they already have children and their children are children eternally. That’s how it goes on.
They are all like fellow devotees. No conjugal relationship. They are fellow devotees.
This class will complete the question. You have a question about this class? Okay, come back to me. Actually, when somebody asks, do you have free time, it’s not necessarily an attitude of doubt or an attitude of disengaging us like that.
The idea is that devotees are helping us to be Krishna conscious. And how they help us is by sharing services with us. So, nobody expects us to do two things at one time.
If we already have one service, they will not expect us to do another. Or they may tell us, okay, it’s more important to do this. And that can be done later.
Or that can be done by somebody else. But in case… See, all of us can say, I have default services. I have to read my book.
I have to chant. I have to do my sadhana and this and that. But the fact is that our sadhana, we cannot do it too much.
If we try to read books for too long, the only thing that happens is we become bored or we become sleepy. We can’t read for too long. We don’t have that much taste now.
That is a fact. And we have to have some other service. If the devotee asks us, are you free? And you tell him, actually, I have to do my sadhana or whatever.
After completing that, I can do this service. It’s urgent I can do it right now. So we can tell what our current engagements are.
And if the devotee wants us to do some other thing, we can do it. It’s not that just because… Now, for example, when Radhanath Malik wanted me to edit his book, I had gone to Mumbai for his Vyasa Puja. And after Vyasa Puja, I had done some editing and sent him my mail.
So after that, he asked me, he met me in the morning in Jaipur and asked me, can you stay here for a few days? I said, of course, Maharaj. Maharaj, are you going to be here for a few days? So I said, Maharaj, I’m trying to go back, but if you want me to stay, I can surely stay, Maharaj. Maharaj said, please stay here.
And immediately I called up and said, Maharaj wants you to stay, surely you can stay there. So now, when Maharaj is not directly giving me the service, he’s asking, can you stay here for a few days? Does that mean that Maharaj doesn’t trust me or something? I said, no, I don’t have to worry about that. When Maharaj knows that, different devotees have different services, then they need to be adjusted.
And that time I was supposed to come here to some Spurti camp or something was there. Then I told Maharaj, Maharaj, I was supposed to go, but I can stay if you want. Maharaj said, please stay.
Then God’s warning, I didn’t go to Kolkata, I stayed on. It’s not wrong for us. Even with our spiritual master, we can clarify if required.
What to speak of with other devotees with whom we are serving? I have two questions, and then we can take the last question as well. How Indian? Ghar ki murgi, dal baraba. Just like that.
Because Prabhupada, they saw from a material point of view, he’s a fellow Indian, he’s a businessman, he’s an old man, what can he teach us? But when they saw that, oh, these foreigners are following Prabhupada, that means he must be something special. Just like that. When they saw these foreigners are following Prabhupada, then they took Prabhupada very seriously.
We may intellectually understand that Gopis are pure devotees, but it’s a matter of realization. The more we become purified, the less we start seeing the Gopis as just females, we start seeing them as devotees. So it’s not just a matter of seeing, it’s a matter of what kind of thoughts and desires are awakened in our heart.
It’s not just Gopis. If we are really seeing the Gopis as devotees, then we should actually see women also as devotees. Actually, women are perceived at different levels by different people.
A non-devotee materialist, he sees women as objects for enjoyment. A sadhaka, if you see a woman, there are different levels. First, we see women as maya, as a distraction.
In the scripture, it is said that women are like traps. Be very careful, stay away. In cultured society, we treat women as matajis, as mothers.
Beyond that, if they become devotees, we treat them as vaishnavis. In between these two, treating matajis and vaishnavis, when we become preachers, we should be able to see women as souls who are also lost, forgetful of Krishna, and then we have a duty to connect them with Krishna. So there are different levels of perception.
No? They are all objects of enjoyment, as a trap of maya, as mothers, as souls in search of Krishna, as vaishnavis, as devotees of Krishna. So now, of course, when we say we should see women like this, rather than we should see and think of all these things. We should not see those women at all, but by reciprocating, this is how we should think about them in the mind.
But we cannot artificially do that. Our consciousness, the level where we are seeing them as objects of enjoyment, we can’t see them as lost souls in service of Krishna, and lost souls in need of Krishna consciousness. You know, we are ourselves lost souls at that time.
