How Krishna made the two lives of the gopis one – and how he can make our two lives one too

[Janmashtami Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Toronto, Canada]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Premanand Devi Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. So today on the sacred occasion of Janmashtami, I feel blessed to be here amongst all of you and I will speak today on how Krishna descends to make the two lives of the Gopis one and how he helps us to make our two lives one.
So I will take this in three broad parts. First part I will talk about the speciality of Krishna’s relationship with the Gopis, the Madhurya Parikya Bhav. And the second part I will talk about how that mood is relevant for us in today’s world, in our life as Sadhakas.
And then lastly, how Krishna unites with the Gopis and how we can also unite with Krishna. So this is one of the most seminal verses. It starts from the scene when a whole person comes.
So from this verse, Billu Mangal Thakur has got the inspiration to compose the Govinda Damodara Sotra. And that whole Govinda Damodara Sotra is a set of beautiful verses, all of them end with this chorus. Govinda Damodara Madhaveti.
So Billu Mangal Thakur there is envisioning how different devotees across time and space, in different universes, in different kalapas, when they faced distress, when they faced challenges, at that time they called out helplessly to Krishna. And that is modelled on this situation in Vrindavan. So what is happening over here? Krishna is leaving Vrindavan.
And the Gopis are afflicted, mortified, devastated at the prospect of Krishna’s departure. And they have done everything possible. They prayed to the Gods, please send some storms.
They prayed to the elements, please obstruct Krishna’s departure in some way. They begged to the Brajwasis, stop Krishna from going. And now finally when Krishna is about to depart, one of the most iconic scenes from Krishna Leela, from Krishna’s, especially Krishna’s Madhuri Leela, where the Gopis lay down in front of Krishna’s chariot, saying Krishna if you are going to go, go over our hearts and bodies.
We can’t live without you. So you are going to take away our life by departing, so take away our life physically also. So that, one of the most moving moments of Krishna’s Vraja Leela is about to unfold.
But before that, after the Gopis have tried everything else, then it is their situation, let me describe in this verse. They were immensely afflicted by the agony of imminent separation from Krishna. It was unbearable.
And then, they have been talking, what could we do? There is nothing we can do. Prajastriya Krishna Vishakta Manasaha. Asakta is attached.
Vishakta is very strongly attached. Vishesha, Rupena, Asakti. Very strong attachment they had to Krishna.
And who are they? Prajastriya. They are the ladies of Vrindavan. And then finally what they did? What have they done? Vishruja Lajja.
They put away there, the word Lajja can in one context mean shame, in another context it can mean shyness. So in this case, because it is a traditional society, there were no public displays of affection. So the Gopis, although they loved Krishna, their meetings with Krishna, their rendezvous with Krishna were in private.
Maybe in the forest of Vrindavan, when Krishna would perform Raasthila. Or when they had gone out, Krishna had gone out, they would meet each other. In public, in front of everyone, in front of their elders, they would not exhibit their affection to Krishna.
They were deferential to the culture at that time. But here they felt, if Krishna goes away, what is the point of our living? And therefore, Vishruja Lajja, the love which they had kept concealed because of social considerations, now they forgot the social considerations, and publicly proclaiming Krishna, their love for Krishna. How? Rurudus, Masooswaram.
Crying out loudly, although it is loud, Masooswaram means with melody, swara is melody. But it was not just with melody, it was with intensity. Effervently calling out to Krishna.
Oh Govinda, oh you, who are the lord of our senses. If you go, you are the giver of happiness. How will we live without you, oh Krishna? Oh Madhava, you are the lord of the goddess of fortune.
You bring fortune in everyone’s life. How can you subject us to this misfortune? Oh Damodara, you are bound by the love of your devotees. Are you spurning us? Are you abandoning us? Are you rejecting our love and going away? How can you leave us like this? They are fervently begging to Krishna.
And yet, Krishna departs. He departs, not rejecting their love, but acknowledging their love. He gets off his chariot, and he promises them, I will soon come back, I will soon come back.
And that promise is what keeps the life of the Vrajavasis going. Radha Rani in a beautiful prayer quoted in the Chaitanya Charita Amrit states, that, oh Krishna, when you left us and went away, you set our whole life on fire. The fire of separation constantly burnt our bodies, our hearts.
She says, my plight, oh Krishna, is like that of an animal who is caught in a cage, which is on fire. Now, normally, if an animal is in such a cage, it will try to break and run away. She says, Krishna, when you departed, you set this cage on fire.
But, by your promise that you will come back, you bolted the door of that cage. What does that mean? That because you will come back, without you, we can’t live, oh Krishna. But, oh Krishna, if you come back, we want to be there to serve you.
So, although the fire of separation from you is burning us, we cannot leave you. We cannot let go of our lives. We cannot cast aside our bodies.
So, we are in this body, we are living, but we are burning constantly. Now, why would Krishna do anything like this? Why would Krishna subject his devotees to such painful separation? There is an external reason, there is an internal reason. The external reason, of course, is that Krishna had come to the world to do multiple things.
One of them was, he had come to destroy the demoniac people. And, the demoniac were spread all over Bharat Varsha. And, Krishna didn’t want them to come and attack Vrindavan.
If you see, many demons came to Vrindavan, but most of those demons were like wizards, and the fighting between them and Krishna was very playful. There were no weapons used. But, when outside, real wars would take place, there would be weapons, there would be casualties, Krishna didn’t want Vrindavan to experience all that.
So, Krishna wanted to fulfil his mission. And, the beautiful setting of Vrindavan would be affected adversely, if there is brutal fighting. In Vrindavan, Krishna’s killing of the demons is also very playful, without much effort, without using any weapons.
Like a child playing games and breaking doors, Krishna brings down this terror from the demons. So, Krishna wanted to fulfil his purpose. That is one reason, but it is more of an external reason.
The inner reason was that Krishna wanted to heighten the love of the gopis. Krishna wanted their love to become more and more intense, because of the separation. In fact, for that separation itself to be intensified, the whole setting of Vrindavan is accordingly demonstrated.
That means, if you see, the gopis are with Krishna in the Parakheeras. Now, Parakheeras means that they are not newly wedded to Krishna. In fact, there are different kinds of gopis, but many of the gopis are wedded to someone else.
So, Radharani is wedded to a gopa named Abhimanyu. So, this is not Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu. This is entirely different.
This has the same name and he is a gopa, of course. Now, internally speaking, Abhimanyu is also an expansion of the shadow of Krishna. But the purpose of this is something very deep.
Love is best experienced and expressed when there is opposition. People can say to anyone else, I love you, I love you. The words are cheap.
But when difficulties come, at that time, love is tested. Basically, love is tested in two ways. What can you do for the beloved? And what can you give up for the beloved? This is what I am ready to do up for you.
And this is what I am ready to stop doing for you. So, now, when there is opposition, when there is something which is difficult to do, something either difficult to do as a loving offering, or something which is difficult to give up, at that time, that love becomes demonstrated. Every mother, every parent may say they love their child.
But then, if that child has some life-threatening disease, and then they may be ready to give up their own body part to save the life of that child. So, that is love. So, the idea that love can exist outside of sacrifice is a dangerous lie.
The idea that love, the very essence of love is sacrifice. That means we sacrifice our interests for interests of the person we love. And there can be many things which can be sacrificed.
