Gopi-gita verse – 3 esoteric meanings

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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
I’ll speak today.
This is the Karthik month going on. I’ll speak on one verse from the Gopi Gita which has which is both a very specific as well as a very universal application. So this is the Gopi Gita as many of you know is the song which the Gopis has spoken when they were separated from Krishna.
That Krishna called them to perform the Ras Leela through Rasa dance, but then Krishna departed leaving them all alone. And they searched for Krishna desperately in the forest. But when they couldn’t find him, then they, Anandam Chopra described that they went so deep into the forest, it was so dark, that even if they put their hand in front, they couldn’t see their hand.
They decided we will not be able to see Krishna. They came back to the banks of the Jamuna, sat down over there and then started pouring out their heart. And what came out of their hearts desperate longing for Krishna is the Gopi Gita.
So we will discuss the fourth verse today. And all of these verses have one theme in common. That is the underlying messages in books, there is a text and there is a subtext.
Text is what is written. Subtext is what is not written necessarily, but what is the intent? What is the meaning? What is the import? So the subtext that is there in all the verses is one thing. Krishna please come back.
Please come back. Krishna you disappeared from us. Please come back.
we will now, each verse is analysing Krishna you come back and giving different reasons. Krishna we can’t bear, we can’t live without you. So please come back.
Krishna you have saved our lives so many times. How can you kill us now? And since we are being separated from you, you will kill us. So please come back.
Krishna, the thorns in the forest will pierce your feet and that pain to think that your feet are being pierced is worse than our hearts being ripped apart. So please come back. Krishna.
So like that, there are different prayers. All of them are saying Krishna please come back. Now among these prayers, our Acharyas have explained this one prayer in multiple ways.
So how this prayer conveys that message, Krishna please come back in three different ways. We will discuss that today. And then we will see how as I said it is relevant for all of us also.
Now this section begins with normal, begins with an interesting or significant form of address like that is Shri Shuka Vacha or Parikshita Vacha. But here it is not Shri Gopi Vacha, it is Gopya Uchu. Gopya Uchu means that it is the Gopis in plural spoke.
So what does it mean? Is it all the Gopis are in chorus reciting these verses? No. It is each Gopi is reciting one one verse. But when the Gopi is reciting, she is both expressing her heart as well as expressing the collective call on behalf of everyone.
So it’s like if there is assembly and then the assembly speaks. Assembly is going to speak in one voice. It’s not like an oath to be recited or something like that.
But when different people speak on behalf of the assembly, then they are all speaking individually but they are representing the assembly. So that Gopya Uchu in one sense indicates the unity in diversity and diversity in unity. All the Gopis are united in their desire to serve Krishna, to have Krishna back in their midst.
But they are also diverse in the sense that each Gopi expresses her own heart’s longing. So let’s recite this and then we’ll discuss. Nakhalu Gopika Nandanobhavan Can you recite on zoom or it will make a little echo? You can just recite in your mind.
Okay, so you can just recite in your mind. Nakhalu Gopika Nandanobhavan Akhila Dehinam Antaratmadrek Akhila Dehinam Antaratmadrek Vikhana Sarthito Vishwa Guptaye Vikhana Sarthito Vishwa Guptaye Sakha Udayivan Sathvatam Kule Sakha Udayivan Sathvatam Kule Here we have Nakhalu Gopika Nandanobhavan Akhila Dehinam Antaratmadrek Let’s see if I can share the screen. I’ll explain the meaning of the word.
So, Nakhalu certainly So you are certainly not Gopika Nandanobhavan Gopika Nandan Gopi is a very generic form of address. So the Gopis are referring to Gopika. Here they are referring not to themselves but to Yashoda.
That you are not the son of Yashoda. It’s interesting that they use the word Bhavan over here. Normally in Sanskrit Bhavan is a very respectful second person address.
In Hindi we have Tu or Aap. There is nothing equivalent to that in English. Sometimes some people use De.
But that’s not conventional. It was sometimes used for royalty in Britain and Europe. But Bhavan indicates that although the Gopis are having Krishna as their lover and they have a very intimate relationship, but at this point they are realising that Krishna is not just an ordinary person.
So that’s why the word Bhavan comes over there. So you are certainly not the son of Gopika of Yashoda. Then who are you? Akhila Dehinam Antaraatma Drek.
Akhila Dehinam Dehinam is the embodied souls. Akhila means all. In all embodied souls you are the Antaraatma Drek.
So Atma is the soul. Antaraatma is the innermost soul or the inner soul. So Drek, you are the innermost seer.
So we’ll discuss the significance of this. It is not Atma Drek. It is Antaraatma Drek.
What it means is you know us at our core. So you are the basically, it means you are the indwelling super soul. You are not just a cowherd boy.
You are the indwelling super soul of all living beings. Then the question may come, okay, if you are the indwelling super soul, then why are you no longer indwelling? How are you out dwelling? So how come you are manifested outside if you are normally inside? So Vikhanas Arthito. So Vikhanas refers to Brahmaji.
So how is the indwelling become out dwelling now? Because Vikhanas, Brahmaji Arthito. So he asked for help. He prayed to you.
So with some Artha, with some purpose he prayed. What was the purpose? Vishwa Guptaye. Vishwa Guptaye means for the protection of the universe.
Gupta sometimes in Hindi means secret and Sanskrit also it is used Gupta or Guda. But actually Gupta also means protected. So there was a Gupta dynasty which ruled India.
The idea was that name also means one who is a protector. So Vishwa Guptaye means for the protection of the universe. So why is the indwelling become out dwelling? Because he was called by Brahmaji for protecting the universe and then Sakha Udayivan and therefore Udayivan Uday and Ast means in Sanskrit Suryodaya Suryasta.
