Parallels In Gaura – Lila And Rama – Lila Gaur Purnima Special 2024 New Jersey USA

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Thank you so much for coming today evening.
And, I think, it’s almost after 6-7 years we are having a programme in your home here. I think, long before the pandemic, most of the time we have programmes in the temple. It’s wonderful to be here also.
Devi Muthu and Gunti Chavan are in his home. They are the parents of the congregation. Since the first time I came here, for the first time only, Devi Muthu saw me, and he gave me a big hug.
In the cold of America, I felt the warmth of his affection. So, of course, many of you know, tomorrow it is his auspicious birthday. So, I wish you very, very happy returns on that day too.
Over the years, the way, through your love and care and thoughtfulness and service attitude, you have nourished this community. And, every devotee, every member of the congregation who comes from India, whenever I talk with them, one of the high points of their memory is coming to your home and getting the hospitality of both of you as well as the community which you have helped nurture so lovingly. I was in Naperville some time ago, and there also we had a nice community of Indian devotees coming up.
I was telling them that you should replicate Edison, what you have done over here. So, thank you for your amazing service, and I think your blessings that I can also do some small services on my side. Hare Krishna.
Jai! Jai! Jai! The day Chaitanya Charan Prabhu is out, personally, is my… So it is not my birthday. I can say, in my three Shiksha Gurus, he is one of the top. I really, really have driven so much inspiration from his wisdom.
I remember, when did you come first time? 2014. 14, yeah. So it must be 13, I think I was listening to some online classes.
I believe you hear some class in Ravagopina temple or somewhere. You know, just my head was like blowing, you know, who can go this deep and this, and with the humility with western etiquette. And I remember picking up the phone, my cell phone and calling from office.
I found his phone number through somebody. I never knew him, you know, spoke with them. And I called and I said, Rohit, you must come to America.
I said, this is your place. So he said, well, I never came, visa, other things, other things. I said, everything, Krishna will arrange, but he’s pleased now.
Somewhere or another, he arranged his visa, we didn’t do anything. And, you know, Krishna arranged everything. Started coming and touching so many hearts.
And I think since then he didn’t go to any other country either, right? You mean to UK or other places? Australia was the first country, America was the second. But America has been spending the most time. But since then, he’s been visiting Australia, UK, and spending quite good, three months in America, one month in Australia, what other? UK.
Yeah, and India. And we just love him so much because of his, the way now he started drawing and making portraits. So all of us are like, we have some background from computer science, and we like these arrows and portraits.
It’s quite mesmerising how easy Krishna Consciousness is through his, you know, way of presentation and going so deep and touching our hearts. Really, my life is indebted to you, really. I wish I could just, I told him once in one of these years in 2014 and now, I said, maybe Krishna can make me your driver.
I can drive you around the world, you know, one of these days. But it’s really hard. That’s this way.
But I have been longing in this way. I’m Chaitanya Chhera. Because Chaitanya was always worshipping Devaki Nandan.
I’m Chaitanya Chhera. I’m happy to lose. I will never win again.
So we have Gaurapurima coming next week, and we have Ramanami coming afterwards. In India there is a lot of Ram Consciousness. After the Ram Temple.
Our devotees in Ayodhya are doing amazing service, distributing so many, so much prasad, so many books. And I was also there. We had very beautiful darshan of Ram Danda over there.
Our movement is also acquiring a very big property over there. And we plan to have a guest house. So, great devotees and others can also come.
Experience this wave of devotion that is coming. So, I have been writing a book on the Ramayana. I was also studying Gaurila a little bit because of Gaurapurima.
So, I have been exploring what are the parallels between the two. So, there are many subtle parallels which can be drawn, but I will focus on a few broad principles, and I will go into one, pastime, which illustrates certain key points. So, if we consider from one perspective, that the previous, most of the, like Lord Ram and Lord Krishna, they came as Kshatriyas.
Gaurang Mahaprabhu comes as a Brahmana. And that itself shapes their mission differently. See, the Lord is above time.
The Lord is above time and place. That’s what it means to be transcendent. At the same time, when He appears at a particular place, more or less, He first fits into that place, and then He rises above that place.
That means, when Lord Ram appears, so it’s like, the spiritual domain, this is the material domain. That was it. So, when the Lord, Lord is eternally present here, in the spiritual domain.
Now, we are talking here of Lord specifically as Bhagawan, as Paramatma is present in this world also. As Bhagawan, He is present in the spiritual world permanently. Then, as an avatar, He descends to this world.
And He stays here. And then after that, He departs from this world. And like that, He keeps coming intermittently.
Sambhavami. And He comes repeatedly. His overall purpose is to establish the Yuga Dharma at that particular time.
So, and of course, He performs Leela, which is what is remembered by others. So, in one sense, the establishment of Dharma is from that time. Dharma samsthavanarthaya, sambhavami.
But then what about other times? After He comes and goes, will again disorder come? Well, yes and no. What the Lord does is, after He departs, there is a legacy that He uses. And the legacy that He uses is in terms of two things.
His Leela and His Shiksha. What He has done, His pastimes and His teachings. Now, His pastimes and His teachings, they can guide us for the rest of history.
There are special times in history when the Lord appears. And for remaining times in history, as Kunti Maharani says, So, broadly speaking, these are not absolute watertight categorisations, but the Leela is for the mind. For the mind, it can be absorption.
The Shiksha is for the buddhi. That gives us conviction. Now, conviction and absorption are related.
But generally, if somebody is watching a movie, and it’s a good movie, then you don’t say, Oh, I have to concentrate on this movie. No, you have to concentrate on the movie. That means the movie director did a lousy job.
The movie should be absorbed. In writing, it is said that what is written without effort has to be read with effort. So, if the author does not do the work of thinking through the thoughts, then the writer has to figure out, what have you written over here? What are you saying? But the point overall is that, so, the Lord provides sustenance for us for good.
