Bhakti Shastri (039) – The Nectar of Instruction Text 9

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Thank you very much. Vishnu Updesha Amrit Ki Jai.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Welcome to the Nectar of Instruction class.
We are now coming to the last part of the Nectar of Instruction. The last three texts are there. So the 9th, 10th and 11th are talking more of glorification.
They are not so much of instruction. All the instruction is indirectly there. So the first will talk about the hierarchy of the various dhams.
That is the 9th text. The 10th text will talk about the hierarchy of the various spiritual seekers and then the 11th will combine both the two that how both of them can combine and that is the highest perfection that a seeker can achieve. So let us look at the text here.
This 9th text. vaikuntha janito vara madhupuri tatra api rasotsavad vrindaranyam udarapani ramana tatra api govardhanah radha kunnam ihapi gokulpate premam rtaplavanat kuryadasya virajato giritate sevam vivekinakah So vaikuntha janito vara. So vaikuntha is great but vara means greater than that.
Is madhupuri. Madhupuri is Mathura. Why is Mathura greater? Because janito, Lord Krishna was born there.
Tatra api rasotsavad. Tatra greater than that even api is rasotsavad because of the performance of rasa leela, the festival of rasa. The greater is vrindaranyam.
udarapani ramanat. So udarapani. So pani is hands.
Udar is charitable. The one person, the person with very charitable hands who gives benedictions very freely, very mercifully and that Lord, ramanat, he performed delightful pastimes over there and ramanat especially refers to the Madhuri rasapana pastime. Tatra api govardhanaha.
So because Krishna performed those intimate pastimes, so govardhana is important and radha kundam ihapi gokulpate and even higher than govardhan is radha kund because here the Lord of Gokula, premam rtaplavanat. So here there was the nectar of prema in which everybody was flooded including Gokulpate, the Lord of Gokula. So he was flooded and he flooded all his devotees.
So kuryanasya virajato giritate. So virajato means residing here, giritate at the foot of govardhan, that means near radha kund or on radha kund at the foot of govardhan. Sevam viveki nakaha.
So where is that intelligent person? Viveki refers to intelligent person. Especially viveka refers to not just buddhi but it refers to discrimination. Intelligence is to know various things but viveka means to be able to understand higher and lower, to discriminate, viveka.
So that person who can discriminate, where is that, if a person can discriminate, where is that person who will not do surrender service at radha kunda. So in this way radha kunda is talked about as the highest of all holy places, that of Krishna Prabhupada’s translation. The holy place known as Mathura is spiritually superior to the transcendental world because the Lord appeared there.
Superior to Mathura Puri is the transcendental forest of Vrindavan because of Krishna’s rasa leela pastimes and superior to the forest of Vrindavan is Govardhan Hill for it was raised by the divine hand of Shri Krishna and was the site of his various loving pastimes. And above all the superexcellent Shri Radha kunda stands supreme for it is overflooded with the ambrosial nectarian prema of the Lord of Gokula. So Radha kunda is overflooded and Radha kunda overfloods everyone with it.
Where then is that intelligent person who is unwilling to serve this divine Radha kunda which is situated at the foot of Govardhan Hill. So let us look at the purport. So the hierarchy is something which is extremely important to understand for us especially as Gaudiya Vaishnavas.
So Vaikuntha, now Prabhupada basically elaborates on this theme in the purport and he explains that Vaikuntha is a spiritual world that is a transcendental realm and it is a three-fourth of total creation and is superior to the material world. So let us look at these concepts first. So when we look at the concept of the spiritual world some people say this is just a fancy.
Now you people want to believe that you will not die and therefore you have imagined a world that is indestructible and you say that you call it a spiritual world. So people feel that the spiritual world is just a fancy. Now actually speaking we will see that those same people who are sceptical about the spiritual world they will turn on their television and then will watch Disneyland and they will watch all kinds of for example Harry Potter is there and Harry Potter is a novel character and he goes to some magic school and people will get so lost in that magic school.
So what we see over here essentially is that attraction to the supernatural is natural. People want something extraordinary, people want something special, people want something which is not stereotyped and basically the whole material world it is ultimately the same thing. Everywhere there is birth, old age, disease and death.
Everywhere there is eating, sleeping, mating, defending. Everywhere there is struggle for existence. So just there were shapes and forms in which these things are done are different but essentially it is the same.
So people want something new. The same people now they may say that they do not believe that there is some actual place called Disneyland or there is now some actual place where Harry Potter lives. No, it is just for entertainment.
Yes, even if they say it is just for entertainment but the two questions. First is why do they need such make-believe for entertainment and second is why do they take that make-believe world so seriously? No, and it is not just children. When the cartoon shows come up and when these kind of novels come up people just read them so eagerly.
Why is that? Nowadays there is a perverse kind of supernatural. So there are horror movies and there is a very popular genre of fiction is paranormal fiction where there are vampires and sometimes there are stories of love affairs between a vampire and a human being and now this is all from the material scientific world view point of view. It is all imagination.