So Udayivan you have arisen, you have appeared, you have ascended. So there again this Udayivan indicates there is no Krishna’s position. That Krishna is not just a child who was born.
He is actually the divine who has just manifested like the sun rises. So where are you manifested? Sattvatam Kule. Sattvatam Kule means? Now the Gopis here indicate that they also know not only that Krishna is not just a cowherd boy in the sense that he is God.
But that he was born in the Sattvata dynasty. Sattvata is another name for the broadly Yadu dynasty. There is a lot of complex lineage over there.
That’s what the same people sometimes call as Vrishnis, Sattvatas, Yadus. So there are further small-small categorisations which we will not go into over here. And yet, while they are telling there is Akhiladehinam Antaratmadruk Sattvatam Kule.
So they are also saying Sakha. Sakha means O friend. So there is this tension in the Gopis heart that they know Krishna is God and yet Krishna is their beloved friend.
In the intimacy of love, friendship is already included. Now in all the higher Rasas, the lower Rasas are already there. friendship is, Sakha is one of the lower Rasas.
Then there is Vatsala, there is Madhurya. So in Madhurya, Sakha is included. So they are saying Sakha, you are my friend, you are our friend.
So they know Krishna is God and still they can’t stop knowing Krishna, you are our friend, you are our lover. In the next verses, they will also similarly refer to him as Ramana. Ramana is the lover.
So this is the broad verse. Now let us look at some points I mentioned. So Krishna’s identity, we could say, there is three levels.
There can be many levels. For all of us, we have multiple identities. Say we may be engineers, we may be Indians, we may be youth, we may be young or middle-aged, we may be Andhra or Andhra Bengali or Maharashtrian or whatever.
So multiple identities. Now often these identities overlap. sometimes, now here we see Krishna’s identity at three levels.
So Krishna’s identity is that he is Vajendranandan or Gopikanandan over here. And if the Gopis are just ordinary women, they should know that he is Gopikanandan. But there are two levels of coverings to his identity.
He is Gopikanandan but he is not Gopikanandan. He is actually Devakinandan. Because he is born to Devaki.
And he is actually not even Devakinandan. He is actually the source of everyone. He is Prapitamahasya.
He is the Grandsire of the Grandsire as Arjuna prays to Krishna. So basically for the Vrajavasis, Krishna’s identity is covered at two levels. When Gargamuni comes to meet and do the name-giving ceremony of Krishna to Vrindavan, he conceals and reveals both of these.
He says, in the past your son was the son of Vasudev. It’s ambiguous wording. The past can be referred to Vasudev, Nanda Maharaj thinks that the past means previous life.
But it’s not previous life, just now in the past. So he is ambiguous like that. And then he says your son is just like Narayan.
He doesn’t say your son is Narayan, just like Narayan. So now that can be like a general glorification. When a couple has a child, often the astrologers come and may speak some about how virtuous, how glorious this child is.
So they think, oh it’s wonderful our child is like Narayan, that means he will be very virtuous, very glorious, very powerful. But actually he is like Narayan in the sense that he is Narayan, but he is actually Adi Narayan, he is the source of Narayan also. So just like Narayan.
So both these identities were in a sense concealed by Gargamuni. And yet the Gopis know both these identities. So we see that the Gopis are not just ordinary cowherd girls or cowherd women.
They are enlightened souls. They know Krishna’s position. And although they know Krishna’s position, it doesn’t really change their disposition.
They are respectful. They say Bhavan, by the same name Sakha, you are our friend. So there is a lot going on in this verse.
First is their understanding of Krishna’s position is revealed. Now based on that, let’s look at how the Gopis are praying to Krishna over here, please come back. As I said, that is the underlying mood of all the prayers, all the songs in the Gopi Gita.
So here we can, I’ll again go back to the shared screen and then I’ll show you how the flow of thought can go. So let’s look at the four items within this verse. Four lines.
So you are not, you are certainly not the son of Yashoda. You are the indwelling super soul. You were called by Brahmaji to protect the world.
That’s why you, oh friend, appeared in the Satavata dynasty. So we may say none of this seems to indicate that, oh please come back, where is that? So actually it’s there everywhere. Let’s see how it is.
There are different ways we can arrive at the same conclusion, but let’s look at some of them now. So one is Krishna, you are not Yashoda Nandana. You are the indwelling super soul in everyone’s heart.
Therefore you know the plight of our hearts. Just see how much we are suffering and please come back. So that’s one way.
If Krishna is a super soul, he knows everything about us. He knows everything in our hearts and therefore they are praying, Krishna, please, please, please return. So this knowledge that Krishna is in our hearts is both reassuring and sobering.
It’s reassuring. If we are struggling and if we are all alone, we feel all alone or deserted, then we know Krishna is there. Krishna knows our condition, what we are going through.
So it’s sobering. In that sense, it’s reassuring or encouraging. At the same time, it can be sobering also because it depends on if we are inclined to do something wrong and we think we can get away with it, we will not be caught.
No, Krishna knows that also. So it’s like if we are walking along the road and suddenly we see there’s a cop over there. So now if we are law-abiding, the presence of the cop will reassure us.
But if somebody is law-breaking, in the presence of the cop will concern them, will alarm them, will caution them. Either way. So, Akhila Dehinam Antaratmadruk.
The Gopis are saying that, Krishna, you know our plight. Although one says the Gopis have been trans-moral. They left their family, their family to come to meet Krishna in the forest.
But they knew they did it all for Krishna, out of love for him. So they are saying that, Krishna, you know the plight of our hearts. Please come back.