And that is the enduring legacy, which He provides. In fact, you can see in the Bhagavad Gita also, 4, 7 and 8 is धर्मसंस्थापनार्थ संभावन्युविये and 4, 9 and 10 is about His Leela. जन्मकरमचे में दिव्यम् एबं युवित्तवदा Maybe some of you can come here.
Are you interested in this? Or maybe you don’t want to see this? So, when the Lord descends, जन्मकरमचे में दिव्यम् that verse is about, for all time people can remember Him, and then they can come back to Him. So, the Lord does both these things. Now, Lord Ram came thousands and thousands of years ago.
Let me say, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came recently. So, first commonality is that they share the mission. What is the mission of the Lord? In one sense, there are many specifics, but there is one common mission.
The divine descent is meant to inspire the human ascent. When the Lord comes to inspire us, to instruct us, so that we can raise our consciousness. And ultimately, we can raise ourselves from the material world to the spiritual world.
So, that is the universal mission of all of us. Now, having said this, apart from this universal mission, there are specific missions at specific times. And generally, when the Lord comes to this world, there is always some background of problems.
Now, there is some kind of disorder, some kind of disharmony, and then through that, the Lord appears. When we consider Lord Ram’s appearance, there is that Dashrath and his queens, they were trying to have children for a long time. And somehow it was not happening.
And then they performed Yajna. So, we can say, born after sacrifice. Sacrifice here was basically Yajna.
A special Yajna was performed. And they were born after that. Now, in the case of Sachi Mata, Gaurang Mahaprabhu and the fourth one was born, Vishwamitra.
So, sorry, Vishwamitra. He was born before him. Now, there, they had children, but they kept losing their children.
So, there, he was born after special Vishnu worship. You see, in the Chaitanya Chakra, in the Chaitanya Chakra, Vishesh Sevan, that when they repeatedly performed, rather than losing faith or becoming bitter, they performed more and more worship of Lord Vishnu. And the Vishesh Sevan, when they did it, then they got children.
So, both of them appeared. There is some, whoever has that fortune of making the Lord or anything sacred manifest in the world, they have to do something special. The reason for that is that the Lord wants to see how much He is longing for.
So, tatra lauliyam api mauliyam ek kalam. It’s not that Krishna doesn’t want to help us, Krishna doesn’t want us, Krishna doesn’t want to come. But Krishna wants to see how eager are we for Him.
And when we say lauliyam, it’s an interesting word that Chaitanya Chakra uses, according to traditional tradition, but other places also it comes. It’s greed. Now, why lauliyam, specifically? Because the principle here is that we already have lauliyam for many things in the world.
So, we may have lauliyam for money, we may have lauliyam for fame, we may have lauliyam for power. So, what needs to happen is, our desire for Krishna has to become greater than our desire for the world. For the world means, for whatever things are there in the world.
But, if not greater, at least there has to be some level of comparable desire. So, we have the power of desiring, and where are we directing the power of desiring? So, both of them had to perform certain austerities so that the Lord would appear. Now, if we go forward from there, afterwards, as I said, I’m going to focus on key similarities, not an overall analysis.
What happens is, in both cases, the father departs. Now, in the case of Lord Ramachandra, what happens is, after his exile, so Lord Ram is not there. In fact, Dashrath Maharaj departs out of heartbreak because Lord Ram has been sent away.
It’s generally, a parent would rather take suffering on themselves rather than let their child suffer. In the case of Dashrath Maharaj, he’s a king, he’s a protector. You see, we all have certain things which we are good at.
Not necessarily good in the sense that we’re proud of that, but we know, I can do this well. And then, we’ll do that well to help others if somebody’s very good at cooking. Then, if they’re good at cooking, then we’ll take a cook and serve others.
If somebody’s good at organising, somebody’s good at managing, somebody’s good at logistics arrangement, whatever, then whatever we are good at, we try to use that for helping others if we have a service attitude. And then, if the very thing we are good at, if we are not able to help others, rather somehow our actions end up causing harm to others, then it becomes, say somebody’s a doctor, and not just for money, they really want to take care of others. And then, somehow something happens from the doctor’s side and the patient condition goes, or the patient dies.
Now, legally, that doctor will be clear, you did not do anything wrong, but still morally, the doctor will be responsible. So, like that, for Darshan Maharaj, he is the protector, and he would like to protect his children from all suffering, he wants to give the best to his children, and somehow for them, the thought that because of me, my son has to live in poverty, it’s, you know, it’s the ultimate heartbreak for Darshan Maharaj. What happens is that because it prevents suffering, that’s what his heart wanted him, would have wanted him to do.
But the exact opposite is, cause suffering. Now the fact that he was obliged to do that, that’s what he would have wanted, and this is what he would have dreaded. So then, somehow, there is something which is like a driving machine of our life, and we end up doing the very opposite of that.
And the pain becomes unbearable. This is what happens to Arjuna also, Bhagavatam, the first canto of 1430 chapters. Arjuna is a protector, and when he feels to protect Krishna’s kids, he is utterly devastated.
And in that time there, somehow he remembers the message of the Bhagavad Gita, and understands that whatever is happening, Krishna has a plan, so he somehow comes down. Darshan Maharaj is just not even, what is the point of living if I become the cause of suffering for my own son? I just can’t maintain his life. So he departs.
Now in the case of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, it is that his father also departs. But he departs after Mahaprabhu’s treasure, his elder brother Sanyas. So he is after Vishwaroop Sanyas.
He feels, again, the pain is similar. And Gaudiya Vishwanath Acharya commented on this. What they further described is, that actually, while Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was very mischievous, because Vishwaroop was relatively mature, both of them were very close to each other.
And Jagannath Pishwa’s fear was that, just like Vishwaroop has left home, maybe Vishwamitra will also leave home. And you know, the extent to which he went, to stop his education for some time. Because why? The idea was that in the past, the idea was that Jnana almost always leads to Vairagya.
