From love universal to bhakti confidential – Gaudiya Vaishnavism glories 5 – Radha and Krishna are one soul in two bodies
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Hare Krishna. I am grateful to be here and I seek the blessings of all the senior Vaishnavas so that I can try to speak something about the exalted subject of Srimati Radharani on her auspicious appearance day.
The Gopis are speaking, this particular Gopi, he must have worshipped in a very special way, the Lord, and that is why he has left us and taken her alone with him. This verse comes in the Ras Panchadhyay of the Srimad Bhagavatam. The Srimad Bhagavatam has 900 chapters, 335 chapters, out of which 90 chapters are in the 10th Canto.
And among those, chapters 29 to 33 are considered the Ras Panchadhyay. Panch is 5, Adhyay is chapters. So, Panchadhyay refers to the 5 chapters and Ras refers to the 5 chapters which describe the Ras Neela.
And the broad division of the 5 chapters is that in the 29th chapter, Krishna plays his flute and calls the Gopis to come to him. And in the 30th chapter, after they have some initial discussions, Krishna disappears from the Gopis. First he takes one Gopi with him.
First the Gopis think that Krishna has disappeared entirely from all of us. But then as they are tracing Krishna's footprints, they see that Krishna has gone with one Gopi. And at that point, they are speaking this verse.
And eventually, Krishna leaves that Gopi also. And then all the Gopis, they go as deep into the forest as possible to try to find Krishna. But when they are not able to find, in such thick forest that even they can't see their hand in front of themselves because of the darkness, then they again come back.
And they come back to the banks of the Yamuna and there they start reciting prayers, begging Krishna to reappear. And those prayers are the famous Gopi Gita, which is given in the 31st chapter. And in the 32nd chapter, by the end of these fervent prayers, Krishna appears once again.
And then the Gopis and Krishna have a discussion. The Gopis are somewhat angry with Krishna. How could you leave us like this and go away? They had left everything and come to you.
And at the same time, they are somewhat angry, but at the same time, they are also apprehensive. If they get too angry with Krishna, Krishna may go away again. So they are partially expressing their anger and partially not expressing.
There is some very indirect language they use. I'll come to that a little later. But then, after that discussion, Krishna satisfies them.
And in the 33rd chapter, the Gopis perform Prasannidha with Krishna. They all dance and they perform this celebrated pastime. Now, it is in this section of the Bhagavatam that the identity of Radharani is revealed indirectly.
that the identity of Radharani is revealed indirectly. Actually, Prabhupada mentions in the purport that the name is derived from Anaya Radhita. the name is derived from Anaya Radhita.
So, one who worshipped and one who worshipped in the best possible way. Now, of course, in the Brahma Purana, the Brahma Vyavarta Purana, the Padma Purana, several other Puranas, Radharani's name is mentioned, her pastimes are also described. But, actually, in the Bhagavatam, there is not much mentioned.
But, actually, in the Bhagavatam, there is not much mentioned. And the reason for that, as given by our Acharyas, is that Shukadeva Swami, although he is in deep ecstasy remembering Krishna's pastimes, still, his ecstasy is subordinated to his mood of service. still, his ecstasy is subordinated to his mood of service.
He knows that he is there speaking the Bhagavatam to serve Parikshit Maharaj, to help Parikshit Maharaj remember Krishna. to help Parikshit Maharaj remember Krishna. And he himself, Shukadeva Swami, it is described by Acharyas, that he is actually the parrot of Simiti Radharani in the spiritual world.
Very intimate associate of Radharani. And thus, if he starts directly speaking about her, he will go into such a deep ecstasy that he will just lose all external consciousness. that he will just lose all external consciousness.
He may even swoon in ecstasy. And how long he will be in internal consciousness, that is unpredictable. And therefore, he feels that he is there to serve Parikshit Maharaj, he has to speak about Krishna.
to serve Parikshit Maharaj, he has to speak about Krishna. But if he himself loses himself in ecstasy, he will not be able to speak about Krishna. So therefore, he does not directly mention Radharani's name.
And thus, the mention of Radharani's name and the explicit description of Radharani's pastimes would have put him into such extraordinary ecstasy that he would no longer be able to do his service. So therefore, to serve Parikshit Maharaj, Shri Uday Goswami mentions indirectly. And Shri Prabhupada also, we see that he was very cautious in talking about Srimati Radharani.
In fact, in the whole Bhagavad Gita, nowadays with the Mid-Gita available online, in digital forms, you can search. Now, how many times did Shri Prabhupada refer to Radharani? Actually, in the whole Bhagavad Gita, Prabhupada refers to Radharani only once. And where is that? In the introduction when he is offering the prayer.
Tapta Kanchena Gaurangi Radhe Vrindavaneshwari Vishibhanusate Devi Pranamami Haripriye That is the only place in the whole Bhagavad Gita that Shri Prabhupada refers to Radharani. He is very cautious. I have a friend in the Sri Vaishno tradition.
He says, you know, you ISKCON people have got it all wrong. He says, what do you mean? So, he said that when you refer to Radha, you have a double honorific for her. You have Shrimati also before and you have Rani after that.
So, Shrimati Radharani. But when you refer to Krishna, you don't use any honorific at all. There is no Shri Krishna, no Bhagwan Krishna.
How is this? Krishna is God. So, I explained to him that actually, even for Krishna, Prabhupada was very reverential. In fact, he had his own coinage.
He used the word Supreme Personality of Godhead. Which is a very distinctive coinage to convey the supreme position of Krishna. At the same time, Prabhupada wanted us to develop a personal relationship with Krishna.
And these devotees who were with Prabhupada, they often felt Krishna was like a living, loving presence with them. When Prabhupada was there, one of Prabhupada's disciples, when they told him to start back to Godhead magazine, they said, Prabhupada, we have never done anything except read a magazine. We don't know how to run a magazine.
Prabhupada said, don't worry. You pray to Krishna, Krishna will help you. So, it's almost as if Krishna is a person who is readily available.
We just pray to him, he will guide us. So, for Prabhupada, Krishna was a very real presence. And he wanted us to also connect with Krishna.
So, in that sense, Prabhupada does talk about Krishna's greatness, Krishna's position. But the personal reference to Krishna is meant to emphasise a personal relationship with him. At the same time, because the position of Radharani is very exalted, and more than exalted, it is easily misunderstandable.
And not just easily misunderstandable, it has also been widely misunderstood. Because of which, Prabhupada was especially cautious. It has been widely misunderstood, not just in the broad understanding of Indian literature, of Vedic literature, but specifically in our own Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition also, it has been misunderstood.