You know? Lost souls being dragged by maya. So, actually, gradually, when we truly are able to see even women as devotees, as meant for Krishna’s pleasure, then we are actually truly seeing the gopis also as devotees. Even all women.
Women are potential devotees. They are souls who are souls who are actually in need of Krishna consciousness. Now, they may not be dressed like devotees, and then we have to reciprocate accordingly.
If they are going to distract us from Krishna consciousness, we have to keep a distance. But we have to understand that they are also souls. We have to have a spiritual vision towards them.
And that devotee mataji is not saying that they are also for my enjoyment. That vision, okay, as a devotee mataji, I’ll also be a devotee, and we’ll get married and we’ll enjoy together. We’ll enjoy Krishna consciousness together.
No, that will also not work. So, only when we have a pure vision, in the Ishopanishad, in mantras 4 to 8, it is described how one can get a pure vision of God. Verses 4 and 5 describe how one initially sees God as very contradictory.
That God is far away, He is close. He is, He walks, He does not walk. He is inside everything, He is outside everything.
It’s completely contradictory. What does it mean? But then the next two verses are described how the soul trains himself to see all living things in the spiritual vision. All living beings.
One who understands that they are actually souls and sees them like that. Then, after being able to see souls in the spiritual vision, then one gets a clearer understanding of God. Then, in verse, mantra 8, it is described, such a person will understand Krishna as supreme, as pure, as prophylactic, as all-moral, as all-beautiful.
So, we have to see whether we are having a pure vision towards the people of this world. Then, actually, our pure vision of the Gopis is that it is realistic. Otherwise, it is more intellectualized than actualized.
Okay, we’ll come back to this. See, when two authorities tell you to do different things, you shouldn’t get torn. Let the two of them only decide.
You don’t have to get torn about these things. You tell yourself, you are telling me to do this thing, to do my sadhana, but I was told by that devotee to do this thing. So, if you want to do sadhana, can you please tell that devotee accordingly? Then that is clarified.
You know, it’s not that we have to get torn between two authorities. Please clarify. Maybe if at that time some service is required, you can do that.
When on the 13th day of the battle, Arjuna went into the Kaurava camp to kill Jayadratha. So, Arjuna told Satyaki that you be by the side of Yudhishthira and protect Yudhishthira. Because Dronacharya has taken a vow that I will arrest Yudhishthira and bring him alive to Duryodhana.
He said you be there by his side and protect him. Protect Duryodhana. Protect Yudhishthira.
But Yudhishthira started feeling worried that Arjuna has gone all alone inside. He told Satyaki, Arjuna is your teacher. Now you should liquidate your debt to your teacher by going inside the enemy camp to assist him.
He will need you right now. Satyaki felt torn. Because Arjuna had told him be by Yudhishthira’s side and Yudhishthira was telling him go there.
Now at that time he was thinking if I go and something happens to Yudhishthira then Arjuna will never forgive me. On the other hand if I don’t go and something happens to Arjuna then not only will the world consider me to be a coward for not going into hell but also I will have failed to serve my teacher. His heart was torn.
At that time he could not go inside to ask Arjuna. He asked Yudhishthira only at that time. He said this is what Arjuna had told me to be by your side explicitly because Dronacharya may attack.
So please tell me what I should do. So then Yudhishthira said don’t worry. As far as Dronacharya is concerned he will be fully caught up in trying to protect Yudhishthira and he will not even have the time to attack me today.
And even if he comes Bhima is here. Bhima was actually very very bored because all the action was happening inside and he was just standing there not doing much. So Bhima said you go.
So then Satyaki went inside. Satyaki made Satyaki clarify. If you can get the two authorities to meet at that time, that’s best.
If not, at that time you can clarify with that particular authority. Go and do this and you can do it. When he reached Arjuna, at that time Arjuna was first annoyed.
So Satyaki said I told you to be with Yudhishthira. Actually Bhima is there to take care. And they told what had happened.
He said very good, he came now. Please assist me, we have a huge effort to do. And then of course Yudhishthira felt, oh Satyaki is just a 16 year old young boy.
