Gopi Gita Appreciation part 3, The Monk’s Podcast 164 with Madhavananda Prabhu and Amarendra Prabhu

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Thank you very much for joining for this highly awaited third episode in our Gopigit series. So Madhavan Prabhu, would you like to start with the Mangalacharan? Gyananjana Salakaya Chakshuhunmili Tamjina Tasmaye Shri Gurve Namaha Namo Bishnupadaya Krishnapreshtaya Bhutale Shrimate Bhaktivedanta Swami Nithinamane Namaste Sadashivati Deve Gauravani Pracharane Nirvisesa Shunyavadi Hastyatya Deshatarane Gaurave Gaurachandraya Radhikaya Tadalaye Krishnaya Krishnabhaktaya Tadbhaktaya Namo Namaha Bhancha Kolpadurubhischa Kripasundubhyavecha Patitanam Bhavanibhyo Vaishnavibhyo Namo Namaha Jai Shri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda Shri Advaita Girdharadhar Shri Vasari Gauravakta Brinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna So, it’s beautiful. So yesterday, or rather last week, we we discussed the first verse of the Gopi Gita.
I was about to say we completed, but I realised that we can never complete. We discussed the first verse and a lot of points we discussed especially say about how this same verse can mean different things. It refers to the right and the left hand Gopis and how it talks about Krishna becoming fortunate because of Radharani having been born there or Krishna being born where Radharani has been born and then the musical aspects of the verse and lots of things we discussed.
So, do we, if we have any specific points from the first verse we can discuss or we can move ahead to the next verse, however you feel appropriate. How would you like to go ahead, Madhavendra? I would just like to look back. It’s always nice to look back a little bit in every session.
Yes. Personally, one of the big things that I got from the last verse is that this chapter is the kirtan of the Gopis and each one, there’s 19 verses, there’s 19 different Gopis speaking and they’re each expressing their own feelings and each verse has two different meanings, at least according to Jiva Goswami, according to two different groups of Gopis, the Dakshina Gopis and the Vamya Gopis. I like very much thinking about this as the kirtan of the Gopis and therefore we’re attending this class.
It’s the Gopis class that they’re speaking and we want to learn the mood of kirtan. We want to learn how to follow our Acharyas in that way. That’s what I would suggest, just looking back.
It’s beautiful. Another class by the Gopis. That would be such an amazing thing to hear if we had the opportunity and in one sense, it’s the outpouring of their heart which is also a way by which we learn what is going on in their hearts.
Actually, that is one of the purposes of all the prayers in the Bhagavatam, isn’t it? That it reveals, it expresses their devotion and by their devotion, it reveals the glory of their devotion, their character actually and it also gives us instructions about the nature of the Lord, the nature of the relationship between the Lord and the devotee and the kind of emotions that we wish to develop. So the prayers themselves are, we could say, a philosophical edification in an indirect way. There are some classes you’re directly given as an answer to questions but prayers are also teaching philosophy and devotion in an indirect way.
Yes. There’s another aspect also that I very much like to meditate on which we also spoke about in our last session, maybe even two and that is that these prayers, I can’t say they’re from me. I can recite them mechanically with my stone-like heart but I’m doing them for the pleasure of my Guru and he’s instructing me to do that and by me doing this, it pleases him and then his Guru is pleased that he’s engaging his disciples like that and then his Guru is pleased and in this way, we’re pleasing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and this is a Gopi Gita.
This is their song. Yes, beautiful. So hopefully just as Pratap Rudra as reciting Gopi Gita, please Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
So we all can also hope that our discussing this Gopi Gita will please Lord Chaitanya and just as Pratap Rudra got some mercy, we also can hope to get some mercy. Yes, here. Okay.
Samarindra Prabhu, you want to add something else? Yeah, Samarindra Prabhu. So I really like this point of the prayers. You started on a very wonderful note.
We see that this common thread of offering prayers is found in all the cantos of Srimad Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam can be studied through different angles of vision. Of course, there’s the philosophy, there are the pastimes, there are the commentaries.
But I personally like to meditate on the prayers and I think they are very relatable. Many of them as Srimad Madhavananda Prabhu was mentioning may not be completely relatable at this point to the resonance of the heart state. But again, it’s a good lofty target to maybe someday achieve by the mercy of Shri Guru and Gauranga.
We find in the first canto, in the eighth chapter, we have the prayers of Queen Kunti. In the first canto, ninth chapter, we have the prayers of Bhishmadev. In the second canto, we have the chatushloki, not so much as prayers, but revealing the ultimate reality as the truth.
In the third canto, we have the… Chatushloki is also a response, if I’m not mistaken, to Brahma’s prayers for creative energy. In that sense, that’s also… Yeah, please go ahead. Yeah, beautiful.
And in the third canto, we find the prayers of the child while the unborn baby in the womb of the mother, I believe chapter 31 of the third canto, where he’s crying for help. Then we find in the fourth canto prayers of Dhruva Maharaj on having the audience of the Supreme Lord in the ninth chapter of the fourth canto. Then similarly, in the sixth canto, we find the chatushloki of the sixth canto, the prayers of Dhrutrasur in the eleventh chapter of the sixth canto, 24, 25, 26, and 27.
Amazing prayers. You know, even before that, sorry, before that, in the fifth canto also, if we see, while even the cosmology is being described, I worked on the cosmology project with some devotees and almost 30 to 50 percent of the verses there are prayers. So, the cosmological descriptions about the sizes and the distances, they’re only a small part.
A major part is okay, this planet is this far away, this size dimensions, but the people over there are offering these kind of prayers to this form of the Lord. So, in one sense, it’s not a cosmological description as cosmology as a background for a devotional description of how the universe is pervaded with dharma and devotion. So, there are also prayers by the residents of Jambudweep, prayers by the residents of this Lakshadweep like that.
In the fifth canto also, there are prayers. Yeah, nice prayers. The residents of Jambudweep, those prayers are very, very sweet.
That’s where I think the great fortune of being born on earth and many other prayers, significant prayers are there. Yes, that’s true. And we were speaking about the prayer of Hanuman last time to Ramachandra.
Again, that comes from the fifth canto. Yeah, in the same section. And we find in the seventh canto, we have prayers of Prahlad Maharaj.
Again, in the ninth chapter of the seventh canto. Only then followed by the prayers of Gajendra in the eighth canto after the seventh. Seventh has Prahlad and then eighth has Gajendra.
And then in the tenth canto, we see right from the second chapter, we have the demigods offering prayers to the womb of Mother Devaki when Krishna is entering. And then straight, we can find the prayers by Manigreeva in the 10th chapter of the 10th canto when they’re uplifted by Damodar, followed by the prayers of Brahmaji after Brahma, Vimohan, Leela in the 14th chapter of the 10th canto. And then prayers by the Nagapatnis, the wives of Kalia, I believe in the 16th chapter of the 10th canto text 33 to 53.
And then we have the five songs or the six songs of the Gopis. We have chapter 21, Venugit, chapter 29, which is the Pranayagit, chapter 31, which is the Gopigit, chapter 35, which is the Yugalgit, chapter 39, which is Virahagit and chapter 47, Brahmagit. And then before that, we have the prayers of Akrura.
So I think this is a very beautiful point that Sri Padmadavananda Prabhu has raised that the Gopigit is actually the song of the Gopis and it’s offering of the heart. So very, very wonderful, auspicious beginning to our discussion. Yeah.
Can you just repeat the five Gopigit you mentioned? And Venugit is when the Gopis hear the flute of Krishna, when Krishna is out cowherding. That’s one thing. Then what is the Pranayagit you mentioned? So chapter 21, Venugit is after Purvarag.
So Purvarag is their first meeting with Krishna in a very sweet, conjugal, romantic mood. And that is described by the Acharyas around the time of Kaliya’s pastime. That’s when Krishna dancing on the Kaliya was a stimulant and uttipan to the heart of the Gopis.
And very quickly after that, when there is separation and Krishna goes into the forest, the Gopis feel the pangs of separation. So Venugit is an outburst of the expression of Purvarag, the first meeting with Krishna. And then we find that ultimately explodes as a volcano of love in the heart, with a desire to sing and dance with him.
So they leave everything and come in chapter 29. And that’s when Krishna tells them to go back. Swagatam tu mahabhaga, or Gopis go back.
And as a rebuttal to that, the Gopis sing the Pranayagit. So it’s very beautiful. Krishna speaks 10 verses, requesting the Gopis to return, and the Gopis give back 11 verses.
Formidable reasons why they should stay. And that’s the Pranayagit. And then of course, we have, then they’re trying to convince Krishna that they would be with Krishna.
And then when Krishna leaves their assembly again, we find the Gopi Gita in chapter 31. And then now because of being with Krishna so closely, and dancing and singing with him, their affection and their attachment to Krishna has increased further. So then when Krishna goes further into the forest, the separation is even more.
So that is chapter 35. So chapter 21 is Purvarag. Chapter 29 is to be with Krishna, Pranayagit.
Chapter 31 is when Krishna leaves during the Rasalila. And chapter 35, after the rasa dance, their attachment with Krishna increases. And then Krishna goes into the forest.
That breaks their heart. It is the Yugal Gita as Sri Padmanabhananda Prabhu was explaining last time. 24 verses, mapping to the 24 hours of the day.
And then chapter 39 is the Viraha Gita. Not so much spoken by the Gaudiya Acharyas, because that’s when the Gopis are crying and weeping, beseeching and begging Akrura not to take Krishna. That’s the separation when Krishna is leaving.
And then chapter 47 is when Uddhava comes and he witnesses Srimati Radharani speaking to the bumblebee in separation. That’s the Brahma Gita. So very beautiful.
Five to six songs of separation, all in a prayerful mood as a sadhaka, yet at the same time, explosions and expressions of ecstatic transcendental devotion of the Gopis. Amazing. So all of these are sung that way? When they’re called as a Gita, they’re also sung, is it? Mostly the Gopi Gita that is widely sung, I think, but others are also sung, you’re saying? We could sing them.
It’s interesting to me too, how we approach these is such an important fundamental principle. And this is, as we spoke in our first session, it’s always a question, you know, is this legal? Is this okay? Just to look back on that for a moment again, what is our particular approach to this as Gaudiya Vaishnavas? Many Vaishnavas, they approach the Bhagavatam or the chanting of Hare Krishna thinking that I’m going to get something. I’m going to get purified.
I’m going to get elevated. I’m going to get Krishna praying. I’m going to get this or that.
But for Gaudiya Vaishnavas, they’re doing it at a seva, that I want to do this as seva. And in particular, I like that this is service for my Gurudeva and for our disciplic succession, for the pleasure of Garanga Mahaprabhu. And then all the doors open.
And that’s why this Gopi Gita and this discussion about the Raslila, this cannot be avoided. If we want to get that Anarpita Chidim Chidat, that thing which was very rarely given by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we have to understand something about the Gopis. Otherwise, you can’t get what Mahaprabhu came to give.
You can’t understand it. So that’s why these two things are given at the same time. It’s not just that here’s this fantastically merciful golden person who comes and just says, have love of God, chant Hare Krishna and that’s it.
But there’s also the Bhagavatam. And there’s also so much stress on the Gopis, because the two are intertwined together. And if we try to approach one without the other, it’s not appropriate.
We should always approach in a proper mood. Not that I’m doing this so that I’ll become purified. I’m not using the Bhagavatam like a toilet brush to clean some nasty things.
But I’m doing it, I’m reciting it because my Gurudev becomes pleased. Prabhupada becomes so happy when we’re reciting that, our disciplic succession. Ultimately, Gurunga Mahaprabhu becomes so happy.
So in that sense, it’s not only legal, but it’s necessary. Beautiful. Yeah, just remembering, Chaitanya Bhagavat says that when Shantipur, at that time when Lord Chaitanya appeared, it was already a very pious place.
But it’s one of the signs of degradation that it mentions that people recited the Bhagavatam, but never mentioned Bhakti. And one indication of that when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu started chanting the names of the Gopis, it was a Brahmana who found it reproachable. They had no idea.
So in one sense, they were missing the point of the Bhagavatam. Although the Bhagavatam was known, but they didn’t know the glories of the Gopis. So we don’t want to, we want to follow the Vaishnavas of Navdeep Mayapur, not the Brahmanas who were missing the Bhakti of the Bhagavatam.
It’s a beautiful point. So it’s not only, it’s not only allowed, but it’s essential. Yes.