So for all of us also, it is very easy in this world to feel lost, to feel alone, to feel deserted. We usually emphasise the association of devotees and that’s important, no doubt. Still, even with the association of devotees, it’s very easy nonetheless to get caught in.
Sometimes even we may feel devotees also do not understand us so much. Sometimes even in devotee association, we may feel isolated. That’s what happened, say, to Draupadi when she was with her five husbands.
She was in the Kuru assembly but nobody could help her. So she was alone and she called out to Krishna. So Krishna knows us.
Krishna knows whatever we are going through. And therefore, that understanding, that conviction, that can inform our prayer that Krishna, you are, you, please, whatever it may be, please help me, please come, manifest in my heart, please free me from these conditionings. Please help me deal with the situations.
Please engage me in your service. So that’s one way. As I said, it’s a very specific prayer which the gopis are making but each of these prayers also have universal applications.
So Krishna is being told by the gopis, please come back because you know the plight of our hearts. So please come back. Now, there are two further understandings here that vikhanasarthito vishwaguptaye Can we do some kind of not annotation, marking? So one meaning has come based on the first two lines.
That is one way the gopis are calling for Krishna. The second is, you consider three lines and then they are calling for Krishna. They are saying that Krishna, you were called by the super soul, by Brahmaji to descend for protecting the universe.
And then the implication here is we are also part of the universe. We are in distress, so paritranaya sadhunam So we are also in distress. So please protect us Krishna.
Please protect us. You descended to protect the universe and if you want to protect everyone but not us, how is that right? You have to protect us also. And the separation from you, we are afflicted so much that we may die.
So please for our protection come back. And Prabhupada in his Bhagavad Gita commentary, usually he speaks at the level of dharma. Prabhupada is speaking basic philosophy and how we are not the body or the soul, how we need to follow certain regulation, avoid various misconceptions and then we can go to spiritual consciousness.
By the same time, throughout the Gita, in some purports Prabhupada talks about quite exalted levels of devotion. So for example, some places Prabhupada will say, when Krishna is saying man manabhava sarva dharman parityajya Prabhupada says we should not fix the mind on any other God or even any other form of Krishna such as Vishnu. Just focus the mind only on Krishna.
So now what does that mean? Is Prabhupada saying that say for Ram bhaktas or Vishnu bhaktas the Bhagavad Gita is not applicable? No, that’s not his implication but Prabhupada is actually speaking that in the mood of the Gopis. In the Rasalila once the Gopis saw Krishna saw Vishnu. Actually Krishna had taken the form of Vishnu.
So the Gopis offered their obeisances to Vishnu and said where is Krishna? So they are not interested in Vishnu primarily. They are interested in Vishnu as a means to Krishna only. So similarly in the so just as Prabhupada sometimes gives very rasik imports which are hidden within his Bhagavata purports also.
So similarly Paitrana Sadhunam when Prabhupada says that the devotees are afflicted and they are delivered, they are relieved by Krishna when he descends. So at one level there is physical affliction. The demons are tormenting.
Demons are persecuting the devoted. Like the sages were being persecuted and Ram took a vow that I will rid the world of the demons who are persecuting the sages. So that is one level of persecution.
But Prabhupada in his purports writes that the devotees are afflicted because of separation from the Lord and when the Lord descends, his descent is to free the devotees from the torment of separation from the Lord. So that’s a very elevated level of understanding. It’s valid.
So similarly here the gopis are saying that we are tormented by separation from you. So please come back. Please come back.
Now for most of us we may not feel much separation from Krishna directly. If you feel that’s fortunate. Actually what we feel separation from depends on our primary attachment or primary level of consciousness.
So we may feel separation from food, we may feel separation from sleep, may feel separation from our phone or our computer or from the internet, net is down whatever. So we may not feel separation from Krishna. However, whatever it is that we are presently attached to and from there we feel a lot of separation.
Then we can think of that as reflecting a glimpse of the separation that the gopis will be feeling from Krishna. Why? Because that everything attractive manifests a spark of Krishna’s splendour. So whatever attracts us, its attractive potential comes from Krishna, but it’s a spark.
So our attraction to it, even if it may be overwhelming for us, it’s still a spark. So just as if we want something and we don’t get it, it’s quite an unbearable thing depending on how strongly we want it. So similarly it is like that, the gopis are saying, please come back Krishna.
we could say that we are so attached that we hardly feel separation from Krishna. That’s one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it is whatever we feel separated from, we can use whatever we feel separation from or we feel separated from, we can use that as an impetus for remembering Krishna.
So we can become conscious of Krishna even in the things that make us unconscious of Krishna. We can become conscious of Krishna even in the things that make us unconscious of Krishna. How is that? Why is it that this is making you unconscious? Why is it that this is so attractive? Because it is manifesting a spark of Krishna’s splendour.
So right now in America, the election results are coming out. So everybody is captivated by that. So now why is it so captivating? Krishna, so there could be various reasons, specifically circumstantially.
Some of us are interested in politics, some of us may be affected directly by the policies. Some of us may be in favour of a particular candidate or a policy. So there could be various circumstantial reasons.
But generally attraction is rarely fully explained by reason. I can give reasons for my attraction but no reasons are sufficient for describing the full magnitude of the attraction. So if somebody gets in a relationship and they say, I love you.
So give me a logical reason why you love this person. Okay. Somebody gives a list of say five reasons.
This could apply to 500 people by this particular person only. Oh we are like-minded and this and that and that. That’s all true.
But why only this person? It could apply to so many other people. So in that sense, you could say attraction is attraction it can and should be based on reason. But attraction, you could say, supersedes reason.
It subsumes reason. So attraction is never fully explained by reason. So that non-rational, I won’t say, I won’t necessarily call irrational.