It has been misrepresented. That's why Prabhupada, following in the footsteps of his spiritual master, Shri Bhakta Sudhanshu Thakur, was very cautious in talking about Radharani. And Bhakta Sudhanshu Thakur would quote the Biblical saying, fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
He said that if we trespass into the exalted pastimes of Srimati Radharani with Krishna, that will be inappropriate. It can actually harm our devotion. So I will talk about this, about Radharani from a philosophical, historical and application of personal perspective today in the morning.
In the evening, I will talk about some pastimes of Srimati Radharani also. So in the previous, we have been having 3-4 sessions on Gaudiya Vaishnavism, where we talked about how the concept of God in both His greatness and His sweetness is revealed in a very vivid way in the Gaudiya Vaishnav tradition. Now having said that, actually there is a fundamental understanding about God which is vital if we are to not misunderstand it.
And that is that God is not just another being in a hierarchy of beings. I mentioned this briefly earlier. Sometimes we may say, say in a tennis tournament now, so there may be number 10 player, number 9 player, number 8 player, number 1 player.
So there is a hierarchy and then the number 1 player is at the top of the hierarchy. Now tomorrow, if the second player, second ranked player starts playing better, then he may become the number 1 player. Sometimes we may conceive that there is a hierarchy of beings and God is at the top of the hierarchy.
Now this understanding is sometimes given, but there is only one understanding. Now God is not just the best of all beings, He is the basis of all beings. Nothing can exist without Him.
So it is not that there are 100 different beings and God is a separate being. All the 100 beings, they exist because of God. Krishna says, nothing can exist without Him.
And that means all living beings are ultimately dependent on Krishna for their existence. In fact, not only are they dependent on Krishna, the understanding is all living beings are expanded from Krishna. So we could approach the understanding of God and how all living beings relate with Him from our perspective.
This devotee has this relationship with Krishna, this devotee has this relationship with Krishna. Some devotees are in Shantaras, some are in Dascharas, some in Sakya, some in Vatsalya and some in Madhuriya. So this is from the devotee's perspective we can see what is the mellow in which, what is the relationship's flavour in which they are approaching Krishna.
From another perspective when we see, from Krishna's perspective, actually everybody who exists is expanded from Him. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, everything emanates from Him. All of existence is sustained by Him.
And this is especially important to understand when we come to the concept of Madhuryas. Madhuryas is where Krishna reciprocates in a loving mood with His devotees. Which mood? There is the mood of Madhurya, that is conjugal affection.
Actually the relationship of the gopis with Krishna is of we could say romantic attraction. It's the male-female attraction. And that attraction is the most powerful force in this world.
And it often, this attraction often spins out of control and people often end up doing many immoral and devious things in trying to fulfil their mutual attraction to each other. But in the case of Krishna with the gopis, the first thing to understand, Chaitanya Chirata Amutha explains is Radha-Krishna-Eka-Atma-Dvideha-Dhari That Radha and Krishna are actually one person. Dvideha-Dhari.
They are manifested in two bodies. So when a man and a woman have a relationship with each other, they may metaphorically say, we two are one. If two people love each other, they may say, we two are one.
But they are not one, they are two distinct persons. But with respect to Radha and Krishna, actually it's one person who is manifested as two. For anyo-nyo-na-vilase, for what purpose? For the purpose of reciprocating love.
For the purpose of performing pastimes. And this understanding, for the purpose of performing pastimes, the absolute truth expands in various ways. This is very important.
In the European tradition, there was, the Greek tradition, Aristotle had the idea of God as the unmoved mover. He says that God is the, or God or whatever we call the source of everything, is the mover, is the first agent who moves everyone. But then he says that if God is perfect, then he should not, he should not have any change in him.
He is the unmoved mover, because whenever any motion happens, any change happens, that is because there is something incomplete or uncomfortable about the previous situation. Or there is something desired in some other situation because of which we act. So if God is perfect, then why should he act at all? So the idea was, God is like a frozen perfection.
It's like somebody is making a painting. Now those who are painters, they know that actually when a painting is being made initially, each dab that we put with the painting, it adds to the beauty. And at a particular point, the painting becomes the best it can be.
And after that, if you put even one more brush of the paint, paintbrush applied, actually the beauty goes down. So before that, the beauty is not that great. After that, the beauty is not that great.
At that particular point, the beauty is the highest. And you shouldn't touch it at that point. That's the idea in painting.
So the idea of God became like a frozen perfection. God is a perfect state and if he does anything, then that means his perfection will be impeded. Because if God were truly perfect, why would he want to do anything at all? Because he is perfect.
Normally, whenever we act, there are two purposes why we act. यस्मात्प्रियाप्रियवियोगस्यन्योगजन्न In Prahlad Maharaj's prayers, he says that sometimes there is something which is apriya for us, something which we don't like and we want to get rid of that. That's why we act.
Or sometimes there is something priya, something dear which we don't have. And because of that we act. So now if God is perfect, then there can be nothing desirable which he wants or there can be nothing undesirable which he wants to avoid.
So why would he act at all? Now this idea of God as a frozen perfection may sound conceptually very pleasing. Oh God is perfect. But it's personally not at all attractive.
Why should God have any attraction at all? Now the same question is deliberated in the Vedanta Sutra by various acharyas. And the Vedic scriptures also say that नविद्यते सच्च जन्म कर्मवा that the absolute truth does not do any karma. The absolute truth does not do any action.
Now Ramacharya in his commentary on the Vedanta Sutra says that actually when the absolute truth acts, now we see that the absolute truth performs many pastimes. So why does the Lord perform pastimes if he is perfect? So Ramacharya says that actually it is not karma, it is greed. It is not action or work, it is simply play.
It's like a person may be having a job in his office and they go to their office and come back and after that they just want to play. They may play some golf or some tennis. There is no purpose of getting any result by it.
Just playing for enjoyment. So in that sense he says it is not karma. Now Baldevidya Bhushan in his commentary takes this point further and he says actually even when we play, the play is for pleasure.
We want relaxation, we want a break, we want enjoyment. So he says the absolute truth's activity is not like a play. It is like a dance.
Now say somebody is very happy and in happiness they start dancing. When we play, we play to enjoy, play to become happy. But when we dance, we dance because we are already happy and that happiness that is within is expressed through dancing.
So like that he says the Leela, the activities that the Lord performs is simply an expression of his exuberant ecstasy. So when the Lord expands, when the Lord does any activity and one activity is he expands. When he expands, it is simply to express his exuberant ecstasy.
He does not need anything from anyone. He is complete in himself. Sometimes when we go to someone, somebody may be hungry and they may go to someone else because they feel incomplete, I need food.