And the more knowledge we get, especially knowledge of Shastra, then we understand the temperance of this world. And then we become detached. So this was actually Vedic education.
But actually today’s education, it is what? The whole Jnana is for Raga. It is not for Vairagya. The whole knowledge is about how we will enjoy the whole world.
Scientific, technological advancement are basically at one level. Just ways to try to enjoy the whole world. So he thought that I don’t want my son to renounce.
So he stopped his education. But then, he was so spontaneously attracted to Vishwambharata education. His father just couldn’t stop.
And they were sad. They were saying, why are you stopping it? So then he reluctantly got into it. But still that dread was there for him.
And so it was both. The cause was not just the loss of Vishwambharata. The fear that Vishwambharata may also do the same thing.
And then we see that echo of that same thing later on, Haridas Thakur passed away. Haridas Thakur says, my dear lord, I have understood that you are soon going to depart from the world. He says, I can’t bear to see that.
Let me depart from the world. So in one sense, there is this agony. And then, after that if you consider, there is the home, and then there is the forest.
So there is a beautiful verse in the 11th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, where the same verse, the asharas are explained, can refer to Krishna, can refer to Ram, can refer to Mahaprabhu. So, I offer my obeisance to that great lord. So in that verse it says that that which is very very difficult to give up.
That which is aspired for by even the devatas. That which is blessed by the goddess of fortune. There are two meanings of that.
That which is blessed by the goddess of fortune, or that which is blessed with the goddess of fortune. It can mean both things. So, he gave it up.
So what happens is, lord Ram is in Ayodhya and he goes to Tandaka Vandana Pavan Ram. So first he goes to Chitrakoot. Chitrakoot, Adri, Ketan, Ram.
But then, a big action starts in Tandaka Vandana. Now, Mahaprabhu is in Mayapur. Now Ayodhya of course was extremely prosperous.
It was blessed by the goddess of fortune. But suddenly, Lord Ram had to leave. Why? Aryavachasa.
Aryavachasa is because of the word of Arya, of a brahmana. This was, not a brahmana, but Arya. Arya refers to a brahmana or a shakti.
Basically a respectable person. A brahmana is one who knows the value of life. So Aryavachasa Agadaranyu, he went to the forest.
So he went because the Shri Maharaj had given that promise in order to honour that word. In the case of Mahaprabhu, Mayapur, the whole Navadvip area was actually both intellectually prosperous and intellectually a very renowned area. And Jiratmishra and Hrishimatha were not very wealthy.
But they had what they needed. For different people, based on what they valued, wealth is defined differently. If somebody is interested in learning, if somebody is interested in knowledge, then if they are in an environment where there are many learned people and there is a lot of deep discussion, they will think, that’s what is a wealthy place.
And that’s why, because it was so rich with the wealth of wisdom, that’s why there were Pandits like Keshavash, and others, Vijaya Pandits like that would come to Mayapur to try to establish their glory over there. So, Mayapur was also prosperous in terms of the wealth that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had. It was one Brahminical family who had it.
But then, Agadam. From there, where did he go? He wanted to go to Vrindavan. But where did he end up going? So, this is interesting, what exactly happens, we will discuss about it.
That, he goes to the forest. Āryavacchasa yathagāda And then, māyāmṛgam daityaya ipsitam anvadhāvad Anvadhāvad, means he followed, he chased. Māyāmṛgam, the Māyāmṛgam, that word has different meanings.
What does it mean for Lord Ram’s Leela? The magical deer. The illusory deer. The golden deer.
Who had taken up that form. So, Māyāmṛgam daityaya ipsitam anvadhāvad So, daityaya ipsitam That ipsitam is desire. Daityaya is by one who is dear.
So, it refers to that. Gita desired it. And so, anvadhāvad.
Lord Ram chased after that deer. So now, what is so special about this particular thing is that, that Lord Ram His arrows never missed. And normally when he had to fight, even when he was fighting against the entire army of 14,000 demons were there.
And there, Lord Ram just stood at one place. And he didn’t have to run. Even when he is fighting against, he fought before that against Subahu and Tāṭaka.
And even later on when he is fighting against Rāvaṇa. There are very little instances of Lord Ram actually running from here to there. He is just so powerful at fighting that from one place See, normally when you are fighting, enemy fire, then you try to dodge the fire.
You try to find strategically the best place to be in. But Lord Ram was so good at fighting, that he just stood at one place and destroyed the entire army of Kauravas. But that Lord Ram he chased.
That’s why this particular incident is special. Unbelievable. Now, why did he chase? At one level, it was because he wanted to do this for Sita.
He said, Sita has given so much for me. She didn’t have to come with me to the forest. She came.
And she has practically never asked me for anything. So now she has asked me for this I must get it for her. So, the similar aspiration is that when the Pandavas are in the forest at that time, Draupadi, they are by a lake the Ganga lake, Nagini Ganga, and then they see there are thousand petal lotuses coming.
And Draupadi says, my eyes light up. And when Bhima sees that, he just jumps down and gets that for her. Now, at this point, Arjuna is not there.
Arjuna has gone to the heavens for Paramahamsa Tapasya. And then see how Draupadi says, when it comes from a thousand petal lotus, can you get more of these? So, Bhima says, yes, I will go get it. And he goes up the Himalayas.
That’s where he meets Hanuman and all the things happen out there. The point is that the desire is to please. So with that desire, he cheeses, Lord Ram cheeses.
Now, that’s for Lord Ram. Now what does it mean for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? So, mayavruga daitya ipsitam He says that all the living entities are like the mayavruga. They are all illusioned by maya.
So, there it is like Lord Ram cheeses after the illusory deer. But here it is like we are the deer who are chasing after illusion. And the deer is chasing after illusion and what is happening is that Lord Ram is chasing after that.