Thank you. So should I share the screen and we go to the next verse or how do we want to go ahead now? You can decide. You’re the boss.
I’m the servant coordinating. This is the monk’s podcast. We’re just guests here.
You’re servants. So here we have. Amaranthapur, would you like to recite the second verse? If any of you have any points to speak on the first verse as well, you can do that or we can go to the second verse.
Whatever both of you want me to do, I will do. I get so much pleasure when I hear Amaranthapur’s sweet voice reciting the verses. It gives me so much happiness.
So I hope he does. As Sripad Madhavananda Prabhu was saying that all of our spiritual practise is only for the pleasure of Sri Guru. So for the pleasure of Sripad Madhavananda Prabhu, I would like to sing this.
I’m also reminded before we get to this verse in the Chaitanya Charita Amrit, in the Chaitanya Leela, where the Brahmana in South India is trying to read the Bhagavad Gita. Very interesting how the Bengali is put. The Bengali verse is very beautiful.
Mahaprabhu is asking the Brahmana, why are you reading? What’s the purpose of your reading? So the Brahmana says, He says, the Brahmana responds to the question of Mahaprabhu. First of all, I am a fool. I am not a scholar.
I am not a knowledgeable person. I am not a Gopi Geet singer. I am a fool.
I totally agree that I don’t know the meaning. Then why are you reading? I sometimes read it correctly and sometimes incorrectly, but the purpose is Guru Agyam. Just to fulfil the Guru Agya, the instruction of my Guru.
My Guru Maharaj told me to read and that is why I am reading. I don’t know anything less or anything more than that. So I was reminded of that verse in the heart when Sripad Mukundatta Prabhu said that the purpose of our bhajan, the Hari Bhakti Vilas describes that if Krishna is without Sri Guru, then our puja becomes useless.
So Prathamam tu Gurum Poocham. First of all, Guru must be worshipped, whether it is Japa or Kirtan or Bhagavad Shravan or Dham Paryatan. Even when we are doing Govardhan Parikrama, it could be a good meditation to meditate that Sri Guru Padapadma, the lotus feet of Sri Guru is walking ahead and I am simply walking behind His footsteps.
I am not doing any Govardhan Parikrama. The Ahamta Mamata that I am the one who is doing it will be completely lost if you think no I am just following my Guru Maharaj. He is the doer.
He is doing Giriraj Parikrama. I am simply walking. Our Acharyas have taught to run behind the Acharya.
So whether it is Seva, Puja, Bhagavad Shravan, the Acharya is doing. The Acharya is worshipping the Deity. I am simply doing Achuman on His behalf.
He is telling me now pick up this Govardhan Shri line, massage him. So okay, I am doing it. He is telling me to clean the room.
Although we may be cleaning our own room, but the meditation could be this belongs to my Guru Maharaj and it is my duty to keep it clean. So then the work is done without the possessive mentality of who is doing it. I am not doing it for myself.
So even offering broom Seva, Sohani Seva as they call in Hindi, to the room. Cleaning of the room could also be devotional service because the intention is Prathamam tu Gurum Pujam Anyatha Nishvalabham, only for the pleasure of Yashya Prasad Bhagav Prasad. So for the pleasure of Shri Padmadavananda Prabhu, I would like to read the second verse.
Yes, please. Thank you. Beautiful.
So, basically this verse, you want to paraphrase the translation? Either of you? Okay. Basically the previous verse said Krishna, please come back. Our lives are dedicated to you.
So as the Gopis are meditating, they are thinking of Krishna and they are meditating his beauty, meditating on his beauty. So his glance, Shri Musha Drusha, his glance is so exquisitely beautiful that they are comparing it to the whirl of a autumn lotus flower. And then that’s the first is the description of the beauty in these first two lines.
And then second is Surat Nathate. So you are not just a person who looks very attractive. You are not only attractive and lovable in that sense, but you are actually the God of love.
You are the God of love. So you are very lovable. You are the God of love.
And we have approached you out of love. Ashvilka Dasika. We have not come to you out of desiring any payment from you.
So you are lovable. You are the God of love. And we came to you out of love.
But instead of offering love, what have you done? Varada Nignato. Instead of giving us the benediction of love, Nignato Neha Kimvadaha. How, instead of that, how can you kill us? So it’s a rhetorical question and then Kimvadaha, how can you kill us? So what that killing means, they will talk about how in the next verse you saved us from so many demons, but how can you kill us now? So the killing is, of course, metaphorical that it is you are killing us by separation.
That separation from you is so painful that it is as bad as death. It struck me over here that this theme of death, Madhavanand Ruhi had mentioned in our first session, how there is suicide in the Bhagavad Gita, that Arjuna wants to stay unarmed and he will be killed. Actually, there is another reference to death also in the Gita that for one who has been honoured, dishonour is worse than death.
So the idea is that death is like, we can say, a metaphor used for immense unbearable pain, or it’s a symbol, not a metaphor, it’s a symbol for unbearable pain. But for a conditioned soul, losing something very dear, especially for a respectable person, honourable person, their honour is very dear. And losing that is like losing their life or worse than losing their life.
So what may apply for a person who is attached to their honour. So we live and we have something that we live for. So if somebody is living for their honour, and they lose their honour, that is worse than death for them.
Now for the Gopis, they have their life, but their life is for Krishna. And therefore, to lose what we live for is as bad as, if not worse than losing life itself. And in that sense, they’re saying that Krishna, if you go away, if you don’t return, then basically you are killing us.
And again, this is completely opposite to your nature. So those are my initial reflections. Mr. Madhavendu, you’d like to elaborate? Yeah, it was just such a wonderful, wonderful deep verse.
It’s like sometimes my Guru Maharaj would begin to speak on something and he would say, I feel like I’m standing on the edge of the ocean and I don’t know which way to go. Even with our humble vision of the ocean still, it is such a vast thing. First of all, again, there’s two different meanings to the verse.
The verse is the Dakshinya Gopis are saying one thing, and the Bhāmya Gopis are saying another. And the difference is a very, very subtle difference. Because both of them, the Dakshinya Gopis headed by Chandravali, they’re very submissive to Krishna.
But in this verse, they’re saying that you’re trying to kill us. They’re addressing you, you’re Saratanat, you’re the god of lovemaking. And who are we? We’re your slaves.
We’re asoka dasika. You haven’t paid us anything. The only thing that you’ve given us is your glance.
But now how is it you’re committing murder? So this is spoken by the Dakshinya Gopis. They’re not always just completely submissive. But the Bhāmya Gopis headed by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, their meaning of the verse they’re saying is that you’re giving this glance.
And this glance, both of them are saying that your glance steals away the core of a lotus flower. Because that core of the lotus flower, that’s the essence of the lotus flower. It’s a very beautiful part of the lotus flower.
And that glance of yours, it’s existing here in the Sarat Uda. Uda means water. Ase means a reservoir.
It means like a nice lake in the Sarat season. In the Sarat season, the rain has stopped finally, and the lakes become very clear and pure. So your glance is like that.
It’s stealing the centre of the lotus, which is flourishing in this lake during the autumn season. But the Bhāmya Gopis, they say something, I’m sorry? Is stealing the core means, it’s like, is it a metaphorical statement that your beauty, the glance of your beauty of your glance is so great that it defeats the core of the lotus, the beauty of the core of the lotus? Or what does steal mean in this sense? Well, steal has a number of different meanings in this verse. You’re stealing our hearts.
You’re stealing different things. Krishna is famous as Chauragraha Ganya. Especially during Kartik, what we sing is Chauragraha Ganya Purushastakam prayers.
Speaking of how Krishna steals the colour of the clouds, he steals the heart, he steals the sins of his devotees, he steals so many things. So he’s stealing the lotus, the essence of the lotus. And that lotus, what is the essence of the lotus? The lotus is famous as Pankajab, because although it’s in the mud, it’s completely detached from the mud.
It’s not touched by it. So similarly, Krishna, although he’s here in this material world, he’s completely aloof from that, like the lotus. And he’s stealing that aspect of the lotus, but he’s also stealing the beauty of the lotus, and his eyes are like lotuses.
His eyes are so many different ways. But the Bhāmya Gopīs, one important subtle difference is that they say that you, Krishna, you were begging us for love. This is an important difference in their mood.
The Dakṣiṇya Gopīs in their mood speaking this verse, they’re not giving us indication, but the Bhāmya Gopīs are saying, you were begging us for this love. And they’re not saying that. We may read these things, and sometimes it’s kind of cute.
And we can take a mood of reading these things, that, oh, look, the Gopīs, they really defeated Krishna. And we may think, oh, I’m being really russic, because I’m on the side of the Gopīs. And yeah, they really let Krishna have it.
But it’s much, much, much more subtle than just rooting for a particular team, finding some amusement from something, some particular personal pleasure. The Gopīs are saying that you were begging for this love. But the Bhāmya Gopīs are saying that.
But their mood is not that now we got one over on you, our Radha, she’s the best. That’s not their mood. Their mood actually is the personification of love for Krishna.
And we want your pleasure, Krishna. So you were begging for this love, but you can’t get it. Now you’re going to kill us.
How are you going to get that thing? And so another meaning of the statement of the Bhāmya Gopīs is that, why don’t you just finish this off? Because we can’t tell that we’re living, but we’re dying at the same time. And Viṣṇujacaka-varitākara gives a very wonderful explanation. This verse, to me, is a little similar to a later verse, a famous verse, where the Gopīs say that you’re burida, which means you’re a very benevolent person.
But burida also means that you’re a killer. You’re like a hunter. And so the word varada.
Varada means the best. It means a benediction. And da means a giver.
But the Viṣṇujacaka-varitākara indicates that the Bhāmya Gopīs are saying that you’ve changed this da from di to destroy us. That burida means that you’re destroying us. You’re a killer.
You’re like a hunter. And so varada generally means you’re the giver of benedictions. There’s a famous verse in the Seventh Canto, Prahlāda says, yadīdiṣyāsi me kāmān vādaṁstvaṁ varadāśabha kāmanaṁ hṛdy asamraham bhavatas tu vanevaram.
The same word is given there, varada-riṣabha, that you’re my lord, you’re the best of the givers of benedictions. So if you want to give me a benediction, Prahlāda prays it, then yadī, if the benediction I want is that kāmanaṁ hṛdy asamraham, that there’s no desire in my heart. So the Lord, he’s famous as Varada, Varada Rāja.
In South India there’s a deity of Varada Rāja, the best of the givers of benediction. But the Bhāmya Gopīs, the Dakṣiṇya Gopīs are saying like that, in an ironic way, you’re supposed to be the greatest giver of benediction, but you’re actually killing us. And it’s even worse because you haven’t even paid us anything.
But the Bhāmya Gopīs, they’re saying something even more heavy. The meaning of the word varada for them is that you’re trying to destroy us. Although you’re supposed to be giving great benediction, dā, yadī, you’ve destroyed our happiness in this world and varada can mean the next world.
So you’ve destroyed everything. And they’re saying that if in fact we were your property, then there’d be no fault. You can throw us away like garbage, you can burn our possessions, that would be, but you didn’t even give us any payment.
We’re asoka-dāsika. You haven’t even paid us anything, nor have you accepted us in marriage. We’re just free maid servants and now we become your slaves out of our own free will.
So this is so bad. And although we’ve done all this, still you’re the one who’s going to suffer. Because you’re begging us for this love and you’re not getting it.
So I’m sorry for speaking so many things that both of you have a lot to say. It’s about pouring of your heart. Let me just try to re-articulate if I understood what you’re saying is that what the Vāme Gopīs are saying is, it is you who called us because you wanted our love.
But then now you have gone away from us and we are not your property. You’re not paying us. When you go away from us, you are going to kill us by this.
So better finish us off. But by this you will be unhappy. Looking back again our last session, Amarendra Prabhu spoke about Radharani leaving the Raslila.
And some of our ācāryas have explained that Radharani’s leaving the Raslila was because she was unhappy for Krishna’s sake. She’s thinking this is like Kṛṣṇa. This is a Panchayati Ras on the bank of the Yamuna there.
And you have the Gopīs who are Rishis and the Gopīs who are the Vedas. And it’s like Kṛṣṇa. It’s mixed.
And Kṛṣṇa deserves something better. He needs something better. So Radharani left with that desire.