There may be somebody else who has eaten a lot of food and they have got extra food with them. Then they go to someone to share that food. It is not they are going, it is not because of to remove their incompleteness.
It is to share their completeness. Normally whenever we form relationships in the world, we have some sense of incompleteness. Now I am alone, I want a partner, I want a friend.
So we form relationships out of a sense of incompleteness which we want to end. But with respect to Krishna, when he forms relationships, it is simply to share his completeness. And the agency with which he reciprocates love the most, that agency is Srimati Radharani.
So Radharani is the Ladini Shakti of Krishna. Ladini Shakti is the pleasure-giving potency. And this means that Ladini karai Krishna Ananda aswadana Ladini dwara Krishna kare, bhaktera poshana So it is described that this Ladini Shakti which manifests Srimati Radharani, she performs two functions.
One is Ladini karai Krishna Ananda aswadana Ladini Shakti gives pleasure to Krishna. And second is Ladini dwara Krishna kare Bhaktera poshana Ladini nourishes the hearts of the devotees. So how does this work? So first of all before we look at Radharani as a feminine personality, we have to understand her philosophical position.
She is Krishna himself who has manifested as the energy that gives him pleasure. So Krishna is complete in himself. And when Krishna desires to share his completeness he desires to express his ecstasy at that time he manifests as another person.
And that another person who manifests is Radharani. So Radha and Krishna in the sense are Radha Krishna ek atma dvide dhari One soul who manifests in two forms and they reciprocate love. So with this understanding what is further implied Krishna does not need anything external for his pleasure.
And Radharani is not someone external to him. She is actually Krishna himself who is manifested in another form. But not only she manifests in another not only Krishna manifests in another form she is also having her own mood and her own service her own mood, her own role.
And in that way when she functions she functions as a different person. She functions with her own free will. Now that free will is entirely for the pleasure of Krishna.
But sometimes she pleases Krishna by doing what Krishna wants her to do and sometimes she pleases Krishna by acting in a different way. That also enhances the sweetness of the love. So when Radharani she performs various pastimes by the way she acts, everything that she does actually it enhances Krishna's pleasure.
In the Radhika Ashtakam which is a set of 8 verses composed by Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami to glorify Shirdi Radharani So it is said over there So all the verses in the Radhika Ashtakam come they end with this chorus Oh Radharani please give me the service of your lotus feet. And with this verse it describes the glory of Shirdi Radharani. So it is describing the beauty of her complexion that gold is very attractive and kumkum is also very attractive golden colour and all of their beauty that is there it is all put to shame by the beauty of Radharani's complexion Lotus flowers are very beautiful but actually Radharani's delicate beauty is so great that the lotus is put to shame in front of it.
Ballaveshi Sunu. Ballaveshi is Nanda Maharaj Sunu is the son of Nanda Maharaj that is Krishna Whatever is the desire that Krishna has Sadhika. So Radhika is the Sadhika Radhika is Radharani.
It is one of her names Sadhana is the means The feminine in poetic form of Sadhana is Sadhika She is the means by which all of Krishna's desires are fulfilled So in this way actually it is Shirdi Radharani who is Krishna manifesting to give pleasure to Krishna It is Krishna manifesting to give pleasure to Krishna and she has one more very important function It is said that Ladini gives pleasure to Krishna and Ladini nourishes the hearts of the devotees Ladini nourishes the hearts of the devotees What this means is that whenever we practise Bhakti whenever we try to serve Krishna whenever we try to love Krishna at that time whenever we experience any higher taste, whenever we experience any joy, whenever we experience the sweetness of Krishna that is actually the result of the mercy of Shri Mati Radharani So Ladini Shakti manifests in our heart and when she manifests in our heart then we experience ecstasy Krishna is spiritual, Krishna is transcendental Krishna is infinite We are in material consciousness We are finite, we are caught in this world How possibly can our service reach Krishna? So when we try to serve Krishna when we try to chant his holy names when we try to speak his glories based on the sincerity of our effort actually it is Radharani who becomes pleased and then that Radharani acts as the connection between us and Krishna So when we offer bhoga to the deities actually the mood is that we offer to a spiritual master Spiritual master offers his parampara and then it goes to Radharani and Radharani offers it to Krishna and when Radharani offers it to Krishna, Krishna cannot refuse Krishna delightfully accepts it and then he gives his mercy So Radharani ultimately is the connecting link between us and Krishna Of course for the functional purposes in this world the Guru is the connecting link In the spiritual world, in the inner affairs In the spiritual world, Radharani is the connecting link Even the spiritual master, his service to Krishna goes to Radharani So in that sense, whenever So it is Radharani's service that pleases Krishna And whenever we do any service when that service reaches Radharani and Radharani offers it to Krishna it is then that that service pleases Krishna and when that service pleases Krishna then our heart becomes permeated with ecstasy We start getting some glimpse of spiritual taste So this Radharani is in that sense vital for our spiritual advancement It is by her mercy that we get the taste by which we can give up the lower tastes of this world So Radharani is Krishna manifested in a separate form for the purpose of serving Krishna And in that mood Her mood is a mood of complete selflessness She will do whatever it takes to please Krishna And in this particular pastime this is illustrated in the Rasa Leela where Krishna plays the flute and calls the gopis When he calls the gopis the gopis leave everything and just come And among all those gopis the gopi with the strongest desire who comes to Krishna is Radharani Now it is generally understood that in the pursuit of God the bad has to be given up If we have some sinful tendencies If we have some bad habits Those negativities have to be given up That is vital But actually for the sake of God not only has the bad to be given up but even the good has to be given up God alone is the object of our devotion beyond the bad and beyond the good That does not mean that the good has to be rejected Or not that the good is treated at the same level as the bad But rather, for the sake of God everything has to be given up And this is said in the concluding verse of the Bhagavad Gita Sarva Dharmaan Paritejya Maamey Kam Sharanam Vraja So I was invited to speak on the Gita Jain Theatre Programme organised by a Hindu group And they were reciting the Bhagavad Gita's important verses And when they came to this 18.66 They recited it Sarva Dharmaan Paritejya Maamey Kam Sharanam Vraja So I said Sarva Dharmaan Paritejya Give up all Adharma and surrender to me Now Krishna and Bhagavad Gita doesn't say Sarva Dharmaan Paritejya Krishna says Sarva Dharmaan Paritejya Give up all Dharma and surrender to me So then I asked them Why did you change this Dharma to Adharmaan? So they said, actually Krishna has said that he has come to establish Dharma Dharma samsthaapanarthaya sambhavami yogenge If Krishna has come to establish