Gopi Gita 3 – “We cannot tolerate your feet being hurt by thorns – please return”

[Congregation program on Bhagavatam 10.31.14-19 at Pittsburgh, USA]

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Thank all of you for coming today for this Janmashtami celebration. And the celebration of Janmashtami, some of us may feel that okay, it happened over a month ago.
How are we celebrating it now? Janmashtami is an event, but it is not just an event. The appearance of the Lord in the heart is the purpose of the Lord’s appearance in the world. Krishna comes to this world as described in the Bhagavad Gita.
There are 4.7, 8 and 9 described reasons. So in 4.7 and 8, there are very well-known verses. Krishna says, I descend millennia after millennia to establish Dharma, to remove the adharmic, to protect the dharmic.
Shri Prabhupada, in his writings and in his lectures, quotes this verse, but he quotes the next verse more. So, we may say that, okay, Krishna came and established Dharma, but that was for that time. And after that, again adharma comes up.
Now in Kaliyuga also there is so much adharma. So yes, Krishna comes again and again to establish dharma. But along with that, Krishna has an enduring purpose.
That is mentioned in 4.9. So Krishna says, those who understand my activities, my appearance, they become attracted to me by such understanding and then they attain me. And that attainment, helping the soul to attain Krishna, that is the ultimate purpose of the Lord. So, the descent of the divine is meant for the purpose of the ascent of the human.
The descent of the divine from the spiritual realm to the material realm is for facilitating, accelerating the ascent of the human to the divine level, for our consciousness to rise from the material level to the spiritual level. So, Krishna comes to attract our hearts and that happens when we understand his greatness and his sweetness. So, the understanding of God’s greatness brings submission.
Now, if we are having some cough and somebody tells us, take this syrup, take this medicine. Okay, I may take it, I may not take it. But if I come to know that person is the most respected doctor in the whole country, as soon as I hear that, oh really, this is a doctor, they tell me take this medicine, I’ll take this medicine.
So, what happens? Understanding someone’s greatness brings submission. We become more receptive to hear what they are saying. At the same time, when we want to approach God, we want submission, but submission alone is not enough.
Now, if we see a very powerful king, Prabhupada gave the example of how the Prime Minister of Britain was once found playing as a horse to his grandson. And that is a very endearing picture which came in the headlines. That person was considered to be a very strict person.
And to see him in that intimate relationship, that gave a very different picture, very attractive picture. So, when we see the personal reciprocations of a very great person, that is also attractive in its own way. So, understanding God’s greatness brings submission and understanding God’s sweetness brings affection.
And when submission and affection both are there, then the devotion leads to transformation. Devotion can just be a feeling that we sometimes feel when we come to a temple, when we hear a kirtan, when we go to some holy place, just feel nice. That can be devotion as a feeling, which is good.
But we don’t want devotion just as an emotion. We want devotion as a disposition. We want devotion to be the constant inclination of our mind.
We want to be constantly attracted to the Lord. And for that purpose, the transformation of the heart that happens, devotion as a transformation happens when there is understanding of God’s greatness and understanding of His sweetness both. And when we talk about Krishna’s descent to this world, it’s not just a historical event.
It is actually a transcendental event manifested through history. It is a transcendental event. It manifests through the medium of history for our accessibility.
And Krishna’s descending into the world is meant to facilitate His descent into our heart. And that can happen anytime. So, we can celebrate Janmashtami anytime because the essential purpose of Janmashtami is to invite the Lord into our heart, to stimulate His appearance in our heart.
And the Srimad Bhagavatam has 12 cantos, 335 chapters, out of which 90 chapters are in the 10th canto. And this Dasamskanda, 10th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, describes very beautifully the pastimes of Krishna. So, in the first 9 chapters, especially in the first 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th cantos, God’s greatness is described.
How the whole universe is like His form. How all of existence is sustained by Him. God’s greatness is described more and more.
And as the Bhagavatam progresses, the Bhagavatam’s revelation moves more from God’s greatness to His sweetness. So, we have Narasimha, who is very great, but is also very sweet. How affectionately He reciprocates with Prahlad.
We have Ram, who is so powerful. Prahlad and Narasimha is described in the 7th canto. In the 9th canto, we have Ramlila.
Ram is extremely powerful, but at the same time, He is very personable. And that leads to the 10th canto, where God in His most personal and personable manifestation is described. And in that, it is described how God is not just a person who lives in majestic isolation, ruling above everyone else.
I am God and all of you bow down to me. If God’s role was just to judge everyone, you have done wrong, you will be punished. You have done good, you will be rewarded.
You know, God, to be a judge, it’s a job. One of my friends is a judge and he says, if I had to be a judge for the rest of eternity, I would pull out my hair. So, if God’s only role was to be a judge for the rest of eternity, that would not be a very attractive, very joy-giving thing.
Yes, God acts as a judge, but that’s only one small aspect of His life. His personality, His life, He has His own life in His own right. So, God’s self-existence is described in the 10th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
Just as we have a variety of relationships in this world, there are relationships which God has in His abode. In fact, the relationships we have in this world are our attempts to replicate the relationships that Krishna has in the spiritual world. So, the Bhagavatam describes Krishna in all His various relationships.
So, in this world, if we see, what are the broad flavours of relationships we have? If we want fame, so that we will have many fans. As soon as they come, people admire, their mouths fall open. Oh, we want admiration, admiration.
So, that is actually Shantaras in the spiritual world. There are many souls who admire God, how great He is. The fans don’t have much of a personal relationship with their hero, be it a sports star or be it a movie star or whatever.
But admiration is there. So, that is one way of how people relate with God in the spiritual world, the devotees. That is Shantaras.
Then there is Dasyaras, where there are those who appreciate God’s greatness, but still they feel, I want to do something for Him. I want to serve Him. And thus their relationship is of servitorship.
So, Hanuman is an example of this. And then there are still higher, there are those who treat God as a friend. The idea is that although Krishna is always God, but He does not delight in His Godhood.
In the spiritual world, He conceals His Godhood, so that love can reign supreme. He doesn’t want to be God, He just wants to be loved and to love. And therefore, there are those like Shudama and others, who think that Krishna is just like us, He is our friend.
Yes, He does something wonderful at many times, but still He is our friend. And they treat Him as a friend. So, that is Sakyaras.