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is chasing after that deer. Mayavruga daitya because the living beings are so dear to him. Ipsitam anvadhavan.
So, if you look at the India road, Mahaprabhu’s South India tour, India’s North India tour, in those times, touring was what it was usually. And Mahaprabhu went to so many places. At one level, Mahaprabhu as a sanyasi was going to various holy places.
But actually he was not just going to holy places. He was making places holy. By his travelling, he was actually in Mahaprabhu’s tours.
Externally speaking, they were to go to holy places. But he was going to those holy places but while he was going there, he was also, the places where he was going, he was making them holy. He was inspiring everyone to chant the holy names, to become infused with love for the Lord.
And in this way, he actually enriched the hearts of everyone. Now Lord Ram, when he was there, every avatar, we say he has a purpose. Ramayana starts by saying that Lord Ram’s purpose was to establish the character and behaviour of an ideal person.
And the ideal person in the Ramayana is one who is related to Lord Ram’s sacrifice. So Lord Ram’s sacrifice is for the sake of his father. The sacrifice is a move that runs throughout the Ramayana.
And that culmination of that is when, just like there is, if you see the Ramayana sequence, the key incident is Dashrath and Ram. And there is a great sacrifice over there. Where Dashrath has no desire to send Ram away.
But he is obliged. He is obliged. Now, in today’s world, to some extent you can understand that if you are given your word, you must keep it.
In the past, for Kshatriyas, they would defy you at that. You have to keep your word. So that sacrifice happened because of some obligation.
And that same move of sacrifice culminates in Ram and Sita being separated. Now, externally the reason seems to be different. That Sita was accused of something and you say, how did Ram accuse something like that? He is supposed to be just.
Yes, he is just. But in this case, Lord Ram never considered Sita to be in any way contaminated at all. And even if she was not her fault, why should she be held responsible at all? The point over there is that the specifics of the rationale, why did Lord Ram have to send Sita away? Those are something which are not as important as the principle.
That Lord Ram and Sita are demonstrating the ultimate sacrifice. That just as Darshan had no desire to send Ram away and it is not that Ram was a victim when Darshan sent him away. Similarly, Ram actually had no desire to see Sita and Sita is not a victim when Ram sends her away.
Sita is of course heartbroken when she has to go away from Ram. Darshan is heartbroken. Ram is also distressed when he has to go away from his father.
That’s why he said in the forest when he comes to know that Ram has passed away then he offers water in the forest, in the river. He is not there when he asks water from his father. Similarly, Lord Ram had no desire to send Sita away.
But because of circumstances he was obliged to do that. He still had complete faith in Sita. That’s why he would have her effigy with her when he would perform yajnas.
And no one objected. The Brahmins who would perform the yajnas they would have objected if they considered that there is some impurity over her. So, rather than seeing this as Lord Ram beginning in some unsubstantial accusation or something like that the principle of the Ramayana is the practise of sacrifice.
And everybody has to sacrifice in their own way. The most difficult kind of sacrifice is the kind of sacrifice when you give a lot and you don’t get praise for it. Rather, you get criticism for it.
Suppose we are building a new temple and somebody gives a lot of donation. Normally somebody gives a lot of donation they are glorified. But suppose somebody gives a huge amount of donation and they do it anonymously.
And nobody comes to know about it. They don’t get any praise for it. But everybody thinks you have so much wealth and you have not given any donation.
And the person who has been most generous gets criticised for being miserly. How difficult would it be? So, actually that is the sacrifice that Sita has to perform. She is heartbroken but she understands.
She doesn’t become bitter. She understands what is going on. And the proof that she understands is that she never poisons the minds of her children.
She doesn’t say, Ram is a terrible person. He abandoned me. She doesn’t do that.
So, the gopis are considered such exalted devotees because they give themselves up to Krishna. And at least the queens in Dwarka they had Krishna’s name. There was a law for giving advice.
So, they gave everything to Krishna and Krishna apparently gave them up. So, that is actually the exalted level of sacrifice. The sacrifice is in a continuum.
First is that we give up the bad. So, sacrifice in the service of God. We give up the bad or the sinful.
Then after that we could say bad and sinful. Then we could say just give up materialism. We stop chasing a lot of material things and power.
But then after that we have to give up the good. Good in terms of those who really renounce their simple life. They even may not even take the basics.
We have the Goswamis who live on the Ekam trees. So, good in terms of basic material things. That may also be given up.
But, good in terms of even a pious reputation. When that has to be given up, that is the greatest sacrifice. So, Sita actually does that sacrifice.
The Gopis do that sacrifice. Now, in one case, in one sense, what happened to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu eventually takes Sannyas. Then, that is a great sacrifice for him.
It is a sacrifice for his family. It is a sacrifice for all the Gopis. Now, if you see, if you try to approach the Lord’s pastimes from a pure, just a materialistic vision, then sometimes it is very difficult to understand.
We need to look at it from a deeper vision. So, there is one commentary, one commentator, he said, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God, he was going to renounce, then why did he have to marry again? After his first wife passed away, he married again and then he abandoned her. He would not have just married also.
But the point is that the consorts of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they are also the goddesses of fortune. They are eternally there with him. And there is Vishnupriya or Lakshmipriya.
So, they are eternally with him. There is Kundalini Sudarshan, there are various ways they are described. But the point is that they are also illustrating that mood of sacrifice.
So, when the Lord departed, he actually spoke to every one of his associates. He told all of them that I have to renounce. I have to spread the holy name and the only way you can do it is if I do sacrifice.
Then the message will be respected. And the communities were devastated. Mahaprabhu sat down with them.
Vishnupriya also spoke to them. And it is that whole section in Chaitanya Leela is one of the most heart-wrenching sections in which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is leaving us. And in fact, there are some Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s writings, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes, some of his biographies, they just don’t describe Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes.
Why? Because it’s so painful. There are some Lord Ram’s retellings that Ram and Virgins just don’t talk about Sita’s being sent away. So, actually, sometimes sacrifice is painful.