And yesterday a 16 year old boy went inside when Bhima was killed. So now I send Satyaki inside. So he started worrying about Satyaki.
Then he told Bhima. Before Bhima could, before Yudhishthira could speak, I think Bhima nodded his head. Yes, I will go.
Bhima just plunged into the enemy army. Already the Kauravas were shaking because of Arjuna’s attack. Satyaki came along, they became even more worried.
But when Bhima came, they just turned and started running away only. So on that day, one day Bhima killed 30 of the Kaurava brothers. And when Dhritarashtra heard what he painted, Arjuna was also heartbroken eventually.
The point is that, you can always clarify. See, when you say the nectar, that nectar is actually illusion. It’s not exactly something which makes you immortal.
It pronouns one’s life. There is no immortality possible in the material world as long as we have material worlds. But that nectar pronouns one’s life.
So when they say that there is no death in the heavenly planets, what does that mean? When your time to die comes, you are thrown out of the heavenly planets, then you die. So that way, there is no death in the heavens. Even Indra, when his time to die comes, what happens? He is taken off the throne, he is thrown out of heaven.
And after he goes out of heaven, then he dies. It’s miserable. The death is always there.
Sometimes heavens are said to be a place for the immortal. But the immortal doesn’t mean immortal. Because their lifespan is so long as compared to ours, it’s almost like immortal.
But it’s not immortal. Immortality is possible only in the spiritual world. So as long as we have a material body, we are prone to death.
And the nectar, if you see, the nectar mantra, when it happens, that time also, how does the whole thing start? Actually, this is all described in the 8th Canto, the Asuras, headed by Bali, have become very strong because they have served Shukracharya nicely. And by his Brahma teaches, he gives Shakti to Bali, and Bali defeats Indra and has to flee. And then Indra, he approaches Lord Vishnu, and Lord Vishnu tells him, now they are too strong for you, you cannot defeat them now.
Therefore, now you make a pact, and both of you get the nectar out, and both of you share the nectar. And that will make you stronger. So it doesn’t say, in the Bhagavatam also, that nectar will make you immortal.
Like nectar basically prolongs survival. It’s not that it makes you immortal. Oh, but then that also doesn’t… Rahu lives longer than other demons.
But when the whole universe is destroyed, it’s not that Rahu is existing at that time. Rahu is also destroyed at that time. Relatively longer lifespan.
Yeah, yeah. So yesterday, yesterday, Mr. Chandan was asking this question, but I’ll paraphrase your question. That if Krishna is actually the deity, then what exactly is the difference between deity and idol, and how can some invaders come and desecrate the deity? If Krishna is God, then how can the deity be desecrated? Yeah, anything else? Good question.
Krishna is present everywhere. Even in an atom. Every atom is present.
So when we talk about Krishna manifesting through the deity, that is not the Shiva, Daksha, Vishnu, or the Paramatma manifesting through the deity. It can be. But when you make the deity, the deity is made according to a particular description given in the scriptures.
If the deity is made of Krishna, then actually it’s Krishna manifesting through the deity. So whether it is a… So now if you make a statue of Gandhi, in every statue of Gandhi, also Vishnu is present. And every atom of deity of Krishna, also Vishnu is present.
But we are not talking about that presence of Vishnu in every atom at all. That is not relevant here. But when we make a deity according to the description given in the scriptures, and then after that we do Pranapakrishta, then Krishna, who is personally present in the spiritual world, who is in expansion, present as the super soul in everyone’s heart, as the atom, as the Paramatma within the atoms also, that Krishna manifests as the deity.
So we can say that the Paramatma from one of the atoms is manifesting as the deity. But no, the Paramatma within the atoms is still there as it is. But Krishna personally manifests as the deity when the form is made according to the scriptural description and in the Pranapakrishta as well.
So, then is the deity spiritual or material? The deity is spiritual, though it is made up of material components. Now, when we use the word spiritual, it is used in two senses, with two meanings. And we have to be careful which meaning we are using.
There are things which are spiritual in constitution, and there are things which are spiritual in application. That means, this mic, it’s spiritual. Why? Because it has been used to glorify Krishna.