And then beyond that, there is the Vatsalyaras, where traditionally God is thought of as a parent figure, a father. And He is the provider, He is the protector. But in Vatsalyaras, that conventional relationship is inverted, where the devotee thinks that I am the provider and the protector of God.
Yashodamayi thinks that if I don’t feed Krishna, He will starve, He will die. Now, this is actually the intensity of her love, that she feels that Krishna depends on me. And beyond that, there is, the Bhagavatam describes that Krishna has relationships, which are also in the mode of romance.
He has His lovers, and those are the Gopis. And this relationship is the most intense. And it is the sweetest of all relationships.
So, all these relationships are actually pure and transcendental. All the devotees, they are simply interested in loving Krishna, in serving Krishna, in being absorbed in Krishna. And we have been discussing in the last two days, the prayers that the Gopis have offered to Krishna.
So, maybe I should be sitting there, because if somebody is coming, I know all of you will be distracted on this side. Just go to the bathroom also. Okay.
You have some other restroom people can use? Yes. Okay. So, in the last two days, we have been discussing the prayers, which are offered by the topmost devotees of Krishna.
That is the Gopis. Discuss the Gopi Gita, which is the prayers the Gopis offer to Krishna, when he is separated from them. So, this section has five chapters.
29, 30, 31, 32 and 33. And we’ll discuss the remaining six prayers today. We discussed till 13 yesterday.
But before that, I’ll go to the conclusion. The conclusion of this series, this series of chapters, is a phalashruti. In the Puranas, especially, whenever any Leela of Krishna is described, then after that the phala is given.
If you hear this, you will get some fruit. And often very grand promises are given. Oh, if you hear this pastime, you’ll become free from all sinful reactions.
You will get in heavenly planets. You will get liberated. So, all these are described as the fruits of remembering Krishna, of hearing Krishna’s pastimes and thereby remembering him.
So, now, at the end of this particular pastime, the phalashruti is very striking. There is no grand promise. The phalashruti is, vikriditam vrajavadhubhir idam cha vishnu shraddhanvito anushrunyadathavarnaye jya bhaktim parambhagvati pratilabhyakamam rudrogam asvapahinothya chirenadheerah So, it says, vikriditam, this krida, this leela, this play, which Krishna has performed, vrajavadhubhir, with the gopis of Vrindavan, idam cha vishnu, with lord Vishnu.
So, now it’s interesting, throughout this pastime, it’s Krishna who is being described, but we are being reminded that it’s Vishnu, it’s not any ordinary boy. He’s the supreme lord. vrajavadhubhir shraddhanvito anushrunyadathavarnaye jya If one hears it faithfully or speaks it faithfully, what will happen? bhaktim parambhagvati pratilabhyakam One will get pure devotion to the supreme lord.
And then, kamam rudrogam asvapahinothi Kama, selfish desire, lust, that is present in the hearts of all living beings, those who hear this, that lust will be destroyed. achirenadheeraha And soon, one will become a sober person. Now, this is a very radical statement, because normally, if we hear about the romantic activities of a man and a woman, of a boy and a girl, of a hero and a heroine, and that stimulates similar desires within us.
So, why is it that Bhagavatam is saying, by hearing Krishna’s pastime with the gopis, the desire for similar activities will actually go away from our heart. How will that happen? That will happen if we understand this is not just a boy and a girl. This is God and His devotees.
So, in the Bhagavad Gita, it is described that there is, this world is like an upside-down tree. says that, this world is like an upside-down banyan tree. Now, in an upside-down banyan tree, or if you have an upside-down mango tree, we see a mango in the reflection.
No matter how much we dive in, we will never get the mango. But if we want the mango, somebody has to tell us, actually this is a reflection. The reality is up there.
If you want the mango, don’t go down over here. Go up over there. And if we climb up, then we get the mango.
So, the relationships in this world are like the reflected mango. The relationship with Krishna is the real mango. So, that’s why if we philosophically understand Krishna’s greatness first, and then we understand Krishna’s sweetness as manifested through His Leela, then what happens? We see the sweet loving reciprocation between Krishna and His devotees, and they are eternal, they are eternally ecstatic.
And when we get attracted to those relationships, this is what I should aspire for. And then, it doesn’t mean we reject all the relationships in this world, but we don’t get infatuated by those relationships. We don’t think these relationships are life’s ultimate goal.
Yes, the relationships are important, responsibilities in our relationships are important, but they are all meant to help us move towards Krishna. So, how is it that by hearing about Krishna’s pastimes, the lust in the heart will decrease? Because if we understand Krishna’s pastimes with proper philosophical understanding, then we understand, oh, this is the real mango, and this is the reflection. So then, once we get a taste for the real mango, then the attraction of the reflection will go away.
And that’s how we will become attached to Krishna and detached from sensual pleasures of the world. However, if one does not hear with proper philosophical understanding, then what may happen? One may think, oh, one may see the real mango, but one thing, actually the reflection is real, and this reality is also like this only. So, hearing Krishna’s pastimes with the gopis can sometimes, if we do not understand it philosophically, then it can attract, then it can trigger our sensual desires.
That’s why our Acharyas have been very careful that we don’t prematurely hear these pastimes. But with proper philosophical understanding, they can be very uplifting for our heart, and they can help us to lift our heart and lift our vision from the world to Krishna. So, the gopis’ love for Krishna, and ultimately all the Vrajivasis’ love for Krishna, that is pure and selfless.
And their love manifests a very endearing combination of awareness of Krishna’s greatness and awareness of Krishna’s sweetness. So, I’ll discuss some of the verses, which till now the gopis, they have prayed to Krishna, and Krishna has invited them to perform the Rastila with him, played the flute and called them, and they came and they had a discussion, and the gopis apparently became proud, and Krishna left them and went away. The gopis searched frantically for Krishna, they couldn’t find him anywhere.
And finally, near the banks of Yamuna, they are desperately praying to Krishna, Krishna, please come back. And different gopis are offering prayers, and each of these prayers is a prayer offered by one one gopi. And the underlying mood of each of these prayers is, Krishna, please come back.
So, this is text 14 from the 31st chapter of the 10th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam The gopis are praying here, Krishna, you are so attractive. You are the God of love.
Surat Vardhanam Surat, Surat is love. You actually increase the love in the hearts of your devotees. By remembering you, by thinking about you, actually our love for you is increasing.