One basic level we show is that if we give our time to someone, that is also a way of expressing affection. We give our money to someone. We give our wisdom or guidance or practical assistance to someone.
So, that is also expression of love. But Krishna, what is he doing? As I said, love is experienced and expressed more when there is opposition. So, an example could be if a baby elephant is growing.
Now, the elephant itself as it is growing, it may not know how strong it is. But suppose there is a she-elephant or there are some delicious fruits which are nearby. And this elephant is tied to a tree.
And in the childhood, the elephant had tried to break free from the tree and couldn’t break. But now it sees those fruits, wants to rush towards them. And then it starts rushing.
When the obstacles come, it is tied to the tree. I pull with all its strength and this big tall tree starts bending, starts toppling. Wow! Everybody is impressed.
Oh, this small baby elephant has so much strength. And sometimes the elephant itself might be surprised. Oh, I can do this.
I didn’t know. So, the strength is experienced internally and expressed externally when there is opposition. So, similarly the strength of the love is also expressed externally and experienced internally when there is opposition.
And that opposition which is set up for the gopis in Vrindavan is through the arrangement of the parakiyaras. Because the gopis and Krishna are not duly wedded husband and wife. So, they have to endeavour especially to meet.
They cannot meet very easily naturally. There are many obstacles that come. Now, this might seem immoral.
Gopis are married to someone else. How can they meet with Krishna? But actually there is immoral, there is moral and there is trans-moral. Trans-moral means it is above morality.
Because Krishna is all pure. And everything that he does is actually pure. But the point over here is, all of us when we want to come to God, live a pure life, we have to give up the bad.
We might have some bad habits which we have to give up. Giving up the bad is one sacrifice which needs to be done. But sometimes we may have to give up the good also for God.
And that is a bigger sacrifice. So, for a woman and especially for a woman in a traditional society, her chastity and not just her chastity, the reputation of her chastity, they are extremely important. And what the gopis demonstrate is that they are ready to sacrifice even that for Krishna’s sake.
When Krishna plays the flute and calls the gopis, at that time they just eat. The gopis are saying to Krishna in the Gopi Gita, Krishna will give up everyone for you. Our children, our partners, our husbands, our brothers, our parents, they all opposed us and we gave it all up to come to you.
Why? By the sound of your flute, we were so captivated. Now normally, if we want to appreciate music, say, somebody does a wonderful kirtan, and then they ask, how was the kirtan? We say, it was loud. Now loud is not a particular appreciation, is it? So, we say, melodious.
And especially if somebody is playing a flute, the flute sound is not loud. But for the gopis, when Krishna plays the flute, then that is the loudest sound in all of existence. They can’t hear anything else.
Just like your mother has a small baby, and the mother is doing some work in the kitchen, and maybe some phone call has come, somebody else is talking. But if in the other room she hears the baby, maybe a small whimper, a little cry, nobody else will hear it, but if the mother hears it, she will stop hearing everything else. Oh, what has happened to my baby? So, when there is love, even the smallest sound from the beloved is heard very loudly.
And when there is no love, when there is aversion, then even the loudest scream, nothing is heard. Because the whole filter has come over there. But the point is, for the gopis, when Krishna played the flute, they came toward Krishna because they were captivated.
It is said that Krishna’s flute sound, Krishna through his heart, when he played the flute, it was the love of his heart coming out through his lips, through the holes of the flute, moving across Vrindavan, and falling like a rope on the hearts of the gopis, and just stabbed them. They just had to come. And when they had to come, they had to reject everyone else in the family for that.
And that meant, in that kind of society, when the gopis would leave everything and come, whether they would be accepted back in their family afterwards, they didn’t know that. But, they were ready for it. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita in the conclusion, He says, give up everything for my sake.
It’s interesting, he uses the word sarva-dharman parityajya, that even dharma has to be given up for the para-dharma, for the supreme dharma of devotion to Krishna, of pure devotion. I was once at a Gita Jayanti programme, organised by some Hindus, and they had their children reciting the Gita verses. So they recited some of the verses and they came to this verse.
And all the kids recited, So is something wrong? Did you hear something wrong? So, then afterwards I asked the organisers, the verse is dharman parityajya, why did you recite adharman? So, he quoted some Gita commentator. He said, actually Krishna has come to establish dharma, so how can Krishna tell anyone to give up dharma? So, this commentator’s theory is that, long ago, when the Gita was being replicated, in the past there was no printing press, so people would hand write to transmit the scripture. So, there was a, what is called a, that when you write it from this copy to this copy, sometimes some word gets left out.
So, his theory was that, originally it is adharman parityajya, but somebody forgot the a. So, now we are putting the a back. So, actually, now this might seem to be a logical understanding, yeah, Krishna is coming to establish dharma, why will he tell us to give up dharma? But, it is not contextually appropriate. Because for Arjuna, there is no question of adharma.
It was, should I follow my Kshatriya dharma and fight against the aggressors, or should I follow my Kula dharma, which is, I should protect the people of my dynasty. So, there was a dharma, conflict of dharma. And, at that time, there is dharma sandram, conflict of dharma, and he didn’t know what to do.
So, Krishna told him, at that time, just forget about dharma, and focus on the purpose of dharma, that is to serve you. And then, do that which will help you to serve you. So, this is the example, this was Sarva Dharma, which is indicative of what? That even the good may have to be given up for the best.
So, the gopis, for them to be dutiful wives, that is good. It is important for the maintenance of society, that there will be matrimonial integrity. But, for the best, even the good can be given up.
And this parakheera, without the parakeeras, the level of the love of the gopis, where they are ready to give up even that which is the most treasured for a woman, that would not have been demonstrated. So, the setting of the parakeeras is done primarily to demonstrate the love of the gopis for Krishna to the whole world. At the same time, the Bhagavatam, at one level, it inspires us to transcend Dharma, but at another level, it does not encourage rejection of Dharma.
So, that is why, at one level, it is said by the arrangement of the Yoga Maya, that although the family members of Krishna saw, the gopis saw the gopis running toward Krishna, but then, when after the Rastila Krishna, the gopis came back, it is said in the Bhagavatam, that their husbands and family members did not hold it against them. Because what had happened? Yoga Maya had arranged the expansions of those gopis to be there, so that they all felt that the gopis could not go. They wanted to go, but they could not go.
So, Yoga Maya arranged everything. Yoga Maya arranged their memory to be obscured, and these gopis, and these expansions to be manifested, so that, at one level, Dharma is to be preserved, at another level, Dharma is to be transcended. So, the Parakiras demonstrates the extent of the sacrificing spirit of the gopis.
Now, if we don’t have this understanding that the gopis are exalted devotees, Krishna is God, then we will mistake the trans-moral to be immoral. But, the gopis are exalted devotees. In fact, many of them are great sages.
Many of them are very, very evolved souls. Some of them, of course, are eternal associates of Krishna. But, interestingly, in this same verse, further, the gopis are saying, Krishna, we left everything to come to you.
And then, what have you done? Kastya Janashi. How can you abandon us and go away? And that too, at night. The gopis have come to Krishna at night and Krishna, in the Raas Neela, suddenly disappeared.
So, Kastya Janashi. Even an ordinary man would not leave a woman alone at night. What to speak of somebody who is supposed to be a Kshatriya, who is a protector of others? And that too, in the middle of a forest? How can you do this, Krishna, to us? Kastya Janashi.