Because when you talk about attraction to Krishna, it is not irrational. It is trans-rational. So if you could say this is a domain of reason.
Attraction is bigger than reason. That bigger can sometimes be irrational. It can sometimes be trans-rational.
So our attractions in this world might be irrational. But rather than simply dismissing them as irrational, we can see that attractive potential is coming from Krishna. And we can pray that we become attracted to Krishna like that one day.
So that’s the second import over here. Now let’s look at the third import. So here the Gopis are saying lastly Therefore, oh friend, you have descended in the Satavata dynasty.
Now the implication over here is that Krishna, you are a Kshatriya. And a Kshatriya is a hero who is meant to protect women. And we are women who are afflicted.
We are alone in a forest. So even if you reject our love, but still, at least as per your Kshatriya duty, come back and protect us. We are women who are alone.
Of course, they are together. But they are all together still women. They are in the forest.
It’s dark. It’s night. There’s no one there.
There could be so many dangers, so many different kinds of predators. So out of your Kshatriya duty, you come and help us. You come back and be with us.
And if you consider this third meaning, then the next verse, immediately you see the flow. You are the hero of the Vrishni dynasty. So, that is, therefore, you should come and protect us.
So the same reasoning is going on. So the idea is here the Gopis are somehow or the other getting Krishna to come back. So they are appealing with their feminine appeal to Krishna’s masculinity.
Krishna, you are a hero. How can you abandon women who are defenceless and who have come for you? How can you abandon them like that, Krishna? Please come. You are the hero of the Sathya dynasty.
And so in one sense, we have this operating principle in Bhakti. Somehow or the other, fix the mind on Krishna. So, that same principle, the Gopis are applying here to say, somehow or the other, Krishna, please come back.
Somehow or the other. So, we also, when we have to call out to Krishna, we want to infuse some devotion in our calling to Krishna. So, we can’t go with one strategy for all time.
When sometimes our mind is getting distracted, our heart is not in what we are doing. So, then how do we get it? So, we have to see which strategy works. Try this, try this, try this, try this.
So, for us to persuade our mind, for us to infuse intensity in our call to Krishna, we need to have a multi-pronged approach. This will work, this will work, this will work, something will work. And even if nothing seems to be working, if we are still working, trying to call out to Krishna, at least through that we are showing him our sincerity.
So, bhakti in that sense is multifaceted. Why multifaceted? Because we are multifaceted beings. We are all souls who are parts of Krishna, we are meant to serve Krishna.
But each of us is an individual. one aspect of humility, humility has many aspects. One aspect of humility is that actually we ourselves are too complex to understand ourselves.
In the sense that what kind of mood our mind goes through, what kind of impressions we have, what kind of interests we have, they’re all very complex. Sometimes, say, we are studying a particular subject, we want to get interested in it. But somehow it doesn’t catch our interest.
And sometimes some things just catch our interest. So, it’s not that, to some extent, sometimes we try to become interested in some things, but it’s not that we have interests, our interests have us. So, what interests us, that depends on our psychophysical nature, that depends on our spiritual impressions.
So, we are ourselves complex beings. And we need to negotiate with ourselves rather than simply instruct or dominate ourselves or surrender to ourselves. We negotiate.
What works? So, just as the Gopis are approaching multifaceted approach or multiple lines of reasoning, Krishna, come back. So, for us also, when we are praying, for us it’s not so much Krishna, come back, it’s rather we have to go back to Krishna. So, O soul, go back to Krishna, re-engage in Krishna’s service, turn toward Krishna.
But that principle of using different forms of reasoning to persuade ourselves, to infuse our call for Krishna with intensity, we can adopt that principle also. So, that is the mood of the Gopis in separation from Krishna, calling out Krishna, please come back. So, I’ll summarise what I spoke today, that I spoke on this theme of the Gopi Gita, where all the Gopis are collectively and individually calling out to Krishna.
And I discussed specifically this fourth verse, which shows how the subtext is not there anywhere in the text, but it is unifying and underlying diverse strands of thought in the text. So, the Gopis are calling out to Krishna, come back, how is that? So, we see the tensions in this verse, Krishna’s identity is not just Yashoda Nandana, he is not even Devaki Nandana, he is actually the Antaraatmadruk, he is the indwelling super soul. So, the Gopis are enlightened enough to know both these levels of Krishna’s identity that are otherwise, that were kept concealed by Garga Muni.
So, the Gopis are saying, Krishna, you are the indwelling super soul, so you know how much we are suffering, so please come back. So, Krishna knows our condition. Knowing that Krishna knows our condition can also infuse our prayers to Krishna with greater intensity.
And the Gopis are saying that you have come, you have descended to protect the world, protect the universe, we are a part of the universe, so please protect us also. So, for a devotee, the separation from Krishna is the greatest affliction, not just the persecution by the demons. Now, whatever we feel separated from, we can see that attraction to it, which subsumes reason as an indication of our misdirected attraction toward Krishna.
So, we can become conscious of Krishna even in the things that make us unconscious of Krishna. And lastly, the Gopis are saying, you are the hero of the Satvata dynasty. So, you are a Kshatriya and we are defenceless women, please don’t abandon us like this, come and protect us, be with us, come back.
So, we need to use a multifaceted approach for persuading our mind and pushing our heart toward Krishna. Because we are ourselves complicated beings, our minds are complicated, we have so many conditionings and inclinations, which we don’t control so easily. So, we can have multiple approaches and whichever works, we use that for moving toward Krishna and even if nothing seems to work, just our work at trying to make something work will also please Krishna and that way we will stay on the spiritually progressive path.
So, thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Any questions or comments? Thank you Prabhu for the wonderful class.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Thank you for the class.