And Mahaprabhu as a Sanyasi is demonstrating a certain level of renunciation which is in the Supreme Lord and it is demonstrating the supreme level of renunciation. Supreme level of renunciation is that I was in Pune when I was 15 years old. So, one day one boy came to me and he said, what is the process of becoming a Brahmachari? I hardly ever seen him in the temple not doing any services.
I said, you really want to become a Brahmachari? He said, yes, but Sunday I will be inside. Really? I said, what would happen on Sunday? He said, I have proposed to a girl. And she replied on Sunday.
She said, no, I will become a Brahmachari. So, now, actually, there is a huge difference between frustration and renunciation. So, what is the difference between frustration and renunciation? Frustration is that it is actually the differentiation between starving and fasting.
The two are not the same thing at all. There are two things over here. There is the desire to enjoy and then there is the ability to enjoy.
So, there is frustration and then there is the desire to enjoy. What happens is, is there the desire to enjoy? Yes, it is very much there, but the ability to enjoy is not there. Now, ideally speaking, when there is renunciation, actually, there is the ability to enjoy, but there is no desire to enjoy.
Now, when Mahaprabhu renounced the world, it was not because he was frustrated in family life. Vishnupriya was the most devoted wife and they had a very sweet family. So, when he renounced, it was a sacrifice for both of them.
There is an American comedian who said that, my wife and I, we drive different cars, we eat at different times, we live in different rooms, we come and go out of different doors, we are doing everything to keep our marriage together. It is already a shallow issue. But it is not like that.
So, Mahaprabhu demonstrates renunciation and what was the purpose of that renunciation? That special sacrifice was so that more and more people could actually benefit from the blessing that he was given. The blessing of the holy name, the blessing of Vishnupriya, and ultimately, I said the Lord’s descent, the divine descent is to inspire the human ascent. So, what is that human ascent? Human ascent is ultimately a mood of sacrifice, of selflessness.
So, for each one of us, we may never have to renounce the world. Even as most of us, even those of us who are Brahmacharis, we may renounce the world in one sense, but we are still very much in the world. And the principle is not so much what we renounce, but it is what we renounce for.
What are we trying to do after renunciation? So, that mood of sacrifice, it is, there are two aspects to it, what we give up, and then what we take up. What made Prabhupada special was not just that he took sannyas. There were many of his godbrothers who were lifelong sannyasis.
But what extinguished Prabhupada His godbrothers were also exalted souls. At the same time, it was Prabhupada who fulfilled the prophecy of Shatrughna Mahaprabhu, Sarvatra Vachanam Vimarnam. They had to get down in the village when they were to chant it.
So, what made that happen was not that Prabhupada gave up. He took up the mission of Shatrughna Mahaprabhu Prabhupada’s mood was that that Mahaprabhu’s prophecy is my responsibility. He said, the Lord has said it, the Lord has said this will happen, so he will make it happen.
No, not like that. Prabhupada says in one lecture, when Krishna shows Arjuna the Vishwaroopa and Krishna shows him how all the walls in the opposite direction were destroyed. So, Prabhupada says, Arjuna doesn’t see Krishna and he will destroy all of them, so why do I have to practise destroying them? So, Arjuna will take the first one.
So, this is the movement of Shatrughna Mahaprabhu. So, in our particular place, wherever we are, how can we take up that responsibility of serving Shatrughna Mahaprabhu, serving the mission of the Lord when he descends to the world. It is that responsibility that we take up that is what ultimately enables us to grow in our spiritual advancement.
Responsibility is proportional to the responsibility that we take up. So, responsibility in the bhakti sense has a special significance. I don’t have a civility.
I can’t preach, I can’t distribute, I can’t manage. So, actually, in bhakti, there is an emotional responsibility. It is, you all have heard this, responsibility is response plus ability.
But in bhakti, there is a special meaning. It is our response to God’s ability. It is our response to God’s ability.
I may not be able to do it, but God can do it. And if he wants to do it through me, he can make me instrument of it. So, Prabhupada says in the Marginal Bhagwat Dharma song that I don’t know why you brought me here.
I guess you must have some purpose. But he says, By your inconsiderate propensity, everything is possible. So, It is by your arrangement, everybody has come under my eyes.
If your will is there, then you please give me the words, by which I can make your message understandable to them. You have the power to make my words, to ornament my words in such a way that they can be understandable to them. And you can do whatever you want.
That is, Krishna is omnipotent. Now, will Krishna use us to do extraordinary things? Krishna can if he wants. But even if Krishna doesn’t, if we try to serve Krishna, in that attempt, it is up to Krishna to decide.
When we say that, become an instrument in God’s hands, what does it mean? Does it mean that you carry to Krishna for everything that we do? Well, yes, that is true. But to become an instrument means, it is like in the warrior’s life. With the warrior, there is a sword, there is a bow and arrow, there might be a spear, there might be a mace.
And it is up to the warrior to choose which weapon to use. But all the weapons are there, ready for the warrior. So like that, when we want to be an instrument, that means we are ready to serve.
Now, it is up to the warrior to decide which weapon he will use. So, whether and how we will be used, we will be engaged by Krishna, that is up to Krishna. So, some devotees used to do extraordinary service.
Others may say, what about their own service? You see some devotees, they start distributing books as if they are distributing gulab jamun and people are running to get gulab jamun. They seem to have that ability that they distribute 1000 books in one day. 1000 books in a year they are not able to distribute.
So, Krishna can involve people in some ways. They give classes and thousands of Some devotees, they raise funds and it is just amazing how Krishna manifests His vibhuti through them. Some take it with us.
It is amazing. So, Krishna can use different people as instruments in miraculous ways. But the important thing is that even if Krishna does not use us as an instrument to do something extraordinary, by our readiness to be used, something extraordinary will happen to us.