So, actually, Krishna, he works in many different ways to increase the love of the devotees for us. For him. So, at one level, as I said, love means what we are ready to give up for Krishna and what we are ready to do for Krishna.
So, the gopis are ready to give up the world for Krishna. But when they come to Krishna, and Krishna gives them up. Now, at that time, there is every reason to reject Krishna.
Krishna, we did so much for you, and you are abandoning us. But, the gopis don’t do that. Vishwapitama says in the Dharmashastra that, in his Mahabharata, he says that, how do you know that love is real, love is deep? He says, when there is every reason for that loving bond to be broken, and it doesn’t break, that is extremely deep love.
That is the supreme love. So, normally, if somebody with whom we have a loving relationship, if they rebuff us, they reject us, they insult us, they do so many things to us, and we feel like, if you are doing like this, why should I continue? But, it is one thing, to what are we ready to give up for the beloved? But, if the beloved doesn’t reciprocate, in fact, the beloved seems to do the opposite of reciprocating. Instead of reciprocating, Krishna is rejecting them and going away.
And still, they maintain their love for Krishna. That means, this love is so great, that they love Krishna, not only because of Krishna, but they love Krishna in spite of Krishna. That means, that Krishna, even if you don’t reciprocate with me, still, I love you.
And this is the mood of the last verse of the Shiksha Ashtakam. आश्विष्यवा पातरतां पिनश्टमां आधरिष्यलां मर्महतां करोत्वा यथात खावा विदधात लंपटो मत्प्राणनातस् तुसेव नापरपा You and you alone, O Krishna, are my pranamat. In the Gaudiya talking, this is Krishna, exactly Chaitanya Mahaprabhu speaking in the mood of Radha Rani.
He says, You embrace me with love or you trample over me and just go away. And it’s one thing if we love someone and they don’t reciprocate. That’s bad enough.
But if they leave us and go to someone else, that is even worse. So, lack of reciprocation is bad, rejection is worse, but replacement seems to be unbearable. But what the Gopis are saying, मर महतां करो तुआ Even if you are a lampada, you leave me and go away to someone else.
Still, मत्प्राणनातस् तुसेव नापरपा There is no one who is my lord except you. This, the whole setting of Vrindavan is meant to demonstrate the unconditional nature of the Gopis’ love for Krishna. That Krishna, even if we have to lose everything for you and then apparently we lose you also.
It’s one thing to lose everything for the object of love, but then to lose the object of love and then still to maintain love, that is an unparalleled, unprecedented, unimaginable level of love. And that is the love of the Gopis for Krishna. And to demonstrate this love, this zenith, you cannot imagine love higher than this.
That is to demonstrate that to the world. Krishna leaves Vrindavan and goes away. Krishna leaves Vrindavan and goes away.
So that the world can know how utterly selfless and unconditional the Gopis’ love for him is. So this was the first part about the love of the Gopis. The second and third will be shorter, hopefully.
But in the second part, primarily I talk about what does this mean for all of us. A oversimplified way of looking at it is oh, all of us are just too exalted. There are multiple different ways of looking at it.
This is too exalted. We should not even think about it. We can’t understand it.
Yes, it’s true. We can’t trespass into it. But this is what we aspire for.
So we need to try to understand it. Some people who are just critical, they may say this is immoral and just trying to rationalise it all. No.
If we see who are the people discussing this, if it is simply immoral, then why would Parikshit Maharaj who has given up his kingdom and Shukadeva Goswami who had never had any attachment to anything material, why would they be discussing something immoral, something merely sensuous at all? This is trans-moral. But the point is, it is also relevant for all of us in a different way. See, after Krishna left Vrindavan, the Gopis, and even when Krishna was in Vrindavan, the Gopis almost had two lives.
They had their lives according to their roles in Vrindavan. They were members of a particular family and they had their responsibilities over there. And in their hearts, they had their life with Krishna.
And whenever they got an opportunity, they would use that opportunity to be with Krishna. So, of course, the Gopis’ level of love is very high. But we all, when we are practising bhakti in the material world, we also have two lives.
We have our material life, we have a family, we have a profession, we have our social obligations. And even if we are devoted to Krishna, even if somebody is renounced, still they have to also function in the world practically. And internally, we would just love to be with Krishna.
We would just love to be practising bhakti constantly and not do anything else. But we have these two lives. We have the outer life according to our roles in this world.
And we want the inner life where we are absorbed in love for Krishna. In fact, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu uses this very metaphor in the Chaitanya-Jaya-Vitamrit, when he talks about how, say for example, Rupin Sanatana Goswami or Avinadas Goswami, when they wanted to renounce the world, and they say, we are entangled over here. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, use the same example of the situation of the Gopis.
So, just as if a woman has a relationship with some man other than her wife, she will be very diligent in her own duties, so that nobody will suspect. But, in her heart, she will be thinking of her lover. And whenever she gets an opportunity, she will be there.
Now, we might say that, actually, to talk about bhakti and love for Krishna, why would such a scandalous kind of example be given? Obviously, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was so renounced that there was no immorality within him. And he is definitely not recommending immorality. But the principle over there is to be understood.
It’s a provocative example, but the whole mood of Vrindavan is modelled on this example. Or this example is modelled on that mood of Vrindavan. The Gopis.
So, what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is telling Rupin Sanatana Goswami is that, you have your life. They were ministers at that time in a government that was quite aggressively anti-Dharmic. Nawab Hussain Shah was one of the most tyrannical Muslim rulers in India.
And yet, they were there playing their roles, living accordingly. But, what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is telling them is, do your roles and do them well. But, in your heart, stay devoted to Krishna.
So, what the Gopis have to do that we also, in many ways, have to do. Now, we, the Gopis, had their external roles which they had to perform. So, we also have to do our roles.
But, in our hearts, we want to be connected with Krishna. We want to be absorbed with Krishna. Of course, the Gopis naturally had love for Krishna, so they could do it easily.
For us, we have to conscientiously cultivate that love. That’s why we have Sadhana Bhakti. That’s why we have festivals like Janmashtami, where we put aside everything else and focus directly on Krishna.
So that, by such occasions, when we hear about Krishna, when we behold the beautiful darshan of Krishna, when we sing about Krishna, our Bhakti Lata means gets nourished. That, our love for Krishna becomes strengthened. The Bhakti tradition explains that love and separation have a very dynamic relationship between them.
So, we could say that is the relationship of forest and wind. Separation does to love what the wind does to fire. I was a few months ago in California and there was one of the worst forest fires that had broken out over there.
There was a place, very scenic, beautiful retirement place called Paradise. And, it was practically burned down. So, Paradise, they were saying, turned into hell over there because of that fire.
So, when this one of, there is a, so one of the persons who was involved over there in the firefighting operations, he was saying that at that time, the worst thing that can happen when there is a fire is wind comes. The wind will spread the fire. So, separation does to love what wind does to fire.
That, just as wind spreads the fire, separation intensifies the love. When the gopis are separated from Krishna, they are constantly thinking about Krishna. Similarly, for all of us, we may want to read about Krishna, hear about Krishna, but we have so many other things to do because if we can’t hear and read about Krishna, we can’t come to the temple, we can’t do so much Seva.
But if we are longing to do that, if that longing is strong, that longing will purify us. So, this principle, for the gopis, they don’t have to be purified. It is rather, their love is to be glorified by Krishna and the setting is created for that.