Dharma then how can he tell anyone to give up Dharma? So they quoted some scholar He said that actually when the Bhagavad Gita was written down over many generations Somebody forgot to write a A So they said there was a Adharmaan was there but somebody forgot to write a A So now we are putting that A back Now, actually this is a complete misunderstanding Because Arjuna, if you see I will look at it from the context and then we will look from the philosophy Philosophy is what will apply to Radharani's example also That actually for Arjuna He is already a virtuous person There is no question of Adharma for him Arjuna at the start of the Gita was actually conflicted between two Dharmas His Kula Dharma and his Kshatriya Dharma His Kula Dharma was his dynastic duty And as per the Kula Dharma he was meant to protect his family members If our family members, if our relatives are in trouble we are meant to help them So Kula Dharma required him to take care of his relatives But Kshatriya Dharma Kshatriya is a martial guardian of society He was required to punish those who were disrupting Dharma So now what if one's own relatives are the disruptors of Dharma So his Kula Dharma and his Kshatriya Dharma were pulling him into different directions And that's why Arjuna did not know what to do And so for Arjuna whether to do Dharma or Adharma was not the question For Arjuna the question was which Dharma to do And Krishna tells Arjuna that you don't get caught in the technicalities of Dharma Understand that the ultimate purpose of all Dharma is Maam ekam sharanam vraja Surrender to me And for that Dharma, for doing that Dharma whatever activity you have to do, you do that So Krishna is telling Arjuna, yes Kshatriya Dharma is also laudable, Kula Dharma is also laudable But the most laudable principle is Maam ekam sharanam vraja Just surrender to me Whatever way you can surrender to me, you should do that So in Arjuna's context it was Kshatriya Dharma He fought and that's how he surrendered to Krishna But the point of the verse is that for the sake of surrendering to Krishna even the Guru can make you give up So now when Krishna played his flute and he called the Gopis For the Gopis and for Adharani to go at that time when Krishna is calling Now this could be seen as Adharmic For a woman at night to go all alone to meet some man with whom she is not married That could be seen as Adharmic And especially in a conservative society For a woman, her reputation is very important Her chastity is very important If a woman is considered as unchaste then it becomes like a big stigma on her The Gopis, they were never unchaste because they were eternally in Krishna's association So Adharani is Krishna himself But when Krishna called the Gopis, called Adharani At that time, Adharani left everything No matter what the world thinks, it doesn't matter So later in the Gopi Geetha, the Gopis pray that oh Krishna, we left everyone for your sake Our family members were telling us don't go But still we left it all and came to you And he says how is it that we left everything and came to you and now you are leaving us and going away How is it Krishna that you are leaving us and going away now Please come back, that is the mood over there So actually when the Gopis leave everything and come to Krishna At that time, they are demonstrating the principle of They are ready to give up everything for Krishna's sake They are ready to give up everything for Krishna's sake Of course, Shukadeva Goswami describes that the devotees are ready to give up everything for Krishna's sake But Krishna protects his devotees So eventually when the Gopis after the Rastila come back At that time, their family members Krishna has arranged that there is there is another form of the Gopis there with them So that the family members think that the Gopis did not go out at all They thought that we are wanting to go out, we stopped them and they didn't go. So Krishna arranges through Yoga Maya to protect the reputation of the Gopis But the point is they are ready to give it all up for Krishna And then as the Gopis come out and they meet Krishna So here I am talking about the theme of how Radharani demonstrates complete selflessness in her love for Krishna So her selflessness is that she is ready to even sacrifice her reputation Her reputation of chastity she is ready to sacrifice for Krishna's sake And then the Gopis and Krishna talk with each other Krishna plays with the Gopis. Krishna says, Oh Gopis, you are a young woman You should not come out like this at night And then Krishna says So then Krishna says, Oh probably you had a desire to see the beauty of the forest at night So now you have seen the beauty of the forest, now you can go back And the Gopis start scratching the ground with their feet That is the way they describe the restlessness.
Why is Krishna speaking like this with us? He is speaking so formally with us Krishna, you know why we have come here. You have called us. That is why we have come So finally when Krishna sees the intense desire of the Gopis Then Krishna and the Gopis start performing Rasa They start dancing together And at that time as they are dancing together What happens thereafter is understood at multiple levels And to understand the significance of this verse We will look at the various levels So as the Gopis are dancing with Krishna It is said at one level that the Gopis start becoming proud And when the Gopis become proud Then Krishna leaves them and goes away And he takes Radharani with him And then it is said that Radharani becomes proud And when Radharani becomes proud, Krishna leaves Radharani and goes away And in this way it is said that Actually where there is pride, Krishna is not there Even the topmost devotees, if they become proud Then Krishna will not be there But here, in this section, in the Ramanandrayana, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Samvat It is described that Krishna leaves The Gopis not so much because they become proud Krishna leaves the Gopis Because he wants to demonstrate to the world The speciality of the love of Srimati Radharani That yes, all the Gopis love Krishna greatly But Radharani's love stands distinctively apart And to demonstrate the speciality of that love Krishna takes Radharani alone away And that's why in this verse The Gopis are recognising that Krishna has gone with one Gopi But they are not thinking that Krishna is partial They are thinking That this Gopi This Gopi must have pleased Krishna in a special way This Gopi must have worshipped Krishna Much more than us That's why Krishna has taken her So the Gopis Are not ascribing partiality to Krishna Sometimes this question is raised Is God partial or is he impartial? Especially in the 7th canto of the Bhagavatam Parishad Mahay asked this question That when Krishna kills the demons And he delivers the devatas, is he partial or is he impartial? The answer is quite philosophical But if you put it in a succinct way Krishna is impartially partial Krishna is impartially partial What does that mean? Krishna is no doubt partial to his devotees But he keeps the door of devotion open for everyone He says that I am partial to my devotees But then he allows everyone to become his devotees So in that sense He is impartial In allowing everyone to become his devotee And he is partial in favouring his devotees So Krishna is impartially partial What this means is That sometimes we think of Impartiality as equivalent to neutrality Or a stone like neutrality Say if we approach someone And somebody goes and criticises that person And that person's stone like stoicness is there And again stone like stoicness is there Now we may appreciate the stoicness of that person But how much of a personal relationship Can we develop with that person If they don't exhibit any emotion at all