And when you manifest, not only the affection for you increase, but also the affliction that is there because of separation from you, that is destroyed. Shokanarshanam The affliction is destroyed. And Krishna, your lips are so attractive, that you are giving the nectar of your lips to the flute.
Swarita Venuna Sushtu Chumbitam They are saying, Krishna, you are offering your association, you are offering your love to the flute. And actually, your sweetness is so great. Once one gets the taste for you, then one will not be attracted to anything else.
So, I sing, Vitaraviranas Dehyadharamritam Oh Lord, please appear once again and please revive us with the nectar of your lips. So the gophis are praying to Krishna, please come back. So actually, whatever relationships are present in this world, why are they present here in this world at all? They are present here because they are present in their purity in the spiritual world.
And the Bhagavatam reveals these pure relationships between Krishna and his devotees to attract us towards him. And the more we understand that actually when the gopis are praying to Krishna, their prayer is simply out of pure love. They want to love Krishna and please Krishna and serve Krishna.
So the devotee’s mood is that I will serve Krishna with all my resources. And in the spirit, now when we hear about such a prayer, we might think it may seem a little mundane to us. But if that sort of conception comes in our life, what we can see in our mind, we can think that many of the gopis were actually sages in their previous life.
When Lord Ram and Sita were together in the forest of Chitrakoot, at that time many sages saw them. And they said, Oh Lord, we also want to join your pastimes. And the Lord told them that, in future I’ll come as Krishna, at that time you can join my pastimes.
So now the same souls who were sages in their previous life, now they have become Krishna’s associates as gopis. So actually Krishna, depending on the mood of a devotee, gives that devotee different resources by which the devotee can serve Krishna. So Hanuman has got tremendous strength.
And that strength is meant to serve Krishna. Or for that matter, there are other devotees who have different strength. Arjuna has got phenomenal archery skills.
He serves Krishna by that means. So the devotees who desire to serve Krishna in a conjugal way, Krishna gives those souls female bodies. So rather than focussing on the body, we have to focus first on the spirit of service.
And the particular body they are given is just a means by which they can serve Krishna. So it is the service attitude that is important. And the service attitude is expressed appropriately according to whatever bodily form they have.
So our acharyas tell a story about this, that how once there was a horse. And this horse, he was caught in a barn fire. And the fire was burning, burning.
The horse was neighing fiercely. Somehow he was tired, so he couldn’t get out. And all around him there was this bright yellowish red fire.
And he was screaming. And finally somebody came and rescued him. And then after that, the stable where the horse was staying, it had to be rebuilt.
And it was rebuilt. And as soon as the horse came in, the horse was neighing fiercely. There was no danger at all.
Why is the horse neighing like this? And then they called a horse expert, a collier, and he said that, he asked, what has happened to this horse in the past? He told the whole story. He said that, he changed the colour of the stable. So the stable colour, after the stable had been reconstructed, they had given a colour of reddish yellow to it.
And the horse was being reminded, oh, this is a fire, this is a fire. It couldn’t make out whether this is a fire or this is the paint of the stable. So when they changed the colour of the paint, they made it soothing green and it became peaceful.
So like that, actually, when we have a particular conception of male-female relationships, and we know that that relationship can be very captivating, it can sometimes be degrading, people get into wrong things because of that. So when people hear about Krishna’s past with the Gopis, we have a particular conception and you know, how can Krishna relate with the Gopis like this? That thought comes in our mind. So, actually, it’s completely different.
And because some people misunderstand, just as there is a painting, which is, change the paint from red to reddish yellow to green. So like that, the same Lord Krishna comes as Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And his eternal associates, the Gopis come as the Goswamis.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a renunciate and his Sanyasi disciples are also renunciates. But the love that they are reciprocating is still the same. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna, Ramananda Raya is Vishakasakhi.
And when they both embrace each other, actually they are experiencing the same love that Krishna experiences in his reciprocation of love with his devotees, with the Gopis. But we get too fixated with the externals. The externals are not unimportant, but the externals are not the same as we have in this world.
So here the Gopis are praying, O Krishna, please come and revive us. So this is a complete difference in the level of consciousness of the Gopis and the level of consciousness that is involved in worldly relationships in this world. So the Gopis go on and then they continue, … … … … … … … … They’re saying, O Krishna, … … In English, there is no respectful second person reference.
There is you for everyone. A child for you and there is also for an elderly person, it’s you only. But in Hindi we have tum or aap.
So, tuam is tum and bhavan is aap. The Gopis don’t know that Krishna is God. They also know Krishna is our lover.
So here they’re saying, … Referring to Him in a very respectful way. Tatyad bhavan. Oh Lord! Anikananam.
When you go into the forest and we are no longer able to see your face. We are unable to see your beautiful form. What happens at that time? Triti-yugayate Dvamapashyatam.
Triti. Once a fraction of a moment appears to be like a yuga, a millennia for us. We just can’t bear that separation from your Lord.
And then Kushkuthila Kuntalam Shrimokam Jate. When you come back and we are able to behold your beautiful form. At that time with our eyes we drink in your beauty.
Beautiful hair with locks of bluish hair going around your bluish face. It captivates our heart. But unfortunately Jadudheekshatam Paakshmakrudrusham Is this Brahmaji the creator so foolish? He has made eyelids that blink.
And when the eyelids blink we can’t behold your beauty for that fraction of a moment. But that fraction of a moment for them is unbearable. For one fraction of a moment when the eyes blink we can’t behold your beauty.
So we want it. So the Gopis for them they are just beholding Krishna’s beauty and they can’t bear the deprivation of seeing that beauty for even one moment. So actually criticism can sometimes be glorification.
So even they seem to be criticising Brahmaji. They are saying that he is a foolish creator. But actually their focus is not that Brahmaji is a foolish creator.
Their focus is how beautiful Krishna is. Once I had gone to the airport and actually I was coming out of the airport after landing and there at the gate, at the near exit of the airport, it was in India, there was a TV kept. And some important cricket match was going on.
And everybody was crowded around it. And they were all watching the cricket match and then I had to go out. Nobody was moving because everybody was busy watching the cricket match.
And when I wanted to go, they did not let me go. They said this is the climax of the match. We want to watch every moment.
And then it was, in the cricket match there was a bowler who runs and so many things happened before the action of the ball being bowled and the ball being hit. But throughout, I just wanted, it would have taken me 15 seconds to go across. But they were not ready to let me go.