So why do people take it so seriously? Because the heart longs for something beyond the ordinary. So there are three levels actually. There is a daily level of existence and because that is so ordinary we want something higher.
We want something sweeter but we do not know about God and his kingdom which is actually higher and sweeter or even if we know about it we dismiss it off as imagination, as mythology as just fancy but then we create our own mythology, we create our own imagination, we create our own fancy, we use our own fancy and imagination to create some other places and then people just absorb their consciousness in them. So now this sort of obsession with illusion does not lead to any transformation, it does not lead to any purification, it does not lead to any elevation of consciousness. So the very fact that there is a longing for something like this, the attraction to the supernatural is natural.
So why is there attraction like this? That attraction is there because it is natural to us as human beings and that natural attraction should not be suppressed but it should be rightly directed. So when we dismiss the spiritual world and Krishna s supremacy there and the wonderful things that happen in the spiritual world as imagination then we actually reject reality and then we create another imagination which we actually for emotional purposes we treat as if it is a reality only. So instead of misdirecting our search for the supernatural we should understand philosophy and then direct it properly.
So that is the first point. We see this universal urge that people want this and it is not just ordinary people, even rational people, even intelligent people they delight in these things. Why? Because the heart longs for something supernatural, something wonderful.
So it is innate longing in the heart and this itself is not a conclusive proof that something is there which fulfils that longing but it is an indicator of the possibility that something can be there. Then beyond that, that is the first point. Second point is if we look at all the great wisdom traditions of the world, they all talk about eternal place.
They may call it kingdom of God, they may call it Jannat, they may call it in our pan as we call it Vaikuntha but they all refer to it and throughout history the great wisdom traditions have talked about eternal place which is our home and this world it is described as a station. It is a place for a journey, it is not a place as a destination. So we are transitory travellers and actually we can just be wandering souls or we can be pilgrims on a pilgrimage.
So the whole process of spirituality is to convert our disastrous travel actually, our travel through material existence is ultimately as a disaster of old age, disease and death. It is meant to convert a disastrous travel into a glorious pilgrimage where we ultimately return to a place from where we do not have to return, where we attain eternal happiness. Now universally it is there.
So first of all it is universally there and it is a universal longing in the human heart. So secondly it is expressed in all the great wisdom traditions of the world. Then thirdly it is also talked about in the scriptures.
The scriptures talk about it. Now even if somebody does not believe the scriptures are the word of God but at least at a basic level we see that the people who have studied the scriptures throughout history, they have been among the wisest peoples. Whether we look at theologians of different traditions or we look at Ramacharya, Madhvacharya, we look at Baldevidya Bhushan, Jiva Goswami.
Now even if we just look at their works, look at the level of scholarship, look at the level of logical reasoning, look at the masterful analysis that is there in these books, then we will understand that these are far more than ordinary people. Such people of such extraordinary intellectual calibre, they have talked about this place called spiritual world. So it is not something ordinary.
It is something which has been talked about by some of the most intelligent people in the whole world and apart from that when we develop a little understanding, the basic understanding that just as all our needs are provided for by God, the food is provided, water is provided, air is provided, heat is provided, light is provided, all our fundamental needs for survival are provided for by God. So now if God has provided for all our basic needs, now one important need is knowledge. Somebody provides a machine for using and does not provide a manual or any guide for how to use the machine.
That person would be incomplete in the guide. So now God has provided for all our needs but one important need is knowledge. Will God not provide for that need also? So that need is provided by through the scriptures which are the revelation of God and the scriptures, once we understand that they are manual for life, then we see that they are actually talking about the spiritual world and they are saying that that is the ultimate destination of life.
So once we understand this point that the spiritual world is the ultimate destination of life as per the scriptures, then all these reasons make us take this more seriously and beyond that if we think about the soul. So the soul, once we understand that I am not the body, I am the soul and this is not very difficult to understand. The body is just dead matter and there is nothing in the body that can, nothing in the body that can actually experience anything because it is all dead matter.
So matter cannot experience matter. There has to be some other experiencer and that is consciousness and that consciousness says the same in essence even though the body changes. So that consciousness is eternal and that is the soul.
So now if the soul is eternal, the soul has to be at some place, has to have some place where it belongs. Nothing in this world is eternal. So if the soul is eternal, there must be some place to which the soul belongs which is eternal.
So that’s how we understand that there is a spiritual world which is the original home. So the soul is spirit. So the spirit soul has to have an original place.
If I come in a particular room where there is, there are tiles and suddenly on the room floor I find a gold tablet. The gold is so precious, I swear I will take it out and one of the most important questions that will come in my mind is where did this come from? If somebody is exploring in a forest and suddenly somebody finds a gold tablet over there, then immediately where is the gold coming? Is there a gold mine from where this gold has come? So when we see something incongruous, something which doesn’t belong to its surrounding at a particular place, that naturally raises the question where did this come from? So once we understand that I am the Atma and the Atma is spiritual and the Atma is eternal and everything here around is material and is temporary, then naturally the question arises where did this Atma come from? And that brings us to the point of the spiritual world again. Just as gold comes from a gold ore or a gold mine, similarly the soul comes from a place where everything is spiritual and that is the spiritual world.