If they are stone like In all ups and downs Then how would we ever develop a relationship with them Relationship involves reciprocity So Krishna is not just A neutral principle Krishna is a living loving person So his impartiality is Not a stone like neutrality His impartiality Is actually reciprocity Reciprocity means The more somebody serves Krishna The more Krishna reciprocates with that person And this is not partiality Because the devotee has served Krishna more Krishna reveals himself more One time Prabhupada was asked Do you love all your disciples equally And Prabhupada said yes And then he added But if someone comes forward to render service I reciprocate Like a parent They love all their children equally But if as children grow up They start taking up responsibilities in the family's business Actually the parents feel more connected with their children So like that Krishna is reciprocal He reciprocates And here the Gopis are recognising That Radharani must have loved Krishna the most And that is why Krishna has left with her So they are Rather than becoming jealous Why has Krishna gone with this Gopi alone They are appreciating both Krishna and Radharani They are appreciating that Radharani must have done some special service She must have specially worshipped And that is why Krishna has gone with her And they are appreciating Krishna also Krishna is reciprocal Krishna is not partial in the sense of being nepotistic Or just arbitrary If somebody renders more service to Krishna Krishna reciprocates Now in the Anand Vrindavan Champu Which is a book written by Kavi Karnapur Which especially describes the pastimes of Krishna in Vrindavan This same pastime is further elaborated And it is said that From here the Gopis are speaking This Gopi must have worshipped Krishna very specially So although they are at one level Feeling bereaved that Krishna is not with us At another level they are appreciating This Gopi must be very special So in the Anand Vrindavan Champu Actually Krishna's and Radharani's feelings are described So initially when Radharani sees That Krishna has gone with me alone That Krishna has left everyone and come with me Radharani is overwhelmed with joy Oh Krishna loves me so much Actually Love can be one way But loving relationship has to be two way We can love someone But there won't be much of a relationship if that person doesn't love us back And so therefore if we love someone there is some happiness in that We find that person attractive We want to do something for that person But when we see that person is reciprocating with us Then the ecstasy becomes much more The joy becomes much more So similarly here when Radharani sees That Krishna loves me so much That Krishna has left everyone else for my sake Her heart's joy knows no bounds But as she is feeling such joy Suddenly A natural selflessness also comes up And she starts thinking What will be the condition of Lalita What will be the condition of Visakha What will be the condition of Tamga Vidya How shattered, how devastated they will be In separation from Krishna And if they are feeling such agony How can I feel ecstasy I am happy to be with Krishna But I don't want my happiness To be at the cost of their misery She starts thinking what to do Krishna has come with me alone And Krishna is taking her deep into the forest So at that time she starts thinking And she starts telling We are going so quickly into the forest She knows that the Gopis They will not sit peacefully if Krishna has gone away They will be frantically searching Where is Krishna And they will come looking for us And she also knows that they will look for our footprints They will find us So what she says is she tries to slow Krishna down And she says Krishna I want this flower Krishna I want this fruit Krishna can you get this tree, can you get this branch And in that way Krishna panders to her requests And there is a flower that is way up So Krishna lifts her up And Krishna lifts her up, what is the other eye thinking Not just that Krishna is lifting me up She is thinking that if Krishna has to lift me up Then what is going to happen The foot mark is going to go deeper into the ground And then the other Gopis will be able to find me So she is thinking She is reciprocating with Krishna But she is also thinking of the other Gopis And finally she thinks that We are going too fast inside, we are going too far inside So we should stop And in order to stop she tells Krishna And then I cannot walk anymore So now her purpose in saying this is She wants Krishna to stop over there She wants to stop Krishna over there and then the other Gopis will catch up But Krishna exhibits a Viparitva Krishna apparently gets angry And he says Oh Queen Because this is a forest So I cannot get a palanquin to carry you Therefore you can get on my back And I will carry you on my back And as Krishna speaks this Sometimes when we speak, we are speaking something But our tone speaks more than our words If somebody says I love you I will say I love you But there is so much anger, there is no affection over there So like that Krishna is telling Radharani Because there is no palanquin over there I will carry you on my back But the tone with which Krishna speaks, this is not of affection This is of annoyance or anger Radharani turns around, she is surprised to see Krishna And she looks around, she says Krishna has disappeared Krishna has disappeared And she says Krishna has disappeared She becomes shattered Now she realises that Krishna got angry with her And being angry with her, Krishna has left her So she is frantically begging Krishna Please come back Please come back And in the Kavikaranapur, it is actually described That Radharani, she goes so mad In her separation from Krishna The word that Chaitra Chaitra Dama uses is Premonmad, mad is madness Prem is love, so premonmad is the madness out of love So because of which what happens She knows that Krishna is not there But she feels as if Krishna is somewhere here, he is hearing And she has, like imagine the conversation with Krishna She says Krishna please come back, I am all alone How can I be without you So Krishna says, all the other gopis are also alone They are just as they are able to live alone You can also live alone Radharani says that no, but you know they are not alone They are at least with each other, I am completely alone Krishna please come back So Krishna says that yeah but they will soon find you They will come back, you will be with them Krishna says no Krishna I cannot live without you Please don't leave me and go away So Krishna says those who become proud, I don't stay with them Radharani says no I was not proud I love you, I love the gopis also, I wanted them to be with you That's why I did this Krishna still is angry, Krishna says I wanted to be with you alone, why did you not cooperate with me I don't like such So Krishna says That's why I left you Radharani says Krishna but I felt the gopis would be in such great agony That's why I did this And Krishna does not reply And then when that happens Radharani actually fades And Kavi Karanapur describes That actually Nidra is sleep Mulcha is unconsciousness And he says that actually The goddess of unconsciousness Comes to save Radharani From the unbearable pain of separation from Krishna That pain was so great That she would have died She would have just died And in order to prevent that death The goddess of unconsciousness comes and she makes her unconscious See normally The human body, of course now all this is transcendental Radharani's body is transcendental, there is no question of death But this is the leela going on And in the leela whatever is required for enhancing the emotion That is described, that happens over there So although in the spiritual world there is no disease Krishna may sometimes