It is we will become unified just by that surrender. So, there are two different things. When we have that desire to serve, we take the responsibility to be an instrument.
Then, there are two kinds of extraordinary things that can happen. One is, extraordinary things can happen through us. That is, we do amazing service and amazing, each of that service is manifested in this world also.
But even if that doesn’t happen, extraordinary things will happen to us. That means our heart will get transformed. And in one sense, this is guaranteed.
Krishna says, this is uncertain. It depends on Krishna. So, this is certain.
At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Sanjay spoke the same Gita to Dhritharashtra. Sanjay’s heart was not transformed. Dhritharashtra’s heart was not transformed.
But Sanjay’s heart was transformed. So, in one sense, what Krishna said, that is demonstrated in the last five verses of the Gita. 74 to 78.
Why are the next five verses there? Although Sanjay did not experience success in changing Dhritharashtra’s heart, but just by speaking the message, Sanjay’s heart changes. And that is the guarantee. So, in that sense, in the endeavour of bhakti, there will always be success.
Now, this inner success will always be there. But outer success, it will also be there, but the extent of it, will depend on Krishna. But if we just take up, the sacrifices of taking up responsibility, to become an instrument, according to our capacity, Krishna will do wonders, either through us, or at least to us.
And that is the common principle. Lord Rama empowered Hanuman to go to Lanka. Actually, I was going to speak the main part of the class, but I don’t think we will have time for that.
But I am going to talk about how this pleasant Lord Rama empowered Hanuman to go to Lanka. And one of the most beautiful parts, not one of, the most beautiful part, the most cherished part is the Ramayana Sundara Kanta. So, similarly, as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu empowered Prabhupada to come here to America.
And in one sense, the most beautiful part of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes, at least for us, as followers of Prabhupada, are the pastimes of Prabhupada. They are not different. Just like in the Sundara Kanta, actually, most of the Sundara Kanta, Lord Rama is not present at all.
Like in the beginning and only at the end. Like that, actively speaking in Prabhupada’s Leela, Mahaprabhu is not present. But Mahaprabhu is there everywhere.
In the Mahaprabhu’s mercy. So, what is the Sundara Kanta? In Ramayana, that is similar to Prabhupada’s Leela. That it is, Prabhupada’s pastimes are the manifestation of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy.
In the life of a devotee, he took up the responsibility to serve the Lord. See, when Hanuman went to Lanka, Hanuman did not know that he had all those abilities. Because of the curse, he had forgotten those abilities.
But, Lord Rama wanted him to do it. And then, at the right time, he was reminded of those abilities and manifested those abilities. So, Prabhupada, in one sense, had very little success in the outreach in India.
Prabhupada, with confidence in Mahaprabhu, kept interacting with all over the world. So, Krishna’s support through Prabhupada was extraordinary. So, the sweetest verses in the Nama Ramayana is 108 days of Lord Rama.
So, it is Kapimara Santata Chintita Rama Tarkati Vighna Dhumasaka Rama So, Kapimara is Hanuman. Santata Chintita Rama So, Hanuman constantly remembered Lord Rama. And what did Lord Rama do in return? Tarkati, in his progress, in his pathway, Vighna, whatever obstacles were there, Dhumasaka Rama So, although Lord Rama was not there, Lord Rama was there, in his heart acting, and Lord Rama was acting, still remembering the obstacles.
And that is a dynamic that can manifest in the lives of all of us. When we take up the responsibility to serve the Lord, when we say remember Krishna, it is not just forget the world and remember Krishna. It is remember Krishna, so that we can be empowered to serve the Lord and do His mission in this world.
So, let us recite this once and then we will stop. This is a very nice dedication. Tatvara Santata Chintita Rama Both lines together once.
Kapimara Santata Chintita Rama Tatvara Santata Chintita Rama Kapimara Santata Chintita Rama Now, the same mood is there in Jagatpant also. If you remember Lord Jagatpant, even the impossible becomes possible. That is the power of the remembrance of the Lord.
And that is what Prabhupada gives us in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. So many resources that you can remember the Lord and thereby become empowered. To summarise what we discussed today, our broad topic was the parallels in Ramlila and Kaurlila.
And there are many parallels. So the first was, right from the beginning of there is always sacrifice to make the Lord appear. So both Vichimata Niranatheshwara and Dashratha and his queens, they had to do sacrifice.
And then when the Lord appears, he has one common mission. He descends to inspire our ascent. To the human ascent.
And the human ascent happens in two different ways. It is dharma for that time. But then it is Ramlila and his shiksha.
That is there for all time. And through that, that is the legacy that is used for everyone to take it forward. Then we discussed about how there was heartbreak for the both fathers.
For Dashratha Maharaj, it was that his son had to go away and he became the cause of his son’s going away. For Jananath Vishnu, it was that one of his son had gone away and the other may also go away. And he just said, I can’t believe this is the fact.
And then we discussed that particular verse. And so that was the Rajya Lakshmi. Then we discussed the mood of sacrifice.
The Ramayana sacrifice, what starts from Dashratha and Ram, that ended Ramayana Sita. So the greatest sacrifice is, in one sense, where we sacrifice a lot and we sacrifice even the good name or the good name from Paidei. We don’t even get that.
First we sacrifice the bag, then we sacrifice the material. Then we sacrifice the good material, good things. But then even good subtle things are sacrificed.
Then that sacrifice is performed. And for Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, when we talked about His sannyas, that was not out of frustration. Many people, when they conduct the sannyas, they think it’s renunciation, but it’s primarily frustration.
The difference is like, the difference between starving and fasting. The desire is there but the ability is not there. That’s frustration.
The ability is there but the desire is not there, that’s your renunciation. The last part we discussed is that what we do, we don’t have to necessarily make sannyas, but we also take up responsibility to serve. And responsibility means our response to God’s ability.