But this Krishna appearing and disappearing, leaving for a long time, this dynamic is there at the Siddha level for the gopis and it is also at the Sadhaka level as demonstrated in the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam for Narada Muni. Narada Muni, when he is Narada boy in his previous life, he performs meditation and he sees the Lord appear over there and he is delighted. Every one of his senses is enlivened by seeing the Lord.
And as he is meditating, suddenly, the Lord disappears. It’s like, say, after a whole day of fasting today, maybe at night we have a delicious feast and we are savouring the feast. Maybe some delicious sweet is there, maybe shrikhand or whatever and we are eating it.
And we close our eyes to savour it. And then we put our hand down and there is nothing there. We look, the plate has disappeared.
Hey, what happened? Where did my plate go? We were desperately hungry and the food disappears. It will be wild. So, Narada Muni is like that.
He is relishing the Lord’s presence with all his senses, with his whole heart. And suddenly the Lord disappears. He frantically searches around.
He frantically sits down and tries to meditate. But, he can’t get the Lord to appear again. And then the Lord says, You are not yet pure enough.
He says, Because you are incomplete in service and impure at heart, right now, the Lord actually says very sweetly, I regret that you won’t be able to see me again. But he says, I gave you this glimpse so that it will create a longing for me within you. And that longing for me will drive out all cravings for the world from your heart.
So, when we come to festivals like this, we want to immerse our consciousness as much as possible in Krishna. And that immersion of our consciousness will create longings for him. And when this longing is there, the longing for Krishna will cause all our worldly cravings to get dissipated.
So, separation does to love what? Wind does to fire. So, we all, because of the two lives that we have, because we can’t always be with Krishna, we have to do so many other things. But when we are with Krishna, if we cultivate an intense absorption in Krishna, then that longing will gradually purify us of all cravings.
Now, of course, we cannot simply say that, Oh, I want to long to come to the temple. So, I’ll not come to the temple. Then my longing will increase.
No, that won’t work. In the same dynamic, separation does to love what wind does to fire. Now, if the fire is big, the wind will spread it.
But if the fire is a small candle, if the wind comes, it will extinguish it. So, we can’t presume our love for Krishna is like a forest fire. Is it? Our love for Krishna may well be like a candle.
And that’s why we need to regularly come in association. So, we all have to find out what is the optimal balance. If we are constantly with devotees, constantly doing services, then we start taking it for granted.
So, some separation is helpful. But too much separation means we’ll just get caught in the world. And we’ll forget Krishna.
So, it’ll become like the wind of separation will extinguish the fire of, the candle flame of our devotion. So, basically, the two lives of the gopis mirror the two lives that we need to live in this world. Of course, the level of consciousness is very different.
The gopis are spontaneously absorbed in Krishna. We need to conscientiously cultivate absorption in Krishna. But, there’s a mirroring effect over there.
And whenever we are unable to be with Krishna, if we can cultivate that longing, that longing will purify us. That is the second part of how this all relates with us. The last part will be how Krishna made the two lives of the gopis one.
And how you can do it for us also. So, Gopal Chapu is a beautiful book. It’s a literary masterpiece written by Jiva Goswami.
And therein, he, it’s an amazing book of, there is artistry, there is scholarship, there is bhava, devotion. It’s all combined together. So, Chapu is a particular form of literature in which normally, if you consider literature, there are two forms.
There is prose and poetry. So, Chapu is a particular form of literature where prose and poetry are combined together. And it’s not just a random combination.
Whenever I think, I’ll compose words. Whenever I like, I’ll compose text. No, there are rules for that.
So, that’s why if you read the Gopal Chapu, you read the verses, there will be two numbers. One is the number according to the prose and another is the number according to the poetry. So, in Gopal Chapu, Jiva Goswami draws from various scriptures to demonstrate, to explain how the Gopis are reunited with Krishna.
How Krishna honours his promise to come back to Vrindavan. So, he describes that when Krishna comes, there is a demon, Shishupal, and there is another demon who is Jaya and Vijaya manifested in this world. And Krishnala, who is the other demon? Dantavakra, yes.
Now, when Krishna has to kill Dantavakra, actually he comes to the area of Mathura. Because that’s where, in that area where Dantavakra is wreaking havoc. And Krishna kills him.
And after Krishna kills him, Jiva Goswami describes, Krishna, we have come so close to Vrindavan now. Let me go back. And then, he puts down his weapons in the Jamuna.
And he comes out after bathing. Actually, it is after this the Kurukshetra war takes place. So, at that time, when Krishna comes back to Vrindavan, Krishna says, now I have completed my mission, the demons I have killed.
Now, I will not lift up any weapons again. And that is another reason why in the Kurukshetra war, Krishna does not lift any weapons. Because he has returned to Vrindavan.
So, he comes back to Vrindavan and the Vrajvasis are delighted to have Krishna back. And Krishna has come in a magnificent chariot. After all, he is a Yadu.
He is the Dwarka, not the official king of Dwarka. But he is the most powerful person in Dwarka. He is royalty.
And at that time, when the Vrajvasis, they are delighted to see Krishna there. And then, still Nanda Maharaj and Yashoda will be talking with Krishna. And they are repeatedly looking at the chariot.
Why? Because many decades ago, it was a chariot that came and took away their heart and life. Akroor yaane It was in the chariot of Akroor that Krishna went away. So, as long as that chariot is still there, the Vrajvasis are thinking, Krishna may go away at any moment.
And Krishna assures them, actually this chariot will never go away. This chariot is here to serve your wishes, not to shatter your hearts. And then the Vrajvasis, Nanda Maharaj and Yashoda say, Krishna, if you are here for real, then don’t just stay over here, settle down over here.
Settle down means? He says, get married to the Gopis. And Krishna agrees. Now, there are some Gopis, it is interesting that, many of you know that the Gopis performed a vrata to Katyayani.
Now, it is interesting, in those, Anandana Chempu and Gopal Chempu, Kavi Karnapura and Jigoswami, they say, that among the Gopis who performed that vrata, Radharani was not there. Those were, they had prayed to Katyayani and they waited. So, all along, despite all their family’s persuasions, wishings, they had remained unmarried, waiting for Krishna to come back.
And so, because these Gopis were unmarried, so, the Vrajvasis decided to form, to have Krishna married to those Gopis. At that time, there was polygamy and Krishna, of course, is the lord of everyone, so he can maintain everyone. But then, there is Pauranamasi.
Pauranamasi is the grandmother of Madhumangal. Madhumangal is a Brahmana and he is like a, you could say, like, humorist in Krishna Leela. He does very funny things.
Pauranamasi is very wise. And Pauranamasi, she comes to know, and she is the, practically, the only old, old, old person in the world. But she is not old in the sense of weak, she is the old in the sense of wise.
And the Vrajvasis, they have their Brahmanas whom they consult. But Pauranamasi is like their own Brahmin. Isn’t it? She is from their community, almost.
She is a Brahmin, but she is very close to the Vrajvasis. So, if Pauranamasi comes to know that, oh, Krishna is getting married, it seems almost when people come to a particular age, you know, maybe 45, 50, 55, I have seen in every community, it seems the elders start getting caught in matchmaking. Isn’t it? Okay, this person, this person, this person, this person.