So in that sense, it is spiritual in application. But in constitution, in composition, it is still made up of earth, water, fire, and ether. So it is material.
So the deity, when the deity is made up of material elements, the elements are described in the 11th Canto, and the science of deity worship is elaborately explained in the Pancharatra Shastras. So, how to worship the deity is described in the Pancharatra Shastras. How to make the deity is described in the Shilpa Shastras.
There are specific scriptures for all these things also. So the deities are made up of material elements. In that sense, we can say that the deity is material.
But, when the Pranapakrishta is performed, the material elements become spiritualized. They become spiritualized. And therefore, the pure devotees can see Krishna personally present as the deity.
Therefore, there is a verse that You are not just a Pratimurti, not just an image, you are So, when the deity is made according to spiritual instruction and the Pranapakrishna is performed, Krishna personally manifests as the deity. In that case, Krishna is non-different from the deity. Now, when Krishna manifests as the deity, He manifests for a particular purpose.
The purpose is to give the devotees an opportunity to serve Him. So, Krishna is not manifesting as the deity to prove His omnipotence. Omnipotence means being all-powerful.
Krishna, in general, does not manifest His omnipotence in this world. Why? Because the souls have come here to imitate Krishna. And therefore, if Krishna manifests His omnipotence, the soul will never be able to imitate Him, never be able to think that He is God.
So, that’s why He does not manifest His omnipotence in this world. He manifests His omnipotence in only one form, as time. Time conquers the conqueror of all conquerors.
Time overpowers everyone. So, in that form, He manifests His omnipotence. Apart from that, Krishna does not manifest His omnipotence.
And the deity form of Krishna is not meant to manifest the omnipotence of God. It is meant to give an opportunity for the devotees to serve the Lord and in this way increase their attraction to the Lord. So, every manifestation has a particular purpose.
And every manifestation of God in matter, in this material world, has a particular purpose. And when we approach that manifestation for that purpose, we see it as spiritual. Spiritual.
But if we approach it for any other purpose, we will see it as material. So, when we serve the deity faithfully, lovingly, carefully, then we will see how that deity is not just stone, not just marble, not just wood, but as actually God, and He will reciprocate with us. Now, how are some iconoclasts, some people of other religions, they will break deities and say, where is your God? There is no God here.
But it is a very foolish idea. Because even they have their sacred scriptures. And they, some of them even worship the sacred scriptures.
Even if they don’t worship the sacred scriptures, they consider them divine. In the sense that they are originated from God and in the sense that they are somehow holy. But although the sacred scriptures are holy, can the Quran or the Bible or the Guru Granth Sahib not be torn? Can it not be burned? It can be.
Just recently, one Christian priest, he burned the Quran in public. Because he said the Quran caused the 9-11. It’s an anniversary, so he burned the Quran.
So now, is it possible to burn the Quran? Yes. Just because somebody burns the Quran, does it mean that it is no longer divine? No. The divinity of any manifestation of God in this world is not proven by its ability to break material laws.
The divinity of the Bible is not proven by the Bible being put in fire and not being burnt. The divinity of the Bible will be seen when we study the Bible with a devotional attitude and see how it enriches us with the divine wisdom and how it transforms our heart. Similarly, the divinity of the deity is not proven by somebody coming to desecrate the deity and the deity not getting desecrated.
The divinity is proven by those who approach the deity faithfully, serve the deity, and find their heart getting transformed and purified. Krishna’s manifestations in this world are for the devotees to render service. They are not for the demons to prove his existence or prove his omnipotence.
Krishna doesn’t care in that sense for the demons. He loves the demons also. But because the demons want to do demoniac things, Krishna doesn’t want to interfere with them.
Krishna doesn’t have to prove his omnipotence to them. Now when Lord Narasimha manifested through the pillar, it was not because Hiranyakashipu challenged where is Vishnu. It was because Prahlad Maharaj said that Vishnu is there in this pillar also.
Before that, actually after Hiranyakashipu was killed, Hiranyakashipu went out searching all over the world where is Vishnu. I want to find him, I want to kill him, I want to revenge the death of my brother. But he couldn’t find Vishnu anywhere.