So even from the existence of soul one can infer the existence of a spiritual world. And beyond that there is a lot of scientific research which has clearly demonstrated that science with all its advancements has given us tremendous power, but that power is over a narrow slice of reality. There is much that is there in this world that is beyond the experience of science or beyond the reach of science.
We know the visible spectrum is tiny in the electromagnetic spectrum. Similarly, scientists say that actually first of all our very scale of perception is limited and beyond that scientists say there are so many parallel universes. So if the parallel universe exists, they are by definition inaccessible to us.
And there are multiple levels of existence and we have access to only some of them. So this is not just some religious teaching, this is the teaching of science. Science says that there can be many ways of perception.
Many scientists who have pointed this out that actually the scale of perception determines the perception a lot. If I perceive a person, even a beauty queen’s face under a microscope, there will be no beauty seen over there. All that will be seen will be some ridges and troughs, it will seem like a mountain area taken from a top view of a mountain area seen through a helicopter.
So there will be troughs and there will be crests and there will be valleys and there will be mountains. So the beauty as we see it at our scale of perception will not be seen. Now if we go deeper and use an electron microscope, then we will not see the face at all.
We will simply see electrons running around. Now we do not have any microscope which can show the electrons running around. But if we had, then we would see something entirely different.
So we have been given a particular scale of perception at which we operate. But at other scales of operation, things will be seen differently. So there is a truly scientific person will have the humility to admit that there is much in the universe that we do not know.
And the more we have come to know, the more we have realised how little we know. This is a paradox of science. Sometimes people think that our knowledge has increased.
It has increased. But the more we know, what we understand is how much more there is to know. So for example, scientists, when they went to the space, so human beings conquered space by that.
That was considered to be a great victory. That proved man’s greatness. But even if it proves man’s greatness, actually when people went into space and they saw from outside space, what did they see? They saw that the universe is so vast.
The earth which seems to be like a gargantuan of land and water when we are on it, from outer space the earth seems just like a marble. A tiny marble in a vast universe where are dangerous missiles shooting by all around. There are asteroids and meteoroids and there are all kinds of dangerous missiles.
So earth is so tiny and so vulnerable, just like a marble, a bluish coloured marble. So what we understood from that point when we go out into space is that universe is so big, so big, so big. Therefore, that also is a clear indication that the universe is far bigger than what we can make categorical statements about.
Somebody saying that there is no spiritual world, that is not a statement that a honest scientist would make. Honest scientist would say that the universe is so vast that we do not know what all is there in it. So scientists themselves have had to propose concepts like black holes and dark matter and dark energy which are imperceivable.
So of course, these do not directly relate in any way to the spiritual world. That is all within the virtual world. But the point is that to dismiss anything as an impossibility is indicative of an arrogance that is not in harmony with the spirit of science.
And no honest scientist would be so dismissive. So we can at least be open-minded. So science itself expanded our conceptions of what all is there in the universe and what all is possible.
So many of the particles which science has discovered now, they would have been considered fantasies 100 years ago. So those which were considered would have been dismissed as fantasies now, scientists take them seriously. Why? Because the progress of scientific research is opening up our minds to show what all possibilities are there.
So by all this reasoning we can understand that the spiritual world is not just a fantasy. It is actually a reality. Not just a reality, it is the supreme reality.
When everything in this world is destroyed, that part stays as it is. So parastasmat, that beyond this material world is the spiritual world. When all in this world is destroyed, that part remains as it is.
So in this way we can infer that actually all these various lines of reasoning, they are concurrent and then they are confirmed, they are reinforced by scriptural revelation. So we can understand that there is an eternal world and that is actually our goal in life. And that abode is where Krishna resides and from there he descends, from there he sends his representatives to invite us back to his abode.
Now when we talk about the spiritual world, Prabhupada explains that this material world is ekapadvibhuti, the spiritual world is tripadvibhuti. So it is three times the material, the spiritual world. Spiritual world is three times the material world.
Now this may raise a question for us. Is the material, is the spiritual world finite or infinite? If the spiritual world is infinite, then how can we quantify it? How can we say that this is, if spiritual world is infinite and it is three times the material world, then is material world also infinite? Because it is one third. So one third of infinity is also infinity.
When we come to this, there is an important principle to understand. Now although there is infinity, there are also levels of infinity. What does levels of infinity mean? For example, if we say that there is a whole set of natural numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, that is infinite.
Now if I take this whole set of, this complete set of odd numbers, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, that is also infinite. Now intuitively I understand that although both are infinite, there is a difference. Now this infinite set of all odd numbers is contained within the infinite set of all natural numbers.