So, it’s, their own match is over now, but they are doing some other matches. So, now, as soon as Pauranamasi comes to know that, okay, Krishna is going to get married, she comes immediately and they are all very happy to see her. And she says, who is Krishna marrying? Pauranamasi.
And they tell the list of all the gopis. And Pauranamasi looks at them very str… Where is Radha? Nobody loves Krishna like Radha. Now, Pauranamasi is older to her, so she doesn’t use the word Radharani.
She just uses the word Radha. So, where is the Radha over here? And, the Vrajvasi is Jandamana Vishuddha. She says, it would have been a dream come true if Radha would marry Krishna.
But, how can it happen? Radha is already married. But, you also know that. So, the very fact that you are asking this question means you have something in mind.
What do you have in mind? That hope which we had long ago abandoned as impossible, your words have triggered a spark of that hope. Please tell us, what do you have in mind? So, Pauranamasi says, I will take care of everything. If Krishna is to be married, he must be married to Radha.
He must be married to the Gopis who love him the most. And she says, call everybody of Vrindavan in the main assembly of Vrindavan. We will have a grand assembly for everyone to come.
And when they hear this news, that evening, everybody comes over there. And everybody is there at that time. The people, many of them, what happens? Generally, in this kind of assembly, primarily the men come first.
Maybe something is to be discussed. And the women come gradually. So, the men, the elders in the family have come.
And now, the Gopis, who are Krishna’s Gopis, who are like wedded wives in their houses. So, those Gopis are at home. They are young.
They are not involved so much in the social affairs. It’s older people who are involved in the overall social affairs. So, they are at home.
And everybody is assembled. The Pauranamasi signals with her hand. And right behind her, all the Gopis appear over there.
And everybody is stunned. She knows all these Gopis are in our homes. What are they doing over here? So, they are puzzled.
And she then puzzles Pauranamasi and says, Go back and see if the Gopis are there in your homes. They run back to their homes. And they see all those Gopis are there.
They say, what’s going on? Did you run back faster and come over here first? Oh, this is something strange going on. So, they were about to come back but they decide, you come with us now. Now, this has happened earlier with Brahma also.
Now, Brahma, he had taken away all the Gopis and he had put them to sleep. And then he saw all the Gopis are still here. But because he had put them to sleep, he couldn’t wake them up immediately.
So, he was going there and coming back. He couldn’t get the Gopas to meet these Gopas. But here, the Brajwasi said, let’s get the Gopis.
And then they got the Gopis. And when they got the Gopis, all the Gopis came over there and right in front of everyone, they saw that there are two Gopis. There is one Radha here, one Radha here.
One Lalita here, whom Pauranamasi has produced, Pauranamasi has manifested. She has revealed her presence. And there is one Lalita over here.
One Vishaka here, one Vishaka over here. One Champaklata here, one Champaklata there. One Tungavidya here, one Tungavidya there.
One Sudevi here, one Sudevi there. One Rangadevi here, one Rangadevi there. They are stunned, they are wonderstruck.
They said, what is going on? Pauranamasi then smiles and she says that, O Brajwasis, I have I made this arrangement. I made this arrangement that Krishna’s gopis are meant only for Krishna. And when the time of their marriage came up and Krishna was not there, so I arranged for all of them to be expanded.
So, it was their expansions which married the other men. The the gopis originally are pure and untouched. And here, Yuga Swami draws back he says, what was done in Ram Leela is done in a much more like expanded way in Krishna Leela.
In Ram Leela, it is said, at one level, Ravan abducted Sita. But at another level, Sita was safe with Agni Dev. And it was her expansion.
It’s called Maya Sita or Chhaya Sita. That the illusory Sita, the shadow of Sita, that went with Ravan. So in that sense, Ravan, the real Sita, never touched, was never touched by Ravan.
And if we understand that these are actually the gopis who were married to all the Vrajavasis, they were actually not the gopis of Krishna, they were the expansions of the gopis. Chhaya means shadow. And we see this, now Abhimanyu, as I said, who is he? He is an expansion of the shadow of Krishna.
So these are also expansions, shadows. So, it was what was required to be done for the purpose of the expansion of the Leela. That was done.
For the progress of the Leela, the gopis were married to Krishna. But if not the gopis, the expansions of the gopis were done. And the real gopis were untouched by anyone else.
And when Padamasi revealed this, Nanda Maharaj, Yashodanai became jubilant. They said, now Radha can marry Krishna. Now Radha can be united with Krishna once again.
Not once again, once. They’ll be united forever. And everybody became jubilant.
And thus, Krishna then eventually there’s an elaborate description of Gopalachampu of how Radha and Krishna got married to each other. And then that same chariot, after the whole marriage, after they performed wonderful Leelas, that same chariot, it came out of Vrindavan. And when it came to Jamuna, that chariot expanded into two.
One chariot went by the Jamuna to the spiritual world. And all the Brajwasis had ascended into that chariot. And they all went to the spiritual world with Krishna.
And that chariot, another expansion of that chariot crossed the Jamuna. And that was the expansion of Krishna on that chariot who came back and continued his Leela on the earth. Went back and became a Dwarkavasi.
But the point of this is that Krishna did honour his word. Those who had given up everything for Krishna, Krishna did not give them up permanently. Krishna gave them up long enough so that their love would manifest, would blaze forth much more and be manifest for the whole world to know.
But Krishna fulfilled their love. And same applies for all of us. We have these two lives.
We have the life in the world and we have the life beyond the world. As it is said, we are in the world but not of the world. So now, we do go on with our lives in the world and we do it as well as we can but our heart is with Krishna.
And, when the right time will come, Krishna will arrange for us to be fully reunited with him. Then, if by practising bhakti in the world, in a mood of service to Krishna, if we can make our love for Krishna more than our love for the world, to be pure devotees means that we have no love other than Krishna. To become pure devotees may take a long, long time.
But if at least we become serious enough devotees that our love for Krishna is more than our love for the world, then we will be, at the time of our death, Krishna will take us out of the world. If we love the world more than him, Krishna will, even against his will, have to get us back to the world. Say, if we love cricket more than Krishna, we go to the spiritual world and they will ask over there, Gopal, what is the cricket school? That will not work.
If we are to be with Krishna eternally and with those who love Krishna, if we don’t love Krishna, we’ll be out of place over there. So our love for Krishna has to become more than our love for the world. If that happens, then, and then we’ll be united.
See, more and more people fear death, because death means you go, get up, go away from your family members, go away from your loved ones. The dead body goes away from the home to the crematorium. For devotees, at the time of death, devotees don’t leave their home.
Devotees go to their home. We have a home in this world, but this is a transitional home based on our roots. It’s important and we do it in a, we do our responsibility in this world in a mode of service.
But, all our lives, in a sense, we are cultivating separation from Krishna. And through that separation, there is intensification of our affection. And at the time of death, if our affection is strong enough, then the body will perish, but the soul will zoom up to be united with Krishna.
Just as the gopis were united with Krishna and the chariot took them all to the spiritual world where they were forever with Him. Similarly, we will all be taken by Krishna to His eternal abode. So in Janmashtami, on the sacred occasion when Krishna appeared thousands of years ago in this world, we can pray that that same Lord appear in our hearts and become manifest more and more and attract our heart more and more so that our devotion for Him increases.