And then later there was another Raslila near Govardhan with that purpose. So the same thing, the Gopīs knew that we want the topmost for you. And if we try to understand it just in a shallow way that, yeah, the Gopīs, they beat Kṛṣṇa and they’re making Kṛṣṇa get on his knees and pray and we like that.
And we may think like that for our entertainment. But we should be careful. It’s much, much more subtle than that.
Much deeper. Amazing. There is this whole description that there are various kinds of Gopīs.
So what you’re saying is because they’re just like in Parikshit Maharaj, when Parikshit Maharaj was hearing for Shukadeva Goswami, they’re not just devotees, others were also hearing. That’s why Parikshit Maharaj also asked some questions so that there is no rasabha. So something similar, you’re saying that in the Rastlila, when the Gopīs were there, at that time there were various kinds of Gopīs and not all of them were at the level where they could relish pure love.
So Radharani wanted to have… The Rishichari Gopīs and the Munichari Gopīs. Yes. So, yeah, this is also a big subject.
The Rishichari Gopīs are the Gopīs, I think, who were in Ramlila and who desired to be with Lord Ram. And then they came to, they came to Kṛṣṇeela as the Gopīs. And so basically those who are having, like last time we discussed also the Sajāti, that principle applies here also.
So Radharani wants to enjoy the Rastlila with those Gopīs who are really like-minded. Yeah, wonderful. She wants Kṛṣṇa to enjoy, she wants Kṛṣṇa to get the most pleasure.
And these Rishichari Gopīs and Munichari Gopīs, it’s just like, like well water. But with the Aṣṭasākīs, the Aṣṭamandharīs, that’s like cream and it’s going to give Kṛṣṇa so much more pleasure. And for that, that reason at Chandra Sarovar, there was another Rastlila who would just, invitation only.
Those very intimate Gopīs. Beautiful. And that has a lot to do with Jagannath Puri also, but that’s a whole other discussion.
This is so much amazing. Yes, Amarudu. The Bhāgavatam describes darshanam no didrikṣūṇām dehi bhagavatārcitaṁ rūpaṁ priyataṁ svānāṁ sarvendriya-guṇānjanaṁ That the form of the Lord is very pleasing.
Very, very pleasing. darshanam no didrikṣūṇām O Lord, please give us darshan. Why we want darshan? rūpaṁ priyataṁ svānāṁ sarva-indriya-guṇānjanaṁ My Lord, just by looking at your form as Shama Sundar, it satisfies all our senses.
So the form of the Lord is actually very pleasing. There is no example given in Shastra where the form of the Lord appears before someone and the person is miserable because of that form. The form of the Lord, whether Krishna’s hands or Krishna’s legs or Krishna’s palms, Krishna’s lotus feet, Krishna’s eyes, they’re always a cause of pleasure.
All the time. Therefore, Krishna’s eyes are called amritavarshini. They pour nectar.
Krishna’s eyes are like clouds and Krishna’s glance is like a rain shower of nectar. Okay, beautiful. This is a very interesting point that every aspect of Krishna’s body is only pleasing.
It only gives pleasure, only gives pleasure. And to take this further, Sripada Bilvamangala Thakur in his Krishna Karanamrita, he says madhuram madhuram vapurasya vibho madhuram madhuram vadanam madhuram madhu gandhi mridhusmita me tadaho madhuram madhuram madhuram madhuram. And this has been quoted in the Chaitanya Charitamrita by Srila Prabhupada.
That the form of Krishna is certainly very sweet and our Sripada Vallabhacharyaji has written a whole Madhurashtakam describing how everything about Krishna is sweet and he’s not able to stop himself just by saying the lips are sweet, the face is sweet, the eyes are sweet or the smile is sweet. He goes on. He goes on and at the end of every verse he says madhuradhipate lakhilam madhuram.
Oh, everything about him is sweet. And actually if you see logically speaking, if you say everything is sweet, then he doesn’t need elaboration. But this is a outburst of his devotion that even after saying everything about him is sweet, he continues to describe the individual details and still says everything is sweet and still describes the details and he goes on eight times like that.
So, Sripad Bilvamangal Thakur says everything about Krishna is sweet. Madhuram madhuram vapurasya vibho. The vapu, the form of Krishna is certainly very sweet.
Sorry, but I think you are correlating with this, the Shri Mushadrusha. I’m just trying to connect this. Correct.
Yeah, I was trying to say that everything about Krishna is so sweet. Okay. And in the body of sweetness, Sripad Bilvamangal Thakur says the face is sweeter.
And on that face, the smile is the sweetest. And the eyes are the sweetest. So, the body is sweet, the face is sweeter and the eyes or the smile are the sweetest.
So, the Gopis here are coming to the description of those eyes by saying the eyes are so beautiful. They are so captivating that we don’t even feel like looking at the central portion, the wall of the night blooming lotus found in the Jamuna, which is actually a treat. People go to hill stations, they go to scenic places, they want to take pictures, they want to see lotuses and they if given a chance, they would like to see the wall of the lotus and especially want to speak of a night blooming lotus flower in the Yamuna and not just one, a whole family of them.
But the Gopis are saying that looking at your eyes puts to shame the beauty of the wall, the inner part of the night blooming lotus found in the ponds of Vrindavan. Whether it’s the Pukur, the small ones like Gwal Pukur, Pili Pukur, the small Pukurs, they are the small ponds in Vrindavan. And then we have the little bigger ones, which are called the Kund, like Radha Kund, Shyam Kund, Krishna Kund, Naval Kund, Apsara Kund, Indra Kund and little bigger than that are the Sarovars, like Man Sarovar, Prem Sarovar, Pavan Sarovar, Kusum Sarovar.
And then even bigger than that or wider than that is the Nadi, the river, which is Yamuna. So Vrindavan is filled with water bodies. That’s how even the Venugeet begins.
Talking about Shubhdev Goswami begins with the water and the air description of Vrindavan. The air quality index is being described of the place. So the water is certainly very beautiful.
There are so many ponds in Vrindavan and there are so many beautiful lotuses, night blooming, blossoming, Kumudini, Kairava lotuses, the blue lotus flowers. And they’re very beautiful. Here the verse describes Sharad Udaasrayet, the Saptami Vibhakti, which means on or in the water ponds.
So the time and the place have been described. The time is the Sharad season and the place is the water. Best season, best situation, because as Sripad Madhavananda also explained, the monsoon is over, which also means all the ponds are filled with water.
They are over flooded with water, pure water. And there Sadhu Jata. Sadhu Jata means well grown.
The lotus flowers have been well cultivated naturally by Vrindadevi. And Sat, not just well cultivated because sometimes we see parents giving good parenting, but the kids don’t grow well. So here Vrindadevi as the parent has cultivated the children in the form of the lotus.
So the lotus is certainly well cultivated with good parenting, but the lotus is also reciprocated with Sat. Sat means beauty. So each petal of the lotus is very beautiful.
The colour is exquisite. It’s eminent. The shape, the size, the fragrance, the texture, the softness, everything is perfect.
So the time is perfect. The place is perfect. The upbringing of the lotus is perfect.
The individual characteristics of the lotus is perfect. And in that lotus, the central part, which is the wall of the lotus is indeed so beautiful. Udara means the navel, the navel part of the lotus, the inner part of the lotus, the heart of the lotus.
Sri, the beauty, the opulence of that inner wall of the lotus flower, which is so eminent, which is so beautiful, which is well taken care by Vrindadevi, found in the ever flooded water ponds of Vrindavan during the autumn season. How beautiful would that be? But Krishna, let us be very honest. Just looking at the lotus petals of your eyelids puts to shame the family of night-blooming lotuses in Vrindavan.
This is the first thing I would like to point out at this point, but very eager to hear from Sripad Madhavananda Prabhu next. That’s amazing. You know, there’s so much description of the lotus.
I used to wonder in the whole Gopi Jeet, in this particular verse, it’s almost half a verse is described, is used to describe the lotus itself. So the way you explained it is amazing. So all the description of the beauty of the lotus, all the factors, basically the time, the place, the cultivation and the product.
So all of it comes together. One of my friends is a very avid gardener and he enters his flowers into gardening competitions. So it’s, although he may cultivate the whole garden equally well, but it’s not that all flowers come out equally well.
So the best flowers are put in the gardening contest. So all those four factors come together over here. And then in that, the most beautiful part, it’s amazing.
So Shri Musha Drusha, what does this three compound word mean? Would you like to elaborate? Shri Musha Drusha. Drusha is basically not eyes, it’s a glance, isn’t it? Drushti. Shri Musha means that your glance steals the beauty.
Musha is, I think, steal, isn’t it? Steals the beauty like Mushtika is a thief. That’s what I think Madhavendra was also referring to earlier about stealing. So your glance steals the beauty of all of this, isn’t it? That’s what is referred to over here.
Yes, yes, Prabhuji. Actually, Shri means beauty and Musha means to take away. And Drusha means by the glance.
So it’s basically Drush is the root word and Drusha is the Tritiya Vibhakti, which means by. Like Manasa, Vachasa, Karmana, by words, by actions, by the mind. So like that Drusha, by the glance, the opulence is stolen.
So it’s very interesting. The Gopis are saying that generally a thief has to get to the place to steal. But you are such a great thief, you can just point your target and steal it without even actually going there.
And look at how protective the lotus is from the beauty, which means it’s hiding the world by the petals and the petals are hiding themselves by other lotuses around. And all of this in water. So it’s an inaccessible fort with security around.
So it’s in the middle of the forest. So it’s inaccessible. And that too, it’s not a field lotus.
It’s a water lotus surrounded by water. So if you don’t know to swim, you can’t get it. So the water is almost like a security guard.
It’s like the series of chokidas protecting the family and the family are lotuses. So they’re all standing next to each other. You know, I’m there for you.
I’m there for you. And then each of those lotuses is also protecting the wall, which is the treasure by its own petals. And still Krishna, even without going close to the water, entering the water or touching the flower without even seeing the wall can steal the beauty, the sweetness of the world of the lotus in the family of lotus in the water pond during summer season in the middle of the forest.
How much more are we vulnerable when we come and stand in front of you? You can steal from a distance and they are in the middle of the forest. There you have to go to them. They don’t come to you and still you can go and steal.
And we leave our family. Look at those lotuses. They all have, they are sitting with their family and we Gopis have left our family behind.
We are individual lotus flowers who have come running, leaving our other lotus flowers behind. And the wall of the lotus represents our heart. So if you can steal the wall of the lotus without even going close, without even seeing it, you can steal.
So we are completely lost. We have been stolen. We have been, we are vulnerable because individual lotuses in the form of Gopis, we have come leaving our family behind and that too to find you who is a thief.
And from a distance, if you can steal so much, how much more when we come in front of you? You have stolen the wall, which is the heart of the lotus, which is the Gopi in the Sharad season, which is the night time, in the body of water, which is our body, because we know the body is made out of 75-80% of water anyway. So the transcendental form of the Gopis is like a water pond of Rasa during the Sharad season. So they’re making a direct comparison.
Look at us, Krishna. During the Sharad season, our body, which is actually a pond of Rasa, and all of us Gopis have been well cultivated by our parents. We are not characterless women.
We are sadhu jata. And we are also very beautiful. And we are individual lotuses.
And the wall of the lotus is our heart. And you have stolen it with your glance. That’s amazing.
Your explanation has stolen our heart now. This point about Krishna being a thief is such a very, very deep point. It’s brought out repeatedly by our Acharyas.
And why is it brought out? Someone can say, well, it’s brought out because by hearing about how Krishna is a muck and chore, how he’s a great thief, there’s such sweetness in that. And it attracts our heart. But there’s a much deeper point.
To quote a nice verse from Govinda Leelamrita in Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami, it’s a very, very beautiful poetic verse. There’s a reason why he’s Kaviraj, the king of poets. He writes, Gokular Gokulam Ninye Gokulam Gokulai Haram.
Gokulam Gokulastrinam Gokulai Gokulai Svaraha. That Gokulai, that personality who’s the lord of Gokul, Gokul, he’s driving his cows. At the same time, he’s entering Gokul.
And at the same time, Gokul means to steal the senses. Go means the senses. He’s stealing the senses of the young girls of Gopis.
Gokulai Haram, Haram stealing. He’s stealing the senses of the residents of Gokul, and especially the young girls of Gokul, and also the eyes of the people of Gokul. And so the Gopis in this verse, they’re indirectly choosing Krishna, as Amarendra Prabhu is pointing out, of being a thief.