So it is, God has unlimited ability and then we become an instrument. So this is, Prabhupada took the response, So by that, there will be outer miracle that can happen through us and there is an inner miracle that will happen to us. And this is certain to happen.
And that will be ultimate success for us in our spiritual life. That we become connected with the Lord and according to how the Lord wants to use us, we connect others with the Lord. Thank you very much.
Any questions? Are there any questions or comments? One question. Why Mother Sita didn’t fought with Ravana? When we know that Sita Mata is more powerful than Ravana. Sita Mata is a child.
That time she pulled off Sivdhanus. But Ravana didn’t pull off that. Any specific reasons Sita didn’t fought with Ravana? Yeah.
There is one answer which can seem to be a non-answer. That is the Leela of the Lord. But there are other reasons also.
There is Leela but there is another point over there. That in general, if you see within the past times of the Lord, the omnipotence of the Lord or actually omnipotence of the consort of the Lord that is very rarely manifested. It is not very rarely but it is intermittently manifested.
It is that Lord Ram is God. Now God is everywhere as hands and legs. So when Sita is being abducted, Lord Ram, he will just extend his hand and catch her out.
Isn’t it? Or Lord Ram will just show his Vishwaroop and he will be there. So the whole point of this past time is to teach humans how to function. So now if you see that is why one of the names of Lord Ram is Agastya Nukheha Vardhita Ram.
That by the blessings of Agastya, he became even more powerful. Now Lord Ram is the one who is giving all blessings including to Agastya. In fact, according to some written Ramayana, when he remembers what Agastya has told him, when he meditates and then he gets that power, that’s when he is able to kill Ram.
So the idea is, Lord Ram is not acting like God. He is acting like a human being. Ideal human being.
And as an ideal human being, he faces struggles. Now he is extraordinarily archaic. That’s like a super little talent.
That doesn’t do much. It’s not that he is exhibiting omnipotence while he is fighting. He is exhibiting super little ability.
So he rarely exhibits his Godhood over there. So that’s why Lord Ram is all arrows he can kill. But Lord Ram uses Brahmastra, he uses Adarastra to kill the various demons.
Why? Because the whole point is that if a human being faces adversities, then what is a human being to do? A human being should do tapasya and with higher blessings gain powers. So whether it is by the blessings of sages one gets powers or whether it is blessings by the devatas one gets powers. The principle is, the whole pastime of Lord Ram is not where the Lord, the entire Ram Veda in general is about ideal behaviour for a human being.
And that is why to some extent, to some extent if some people were telling the Valmiki Ramayana and the Ramcharitmanas, they feel that bhakti comes much more from the Ramcharitmanas and the Ramayana. And yes, there is a truth to that. And not just the Ramcharitmanas, there are many other details in the Ramayana.
Bhakti seems to be more. Because why? Because Valmiki Ramayana’s purpose is to demonstrate how an ideal person behaves in a childhood scenario as well. And that’s why the divinity of Lord Ram is not too much emphasised.
Because then you go earlier to Bhagavad Gita. So, that’s not the mood. And that’s why you see in the Ramayana, the other characters are also glorious.
Lakshman’s sacrifice is great, Indra’s sacrifice is great. And when there is a sacrifice, he is not emphasising that they are God. So, the divinity in one’s self, divinity is somewhat down to earth.
It is definitely there, but it is down to earth. As compared to that, the subsequent ten days of the Ramayana, many of them are not so much to demonstrate how Lord Ram is an ideal human being. It is to demonstrate how wonderful is Lord Ram.
And how wonderful He is and how we should be devoted to Him. So, it’s like there are two different purposes that Lord Ram as an ideal human being and I as the wonderful Lord. Wonderful worshipper of the Lord.
These are two different purposes in one sense. So, in the subsequent details, the second purpose has been emphasised. This is Valmiki Ramayana.
So, in the original book, the divinity of Ram is not emphasised. Sita also, there is an indication, no doubt about it. It is not emphasised.
In the mood of the overall pastime, it is that Sita could have exhibited her omnipotence and she could have played with Ram. But how does that teach anything to any people in today’s world or in subsequent world? We don’t have that kind of omnipotence. So, Sita plays the role that can inspire people through similar difficulties.
Now, how to act in this situation? Okay? Any other questions? Questioner-Excellent method of presentation of what you are writing and speaking exhausts the mind. My question is regarding sacrifice and frustration. So, we have the tendency to enjoy but not the ability.
And renunciation is when you have the ability but you don’t want to enjoy it. I was thinking about sadhana. So, we had a life before Krishna consciousness which was sense gratification.
And now we have our do’s and don’ts. Let’s get forward. So, because of our conditioning there is a level of frustration.
You want to enjoy but as a discipliner holding back. And then what happens as time goes by, this becomes very mechanical and there is always some residual anchoring that I want to go back. Whatever, how this thing comes in.
But as a discipliner, it’s like a force that’s not coming naturally. So, Prabhu, what is it that a sadhaka can do that though he has that desire to enjoy it makes no difference to him. Of course, sadhana will take you there one day.
But the process to reach there itself is very frustrating for a sadhaka. Yes, thank you. It’s a most universal, legible question.
There are two different things over here. If we consider the spectrum of activity. There are some activities in which we require physical strength.
That means, say, you have to fast for Ekadashi. You need that required strength. There are regular rounds.
But then, there are some activities which use strength also. Maybe, you like to come in a community. You like to give classes.
So, bhakti is not one monolithic thing. I have to push myself in everything. There are some aspects of bhakti I need to push myself in.
And there are some aspects which pull me towards them. So, we need to make sure that if we have that level of strength, we do them sufficiently. Now, sufficiently means that we do them at least enough so that we have that strength.
Now, we may say our sadhana itself is supposed to give us strength. Yes, that is true. But each of us has a personal relationship with Krishna.