And one day, we become absorbed in Him and dance. So I’ll quickly summarise what I spoke and then we can end the class. I spoke on the theme of how Krishna makes our two lives one by discussing how Krishna made the two lives of the gopis one.
So the parakheeras is the setting in Vrindavan which is created to demonstrate the extent of the gopis’ love for Krishna. But in Vrindavan, normally we have to give up the good to get God. We have to give the bad to come to God.
But sometimes we may have to even give up the good. So the gopis are ready to give up their family members. And not just the family members, even their reputation of chastity.
That is the most precious. They are ready to give that up for Krishna. So it’s like an elephant.
How strong it is when it’s pursuing some food or eatables, that is seen by that opposition. So the opposition in Vrajameela demonstrates the magnitude of the love of the gopis for Krishna. Normally love is shown by what we are able to do, ready to do for someone and what we are ready to give up for that person.
The gopis give up everything of the world for Krishna including their reputation and dharma, apparent reputation about dharma. But then even after that Krishna gives them up and goes away. But still, mat-prana-natas, the gopis’ love is so great, that even when there is no reciprocation apparently from Krishna, they continue to love.
There is a zenith of love, which the gopis demonstrate. And Krishna, this whole setting, there is an external reason why he leaves Vrindavan and goes away, that is to destroy those who are destroying dharma. But the internal reason is to intensify the love of the gopis for him and to demonstrate that love for everyone.
So separation does to wind, separation does to love what wind does to fire. And then I talked about how all this applies to us. We also have to live two lives that the gopis were living.
One is their social roles in Vrindavan and the other is their spiritual devotion to Krishna. So we have our professional family, social lives, but we also have a spiritual life. So if the time when we cannot be directly with Krishna, at that time we can cultivate longing for Krishna.
Then that longing will gradually cleanse us of our worldly cravings. But for that longing to be present, we need to be intensely present when we are present with Krishna. Taking an impression of Krishna so that our spiritual attraction towards him is kindled.
If our love is like a candle in the window then our spiritual separation will extinguish it. But if we perceive our bhakti diligently then we will, by that practise of bhakti, be able to become free from our worldly cravings and Krishna by his plan will link our lives together. So, it says Krishna came back to Vrindavan and married the gopis.
So their inner and outer lives which were separate, they became one. And I discussed this in the past with Gopal Champu how the Balramasi demonstrated that there were two sets of gopis and Krishna’s gopis were never touched by anyone just as the real Sita was never touched by anyone. So, if we practise bhakti similarly diligently then at the time of death it will be revealed that actually we were not touched by the world.
That the world’s hold will not be there on us and we will attain Krishna For devotees if by the time of death our love for Krishna becomes greater than our love for the world then at death we won’t leave home but we will go home. And Janmashtami is a time when we can pray to Krishna that he manifests himself and all attractiveness in our hearts by which we can become attracted to him and one day we can attain him. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Is there any time for questions? Does anyone have any questions? Hare Krishna Prabhu. Thank you so much for the class.
So Prabhu earlier in this question you mentioned about the Ashish Shiva Padartha verse. So that mood can be maintained while serving the devotees? Okay. Can the Ashish Shiva Padartha mood be maintained while serving devotees? It depends.
That means that it depends on what is the nature of that devotee. What is the nature of our relationship with that devotee. Nobody can be a substitute for Krishna.
And Krishna is all attractive. By Krishna’s grace devotees can also be extraordinarily attractive. But we have to make sure that we are not artificial.
See, there is a difference between being disciplined and being artificial. Disciplined means that we don’t feel particularly right now but we act as a matter of discipline. But artificial means that in discipline there is a desire for that kind of feeling.
But it is not there. I want to chant. Please don’t feel it.
But artificial means externally I am smiling and I am offering obeisances and I am bowing my head. Internally I am cursing someone. I am a devotee.
we engage with some devotees some things go wrong and the relationship gets not so good. Can you say that whatever happens I will continue serving you? Well, if we can do it with a genuine heart that is good. But if we make that as a demand from our heart so that we can practise bhakti, that is not healthy.
Because sometimes what happens is we have a vertical relationship with Krishna. We have a horizontal relationship with devotees. Now of course devotees also Krishna relates to us through his devotees also.
But sometimes one person can occupy our mind so much that there is no space for Krishna left over there. So if we have a better interaction with someone, some devotee, then the negativity, the resentment, the anger, all that is consuming our mind so much that we can’t even think of Krishna. So then better keep a distance from that negativity and then serve Krishna.
But definitely we want to serve devotees and if we can serve in this mood of service attitude, where we can try to approach toward that unconditional service attitude, that’s wonderful. But if we can’t, we shouldn’t see that as a serious failure in our devotion to find whichever way we can serve and can move on. So that means we consider that I am here, Krishna is here and Krishna’s love comes to me through various devotees.
If it is coming through one particular devotee, I can gratefully reciprocate. But sometimes situations change and maybe that love is no longer coming through that devotee. Then another good thing, I still have to reciprocate.
We should be respectful. If somebody has done something for us, we are always respectful and grateful. But if that reciprocation is not happening that way, we see from where is the reciprocation happening right now and we connect with Krishna through that channel.
Thank you. Any other questions? Yes, ma’am. Yeah.
So if the external situation is such that our internal longing for Krishna gets decreased by that, that’s why we need association, understanding association. Basically, like-minded association is extremely important. Bhaktivinoda Thakur says, Ropa Goswami also says, Bhaktivinoda Ramachandra says though.
And like-minded association basically means that we need some devotees who understand our mind and who help us to understand our mind. Who understand our mind and who help us to understand our mind. Say, if we are going through a particular relationship issue, and then if somebody who has never been to that kind of issue, say, somebody has come from a very trouble upbringing, and somebody has come from a very wonderful upbringing, they don’t even understand the kind of baggage we are carrying.
Then they don’t understand our mind and say, why are you so insecure, why are you so sentimental, why are you this, why are you that? Just have faith in Krishna. Now, have faith in Krishna is wonderful advice, but it’s very frustrating and disheartening for a devotee when they come with a practical problem and they are given a philosophical solution. Now, practical problems also require practical understanding and practical suggestions.
So, we need to find in the devotee association those who can understand our mind. And then, that is, okay, you are feeling like this, this is Maya, no, no, that is no use speaking like that, okay, I am feeling like this, this is how, this is how I am feeling, I cannot stop my feelings, I cannot suppress my feelings, I want to process them, it’s like feelings are, it’s like if somebody says, I am feeling very cold, it’s not cold, stop feeling cold, what do you mean stop feeling cold, I am feeling cold, it’s not a voluntary choice. So, sometimes the situations that come in our life might affect us in some way and they may not affect somebody else in the same way and they say why I am getting so troubled by this, but we are who we are, so we need some association that understands our mind, but not just that, they are, if they have gone through something similar, they can also, they not only understand our mind but they help us to understand our mind, that means yeah, this is a valid reaction, but this is overreaction, see what happens in every situation, there is a emotion that arises from the situation and there is a emotion that arises from the imagination that comes from the situation and the imagination that comes from the recollection that are triggered in us from the impression that are there already in us.
So, now the situation has to be dealt with practically and the imagination has to be managed so that we don’t get carried away by it. So, what is the reality, if somebody understands then they can help you, but what is the mind’s exaggeration, imagination, if they understand that they will help us understand, you know this is your mind trying to trick you here. So, if all our emotion is said like the trick of the mind then that is we will feel completely un-understood, but if all our emotion is considered as if it is genuine, then we will get swept away by our mind.