But then Vishnu appeared in the pillar of his own palace. Why? Because Prahlad Maharaj said So that’s why as devotees we have to clearly understand this. That the divinity of the deity is seen through service, not through miracles.
Miracles where they will not get the security. Now there was one famous Hindu who later on became a Buddhist, he said that he basically became an iconoclast again. So he said once I went to the temple to pray and I saw a fly on the head of the deity.
And I got a realization. Not a realization, he got a vis-realization. He said, oh I realized if this deity cannot remove the fly from his head, what can he remove problems from my head? Therefore there is no need to pray to the deity.
There is no God in the deity. Maharaj said this is a completely misleading understanding. Now can Krishna not remove the fly from the deity? Surely he can remove it.
But he has not come there for that purpose. He has come there for us to give up all the service. So if we see a fly on the deity and immediately our devotee says oh I am not serving the deity properly.
Immediately he will go and remove the fly, he will clean the altar so the fly won’t come. So the attitude has to be devotional, not defiant. Generally for all offering and worship purposes, we should be worshipping deities or laminations of pictures of the deities, not paintings.
Paintings are Prabhupada said windows to the spiritual world. They give us glimpses of how life is in the spiritual world and to attract us and remind us. But it’s not the painting should be neglected or kept unneeded or disrespected.
But generally paintings if there is no alternative, then we can even offer food. But the alternative, the food should always be offered to deities. Because paintings are more artistic rendition to give us glimpses of the spiritual world.
Paintings are not meant for worship. In our temple also you will see that there are paintings on the roof, there are paintings on the side of the walls, side walls. It’s not that the pujari comes and does aarti for all the paintings.
No, that’s not required. In Juhu temple if you go, they have got these dioramas. How many of you have been to Juhu temple any time? All of you.
On the side, I just went to Juhu before I came here. So there is Radharaj Bihari, and on this side there is God Retired. And on this side you will see Buddha is there.
So many other dioramas are there. So now, while Narasimha Aarti is going on, we may turn and look at Lord Narasimha Deva. But the pujari doesn’t come out of the altar and start worshipping Narasimha Deva there.
Those are the dioramas. So whether there are paintings or there are dioramas. For the dioramas we don’t do any pranapratishta.
Dioramas are also made according to spiritual description. So, they are worthy of our respect and they are primarily meant to help us remember Krishna. And they are meant to offer visual glimpses of the spiritual world for both devotees and non-devotees.
But they are not generally objects of worship. So food should be offered to the deities or to pictures of deities. Now with respect to difference between deities and laminations or pictures, the principle is ye tha maam prapadyante that once Krishna has been invoked as the deity, then the photos of the deity, they are called as chitra rupa.
If you have archa rupa, so there is chitra rupa. So, they are also considered sacred. And if we approach the deities with devotion, approach lamination also with devotion, then see, Krishna’s manifestation as the deity does not depend only on the pranapratishtha.
Pranapratishtha is important. But, you know, there will be three people in a temple. One is the pure devotee, one is sadhaka, and one is the atheist.
So, even if there is pranapratishtha, still the atheist will not be able to see Krishna. Because he has no faith, he has no devotion. The pure devotee is able to see non-difference between Krishna and me.
And sadhaka, with faith he understands that if I worship and I serve, then one day I will see that this deity is non-different from Krishna. So, pranapratishtha is important, but pranapratishtha is not everything. Ultimately, the revelation of Krishna as a deity depends on one’s consciousness.
So, if we have lamination, and we are respecting and worshipping the lamination, then Krishna can manifest as a lamination also. Now, what standards should we follow? That will vary according to the time and place. Generally, in the temple where there are full-time pujaris, they have higher standards.
The offering has to be a fixed time, there has to be this many times offering. Now, grahasas in their houses may not follow so strictly. Their offering time may be slightly variable.
The number of times they offer may also be variable. And the grahasas are told that it should be like that. It shouldn’t happen that we consider that we have deities over here, so even if some camp is going on, we have to worship the deities.
So, we have to keep pujaris over here. We have to cook over here. No, that’s not required.
These deities are considered to be expansion of the original deities. And, when say, we are not able to go to the temple to serve the deities, then we serve them over here. But if we can go to the temple, then they are more happy that we serve them in their form in the temple than here.