And that’s why you cannot say mechanically you do one, two, three, you tick a list of bullet points and then you’ll be connected with Krishna. No, for some people, it might be more connection through one thing. For some people, it might be more connection through another thing.
So, we need to make sure that we do the activity that connects us with Krishna and gives us that strength. And then, bhakti will not form like such a struggle. It is a struggle.
But it will not feel that much of a struggle if we can balance. And similarly, you can say regulation or strain that is there. There also is a spectrum.
There is some regulation that is easy. And there is some regulation that is tough. So, for example, going by a car or by a plane or a train and say the neighbour next to us is sitting and eating meat.
Now, very few of us will be tempted by the meat. That is, you’ve got the higher taste over that. So, there are some other things.
Maybe they are watching some movie and we feel attracted towards that. Different things. So, it’s not that everything is a struggle.
So, the things that are easy or you could say most of the things have become easy for us. That means maybe 10 years ago, 20 years ago I would have been attracted to that. But these can give us faith and hope.
That the process of bhakti does go together. And it has worked in my father’s. There are some conditions which may take more time.
And then with respect to that which is tough. Regulation is sometimes you may have to negotiate with others. Negotiate means that if say some desire is very strong and as long as it is within the boundaries of dharma a person can give themselves a little lead in.
The whole idea is that yukta, har and dihar. Dihar is also very good. We call it entertainment.
Yes, it is. But each person is an individual. Not everybody will be entertained by the same thing.
Different people may need different ways of unwinding, relaxing. So, now not everything material is the same thing. For example, sometimes we have this idea this is spiritual and this is material.
And I have to give up the material and I have to go towards the spiritual. That is true at one level. But another way of looking at this is this is spiritual and this is material.
And in the material there is sattva, there is rajas and there is tamas. So, sattva is pro-devotional. Rajas is non-devotional.
Tamas is anti-devotional. The three are not the same thing. Say somebody just wants some relaxation.
He decides that he will go for a walk to nature or he will go to some peaceful place in the world or somewhere like that. And he says, there is no Krishna there. Well, Krishna is there.
But if that is what comes under sattva there is absolutely no harm in that. In Rajasic, they say that ideally it is very easy for us to get caught in things. But each person has to find out, especially the person who is serious about practising bhakti.
Then they can find out what is required for their mind and body to function most effectively in Krishna sense. How much food should somebody eat? There is no absolute mandate. In our tradition, we have Varanasi Swami and we have Bhimasen also.
So, we can be in the Bhimasen parampara. Not much problem. Maybe there is, but the point is that there are some boundaries that are adjusted.
And each one of us needs to find out what is the boundary within which I can practise bhakti sustainably. So, when we find that out, I will give you an example. Don’t misquote me or misapply this example.
I am just giving this as an example to illustrate this point of view. There is one devotee friend of mine. Before coming to bhakti, he was big time into chess.
He would have become a chess professional. But then, India at those times, sports career was not so encouraged. So, he didn’t do that.
But he loved chess. So, he said, I started practising bhakti to scale it up. But after 15-20 years, I started feeling a great craving for playing chess.
I said, I am not going to do this. This is maya. But then, he said, one day I just registered.
Nowadays, you can play computer chess. So, he said, just play for 10 minutes. And he said, just 10 minutes.
And he said, then, after that, I sat down and I was reading the Bhagavatam. And most of the time, I didn’t know how to speak Hindi. This day, my mind was sharpened.
And I was able to get into the Bhagavatam. This is not a recommendation to play chess. My point is that, each one of us needs to find out how best to play chess.
So, now if that 10 minute chess game becomes a one hour chess game and there is no time for Bhagavatam, that’s obviously a possibility. And that possibility one has to guard against it. But, if somebody needs to get up, like some devotees, before chanting, they do some deep breathing.
Holy name is the biggest thing. You don’t need anything else. True.
But, it’s not meant for everyone. Each person has their own mind and senses. If somebody would do some deep breathing, it calms their mind down.
If we see that as non-emotional, we see that as anukulyastha samkara. Now, playing chess might be anukul for someone, playing chess might be pratikul for someone else. There is a responsibility to find the boundaries within which we can flourish.
And when we do that, then bhakti is not such a drag. Of course, we have to be careful that when we expand some boundaries, we don’t keep expanding the boundaries. That’s why that core honesty and sincerity has to be there.
But, bhakti should not be constantly a drag. It has to be bhajata pretty purvakam. It shouldn’t be bhajata complete purvakam.
I have written a couple of reviews. This is a latest book on the Ramayana. Living the Ramayana.
There are about 9 incidents from the Ramayana that I analysed and practical life lessons I have drawn. One of the traumatic incidents from the Ramayana is Sita’s abduction. So now, who is responsible for that? Of course, Ravan is the cause of it.
But then Sita, she neglected the boundaries. She came out. So, what is the role of boundaries in our life? That is explained.
Or for that matter, Hanuman was alone in Lanka. And he seemed to be unsuccessful. So, he was digitally limited.
So, when we feel lonely, when we feel like a failure, how can we find strength? What did Hanuman do at that time? So, incidents from the Ramayana are narrated and life lessons are drawn from them. I had a calendar last year with 365 codes. This is a separate calendar with another set of 365 codes.
They are inspired by the Bhagavad Gita. Each of these is based on one verse of the Gita. Hold your plan lightly.
Hold your Lord tightly. We offer to the opposite. So, people who can’t take Facebook, take Shaitanic Facebook.
To be detached, you don’t need to be cold-hearted. You just need to be level-headed. Emotion is not to be rejected.
Domination by emotion is to be rejected. Our spiritual growth does not depend on our ability. It depends on our availability.
Are you ready to be an instrument? Each of these is inspired by one verse from the Bhagavad Gita. If you Google these codes, they will take you to my website gitaayogi.com where there is an article explaining the code as well as the verse on which it is based. So, these two are available.
I am also here in case you want to sign your books. I wish you all a very happy Govardh Purnima.