I want to ask you Prabhuji, initially when we feel attraction or love for the spiritual master, for our Guru, so how to continue that love or increase it rather than making sure it doesn’t decrease, it should remain consistent or even increase the love for our spiritual master? Okay. Let me see if I can find something over here. I have spoken on this topic.
See, basically the spiritual master, there are two aspects. There is the Guru as a person and there is the Guru as a Tattva. So, that means the spiritual master is definitely an individual person.
So, a different, we all may have different spiritual masters and that way we understand that the Guru is a person and each spiritual master may have their own mood, their own personality, their own thrust in Bhakti and we appreciate that. We know that that’s important. Along with that, we also understand that the Guru is a Tattva.
Tattva means that the Guru is a principle, that the Guru represents Krishna. Krishna manifests through the Guru and so if you would consider a pendulum, there is the Guru, one understanding is simply to see the Guru as a person. The other is to see the Guru only as a Tattva.
The balanced way to look at it is that the Guru is both, the person and the Tattva and each one of us may be attracted to particular aspects of the spiritual master. So, when you talk about increasing the attraction to the spiritual master, it depends on person to person that some devotees may have a lot of personal association with the spiritual master so and if they have personal association, then relatively speaking it is easier to develop the personal attraction to the spiritual master. If you don’t have that much personal association, then developing that personal attraction might be difficult.
So, then in that case, we can still try but we will see that it’s more the Tattva that is important in the person. For us, it might be that we might be able to better connect with the Tattva. So, I’m sharing my screen to simply illustrate this point.
Let’s see if we can find it. Yeah. So, if you consider here, there is the Guru as a person and there is a Guru as a Tattva and there is person and Tattva together.
So, usually if you talk about attraction to the spiritual master, it’s almost always in terms of the person and then we feel, now initially when we come to know about a person, we may say, read something about them, we hear from them, we read if they have written some things, that way we develop some attraction. But afterward, from a distance, that personal attraction may not increase that much. So, if you look at Srila Prabhupada and his disciples, many of the disciples who had personal association of Srila Prabhupada, extensive personal association, they talk a lot about Srila Prabhupada and many of the classes are filled with Prabhupada pastimes and there are others who may not talk so much about Prabhupada directly.
If you look at Srila Prabhupada himself, he doesn’t talk about his spiritual master much. Prabhupada basically met his spiritual master about a dozen times. He was dedicated, his life and soul were dedicated to his spiritual master.
But he didn’t meet his spiritual master much. His spiritual master was doing his spiritual mission and Prabhupada was a grahastha. He was also, of course, running his business so that he could support financially his spiritual master’s mission.
That was his intention. But still his service required him, his obligations required him to be elsewhere. So, Prabhupada didn’t talk much about, we don’t have many, many pastimes of Bhakti Sahasrao Thakur that Prabhupada told.
There are few he told and you would tell them quite often as per the occasion. But Prabhupada’s classes are philosophical. So, somebody might say that, oh, was Prabhupada really attracted to his spiritual master? Well, yes.
See how seriously he took the instruction. Instruction was share Krishna Bhakti in the western world. Now, it was not that this instruction was given only to Prabhupada.
It was like a standing instruction that Bhakti Sahasrao Thakur had given to many of his disciples. In fact, some of his disciples, he even funded them so that they could go to America, they could go to UK and they could try to preach over there. So, Prabhupada took the instruction very seriously and in that instruction, in trying to fulfil that instruction, he experienced the presence of his spiritual master.
So, Prabhupada said, I was never alone. Or rather, he was alone physically but he never felt lonely because he was always with his spiritual master. So, now we connect with the tattva through the shiksha, through the teachings.
So, in one sense, the person embodies the teachings. So, in that sense, becoming attracted to the person is also good. But at the same time, the person is an embodiment of something that’s timeless, that’s teachings.
The embodiment may or may not be with us for a long time or even if the embodiment is there, may not be accessible to us. So, that’s why it’s important that we understand the tattva and connect with the teachings. And when we connect with the teachings, when we strive to do, when we strive to carry out the instructions in our own lives and in the outer world by trying to share Krishna’s message, then that will lead to a deeper connection, a deeper appreciation.
So, just like say, small children, they naturally love their parents. They love their mother or their father because their survival depends on that. But as they grow up, they may become teenagers and they may feel, oh, my parents have this, they didn’t do this for me or they did this wrong.
They may have so many, they may find so many faults with their parents. But then as they grow up, then if they have their own family and then they have children, then what is happening? They are in a sense carrying on the legacy. And when they see how challenging parenting is, then they will better appreciate their parents.
Okay, so just saying they didn’t do this, they do this. The connection will become deeper because we are trying to do the same thing in our own way. So, similarly, when we try to act according to the spiritual master’s instructions and take up responsibility, that will lead to a deeper connection, a much deeper connection.
I read Lila Amrit quite a bit, Prabhupada’s pastimes, many pastimes books I have read. I think I was one time in, where was I? I went to Australia and somehow something happened and the devotees are going to pick me up. When I enter into a country, quite often I don’t have a sim of that country.
So, when I enter there, then the devotees are supposed to pick me up. Something went wrong and they had gone somewhere else. And normally when I go into a country, I carry at least that country’s currency.
But I had somehow that trip, I had been a little hasty. So, I didn’t have any Australian currency also. So, I couldn’t go to a phone booth and call them.
So, for one, one and a half hours, I was worried. What am I going to do over here? So, I didn’t even have money to go out and hire a cab or anything. It was just my second trip, I think, abroad.
So, at that time when I was in anxiety, it just struck me, at least there are devotees who are going to come and meet me. It made some delay. But for Srila Prabhupada, he didn’t even know when Prabhupada came to America.