Now if I take the set of all prime numbers, 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, like that 23, so then this is also infinite. But this is contained further within the natural set and smaller than the set of all odd numbers. So in mathematics, we have to understand that when we come to infinity, we cannot really apply our logic.
So there are possibilities. So the point is the spiritual world is infinite and the material world, anantakoti brahmananaya, Lord Vishnu is the creator of innumerable material worlds. This innumerable means that there are so many that they cannot be counted.
So the basic point of this comparison is to emphasise that the spiritual world is far, far greater, far, far grander, far, far more wonderful than the material world and that is that spiritual world which is our ultimate destination. So now in the spiritual world, why is it superior to the material world? It is called as Vaikuntha. Kuntha means anxiety.
Vaikuntha means, Vai means without. So without any anxiety. So it is all without anxiety.
It is all completely perfect. There is eternal happiness over there. So there is eternal existence, eternal happiness over there.
And that is why that is the cherished aspiration of all the wise souls. They all want to go back there. maa-mukpe tukante punar janmana vidyate So those who understand this, they attain that abode and then they never come back.
Once they worship me, they attain that abode and they never come back here. So now when we talk about the spiritual world, are there hierarchies in the spiritual world? Yes. When we say the hierarchy, again we have to be very careful.
The hierarchy concept in the spiritual world has to be understood in terms of rasa, in terms of tattva. The whole spiritual world is eternal. Whole spiritual world is the kingdom of God and everybody in the spiritual world is a liberated soul.
Because everybody in the spiritual world is a liberated soul, therefore everybody there is perfect and everybody there is happy. It is not that if we say Goloka Vrindavan is higher than Vaikuntha or as this verse says that Mathura is higher than Vaikuntha, that does not mean that Vaikuntha’s residents are miserable and they are thinking, oh if you go to Mathura it is so nice. See from the point of tattva, they are all perfect.
What we are talking here is in terms of rasa. You know for Hanumanji, Lord Ram’s worship is the perfection of his life. He wants to serve Lord Ram and does not want to do anything else.
He is not thinking, oh Krishna is higher than Ram so I want to serve Krishna. No. He is completely satisfied.
So for him in terms of rasa, he is completely satisfied in serving Lord Ram and that is how it is for all devotees in the spiritual world. In the Vaikuntha also, devotees are perfect. Now just as there is a hierarchy described by Rupa Goswami here in this verse, the same hierarchy or similar hierarchy is told through a story by Sanatana Goswami through his Brihat Bhagavatamrit and in that Brihat Bhagavatamrit, he describes how this Gopakumar, Gopakumar is a seeker and he is attracted to a blue cowherd, blueish cowherd boy and he goes to various great people in this world and ultimately he meets a spiritual master, gets a mantra and then becomes attracted to Supreme Lord.
When he is attracted to Supreme Lord then by chanting the mantra, by getting purified, he actually goes to the spiritual world. He reaches the spiritual world, he reaches Vaikuntha. So in Vaikuntha, he finds that actually he is happy to see the Lord worshipped in opulence and he feels grateful that he is there.
But after some time over there, he starts feeling restless. He starts feeling restless. He says, you know, I want to, I am not satisfied here.
I want to go to a blue, see a blue cowherd boy and then by the arrangement of Lord, from there also he comes back here to the material world and he comes to Goloka Vrindavan and this Goloka Vrindavan spiritual world, there is, you could call it Bhuloka Vrindavan, what is manifested over here in this world and from here it is Sadhana, Prajapakti and then he goes to the spiritual world again. The point of this is that when he goes to this Vaikuntha and comes back, so he is not satisfied in Vaikuntha but the other Vaikuntha Vasis, they are satisfied and they are worshipping Lord Vishnu and they are satisfied in the worship of Lord Vishnu. They do not think, oh, we want to see somebody else and they actually consider Vishnu to be the supreme.
For them, Lord Vishnu is the be-all and the end-all and that is accepted. Rupa Goswami does not, Sanatana Goswami does not say there is anything wrong with that. He accepts it fully.
Why? Because we have to understand that in the transcendental realm, when it comes to Rasa, one person’s Rasa cannot be imposed on another. So, from the Rasa point of view, for the Vaikuntha Vasis, Vaikuntha is perfection and Lord Vishnu worshipped in majestic form is the perfection of their life. They do not want anything higher.
They are satisfied with that. So, similarly, different devotees can be in different Rasas and they are all satisfied. But in terms of the intimacy and the sweetness of the pastimes, Krishna’s pastimes are more intimate and sweeter than the pastimes of Vishnu.
So, that is in terms of Rasa, if we see it from a point of view of objectivity. Now, Vishnu does not have a father. Krishna has a father and a Vatsala Rasa is very intimate.
So, this way we understand that there is the objective way in which you can understand and this is higher. But when you talk about objective, that does not say that subjective is all wrong. There is room for transcendental subjectivity and in spiritual world there can be many bests.