And in particular, what are you stealing? Your eyes, they have this amazing beauty. They’ve stolen that beauty from the petals of the lotus. But your eyes have some extra magic.
They can steal something, as Amarendra Prabhu was saying, just by looking at it. You just glance at this lotus thing. And in the same way, you’ve stolen our hearts.
You’re such a dangerous, dangerous thief. You’ve stolen everything. You’ve stolen the beauty of rain cloud, the dance of the peacock.
You’re such an expert thief. And it’s not easy to steal our hearts, the Gopis are saying, because we’re always protected by our relatives, our parents, our brothers, our husbands, our sisters-in-law. We’re surrounded by elders who are always protecting us.
We’re protected by our shyness, our patience, our chastity. But you went straight into our hearts, and you captured us. And this is a very important point that’s being made in connection with Krishna being a thief here.
And it has to do, again, with Gauralila, that you entered into our hearts. And Srila Rupa Goswami, what is it, in his Vrittiya Chaitanya Ashtakam, there’s a famous verse which is not coming to my mind. Amarendra Prabhu, what is that verse? You know what I’m speaking of, how Krishna’s, he’s entered in the hearts of the Gopis.
It’ll come to me in a moment. That you entered into our hearts, and you captured us, but it’s not rasastomam hritya. Rasastomam hritya, you’ve entered into our hearts, but it wasn’t just you that entered into your hearts.
What entered our hearts? It was your eyes. And therefore, there’s so much stress on the glance of Krishna. And that glance of Krishna is what leads to Gauralila also.
Because it’s so famous that Krishna, rasastomam hritya, he entered into the hearts of the Gopis, and he stole that love that they had. Because Krishna had this debt, he became a renny, and he said, na paryeham niravadyasamy ujam. I don’t know how to repay this debt to you.
So, if you have a big debt, if I, Amarendra Prabhu, a million dollars, and I’m very nervous because he’s a very angry person. Maybe he’s like a mafioso or something. He’s going to break my kneecaps or something.
I have to repay that debt. So, the first thing I may do is I may go try to borrow money from Chaitanya Charan Prabhu. But Chaitanya Charan Prabhu said, I’m just a brahmachari.
I don’t have any money that I can borrow. So, I can’t borrow it. So, then the next thing is I go to Amarendra Prabhu, and I try to get a job.
And I say, please let me work for you, and I’ll work it off. He says, I don’t need you. You’re useless.
You don’t know anything. Why will I give you a job? So, if I try to borrow the money to repay my debt, if I tried to… Why are you killing me? Is this not modern? Because you’re the wealthiest person. Therefore, I’m naturally thinking of you.
If I try to borrow the money to pay off my debt, if I try to get a job to repay my debt, and I’m really worried that Amarendra is going to come with that lead pipe and break my kneecaps or something, I’m very afraid. I have to repay that debt. What am I going to do? Krishna says, I always repay my debt.
This is his point. I always… So, I have to repay that. The only thing left is to become a thief.
And therefore, Krishna is so famous. And that thief, he becomes Garunga. When he enters into the heart of the gopis, suddenly something changes.
And Brajlila is gone. And the Jamuna is gone. And suddenly it’s Navadvipa.
And the Ganga instead of the Jamuna. And when he comes out of the heart of Radha, he sees that his Shamavarna, Shamasundara has become Gaurasundara. He has become Gauralila.
So, this aspect of Krishna being a thief is so very, very important. And how is he stealing? Here the gopis are saying, you’re doing it with your eyes. It’s your eyes which have entered into our hearts and stolen this bath.
So, this very much has to do with Gauralila. That’s my mad thoughts. I don’t know.
I’m sorry, Amarendra. You’re such a wealthy person. So beautiful, Puri.
So beautiful. Everything that you speak is so beautiful, except that example. So, this is amazing.
So, what you say, if I just paraphrase what you said, Madandru, is that that when Krishna says, I cannot repay your debt. So, he has no ways. So, the way he repays is that he thinks, actually, I have to go to the gopis only, get some love from them.
And then I can offer it back to them. So, that’s when he enters into their hearts. And when he enters into their hearts, that’s when he gets transformed.
So, in one sense, although normally we don’t think of Lord Chaitanya as a thief. It’s Krishna who is called as a thief. But you can say, Lord Chaitanya is a manifestation of Krishna as a thief.
That’s amazing. Yeah. And that’s why this aspect of the thief is dwelled on so much by the Gaudiya Vaishnavas.
It’s such an important thing. As I just mentioned, this beautiful verse from Kaviraj Goswami. There’s another wonderful verse.
Let me share with you from Krishna Bhavanamrita. Vishnu Chakravarti Thakur describes in Chapter 7. He says, Krishna was thinking, this is a description when Krishna’s going into the forest. And he’s going into the forest.
And Mother Yashoda is saying, Krishna, I’ll go with you. Because who’s going to feed you? So, I’ll go with you. And the boys are like rolling their eyes and looking at Krishna.
Please don’t let your mother come with us. It’s going to spoil everything, right? The boys want to be with Krishna alone. So, there’s this problem.
Not only does Mother Yashoda want to come, but all the Brijbhasis want to come. And they have this Vichai. They’re feeling so very, very sad when Krishna’s leaving.
So, Krishna thinks, let me take their minds along with me. But at that time, when Krishna’s taking their minds with him, the Brijbhasis’ eyes, which also have some personality, the eyes are thinking, what other objects do we have other than Krishna? So, the hearts of the Brijbhasis are taken by Krishna. He’s stolen their hearts, but he’s also stolen their eyes.
And their eyes are thinking, what else do we have to look at but Krishna? So, the eyes also follow him. And so, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur says that in this way, the Brijbhasis, they go back to their homes. They’re just like liberated souls who are maintaining their bodies only by some external custom, because Krishna has stolen everything from them.
So, repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly, our ācāryas are stressed in so many literatures how Krishna’s a thief. And we can see, just as the Bhāgavatam mentions, ānvayā bhyati reka bhyam yat syat sarvatasārvada, that there’s two ways to approach the Bhāgavatam. There’s two aspects that the Bhāgavatam is giving us, directly and indirectly.
So, we can understand the writings of our Goswamis in a direct way, but there’s an indirect mood too. And one thing I think is very, that I like to look at when I read the writings of our Goswamis, I try to look for Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, because their scar, you meet someone who was a prisoner of war in the Vietnam War, and they were being tortured by the Vietnamese or something, they came out just skin and bones, they’ll never be able to forget what they went through for the rest of their life. So, in a similar way, how is it possible that Rūpa Goswami, the Sanātana Goswami, the Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Kāyāvara Goswami, these other great devotees of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, who have seen Mahāprabhu or heard about him directly from Raghunātha Dāsa Goswami and other devotees, how could they ever forget about that? It must have made such a deep impression on their heart.
But so many times they’re not directly speaking about Garuṅga Mahāprabhu. But if we look with a special magnifying glass, then we can see directly or indirectly, actually everything is about Garuṅga Mahāprabhu. All their writings, Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Kāyāvara Goswami has given Govinda Līlāmṛta, and we think, oh my God, this is something very erotic, but he’s done it to please Garuṅga Mahāprabhu directly and indirectly, he’s given it to help us understand the mood of Garuṅga Mahāprabhu.
So repeatedly our ācāryas stress this aspect of Kṛṣṇa as being a chore, as being a thief, for these reasons. I’m sorry, I’m talking so much, I get a little passionate about this. Please forgive me.
Transcendentally passionate. Beautiful. So Chaurāgarāyana Ashtakam is not just like a one-off poetic composition.
It’s actually representing a very, very key feature of our theology and how God is a thief. That’s amazing. Yeah, you know, in the Christian tradition, they have the idea, I think, I forget the word, that God can do no wrong and that since God, God can never do anything immoral and that’s considered one of their virtues, one of his defining virtues and that is definitely true.
But at one level, you know, we have immoral, we have moral and then we have trans-moral, we can say, transcendental morality. So Kṛṣṇa’s stealing is completely transcendental. Yes, true.
So this is Mūṣā, he’s stealing. So we all can pray that Kṛṣṇa steals our hearts also one day. Thank you, Madhavananda Prabhu.
Amayantha Prabhu, you want to steal our hearts further? Actually, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī, as Śrīmad Madhavananda Prabhu was explaining, he describes Kṛṣṇa’s eyes very beautifully. He says, ātyāyate su-vipule, maśraṇe su-śoṇe, su-snigdha-pīna-ghana-canchala-pakśma-ramye, tāruṇya-sāra-mada-ghūrna-na-mantare ca netre hare mama-ridhi sphuratāṁ sadāte. Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī has given the descriptions, the descriptive adjectives to describe Kṛṣṇa’s eyes.
He says, ātyāyate su-vipule, they are broad, Kṛṣṇa’s eyes are broad and they are wide. They go from the end almost to the ear. So, they are vipule, they are very long, yet at the same time ātyāyate, they are very wide.
And maśraṇe su-śoṇe, they have a reddish tinge to their, Kṛṣṇa’s eyes is reddish. And at the same time, it is moist, moist with affection, moist with compassion, moist with emotions. And su-śuśnik dhapi, pīna ghana, cañcala paksma ramye.
He says, Kṛṣṇa has big eyelids, blackish eyelids, blackish eyeballs and very thick, sweet, attractive eyelids with well-shaped eyelashes. And to add more fun he says these eyes are filled with youth and they’re always intoxicated, therefore like a Kanjan Pakshi, which Rupa Goswami also quotes in the Stava Mala. Krishna’s eyes are like the Kanjan Pakshi, very restless, always moving left-right, left-to-right, left-to-right, because Krishna doesn’t see straight.
He’s always looking at the edge of his side-long lens. So wide, broad, moist, reddish, affectionate, restless, eyelids are thick, eyelashes are curled, filled with youth, filled with intoxication. And he says what else can I say? Netre harer mama hrides puratam sadate.
I can only pray that may these two eyes of Krishna always be manifest in the core of my heart. So it’s interesting here he uses the dual usage. Netram netre netrani.
So netram netre, two eyes. Kaviraj Goswami is saying netre harer mama hrides puratam sadate. May the two eyes of Krishna get manifest.
Generally when you speak about the eyes you speak two eyes, ears two ears, hands two hands, feet two feet. But interestingly here the Gopis when they say Trisha, it is used in singular. The eye of Krishna.
They’re not saying the eyes of Krishna, because in English you have the singular tense, the singular count, and then you have the plural, more than one. But in Sanskrit you have one, ekavachana, dvivachana and bahuvachana. You have one, two, and more than two.
So eyes could have either been grammatically described with the dual usage like Kaviraj Goswami is used here. Two eyes. But the Gopis are saying Trisha, which means by the eye, not the eyes, technically, grammatically.
So now our acharyas have got into the scene. They are, you know, they are like the investigating officers, right? You were mentioning about this, that every verse of Srimad Bhagavatam is a crime scene. So stealing is a crime.
It’s a serious crime. So every scene of the Bhagavatam is a crime scene. So what the acharyas do is, they first of all seal the crime scene.
The investigation officers, the acharyas go inside and they try to investigate every strand of hair, which means every syllable of the verse. And our acharyas have got into the scene to say why are the Gopis using the singular case? Krishna with one eye glance has stolen the beauty of the lotus. Why not two? So Sripad Sanatana Goswami in his Brihad Vaishnava Toshani, he writes very beautifully.
He says that, well, Krishna’s eyes are so beautiful that if one eye can do so much damage, imagine what he can do with two. One eye is such a big thief. With one eye, he can steal so much beauty.
Imagine if both his eyes come to the scene, what damage they can do. They can steal the heart, the mind, the senses, the prana even, make the person die even. So with one eye, he’s stealing and with two eyes, he can even kill, right? So that’s one.
Or another meaning could be, we see our eyes when they move, the eyes are separated, but they always move together. There’s very good unity between the two. So it’s almost like saying, yes, the Gopis mean both eyes, but both eyes are saying the same thing.
They are asking for the Gopis’ affection. So it’s just one thing which is being conveyed by both those eyes. So you don’t have to use the dual case.
The purpose of both those eyes is the same, to beg for the affection of the Gopis. So that is with respect to the stealing. Also, we can see Srila Jiva Goswami in his commentary has said some things regarding the stealing.