Almost like 15 minutes I had to wait there. Till the match got over and then they all went and I also went in that. So while I was waiting, I was thinking just that the Gopis don’t want to miss Krishna’s vision for one moment.
What is happening? When people love cricket, they don’t want to miss cricket for one moment. So actually whatever, the principle of being attracted is universal. One of the patriots in the American War of Independence, he said, I have only one regret in my life.
He says, my regret is that I have only one life to serve America. He did not believe in reincarnation. He said, I have only one lifetime to serve America.
So the principle of attraction is there universal. Now where you get attracted to, that varies. For some people, attraction, say for children, they may get attracted to Harry Potter.
And they will spend, dress like Harry Potter and they have their own imaginary world in which they enter. And it’s not just one Harry Potter novel. There’s a whole universe that comes around it.
There are all kinds of dresses, all kinds of paraphernalia. So what happens, for the soul to get irresistibly attracted to something is natural. Now what we get attracted to, that is what is going to determine our destination.
So some people may get attracted to some imaginary character. Some people may get attracted to some sports star. Some people may get attracted even to a country.
And those who are fortunate, they get attracted to Krishna. So actually everything that is attractive in this world, it manifests a spark of Krishna’s attractiveness. So it is, we see many attractive things in this world.
Some people look good. Some people speak well. Some people, even if it is cricket, some people are really good batsmen.
Some people are very good at whatever field they may be. Very good doctors. Some people may be very good speakers.
Some people may be very good managers. Now in every field, there are people who are excellent. And their excellence attracts others.
So actually, yes, it is their excellence, but where does their excellence come from? They themselves don’t know it actually. In India, there was a mathematical wizard, Shakuntala Devi. She could just count 13-digit numbers, calculate, multiply 13-digit numbers and give the result.
And in fact, if you do it with a calculator, you type 13-digit, it takes longer. She would have the result before that. And she was asked, how do you get the result? She says, no, I just look within and I have the number.
It is not that she calculates, you know, this number, this number, carry over this. No, it is not a linear process. It is just a quantum process.
You just get the two numbers and you get the answer. So just as her intelligence is hers because it is manifesting through her, but it is not only hers. It is actually Krishna who is manifesting through her.
Krishna says, I am the intelligence of the intelligent. So, whatever is attractive in this world, a devotee acknowledges this is attractive. But a devotee doesn’t get attracted only by that.
Since this attractiveness is actually coming from Krishna. But this attractiveness may not take me to Krishna. See, everything attractive comes from Krishna, but everything attractive may not take us to Krishna.
It depends on whether we remember Krishna at that time. Sometimes, you know, a couple of years ago I was in Melbourne and one devotee asked a question and actually if God wants us to do good things, why are the good options so few and bad options so many? There are so many ways we can do wrong things, right things are so few. So I explained that is the way it always is in any multiple choice exam.
In any multiple choice exam, the wrong options are three or four. The right option is only one. Now, if the choice was simply based on probability, which option you choose, then you can say your teacher has rigged the exam so that we will fail.
No, but the choice is not based on probability. The choice is based on education. So actually, there are many attractive objects in this world, but if we get the philosophical education to understand the attractiveness of all attractive objects comes from Krishna, then we won’t get captivated by the worldly objects.
Rather when we see others captivated by the worldly objects, we’ll think if one spark of Krishna’s attractiveness can attract so many people, so much, then how much more attractive will be the whole and how one can be irresistibly overwhelmingly attracted to the whole, that is described by the gopis over here. They completely absorb in Krishna and even one moment of separation from him, they can’t bear. So this is Krishna in his fullest all attractiveness and by remembering the gopis’ attraction to Krishna, we can aspire for practising bhakti, becoming purified and thus we will also develop a similar attraction to Krishna.
Now the next word discussed further, not just in an emotional sense how much they were attracted to Krishna, practically how they were attracted to Krishna. पति सुतान्वय ब्रात्र बान्धवान् अति विलांग्यते अन्चच्छितागतः गति विदास्तवा उत्घीतमोहितः गितवयोशितास् तस्क्यजेनिषि The gopis, in the previous verse they said that Krishna we cannot bear separation from you even for a fraction of a moment when our eyelids blink so how do you expect us to live when you are gone away from us please come back and now they are telling Krishna please come back we have given up everything to come to you can’t you come back to us so they say that when we came out, when you played the flute and called us we left everything, our family members were there they were stopping us, oh you cannot go how can you go at this time but we left all of them सुतान्वया ब्रात्र बान्दवान all our relatives अतिविलांग्यते they all were trying to stop the gopis but none of them could stop them, the gopis just left अन्चच्छितागतः oh Achyuta, we came to you deep into the forest and how did we come गतिविदस्तवा उद्गीतमोहितः we were attracted by the loud sound of your flute now flute is actually a very sweet musical instrument like somebody makes a flute performance and then afterwards they ask how was the performance, it was very loud loud? are you flattering me or are you criticising me loud is not an adjective that we normally use to describe a flute performance but why are the gopis saying that कृष्ण उद्गीत your loud flute music attracted us because here the loudness is not so much in terms of volume it’s in terms of force a mother may be in one room and then she hears her baby crying in another room there may be hundred other sounds going on but for the mother because of the loud that baby is crying even if she has a gentle whimper that is heard loudly why? because there is loud so for the gopis when Krishna played the flute the flute sound was very gentle and sweet but for them it was overwhelming it just deafened them to everything else they could hear only that and nothing else and they were pulled by that Goswami described that Krishna’s flute song was like a rope which Krishna cast like sometimes you have to catch someone you throw a lasso or a rope with a shackle you throw it and it catches that person and pulls them so Krishna’s flute song was like a lasso which Krishna threw and entered through the ears of the gopis into their hearts and just pulled them they left everything and came for Krishna now how could the gopis leave their homes and go late at night to meet Krishna like this isn’t it immoral no actually it’s not immoral it is trans-moral actually at one level for the sake of God we need to give up the bad we need to give up sinful activities yes that is important but for the sake of God not only the bad is to be given up but if required even the good needs to be given up one of the last verses of the Bhagavad Gita is sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja give up all varieties of religion and just surrender to me I was once at a Gita recitation programme organised by a Hindu group they had asked me to come and give a class and before that they were reciting various Gita verses and they came to this verse and they started reciting this verse sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja so they changed the sarva-dharman parityajya to sarva-adharman parityajya I asked them what is going on how can you change the verse like this so they said actually Krishna has come to establish dharma dharma