He said, I didn’t know whether to turn left or right. The person who came to meet him was not even a devotee. It was just like a travel agent who sits, put him into a bus.
And Prabhupada had never met the people who were going to host him, Gopal Agarwal and Salya Agarwal. He had never met them. The devotees who were going to host me, I knew them.
I knew them quite well. They were going to come and organise. So, I realised that Prabhupada’s challenge was far, far greater.
And at least I knew there are temples and programmes organised for me. I just had to go and do talks. For Prabhupada, there was nothing.
He had to go, he had to find interested people, he had to find a venue to do everything. So, just that small act, I would say that, that particular experience, it deepened my appreciation and connection with Prabhupada much more than simply reading books about him or even associating with those who are associated with him. That also nourishes.
So, the point I am making is that attachment to spiritual master is a multifaceted thing. And by associating with the spiritual master or associating with those who are associating with the spiritual master, we can deepen our connection with the person, the personal aspect of the spiritual master. But by studying the instructions and applying the instructions and taking forward the mission of the spiritual master, we can connect with the tattva.
And each of us, may based on our situation and our disposition, may connect more with either the person or the tattva. That’s fine. Whichever works out.
Does it answer your question? Thank you so much. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes.
I have two questions. Only two? First one, Prabhuji, you mentioned that just like the Gopis, they use multiple approaches to convey that they want to say that Krishna, please come back. Similarly, we as sadhakas, we have to use multiple approaches in order for us to go closer to Krishna.
So, in coming up with such multiple approaches, how do we know that we are not going too much into fanaticism? Like for example, anything that happens, oh, this is Krishna’s hand, there is Krishna’s hand in this. It might actually be that I have messed something up due to which something is happening in my life. But then I just say that, oh, this is Krishna’s hand in this.
So, in one sense, it is another approach to take myself closer to Krishna, but then it is completely invalid. So, how do we know which approach is valid and which approach is not? Okay, that’s a good question. So, how do we know when we are using multiple approaches to move towards Krishna? Well, phale na parichayate.
Does it actually take us towards Krishna? That means, what is the end result of whatever we are doing? If we are remembering Krishna, and in that sense, it’s a positive effect, that’s good. But if that remembrance of Krishna is, there is devotional service, there is a mood of devotion, and there is also the activity of service. So, if we are doing only one of the two, then there is something deficient.
So, yes, I have messed up some things, and then I pray to Krishna. I cannot simply say this is Krishna’s arrangement, but that doesn’t mean that it is outside of Krishna’s arrangement. See, Krishna’s arrangements are inclusive enough to include even our mistakes.
Our mistakes are not Krishna’s plan, but Krishna’s plan can include and accommodate our mistakes also. So, we don’t deny the sense of responsibility. Okay, I did mess up, but still Krishna has a plan.
And Krishna’s plan is resilient or resourceful enough it is to include our mistakes also. You know famously the story of Durvasa Muni, where he was sent by Duryodhana after, in the afternoon, after Draupadi had eaten, and then they had nothing to offer because Akshaya Patra had become Kshaya by that time. Their imperishable food vessel could no longer give food after Draupadi had eaten.
So, what did they do? At that time somehow there was a little morsel of food left and Krishna took that and through that everybody was satisfied. That’s wonderful. That story, that’s the thrust of the story.
But another point is how was that morsel of food remaining over there? Normally, you know, any, what do you say, people who have a sense of tidiness, they wash their vessels after using them. Even if you don’t wash them immediately, if we have a special vessel, say if we have served somebody food in a silver vessel or a golden vessel, at least that we will wash carefully. This is the Akshaya Patra.
So, whether it was Draupadi or some of her, some of the maids assisting her, some maids had come with them to the forest also. Although they still couldn’t pay them, but still they were so attached that they came with them, some maids and some servants. So, it could be the mistake of one of them, but it is like Draupadi’s household, so we could say it’s her mistake.
But Krishna used that mistake to further his plan. So, nothing is outside the ambit of Krishna consciousness. Even our worst mistakes, we can also remember Krishna through them.
But, the thrust needs to be on how can I serve Krishna now? Because the essence, there can be many many aspects of Krishna consciousness, but the essence, if you want to say, put in that way, the essence of Krishna consciousness is that we are meant to serve Krishna. Sometimes our service can be simply through remembrance. I am not minimising remembrance in any way, when I use simply, but I am saying that exclusively through remembrance.
But sometimes our service also has to be expressed through actions. So, if the remembrance becomes a substitute for action when action is necessary, then that kind of Krishna consciousness is not so favourable. If the remembrance enhances the action that we can do, then that’s wonderful.
So, are there improper ways of being Krishna conscious, of seeing Krishna’s hand in our life? Yes, there can be many. As I said, we can’t blame Krishna and wash off our hands, wash off our responsibility for things which we have made a mistake for. So, that would be an improper version of Krishna consciousness.
But, rather than simply thinking of it that this is wrong, we can, if our purpose is clear, so then we will be able to direct everything toward Krishna. So, what would be an improper way of looking at Krishna conscious, improper example, Prabhupada came, once some lady came to Prabhupada and she said, Swamiji, I had gone to take darshan of Jagannath and when I went into the temple, my saree flew away. Then she said that, this is Krishna treating me like a gopi and taking away my clothes.
Prabhupada was very displeased. This is nonsense, Prabhupada said. So, then, so there could be many ways in which if our understanding of Krishna consciousness is going against, going against other principles in Krishna consciousness.
So, other principles could be, we have to do some practical seva, we have to behave according to particular culture. So, we have to be responsible. So, I remember once a devotee had gone for distribution and he lost.
