CC daily 45 – M 4.178-180 – Instruction is an expression of love and an opportunity to love

In a uniquely special way, thank you. So, Puri Ra Prema Parakastha, the love of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the love of Madhavendra Puri, Puri Ra Prema Parakastha, Parakastha is the summit, the pinnacle, the highest level, the highest manifestation, just contemplate it, this love is not of this world, it is otherworldly, it is transcendental, when we contemplate on our consciousness, we see that to be a miracle, generally, we think of miracles as things which are extraordinary, so, often we use, define this extraordinaryness associated with miracles in terms of disrupting the laws of nature, or countering the laws of nature, so for example, when it is said that Jesus cured a blind person, or Krishna lifted the Govardhan Hill, these are considered say miracles, that is true, but miracles can also, chamatkar can be used in a astonishing, in the sense of not just something which violates the insentient laws of nature, but we can also use miracles to refer to that which transform the normal patterns of human behavior, so human beings are sentient, but still, we all have certain patterns of behavior, and our behavior often centers on self-centeredness, that means that quite often, we act in ways that are detrimental for our long-term well-being, in terms of spiritual growth, the normal human tendency is to take shortcuts, and to cut corners to avoid difficulties, and we want maximum spiritual growth with minimum endeavor from our side, but the nature of love is to try to do the best for the beloved, no matter what the price one has to pay, so such love is a love geek, it is very rare, even when people practice bhakti, they often usually do it as business, and even if they don't do it as a business in terms of what will God give me, still, it is rare that someone continues bhakti even amidst adversity after adversity after adversity, so when we see Madhavendra Puri does accept such herculean austerity at that time, even at the threat of life, he was ready to carry Chandan through the through the licha areas, licha governed areas, so that willingness to code danger and embrace trouble for the sake of love, that is a love geek, this is premaparakastha, this is the summit of love, karah vichar, just contemplate it, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying this to Haridas to Nityanand Prabhu, just contemplate it, how extraordinary is this love, karah vichar, so now he further speaks this, so the pastime was summarized and the special incident in which Krishna appeared was summarized, appeared or intervened in his life as described, now he goes further and states, paramavirakta mauni sarvatra udasin, ramyavartabhaya dvitiyasangahin, so Madhavendra Puri's characteristic is described paramavirakta, he was supremely renounced as was manifested in his adoption of the ajigarrupti, and his renunciation was not just in terms of material gratification, but also in terms of material association, mauni, so that's why he was silent, and sarvatra udasin, indifferent from everything worldly, ramyavartabhaya, because he did not want mundane talk, because he was fearful of mundane talk, so dvitiyasangahin, he would travel alone without any association, so during Madhavendra Puri's time, the bhakti resurges that happened in medieval India had not yet gained momentum, and there were not many devotees, many of the spiritualists who were there were impersonalists or they were karmakandis, so if we have devotee association and if we have like-minded devotee association, that's wonderful, but if we don't have association that is spiritually devotionally inspiring, then often it is better to stay alone, and practice our bhakti, so because he wanted to avoid mundane discussions, ramyavartabhaya, because he wanted to avoid worldly discussions, so dvitiyasangahin, he would travel alone, henajan gopalera agyamrutabhaya sahasrakroksha shibule chandanamagiya henajan, to such a person who was so utterly renounced, gopalera agyamrutabhaya, so such a person received the agyamrut of Gopal, so a beautiful word is used, instruction is a benediction, often we think of instruction as an irritation, I want to do something but I am instructed to do something else, instruction is an irritation, but actually instruction is a benediction, why? because instruction is an expression of love and an opportunity to serve, it's not that people go around instructing anyone and everyone, especially when it comes to personal specific instructions, they are given to those whom we love, the mother and father will instruct their own child, if some other child misbehaves, they may care and they may occasionally instruct, but the love for their own child is very special, and there are so many orphans who may misbehave and nobody corrects them and that's how they eventually become criminals, end up as delinquents and criminals, but if a child with loving parents misbehaves, the parents instruct because they care, so instruction is an expression of love, so in that sense instruction is a benediction, and then it is also an expression of love and it is an opportunity to love, so how is it? Instruction is an… if we want to express our love for Krishna, how do we do that? If we love someone or if we want to love someone, then we want to do something for that person's pleasure, and if that person… now we may also try to think, maybe this will please that person, this will please that person, but instead if that person directly tells us, this is what you should do, then it becomes very clear and easy for us, so instruction is also an opportunity to serve, and it is an opportunity to express our love, and that's why the word is used over here, agyamrta, instruction is nectar, because the ultimate nectar is the nectar of Krishna Prem, and instruction grants us entry into the world of Krishna Prem, because through the instruction Krishna is expressing his love, and by following the instruction we can express our love, we can not only express but we can develop and deepen our love, so now how did Madhavendra Puri express his love? sahasra krosha asi bule chandana magiya sahasra krosha asi so what did he do? sahasra is thousand, krosha is actually a distance of two miles, so he travelled for almost thousands of miles, just to get chandan for Gopal, chandana magiya, so that instruction gave Madhavendra Puri an extraordinary opportunity to enter into to express his love for Krishna in a very extraordinary, historic, unforgettable, memorable way, and thus through that instruction, and through Madhavendra Puri's determined reciprocation, the world of selfless love, prema parakashta as was mentioned in the previous verse, became open to us, became accessible to us, and became available as a source of enduring inspiration, such is the world of selfless heroic love, and we too can enter into it by becoming determined in our practices of bhakti.