I was very interested to know more about this, the stealing process of Krishna. So I looked into some other texts as well. And then it was described that there are some characteristics of a thief.
First of all, the thief doesn’t calculate the loss of the victim. A person cannot be a good thief if he starts thinking, for my profit, there’ll be so much loss for the victim. He doesn’t think, he doesn’t care about the loss of the victim.
It could be loss of life even, but all that he thinks about is his gain. So the first thing about a good thief is he doesn’t calculate the loss of the victim. The second thing is he knows where the wealth is.
However, the lotus may try to hide its wealth. The thief knows. The thief exactly knows where the closet is.
He knows where the wealth is. He knows where the cash is. He knows where the ornaments are.
So a good thief, first of all, doesn’t calculate the loss of the victim. Second, he knows where people keep their wealth. Third, he doesn’t feel guilty.
He doesn’t feel guilty about his stealing. He doesn’t go and apologise to the victim. Sorry, you know, I have to do what I have to do.
This is just my job. Everybody has to work for their belly. This is my job.
He doesn’t do that. So first, he doesn’t calculate the loss of the victim. Second, he knows where the victim is keeping their wealth.
Third, he doesn’t feel guilty about his act. Fourth, he doesn’t stop at stealing from one place. He can steal from multiple places every night.
And fifth, for the success in stealing, he can even kill. He can even kill. So the Gopis have analysed that you are not calculating the loss that we are going through.
You exactly know where our wealth is. That is our heart, our senses, our mind. You don’t even feel guilty about stealing.
You don’t come out and apologise. And not just stealing from one place, you’re stealing from all the Gopis from multiple sources. So the only thing is missing that is killing.
So why don’t you just come and complete your theft by killing people? You’ve taken everything from us. You have all the characteristics. So why don’t you just come and kill us? And also we can see that you could have categories of thieves as well.
You could have like a Robin Hood thief who steals from others and gives it to the sadhus or let’s say to those who need it. That’s one category of thief. But does Krishna do that? No, he’s not in that category.
Now, again, I’m talking from the side of the Gopis who are in Vamibhav. So point number one, you could have a thief who’s stealing from those who have it and gives it to those who need it, gives it to the sadhus. That’s fourth class.
So he doesn’t keep anything for himself. He takes it from those who are rich and gives it to the sadhus and those who need it. Second class thief would be those who steals it.
He’s the one who steals it, gives a portion of that to the sadhus and then he keeps a portion for himself. That’s the second class. Third class, he steals it, doesn’t give anything to the sadhus and keeps all for himself.
The first class, he steals from people who have it and gives it to the sadhus. Second class, he steals it from people who have it, gives a portion to the sadhus, keeps a portion for himself. Third class, he steals it from people who have it and doesn’t give anything to the sadhus and keeps everything for himself.
And the fourth class is that thief who steals from the sadhus. So the Gopis are saying what kind of thief are you? You are the fourth class. You’re not stealing from anyone.
You’re stealing from the sadhus. That is us. And to say that very poetically they are saying you’re stealing the world, the beauty of the world of the lotus.
Because if you see the lotus is a sadhu. Therefore a pun has been used in the words by saying sadhu jathasat. Sadhu means good but sadhu also means a saintly person.
So the lotus is considered to be saintly and this is why we equate that to Lakshmidevi. Padmalankrita paani pallava yugam padmasanasthamshriyam vatsalyadi gunojvalam bhagavati vande jaganmataram. Lakshmi has been compared to the lotus.
Her hands are lotus, her feet are lotus, she holds a lotus, she wears garlands of lotus, sits in a lotus pose on a lotus. So lotus is considered to be very saintly and if you can steal the beauty from the sadhu, from the lotus, our situation is like that because we are saintly and you have stolen from the sadhu. So putting the characteristics of the thief together, you don’t think about the loss of the victim, you know where the wealth is, you don’t feel guilty, you don’t apologise, you steal from multiple places, you don’t steal and share it to the sadhus, you steal from the sadhus.
So the only thing is left to complete your checklist is murder. So why don’t you just do it? Oh God! Amazing! Prabhupada said that if Krishna is the best in everything then Krishna can be the best thief. It’s a complete robbery, nothing is left.
Amazing! Adanthu, you want to add something? Yeah, I was just drinking in with my ears, the nectar coming out of Amarendra Prabhu’s mouth. Thank you very much. So sweet.
I was thinking about this, you made me think about Krishna’s restless eyes and how Radharani is also, in fact, Radharani, we know she has 25 different qualities and one of them is Chala Upanga, that she has very bright and very restless eyes. Radharani’s glance is always restless. And I was thinking, why is Radharani’s glance and Krishna’s glance restless? And I had some thoughts I just wanted to share.
You can see what you think of these thoughts. Krishna’s crooked. My grandma used to say he’s crooked in three different places.
And because Radharani, she’s always looking to Krishna, then her eyes are also crooked. She has a crooked glance. But then why is Krishna’s glance crooked? Because Radharani is very straight.
Radharani’s love is very crooked because she’s Bamiya, Bamiya Bhava, she’s leftist. And because Krishna’s always looking for that love of Radha, he’s completely controlled by the love of Radha. His glance is also crooked.
Any further thoughts from either you, why Krishna’s glance is crooked? Radharani’s glance is crooked? What do you think of that? Does that sound okay, my thought? That’s amazing. Actually, there is a verse in the fourth chapter of Adi Leela Chaitanya Charitamrita, which has been quoted by Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami, which says that Radharani is actually a bundle of contradictions. Her love is the highest, but yet she is the most humble.
Her love is unlimited, and yet it continues to expand forever. Vibhumapi Gaurava Charya Vihina, Kaviraj Goswami says. So she is like the bundle of transcendental contradictions.
She’s the highest, but puts herself as the lowest. She is unlimited, yet she thinks she has no love. Nahi prema gandha, Kaviraj Goswami says.
Mahaprabhu said, I don’t even have a scent of that love. So that’s Radhabhav. So because Radharani is like an ocean, constantly moving, Krishna’s eyes are also constantly moving, seeing the ocean of Radha’s love.
And Srila Prabodhana Saraswati has said, Vaidagya Sindhu, Anuraga Rasaika Sindhu, Vatsalya Sindhu, Atisandra Krupaika Sindhu, Lavanya Sindhu, Amrita Chavirupa Sindhu, Sri Radhika Spuratume Ridhikeli Sindhu. That Radharani is actually, Agastya Muni could drink the seven oceans, but even Krishna cannot drink the seven oceans of Radha’s characteristics. He says, Vaidagya Sindhu.
First, she is the ocean of cleverness and skill. And second, Vaidagya Sindhu, Anuraga Rasaika Sindhu, she is the ocean of Anuraga Rasa, which means Krishna Prema Rasa, the liquefied form of Krishna Prema. And third, Vatsalya Sindhu, she is the ocean of affection, compassion.
And Atisandra Krupaika Sindhu, and she has unlimited mercy and magnanimity for fallen conditioned souls. And we can see in the past time of Shivakari, where the jackal gets stuck in the pit in Radha Kunjan, Radharani’s heart melts. And fifth, Lavanya Sindhu, she is the ocean of beauty and Amrita Chavirupa Sindhu.
From the ocean of milk came Lakshmi, but from the ocean of Prem comes Radha. Sri Radhika Spuratume Ridhikeli Sindhu. And she is also the ocean of very beautiful Madhuryamayi sweet Braja Leelas.
So, O Radha, O Radharani, my heart is actually the ocean of salt water, the salt water of Anarthas, but you are the embodiment of seven oceans of bliss. So, why don’t you give a portion of that sweet water in my heart, this portion of your mercy, and make this pond as your this ocean, dirty water ocean as your bathing pond by residing here. So, it is true, the word used is Sindhu, which means it’s constantly moving with waves and tides and movements.
And because Krishna has to keep up with these seven oceans, his eyes are always restless. So, I completely agree to that description. It’s amazing, endlessly drinking.
You know, it’s interesting. Before I was introduced to Bhakti, I had read one spiritual book. It’s an interesting book, not a from a parampara.
This is how do you know a saintly person? This is their eyes are very calm. This is in the material world, a person who is driven by various desires, their eyes become very restless. But a saintly person’s eyes are very calm.
So, we could say that it’s like there is worldly passion. And then as we move forward, there is dispassion. In the world, we are restless for sense gratification.
So, the mind is chanchala because it is uncontrolled. Similarly, the eyes are restless. Then as we become purified, we come to the sattva level, then it becomes pacified.
But then when we go further, it becomes transcendentally agitated. This transcendental restlessness. So, both Krishna and Radharani, they are having their divine, you could say divine love affair.
And that both of them are kept constantly restless. So beautiful project. So beautiful.
I really love this point where you said that in passion, the eyes are restless. And then they come to a point of tranquilly and serenity. And then it gets transcendentally restless again.
So beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for sharing.
So, this is a drop of beauty of what you are sharing. It’s amazing. I was thinking that maybe many of the verses which you are discussing, many of the beautiful verses, especially those which we are reciting, maybe you could later give the references and we could put the references in the link below.
Those who want to go back, if they are available in Medabase or online somewhere or in some books, the devotees can refer to it. Many of these verses are especially there is a verse about Radharani’s eyes and these are all worth memorising and cherishing. They are like treasures.
It’s amazing. I am seven oceans of Radharani’s love. Wow.
I am simply standing on the shore of the ocean of so much nectar that both of you are sharing. Sri Padmanabhananda Prabhu was the one who agitated the ocean of thought. You brought up the idea of Krishna’s crooked glance.
It’s such an important thing. In Jagannatha Ashtakam also it begins with the glance of the Lord and it speaks about the glance of the gopis. That glance is so important.
Radha-Kripa-Kutaksha-Stava-Raj, Krishna. We have these prayers, very, very important prayers about the glance of the Lord and His devotees. The glance will come again later in the Gopi Geetha also.
So again and again this glance will keep coming. So it’s beautiful. Yes, Prabhu, continue.
I was also thinking that Krishna’s eyes or Krishna’s glance could also be maybe meditated upon in a different, relatable manner in this world. Like we can see that Krishna’s eyes have the power to create, maintain and destroy. All three.
We see in the Upanishad, the sages are asking the question, how did the universe come about? And the answer given is, he glanced. OK, very wonderful answer. Let’s move on.
So they are convinced that Krishna glanced, Vishnu glanced and the universe began. So he can create through glance. That’s understood.
But he can also maintain through glance because we see, In the Brahma Samhita, it’s described that Krishna’s eyes are like the sun and the moon. And we know that the whole universe, the whole Brahmanda moves on by the sun and the moon. The moon adds taste by its moonbeams, by the Prem Bhakti Chandrika, we could say.
Just a pun there to Narottam Das Thakur’s work. The soothing moonbeams from the moon, they nourish the crops and add in taste. And at the same time, we see that the sun is the one who, through its Urja Shakti, Ashesha Teja, by unlimited strength and potency, without any deterioration, the sun and the moon, they maintain the whole cosmos, not just on a macroscopic level, even on a microscopic level.
Even every individual needs vitamin D. So the sun nourishes and maintains every living being. Yet at the same time, the whole creation. So Krishna, through his glancing, can create as Mahavishnu.
And through his glance, he can maintain as the sun and the moon. And he can also destroy. It’s an interesting point.
We see in the past time of Kaliya, where the poisonous water was in the body of the friends. And Krishna clearly, Prabhupada explains that how did Krishna revive his friends? He glanced on them. So Krishna’s eyes have the power to destroy the poisonous effect of Kaliya’s poison found in the Yamuna pond, the Kaliya Hrid, which was drunk by the friends.
So he can create as Mahavishnu. He can maintain through his eyes of the sun and the moon. And he can also destroy the poison in the body of the friends who drink the poison.
And also we see in the past time of Putana. I heard this from my Guru Maharaj. Very wonderful explanation that when Krishna, when Putana saw Krishna, Krishna closed his eyes.
And one of the reasons was Krishna was thinking, if I glance on Putana, either through my anger, I will kill her. Or through my compassion, I will uplift her. Either way, I will not let her do her service.
So Krishna is thinking here through my glance, either I will kill her, which means destruction, or I will uplift her, which is maintenance or higher spiritual success. So we see that Krishna can destroy the ill effects of Putana’s poison in her body or the ill effects of the poison coming from Kaliya’s poison. So he can destroy, he can maintain as the sun and moon, and he can also create the universes.