He had gone for distribution and somehow he carelessly lost all the Lakshmi he had got from distribution. He is a brahmachari. So, and he came back and he told the temple leader and the temple leader stopped saying, you lost all the money.
He says, now Prabhu, be calm. And Krishna says, be equipoised in profit and loss. He said, that is for your own personal purposes.
If it’s Krishna’s concern, then you have to be concerned. When the temple was being, new temple was being stolen by Mr. N, Prabhupada was not just calmly equipoised. Prabhupada was concerned.
Prabhupada at that time agitated. So, yes, equanimity is also an important teaching. But the principle is ultimately everything is for the service of Krishna.
So, sometimes our emotions will obstruct us in the service of Krishna and then we have to keep our emotions calm. So, Arjuna’s emotions were obstructing him. So, at that time in the Bhagavad Gita, there is a lot of emphasis on equanimity.
But sometimes the emotions may be what are required to express our service to Krishna. As we say, that dhava grahi janardana. So, if there is no emotion, then what is our offering to Krishna? So, we can have this principle, see whether our service to Krishna, our connection with Krishna, whatever, is it being enhanced by whatever form of reasoning or resourcefulness we are using.
Based on that criteria, we can decide. Does it answer your question? Yes, Prabhuji. Thank you.
Anyone else? Thank you so much. Thank you so much for the wonderful class. Without taking too much time, I just have a question.
So, I feel that I am so far away from feeling separation from Krishna for sure, because of the many anarthas, you know, they have and also attractions and so on. So, but any little steps that I keep taking towards spiritual progress, I feel that my anarthas are just pulling me down and I feel discouraged to move forward. How do I stay kind of encouraged? How do I take this message from this Gopi’s, you know, song and keep myself encouraged in the bhakti? Oh, okay.
This is a tough situation. All of us experience that that, you know, whatever attraction to Krishna that we have, sometimes it just stays and goes. We feel we are far away.
It doesn’t stay for long. It comes and it goes. And we feel we are so far away from Krishna.
Yes. Again, if I go back to the principle, Anukulyasa Sankalpapati Kulyastha Varjanam. It is our responsibility to keep ourselves encouraged in Krishna consciousness.
Now, Prabhupada would say chant Hare Krishna and be happy. So, you know, this is both because this is a causal instruction as well as a dual instruction. Causal means chant Hare Krishna and that will make you happy.
But also the dual instruction is chant Hare Krishna and cultivate a happy disposition. Both are instructions. They are two distinct instructions also.
So, 1, 2, 23 the Bhagavatam said that therefore the great sages perform with great joy the process of bhakti which gives the greatest joy. So, what is the idea over there? The process will give us the supreme joy. But it is performed also with joy.
Why perform with joy? It’s, say, consider the situation where somebody is sick and they have a long road to recovery. But still they have found a treatment that works. And because the treatment works, they are recovering.
They are better than what they were earlier. Although the road to recovery is still a long way ahead. So, they can be grateful that they are on the road to recovery.
They got a treatment that works. So, similarly for us, sometimes when we read scriptures and we read especially the exalted devotees, like say we read about the Gopis or read about Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and other associates of His, their exalted levels of devotion, we feel I am so far away from this, which is true. We are far away.
But we can have those as our ideals. At the same time, we also need to look from a progressive perspective. Wherever we were in the past, have we come ahead? Well, we can say we have.
We have definitely come ahead. We have developed some understanding of Krishna, some appreciation for Krishna as compared to what it was a few years ago or a few decades ago depending on how long we have been practising. So, we can look back and encourage ourselves.
And also, we need to find out some things in bhakti which also at our present level give us a sense of we could say devotional self-worth. That I am also doing something for Krishna. So, if we are doing some particular service, a particular kind of contribution we are making, the world may not applaud us for that.
That’s okay. But that is our offering to Krishna. Yes, there is.
It’s like there will be some devotees who may be like Hanuman carrying big, big bridges, big, big boulders across and we might be like a squirrel. But we do our part. So, we need to feel also that I am doing my part and it is important.
Not important in an egoistic sense but in the sense of it being a personal offering to Krishna. Quite often, I am just now, next week I am giving a class on self-esteem. one of the things, one of the main things I want to speak in that is that we feel discouraged often because of our inability to do something wonderful.
Whether it be in the material world or in the spiritual domain. Do something wonderful, experience something wonderful. But actually, you know, our discouragement is caused not so much by our inability to do something wonderful as by our unwillingness to do something worthwhile.
Now, we don’t have to do something wonderful. But can we do something worthwhile? Yes, actually, Krishna Consciousness provides us opportunities to do something worthwhile at every moment. Every moment we are remembering Krishna.
Every moment we are serving Krishna. That’s worthwhile. And even from a broader perspective, we all can do something worthwhile.
So, if you focus more on the worthwhile rather than on the wonderful, then we can see Krishna Consciousness does enrich our life. We could be wasting our time in so many things. Say, now, I won’t call all politics as simply a waste of time, but obsession with politics is a waste of time.
And if we didn’t have Krishna Consciousness, it’s possible that with politics or sports or movies or whatever else, we might be wasting so much of our time. But we are doing something worthwhile, we are learning something, we are sharing something, we are providing facilities by which people are learning something worthwhile. So, if we shift our focus that, you know, am I doing something worthwhile? Am I contributing to something worthwhile? Yes, I am.
And I am fortunate because Krishna is letting me do that. So, I have something. So, our self-worth, if we tie it to the ability to do something worthwhile, something wonderful, we will always feel not only that we will not only not always be able to do something wonderful, but we will always be insecure.
But if we tie our self-worth to just the willingness to do something worthwhile, then we will not feel that discouraged. We can be encouraged. In whatever little we are doing, but we are making a difference.