get a headache That is simply leela So like that, here it is described that Normally the human body has a finite capacity to tolerate pain And if the pain becomes too unbearable Then the body just, as a defence mechanism It switches off to unconsciousness Like in movies sometimes we may see That somebody gets a news that a loved one has passed away And then they just fall unconscious Why? Because that pain is so unbearable That either it can be physical pain or it can be emotional pain So a defence mechanism of the body When there is unbearable pain is fainting So like that When Radharani finds the pain of separation from Krishna Unbearable, she faints And then at that time The gopis are searching for Krishna and Radharani And the gopis were searching Oh Krishna came here, Krishna went there, Krishna went there And then they finally come and they see Radharani sprawled on the ground Her head dishevelled, her hands are stretched out You are standing at one moment calling out to Krishna, please come And then without even being aware Just she faints And the gopis look around, they call out to Radharani One of the gopis runs near the pond and gets some water And they get her back to consciousness And then all the gopis, they ask Radharani what happened Radharani says that actually Krishna Has left me and gone away Radharani tells the whole story So the gopis initially They felt this gopi was very special That Krishna has left all of us to go with her But then when she sees, they see that this gopi has also been left by Krishna So then immediately there is empathy And they all try to console Radharani And then they all together beseech Krishna to appear And they try to search for Krishna They can't find him They go back to the banks of Yamuna That is the place where they have performed so many pastimes with Krishna And their hearts filled with the remembrance of Krishna And they start calling out to Krishna Beautiful prayers The gopis are praying Krishna, ever since you appeared in Vrindavan Vrindavan has become the residence of the goddess of fortune Everyone here is blessed with good fortune And yet We are suffering from the unbearable misfortune Of being separated from you Please Reveal yourself to our eyes So that we can serve you Please come back So Jiva Goswami has elaborately analysed these prayers Both in the Gopal Champu and in the Sandarbhas And there he describes that each of these prayers Is offered by different gopis And he identifies This prayer is offered by Tungavidya, this prayer is offered by Lalita, this prayer is offered by Vishaka Let's say different prayers are offered And finally Radharani offers her prayer So like that all the gopis offer their prayers And the gopis' mood is Krishna, come back And finally Radharani's mood is When she is praying to Krishna, come back She is saying that actually Krishna Separation from you is causing us unbearable pain But even greater than the pain Of separation from you Is the thought That your tender feet Are being pierced by the Pebbles, by the thorns By the branches of Vrindavan So when we think that your tender feet Is being cut by the Pebbles of Vrindavan That thought is cutting our heart apart So Krishna, please come back Please come back So in this way the gopis pray fervently to Krishna Krishna reappears And then the delightful pastimes are performed So here in this most exalted pastime Which Radharani's supreme love Is demonstrated Actually that supreme love is demonstrated in multiple ways First is in her readiness to give up everything Even her reputation for Krishna's sake Then it is demonstrated Also through Krishna selecting her As his soul companion And that love is also demonstrated Through her concern for the gopis Even when she herself is present with Krishna And her love is also demonstrated Through her fervent prayer Which ultimately causes Krishna to reappear So actually the whole Rasalila pastime Demonstrates the supremacy Of the love of Srimati Radharani for Krishna Actually Prabhupada On Radhashtami day Actually Prabhupada started from India to America Just a few days before Janmashtami He celebrated Janmashtami on the Jaladuta And then He celebrated Radhashtami which is a fortnight later Still he was on the ship It was a 40 day tour almost It takes 40 days for him to reach So there he remembers Radharani He says that actually When Radharani becomes pleased Then all blessings will be showered All blessings will be showered And then it's interesting that Prabhupada quotes Radharani's Radharani's mercy With the success of the preaching mission He says that when Radharani's mercy will be there Then the holy names of Krishna Will be chanted all over the world Then every town and village will be blessed With the mercy of Krishna So Prabhupada actually Has a very special mood of Radharani What was that? When Radharani was alone with Krishna Radharani wanted all the other gopis also to be with Krishna And Prabhupada writes in a purport In the Bhagavatam that Actually a pure devotee wants to increase the service of Krishna And thus the devotee wants That not only be That not only the pure devotee oneself Engage oneself in the entire service of Krishna The pure devotee wants to engage more and more people in the service of Krishna So Prabhupada's pure devotion Was manifested in his dedication To get more and more people to come closer and closer to Krishna And he travelled far and wide In a sense Krishna played his flute And Sarva Dharmaan Paritthaji, the gopis left everything And came to Krishna Now for Prabhupada when he came to Vrindavan There were many people of his age who would come to Vrindavan But they would come more or less to retire from the world And the temple When Prabhupada was staying Before that he was staying at another temple And there The pujari of the temple was surprised This Swamiji, this person, he is coming and going He has come here, why is he again going back to the city? He is coming, again he is going So many times when people grow old Just take a vrata, I will never leave Vrindavan I have come to Vrindavan and I will leave my body in Vrindavan And the hope is that by leaving like this, we will be liberated But Prabhupada came to Vrindavan Not just to relish Vrindavan He came to Vrindavan because he wanted to share Vrindavan's joy with the world And at one level we can say That is external understanding Prabhupada did not leave Vrindavan to come to America Prabhupada left Vrindavan to bring Vrindavan to America The pure devotee may leave the dham We can get a pure devotee out of the dham But we cannot get the dham out of the pure devotee The dham is always present in the heart of the pure devotee And wherever the pure devotee is there Gradually the dham manifests And when the dham manifests, there also the service of Krishna There also the worship of Krishna manifests So Prabhupada, in the sense a sanyasi in those times For an elderly person to leave Vrindavan Was considered, why are you leaving? Are you so attached? Have you come to Vrindavan? Stay in Vrindavan For a sanyasi to cross over the ocean To go to the lands where people are degraded Was considered to be not a proper sanyasi duty But Prabhupada did not care about all these dharmas His concern was mam ekam sharanam vraja For him, just as when Krishna played the flute The gopis left everything to please Krishna Similarly for Prabhupada The purpose of pleasing Krishna was supreme And for that purpose, what did he do? He left everything else, came all alone To the distant land of America For the sake of fulfilling Krishna's desire For getting the lost souls to come to Krishna So actually, the gopis' mood Is not just They are loving Krishna, they are absorbing Krishna Yes, they are absorbing Krishna But they are absorbing Krishna in a way that will please Krishna So Prabhupada was