So, Vaikuntha is also the best. But at the same time, for the devotees who are in Vaikuntha, it is the best. But for those who are seeking after Krishna, then Krishnaloka is the best.
So, we are in the Gaudiya Vishnu Sampradaya and Rupa Goswami is giving us the Gaudiya Vishnu Siddhanta and the Gaudiya Vishnu Siddhanta is not just subjective. There is some objective reasoning also for saying how and why Goloka Vrindavan and as is discussed over here, Radha Kund is the highest. So, we should not impose our rasa on others.
At the same time, we should not just say that everything is same. Everything is perfect, but at the same time, there are levels of perfection. Prabhupada writes in the Purport that Radha Kund may not be considered to be the highest by those who are not in Gaudiya Sampradaya.
That is fine. If they are not in Gaudiya Sampradaya, they may not accept it. But we do not have to ourselves become insecure, why are they not accepting it? Nor do we have to think that they have to accept it, I have to impose it on them.
No, we do not have to do that. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, when he went to South India, when he saw a devotee worshipping Lord Ram so devoutly, a Ram Bhakta, that he was feeling agony thinking that Ram’s consort, the Goddess of Fortune Sita had been touched and abducted by Ravana, he was so bereaved, he was so distressed by that, that he could not do anything. He had invited Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to his house, but he could not cook food also.
So distressed because of that. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu saw that. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not tell him, hey forget Ram, worship Krishna.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu actually appreciated his sentiments. After appreciating his sentiments, he later on found a scripture in which there is a reference to how Lord Ram’s consort Sita was never touched by Ravana. It was only Maya Sita who was taken away.
And he came back and gave that to this devotee. And that devotee became very enlivened by this. So here we see that the Lord was so caring.
The Lord did not try to impose. The Lord was not in a sense trying to just convert everyone to Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Those who were not so devoted to a particular thing, they were just devoted to Supreme Lord.
In some cases, he elevated them to higher rasa. But that is fine. So the point is the Lord allowed people to practise according to their rasa also.
So what that indicates is that we should not use this hierarchy to thrust down things on others. But still we have to cherish what we have been given in the Gaudiya Sampradaya. So now, after understanding these basics, let’s move to the next one, Mathura.
So now what happens in Mathura is, why is Mathura considered higher? Mathura is higher because Krishna appeared over there. And Krishna exists eternally in the spiritual world. But Krishna also appeared earlier in Mathura.
And the Lord appearing in a particular way is so special. And then the spiritual world is there, but the spiritual world is not accessible to us. But Mathura being in the material world is accessible to us.
So that’s how the mercies manifest even more. Vaikuntha is elevated, but we cannot attain Vaikuntha right now. If you want to practise Adhana Bhakti, only when you become Siddha, you can go to Vaikuntha.
But because the Lord has descended over here, so the Lord has manifested Himself. And that’s how it’s so special that it’s accessible. Now there is a verse in the Purana which says that, where Lord Vishnu is telling Naraguni that, So He says that, the Lord is saying over here, that I am not present in the Vaikuntha planets.
I am not present in the heart of the yogis. I am present where the devotees are chanting My glories. So now what does this verse mean? Is the Lord not present in Vaikuntha? If the Lord is not present in Vaikuntha, what are all the souls who are in Vaikuntha going to do? Is the Lord not present in the heart of the yogis who are meditating on Him? He is present in both these places.
But in both these places, He is not accessible to us. We can’t have access to Vaikuntha. We can’t have access to the hearts of the great yogis unless we ourselves become a great yogi.
But we can join the association of devotees where they are glorifying Krishna and there we can relish His glories. So that’s how, therefore the Lord is saying that, I am present there where my devotees are glorifying Me. So similarly Mathura is the spiritual world itself.
It has become accessible to us here in the material world. So now we may wonder what exactly happens when the spiritual world becomes accessible to us in the material world. So what exactly is a dham? How exactly, if I go to Mathura or if I go to Vrindavan, you say there is a spiritual world but then I see over there, there are sewages and there is dirt over there and there are hogs over there who are consuming stool and stool is there over there and it looks quite filled with dirt.
So and nowadays there is so much commercialisation also over there. So then what exactly do we mean when we say it is a spiritual world? So actually to understand this, we have to understand the concept of Adhikar. We have discussed Adhikar earlier with respect to Kanishtha Madhyam Adhikari.
Adhikar means authority or qualification. So the dham can be perceived based on one’s Adhikar. So the universe is like a huge computer, mainframe computer with different levels of access to different users based on their Adhikar.
That means that it is a huge computer, like a big mainframe is there, where there are hundreds of ports and there are users are working on it, monitors connected with it and keyboards connected, users are working on it, one main big machine. So then now all the data is there on that, but not everybody has access to the data. So how it works is there are routine operators, they will just be given the access to just fill in the data and make some modification in the data, that is all, but you cannot do anything further.