So, that is why we need association that helps us that understands our mind so that our emotions are acknowledged and then helps us understand our mind. So, that we won’t get swept away by our emotions and if you have that kind of understanding association then yes, certain times the same level of the practise of bhakti that we are having at normal times might be difficult. So, it is like if you are going on the road driving, so if the road is a lot of traffic we may have to go slow, when the traffic clears the traffic in our material life becomes very heavy and that time we cannot practise bhakti so much.
So, we shouldn’t reduce bhakti only to the successful performance of certain standards. Bhakti is also a matter of consciousness. I have a whole class on this topic that if we can’t succeed in Krishna consciousness, we can fail in Krishna consciousness, not fail out of Krishna consciousness.
If we can’t succeed in Krishna consciousness means, oh I have decided I will come for satsang programme, I will do this seva, I will do this much sadhana, this, this, this and it is good to have those goals and good to stick to those goals but sometimes if we can’t succeed in that, that doesn’t mean our Krishna consciousness is a failure. So, the fail out of Krishna consciousness means because I am not able to do this, this, this, this, so let me give up Krishna consciousness, it is not practical for me, I am too fallen or this is too lofty or whatever but to fail in Krishna consciousness means Krishna, I still want to serve you, I still want to be your devotee but this situation, this conditioning is obstructing me, so I am a fallen soul but still I want to serve you and I will do what I can in this situation. So, that way we won’t, we won’t let our situations completely take us away from our Krishna consciousness.
We may have to adjust certain things but that is okay, that’s just what life is. There is the Leela Amrit, it is described that when Prabhupada was in Allahabad, he, Prabhupada in his previous life was a pharmacist and there was a dispensary, so there was a doctor who would give the prescription and Prabhupada would actually fill the prescription and give the medication. So, there is an interview of this doctor and he says, it is clear that Abhaibabu, Prabhupada was not Abhaibabu at that time, so Abhaibabu was a deeply religious person but at that time the main question in his mind was, how can I earn more money? Prabhupada had daughters to be married, one of his sons was very sick, he had family obligations and he was concerned.
When the Gaudiya Math devotees at that time thought, why doesn’t he move into the temple? Why is he staying attached to householder? Prabhupada was not attached, Prabhupada was responsive, Prabhupada was committed. So, if we have devotees who understand, so for Prabhupada, his spiritual master understood, he says, don’t force him, he will do everything in his own way, so Prabhupada had that understanding from his spiritual master. So, when we are going through particular situations, we need to have some devotees who understand us and who help us understand our mind, then we can go through those situations as appropriate.
So, our purpose always remains the same, but our pace may vary. If we equate bhakti with a particular pace, not just a particular purpose, then we start feeling that bhakti can’t be practised, if I have to go, I have to go at this speed only. No, sometimes you cannot go at that speed, but still you keep going in that direction.
So, bhakti is both, bhakti is not just about the pace, it is primarily about the purpose, and the pace can be varied according to the situation. Great, Krishna. Yes, Rumi.
So, I was just thinking, we see our external, and those external assets, when it’s, maybe those external responsibilities are, how we can put balance, Yeah, that’s set up. Then the external becomes, we can justify, Yeah. And then that can also allow us to, So, how can we ensure that our external doesn’t overlap with our well-being so much? Because external also may be doing as a service to Krishna, but then it can, it can be internally not nourished at all.
How do we balance the two? What criteria can we have? It’s difficult to have a universal criteria, because each one of us has a particular psychophysical nature, a particular situation. But broadly speaking, if you understand that bhakti is multi-level, we see Krishna talks about his multi-level bhakti from 12.08 to 12.12. 12.08 is, Just be spontaneously absorbed with me, with your mind and intelligence, and Krishna doesn’t say, you will attain me, you are already living in me, Krishna says, if you do that. Then 12.09 says, if you can’t do that, then if there is no spontaneous absorption in me, then seek conscientious absorption.
So our practise of sadhana bhakti, coming to temple, doing our japa, doing our puja, doing our swadhyaya, that is all conscientious absorption in Krishna. He says, if you can’t do that, then there is, he says, Krishna says, work for me. Krishna goes on, I don’t want to elaborate too much, but the point is, if, just remember me spontaneously, remember me conscientiously, work for me, or work for some good cause.
Now within work for me also, there can be two ways, work for me can be direct, we come to temple and do some seva for Krishna, or we work for our purpose, our job, but then our hope and our life is devoted to Krishna, it’s also indirectly working for Krishna, according to our nature. But Krishna also includes, work for some selfless cause, work for some cause beyond yourself. And Krishna says, by all these, you will come to me.
Now of course, when and how fast, that will vary. But the point is, bhakti is multi-level and bhakti is inclusive. So most of us, we would be somewhere between the second, third and fourth levels.
Second is conscientious remembrance, then there is the working for Krishna, and then there is working for some higher cause. So now, for all of us, we have to make sure that our growth is proportionate, not disproportionate. When we are living in the world, we want our service to grow, we may want to grow professionally, we may want to grow financially, we may want to grow socially.
Think through all this, I can serve Krishna more in future. It’s true, we can if we are in a better position. But, that growth has to be proportionate.
Yudhishtira Maharaj is told by Narada Muni in the Mahabharata that there is Dharma, Artha and Kama. Broadly, we can correlate with Dharma is like our temple and our bhakti, Artha is like our job, and Kama is like our family responsibilities. So he says, don’t pursue Dharma at the expense of Artha and Kama.
Don’t pursue Artha at the expense of Dharma and Kama. And don’t pursue Kama at the expense of Dharma and Artha. So he says, balance all the three together.
So balance means that one thing should not stop the growth of other things. All of us were unicellular organisms at one time in our mother’s womb. Now we have grown.
So growth is natural to the living condition. But cancer is also growth. And cancer is the growth that is disproportionate and destructive.
So if one thing starts consuming us so much, it starts destroying other aspects of our life. That is unhealthy. So we have to see whether the growth is proportionate or it is disproportionate.
Practically speaking, our service will take much more time than our sadhana. But if we have no consciousness left for sadhana at all, we have no taste left for sadhana, we have no inclination for sadhana. Some people may say that, oh one day, I want to give a huge donation to Krishna.
I want to give 50%, not 50%, 51% of my earnings to Krishna. But for that, now I have to work 16 hours a day. And I can’t come to temple, I can’t come up with any programmes.
Well, it may happen that you grow that much, that you can give a phenomenal amount. If you don’t come to the temple by that time, the desire to give will go away. So we have to make sure that there is one thing is we want to offer things to Krishna.
But our purpose is primarily to offer ourselves to Krishna. And because we can’t just offer ourselves to Krishna, we, one way of offering ourselves to Krishna is by offering things to Krishna. So the thoughts of money are always in our heart.
We want to offer our heart to Krishna, but our heart is caught in so many things. So if we can’t give our heart to Krishna, we give what is in our heart to Krishna. So we give some money to Krishna and by that, what happens? We give Krishna a place in our heart.
But the point is not just to offer money to Krishna. The point is to use money as a tool to offer our heart to Krishna. So if I get so caught in, it could be pursuing money, pursuing position, pursuing connections, pursuing resources for serving Krishna.