samsthapana so how can you tell anyone to give up dharma so they quoted some author some mundane Gita scholar he said that actually in the past when people would write down the books sometimes the letters would not be written properly so probably sometime in the past actually the word was adharman but somebody forgot to write the a so we are putting the a back now so their idea was actually how can God tell us to give up dharma so therefore Krishna was telling give up adharma and surrender to me yes that is one way of understanding the Gita but that understanding misses it overlooks the context of the Gita the context of the Gita is that actually Arjuna is a very virtuous person for him adharma is not an option at all for him actually he has two dharmas to choose from one is his kuladharma and the other is his kshatriya dharma kuladharma is his dynastic duty I have to protect my family members my relatives on the opposite side fighting against me and kshatriya dharma is somebody is an aggressor I have to punish them so among these two dharmas which dharma should I follow so Arjuna had a dharma sankat so Krishna tells Arjuna don’t bother about this dharma that dharma focus on the purpose of all dharma that is mam ekam sharanam vraja just surrender to me and then how you can practically surrender for that purpose you have to give up some dharma doesn’t matter can you queue that up so I will protect you from all sinful reactions the gopis when they leave everything at night and go to Krishna they are actually demonstrating this verse they give up all dharmas for the sake of Krishna and because they are doing it purely for Krishna’s sake it is para dharma, supreme dharma it is not immoral it is trans moral because ultimately the purpose of morality is purity and Krishna manifests the supreme purity Krishna is supremely pure and supremely purifying so when somebody goes closer to Krishna then that person is going to become pure so that’s why the gopis when they are giving up everything for Krishna’s sake they are demonstrating the purity the exaltedness of their love for Krishna and ultimately this whole setting is arranged to enhance love from the philosophical perspective Krishna is the lord of all living beings so Krishna is the lord of the gopis also Krishna is the lord, the nath, the master of everyone he is my master, he is your master we may have male bodies, we may have female bodies it doesn’t matter for all of us Krishna is the master so from the philosophy point of view Krishna is the lord of all living beings and he is the lord of the gopis also so Krishna leela is like a leela means play or drama drama not in the sense of unreality but drama in the sense that it is enacted for serving a particular purpose so suppose there is a there is a happily married couple in real life and they are playing a drama in which the plot of the drama is such that they are not married to each other but they are both married to someone else or say the woman is married to someone else and in the drama they are having a relationship with each other so in the drama it may appear that their relationship is improper but in the real life they are actually married to each other so the gopis and Krishna they are eternally related to each other because Krishna is the master of everyone so Krishna is always the master of the gopis but in Krishna leela it appears as if the gopis belong to someone else why is that drama done? it is done to demonstrate the purity of the gopis love the exaltedness the intensity of the gopis love they are ready to give up everything for Krishna’s sake they are ready to give up everything so in Krishna leela there are obstacles created so that love can be demonstrated so this is simply a dramatic setting the relatives opposing the gopis from going to Krishna actually the relatives are also devotees of Krishna but they are told for the purpose of intensifying the past time they are given the role you oppose the gopis and they oppose the gopis so that the gopis love by rejecting their opposition when the gopis go their love is demonstrated so here the gopis are saying Krishna we left everything for you and we came and then saying how could you Krishna leave us like this you are a hero, you are a warrior you are meant to protect women and what to speak of women who are alone at night in the forest you are meant to protect us please come back Krishna please come back that is their mood over here and they go on so here the gopis are now looking at the forest of Vrindavan and they are seeing at night there are certain flowers which blossom in the day time certain flowers blossom at night and they are seeing that the flowers in Vrindavan even those flowers which are meant to blossom at night they are also withering away Krishna Krishna Krishna it is your appearance that brings life not just to us but to all living beings in Vraja without you they all will die Vishwamangalam so please destroy the distress of all these flowers, all these creepers all these plants and please come back Vishwamangalam if you come back, it is not just Mangal for us, it is Mangal for the whole world, please come back Tejamanachanas Tvajpuruhatmanam says our minds our hearts are filled with the longing to see you oh lord and without seeing you this longing can never be satisfied Suvajana Rudraja the desire that is captured in the heart of your devotees, Suvajana that you alone can fulfil that desire actually on the path of our bhakti we we have to constantly make choices do I want Krishna or do I want something else so the Gopis here are saying Krishna our desire is only for you nothing else, nothing else will satisfy us, please come if a sometimes a mother she has some work to do and she has a child nearby and the child starts crying and the mother will normally go and take care of the child but sometimes the child is not having any trouble, the child just wants attention and the child acts as if he or she is crying a mother is also very intelligent the child is simply acting as if he is crying and the mother will not come child starts crying just a little crying and the child stops after that the mother will not come and when the mother comes the child becomes comfortable, the mother gives some toy to the child child starts playing with the toy mother goes away and then if the child still keeps crying, the mother will give another toy he becomes happy, the mother will go away if the child keeps giving, mother keeps giving various toys and the child says no, no, no, mother says what do you want? I want you then the mother will pick up the child, hold her to the bosom and this is what you want then I will give you, so like that Krishna is like our mother you know sometimes we just pretend to cry for him pretend to cry for him means chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, we are chanting Hare Krishna when will this japa get over Hare Krishna, when will it be prasadam Krishna Krishna yesterday night I did not get enough sleep Hare Hare you know I have to make that phone call Hare Ram you know what is the latest news so we are all we are chanting the we are chanting the mantra with our lips but our heart is somewhere else so we are not calling Krishna so Krishna is not bound to come, there is purification even if you chant it attentively also there is a little purification but when you call out to Krishna sincerely and he comes and Krishna when you start practising bhakti you know he will give us many different toys, initially when we start practising bhakti we get sense control, initially our senses are wild and we start getting sense control now if you just become satisfied with sense control then we will think yes you know everybody else you know they are so attached I am detached so tomorrow is ekadashi so many of us may fast on ekadashi now fasting on ekadashi if we can do that is good but you know if I am fasting on ekadashi and then I go and see who is eating what, this person is so attached, this person sense gratifier this person useless then what is happening my body is fasting but my ego is feasting and Krishna says ok if you are satisfied with pride then be satisfied with pride, I will not come to you so that gratification of pride that is like one toy that Krishna offers us, sometimes we may become very learned and we may give good classes and people