Maybe we are making a difference to one person, even if that makes no difference to one person, just our attempt to make a difference will make a difference in our hearts. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna speaks to Arjuna, the Bhagavad Gita’s message, and Arjuna’s heart is transformed. That same message is spoken by Sanjay to Dhritarashtra, but Dhritarashtra’s heart is not transformed.
Still, the Bhagavad Gita does not conclude with 1873, where Arjuna says, I will do your will. It gives five verses to describe Sanjay. And Sanjay’s consciousness is thrilled.
He says, I am remembering Krishna’s words, I am remembering Krishna’s message, and I am thrilled by that. So, what that means is that although externally Sanjay was unsuccessful in transforming Dhritarashtra’s heart, but internally his own heart got transformed. He was enriched with the remembrance of Krishna’s form and Krishna’s message.
And that is wonderful. So, the Bhagavad Gita’s conclusion, I have a whole class on this, the two endings of the Gita. So, one ending of the Gita points to how there was external success for Krishna and for Arjuna.
Arjuna won the war. The other ending points to Sanjay, for whom there was no external success. Dhritarashtra’s heart was not transformed.
But both of them, although their external effects were different, internally both of them were elevated. So, that way, we can always make a difference, at least in our own hearts. It may not be a big difference, it may not be a wonderful difference, but it will be a worthwhile difference.
So, does that answer your question? Thank you. Thank you. I think we have time for one more.
Anyone else? Just about the irrational attraction and transrational attraction you spoke. Thanks for wonderful classroom. Just one question I have.
So, how to be minimalist in our thoughts, especially related to irrational attraction, so that we can focus more on what we can practically do. Can you explain what do you mean by minimalist in this context? So, like means the time we spend in random thoughts or like maybe some behavioural addictions like which consume our time and like we cannot effectively especially related to our spiritual sadhana, reading or chanting. So, we are not that much focused because of the randomness in mind.
So, what is it? Yeah. So, if we have some attractions that are say irrational and we are not able to focus. Yeah, it’s very difficult to reason with the mind.
Although we want to use reason, but Vishwanath Chikkadakur says that using reason to try to control the mind is like using a needle to pierce an iron bar. It’s going to be very difficult. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to use it.
There are times when reason works because the mind is also not like a monolithic creature. With respect to some things, the mind is pliable. With some things, the mind is obstinate.
So, we do reason is important for us and we use reason wherever we can to persuade our mind. But sometimes we run into an iron wall in our reasoning. The reason doesn’t seem to have any effect in transforming our desires.
So, at that time rather than worrying too much about our unhealthy attractions, whatever we have, we can focus on our healthy attractions and try to nourish them, try to strengthen them. So, we could say, if I am here, there are many things which will draw me toward the dark. The dark means something which is unhealthy for me, something which is damaging for me.
Darkness can be of different degrees also. There are some things which draw us toward the dark. And there are some things, even one thing which draws us toward the light.
So, you know, our human existence is actually in a very vulnerable and precarious condition. We are subject to the play of forces, to the play or the interplay of forces far greater than ourselves. In our modern times, we don’t realise this, although sometimes when the nature has, say, brought the whole economy to a stop, the whole world to a stop, we do realise the existence of these bigger forces.
But sometimes, most of the times, we don’t realise it. So, we could say that there is the Daivi Sampada and Asuri Sampada, a divine nature, demoniac nature. So, both of these, they represent forces far bigger than us.
So, Maya is far bigger than us, that is the dark side we could say, and Krishna is also far bigger than us. And we are in between. So, if something starts drawing us toward the dark side, it’s going to be very difficult to resist ourselves.
So, rather than trying to fight it, try to find something that draws us toward the light, that draws us toward Krishna, that draws us toward the good, and cultivate that, nourish that, treasure that, and let that fight with whatever drives us to the dark side. It’s very, trying to fight with our unhealthy attractions is like trying to fight weaponless with a well-armed warrior. It’s almost impossible.
We’ll try to fight, but we’ll be slaughtered, we’ll be wounded, if not slaughtered. So, it’s better that, try to find out a healthy attraction and let that healthy attraction fight against the unhealthy attraction. That means, make some solid commitments about whatever is our healthy attraction.
Instead of saying, you know, I won’t spend time watching the political news. Make a plan, okay, I like to study Shastra, I like to memorise verses, I like to read some good books based on Shastra. So, make a plan, this much time I’m going to do this.
And if I do this, then after that I have some time I’ll do that. So, focus more on saying yes and having things to say yes to in your life, then on saying no and worrying about the things we have to say no to. Because when we are saying no, it’s like we are pitting ourselves against forces that may be far stronger than us.
But when we say yes to something higher, then we are accessing, we are, in fact, not just accessing but we are submitting ourselves to the forces that are auspicious, but they’re also stronger than us. So, then it becomes much easier to resist the pull of the dark side. Does it answer your question? Yes, Prabhu.
Thank you. Thank you so much. So, thank you very much for your participation and thank you Gaur Kumar Prabhu for this opportunity to be with all of you.
Many of you are doing very, are helping me in many different ways. So, I am grateful to Gaur Kumar Prabhu for his resourcefully engaging me in Bhakti Centre and engaging many of the devotees so that I can also assist in various ways. I can also do my services in various ways.
So, thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Thank you so much for your time, Prabhuji.
Hare Krishna. Hare Hare. Thank you so much, Prabhu.
Hare Krishna. Krishna Prabhupada ki Jai. Krishna Prabhupada ki Jai.
Jai Gaur Krimanand. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Thank you Gaur Sharma Prabhu for being here. Hari Bol.