See our, to conclude this answer, what I’ll say is that we all, when we want to serve Krishna, that means basically we want to get more and more resources by which we can serve Krishna. So our desire for the resources should not overpower our desire for Krishna. The most important thing is we want to offer ourselves to Krishna.
And if in pursuing the resources to offer to Krishna, we get so caught there that our desire to offer ourselves to Krishna itself goes away. Then that is unhealthy. So that is the overall, you could say, breaking point.
That, what we want for Krishna should not be wanted more than Krishna. What we want for Krishna, yeah, I want to build a big temple for Krishna and I want to have a flourishing community for Krishna. But in pursuing that, if we give up Krishna itself, that is not healthy.
Giving up Krishna means we get so obsessed by that, so most of our times we might be at third level also, just serving Krishna. But it shouldn’t lead to an aversion to the first and second levels. When the time is there, at second level, conscientious remembrance of Krishna should also be there.
So it’s like, we can connect with Krishna from here, from here, from here, from here also, all the four levels. But when we are at that level, are we connecting with Krishna or are we going away from Krishna? That is what we need to carefully see. Did I answer your question? Yes, they are wrong questions.
But overall, maya comes in many ways, because fear is also one of the waves. One simple point I would make is that, the Bhagavatam says that worldly desires and temptations they come like waves. And if you are alone in the ocean, fighting the wave is very difficult.
It is too strong. But if we can find an anchor, and we exercise our energy not in not being swept away by the wave, but in holding on to the anchor, even then the wave will shake us. If you hold on to the anchor firmly, then we won’t be swept away that much.
So for us, we have to find out what can be our anchor. That means when desire starts sweeping us, fear starts sweeping us, how can we hold our consciousness to Krishna? It can be through the meditation, it can be through some bhajans. We have to find out what is the anchor that we can strongly hold on to.
And then we keep that anchor readily accessible to us. So if we keep that anchor accessible, the waves, we can’t stop in the world. The waves will come and sweep us, but as long as we have the anchor to hold on to, we won’t be swept away that much.
So how should we approach books like Gopal Chamko, Anandam Chamko? With respect, but at the same time, it is our tradition. I suppose authorised translations, yeah, it’s tough because these are very complicated Sanskrit. So Bhanu Maharaj has done a translation which is quite good.
I was involved in editing that also, the English part, not the Sanskrit part, but it may not be entirely the Sanskrit because it’s very complicated. In the 15th, 16th century, Sanskrit had become very artistic and intricate, so it’s not so easy to translate that, but it’s not that difficult because it’s stories. The Sandarbhas are much more difficult to translate because it’s very intricate reasoning and philosophy over there, but here it’s family stories, so Bhanu Maharaj’s translations are fairly good.
I think other devotees may also have done translations, we’ll have to see each one merit, but this is our tradition and we all, if we have been for a few years in Krishna consciousness, if we have read Prabhupada’s basic books, and at least once we have read Bhagavatam CC, then with the blessings of Srila Prabhupada and in parallel with what Srila Prabhupada has given us, we can read the previous Acharyas’ books because ultimately Prabhupada gave us the whole tradition of Krishnamurti, so we don’t want to bypass Prabhupada, but it is with Srila Prabhupada’s blessings we want to go, and in fact Prabhupada, we want to go to the previous tradition also. In the first chapter of the first canto of Bhagavatam, Prabhupada gives a whole list of commentaries in the Bhagavatam that should be studied by the serious student of the Bhagavatam, and he mentions there not only our own traditions, he also mentions Vallabha, which is another tradition, so Prabhupada really wanted us to go into the Bhagavatam deeply, and Gopal Champu and Anandana Champu are basically the expansions of the Bhagavatam, so we can read them, and while reading, there are certain sections which are esoteric, which talk about the intimate pastimes of Radha and Krishna, and for that we can adopt the same approach as we adopt with the Rasleela. Prabhupada told that the Bhagavatam’s purpose is very clear, Bhagavatam says if you hear the Rasleela, the lust in your heart will go away, that if you hear this, that the lust will go away from our hearts, but Prabhupada said if you read this, and if you are getting agitated, then use your common sense, don’t read it at that time, just read other sections, there are many beautiful sections, the idea is that this world is like the reflection, and Krishna is the reality, the male female attraction in the world is like the reflection, Radha Krishna attraction is the reality, so now if somebody sees a real mango, then they stop getting attracted to the false mango, the reflection of the mango, so like that if you understand the purity, the sublimity, the sweetness of Radha Krishna’s blouse, then worldly attractive captivations will go down for us, but that is only when we are convinced that it is the real mango, and this is the reflection, but if you are not yet philosophically convinced about that, if you are not yet philosophically attracted to the real mango, but if you are not yet convinced about that, then you are not going to get are not yet convinced about the real mango, but if you yet the real mango, to the the real mango, but if you are not yet convinced about that, then you are not going to but if you are about the real mango, then you are not going to the real temple, there is the spiritual and there is the material.
That means, even our movement is spiritual, but the spiritual is manifested in the material world. So, to some extent we bring our material mind with us. And one characteristic of the material mind is, it always feels the grass is greener on the other side.
So, yes, you could say objectively, that maybe there are some temples where there are many learned devotees, there are many wonderful classes given, and yeah, you can get the enrichment by that. But, it all varies. Yes, in temples like Chopar, you might get to have senior-senior devotees and get a lot of association, a lot of hearing, but you might not get much room for doing service yourself.
If somebody wants to themselves preach, it’s like there are already so many preachers, you will hardly get any opportunity to speak. So, we have to see what our actual need is, not just what our mind thinks will be wonderful. So sometimes some devotees just want to be in a big association with many senior devotees and if that is what primarily gives them strength, then maybe going to a temple where that kind of setting is there might be helpful.
There is no guarantee of that, but if ultimately our primary connection with Krishna for a long time is going to be our service to Krishna. And sometimes in places where there are not so many senior devotees, not such a big congregation, actually if you want to take up responsibility, you can take up a lot of responsibility. And Prabhupada says that our spiritual advancement is proportional to the responsibility that we take in Krishna’s service.
Because we can do many services, okay, wash this plate, or serve this prasadam, all that is good, doing that. But somebody tells, now you are responsible for the serving of prasadam for the festival today. Then our mind won’t be just absorbed at that time when we are serving the food.
Before, after, so much absorption will be there. So we will grow not just by the quality of association that we get, but we will grow by the quality of responsibility that we take up. So we can see that even when we have good association, we have to be responsible to take that good association.
If we don’t do that, we won’t be able to grow. So it shouldn’t be just superficial craving that, oh, this temple is not good, let me go to that temple. In some situations, maybe changing the temple might be required.
But we shouldn’t think that, oh, my spiritual life will be better just because I go to the temple. The whole principle of spiritual life is inner transformation. And unless we are committed to that inner transformation, no matter where we go, we will not benefit much.
So rather than thinking of changing the temple where we are in, we can focus more on trying to take up more responsibility. And then if we take up more responsibility, even if we go to some other temple, we will also be able to get more responsibility over there and do more service over there. So no need to think primarily of changing.
And nowadays with social media and internet available, even if we are at one place, we can hear classes from anywhere else. We can correspond with devotees also from different places if we want to. And physical barriers are not as limiting as they were earlier.
Thank you.