So the question that we can ask ourselves is when Krishna can do these three things, why can’t he do that with us? When he can create universes, can’t Krishna create, playing with the word create, when Krishna can create the universe, why can’t he create our good fortune by glancing on us as the deity? Prathima nahi tumi sakshat vrajendra nandan. Sriman Mahaprabhu looked at the deity and said, you are not Prathima, you are not a representation, you are Sakshat Vrajendra Nandan. So the deity is Krishna.
So when we take darshan, we are not the seer, we are the seen, and Krishna is the seer. Like when we say, did you see the doctor? That doesn’t mean, did you go and see the doctor? Did you let him see you? That’s the expression. We say, did you see the doctor? That means, did you let the doctor see you? So similarly, did you see the deities? Which means, did you let the deities glance on you? Which means, if Krishna can create universes, why can’t the deity, who is Krishna, by glancing on his devotees, create good fortune? Churn the heart with spiritual desires.
And why can’t he maintain, if he can maintain the universe, why can’t he maintain our spiritual life? And if he can destroy the poison in the body of the friends and the body of Putana, why can’t he destroy the poison of lust and anger and greed in my heart? kalakali balina indriya vairivarga sri bhakti marga iha kanthaka koti rudha ha ha koyami vikalah kima haram karomi chaitanya chandra yadi nathya kripam karoshi Prabodhananda Saraswati in his Chaitanya Chandramritam has said, that my lord, apart from you, there is nobody who can destroy these ill effects in my heart. So he can create universes, so he can create good fortune. He can maintain universes, so he can maintain my spiritual life.
He can destroy poison, so he can destroy my anarthas. My lord, why don’t you glance on me? It’s the same prayer in the sadhaka avastha as much as the prayer in the siddha avastha of the gopis. From the practitioner stage to the perfection stage, the same principle.
My lord, why don’t you glance on me? Beautiful meditation. Amazing. When you think of the glances, talking about the glances, I remember two verses in Bhishma’s prayers.
He is saying that parasainikayor akshna rudhavati rathirastu. He says that, that my dear lord, that he is saying Krishna, what do you do? Parasainikayor akshna rudhavati partha sakhe rathirastu. So the life spans of the opposing enemies, you stole away just by the glance.
So he can destroy even the enemies of a devotee, whether they’re internal enemies like the anarthas or external enemies that might be there. They can be destroyed by Krishna. And I think in the fourth canto, there’s the verse that Bhruman, that hasam hare ravan takhil lokati ura.
The first part of that verse is that how the eyebrows of the lord, they agitate. Normally the sages don’t get agitated by anything worldly, but the eyebrows agitate the sages. In that sense, they become transcendentally attracted to the lord and thus they become free from worldly agitation.
Just like the Kumaras, they got attracted by the Tasyaram in the Makara. So that was about how the Tulsi of the lotus feet of the lord attracted them, although they were situated in personal meditation. So it’s amazing meditation to consider how, what all the lord’s glance can do.
In Ramlila, the lord’s glance is ready to evaporate the whole ocean. And in Samudra, they have to come out and beg for mercy. So like that, I mean, if there is an ocean of anarthas in our hearts, the lord’s glance can free us from all that.
It’s true. Amazing. Dhrisha.
Mahadantra. This is such an important point. Our Purpashila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati famously said that we should not try to see the lord.
Rather, we should act in such a way the lord will see us. And that’s the meaning of darshan. And many times we think we’re going to have daily darshan.
Somebody sends us an email with a picture. That’s not necessarily darshan, and the word necessarily is a subtle point. It may be darshan, but we’re not saying, it’s not that I come before the deity and I check him out and say, Yeah, I approve.
The pujari did a good job. He’s got my approval. That’s not darshan.
And therefore, Shila Bhaktisiddhanta commented that in Jagannath Puri, this is why Mahaprabhu stayed by the Garuda Stambha. And when we speak about the Jagannath Puri University of Brajprem, the first classroom is the Jagannath Mandir. And one of the lessons in that classroom is darshan.
What is darshan? When Mahaprabhu first went, he ran to embrace Jagannath. But after that, he would always stay back by Garuda. And there’s an internal and an external purpose for that.
The internal purpose is by that Garuda Stambha. I don’t know. I’m a Bideshi.
I can’t have darshan. All I know to say in Odia is Bideshi probationary shade. But by standing next to that, Odia Hindi Bengali, by standing next to that Garuda Stambha, he could see Jagannath, but he wasn’t able to see Subhadra and Balaram because Mahaprabhu was in the mood of Radha.
So that’s his internal purpose. But externally, his purpose was to teach us the meaning of darshan, that I’m not the seer, but I should act in a way that the Lord will see me. And therefore, he stood by Garuda in his dhanya bhava, thinking that why will Jagannath want to see me? But let me stand next to Garuda.
Garuda is a great devotee, and certainly Jagannath will look at him. And then maybe he’ll see me also. In a similar way, Srila Bhaktivedanta said this is what we do for parikrama.
When we go on parikrama, it’s not that we go there to buy a T-shirt or to take some photos. We go with Gurudev. And he says that when we’re going, we shouldn’t be so concerned looking at the place, at Radhakund or this tree or that mountain, but we should be looking to Gurudev to see what is Gurudev seeing.
And that’s really what it means to go on parikrama. So this glance is such a very, very important aspect of our philosophy. And again, it’s a subtle thing.
We think that we’re the seer. Actually, we’re meant to be seen. We’re thinking even deity darshan, we’re sending aside.
And it’s a good preaching thing. I don’t mean to fault it. This is the daily darshan of these deities.
But is that really darshan? The deity can manifest, the Lord can manifest in wood and stone, in a mine and sand, in different ways, but how does he manifest? What does it mean when he’s manifest? When we go to Lloyd Bazaar and there’s a thousand deities in the shop, do we offer obeisances to every deity? No, because we don’t have the idea that they’re installed. And what does that installation, that pranapratistha mean? The pranapratistha simply means someone is worshipping the Lord. And the Lord appears then when there’s some love, some worship from the devotee.
So we may get a picture, this is a daily darshan, and I say it doesn’t necessarily mean it is darshan. It may be darshan. How many devotees offer obeisances when that picture comes on their computer screen? How many of us offer prayers? How many of us offer incense? Offer some worship? That’s darshan.
And Krishna becomes pleased with it. But just to see the Lord, for my pleasure, that’s really cool. I really like that red outfit with the lotuses.
Wow, that’s just really far out. That’s not darshan. That’s not the whole Gaudiya mood as we started in the beginning of the session to describe.
Beautiful. That Garuda stambha is amazing. The Lord will see me because I’m next to him, next to Garuda.
So in some ways, if we offer our prayers at one level, it’s good for us to express our heart and offer prayers. But it’s said that when we offer the prayers offered by great devotees, then we remind the Lord of that great devotee. And the Lord becomes pleased by that.
And because it is we who are reminding him, he becomes pleased with us also. So that we get a good fortune incidentally. I’m reminded in the Krishna Leela sthava, Srila Sanatana Goswami writes very beautiful words glorifying Krishna.
But in a way that Krishna will really hear his prayers. Now, Srila Sanatana Goswami’s prayers are always heard because Bhaktivinoda Thakur says, That Krishna will listen to the prayers of those who are surrendered. So Srila Sanatana Goswami’s prayers are always heard.
But as we know, he’s always so humble. Mahabharata, please don’t touch me. I am very fallen.
I don’t even know who I am. You know, He’s drowning in the ocean of humility. So therefore he feels his prayers will not be heard.
So he writes a verse glorifying Krishna, but filled with the names of Radha. Because he knows Krishna will listen to the name Radha. So he says, I’m reminded of this because Sripad Madhavananda Prabhu was mentioning how by standing next to Garuda, Srimad Mahaprabhu in his humility feels that now Jagannath will glance on me.
So he may not glance on me otherwise, but Garuda is such a great devotee. If I stand next to him, he will glance. So similarly, Srila Sanatana Goswami is writing that maybe Krishna may not listen to my prayers.
But if I say Radha, Radha, Radha, then he will be interested. Because it is described in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana. Krishna has said that If someone says Ra, then I will come with a lot of eagerness to see what’s the next syllable.
He has almost said 50% right. I hope he gets it right. Just by saying Ra, I will come with a lot of eagerness.
If he completes that with Dha, then I will give the highest bhakti to that person. So Srila Sanatana Goswami in that mood, he has written Radha, Radhita. That he who is worshipped by Radha.
So the first phrase is that Krishna who is worshipped by Radha. He who is the lord of Radha. He who is the master of the life air of Radha.
He who is the eternal beloved of Radha. I bow down to you. He who is completely conquered and defeated by the love of Radha.
So in that same mood, we see Srila Sanatana Goswami following the footsteps of Mahaprabhu. He is standing next to not the Garuda Stambha but the Radha Stambha. Radha Naam Stambha.
And he is offering his Krishna Leela Stambha to Jagannath or Krishna. So it was just an addition. Just a point.
Amazing. Madhavendra, you want to say something? Yeah, I keep thinking I’d like to go to the verse. But you guys are saying so many nectar things.
I just want to get some reflections on what you’re saying. And for me what Amarendra Prabhu was just saying now is so extremely important. When I first met my Guru Maharaj, I came a little close to him.
It was in Seattle, Washington, 1993. And he quoted a verse from Chaitanya Bhagavat spoken by Mahaprabhu at that time. And Mahaprabhu says, If you love me, then you follow my instructions.
And Guru Maharaj was looking at me and said, If you love me, you follow my instructions. What is my instruction? What is the instruction of Mahaprabhu? Don’t chant my name. Chant Krishna’s name.
And this Amarendra Prabhu’s comments have brought this out. Many times we think about these beautiful verses from Brahmavihara to Purana. And there’s a few other different literatures also.
Krishna says, The moment I hear the syllable da, I become stunned. I can’t move. It’s so wonderful hearing the name of Radha.
So sometimes some devotees, they say, Well, this should be our bhajan. We should chant the name of Radha. Or even, I know one devotee says, I have a better system, better than what Srila Prabhupada gave.
I have a better system than what Nityananda Prabhu gave. I have a better system than what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave. They gave Krishna’s name.
But I say you should chant Guru’s name or Nityananda’s name. Because it’s more merciful. And there’s so many reasons and so many supports you can give to support that.
That’s okay. Once I heard a story. I don’t know if this is historically accurate.
But the principle is definitely accurate. I appreciate it. I’ve heard that some disciples of Srila Bhaktivedanta once approached him at Radha Kund.
And said, Guru Maharaj, you have one disciple here. He’s become so advanced. He stopped chanting the name of Krishna.
And now he’s just chanting Radhe, Radhe, Radhe. And Srila Bhaktivedanta apparently quoted one of these verses from Brahmavivarta Purana. And said, yes, you know, if you chant the name of Radha, what you get, Krishna will personally come running.
It’s so great. But then he said, we have a better programme. We chant the name Krishna.
And someone else comes running. And that other person is Radha. And that’s why in our kirtan, in the kirtan of our Sampradaya, we stress the name of Krishna.
We also chant the name of Radha. We also chant the name of Gaura. We also chant the name of Gurudev, sometimes with great pleasure.
But our system, when we get initiated, we’re initiated into the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Not into the name of Nityananda. Not in the name of Gauranga.
And it’s not that our Acharyas didn’t understand something. That someone now has some better idea or something. But we should be very, very careful.
We should understand that we have the best programme is not to chant the name of Radha or even to chant the name of Nitya. But better than that is to chant the name of Krishna. And thereby please Radha.
And thereby please Nityananda Prabhu. Yeah. And this is such an important point.
Sometimes we become, we very easily condemn material calculativeness. That you’ll go do this and go to heaven and things like that. But sometimes we become quite spiritually calculative.
Like now Karthik is coming. And he would say, oh, if I do some bhakti, I’ll get a thousand times more benefit. And I mean, it’s at one level, that is true.
So the same Bhaktiraswamy Sindhu has both these things. Yena Kena Prakaryana it also says. And then also say Anya Abhilashita Shunyam.
So if somehow or the other, if, oh, hearing that in Karthik, I can get so many benefits. I practise bhakti. That’s also good.
But that’s at a preliminary level. At a higher level, we intensify our bhakti during Karthik. Not because we will get more benefits, but because we can please Krishna more.