also absorbing Krishna Prabhupada could have been absorbing Krishna in Vrindavan also He could have been chanting Krishna's name, hearing Krishna's pastimes But Prabhupada was absorbing Krishna in a way that could please Krishna And that meant He wanted to get people to come closer to Krishna And whatever it took to do that He was ready to do that And by Radharani's mercy, Prabhupada travelled all over the world And in his final days, he again came back to Vrindavan And it was in the month that is considered special for Radharani That is the month of Kartik The month that is specially blessed by Radharani At that time, by Radharani's blessings, by Krishna's blessings Prabhupada departed from this world So actually, the mood of Radharani Is the mood of absorption in Krishna for the pleasure of Krishna And that is by getting more and more people to get connected with Krishna And that is the mood that Srila Prabhupada had And Srila Prabhupada, by serving him He has opened the doors of Vrindavan for all of us So Prabhupada, when he He translates Radharani Or he uses the double honorific Radha as Srimati Radharani The purpose is, if you don't misunderstand If you don't consider that this is simply A male-female interaction Actually, it is pure, it is transcendental, it is selfless And historically, there has been a lot of misunderstanding Where people think that this is just a male-female interaction And people imitate that So Prabhupada was very very careful That Radharani is a worshipable deity And that worshipable position of Radharani is conveyed through Srimati Radharani And for us, what we learn from Radharani Is the mood of selflessness That we don't just want to enjoy Krishna for ourselves We want to actually share the joy Of Krishna bhakti with others And in that, although it appeared as if Krishna was displeased with her, Krishna left her But, I'll conclude with this point Ananda and Champu, they said that why did Krishna leave Radharani Krishna went alone with Radharani To prove the supremacy of her love The speciality of her love But then why did Krishna leave Radharani That also was to demonstrate Her love Actually, love is expressed through union And love is also expressed through separation So when Krishna became separated from Radharani The intensity of her ecstasy was so great That, that is celebrated That is exalted Actually, later on, towards the end of the past time Krishna says, O Gopi, the kind of service you have rendered I cannot repay that service I cannot do anything for you Just be satisfied with this service So, in that separation from Krishna Radharani's absorption in Krishna Increased even more Radharani could have got angry with Krishna I was not doing this for myself, I was doing this for others She could have become angry with Krishna But her love for Krishna was so great That even when apparently there was rejection by Krishna Krishna left her and went away Radharani's absorption in Krishna increased all the more That is the mood that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu demonstrates In the last verse of the Shikshashtakam That If I don't see you, what is going to happen to me? My heart is going to be shattered But still, even in that condition You and you alone, O Lord Are my Lord No one else Vishwapitama describes, Narada Bhakti Chitra also describes That the test of love is when There is every reason for that love to be broken And it doesn't break In all our relationships Something goes wrong, I just end this relationship Pure love is when There is a reason to break that loving relationship But still that relationship doesn't break That is pure love So when Radharani, in her selfless service to Krishna Through her caring for Krishna's devotees She is apparently rejected by Krishna She doesn't reject Krishna She in fact becomes more absorbed in Krishna And so Krishna, he doesn't go away from Radharani Because he is angry with her But rather he wants to in a special way Demonstrate the supremacy of her love The selflessness of her love And through this whole pastime, the Rajneela It's not just Krishna performing pastime to the gopis Actually the selflessness of Radharani's love is being demonstrated And to the extent, we can also develop even a fraction Of that service attitude We all can move closer and closer to Krishna More and more of Radharani's grace, the ladini shakti can manifest in our heart And then we can also, our service can please Krishna more and more And we can experience ecstasy That Radharani constantly embodies And that Radharani constantly Enriches everyone with I spoke today about Radharani On her appearance day And in this verse it is said that This gopi must have served Krishna in a special way That is why the gopi is saying Krishna has gone alone with her I talk about 5 chapters of Rajneela There is a brief overview And then, before we can understand the Rajneela Prabhupada is very careful He uses Radharani's name only once in the Bhagavad Gita And he uses the double honorific Shrimati and Rani Because he wants us to not misunderstand And misunderstanding is very possible because it can seem like a male-female interaction And to avoid misunderstanding I discussed elaborately about how Actually, God is not just the best of all beings, He is the basis of all beings And that means that everybody is expanded from Krishna Everybody's existence is sustained by Krishna And Krishna and Radharani are the same person So God is satisfied within himself But he wants to share his completeness with others Just like a person who is happy And wants to dance to express that happiness So to share his completeness Krishna manifests himself in another form And that form is Radharani So Radharani, by everything that she does, she gives happiness to Krishna And she also, for those who want to serve him Serve Krishna, she manifests in their heart And she gives them ecstasy So she gives ecstasy to Krishna and she gives ecstasy to the devotees of Krishna Who are trying to serve So philosophically, Radharani is not a person different from Krishna Practically, of course, she is a different person And she has her own mood Sometimes she does what Krishna wants Sometimes she does something other than what Krishna wants But that is also for the pleasure of Krishna And her defining characteristic is her total selflessness For the sake of Krishna And that we discussed in the Rajdhila pastime Wherein Radharani, first of all she is ready to give up Radharani along with all the gopis are ready to give up Even their own perception of chastity For the sake of pleasing Krishna For the sake of God, the bad has to be given up Even the good has to be given up Krishna doesn't say sarva dharman parityajya, he says sarva dharman parityajya And then, at an external level it may say that Krishna leaves the gopis Because they become proud But that is external Actually, Krishna leaves the gopis because he wants to demonstrate the sublimity Of the love of Shri Mataji Radharani So if the gopis act proud, that is simply so that Krishna can demonstrate Radharani's special love And eventually when Radharani acts as if she is proud That is not pride, that is her concern for the other gopis And when Krishna acts as if he is angry, he is not angry He is actually trying to reveal the glory of Radharani's love Even when he is separated from her When she is separated from him And Radharani's love is not just her absorption in Krishna It is her absorption in a way that is pleasing to Krishna Actually, Prabhupada, he connects Radharani's mercy With the success of the preaching machine And the mood is that Radharani wants Krishna's service to expand That Prabhupada wants more and more souls to come and serve Krishna And Prabhupada left Vrindavan And he carried Vrindavan with him wherever he went He manifested in Vrindavan.