Then there will be just like in ordinary computer we have user and administrator. Now, actually speaking, the user does not have access to see certain things, does not have access to change certain things, does not have access to certain parts of the programme. Some computer settings can be made in a such a way that the user does not see some part of the computer only.
That means that part is there, all the data, all the files, all the folders are there, but the user who is our ordinary user, not administrator, they cannot see it only. So this is something which can be set in any ordinary computer and we experience it many times and we are working in organisations. But if there are multiple levels of users with multiple levels of access, so this the owner of the company or the CEO of the company that may have complete access to everything, but those below depending on their position in the hierarchy and their roles may have multiple varying levels of access.
Similarly, the whole of existence is like that. So different people have different levels of access and that level of access depends on their Adhikar. So when we are in material consciousness and in material consciousness we go to the Dham, then because of impure senses, because of impure heart, because of material consciousness, we see things only at a material level.
So just as there is data that is hidden from the user, it is there in the computer, but it isn’t. Similarly, in the Dham, there is spiritual reality which is manifested over there, but it is unmanifested to our vision, unmanifest to our vision. Why? Because we don’t have Adhikar.
We are not given access to that. So there are advanced devotees who have access to it. Because of what? Because of what? They have become purified.
And when we become purified, our spiritual vision awakens, our spiritual perception is activated. We have the capacity for spiritual perception, but not now. When our spiritual perception gets activated, then we can see.
So the Dham is a spiritual place, but we are unable to see the spirituality right now. Then what do we do when we go to Dham? How can we develop that spiritual perception? That is, we have to do these things. What do we do? When we go to the Dham, we integrate scriptural description with sensory perception and pray for spiritual revelation.
So let me explain this. First of all, we have to see with the ears. That means we have to hear.
First, we look at scriptural description, scriptural description, hear from the, read the script, sacred scriptures and understand what the spiritual world is. Then beyond that, we go there with the devotees and hear from them also the scriptural descriptions as they have realised it, as they explain it. And then integrate that scriptural description with sensory perception.
So we go to the same places where Krishna has performed his pastimes. And for example, we go to Govardhan and behold Govardhan with our eyes. We go to Jamuna and bathe in the Jamuna.
So we perceive it with our senses also. Although at our level, we may not perceive it entirely as spiritual, but still the potency is there. So we need to perceive the senses because that way we are engaging the senses in Krishna’s service.
Bhakti means to engage our senses in the service of Krishna. Bhakti Sannasa Thapar would say that when we go to a temple, we are not going to the temple to see the Lord. We are going to the temple to be seen by the Lord.
Now we are His servants and the Lord wants to see His servants. So we go there to be seen, not to see. And when we behold the deities, we are actually simply serving the Lord with our eyes by beholding His beautiful form.
So although we may not perceive the dham right now with our sensory perception, but just by going to the dham, we will become purified. And that’s why the great saints throughout history have talked about the glories of the dham and have hankered to go to the dham again and again and again. They have prayed for it.
You see, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself, the moment He took sannyas, He said, now I have renounced the world in terms of relationships. Now I will renounce the world in terms of location also. I will go away from my home and that which is the ultimate destination where I want to go, Vrindavan, that is manifest here.
So I want to go there. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself shows by His example that we shouldn’t just be satisfied with scriptural description. Scriptural description is no doubt important.
But along with scriptural description, there is sensory perception. We go there and perceive. Actually, there is not so much perception, but it is sensory service and purification.
But service and purification happen through perception. We use our senses over there. And that’s why Sri Prabhupada wanted the vibrant centres of Krishna Consciousness in the dhams.
Sri Prabhupada struggled a lot to get the land in Vrindavan and even more to get the land in Mayapur. So when Prabhupada made Mayapur the world headquarters of ISKCON. Why? Because that’s the holy dham.
The potency of the Lord is over there. And similarly, with respect to Vrindavan, Prabhupada said Vrindavan is my home and he chose to leave his body in Vrindavan. So it’s a very exalted place.
Now when we talk about the spiritual world and we talk about perceiving the spiritual world manifesting in the material world as the dhams. So this scriptural description plus sensory perception, these will lead to spiritual revelation. Spiritual revelation means that by our senses, we cannot see the dham.
But when we become purified, then our spiritual senses awaken. And by Krishna’s mercy and the spiritual senses awaken, Krishna gives us the spiritual revelation by which you can see. So it is described that when the great Gauri Vaishnavas like say Jiva Goswami or Janavath Rani or others, when they would go to Vrindavan, at that time, they would behold.
They would behold the beautiful and sometimes they would hear the beautiful, sweet flute of Krishna. Sometimes they would behold the beautiful form of Krishna. And these were all visions.
When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu got such visions when He was in, even in Puri, what to speak of when He was in Vrindavan. These are revelations which Krishna gives. And these revelations conquer the heart.
And they are the great, great fortune. So we will get this fortune gradually. But right now, when we understand things for the scriptural description, and then we use our body, Rishike in the Rishikesh, in the service of the Lord, and gradually we get spiritual perception, spiritual revelation.