So we can please her more. And so this higher motive is actually, in one sense, the essence of our sampradaya. We do everything.
We offer ourselves to Krishna completely. And that’s love and separation. In one sense, the devotee is getting nothing.
Offering oneself to Krishna and devotee gets nothing. But still the devotee offers everything to Krishna. So Amarinder, do you want to say something? Sure.
Actually, Sripad Madhavananda Prabhu was mentioning about how we chant the name of Krishna to attract the heart of Radharani. We see that Srimati Radharani has said that Radha Radha Ma Vada Krishna Krishna Vada. When the parrot sat on her, the Vama Hastas Tita Shuka.
When the parrot sat on the left hand of Radharani and said Radha Radha. Radharani said Radha Radha Ma Vada. Don’t say Radha Radha.
Krishna Krishna Vada. Chant the name of Krishna. That pleases my heart.
That pleases my ears by chanting the name of Krishna. So the meditation could be chanting Radharani’s name is for the pleasure of Krishna. And chanting Krishna’s name is for the pleasure of Radharani.
And therefore in the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, Jaya Jaya Radha Krishna Yugalam Milan. That we want to bring just like eternally the Gopis bring Radha and Krishna together in the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. We want to bring Radha and Krishna who are not different from their names together in the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
And of course, if you desire to chant the name of Radharani, we have the song of Shila Gorkishore Das Babaji Maharaj. Kothai Go Premamai Radhe Radhe. That could be chanted because it’s in Anugatya.
But apart from that, we have the Hare Krishna Mahamantra and Shila Prabhupada said that includes everything. There’s a beautiful line in Prem Bhakti Chandrika where Narottam Das Thakur sings Krishna Nama Gane Bharatika Charanpai Radha Nama Gane Krishna Chandra Sankshepika Heelakata Guchaha Maniravyata Dukha Moya Anya Katadvandva He says, my dear Bhai, my dear brother, Krishna Nama Gane. By chanting Krishna’s name, I’m going to get Radha.
Radha Nama Gane Krishna Chandra. By chanting Radha’s name, I’m going to get Krishna. So we chant this Hare Krishna Mantra in this way, with this meditation.
Dvina Radha Prasadena. Krishna says this himself. Dvina Radha Prasadena.
This is Jan Chandra Goswami saying this in his Parini. Dvina Radha Prasadena. Without getting the Prasad, the mercy of Radha, Krishna Praptanajayate.
We can’t get Krishna. This is a point that Ayyendra Prabhu is making. Tatashi Radhika Krishna Smaraniyo Susamuto.
And therefore we always keep Radha and Krishna together. That’s our mood in chanting this Hare Krishna Maha Mantra. And it causes personally so much pain to me in my heart when I hear people directly or indirectly implying that they have a better bhajan pranali than Srila Prabhupada.
Or better bhajan pranali than our Gaudiya Vaishnava Acharyas. Or better than even the Mahaprabhu or Nityananda Prabhu themselves. Indirectly indicating that I’m a great person.
That I’m greater than all these personalities. I have something new. We’re going to chant Gauranam.
We should chant Gauranam with great happiness and Nityanam in the name of our Gurudev. But we have a better programme than that. And a better programme than that is chanting Krishna’s name and thereby pleasing Gurudev, pleasing Nityananda, pleasing Garanga Mahaprabhu, pleasing Radharani.
That’s my thoughts about this. It’s amazing. Yeah, so sometimes these specific verses about specific glories can make us spiritually calculative.
And ultimately it’s not a matter of calculation. It’s a matter of relationship, of reciprocation, of devotion, of offering ourselves to the Lord. So it’s a very important point to keep in mind.
Yeah. Prabhupada inverted traditional hierarchies at times. So, for example, I think when some of Prabhupada’s disciples, when they came to India and when they went to Rajya temples, and the pujari said, oh, you are such a nice devotee.
If you continue bhakti like this, in a future life, you will become a pujari in the temple here. And they came and saw Prabhupada. And Prabhupada said that, you know, if they do their worship nicely, they will become preachers in our moment in the future.
So the idea is not that Prabhupada is being self-congratulatory, but the idea is that if somebody is the, the Lord Chaitanya’s mission, his prophecy was that Pruthuti Acha Nagar Adi Gramme. So those who are fulfilling that mission, they are special souls. It’s not that those who are worshipping in Vrindavan and pujaris are not special.
But Prabhupada considered that mood of service more important. And you see in Chaitanya Charita Amrita also, there are many places where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is expressing very esoteric emotions of devotion for, in the mood of Radharani for Krishna. And Prabhupada is often talking in the purport about preaching Krishna consciousness.
He says the way to enter into Radha Krishna Leela is by spreading the chanting of the holy names all over the world. So Prabhupada says things like that. So that, that, that might seem that Prabhupada is just not maybe focussing on Lord Chaitanya’s mood over there.
But actually the way to enter into Lord Chaitanya’s mood and appreciate him is to follow his instructions. And his instruction was Jara Dekho Tare Kaho Krishna Upadesh. That speak Krishna’s message, spread Krishna’s name.
So in that sense, but through the service, we will be able to enter into the service done for the pleasure of the Lord. We will enter into these higher domains of devotion. Yes.
Thank you. Amarinder Prabhu. Thank you so much for this.
Yes, Vandana. Please, Vandana. Can I make a quick comment? Please, please, please.
We may ask a question. This service is such an important thing. Someone may ask a question.
Krishna went to Mathura. Okay. What’s the problem? It’s not so far.
You know, when Srila Radhanath Maharaj, before he became so famous and he was coming, he used to arrive to go to Vrindavan. He would ride by train to Mathura and he would walk every time from Mathura to Vrindavan. That was his regular habit because it’s such a wonderful thing to approach Vrindavan in that way.
So if he could do that, what to speak of the gopis, they can run easily to Mathura. So what is the problem? Why do we say it’s such a problem that Krishna left for Mathura? The answer is seva. Now they may say, what’s the problem? They can go to Mathura, they can do seva there.
No. Because they need those things which udipana, they need those ingredients. They need the rasastali, they need the jamuna, they need the Govardhan Hill, they need the Vrindavan forest.
Those are the ingredients they need to offer to Krishna for Krishna’s full pleasure. And yes, we can go to Mathura and we can render service, but it won’t be the same. It won’t give Krishna full pleasure.
So that’s why even this very basic important principles so permeated with that principle Krishna leaving Vrindavan is a gopis desire to serve. Otherwise, they could go to Mathura. What’s the problem? It’s beautiful.
And that’s why when they meet in Kurukshetra also, they say it’s not the same. We want to get you back to Vrindavan and here we can serve you. Although they describe all the similarities, but they’re far different.
And when the devotees are going to Kurukshetra, the members of the Yadu dynasty, you’re blinded for hundreds of miles around from the rays of the sun hitting the piles of gold and jewels and things in the back of their chariots because they’re bringing those things to give in Don, to give in charity. I mean, the gopis, the Brijbhasis, they’re coming in wooden carts. And what do they have in the back of their carts? They don’t have gold and jewels and things.
They have Gopar cow dung. Why are they carrying Gopar in the back of their chariots? Gopar is such a valuable thing. It is so valuable.
But this particular Gopar, because Krishna likes to eat, he gets so much pleasure eating the prasadam, which is cooked over the fire from the Brijbhasi cows, the Gopar, those cows. So they’re bringing that service to Krishna. The Brijbhasis, even if they leave, they’re thinking service.
Amazing. Yes, Mahendra, do you want to add something, concluding? I’m reminded of Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati’s Vrindavan Mahimamrita, where he says, He says that there are four ingredients needed for rasa to manifest. The first person is Krishna.
The second is Radha. The third are the Gopis. And fourth is Vrindavan.
So if you see in Kurukshetra, there was Radharani, there was Krishna, and the Gopis, but there was no Vrindavan. And he says, but however, it’s possible that we could live in Vrindavan with Radha Krishna and the Gopis and still not taste anything. So what’s the way out? What’s the way? He says, He says that consider respect and honour to be the worst poison.
And criticism by the most fallen people to be the most nectarean, ambrosial drink to accept in life. If this mood, which actually means it’s a paraphrase of He says, if we can consider respect and honour to be the worst poison, The most intense, fierce poison. Not considering dishonour to be nectarean.
Dishonour by the most fallen people to be nectar. If that is there, then Sri Radha, Murali, Dharam, Bhaja, Sakhi. Then one can worship Radha and Krishna living in Vrindavan and taste that rasa.
So it’s very interesting. Now coming back to another thing that I’m reminded, Sripada Indra Prabhu used to say, mapping Krishna Leela with Gauri Leela. He used to say that Krishna Leela means Nikunja Seva and Rasa Leela.
Serving Radha and Krishna in our private Nikunja. And at the same time, serving Radha and Krishna together with other Sakhis. And he says, when Radha and Krishna came together in this world as Mahaprabhu, All the Gopis came as the Gauraparshat, the associates of Mahaprabhu.
Then what did the Nikunja Seva and the Rasa Leela come down as? He said the Nikunja Seva came down as Japa. And the Rasa Leela came out as Nama Sankhyata. So the public offering of our heart with other like-minded devotees is the Rasa Leela.
And personal offering to Radha and Krishna in the Nikunja one’s heart, by putting our hand into the big bag, is Japa Seva. So he would say Nikunja, when one performs Seva in the Nikunja to Radha and Krishna, then it catches Krishna’s attention and then he includes us in the Rasa Leela. And on the other hand, if one performs very wonderfully in the Rasa Leela, then Krishna may take some personal interest with Radha Rani and call the Sakhi, or enter into the Sakhi’s groove with Radha Rani.
So which means without Japa, which is Nikunja Seva, our Sankhyatan will never go deep. We can have very melodious voice, we can be very wonderful players of instruments, but without the Japa, Nikunja Seva, one will not be able to serve enough and properly, qualitatively and quantitatively in the Rasa Leela like Sankhyatan. And if the Sankhyatan is not performed enough, then our Japa Yajna will never go deep.
So we see a very wonderful parallel between Krishna Leela, Vrindavan, Gopis, Radha Krishna, Vrindavan Leela, Mahaprabhu, Gauru Parikar, the Associates of Mahaprabhu, and Nikunja Seva as Japa and Radha Krishna, Rasa Leela as Nama Sankhyatan. And the Pramana is Golokaera, Prematma, Hari Nama Sankhyatan. Again, this is coming from Sripada Indra Prabhu.
I was just reminded by the discussion from Sripada Madhavananda Prabhu. Amazing. We could just go on and on.
And I’d love to, but it’s midnight for you, Amarindra Prabhu. And I know your enthusiasm is there today, but you know, you have your services tomorrow also. Should I try to summarise? I don’t know if I can today.
We did so much. Are there any things still wanting to explode from the heart for either of you? Any point that are still there? A lot we can discuss next week. But anything that is still you want to add, concluding either of you? Personally, I just this comment from my Indra.
I’m just going to try to digest that and relish that. And I’m just going to swirl that around in my mouth and try to taste that. And that’ll probably keep me fully satisfied for at least another week.
I think that was a beautiful comment to end on. Thank you, Amarindra. It’s profound.
In this room, there’s lots happening. On one side, we have the Gaur Leela coming from Chaitanya Charan. And on the other hand, we have the Radha Krishna Leela, giving Ananda to Madhava and Madhavi as Madhavananda programme.
And I’m just the onlooker. I’m the audience. You’re giving the nectar that is enriching both of us.
So Amarindra, you know, the immortal liquor. And he’s the Indra of that also. He’s the king of that speech.
Because he’s doing it to serve his Gurudev for his pleasure. That’s true. Thank you.
We are very excited for this moment to hear the… I don’t know. The podcast has been expertly, intelligently, very devotionally, and meticulously, systematically summarised in less than five minutes. I don’t know how you do it, but it’s so beautiful.
Please go ahead. Your words are going to give you performance anxiety. So we discussed the first… The second verse is the first half of the verse.
I think elaborately focused on the Dhrusha. So you started with how Madhavendra, you mentioned about these… The subtle difference between what the Dakshina Gopis and the Vama Gopis are saying. Dakshina Gopis are saying that Krishna, you… If you go away from us, we cannot live.
So if you’re killing us, just kill us and finish it off. But whereas the Vama Gopis are saying that Krishna, you called us because you need us. And if you leave us desolate like this, we will die.
If you kill us, it is you who will suffer. So there are similarities, but there are striking dissimilarities. It is the Vama Gopis.