say oh you are so clever if you get satisfied with that cleverness Krishna says you take that toy and be satisfied and you say Krishna I don’t want anything except you oh lord then Krishna will manifest in our hearts the gopis are saying Krishna apart from you nothing can satisfy us so please come back oh lord pray like this then the then Krishna will come and this is the last prayer this is the prayer which actually makes Krishna appear this is in a different mood, it’s a different metre rather the earlier prayer is in a different metre now it’s a different metre yatte suja charnam puruham sthaneshu bhita shanai priyadadhimai karakasheshu tena tavim attasita dvaita tenakim swet gurpadibhir brahmati dhir bhavadayusham naham this is Krishna your lotus feet are so soft that even when they touch tender objects we feel fearful that the tender objects may hurt your lotus feet now you have gone deep into the forest and in that forest actually your feet will be touching so many sharp objects and thinking that your feet may get torn, may get cut now that is cutting our heart apart Krishna please come back so that we can serve your lotus feet so we can massage your lotus feet so that we can treat and heal your lotus feet Krishna please come back so that we can serve you, so that we can please you please Krishna come back so here the gopis, their call for Krishna in this verse attains the zenith the zenith is they are not saying Krishna we are suffering in separation from you so for this you come back they have said earlier Krishna will come back but here they are saying Krishna thinking that because we became proud so you left us and went away and because of that your feet may be getting cut now we can’t bear that Krishna please come back and let us so actually the devotion is characterised primarily by focus on the object of devotion many times people go to temples and in India in broad Hindu culture there are so many temples with so many deities there is the supreme lord, there are demigods and then there are semi gods semi gods means say me god I am god so many people claim that I am god and there are other people who build temples for them and many times when people come to the temples just go and close their hands they hold their hands close their eyes and pray fervently and they don’t even notice who is on the altar their concern is not about god at all, their concern is about what god will give me and if god solves whoever is up there if that person solves my problem, yes I will worship you if you don’t solve the problem then who cares for you so actually this is a very self centred understanding of bhakti so Krishna, most of the devatas if we see, they are offering blessings they are raising their hands and offering blessings Krishna is playing his flute it appears that Krishna is not concerned about us at all but Krishna his concern is that his blessing that he is offering is that we get attracted by his flute song that he is inviting us to join his pastimes Krishna is performing pastimes in the spiritual world and Krishna is inviting us, please come and join me there in the spiritual world unfortunately most people they go to Krishna and they say Krishna I want to perform pastimes here in the material world you come here and assist me in this pastimes now you remove obstacles in my life so that I can prove to the world how great I am so now Krishna can do that but ultimately in this material world everything is temporary there is a rat race in this world and even if you win the rat race you still remain a rat nothing nothing changes really in life I get a particular job I get a particular position I get a particular house I get a particular car it’s good but what next after that same desires remain the same I just crave for something else something else actually yes we have problems we have desires and we may want to fulfil those desires we need to resolve the problems but our devotion to Krishna shouldn’t be centred on that Shri Prabhupada I’ll conclude with this Shri Prabhupada was once asked in a lecture he says how can we know that we are Krishna conscious is it that when we chant Hare Krishna attentively we are Krishna conscious is it that when we hear some Krishna katha we feel very good at that time we are Krishna conscious yes all these are Krishna consciousness forms of Krishna consciousness but Prabhupada gave a very simple practical definition Prabhupada said when you come in the temple when you come in front of the deities if you feel that Krishna is asking you what are you doing for me if you feel that Krishna is asking me what are you doing for me then you are Krishna conscious so our relationship with Krishna is not just I’ll be absorbed in remembrance of Krishna that’s wonderful to be absorbed in remembrance of Krishna but ultimately we are meant to be the as bhaktas we are sevaks we are meant to serve Krishna and therefore if that I want to do something for Krishna Shri Prabhupada at the age of 69 most people most people actually they are quite attached to their homes and they want to stay in their homes but if at all they are detached enough they leave their home and go to some sacred place like Vrindavan or Kashi and they stay there this is where I’ll live and this is where I’ll leave my body Prabhupada was in Vrindavan and he left Vrindavan why? he did not leave Vrindavan because he wanted to see the world and enjoy sightseeing in the world he left Vrindavan because when he would go to the temples of Vrindavan you know you feel Krishna is telling him what are you doing for me you feel that Krishna had spoken through his spiritual master that share Krishna’s message all over the world in the English language especially in the western world he would feel that voice of Krishna and thus for most of us if we are fortunate if Krishna’s voice calls us to Vrindavan but for Prabhupada it was Krishna’s voice that sent him from Vrindavan and sent him from Vrindavan all over the world he travelled and he inspired thousands and thousands of people there is a western scholar of religion professor Simpson Judah he says that if somebody submitted a fiction novel to a publishing company in which they wrote a novel stories you know that a 69 year old man went to a distant country and 10 years established 108 temples he said that novel would be rejected as unrealistic he said what Bhaktivedant Swami achieved is extraordinary it has no parallels in the whole history of the world yes you may say that maybe Jesus achieved something similar he called people he said just come follow me and people followed him but he said there are still differences Jesus mostly preached to people of his own age group and he preached to people whose culture, whose language, whose lifestyle he knew they were mostly people with whom he had lived but Bhaktivedant Swami had neither of these advantages now his he preached to people of completely different culture different religious background different language, different educational level different philosophical understanding and he preached to people he came to a country where actually he didn’t know anyone so actually the same love that made the Gopis give up everything and rush out at night to go to Krishna it was that same love that made Srila Prabhupada leave Vrindavan at an advanced age and travel all over the world to share Krishna’s message to inspire people to learn to direct their hearts towards Krishna to learn to love Krishna and once Srila Prabhupada was in Australia and one young girl asked him Swamiji can you please pray for me and Prabhupada replied I am always praying for you he says if I didn’t if I weren’t praying for you why would I come here at all why would I travel these distant lands and come here so he came for benefiting us, for elevating us for liberating us so the same purpose for which Krishna descended to this world Krishna arranged that the day after he appeared in this world Prabhupada’s appearance day is the day after Janmashtami so Krishna arranged for his exalted devotee Srila Prabhupada to appear the next day and Srila Prabhupada by his selfless dedication to the service of Krishna is giving us entrance into Krishna Nila is giving us entrance in the same mood of selfless love that is embodied by the Gopis of Vrindavan Srila Prabhupada in his Krishna book he translates this Gopi Gita in one