And then we will be able to perceive the dham. So Bhaktivinoda Thakur says in Navadvipa Dhamatmi and other places, the dham is covered by yoga maya. And it’s not perceivable for everyone.
So that covering of yoga maya is removed by the endeavours or purification of the sadhaka combined with the descent of the mercy of Krishna through the devotees. So in this way, we can all perceive the dham. So now, let’s go back to the hierarchy and look at, so when we talk about Mathura, Mathura is manifested in the material world.
Now Mathura, Puri when it says, it’s the large area, the Mathura district. So now, within the Mathura area itself, you could say, within Mathura district as we have geographically, then we have Vrindavan. Vrindavan especially refers to the 12 forests of Vrindavan.
Dwadashya Kanana is the place where Krishna performed pastimes. So Krishna’s appearing itself is glorious. But at the same time, Krishna did not stay for very long in Mathura.
After he was born, immediately he was taken away from Mathura. And even after he came back, he did not stay for a very long time in Mathura because Jarasandh kept attacking. So he stayed for a few years and then he immediately left after that.
So therefore, Vrindavan was the place where Krishna performed most intimate pastimes. Krishna after that went to Dwaraka and stayed in Dwaraka also. But Vrindavan, he performed the most intimate pastimes.
Therefore, higher than Mathura is Vrindavan. Because Vrindavan, the 12 forests are there and very intimate pastimes. All the five rasas are manifested in their full splendour over there in Vrindavan.
And now after that, in Vrindavan also, Vrindavan is a large place. So within the large place of Vrindavan, there is, there are many, many holy places. All of them are extremely sacred.
Here he talks about Govardhan. So Govardhan, what is the speciality of Govardhan? It is that Krishna performed, actually Krishna personally lifted, Krishna attended the Gaus and Prabhupada read that they were meeting pastimes with Radharani over there. So what does it mean? Speciality of Govardhan is that actually, generally speaking in Krishna’s pastimes, there will be one rasa being reciprocated one time.
But in the case of this particular pastime, actually many rasas were reciprocated. In the case of this particular pastime, how many rasas were reciprocated? Because Krishna was with all his devotees at one particular time, at one time only. For those seven days, he was accepting food from Yashodamayi, he was reciprocating Vatsalya rasa, he was juking, joking with Madhumangal and others, Sakhi rasa was there and the Gopis were beholding his beauty, he was beholding the Gopis’ beauty, Madhuri rasa was there and everybody was there.
So Govardhan arranged for this very special occasion when all the devotees could relish the pastimes of Krishna at the same time. It is very special and beyond that, further actually Govardhan served Krishna in the sense that Krishna used Govardhan as an umbrella for protection. So Govardhan renders intimate service and the Gopis who are the greatest devotees, they call Govardhan as Haridasa Varya, he is the greatest among the Haridasas, such an exalted devotee, Haridasa Varya.
And then after that, not only the Gopis exalt Krishna, Gopis exalt Govardhan, but Govardhan is a place where actually not only at that one particular time of course all the rasas were pastime, but Govardhan provides so many facilities for performing pastimes. There are caves where Krishna can perform, take rest from the sun or Krishna can, when the rains are there, Krishna can take rest over there. He can perform pastimes with the Gopis, with the Gopas and the cows can graze over there and beyond that, the rocks of Vrindavan, when Krishna puts his feet on them, they just become soft and tender so that they act like cushion for Krishna.
And there are streams which provide fresh, delicious water and there are so many trees which provide wonderful fruits and there are so many flower bearing trees and shuravas. It’s a splendorously beautiful place. So because it provides so many facilities and it’s for performing Krishna’s pastimes, so it’s considered even higher.
And then on that Govardhan itself, actually or around the Govardhan, at its periphery, Radhakund and Radhakund and Shyamkund, they are like the eyes of Govardhan. So Govardhan if you consider to be a person, then these are the eyes and this is the most special place. So what is the speciality of Radhakund? So it is, it is in the Govardhan area itself, at the foot of Govardhan and it is a place which was personally discovered by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
So and advanced souls have since that time resided there. So now when Krishna comes to this world, he comes and manifests the spiritual world over here. But then after that, when he departs from the world, although the place of the pastimes remains, but Krishna brings Dharma and over a period of time, by the power of, by the passage of time itself, things go down.
So 5000 years ago, Krishna performed wonderful pastimes there. But 500 years ago, when Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Vrindavan, actually couldn’t find Radhakund also. Radhakund had gone lost.
So now in the scriptures, there is description of the killing of Arishtasura and there is a mention of this place where Krishna and Radharani perform intimate pastimes. The speciality of Radhakund is that, actually that water over there is manifestation of the love of Radha and Rani for Krishna. And similarly, Shyamakund is the manifestation of Krishna’s love for Radharani, both ways.
So it is their love manifested in a liquid form. Now the pastime is very exalted. And when Arishtasura was killed by Krishna, Arishtasura had come in the form of a cow.