Prabhupada's devotion for Krishna Was manifested through his dedication to bring others to Krishna And if we follow in his footsteps We also try in our capacity to try to Share Krishna's message with more and more people Then by his mercy, we will get Radharani's mercy And we will become also absorbed in Krishna Thank you very much. Hare Krishna So let's offer one prayer to conclude This is a prayer from Chaitanya Chaitanya Pramod itself Devi Krishnamayi prokta So sometimes people feel that we don't talk enough about Radharani And actually Radharani is desiring to spread this movement That's why we have internet society for Krishna consciousness Not Radha consciousness because it's Radharani who wants to glorify Krishna Yes definitely. The most important thing In entering Vrindavan Is not just talking about Radharani or talking about Krishna It's actually developing the mood of purity by which we can appreciate So actually There may be many people who talk a lot about Radharani And some of them may be very exalted We don't have to paint everybody in a negative brush But there are many who just talk about Radharani and Radha and Krishna But actually they have completely distorted understanding What happened in Vrindavan is There is along with the Bhakti tradition, the Vaishnava tradition, there is a Shakta tradition And the Shakta tradition has the idea that The goddess manifests in people In their tradition sometimes you go to goddess temples So there sometimes people just start dancing like crazy As if the goddess has manifested in them So what has happened is There are some sahajiyas who actually started claiming that When we start hearing Krishna Leela When we become absorbed in Krishna Leela Then Krishna enters into the body of the male And Radha enters into the body of the female And when the male and female are interacting It is actually Radha Krishna enjoying through them It's a completely distorted understanding It's completely distorted But unfortunately they started not only engaging in immoral activities But rationalising it by misusing the concept of Avesh So because of that our Acharyas have been very very strong So in not letting this syncretic idea Syncretic is conflating two different traditions Mixing up two different traditions And coming up with a heterodox understanding So we do wish to also relish the pastimes of Radha and Krishna But it has to be progressive Progressive means that we have to become purified And that purification happens through service So the defining characteristic for entering into Radha Krishna pastime Is not just hearing those pastimes It is actually hearing those pastimes in a mood Of service See if we hear I'll talk more about this in the evening class today But if we hear Radha Krishna's pastimes In the mood of an enjoyer Then our enjoying mentality gets triggered But if we hear it So if we see To the extent we see Radha Krishna as a male and a female To that extent Hearing about their pastimes will trigger our mundane desires But to the extent we start appreciating that Krishna is God And Radharani is a devotee To the extent we develop that spiritual vision To that extent we'll actually start seeing the sublimity The spirituality of that pastime And that requires a lot of purification So without a purification we will simply misunderstand So bias And if that purification is there Even if we don't hear directly about Krishna Even if we don't hear so much about Krishna as in now and pastimes or whatever But if we are purified Then at the right time The love for Krishna will manifest in the heart See the manifestation of the love for Krishna Is not just by our hearing Yes our hearing is important But ultimately it is Krishna's mercy It is by his mercy that the love manifests We may hear Bahujanmayadi Kadai Shravanakirtana We can hear for a long time For many lifetimes But if we don't appreciate Krishna If we are somehow offensive Then love will not manifest So the point which I am trying to make here is That the manifestation of pure love for Krishna in Vrindavan Comes not just by hearing about Krishna in Vrindavan It comes by pleasing Krishna Pleasing Krishna's representative It comes by purification and revelation And without that purification and revelation Even if we approach Krishna's intimate pastimes Actually we will misunderstand them And we will contaminate ourselves So even if yes Somebody argues that Prabhupada has given a basic message Now Prabhupada has given the Chaitanya Charita Amrit In which a lot of esoteric truths are also revealed And Prabhupada never said that you should not read Priya Satcharita's books It is not possible that if Krishna is infinite So the books glorifying Krishna will also be infinite And Prabhupada has given us the way to connect to the whole tradition He has given us the whole tradition So one extreme is to disconnect Prabhupada from the tradition The other extreme is to disconnect the tradition from Prabhupada That means to access the tradition Prabhupada has to play the lullaby behind and go ahead Or the other is that we disconnect Prabhupada from the tradition And we say that we never discuss anything about Krishna or Adharani Because Prabhupada did not discuss about it No, Prabhupada gave us the books and he wanted us to discuss So like I mentioned yesterday There are many Prabhupada disciples, senior devotees Who are translating the Acharya's works Who are commenting on them Who are speaking on them So they are giving us access to the tradition through Prabhupada So basically if some devotees very strongly feel that they want to hear about Krishna Then they can take the blessings of the spiritual master or the spiritual guides And from those who are sheltered with Prabhupada, they can hear So all of us have our own individual relationship with Krishna And how we advance, it varies from person to person At our level we have to fix the mind on Krishna So nature of the mind is that it is always dissatisfied If we have a lot of surveys, the mind says I don't have time to study Shastra And then if we get a lot of time to study Shastra, the mind will say How many books will you study? Do something practical No matter whatever situation we are in, the mind will not be satisfied So even if we have not controlled that mind Even if we hear about Krishna's esoteric pastimes We will not be satisfied by hearing those pastimes We will want to tell the world I know how many special pastimes I know And therefore you should understand I am a special devotee So we are not relishing that pastime We are actually simply relishing the ego And the pastime becomes the means by which we boost our ego So actually the connection with Krishna comes by purification and revelation And if some devotees feel inspired to hear, there is facility for that But it should not be that devotees who want to hear about Krishna They are told you should not hear at all Especially the devotees who have spent some years They want to hear, that's fine But they do it in a way that is consistent with Prabhupada's mode And those who are engaged in the preaching mission They are doing practical activities If somebody wants to serve Krishna in a particular way There is no need for them to make others feel that you are doing something less Somebody is doing Buddhist mission, somebody is doing deity worship Somebody is doing temple management Somebody is doing preaching with basic concepts All these are also ways in which we are serving Krishna And all these can also take us to Krishna Because through all these we will get purification and we will get revelation And then we will come to Krishna by that So basically the point that different devotees can have different inspirations and bhakti And there can be within the broad umbrella of what Prabhupada has given us There can be different definitions of success So building a big temple can be a definition of success Distributing a lot of books can be a definition of success Youth preaching can be a definition of success Discussing the Bhagavatam and getting into the Acharya's commentaries can also be a definition of success And it is not automatic that just because somebody is discussing the Bhagavatam That means that person is more advanced than somebody who is doing book distribution No, actually the advancement will depend on one's dedication Somebody may be doing book distribution with a selfless mood And somebody may be discussing esoteric pastimes of Krishna with a self-aggrandising mood Then who is closer to Krishna and who is further to Krishna is not dependent simply on Who is talking directly how much about Krishnaji It is based on how selfless one is in one's heart in the mood of service So we can, if some devotees feel inspired, there is facility within our movement also For those devotees to hear more about Krishna In a way that is faithful to Prabhupada And in a way that can take them and others closer to Krishna But what is not appreciated is thinking that everybody else is doing basic things And I am going to do something special And by doing something special I will get a shortcut to Krishna No, the only way to Krishna is through purification and revelation And how that purification and revelation happens is through our service So as a service if somebody wants to study Krishna Leela, that's wonderful As a service if somebody wants to do youth preaching, that's wonderful As a service if somebody wants to do book distribution, that's wonderful Prabhupada gave us a whole legacy in which all these are important parts The problem comes when we make one thing as the only thing We start thinking, because I am doing this, I am special And everybody else, they are doing something else, it's not important If we see, studying the Bhagavatam, studying the Acharyas Kumbh is also a service And some devotees will be inspired to do it And that's fine, they shouldn't create insecurity among others They do it themselves and others do the service which they are inspired to do And we can all move towards Krishna And we can have a vibrant bhakti tradition Where all aspects of the bhakti tradition are available to people Does that answer your question?