Isn’t the rasa-lila too exalted to discuss in our regular classes?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
I think making scripture relatable is a challenge which every one of us has and Rastlila there are two distant aspects to it one is to take it very cheaply and to make it mundane there are some people who even imitate Krishna’s pastimes with the gopis this is not Rastlila it is Rascalila if they do it like that so one extreme is to just very cheaply imitate it and think that we are in those moods but the other is to put it at such an exalted level that we don’t even touch it so the first of course will contaminate us but the other extreme can also deprive us of the sublime sweetness of this pastime now Prabhupada when he was translating the Bhagavatam he stopped the translation so that he could give the 10th canto and in the 10th canto he did not gloss over the gopis pastimes he did give those pastimes so Prabhupada this is actually our legacy and we want to approach this legacy with the proper reverence but we want to approach it if we make it so exalted that we think that I cannot approach this ever then we will be deprived of that nectar we see this dual mood even towards the end of the Bhagavad Gita is called ashruti after Krishna speaks the first thing Krishna says is that do not speak this to those who are envious those who are not austere those who are not having a service attitude those who are not devoted and especially those who are envious don’t speak this to them but then immediately after that the next verses Krishna is telling those who share this message they are so dear to me so two verses he says that in fact there is no one as dear to me as those who share this message and then the Achayas explain that how it is going is I find it very difficult to share Krishna’s message if you can’t share then at least study it those who study this message they will be worshipping me with their intelligence somebody says studying is also very difficult I can’t understand Krishna says at least hear it even by hearing you will become purified and liberated so that means at the end of the Bhagavad Gita there is this dynamic tension between keeping it confidential and making it universal so the reconciliation is that these words are not to be taken cheaply just like a parent may have a father may have built a great treasure, there are precious jewels in the treasury now when the child is very small and immature the parent, the father will not let the child play with jewels, there are other toys to play with so the same jewels which are kept away from the child the purpose of the father is not that forever the child stay away from those jewels the father’s parent’s wealth is for the children only so all those jewels are meant to be taken by the child but for that the child has to grow up recognize that this jewel is not just a plaything, it is priceless so this confidentiality is for those who will not appreciate it but for those who sincerely want to appreciate it then there is a universality, Krishna wants the message to be shared and the similar tension between confidentiality and universality is there in the Ras Teela also, that we can go too much towards universality and speak it prematurely to our people or we could go too much towards confidentiality and never speak it and stay deprived of this extraordinary sweetness that is there in this past time so we have to find a balance between the two