chapter and then he says at the end of it in this way the Gopis called out to Krishna by chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare Now a sceptic may ask in the Bhagavatam there is no mention of the Gopis chanting Hare Krishna the Gopis are singing Gopi Gita but the point is whenever there is translation whenever there is scripture to be conveyed the point is not just to get it right the point is to get it across the point is to get it across the message has to be conveyed in a way that people understand it now if some speaker comes and speaks on the Bhagavatam in pure Sanskrit they may get the whole message right and they may get nothing across because the audience doesn’t understand Sanskrit isn’t it? so the point is not just to get it right, the point is to get it across so the same mood of prayer that is there in the Gopis, Gopi Gita the same mood of prayer we can have while chanting Hare Krishna so Prabhupada is making that which is very exalted accessible to all of us and by serving in his mission by assisting the devotees who are dedicated to Sri Prabhupada in sharing Krishna’s message and Krishna’s mission with the world in applying that message in our own lives in learning to serve Krishna actually we all will move closer to Krishna and we will attain one day entrance into Krishna’s eternal abode, that is life’s ultimate perfection and it is to direct us towards that ultimate perfection that Krishna appears in Janmashtami and just as Krishna after hearing the Gopi Gita appeared to the Gopis, similarly by hearing about Krishna sincerely, Krishna will appear even in our own hearts so I’ll summarise I spoke today about the appearance of Krishna being not just a historical event but a transcendental event Krishna appears in this world to ultimately appear in our heart and to attract us to him, the descent of the divine is to promote the ascent of the human and with the ascent of the human consciousness to the spiritual levels to happen, for that we need to understand God’s greatness and God’s sweetness. Greatness understanding brings submission and sweetness understanding brings affection and when both submission and affection are there then the devotion leads to transformation not just the emotion that we experience occasionally but a disposition that makes us deeply attracted to Krishna and I talked about how in the spiritual world there are closer and closer relationships, so at the Dasya Ras, at the Shanta Ras there is just focus on God’s greatness passive admiration in Dasya Ras there is a little more closer yes God is great but I want to do something for him and as we move our Sakya Vatsalya and Madhurya then God’s greatness goes into the background and his sweetness is focused, so the relationships in this world are like a mango in a reflection, in a reflected river and what the relationships Krishna has with the devotees in the spiritual world, they are the real mango, so by hearing about Krishna Gopi past times if you understand this is a real mango then our captivation with the reflected mango, that will decrease and actually we will become attracted to Krishna so for us we need to hear philosophically Krishna’s position first and then we can hear about Krishna’s intimate past times so when we are practising Bhakti at that time the more we understand, I talked about the example of the horse mistaking the reddish colour of the stable to be like a fire, so like that we have certain preconceptions which we need to put aside the Gopi’s female form is simply a resource given for them to serve Krishna those souls who were sages in in Dandakaranya in Chitrakoot, they were given forms of the Gopis so the principle is they are all serving Krishna and their attraction to Krishna is so irresistible that they can’t even tolerate one moment of separation from Krishna one fraction of a moment they can’t tolerate not seeing Krishna so we see similar captivation of fans with their heroes so whatever is attractive in this world it manifests a spark of Krishna’s attractiveness so we can get inspiration that the spark is so attractive how much more will the whole be attractive and thus we can become attracted towards the whole and while we are practising Bhakti we’ll have many options but if we choose Krishna and Krishna gives us knowledge by which we can choose him then we can move closer to him and even in the path of Bhakti sometimes we have to give up the bad for God and sometimes we have to give up the good also for God and when we do this then the purity of our devotion gets manifested so the Gopis apparently being stopped by their family members that’s simply a dramatic setting the Gopis eternally belong to the Lord because he is the master of everyone but in the drama just to demonstrate the love of the Gopis the intensity of their love the setting is created there as an obstacle and then the Gopis ultimately pray that Krishna you come back not because we are distressed without you but rather you are distressed being far away from us so please come back so that we can serve you so that mood of service is what makes the love of the Gopis so exalted and Shri Prabhupada had that mood of service when he came before Krishna he would feel Krishna has asked what are you doing for me and as his followers we should also feel what am I doing for Krishna if we have that mood of service of wanting to do some contribution for Krishna’s cause then by that service attitude from wherever our consciousness is gradually it will rise and we will enter into Krishna’s eternal pastimes thank you very much does anyone have any questions Shri Krishna we have 10 more minutes of questions and answers so this is our opportunity to ask anything that you may like why is my fight not complete why it goes in circles why is my fight not complete in the love it goes in circles sometimes why it comes what is the area is it like God’s existence or God’s kindness or specific aspect of Krishna Leela what is the area of faith that is not steady so why don’t we have steady faith that actually we are that Krishna cares for us that we are present in Krishna’s scheme of things there is often a misunderstanding about expectations when we want to appreciate Krishna’s love for us we have to understand the language of love so for example if say I am in a foreign land I go to South America where people speak Spanish I don’t know Spanish and somebody starts pointing something running towards me they seem to have raised their fist I think they are about to attack me and then I get alarmed I try to defend and they are very big person so how can I defend so I just duck and then I find that person was shouting at me and they didn’t attack me there was a thief behind me they are warning me about the thief and they are attacking the thief so I couldn’t understand that because I did not know their language so actually they were expressing their care for me I thought they are threatening me so what happens is that if we don’t understand the language we cannot understand the care also so when it comes to Krishna we often expect we feel how do we know that Krishna cares for us we basically have certain expectations we pray to Krishna for certain things and if those things are fulfilled then we think Krishna cares for me if those prayers are not fulfilled we think Krishna doesn’t care for me so that sometimes our prayers not being fulfilled may make us feel that Krishna doesn’t care for me but we have to understand that in this material world actually Krishna cares this material world itself is a place of finite things so the very nature the very finitude of the material world implies that not all desires of everyone can be fulfilled there is one devotee whose child was chanting and he stopped chanting, Indian devotee and then they took him to the spiritual master and he asked why did you stop chanting? so he said there was an India Pakistan cricket match and I prayed to Krishna that India should win but Pakistan won so I decided to stop chanting so then this spiritual master said just like you were praying to Krishna that India should win there is a boy like you in Pakistan who was praying Pakistan should win so he prayed more than you so the point is that if we expect that whatever material arrangements should be made and the making of those material arrangements we see that alone as the