So, how much they manifest here depends on our service attitude. And because the service is of much higher standard in the temple, so they manifest more in the temple. So, it’s not a one-zero thing.
It’s proportional, reciprocal, proportional manifestation. So, now we may ourselves have some laminations of Krishna. Should we worship them? Should we offer bhoga to them? Not required.
But we should not disrespect them. Generally, the standard that we follow is when we make pamphlets, or when we make govindas, prasadam packets, or prasadam boxes. So, we don’t put pictures of the deities over there.
Because that may be thrown by people. And people may throw the boxes away. They may want to dust them.
And then somebody may trample their foot on that. Now, that may be offence. So, generally, on the deities, on the pictures, sorry, on the parcels and packets which are likely to be thrown away, we don’t put deities’ pictures.
We either just put the name Govindas, we may put the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, and we may put pictures. For example, we may put a picture of Krishna. Sometimes we make pamphlets.
We may put a picture of Krishna eating butter for Janmashtami festival. Like that we may put. Now, even putting the foot on the Hare Krishna Mahamantra might also be an offence.
But Krishna is merciful. And the Nama Rupa is certainly more merciful than the Archa Rupa. So, if we don’t put the name, people will not be able to come to know only what the Mahamantra is.
At least when they see the Mahamantra, they are getting some suprati by that. So, the Nama Rupa being more merciful, even if people trample on it, that is not offence. But the deities, because we have invited for service, we should not put the deities’ picture on anything that is likely to be thrown away.
Now, it may happen that we install the deities now, and after 300 years, there is nobody to take care of the deities. At that time, there is nobody to serve. But at that time, we are not responsible.
During our lifetime, we did our service. Yes. Last question.
Yeah, of course. That is why Krishna says, यत्तद अग्रेविशन्निवः परिणामें उम्हरुतो पहुन। सब्सुखं साथ्पिकं प्रोऽप्तं आत्मपुद्धी प्रसादर्जन 18.37, 38, 39 He analyzes three kinds of pleasures in the three modes. So, 18.37, he says, that which tastes like poison in the beginning, but like nectar in the end.
That is happiness in the mode of goodness. So, it will taste like poison in the beginning. You can’t avoid that.
But, the poison is thin and small. If you tolerate it and you penetrate it, then there is a lot of nectar within. On the other hand, in the mode of passion, it tastes like nectar in the beginning, but it’s like poison in the end.
Nectar is little in the beginning, but after that there is a lot of poison. So, we have to tolerate that. But, relatively speaking, if you say, the regulative principle that we had to follow was not no meat-eating, but no eating.
It’s practically impossible. Isn’t it? So, it’s not that give up desire, give up sinful desire. That’s why it’s relatively much easier to tackle the path of bhakti than to follow the rules and regulations of jnana.
So, thank you very much for your kind attention. I was happy that I was able to come and all of you are so enthusiastic in all the classes and very intelligent questions and very receptive audience. So, I was very happy that I could serve you a little bit today.
If I spoke anything that hurt you, that was not my intention. Excuse me. Excuse me for that.
The march ahead in Krishna Consciousness. Originally, when I had come, I think the first time I had come, four or five years ago, that time the altar was on this side. Small room.
You know. So, the altar has grown. The devotees have grown, both in number and their advancement also.
The devotees have passed from here and gone to different places and have joined and become wonderful devotees. So, the world is flourishing very nicely and very wonderful to see that and now as we keep practicing and preaching, Krishna will send more and more devotees, more and more facilities and preaching can expand very much. Just as we have a huge world in Kharagpur, in the future we can have wonderful world here also.
Already manifesting. And all of you in the future, maybe ten years down the line, you will be the pioneer who did the foundation for all this. So, it is a very glorious service.
And let’s wish and pray for all of you. Thank you very much. You don’t have spiritual name or what is your name for this place? Oh, I forgot.
You don’t have Jagannath here? Where? Oh, there? Ok, ok. Ok, ok. Jagannath Purivoyal Bhakta Vrindathi Jai Shatopadhyay Jai Kauri Bhakta Vrindathi Jai