I’m just paraphrasing over here. A lot of subtleties in what you spoke. And then so this killing is that when we live for some life, losing life is very painful.
But what we live for, if we lose that, that is even more painful. And for the Gopis, they are living for Krishna. And then we discussed elaborately about this, the power of Krishna’s glance and the mood of approaching.
So initially also we started by how we are doing this for the pleasure of the Lord. We are doing this for this whole Sankirtan. It’s like Rama, not Rama Andhra.
Prataparudra, he chanted the Gopi Gita for the Lord Chaitanya’s pleasure. Like that, we are doing this for the pleasure of our Guru and for the pleasure of Lord Chaitanya ultimately. And in one sense, this is not just necessary.
It is not just acceptable, but it’s essential that Lord Chaitanya, he has, this is his secret mood. This is his essential mood. You described how Lord Chaitanya entered into, that Lord Chaitanya is embodying this mood of Radharani’s love for Krishna.
And unless we appreciate that, then the essential aspect of Lord Chaitanya’s legacy is missed out. So then we talked about this Drusha. So there’s four attributes.
Kamalapriya explained very beautifully. Sharad Das, the time, the place, then the Sadhu Jata Sat, the well cultivated and well raised and then well formed also. So this lotus is exquisite.
Its beauty is stolen by Krishna’s glance. So Krishna can steal. This is an amazing analysis of how Krishna is the ultimate thief.
And this we have so much. This is so central to our tradition that Krishna steals. And we could understand at various levels.
But you give, Madan will give this understanding that how Krishna when he’s stealing. Why is he stealing? It is because when he, the Gopis offer themselves to him, he feels that I cannot repay them. So how do I repay? I can borrow.
He can’t borrow from anyone. He can’t work for anyone. So he enters into the Gopi’s heart to steal a little bit of their love so that he can offer them back.
Enter into Radharani’s heart and then that Shyama Sundar emerges as Gaura Sundar. So the stealing is completely transcendental. And Krishna steals.
He can steal with any of his senses. So he can steal just by the glance. And if he can steal the beauty of the lotus petals, which are, which are what? If they are in a forest, so that they are secluded, they are surrounded by water.
They are surrounded by other lotuses. They are surrounded by their own petals. And still the world of that, the beauty of the world Krishna is stealing.
So similarly, the Gopis say that now we are alone. We are in the forest. We have left our family.
We are here alone. Then you can just plunder our heart. And that is what you have done Krishna.
And now you are leaving us to die. So characteristics of a thief. He doesn’t care for the pain caused to the, for the loss caused to the victim.
He, the thief is, doesn’t feel any guilt. And a thief is, steals many times. And the thief also wants to, is ready to kill if he’s obstructed.
So like that Krishna, you’re stolen from us. And you don’t understand what, how much pain you are causing when you are stealing our hearts and going away. And you don’t feel any remorse.
You just left us, abandoned us like this. And not just one of us, all of us, you have done this. And now are you going to kill us after this? So that metaphor of stealing was amazingly developed.
And then we went into, I mean, you could say paroxysms of ecstasy over Drisha, the Krishna’s glance. And many things, many, many references from scripture about the power of Krishna’s glance. Krishna can create, maintain, destroy by his glance.
He can do that with the material existence. And he can do that for our, for our Bhakti Tabija also. He can, and he can destroy the enemies, inner and outer enemies for our, the progress of our Bhakti.
Then with respect to this, Krishna is Angani Sakalendriya, that he can do everything with all his senses. And then we went into the elaborate correlation between Gaur Leela and Chaitanya Leela in various ways. So especially Lord Chaitanya’s mood is, is that he is worshipping, that he is worshipping, that mood of worshipping separation, loving separation that is manifested here with the Gopis.
And in that connection, we discussed about how, so when the Drisha is we, when we go in front of the Lord and take darshan, it is not that we are taking darshan, but rather we are, we are not seer, but we are being seen by the Lord. And Lord Chaitanya stood near the Garuda Stambha at one level. He stood there because at one level, it is that he is in the mood of Radha.
So he just from there, he can only see Jagannath and not Subhadra and Baladeva. But at another level, the external level, it’s also that he thinks that I’m such a fallen soul, the Lord may not notice me. But if I stand near Garuda, he will notice me.
So it’s beautiful. So similarly, so that the potency of the Lord’s glance, the beauty of the Lord’s glance, it is not that we just by staring at him, we can catch his glance beauty. Rather it is when we please him by our service, then he bestows his glance upon us.
And that’s what uplifts us, that’s what purifies us. And then also that connection discuss how the mood of service is so important, that to enter into these higher moods. We may say that if Radha is so special to Krishna, we just chant Radha’s names or Gaura’s names or Nithyananda’s names, but then it is ultimately we have to please our spiritual master.
And when we chant Krishna’s names, Radharani is pleased when we chant Krishna’s names. But Chaitanya wants us to chant Krishna’s names. So when we chant Krishna’s name, we please all of them and we get their blessings also.
And when we talked about how towards the end, many things, but especially this aspect of how the two things, the Manjari Bhava, that Hare Krishna Maha Mantra is the Manjari Bhava Seva. The Krishna’s name, the Ram’s name, the central and they are loud and the Hare’s, they can be both Radharani’s name and Krishna’s names. And this is the Manjari’s, they assist the divine couple in their service.
So similarly, what we are doing in Hare Krishna Maha Mantra is getting the divine couple together. Through the chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra. So it is quite esoteric.
And you also, Madhavendra talked about this, the esoteric explanation of the, the very esoteric sounding passage from the Harinam Chintamani. But the essence of that esoteric passage is that, this is Radharani is offering herself for Krishna’s pleasure. So similarly, the chanting of the holy names is where we are offering our heart and our consciousness for Krishna’s pleasure.
And then toward the end that, that Nikunjal Seva and the Raas Leela which are there in Radhakrishna’s pastimes, they manifest in Gaur Leela as Japa and Kirtan and both of them mutually strengthen each other. So for all of us, you know, if we, for Rasa to, also for Rasa to manifest, so somebody might just go to Vrindavan, but they may not experience Rasa. The Gopis could easily have gone to Mathura, but they couldn’t experience Rasa because, you know, for them, it’s not just seeing Krishna, but serving Krishna.
And for that, they need the Uddipan, they need the Tadya. And that is present in Vrindavan. So for Rasa, we need Radhakrishna, Gopis and Vrindavan.
And along with that, we need that, that mood of humility that we treat worldly honour like poison and worldly, and criticism from the lowest of people as nectar. So when we have that humility, then we can Kirtaniya Sadahari, we can absorb in the glories of the Lord. So this is amazing, you could say, balance of transcendence, of very elevated level of transcendence as well as an emphasis on the pathway by which we can attain that transcendence.
So thank you very much for the view. Do you want to add any concluding words which I missed out or you want to add? Amarendra Prabhu, he did it, didn’t he? That was pretty good, wasn’t it? What do you think, Amarendra? Amazing. He’s incredible.
I can summarise that. I have a thought that if somehow I’m here on this Zoom meeting and I’m with Chaitanya Charan Prabhu and Amarendra Prabhu, maybe Krishna will definitely look at the two of you, and maybe he’ll see my little face over there in the box. And maybe I’ll get some blessing from that.
If we are like Garuda, then you are like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Actually, because you are there, that’s why we are able to even dare, we are daring to enter into these discussions, Madhavan Prabhu. That’s why we are doing that and I’d say that it’s because of your presence that whatever nectar is manifesting, your presence, your words.
And yes, we would pray that Krishna glance upon all of us, Radharani glance upon all of us and give us some mercy. You know, it’s like here in Orissa, you have many famous Odissi dance gurus. They teach Odissi dance.
And one Odissi dance guru, he may have a child. And the child is like four or five months old. And the child can’t even walk properly yet.
But the child is watching the father dance. And the father is so extra, so many mudras and moving in such a fluid, beautiful way. The child is trying to imitate the father.
And it has no meaning. It’s a joke. He can’t even walk yet, but he’s trying to imitate.
But there’s one benefit by the activity of that child. It brings a smile to the face of the father. It brings some happiness to his face.
So I know for myself, I have no adhikar to even touch these subjects. But if it brings a little pleasure to my Gurudeva and to the senior Vaishnavas, then like that child who’s trying to dance and he can’t even walk, it has some meaning. I am in the womb, then.
I always pray that I remain in the womb. I grow in the womb and live in the womb. But I think it’s a good time to finish now.
Now there will be a competition for humility. But I also, from the bottom of my heart, express my gratitude. I don’t understand these sections of the Bhagavatam.
But when I get to hear from Sripad Madhavananda Prabhu and Chaitanya Charan Prabhu, who bring in scholarship, devotion, service, experience, attachment to Sri Guru and depth, then I feel very protected. So thank you for including me on this. And I hope, wish and pray that may Krishna bless me with continued sadhu sangha for a long time.
At least for me, I can say that you are attributing to me what is present in your heart. And although it is not present in my heart, because it is so much in your heart, so you’re seeing it in me also. That’s Atmavandana Chaitanya Jagat.
In a transcendental sense. Sripad Madhavananda Prabhu is coding words for all the jokes. That’s an amazing application of Atmavandana Chaitanya Jagat.
Because I am humble, I think everybody else is humble. It’s a shloka for a joker. Beautiful.
I never, I mean, on a serious note, I never heard that explanation of Atmavandana Chaitanya Jagat. That when we are proud, we, again, I’m not saying with respect to our dealings here, but in general, that principle, that if someone is proud and envious, then they find reasons to fight and complain about how everyone around is proud and envious. And someone who’s seen Krishna in all circumstances is appreciating that others are also seeing Krishna in all circumstances.
And maybe in the same way, if we’re part of a conspiracy to try to enjoy, separate from Krishna, we try to do this conspiracy, then Atmavandana Chaitanya Jagat will see all kinds of conspiracies in the world too. And there are people trying to control me because that’s my mentality. Beautiful.
Yeah. I was talking with one senior Vaishnava who was very severely criticised by another Vaishnava. And, you know, others were saying, you know, he’s so envious of you.
So he said, no, he’s so fixed in his way of serving Krishna that he cannot appreciate any other way of serving Krishna. So that is such an amazing way of looking at it. So it struck me that rather than seeing the criticism, he was seeing the service attitude.
Although we could, at a logical level, the criticism could be countered in many different ways. But that is Atmavandana Chaitanya Jagat also. In the fourth canto of the Bhagavatam is a wonderful purport from Vishwanath where he speaks about four types of Mahat and four types of Asadus.
You’re probably both familiar with it. There is the Mahat, the Mahatutam and the Atyamahatutam. And I think it’s Mahatama where Vishwanath says that he gives an example that a thief comes during the winter to a person and all the person has is his combo, his blanket.
And the thief comes with a knife and he takes that person’s blanket away. And that person, he’s such a saint, he thinks the thief, he’s a good person. And you say, how is he a good person? It’s wintertime, he’s taking the only thing you have.
No, no, he’s a saint because he had a knife and he could have hurt me, but he didn’t. So obviously he’s a saint. That’s an example.
Wow, oh God, amazing. This discussion reminds me of the six Goswamis coming together, Krishna, Kirtana, Gana, Nartana, Pava and hearing and chanting together and the waves of Gaura Rasa rising and flying like waves in the ocean of nectar. You two are like the book, Karnananda describes how Srinivasa Acharya every day would come together with the devotees and they would have long discussions.
Parasvaranam kathanam pavanam bhagavad yasadha bhagavatam, 11th canto says, we should learn how to come together with the devotees. And they would come together and they would spend hours and hours and every day they were reading Govinda Leelamrita, Bhagavatam and so many different works of the Goswamis and doing Kirtan and chanting Japa and that was their programme every day. Instead of going to Facebook and speaking about the bad qualities of somebody.
So thank you both so much. Thank you very much, Mahatma. I’m thinking of Amarindra Prabhu’s mother.
She’s going to be angry with us if we make him stay up much later. We should finish. Thank you very much.
I’m actually thinking of my stomach for Prasad. Thank you, Prabhu. Thank you.
Wonderful. Look forward to next week once again. Thank you.
This is going to make the Karthik one of the most memorable Karthiks for all of us, I think. Definitely for me. For me definitely also.
Thank you. Thank you, Mahatma. Thank you, Amarindra Prabhu.