sign of Krishna’s love for us then our love, then our faith in Krishna will always be insecure because the material level sometimes things will work out, sometimes things will not work out that is just the nature of the material world so philosophically we understand that there is Krishna’s there is there is God’s omnipotence and there is God’s omniscience when we pray to Krishna that Krishna please do this for me we are accepting that Krishna is much more powerful than us I can’t do this but Krishna can do this for me so we are forming a relationship with Krishna but the terms of that relationship are Krishna it is your power and my intelligence now I have this problem and I want this problem to be solved and this is the way to solve the problem I can’t do it so you do it for me so when we do, when we approach Krishna with this mood my intelligence and your power actually we are half trusting Krishna we are trusting Krishna’s strength but not his intelligence not only he is stronger than us, he is wiser than us he knows better than us what is best for us so if we trust him fully, yes Krishna I don’t know why this is happening but please give me the strength to serve you Prabhupada asked what is the best prayer that we can offer to Krishna Prabhupada said this please Krishna give me the strength to serve you no matter whatever happens so when we have this mood we will find Krishna has some plan for us there is a basic difference in which how about how we look at our life and how Krishna looks at our life we look at the present and we plan for the future Krishna looks at the future and plans for the present that means to give a simple example say if a child has pain and the child goes to the doctor and expects that my pain should be relieved and the doctor gives injection the pain has increased what does the doctor do actually no, but the doctor is seeing the future this is a disease and this disease will actually aggravate so the doctor is seeing the future and planning the present I give this injection, future pain will decrease so if we understand that Krishna’s intelligence is greater than mine then we will not be so insecure when things seem to go wrong in our life and even if we need certain things it’s not that Krishna will not provide them see what happens, there are desires and there are needs so sometimes Krishna does fulfil our desire fulfil what we need but we expect it to be done in a particular way so suppose a child goes, child is hungry and goes to a orchard and there is a apple tree over there and shakes the apple tree and prays oh god please let this apple fall, I am hungry and the apple shakes and shakes and no apple falls what is this the apple is not falling but in the near neighbourhood there is a mango tree and without the shaking the mango falls over there if the child is fixated on the apple child will think oh I did not get it child thinks actually I am hungry I need some food and this mango is also food so then the mango will fulfil the need so like that when we feel that we need something in our life and we expect that need to be fulfilled in a particular way so faith at one level is certainty but another level faith is also openness to possibility that means faith is certainty in the sense that if I pray to Krishna Krishna will bring about good in my life but how that will be Krishna will fulfil the underlying need but if we have a preconception this is what Krishna should be doing for me, if he is not doing this what is the use, no faith also means openness to possibility ok ok I have this need but how is it fulfilled, I am thinking it should be fulfilled in this way but maybe it is going to be fulfilled in some other way, so that openness to possibility comes when we have the service attitude Krishna I am your servant, whatever happens I want to serve you, please guide me, how can I serve you so with that mood if we move onwards then we will find that Krishna will bring about even if bad things happen in our life Krishna will bring out good through the bad also so at our level how do we experience Krishna’s love, Krishna’s presence that is first of all we have to have philosophical knowledge, when a small baby is born, the baby doesn’t even understand that actually there is somebody called somebody is my mother and she loves me for the baby she is just crying and then the baby’s mouth is placed near the mother’s breast and the baby is thinking oh there is some nice object and from this some nice object is coming and suckling it as the baby starts growing then the baby starts recognising oh this is not just some source of some nice object, there is actually a person over here and the person loves me and then gradually the baby starts understanding that this is my mother and mother cares for me now suppose it is a very cold night and at time the baby is shivering the mother says that the baby is shivering and the mother comes and puts a blanket on the baby a nice comforter and the baby stops shivering so now the baby’s eyes are closed and the baby is not woken up literally speaking and in that sense the baby may not even notice, the baby is not consciously opened eyes and seen that oh my mother has come and mother put the comforter over here but just the feeling oh I was cold earlier and now I am feeling soothed, I am feeling cosy I am feeling warm that means even with the closed eyes the mother must have come she must have put a blanket over here so similarly for us right now our eyes are closed and we can’t see Krishna so even if Krishna is right next to us sarvasya chaaham hrithisannivisto he is right next to us in our own hearts but we can’t perceive him so in this situation when we try to remember Krishna we may be trembling and suffering because of the distresses of material existence but if we just strive to remember him we chant his holy name, we try to hear his katha, we take his darshan we hear his kirtan we try to do some seva and we become absorbed in him in that absorption itself there will be relief even if the problem remains still that absorption will lift us up, the problem is there but the problem won’t trouble us so much because our consciousness is comforted by Krishna’s remembrance and for us wherever we are in the world whatever be the predicament we are in we can actually experience relief if we just turn our consciousness towards Krishna if we absorb our consciousness in him and we experience the relief, from that relief the devotee infers although I am not saying Krishna Krishna is here and Krishna is offering me shelter therefore the whole process of Krishna consciousness it’s not just a set of rituals, I chant the mahamantra or I come and hear some classes all that is important but the purpose of it all is to make our consciousness attached to Krishna mayi asatmanah so all the devotional activities that we do if they become the practise by which we make our consciousness attached to Krishna then no matter what difficulty we face in our life actually our consciousness will become attached to him and amidst those difficulties also we will be able to experience relief and that relief that we experience amidst difficulty, that will be actually the greatest conviction for us that Krishna is for real and the relief that Krishna offers is for real in the past in a similar situation I was in I would have crumbled, I would not have been able to bear it at all, but now same problem is coming but I am able to go on with my life I am able to face it how is that happen? because Krishna is giving me shelter so in this way if we have proper philosophical understanding then we will be able to always feel Krishna’s presence the very absorption that we get in remembrance of Krishna the taste that we get in remembrance of Krishna that itself is Krishna’s reciprocation for us at our level of consciousness and gradually by this by appreciating Krishna’s reciprocation at this level, by learning to serve Krishna, by staying fixed in the practise of bhakti, our eyes will open, you see the baby’s eyes open and the baby sees the mother next to her like that, as our spiritual eyes open, then we see that Krishna is always there with us till then we regularly need to hear scripture and see through the eyes of spiritual knowledge through Shastra Chakshu Krishna’s presence and Krishna’s benevolence in our life thank you very much