And when Arishtasura, Krishna killed him, Arishtasura was terrorising all the Rajivasis. Krishna very heroically killed him. And then the Gopis, just for the sake of pastime, they said to Krishna, Krishna, you have killed a cow.
You have become a sinner by this. So when they heard this, Krishna heard this, Krishna said, it was not a cow, it was a demon coming in the form of a cow. He says, by killing a demon, I have protected the Rajivasis.
I did not do anything wrong. He said, no, no, no, no, no. He said, actually, you have, he might have been a demon, but he was in the form of a cow.
You killed a cow. It is very sinful. Go-hatya is so sinful.
How? You will have to atone for it. So Krishna, just to please the Gopis, said, yes. How should I atone for it? He said, you will have to go to all the holy places and bathe in the rivers in the holy places.
Only then you will become purified. It is just a maha-pav that you have committed. So then Krishna said that, he just smiled, and then he summoned all the, in charge of the holy places, all the sacred rivers came over there, and then they manifested Shyamakud.
And Krishna said, I will bathe, Krishna said, all the holy places have come here. There are sacred rivers have come over here, and now I will bathe over here. I will become pure now.
Krishna said that, actually, then he turned, Krishna said to the Gopis, actually, you have committed an offence, because you have sided with a demon. You have become contaminated now. You have to take a bath in a holy place, in holy water to purify yourself.
So then the Gopis started, they started using their bangles to make a trench, and they wanted to make a kund over there, and they thought that we will get water from Jamuna and fill it. So Krishna said, no, why do you have to do all this? Just take the water from my kund. No, no, Krishna said, I will not, we will not take the water from there, because you have bathed, it is filled with the sinful reactions of killing, of a cow killer.
So we will not take that water. So the Gopis started working laboriously over there. But then, when this happened, and Krishna told the deities of all the personified rivers, and they approached Radharani, they said, please, it will be our greatest fortune to be able to serve you.
Please allow us to serve you. And then seeing their humility and their sincere devotion, the desire to serve, they Radharani nodded, and then the water from Shyamakund flowed over to Radhakund. So this whole pastime is a manifestation of the intimate love between Radharani and Krishna.
And it is, Radhakund and Radharani are extremely sacred. But actually, from the point of view of love, Radharani’s love is so great that even Krishna cannot understand it. And that’s why Krishna comes as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to understand the love of Radharani.
So Radharani’s love is considered great, and that’s why although Radhakund and Shyamakund are both exalted, but Radhakund is specially exalted. Because Krishna is the Supreme Lord, Radharani is also God only, but manifested as the devotee. Manifested as the devotee for what purpose? For giving us an opportunity for love and service.
So this is the exalted nature of the love of Srimati Radharani for Krishna. And that love is accessible to us in a liquid form at Radhakund. And Sri Prabhupada himself talks about Radhakund repeatedly in his purports.
And he explains how this is the most sacred place. It was Prabhupada’s dream that when he went to the west and preached, he wanted to get all his disciples back to Vrindavan. And he personally took his disciples in pilgrimage.
And he told them, took them to each of the holy places and told them the pastimes of those places. And told them to pray in those holy places and take those blessings over there. So in this way, this Radhakund is a very special and exalted place.
Now, that which is sacred, that has to be also treated respectfully, treated very carefully, reverentially. That’s why when devotees started talking and taking things very frivolously over there at Radhakund, then Prabhupada was speaking very great. And Prabhupada, when the devotees were just tossing water and fooling around, Prabhupada said, don’t bathe over here.
You’ll commit aparadha over there. It’s such a sacred place. You come here for purification, not for sense gratification.
So then Prabhupada told, don’t bathe. But the point was that, not that Prabhupada wanted to make a permanent ban. Prabhupada wanted to send a strong message about how frivolous attitude was so terribly inappropriate over there.
And we should not have frivolous attitude. And it was Prabhupada’s desire and all the great Acharyas desire that we take shelter of Radhakund. And take shelter of Radhakund not just by bathing.
Bathing is important. But actually the shelter of Radharani is in the mood, the mood of selfless service that is there of Srimati Radharani. That is the mood that we aspire for.
And that is the mood that Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given us access to by His merciful descent. And when we imbibe that mood, and of course, we also go to Radhakund, take darshan, take, hear the glories of Radhakund, take bath, by all this we become purified. Immensely purified.
And that’s why Viveki, who is the discriminating person, who will not reside in Radhakund. As we discussed earlier, for most of us it is not practical to reside in Radhakund. And because if we are in a holy place, we may take it cheaply and commit aparadhas also.
So Prabhupada and our spiritual teachers have told us that we stay in our heart in Radhakund, in Vrindavan. We go to Vrindavan, take darshan, and stay over there in our heart. And essentially staying in Vrindavan and Radhakund is more a matter of mood.
So when we cultivate the mood of selfless service and devotion, then that itself will grant us eventually residence in the spiritual world, residence in Radhakund. Thank you very much.